saying hymn number 442, 442. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Sing, O earth, His wonderful
love proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels
in glory, strength and honor. Give to His holy name like a
shepherd. Jesus will guard His children
in His arms. He carries them all day long. Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer For our sins He suffered and bled and
died He our rock, our hope of eternal salvation Hail Him, hail
Him, Jesus the crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus who
bore our sorrows. Love unbounded, wonderful, deep,
and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals loud with hosannas
ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and king. Christ is coming over the world
victorious. Power and glory unto the Lord
belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Thank you and be seated. Hymn
number 475. Redeemed how I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite
mercy. His child and forever I am. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus
No language my rapture can tell I know that the light of His
presence With me doth continually dwell Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed
by the blood of the Redeemed, redeemed His child
and forever I am I think of my blessed Redeemer I think of Him
all the day long I sing for I cannot be silent His love is the theme
of my song Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb Redeemed, redeemed His child and forever I am I know I shall
see in His beauty The King in whose law I delight Who lovingly
guardeth my footsteps And giveth me songs in the night Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4, read down to verse 13. Therefore my brethren, that's
what he called them, my brethren, dearly beloved, longed for, my
joy and crown. So stand fast in the Lord, my
dearly beloved. I beseech you, Odius, and beseech
you, Tyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I
entreat thee also, true yokefella, help those women which labored
with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and other my fellow laborers,
whose names are in the book of life, Rejoice in the Lord. Always again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful
for nothing. but in everything by prayer and
supplication. With thanksgiving let your requests
be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, Whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue,
if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things
which have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do. The God of peace shall be with
you. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last
your care of me hath flourished again, wherein you were also
careful, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of
want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am to be content. I know both how to be abased,
and I know how to abound, Everywhere in all things, I'm instructed
both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer
need. I can do all things through Christ,
which strengtheneth me. Our father, we come into your
presence again. And as we know, know in our heart
of hearts, we need you. We desperately need your presence.
We need the presence of the Holy Ghost in our services. Oh, Lord,
not only for the preaching, but for the hearing. Oh, to keep
this flesh subdued, keep these minds centered on Christ for
just a little while, enable us to Use the word of God and use
it faithfully, truly, in love. And oh God, bless these dear
saints who's gathered out tonight, meet the needs of their hearts.
For those who are not with us, whose bodies are so frail, who
are sick, Lord, I've done mentioned their names, but you know who
they are. You know the men, you know the
women, you know their bodies, you know their sickness, you
know everything about them. And oh, Lord, I'm grateful that
you do. And you know how to protect them. You know how to preserve
them. You know how to meet the needs of their hearts and their
bodies, how to prepare them for whatever they go through. And
Lord, we look unto you. We look unto you. We have no
one else. And oh, God, how we look to you. We look to you to be our strength,
to be our help. to hold us up when we're not
able to even stand. So God help us please for Christ's
sake, meet our needs here tonight. Amen, amen. Hymn number 485, 485. We praise Thee, O God, for the
Son of Thy love, for Jesus who died and is now gone above. Hallelujah, Thine the glory Hallelujah,
Amen Hallelujah, Thine the glory Revive us again We praise Thee,
O God, for Thy Spirit of light, who has shown us our Savior and
scattered our night. Hallelujah, Thine the glory. Hallelujah, Amen. Hallelujah, Thine the glory,
revive us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb
that was slain, who hath borne all our sins and hath cleansed
every stain. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. Revive us again. Fill each heart with Thy love. May each soul be rekindled with
fire from above. Hallelujah, Thine the glory. Hallelujah, Amen Hallelujah,
Thine the glory Revive us again Back here, Colossians, excuse
me, Philippians four. Read those first three verses
again. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, you're loved,
you're dearly beloved of me, and I long for you, because you're
my joy, and if I have a crown, you're that crown, how you believe
and how you've done. Stand fast in the Lord, dearly
beloved. I beseech you, Odius and Syntyche,
that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee
also, true yokefella." You think about that. Paul had somebody,
he said, well, you're a yokefella. We're both yoked together. We're
both going in the same direction. We are yoked together. I mean,
our hearts are knit, is what he's saying. True, true yoke
fella. True yoke fella. Somebody that's
in, that was pulling with Paul, just like being under a yoke,
and it's like having horses or mules, and they pull exactly
the same. That's what he said. We got this yoke, and he's my
true yoke fella. True. Boy, that's a mouthful,
to say a true yoke fella. I mean, that's really something
to think about. And he said, Help those women. He said, You,
my two-roped fellow, help those women which labored with me in
the gospel. So evidently these women needed
some help. And he said, Those who labored
with me in the gospel, and Clement also, and my other fellow laborers,
and this is what I want to talk about, whose names are in the
book of life. We'll talk about names in the
book of life. Paul was an apostle of mine. The scriptures tells us he was
a wise master builder. He was a wise master builder.
