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All right, we're in Matthew chapter number 20 and look down at your Bibles at verse number 6. It says, In about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They saith unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. The title of the sermon this morning is, Better late than never. Better late than never, right? Now, this sermon is really going to be geared towards those who may feel that, you know, they're at a disadvantage in the Christian life because they came into the Christian life later on in life, right? Maybe you got saved in your 20s or in your 30s, 40s, 50s, or maybe you got saved a lot earlier, but you didn't start serving God until far later. Or maybe you were in church, you were saved and you were serving God, but you didn't come to certain biblical truths and certain insights of the Bible until later on in life. And you feel that because you came later on, you're at a disadvantage. Now, here's the thing is that some people, they get saved, they don't get plugged into church and for whatever reason, maybe it's a death in the family. Maybe it's just a trial or tribulation that moves them to start reading the Bible or find a church. And then when they get into that church, they start learning all these things that they wish they would have learned in times prior. And they feel that they're at a loss. They feel like, man, I wish I would have learned this when I was a kid, or I wish that I would have gotten saved. I wish I would have grown up in a Christian home. I wish I would have known all these things in times past, so much time wasted. But you know what? To that I say, better late than never. Better late than never. Some people think, well, I wish I would have started developing spiritual habits and spiritual disciplines earlier in life rather than later. I'm suffering the consequences of my bad actions. I'm suffering the consequences of having bad habits and bad friends and bad ideologies. I'm suffering them now. But you know what? If you know the truth now, better late than ever. And that's how we got to see this. You know, if you're not careful, you can have this mindset that, oh, you know, poor me and you know, oh, man, I didn't get saved until later on, or I don't have a Christian dad or a Christian mom, and I didn't know about these things. And they almost use that as a crutch to basically remain ignorant in certain things. You know, they use that as a crutch to say, well, this is why I'm not trying as hard or this is why I'm not at this certain level of Christianity. And this is why. But you know what? That's just an excuse because better late than ever. Often people can take on this perspective of like Elijah just put themselves under the juniper tree and say, woe is me because I didn't have X, Y, and Z, right? I didn't grow up in a Christian home. I had a late start to God's will and all these excuses that people put on the table as to why they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing rather than just saying, hey, well, better late than ever. You know, better that I got saved and not get saved at all, better that I got into a good Baptist church and learned some good truths later on in life than never. That's how we have to see it. Now in the story we just read, we see a householder who's looking to employ laborers for his vineyard and he gets some laborers early in the day. He goes to the third hour, which is nine o'clock, six hour, 12 o'clock. Then he goes to the ninth hour, which is three o'clock PM and the 11th hour, which is five. So he finds all these laborers later on in the day and he basically tells them, look, if you go work for me, I'll pay you as much. He doesn't tell them this specifically, but we know this because we see it in the Bible. I'll pay you as much as I paid them, a penny a day. Now it's not the same penny that we have today. It's a day's wage. It's an earning for a labor, for a complete day of work. But he goes to all these people who come later on in the day and he says, if you're willing to work for me, I'll give you what I'm giving these guys, but you just got to go work. And you know what? These guys could have said, man, I wish I would have started early off in the day. I wish I would have just been one of the first laborers to come into that vineyard. But you know what? Better late than never in their case, right? Because even though they were called later, even though they were hired later, guess what? They still received the same benefits as those who were called at 6 a.m. or whatever. So even though they came later, they were able to reap the benefits of serving the householder and even being paid as much as them, even though they came later. So you're in good company. Amen. Look, I got saved when I was 21 years old and I learned biblical truths later on in life, but I don't want to, I don't want to like dwell on that though. You know, I know pastors that literally like almost every service, you know, they supposedly got saved or whatever and, and they, every single service like, oh, I didn't grow up in a Christian home. I didn't go to Christian school and woe is me. This is why I'm so ignorant of the Bible. You just don't know anything. Then sit down and go do something else. If you want your congregation to feel pity for you, you're not to be a pastor then. You want your congregation to feel sorry for you and you're supposed to be the example to the flock. I didn't grow up in a Christian home. Also, that's why you don't know the Bible. Is that why? You know, I didn't go to a Christian school or you, you act like you did because you're teaching all kinds of false doctrine. So I look, that looks even worse. Now look, this is what I'm not saying. Okay. Cause better late than never. Amen. But what I'm not saying is that if you're not saved, put it on until later. Cause today now is the appointed time. Today is the day of salvation. Amen. At the moment that someone gives you the gospel, you should trust Christ. And in fact, a lot of people put it off and guess what? They become reprobate because of the fact they're putting off, they're hearing the gospel over and over again and they harden their heart towards the gospel. And the end result is that actually they become reprobate concerning the faith. So I'm not saying, Oh, you know, you have all the