Wednesday Night Bible Study
by Billy McCool
September 22, 2021 · First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: Bible study
Scripture: Genesis 6:22, Genesis 6:5-21, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Genesis 6:3, Hebrews 11:7, Revelation 2:21, 1 Samuel 13:8-14, 1 Samuel 15:14, 1 Samuel 15:22-23, 1 Samuel 15:30, Acts 19, Acts 10, Proverbs 6:32-33, Psalms 51:14-17, Ecclesiastes 8:11-12, Matthew 7:24-27, Luke 6:47-49

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/billy-mccool--wednesday-night-bible-study-116
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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praise the lord everyone we greet you tonight in the wonderful name of the lord jesus christ it's so good to see he's one of you in the house of the lord tonight we are continuing our bible study in connection with our what normally would be our sunday school lesson and you heard me say a few times it's rather um i don't know if uncanny is the right word it's unusual so many times when one of we pastors preach on something or get ready to preach on something the other one will already have he'll preach on it i know uh it's happened so many times that's almost more than a coincidence and tones tonight's lesson is about noah and his ark have you heard a message on that one lately you will not hear a greater message concerning noah and the ark than we heard last sunday night it was marvelous brother pastor whitley did such a great job but i'm going to be going in a little different direction though it's about noah and noah's ark you heard you will not hear anything better than what we heard but the lesson title is obedience to god's word so i'm going to be zeroing in on obedience to god and his word i will read the story of noah and then we'll go from there one of the things i would like to refer to the lesson the lesson has several segments one's called lesson big idea and that big idea is i will obey god's word and enjoy salvation he gives the focus verses or verses genesis 6 22 thus did noah thus did noah according to all that god commanded him so did he and then the lesson text is taken from genesis 6 5 through 21 and 8 15 through 22. so you see there are a lot of verses to read and but will not be commenting on each one of them but one thing that was in the lesson that i thought was worthy of reading to the congregation there's a sub-topic called lesson connection and i think there's a lesson connection that should be read and it goes like this new england is famous for its ports and the brave sailors who hail from the places like bar harbor portsmouth boston newport vineyard haven such sailors were rough tough men who routinely said goodbye to their loved ones and sailed courageously into the deep icy waters in search of fish fame fortune or adventure among the things these gutsy men feared the most was a derelict vessel a vessel that had been abandoned by its crew at high sea it had no moorings and since it was drifting it did not operate by any rules it was free and uncommitted there were no captains no to impose his will upon it as a result the vessel became a grave danger to anyone else who happened to be in his vicinity these unpredictable derelict crafts caused many tragic shipwrecks the term derelict was subsequently used to depict a person or culture that lacked discipline and direction at first glance a lie free from restraint rules and responsibilities can be appealing in fact the idea that we should all be free to determine what to believe and how to behave has been peddled as a reasonable noble and freeing philosophy but how does such reasoning play out in practical terms suppose for example we applied the concept of there are no absolutes quote unquote to our roads and highways how comfortable would you be if the average driver was not held to the convictions that red means stop and a double yellow line means do not pass suppose stop signs were optional and people could pick and choose which side of the street to drive on we would all certainly have more freedom and more options but fewer people would be living to talk about it when everything goes everything goes downhill i thought that was excellent and a lot of folks like the idea of freedom if you have kept up with the news lately and most of us have you have seen the tragic story of the young girl or a young lady 22 years old whose body has just been found and discovered and and pronounced a victim of homicide and a two two young people unmarried but just freelance across the country wherever they wanted to go and uh they were uh recording much of their events but uh with all their freedom from north south east or west it's wound up in terrific tragedy and the bible spoke of a day when there was no king and everyone did that which was right in his own eyes i'm going to read a little bit and then we're going to go on this subject obedience to god's word obedience to god's word again the lesson big idea segment says i will obey god's word and enjoy the salvation he gives we sometimes do not like some of the rules and regulations that we are constrained to live by there's just a lot of times that on the highway you're running behind schedule and you just would like to go faster than the speed limit says you're supposed to drive and if you could just just go 10 miles over but just suppose everybody had their own freedom to drive as fast as they wanted and the lesson talked about if we didn't respect the double lines on a two-lane road that uh two yellow lines means you can't pass and just suppose we didn't know whether red meant stop at a light or what uh it would be a dangerous thing so the point is we've got to have some absolutes some things to guide our life as well as guide the the automobile that that we drive the lesson text and god saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and he repented the lord that he made man on the earth and engraved him at his heart now remember every man his very imagination every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually but our focused verse said noah this did know according to all god commanded so did he somebody was observing what god had to say about the situation and the lord said i'll destroy a man whom i have created from the face of the earth both man