He was a man strong, strong in purpose, strong in doctrine of
the doctrine of Christ and the gospel of the grace of God. Strong
in grace, he said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And yet
when you read over in Thessalonians, you can look over there when
you get a chance to, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, it says that He was
gentle as a nurse among them. And so He was also gentle even
though He was strong. He was considerate. Do you just
hear how He talks about these people here? True yoke fellow. my fellow laborers in the gospel. Help them, they need help. And
so he was a man who was very, very strong, but he was also
very general. And I tell you, he had a great
love for those who labored in the gospel, labored with him
in the gospel. And here he mentions fellow laborers,
people who labored with him, labored with him. And I tell
you, and what he doesn't call by name, he named three names
here, three names. But he says there was names that
was written in the Book of Life. Why didn't he mention, you know,
in case he would offend somebody, after he named three names, in
case I offend somebody by not naming them, I'll just tell you
what I think about them. I think they're names, I believe
their names are written in the Book of Life. In case I miss
somebody, I want you to say, oh, your names are written, it
don't make any difference if they're written in any letter
that I write to any church. But I tell you what, your names
are written in the book of life. Oh my, how much better is that
to do? You're talking about consolation
for people, people who has not a big name, obscure people, people
that just don't amount to much, never be well known anywhere
under any circumstances, but only known and loved in just
a few hearts. but they're inscribed, their
names are inscribed in the book of life, in the book of life.
I want you to look at a couple of scriptures with me. You know,
look over with me in Psalm 139. You know, Paul, excuse me, and
over in Exodus, he's talked about the book of life over there.
He's talked about the book of life over there. Moses said,
Lord, blot me out of your book. And he said, I can t do it. But
look here in Psalm 139 and verse 16, look what it says here. Well,
in verse 15, My substance was not hid from thee. My body, that
s what he talks about in the margin. My substance was not
hid from thee. When I was made in secret, before
my mother knew I was there, and curiously wrought in the lowest
parts of the earth. Listen to this, thine eyes did
see my substance, yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members
were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there
was none of them. He said, Before I had his substance,
you've seen my substance, And before I ever was, you wrote
my name in your book. And also, look in Psalm 56 and
verse eight. I don't know why I didn't tell
you to stay over there when I was over there. Psalm 56 and verse
eight. Oh, listen to this. Thou tellest, Psalm 56, eight,
thou tellest my wonderings, put thou my tears in thy bottle,
and are not they in thy book? My tears in a bottle, my name
in your book. You're talking about somebody
taking interest in you. The Lord Jesus Christ taking
your tears, putting them in a bottle. Have your names written in a
book called the Book of Life, the Book of Life. It's called
the Lamb's Book of Life, that's what it's called. It's the same
as equivalent of being a child of God. That's why when you talk
about the Lamb's Book of Life, it's the same as equivalent to
being a child of God. And what does it mean, what does
it mean to have your name in the Book of Life? What does it
mean? Well, I'll tell you the first
thing it means, it means you're a citizen. You got citizenship. That's what they keep these sentences
for. You know, Israel kept a census, and they kept a census for two
reasons. One of all, to find out people that are strong enough
and young enough to be in the army if they needed them, and
the second reason was they kept the genealogy so they'd know
who was eligible and could be in the priesthood and keep the
genealogy for the Messiah that was going to come. But I tell
you what, when we talk about having to being in a book, in
the book of life, that means we're citizens. Not only only
citizens are in the book. And there was a time we were
aliens, we were foreigners, we were strangers from the covenants
of God. But you know how? Now we're made
nigh by the blood of Christ. Now we're made die by the blood
of Christ. Now we're one with Christ. Now
we're all together built upon the foundation of Christ. And
all by, we live in the world. We live in this world. We're
Americans. And we're under a system. and
we're citizens under the system of America. I've got a passport. That passport will take me anyplace
in this world. It'll take me anyplace in this
world, and they have to look at that passport. They stick
it under this thing and find out if it's fake or if it's real.
