The Advocate and the Obedience Test — The Deep Study

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Wednesday evening service, November 4, 2026 1, 2 & 3 John · Unit 3 Deep Study · 1 John 2:1-6

► Watch this lesson on video (37:25)

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This is the lesson the way it was preached on Wednesday evening — near word for word. The “uh”s and the starts-over are taken out; the sentences are left the way they were said. Bible verses are printed exactly as they read in the King James. Anything marked GOING DEEPER was NOT preached on Wednesday evening — it is extra study for anyone who wants to dig further.

Our last lesson on First John, we sort of skimmed the surface, and we learned that Jesus is our Advocate — and that an advocate is the same difference as a lawyer. And Jesus, being God’s Son, it is like the son of the Judge is pleading our case in the courtroom of heaven.

And so this evening we are going to look at verses 1 through 6. Again, the same verses. We are going to go a little bit slower, and we are going to look at some of the words that John decided to use in these Scriptures. When we read these verses, I want you to notice that he says why he wrote this — that you sin not. He mentions an Advocate. He throws out the word propitiation. And then he says, if we keep His commandments — okay, that is proof of something. And then he says we are supposed to walk the same way that Jesus walked.

Let us begin — chapter 2, verses 1 through 6:

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

Why did he write this? That you sin not. Not so that we will be sinless — but we will uncover exactly what that means. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate. There is that word. A lawyer, a go-between, with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

And hereby we do know that we know Him — the way that we recognize that we are familiar and have a close relationship with Jesus — the way that we know that is if we keep His commandments. That is not saying that this is how we know we are saved. All right? It is talking about our fellowship with the God that saved us. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in Him — and that is how we know that we are in Christ. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked.

So the one point of our lesson this evening is that Jesus pleads our case — and knowing this, we should walk the way that Jesus walked. In other words, we cannot live in sinless perfection, but we can pattern our life after the pattern of Jesus’s life. A simple way to connect to that is: put the people that you see around you — put them before yourself. That is a quick summary of the pattern of Jesus’s life. He did unto others the way that we all want others to do unto us. He actually lived that law. Now, we will never actually be able to achieve that, but the point is we should strive — we should point our lives in that direction.

The goal comes before the safety net

The goal of this book of First John is that you sin not. And we are going to mention here, in a second, something like a safety net.

You have all seen a circus. Maybe you have been to a circus, and they have got the high-line walkers, the trapeze artists, and they have got this line stretched out from this pole to this pole, and they walk on that line. Well, underneath there is a safety net. The net is placed under the wire. It is not — they do not put the net there under the wire so that the person walking on the wire will fall. They put it there because the man might fall.

Now notice the order that John mentions things here, in the first verse we looked at. He says, “I am writing this to you so that you sin not.” He mentions that first. And then the Advocate — the lawyer, the go-between, the one to stand alongside us — he mentions that after. And you might think — well, I thought the first time I looked at this — I thought, is he mentioning these things in order of importance? Is the fact that he is writing this so that we won’t sin more important than having an Advocate if we do sin? The way that he chose to arrange what he wrote does not lower the standard that is mentioned here. In other words, it does not make the Advocate less important. The Advocate is actually what holds the standard of trying to live right. The mentioning of this Advocate is what holds that standard up, so that we are able to see it. And if we do fail, then we have a safety net, like under that trapeze wire.

And if any man sin — now, the way John wrote this, you think, well, if any man sin, what exactly is he referring to? The word, and the way all this is put together, it refers to a single sin. It does not refer to a fallen way of life. There is no way that this preacher can live above sin. But what John is writing here is: now, preacher, if you do stomp your toe, and if you do say “dog gone, Barbara,” then there is an Advocate. There is a go-between. There is a lawyer in heaven to plead your case. And that is the whole point here.

Now, Paul answered the question we sometimes hear others say — and it is like, well, does it really matter, preacher, if I sin, because if I do sin God is going to forgive me anyway. So what is the big deal here? Notice Romans chapter 6, verses 1 and 2:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Now you see, Jesus pleads our case when we fall, when we stumble — but the goal is always that we walk, so that we won’t fall. The goal is — if we were a trapeze artist, the goal would be to do our little thing up there on the high-line wire and have no need for the safety net. But just in case we do trip and fall, that net is there.

Two helpers, called alongside

Jesus is our Advocate in heaven, and He is pleading our case. And if you stop and think about it, as children of God we actually have two helpers that are walking alongside us in life to help us.