time in the world, get saved later. That's not what I'm talking about. And I'm not saying that if you're not serving God, that you should wait until later to serve him. Hey, young people, Oh, I'll just wait till I turn 18 and I'll wait till I turn 20. I'll wait till I turn 30. I'll wait till I turn 40 to serve God, no serving today. Remember that creator in the days of thy youth, we ought to serve him today because our life is but a vapor. It's here for a small amount of time. You don't know if you have tomorrow. You don't know if you have next week. You don't know if you have this year serving today. So what I'm not saying is that if you're not serving God, Oh, you could just wait until later. I'll wait until the next red hot preaching conference, forgot to touch my heart and you know, I actually started serving God. I'll wait till I get into a really big bind and then I'll cry out to God and say, Lord, if you just rescue me from this, I'll start serving you. Don't wait. This is not what I'm saying. Hey, I'm not saying, and I'm not giving anyone permission to show up late to church either. Amen. You know, show up late to church. Like you're late, better late than never because after this, I'm going to hear that for the next four weeks. Like, Hey, I haven't known late, but better late than ever. That's not what I'm talking about. So that goes out the window, right? But we are in good company because of the fact that just because we came late into serving God or maybe came late to certain biblical truths or even late in the matter of salvation, it's still better than just not having these things at all. And that's the perspective that we need to have. There are benefits to coming later, to coming late to certain things, you know, than being early because, because of the fact that, you know, there's people who grew up in a Christian home, they've been given all these biblical truths, all these principles, they've been shown disciplines, they've been given all this truth and they're just not good stewards of it. They're still watered down. They're not excited about the things of God. They're not preaching the gospel. They're not, you know, attending church faithfully. They just take Christianity with lightness. Whereas you look at someone who got saved later on in life and they got zeal for the Lord. They're passionate about the things of God. They want to learn the Bible. They're reading it over and over again. So it seems as though those who come later often have a tendency to have more zeal than those who grew up in church. Obviously the exception, the exception proves the rule. There's people who grew up in church, they had Christian parents, they even went to a Christian school and they're still on fire for God. You know, they're still on fire for God, they're doing great works and they're benefiting from growing up in a Christian home. They're good stewards of that which God has given to them, right? But that's not always the case. Now you're in Matthew chapter 20, let's look at some things here. So let me give you some examples of those who came late and still benefited from it, okay? And again, not salvation, not serving God, not showing up late to church, okay? First of all, the Gentiles as a whole, according to this story, came late, right? Look at Matthew chapter 20, look down at verse number 10, but when the first came to suppose that they should have received more and they likewise received every man a penny and when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house saying, these last have wrought but one hour and now has made them equal unto us which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, friend, I do thee no wrong, didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is and go thy way, I will give unto this last even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? So the last shall be first and the first, excuse me, and the first last for many be called but few chosen. Now he said, what is this parable having to do with? Well, it has to do with the Jews and the Gentiles, okay? Those who were hired at the very beginning of the chapter, now I'm not referring to the ninth, excuse me, the third, the sixth, the ninth hour, I'm referring to those who were just hired right off the bat by the householder, is representing the Jews because they were hired, unto them were committed to the oracles of God. Unto them were committed to the oracles of God, they knew the Old Testament, they had the laws of God, they were supposed to be a light unto the Gentiles and those who came in at the third hour, the sixth, ninth, and even the eleventh hour are representing us. In fact, if we were to get specific, we can say that those who represent the third and twelfth hour are those we see in the New Testament, right? Those who represent the ninth and the eleventh hour would be basically like us because we're coming in towards the latter end. And here's the great thing about this, what's being taught here is this doctrine of replacement theology, right? And we see all the elements represented here in this very parable. We see the jealousy that the first laborers had over the ones who came later on, right? We see, well, how can you pay them as much as us and we've born in the heat of the day? Well, I'll tell you why, because I agreed with you for a penny, right? That covenant, and if we were to get more specific, they broke that covenant, right? They broke that Old Testament covenant and therefore they were replaced with better laborers. The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. So it's like, well, and here we don't, obviously we don't see that he takes away the money from them, but we see that he pays the Gentiles as much as he's paying them, even though they came later on and like, now, I can't say this for sure, but I would guess that these guys probably worked pretty hard. I'm talking about those who came at the third, the sixth, ninth, and eleventh hour. They probably worked and earned that penny, even though they had a short amount of time to do it. Even though they were hired later, they probably put in twice as much work to earn that money. And in like manner, that's basically what the Gentiles are doing. You know, the Jews basically failed at the task of being a light unto the Gentiles and winning the world to Christ, whereas now that the