But I'm telling you what, we're citizens of America, and I tell
you we're under a system of politics, we're under a system of economics,
we're under a social system, and all those things. But you
know where our real citizenship's at? Look back over here in Philippians
chapter 3 and verse 20. Look in Philippians 3.20. For our conversation, our manner
of life is in heaven, from which also we look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our rest citizenship is up there.
That's where Moses, that's what he said, that's where our manner
of life's at. Look in Philippians 1, 27. Look what Paul says about
it over here. Only let your conversation in
manner of life be as it become with the gospel of Christ. that
whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear your
affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, one mind, striving
together for the faith of the gospel. And I tell you what,
our citizenship's in heaven, we're striving together for the
gospel. We live, we act, and are citizens of heaven itself. That's why it's called the Book
of Life and the Lamb's Book of Life. Our names were there, And
I tell you what, if the world don't like us, what their opinion
of us amounts to, what other people amount to, it doesn't
amount to anything. It's what God says about us.
It's where God wrote our name in the book of life. It's God
that made us to know Him. And I tell you what, and that's
all we're interested in in God's sight. That's all I'm interested
in. And you know over in the Chronicles,
1 and 2 Chronicles, and then 1 and 2 Kings, It talks about
the chronicles of the kings. You know, there was somebody
that followed the kings around. And every time somebody sat down
and wrote what the kings did. You know, this king done this,
this king done that, this king done all that stuff. They wrote
about Solomon, wrote about David, wrote about Hezekiah, wrote about
Ahab, wrote about all the kings of Israel. Wrote them all down.
And you go through there and you find out what the kings did.
Well, I tell you one thing. Our names is in the Chronicles
of the King of Kings. There's only one King, one King,
and God Himself wrote what that King is, what He is, the King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. And that's the Chronicles of
the Kings that I'm interested in, the Chronicles of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And His Chronicle starts before
the foundation of the world. And His chronicles come into
time, and He lived a life, and you chronicle His whole life,
and everything in His whole life was PERFECT! Everything He did
was PERFECT, PERFECT, PERFECT, PERFECT! And then He was BURIED,
and He was RAISED again after He was crucified, and ascended
on high and sets down, and I tell you what, EVERYTHING He did was
written in that book! Oh, I don't care what Ahab did,
and I'm not interested in, you know. But I tell you, the chronicle
of the King, the Lord Jesus Christ, what He did, what He did, and
oh, my, and oh, what Christ did, and oh, who He did it for, and
I'll tell you what He did, who He did it for is in this book,
too. Who He did it for is in this book. What an honor, what
a privilege. All that men call honor here
are nothing, absolutely nothing. All the men called success here
is nothing compared to having our names written in the Book
of Life, having our names written in the Book of Life. You know,
those names written in the Book of Life, let me tell you something
about it. You know why it's called the Book of Life, the Lamb's
Book of Life? Because only people's got lives
in it. It's called the Lamb's Book of
Life. It's not called the Lamb's Book of Death. It's called the
Lamb's Book of Life. You know why? Because everybody's
in it. It's got life. Where'd we get that life? Let
me tell you something. You know why we got life? You
know why God gave us life? Our names was already in the
book. They was, and Christ came here, and He put our names in
that book, and He come here, and He sealed that book, and
signed that blessed book in His blood, and He purposed us to
have life, and He had us in that book of life before we ever come,
and we have life because our name was written in the book
of life, in the Lamb s book of life. And I tell you, it s called
the Book of the Living. Isaiah called it the Book of
the Living. You know, in life here, When you're born, they
had that little baby born last night, they'll give him a birth
certificate. Put his little foot on there and put his little prints
on there and they'll give him a birth certificate. And just
as sure as you live long enough, there's your first thing when
you die, you know one thing you'll have to have is a death certificate. You gotta have proof that you're
born and you gotta have proof that you die. But that don't
happen to anybody in this book of life. I ain't got no birth certificate,
but I've got Christ. And I ain't got no death certificate
waiting on me either. You can't die if you got life,
and it's called a book of life. It's to register those who truly,
truly have life, and they're alive. Oh, and life, life comes
from God. And it's called the new birth.
