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[0:00] Would you, is there a way to ask you? No, it's okay. All right. Go ahead. When John the Baptist was murdered and killed, right? He was what?

[0:10] He was killed. He was murdered. John the Baptist. Yeah. Okay. Jesus was still living. Okay. Was eternity, was there an eternity at that time?

[0:24] I'm sure there was. But where would John most likely have gone? Where would he have ended up in his eternal life?

[0:36] Because there was, Jesus was still walking around on earth. Yeah. That's a very good question. And I wish I had a, I wish I had a more authoritative and definitive answer to give you.

[0:51] But such as I have, I'll give unto you, and you can take it for what it's worth. Prior to, prior to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, there was no mention in the Old Testament.

[1:09] And we're talking about, we're talking about three-fourths of the Bible. Okay? Because the Old Testament represents about 75% of the whole scriptures.

[1:23] Yeah. You will not find anywhere in the Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi, you will not find anyone who is making mention of the fact of being absent from the body and present with the Lord.

[1:38] That just is not found in the Old Testament. And our suspicion is simply because that reality did not exist then. And it was not until Christ as the firstfruits and his resurrection led the way for absent from the body, present with the Lord.

[2:02] And that did not exist before that. And as best as we can come up with, and it's not completely satisfying, you need to know that good scholars are all over the map on this.

[2:15] It's just one of those things that can't be pinned down. But the best guess that we can make is based upon Luke chapter 16. And it talks about the rich man who died and Lazarus who was in Abraham's bosom and so on.

[2:31] And this is a place that is referred to as Sheol. S-H-E-O-L. Sheol. Sometimes it's translated the grave. It appears to have been the place of the departed dead.

[2:46] And as best we can determine, based upon that document there in Luke 16. And again, scholars are divided over whether it's a parable, which means it was just made up by Jesus as an illustration to give, or whether it was an actual event that took place that he was describing.

[3:09] But as the story goes on, the rich man died.

[3:21] And this is, we won't go to it because it'll shoot our whole lesson if we do. But the rich man died and he went to Sheol. And there appears to be, as described there in Luke 16, a dual compartment.

[3:39] So that there is a separation between those who died, what we would call as believers, and those who died as unbelievers. And those who died as believers are referred to as having been in Abraham's bosom.

[3:58] Well, Abraham, of course, had been physically dead a couple of thousand years earlier. And he was in this place called Sheol.

[4:09] And Abraham's bosom was a place of comfort and a place of blessing. And the rich man died. And because he was not a believer, he was not right with God, he did not go to Abraham's bosom.

[4:23] He went to the other compartment in Hades, which was one filled with torment and flames. And he even said, send Lazarus that he may dip his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.

[4:39] And the text tells us that there is a great gulf fixed between the two. And we don't know if it's a deep gulf or if it's a wide gulf.

[4:51] But at any rate, the bottom line is that Jesus said that those who are in one part cannot pass to the other part.

[5:02] Neither can those from the other part come to this part. It's inseparable. There is a division there. So when John the Baptist was beheaded, he went to Abraham's bosom as a believer.

[5:19] And when Jesus died on the cross, during those times, those three days and three nights when he was in the grave, he also, we are told, went to Hades.

[5:34] Hades is not to be confused with hell. Hell does not exist now. It will, but it doesn't exist now.

[5:45] Hades is what exists, and it is a temporary place. And when someone dies, like John the Baptist, for instance, he went to Abraham's bosom.

[5:56] And when an unbeliever died, he went to the other part of Hades, which was agonizing, etc. And when Jesus was resurrected from the dead, or during that time, by the way, I don't know if it was in his spirit or if it was bodily, but we are told that he descended into Hades.

[6:19] Jesus didn't go to Hades for the same reason everybody else did. He went to Hades to empty the place. And he led, we are told, I think it's 2 Peter mentions this, that Jesus led captivity.

[6:36] That is, those who were captive in Hades, in Abraham's bosom. He led captivity captive. And that is, he took those who were there in Abraham's bosom and removed them and took them to heaven because now there was a way of access open to them because Christ is the firstfruits.

[7:00] He is the first one to be raised from the dead. And no one else could experience that until Christ, the firstfruits, had accomplished that.

