0:00 [Music] I wanted to say good job to all of you young people especially to come up and say your verses. That's something that 0:17 you you can play a your part in this church. Every one of us has a part to play in this church. and you coming up and saying your verse, it's a very good thing. So, I just wanted to say good job for that. There's some things I might not be able 0:37 to tell for you. I won't be able to tell if you're ever going to travel to China, if you're ever going to go on a boat. There's many things I don't know whether you will experience or not. But there is one thing I can definitely 0:53 tell you for sure that we will all experience and that's this. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Young and old. Every single one of us, no matter who it is, one day at the end 1:11 of their life will stand before the Lord and have to give account of their entire life from beginning to end. At that day, nobody's going to God's not going to ask somebody else's opinion of you and what you said 1:28 to justify everything. Everything is going to be there as it is. And we'll have to give account of our lives before him. It's a day that's coming for sure. And so, it does good for us to prepare for that day. 1:48 Turn with me to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9. Therefore, we also have as our ambition 2:05 whether at home that's with the Lord or here on earth to be pleasing to him. That's is that should be our ambition to please the Lord. Verse 10, for we must all appear before 2:23 the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed or rewarded for his deeds in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad. So whether you do good things, you'll get rewarded and if you do bad things, 2:41 you'll get rewarded. But there is going to be definitely a day when we stand before the Lord and give account of our lives. I believe it's going to be a day of great joy for some. And it'll be a day of great sorrow for others. 2:59 And what we do today on this side of eternity will decide what happens on that side of eternity. There was a man uh a king actually that was not 3:17 ready for that day and I wanted to talk a little bit about him so that we can learn from his example. So, if you turn with me to Daniel, Daniel chapter 4. First, I'm going to start off with 3:34 another king. Daniel 4:28. All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar the king. 12 months later, he was walking on the roof of his royal palace of Babylon. Verse 30. The king reflected and said, "Is this not Babylon the Great, which I 3:53 myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty, everything I did, look at it, what I've done." And it says verse 31, while the word was in the king's mouth, a voice from heaven 4:11 saying, King Nebuch nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared, sovereignty has been re removed from you. Verse 32, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given 4:28 grass to eat like the cattle, and seven years will pass until you recognize, "The Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and he gives to whomever he wishes." Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled, and he was 4:46 driven away from mankind, and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws. So in a moment of time, soon as he said, 5:03 "Isn't this everything I built out of my own power, everything was taken away?" And God was showing that everything that we have is something that he's given. And the moment we're proud, God can take everything away in a moment like he did 5:22 for Nebuchadnezzar. And as this was happening, there was a young person looking at Nebuchadnezzar's life. And this was his grandson. His grandson's name was Belchazar. And Belchazar forgot about all of what happened to Nebuchadnezzar's life, about 5:40 how God humbled him when he was proud. And so he did not look at the example of Nebuchadnezzar, his grandfather, and continued in pride. And this is where it's it starts off in Daniel chapter 5, and it's verse 21. It's talking about 6:01 Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was driven away from mankind and his heart was made of the beast and dwelling place with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle and his body drenched with the dew of heaven until he 6:15 recognized that the most God most high God is ruler over the realm of mankind and he sets over it whomever he wishes. Verse 22. Listen to what Daniel tells Belchesar. Belchesar, 6:34 you have not humbled your heart. Even though you knew all this, even though you had seen Nebuchadnezzar and what happened to a man filled with pride, how God taught him that everything comes from him and he 6:52 removed it in a moment. You did not learn from that. You continued in pride. And it said goes on in verse it goes on later in the verse. It says, "And you have praised gods of silver and gold and of bronze and iron, wood and 7:10 stone which do not see, hear or understand. But God in whose hand are your life breath and your ways?" Who holds our life in his hands? It's God who holds our ways. It's God. And the one who holds our each of our lives 7:30 and our ways. You have not glorified. Then the hand which was sent from him and the inscription was written. And this is what the inscription you might 7:46 remember. There is a writing on the wall and on the wall the writing says this. Listen now the inscription what that was written was mean te euparsen 8:04 26. This is the interpretation of the message. Many god has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. That means there's a day that comes to the end of your life and that day has reached now tackled that you have been weighed on 8:23 the scales. Your life has been weighed