*** An In Depth Look at PERSONAL SALVATION Part 4 - Questions and Answers***

[0:00] If I could get our ducks in a row here. We are expressing a kind of an interim. We're at a brief hiatus in our usual morning service, preaching.

[0:15] But this is the only way that I can think of being able to, what I call, scratch where people itch. And sometimes when we preach, we preach all around and all over and we just don't really address specific issues that may be on somebody's heart.

[0:36] So when we provide an opportunity like this for questions and these three by five cards were distributed last week for anybody to write a question on them and we would do our best to address them.

[0:49] That way we know that somebody is getting some encouragement, some help in a more direct way. So we probably ought to do this from time to time. And anyone should feel free to just write out a question if you haven't.

[1:05] Sometimes you can just ask it right here. But some questions are more sensitive and the potential perhaps for some embarrassment might be there.

[1:15] And we certainly wouldn't want to embarrass anybody. But people who have a legitimate question deserve a legitimate answer. And we feel very strongly about that.

[1:28] So if you have any kind of questions, especially along a spiritual line, I don't give medical advice. I don't give legal advice. But if it's something to do with the scriptures or with what God has given us by way of direction and et cetera, why you feel free to write on any question you may have and just drop it in the offering box and we will do our best to address it.

[1:55] And I'm going to start with this one because it's, well, they're all important really. Every one of them is important. Can a person who has accepted Christ as Savior ever experience doubts?

[2:09] And my answer right off would be, oh, my dear, absolutely. In fact, doubt, doubt is an indication of a thinking mind.

[2:25] If people don't do any real thinking, they'll never have any doubts. God has given us a mind, an intellect, and he's given us the ability to receive and to assess information and reach conclusions.

[2:43] And it's a very, very important thing that goes on in the mind of every human being. And the information that has been provided regarding salvation, how to come to faith in Christ is a very, very legitimate question.

[3:01] And it is the most important issue that can occur to a human being because it influences, determines, affects whether you have life after this life in a favorable place as opposed to an unfavorable place.

[3:22] And I don't want to get into the subject of hell, except I'm just saying that hell is everything that heaven is not, and it is a place to be avoided. But we are provided with options.

[3:33] That's part of the volition that God has given us. It's the ability to make choices. And when you hear the gospel and you respond to it, as best as you know how, you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and based on the authority of the word of God, those who come to him, he will in no wise cast out.

[3:53] And you have eternal life because the gift of God is eternal life for those who believe on Christ. And you may very well have done that very sincerely, and you may very well have received eternal life or regenerated as a believer.

[4:08] But something has happened somewhere along the line that causes you to question that. I want you to know, first of all, that is perfectly normal.

[4:19] You are not an oddball. There aren't very many people who have not, at some time or another, questioned their salvation, and for different reasons. One reason might be that since you have professed faith in Christ, whenever that was, you have caught yourself thinking things that you shouldn't be thinking.

[4:49] Thoughts that are not honoring to God. And it can be very easy, especially for somebody who has a very sensitive, delicate conscience. Now, not everybody does, but some people have.

[5:02] I've heard people tell me, Pastor Wiseman, I've got such a delicate, sensitive conscience, I can't get away with anything. And some of you can identify with that.

[5:14] And then others, you have to take a brick bat to disturb their conscience. That's just the way people are wired and put together. But some people say, you know, I think if I were really a Christian, a genuine Christian, I wouldn't be able to think some of the thoughts that I think.

[5:35] But I do. Ergo, maybe I'm not really saved. Or, I've prayed and prayed and prayed about this, and God hasn't answered my prayer, and I talk to other Christians, and they give me these glowing reports about how God answered their prayers.

[5:53] It doesn't happen to me. Why not? Am I some kind of a substandard Christian? Or maybe I'm not even a Christian at all. Because if I were, I ought to be able to pray and get answers like everybody else does.

[6:06] But I don't. So maybe that just kind of disqualifies me. And maybe, and this kind of a person has probably said to themselves many, many times, maybe I didn't have enough faith.

[6:20] Maybe I didn't understand enough when I made a profession of faith. So God, if it wasn't real then, and I didn't mean it then, I do now.

[6:31] And I want to be saved now in case I wasn't saved then. And that too, is pretty typical. And one of the things that needs to be kept in mind is, it is a good possibility, and I only say it's a possibility, it is a good possibility that such a person really is saved.