Gentiles, we're the chosen people of God, we have the word of God, we're putting in a lot of work to earn our keep is what we're trying to do here, right? Go with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter eight, if you would. The Bible tells us in Romans 11 and 11, I say then have they stumbled that they should fall, God forbid, but rather through their fall, salvation is coming to the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy. The Bible says in Revelation chapter three, verse number nine, behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, referring to the Jews, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee. Amen to that. So the immediate interpretation of this scripture is showing us the distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles, how the Gentiles came at the 11th hour. They came at the beginning, but guess what? We get to get paid as much as they do if we put in the work as well, right? Look at Matthew chapter eight and verse number five. We see this early on in the New Testament. It says here in verse number five, and when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching him and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented, and Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this man, go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my servant do this and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed, barely I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west. So verse number 11 is not a separate thought from the story we just read with the centurion. Okay, so just keep that in mind. So when he says that many shall come from the east and west, that is representative of this centurion person because this centurion is a Roman, right? He's not a Jew, he's not of Israel, he's a centurion. He says, I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus saith unto the centurion, go thy way as thou has believed, so be it unto thee and the servant was healed the selfsame hour. So he basically puts this little teaching in between the story of the centurion. And he basically says, hey, people don't marvel that this guy has a lot of faith. And that he's putting it on me because you're going to see people from the east and west coming to sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the children of the kingdom, which is who? The Jews shall be cast out into outer darkness, you know, hold on a second, children, children of what kingdom? The Jews shall be cast out into outer darkness, you know, hold on a second, children of what kingdom? Amen. So it says children, aren't they children of God? No, they're, they're, they're of the father of the devil, the Bible says in John 8 44. But we see here that Jesus Christ basically shows that this centurion, this guy who didn't grow up in Israel, he didn't have the word of God, but he had, he placed his faith in Christ. Even he was going to be given this opportunity to sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. And then the rest were going to be cast out. Go to Ephesians chapter number three. Hey, the Gentiles, we as Gentiles, obviously we're not necessarily Gentiles anymore. We're the true Jews, but as Gentiles, you know, we have a great privilege. We came at the 11th hour. We didn't know, we didn't hear a voice from heaven in the Old Testament. We weren't part of that old covenant at any time. We came in during the New Testament, the new covenant and, but thank God for it because now we have a more sure word of prophecy. Amen. Look at Ephesians three verse one for this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which has given me to you word, how that by revelation he may known it to me the mystery as I wrote a four and few words whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known into the sons of men as it is now revealed into his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit. So you asked the dipsticks, which don't ever ask the dipsticks. This is, this is, you know, I'm given a theoretical, you know, scenario here. If you lost your mind and you got kicked out of our church and you know, at that point, go ask them. Okay. But if you ask Charles Lawson, you ask, you know, uh, I was gonna say Peter Ruggman, a Robert breaker, Peter Ruggman's in hell, Robert breaker, you ask all these dipsticks. What does this verse mean? He's going to say, well, you know, it's the dispensation is referring to the dispensation. Now we're in the dispensation of grace where the Gentiles are being saved. We're in the times of the Gentiles and this is the church age and they'll use Ephesians chapter three to back that up. Okay. He said, well, it said dispensation of the grace of God. You know, wasn't Paul given that dispensation? Isn't that the time period where Gentiles are being, just the Gentiles are being saved and God is only focusing on them and you know, he's, he's put the Jews in the time out. This is not what that's referring to. Look at verse six, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. So what is the mystery? The mystery was this, is that we were going to be partakers of those of the, of the inheritance. Okay. Because Gentiles were being saved even in the Old Testament, the Gentiles were being reached even in the Old Testament, it wasn't just like only Jews are being saved or only Israel is being saved during that time. No, the Gentiles were being saved as well. The mystery was that they should be fellow heirs, that they should receive the same rewards even though they come at the 11th hour. All right. Go to Luke chapter number seven, Luke chapter number seven. And you know, sometimes when people, the application is this, is that sometimes when people come later on in life to the Lord, they get saved later on in life, they start serving God later on, they not only have more zeal, but they have a tendency to have more love. They have a tendency to love the Lord a little more. Not always, I understand, but in some cases they do because of the fact that their life has been wracked by sin, it's been destroyed, it's been just completely demolished by, by sin and the world and the devil, that when they get saved, they're really thankful. They're very grateful for salvation. They're grateful for the forgiveness of God. They're thankful that God loves them, you know, and they have a tendency to express that