on the scales and it's been found wanting meaning the balance is off balance. Your life is not right with God and you've not set it right and the time has come for you to be 8:41 judged. The balance is there. The scales are there. What are you going to do, Belchasar, on this day? But that day was too late for Belchesar. He didn't repent. He didn't turn from it. And so I want to learn from that because 9:00 this day is coming for each one of us. I want to learn from what happened to Belshazar where he had saw the example of what happened to Nebuchadnezzar. how he lifted himself in pride and how God judged him and he didn't learn from it 9:15 and he continued in pride. There's a word when Jesus speaks of the last days that he uses often and that word is the word many. Many, not few, 9:35 not some, but many. over and over again when he talks about the last days and this is one of those many will seek to enter into the kingdom. Will they be able to? 9:52 Yes or no? Turn with me to Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13 verse 22. And he was and as Jesus was passing Luke 13:22 10:10 from one city to village to another teaching and proceeding on the way to Jerusalem verse 23 some said to him Lord are there just a few who are being saved. Verse and then he says to them strive to enter through the narrow door 10:28 for many I tell you will seek to enter and will not be able to. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door and you began to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, "Lord, open to us." Then he'll answer and say to you, "I do not know 10:47 where you are from." Verse 26. And now these people are giving reason why Jesus should recognize them. Why Jesus should have known them? Verse 26. Then you will begin to say, "We ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets." 11:05 Jesus, "Surely you must have known us. We ate with you. We heard you teaching." And this is what he would say to them. I do not know where you are from. Depart from me all you are you who evildoers. 11:24 Many people that he says, "I don't know you. But they're saying, "I I I was eating with you, Lord. I heard you teach, Lord. How can you not know me? Many people will say this." 11:41 If many people are going to say this, then I don't want to assume that I'm not among those many that who's going to say that. I want to take heed to myself to say, "Lord, I don't want to be among those many who thought they knew you all through 11:57 their life and found out when they woke up, it was a surprise." Lord, I didn't think I didn't know you. I thought I knew you. All through my life, I thought I knew you. If you turn with me to 1 John chapter 3, 12:18 1 John chapter 3, Jesus says something. Uh, John says something. Verse four. 1 John 3:4, everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness. And sin is lawlessness. 12:38 You know that Jesus appeared in order to take away sins. That's why Jesus died on the cross. That's why he came to the cross and suffered was to take away our sins. And in him there is no sin. Verse six, no 12:54 one who abides in him sins or continues in sins, practices in sins. No one who sins has seen him or or or knows him. So when Jesus says, "I don't know you." 13:13 What was he saying? You think you know me, but you're living in sin. A person who is living in sin does not know me. That's what Jesus was saying because they're saying, "I know you, Jesus. I ate with you. I heard you speaking to 13:31 me. And that's why I say to every single one of us, we must know Jesus personally. Not just on a Sunday meeting. We have to have a relationship with Jesus 13:48 personally where we know him. Where we know that sin is a proof that I don't know him. If I'm living constantly in sin and I'm not repenting of it, I'm practicing sin, I cannot say that I know him. And it goes 14:06 on to say here. And this is John saying to the church, verse 7, little children, make sure no one deceives you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous just as he is righteous. Verse eight, the one who 14:25 practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The son of God has appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin. 14:45 And so we cannot live in sin. And so what are these people who Jesus saw at the meetings? They came to the meetings. They ate with him. But what happened after the meeting was over? What happened afterwards was the question. Not if they were in the 15:03 meeting, that was not the question. What happened in the after the meeting when they went home was the question. And from this, what do we know of what happened at home? They were living in they were living in sin. They heard in the meeting something and 15:23 they went back home and lived in sin. And what deceived them? That they came to the meeting, they heard what Jesus spoke and that's what deceived them into thinking just because they heard the message that everything was okay. If you turn with me to Matthew 15:42 chapter 7, 7. Matthew chapter 7. Verse 21, "Not everyone who says to me,"Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father 16:00 who is in heaven will enter. Verse 22, again, this word, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? These are people who prophesied. 