In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of a process in attaining the fullness of Christ within oneself. He compares it to learning the piano, where dedication and persistence are necessary. The speaker also mentions the Santa Clara Swim Club, highlighting the intense training that Olympic contenders go through. The sermon then delves into 1 Timothy 4:13, discussing the significance of commanding and teaching the word of God. The speaker emphasizes the need to set an example in speech, life, love, faith, and purity, and to not neglect one's spiritual gifts. The sermon concludes with the message that along with relying on the Lord's help, one must also actively strive and discipline oneself to attain salvation.

Your wonderful love toward us, Lord, you bring us through so many things, keep us going. We appreciate it, Lord. Appreciate all our blessings, our health and safety. Your good presence in our homes, Lord, to keep us and our loved ones, we appreciate it. We appreciate it very much. I pray tonight, Lord, that your hand will be in our homes, keep our loved ones, and that as we proceed, Lord, you will direct us to that which we are going to need in the days to come. We need your help, Lord. We need your guidance and your strength. Help us, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. As I was praying tonight, I still feel we're in the 11th chapter of Hebrews. We'll see what happens from there. Andrew and Yvonne have been on Hebrews, particularly chapter 10. We started Sunday morning in verse 35. Sunday night, we're pushing 38 and 39. I feel to go ahead in faith, about faith. I try to get the flavor of exactly what's going on here, why the author wrote about faith as he or she did who ever wrote this thing. One thing that we need to know, this was written to Jewish Christians. That's why it's called Hebrews. It was written to people who knew the law. It was written to people who had forsaken Moses to follow Christ. They had heard the apostles. They had seen miracles. Now, for some reason, they had hit what happens after you get saved and get to baptism. They were like, what's next? What's next? What I'm doing is trying to catch the flavor of what's going on here in the 11th chapter. He's telling them in chapter 10, verse 23, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess. See what he's saying? It's a thing of hold on here. They were letting up. They were letting up. And he said, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promises faithful, and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together. Now, evidently they were, they'd been real hot to go, and then they were cool off. He says, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another in all the more as you see the day approaching. And that incredible 2000 years, and they're seeing the day of the Lord coming 2000 years ago. And that's why when the prophets speak, and even when they're speaking today, you can't tell. I mean, things seem so imminent, but it seemed imminent to them. And yet it was 2000 years away, at least. So there's a timelessness about prophecy and about the spirit realm, that you really can get tripped up on. I've been through that. Audrey and I have been through that. We thought, my goodness, in the late 40s that things were coming to an end. It certainly wouldn't go past 1955, and here it is 1999. But you just have that feeling of the spirit realm. It's right here. It's right here. But it doesn't happen. So you have to keep on going. And that's when they thought they're going to see the Lord coming and it'll all be over. You can tell from Thessalonians, but it didn't happen. And then he says something here in verse 26 of chapter 10. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth. Now, that's an important issue in our day. I don't know how they handle that out at Point Loma, the Christian that continues in sin. But by and large, the idea is it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter that much. It isn't nice. We shouldn't do it. But the question of what happens, the importance of your behavior after you have accepted Christ and been filled with the spirit is where we have gone off today. That's where the evangelical track has gone off, is what happens if we're a Christian and we still sin. And he said, if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth. In other words, we're not talking about some guy who's doing the best he can and is deceived or, you know, is overcome or something else. But deliberately, we just, we don't, you know, we're just going to sin and that's part of life. There remains no more sacrifice for sins, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and a raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. The sinning Christian is an enemy of God. You know, the more, I don't know if the Lord is speaking to me or what, but I'm telling you that, in fact, I'm writing a book right now, a booklet. Our goal is to be saved. Our goal is to be saved. Don't think of that. We don't think of that as the goal. Boy, I can trot you out a bucket full of scriptures and I went through them Sunday night on the tape. Boy, there's a mess of them that show that our goal is to be saved. He that endures to the end shall be saved. By which you're saved if you do so and so. In so doing, you will save yourself and those who hear you. And there's a lot of them. And think about, I want to, you want a blockbuster. It's Philippians 3, where Paul at the end of his life says, if by any means I may win Christ. You know, we are as deeply in need of a reformation as was true in the time of the Protestant Reformers. We are way, we've got what Audrey calls a Hollywood salvation. We simply don't know what salvation is. We don't know what salvation is. You can't say I was saved yesterday, because salvation is a fruit bearing process. You can't say I was bearing fruit yesterday. What sense does that make? I was bearing fruit yesterday. And then the penalty for not bearing fruit is awesome. You'll be removed from the vine. So what we call getting saved is really an entrance into a program by which, as it says in 1 Peter, we save ourselves. That's what we call it. That your sins are forgiven. And that's the way it was preached in the book of Acts. Consistently, when you came to the Lord, it was repent and your sins will be forgiven. Repent and your sins will be forgiven. Let's look at this verse. Once again, Audrey pointed out that I hadn't gone into the criteria. I just left it, but it's very interesting and I'm writing on this and my mind is on it. 1 Timothy 4, and we'll start back in around verse 13. I've been picking this verse apart today, this passage. I mean, this is a showstopper. This is a showstopper. It just breaks everything that we believe to be true of theology, of salvation. These pages are so thin, I swear I can't. 1 Timothy, what did I say? 4, 13? No, I'm at first decimal, is that the problem? Alright, come on boys, let's go. 1 Timothy. Alright, starting with verse 11. The first word. The first word, command, is not an acceptable term. The idea is we ought to be good, but we're not to treat the things, the statements, the Christ and his apostles as commands. Command and teach these things. Command them. How many can remember what the Great Commission is? Make disciples and teach them to eat my commandments. See, we've lost that. We've lost that, the force of that. Command this, Timothy. Command this. And teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because you're young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, because people didn't have books in those days, to preaching and to reading. Do not neglect your gift which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Now, I want to tell you before we get to the end here, that all these things are necessary if you're to be saved. And you say, well, you know, if I don't use my gift, I'll still be saved. Uh-uh. Matthew 25. You'll be sent to the outer darkness. I wonder sometimes how Bible scholars get around what is so evident, what is so clearly scriptural. We're really way off. We're as bad off as the Catholics were with indulgences and penance. We're that far off, if not further. You can't neglect your gift and be saved. According to the Lord, it'll be taken from you and you'll be sent into the outer darkness. And that's hardly a description of salvation. Which is given you through a prophetic message. Well, we're getting back to that prophetic message. Be diligent in these matters. Give yourself wholly to them so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them. Persevere in them. I talk a lot about that