so much the more than someone who just grew up in church and does it and just kind of takes it for granted. Here's an example of that. Look at Luke chapter seven verse 36, and one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with them. And he went into the Pharisees house and sat down to meet and behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and did wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee, which had been in him, saw it, he spake within himself saying, this man, if he were a prophet would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches him for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering and sentence him, Simon, I have someone to say unto thee and he sayeth master say on. By the way, I find it interesting in verse 39 that he says she is a sinner. It's like, so are you, right? Everyone's a sinner. Verse 41, there was a certain creditor which had two debtors. The one owed 500 pence and the other 50 and when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him the most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto them, thou has rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and said unto Simon, seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she had washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil, thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore, I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, thy sins are forgiven. What he's saying in verse 47 is that you could basically tell that this woman was forgiven much based upon the much that she's doing. Based upon the love that she has for her savior, based upon the tears that she was using to cleanse his feet, her hair to wipe his feet. All these things we're doing, we're just basically an outward show of her love for her savior because of the forgiveness that she had to receive. And those who come on later on in life often have that. They're just a little more zealous. They love the Lord a lot more. You say, well, how do you know they love the Lord a lot more? Because if you love me, keep my commandments. They have a tendency to be very zealous about keeping God's commandments. They're not lax about certain things. They're not callous about certain commandments. They're not grieved of God's commandments. They do it with joy. They have delight in it. You say, well, I wish I would have gotten saved earlier in life. Well, you know what? Better late than never because now that you're saved, you have a tendency and a far greater potential to love more. You can love sinners out there that are more, amen? When you go out and soul win, you could actually preach the gospel and have love in your heart and not just see them as just some regular Joe Schmoe or whatever. You can actually have a deep love for people because you got saved later on in life. Because when you knock on a door and they open that door, you see a reflection of yourself. You see where you used to be, what used to happen to you, and you have a heart for that person. Better late than never. The gist of the message is this, is that, hey, don't ever have this mentality of, oh man, later on in life, later on in life, later. You know what? Better late than never. Okay? Why don't you look at the silver lining in the fact that you came in later and look at all the benefits that you receive because you came in later rather than constantly focusing on I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish this would have happened. I wish I would have gotten saved when I was five and all these things. No, better late than never. We see that it worked out with the Gentiles. They got paid more. The New Testament is filled with stories about Gentiles. And in fact, those who came in at early on, labored in the vineyard early on, they become the antagonist of the New Testament, which are the Jews, right? Who become the protagonist of Gentiles? Who become the ones who become more zealous and are more thankful when they hear the word of God from the apostle Paul and the other apostles, the Gentiles? Who are the ones who become these fiery preachers? The ones, the Gentiles in the New Testament, Apollos, right? All these other men that actually did something because they came later on in life. Go with me if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. So better late than never, why? Well because of the fact that if you came at the third, ninth, you know, hour, you can love more and really at times can be rewarded far greater than those who came earlier than you. Okay? And look, isn't it great the fact that you came later and you're learning all these things and then you can teach them to your children, right? I see it as an advantage. I get the best of both worlds. That's how I see it. And look, if you're a second generation Christian here and you're on fire for God, amen to that. You know, my children are second generation Christians. My wife is a second generation Christian. She was raised in a Christian home, you know, she was raised in all the Christian culture, independent fundamental Baptist, King James from the, you know, she was at where we don't believe in nurseries, but she was in the nursery. She was taught all the Bible stories from very young. She went to the Sunday school classes. She was taught all these things, but my wife is on fire for God now. Amen. Why? Because she's a good steward of that which she was given. And look, if you're a teenager here and your parents are dragging you to church, you need to wake up. You need to wake up, be thankful, love more because more is committed unto you. I'm to whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required. So don't take it as, well, I'm going to let my dad and my mom be on fire for God, but I'm just going to be just this, this little flame. If you guys remember the conference, just this little flame or whatever, you know, let my, let my parents be on fire for God. No, you'll be on fire for God. You take on that responsibility. In fact, try to outdo your parents and being on fire for God. How about that? Right? And I'm not saying like when you become more zealous than your parents that you're correct in them or anything like that, you know, I'm talking about, Hey, try to exceed what your parents are doing. And look, that's expected. You know why? Because you actually been given more. You have a parent who