16:18 We encourage each of us, especially in this local church after the meeting, to prophesy. He encouraged this. We do many good things to one another. But it goes on to say the similar thing. Verse 23, "And I will declare to them, I 16:36 never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. You say that you know me because of the service you're doing for me. You're say that you know me because you came to the meetings. But you're living in sin and you're not 16:55 setting matters right. The balances are there but you're not setting that balance right. So what should I do? What should we do? We know that we have sin in our life. We want the Lord to know us. What should we do? 17:15 It goes on to say verse 24 John Matthew 7 Matthew 7:24. Therefore, so Jesus is telling us what should we do if we don't want to be among those many. He's saying, "Therefore, if you don't want to be among those 17:33 many, everyone who hears these words of mine and what acts on them or does them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock." And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against the house, and yet 17:51 it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. But verse 26, every man who hears these words of mine about what did he speak about in the sermon on the mount about anger, the seriousness of anger, the seriousness of 18:10 lusting, the seriousness of unforgiveness, of an anxious, being anxious, all of these things he spoke about, they heard it, we hear it. And then if I do it, 18:28 then I'm not in danger of being among the many who heard and then went and lived in sin. But if I'm here, everyone who hears these words of mine, verse 26, and does not act on them, that means I hear about 18:44 anger, lust, an anxiety, unforgiveness, and I go back home and I don't take it seriously, then I will my house will will sink in the sand when the storms come and I will not be ready. I will be 19:02 among the many who the Lord does not know because in my life I'm living in sin. And so why does the Lord tell us all of these things? Why did the Lord speak to the churches in Revelation? 19:19 Why do we have midterms? All of these are so that we can prepare ourselves for that day. so that we are not among the many who the Lord will have to say to us as we're knocking on the door. I don't know you. You've lived 19:36 in sin. You heard the words. You went to the meetings, but you did not do anything about that. When I convicted you of your sin, you let the stand remain. Another many 19:56 many who are first will be last. Many who are first will be last. If you turn with me to Matthew 19. Matthew 19. Another group of many. This is a young rich young ruler. Verse 20:15 16. Matthew 19:16. And someone came to him and said to him, "Teacher, what good thing should I do that I may obtain eternal life?" And Jesus tells him, "Obey the commandments." Verse 20, the young man said to him, "All these things 20:32 I've kept. I've had a very good external testimony." I'm sure he would have gone to the synagogue meetings. That's how he knew all of these commands. He would have gone to the meetings. He knew it and he obeyed it. Verse 20, the young man said to him, 20:51 "All these things I've kept and still what am I lacking? Even though I have a good external testimony, I feel that something's missing." And so Jesus says, verse 21, Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go sell your 21:05 possessions, give it to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven and come follow me. Give up your possessions and come follow me. You love your possessions and that's going to prevent you from following me. So give it all up. Don't love your 21:25 possessions. Love me and follow me. And what was his response? Verse 22. But when the young man heard this, he went away grieving for he was one who owned much property. Verse 23. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I say to you, 21:40 it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." Again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were 21:56 very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?" Who can be saved? Today also the question is, Lord, who can be saved? Verse 26. Then looking at them, Jesus said to them, "With people this is 22:12 impossible, but with God all things are possible." And so the disciples are seeing this young man who is not willing to give up all and follow Jesus. And so this is what they say. Verse 27. Then Peter said with him to him, "Behold, we have left 22:31 everything. Unlike this rich man who didn't leave everything, we did. We left everything and followed you. You asked him to follow you. He didn't, but we did. What will there be for us 22:49 at the end of all of leaving everything and following you? What will be there for us at the end? And he goes on to tell them, "Those who have left all of these things will gain such so much more and inherit eternal life." And then Jesus goes on to 23:08 tell this parable in Matthew chapter 20. And I believe this is in response to the question that what is it in there for us? We are wholehearted. We left everything and we're following you. that man, he 23:28 didn't leave everything and he didn't want to follow you. What's in there for us? Verse chapter 20 20 verse one. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went early in the morning to hire laborers for the vineyard. Verse two, 23:43 when he had agreed with the laborers for a dinaras or one day's wages, he sent them into the vineyard. Verse three, he went out about the third hour. That was there was one at 9:00 a.m. He went at noon and at 3 p.m. And verse 24:00 four, he says, "You go also into the vineyard and whatever is right, I will give you." And so they went again. They went at about the 6th hour and the 9th hour. And then at the 11th hour, that's at just before closing time, probably 5:00. 