Hardly anybody knows of the new birth. Billy Graham wrote a book
on how to be born again. God didn't tell us how to be
born again. He just told us you must be born again. Except you're
born again, you can't see the kingdom of God. Except you're
born again, you can't enter the kingdom of God. And when the
wind blows where it will, and the spirit, you know, blows on
whom it will, and it gives life. It gives life to souls. It takes
a dead soul and gives it life. And oh my, it's called a new
birth. Paul said, or John said this, he said, as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to be what? Become the sons of God,
which were born, not of the will of man, born, not of the flesh,
born, not of blood, but born of God, God. I mean, we have, you know why
we have life? Because we was in the Lamb's
Book of Life. You can't be in the Lamb's Book
of Life and not have life. That's why, you know, God didn't
put my name, let me tell you this, God didn't put my name
or your name in there the day we believed. The day that Christ come into
our hearts and come into our lives and gave us the new birth,
regenerated us, gave us a new heart, a new will, a new mind,
a new affections, And when he come, he didn't then say, well,
I'm gonna write their books, they're now in the Lamb's Book
of Life. You know why we have life? Because we was already,
names was in the Book of Life. So he came and gave us life because
he gave us life in himself before the foundation of the world.
That's why it's called the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. I read tonight over in I Peter being redeemed, not
with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ
as a Lamb without blemish and without spot, who was ordained
before the foundation of the world for you, for us. That s what it was, for us. And who by Him believed. Oh, I tell you, beloved, you
know, life is more than being. Life is more than just having
an existence. Life is more than being. It's
more than having a physical existence. Our souls have the very life
of God in them, have the very life of God in them. And I tell
you what, And I know this is so. People
who have the life of God in their souls, the life of Christ in
their souls, they're conscious of Him. You know how you can
know whether you really have life? Are you conscious of God? Are you conscious of Christ?
Does your mind think of Him? Does your heart go out to Him?
Do you cry out to Him? Do you look to Him? You know
why you do that? That's life in you answered to
life in Christ. If life gives you Christ, Christ
gives you life, your life answers back. It has this thing going
back and forth between God and the soul, and that's one way
we know we're in this Lamb's Book of Life, because we become
conscious of God, become conscious of Christ, and become conscious
of our desperate need of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't just
need Him when we get in bad shape. We don't need Him when we're
down. We need Him all the time, up, down, in, out, don't make
any difference. We need Him. Gotta have Him. And I tell you, our souls, there's
lots of people that are living. Lots of people exist. Lot of
people have life, but they don't have life. They're not conscious
of God. They're not conscious of Christ.
They're not conscious of the need of Him. And oh my, we surrender
to Him. You know what we do? We give
up our will to His will. We give up our life to His life.
