In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the need for people to take their faith seriously and overcome unwholesome things that can bring destruction. He mentions that America has lost the fear of God due to false preaching. The preacher then reads from Revelation 21:5-8, where God declares that He is making everything new and those who overcome will inherit all things. He also highlights the misconception that accepting Christ allows people to live however they want, emphasizing the need for education in both Christians and Muslims.

Shall we turn in our Bibles to Revelation chapter 21? We're going to read together verses 5 through 8. We were on this Tuesday night, and I don't like to repeat myself, but I felt very clearly in prayer. This is what God wants. Revelation 21, verses 5 through 8. Here we go. He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. Then he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. He said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. I think God has shown me something here concerning the Revelation 21.8, the second death, that I've never heard anyone preach on, and I never thought of it myself until a couple of weeks ago. I want to talk about the wholesome Christian personality. I think we're used to the preaching that the second death here is a punishment for sin, a reward for our behavior, but I'm seeing it in a little different light, I think. I think it's a quarantine, and that puts an altogether different slant on it. We preach the gospel that if we accept Christ, we would never be put in the lake of fire if we accept Christ. Have you heard it preached that way? I mean, it's kind of a reward, or a punishment for the way you have behaved. But I would like to look at it a little differently. You notice that it doesn't say in verse 7, he who is saved will inherit all this. Now look at this carefully, because the Bible means exactly what it says. How many see that? It doesn't say he who is saved will inherit all this. It says he who overcomes. Now, what we overcome are these behaviors. That's exactly what we overcome. And I think the Lord indicated to me, and you can judge, that every act that is offensive to God is included in these eight behaviors found in Revelation 21.8. I had to do some scrambling on that because I asked the Lord about pride, arrogance, dishonesty, covetousness, laziness, neglectful, casual, careless, and disinterested behavior. I said, how in the world do these fit? But I think the Lord showed me, and as we go ahead, I will comment on those as God helps. I think they're all included here. And I want you to think about them not as a punishment or, well, there goes Destiny Joy trying to preach. We usually think, well, if I'm saved, I could never be in the lake of fire. That's for the really wicked. That isn't the point. That isn't the point. I don't believe. I hope I can convey what it is I think I'm seeing. There's a scripture where it's in Matthew 25.41. Matthew 25.41. Now, notice this. Then he will say to those on his left. Now, those on his left were people whose sin was that they had not assisted God's witnesses. Well, they've got things like that. But I will say, to cause your brains to whirl, that the reason they don't help God's witnesses is because one or more of these behaviors in 21.8, unbelief or fear or whatever. But the point is this. The lake of fire is not prepared for people, was never prepared for people. Will there be people in it? Yes, of course, it says. Depart from me who are cursed into the eternal fire. Oh, yes, there'll be people there. But it was not prepared for them. It was prepared for the devil and his angels. They're the ones for whom the lake of fire was prepared. Now, why? Why? Because they, the devil and his angels are cowardly. They are unbelieving. They are vile. They are murderers. They are sexually immoral. You can say, but how can they? Because they're not people. They express themselves through people. Now, remember this. Whenever you do any of these things, some of them are human and seem to be, but 1 John 3a says this, He who commits sin is of the devil. Now, what does that mean? He's possessed? No. It means that the evil spirits cannot express these fires that burn in them of unbelief and murder and vile behavior. They can't express that. As Jesus said, they walk through dry places seeking rest. And they look for people who through a trauma or through inheritance or through disobedience to God or for some other reason open a door in their personality. And these evil spirits which have these lusts in them to lie, to murder, to lust and so on, enter in. Now, I'm not going to call this possession. People get all upset about that. You can call it what you want, a possession or compulsion or whatever. That to me is not an issue. The fact is, when you sin, the origin of that is Satan. He that commits sin is of the devil. That's what John says writing to the church, telling them not to sin. And then in 1 John 3a, then he said in verses 3 through 7, he tells them if you sin as a Christian, you're not of God. Now, that doesn't mean if you commit one sin that you're possessed or that you're not saved. It doesn't mean that. We have to change our thinking from the idea of hell and the lake of fire being punishments to being, I don't want to say a provision because that makes it sound