actually believes the Bible is saved, it's coming to church. You know, you have a greater responsibility now to actually do that, which is right in the sight of the Lord and exceed. You are the arrow in the hand of God that the Bible talks about in Psalms. They will go further than your parents will, but you have the responsibility to do so. But if not, Hey, better late than never. Now the, so the first thing we looked at was the Gentiles, better late than never. Why? Because we have a greater potential to love the Lord more. We have a, uh, an opportunity to, to, to get more rewards. The second example that I want to give is the apostle Paul because the apostle Paul began serving God later. Now we understand that he also got saved later, but he also began to serve God later as well. Okay. Look at first Corinthians chapter 15, look at verse number three says, for I delivered unto you. First of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures and that he was seen of Cephas then of the 12 Cephas is Peter. After that he was seen of above 5,000 brethren at once of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are falling asleep. After that he was seen of James and of all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen of me also as one as of one born out of due time for I am the least of the apostles that I am not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. So the apostle Paul refers to himself as one being born out of due time. What does that mean? He came late. He came later on on the scene. Now more often than not, those who begin serving God later because you know, they heard a sermon or they get challenged to do something great for God. They actually end up doing more sometimes in their latter end than in the beginning because they're just making up for lost time. They get saved later on in life and they're just like, I want to be at every soul winning event. I want to be at church every single time. I don't want to miss a beat. Why? Because they feel like they, you know, they're making up for lost time. But you know what? Often those people actually end up doing more, more, double, triple, quadruple more than people were just kind of lax about the Christian life, about serving God. Why? Because of the fact they're like, well, you know what? I came into this thing late. I want to serve God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. My life would be consumed with the things of God because I need to make up for lost time. Oh, you know, that's not a good example though. You know, the apostle Paul, he's in the Bible and you know, you can't really use as an example. But the apostle Paul was used probably greater than any of the apostles in the New Testament. I mean, the New Testament is 27 books. Fourteen of those were written by him, by the one who came late. Fourteen of those were written by him who came late. And then the book of Acts, he didn't write it, but most of it is about him. It's like a biography on the apostle Paul. It's amazing. So even though he was one born out of due time, even though he got saved later on in life and began to serve God later, he actually did more than even the other apostles did. He accomplished more than all the apostles. Look what it says in verse number 10, but by the grace of God, I am what I am and his grace, which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all. Then who? The apostles. Yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me, therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach. And so you believe. Look, I don't think he's like, I don't think he's boasting here. I don't think he's being, I don't think he's exaggerating. I think he's telling the truth. He's saying, look, I labored more abundantly than they all. And you study the New Testament, that's fact. Why did he labor more abundantly than they all? Because he chose to go into the people group that no one else wanted to go into, which was right for the picking, the Gentiles, right? And often people who get saved later on in life to start serving God later on in life, they have a new pool to actually fish from. Think about that. You know, people who grew up in church, most of their friends are where? In church, right? But those who get saved later on in life, they know a bunch of people. They know a lot of people, their family, their friends, it's a new pool to fish from. And so that, you know, and of course, sometimes people who grew up in church, they end up getting this like Pharisaical attitude and this holier than thou attitude kind of thing. And you know, they don't want to associate with anybody who's not like them. Whereas you have the apostle Paul going to the Gentiles, it's like, I'll go to the Gentiles. And the newer Christians, you know what they'll do? They'll say, I'm going to go bring my friends to church. You know, and he brings a guy that's tatted from head to toe. His eyelids are tatted, you know, he goes like this, he has like, you know, his name on there, his wife on there or whatever. You know, he looks, he's pierced up, he looks like he fell into a tackle box face first. And people are like, well, I didn't bring that guy here. Yeah, it's a new pool, it's a new pond. He's not ashamed. You know, some of you need to go to those ponds and go fish, fish some of those people out. And by the way, I'm not saying like, go hang out with them and you know, go have a beer with them and go smoke a joint with them to reach them. That's not what I'm talking about, okay? I'm talking about if you are new to the Christian life, if you're new to the Christian world, you know what, why don't you try to reach some of your friends? Well, they don't want to hear it. All right, then move on at that point, obviously. When I got saved, I had a bunch of friends. I have a large family because I'm Hispanic, you know, lots of cousins. And I pretty much had visitors every single Sunday for like, maybe six months. And then I exhausted all my resources after that. I had someone in church every single day, or not every single day, every single Sunday I had someone in church, even Thursdays. I would bring friends all the time. I'd bring my mom, I'd bring my brother, I brought my dad, my aunts, even those who don't even speak English, I brought. I would just translate for them. Most of them got saved. Some of them didn't, but most of them