We give up our affections to Him. Everything about us goes
to Him. Oh, we obey Him. And one of these days, we're
gonna see Him as He is and be just like Him. And everything
else outside of Christ is death, death, death, death. Oh, my. And our blessed Savior, oh, our
blessed, blessed Savior came into this world And by His work,
by His blessed work, it's like that valley of dry bones. He
looked at all of us, and I'll tell you what, because He saw
us as we were. Before He breathed, He breathed
on these old bones, very dry, very many. And when He breathes,
LIFE comes into us. LIFE comes into us. Just like
when Adam, God created Adam and made him stand up, and Adam was
an inaudible object. He was just standing there as
an inner, he had no life in him. He come out of the dirt and God
set him up there and he just statue. Until Christ walked up
to him, breathed in his nostrils. Until
he done that, that man didn't have no life. But the minute
Christ blowed in his nostrils, he had life. And that's why the
Holy Spirit comes and breathes on us. Passes over us. and breeze on us, and oh my,
we live, oh my, the breath of life. You know, look over here
with me in John chapter five. You know, our Lord said in John,
it says over in John 5 11, but look with me in John chapter
five. First John five, it says, this is the record that God hath
given to us, eternal life, and this life is in His Son, Look
what he said here in verse 24, John 5. Verily, verily, or truly, truly,
I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life. Not gonna get it one of
these days. He's got it now. Got it right
now. And shall not come into condemnation.
Ain't gonna come into judgment at all. This one says here, but
pass from death unto life. We've watched a lot of people
pass from life into death, but this is where it says you pass
from death to life. And oh, look what he says. Truly,
truly, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and right now it is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear, they're gonna live, they're gonna live. And
our Savior came into this world, to give us this blessed life.
And you know why He gave us life? Because our names was already
there. Names was already there. And when He talks about the book
of life, tells us God's knowledge of each and every one of us,
His knowledge of each and every one of us, and His care, His
care for each and every one of us. In the Old Testament, it
was called the book, the book of life. In the New Testament,
it's called the Lamb's Book of Life. One and the same book. All in that book is saved. Everybody in that book is saved.
You know, they may not know it yet, but they're gonna be saved
if your name's in that book. The Lamb saved all that's in
the book. They were in God's book because everyone for who
Christ died, his name was there. His name was there. Maybe he
got a page, I don't know. Everybody may have a page. I'm
just grateful my name's there. What name you reckon he put down
when he put my name in there? He said over in Revelation, he
gonna give us a new name. You reckon it's that new name
I'm gonna have when I get to glory? He said he gonna give
everybody a new name. That only they know. But oh my. That Lamb's Book of Life shows
us how much our Lord cares for each and every one of us. But
I tell you, God knows each of us and Christ calls us by name. You go through the scriptures
and look how many times Christ calls somebody by name. Zacchaeus,
Bartimaeus, Mary, Simon, Judas he called them all by name and
all my and let me tell you something When it says their names are
written in the book of life That name is written as an individual
not as a group not as a group as an individual Christ saves
people one at a time individually And I tell you, He doesn't deal
with us as a crowd. He doesn't deal with us as a
great big crowd. He doesn't fling out His blessings
and hope we get a handful of them. No, no. But oh, no, He
loves each of us individually, wrote our names down individually,
and He treats us all individually. You know, it's just two of us,
you and Christ. Everybody here tonight, it's
just you and Christ. It's not us in Christ, it's just
every one of us deals with Christ individually, and Christ deals
with us individually. You think about that. Here you
are, you're sitting, you're thinking, boy, I gotta get up and go to
work tomorrow, gotta do this, gotta do that. But here God Almighty,
He has something for you, and it's just you and Him. Just you
and Him. There's always just two involved
in this thing. You and Christ. It's just you and Him. That's
why Paul said, oh, he said, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live, and of life that I now live in the flesh, I live by
the face of the Son of God, who loved me, Him and Christ, for
me to depart and be with Christ, it was Him and Christ. And that's
what he says, me and Christ, Christ who loved me and gave
himself for me, two people, Christ and Paul, and oh my. And over in Isaiah 43 it says,
I called thee by name. Oh Jacob, called you by name,
called you by name. And oh my, Simon, Simon. And
when old Simeon saw that baby, oh God knew him, God knew him.