24:17 6:00 is closing time, 5:00 he's going. And this is what he says. He went out and found some that were standing around. And he said to them, "Why have you been standing here idle all the day long?" Verse 7. And he said to them, 24:32 "Because no one has hired us." He said to them, "Go into the vineyard, too." Verse 8, "When the evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foremen, call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last 24:47 group to the first. So bring up all the people who worked only one hour and let's pay them first. Verse nine, when the the people from the 11th hour came, they g got a full day's salary. Verse 10, when those who hired first came, they thought they would 25:07 receive more, but each of them received only a day's wages. 11. When they received it, they grumbled at the lander, saying, "This la these last men worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us, who have borne the burden and the 25:24 scorching heat of the day." Verse 13. And he answered and said to one of them, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did I not agree with you for a day's wages? Take it and go. If I wish to give to the last man the same as I wish to 25:43 give you, is it not lawful? Isn't it right for me to do what I want to do with my money? Or is your I envious because I'm generous? I'm so good to this person who only worked one hour. Are you jealous because of that? So 26:02 many shall be last. In in the parallel passage in Mark 10:31, it says, "Many that are last shall be first and the first shall be last." And so, as I think about that, those people, I think most of us who've 26:20 been coming to this church, we're not like the person who came in the last hour. Most of us have come here for quite some time. We've heard God's word for many. We've served in the church. Some of us help in the 26:36 in singing and sharing and doing many things. Hospitality, cooking meals, visiting people who are sick, many many things. I don't think we consider ourselves ones who came in the last hours. We came at the beginning. 26:55 And I can think Peter thinking to himself, I've served you. We left so much. The cost we had to pay to follow you was so much. This man, he just came in the last hour and you give him the same wages that I get. And Jesus was showing him, 27:14 don't think because you serve me more that that's going to make you any more special. The same blood that saved your saved your life. And I gave you opportunity to serve me is the same blood that has helped this 27:32 11th the person in the coming in the 11th hour. Peter, would it trouble you if this man who walked away just now, wasted his life living on himself, and then at the last moment came back to me 27:50 and I saved him. Would that bother you? Would it bother you if he came back and he was also in the same line that you're standing in, Peter? And not only that, would it trouble you even more if he's standing in front of 28:07 you in the line after you served me so much? And as I think about that, let's leave Peter and the rich man. Let's think about us. Let's think about me. And I thought about that. I think about 28:26 all the different people that I know. People in my home, people in this church, people I know in the around the in my workplace, everyone. Would it bother me 28:43 if I saw someone in that line? Because I know what they did in their life, how they lived worldly, and in the final moments of their life, God saved them, and now they're in the 28:59 line. Would that trouble me? It's a good question to ask each one of you. Each one of you. I I I thought about this. I thought about whether it would bother me if anybody got in that line. Especially someone who's done harm to us 29:18 and you think about them, they join the line and and go one step further. Think about if not only God saved them, but they're ahead of you in the line. Would that bother you? And I see how 29:37 gracious God is. It didn't bother God to take this person who wasted his life completely on himself and in the low last moment repent and God lavish his love towards him. 29:55 And that's where I see do I have the heart of God or am I envious or comparing oh that that person doesn't do that much will I get a surprise in eternity when I stand 30:11 in eternity and see someone ahead of me in that line I say Lord I want to I want to see the people as you see them. Where do you see them, Lord? And if you see them, especially a lot of us may not do things 30:31 externally. We might be like that person in the 11th hour. Nobody knows us. And then yet, God might be looking at you and say, "Yes, these people, you're hidden behind the scenes, but guess what? You're getting a prize 30:50 as well if you get into that vineyard now as well. But I wanted to speak on a man, another man who didn't have that heart 31:08 and his name was Jonah. God had sent him, you know, where where was it? To Nineveh. He asked to preach to them. There's something that I as as we're doing our reading our book reading, you sometimes see some things 31:27 that come up. Did you know that Jonah was preaching in Israel during the time of a king who was extremely evil? His name was Jeroboam II. And during that time, this king lived 31:44 for uh he ruled for 41 years in Israel. And guess what kind of rule he had? A good one or an evil one? It was a evil one. Yep. It was a evil one. And yet, even though they had a Jonah in Israel, 32:03 that king never repented. They had a such an evil, wicked king and he was reigning 41 years. Never repented. And God uses this man to go to Nineveh and in less than 40 days, leave around 32:20 40 41 years, less than 40 days, the king of Nineveh is in sackcloth repenting. It's amazing what God can do. Uh, but if you turn with me to Jonah, verse three, but Jonah rose up to flee 32:47 Tarses from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Japa, found a ship where was going to Tarsus and paid the fair and went to it to go with them to Tarses from the presence of the Lord. So the first thing he does is he's made 33:05 up his mind to run away from God and he's putting money