word perseverance. Because if you do, now look, you will save both yourself and your hearers. And I examined the context to see if possibly he was talking about save yourself from jail or save yourself in front. Let me tell you why. Because in Philippians, Paul said, he talks about their prayers and he says, I know this shall turn to my salvation. Well, that word can be translated deliverance. And so the common thought is he couldn't be talking about he was getting saved by their prayers. But, you know, I won't fight against it. Okay. He's talking about being delivered from prison. But then look at this. A woman shall be saved in childbearing. What sense does that mean? It means just that. It means salvation is something other than we have pictured. He that endures to the end shall be saved. Which tells us clearly that salvation is something that comes at the end of the program, not at the beginning. It isn't like you get saved and then after that what you do is good, bad, or indifferent, but you're saved. It isn't that at all. It's that when you receive Christ, your sins are forgiven. And you have to, according to Acts, bring forth works suitable for repentance. So in order to be forgiven, you have to demonstrate that you are turning away from the world. That's the job of the evangelist and the apostle as he goes from city to city proclaiming redemption through Christ and that we're not under Moses anymore. But then all the other ministries of the body kick in to tell us how you get yourself saved. Radical. I'm not trying to make a big heresy out of it or a big doctor. I'm just emphasizing something that has been sorely neglected and which the commentators have to waltz all around like the she shall be saved in childbearing. They have a she shall be saved because Mary bore the child Jesus. I mean, they'll go to any lengths to avoid the clear text. But you can't do much with Philippians 3 if by any means I may gain Christ. And you can't do too much with John 15 3 that you have to bear fruit to stay in the vine. You can't do much with that. But look at this one. Persevere in them because if you do, you will save both yourself. You will save yourself. So Jesus did not come to do an arbitrary work of salvation. We wish he did. We would like to think that there's some way in which we can kick back either in this world or in the world to come and know that no matter what we did, we couldn't be sinned and we couldn't be lost. But forever and ever we will be able to sin. Satan did when he was around the throne of God. There's no scripture that says that any specific that I know of, I'm glad to be corrected, that says that by any specific point or action, we no longer are able to sin or rebel against God. So things, and I don't view this with frightening manner. Whatever. It suits me to a T. I can see what the Lord is saying. And I've said this many times that Jesus didn't come to save us by a sovereign act. He came to make it possible for us to save ourselves by doing what he said. And he stands ready to help us at every turn of the road. Any time we're willing to call on him, he's there to help us. He will, with every temptation, make a way to escape. He will do everything that God is capable of doing to bring us through. But in the long run, we save ourselves by doing what he said. By obeying the commandments. Eddie? As a report you did come out of 1 John 3.9, when you said that there's a matter of choice still there. What does it say? That since we were born of God, it's not going to intend for us to even meet Him, and then we cannot sin because we're born of God. Yes, and the commentators render that properly. It's obviously true that even after Christ has been conceived in us, we can't sin. So I can't be talking about that. What it's saying is that the divine seed in us that has been born in us cannot sin. That cannot sin. And so when that's brought forth to maturity, then that is our guarantee against sin. The point is that to bring that to maturity depends on us. Depends on what we do. Because salvation in its ultimate and full sense is Jesus Christ himself. Now, one of the things taught in Bible school, I don't know if they teach it in Point Loma, but they do in Assembly of God Bible colleges, they do have a series of studies on the peccability versus the impeccability of Christ. Did you encounter that at all? All right, that's quite a big thing in theology. And the issue that is raised with the students is this. Could Christ have sinned? Or was he peccable or impeccable? Impeccable meaning it was impossible for him to sin. Well, you can see how students could go back and forth on this. But the truth of the matter is, the Bible says in two places Christ learned obedience by which he suffered. By the things he suffered. Which implies to me clearly that he passed from a state of lesser obedience to a state of greater obedience. Otherwise the verse doesn't mean anything at all. Now again, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ and the sons, it says, because thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God thy God has anointed thee above thy fellows, evidently speaking in the spirit realm of highly placed spiritual potentates who are regarded as the fellows of Christ. If it doesn't mean that, I don't know what it means. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God even thy God has anointed thee above thy fellows. And so Jesus was the one who loved righteousness and therefore he's been anointed above all of his peers. He bears the anointing, he is the Christ. God has made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ. Now that he faced a genuine decision in Gethsemane, I think is obvious to any fair reader of the thing who puts any fair understanding of the ordinary use of languages employed there. So in my judgment, yes, Christ is perfectly able to sin. He's perfectly able to rebel against the Father if he so chooses. Well then, the next issue is, why doesn't he choose to do so? Because there's something in him that loves God above all, even to the place of Gethsemane where he was threatened with an eternal loss of fellowship with God, even in that he obeyed God. So he obeyed God so totally that God has made him Lord of all. That was the supreme test, was the test in Gethsemane. Okay, so there is something in Jesus Christ that chooses to obey God. God has loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Obviously he made a choice in there because otherwise what would, if he couldn't, if he couldn't choose to love righteousness and hate iniquity, then that whole thing is a farce. Why would God then anoint him because of something that he couldn't have done anyway? So the very verse itself implies that Christ was well able to choose righteousness, well able to hate iniquity, so it boils down to choice. He made a choice in Gethsemane. He made choices in the desert, and if it wasn't possible for him to sin, Satan would not have tempted him in the desert, because Satan, whatever else he is, he is practical. And he doesn't waste time testing you unless he thinks there's a possibility you'll fail. It would have meant nothing, and the whole, the thing that he was, what does that say, he was, doesn't say he was tested in all points like his way or something like that. It means nothing, the thing is a farce. He was God incarnate, totally impeccable, the whole thing is a mock-up, and it means nothing, and there's no way we're able even truly to relate to it, except in some theological sense. It has no guts, no meaning, no person that you're dealing with that said, God, God, take this up from me if it's possible. You're not dealing with anything real, but with some kind of a trumped-up thing. It reminds you of the current version of the great white throne judgment where they're all doomed, but the whole thing is a trumped-up thing that means absolutely nothing. This theological thing gets removed from the reality of God as a person and Christ as a person, and Christ his son choosing to be obedient and thereby being made Lord of all, and here's another one for you. The end of chapter 3 of Revelation says, to him that overcomes even as I also overcame. So what's to overcome if you are impeccable? There's nothing to overcome, you couldn't sin, you couldn't do anything with overcome, so the whole thing would be a farce. So in my opinion, Christ is a real person just like you and me. He's been with the Father exactly as it says in the Gospel of John. He is with the Father from the beginning. All things were created through him, and yet in spite of all this he learned obedience by the things he suffered. He was made perfect