Now, “Advocate” literally means one who is called to come and to stand alongside us. And it is interesting — you learn something every time you study, or at least I do. Jesus used the exact same word for the Holy Spirit that John used for Advocate. It is one and the same word, if you go back to the original language. Jesus used “another Comforter.” Notice John 14 and 16. This other Comforter — if we were reading it in the original, we would see the exact same word that John used for Advocate.

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

And how long is this Advocate, or Comforter, to be connected or associated with us? He will abide, or live, with us for ever. So the child of God actually has two helpers, if you will. One helper is standing beside God’s throne in heaven, as our Advocate — and one, the Comforter, is placed inside of our heart, the Holy Spirit, to help us.

When this preacher is just trudging along just fine — I am proud of myself, if I haven’t stumbled or done anything — and I am about to trip, that Advocate inside says: now, preacher, watch where you are going here. You need to raise your feet up higher, because you are fixing to fall flat on your face. It is that little voice inside of our heart that reminds us: yeah, I might ought to pay a little bit better attention. I might ought to look this way instead of that way. And if we fail to pay attention to that, then we always have that Advocate before God’s throne in heaven, Jesus pleading our case.

Notice Hebrews 7 and verse 25. We just mentioned that Jesus is always pleading our case in heaven. We are going to read here that He ever liveth to make intercession for them — for the children of God — and so we could say He is constantly pleading our case. He is constantly making intercession on our behalf.

Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Now, the Holy Spirit — we are going to read about Him in Romans 8:26. The Holy Spirit is also pleading our case down here in this present life. The Holy Spirit is on the job even when we really do not know what to pray for.

I thought about a good way to explain this. And as near as I can determine, this is a blessing that the Old Testament saints did not really get to enjoy. Now, I stand corrected on the particulars of that — but the way I understand the Scriptures, the New Testament saints were given access to this Holy Spirit in a way that the Old Testament saints were not given access. And the way I understand this in my mind — when He says He maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered — it is almost like the Holy Spirit touches the heart of this preacher with one hand, and He reaches over and touches God’s heart with the other hand, and He takes my needs directly to the heart of God. We have a direct access to God, which is something that the Old Testament saints did not. And we will understand a little bit more about that, I think, when we get to heaven — we can look back and see everything clearly.

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

He just told us that Jesus is in heaven making intercession for us — He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Now then, likewise — the same way — the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. So there are two helpers. We are being helped on two different fronts.

Now, I tried to think of a time. He mentions here that we know not what we should pray for as we ought. I tried to go back in my life and think of some times when I had a burden, but I really did not know what to say. I did not know how to put my request, or what was bothering me, into words. I really did not know what to ask for.

The first thing I thought of was when I was under conviction to be saved. I did not know what to say. I did not know what words to use. I just surrendered. And the result of surrendering was that God saved my soul. When I was saved, I do not even remember forming any words at all. It was just kind of a picture in my mind. I knew I was lost. And it was like God’s hand was reaching out — and below His hand was death — and I just had to step out onto His hand, believing that I would not even fall through the cracks in His fingers. It was just kind of a visual thing in my mind. Your experience may be totally different. But the point is surrender. Do we surrender? Did we surrender to Christ? If we did, He saved our souls. Salvation does not take place without complete and total surrender.

The other circumstance I remember was when I was under conviction to preach. I was kind of stopped short. I really did not know what words to use — but I knew what it meant to surrender, because I had experienced this concept of surrendering myself to God. And again, as a result of surrendering, God gave me peace, and God uncovered what His will was for my life.

And then the last example — when I was young, and I remember looking for a lifemate. I was just consumed. I’m never going to find a wife. I kind of resigned myself to that, and my prayers were directed in that direction, and I just ran out of things to say. But again, I had learned to surrender. I had learned to just let go of the steering wheel — to let go of the reins that the horses were attached to, however you want to phrase that. I had learned to just let go. And the result was, God took care of my burden — not on my schedule, but on His schedule.

So whatever it is that we are confronted with in life, we never go into the courtroom alone. Jesus pleads our case above, in the presence of God Himself, and the Holy Spirit helps us below, in our present life — giving us enough sense, I guess, to understand that if we are patient, then God’s will will be revealed to us. A whole lot of the time, when we go to find God’s will, it may not match up with this preacher’s will — but when I finally see what is going on, I understand that God’s will is best. That is what faith is for.