to buy a ship ticket. So again, he's losing money because he's determined to go away from the presence of the Lord. Verse four, the Lord hurled a 33:24 great wind on the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea that the ship was about to break up again. Who brought the storm and the wind to Jonah when he was running away? It was God. God decided that he was 33:41 going to bring about he saw this man running away from God and he said, "You know what? I'm going to send a storm and a wind to him." And it's interesting it says here everybody was frantic. They were throwing off the uh the the goods 33:58 into the the the sea to lighten up the ship. Verse six, so the captain approached him, Jonah, and said, "How is it that you're sleeping? Get up and call on your God. Perhaps your God will be concerned about us so that we will not 34:13 perish. There are sometimes it's good for us to sleep. It says in Psalm 127:2, "God gives his beloved sleep, but this is not a good time to be at sleep." When you're running from the Lord, when you're living in sin, this is not the 34:31 time to sleep. this is the time you should be awake and restless that your life is not right with God. But it's it says they cast lots and they found out that it was because of Jonah. And if you read verse 11, so they said 34:46 to him, "What should we do that the sea may become calm for us? For the sea has becoming increasingly stormy." So, when you're running away from God and God is trying to get your attention with storms and winds, what should you 35:06 do? What's the right thing to do? If you're running away from God, what's the right thing to do to repent of that and do what is right? You have to turn back. Very good. What else? You should tell the captains, "I'm 35:26 sorry." Yeah, I was going to Tarsus. Let's go back. I disobeyed God. I'm going to repent now. I'm going to humble myself. Let's go back to Japa and then I'm going to listen to the Lord. That's what you would do, right? If you're 35:39 disobeying God, you repent. But verse, if you read with me, verse 12, Jonah has a different idea of how to solve the problem. He said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you. For I know on 35:54 account of me this great storm has come upon you. See, the reason you're suffering and I'm suffering and all of that is because of me. Just throw me in the ocean and I everything will be okay. And I see this is the tendency that we 36:13 also may have when God is trying to speak to our hearts. Instead of repenting and turning around and going back, we say, "Oh, woe is me. I did this. I'm feeling sick now. My head is hurting. All of these things. And we might be 36:29 facing all of these things because we're not willing to do the one thing we're supposed to do, which is turn around and go back to Japa and say, "Lord, I was wrong." Instead, we think that by us suffering a little bit more, beating 36:44 ourselves a little bit more, that somehow the people around us is going to feel pity on us. God is going to feel sorry for us. and then everything will be okay. But it won't get to be okay until we do what we must do, which is repent. 37:02 What Jonah did was not the right thing to do. And I seen this in my own life when God has put his finger on something. Oh, no. I don't want to do that. Let me beat myself up. Let me do something else other than what God told 37:15 me to do, and somehow it's all going to go away. that headache, that that sickness, that everything's going to go away once everybody feels pity for me. Oh, look at me. How sorry you should feel for me because of this storm which is causing 37:32 you problem, causing us problem. instead of setting the matter right today also if God is speaking to you and he's putting a finger on your on your heart of a matter to set don't do what Jonah 37:50 did and say oh throw me off the no beat me by beat myself up no go humble yourself acknowledge what you did turn around that's the best result that can come out of If you turn with me to Luke chapter 38:09 15 Luke 15, another young man that God was trying to get his attention. Luke 15:1. And he said to a man that had two sons. Verse 12, the younger said to them, "Father, give me the share of the estate that falls on me." So he divided 38:28 the wealth among them. Verse 13. Not many days from them, the younger son gathered everything together, all the inheritance, and journeyed to a distant country. There he squandered his estate with loose living. Verse 14. 38:45 For Jonah it was a wind and a storm. For this young man it was a Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in the country. He became impoverished. And so he went and hired himself to the citizens of the 39:02 country. And he sent him to the fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating. And no one was giving him anything. Who sent that famine? Severe famine. I 39:21 believe the Lord did. Jesus is telling the parable. I believe the Lord sent that famine. And that famine had a purpose in this young man's life to bring him to a very very low point where he would turn around and go back 39:40 home. And if somebody came to him and said, "Oh, I feel so bad. Look at what happened to you. All this suffering. You have to eat pig's food." And if they were to comfort him there, they would have done him a disservice 39:57 because he would have never repented and come back to the father. The wind and the storm and the famine had to have their course in their lives. And thankfully, nobody came to him. The father didn't come to him. The older 40:14 brother did not come to him. He was there facing the consequences of his choices and his decisions. So that it says in verse 18 verse 17, but when he came to his senses, how