through suffering, the captain of our salvation in Hebrews 2, and so the guarantee that we have that we will never sin again is based on two things. One, that Christ has been brought to maturity in us, which is the new covenant, and secondly, that nature in us chooses not to sin. Can it sin? Yes. Will it sin? No. Why won't it sin? Because it is begotten of God, just as Christ is begotten of God, but not in the sense of peccability. Still, if Christ was peccable, if he could sin, then he had no power of choice. There's no meaningful choice there. Unless there's something that escapes me, there's no meaningful choice. The Bible said he was heard and that he feared. Otherwise he's not like us at all, and there's no comparison, and there's no way we can overcome as he overcame because he's God. That being the case, back to 1 John 3.9, he that is born of God does not commit sin, and he cannot sin because his seed remains in him, and he's born of God. All right, that's in the third chapter. Now if you start at the beginning of that chapter and read through, the context of that is if we say that we're abiding in him and sin, we lie and do not the truth. He that abides in him doesn't sin. If he sins, he hasn't known him. That's the context of that chapter. Every man that has the hope in him of being like Jesus purifies himself. If he doesn't do this, he's a liar and so on. That's the third chapter. And then he says in verse 8 there, for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil, and then that which is begotten of God does not sin because it's begotten of God. It's not carnal, it's not human, it's not Adamic, and as long as we're in the Adamic nature, the Adamic nature sins, it drinks water, it drinks sin like water, it is fundamentally rebellious, and so God has given us commandments, and we are commanded to do them, and we can do them. Look at them. Teach these things. This he could do. Don't let anyone look down on you. This he can do. Set an example in speech and life and love and faith and impurity, and this he can do by what? By what means? Christ hasn't been fully formed in him yet. This is old Tim we're talking to. How can he do these things? Absolutely. By prayer and reading his Bible, and this is what we are commanded to do. When we're impure, we confess our sin, we go back, we ask God for help. When we're doing these other things, our example of life or love or faith in our person is not right, we go to God and we do these things. Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture. This he could do with this Bible there that he had, with the Hebrew Bible. He could give himself to preaching and teaching. He could cease from neglecting his gift. He could be diligent. He could give himself wholly to them so that everyone may see his progress. He could be careful about his life and careful about his doctrine. See, God has commanded us these things, but what is the kicker? The kicker is in doing this you're saving yourself. Well, how are you saving yourself? Because you're putting to death your Adamic nature and Christ is growing in you and that is your salvation. And that is how you're saving yourself. Well, what happens if you don't do this? When you're cut out of the vine? When you're put into the outer darkness? Well, the door is shut in your face. I mean, it's plain as anything can be. Don't you think? But look at how stern it is. Am I running roughshod over anybody's feelings? But look at how stern it is in Hebrews 10. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we receive the knowledge of the truth. Now, King James says, sin willfully. And you understand in the Bible there's a great difference between sinning and sinning willfully. In the Old Testament there was no sacrifice for willful sin. You keep reading, it says, if a man be overtaken in a fault, if a man be overtaken in a fault. And then it says, if the person that sins presumptuously, I think the King James says, he'll be cut off from his people. There's no sacrifice for willful sin. No. No. Most of our sins that we do, we regret. It's like the guy beating on his breast and saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Most of the sins we do either are out of deception or out of weakness. You know, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak and we're hating ourself while we're doing it. That's not willful sin. I'll give you an example of willful sin. A clear example, and I was principal of a Christian school at the time. And there was a girl came into the office and she said, I'm going out tonight and I'm going to do something in the back seat of a car with a boy, but I know the Lord will forgive me. That's willful sin. That's not being overtaken in a fault. She was not in the passion at that time. It was a cold thing. Now, another man, a famous charismatic writer, and I can't think of his name, but he was at the Christmas party two years ago. Remember with the oxygen thing? Well, I don't know that guy's name. And he wrote a book on, remember he was at the cathedral at the Christmas party and he came in and he had the oxygen thing? Remember that stand? Anyway, he wrote of a lady and a man were about to commit adultery and she prayed and she said, Lord forgive us for this which we are about to do. See, that's willful sin. And see, this girl had been taught that if she went and did nasty things in the back seat of a car, that Jesus would forgive her. She had been taught that. Not realizing that there's no, that's what it says here, there's no offering either in the New Testament or the Old for willful sin. Question over here. Yeah, I mean, you kind of made the example that you gave, you kind of made the question of whether this girl was acting willfully against, she wasn't doing something that had external consequences. Well, deception is another matter. Deception is a spiritual action in which you do not know that you're deceived. This other thing, she didn't know she was deceived, but it, and it was the fault, she didn't know that she was, couldn't be forgiven. And it was the result of deception. But how God would judge that, whether he would judge that as willful sin or not, I do not know. I know that God is merciful. But you see, there are consequences. There, well, look at the scripture. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is lost. Now someone, now we have a nation full of people who are living under false teaching and sinning under false teaching. And if I'm hearing from the Lord correctly, and the other prophets in the group can confirm or deny, we are heading in the United States toward very difficult times. I'm still hearing war, war, war. And I think there's going to be war on our soil of some kind, either terrorism or something. But whatever it is, it's going to be horrendous. And as I was praying tonight and coming out here, and I said, Lord, what do these people need? And I felt the Lord was saying, you're going to have to strengthen them because they're going to need it in the days to come. We're going to have to be living the 11th chapter of Hebrews, where they were sown asunder and they were going from dens. We're going to have to remember what we were taught now. While things are easy, it's going to have to come back to us that God hasn't forsaken us. This is the normal Christian life. I think we're heading for very severe chasing. And in that time, I believe God will awaken his people. He will bring forth preachers who preach the truth. In fact, he already is raising up preachers who are preaching the truth. I've been saying for 25 years that the United States is going to have a great revival, and it's going to be in the midst of great trouble. And I think at that time, a lot of what is going on now in the name of Christianity will be swept aside. I mean, if we have a few of our atomic installations blown up by terrorists, and say a million or two people, a million people die of radiation, then it's going to, I think the preachers are going to get off this grace, heaven, rapture kick and begin to preach the Bible. I think it's going to drive people back to the Bible. So I think that probably what the Lord would do in the case of that girl would be, he'd be merciful and patient, would be to have someone tell her the truth, and then judge her on what she does. There was a lady who was a fervent Pentecostal, spoke in tongues, and she married a Nazarene man. And his position was tongues are of the devil. And he kept this up, tongues are of the devil, and he let her go to her church, but he kept it up, saying tongues are of the devil. Well, he watched her life for a number of years, and one day he said to her, but