He “is” the propitiation

The next thing I want us to look at — John used the word propitiation. And we learned that propitiation is equal to the payment that satisfied God’s justice. In other words, a crime had been committed. Well, that crime had to be paid for. Sin had been practiced, and the penalty for sin was death. Propitiation means that something was given that satisfied God. And what satisfied God was death. But thanks to God, it was not our death.

We are going to look at the picture behind the word propitiation. If we were to look inside the tabernacle — we do not use the word tabernacle much — but if you will just picture it, the tabernacle was a big tent. That is all it was. Just a big fancy tent. And it was a tent where Israel worshiped God. And there was a golden box, a box overlaid with gold, that was put inside this tent. And on top of that golden box there was a lid. The box was called the ark — the ark of the covenant — and they referred to this lid as the mercy seat.

The idea is that the ark represented God’s presence. That is where God was. God dwelt in the ark of the covenant. And that lid, the mercy seat, covered the box where the presence of God was, and shielded everything from the presence of God. Once a year the high priest went into the Holy of Holies. Picture this great big tent — you can read in the Old Testament, it gives you the dimensions and the height and all of this. Inside this big fancy tent there was a small compartment called the Holy of Holies, and that is where the Ark of the Covenant was kept — inside that, behind some more curtains and partitions, inside this little small compartment. Once a year, the high priest went in there with some blood — some blood of a lamb — and what he did, he sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat.

Now, we are getting to a real interesting thing here. Why in the world did they call that a mercy seat? Hebrews 9 and 7. We are going to notice the high priest went in there alone, by himself. He went once every year, and he never went in there without blood.

But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:

Here is what is happening in that little room, and this is why blood was involved. Inside the golden box — which represented the presence of God — inside that box there were two stone tablets. You remember Moses climbed up the mountain, and he brought down the Ten Commandments on two stones, two tables of stone. So inside that ark there are two stone tablets, the Ten Commandments. And the point here is that those Ten Commandments that were inside the ark — that was the precise law that the people in Israel were guilty of breaking. So inside the box is the law that the people are breaking. There is a golden lid on top of that box. And God has said, the soul that sinneth is going to die. So something had to die for all of the sin that had been committed. And God let a little lamb die in the sinner’s place. It is a substitute. Notice Leviticus 17:11.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

That is where the high priest was sprinkling the blood — on the altar — to make an atonement, a payment, for your soul.

Well, the high priest carried that blood of the lamb into the room where God’s presence was, that ark, and the priest sprinkled the blood on the lid that covered the box called the ark of the covenant. Now, I want you to picture it — and here is the main thing. Picture this: God in heaven looking down from above. The broken law inside the box, and the blood sprinkled on the lid, in between God and the law that had been broken. So God, when He looked down, He did not see the broken law. When He looked down, what did He see? He saw the blood on the mercy seat. You see the picture there? The Old Testament may be out of date and old in a lot of people’s eyes and mind, but oh, it paints a very vivid picture of what we see in the New Testament in regard to the sacrifice of Jesus. That is why the lid was called the mercy seat. This is where the blood literally came between God and the law that had been broken. And because of the blood, God showed mercy instead of judgment. So the mercy seat is the picture that is behind the word that John used when he used propitiation.

Now, Jesus, when He went to the cross, He did not bring the blood of some lamb to pour out. When Jesus went to the cross as the propitiation for our sins, He brought His own blood. And that is the payment that was made for our sins. Hebrews 9:24. Jesus went into heaven. He did not go into a little place that was made by some man. And He appeared in the presence of God for our benefit.

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

He is saying Jesus did not go into the tabernacle — which actually illustrates the New Testament truth — but Jesus went into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

Now, I want you to notice. You say, well, what is in a word? John said that Jesus is the propitiation — the substitute, the payment. He did not say that Jesus was, or that Jesus will be. He said He is. That is present tense. In whatever age you want to place yourself, it is always present. It is always with us, and it is always valid. And the One who is pleading the case when this preacher stumbles is literally the One who made the payment. He is the One who paid for the sin of this preacher.

You can just almost hear Him. “Well, no — I know that preacher is guilty, but I have already paid the price.” “Yeah.” “Oh. Okay. All right.” Well, you dodged the bullet, preacher, because somebody paid the price for you. And when we say He is pleading our case as our Advocate, that is what He is doing. He is reminding God — not that God needs reminding, but we have to visualize things in ways that we can understand them — He is reminding God, yeah, he is guilty, but I have already paid the price. That is what being an Advocate means. And that is what He is doing.

