I am indeed delighted to be here. It's a great privilege, honor. Worshipping God in itself is
a great privilege, isn't it? An honor conferred upon a few. And I'm delighted to be here. I'm delighted to see so many
old, familiar faces. and some new ones, quite a few
new ones I have not seen before. I delight in that. I have already
been blessed. I believe we all have been blessed
to worship already. The Bible study was a great blessing,
so profitable, so God-honoring, so scripture, so truthful, true
to God's Word. That's the man that he's given
you. I thank God for him. The hymns
that we've already sung, I never tire of singing. Holy, holy,
holy. Wonderful, wonderful. One of
the brethren read the scriptures and prayed in the study, and
Brother Daniels, I was greatly blessed by that. Would you turn
back with me to Hebrews 11? Brother Nyberg read to you Hebrews
11. Providentially, I believe this
message will go right along with that Bible study from Galatians
3. It will build upon that faith
that we heard about. Hebrews 11. Read with me verse
13 again. These all died in faith. not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. It says these all died in faith. Now, most of you know this chapter. something of this chapter that
it is concerning the faith, the faith of God's elect, it is called. And there are many examples given
here of those who lived by faith. It says they all died in faith,
with the exception of Enoch, who we will look at in a moment. But the reason they died in faith
is because they lived by this faith. They lived in faith. Verse 38 of the previous chapter,
which Pastor Nyberg wisely read beforehand. Verse 38 says, Now
the just shall live by faith. And those who die in the faith
are those who live in the faith. All of them. These all died in
the faith, and these all lived by this faith or in this faith.
And this chapter 11 tells us what faith is and what faith
does. Now stay with me. Faith does what faith is, he
said. Faith is what faith does. James wrote a book in which he
said, I'll show you my faith by my works. That is, faith true
faith is proved by what faith does. And here's what I want
us to do during the course of this message. Scripture tells
us to examine ourselves, whether we be of the faith. There's only one faith. That's
this faith, the faith of God's elect. He also called it the
faith once delivered to the saints. the saints we're going to look
at here. And he says, prove your own selves. Examine your own
self, whether you be of the faith. And we're going to do that by
these examples, okay? These are real men, well, men
we're going to look at only this morning. There are some examples
of women here. But real people, real men who
lived in a real world like we do, with real sin to contend
real problems, real trials, real responsibilities, families and
so forth. But they lived by faith and they
died in this faith. There's not much doctrine in
this chapter 11. There's quite a bit in the previous
ten chapters that lead up to that. Okay? But the faith is
proved by these stories or illustrations of these believers. Now, verse
1, look at it with me. Now, faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. He does tell
us what faith is. Faith is, and if you have a marginal
reference, it says the ground or the confidence of things hoped
for. is belief. Faith is trust. Faith
is confidence, dependence upon someone. Faith is not just a
wish or a hope or a perchance or so forth. Faith is confidence
in a person. That's what faith is. For salvation,
what we're talking about, what this is all about is salvation,
eternal life. That's what this faith is. All
right? Faith believes God. Faith believes God's Word. Faith believes God's Son. That is saving faith. And that's
where it comes from. From God. Faith cometh by hearing. And hearing by the Word of God.
So faith comes when God Almighty sends the Word and we hear it
and He grants us this saving faith. It's a gift. It's not of ourselves. It's a
gift of God. We're not going to exalt man's
faith this morning, but rather the grace of God which caused
them to believe. For by grace are you saved through
faith. It's not of yourself. It's a
miracle. Faith is the ground or confidence of things hoped
for. We hope to be with God. We hope to have eternal life.
We hope to be forgiven. We hope. Why do we hope that?
Because God said so. God said so. Faith, Ben, he says,
is the evidence of things not seen. Faith itself is the evidence
of that. Our Lord said in His Word, He
said, He that believeth Right? Faith doesn't give life,
it's proof of life. Proof of life. It's a miracle
of God's grace. Read on. And by this faith the
elders obtained a good report, it says. They witnessed a good
confession, it says in verse 13. A good report before the
world. Verse 3. Through faith we understand
that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Significantly,
the first thing our Lord says about faith is that faith believes
God is the Creator. That's where it must start, right?
That's where everything starts. Faith believes that God is indeed
God. In the beginning, God. Is there
not a universal conspiracy or concerted rebellion trying to
disprove that God created this world? Isn't that the general
or universal belief now? Well, this is the first point
of saving faith. that God Almighty created this
world. That makes Him the owner of all
things, right? And if you create things, you
have a design, you have a purpose before you do so. So it is with
God. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world, before the beginning of the world.
