Cleave to the Lord with all Your Heart

In Acts chapter 11, which will be the focus of our thoughts this morning,

I want to read the text with you and then ask

God's blessing just again. And I will read in Acts chapter 11 from verse 19.

And again, I read from the New King James. And so it might vary a little bit from what you're accustomed to.

Now, those who were scattered after the persecution arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the

Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the

Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them. And a great multitude believed and turned to the

Lord. The news of these things came to the ears of the church of Jerusalem, and they sent out

Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. And when he had, when he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them with purpose of heart, they should continue with the

Lord. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were added to the

Lord. May God bless his word to our hearts and to our minds. And so, if you would just let us ask the

Spirit of God to take his words and make them real in our lives. Father, again, we thank you for your word.

We thank you that your word never changes. We thank you that your word is forever settled in heaven.

And now we pray, Lord, that the words of our mouth and the meditations of our hearts would be acceptable in your sight, for you alone are our rock, and you alone are our redeemer.

So be with us now as only you can, in Christ's name, amen. My purpose this morning is to encourage us.

My purpose this morning is to exhort us.

My purpose this morning is to instruct us from the word of God as what

I believe Barnabas does, and that you and I would press on in this most holy faith, and that you and I would follow the instructions, follow the command, if you will, follow the injunction that is spoken of in verse 23, that when

Barnabas came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and he encouraged them with purpose of heart that they should continue with the

Lord. And as we begin, I want to make sure that this is abundantly clear to us that that is what we ought to do.

We ought to follow with purpose of heart, and not only follow, but cleave unto the

Lord, and we'll spend some time on that thought as we begin. And I chose this because I believe it's full of instruction, and it's full of encouragement.

And you know, we live in a day where there is so much foolish encouragement, and there's so much foolish instruction.

I was mentioning in the Sunday school class that I read an article this morning, just flipping through some things, and there was a

Catholic bishop, and this Catholic bishop was promoting the fact that Judas, who betrayed

Christ, could very well have been saved. And he went on and on and on and talked about he doesn't necessarily believe everybody goes to heaven, but at the same time, he was quoting from Pope Joey, for lack of a better term.

I don't know which one it was. But he was saying that it was very possible that Judas was saved.

Now, you might want to discuss that, but I'm going to say that's just foolish, that there is not the slightest bit of instruction or encouragement to that end.

Can God do whatever he's pleased to do? Amen. Did he save the thief on the cross? Amen.

But again, we live in a time when there's so much false encouragement or foolish instruction, and that you and I need some serious encouragement and some serious instruction.

So I want to take this statement by Barnabas and ask you and I to think about it, and so let us just begin to think about the context, if you will.

What has taken place previous to this is Peter and Cornelius, and you remember how the

House of Cornelius came to faith, and they were Gentiles, and they were brought in to the fold of God, and now as the church begins to spread out because of the persecution over Stephen's death, that the beginning of the gospel begins to expand, right?

Remember, that was the promise in the beginning, was that it would be from Jerusalem to Judea to where?

To the ends of the earth, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth. And so Barnabas is sent by the church to encourage and to witness what has taken place.

And if you will, Antioch would have been north of Jerusalem, and there is a church that is now established there, and we enter into it and we see that in verse 23, when he came, he was glad.

When he came, he was glad. He began to see that not only were

Hellenistic Jews converted, but also Gentiles began to come into the fold.

Those that were alienated before now became part of the church of the living

God. And I want to just stress that point at the beginning.

He came and he saw the grace of God. And he was glad.

I want to ask us this morning, are we glad to see the grace of God?

Are we glad to see people come out of darkness into light?

Are we glad, does it cause us joy to see people rescued from the judgment and ultimately the penalty of sin?

Or is it, oh well, just another one? We should be glad.

If there's nothing else that makes us glad in this world, it should be like Barnabas when he came and he saw the grace of God and he saw what had been taking place in the church at Antioch.

He was full of joy. I hope that's the case with us.

Amen. That's right. And we should be continually overjoyed to see the grace of God, to see people rescued, to see people all of a sudden come to know truth, to know

God, and say so often we just, oh well, we just added another family.

How about we added another family to the church of the living God? How about Christ has been glorified over and over again.

You see, when he came, and it's because of what it says in verse 24, but we'll go back to that, but he was a good man.

And he was full of the Holy Spirit. And so when he saw this work of grace, he was overflowing with joy.

And then he says this, and this is really the heart of the message this morning.