got saved. I'd bring all my gangster buddies to church. You knew if I was bringing some of the church because they just were just, were motley. It was like, that's probably Bruce's friend right there. You know, tatted from head to toe, sleeves. I brought rockabilly's to church. Those of you chuckling, you know what that is. I brought rockabilly's to church, they had their, you know, their Doc Martens all the way up. They had the bandanas hanging out, you know, the tight shirts with the little, the cigarette all the way up in here, the packs or whatever, but they got saved, started cleaning up their lives to start getting to church. That was my pond that I fished from. And then I worked at a secular job where I had a lot of friends and I invited all of them to church because I was like a supervisor at that time. So you know, I would hang out with my employers all the time and I'd say, hey, why don't you come to church? You want to come to church? I go to Pacific Baptist Church. Why don't you come? They would come. Some of them got saved. Some of them didn't. Some of them came for the wrong reasons, you know, but I fished in that pond till there was no fish left. And then after a while, a year into it, you know, the only friends that I really had were the people in church. So at that point, you know, I was only focusing on the people that I want to invite from Soul Waning because I didn't really have any other friends after that just as far as I just had friends in the church. But what I'm saying is this, hey, you know, if you're new to the faith, go invite your friends. I don't know if they'll like your preaching, brother Mejia. Hey, give me the benefit of the doubt, man. Am I that bad? I mean, you come, don't you? Yeah. But, you know, I just don't know if they can handle it. I'm just afraid. Just bring them. You'd never know. Look, I remember years ago I got saved on a Tuesday. I believe it was July 22nd, 2007 is when I got saved. And I think that was Tuesday. And the next day I brought my my gangster buddy to church. His name was Jeff. And this guy was tatted from head to toe. And I said, hey, you need to come to church with me because I wanted him to get saved. But I don't know how to preach the gospel. I just say, you know, you got to trust Christ as your savior. But I wasn't really refined in that area. So I brought him and I took him to a soul winner. He got him saved. That guy ended up bringing another friend who was a rockabilly who ended up getting saved. And but I remember I even judged that guy a little harshly, something like so. Jeff, I don't know. He looks rough. Well, he ended up getting more involved than Jeff did. Like wait, he ended up going to more services than Jeff. He ended up serving the Lord more than him. And you know what? Jeff ended up backsliding and this guy ended up staying in church thereafter. And then, you know, they used to pick him up for church. He was driving himself to church after a while. So you just never know. You never know. Maybe the person you bring actually might get more on fire than you. But hey, that's a good thing because maybe if they do, you're like, man, I got to pick it up now. This guy's out doing me here, you know. What I'm saying is this is, hey, start fishing in that pond that you're in. Yeah, but they don't believe in the reprobate doctrine so much. If they're not saved, duh. We're not a cult here. It's like us four, no more. And one of the requirements for salvation is the reprobate doctrine. No. I'm amazed sometimes when people tell me like, I'm trying to get my friend to church, but he just, he doesn't want to believe that the fags and this and that are children of the devil. I'm like, did you get, did you witness to him? He's like, oh no, you know, I mentioned it every once in a while, but they only talk about these topics that are irrelevant to an unsafe person. They don't even have this Holy Spirit of God living within them and they expect them to know these doctrines right off the bat. You know, and look, if they come, they get saved and they never come back, at least they got saved. So better to bring them, get them saved and maybe they get offended and they leave. Then you not bringing them at all. Look, Damian, Damian came, Damian is one of the family of one of the families in our church here. Damian came and he came to church, he got saved and then he didn't come back for a while and now he's back in church. He's been in church for the last couple of months. You just never know. So the encouragement for this point, cause I'm not done with my sermon yet, is start fishing in a different, in your pond. Unless you, obviously if you exhausted that resource and you just offended everyone under the sun at your family, with your family gathering and you know, at your job and with your friends and you know, maybe you need to go to some of these ponds out here. But all of us come with a pond to fish from and then we have this big pond called the world that we do when we go out swanning, right? What I'm saying is, hey, do both, but you know, don't forsake the pond that you came from if you know maybe potentially there's some people there and you know, we obviously understand that the hardest people to win sometimes are our friends, aren't they? Our families, our friends, those who know us best, you know, your mom is like, I wiped your butt when you were a little baby and change your diaper and all these things. So this is what you do. Okay? You just invite them to church and then someone else could witness to them. You understand? Because even I have people in my life that's hard for me to witness to because they're my family. They're my friends or whatever, you know, old friends. And, but we can bring them to church and have someone else witness to them. So don't forsake them. Oh, but they don't like pastor Anderson, but here, here's the good news. He's not going to be here when you bring them. So you got, you, there you go. Well and no, you're, they don't have to like pastor Anderson to come to church. He'll tell you that. Don't have these unbiblical requirements for bringing them to church or whatever. Oh, but they, they drink and stuff. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, okay. They drink, you know, they're not safe and they drink. That's why they can't come to church. Well, maybe if we let them come and they hear some sermons against alcohol, maybe they'll stop drinking after they get saved. Don't have these foolish requirements for people that you know, that you would not place upon the people you don't know when you're out so many people who, when you meet out so many, it's just like, come, come as you are, right? But for some reason, the people that we know the most is that, well, no, they gotta be like this. You need to make sure we got a checklist, replacement theology, you know, hate the fags and all these things. Don't do that to them. You know, take advantage of the pond that you're in. I spent a lot of time on that, but I think it was necessary. The Bible says in Galatians 2a, for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles. I like Paul's attitude. He's like, the same spirit that the apostle Peter had is the same one that I have. And I can still do great works for God, even though I came later because we both have the same Holy Spirit, better late than never. And in fact, one of the qualifications to be an apostle was what? Was that they had to have been there beginning from the baptism of John until the day that he was taken up according to Acts chapter two, right? But the apostle Paul was there for neither. So God made an exception for him, and of course, Jesus Christ came to him on the road to Damascus. He made an exception for him, and in fact, he discipled him. He taught him all this doctrine. Now what's the application there? Well, if you come later on in life, to the Christian life, you give it your all, you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, you can get God's favor on your life. I'm not saying he's going to make exceptions for you, but you can have his favor. And that favor often propels you a little further than others because you're actually obeying God, you're sincere, you want to try your hardest to obey the Lord and please him. And he can often give you more favor because of that. I want God's favor on my life, amen. Psalm 4 one says this, hear me when I call, oh God of my righteousness, that was enlarged me when I was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer. Oh you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity and seek after leasing Sila, but know that the Lord had set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call unto him. I want to be set aside. Even if we came later, God, please set me aside. And often that comes by us putting the effort into obeying him and loving him, doing that which we should be doing. Go with me if we would to Acts chapter seven, I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter three, Hebrews chapter three. And then we'll go to Hebrews 11. Better late than never guys, you know, we're entering into a new phase in our church are we not? We're going to go independent soon in the next couple weeks and one thing we don't want to do when we go independent is we don't want to always focus on the past, the bad of the past, your old pastors and all the things that you went through. You know, that's, that's overdone with, you know what I mean? Now look, if they, if they, if they're like calling us out and saying all these things, whatever, obviously we could, you know, public ministries get it. Okay. Someone posted, you know, something about, you know, oh, don't be critical of other churches and all these things and you shouldn't be, well, here's the thing. If that church is in a public ministry, it's public to everyone, then they open themselves up to public scrutiny, right? But here's the thing is we don't want to focus on that. We have greater things to do. Do we not? We got people to reach, man, we got some sowing to do, we got missions, we got great exploits that we want to do. And as we enter into this new phase, you know, we've got to realize maybe some of us came later on in life, you know, we joined a new IFB church later on, hey, but better late than never. And I think we got the greatest church on the face of the earth. I think we got the greatest people, no offense guys right here, you know, don't tell my boss what I just said, lock the doors, don't let these guys out. They're permanent members of here, okay? I think we got the greatest people on the face of the earth. It's not flattery, it's a compliment because it's true. I believe we got the greatest church. And because of that, you know, let's band together, forget those things which are behind, press forward to those things which are before. Let's do great things. Well, yeah, but we're like in Omani and stuff and like we're all, there's a bunch of Mexicans in here and it's so hot and all that stuff. Shut up. Come with us and see our zeal for the Lord, man. We can still do something great. Here's my last example that I want to give as someone who came later or serve God later was Moses. Moses came like late, late, late, late, like really late. Okay. But he accomplished great exploits even later on in his life. You would think that someone who accomplishes great exploits has to be young and full of vinegar and just, just, you know, energy and just, you know, agile and all these things and just, you know, a young guy, Moses was old, old, but the Bible says that he was faithful in all his house. Okay. Look at Acts 7 22 and Moses was learning all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds and when he was full 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. So he's 40. Now look, let me just say this, 40 is not old. To the teenager, 40 years old, okay. But to the 33 year old, 40 is not old, right? 