[6:48] And that means you already understand and know enough to realize how important this issue is. And people who are not saved seldom doubt the salvation that they don't have.

[7:07] Doesn't even occur to them. But once you know what is involved, how important this thing is, you want to make sure that it's true of you. And that's certainly commendable.

[7:17] I can identify with this personally because when I came to faith as a young young soldier boy, I was 21 years old. Good heavens.

[7:29] Back before the earth's crust hardened. And I gave my heart to Christ. And you know, I didn't have any doubt at all for a few months.

[7:41] And then I don't recall what it was. And it might have been the first thing that I mentioned because I kind of had the idea that when you become a real Christian, if you're really saved, you won't do anything wrong and you won't say anything wrong.

[7:59] But I didn't measure up to that. I did things that were wrong and I said things that were wrong. But I'm supposed to be a Christian. And maybe that was just proof positive that I wasn't.

[8:10] So it's perfectly natural to have these doubts. And what you need to understand is this. Before you came to faith in Christ, you were indwelt with what the Bible calls an old sin nature.

[8:29] You were born with it. Your mama and daddy passed it on to you. And you were born with it. And when you came to faith in Christ and received him as your savior, you received his forgiveness, you received his eternal life, you received peace and joy and all the rest of it.

[8:50] But it did not remove your old nature. This means that even as a Christian, you are capable of thinking and doing some pretty ugly things.

[9:03] that you'd be absolutely embarrassed to death with if people here knew it. All I can say about that is welcome to the human race.

[9:14] This is part and parcel of our humanity. Even though we have a position with Christ that is perfect, cannot be improved upon because we are complete in him.

[9:28] That is our official position as far as God is concerned. That is the legal status, the forensic judicial position that God has given us in Christ.

[9:41] You are forgiven all trespasses whether you believe it or not, whether you feel it or not. It's just that if you don't believe it, you don't get the benefit and the peace that comes from it.

[9:54] God cannot do any more for you than what he has already done for you. When you receive Christ as your Savior and he gave you everything. You are in him. You are co-sharers with him.

[10:07] You are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Your position cannot be improved upon. But your practice certainly can.

[10:19] You do not grow in your position. But you grow and mature and develop in your practice, in your everyday walk with the Lord.

[10:29] That is growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you don't grow in salvation, but you certainly do grow in sanctification. That is in being set apart. And we were sanctified, we are sanctified, we shall be sanctified.

[10:43] All of those things are true. So it's important to note that even though you have put your faith in Christ and you've received new life in him, you can still be a stinker.

[10:56] You have no excuse for it now. And the reason you have no excuse for it is because Christ is in you and the Spirit of God wants to enable you to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.

[11:08] And what this means is you just have to do something that all too many Christians do not do. And that is get serious about Jesus Christ.

[11:20] Get serious about what it means to be a Christian. Get serious about what it means to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. And once you start doing that, you begin developing a maturity that is otherwise impossible because once you come to faith in Christ, you have life.

[11:41] And there isn't any way that God's going to give you more life, more spiritual life. You've already got all the life that is needed that can be provided. But just like a newborn baby, once that baby breaks through from the mother's womb and enters this world, it has life.

[12:02] Now what it needs is growth, maturity, development. And that is largely dependent upon nutrition and the food that that baby is able to receive because that's what really furthers the growth and the development process.

[12:21] And it's the same way spiritually. And this is what Peter was referring to when he says, as newborn babes, just like newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.

[12:35] So this means that a new Christian, a baby Christian, starts out with milk. That is the very simple, basic truths of our Christianity, of our faith.

[12:48] And as you grow and mature, next thing you know, you're eating, what is it, Gerber's or something like that, you know, mother's milk, you move up to cereal, and then you move to eating what everybody else around the table is eating.

[13:01] And you are developing and maturing and your diet has so very much to do with it. But if you as a Christian ignore spiritual truth and don't take in the word of God, you can become spiritually stunted as a believer.

[13:20] And we all know how sad it is to see little babies sometimes in these third world countries who are born into poverty and they start developing and they're malnourished and their tummies are distended from malnutrition and starvation and their growth is stunted and everything.

[13:39] There are a lot of Christians like that spiritually. And these people are still going to heaven because their faith is in Christ. And let me just close this particular segment by saying, I think the most definitive thing I've ever heard about salvation and being able to answer the issue correctly was a personal testimony of Dr. D. James Kennedy.