[7:11] But once he had, now we say when somebody is a believer and they die, they don't go to Hades. They are absent from the body, present with the Lord.

[7:21] And Hades, the compartment of where the rich man was, is still filled with people who are unbelievers.

[7:33] And when you read Revelation chapter 20 or 21, if it hasn't moved, at the last judgment, the great white throne judgment, the text says that death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every man or woman, according to their works.

[8:03] And it means that the great white throne, you see, nobody has been judged at the great white throne judgment yet. And they are all incarcerated and in a holding, if you will.

[8:18] And the reason that they have not been assigned to what the Bible describes as hell is simply because they have not been judged. They have not had their day in court.

[8:31] And they will get their day in court in Revelation 20, when John tells us that the books are opened, and everyone is judged from those books according to their works.

[8:46] There are no believers there. These are all unbelievers. Believers are undergoing an assessment as well, but it is not at the great white throne judgment.

[9:00] It is at the award throne of Christ. This is what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, when he says that people are going to be evaluated as believers on the basis of what they did as believers.

[9:20] Because some of the things we do, guys, are things of the flesh. Even as Christians, we can be ornery.

[9:31] We can be nasty. We can be mean. We can be unkind. We can be deceitful. As believers, the reason we can do that is because we still have the old flesh nature.

[9:46] And we dance to that tune. You don't have to because if you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. If you don't walk in the Spirit or conduct your life in the Spirit, you will fulfill the desires of the flesh.

[10:02] And Paul tells us that the flesh produces deeds, works that are unacceptable to God. And he likens them to wood, hay, and stubble.

[10:15] And when a match is put to wood, hay, and stubble, it goes poof. And it's gone. There's nothing there to show for it.

[10:26] But the things that are done in the Spirit, as we walk in the Spirit, the things that are done to honor God and to serve our fellow man and to love others as we ought to love them, those are referred to as gold, silver, and precious stones.

[10:47] And when the fire contacts them, it doesn't burn them up because they survived the test. They passed the test.

[10:58] So bottom line is, only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. And we all, guys, we all have our share of wood, hay, and stubble.

[11:11] Let's face it. We're all in process. None of us is a finished product. Let me put it this way. We are finished positionally because our position in God is not determined by you.

[11:30] It's determined by Jesus Christ, and it is a done deal. We are complete in Him. As far as God is concerned, we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies.

[11:40] Paul said when he wrote it in Colossians, if ye then be risen with Christ. What does that mean? If ye then be risen with Christ. We're not risen with Christ. We're right here in Studebakers.

[11:53] As far as God is concerned, we are risen with Christ. We are crucified with Christ, raised with Christ, and everything is a slam dunk as far as God is concerned.

[12:06] It's already accomplished. We see it as all in process. And this, guys, is the huge difference between our position and our performance.

[12:17] Our performance is lacking. Big thing about performance is not only what we do, but why we do it. What our motive is for what we do.

[12:30] That's our performance. And it is often lacking, and it fluctuates. It fluctuates. We may do things with a good motive. We may do things with a bad motive. But our performance is not determined.

[12:42] I mean, our position is not determined by us. It's determined by Christ. And it is full, complete, entire, lacking nothing. And that's a little bit of what we're going to get into now.

[12:54] Joe? Well, we're sealed with Christ when we have it. Right. Sealed. And we don't have to be like the old flesh because we've got that spirit in us all the time. You can let that spirit guide us. But going back to John the Baptist, don't they also call that good side paradise?

[13:10] Yeah. And there's no longer a need for paradise anymore. Right. Because they've all been taken out of paradise. Thank you. And that's what Jesus was referring to on the cross when he told the thief next to him who said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

[13:25] Jesus said, verily I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. He didn't say heaven. He said paradise. Actually, John the Baptist is just going to stop off in paradise.

[13:40] He's not going to be there long. And then he'll be going on to glory. And this becomes our base. You see, fellas, as always, what it always boils down to, no exceptions, Jesus is what it's all about.

[13:58] Paul said, I determined to know nothing among you. Now, he didn't mean that he was ignorant about everything else. And he didn't mean that nothing else mattered.