40 is not old and it's not. Now it's older, but it's not old. But he comes to his people at the age of 40. Look at verse 29, then fled, verse 29, then fled Moses at the saying and was a stranger in the land of mania where he begat two sons and when 40 years were expired. So this is 40 years after. So how old is he? 80 years old, right? There appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, an angel of the Lord of the flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled and durst not behold. So this event that we see of the burning fiery bush came when he was 80 years old. We haven't even gotten into Egypt and where he does the miracles and the Red Sea and that's not even including, you know, the 40 years of wiring. So he's 80 when he starts serving God, 80 years old. Not that point I would say, yeah, you're, you're old. I would say that's older. That's very, that's very much older. I don't think anybody would argue with that, right? But did he say, I'm 80, I can't do it. No, in fact, he's one of the greatest men in the Bible. One of the greatest characters in the Bible still did something great for God. He did these great exploits at the age of 80. Now understood his eyes were not dim nor his natural force abated. So he basically took care of himself in his younger years and that's why he was stronger later on in life and he was filled with the spirit of course. But you know what? He didn't use his age as an excuse as to why he couldn't serve God. He came later and because of that, he still did more. He did more even in his latter years. And this is my encouragement to those who are a little older, okay? Whether you're, you believe, you know, you're 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 years old, you can still serve God today. Well yeah, but I can't do as much as Paul. He's younger. I can't do as much as John. Yeah, actually you could do more than them and I'm gonna explain why. Because of the fact that young men have vitality, they have energy, but you know, older people have brains, wisdom, experience. So the young guys, they can exhaust their energies and making mistakes and having to do something over and over again. Whereas the older people, because they have experience, only have to do it once. And look, take advantage of the older people in our church. That sounds bad. Take advantage of like, can I get some money? I'm saying take advantage of them. Take advantage of their brain. Take advantage of their experience. Take advantage of what they know, their wisdom. I know more Bible than them. How do you know? I mean just the fact that you said that shows that you don't know as much Bible as you thought. You know, take advantage of their wisdom, of their knowledge and look, but to those people who are at that age, hey, you can still serve God and you can still do something great for God even in your latter years because Moses did it. Look at, if you would, look, go to Hebrews chapter 11. I mean Moses was 80 years old. Aaron was 83 when they went before Moses or before Pharaoh. So they're coming in, these old guys are coming in, you know, not the young guys. The old guys are coming in confronting Pharaoh to his face and probably Pharaoh's younger than them. It's probably a younger guy and yet they're the ones doing these great exploits. So you can be older in age but younger in heart. Can you not? Because the Bible says though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. All but my health is not good. Yeah, but you know the health of your spirit is still good and a married heart doeth good like a medicine. You know, wounded spirit, who can bear the Bible says, right? If you have a wounded spirit, you're feeling you just can't, well, renew your spirit and you can still be young at heart and serve God with all your heart even though your outward man is perishing. Look at Hebrews 11, 24, it says, by faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. That's when he was about 40. I mean, he's making some good decisions there, right? Look at verse 27, by faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians are saying to do were drowned. This shows me that Moses had a lot of faith. Even when he was 80 years old, he had a lot of faith. He made it to the hall of faith and you know what? He has increased the faith of millions through his testimony, even at the age of 80. Hey, better late than never, because he came later on in the game, guess what? He took advantage of it and was an example to everyone else. Now, obviously, there's many examples of the Bible of people like this. You have Abraham, who didn't consider the deadness of Sarah's womb, right? He didn't consider his own age. The Bible says that he staggered not at the promises of God, being fully persuaded of what God had promised he was able also to perform. Being older, he still had his child. He had faith, right? You have Caleb, who at the age of 80, he didn't say, well, it's time to retire. That back don't work as it used to. Can't do any more soul winning. No, at the age of 80, he said, I want that mountain. Give me now this mountain. Hey, Caleb, man, you got to take it you're 80 years old. He was like, I want that mountain right there, because he was willing to work until the day he died. So what's the sermon for today? Better late than never. And as I mentioned, as we're going into this new phase of our church, we need to make sure that we don't have this woe is me mentality. Hey, we could be first generation Christians behaving like second generation Christians. Amen. You got saved? Well, live in such a way that people would mistake you for being a second generation Christian. Your parents must have been Christians like, no, I just hit the ground running. Soon as I got saved, soon as I got into church, I hit the ground running. I'm making up for lost time. Oh, man, that sucks, man, that you got saved later. No, it doesn't. Better late than never. Oh, that stinks, man. So you got into church later? No, it doesn't stink. I'm glad I got into church. You know, I'm glad I'm putting those things behind me. I'm not going to feel sorry for myself or anything like that. I'm thankful. You know, and in fact, I have more of an advantage than some people over some people because of it. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the examples of those that we read about, Lord, I pray, God, that you'd help us always recognize that. There's always a temptation to maybe blame a character flaw, a lack of discipline, maybe even the baggage that we carry. We have a tendency to blame that on the past and because we didn't grow up in a Christian home or didn't grow up in church. But that's not that's not a good excuse. You've given us everything we need. You've given us everything that pertains to life and godliness in your word. So we can do we can we may have a lot of catching up to do, but we can catch up. And in fact, we can exceed even our own expectations if we're willing to put in the work for it. And I pray that you bless our church, Lord, bless our people. Help us to continue to go forward for you and exceed. And in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.