tongues are of the devil. And the Lord spoke to him and said, don't ever say that again. Because you see, technically that's blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and there's no forgiveness for that in this world or in the ages to come. There is no forgiveness for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. So the Lord could have pulled that law the first time he said it, but that's not his way. He gave this man a chance to see his wife until there was no question in his mind that she obviously was a devout Christian. And then his saying tongues are of the devil became just a cheap, meaningless remark. He knew better. And the Lord said, don't ever say that again. And if he had gone on, he was in peril of his immortal soul. And if God spoke to that girl, or she heard this preached or something, and it came to her, then I think in that case that would be pure willful sin. But like it says here, we'll go just by the word, if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left. There's no sacrifice for willful sin. New Testament or old. The sacrifice for sin under the old covenant was the blood of bulls and goats. Under the new covenant is Jesus Christ. And that's why in the famous 6th chapter, which there isn't a commentator I have read that will leave the thing stay, where it says, if they fall away to renew them again, there's not a commentator that I have read that will leave that lay. They won't surrender. They will not believe that. But that exactly follows this. This is what he's saying in chapter 6. This is exactly what he's repeating. In fact, it's several times in the book of Hebrews. That same idea. In fact, we were discussing it Sunday in verse 39. We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed. That is saying to these Jews that were saved and had tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come and the Holy Spirit and had seen the apostles and everything. He said, if you shrink back, you're going to be destroyed. And this is exactly what happened with the guy in Matthew 25 that couldn't use his talent. It was taken from him and sent into outer darkness. He shrank back to perdition or destruction. Again, in Galatians 6, if you're sold to the flesh, you're going to reap destruction. Yes? Before Constantine came and pretty much destroyed the church, they actually practiced this. Probably better, a lot better than what we have today. Actually, if you want to get scripture, go in the book of Acts when Philip met Eunuch and explained to him about Christ. He said, here's water, what does it hinder me? And he was baptized. However, at that time in Acts, the church had not really been structured. And by the time it was structured, I read somewhere that Martin Luther celebrated a closed communion. And I know in Iceland where I preach, they celebrate closed communion. That is, they put a sign in the door, nobody submitted, we're taking communion. You can't come off the street and take communion. You've got to be a member of the church to take communion. That's called a closed communion. And churches do that. And I read somewhere that Luther celebrated a closed communion. So yes, today we've got what Audrey calls a Hollywood salvation. The thing is, has it developed into kind of a novelty with a kick to it, and it's popular, and everybody in the country is born again, including the president. You know, it's not Christianity at all. Man, imagine that kind of background that people have if we have a couple of our atomic installations blown up. Imagine if you read in the paper, you know, this place wiped out, three million people dead, another five, ten million people with radiation and poison. How would that impact on the American church? Much less as has happened in Sudan and other places, you know, where they come in and stick your head in the toilet till you're about to drown, yank your head back when you recant, and they'll stick your head down the toilet again. People endure these things, and they're being crucified. Colson's been telling about the crucifixions that have been taking place in Egypt with the Coptic Christians. I mean, they're being tortured over there, murdered in Egypt, the Coptic Christians, as well as what's going on in China, and Peru, and in parts of Africa, the Muslims, and Sudan. Oh, listen, we have no idea what Christianity is all about. I just finished reading, and I told you, a book about Chinese women that lead these home groups, and this is current, this is as of 1998, put out by Brother Andrew, Church of the Open, what do you call it, Open Door, something like that. But anyway, the things these people go through, even the women, but for the men it's much worse. There's nothing like popping in prison for ten years, twenty years, thirty years, putting them up in the frozen part there to try to work and live with no food, they're not warming up, everything's freezing. Then when the young guards went through and they had their big revolt against the intellectuals, I mean, the way the scholars, the Chinese scholars, and people of letters, and professional people, and everything, the idea was there, you know, the bourgeois, they're to be wiped out, and these kids went through, man, did they suffer. And then before that, the Japanese, the Chinese, suffered in Nanking when the Japanese came, and you read about Nanking and the things that went on there, and all those Chinese had been taught about the rapture, they were going to be raptured, and then they went through this terrible, it's called the Rape of Nanking, by the Japanese. And that's nothing, I've been reading a book about history, and I put it down last night, and I said, Lord, this is a vile world, it's a vile world. And we in America are in some kind of a birdcage, I mean, this is not real. And so it's hard for us to picture where these Christians are coming from, where these words are coming from. And when he said to those people, if you shrink back, you're going to be destroyed, I mean, he didn't pull any punches, and they didn't all leave the church and go to the church around the corner that told them the grace rapture in heaven, I mean, this is all they had. And these were Jews. That's why all, that's why all of the people in the 11th chapter are all Jews. See, they could understand that. He said, this is what it means to live by faith. One of the Habakkuk said that, or whoever said it, or Hosea, or whichever one said, the just shall live by faith. This is what, he said, this is what it means to live by faith. It hasn't changed. It hasn't changed. And the Christian centuries show that it hasn't changed. They've been beaten and driven from pillar to post, and left bloody footprints in the snow. So what God, I think, is laying on my heart is, prepare the people, prepare the people. Just strengthen them, so they have something to think about in the days to come. They realize, you know, the world hasn't come to an end. This is just norm. And if we're under the shadow of the Most High, we have the 91st son to protect us, regardless if the whole country goes up in flames. We still have the 91st son. So there's not to worry. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left. You can't just go out and say, I know I'm going to sin, and I'm sick and tired of being a Christian, and I'm going to go blow it for a while. And before you come back, you're going to find out the Lord isn't there. Yes. The 91st Psalm, that's not talking about that nothing bad's going to happen to us. And I think I was talking about that once, didn't I? It seems like you preach the 91st Psalm, but that can't be true. He said, some of you will be put to death, but not a hair of your head will perish. Yeah, you have to look at it spiritually, because some will die. I remember one of the outstanding young men in the Marine Corps, who was a testimony to everyone around him, loved the Lord, and he bailed out of a plane as a paratrooper before he hit the ground, a hole right in the middle of his forehead. I mean, he was dead before he hit. And you wonder about things like this. Man, he went right into glory. Like through Gates of Splendor, like those five guys down in the jungle, they're right into glory. So, the thing is, Satan can't touch you. Satan can't touch you. And I'm glad you brought that up, because that's something for us to remember in the days to come. If our families are wiped out, or we're wiped out, or anything, it has nothing to do with our relationship with Jesus. There's nothing to fear. Romans 8, life, death, and all these cannot separate you from the love of God. That's why the week before, I was into this fact that He shall