like it's not as bad as it is. It's bad. But it's a different issue because, you see, the way evangelical Christianity is preached, it's as though you do certain things or you accept Christ and you won't be exposed to the lake of fire. That's not the issue. It's not a punishment. It is in a way, but it's a quarantine. It's the thing that God, it's not a wholesome personality and God cannot have it in his kingdom because it's infectious. Now, let's say we had someone in the church. Where's Mary? Tell me the most highly infectious disease you can think of. Smallpox? All right. Now, let's say there was someone in the church that had smallpox. Now, and you're bringing your children to church. Do you want that person to come to church? Well, yes or no. Some of you look bewildered. No, you don't want that person in church exposing your children. Now, you say, no, you cannot come in here. Now, are you angry with them? Do you hate them? No. It's not the issue. God's not going to spend eternity hating people or trying to get even with them. That's ridiculous. That's not his nature. He wouldn't be bothered with it. He's above this. He doesn't spend his time... I've heard enough! No! How long? Forever! I don't know what God is. What God is saying, look, this behavior is destructive. I can't let it into my kingdom. It will destroy everything. It must be quarantined. And so we take the person with smallpox and we quarantine them. Now, this is a real issue in our culture because of AIDS. AIDS is an infectious disease, not nearly so much as smallpox. It can only be spread through bodily fluid. Now, keep me right on this, Mary. This is correct, isn't it? It is spread through bodily fluid. But we have gone overboard. For example, in San Francisco, they wouldn't let... This was in the paper. This was not in an evangelical tract. This was in the paper. So I know it's true. They wouldn't let the nurses that treated the AIDS patients wear rubber gloves. Did you know that, Mary? That was in the paper. That was a couple of years ago when there was such a big flap about the rights of people with AIDS. Well, why wouldn't they let the nurses wear rubber gloves, which puts the nurses handling hypodermic needles and everything and near sputum and so on at a terrible risk. The idea was not to offend the person with the AIDS. Not to make them feel as an outcast. That's where our culture is. We don't want them to feel as an outcast. Now, notice that in preserving one person's rights, we destroyed the rights of another. And it is so true, and I wish someone could get it through the American Civil Liberties, through this thing up here, their head, that when they protect the rights of a criminal or someone, that they automatically take away the rights of someone else. Now, you think about that. It's unavoidable. It's just the way it operates. I read one time in Singapore they were criticizing the United States. And they were saying their reason is that they put the right of the individual over the right of society. A very interesting observation. And we do that. We will sacrifice society for the sake of an individual. And we think this is rights. This is not rights. It's a misapplication of Christian mercy. Whether in social conduct or in the criminal system, it is a misunderstanding, misapplication of Christian mercy. It's not merciful to a person with AIDS to keep from offending them by having the nurse exposed to the same disease. Now, under our laws, a person with AIDS can work in a restaurant. In other words, the idea is protect them so they don't feel like an outcast. Well, we understand that. We certainly have compassion on people that have contracted a disease for whatever reason. But you can't sacrifice other people. We couldn't sacrifice the welfare of this church by admitting someone with a child with smallpox so as not to offend the mother or the child. Now, how many see the rationality of that? I guess you don't. To me, it is very clear. And this is the case with sin. What God is saying in Revelation 28 is these behaviors are not wholesome. They are destructive. And they must be contained in this place of fire. It's not contained in another planet. It's contained in a fire which shows there is an element in there of the wrath of God and of His attitude towards sin. They are contained in a place of fire. But what I'm getting at is God will not permit people to come into His new world on the basis of accepting Christ or on the basis of love or mercy or forgiveness. Because it would be like admitting a child with smallpox on the basis of love or mercy or forgiveness. How many can see the application? So the Scripture doesn't say He who is saved or he who accepts Christ will inherit all these things. It says he who overcomes. We say when the child has overcome the smallpox, in other words, when he's healed, we bring him back gladly. But you say then, does that mean that the lake of fire is a place of healing? Well, I would say no for two reasons. First of all, we find that Satan is put in the bottomless pit which probably is not as bad as the lake of fire. When he comes out, the first thing he does is bring destruction into the world. The first thing he does after a thousand years in the bottomless pit showing that the devil is not changed by punishment. But how about people? Then we come to Revelation 21, verse 11. Now