[14:08] I know some of you remember him. Probably some of you don't. But he was pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida for a number of years and he's with the Lord now.

[14:23] But at the time Dr. Kennedy was a dance instructor for Arthur Murray and definitely not a Christian.

[14:35] And his responsibility as a dance instructor was to curry the favor of women who wanted to be more active socially and learn to dance and all the rest of it.

[14:48] And he was working on commission with Arthur Murray and he would contact these women and teach them all the different dances and everything. And of course along with it came all the partying and drinking and all the rest of it.

[15:02] And he was living a pretty pretty racy kind of a life for quite a while. and he said he woke up he woke up one Sunday morning in a motel and he didn't even know how he got there because he was so drunk the night before that he didn't even realize that he had signed in and taken the room or anything.

[15:26] And he woke up with this throbbing splitting headache around noon the next day. And he said he thought he would turn on the radio and see if there was maybe some soothing music and he flipped the radio on and what does he get?

[15:42] A preacher. Well if there's anything that somebody nursing a hangover on Sunday morning doesn't want to hear it's a preacher any preacher. And this preacher was Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse and he was the pastor of 10th Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

[15:59] And I've often told people to this day I have never heard anyone express the English language like Donald Gray Barnhouse.

[16:11] Absolutely astounding. Elocution, diction, everything. Just masterful. Masterful. And he says to himself this is the last thing I need as a preacher.

[16:21] So he said he reached over to turn the dial and the preacher asked a question. And he said the question was if something happened to you today and you were to stand before your maker and God asked you why should I allow you to come into my heaven what would you tell him?

[16:50] And he said I was stunned by the question. I've asked that question to a lot of people. You know what most of them tell me? Gee I don't know I never thought of that. Never thought of that. Never heard anything like that before.

[17:02] And they haven't. And he said Dr. Barnhouse went on to tell him that there is only one right answer to that question.

[17:15] And it's not the answer that most people give. You know what most people say why should I let you into my heaven? Well I've tried to be a good person. I've never really hurt anybody.

[17:28] I've never murdered anybody. I've never robbed any banks. I'm not the best person around but I'm not the worst. I'm kind of somewhere in the middle and that's why you should let me into your heaven. He went on with all of these answers and he says they're all wrong answers just one right answer.

[17:42] Just one right answer. And the right answer is you should let me into your heaven because your son Jesus Christ died on that cross to pay the penalty for my sin and my faith and my trust is in him not me.

[18:01] it's in him. That's the only right answer. And he said before that radio program went off I was on my knees beside that bed receiving Christ as my savior.

[18:19] And Dr. Kennedy went on and founded that Coral Ridge Presbytery Church with a huge international ministry and he was the one that authored and put out the first edition of the book Evangelism Explosion which was responsible for bringing many many people to Christ.

[18:35] So for those of you who are wondering and worrying about salvation or whether or not you have it have you dealt with that issue that question. And if that's your answer you should let me into your heaven because Christ died for my sin and my faith and my trust is in him.

[18:53] Nothing else. Any other answer is wrong. And you know there are people who fault Christianity for that because we are supposed to be inclusivists.

[19:11] We are supposed to include everybody. But God doesn't do that. God is not an inclusivist. And when people say you Christians you think your way is the only way I say hey it's not our idea.

[19:27] We didn't think that up. That's what God said. Well you're being judgmental. Well I'm not judging anyone. I'm just telling you God has already judged and that's what he said.

[19:38] Take it up with him. So yes you can doubt your salvation and it is natural to do so. But doubts that are handled in the right way will produce a growth spurt because resolving doubts is a refreshing wonderful thing.

[20:02] And each doubt that you are able to resolve results in a little bit more growth and maturity. And we're just moving upward upward upward in our growth and development.

[20:15] So you can experience doubts absolutely. But you need to get to the place of where you believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts. And that only comes with maturity and developing.

[20:26] Okay. Please discuss the connection between salvation and the Bema Seat reward system. Well let's go first of all to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5.

[20:43] And there is a very definite difference between these. everybody is going to undergo evaluation. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 Paul is speaking about the time coming when we are going to pass off this scene.

[21:06] Our mortal life is going to come to an end and we will be in the presence of the Lord. And then in verse 10 of chapter 5 and I won't take time to read the whole chapter but he says for and that could very easily be translated because because well verse 9 we have as our ambition whether at home or absent to be pleasing to him.

