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you you you you you you Amen, thank you all for being here this morning Let's get started with song number 42 my latest son is sinking fast as you find your seats song number 42 As you find your seats song number 42 there in your hymnals, let's all stand together song number 42 my latest son is sinking fast Singing on that first my latest son is sinking fast my Angel Waves on Jordan's face the crossing must be Oh Oh Oh Wonderful seeing the start of our service with a word of prayer dear God only father how we just do Thank you so much for God for allowing us to be here in your house this morning again we thank you again so much for a Building that you've given to us for God for providing always for us We do pray that you please just also bless every aspect of the service today bless the singing unto you Lord Heavenly Father and most of all, please bless the preaching of your word. I pray that you please be with pastor Pastor me here that you please fill in with your Holy Spirit Please be with him Lord God and I pray that you please also just be with us or God as we listen to your word Being preached that you we might leave here change the word God today and I pray now these things in Jesus name Amen song number 24. You may be seated song number 24 and can it be song number 24 Song number 24 there in your hymnals is our second song We'll sing it on that first and can it be Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Alright great singing. Thank you so much for being here this morning. Welcome to first works Baptist Church The next song will be song number 45 if you want to get that ready in your song books when I can read my title clear song number 45 if you do not get A bulletin go to raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you have some important information On there. Our services are as follows Sunday morning is at 1030 Sunday evening is at 5 p.m And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock and we will continue with the book of 1st John this coming Thursday And so make sure you don't miss out on that and we are a family integrated church And what that means is that infants and children are always welcome in the services Of course to stay with their parents. We do not have Sunday school classes or nurseries But for your convenience, the mother baby rooms are located near the foyer at the entrance of the building And so if your child needs some diversion if you need to take them in there Just to distract them for a little bit if they're being a little distracted even during the service You can take them into those rooms there There is a speaker there so you can listen to the preaching and Some walls will be going up in the coming weeks And so just to divide that a little bit keep that in mind and then you see the soul winning times and teams there As well if you'd like to learn how to preach the gospel you want to learn how to go soul winning You can see me after the service to be placed on a team and receive some training on that You see the list of expecting mothers. Please continue to pray for them and some important reminders Please make sure that you are supervising your children in the building No children should be in the mother baby room alone without their parents And of course no men allowed in the mother baby room if your dad and you need to take your your child out You're kind of taking turns with your wife You can take them into the fellowship hall if that's what you like But we want to designate this particular room for mothers and their children And then men if you won't need to take your children out you can take them into the fellowship hall and then some of the Upcoming church announcements here. We have the baby shower for Miss Janelle today after service and so It will be in the fellowship hall and so we'll still have a soul winning meeting here since we don't have to share with the baby shower and so we'll still have it here at the same time, but the ladies will be in the fellowship hall and They'll be fellowshipping in there and doing all that stuff. And so Miss don't miss out on that. All right, they're doing the baby shower stuff. Okay, and Then we're gonna have an ordination for brother Ulysses Hernandez or as Fox 11 news would call him Ulysses Fernandez. Okay? And So he's gonna be ordained as the church evangelist Tonight and so we're looking forward to that and I'll explain what I'm still gonna be going through the series on spiritual gifts But I'm a tied into the ordination and so make sure you're here for that and we're actually gonna have pizza and ice cream After service as a way to celebrate that so make sure you congratulate him and then we have the men's Excuse me men's prayer meeting on Tuesday March 2nd at brother hikes house And so looking forward to seeing all the men there and then pastor Roger Jimenez will be preaching for us on Thursday, March 25th and so if you've never heard him preach in person encourage you to be here for that and it's gonna be great It's gonna be exciting. He's gonna be here with his family and then a couple other reminders quiet time Resumes from 3 p.m. To 4 15 in the main auditorium and mother baby room between services And so there is so many after service But when you come back if you stay here the whole day, you're obviously welcome to do so But from 3 p.m. To 4 15, there is quiet time and what that means is we'll turn off the lights Just no fellowshipping in the main auditorium or in the mother baby room So it's to allow people to sleep and you know Children need to take a nap they can do so and so just keep that in mind and then no food or drink allowed in The main auditorium except for water and coffee if you want to eat drink and be merry You can do that in the fellowship hall and so keep that in mind And then the last reminder is please make sure to silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction During the service and that's pretty much it for our announcements It's going to see our next song song number 45 when I can read my title clear song number 45 in your song books Song number 45 when I can read my title clear Song number 45 there in your hymnals See it on that first when I can read my title clear to mentions I'll bid farewell to every fear, and why my leaving eyes? And why my weeping eyes? Why my weeping eyes? I'll bid farewell to every fear, and why my weeping eyes? Should earth against my soul engage in fiery darts be hurled, then I can smile and sing and pray, and face a frowning world. And face a frowning world, and face a frowning world, then I can smile and sing and pray, and face a frowning world. When cares I come, what cares lose comes, and swords of sorrow fall, may God but safely reach my own, my God, my heaven, my all, my God, my heaven, my all. May God but safely reach my own, my God, my heaven, my all, may God but safely reach my own, my God, my heaven, my all. There shall I make my weary soul to seize a family friend, and trod away the troubled road across my peaceful grass, across my peaceful grass. Across my peaceful grass, and not away the troubled road across my peaceful grass. Amen. Wonderful singing at this time. Our ushers will be receiving the offering, and turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 17. We will be receiving the offering, and turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter number 17. Acts chapter 17, the Bible reads, Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also, whom Jason hath received, and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. And when they had taken the security of Jason and of the other, they let them go. And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so. And many of them believed, also of honorable women which were Greeks, and of men not a few. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people. And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea, but Silas and Timotheus abode there still. And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens, and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus were to come to him with all speed they departed. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him, and some said, What will this babler say? Others some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him unto Areopagus saying, May we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears. We would know therefore what these things mean. For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world in all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath in all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell in all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being, a certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring. For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, driven by art and man's device. At the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed the day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them, albeit certain men clave unto him and believed. Among the witch was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, just thank you for your word. Just ask that you be with our pastor now as he preaches it. Please just strengthen him, fill up with your spirit, and give us ears to hear it. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, we're in Acts chapter 17 this morning. Look down at your Bibles at verse 29. It says, For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by an art in man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed the day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. And what I want to preach on this morning is God's grace period. God's grace period. I'm specifically referring to verse number 30 where it says, In the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. And what he's referring to is the fact that in times past you had the heathen or the gentiles which knew not God worshipping false gods. And they would make of course gods from gold, silver, or stone graven by art in man's device. And of course we see in verse number 30 that God was merciful unto these people. He was merciful unto the heathen and to a certain extent he winked at that. In other words, he was gracious with them because of the fact that they didn't know the Lord. They didn't know more specifically the name of the Lord which is Jesus Christ. But now that Jesus Christ was being preached in the New Testament, now that soul owners and missionaries were going all across the world, preaching the word of God, and making known the true God of the Bible, which is Jesus Christ, he commands all men everywhere to repent. And so we see that grace period there. Now we'll come back to Acts chapter 17. Go to Romans chapter 2 if you would. We're going to come back to Acts chapter 17 in just a bit. Now when you think of a grace period, often we understand a grace period in terms of getting a bill paid. You think of the rent money or mortgage or phone bill or whatever it may be. And a grace period is basically a set length of time after the due date in which payment can be made without penalty. And everyone likes a grace period every once in a while. Maybe you're behind on your bills. You're behind on a specific payment. And the owner or the person who's charging you will often say, all right, you get a 10-day grace period. You get a 15-day grace period. You're not going to have to pay a penalty. And we're going to extend your deadline just a little bit so that you can make the payment necessary. And that's what really a grace period is. And if you think about it, every single one of us have received or are receiving some sort of grace period from God. Now grace can often be defined as us getting what we don't deserve. And if we're to define what mercy is, mercy can be defined as not getting what we do deserve. And so it would be biblical to say that we're saved by both, right? You know, the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works that any man should boast. And it's referring to the fact that God has given to us something that we don't deserve, which is called eternal life. No one deserves eternal life. There's none that do with good, no, not one. For all left sinning comes short of the glory of God. We've all had broken God's commandments. He that keepeth the whole law, yet offended one point, is already guilty of all, the Bible says. And so we don't deserve eternal life. We don't deserve heaven. We don't deserve to live forever. But you know what? God in His grace is willing to offer that unto us through His Son, Jesus Christ. That's called grace, okay? Well, in like manner, we're saved by His mercies as well. You know, the Bible says not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us by the washing and renewing of the Holy Ghost, the Bible tells us. You know, what we do deserve is hell. What we do deserve is to perish forever in a place called hell, in the lake of fire, but God extended His mercy to us through Jesus Christ. And when we got saved, we didn't get that payment. We didn't get that punishment, excuse me. We didn't receive that just punishment that we deserve. We're saved by both. And you know, if you've been saved for any length of time, if you've read the Bible, you know that God is gracious with His people, right? I think of the verse in Psalm 103, verse 8, it says, The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities, the Bible says. So what is the Bible telling us? You know, we're not getting what we deserve. If God really just came down upon us and punished us for every single little thing that we've done, every single sin that we've committed, I mean, we would just be completely decimated. Our lives would be completely destroyed. But you know why we're not consumed? Well, the Bible says that His mercies are new every day. And it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, the Bible says. He goes on to say, For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy towards them that fear Him. As far as His east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. And amen to that. You know, just as we have compassion for our children, we pity our children even when they don't obey us. Even though, you know, they may not meet our expectations to a certain extent, we still have pity upon them. And in like manner, God says, just as you have pity upon your children, I have pity upon you. He understands that we're frail. He understands that we're weak, that we make mistakes. The Bible even goes on to say, For He knoweth our frame, and He remembereth that we are dust. And so this morning I want to talk about the fact that God will often extend His grace towards us. He'll give us a grace period to all of us to a certain extent. Now what I'm not saying here, and what the Bible's not teaching us, is that we can just continue in sin, we can just continue in rebellion, we can just continue just making a mockery of the things of God and nothing will ever happen to us. Because the Bible specifically teaches a cause and effect. And it teaches us, hey, you do X, Y, and Z, this is what's going to happen to you. You disobey God, you live in rebellion against God, you will ultimately be punished for that. Hey, you reject the free gift of eternal life, then you will pay for that payment in a place called hell. So this does not remove the fact of God's judgment, His impending judgment upon this world or upon an individual. No, in fact, He gives us a lot of the amount of time to get that right. And I'm going to go through different examples this morning. Let me read to you from another verse before we get into Romans chapter 2. It says in Numbers 14 verse 17, And now I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is longsuffering. What does that mean? It means He's merciful, He suffers long with you. And of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression. So we see there that that's what He does. He's willing to forgive your iniquity, He's willing to forgive your transgression, but hold on a second, it goes on to say, and by no means clearing the guilty. You know, people want to think, oh God, you know, He's just going to forgive me for everything that I do, and I can just live however I want. Well, hold on a second, He says here that He doesn't clear the guilty. He's willing to forgive your transgression, He's willing to forgive your sin and your iniquity, but hold on a second, if you continue in that, the Bible says He's by no means going to clear the guilty. It goes on to say, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children until the third and fourth generation. Look at Romans chapter 2 and verse number 1. It says here, Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest, another thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? You really think that you can just live an unfettered life and nothing will happen to you, no judgment will come upon you? Verse 4, Or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. So what is he saying? Hey, judgment is coming and you know what? If you don't get right with God, then how does God view that as? As you despising the riches of his goodness and forbearance. You say, well, how do I know that if God's being merciful to me? Well, are you breathing today? Are you alive today? Are you healthy today? Are you able to pay your bills today? Has no evil come upon you today? You know what? That's a sign that God is being forbearing with you, that he's being merciful to you, that he's being longsuffering towards you. Because you know what? Things can change at the drop of a hat. Things can change overnight. Your world can be turned upside down overnight