if you think I'm soft on sin, you're thinking wrong. And I'm sure you won't misunderstand me. What I'm trying to get at is you have no guarantee of escaping the lake of fire on the basis of accepting Christ. That's not the purpose of accepting Christ is to escape the lake of fire. And it is not preached that way anywhere in the New Testament. Anywhere. We've made that up. See, we've made Christ a way of getting warped people into paradise. That's what we've done. Come on. Fess up. That's what we've done. We don't go out saying to people you must take up your cross and follow Christ and just accept Christ. Then you're going to go to heaven. Well, we're here, aren't we? We don't have a verse in the Bible that teaches that. You say, but it says accept Christ and you'll be saved. Exactly. Saved from what? Saved from the wrath of God and the day of the Lord. But the process of moral transformation must occur somewhere, somehow, because Revelation 22 tells us that all sin is on the outside. We know where the somewhere and somehow is. It's in Matthew 13 where it says, in the last days, the messengers of God will come forth and take out of His kingdom everything that is offensive. And I would submit to you that that process has begun today. And this is why these things are opening up to us. It's because God wants us to understand it is not a case of accepting Christ and we don't go to hell. It's a case of accepting Christ so that we can follow Him and He will make us worthy of paradise. And that's an altogether different situation. The first is the ticket. The second is the way, the truth, and the life. And if anything needs to be preached in America in our day, in our time, that's it. Our people are as ignorant as the Muslims that think when they get killed murdering somebody, they're going to go to paradise and be surrounded by 70 beautiful women. And we think if we accept Christ, we can live like the devil and do some of these things and when we die, Jesus will say, well done, good and faithful servant. So we and the Muslims need an education. Can you agree with that? Alright. Thank you very much. Alright, now we're looking at Revelation 22 verse 11 and I want to show you why I believe that you don't get dipped into the lake of fire and then dipped out when you're better. So the analogy with smallpox breaks down at this point. Now, this Revelation 22 verse 11 beyond all doubt is one of the most astonishing verses in the Bible. It just goes against everything we believe about God. So we've got God pictured as a person and He's not, He's a spirit. And we've got Him pictured as a person who is kind of good old God. We don't understand. The fear of God has left America because of false preaching. The fear of God has left America. So what is left with it? Wisdom. Because the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. So we have all kinds of stupid things occurring in our culture. Not the least of which is preventing nurses from protecting themselves against AIDS. That is absolutely stupid. It's not compassionate. It's stupid. What else can you say? If some nurse gets up and goes to work and she can't wear gloves and she's handling hypodermic needles and AIDS patients and sputum and everything else, so he won't be offended. That is not compassion any more than telling Jesus he wasn't supposed to go up to Jerusalem and die with compassion. Jesus spotted that one. But look at this most extraordinary verse. Let him who does wrong keep on doing it. Oh, just keep on doing it. If you're doing wrong, keep on doing it, man. Whatever you do, keep on doing it. Oh, is that a stunner or isn't it? Oh, it must not be in the Bible. Well, it is in the Bible. And it's just as much as John 3.16. Well, what is God saying by that? That we shouldn't repent? No, He's not saying that. He's saying there comes a time when I have to make up my mind about an individual. And when He crosses that line, I'm telling him to keep on going because I don't want lukewarm in my kingdom. Now think about that. Wouldn't we rather prefer a person who was kind of a lukewarm Christian than one who was an out-and-out Satan worshiper? Well, yes, we would. Because we don't understand how God thinks. God can't do anything with a lukewarm person. Why not? Because He's no good in the kingdom and He's no good in hell. He's no good anywhere. He's neither fish nor fowl. He doesn't love Christ with all His heart and He doesn't love Satan with all His heart. He's trying to paddle around in the middle. And God says, I will vomit Him from my mouth. That's why Revelation 22.11. God is saying, make straight the way of the Lord. Make straight the way of the Lord. And where He makes it straight is not out on I.15. It's in our hearts. That if you're here this morning and you're playing around, you're not, I know it's hard to overcome sin. Man, tell me about it. Send me a telegram. It is hard! I don't know whether it's going to be like that in the world to come, but right now when God is making kings and priests, it is hard. Whatever your particular hang-up is, whether it's booze or lying or profanity or whatever, for the rest of us it's easy, but for you it may be a nightmare because that's your profile. When you get down, when God gets down to that thing that is us, that's why I say, saying I've got to be me is the kiss of death. You don't got to be you. The last thing in the world you want to be is you. God will get down and find out what causes you, what can really move you. And that's your number one idol. And then God, when He sees you're strong enough to bear it, He begins to call for that thing. Wow! It is hard! If you think being an overcomer, inheriting all these things, and being a true disciple is an easy thing to do, you don't understand what's going on. It pulls the guts out of you. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, to make the decision that God wants. And until you do, you're a wannabe. You're going to wish, and you're going to try to enjoy the glory and everything, and you're probably a pretty good person as people go. But you've got to get over that thing! And until you do, it's going to come back, to back, to back, to back, until you get it. Because it's contagious. And that's why God said to Israel, when you go in there, you imagine... Of course, they had different standards in those days. They weren't as sophisticated as we are. We have sophisticated murders now. They cut you up in little pieces and spread you around. But we're not supposed to know that. But that just goes on in America, because we're so sophisticated. We don't talk about these things. I think of Salami. That daughter of Herodias was out dancing for the king. And she pleased the king very much, did Salami. And that's what she was, was Salami. So, her mother... The king says, I'll give you half of my kingdom. So he was in his donage, saying a thing like this to a teenage girl. He's so moved by her dancing. A worshipper of his belly and his glands. I'll give you half of my kingdom. Salami. Mother, what'll I have? The head of John the Baptist. So here she comes out holding this thing with the long hair and the blood dripping off it and everything. Their standards were different in those days. Everybody thought that was cool. Especially Salami. And her mother. So understand, God said to the Israelites, Go into Canaan. And in the land where you're going to inherit, not the whole outside world over to China or anything, but in the land where you're going to inherit, kill every person, young and old, male and female, leave no person alive. Death. It was a quarantine. It was a quarantine. And God said He gave the reason for that seemingly unmerciful command. And what was it? Doesn't anybody know? Bob, you know. You wrote it down the last time I preached it. Doesn't anybody know what God said? Why He did this? Oh, Lord. He said if you don't, you're going to get drawn into worshiping their gods. Sin is contagious. Contagious. And so what happened? They killed a lot of them, but they did not finish the job. Just like Desert Storm, they did not finish the job. So what happened? Surprise, surprise. The Israelites began to worship the goddess of lust, and they burned their babies in the fire to Molech. Burning their little babies in the fire to Molech was an offering, because that was the way they did in Canaan. And what was the result? God had to destroy Israel. They haven't recovered to today. They're still having a problem today, 2,500 years later. I mean, things are serious in the kingdom. And I want to tell you something. God is telling me to tell you. He wants us to get serious. Now, we Americans are not a serious people. Ha, ha, ha. That's all right. God says, get serious. I went to prayer the other morning, and I just started to pray, and the Lord said, perilous, perilous, perilous, perilous, I swear, ten times. Now, God wants us to get serious. We're not serious by nature. Things look fine and everything. We're not over in the Hindu Kush in the freezing weather trying to battle the natives. Or no, do we have a relative over there, except for Sister Beck has a relative over there. But for most of us, the sun is shining, and it looks nice. Maybe we'll go to the beach, and maybe it's too cold for that. We'll find something to do that's pleasant. That's how serious we are. God is saying to you through me, get serious. This is a serious time in our nation. And maybe that's not the whole story. Maybe there's other things. I don't know. All I'm doing is faithfully telling you what God is saying. God says I don't want people that are not serious about overcoming these unwholesome things that will bring destruction in my kingdom. I'm not going to have it. And we have Israel for an example. What happens when in our life we don't really follow through. We're like desert storm. We get just so far, and then figure, well, it'll all come out in the wash. And God wants you to take every one of these eight behaviors to heart. And I would like the young people to memorize them. They're not that difficult. Most all of them begin with the. Except for two of them, one begins with those and the other begins with all. But outside of that, the other six begin with the. So you've got a leg up on it right there. I would like you to memorize these. As far as I know, they encompass all behavior that is offensive to God that He will not tolerate, will not have fellowship with. They're not that hard, but I would like you to learn them. Because every one of these must be overcome. And Christ is ready to help you and me overcome them. So that we can be rewarded? No. So we can inherit. They will inherit these things. It's not a case of a reward. It's a case of an inheritance. And