[21:35] Whether we are at home in the body or absent from the body to be pleasing to him because or for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad.

[21:57] This has nothing whatever to do with salvation or damnation. This is a time of assessment evaluation that every believer is going to undergo through the all scrutinizing eye of our Lord Jesus Christ he who knows everything and we are going to give an account as the text says for the deeds done in the body and it is on that basis that we will be provided with rewards or we will be denied rewards and one is one is not here no one is here to determine whether or not they're going to heaven that's already been decided at their point of salvation but this is designed to give serious input to the whole concept of the fact that the

[23:01] Christian life is something that is to be taken very seriously we need to meet this new found salvation that we have in Christ with real seriousness of purpose God is not to be trifled with and neither is the eternal life for which Christ died to provide for you so we need to we need to mind our P's and Q's if you will we need to be aware of the fact that God is watching and there will be rewards granted or rewards withheld and some are going to stand there with very little reward or no reward and these are those of whom Paul speaks when he says that they are saved yet so as by fire and that means that they have nothing to show for their Christian life because they enjoyed the salvation that God gave but they didn't work it out they didn't utilize it they didn't make full benefit of it they didn't take their position in

[24:06] Christ all that seriously and to them the Christian life and the salvation they have in Christ was just not that big a deal shame on them it is a big deal and what makes it a big deal is that the son of God gave up his life so that you could have yours for eternity that makes it a big deal and nothing to be trifled with at the same time I want to add this because I think this is very very important not only are we to exercise due diligence in how we carry out our Christian life but one other thing among other things that God wants you to do with your Christian life is enjoy it nobody ought to get such a bang out of life as a believer in Jesus Christ nobody ought to enjoy anything as much as a believer in Christ I don't care if it's a piece of apple pie or the latest song that you've heard or whatever we have a legitimate basis for enjoying life to the max just that colors everything

[25:14] I tell you what God has provided for us is just amazing just absolutely amazing also while we're in the neighborhood come over if you will to Romans chapter 14 and again I won't read the whole chapter but it deals with the issues of doubtful things of things that scripture does not specifically forbid but people have a conscience problem with them and here the issue is whether or not to eat meat vegetarian diet or whether to observe the sabbath as some do and these are called doubtful things and the conclusion is in verse 12 so then the upshot each one of us shall give account of himself to God and that means that the ball is in your court for your behavior and your response and you are not accountable to anyone else or for anyone else's actions but you are accountable for your own and this simply sets that forth too then we can contrast that if we may and this by the way is for believers also this is the bema sheet this is the award throne and the takeoff is from the ancient

[26:46] Greek games with which Paul was very familiar in this part of the world was very familiar in fact the Olympic Games started in Greece and Paul refers to this when he likens the Christian race the Christian life to kind of running a race and he writes the Timothy and he talks about for for they all run everyone runs in the race but only one receives the prize that means there's only one who wins the race and run so that you may win and what you're winning is the approval of our Lord Jesus Christ and when the race was this with our Olympics today we see a kind of take off on that you know there's three tiers and the one in the center is the one that gets the gold medal and that's the one that's most elevated and then you have another that is the silver medal and then one that's a little lower and that's the bronze medal so these are runners up to the winner but what

[27:52] Paul is talking about is that several run in the race but only one receives the prize and he says so run run and conduct your Christian life in such a way that when you show up at the Bema seat of Christ where he is going to give the reward you may receive legitimately a reward that you have coming because your works which didn't add anything to your salvation but your works expressed your salvation and your gratitude for God in your salvation and the reward that you will receive consists of different things and I won't go into that because there are varied several different martyrs crowns and different things like that but the point is and someone said that maybe part of the reward will be our ability or capacity to enjoy Christ and enjoy heaven and he said some people may get a bucket the equivalent of a bucket full of enjoyment and somebody else gets a thimble so make up your mind do you want a thimble or a bucket and what's this come down to same thing it's taking your

[29:09] Christian life seriously and ordering your life in a way that you know is well pleasing to the Lord because he has told us what it is that requires to be well please let's go to a contrast now if we may to Revelation chapter 20 last book in the Bible this is a judgment also but this is one that where there will be no believers present and the judgment at the Bema seat that we've just discussed from 2nd Corinthians 5 and Romans 14 that is for believers only there will not be any non Christians at the award throne of Christ because they are not in Christ so they will not be evaluated for any rewards and the same applies to Revelation chapter 20 in that there will not be any who are believers at this judgment because this judgment is for those who are apart from

