[0:00] Take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to the book of Job chapter 12. Job chapter 12. I'm excited about the old lady singing this morning. Amen. That's some of the oldest singers any church ever had. Take your Bible and go with me to Job chapter 12. What a privilege to serve God and have such fine families that train their children to love Jesus. Thank you. Job is going to talk for three chapters today. For three solid chapters, Job's going to be talking and he's going to ask some great questions that need to be answered. But it starts off in Job chapter 12 in verse 1 with the wrong kind of friends. How many of you ever had friends that like if you had any more friends like that, you wouldn't need enemies. And that's the kind of guys you're going to find that Job's free buddies are. They are like lousy friends. And so the friends that he has start off with Job chapter 12 and verse 1. They are know-it-alls. Anybody got a friend like that?
[1:02] You do not want to be this friend, by the way. And Job answered and said, no doubt, but you are the people and wisdom will die when you die. But I have understanding as well as you do. And I'm not in fear to you. Yeah, who knows not such sayings as these. They think they know it all. They think they have the latest knowledge. They think that you are just too dumb to know what's going on.
[1:30] They believe they're better than you. They don't realize that most people know what they're saying to be true. Job said, yeah, y'all been saying a lot of true stuff, but who doesn't know that? You're not near as smart as you think you are, but these friends are know-it-all friends. But they're also making fun friends, mocking friends. Look at Job chapter 12 and verse 4. The poor guy is sitting with sores all over his body and an ashes heap with his clothes ripped. He hasn't eaten for seven days and seven nights. Hadn't had a bath. He's hurting. He's messed up. And he says, and y'all came here to make fun of me in my condition? Look at verse 4. I am as one mocked of his neighbor. You make fun of me. Who calls upon his God and he answers him. The just man is laughed to scorn. He that's ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that's at ease. You make fun of me. You look down on me. You think everything's going good for you. And so you feel bad about me.
[2:26] I'm hurting and you seem to enjoy it. The person doesn't think it's funny because he's about to slip and die. These friends are making him feel despised. In chapter 12 and verse 6, Job says to them, you know, you're not as smart of friends as you think you are because what you're trying to apply to me, you don't apply to anybody else. You just want to make me feel bad. So in chapter 12 and verse 6, he said, well, the robbers are prospering and they that provoke God are secure.
[2:54] So bad people seem to be getting away with it. But you say, God's punishing me. You say, God's cursing me. And Job says in Job 13, 5, and amazingly, you won't even listen to me.
[3:07] You don't pay attention to me. I'm hurting. I'd like to share something going on and you won't listen. Oh, that you would all together hold your peace. That's real nice, like way of saying, won't you just shut up? And it should be your wisdom. If you'd be quiet, you'd be smarter than you are talking. Look at it. If you'd just be quiet, you'd be smarter than you are talking. And listen to my reasoning and hearken to my pleadings. These kind of friends love to hear themselves talk.
[3:34] They refuse to listen to you as you hurt. And their silence would have been better wisdom. I just wanted you to look at those friends real quick because, you know, Christians ought to learn how to be good friends. Could I get an amen right there?
[3:46] You ought to learn how to treat people, how to act around people. So you ought to work at being the right kind of friend. Christians are often judgmental and arrogant. We don't like to hear that, but it's true. We're judgmental and arrogant. We find where we're doing good and we look down on a person that's not doing as well as we are. And to be honest with you, we drive more people away from Christ because of our attitudes than we bring to him. We ought to learn to feel for people, to love them, to help them, and to be a real friend. So as you read Job chapter 12 and you read about these friends, I hope as you read that, your heart turns and says, man, I don't want to be that kind of friend. Other people in our church, there are people in this room that are going through stuff that you and I have no idea about. I heard some more of it this week. I heard about some things, some people are suffering and hurting. And I thought to myself, I had no idea people are hurting and people need a friend. The first thing, Job's friends. The second thing is his friends have constantly been saying, Job, all this is happening to you because God's in control. And so the second thing I want you to notice that Job says is, I full well know God's in control. I full well know God's in control. The last thing I need y'all to do is come tell me God's in control. Look at Job chapter 12 and verse 9. Who knows not in all these things that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? I know God's doing it. I know this isn't an accident. I know this isn't karma. I know this isn't coincidence. I know there's a God who rules over all and has all power and I know he's at work. In fact, he says, and I hope you'll mark this in your Bible, in Job chapter 12 and verse 10, do you realize that it is God that controls the weather or not you breathe? Well, you need to get a hold of something. There is a
[5:40] God who rules over everything. There is a God who's more powerful than everybody and everything. Doctors aren't so smart and scientists don't know so much. God holds your breath. If you get to take another breath, it'll be because the God of heaven allows you to. Not only is God in charge of our lives, I could drop dead right now. That'll be totally up to him. I could live another hundred years.