and God can do that to your life. He can judge your life. He can punish you. So don't despise the riches of his goodness, his forbearance and longsuffering. And in fact, the Bible specifically tells us that in light of his forbearance, in light of the knowledge of his goodness, in light of the knowledge of his longsuffering, we should repent. He says, knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. He says you should be able to get right because of these things. Not be the type of church, and there's churches out there that turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. Where they extend this grace and it's a grace that causes people to get deeper into sin. It does not condemn iniquity. It does not condemn transgressions. It just tolerates it to the point where that individual who's involved in that iniquity will end up destroying themselves because of it. No, we want people to know that God is good and he's gracious, he's longsuffering, in hopes that that person, it will motivate that person to get right with God. Now turn with me to Genesis chapter 5. We should never despise when someone extends grace to us, right? And how do you despise that? Well, when he gives you a grace period, you just kind of take it for granted. You don't do anything with it. You got an owner or maybe someone, a manager or owner is renting you something. He gives you a grace period to pay that rent and you still don't pay it. It's just like, hey man, I extended my grace to you. I gave you an opportunity to make up for it. I gave you an opportunity. I gave you some more time to create the finances necessary to pay off this bill and it's like you're despising my grace, not doing anything with it. A way that people can do that is by wasting that grace period, taking it for granted. And let me say this, we should take advantage of the grace period, just not take it for granted, right? So when has God extended his grace period towards mankind? Well, he extended it towards mankind before the flood. Now, if you've read the Bible, obviously one of the craziest events that have ever taken place in the history of mankind and even in the word of God is the flood, where God literally flooded the entire world and just destroyed everyone but eight persons. I mean, talk about judgment, where he's just like, I'm just going to destroy every living thing. The animals won't even survive. I mean, only a couple of like two and two of a few animals, but for the most part, dinosaurs died, cats and dogs died, people died, children, everything died except for eight people. And the reason for that is because the Bible says that the earth was filled with violence. It was filled with violence and iniquity. The sons of God, the believers of that day were intermingling with unbelievers and they were unequally yoked and it became such a wicked place that God said, it repentseth me that I have made man on earth. And it's for that reason that he sent a flood that completely decimated and destroyed the entire world. You know, the deadline for the payment of their actions was due. Now look at Genesis chapter five, verse twenty one, it says, And Enoch lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years. And Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him. And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and seven years and begat Lamech. And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years and he died. And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years and begat a son. And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years and he died. And Noah was five hundred years old and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. So what do we see here? Well, we see that Noah is five hundred years old when he begets these three children. And then in Genesis chapter six is where he is warned of the flood to come. Okay. Now there's speculation that Noah wasn't the only preacher who's basically talking about the impending judgment to come upon the world. It could say, we can surmise that maybe even Enoch knew about this. Because we know that Enoch was a preacher of righteousness. We know that the word of God was revealed unto Enoch even in those days. And we actually have it recorded in the book of Jude in the New Testament about God's judgment. Now if he's revealing to them about God's judgment, you know, coming thousands of years later, I'm sure he probably knew a little bit about what's coming in the immediate, in his immediate lifetime in regards to the flood. But think about this. You know, between Enoch getting right with God at the age of sixty-five, he's preaching for three hundred years. Okay. Because he was a preacher. I don't think he just preached one sermon either, you know. It's just that that one sermon in the book of Jude is like a highlight of his ministry. Okay. He's preaching for three centuries. And from the time that he got right with God at the age of sixty-five until the time of the flood, you have a little over a thousand years. And so that's him preaching. And look, he's not like a limp-wristed preacher either. He's obviously preaching judgment. Okay. I mean, just read his sermon in the book of Jude about ungodly works and ungodly this and ungodly that. I mean, he's just not being nice to people. I'm sure he's telling people that he needs to get right with God, judgment is going to come. But you think about this. There's a thousand years between him and the flood. But let's just say maybe he didn't preach about the flood. Okay. Well, from the time of Noah finding out about the flood and building the ark to the time the flood actually came is a hundred years. So that means he's preaching for a hundred years. What is that called? It's called the grace period. So he's preaching and he's talking about judgment. He's preaching the fact that God is going to flood the world and destroy all of mankind for a hundred years. And you say, well, yeah, but people live longer in those days. Yeah, but do you think like time accelerated in those days? Like a hundred years is like what? A hundred years back then is the same thing as a hundred years now. It's a long time. Okay. I mean, good night. A decade for us is a long time. Well, I guess the older you get, it does accelerate a little bit. You know, fifty years is a long time. Sixty, eighty years is a hundred years of preaching about God's judgment upon the world. This is called God's grace period. Because look, if he's preaching, hey, I just want to let you guys know God's going to destroy the entire world. He's going to flood it. No one's going to survive. You might want to get saved. And he's like, when is this going to happen? Well, I don't know. You know, just you just better get saved now. And then people who are believers is like, you better get right with God because you're going to meet your maker. Well, when is it going to happen? I don't know. But you're in the grace period right now. So God gives them a hundred years to either get saved or if they're already saved to get right with God. That's called God's grace period. And you know what? I guarantee you, when the flood came and the rains descended and the floods came, I guarantee you there's people there that still didn't get right with God. I guarantee you there's people who heard Noah preaching righteousness, preaching about coming judgment. They weren't even saved and they mocked him. They didn't listen to him. And then the rains came and they died. Why? Because they took God's grace period for granted. I'm sure that there's people who were saved. And they're just like, well, I'm just going to keep living the way I'm living. I'm a son of God, but I'm going to continue to intermingle with the sons of men and do that, which is displeasing in the eyes of the Lord. They're living a couple hundred years. And it's just like they die in the flood. And they took the grace period for granted. OK, go to Second Peter, Chapter three, if you would. Second Peter, Chapter three. Second Peter, Chapter number three. You know, sometimes you read the Bible, it's just like in the turn of a page, a hundred years has already passed. And sometimes you think, man, God was just so like right immediately. He just judged them immediately. No, it was a hundred years before he actually did it. Why? Because God is long suffering, because God wants people to get right, because God is not willing that any should perish. And in fact, look at Second Peter, Chapter three, referring to the flood and making this connection with biblical end times. It says in verse number four and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continues to work from the beginning of the creation. So he's saying, look, in the last days, there's going to be scoffers walking after their own lust, referring to today. You know, people who mock Christians, they