[30:11] Christ and do not enjoy his salvation and we read in Revelation 20 and verse 11 I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them boy let me tell you something this is serious stuff really serious stuff and I saw the dead the great and the small that's another way of saying the people who were really somebody important people influential people wealthy people well known people the great and the small the nobodies just the average Joe you know just just the run of the mill guy and everything in between the dead the great and the small standing before the throne and books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds and that's something did you know that

[31:39] God is a book keeper God keeps book and there isn't anything that escapes entrance into that book now we look at that from a purely human standpoint and we say well how in the world could that be I mean I can't even keep straight books for my business how is God going to keep well listen we're talking about a being who knows nothing about limitations it isn't any problem at all for God to have the book and to have everything in it and there isn't anything that has slipped by that he wasn't able to pick up on or that he didn't notice God isn't going to say oh well it seems to me that there was something let's see now what was that no there isn't going to be any of that it's just all there this is a God with a mind without limitations completely foreign to anything that we know and the sea gave up the dead which were in it verse 13 and death and

[32:45] Hades gave up the dead which were in them and they were judged every one of them according to their deeds I think this implies at least that there is going to be a severity of judgment for more heinous deeds there are those who committed such atrocities and such terrible things against fellow human beings they're going to have a whole lot more to answer for than those who we describe as just the average run of the mill sinner who didn't have faith in Christ so there's going to be this extreme range from the Hitlers and Stalins to the average person on the street and everything in between but God knows God knows exactly to what extent each and every one was involved he knows what their motivation was he knows what their limitations were he knows any extenuating circumstances and he will not have to ask anybody any questions the indication is everyone stands before this

[33:59] God on this white throne with their mouths shut that every mouth may be closed and nobody is going to say yes but but but there won't be any of that because as the sentence is rendered each individual on the receiving end of that sentence and that judgment is going to absolutely know that is right on that is exactly on the spot God will not be too severe in his judgment he will not be too lenient in his judgment it will be a perfect judgment and nobody will be able to quarrel with it nobody will be well I want an appeal well you're already getting the verdict from the highest court there is and it's just one judge on the court and there aren't 12 jurors over there who can be swayed or manipulated by anyone this is the all knowing all seeing all comprehending

[35:00] God who knows everything about you no secrets they were judged according to their deeds and death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire this is the second death and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire some think that that's probably figurative that it's not literal I don't know I do I agree that the book of revelation does have admittedly a great deal of symbolism in it and that's one of the motifs with which the book is written it does have a lot of symbolism and all I can say is if this is not literal but it is symbolic then it is symbolic of something and I know this it isn't good that's for sure so let me put it this way not knowing or understanding what all hell is going to be like it is safe to say it will be everything that heaven is not it will be the complete opposite of heaven and it is a place to be avoided at all costs whatever it is figurative literal you name it it's a place that nobody wants to go to and nobody is going to be visiting everyone will be a permanent resident and something to really think about

[36:37] Daniel chapter 12 we won't go there but for time sake I'll just say that in the last day Daniel talks about a resurrection that's going to occur and some to life everlasting and some to shame and contempt and that too makes a distinction between the classes who are involved this is our last question and we'll deal with this if we may does the Bible directly address the issue of the age of accountability well I'm sure that this is something that every parent would certainly want to be sensitive to because there isn't anything that is more precious to us that God grants us on this earth apart from our own salvation than that of our children and their well-being and their eternal salvation and every parent that is worthy of the name parent is fundamentally concerned about the well-being of their children for here and for them so all

[37:39] I can say is and I'm sorry I can't give you a more definitive answer to the best of my knowledge the Bible does not stipulate any specific age where a child reaches an age of accountability and by accountability I guess we can only mean where the child really understands the difference between right and wrong and obeying and disobeying some think that might be about six months and some make it a little later the truth is truth be known I think there's just no way that we can tell and what I base that on is the enormous variation that exists in children I know some children are fully capable of making a really intelligent decision genuine decision for Christ at a very early age and others are simply not able to do that children not only have different intellectual capacities but they're wired differently the makeup the psyche and the chemistry of each individual is just utterly unique there's nobody else in the world that is just exactly like you and that's a pretty sobering thought so the age of accountability varies with individual children but