never die. He shall never die. Will you hear when I was preaching, He shall never die? I finished a booklet on that. Now, that's so real. We need to know that. He shall never die. He that lives and believes in me shall never die. That's not death. So, the atom bomb comes down and we're vaporized. Life goes on. I don't mean tinkling bells and floating around. I mean life goes on. And we join the cloud of witnesses, and the only difference is that we're not in the flesh and bone body. But life, meaning thinking, remembering, enjoying, planning, working, praying, goes on. He who lives and believes in me shall never die. Oh, it's so real. And the New Testament constantly refers to physical death as sleep. Constantly. Not talking about soul sleep, but meaning that it's of little consequence. The mage sleeps. Why is this a do? You know, she's only asleep. It's not real. That's why I keep getting back to this Y2K. Whenever you hear people all upset about that, you just want to know that they're living in the flesh, because the true Christian is not worried about Y2K or anything else. That's not where we're living. We're living, He who lives, we're living in the 91st term. A thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand. It will not come near you, meaning the destroyer will not come near you. Physical death is of no consequence to us. He who lives and believes in me shall never die. And all these witnesses are around us, marching on with us, learning from us. Just like it says in Hebrews 11, Abel is still, by faith, he's still speaking. All of God's witnesses speak forever. They're speaking to us, we're speaking to them. All the speaking is done on the earth. It's never spoken down from heaven. All the speaking is done on the earth. We're speaking to them. They're all around here now. One time I was walking up Jesmond Dean, I looked up and I looked in the eyes of a whole bunch of people taking notes. That was many years ago. A whole bunch of people taking notes. They're all around us. They're in their room. They're studying. What is going on? What is God doing today? Where's this thing going? Just like Moses and Elijah, they wanted to know about the atonement, so they're down there asking Christ about this death that you're going to do. What's significant? Where is this in the Bible? He who lives and believes in me shall never die. Never, never, never die. And that's not some nice fancy church saying, by life we mean we are alive, we are talking, we are being, we are learning, we are studying, we are planning, we are hoping, we are enjoying. That's life. It never ends in Jesus. If Rembrandt van Rijn lives in Jesus, he's still painting. If Boggsville living in Jesus, he's still composing. He's still playing. He who lives and believes in me shall never die. I love it. It's so true. We don't have to fear death. There is no death. In Jesus there is no death. We're not carry off up into some mystical thing. We're surrounding. You're surrounded with a great cloud of wind. You're surrounded with them and they're here and they're in this room. And so is Jesus. Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there. He is here. And the witnesses of God are here. From the time of Abel. Abel's probably here with the rest of them unless they take turns. I don't know how they do it. Maybe some of them are over where one of these Chinese women is preaching. I don't know. I don't think they're listening to the rapture preaching. Well, that's no joke. You know, we think once we die we'll know all the answers. Forget it. Once you die you're a Catholic, you believe in the Virgin Mary, you'll still be a believer. There's nothing that says dying will change what you believe. Dying isn't the source of theology. If you die believing in the rapture, still believe in the rapture. And if you have a heart to come and learn, you can come and listen to whoever you want to. Life goes on. Life goes on. Life goes on. All right. Now, notice what he's saying to all these dear Christians. But only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. That's what we are if we keep on sinning deliberately. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Oh, that old Jehovah of the Old Testament. But now we have our gentle Jesus. But look what it says. If they died that way in the law of Moses, how much more severely? Do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God on their foot? Now, remember, this is talking about Christians who had grown cold or are in the process of getting cold. And he's warning them. Hebrews is a book to backsliding Christians. And I mean, he's telling them about it. Who is treated as an unholy thing, the blood of the covenant that sanctified him. See, at one time he had been set apart by the blood as holy. At one point, he has insulted the spirit of grace. He had the spirit of grace. He turned against it. For we know him who said in his mind to avenge, I will repay. And again, the Lord will judge all those other people. What does it say? His people. We're talking about his people. Almost every one of the dire things that happened in the Gospels, predictions, are addressed to the Lord's people. The only exception I know of is the goat nations. All the rest being cut in pieces and beaten and all this talents and the door shut in your face and all this stuff, all talking about the Lord's people. Being cut out of the vine, talking about the Lord's people. We are in a time of reformation that is just as serious, just as profound, just as sweeping, just as needed as the days of the Protestant reformers. The Catholic Church had got way off the track. Originally, the Catholic Church had a lot going for it. Originally, it had a lot going for it. There were priests that were as holy as anyone would ever find in any age. But by the time of the reformers, it had gotten pretty corrupt with the sale of indulgences. They'd gone way off the track. And so God brought a reformation. We're just as far off today, just as far off. We are weird in the things that are being taught. All right. Again, it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I was held once in the hands of God. I still remember that. I remember where I was. I was in Newark, California. Quite experienced. Remember those earlier days after you had received the light? Now look at their background. Look at their background. You had received the light. When you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering, sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution. At other times, you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. What a background. These were not new Christians. These were the real stuff. I mean, they'd been through persecution. And if they had been through persecution and then were worn like this, what is true of us in America? You know, I feel sometimes like once in the days of King Josiah, they were cleaning out the temple. They found a book of the law. And they brought it to King Josiah. And he's sitting there, you know, he's going to read it. And I mean, he heard a few words and he got up and tore his clothes. He said, we are in trouble, boys. And so they sent to a prophetess, Hilda. And she said, you go back and tell the king, he'll have a decent burial, but Israel's gone over this, gone past it. It's too late. Nevertheless, Josiah went ahead with all kinds of reforms. But it did no good. He was buried in pieces, the Lord said, but then they went into Babylon. That's where we are today. It's like finding the book of the law. You can't believe what you're reading. I mean, this kind of an address to seasoned Christians that had suffered joyfully the ruin of their homes and their furniture, their belongings, and had been persecuted and insulted publicly in the Roman Empire. This is a serious thing because by and large, the Roman Empire was made up of small, closely knit communities. We see as Paul went around, we can see how easily an entire city was thrown into an uproar by a few people. Easily done. You couldn't throw all of San Diego into an uproar like that. But see, these were closely knit. And in fact, it amuses me when Demetrius and the other silversmiths and those with related trades got together and they said, you know, pretty soon we're going to have no business here, boys, because he's saying no idolatry. And he went in and threw that city into an uproar. And I mean, they just stood there for two hours and yelled, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. For two hours. Two hours they yelled, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. And then the town clerk blessed him. He was well worth his money. They should