Verse 23, when he came and he seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them.

You know what Barnabas means? He's the son of consolation. He was an encourager. He was one who could witness the grace of God and then give encouragement to follow and press on.

And when he came, he encouraged them with all, he was glad and encouraged them with purpose of heart.

They would cleave to the Lord. And that purpose of heart is what

I really want to focus in on this morning. That that was his intention, that he went there and had witnessed what was taking place and was filled with joy and was made glad.

And then he took that joy and that gladness and he encouraged the saints.

It says in the New King James that with purpose of heart, they should continue with the

Lord. Now, I'm not really sure what it says in the ESV, but I know what it says in the

King James, and I know I'm going to make Brother Beans glad. But it says that with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the

Lord. And I'll be honest with you, I found that word has a richer meaning to it than just saying continue.

That that with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord. I want to just ask us to think about what does it mean to cleave?

What does it mean to cleave? And so the word appears a number of times, and maybe familiar to you, maybe not.

But if you remember in the Garden of Eden, when God had created Adam, and then

Adam had named all the creatures, and then Adam, there was not found a helpmate comparable to Adam.

And God caused Adam to sleep, and God opened his body and took out a rib, and all of a sudden, there was

Eve. I almost was going to say something that I always say at a wedding, that when

Adam opened his eyes and he saw Eve, he said, whoa, man.

And that's how we got the word woman. But the point is, he caused

Adam to sleep, Adam opens his eyes, he sees Eve before him, and it says in Genesis that they would cleave to one another.

And that word really means to be glued together. That word really means to no longer be two separate parts, but to be one.

So let's go back to what I was saying about Barnabas' exhortation and instruction that they would cleave unto the

Lord. That they would stick to one another, and that the two would become one.

That's what it means to cleave. It means to take the gorilla glue and take two separate things and put them together, and that's the claim of gorilla glue, right?

They become one. You can't separate them anymore. In Joshua, and I'm going to ask you to turn to this one.

We're not turning to too many scriptures, but I want to show you this, because I do think it's important for us to understand the definition of the words in the

Bible by the way they're used in the Bible. So in Joshua, just for a quick moment, go to chapter 23.

And these are the final words of Joshua. His, if you will, his farewell address.

And he's seeking to instruct, he's seeking to encourage the people of Israel.

And as he begins his final words, you will read, he says this in verse 8.

You shall hold fast to the Lord your God as you have done to this day.

You shall hold fast. What's the word in the King James, brother? Cleave.

Absolutely. That's two for the King James, by the way. They were to cleave.

They were to be unseparated from God. And that's the very issue, wasn't it?

That as the children of Israel were redeemed out of Egypt, they began to worship other gods.

They began to become accustomed to other nations. And they began to displease

God. And so as Joshua gives these farewell words, if you will, to them, he tells them to cleave unto the

Lord. To become one. Listen, my friends.

God in the New Covenant promises to take out the heart of stone and put within us a heart of flesh.

And we are to take the heart that God gives us and give it back to Him.

We are to become beyond separation to the

Lord our God. I want you to turn to Romans chapter 9.

I promise you we'll get back to the book of Acts. But I want you again to see the word as it's used in the

New Testament. And in Romans chapter 12, we have another instance of the use of this word, cleave.

And this one is full of encouragement. And this is full of instruction also.

In verse 9 of Romans 12, Let love be without hypocrisy.

Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

Here we go again. What's the King James? Cleave. We are to abhor evil and cleave to what is good.

Let me just ask that question. And I know many times the application comes at the end.

But to me, it's just in my mind works differently. Are we hating what is evil and cleaving to what is good?

Is that the purpose of our hearts? And by the way, it's a different word than the word that's used in other places.

But it has the same meaning. And it's a verb. And that's an action word.

It's something we ought to do. It's something that we ought to do.

The subjects in Acts 11 are directed to have a purpose in their heart.

And that purpose would be to become one with the Lord Jesus Christ.

All right, going back now to what he says in Acts chapter 11. I want you to notice another thing that's of great importance.

Verse 23 again. When he came and he had seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them with purpose of heart they should cleave.

They should become glued. They should become inseparable from the things of the

Lord. He's addressing the church.

He's addressing those that are showing the marks of conversion. Those that have, if you will, been granted repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth.

Now I just want to say this too. There's a great difference and distinction between the encouragement and the instruction that's needed for the people of God and a very different set of instructions and encouragement to those that do not believe.