What keeping looks like on an ordinary day

Well, shifting gears slightly. In John’s day, these teachers — and you will notice it in these other verses — were claiming to know God in a special kind of way, in a way that the rest of the church did not know Him. It would be like if me and Ken stood up and said, well, we have got the inside skinny with God, and we know something that the rest of you do not know, and we do not have to behave really well, because we have got an inside track with God. But since you do not know Him as good as we do, you have to walk the straight and narrow. You cannot make the mistakes. You have to be good — but we do not have to.

Their idea was that they knew God on a level that the rest of the church did not. And since they knew God on a higher level — in their mind — they believed that what they did with their body really did not matter. It is sort of like, if I know the police chief, then I do not have to obey the speed limit. He is my next-door neighbor. He is my buddy. I do not have to do that. To them, their concept of knowing was more important than the concept of obedience.

Now, John points out this error by using the same word that they used when they made it. Notice the word “know,” or “knoweth.” He that saith, we know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar. But we, in the church — we know Him. We know that we know Him if we do keep His commandments. In other words, we drive the speed limit because the police chief is our friend and we respect his wishes. And if you do not know the police chief, then you do not care if he is offended, so you disobey all the laws, kind of thing. That is the point that John was making here.

He says here, we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. Well, again, this is another word that John chose to use — the word “keep.” What does it mean to keep His commandments? Do we have a list of rules over here, and we have to obey all of them? No, that is not what it is referring to. What does keeping the commandments mean on just an ordinary day in our lives? Well, I have got about three quick, easy examples. Reading God’s Word — and coming back to the Word when we recognize we have drifted a little bit. Letting a verse of Scripture correct us — ouch — and changing what we do. And doing right when nobody else is watching. Nobody is going to know that we did what is right, but God does. Notice the 119th Psalm, verse 11.

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Now — that we walk even as He walked. What exactly does that mean? I know Jesus was perfect. Well, how are we supposed to walk like a perfect man? If a perfect man is walking down Second Street going toward Union, he is walking in a particular direction, isn’t he? We do not have to be perfect like He is to go the same direction that He is going, do we? I have used this example before. To walk this way that Jesus walked is like you have got a father and a little child. The daddy takes big old long granddaddy steps. The child cannot take steps the same size, but his little bitty steps can go in the same direction. And that is the idea. That is the idea here.

And as our musicians come forward, we will prepare for an invitational hymn. Once again — Jesus pleads our case, so, knowing this, we should walk the way that Jesus walked.

Now, I want to leave you with a question: What does our concept of keeping look like on an ordinary day, when we are not in church? I looked inside myself. A few minutes of reading the Bible — or the TV. Well, I know what the Bible says, and I should avoid [fill in the blank] — but, well, preacher, you know nobody is watching. Nobody is going to know. So what is the harm? Well, another person may not see. But the point is, God sees. And the one who does not see is not our Judge. God sees our thoughts. God sees. And God is our Judge.

And that goes back to the very first step. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. It is the beginning of everything. It is the very first step on that staircase that will take us to a closer relationship with God. It is literally the difference. And nobody is able to convince you from the outside that gold, silver, and precious stones are a good thing, and the wood, hay, and stubble is a bad thing. You cannot be convinced of that from the outside in. You have to be convinced of that from the inside out. That is what the Holy Spirit does. It teaches us. It pricks us. It convicts us when our attitude gets out of character — when we start to value things that are worthless more than things that are priceless.

Please consider what you heard this evening.

How to Read the Bible — Lesson 8: When Our Words Are Too Small

HOW TO READ THE BIBLE — a short course from Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church • Pastor Chuck Trusty • Lesson 8 of 13 • a new lesson every two weeks

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Last Time

Last lesson you took 1 Corinthians 2:9 home:

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." — 1 Corinthians 2:9

Did you catch the signpost? "As it is written" — Paul was quoting, reaching back to Isaiah (64:4) and setting it down in the New. One Book, agreeing perfectly: that was last lesson's tool.

But now read the whole verse to its very last words. This great promise is not aimed at everyone in general. Like a command, a promise has an address (remember Tool 3), and here it is plain: "for them that love him."

So a plain question follows: how do we show that we love God? Not by a feeling that rises and falls. The Lord answered it Himself — "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15): love is shown by obedience. And it cannot be a divided heart — "Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24); to love God is to take Him as your one Master. Real love does something. Hold that — it is the heart of today's lesson.