and beast and creeping things and thousands of the air for it repented me that i had made them but noah found grace in the eyes of the lord these are the generations of noah noah was a just man and perfect in his generations his generations and noah walked with god and noah beget three sons shem ham and japeth the earth also was corrupt before god and the earth was filled with violence and god looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt and all the earth had corrupted his ways upon the earth and god said unto noah the end of all flesh has come before me for the earth is filled with violence through them and behold i will destroy them with the earth make thee an ark of go for wood room shalt thou make and the ark and shall pitch it within without with pitch and this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of the length of the ark shall be 300 cubics the breadth of it 50 cubics and the height of it 30 cubics a window shalt thou make to the ark and it and in a cubic shelter finish it above and the door of the ark shall thou sit in the side thereof with with lower second and third story shalt thou make it and behold i even i do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven and everything that is in the earth shall die but with thee will i establish my covenant and thou shall come unto thee ark thou on my sons and thy wife and thy son's wives with thee and of every living thing of all the flesh two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee they shall be male and female of thousands after their kind and of cattle after their kind of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive and take unto thee three of all take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten and thou shalt gather to thee and it shall be for food for thee and for them and then i want to go to a verse of scripture pastor uh preached from here a few weeks ago he did not elaborate on the point i'm going to be elaborating on but in first peter 3 18 through 22 for christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to god being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit i would like for you to pay close attention to that verse by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit and then there is a colon at the end of that sentence which means this is an incomplete thought keep reading there's more to what has been said than what you've already read i it's very important what i want to get to now now all the things i've read up to this point pastor whitley did an absolute uh marvelous job preaching on the ark and the different meanings and uh if you didn't hear it you need to go back to the archives on your internet and listen to it again because you will not hear a greater message on the the ark and its meaning but now this verse here says for christ also with once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to god being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit by which he went and preached unto the spirits in prison which sometimes were disobedient which once the long suffering of god waited in the days of noah while the ark was preparing wherein few that his eight souls were saved by water the like figure where unto even baptism doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward god by the resurrection of jesus christ now the the point i want to make here is by this uh but he was put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit by which he went and preached to the spirits in prison now i heard a preacher once preaching this and man he really he really stirred up a congregation greatly because he talked about the devil jesus going to hell and kicking the door of hell open and walking in and twisted the keys of the hell and death from the hand of jesus our hand of the the devil and and set free those that were in the prison of hell which is an incorrect meaning of this verse of scripture and in fact this is where the catholic church gets their idea of purgatory that there is a place between there and hell that you can go to and then you can be prayed out of that place and but what it is saying that he was put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit by which he went and preached now what this is saying is that jesus christ his spirit was in noah and noah preached to people for a hundred and twenty years they were in a state of of uh of uh uh being able to repent but they didn't listen and uh i found a commentary that agreed with me on that and i want to read it to you because it's uh it's i like the wording of it and you hear me a quote from adam clark's commentary much i've used that for uh 50 65 years or so i've had the commentary they're all and said that the the copy i've got six volumes it takes up that much space on my bookshelf but this is what adam clark has to say about that i like his wording by which he went and preached unto the spirits in prison by which spirit his own divine energy and authority he went and preached by the ministry of noah 120 years under the spirits in prison the inhabitants of the andaluvian world who having been disobedient and convicted of the most flagrant transgressions against god were sentenced by his just law to destruction but their punishment was delayed to see if they would repent and the long suffering of god waited 120 years which were granted to them for this purpose during which time as criminals tried and convicted they are represented as being in prison detained under the arrest of divine justice which waited either for their repentance or the expiration of the respect that the punishment pronounced might be inflicted this i have long believed to be the sense of this difficult passage and no other that i have seen is so consistent with the whole scope of the place that the spirit of god did strive with with and convict and reprove the andaluvians is evident from genesis 6 and 3 my spirit shall not always strive with man for as he is flesh yet his days shall be 120 years and it was by this spirit that noah became a preacher of righteousness and condemned the ungodly world hebrews 11 7 who would not believe until wrath divine punishment came upon them to the animals i have quoted all these authorities from the most authentic and correct copies of the vulgate to show that from them there