[14:09] But what he meant was, comparatively speaking, bottom line, what it all boils down to, I determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.

[14:21] That's what it's all about. And, fellas, it doesn't make any difference what you get right. If you got that wrong, you're in a heap of trouble.

[14:36] That's what it's all about. And that's amazing. That's what we're talking about also. So look at your sheet, if you would, please. Thanks, Mark. Thank you very much. Okay. Look at your sheet, Salvation's 33 Blessings.

[14:48] And we are looking at Romans 3.24. I think we covered this. A believer has been redeemed. Romans 3.24.

[15:00] And the price required to set him free from sin has been paid. And I told you, if you want to add something to that, you might just add the words, in full. The price was paid in full.

[15:12] Jesus Christ did not make a down payment on your salvation and leave something for you to pay. Because, fellas, anything that you would pay would be of a different quality than that which Jesus paid.

[15:29] And it would be unacceptable. So we are purchased, redeemed, paid in full. A believer has been reconciled.

[15:41] Reciple. And let's look at our text, if we may, in Romans 5. And Romans 5 and verse 18.

[15:56] Actually, it's Romans 5. Guys, a number of evangelistic tracts have been written about the book of Romans.

[16:07] And someone years ago even labeled it the Roman road. And listed all of the passages that deal with salvation and our position in Christ.

[16:19] And I'll tell you what. The book of Romans is really, really hard to beat from the standpoint of justification and glorification and sanctification and everything.

[16:31] If you want a real course in biblical theology in a nutshell, read the book of Romans. Because it's got it all. And this book is just absolutely marvelous.

[16:43] Someone had pointed out that every revival that has ever been recorded anywhere in the world from the first century to the present always seemed to involve the exposition of the book of Romans.

[17:00] And it was something that really turned Martin Luther on, too. So let's look at Romans chapter 5. And, well, let's, actually, this is just so good.

[17:17] Yeah, all of it. Well, verse, well, gee. Let's start with verse 12, okay.

[17:29] Therefore, just as through one man, that's Adam, sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned in Adam.

[17:48] And you could add those words there because they're certainly implied. All sinned in Adam. In other words, as hard as it is for us to understand this, guys, genetically, et cetera.

[18:01] But you and I were in the body of Adam.

[18:12] Think about that now. Not directly, but in a way directly and in a way indirectly. Because in Adam, the stream of humanity began.

[18:32] You were in Adam. Now, we don't have any difficulty understanding that we were in the loins, if you will, of our biological father.

[18:46] You were in your father's scrotum as seed that was deposited by him in your mother.

[19:00] But prior to that, it was grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather. And it goes all the way back to who? Well, it goes all the way back to Adam.

[19:10] This is what the text means when it says we sinned in Adam. We were originated in Adam. The whole human race was.

[19:21] Black, white, yellow, brown. All were in Adam originally. And it is the variation in the genetic composition and the way God established the genetic gene pool and all the rest of it, that we get all of the variation in shapes and sizes and colors and everything else.

[19:42] So it's just an absolutely mind-bending thing. And by the way, you know, as smart as we are or as smart as we think we are, the human gene and genetic code wasn't even discovered until just about 50 years ago.

[20:04] Francis Crick, and I forget the name of the guy that was his partner with it, but they calibrated and coded the genetic structure and had been there all the time.

[20:18] It's been there for thousands of years. We didn't know that. And when they got this thing figured out and came up with the code of it, why, it was a tremendous breakthrough.

[20:29] And we all know that everybody has their own personal genetic signature that is different from everyone else's in the world.

[20:44] It may be similar to somebody else's, but you're the only one that's got the one you've got. And we all know that it wasn't until just about, what, maybe 30 years ago, something like that, that they began doing more extensive DNA testing, the deoxyribonucleic acid testing.

[21:07] And they have been able to determine the guilt or the innocence of different people who have been accused of crimes. And some of them have served 20, 30 years in prison.

[21:20] And a DNA test that wasn't even available when they had their trial and were sent to prison is applied to the situation. And sometimes it might be something like a man is accused of raping a woman and murdering her.