have given him a raise. They should have given the town clerk a raise. He just came in and spoke sanely to them and said, there's no question. The whole world knows how great Artemis is. If Demetrius has a question or anything, then bring it to the pro-council. But we're in danger of, you know, really we're in danger of being accused of a riot, which you didn't do in Rome. You just, I mean, there'd been a centurion in there with his soldiers and they'd had a few of them in prison just for having a riot. He says, we're in danger of being called into question for having a riot here. So I think we'd better go home. So they went home. I mean, masterpiece. Typical administrator. Well able to soothe the situation. But you see that at Thessalonica. You see that in Berea. You even see it to a certain extent, I think, not so much in Athens. Athens was a large city, you know, and he got together with the philosophers, the Stoics, and the Epicureans, I think, and talked to them. But he never threw Athens into an uproar or Corinth and big cities. But those other cities around Turkey in there, well, we're closely knit communities. Yes? What happened to these who stirred the face of suffering and the coffee comes to the ear and, you know, you're backsliding? What happened to them that they got to that point? It's a phenomenon in the Christian life. Oswald Chambers refers to it as boredom. He said it's the greatest enemy of the Christian, is boredom. You see, as long as there's something exciting going on, let's say you're getting saved. Maybe you're in a camp meeting or a revival and a big parade is going on out of Egypt. It's easy to be a Christian. It's exciting. People are being saved. New people are coming in. And in Pentecostal revivals, people are getting healed. Miracles are being done. People are speaking in tongues and prophesying. When this kind of thing is going on, what I call the grand parade out of Egypt, it's easy to be a Christian. It's exciting to be a Christian. It's fun to be a Christian. But that's not where the saints are made. Where the saints are made is in the gap between where you are and the promise. But God gives you a vision. That's why Hebrews starts off and it says, what is faith? It's your grabbing hold of that which you hope for. See, as NIV says, faith is being sure of what we hope for. And so you get a vision, either personally through the Spirit or from the Scripture, of something that God is going to give you. And you're here, and the vision is there. But right here, between you and there, there's a big X. You don't know how long, you don't know what. When you've got the vision and you first get it, you're all excited and you're ready to go. But sometimes this thing is 50 years away. That's right. And patient endurance. The key to the Christian salvation is patient endurance. Now the important thing to remember is what you are doing is you are working out your salvation. You are actively working out your salvation. It isn't a ticket that you have, that you're working after you got saved, and you're not working for it. Now that gets confusing, because when we talk about that you are doing all these things, reading and having purity and doing all these to save yourself, it sounds like, and this is how people will interpret that if you tell them, you say, oh you're working for your salvation, you're trying to be saved by works, and we know that we're not saved by works. But my answer to that is, that salvation is like, the gift of salvation is as though someone gave you a grand piano, trucked it to your house, set it up and equipped you with several volumes of compositions by the classic masters. Now they gave you all you need to bring forth some of the finest music in the world for yourself and those who hear you. It's there. It's a gift you didn't even pay the tax. A rich relative gave it to you, we're delighted to give it to you, they paid the tax, they had it moved, they had it set up, and they furnished the music. Here's a gift. Now in that gift, there is all the potential to play, what is the one that nobody can play? The third Rachmaninoff piano concerto. People have gone insane trying to master that. I didn't even know there was one until I read about it, but it must be so difficult that it passes understanding. But we'll take the Appassionata of Beethoven, for example. It's very difficult to play, but it's there in that piano, and you've got the music, and there's the piano, and it didn't cost you a thing. That's salvation. The one thing that person can't give you is the ability to play Beethoven. He cannot give you that. He can furnish you with everything, but you have to work it out. And to really play the Appassionata, or even the second Rachmaninoff concerto, you're going to have to spend several hours a day for 20 years, under expert instruction, before you're ever going to be allowed to see a concerto. You have to play with a symphony orchestra before anybody's going to let you up there with a symphony orchestra to play the second Rachmaninoff concerto, which is gorgeous, but they can't give you that. So we're not working for salvation. We're working it out. We're not earning it. You didn't earn the piano, and you don't earn the ability to play Rachmaninoff, or Beethoven, or Chopin, or Brahms, or Mozart. You don't earn the ability by sitting there until your back is tired. In the meanwhile, you're thinking of everything else you could do, and here you are, sitting at that keyboard, hour after hour after hour, and all the other kids are out playing, or they're doing whatever. You didn't earn the ability. You were given the potential to develop it, but it depends on your willingness, like you said to Timothy, to give yourself to it diligently. And if you don't, you don't save yourself. You don't learn to play the piano. No matter how much that relative that gave it to you, obviously loves you, gave you a Steinway concert grand, he certainly loves you several thousand dollars, but no matter how much he loves you, he can't give you the ability to play Chopin. And no matter how much God loves you, he can't give you the fullness of Christ in you. There's a process that you must go through, and it depends on your willingness, just like a person learning the piano, it depends on your willingness to set aside other legitimate activities, because mastering the piano requires time, and energy, and persistence. You can't just say, oh, I'd like to play, and then try it for two weeks, and then quit, because you had a hard time mastering being able to play the scale, you know. You can't just quit. You've got to have, you've got to see the goal, and you've got to recognize, this is my life. This is me. You hear, I read, we used to live up near the Santa Clara Swim Club, and that club trains Olympic contenders in swimming, the Santa Clara Swim Club. And boy, what those young people go through, they don't just live a normal life and go there and practice swimming twice a week. I mean, they are drilled, and drilled, and drilled, and drilled. Their diet is carefully controlled. I knew a prizefighter one time, the YMCA, his trainer wanted me to box with him because I'm left-handed, he wanted me to get him used to it. I was scared to death, this guy's a professional fighter, I thought he was going to kill me. But I got in there, I was game, but boy, I tell you, I did some, you've got to, footwork, it's very important in boxing. I've been in more backfiddling, and he found out it's hard, it's hard to do a deal with a lefty because, you know, you're completely disoriented. But this guy would have his diet measured, he could have so many sliced peaches, you know, to keep his weight just certain. He couldn't go up into the next category, because then he's going to meet bruisers. I think he was probably a welter, he was probably welterweight, about that weight, about a welter. And it's just kidding, he can't eat whatever he wants to, he's going to box. He's out there doing road work every day, and the hard kind of push-ups, you know, where you get your hands behind your head like that and come halfway up and stay there, try that sometime. That's not like the old way of flop up and everything, which accomplishes nothing but creates a certain amount of flexibility in your stomach. In fact, as a matter of fact, it's bad, I read that it's bad, actually bad for your back to do ordinary push-ups. You do, you do set-ups, you lay on your back and you just come up halfway and put your hand on your knees and go down again, you don't come all the way up, but you just try coming up, put your hands behind your head like that and come up halfway and then