you can inherit if you have any of this stuff in you because God will not accept you as a son. That's why He says, Come out from among them and touch not the unclean thing and I will be a father to you. He is not going to have fellowship with sin. Not Christian sin. Not any other kind of sin. He who does wrong continues to do no wrong. And what a thing for God to say. Let him who is vile continue to be vile. If that's what you want, you know that's God's way. He opens His hand and gives you what you want. If you stay with it long enough, He'll give you what you want. What's the wisdom of that? Watch your desires. Because God is a King and He just is not desirous to have in people to say, Oh, I wish I didn't have to be a Christian and I wish I could do that and I wish I could do the next thing. God finally gets sick of it and He says, Do it then. It's the way He operates people. He opens His hand, Psalm says, and satisfies the desire of every living thing. Guard your heart with diligence for out of it are the issues of life. See, salvation is altogether different than we believe. It's not a ticket. It's the path. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the way. He's not a ticket. He's the way to life. Life is not a reward. It's the result of righteous conduct which in turn is the result of following Jesus. The way leads to the truth and the truth sets you free from sin and the result is eternal life. It is not a ticket out of hell. Hell is for the wicked. Christian or not. Let him who does right continue to do right. And let him who is holy continue to be holy. Now, that goes against Ezekiel. See, Ezekiel says, if the unrighteous person forsakes his way, starts doing righteousness, his unrighteousness will not be mentioned to him. Not mentioned. It doesn't say he won't pay the price for it. It says he will not be mentioned to him. On the other hand, God says if the righteous person forsakes his righteousness and begins to do wickedness, his righteousness will not be mentioned to him. So you can't earn merit points. It's today. Okay? Now we see a change which tells us that we've come to a different time in God's operation. Now he's saying, that doesn't hold true anymore. Because why? Because I am coming soon. See, I'm coming soon. And the way must be prepared for me. I want all this stuff out of here. You know, if it's wrong, put it in the wrong category. If it's right, put it in the right category. But I want nothing in the middle. Make my way straight. Smooth. And we're here. We're here. This is where we are in God's timetable. Alright, now are you beginning to see the point if you do not follow Christ with enough intensity so that He is able to work with you in the overcoming of these things, then you will go into this place where sin is kept incarcerated. Not to punish you. Not because God hates you. But because you will ruin the kingdom. Because your behavior is infectious. Do you see the difference? Can you see that the lake of fire is not a punishment in the strict sense of the word? And by the same token, heaven is not a reward. If you want to go to heavenly, what do you have to be? Heavenly. Make sense? You can't be worldly and go to heaven. You can't be a devil and go to heaven. Make sense? If you want to go to heaven, be heavenly. The lake of fire has absolute jurisdiction over these eight behaviors. Whether they're in a Christian or not. But by accepting Christ, we forestall. It's like the road is under repair. Grace is like the road under repair. It's like you have a detour because the highway is being fixed. Well, the highway is your life. And by accepting Christ, Christ makes a detour around it and He keeps you without condemnation. Even though the lake of fire has dominion over your conduct, you have accepted Him, so He says, OK, I'll save you. And so He detours you around and then He repairs the highway. The detour is not a permanent highway. Imputed righteousness is not a permanent way of God dealing with man. It's a detour to give you time to get a wholesome personality. Make sense? OK, so that's why the issue is overcoming and not being saved. Not being forgiven. It doesn't say he that is forgiven shall inherit all things. He who overcomes. Because God... Well, you get it. So why should I belabor it? Alright, now, let's start with the cowardly. Now, and notice also that it does not cite nouns here. They're more gerunds or something. They're not cowardice. It isn't cowardice that's put in a lake of fire. It's people. The cowardly. Every one of these is people. The unbelieving. Not unbelief. The unbelieving. The vile. The murderers. The sexually immoral. Not immorality. The immoral. Those who practice magic arts. Not witchcraft. Those. The idolaters. Not idolatry. And all liars. Now that's interesting that this final one which is the basis of unwholesome behavior is lying. Every one of these results from lying. The cowardly, the unbelieving, all... Basically, all of these are a form of lying. That's why it does not say in the Ten Commandments thou shalt not lie. It does not say that. Because all these things in the Ten Commandments the opposite of them is a form of lying. Or what they are. You know, worshiping God with all your heart. The opposite is idolatry which is a lie. In the case of thou shalt not covet. See, coveting is a lie. Coveting is a form of