[21:38] And when the detectives collected the evidence that was left at the scene of the crime, they collected things like cloth and whatnot.

[21:52] And years later, they could conduct a test on that and discover that the human semen that the rapist left behind is deciphered with the test.

[22:13] And they can compare that with the guy who was sentenced in prison and discover that this was not his semen. And maybe it was circumstantial evidence that put him at the scene of the crime and he was unjustly accused and convicted, but he was innocent.

[22:30] And the DNA exam proved that. And guys, this has happened worldwide. It happens very frequently now. So a lot of people have been convicted because of it when they got a match.

[22:43] And a lot of people have been set free because they were actually innocent of the crime. So let's move on now. As through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sin.

[22:59] For until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed when there is no law. In other words, if it isn't against the law to spit on the sidewalk, then you're not going to be arrested for spitting on the sidewalk because there's no law against it.

[23:19] So as time went on and people became more active and more self-centered and more everything else, laws were developed to kind of put a brake on humanity or to at least let people know when they were doing something that was contrary to what we would call the rule of law.

[23:40] This means Moses' law, right? Isn't this referring to Moses' law here? Yeah, yeah. Death reigned from Adam until Moses, Even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam's offense, who is a type of him who was to come.

[23:58] And that, of course, is speaking of Christ. But the free gift, and here, guys, listen, this is the sticking point for so many people who have not and will not put their case in the hands of Jesus Christ for the salvation of their soul.

[24:23] And it is a huge, huge impediment when you try to demonstrate to human beings that it is justification, that means being declared righteous, doesn't mean that you are righteous.

[24:43] No, no. Doesn't mean that you are righteous. You're a sinner. But you are declared righteous. You are given the status, the position of being righteous solely on the basis of faith.

[25:01] What does that mean? It means that you become declared righteous on the basis of believing. That's it.

[25:13] Believing plus nothing. And let me tell you, guys, if you haven't discovered it already, this is a hard sell. It's a hard sell. And the reason is simply because it does sound too good to be true.

[25:31] As someone has said, there's no free lunch. Well, that's true. There is no free lunch. And if you are operating and functioning in this world, under this human system of fallen humanity, you better believe there's no free lunch.

[25:52] And when you try to communicate to people that your justification, your salvation, your eternal life is a free gift from God, they just can't get over that.

[26:13] And, well, I'll tell you what, in a very real way, I came to appreciate that over 65 years ago, and I still haven't gotten over it.

[26:24] So there's some aspect about it, but you have to get over it enough to believe it. And, guys, this is why it's called good news.

[26:38] And there's no other reason. This is the sole reason that it is called good news. That's what the word gospel means. It's good news. And it is free.

[26:50] It is free to you. But it was not free to the one who made it available because it cost him everything. So we get off free because Jesus paid the penalty.

[27:03] And people say, well, there's nothing fair about that. That's true. There isn't anything fair about it. That's why it's called grace. There isn't anything fair about it.

[27:14] It's grace. Grace means you get what you don't deserve because someone who did not deserve to die for your sin did so, and you get off scot-free.

[27:28] That is absolutely amazing. And as I've said before, John Newton couldn't get over it either, and he wrote a song about it called Amazing Grace. Amazing Grace. And you know, Amazing Grace is amazing in the sense that not too many years ago, this was a favorite song all throughout the world.

[27:49] You know, different ones had recorded it. Big name music stars had recorded Amazing Grace. People were singing it all over the country. In other countries, they were singing Amazing Grace.

[28:00] And yet, you wonder how many of those people singing it actually understood what was meant. It is the best thing that ever happened to the human race, this grace made available to us.

[28:19] Oh, my goodness. The free gift is not like the transgression, for if by the transgression of the one, that's Adam, many died, that's everybody else, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many, that is, to everybody.

[28:50] Because the first many is in reference to the same group as the last many. We've got the many died earlier in verse 15.

[29:03] And at the end of verse 15, we've got the word many again. And the word many means the same thing in both places. And actually, the many is the all.

[29:15] It's all. Because Christ died for the sins of the world. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

[29:28] So, this is God's great gift to humanity. God's great gift. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned.