is no ground to believe that the text speaks of christ going to hell to preach the gospel to the damned or of his going to some region place where the souls of the patriarchs were detained to whom he preached and whom he delivered from that place and took with him to paradise which the roman church holds as an article of faith now let me say the only place you're going to have to get right with god is right here there's not another place that you're going to have now god is a god of justice and mercy and he said in genesis 6 and 3 my spirit will not always strive with man yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years now in the book of revelation the bible says that god gave jezebel a space to repent and she repented not there is a space of time that god's going to give us to repent now i'm not telling you that there's a a certain time that uh that you you can you're going to be cut off and you can't get through to god i'm not saying that because i would have no idea where and when that would be but i will tell you this there is a god that is a god of mercy but is also a god of justice and a god of truth and our lesson tonight is on obedience to the word of god you're not going to make it to heaven if you don't obey the word of god so we want to dwell on on that now because it's important that you realize that god has given you a time and a space to repent and and you you you better take advantage of that time to repent now in first samuel chapter 13 starting in verse 8 this is speaking of saul when god told uh through samuel told saul to go and preach to the amalekites or to to declare war on the amalekites and they were evil they were wicked and god pronounced judgment that they were to be destroyed and everything pertaining to them was to be destroyed they were not to to take part of of any of the benefits everything about the amalekites was to be destroyed including the king but when samuel came and confronted saul saul said blessed be thou of the lord for i have performed the commandments of the lord now this is what we're talking about obedience oh i have performed the commandments of the lord and when it said that samuel the prophet said if you have performed the commandments of god what meaneth the blading of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen that i hear in my ear you know if we've really obeyed god in our daily life there's some things that's not going to be present you're not going to hear the blading of the sheep and the longing of the oxen you're not going to be blowing cigarette smoke in my face and you're not going to be using cuss words and and you're not going to be filled with jealousy and hatred and have a mean spirit there's some things that's going to be if you don't put them to death they'll put you to death and uh samuel said well what does this mean well he said um i i i was going to kill all of them but said the people thought it would be a good idea for us to keep the fat cattle and the best of the sheep and we're going to take and give them as a sacrifice to the lord that sounded very noble but what samuel said in return and he teared seven days according to the set time that samuel had appointed but samuel came not to gilgal and the people were scattered from him now i'm going back behind this because i want i want us to see the the rebellious spirit that saul had and his inability to obey exactly what god has to say he had his own idea of how it should be done now and in chapter 30 now we were reading from uh we're going to get on to chapter 15 shortly but on this particular instance here uh saul was waiting for the samuel to come and offer a sacrifice because they they were entering into a battle which they were greatly outnumbered and they needed divine intervention they needed god's help and samuel had promised to be there in seven days seven days came and went and samuel didn't show up and saul said bring hither a burnt offering to me a peace offering and he offered the burnt offering and it came to pass that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering behold samuel came and saul went out to meet him that he might salute him and it came to pass that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering behold samuel came and saul went out to meet him that he might salute him and samuel said what hast thou done and saul said because i saw that the people were scattered from me and that thou camest not within the days appointed and the philistines gathered themselves together at mishmash therefore said i the philistines will come down now upon me to gilgal and i've i've made no supplication of the lord i forced myself therefore and offered a burnt offering i couldn't wait for my spiritual leader he had some some he wasn't there so i just forced myself i know it wasn't my place to do it i know i'm not supposed to give the sacrifice i know i'm not my own prophet but i force myself because you wasn't here so i took matters into my own hands now remember our lesson is obeying god's word obedience to god's word i i know what i'm supposed to do but but samuel you wasn't here and and samuel was requiring him to give an account for what was taking place then said how the philistines will come down upon us and i have not made supplication into the lord i forced myself therefore and offered a burnt offering and samuel said to saul thou hast done foolishly thou hast not kept the commandment of the lord thy god which he commanded thee for now would the lord have established thy kingdom upon israel forever but you stepped out of your role of your calling and you you know it's amazing how many people you see today that'll they'll stand up and tell you what they think it's going to take to go to heaven and you've heard me say this a lot of times if you want to know the plan of salvation ask your barber he can tell you or the garbage man he can tell you whoever's driving driving the garbage or the mechanic that's working on your car they'll give you they'll tell you what it takes to get to heaven you better find the man of god that's ordained and anointed of god and you better obey what he says now i know the bible said believe on the lord jesus and thou shalt be saved but he said how can you believe in him and whom you've not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how