[6:04] That'll be totally up to him. He's in charge. You know, in charge of our lives. He knows everything. We ought to know a little bit about God. Did you know that the God of the Bible knows everything?
[6:16] And Job says to his friends, y'all been running your mouths and I'm tired of hearing you running your mouth. I know God's big. I know he does the work. I know he controls my life and I know he knows everything. Look at Job 12, 12. With the ancient, with God, the old one is wisdom and understanding.
[6:34] And verse 13, and strength and counsel and understanding. God knows everything. God knows everything. You know, you get to the New Testament, you're going to find out he knows how many hairs are on your head. And with some of us, that's a job just to keep up with. And with some of the rest of us, it's not that hard. Most people can calculate two or four. But anyway, but anyway, God knows how many hairs. He knows every time a bird falls, there's nothing. He is the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present God of the universe. He is God. Job says, not only does he hold my life in his hand, not only does he know everything, but he even controls nature. It's raining out there.
[7:20] It wasn't that the meteorologists knew what was going to happen. God did. And according to Job, chapter 12, verse 15, it's God that holds the water back and they drop. And it's God that sends the waters out. I'll give you another one. This one may shock you to know that God controls politics.
[7:38] God controls politics. You're like freaking out about what's going to happen and what's going on. And where does a Hitler come from? And where does a Trump come from? And where does a Russia come from? And where does an Israel come from? And in Job chapter 12 and verse 17, he says, God, he leads counselors. He makes judges into fools. He loses the bonds of kings. Verse 19, he leads princes and he overthrows mighty. And verse 20, he takes away the understanding of the wage of the aged. Verse 21, he pours contempt upon princes. And verse 23, he increases nations and he destroys them. He enlarges nations and he tightens them back up again. He takes away the heart of the chief, the president of the people, and he calls them to wander in the wilderness. You might remember one of those guys. He was all big and powerful. And Nebuchadnezzar says to that, man, look at the kingdom that I have made. And God said, you think you made it? Watch this. I'll take it all away and you'll become an animal. And he sends him out running around. God is in charge. You know what the second thing? Number one, you ought to see, I want to be the right kind of friend. I ought to work at being the kind of friend that brings honor to God and leads people to Jesus. Is that true or not? If it is, amen, work at being the right kind of friend. But you know what you need to get a hold of?
[8:50] Somehow living in America where everything is so perfect and where everything just works out right and where we got the best doctors and the best medicine and the best of everything. And we begin to think somehow that we did all that. The Bible's clear. God is in charge. God is in charge. You ought to be seeking God. But the third thing is, the third thing I see Job chapter 13 and verse 3 is Job realized, man, I'd rather talk to God as my buddies. I'd rather talk to God as my buddies.
[9:20] In Job chapter 13 and verse 3, he said, surely I would speak to the Almighty. Let me just say this before I leave the power of God. He's in control. He has all the power.
[9:34] It's not man or man's opinion that makes a difference. If you know God, then you know you can trust him. And if you know that there's an all-powerful God who's in control, you can know that things aren't just accidents and coincidences. You need to get a hold of that before I move on.