[29:40] For on the one hand, the judgment arose from one transgression, resulting in condemnation. But on the other hand, the free gift arose from many transgressions, that's the corporate sins of all of the human race, resulting in justification.

[30:01] And all that means is the death, the substitutionary death of that one person was sufficient to cancel the sin debt of the entire human race.

[30:17] Why? How? Because of the principle of relative value. The value of the life of the creator exceeds the value of the lives of the created.

[30:37] You get that? We've got one creator, heaven and earth. Jesus Christ is referred to, well, he's in Genesis 1 and he's in Colossians 3 and he's before all things, by him all things consist and so on.

[30:53] and he being deity clothed with humanity had a payment to make that surpassed the entire sin debt of the human race.

[31:11] And we look at that and we say, are you kidding me? We're talking about billions of people? That's right. We're talking about billions of people in the same way in the same way that one human being is worth an infinite number of cockroaches.

[31:32] cockroach. What we're saying is there's no comparison between a human being and a cockroach. Well, precisely, guys, there's no comparison between humanity and deity either.

[31:49] No comparison between the creator and the creature because of who he is. this is the sole reason why Jesus Christ was able to do what he did.

[32:04] It was all connected to his identity. If he had not been very God of very God, he could not have made the payment that he made.

[32:15] But because he was who he was, he was able to do what he did. And at the bottom of the whole thing was an element of love and compassion the likes of which you and I will never be able to plumb.

[32:36] God's grace was motivated by God's love. And in some way that we mere mortals cannot and will not ever understand, the Father and the Son compacted together to make this payment and it was all generated out of love.

[32:56] God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Just absolutely astounding. But it is in that payment, guys, it is in that payment that not most of your salvation lies, all of it, all of it, the whole thing, is all wrapped up in that payment that Jesus Christ made.

[33:25] And there was nothing left for you to pay. And that's why it's called grace. God's riches at Christ's expense. G-R-A-C-E.

[33:37] God's riches at Christ's expense. Just the most marvelous thing. And this good news is something that we have the privilege to proclaim and the responsibility to proclaim.

[33:51] And it is such good news that it almost never registers with somebody when they hear it for the first time. Because the tendency is to just dismiss it out of hand. Well, that makes it sound like it's free, but I know it can't mean that.

[34:03] It can't mean that. It can't mean that. Because there's something you have to do. Well, there is something you have to do, and it is called belief.

[34:14] It is a non-meritorious act of faith. Faith means belief. It comes from the same words. Pistus is faith, and pistuo is to believe or to faith.

[34:27] But we don't go around saying, well, you need to faith it. But that's perfectly correct. You need to faith it. That's the same thing as saying you need to believe it. And when you believe, when you believe out of a sense of need, out of a sense of inability in yourself, you see, someone has said, the gospel is good news, but it isn't good news until and unless you recognize the bad news.

[35:00] The bad news is you're lost. You're sunk. You're doomed. Someone has said, it doesn't mean that you are as bad as you can be, but it means you are as bad off as you can be.

[35:18] And when you recognize that, that you stand alienated from God and there is nothing you can do, no works, no money you can give, no church you can attend, no promises that you can make, only exercising non-meritorious faith or belief in Jesus Christ.

[35:40] And by the way guys, someone has said that, you know, this is a real telltale thing for people because there are people, there are people today and I know this is true, it's true all over the world, of people who are in church every Sunday, they know the lingo, they know the ritual, people, they know the hymns, they enjoy the fellowship, they like their being there with the people, they appreciate the atmosphere, but they have never come to a real understanding of who they are apart from Christ, they have never really put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

[36:29] And here's a good acid test, I think this is something that you can keep in mind and present to anybody and it helps to separate the sheep from the goats if you know what I mean. You can ask somebody, well tell me, you recognize I'm sure as I do that we're all going to die, right?

[36:49] Eventually, sometimes we're going to die. Yeah, well yeah, we're all headed that way. Well, what then? Well, I guess you go to heaven or hell, okay?

[37:02] Well, are you planning to go to heaven? Oh yeah, I sure am. Good, glad to hear that. Would you please tell me on what basis are you planning to go to heaven?