can he preach except he be sent saul said samuel you just wasn't here so i needed a sacrifice and so i did it myself let me tell you something you better not take matters into your own hands you better do what the man of god tells you to do somebody say amen [Applause] and because thou has not kept that which the lord commanded thee now we're going to skip ahead from 13 to chapter 15 and i was telling you the story of god telling saul through samuel to destroy the amalekites and king again and when he came in and he said what means the lowing of the ox and the blowing of the sheep that i if you've obeyed god why am i hearing the wrong sound when you obey the lord there's going to be a change of sound there's going to be a change in thought there's going to be change in what you say they're going to be a change in the way you dress the way you look and the way you live there's going to be some things absent in your life and there's going to be some things present that was not there samuel said now saul said now we kept all of these for a sacrifice this god's going to be proud of us now because these are these fat cows and fat sheep these are for sacrifice for the lord and samuel said help the lord as great delight and burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the lord question mark does god have delight in burnt offerings and sacrifice as much as he does and you simply obeying the lord just obey what god says to do when time after time in the new testament when they were baptized and commanded to be baptized it was in the name of the lord jesus the lord jesus christ why is that so hard for us to obey and he commanded them he said unto what then were you baptized in the 19th chapter of acts and they said we were baptized under john's baptism he said john verily baptized with the baptism of repentance saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him which was on christ jesus when they heard this they were baptized in the name of the lord in the 10th chapter of acts again we have the same thing repeated when they were commanded to be baptized in the name of the lord now it's better to obey than to sacrifice now let's go on he said for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry because thou hast rejected the word of the lord he hath also rejected thee from being king saul's disobedience stems from his lack of listening to spiritual instruction and having confidence in spiritual leadership can i read that again these are my notes saul's disobedience stems from his lack of listening to spiritual instructions and having confidence and spiritual leaders we need to recognize the man of god that preaches to us the word of the lord now notice something else about saul in first samuel 15 30 after he had done this samuel told him said now god's rejected you from being king because you've been disobedient to the word of god and notice what saul had to say verse 30 so and then he said i have sinned i i realize i've sinned but it said yet honor me now i pray thee before the elders of my people and before israel and turn again with me that i may worship the lord thy god he didn't want to obey god he disobeyed god he admitted his sin but he said please give me honor in front of the elders let me read you something in proverbs uh chapter 6 starting in verse 32 saul wanted to retain his honor without obeying god he wanted to do he said i've sinned i have sinned but i want you to honor me in front of everybody sin has no honor sin will dishonor you proverbs 6 32 but whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul a wound and a dishonor shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away now david committed sin with bathsheba and i want you to know god forgave him of his sin but david never lost the dishonor that he got by his committing adultery at the end he was unable to build god a house there were some things that david could not do that he could have done had he kept himself free from his sin let me tell you folks something there are some sins god will forgive you of but you're going to bear the reproach of them from now on now i would as far as god's concern he cast them in the depths of the sea and he will forget them as far as he's concerned but i want to tell you something man don't forget and the bible said he that committeth adulterer with a woman lacketh understanding and said he destroys he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul a wound and a dishonor shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away now what sacrifice can he give for certain you remember that god told moses moses disobeyed god he struck the rock when he was supposed to speak to it and moses got right up to the promised land he had carried these people led them for 40 years to the wilderness miracle after miracle god did so many magnificent things but moses found disfavor with god because of his disobedience our lack of complete obedience and god said look over at the promised land you can see it but i'm not going to let you cross over and say it i'm going to let you go up in the mountains i'm going to i'm going to let you die and i'm going to bury you but you're not going to take and you're not going to get the prophets right here on the earth let me tell you something folks and young folks that i i i'd have to we'd love to talk to all of you there's some things we can do god indeed will forgive you and god indeed will wipe us clean as far as he's concerned but some things you cannot do for god that you could do if you would keep yourself from sin that's right now remember the great man that david was and he he wanted of all things to build god a house but god said david you can't build me a house there's some things you can do that will disqualify you from certain offices and certain things you can do i i i believe there i believe there's preachers that fall in sin that disqualify themselves from being a preacher i think the best thing what david did he stood on the sideline he didn't complain because he couldn't build a house but he started laying aside material for solomon to build the house notice what david said in psalms 51 starting at verse 14. deliver me from blood guiltlessness i read the scripture that i didn't i didn't well i know where it was it was it was in a spurgeon