Oh you know, you know talking about God's knowledge and what
he knows. Over in I think it's Psalm 147.
It says over there that he tells the stars. You know what it means?
He counts them. He counts the stars. And you
know what else it says about him? He calls them all by name.
These fellas send these big telescopes out there and these satellites
and takes all these pictures and send them back and, oh, we're
seeing this and we're seeing that and all this. God put it
all there so they could see it. They just now finding out that
it's even there. But it's always been there. It's
always been there. And because our names are written
in the book of life, our salvation, our salvation and security are
absolutely sure. There's no way. People say, well,
you can take your name out of the book of life. Why would you
want to? Why would you want to? You want
to go back, take your name out of the book of life and blot
it out and go back over here and be dead? No, no, I tell you,
that's what Arminian says. But oh, our salvation and security
is sure. You know, Daniel was in the lions'
den, but he laid down and slept on them things at night. Them
lions laid down and slept, and he laid down and used them for
pillars. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
was in that fire furnace. Christ was in there with them.
And I tell you, our Lord never slumbers or never sleeps. And
let me show you something about, I'm gonna read this to you. You
don't have to look at it. I'm gonna read to you Daniel chapter 12. Talking
about how secure we are. And at that time shall Michael
stand up, the great prince, which standeth for the children of
thy people. And there shall be a time of
trouble, as never was since there was a nation, even to that same
time. And at that time thy people shall
be delivered, listen to this now, at that time, okay, how
bad the trouble is, at that time they shall be delivered, be saved,
is what that means, everyone that shall be found written in
the book. Who's gonna be saved? Those who's
written in the book. How bad is the trouble gonna
be? Never seen any trouble like it before. But who's not gonna
be saved? Those names written in the book,
written in the book. And I tell you, our Lord neither
slumbers nor sleeps. So let's just go to bed and let
him watch out for what's going on. He'll watch over us. And like the high priest, when
he went into the holiest of holies, went into the presence of God
and put on his high priest garments, he had on a breastplate, And
there was three rows of names there, different jewelry, jewels,
and all three here and three there and three down here. And
they all, every one of them had names inscribed in them, names
inscribed in them of the tribes of Israel. And on his shoulder,
he had six over here and six over here. And that shows you
that on his shoulders, he had the names of the children of
Israel. So that tells us, beloved, that not only did they bear him
on his heart, but it also bare him on his shoulder. And our
Lord Jesus Christ, you talking about having our names. He said,
can a woman forget her shaking child? Yes, she may. But I have
craven thee, craven thee on the palm of my hand. I've craven
you on the palm of my hand. And I tell you, God's craven
our names on the palms of his hands. And I tell you, there's
no way in the world that we can ever not do anything else. And
if our names are in the book of life, guess what we're going
to do one of these days? We're going to go to the land
of the living. We're going to go to the land of the living.
Look with me in Revelations 20. Go over here in Revelations 20
and look at this with me. Revelations 20. Look down at verse 12. I saw the dead, small and great,
nobodies and somebodies is what that means, stand before God,
and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which
is the book of life. And the dead were judged out
of all those things which were written in the books according
to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them. And they were judged, every man,
according to their worth. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Now
listen to it. And whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. You ain't
in that book of life. You know, these fellas are judged,
judged for their works, and oh, and I'll tell you what, but we've
already been judged. We was already judged in Christ.
They have already been judged, so we don't fear the judgment.
Their names are written in that book of life. They're citizens
of a heavenly city. The book and the Acts of the
Kings, they have the very life of Christ in their soul, and
God knows each and every one, and Christ knows them, every
name is in that book. He marks His hand and marks love
for them in their own heart, and oh, they overcome. And let
me show you this in Revelation 21. And I'll be done. I saw a new
heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and first earth
were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw
the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell
with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall
be with them, and be their God. Now that's the church. It's a
bride coming down out of heaven adorned as a bride. That's the
church coming down. We're dressed up. God sees us
as the New Jerusalem. And that's what's called New
Jerusalem. And then look at what he said
in verse 4. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, no more death, no sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed
away. And look down at verse 27 and
see what it says. And this is why it's so, I'm
trying to deal with this book of life, the Lamb's book of life,
to show us our security in Christ. And it talks about going into
this wonderful city, this new place, this glorious heaven.