[9:50] You need to realize you serve an all-powerful God. And whether you accept him or reject him, whether you believe in him or ignore him, it doesn't change one thing about who he is. And you may be here this morning and you may in some way have a, have a, I don't really believe in God attitude. And I don't really accept what you got to say. And you can say that's what Job said, but I don't believe any of it, but it's the truth whether you accept it or not. Job decided I'd rather talk to God as my friends. And in Job 13, three said, surely I would speak to the Almighty.
[10:23] If you have your Bible open, you should put your circle around the word Almighty. And you ought to know that there is nothing beyond the power of God. God is completely all-powerful. God in six days makes a world. One, one commentary said, uh, the shocking thing about God making the six, making the world in six days is that it took him that long because he could have made it in six seconds. He could have made it in one second. He could have made it faster than you could blink an eye. He said, I'll take six days only because he's God and he can do whatever he wants to. He is the almighty God. There's something wrong with you when you begin to think in some way that you're big and powerful and high and lifted up and you begin to think you don't need God. You begin to think that you're somebody that's really messing you up. So, so Job said, I want to speak to the Almighty. I desire to reason with God.
[11:17] He said, I'm really kind of tired of you misrepresenting God. Look at Job chapter 13 and verse seven. Will you speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him? Now see, here's what Job said. Job, see Job's suffering and Job knows that Job's suffering and he hasn't done anything wrong. He hasn't sinned against God. He hasn't failed God. Things are just going wrong in his life and he doesn't understand why. And his three wonderful friends come to see him and they sat down and they say, well, it's all on you big boy. You're the one that did wrong and you brought this on yourself. And if you hadn't messed up, your life wouldn't be all messed up. You did wrong.
[11:56] Job looks at him and says, I didn't do wrong. They said, well, here's what the Bible says. And of course they don't quote the Bible and they make foolish statements. And Job looks at him and says, you know, I'm about tired of listening to you guys. You run your mouths and say stuff and it's not true.
[12:09] Now you could easily think this is the babbling of a guy trying to defend what he's done wrong or right. And these other guys trying to pick on him and be bullies to him. But if you get to the end of the book of Job, you know what God's going to say? God's going to say Job was right all along.
[12:24] It wasn't Job doing wrong. And you and I both know what happened up at the very beginning of the story. God and Satan are having this conversation to see if Job really believes God's enough. And Job is going to believe that God's enough. So Job says, Job says, I'm tired of y'all misrepresenting God. He said in Job 13, 13, hold your peace. That's nice. We said, be quiet. Let me alone.
[12:49] That I may speak and let come on me. What will? Job was bothered by his friends and wanted to talk to God. And what my big question for you this morning is, how many of us are bothered by God and want to talk to our friends? It's like, Job's like, I'm not fed up with y'all's logic and your reasoning. I think y'all are dingbats. And just to be honest, why don't y'all just be quiet and I'll go talk to God about this. But I think a lot of us look up and say, God, I don't like you. I don't like the God the Bible made up. And so I don't want to talk to you. I want to go talk to my friends.
[13:25] Don't you think that's a little bit messed up? But maybe that's what you're doing this morning. Maybe instead of getting into the Bible and finding out what God says, you're doing that. And I would say to you, can I just say, you find time to talk to your friends.
[13:39] You find time to be a part of your club. You find time to be in part of social media. You find time to find out what human beings think. And I would question how many of you say, time for everybody to be quiet. I need some time alone with God. How many of you have a time when you sit down and take the Bible and you read the Bible? The story was told, I think you'll see it in my greetings page on Facebook. I copy what people say. They had shown this African tribal man about the Bible. He'd learned how to read. He knew the Bible. And the guy walked by one day and saw the tribal guy and he was sitting there with his Bible in his hand. And as I said, they said he looked over and he would look down and he'd read a minute and he'd look up and he'd start talking. And he'd look down and he'd read a minute and he'd look up and start talking. And somebody walked over to him and said, what are you doing? He said, I'm talking to God. He's talking to me. He said, I look down and read and God speaks to me. And I look up to him and tell him what I think he's doing in my life.