sub of thought for the day he said counting up my soul with the number of of the wicked don't get me mixed up when you're you're looking at souls said god don't don't look at me don't let me get mixed up with the sinners watch out for me and he was worried about himself being classed with the with the sinners david said deliver me from blood guiltness oh god thou god of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness god if you'll just deliver me now there was blood guiltness on his life not only did he commit adultery with a man's wife he had that woman's husband killed he didn't he didn't stab him with a a a knife or a spear but he sent him off to war and gave commandments to put him up at the forefront of the battle so he would be killed david was guilty and he said deliver me from blood guiltness oh god thou god of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness if you'll just do this i'm going to sing the righteous song oh lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise for thou desireth not sacrifice now samuel told saul oh be to obey is better than sacrifice david said for thou desirest not sacrifice else would i give it thou delight us not and burn offerings the sacrifices of god now here's what god wants he don't want some great big financial gift he don't want an animal sacrifice but david said the sacrifice of god are a broken spirit and a broken and a contrite heart for god thou will not despise the only thing i can do when i fall in sin is fall before god with a broken and a contrite spirit and heart and not become haughty and defensive and accusatory of everybody else they're looking at me i just need to say god i'm going to give you the sacrifice of my lips the bible said the calves of my lips david said i'm going to sing the praise of righteousness if you will take away the blood guilt if you'll take away all i'm asking for god i'm not like saul that i'm wanting to be honored i don't want to strut in front of a body and for everybody to glorify me you know and and how do i say this and put it in in in right balance because i i want to be very very careful with this without undoing what we preach about god's forgiveness and because we're not backing up on that at all but if we aren't careful we will glamorize drug addicts and talk of what they were and what then and they we seem to be putting some folks on a pedestal for what they have been now please keep it in balance now i've seen fathers talk in front of their sons and uh about their their mean life while they was in sin and they tell it in such a glamorous way that you can see the young they they want to be like that well there is no glamour in sin there's no glamour in cursing there's no glamour in adultery there's no glamour in fighting there's no glamour in being a bully there's no glamor in being carnal there's no glamor in being a cheat the glamour is turning it down and walking with god give the lord a handclap let me see i i don't know [Applause] i don't know if i've got this i do have it i didn't wasn't planning on on preaching on this tonight but let me it just come to my mind a famous um country entertainer that was come to be known as as one of the uh the outlaw singers made multi-million dollars and found himself a drug addict on on uh cocaine and and amphetamines and all that and and for for for many years and he he wrote a book of his life his autobiography and he told about uh uh he his his ability to seduce women and drinking drugs and all the business that he was involved in such a sinful lifestyle and he even made the statement in his autobiography he's uh i think my grandpa on my mother's side is the one taught me to curse said it came so natural with him it didn't seem like cursing it was just so easy and and said i learned the curse from my grandpa and he told about all the things that he that he did in sin he was married four times and his fourth wife and what got me interested in in this uh the uh the thing i heard on the radio or heard online said that his fourth wife her mother was a pentecostal preacher well that that kind of aroused my curiosity on uh him being married to a pentecostal and she said she used to play the piano for her mother in tent revivals and and told about her her mother being cured of being healed of of tuberculosis and her father healed of cancer and i got i bought the book and read about i want to know a little bit more about that but she became his fourth wife and lived with him for years in a in a very uh in a terrible situation and uh here's what she says about it she said i had been attending church on a more regular basis uh sometimes going to the church of christ on 16th avenue inspired by both the message and warmth of dawn's beautiful ministry and she said i saw solace in the presbyterian churches where i discovered in the meantime she had lost her faith in where she used to play the piano in her mother's church and the tent revivals and she began to question whether there was a god or not and it it wasn't all in philosophy and so forth and she said i saw solace in a presbyterian churches where i discovered a new joy and and and then i got to go to catholic churches where the solemn beauty of mass stirred my soul i also had fellowship with the messianic jewish believers whose passion for christ had its own kind of power i loved seeing how they married the old testament to the new and more eyewitness to different ways of worship the more i felt myself drawn to the one true god now this is the the fourth wife of this uh famous uh country singer in the spirit i wrote put your arms around me put your arms around me let me know you know me let me hear you call me by my name i'm so ashamed i ever doubted that you and me and me and you in love would find the way there was a time i swore life was one big heartache there was a time i said good had up and gone there was a time i said there's no god in heaven till every prayer i prayed came bringing me the son i sang i'm so ashamed i ever doubted the shame was certainly part of the emotional baggage that i carried in my return to faith when i attended the greater apostolic christ church through my shame though my shame quickly dissipated these days because apostolic was a full gospel congregation of african-american christians whose