And I will deal with that hopefully at the end to those who do not believe. But right now the focus is to those who do believe.

I know it's been said from this pulpit. I've heard it from Brother Mike and Brother Keith, but I'm going to repeat it again.

There was a pastor not too long ago. He was a big church, mega church.

One of those that just drew people in from left to right.

And he said that if you believed, then his church wasn't for you.

He said his church was for the unbeliever. Now at first glance that might sound awful wise.

But that is counter to the instruction that Barnabas gives. He encouraged the church.

He encouraged the people of God to cleave unto the Lord. Well what need would they have to cleave unto the

Lord if they already believe? Because there is so much that we need to learn.

There is so much of us that needs to die. There is so much of us that needs to grow in grace.

And you know what? It says he encouraged them all.

He encouraged them all. In other words, he didn't just take the elders and deacons aside and say,

Hey, I want to just encourage you and instruct you to cleave unto the

Lord with purpose of heart. Now I'm not saying there's not instruction for elders and deacons.

For those who hold offices in the church. But I think sometimes we make such a distinction between the pulpit and the pew.

In other words, you certainly ought not to be content or stand for anybody who stands behind this pulpit who you don't believe is following with purpose of heart and seeking to encourage and instruct in the ways of God.

Would you? And yet we accept it so many times from the pew.

But you know what? That's not what Barnabas says. He encourages them all. That means the older people, the younger people, the people in between, the little children.

I've got to say this. I always, ever since Brother Dean has been baptized, whenever I see him, you know what

I say to him? Tell him what I say to you, brother. Good morning, Brother Dean.

And I say that to him to encourage him. I say that to him to instruct him that he is no longer, by the grace of God, to be considered other than a brother.

And so this instruction is for you, and it's for all that believe. And that's what

Barnabas desired to do, was to encourage them all.

All the members of the church. You know, when you think about it, when you cleave something together, or when you glue something together, or when two things become one, they move in the same direction, don't they?

And I've said this before. I've said it from the pulpit, and I'll say it again. I have found in my experience that there are basically three types of people in the church.

There's those that are rowing in the boat, and they're doing it together.

And they're rowing as hard as they can. And they're rowing in the same direction. And then you got another group who are sitting in the boat.

And they're very happy that other people are rowing in the boat. But they themselves don't want to touch the oars.

And then you have the third group, and they're just rowing in the wrong direction.

And you see, it is to be that all members in the church are glued together and rowing together with purpose of heart to cleave unto the

Lord and to encourage others in the faith. So as we consider this this morning,

I want to seek to make three points. The drive behind cleaving to the

Lord, the details and the directions for doing it, and then the results. And I believe we should be able to get through it.

So what is the drive? What is the, if you will, what are the ingredients to being encouraged in following the

Lord? Well, it says this in the Proverbs. It says that we are to keep our heart.

Does anybody know the answer to that? Anybody know the rest of that? I know you do. Keep our heart with all diligence, for out of it flows the issues of life.

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life.

As Brother Adam prayed about the offering this morning, you remember what

Paul says about giving? He says, as each person has what?

Purposed in his heart, so let him give. My friends, again, we are to take that new heart and give it back to the

Lord. And Barnabas encouraged them, every one of them, to do that very thing.

Listen, there are many people today that are willing to give their time to the Lord. Or they're willing to serve.

They'll show up for this event and that event, and they'll, there are many people who are willing to give their money.

There are many people who are willing to do certain things and not do certain things, but many times what's missing is that they purpose it from their heart.

It's just a religious activity. One of the great issues with Israel was, remember what it says?

It says they drew near to God with their lips, but their hearts were far from them.

They drew near to God with their lips, but their hearts were far from them. I want to ask us this morning to consider, to think, to examine ourselves.

Is our heart in this worship? Or is it merely checking the box?

Do we gather together to worship the living God? Or because it's

Sunday and we have no choice? That's one of the great issues, isn't it?

Whatever it means to cleave unto the Lord, it will do us no good unless our hearts are in it.

It means our intellect. It means our affections.

It means that we are serious about Christ.

That we are with purpose of heart seeking to, as Hosea says, what does he say?

He says, let us press on. Let us pursue the knowledge of God.

Is it purpose of heart this morning, my friends? Or is it just, again, something you do on a certain day for a certain amount of time, and then basically you just wait for the clock to come around, and you do it again?

Did Jesus go to the cross without purpose of heart?

Think about that. Was it just an emotional thing with Christ to go to Golgotha's cross?