[14:31] I'm afraid most of us don't have a time to do that. I'm afraid you're as a born again, and by the way, your kids, you're going to lose your kids because you can't be a Sunday morning Christian and really expect your kids to get ahold of the God of the Bible who ought to have changed your life. If all you do is walk with God on Sunday morning and you leave God off to the side all week long, don't be shocked when your kids decide that leaving him off one more hour is not that big a deal. Find some time for God. So go with me to Job 13, 15. This has to be one of the most wonderful statements in the entire Bible. Job chapter 13 and verse 15, Job's great decision.
[15:10] Job says, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him, but I will maintain my own ways before him. That's a pivotal verse in the book. I want you to notice what's happening. You know what Job is saying? You ought to write this down somewhere.
[15:33] God is enough. God is enough. Job will love God no matter what happens, even if it means losing everything, including his wife. Do you understand what he said? We're 13 chapters in. His 10 children have died. All of his wealth is gone. His health is gone. And his friends are beating him up every day and telling him he's a wicked guy. And he says this, I really don't care what God does to me.
[16:11] I'll still serve him. I'm afraid some of us have a very tenuous relationship with God.
[16:23] We love God as long as God is good to us. We love God as long as our health is good. We love God as long as our friends are there for us. We love God as long as everything's going our way. God has become for us a magic genie in a bottle. And we rub the bottle and the genie comes out and we ask for what we want. And that's why we love God. So we would say, I love God. He's good to me. I love God. He's kind to me. I love God. He answers prayer. But Job says, I love God. I don't care if he kills me.
[16:53] Honey, I love you because you're beautiful. What are you going to do when she's not beautiful? I love you, sweetheart, because you're so good a wife to me. What are you going to do when she's crippled and can't get out of bed and take care of you? Is your love really dependent on some flippant little easy decision? It's always amazing to me, the men that are so deeply in love with their young and beautiful wives and they get a little bit of age or they have some kind of health problem and they all of a sudden get a new wife. And I'm like, what'd you do? You said you loved her.
[17:22] You said for better or for worse. You said, no death do us part. And overnight you walk away from the person you made all those promises to. But then I think about how you treat God. Boy, God, I love you.
[17:34] God saved me. But instead of saying, though he slay me, yet will I serve him? We tend to say, as long as you're good to me. See, here's what Job is saying. I don't have any answers and I got a lot of questions, but I love you anyway. I can trust you in the middle of all my trouble. My entire life has fallen apart, but I love you. You need to remember that real faith is not getting what you want from God, but accepting whatever God gives you. Real faith isn't getting what you want. Real faith is saying, I believe you no matter what happens to me. Though he slay me. Though he slay me.
[18:17] Job will trust God even though he doesn't understand what's going on. You see, the problem is Job knows he's done nothing at all to deserve what's happening to him. His friends are there saying, well, it's your fault. It's karma. It's karma. You're reaping what you sowed. I'm sure your kids messed up. If your kids hadn't messed up, God wouldn't have killed them. You sure were a good Christian when everything was going your way, but you don't love God. And Job looks at him and says, I have made up my mind. I love God no matter what happens. Before we finish the last part of that verse, I think you need to make a decision this morning. Do you love God because he gave you a good wife? Do you love God because he answers prayer? Do you love God because you enjoy him? Do you love God because he brings about morality? Or do you love God even if everything in your life totally fell apart? A friend of mine, I spent some time with him just in the last few days.
[19:12] His name is Ephraim. Ephraim was a, he is a preacher, a pastor in Arikipa. And Ephraim was on his way to camp and he got arrested by the police. And the police blamed him with a crime that a guy with his same name had committed. He had proof that he wasn't there, but the court didn't accept it. And he spent six months in prison. The first night that he was in prison, they had stripped all of his clothes off of him, left him naked and beaten him and hosed him down. And he was 11,000 above feet above sea level where it's cold at night, really cold at night. And they left him in a room all by himself.