praise and worship was absolutely overwhelming being the only white worshiper made no difference i learned about the church from an african-american woman our housekeeper jane she was a prayer warrior and steely strong believer in fact when jane heard waylon complain about my going to church she said honey my husband used to beat me for going to church but that didn't change my mind you just have to be sweet and live it greater apostolic became my main christian home for two decades it was where i lived it every sunday i couldn't wait for service to start reverend harris would lay it on the line an impassioned preacher who much like my mom had the gifts of the spirit had spirit passion washed over every inch of that sanctuary the teaching was vivid and direct and the music the ever positive ever joyful ever inspiring gospel music lifted me out of my seat me and my singing and praising god along with the rest of the congregation oh how i loved it when we're saying can't nobody do you like jesus i wasn't made to feel so conscious or treated as an outsider i was accepted as a family when i wrote and recorded there ain't no reign in god it was at greater apostolic that i renewed my childhood faith in the holy ritual of praise and worship you came to praise his goodness and worship his love when the praising and worship was over you left the church feeling more alive a hundred times more than when you entered the moment of full return the moment when the deepest part of my heart knew that i had recovered my lost faith happened in the flesh it is to play the words that i write i simply felt that i was close to some breakthrough so i closed my eyes and off of had taught me to pray uh i want to tell you something i was inspired when i found out that that she was in an apostolic church that she and i we looked that up online and they baptized in jesus name preaches the oneness of the godhead that's a a church in nashville back to what i'm saying is is is uh no matter who you are god does forgive you of sin now you may suffer some things in this life but if you'll dedicate yourself to the lord he'll make something special out of you david said the sacrifice of god a broken spirit and a a contrite heart genesis 6 and 3 my spirit will not always strive with man revelation 2 21 god gave jezebel a space to repent and she repented not ecclesiastes 8 11-12 because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil though is sinner do evil a hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely i know that it shall be well with them that fear god which fear before him but it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his days which are as a shadow because he feareth not god matthew 7 24 therefore whosoever heareth thee sayings of mine and doeth them i will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock and the rains descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon the house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock and everyone that heareth these things of mine and doeth them not so be like unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand and the rains descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it what i'm saying now jesus said if you hear what i say and do it we're talking about obedience to god's word jesus said i'm going to put it in a in a parable like this whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them he's like a man that builds his house on a rock but if you don't do it you can hear it and not let me read this to you luke 6 47 whosoever cometh to me and heareth my sayings and doeth them i will show you to whom he is like he is like a man which built a house and dug deep and laid the foundation on a rock and when the floods arose and the streams beat damienly upon the house could not shake it for it was founded upon a rock but he that heareth and doeth it not is like a man without a foundation built a house upon the earth against which the streams did beat indemnently and immediately it felt and the ruin of that house was great would you stand your feet with me please now our lesson tonight is obedience to god's word i want to close with this story jesus told he said but what thank you what do you think about it a certain man had two sons and he came to the first and said son go today in my opinion go and work today in my vineyard and the answer and said i'll go i want you to listen this story in my closing tonight he said son go and work in my vineyard and the son said yes sir i'll go and he answered i will uh and he had came first to the son and go work today in my vineyard and the answer said i will not but afterwards he repeated and went and he came to the second and said likewise and the answer said i go sir and went not whether them twain did the will of his father that said to him the first jesus said to him verily i send you the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of god before you now that story right there said one son said yeah i'll go but he never went the other one his first response was no i'm i can't i'm not going to go but afterwards he repented and went now which category do we find ourselves in you may make some bad decisions earlier in life and you may not obey but you have a chance to repent you have a chest like david did he said cleanse me from blood guiltness cleanse me from my adultery cleanse me from my bloodletting i may not be able to build you a house but you're building me one and i want to go to that one that you're building for me you can go to that house father we thank you tonight for the word of the lord we thank you o god that to obey your word is to be saved you said in your word let not your heart be troubled you believe in god believe also in me in my father's house of many mansions if it were not so i would have told you i go to a prepared place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and receive you unto myself that where i am there you may be also father we know those words are true father i pray you bless this congregation let the word of god sink deep into our hearts draw us closer to you and make us prepared to meet you when you come our call in jesus name we pray amen you are dismissed in the name of the lord shake hands if your protocol permits it you're dismissed in the name of the lord