And that God created all things, He owns all things and cannot
I do with my own what I will, God said. Yes, he can and he
does. He does. That gives him the divine
rights as creator to save whom he will, to damn whom he will,
to choose whom he will, to pass by whom he will, to do what he
will with whom he will because he will. Isn't that where faith
starts? Do you believe that? God Almighty wrote two books,
Psalm 19 tells us. The book of creation, it declares
His glory. The Godhead, that is, His eternal
power and divine right. And this book that we're looking
at this morning, Else We Would Not Know God. All right, let's
look at verse 4 with it. Here's the first example given
to us. of this faith given to his elect. By faith, Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And by it, he being dead, yet
speaking. This morning, several thousand
years later, we are speaking of Abel. and this faith that
God gave him. Now, as we read to you or quoted
to you, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Cain and Abel, two boys, were raised up by their parents, Adam
and Eve. You know the story. This is not
a fairy tale. This is not some allegory. which the world is determined to try to disprove. This is a real story from God's
Word. We did indeed come from one man,
Adam. Adam. And that explains so much,
doesn't it? That we came from him, a sinful
man. Well, this man, Adam, and his
wife Eve, they taught their children Cain and Abel, and they had others
later, but Cain and Abel heard from their parents. Faith cometh
by hearing. Their parents who heard from
God Himself, God's Word, Christ, we believe, was there in the
garden. Cain and Abel heard from their parents, from the Word
of God, about the fall of their parents, about the fall of mankind. Just like I did growing up. I
heard this story. There's so many young people
in here this morning. You have heard this over and over again.
It's a true story. That in Adam all died. They heard from Adam and Eve,
their father and mother, the story of how they were sinless
in the garden. Upright. And that God in his
sovereign right as a symbol of his sovereignty, withheld one
tree from them. It's not unreasonable. It's his
right. And he said, in the day you eat
of this tree, you shall surely die. You shall surely die. And they ate in rebellion and
sin against God of their rebellious will. They ate of that tree and
they fell. They died spiritually. You know the story. It talks
about how they were ashamed of themselves, being naked, guilty. And Adam began to blame his wife,
who in turn blamed the serpent, and shame and guilt and blame
and hatred and so forth, and ran from God, whom they used
to walk with, whom they used to seek out and love His presence.
Now they were hiding from God, didn't want to see God, didn't
want to hear from God. That's what happened to man in
the garden. And Cain and Abel heard this
story, as we have. They heard then their father
and mother tell them how God told them that someday there
is coming a seed of a woman. Not man, but the seed of a woman. They heard the story of a virgin-born
son. Yes, they did. who would come,
a sinless man, God's Messiah, God's Christ, would come to this
earth, become a man born of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them from this curse of sin, from this awful dominion and
the death that came by sin. They heard this stuff. And then they heard their parents
tell them how that God right before their eyes, Christ right
before their eyes, took hold of an innocent lamb, an innocent
lamb, beautiful, spotless, sinless, innocent lamb right before their
eye. And they had never seen death
before, Adam and Eve. They did not know what death
was, but God showed them. The life of the flesh is in the
blood, and God Almighty took this innocent lamb right before
the eyes of these two sinners and slit its throat, much to
their horror. And they watched the lifeblood
flow out of that animal until it lay still. It was dead. And God, oh my Christ, told them,
this is what I must do with sinners. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. But I am merciful. I am gracious. And I am sending my Christ to
earth. to be this lamb. If I don't get
any further than this lesson, it will be all right, won't it? Isn't it significant that the
first example of saving faith is the blood? The blood. Now, this is an old fashion.
In our day, it's archaic. It's barbaric. It's missing. We have the wood and the fire,
like Isaac said. Where is the Lamb? You've got
on your sign out there, because this is how you believe. This
is how you approach God. We preach Christ crucified. That's not just a slogan, is
it? We know that there's no atonement, no coming to God except one way. How's that? The blood. God is still who he is. And salvation is still through
the blood of the Lamb. So isn't it significant that
this first example of saving faith is a young man coming to
God by blood? How about you? Do you know that? Do you believe that? And because
now his brother And Cain, his brother, brought the best that
he could do, didn't he? There's still only two religions
in the world, right? Works are great. What we do with
the blood of Christ. And his brother, Cain, brought
his works. And God rejected him. But Abel,
now who made the difference? raised the same way. They both
heard the same message and yet one rejected the blood and one
brought the blood. Why? Not of themselves, by grace. Abel received this gift of faith
and he came by the blood. And because of that, his brother
Cain hated him for it, didn't And he rose up and killed him.