[19:50] And he said, my whole world was gone. And he says, it was the sweetest night I've ever spent with God in my life. I had nowhere to go. I had no one to talk to. I had no way to get help. I had no way to get a solution. But God was real to me. What Ephraim was saying was, though he slay me. It doesn't matter what God does. And I think I ought to say this before we go on. If you're truly born again, that's how you love God. If you're in the prosperity gospel salvation, you're not saved. If you're in the I get stuff from God mess, you're not really saved. I think I probably told you this, but in my younger and foolisher days, more foolish days, I was pastoring a church that I'd started from scratch when I was 23. And I was still 23, maybe 24. And I decided one night to have a special crazy service. I decided to have some friends of mine put on hoods and carry guns and break into the service and throw me up against the wall and beat me up real good. And I was talking to them about serving God under persecution. And so I'm standing up at the front and all of a sudden they jumped, they jerked the door open, they slammed it up and they started yelling. They reached over and grabbed me and they threw me up because of course I knew exactly who they were. And I was running about 25 or 30 in church. Man, by the end of that service, everybody in that room was like, I ain't never coming back to this church. Even after I took their hats off, even after I explained what was going on, the next day I went to see Ricky Henson. I said, now Ricky, you are coming back. He said, I ain't coming back. He said, I am not going to church where I might get hurt. Isn't that the way you live?
[21:39] You can say, well, Austin, you as a foolish young preacher, didn't have a brain. I admit that. But I could tell you this, most of us, if we were in China today, if we were in India today, if we were in North Africa today, our love for Jesus might make us not go to church at all. Though he slay me, yet will I serve him. Yet will I trust him. Would you read that part with me out loud? Everybody's right there behind me. Ready? Say it together.
[22:12] Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. I am laying on a bed dying of cancer and everything is wrong. And I'm a very young person and my whole life is falling apart and my body's wracked with pain and everything is going wrong. I need to say, though he slay me, yet will I trust him.
[22:32] My wife dies. My children die. My entire financial empire collapses. I need to say, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Last part of the verse that you can't miss is this, but I will maintain my own ways before him. You know what he was saying? He said to his friends, you claim I'm doing wrong, but I'm not doing wrong. I'm not doing wrong. I haven't done anything wrong.
[22:57] I maintain my integrity. I'm telling you that before this ever started going down in my life, before my friends died and before everything I had collapsed and before my health fell and before my wife told me to curse God, I was walking with God. I am not backslid. I am not wrong, but I don't care what God does to me. I love him anyway. I love him anyway, but I hadn't done wrong.
[23:19] Job chapter 13 and verse 18, he said, I have ordered my cause. I know that I shall be justified. And I would like you to get to the point of my message. I want you to go with me to Job 13, 23, and I want to show you Job's great questions that he asked. And these are questions I want to ask you to ask this morning. In Job chapter 13 and verse 23, how many are mine iniquities and sins?
[23:47] God, how much have I failed you? God, where do I stand with you? God, how messed up am I? Make me to know my transgression and my sin. Now listen to this. You will not know true Bible salvation until you know that you have sinned against the Holy God. You know, you can't really just say, I'm going to be like I was. You know, they say, come to church any way you are and go home the same way. You can't do that. Huh? It's really not about the clothes you're wearing. You've got to come in a door. You've got to come to God saying, I know I have sinned against you. I know I deserve hell. I know if I got what was coming to me, I would die and go to hell, but I want to ask you to save me. So this ought to be the question every one of us asks, God, how much sins in my life?
[24:33] It's really not about how much sin. It's about me realizing my sinfulness. It's about me knowing I need saved. See, that's a term. What in the world? One family asked, they made the comment, why does he say saved so much? Why do they use the term saved so much? Do you realize your sin has taken you straight to hell forever? And there's only one way to be saved from that. And that is if God does a work in your life, the Holy Spirit needs to convict you of your sinfulness and your need of salvation. And by the way, even as Christians, I ought to constantly be saying, God, show me where I'm failing you. God work in my life. There ought to be a hunger and a born again believer that says, I want to be holy. I want to be holy. I want to be all that God wants me to be. We didn't get saved to live like sinners. We got saved to live like who we are, children of God. Amen. Now go with me, if you would, to Job 14, 4. He asked another question. I love this question. In Job 14, 4, he said, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. And there is not one human, but God in man, the God man, Jesus can. Now you need to understand, here's what Job said.