idolatry. New Testament says so. Covetousness which is idolatry. So all of these things can be traced back to Satan who is the father of lies. And if you are behave in one of these unwholesome patterns it's because there's a lie there in your personality. There's something that's not true. Now let's take the case of the cowardly for example. Let me get all this. Some of these came to me so fast. Ok. The cowardly. Now, the reason that's a lie is because God is in His heaven and all is right with the world. You see, God is there to reward you when you do right. When you step on and say I'm going to do what's right. I'm going to do the forthright thing. The pastor says we have to overcome. That makes many people afraid. I probably made some people afraid here this morning. See, that's because and I hate to say this but it's because you're cowardly. See, a person without that warp he has an innate sense but I have nothing to be afraid of. God's ok. He's going to help me. I'm going to win. I'm coming out on the winning side because God is all positive. He's all strength. He's all wisdom. He's all everything. Of what do I have to be afraid? You see that? That's why it's listed first because you can't get anywhere with God if you're afraid. And if you're afraid when we have our altar call this morning you want to come up here and say God, get this out of me. That's characteristic of Satan. Or you say, well, you're drawing a long bow on that one, am I? Proverbs 28, verse 1. You mean Satan's afraid? He has reason to be afraid. How did Satan behave when Jesus came around? Have you come? Have you come to torment us before the time? And we've got people trying to get raptured to escape Antichrist. Or they're afraid to go into a haunted house or any place the devil is. You afraid of the devil? You afraid of Antichrist? Come on, start trembling now. Start trembling. He might do something. What's he going to do to me? I mustn't have a frog in the house. Somebody said there, it's a sign of the devil. An owl! Any of you have owls in your house? They may get you. They may start praying against you. There may be a curse on your house. Someone brought back something from India. They did it. Lord, it's in my house. What do I do? Plead the blood. Hold up the cross. We have no concept of Jesus Christ the Lord. Isn't it ridiculous what we do? The wicked flees when no one is chasing him. Why? Because his conscience is such. He knows the end thereof is the lake of fire. Satan knows the end is the lake of fire. He flees from the righteous. Resist the devil. And he will flee from you. But if you want to worship the devil, go ahead. I've got a lady writing to me about this. I said, her house is haunted. And she's a good Christian and loves God. And this thing is pestering her at night. And putting all kinds of panic in her at night. So I wrote a couple of months ago. Or a month ago, I guess. And I said, will you try ignoring it? Just try ignoring it. Pray in every room of your house. Go through and ask God to make it holy. And then ignore this thing. Oh, I got an email right back. Wonderful. Oh, it works great. Now, I get another one yesterday. This thing is back. I said, why don't you try ignoring it? In other words, they're going to watch you. They know after a month, you're going to bite on it again. Naturally, they're going to come back. And, oh, I'm going to get you. I'm going to drain the life right out of you. You know, it's a wonder we don't have more of this with the movies that people watch. You want to get the trauma that will get Satan into you? Watch a horror movie. Yeah, do it. Watch on VCR. Watch the faces of death. Watch horror and brutality and torture. It will open up your personality and get a devil in you. Well, if you don't believe me, just go ahead, worship the devil all you want and see what it profits. We don't worship the devil and we're not afraid of him. Why aren't we afraid of him? Because we're in Jesus Christ and we don't want to insult His majesty. Are we presumptuous? No, we mind the Lord. We don't charge around like a child in kindergarten saying if the devil is in the way, we're going to run right over him. But we know as long as we are in Christ, that Satan is terrified. Satan fears three things. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And when Christ is in you and you're moving in Christ, just dump the fear. Because all it is is a worship of the devil and an acknowledgment of his superior strength over your Lord. I never thought of it that way. Well, it is. I got to thinking about this guy that buried his talent. You know what he said when the master came back and he buried his talent? You know what he said? How do you know what he said? I was afraid. You want to mess up your life? The fear of man brings a trap. Make it a policy never to run scared on anything. Because if you do, you will end up in a trap. Never run scared on anything. Somebody threatens you, take it to God, but don't act out of fear. Because you're going to mess yourself up. The fear of man brings a snare. Put your feet in a trap. And you will not behave wisely. You will lash out out of fear. You'll do some other unprofitable thing. Now, we're talking about the wholesome personality. The cowardly person is not a wholesome personality. And he will not be permitted in the good things of God. He will not inherit the all things that God is making new. Why? But doesn't Jesus love him? Probably does. What's his problem? He's timid. Oh, is that so bad? Yes, it is bad because you're reflecting on God's character. What you're saying is, I don't know who's up there, probably nobody, and I better watch it or I'm likely to get hurt. It's a reflection on God's faithfulness when you behave in a cowardly manner or a timid manner. God doesn't want you showing off, but neither does he want you moping around like a mouse. I frightened a little mouse under her chair. Remember that? I was thinking of that nursery rhyme the other day. Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been? A mouse. You don't want to be timid. That takes away from your Father's glory. He is a king. So if you're a cowardly, timid person, you need to beat your way to the altar. Because you will not. You say, but God loves me anyway. Sure he does. Christ died for my sin. Sure he does. We're not talking about how nice a person you are. We're talking about a quarantine. We're talking about keeping you from weakening the hands of the men of war so that they can't fight, so that they lose the kingdom. That's the issue. How many can see that? Sure you can. Alright. Then we come to the unbelieving. Unbelieving people. You know how I said to the Lord, I need wisdom. I can think of five behaviors here that the Bible condemns, but they're not listed here. So what gives? And these are the five. Laziness. Well, we know the wicked, lazy servant. And neglectful. Who was neglectful? Somebody said it. The five virgins, weren't they neglectful? But neglectful isn't in here, is it? Casual. What does it say in Hebrews 2.3? How shall we escape if we neglect? And in line with that is careless. The careless person. How laid back are you? And disinterested. And I said, Lord, these are five things that are messing up the kingdom. Where do they belong? And I felt, where do you think the Lord told me that they fit? Unbelief. If you stop to think about it, all these laziness, neglect, casualness, carelessness, disinterest. The person doesn't really believe. Well, can you make that clear? Yes, I can make that very clear. Suppose you're standing on the railroad track. Okay? And someone says, there's a new bullet train coming 250 miles an hour and it's 100 yards behind you. Now, how are you going to behave? Say, well, you know, tomorrow's soon enough. When I get older, I don't believe it. Can you see that? That laziness and disinterest in the things of God is because you don't really believe. Because if you believe that train is coming, you're not going to say, tomorrow's soon enough. Or I'm too young. Or I'm too old. Or I'm tired. Or I've got arthritis. Or anything else. You know, that kind of emergency will eclipse pain. Did you know that? You won't even know you have arthritis. You'll be like a schoolgirl coming off those tracks. And you'll worry about your pain later. I'm too old. Don't hurry me. Or another one is, you never hurry a tenor. I heard a tenor say that. Never hurry a tenor. I think another class of people that can't be hurried are artists. Never hurry an artist. Well, there are people that can't be hurried. But I think if they were standing on the track, they would demonstrate a certain amount of alacrity. How many believe that? If they believed it. But if they say, well, I'm not so sure. You know, you've lied to me before. And you've cried wolf before. I'm not so sure you're telling the truth. Beep! This time I was telling the truth. Unbelief. The lazy person. Anybody in here lazy? Neglectful? Casual? Careless? Or disinterested? If you are, you don't really believe that God would ever put you in the lake of fire. Somehow, it's not going to happen. Whether I overcome today, tomorrow, when the Lord comes, when I feel better, when the relatives leave, after Christmas. You don't really believe. So, if that's our case, and we're a casual person, we need to come to the altar this morning. Now, the Lord has said through me to you, and let the spiritual people check it out. You say, what happened to the other six? Well, you might have to come tonight to hear about them. Since we're not Chinese, I can't speak to you over this point in time. If you're Chinese, we could stop and have tea and I'd preach for another four hours. But we're not Chinese, so we'll have to do the best we can. God said through me to you, I want you to get serious. There's heavy issues here. Your inheritance is at issue. These things, if you get feeling a little flighty, think about these men that are out there. It's going to get very, very cold in Afghanistan before too long. And the Hindu Kush is one of the highest mountains in the world. Perpetual snow on it. And there's all trade routes through there. It comes up into the north of Afghanistan, out of Pakistan. There's all trade routes through there. And they can retreat up there. And the special forces will have to go after them up into there. And these people can hardly breathe up there. Can you imagine what it'd be like for an American? Freezing cold. They're used to it and can live off the land and know every cave. And we're going to send men up there? When you feel flighty today, just put yourself in their place, or at least in their wife's place or their mother's place, and say, maybe life's kind of serious after all. Shall we stand?