And that's why he said, he that be in dead, yet speaketh. And
he died in the faith because he lived in the faith, he said. How about you? Anybody in here
have a brother or sister who thinks your religion is old-fashioned
and archaic and barbaric? That God's not that holy and
God's not that just? Anybody? And your brother or
your sister or your parents or even your children think that
this is just not the only way there is. If we do the best we
do. Anybody? And your relationship
with them is all but dead because of that fact. Anybody? It is
with me. God is that holy. And salvation
is the same now. As it was then, God said, when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. And in this house,
this house of kindness, this house of Bethesda, is preached
the blood. And if you're here and you truly
from the heart believe that it is the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, that cleanses you and redeems you, You're one of
God's Israel. How blessed you are to be in
this place. You're like Abel. Look at the next one. Look at
verse 5. By faith Enoch was translated. That is, he was taken from one
world to another, that he should not see death and was not found
because God had translated him. Before his translation, he had
this testimony that he pleased God, but without faith. He goes
on, It is impossible to please Him. He that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him, seek God. My faith, Enoch, did not die,
but walked one day. Whether he went to work or wherever
he went, he walked right on into glory one day. He told his wife
and his children one day, I am leaving. and never came back.
And you know the same is going to happen for all of us one day,
one way or another. But it says he pleased God, but
verse 6 says, without faith it's impossible to please God. Enoch
had to believe like Abel did, didn't he? Sure he did. Sure he did. God Almighty gave
us that first example without the shade of blood. And it says,
Enoch walked with God, and God took him. Now, over in the book
of Ammon, chapter 3, verse 3, tells us, or asks this question,
can two walk together except they be agreed? It says that Enoch walked with
God. Enoch walked with God. That means
that he agreed with God, right? can two walk together except
they be agreed. Enoch, he agreed with God. What does that mean? He believed
God. It's not that God agreed with
him, but Enoch believed God. What does he believe about God?
That he is God. I know that sounds simple, but
how many believe that today? How many people really believe
that today, that God is God? Throughout the book of Isaiah,
God keeps repeating this over and over again. I am God. There is none else. Is there
another God with me? Small g. Is there another with
me? He said, I know of no other.
There is no other. There never will be. There never
has been. I, over and over and over and over, God keeps saying,
I'm the Lord. There is none else. Meaning,
I am the sovereign ruler, controller, director, disposer of all things,
people, places, things, circumstances, events. I am God. There is none
else. Enoch believed God is God. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is. He is. He believed God is God. Now here's what God says about
Himself. And this is the God of the Bible
who is God. God is holy, holy, holy. Here we go again. What do most people think is
the chief attribute of God Almighty? Love. You know better, don't you? If
you do, you're greatly blessed by God. God is holy, preeminently,
chiefly, holy, holy, holy. That means a triune God, thrice
holy God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, holy. God is just. He will by
no means clear the gift God is sovereign, reigning, ruling. God is immutable. God doesn't
change. Aren't you glad if you know He
is God? That whatever He purposes, He
doesn't change His mind. That whatever He has ordered,
it won't change. Aren't you glad? This is true
faith and peace and comfort. God is omnipotent, all-powerful. It's not that he can do all things,
it is that he is doing all things. God who worketh, listen to Scripture,
worketh all things after the counsel of whose will? You know, whoever has free will
is God. There's not one in a million
that there is just one in a million that believes that God only has
a free will. Do you? Man does not have a free will.
We cannot say, I will do anything. You know that? We cannot say,
I will breathe. God, we can't say that. We don't
know. We can say, I hope to, I want
to, plan to, but we can't say, I will. God says, I will, and
it will be done. God's will alone is free. To
agree with God is to agree that God only, His will is being done
among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. And none can stay His hand or say, you can't do that.
He says, I've already done it. What do you think about these
things? Enoch believed, though all of
his neighbors and his friends and perhaps his family did not
believe. Once again, it was by the grace
of God. And not many in our day believe
this, do you? Do you agree with God or what the world says about
God? To walk with God is to reject the world. Reject the world. And to walk with God is to worship
God. Enoch worshipped God. Enoch knew
Adam. Adam's son Seth. Do you know
that? Enoch knew Adam. He knew, well, his son Methuselah
and his grandson was Lamech, Noah's father. He lived 365 years. lifetime he worshiped the Lord
like we're doing this morning. Well, you know, it wasn't exactly
the same setting and so forth, but he did worship the Lord.