[25:59] There's no way for us to fix ourselves. There's no way for us to fix ourselves. There's no way that all the things I've done in the past, there's no way that my dirty thoughts, my dirty mind, and my dirty actions, there's no way for my alcohol, drug use, pride, arrogancy, covetousness, my hunger for self.
[26:18] There's no way to fix all that, humanly speaking. Not a one, nobody can. But guess what the Bible says here? Go right in the margin of that verse, 2 Corinthians 5, 21. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21.
[26:34] Here's what the Bible said. He made him, Jesus, to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. You know what God does? When you get saved, God reaches down and takes all your sin and all your failure and all your past, takes it up off of you and places that on Jesus, and Jesus dies on a cross and pays your sin debt. And then God in his wonderful mercy and his wisdom takes the righteousness of God himself and places that on you and takes a sinner and makes him a saint and takes a failure and makes him successful. God changes things. How could you get a clean thing out of an unclean thing? I was born on August the 21st, 1954. I came out of ungodly parents because they're human beings and they'd failed God. They did get saved before I was born, but the truth is I'm a human being and I'm a failure. And there's no way I could ever please God, but God can please God by taking my sin on him. You should say amen right there. Next verse, Job 14, 14. I want to talk to you a little bit about death. Job 14, 14. Job says, if a man die, shall he live again? Look at that. If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. And listen to this. I want to give you several things. You can write them down and look them up quickly for the sake of time. Number one, life's tough, then you die. Life's tough and then you die. That's what Job says. Look at Job chapter 14 and verse one. Got your Bible open and look at Job 14. Man that's born of woman. How many of you men were born of a woman? Say amen. If you weren't, something's wrong. Man is born of woman, is a few days and full of trouble. Few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and he gets cut down. He flees like a shadow and continues not. You see, life's pretty tough.
[28:39] Oh, you don't know that when you're two. You know, when you're two or three, the worst thing in the world is somebody took your toy. When you're two or three, the worst thing in the world is they want you to take a nap. When you're 30, you're like, somebody make me take a nap. Say amen. And you have no idea. But as you get older and older, you find out, man, life's tough. Life's tough. That's what Job said. But then does a man live again. Now here's what the Bible teaches. I'm going to give you verse after verse. But in Luke chapter 16, a rich man dies and in hell, he lift up his eyes being in torment. And Lazarus died and the angels came and took him. So when you die, there is a, in Spanish, the word to die, the literal, the literal definition is you stop existing. It's not true. Bad, bad, bad definition. When you die, you just change places that you exist. Well, if you die, will you live again? Yes, you will. You'll live forever somewhere. You're either going to live forever in the presence of God or you're going to live forever in hell. I'd like to talk to you Christians for just a minute. There is victory over death. Three of my friends are on the doorstep of death right now. I could sit down with them and I could tell them I know that there is hope. The Bible says in first Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 55,
[30:00] Oh, death, where's your sting? Death. Oh, grave, where's your victory? The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the worst thing, the worst thing you ever face, death. We got victory. The worst thing could ever happen to you, death, but we have victory. The Bible said in Revelation chapter one and verse 18, Jesus talking and Jesus said, I am he that lives and was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And then he said, and I got the keys to death and hell. When Jesus died and was buried, he busted hell in the nose, took the keys and said, I'm in charge now. Sin brought death, death, and Jesus won over death. In second Timothy chapter one and verse 10, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ, who abolished death, abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Whether or not you understand this, this is only where I live.