mock the Bible, they mock Christianity. Oh, you guys talk about that pie in the sky and you guys always talk about that guy who's going to come one day. You know, where is he? So much time has passed. Where is the second coming of Christ? We literally had someone tell us that during the protest, by the way. Like, oh, yeah, you guys always talk about the second coming, just mocking God, mocking Jesus Christ. Well, God said that that was going to happen. And I guarantee you, the same people who were saying it in these days, the ones who are going to say in the end times were the same people were saying it to Noah. Where is the promise of this judgment? All things continues to work from the beginning of the creation. For this they are willing, ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition among godly men. So basically what he's saying here is this, you know, just as God flooded the world with water in the days of Noah, in like manner in the end times, he shall flood the world with fire. And anybody who's read through the book of Revelation, you've seen that with the trumpets, with the vials, where God pours his wrath upon this world and burns it to a crisp. And he's saying, look, the mentality of mankind has not changed. Man back then is the same as man today. Man today is going to be the same as the end times. You're going to have those categories of people who just take for granted that grace period. And let me say this, we're in that grace period right now, are we not? He says, but beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is what the Lord has a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise because, you know, the guys prior to this are saying, where is the promise of his coming? And God is saying, hey, I'm not slack concerning my promise, as some men count for slackness. He says that some men count for slackness, but is long suffering to us, word, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He's saying, it's not that I'm slack concerning my promise, it's that I'm giving you a grace period. Number one, either to get saved, or two, to just get right with God. I'm giving you time, space to repent, as Revelation chapter 2 says in regards to Thyatira. He says, I'm not slack concerning my promises, I haven't forgotten that I'm going to come back, I haven't forgotten that I'm going to send my son Jesus Christ, I haven't forgotten the fact that I'm going to burn the world one day to a crisp, I didn't forget about those things, I'm just being long suffering right now. Because I want people to be saved. I want people to get right with God. I want to give you an opportunity to still do something for God. Go to Acts chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. So you know what, God gave a grace period to those in Noah's day, God gave a grace period to the people in Peter's day, and God's given a grace period today. You know, you have this false doctrine out there called dispensationalism. And dispensationalism will say, well, you know, we're in the age of grace today. Right now we're in the age of grace, where God is being gracious. Isn't that funny? Look where Acts 17 verse 30 says, at the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Hold on a second, he doesn't look like he's showing a whole lot of grace here. He's saying the deadline is now. Now why is he writing that? Well this is why, because as I mentioned in the beginning of the sermon, prior to this, a lot of nations and heathens didn't worship the true God. And even if they knew of the Lord, they didn't know of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in fact, the name of Jesus was not revealed until the New Testament. So a lot of the word of God that was being preached was really just kind of inclusive to Israel, unfortunately. Now obviously we know that God wanted Israel to be a light unto the Gentiles. He wanted them to preach the word of God unto the rest of the world. They failed at that task and for that reason, he replaced them. And the Bible says that the kingdom of God was taken from them and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. That nation being a spiritual nation made up of all believers. You understand? Now in those days, that's not to say that there weren't people back then preaching the Lord because obviously you have the prophets. You have Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, all these men who were preaching in different regions of the world. And the name of the Lord went throughout all those regions. But now that you have Jesus being born, he lived, he died, his name is being preached. And here's the thing, there is no name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Jesus Christ is now revealed in the New Testament. And look folks, it doesn't matter what part of the world you're in today, everyone, listen to me, every single nation has heard of the name of Jesus. Don't listen to this false notion, oh what about the Africans and the jungles of Africa and the Congo and he's in a cave and he's never heard of Jesus. First of all, you'll never find that guy because he doesn't exist. Go look for him because he doesn't exist. And if you perchance find someone like that, I guarantee you they've heard of Jesus. Now obviously they may not have heard a clear presentation of the gospel, but folks, they've heard the name of Jesus because everyone has. There's this thing back in the old IFP where they were talking about the 1040 window. All these countries in the 1040 window and it's the devil's dirty little secret because no one's heard the name of Jesus once and all these Muslims and Cambodians out there and people from Laos and all these Southeast Asians, they've never heard of the name of Jesus. But here's the thing, if they're Muslims they have, right? So don't tell me they're just so primitive and so indigenous that they've never heard the name of Christ. Folks, that is a complete lie. And let me say this, any individual who's out there in the world, the Bible says they have the law of God written in their hearts. The Bible says that they know that God exists and if they were to respond to the light that God gives them, God would give them more light and he would send a missionary, he would send a soul winner, he would send an individual to go out and give them the gospel. Because he's long suffering. Oh, I'm sure there's people out there right now and they might die and go to hell. Yeah, it's called God's grace period though. He's given them a lot of the amount of time, right? To respond to the light that God gives them. And so now we know that it's the name of Jesus and that's why when we preach, we preach Jesus and him crucified. You see, in the Old Testament, they believe in the Christ. That's why they were saved because salvation has never changed between Old and New Testament. They believed on the Christ, which is the anointed one, the Messiah. But now in the New Testament, Jesus is added to that because of the fact that now they know that his name was Jesus. And look, his name was Jesus even in the Old Testament. It just wasn't revealed to anybody. Because when they asked the angel of the Lord what his name was, he says, why ask his style of my name? Seeing it is a secret. He didn't say seeing that I don't have one yet. He's saying it's a secret. No one's supposed to know about it until the New Testament. And in fact, you know, one of the famous verses that we use when we go out sowing in Romans chapter 10, it says in verse number 8, But what saith that the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and thy heart, and that is the word of faith, which we preach, that if thou should confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God had raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's actually a quote from Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 14, where it says, But the word is very nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. What's the difference? In the New Testament, the name of Jesus is revealed. You say, well, what's the point of that? You know, pastor, what's the point of mentioning that grace period? Well, here's the thing. There's a grace period extended to you today. You know, if you're not saved, if you don't know 100% sure that you're going to go to heaven when you die, if you don't know that you have eternal life, if you have any one of these answers, I think, maybe, I'm not sure, anything other than 100% sure, and it's because I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, if it's anything other than that, God's grace period is being extended to you right now. I mean, the mere fact that you're here, in a Bible believing church where they preach the right gospel, is proof that God is extending his grace toward you. Now, you have one of two choices, right? You can either take