many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I'm 40:34 here with hunger. It's so much better in the father's house and here I'm here. And so God had to use that to bring him to a low point and have his work. And he did what was right. When the famine came, he 40:52 repented. He turned back and came to the father's house. Today also, that's what the storms and the winds and the famines are supposed to do in our life. the circumstances that God puts in our life to bring us back in repentance to 41:10 the Lord. So as we close this morning, I wanted to mention why is God talking about these many people who are not ready for that final day? It's so that we will be ready for that final day. In Colossians chapter 1, it 41:30 says that Paul would admonish and correct and all of that for one purpose so that he can present every single one perfect on that day in the midst of a world where many are going to be knocking on that door 41:49 saying, "Lord, open that door. We don't know you. You say you don't know us." In the midst of that, Paul was not happy with 99%. Jesus was not happy with 99 sheep. When there was 99 sheep and one went astray, what did Jesus do? 42:09 He went for the one. Jesus was not happy with 99%. He wanted 100%. Paul also was not happy with 99%. He did everything he can so that all will be presented perfect in Christ on that day. 42:28 And if you see Jonah, you see that what God's heart was. If you turn with me to Jonah, Jonah chapter 4 verse 9. Then God said to Jonah, "Do you have a good reason to be angry about 42:47 this plant?" And he said, "I have a good reason to be angry, even to death." Surprising how a man can speak to God. Then the Lord said, "You had compassion on this plant which you did not did not 43:06 work for and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight." Verse 11. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 people who do not know the 43:23 difference between their right hand and their left hand. The same thing we heard at the cross as well. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. That's God's heart of compassion. when he sees somebody like that thief on the cross who has only a 43:42 few more hours to live for the Lord and then John who's there who lives to the age of 95 who gives everything for the Lord and John can rejoice with this thief on the cross who was saved in the last hour 43:58 after pouring out his life for 60 years that's the beauty of the kingdom of God the one who was saved in the last hour can rejoice with the one who served the Lord all his life. And I see that that's the heart of God. God's heart is not that we live in sin, 44:17 but at the same time, God has hope for the one who's even in the 11th hour who comes in. And I want to have that heart too where I don't want to have any sin in my life. I want to prove by my life that the Lord I know the Lord 44:36 by taking sin seriously in my life. And that's why it says when we come to break bread, it says let us judge ourselves rightly now. Because if we judge ourselves now, we will not be judged with the world on the final day. That's 44:53 in 1 Corinthians 10 uh 11:31 and 32. If we judge ourselves rightly now, we will not be judged with the world. That's what the encouragement today. We have an opportunity while we have breath in our nostrils to judge ourselves now. Let us 45:11 judge ourselves now when we have opportunity so that when the day comes when God calls account all the balances that we're there ready. I also wanted to mention one thing in closing. Why was it that John, Paul, and others 45:31 didn't boast after living such a wonderful life? Paul said, "I am what I am by the grace of God." And God's grace was not poured out in me in vain. I worked 45:48 harder than the rest. Yet not I, but God who worked in me. And so today also if God has given us a desire in our hearts it's not because of something that we did but it's because God put that desire there and that's why there's no boast 46:05 for the person who said oh I served you for so many years because it wasn't really them it was God working in them and they recognize it Lord if you did not touch my life I would be like every other person who lived and died without 46:21 knowing you. But thank you Lord for putting a desire in my heart. And thank you Lord for not only putting a desire but also giving me the ability or the power to live a life. So if there's a life that I and you live that honors God 46:37 today, it's not because of anything that we did but God filled us with his Holy Spirit, changed our lives, gave us a desire. And may with that life that he gave us, we honor him so that on that day when we stand before him, when he's 46:53 giving out all those rewards, we can give glory to him. Lord, thank you, Lord, that my life was not one that was lived out on myself, but I gave something back to you. Thank you, Lord, that you found me who nobody else hired 47:09 and put me in your vineyard to serve you. May the Lord help us. Amen. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I pray for every single one of us, Lord. Whether we've been, you called us into your vineyard at the beginning or the 47:23 end, Lord, you are the one who had mercy on us. It's not the one who runs or wills. It's not even the one who builds. Lord, unless you build a house, the one who builds in vain. Unless you watch over a city, the one who watches is in 47:37 vain. Lord, one plants, one waters, but we're nothing. Lord, you must give the increase. And I pray that you would speak to the hearts of every single one of us so that when we stand before you on that day, we are ready, Lord. That 47:54 you know us and that we can live with, we can enter into your presence with joy. Do that Lord for your glory in Jesus name. Amen. 48:09 [Music]