[31:16] This body is only where I live. It's just like I used to have a house on a place called Ansley Lane. And nowadays I have a house on high tire road. I just changed houses. I'm the same guy. I just live in this house. If you'd have seen me when I was 18, I was a lot better looking than this. I had some muscles too, and I didn't have white hair. Praise the Lord. You know, everything, everything was a lot different, but I'm the same old guy I was back then. And soon when I die, you'll place my body in the ground and you'll say, well, there goes Austin, but Austin won't be going. We'll just be storing his house because I'm going to go to heaven. John chapter 11 and verse 25, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
[31:58] If you're here this morning and you're lost, you're already dead. If you're here this morning, you've never been saved. You're already marked and on your way to hell.
[32:10] Bible says in John chapter three and verse 18, that you did not come to the world as condemned the world, but that the world through him might be saved. But those that believe not are condemned already. You're already condemned to hell. But he said, I'll save you out of that. He said, I'll save you. I'll give you life. I'll change you. Then he said in verse 26, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believe us now this.
[32:36] It won't be long. My friend Walter's body with pancreatic cancer. He's 62 and he knows it and he expects it.
[32:51] He can't eat anymore. He's losing weight like crazy. I laid my hand on his back and I could feel almost every bone in his body. He's not going to die. He's going to move. And before his body can drop to the floor, before his eyes can close in death, he'll wake up in heaven in the presence of God almighty.
[33:11] And that's what the Bible says in second Corinthians chapter five and verse six. You ought to mark this second Corinthians chapter five and verse six. We are always confident. And we know what I'm about to say is true. Knowing that while we are at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. As long as I'm alive here on this planet, I'm in this body and I'm absent from his presence. I'm here present with you, but I'm absent from his presence. But in verse eight, we are confident. And I say willing rather. He said, if I had my choice, I'd rather be absent from this body and present with the Lord. Did you know that he prepared a place for us?
[33:55] Did you know that even though we walked through the valley of the shadow of death, we're not alone. He is with us. But I need you to know this. If you're in this room and you have a trusted Christ, you'll not only die once, you'll die twice. You'll only die once, you'll die twice.
[34:16] In Revelation chapter 20 and verse 13, you think, well, when you're dead and your body's decomposed and you've been thrown in the ocean or you've been put in the ground and you've rotted or you've been cremated, you'll escape it. He says, nope. The sea gave up the dead and death and hell delivered up the dead, which were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works.
[34:36] And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And you need to understand if you're not born again this morning, you'll not die once, you'll die twice.
[34:51] If you're not saved, you'll die twice. First, your body will die, but you will then wake up in a place called hell. And a judgment day will come when God will bring you out of this temporary suffering place that we call hell, where he lift up his eyes being in torment and death and hell will stand before God and be cast into the lake of fire, which never stops burning.
[35:19] Job said, if a man dies, will he live again? The Bible answer is very clear. Yeah, everybody will.
[35:31] There's not a human being since the day of Adam until today who is not still alive. They're in heaven or they're in hell. They're being blessed or they're suffering. And you and I need to get a hold of that in our minds because you're like, this is just religion. This is just a Baptist church. This is just a preacher. Well, the word of God says something different. The word of God makes it really clear. You will spend eternity forever somewhere.
[36:02] They'll open the books and find out if you're one of those that are born again. You can be born again today. Everybody in this room can be saved. Everybody in this room can have their sins forgiven. Everybody in this room can know that when they die, they'll go to heaven. God loves you and wants you to be saved. And for you to stay where you are in your sin is like the most foolish decision you could ever make. He loves you. He died for you. And he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. By the way, if you're not saved, in just a second, I'm going to help you. There'll be some men and ladies here ready to help you. They'll take the Bible and show you how to go to heaven. And by the way, if you're here and you've got family members that are lost, you must believe this is true. You've got to talk to your aunt. You've got to talk to your sister and your brother. You've got to help people. Jesus died for them to be saved. And there really is a hell. I know nobody preaches that anymore, but it's still in the Bible, isn't it?
[37:00] What are we going to do about it? If you're not saved, be saved today. Okay.