[39:02] I know this I am confident that the all knowing God knows exactly when that youngster came to an age of accountability I love to just give you a little just a brief thing quickly in Romans chapter 7 that that doesn't address this as fully as I would like but it does so more than any other place that I know of Jesus spoke about his love for the little children when he said let the little children come unto me and he talked to the adults and he said unless you become like a little child you shall in no wise enter in and what he's talking about there I think is a child a child tends to be very trusting especially to a parent they tend to be trusting and that is what God wants from you more than anything else he wants your trust and when a parent tells a child something the child is very likely to believe it because he puts a degree of confidence in that parent and most children until they reach a certain age most children think that their dad is the smartest man in the world now when they reach the teenage years they know differently but that's and you know what that's the way it's supposed to be

[40:38] I think a child is supposed to find the solace the comfort the support the wisdom the protection everything that goes with being a father and the love and the tenderness everything that goes with being a mother so that a child is just sees those two people as their principal caregivers and lovers and protectors and there is an incredible bond that is established between child and parent and that's the way it's supposed to be and and when a child is able to take what a parent says at face value and believe it sometimes you know unscrupulous parents can even take advantage of that and we see all kinds of stuff like you read some horror stories about parents how they mistreated their children who were who made hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in in

[41:41] Hollywood and you read some of the horror stories about how parents manipulated their own children because they were the income producers and this kind of you know this is human behavior and it's rotten to the core but it happens and a situation like that a parent can tell a child the moon is made of green cheese and they'll believe it because it came from a source that they recognize as authoritative and that's that's the element of trust thing so I would just encourage parents to be diligent and to make sure that they approach and teach their children and approach them individually and not put them under some kind of pressure to make a decision because your brother made a decision for Christ when he was five years old and now you're five years old and it's time for you well it just doesn't work that way and parents need to understand the necessary latitude that is involved there and I think the greatest contribution that parents can make to a child's spiritual development is their sensitivity and if you have multiple children that tends to make it more complex because you may have you may have 10 or 12 children but each and every one of them is an individual and they need to be addressed individually some things of course they have in common but as an individual they need to be dealt with in that way so that is an important thing to keep in mind how do we understand

[43:27] God's judgment and a child's sin when they do not fully comprehend God and his moral law and all I can say about that is that our benevolent heavenly father knows full well and understands the motives and the abilities of each and every child and God reads the heart and I can't tell you how much comfort I take in that fact God knows what is in the heart and he deals with us accordingly on that can someone be held accountable if they do not understand God and evil well I would say that they would be minimally accountable and again God knows and there is a word that has come to my mind just over the past few weeks it's not a new word but for me it's a new application and when I look at the end result of the judgments and their being completed and I'm talking about the beam of seat of judgment all

[44:38] Christians have been evaluated and judged and a decision has been reached and the great white throne judgment everyone has been evaluated and assigned whatever the consequences are the one thing that I take great comfort in is that every one of those decisions will be fully totally completely appropriate appropriate it's the only word I can think of appropriate it will be fitting it will be as it ought to be those in hell whatever hell is and whatever they are experiencing there will not be anything for which they are not deserving and they will know it only our omnipotent omniscient omnipresent

[45:50] God is able to do that and when we say everything and everyone and the sentence will be appropriate then the question comes appropriate according to whose estimation well who else can it be it's not going to be yours it's not going to be mine it's going to be whatever God deems appropriate fitting just that's what it will be and you know something I can't fault that for whoever is wherever for whatever for whatever time permanent eternity I can't fault that I can't second guess God and say well he's too stern there he wasn't too lenient there no everything is going to be just absolutely perfect is there something wrong with that no no so that's the kind of God we serve

[47:01] I wish I could give you fuller and better questions but when I was a much younger preacher I knew a whole lot more than I know now someone has said that I remember one of my favorite history teachers is with the Lord says as we grow older he says we tend to learn more and more about less and less and things kind of get narrowed down and a lot of the peripheral stuff just kind of falls by the wayside and we find ourselves honing in more and more on the things that really matter and the rest of it is just small stuff and don't sweat that so well I've enjoyed this time with you this morning I hope it's been somewhat beneficial and the cards you were given and it doesn't have to be a card you know you can write a slip of paper whatever anything just drop it in the offering box and I'll do my best to give it some attention and I cannot I cannot promise you a fully satisfying answer but I can promise you an honest attempt alright let us pray now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before his throne with exceeding joy to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty dominion and power both now and forevermore amen