go down until you're almost down and then just stay there, just try that sometime. But that's what fighters do, so that their stomach is like a washboard. So, that's what Paul is telling us about in, where, the other one we read, which is, which is, yeah, it's in where he bruises his body, where's that, 1 Corinthians 9.24. I mean, it's hard to realize that he's just talking about getting saved. We said, how do you know he's just talking about getting saved? Because he says, if I don't do it, I'm liable to be a castaway. Is there any difference between this kind of salvation and overcoming? I don't think so, and that's why I think that actually in Revelation 2 and 3, the overcomers are the only genuine Christians. And the reason I say that is because in the third chapter, he said you have a few names in Sardis who will walk with me in white. Well, if you don't walk with Christ in white, you're not a member of the royal priesthood. So all those other believers in Sardis were out of the game. He said you have a few who will walk with me in white. So, I don't know the gradations or what's permissible in salvation. I know Jesus said 30, 60, and 100. I don't know. But I do know that Paul, to the end of his life, was trying to gain Christ. And so Christianity is a much higher standard than we have realized. Yes, exactly. You either meet the standard God has set for you or you don't. And meeting it is salvation. And it isn't the case that God has set some high thing up here and leaves you alone and then you feel helpless. I can never get there. It isn't like that. It doesn't work that way. All that God asks you to do is right this minute, this very minute, do what you know you're supposed to do. That's all. There's never any more than that to overcoming. He's not saying you've got to do this. He says do right now. Overcoming is always a minute by minute thing. And you see, anybody can do that. Where people get bogged down is they look at something they think they're supposed to be down the trail, and they'll say, well, I can never, they don't look at Christ, they look at something and say, I can never do that if I quit. All you've got to do is say, Lord, what do you want me to do right now? He will always provide the grace. Always provide all the power. If he didn't, he'd be denying his word. Where people fall is they turn their eyes away from Jesus. And that's what these Hebrew Christians had done. They had succumbed to boredom. See, and the thing is that when you're traveling, you don't see the thing come, and you had a promise from God, and it still doesn't come, and the years go by, and you're 40, and then you're 50, and then you're 60, and it still doesn't come, then you begin to think, what's the use? But that isn't the way it works. The way it works is you are in love with Jesus, and you are serving him now, right now. If you don't have joy, ask him for joy, and that's a fair prayer, because even Christ had to endure the cross because of the joy. So if you don't have joy, ask God for joy. You just keep asking God for joy. And just say, Lord, if I'm not doing your will, show me your will, give me the grace, and I'll do it, right now, right now, not down there someplace, right here. That's all there is to overcoming, that's all there is to salvation, that's all there is to the Christian life. And the only reason people fail is they take their eyes off Jesus, they get sidetracked with something. Nothing's happening, so they get into a hobby, or they think they're going to invent something and make a lot of money, or they're going to go into business, or they're going to do this, or they're going to do that, or some of them go into religion and try to have a sensational meeting, whatever, any kind of, if they get their eyes off Jesus. And if you keep your eyes on Jesus, and don't get them off, and just do what he tells you, and he'll always give you grace, you'll make it work. There's no problem. He's not asking for heroics. These people in chapter 11 that are examples of what a Christian is, are only people that responded to what God told them. Abel didn't do any great heroics, he just brought his hand, it wasn't even a sin offering. I've heard people say the difference between his offering and Cain's was that Cain didn't offer blood, it wasn't a sin offering, he was just bringing his sheep there to give thanks to God. It was just an offering of worship. And Cain came, and he was a farmer, so he brought some of the goods from the field to offer unto God. What was wrong? His heart was wrong. Just like religious people, they come, and God says, well, you know, don't come to the altar here, your heart isn't right. And his heart wasn't right. Because immediately that God in some way manifested his disapproval, he was full of murder, which shows that he had envy and strife in his heart from the beginning. That's what was wrong with him, his heart wasn't right. It says in Jude, they went the way of Cain. Nothing to do with a blood offering. He was doing his religious thing, but all the while his eyes were on his brother, and he saw that God was blessing his brother, and envy came into his heart, just like in the Pharisees, he murdered his brother. There's traps in the Christian walk. And one of the hardest things is this boredom thing. Nothing's happening. So don't make anything happen. Isaiah warns us against that. Don't kindle a bunch of sparks and then walk in the light of your own fire. Just sit by the waters of Shiloah, that run quietly and softly, and thank God that you can breathe, you know? Just be grateful for little things. And that's the way it is in the 11th chapter. Nobody was trying to be a Daniel in there. No one's going around minding his own business, and God says, I'm going to send a flood, build a boat. He didn't get an idea, I'm going to make a spectacle here and preach by building a boat in my backyard. He's just obeying God. That's all Abraham was doing. He was doing fine in Ur of the Chaldeans. Ur of the Chaldeans was a tremendous civilization. Advanced plumbing, advanced mathematics, two of the things I read about. They were doing things in the public schools in Ur of the Chaldeans that we don't do today. It was either the square root or the cube root. I think they were working with a cube root for the kids. In Ur of the Chaldeans, it was a splendid civilization. They had no intention of leaving there. And God says, go out where I show you. And he went out, he didn't even know where he was going. They weren't trying to be heroes. Abraham wasn't trying to be a hero. Moses wasn't trying to be a hero. He was just sending somebody else. And Jephthah wasn't trying to be a hero. Rahab wasn't trying to be a hero. Midwives weren't trying to be heroines. They were just doing what God told them to do. And yet they had the meaning of the righteous shall live by faith. Well, what were these people, as she said, here they had all this, what were they doing wrong? They took their eyes off the Lord. They were getting interested in other things. They were bored. So he says, you yokels, you've got to learn to persevere. You've got to get up in the morning and say, who am I and what am I? I'm a Christian. Well, what am I doing? I'm serving the Lord. Okay, do you feel like it? No. Is it exciting? Anything but. Is it popular? No. Is it dangerous? Yes, it is. In the Roman Empire, it's dangerous. So what are you getting out of it? Nothing that I can see, but I've got my hope there on God. I can't see him, but that's what my hope is. And furthermore, I believe that if I seek him like Enoch did, that he will reward me. And that's what faith is. It's not every dimension of faith. There is such a thing as miracle-working faith, a gift of faith, and the moving mountains type of faith, but the faith that's talking about in Hebrews 11 is the faith of normal Christian life. Hebrews 11 is a definition of the expression, the just shall live by faith. That's what it is. That's what the prelude to it is, the just shall live by faith at the end of the 10th chapter. Now, in Point Loma, how do they define the phrase or the sentence, the just shall live by faith? How do they define it? In other words, Christ has the faith, but we don't, is that it? We have faith in Christ's faith. Well, there's nothing wrong with that, except I don't think it follows chapter 10, because chapter 10 is talking to a bunch of backsliders and telling them to get back in the race. He doesn't say anything about having faith in Christ's faith. He's telling them to get back in the race here. And nobody in chapter 11 had faith in doctrine. Nobody in chapter 11 had aggressive faith, that is, tempting