And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles,
neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, But who only
can people go in there? They which are written in the
Lamb's book of life. They're the only ones that get
to go. Nobody else gets to go. And how
in the world you reckon Paul knew these names, people's names
were written in the book of life? How you reckon he knew that?
Well, how did he know that the Thessalonians were the elect
of God? Brethren, knowing your beloved
election of God. He looked at these people, called
them fellow laborers, they were believers, he called them his
brethren, he called them beloved, called them his joy and his crown,
and he named them. And beloved, I can see people
here tonight, you know, I know there's people here tonight,
the reason you have life, because Christ wrote your name in the
book of life before the foundation of the world. And you know why
you have life? Because your name was written
there. So that guarantees that you're going to have life. And
not only are you going to have life here, but you're going to
go there because your names are written in that book of life.
Huh? You know, I write my name, I
came from hard to read it. I write it so fast. Christ writes with His name,
and you know, maybe it's written in blood, I don't know, but I
do know this, that if your names are written in the Book of Life,
you got life because your names are written there, and you get
to go to glory because your names are written in the Book of Life.
Nothing else gets to, if you're filthy, you're a liar, you're
abominable, or whatever you're doing, if your name's not in
that Book of Life, you don't get to go. But if your name's
written in that book of life, he said, that's where you get
in, when you get there. And listen, let me tell you this,
and I'll shut up. God ain't gonna get the book out, and he said,
well now, see if his name's in this book now. Check, make sure
that one's name's written down there. We can't let anybody in
here if God's name ain't there. Just check it out, make sure
your name's there. You know how many Deons are in this world?
You know how many Kims are in this world? How many Brads are
in this world? How many Lays are in this world? But listen, God himself is not
gonna get the book out and check to see if your name's in there.
You're gonna go because your name was already there. You got
life because your name was already there. Oh, thank God. Yeah. My name
don't amount to nothing here. Absolutely don't amount to nothing.
But I tell you what, God got my name in his book. That's all that matters. I'm
somebody there. I'm somebody there. You know,
I've got a book back there. When somebody's born, I mean,
when somebody dies, I write down the day they was died. you know,
and things, and then when somebody's baptized, I write down the day
they was baptized. And I write all that, I got a
book back there, I write all that stuff down in. One of these days, somebody write,
they'll get that out, well, Donnie Bell, he just, he passed away
on 19, 2028, 2029, you know, and put it in there. That don't make any difference.
Put my name in any book you want to. But I won't be dead, because
I'm in the book of life. Put it in that old book, nobody
read it. But that's OK, because my name's
in the book of life. So go ahead and write it in there
when I die, because I'm already in the book of life. I'm going
to go be with Christ. All right. Our Father, thank you for the
day. Lord, I thank you that you pity us as a father pities his
children, knowing that we're but dust. Remember in our frame
that we're but dust, we're frail. But Lord, what a blessing, what
a blessing to know that our names are written in the book of life,
the Lamb's book of life, not just a book of life, the Lamb's
book of life. The Lamb that was slain, the
Lamb that was risen, the Lamb that put away all our sin, made
us accepted of God Almighty, blessed with all our blessings
in Him. Lord, bless these dear saints
as they go their way. Protect them and preserve them.
And again, we pray for those who weren't able to be with us
because of sickness. We have some who are very sick.
They're not able to be here because they're so sick. Their bodies
are so frail. Lord, bless them, encourage them,
strengthen them. Bring glory to yourself for Christ's
sake, I pray. Amen. Amen. Well, I'll see you
Wednesday night, God willing.