Somebody got up and preached the Word of God. That's right. And talked about the blood, seed
of woman and so forth. And he worshiped the Lord with
God's people. To walk with God is to worship
God privately and publicly. And Enoch lived in a busy world
like we live in. He had a large family. Three
hundred and sixty-five years he lived. He had a lot of children
there. Vast responsibility. Perhaps
he had more than one job. I often have to laugh thinking
about at any given time he could have had thirty or forty teenagers
living in his house at the same time. But what I'm saying is, he had
responsibilities and cares. He had a home and he had a job.
Enoch walked with God. He worshiped God. Can a man or
a woman living in a busy, hectic world with many responsibilities
walk with God and worship God and order his or her life around
the worship of God? They not only can, but they do.
They must. You see, Christ is the life of
God's people, not a part of it. And that life is ordered around
worship, our life. The world can wait. What Enoch
said was, the world can wait. And to walk with God is to agree
with God and reject the world. Everything in this world and
everyone is against the truth of God, especially religion.
And to walk with God is to walk in direct opposition to this
world. Which brings us to Noah, the
next example, verse 7. Noah, by faith, Noah, being warned
of God and things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared
an ark to the saving of his house. by the witch he condemned the
world and became heir of the righteousness which is of faith."
We heard Brother Todd speak on this morning. By faith, Noah
being warned of God. What's the first thing that Noah
heard from God? Not that God loves everyone. He was warned of God. See, the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And Paul said in his
day, and what he said of his day is true of ours. The vast
majority, there is no fear of God before they're out. You young
people remember how for a long time that was a popular slogan,
wasn't it? It was a slogan that was worn on T-shirts and bumper
stickers and so forth. Well, that accurately describes
our generation. No fear of God. But the beginning
of saving wisdom or faith is the fear of the Lord. The fear
of the Lord. Brother Daniel's read that Psalm
76. I still haven't found it. There
he is. Read Psalm 76. Says, God ought to be feared. Ought to be feared. And he is
feared in the assembly of the saints, isn't he? All of God's
people fear him. Noah feared the Lord. He heard
God's warning. God says, I'm going to destroy
this world. Noah believed God. It says he moved with fear. He
moved with fear. And if you, like Noah, like Enoch,
like Abel, by the grace of God, believe this message, that God is indeed holy. that God does indeed require
blood for the remission of sin, as old-fashioned as that is,
as universally rejected as that is. Do you believe that? And you agree with God like Enoch,
and reject everything and everyone, whatever they say about salvation,
about the eternal life and so forth. You reject it hands down.
You agree with God like Enoch. And you've been warned of God
and you fear this God. You're greatly blessed. Oh, how
blessed you are. And it says that Noah moved with
fear, prepared an ark. Prepared an ark to the saving
of his house. Prepared an ark. Now, what's
an ark? Do you know what the ark is? Do you know what Noah's
ark is? I'm sure you do. You've been
taught well. How many people in the world
do? We have a lady, well we have several, like many of you who
were in religion before. This lady was in Southern Baptist
religion, very devout, always in attendance, grew up there
from Alabama, Bible Belt. grew up in religion, heard these
stories of Noah and so forth, Abraham. And she said, after
the Lord revealed Himself to her, being where the Gospels
print, she said, I heard that story of Noah's ark all my life. I didn't know that was Christ. Oh, how blessed we are if we
do. That ark was a vessel of safety. That ark was a vessel of salvation. That ark, Noah's ark, was a vessel
that would bear the wrath of God against the sinful world.
When the overflowing scourge of God, not his love but his
wrath, came through, whoever was in that ark was saved. Only
those in that ark were saved, right? Old story, a fable, an
allegory, another true story. And that everyone in that ark,
who was in that ark? Noah and his family. Why? Noah found grace. By grace he is saved. God chose
Noah. God called Noah. God put Noah
in the ark, didn't he? He didn't put himself there.
He didn't decide to build that ark. God told him about the ark.