God, putting God to the test, allowing, you know, buy a big building and trust God to pay for it, do big things for God, dare to be a Daniel. None of that appears, that spirit is not there. It's the faith of the patient suffering day by day, believing in God, being certain, even though he's invisible, that he is a rewarder, and the things I hope are there when I get there, and so I don't quit, I keep on. That's what it is, it's the faith of the Christian life. And there's nothing about faith in Christ's faith. I would say that came from theological reasoning, you know. And notice in verse 11, it says, wait a minute, oh no, no, no, I was in, I'm almost through here, don't care, I'm about to. First Corinthians, we were in 9.24? Okay, do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Well, he's not saying that there's only one guy who's going to get saved. That's what he's not saying, that only one guy's going to get saved. He's talking about your attitude of running. When you run in a race, you've got to be a killer. If you're going to run in any high competition, you've got to be a killer. And that's what makes the champions. I don't know about ice skating, are you a champion ice skater? Champions in any athletics are killers. That doesn't mean that they want to kill or hurt anybody, it doesn't mean that. It means that they have such an inner determination that everything goes before them. They draw on reserves of strength that aren't even there. It's such a desperation to accomplish in weightlifting or running or whatever it is, that it's almost past human. I'm talking now about champions, gold medal winners. They drive themselves past any reasonable effort until it's up. In fact, some of them drive themselves too far and then you can push yourself past the point where your body shuts down. But they call it psyching themselves up. They psych themselves up to where they're practically in a frenzy. And the idea is you're killing. You're not trying to kill a person, you're killing the problem that's in front of you. I'm going to get that. Nothing is going to stop me, I'm going to get it, I'm going to get it. He's talking about the Olympic Games there. That's what he's saying. You run to win. In fact, that's what he says here. Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the Games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown. Now what does he talk about crown? Well, that crown is salvation. See, that crown, he says in Timothy, I have fought the fight, I have run the race, and henceforth there's laid up for me a crown. That's salvation, that's the gaining of Christ. You know that's the gaining of eternal life? Yes, it's the gaining of eternal life. He says in Timothy, lay hold on eternal life. It's a fight to gain life, because death is fighting against us, that's what's fighting against us. And it fights hard, it fights with lust, it fights with violence and anger, it fights with fear, and it fights hard, it fights desperately, because you see, by overcoming... Why does Satan and the wicked want to stop you? Why do you have to fight? It's because, it's because, it says like, Noah building an ark condemned the world. Well now, how did he condemn the world by building an ark? Because by so doing, he put everyone else in a bad light. And when you do the thing that Satan was unwilling to do, you put him in a bad light and give a basis for God to judge him. And that's why we're fought so hard. So these demons come around, they don't want to look bad, and they want you to do that. That's why homosexuals are always preaching about, you know, how wonderful it is to get you to do it, because when you don't, you live a straight life, you tend to put them in a bad light, embarrassing position. And so you fight, and that's what I mean about being a killer. You can't approach the thing in a nice way, well, I hope I get the victory over lust, or I hope I get the victory over drugs, or I hope I get the victory over swearing, or I hope I get the victory over stealing. You can't go, you can't get any victory, because that enemy in there is determined that you're going to steal, you're going to lust, you're going to drink. He's determined that you're going to do that. Just like you were in the Olympic races, somebody's swimming next to you that's determined that you're going to lose, and they're going to win. And so that's where the killer point comes in. You rise up high, that's why Paul says, fight to win, to win, to win! I'm not going to accept this lust, I'm not going to drink, I'm not going to swear, I'm not going to do these things. Well, you say you're saving yourself in that way, but at the same time you're calling on the Lord, you're recognizing that you can't do it just by violence, or bravado, you have to have the Lord's help. But the point is, along with the word of God, therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly all over the lot, I do not fight like a man beating the air, shadow boxing, no, I beat my body and make it my slave, which puts it back in the Catholic corner, doesn't it? But you see, the difference is, you beat your body to make it your slave, they beat their body to earn merit, to earn merit, to gain merit, and that's the difference. Christ did that for us, by his stripes we are healed, we don't have to beat ourselves. Paul saying, you know, body, okay, you don't want to pray, you don't eat, you're not going to rule me, you're not going to rule me. And then we'll end with this, after I preach to all these people, I myself will not be disqualified, the point there is, he did not want to be disqualified, he didn't want to come up and have Christ say no crown for you, no crown for you, by letting himself be tempted by women, which he must have been tempted with throughout his life, or, I mean, after all, where does he go, down to pray on the beach, and the woman that got saved, who was that, Damaris, was that her name, said, why don't you come to my house, you judge me to be a believer, and oh, poor Paul, but he went there with the brethren, and they stayed at that, no, it was Lydia, the seller of purple, it was Lydia, the seller of purple, and he went there and stayed in her house, boy, you got to watch that stuff, and don't worry, Satan was right there, look at that Lydia, boy, she's a packy, isn't she, Paul, don't think that didn't go through Paul's mind, and don't think it didn't go through Lydia's mind, there's a book somebody wrote, says the woman Paul loved, who the woman Paul loved, I wonder whether it was Lydia, or who it was, somebody up in Tarsus, I suppose, but he must have been tempted with that, and tempted with pride, and tempted with all kinds of things, and oh no, flesh, you're not going to give in to that, you're going to serve God, flesh, I don't want to be disqualified, you got to fight, Larry, boy, there's times you have to fight hard, because the enemy is, if he can't trick you, he tries to overwhelm you, well, anyway, hallelujah, hallelujah, let's stand and pray and thank the Lord for his goodness, Father, in the name of Jesus, we come unto you, Lord, blessing and praising the holy name of the Lord, we know you're not going to do it all for us, Lord, we have to do our part, but then you run in, Lord, and you buck the rivets, hallelujah, you make it possible, you make it possible for us to escape this world, hallelujah, where things are righteous, and holy, and lovely, and pure, you're calling us up, Lord, year to come, Lord, whatever it holds, hallelujah, we know who holds the year, we know who has the power, Lord, and our eyes are fixed on you to bring us through, and our loved ones in absolute peace and safety, no matter what happens, and Lord, for every one of us here, I pray no one will be discouraged, the calling is high, but the one who has called us is higher yet, hallelujah, and well able to bring each one of us through to glory, he can finish what he began in our lives, he can bring to the birth, hallelujah, he can finish what he started if we will not quit, so Lord, we are not fainthearted, but we believe the promise of God, hallelujah, blessed be your name, you're going to do it, and we're not bored, Lord, we're excited at the thought, hallelujah, of your glory, praise your holy name, praise your holy name, Lord, I pray you'll keep each of the dear ones safe in your power, and their loved ones, and their families, assuage their fears, Lord, quiet any fears, give them confidence, and boldness, and courage, let it be characteristic in their spirit, Lord, and keep us all safe on the highway, we thank you and love you, Father, for supplying your word tonight, in Jesus' name, amen.