[37:17] What is it that you are counting on to get you to heaven? Well, you know. You're a nice guy. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's a favorite. I'm a nice guy.

[37:29] Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not perfect. I don't claim to be perfect, but I'm as good as most guys. You know, I do this and I do that and I go to church and I don't kick the dog and I don't beat my wife and I, you know, I'm a good guy, average guy.

[37:54] You'd be surprised, guys, how many people there are in churches. every Sunday and that's their reasoning and they just don't understand what's involved because it is essential before, well, Paul says whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

[38:21] And the question is who's going to call and why would you do that? Why would you call? You call because you recognize you have a need and you can't meet it.

[38:35] So what you need is a Savior. That's what you need. And you will not come to the Savior until you know you need to be saved.

[38:48] And you would be surprised how many people say, I think I'm just fine the way I am. I'm at least as good as most people. Yes. our world is in a mess and it's getting worse.

[39:00] Satan is real and Jesus is real. And like you said, there's a lot of people who go to church but they're not saved. As a Christian being saved, it's our job to share the gospel, the good news.

[39:16] And we need to go out and tell these people about it. That's right. Amen. And that's what's happening. The family breakdowns, the world's breaking down because good Christians are just sitting there doing nothing.

[39:29] They need to be out sharing the gospel. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's bottom line stuff. And this is good news. It's something that you just want to share.

[39:43] But I'll tell you what I think the problem is with believers with the body of Christ. And that is we get so comfortable with just having this good news to ourselves that we forget, guys, we forget what it was like when we didn't have it.

[40:05] And how wonderful it was when we came to know it and appreciate it. And this is why usually the most on fire and the most consistent people in sharing the gospels is usually the newer converts because they haven't gotten used to their salvation yet.

[40:26] An old Vance Havner, good old southern boy, preacher down in North Carolina, used to say, go into a church and preach to a bunch of Christians and he'd say, Lord, and don't let them get used to being saved.

[40:43] but it's so easy to do, guys. We just kind of get used to being saved and you almost think that, well, everybody knows.

[40:54] Hey, this is America. Everybody knows the gospel. No, they don't. No, they don't. Brother? My mind is. Mine too.

[41:05] No, we need to share the gospel. Absolutely. And when we're confronted with situations in the world, the true believer has peace that passes all understanding.

[41:22] They're not afraid, worried. There's 365 places, I believe, that says do not fear, do not be afraid. And having the love of Christ and the salvation and grace from Him, that gives us peace that we can handle all the situations.

[41:36] Amen. Amen. Amen. Anybody else question or comment? Roger? I remember when you went through the three levels of belief, noticia, essentia, and fiducia, that's when I realized you've got to commit your eternal destiny to what He did for you.

[41:55] I appreciate you mentioning that. It's just three little Latin words. We're all familiar with their English counterpart. But, um, um, the, uh, what did you say, Roger?

[42:10] Noticia, essentially, and a producer. Thank you. Thanks for stirring my pure mind by way of remembrance. The noticia, N-O-T-I-C-I-A, noticia in Latin, simply means, the English word is notice.

[42:26] Notice. Notice. And when someone hears the gospel, for the first time, they have been put on notice. They have been notified.

[42:38] Comes from the same word. Notified. And then, the second word in the Latin is ascensus. A-S-S-E-N-S-U-S.

[42:49] Ascentus. And it means, in English, it means ascent. A-S-S-E-N-T. You hear the gospel. You might not have ever heard it before, or know what it means, but you've been put on notice.

[43:04] You've been notified. And then, the next step is, okay, so you've been notified. What are you going to do about it? And the word ascensus, in the English, is ascent.

[43:16] A-S-S-E-N-T. When you ascent to something, you agree to it. That's what it means. You give your ascent. agreement. You give agreement to what you've heard.

[43:30] You can hear the gospel. Christ died for your sins. All of sinned have come short of the glory of God. You've been put on notice. You've been notified.

[43:42] And you nod your head, yeah, well, yeah, all of sinned have come short. Yeah, I agree with that. I agree with that. I've been notified, and I agree with what I've been notified about.

[43:53] Okay, then the third step is, what are you going to do about? Notitia, a census, and, what?