And God put him in the ark and the scripture says God shut him
in the ark, didn't he? and sealed it up. It was pitched
on the outside, wasn't it, Brother Todd? Who did that? God shut him up. He was shut
up by faith. What? Shut up to faith. He was
preserved by God. What is that ark? That ark is
Jesus Christ. Noah did that. And so did you. And that ark eventually bore
the wrath of God that was meant for Noah. But since Noah was
in that ark, the wrath didn't touch him yet. Not a drop of
water touched him. Not a drop. And in the end, what
a glorious picture that ark is. You know, when the whole world
was covered with water, what was the only thing that was seen? When God leveled this whole world
with water, there was one thing that rose above it all and stood
above it all. That ark. That's Christ. That ark is Christ. And only
those in that ark are saved. Those in Christ, of God, are
you in Christ, who of God is our salvation. And that ark,
Noah knew that that ark is Christ. And Noah lived for 120 years. Listen to me. Bear with me. Noah
lived 120 years working on that ark. His life was that ark, wasn't
it? Clare, I love the thought of
when he pitched that ark, you know, put that black tar all
over that ark. You know how big that ark was?
It was pitched within and without. I don't know how many years it
took him to do that. It took him a long time. You've probably
done that yourself on a foundation or something. It takes a long
time. But at any rate, it took him years. And in the course
of that time, he always had tar on him. Whoever he came in contact with
probably got tar on them from being around Noah. And he did.
He was around his neighbors and people who were involved in that
ark and so forth. The point I'm trying to make
is the believer who believes Christ Whoever they come into
contact with, they're going to hear about the blood. That's
what they're going to hear. As that ark was Noah's life,
so is Christ the life of his people. A part of it, like we
said. And so 120 years, that ark, what
do you think he talked about for 120 years? I don't know if Noah's wife was
a believer or not, but she heard about that ark all the time.
Maybe she got tired of hearing about it. Noah didn't. Noah didn't. Verse 7 says he
prepared this ark for the saving of his house. His boys were in
on that ark. His boys, Shem, Ham, and Japheth
were in on that ark. Maybe they didn't want to be.
Maybe every morning they got up and said, I don't want to
work on that ark. Wouldn't know what to do. Get
up, son. As long as those boys were in
his house, he had them on the ark, didn't he? You see the point? It's not child
abuse bringing you. Though children think it is when
they're young that you're bringing them constantly to the worship
servant. It's not child abuse. you're
hoping and praying that you're having them under the sound of
the Gospel, the Word of God, which is able to make them wise
and salvation. They're going to be saved one
way. Brother Todd and I grew up in a church where the Gospel
was preached. That's the only kind of church
it is. We grew up in a church where the truth was proclaimed.
We heard message after message after message, didn't we, Todd?
I venture to say that very few people in here have heard more
preaching than I have. I'm a preacher's kid. And I really did resent
it at first, or for a while anyway, and couldn't wait to get out.
Was that cruel on the part of my parents? Was it abuse? Should they have let me go? Should
they have let me have my free will? Oh, it was the most loving, kind,
wonderful thing they could have done. As long as I was under
their roof, they had me under the sound of the gospel. Get
up, Shem! We're going to work on the ark. Because God is indeed going to
destroy this place. It's not an old-fashioned, it's
not a fairy tale. It's true. The whole world scoffs
at it, don't they? The whole world mocks Noah. Ah,
Noah, nobody believes like that. You think you're right and everybody
else is wrong? No. that I do believe God." And he
said it. Get up, him. And he had them in and around
and on that ark. My, my. Young people, may God
have mercy upon your soul like He did mine. This is true. And except you believe, you'll
perish. And by faith, the last example,
by faith, Abraham, verse 8, which Brother Niebuhr dealt with. When he was called to go out,
what was Abraham called to do? Go out. Go out. There's a verse over
in Exodus that says, God said, I am come down to bring them
out, to bring them up. What a text that is. I am come
down to bring them out. What? Of Egypt. But he was going
to judge to bring them up. And that's what God does when
he calls his people. They're all called. For whom
he did foreknow, he did predestinate. And whom he did predestinate,
he called. Now, this call is not an invitation. God Almighty does not invite
anybody, as they say today. That is just not true. It's false. The call of God is an all-powerful,
sovereign act of God upon a dead sinner, bringing them from death
to life, just like God did Lazarus in that tomb that day. He called
him by name, a particular dead man. He called him. Did he rise? Did he come? When God calls,
you do. You do. And this call is an operation
of God. You see, this faith is not of
ourselves. It's the gift of God. It's according
to the working of His mighty power. Abraham was a 75-year-old
idolater in religion all his life. Who can convince a 75-year-old
man of anything? Who can get a 75-year-old man
to reject all of his former religion, to renounce his former idolatry
and worship and serve the living and true God? Who can do that?