advantage of that grace, get saved, believe on Jesus Christ, receive the gift of eternal life, or you can take it for granted and face the deadline. And guess what? When the deadline comes, you're going to pay for your sins in a place called hell. Now, here's the thing. It is appointed for a man once to die, but after this the judgment. And here's the thing. But you know what the scary thought is? It could be today. You know what the scary thought is? You may not even see tomorrow. You know what the reality is? You may not see next week. And so, we don't know how long that grace period is for each individual who's not saved. Because it could extend for a certain amount of time, it could be shorter for others, longer for others, we don't know. But the point is, if you're here and you're alive and you're not saved and you know these things, it's time for you to take advantage of the grace of God, take advantage of that period that God has given to you. And look, when we go out there and we're preaching the gospel, that's what we're telling people. We're explaining to them, hey, take advantage of the grace period that God has given to you. Well, I'm fine. I don't really need anything. I think I'm a good person. And you know, I'm not suffering for any sins right now. And you know, I have a good job. My wife loves me. My dog loves me. My kids love me. My boss loves me. I'm a boss. And he's extending his grace to you and in hopes that his goodness would lead you to get saved. But it's unfortunate because most people don't see that. You know, it's often judgment is what they need in order to wake them up, right? Judgment is needed in order to wake them up in order to get saved, whereas God would just prefer to just give you a bunch of grace and in light of that grace, get saved. Okay? Go with me, if you would, to Matthew chapter 20, Matthew chapter 20. So he extends his grace, that grace period, towards the unsaved. He extended it to mankind in the beginning. He's extending it to people right now before the ultimate judgment, the day of the Lord. But he also extends his grace period to Christians before judgment. Okay? So let's get off the unsaved right now. Let's just talk about saved people because church is for the saved. It's for believers, amen? And what I'm going to teach right now is for believers, okay? Now, first and foremost, he extends his grace period towards Christians before judgment, you know, so he allows us to serve him so we can earn rewards. So guess what, church? Right now is your grace period because the Bible says in Romans 14, verse 10, But why dost thou judge thy brother, or why dost thou set at not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Now, we understand that in the end times, there's going to be two judgments, one for the unsaved called the white throne judgment, and then we have the judgment seat of Christ. The white throne judgment doesn't take place until after the millennial reign in Revelation chapter 20, whereas the judgment seat of Christ takes place at the inauguration of the millennial reign where he begins to distribute rewards and, you know, judgment and authority to those who have labored for his name's sake, okay? And then you get to enjoy it for a thousand years and even then on into eternity, okay? You say, well, what do I do? I mean, when's the time to act? Now. Now's the time to act. Now is the time to take advantage of this grace period that God has given to us to serve him, to win souls to Christ, to do good unto all men, but especially unto them of the household of faith, right? To labor and not be weary, to be good to the brethren, to serve the brethren, to serve in your church. Why? Because this is your grace period right now. And just as the unsaved individual does not know when that deadline is going to be for them, in like manner, we don't know when our deadline is either. Our deadline could be tomorrow, our deadline could be today. So what if it's like after the service? Then it's time to clock out. Your grace period is over, buddy. At least you're going to heaven, though. But if not, just know this is tomorrow's an extended grace period for you, right? This is why Jesus said, I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day, the night cometh when no man can work. Because even he understood at the end of these three years while I'm on this earth, Jesus Christ, while he was here on this earth, he knew he only had three years, a lot of time, to do everything that he needed to do to kick off Christianity and the New Testament. Yeah, three years. And in like manner, this is a good attitude for us to recognize, hey, the night cometh when no man can work. There's going to come a time when you can no longer win a soul to Christ. There's going to come a time when you can no longer stand for the truth, where you can no longer serve the Lord here on this earth. It's going to end. Look at Matthew chapter 20 and verse number one. This is a good picture of that. It says here in verse number one of Matthew chapter 20, For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning into higher labors into his vineyard. When he had agreed with the labors for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. He said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise. And 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 him, 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 labors, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. Now this parable is specifically talking about the Jews and the Gentiles. And what he's saying is that in the Old Testament, God hired the Jews to labor for him. They came a long time ago, I mean unto them were committed to the oracles of God. They had the covenant, they were supposed to be laboring. But then what we see here is that later on, towards the end, the ninth hour, eleventh hour, you have some other labors coming, and God says I'll hire you too. If you're willing to work the final hours of the work shift, I'm willing to pay you even as much as I pay them. And the picture of that is Gentiles, which is us. Why? Because here we are 2,000 years later, we're Christians, we are saved, unto us that are committed to the ministry of reconciliation and the word of reconciliation, even though we came at the latter end. And what God is telling the Gentiles is this, hey, I'll pay you if you're willing to work to the very end. Even though you're not a part of Israel, the physical nation, even though unto you were not committed to the oracles of God in the beginning, even though you were not part of that old covenant, you came later on, I'm still willing to pay you if you're willing to work. What is that called? A grace period? Because do we deserve that? No. And in fact, you see, later on in the story, the guys who came in the beginning, they're whining. They're like, how could you pay them as much as you paid us? And we were here all day long toiling, and then you pay them the same amount? And basically the owner says, am I evil for doing that which is right in my eyes? Do I want with what I have? He's the owner. He has the money. He's the one who dishes out the rewards. It's up to him whatever he wants to do with the money. In a like manner, it's up to God whether he wants to do with the rewards that he distributes to believers. And if he says, hey, Gentiles, if you're willing to work and take advantage of this grace period, I'm willing to pay you as much as I paid them. So what's the lesson that we can learn from this story? Well, how about this? What about you getting saved later on in life? You get saved later on in life, and you're like, well, I didn't grow up in a Christian home. I knew this pastor, all he talked about, all he talked about was the fact that he didn't grow up in a Christian home. The guy's a pastor now. He has his own church, and he's still whining about not growing up in a Christian home. Oh, I didn't grow up in a Christian home. I didn't have Christian parents. It's like, why don't you just stop whining and go to work? Why don't you just take advantage of the grace period that God gave to you and stop moaning and whining and just murmuring about what you don't have? Why don't you focus on the things that you do have? Oh, woe is me. I just had never grown up. I didn't go to Christian school. I didn't do this, and I didn't do that. And he's just fishing for pity or something. Folks, here we have a story that reinforces this thought and basically shows us if you came at the latter end, it's okay. You can still get paid the same. And in fact, you could even get paid more. Because if you remember, the apostle Paul was the last of all the apostles. He was the one that was born out of due time, and yet he labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not him, but the grace of God that was in him. And it's for that reason that the New Testament is basically a show about Paul. Right? Because he's working. He's laboring. Even though he came at the latter end, he wasn't even there when Jesus was walking on this earth. But yet, he's killing it in the ministry. Starting churches, getting persecuted, preaching God's word, and God removes the spotlight from all the apostles, and he puts it on the apostle Paul. Why? Because he is taking advantage of the grace period. So pastors out there who just want to whine about not growing up in church, and I didn't go to Baptist church, I didn't do this, I didn't do that. Stop being such a victim. Who cares what happened in your past? Why don't you look forward to what's going to happen in the future? And this is the problem with society today, folks. We have too many people with this victim mentality. My mom fed me with a slingshot. My daddy left me. Join the crowd. And you know what? If your dad left you when you were young, and that traumatized you, okay, well guess what? Now you've got a better daddy. He's called God the father. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. He will always be there for you, the Bible says. And in fact, he's so gracious and kind that he gave you eternal life. He's giving you heaven. You'll be with him forever. So don't have this victim mentality, you know, instead of focusing on, oh man, I didn't meet the deadline. Okay, well now you have a grace period, take advantage of it. If you got saved when you're 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or how about maybe you were saved since you were young, but you didn't start serving God until later on, okay, don't whine about it, don't murmur about it, just take advantage of the grace period. And make up for lost time. That's how gracious God is. He will allow you to make up for lost time. Go with me, if you would, to 2 Kings chapter 20. 2 Kings chapter 20. Now, we obviously understand that no one's perfect. Because no one's perfect, you know, Christians, we're going to sin. We're going to do wrong, we're going to break God's commandments, we're going to break God's law, and we're going to sin. And here's the thing is that the Bible talks about that there's a sin unto death. So that means you could actually commit certain sins that would just automatically just cost you your life. Right? It just automatically causes God to shelve you, bring you home, you're done for the day. You know, you start getting involved in things that God is displeased with. The Bible even says that he can destroy your flesh. Okay? But here's the thing, there's other times when you're involved in sin and sin is still bad, these iniquities are still grievous in the eyes of the Lord, but even then he kind of still extends his grace period towards you. Why? Because he wants to give you space to repent. Okay? And here's the thing, God is not always just in heaven with a hammer and just bring it down upon you when you get involved in sin. He's always like, oh, right there, and just taking you home. You wake up in heaven, you're just like, what happened? You're like, deadline. No, in fact, God is very gracious, he's very merciful, and sometimes he just waits. He just waits because he wants you to get right with God. He wants you to confess your sin. He wants you to repent of your sin. Not for salvation, we're talking to Christians now. He wants you just to get right with God. Let's look at an example of this in 2 Kings chapter 20 verse 1, it says, In those days was Hezekiah sickened to death? And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos came to him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. Oh, thank you for those gracious words. You know, Isaiah, he's just like, hey, I'm just here to tell you, make sure, do you have insurance? You have life insurance? Why? Because you're about to die. And so make sure you set your house in order, because you're not going to live. Shortest sermon ever, but packed with a lot of truth. This guy's like lying down, you know what I mean? He just comes and tells him why he's lying down, because look what it says in verse 2, Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth with the perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight, and Hezekiah wept sore. So what do we see? God had already told him, he said, hey, here's your deadline. You're going to die. And it grieved Hezekiah so much, the fact that he knew that he was done, that he like, he was humbled, and he began to weep. And what was he doing? He was asking God to be gracious with him. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah, verse 4, was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, turn again and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy father, I have seen thy tears, behold, I will heal thee, on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. Look what he says, and I will add unto thy days fifteen years, and I will deliver thee in this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for mine own sake and for my servant David's sake. And Isaiah said, take a lump of figs, and they took it and laid it in the boil, and he recovered. So we see that he's involved in sin, God is not pleased with him, and God says, you're dead, I'm going to kill you, you're done. He weeps, he's sore vexed because of this, and he asks God for mercy, and God says, fine, I'll give you fifteen extra years. Folks, that's a lot of mercy. What is he saying? I'll give you a grace period. You're still going to have to pay for what you did, but you're just going to have to pay for it fifteen years down the road. Man! And so we see that even though he is involved in wickedness and he's not pleasing God, because he humbled himself before the Lord, because he wept sore, because he loved the Lord, his heart was perfect with the Lord in times past, and he humbled himself, God showed him grace. Now go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. And look folks, we should extend that same grace to our brethren and our sisters when they get involved in sin. Now let me just make something very clear. Obviously, as I mentioned before, we are all sinners, we all make mistakes, we all do grievous things sometimes in the eyes of the Lord, but here's the thing, is that God specifically highlights particular sins in the Bible that will actually cause you to be excommunicated from church. So what does that mean? It means that if you're involved in a particular sin, I as a pastor have a right to tell you, you can't come to this church until you get this right. Now that may be foreign to a lot of people because of the fact that pastors just don't read the Bible or something, and they don't see this clear instruction that says this, and they just want to welcome everyone and bring everyone in no matter how sinful they get or what they're involved in. Why? Because they're concerned about the money, that's why. A seed to them is a tithe, that's why. And they want to keep getting paid, they want their church to grow by any means necessary, even if it means to compromise on God's word. Folks, we as pastors, we need to make sure that we have integrity, and it doesn't matter if you have a hundred people, five hundred people, a thousand people, or five people, the statutes of the Lord should always be executed no matter what happens. We should never be a respecter of people. And if a pastor is so concerned about losing people because he might not have a paycheck, then folks, he's greedy of filthy lucre. Don't get into the ministry for money. We get into it for people. And you know what, if you grow broke as a pastor and you can't provide for it, then go get a job, some secular job, you can still preach God's word. Don't compromise on God's word and just bring a bunch of people in and tolerate specific sins that God says cannot be in church. It's wicked. Now what am I talking about specifically? Well look at 1 Corinthians 5 verse 9. Here we have a story about the Corinthian church. You have a man who's involved in fornication. Fornication is the act, is the physical act that someone commits with another individual who's not married, both parties are not married, and they're committing the act of fornication. This is not adultery. Adultery is having to do with married people. And the reason we know that both adultery and fornication are separate one from another, they're not the same thing, it's because of the punishment that is placed on these in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, if someone was involved in adultery, they would be put to death. That was actually a crime punishable by death, like pedophilia and sodomy, like murder. These things were punishable by death according to the Bible, whereas fornication was not. But still, fornication is still grievous sin. And even though it's a sin that it's not punishable by death, it's still a sin punishable by excommunication from the local congregation. And you had an individual in this church who was involved in fornication, and you know what the church leaders were doing? Nothing. It was commonly reported that they were involved in fornication. And they did nothing about it. In fact, they were glorying in the fact that they kept them in church because they're so patient and loving with people. Right? And so Paul's coming down on them saying, hey, this is wrong, you're prideful, you're puffed up, you're not doing what God tells you to do. He says in verse 9, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to accompany with fornicators. Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters, for them must needs go out of the world. So he's not saying, don't be like an honest person, okay? Or it's just like, you can't even talk to people who are fornicators who are not even Christians out there in the world. People who are covetous, don't have this holier than thou attitude where it's just like, I can't touch the unclean thing, I can't work here because this person is a fornicator or a drunkard or whatever. He says, then you should just die then. Get out of the world because people are sinners, they do bad stuff, and they don't know any better, okay? So he's saying, look, I told you not to keep company with fornicators, but I'm not talking about the ones who are in the world. Verse 11 says, but now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator. So when he says, any man that is called a brother, he's referring to a Christian. That's what we call each other, right? A brother, okay? It's referring to the fact that we're brothers in Christ. So if someone claims to be a brother in Christ, he's saying, you're not supposed to keep company with that individual. If any man be a brother, that is called a brother, excuse me, be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, was such and won no not to eat. That's pretty strict. He says, you shouldn't even have a meal with that person. Now let me ask you this, if it's saying that you shouldn't even have a meal with that person, doesn't common sense say that it shouldn't even be in church? He said, why is that common sense? Well, what do you think we do when we come to church? We have meals with each other all the time. But he's saying, look, if someone's a brother and they're involved in fornication, can't keep company with them. If someone's a brother and they're covetous, they're always talking about money. They're always talking about, you know, the vehicles that they have and they're trying to get you involved in pyramid schemes. They're trying to get you to get involved in things that just want, trying to make you rich and all these things. God says that shouldn't be in church. You know, people come in church and they see it as an opportunity to make money. You know, they come and they try to sell these rainbow vacuums and stuff. Oh, you can make so much money from this. If you just, if you sell like 10 of these, you can have one for yourself. And it pays itself. Avon or whatever that is, you know, it happens all the time. Where people come into church, they see it as an opportunity to make money. Folks, our house, God's house, should not be a house of merchandise, the Bible says. So if someone is a fornicator or covetous, and look, I'm not saying that people in church can't do business with one another. But what we're referring to is the fact that, like I'm not saying that someone can't hire another individual in our church. Or you can work for another individual in our church. What I'm saying is when it gets to a point where church becomes a network of making money and becoming rich. Via pyramid schemes or, you know, filthy lucre. Fornicator, covetous, or an idolater. You're like, well, I'm a Christian, but I just still worship the Virgin Mary. I got this statue. That's idolatry. Or a railer. What is a railer? Someone who's just falsely accusing other people in our church. Bringing railing accusations. And by the way, not just people in our church, people in other churches. If you're bringing a railing accusation against another pastor, against another church member, that's still railing. You're a railer. A drunkard. What is a drunkard? Someone who is a drunk. They drink alcohol. But you can add to that any drug abuse. Marijuana, weed, you know, mushrooms, crack. I mean, you name the drug, if that's what you're involved in, that's considered drunkenness. Now look, I'm not saying like, oh, on Saturday you fell and you slipped and you were with your buddy and you drank a beer and then you repented of it and you're like, that was so stupid I shouldn't have done that. That's not what I'm talking about. When I say drunkenness, it's like you are in drunkenness. This is like a vice of yours. You come to church and you have alcohol in your breath because you're hungover from the night before. It's drunkenness. Or an extortioner. You start threatening people in the church to do something for you or else. He says, with such and one, know not to eat, verse 12. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do ye not judge them that are within? But them that are without, God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Now obviously this basically completely destroys the universal church thing. Right? Because if we're all part of the universal church and everyone's part of the church, how do you cast someone out of the universal church? Are you going to cast them out into outer darkness or something or what? Are you going to send them to Mars with the rover and all that? Folks, this is referring to local congregations. So these sins cannot be tolerated in church. And look, these are not sins of the mind either. It's not referring to the sins of the mind because it's like, well this isn't adultery of the heart. It's adultery. Yeah, it's adultery, but here's the thing. This is referring to the physical act. And we cannot temper what other people think about. We're not going to be a thought police. Right? Only God knows the inner recesses of the heart. Well, the only thing that we can judge is that what a person does on the outward. You know? And by the way, most of these don't really happen in church. The most prevalent ones are fornication and drunkenness. Okay? And when it comes to fornication, what I'm referring to is people who live together who are not married. That's fornication. That's fornication. So if you live together and you're not married, you can't be in our church. Well, we live together, but nothing really happens, you know? He sleeps in one room and I sleep in another room. Yeah, okay. And even if that were true, come on, just be honest. How long do you think that's going to last for? If you have a red-blooded man in that house? That's what the Bible says, make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lustre of. So if people are living together, if they're fornicating, you know, if they're doing those things, they can't be in church. Now, I'm talking about extending a grace period, okay? So this is the reason I'm bringing this up because here's the thing is the Bible is very clear that people who are involved in these sins cannot be in church. However, we do extend a grace period to people. Okay? I extend a grace period for people. So it's not like as soon as you step into the doors, we're just, we're just, do you fornicate? Are you involved in drunkenness? It would just go through the list, the checklist or whatever. Did anybody get a checklist before they came in, you know? And it's just like, can't come in, you're a fornicator, can't come in, you're a drunker, can't come in, you're an idolater, can't come in, you're a Catholic, can't come in, you're a Mormon, can't come in, you're involved in these things, you can't come in. That's not what this is saying. Because here's the thing, people have to know this. So if someone comes in and they're involved in these things, they have no idea what's going on, and then we just throw them out, they're just like, I didn't even know that that was like, I knew that was a sin, but I didn't know it was like sin worthy of being excommunicated. So what do they have to do? They have to learn it. We have to teach them, right? And so here's my grace period for people who are involved in these things. The grace period is from the time they come to church to the time they hear the sermon. Or a sermon like it. So if a person comes to church and they're involved in fornication, they've been coming to our church for a month, let's say for example, and they're involved in fornication, I will not throw them out. I'm not going to throw them out. But I will preach a sermon like this, at which point now they're held accountable because now they know better. He says, so