[44:08] Pardon? Fiducia. Okay. Fiducia. Fiducia. From our word, fidelity, and it means trust.

[44:22] Have you ever seen a logo of a bank that calls itself a fidelity bank, or uses the word fiducia, and it means trustworthy.

[44:37] A bank is saying, you can trust us with your money. We are a fiduciary organization, and that is the word that we translate as faith, and it's got all kinds of English playouts.

[44:56] Have you ever seen a cartoon drawn with a dog in the dog house, and over the top of the dog house, got the name of the dog, and it's Fido.

[45:09] Fido. F-I-D-O, Fido. You know what that means? It means faithful. That's the way most people think about their dogs, you know. Faithful.

[45:19] Old faithful dog. And that's a fiducia word. It means trusting. When you trust in Christ, you take your confidence away from yourself, and your good works, and your good attentions, and your good deeds, and your good church membership, you take all of that away from yourself, and you put all of your trust and confidence in Jesus Christ.

[45:49] And He saves us. He responds with saving. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I claim. Yes, Jeff, comment?

[46:04] So, my big question is, why would anybody waste their time going to church if they don't believe?

[46:23] Well, is the church so remiss in not teaching these people what they need to know to make a good logical decision?

[46:38] There's going to be people that won't do it even if you spell it out for them. I hear you, Larry, and I, people, I'll tell you, people go to church for all kinds of different reasons, Christians, and it is supposed to be, it is supposed to be a place where the faithful come and they are fed, they are fed spiritual truth that enables them to grow and develop and mature as a Christian.

[47:19] Like Peter says, as newborn babes, just like newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.

[47:32] And if a church, whatever name it goes by is immaterial, but if a church isn't feeding people so that they mature and grow, then it's failing its basic mission.

[47:48] And by the way, guys, we need to understand that the church, church is not for unbelievers. The church is for believers.

[48:00] It's not for unbelievers. Now, unbelievers are welcome and a lot of unbelievers in church where they are welcome, they hear the gospel and they become believers.

[48:14] But church is really for, someone has said, church is not for ain'ts, it's for saints. And when the teaching goes on, a lot of unsaved people are going to find it, shoom, just goes right over their head.

[48:31] They don't get it, you know, because they don't have the equipment to process it with. And a church, a church's main responsibility is to feed the flock of God which is among you.

[48:46] And when you feed them, they grow, they mature, they develop, and it becomes so valuable. Larry, in the back. Well, someone said church's tendency is either a burning desire or a cold habit.

[49:02] Yeah, well, a cold desire, a burning desire, a cold habit, yeah, good way of putting it. Joe? A lot of times they don't get by the milk. When he's talking about the milk, they don't get into the meat, you know, and that's deep in the Bible, all parts of the Bible, all the books of the Bible, if you go to a, I'm not telling, this is sincere, I've switched to a Baptist church from Grace church, because I'm, in a way, I have a lot of love for those people there, and I'm kind of seeing myself as a missionary to them.

[49:34] All they have had, the preacher has had there since I've gone there, are lessons in the Gospels, John, Luke, or Mark, or Matthew. That's true.

[49:44] He hasn't touched Paul's letters at all, the Gospel, we're talking about this diamond, Romans, diamond book, and so many churches, that's what they do, they do not go beyond milk, they do not get into the meat of the church.

[49:59] I'm sorry to say that's true, and I'll tell you, fellas, and that too is due to a misunderstanding, because you would be amazed how many people in a church and how many pastors in a church say, well, like Joseph, why do you spend so much time in the Gospels?

[50:16] And they'll say, because that's where Jesus is. Jesus is in the red letters, and we spend all of our time there. Fellas, if you don't understand that Jesus is in Genesis, and Jesus is in Revelation, and Jesus is in the book of Amos, and Jesus is in Romans, he's all through, and please understand that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so what?

[50:49] So that the man of God may be throughly furnished, that means outfitted and equipped so that you're given everything that you need in Christ. And, hey, I appreciate you being here, and I'm sorry, I apologize for not getting to today's lesson, but sometimes, yeah, blame Dan Mextrose, it's all his fault.

[51:12]  We know his fault. Okay. My fault.