Was it just something that he felt compelled to do because he had feelings?

No. He went to the cross because his face was set towards Jerusalem.

He went to the cross to obey the Father's will. If you and I do not see that, then there's something wrong with us.

He went to the cross to please the

Father, and it says he pleased the Father in everything.

So, again, I can ask us, where are our hearts this morning? You know, how should

I say it? The thing that is so hard to grasp is

God knows our hearts. He knows how many of us right now are thinking about what we're going to eat this afternoon, or the smell of whatever is cooking in the kitchen, or what

I'm going to do tomorrow, when our hearts should be focused in on what?

Worship and praise and submission to Christ. And that, my friend, is the drive behind it.

He says that exactly that way. With purpose of heart, they should continue with the

Lord. If we believe that he gave himself for us, do we not believe that we should give ourselves to him?

That's not a complex question, but it's a complex answer.

Why are we here this morning, friends? Are we here to be encouraged, to be instructed?

Or are we here just to fill up time, meet a quota?

All right, let me go to the second point, because there's so much that needs to be said.

So, verse 23 again. When he came and he had seen the grace of God, he was glad and he encouraged them all that with purpose of heart, they should,

I'm going to substitute the King James correct rendering here, they should cleave unto the

Lord. What's involved in this, in the directions? He's very specific, right?

He doesn't, if you will, just throw out some nifty things to say, but here it is.

They were both as individuals and a corporate body to look with purpose of heart in following the

Lord. The glory of God is the focus. The glory of God is the focus.

Is that our focus? Is it a conscious act of our will to seek to be glued further and further unto the, not only who

God is, but what God desires? And we need to be careful, my friends, and I want to make this point, we need to be careful that because it's a conscious act, it's not seeking to follow what others do.

Well, let me put it to you this way. Be careful not to measure your spirituality with someone else's spirituality.

I'm going to submit to you that is not only a deception, but it leads you to always come out on top, if you will.

As long as you find the right person to compare yourself to, you will always be victorious.

But if you and I compare ourselves to the

Lord Jesus Christ, it changes the equation, doesn't it?

And so I'm saying to you, listen, he doesn't come to the church in Antioch when he came and he had seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged that with purpose of heart, they would cleave to the

Lord. He doesn't tell them, in that sense, to start a new ministry.

He doesn't tell them, as so many churches today have a tendency to do, is to say, we were successful in this, therefore you should do what we do.

You should do what we do. They have this program and that program.

They have this mission and ministry, and therefore, we should follow their directions.

Listen, again, it's astounding to me that he goes and he tells them to cleave to the

Lord. Look to the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Doesn't necessarily tell them to go out and start an evangelistic campaign. We need to be careful in following other people's techniques.

If you know anything about church history, you will recognize when

I mention a man named Charles Finney. Charles Finney was one who,

I'll be kind in my words, promoted the anxious seat and the altar call.

He really did a lot more than that.

But do you remember how he gathered in so many people?

And you know what? There was so many false professions.

See, Barnabas doesn't go that route. Barnabas doesn't say, you should be like the church in Jerusalem.

You should be like this one and that one. Now, I'm not saying that there aren't a lot of good and godly examples in the history of the church that we ought not to follow.

Listen, we follow to a certain extent the 1646 Confession of Faith.

We've got books on the table that talk about the good actions of the churches down through history.

But just because another church does a certain thing doesn't necessarily mean we must.

We must follow the Lord. We must be with purpose of heart rowing in the direction that the

Spirit of God who has put the members in the body here leads us. You could think about the reformers.

Well, they were kind of on the other side. They were great. Luther and Calvin and Zwingli and all of them.

Well, one of the things that didn't work out was their push to force the government to punish those who didn't follow their teaching.

And you know what that leads to? Legalism. It leads to legalism, my friends.

Barnabas says cleave to the Lord. We need to cleave to God's revealed will, if you will.

And guess what? And I'm going to say it as often as I can. God's revealed will is not negotiable.

It's not optional. It's not where you can pick, like you go into a buffet and say,

I like this, but I don't like that. And I'll try this. And if I don't like it,

I'll just discard it. Listen, God's word is to be the rule of all lives.

And that's what Barnabas is encouraging to do. Cleave unto the Lord. Be glued together with him.

And so I guess what I'm trying to make at this point is that we must seek the direction that we follow from God alone.

I mean, just think about it. We minister to the people that set free. Does that mean every church should?