what's the, so is the only option to get thrown out? No. In fact, I would hope that that would be the last option for you. Option number one is this, get married. I know that's like a dirty word today, you know, where people think like marriage is so dirty. No fornication is dirty. So you have an option. You can get married. Well, how am I supposed to do that? Well, you go to the court and you go, I'll pay for your marriage certificate. Don't take advantage of that. That's all right. I'll pay for your marriage certificate. You go to the court, you get a marriage certificate, you get married. Yeah, but we want to have this like elaborate wedding. So we're just going to wait on for an entire year. Okay, so here are your options. If that's what you want to do, separate. One of you have to move out. How are you going to get so involved in someone's life? Because they're coming to our church. And look, if they're like, oh, that's too legalistic. We don't like this. Well, I'm sure there's another church that will accept fornicators in their church. If you want. I'm not going to force you to stay. That's why it's so funny when people say, oh, you guys are like a cult. No, cults keep people in. We're willing to lose people. We're like, there's the door. You can leave if you want. That's when people are like, oh, you preach so much hate. It's like, well, just turn me off then. You know how to use a computer? You know there's an X button where you can turn me off? You know there's a mute if you want? You know you don't have to click on the sermon? They can get married. Okay? Or they can separate and say, you know, we're going to separate because we're in church and we're not going to be involved anymore. We'll repent of this. And then later on in the future, we will revisit when we want to get married. That's great. Or if you're just like, no, I like fornicating. And it's like, okay, then you can do it out there. Not here. Go look for, you know, tolerance Baptist church out there. Where all they care about is your tithe, your building fund. They care about how much money you put in the plate. And they'll be gracious with you because you're a fornicator. Just allow it to just remain in church forever. Whereas the Bible says that that's like leaven that's going to leaven the entire lump. Why do you think churches become a cesspool of sin? Why do you always hear about these corrupt things that take place in churches? Pedophilia, sodomy, just people stealing money. Why? Because the pastor is not exercising this. And when you allow one sin to go unfettered, it goes unfettered, it goes unchecked, and it begins to spread through the entire church, just like leaven. So in order to avoid that, because we got a good thing going on here, right? Got a good thing going on. Got a great church, many children. We got husbands and wives that are happy. We're serving the Lord. Let's keep it that way. But the way you keep it that way is by making sure that this doesn't get in church. And again, there's a grace period. And so, you know, sometimes I will go like three months, you know, before I preach something like this. Well, guess what? They get a three month grace period then. But if you're involved in this, your grace period has now come to an end. Now you know. Okay. At which point I approach you and I give you those three options and you can take one of those options and there you have it. Okay. And so I had other points here, but I think, oh, man. Yeah. Grace, grace and more grace. What I'm saying is like, you know, he extends grace to the individual. He extends it to a church. You know, he told the church of Thyatira that he gave her space to repent of her fornication. So don't misunderstand me. It's just, you know, oh, you're just all about judging people and you're just mean. Well, here's the thing is I love the judgments of the Lord. I love the judgments of the Lord, but I also love His mercy, though, too. So I love God's judgment. I love God's righteousness, but obviously not the exclusion of His mercy and His grace. And you know what? We want to extend that to others as well and recognize we can be both. Okay. And not have this attitude where it's just like, oh, we just got to bring the hammer down on every single individual. You know, there are certain rules that we have in our church that we're not going to change on. But that doesn't mean we can't be gracious with people if they break those rules. You understand? You know, because people are frail, they make mistakes. And so we want to help. But we're not going to tolerate unruliness. Where it's just like, well, I'm going to do it anyways. Then at that point, I take the mercy hat off and I put the judgment hat on and then they get the nine and a half boot. I was just like, well, then go do it somewhere else because you're not welcome here. Okay. And look, folks, God extends His mercy not just towards an individual, even to a nation. Think about this. What about Nineveh? God sent Jonah to go preach to Nineveh. And how many days did he say before the judgment came? Forty days. Forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed. Think about this. If God really wanted to destroy Nineveh, couldn't He have just done it that day? But He gave them 40 days. Why? It's called the grace period. And you know what? They took advantage of that grace period. They repented. They got right with God and God did not destroy Nineveh. Now, later on, He destroyed it. You see later on, you know, in the other books that later on in coming generations, He destroyed it. And you know what? He's going to get destroyed. Amen. You say, well, it's not being destroyed right now. You know, God's not blowing it up right now. Yeah, it's called a grace period. You say, why is He giving America a grace period? So people can get saved. So people can be made righteous. So we can earn rewards. So we can serve the Lord. It's a grace period. What I'm saying this morning is that, you know, let's not despise the goodness of His forbearance and His long suffering. Take advantage of it, but don't take it for granted. Recognize that each and every one of us will receive a grace period from God. Don't just look at it and say, well, I'm going to keep continuing. I'm going to continue to sin. I'm going to keep committing fornication. I'm going to keep committing, you know, drunkenness. I'm going to keep just being rebellious. Okay, but just know this. Your deadline's coming. And if you're not saved today, I don't know when your deadline is, but I do know this. Every person has a deadline. Right. Every person has a deadline. And I'm hoping you take advantage of this grace period to get saved so that when that deadline comes, you will not lift up your eyes in hell. Right. You'll be present with the Lord. Amen. Let's pray a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for your grace and your mercy towards us, Lord. We're so thankful that you extended that to us, Lord. And I pray, God, that you'd help us to, in like manner, do the same for others. When they come to our church and we obviously never want to tolerate just unfettered sin, Lord. But, Lord, help us to be gracious with people. If they don't know, they don't understand, they may not know what the word of God says. We want to teach it to them and be gracious with them, be merciful, and put up with it to a certain extent. Bear with them for a little while. But once they know the truth, to whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required. We love you, Lord, so much and we thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Song number 397 as our last song there in your hymnals. Little is much when God is in it. Song number 397. Song number 397. We'll see it on that first. In the harvest fields now ripen. There's a work for all to do. Hark the voice of God is calling. Through the harvest calling you. Little is much when God is in it. Labor not, for wealth or gain. There's a crowd that you can win in If you'll go in Jesus' name. Does the place you're called to labor Seem so small and little known? It is great when God is in it And he'll not forget his own. Little is much when God is in it Labor not, for wealth or gain. There's a crowd that you can win in If you'll go in Jesus' name. Are you laid aside from service? Body worn, heart full of care. You can still be in the battle In the sacred place of prayer. Little is much when God is in it Labor not, for wealth or gain. There's a crowd that you can win in If you'll go in Jesus' name. When the conflict here is ended And our race on earth is run He will say to all the faithful Welcome home, our job well done. Live as much when God is in it Labor not, for wealth or gain. There's a crowd that you can win in If you'll go in Jesus' name. Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed. Thank you for watching.