With man, it's impossible. And this is what religion says
and does today. You know, how are you going to
get anybody to come if you don't have this or that, all of these
programs and so forth? How are you going to get anybody
to come if you don't invite them, if you don't bribe them, if you
don't... Well, if that's what I was... If I was trying to get
people to come, that's what I would do, wouldn't you? But I'm not bringing them. God is. And that's not the way
God does it. God said, I will say unto the
north wind. God says, I will call my sons
and daughters from afar. I'll say to the north, give up.
South. They'll come from every corner of the globe. I will call
them by my power, by the gospel, by what you're hearing this morning,
by which the world calls foolishness. All this talk of blood and and
judgment and so on. The world calls foolishness.
This is the power of God and the wisdom of God and the saving
power. This is how God Almighty calls
every one of His children. And this is how they're known.
Christ said, All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me. God called through this preaching
of the gospel. They shall come. Let me close
with this illustration, and I've told this many times in various
places, maybe here, I don't remember, but it's still as good an illustration
as I can come up with about this call. I have a dog, an old dog named
Abner, and I chose that dog. I was determined, I purposed
to have a dog. Now, who needs a dog? Dogs in
themselves are not worth anything. I know there are dog lovers in
here, but honestly, a dog is a dog, and after it's all said
and done, they're not worth anything. But you decide to have one. Bad
decision. Anyway, I purposed to have a
dog. We've got two dogs, aren't we?
And I went to the place where dogs were, and there was a litter
of puppies, eleven puppies, and I chose that puppy. He didn't
choose me. I didn't ask which of them wanted
to come home with me. I chose the dog. I chose the
one I wanted. Now, again, I didn't need a dog. He couldn't add anything to me.
Well, I could do something for him, though, because whoever
is coming home with me is blessed indeed. But I chose him. I set my love on him. I paid
money for him. Well, you think about that. You
know how many millions of dogs there are? You pay money? I did. Pretty good son of mine. I chose
that dog. I paid for that dog, redeemed
it. I brought that dog home with me. It's mine, my dog. I began
to teach that dog, train that dog. That's my dog. Well, I've
had him a long time now. I've had him about 12 or 14 years.
You know what? He's still a dog. One day, and
here's the story, one day there was a pack of dogs in our yard. Pit bulls or dogs without collars. You know, some rough looking
dog. If you get one or two dogs together, you've got a little
problem. If you get three or four together, you've got real
problems. If you get a big pack of dogs together and they're
all male generally, you've got trouble. You've got a dangerous
situation. My wife is the one that told me about them and she
said, we've got to do something about those dogs. I said, all
right. And I waited. The next day, they were out there
again. And so I was determined to do
something about those dogs and what can be done. I'm going to
call the authorities and have them rounded up. And you know
what happens when they generally round up dogs, eventually? Huh? And if that didn't happen,
Kelly, I was going to take matters into my own hands. I've got a
grandbaby now, you know. I've got people Well, one day, the next day I
believe it was, I went outside and lo and behold, right in the
middle, that pack of dogs was there again, and right in the
middle of that pack of dogs was my dog. Now, I'm going to do something
about these worthless dogs. But my dog was in the middle
of it. Will an old dog do what young dogs do? Absolutely. That's His nature. Can an old
believer and saint be found in the midst of this world? Absolutely. Absolutely. But how do you know
who are God's dogs and who are God's people? Well, I went out
on that porch, and there's that pack of dogs. And I didn't speak
kindly. I wasn't happy about it. I spoke
roughly, like old Joseph to his brother, remember? And I didn't
even call his name. I just said, come. And who came? One dog. The rest of the dogs ran from
me. One ran to me. And he had his ears folded down
his tail between his legs. He was so ashamed of himself.
He was guilty. But he ran to my feet and lay
down at my feet. And I said, good boy. He didn't do anything good, but
he came when I called him. Why? That's my dog. My dog. Do you come through the blood
of a lamb still? Old-fashioned, isn't it? It's
only one way. God is the same. Do you walk
with this God? Do you agree with this God in
the face of a world that has all but rejected everything in
this book? You know it's such. But do you
agree with this God? Do you believe that there is
one hope of your salvation? It's an ark named Jesus Christ. And you are determined by God's
grace to have your children, your family, as much as life
within you under the sound of this one saving message. Have you been called? You have
to come. Guilty though you may be, you
come and cast yourself at the feet of this God who became a
man. Oh, my. If you have, if you do,
you're so blessed. You have the saving power. Okay.
May the Lord bless you. Thank you, Brother Paul. May
God call his dogs.