Some churches have prison ministries. Does that mean that we should? I'm not saying it would be wrong.

But if we commend ourselves or compare ourselves with others and not follow the instruction that Barnabas gives to these converts, where he tells them, cleave unto the

Lord, then we are going to be swept away by all kinds of things.

Let me ask us this. When was the last time you prayed that God would lead us as a body in the direction that he wanted us to go?

Oh, I know because I know myself. And I pray for this thing and I pray for that thing.

And I pray that my life would go good. And I pray that I won't have to suffer this or suffer that.

But I wanted to ask us to think about it because that's what I believe he's saying to them, that they should continue with the

Lord. Are we as a body of believers or you as an individual in your family, are you praying that God would lead you in his revealed will?

You know how many people jump churches? Often think that the people of God could be nicknamed frogs.

Because all they ever seem to do is leap from one lily pad to another lily pad. And people will come in and we've seen it.

Listen, I've been in the ministry 40 something years. I've seen this in a number of churches. People come in and the first thing they'll ask is, can you give me a list of your ministries?

Okay. And you give them a list of your ministries, hoping that they have right intentions.

And then they turn around and they say something like, well, I don't think this church is for us.

You don't have what other churches have had that we've attended. Well, good.

God bless you, girl. I mean, what are we supposed to do?

Are we supposed to commend ourselves with other churches? Are we supposed to subject ourselves to what everybody else does?

The answer should be, we believe that with purpose of heart, we as a body are glued together and we're seeking the

Lord to give us direction. We're seeking

God to work in our lives to give us direction. And again, it's premised by the fact that the spirit of God places the members in the body as it pleased

Him. We weren't asked in that way. We weren't asked by the spirit of God.

Well, I guess I got to be careful. Who led us to this church? The Holy Spirit.

Absolutely. Did we do it? Absolutely. Is that beyond total comprehension?

Absolutely. Nevertheless, it's true. When was the last time you and I actually prayed that God would lead this body?

I know some of you have prayed, Oh, Lord, I wish

Brother Keith would do this. And I wish Brother Mike would teach that.

And I wish Brother Andy would just be quiet. When? And that was at the heart of Barnabas.

That's what made him glad. It was that there were people who were now glued to the Lord and he encouraged them to follow the

Lord's instruction, whether it be the leading of the spirit or the revealed will of God.

Is there areas in our life that we would say need greater purpose of heart?

Or maybe I could put it to you this way. Are there things that we just don't care about?

I realize that we're all individuals. I realize we're all different. Believe me,

I know I'm a weirdo. But guess, you could laugh at me all you want, but guess what?

You're all weirdos too. You do some things that you don't want anybody else to know about, and yet we ought to be as those that are rowing in the same direction.

And that direction has to be what the Lord leads us to, according to his revealed will.

And again, you know, I was involved with Southern Baptist churches for a long time. And the

Southern Baptist churches had a great way about themselves. They would send out a newsletter monthly, usually.

And in that newsletter, they would have a list of like the top ten churches in the association or in the area.

And it would be First Baptist of whatever. They baptized 42 members last month.

And they have expanded the parking lot. And they have a new ministry, and they gave the most.

That usually was the number one. If you gave the most, all offerings were, and they would tell it.

They would just list the ten most giving churches. Boy, I disliked that a whole lot, because all it was was comparing.

I understand that they might have had a thought to encourage, but I did not find it encouraging.

I found it disturbing, because it really was not what

God wanted them to do. They just wanted us to do what they did. And if we were only like them, if we only followed their instructions.

And again, there are just so many examples of this. We become more concerned.

Listen, Barnabas is encouraging them to holiness of life.

What is the injunction to us? Follow after peace with all men, and what?

Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Listen, if the church that you and I are going to does not seek to teach, preach, exhort, instruct to holy living, run from it.

Because without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. He doesn't tell them again to be like the church in Galatia, or this or that, the other thing.

And some of those churches weren't even established to that point. He tells them that with purpose of heart, they ought to follow the

Lord. It is the personal pursuit that he's encouraging them to.

How much is our desire to be a holy child of God?

I wonder if we could just stop for an hour or so, and just let the Spirit work in us on that one statement.

Do we want to be holy? Do we want to be

Christ -like? Do we want to show forth the praises of Him who's called us out of darkness into His marvelous light?

Or again, are we just being religious? There are many religious people in hell this morning.

There are many religious people in hell this morning. There are, or there is, anyone and everyone who has truly sought after holiness there with the

Lord today. That's not my word. That's God's Word. And so, as we move further on in this,

I want you to notice, if you will, the results. Because it says that when

He came, He had seen the grace of God. He was glad. He encouraged them with purpose of heart. They should continue with the

Lord. He was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit of faith. And look at the results, if you will.

A great many people were added to the Lord. A great many people were added to the

Lord. Again, He doesn't tell them to start this program, or that program, or any of those things.

He tells them to cleave to the Lord, and the result was many people were added to the

Lord. Their light so shined that others were attracted to it.

He doesn't tell them to do this, or do that, merely for the sake of doing this, or doing that.

He tells them to cleave unto the Lord, and the result was many came.

Let me ask you this. How many people, by the grace of God, have come to true faith because of your testimony and your life?

How many people, because of the grace of God that you have demonstrated, have been used by God to bring others to Himself?

Or, let me ask, is that even a concern? Do we really care?

Do we really care that men are lost? Do we really care that people are going to suffer eternal punishment?

Is that something that we purpose to seek to avoid?

Many were added to the Lord. I bet Barnabas was really glad.

I bet the church was glad that Barnabas came, too. The injunction of following on, pressing on, to reveal the will of God, and all those things that are taken up in that, and a great many were added.

Let me just ask, do we really care that people are saved? Or do we care more that they don't bother us?

Just leave us alone. Listen, they're the ones that are lost, not us.

You ever meet someone and you don't really want to have conversation with them because they're just so far out in one way or another?

Well, guess what? What should we expect? If they're lost, they're lost. We are the ones who know the truth.

We are the ones who've been given a new heart. Should we not seek to see others added to the

Lord? See, that's what's involved with clinging to the truth, friends.

The more our lives look like the light, the more we'll dispel the darkness. The more our lives display the light, the more we will dispel the darkness, not by our works, not by our goodness, but by the grace and mercy of God.

Okay, let me just close. Remember I said to you in the beginning that there's a different set of encouragements and instructions to the believer than the unbeliever.

Well, I just want to close with a word of instruction to unbelievers. Here's the word of encouragement.

Consider your dangerous estate. How's that?

How's that for an invitation? Consider that you are a breath away from the fearful eternal judgment of God.

Consider that your breath is in your nostrils.

I know I'm repetitive, but I remember what Matthew Henry said when

I first read him a long, long time ago, and he said millions of people are in hell today waiting for millions more to come tomorrow.

Does that affect us? Does that affect you in your unbelief?

Oh, no, brother, you don't got this right. We all believe. We're all saved.

We're all in the boat. We're going to heaven. Examine yourselves. See if you're in the faith.

Know you're not, that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be what? Reprobate. Don't be like the man who built the bonds.

Remember? Remember that guy? He had so much, he just had to build bigger bonds. And he put his stuff in the bonds, and man, it was right up to the tippy -top.

And remember what he said? Man, I'm set for life. I'm going to sit back, take ease, and relax.

It's like people who... You ever watch the commercials? You ever watch the commercials about retirement savings?

Or reads an article, people say, you need $72 million to retire comfortably.

How many people have $72 million to retire? It's those are the people that are seeking to get you to invest so that they can become comfortable in their life.

But that fool said, ah, sit back, take ease, I got plenty.

Remember what God said? You fool. Tonight, your soul is required of you.

And he was gone. My friends, what will...

And I'm talking to you, little kids. What will it profit you if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul?

What will you give in exchange for your souls? Guess what?

You're not going to be able to sit in the back seat of mom and daddy's car to get to heaven. You got to be the one in the driver's seat.

You need to repent. Oh, Brother Andy, you're going to scare the kids.

I'd rather scare the hell out of you. And to tell you all is well, just continue to come to church and do your best.

Flee to Christ. Run to Him. If you're not a child of God this morning, run to Christ.

Because He said, all you that are heavy laden, come unto me and I will give you rest.

My yoke is easy, my burden is light, and you will find rest unto your souls.

May God bless us. May God encourage us to follow the encouragement, instruction of Barnabas, that with purpose of heart, we should continue on with the

Lord. Let's just pray for a second. Father, again, we thank

You for Your Word. We thank You for who You are and what You've done for us. Oh, God, help us.

Help us to have purpose of heart, resolve, commitment, desire to press on in this most holy faith.

Help us to forsake sin and press on in holiness.

Bless us as we remember Your table. In Christ's name, amen.