The Verse

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." — 1 Corinthians 13:13

The Question

Look at that word — charity. To our ears, "charity" means giving money to the poor. But read the chapter it closes, and charity "suffereth long, is kind, envieth not" — that is not about coins. And why does the King James say charity here, and not simply love? Is something bigger hiding in that word?

The Tool — walked together

Bring your questions, all five. WHO? Paul, writing to the church at Corinth — and "these three" belong to every believer. WHAT? Three things abide — faith, hope, charity — and the greatest is charity. WHEN? "now abideth" — now, and on and on; these three last. WHERE? The verse does not say — an empty box; but its neighbors (chapters 12 to 14) set it among the gifts, where Paul calls charity "a more excellent way." WHY? Charity is the greatest because it lasts longest — "charity never faileth" (verse 8); it outlives even faith and hope.

Every box accounted for. Now run the rest of the toolbox. Read the whole verse: three things abide, and the last words name the greatest — charity. Every command has an address? This is no command but a statement, so that tool rests. A verse has neighbors: chapters 12 to 14 set charity among the gifts, "a more excellent way" — the neighbors already spoke. Let the Bible define its own words: and it does — the chapter itself tells you what charity is by what it does, "suffereth long, is kind." Is there a dark verse needing a clear one, or two verses that seem to clash? Not here — both those tools rest. What this verse asks is simpler: our word for it is too small. And that is the new tool.

TOOL #8: sometimes our language has one small word where the Book has a bigger one. When a word feels too small for what it carries, ask which word the Book actually used. How do you find out which word the Book used? A few taps on your phone — see The Helper page. Our English has just one word, love. We use it for food, for pets, for a husband or a wife — one small word, stretched thin. The language the New Testament was written in was richer. Look closer at that one word.

ONE WORD

CHARITY. Where we have one small word for love, the Book's language had several — and they are not the same.

There is the love of family — the natural bond of parent and child. There is the love of a husband and wife. And there is the warm love of friends — the Bible has a word for it we still hear in the name of a city, Philadelphia, which means "brotherly love." These are good, and God-given. But see the one thing they share: each of them answers something. We love our family because they are ours. We love our friends because they love us back. Even the lost do that much — the Lord said, "if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them" (Luke 6:32).

Now the highest love, and a different kind — agape. Agape does not wait to be loved first. It gives, and looks for nothing in return. It loves the undeserving; it will even love an enemy. That is the word First Corinthians 13 uses. And here is the wonder — remember Lesson 7, where "a new commandment" meant new not in time, but new in kind? This is that new love. Family love and friendship are as old as the world; but a love that pours itself out for those who can never pay it back was shown in its fullness only at the cross — "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). That is why charity is the greatest of the three, and why the King James guards it with a taller word — charity, not merely "love" — to keep it from shrinking back into a feeling.

And watch how the chapter proves it: charity is known not by what it feels, but by what it does. It "suffereth long, is kind"; it "envieth not"; it "beareth all things." Agape is love with its sleeves rolled up — a chosen doing, not a warm feeling.

Try It This Week

Here is your verse. As you read it, remember: the word behind "love" here is that same big, chosen word.

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." — Matthew 22:37-40

Now think. You cannot be ordered to feel something — feelings come and go. But this is a commandment: "thou shalt love." How can love be commanded? Because it is agape — a chosen love, a love that acts, and you can obey it today whether the feeling is high or low. That is why the greatest thing in the Book can also be a command. Love God, and love your neighbour — not merely feel it, but do it. And notice where the whole law comes to rest: on these two.

Your Toolbox So Far

1. Start with the questions — WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY.   2. Read the whole verse — all the way to its last word.   3. Every command has an address — ask who it was spoken to.   4. Let the Bible define its own words — the Book is its own dictionary.   5. Clear explains complex — let a plain verse light up a deep one.   6. A verse has neighbors — read the ones just before and just after.   7. The Bible agrees with itself — when two verses seem to clash, read closer; they lock together.   8. When our words are too small — ask which word the Book actually used.

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Next lesson, in two weeks: the Old Testament has a word so deep it holds a whole nation's rescue — one word, and the Exodus is inside it.

‹ Lesson 7 — The Bible Agrees With Itself  •  The Course Index — all lessons

The Man Who Tried Everything

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday evening service, November 1, 2026 Route 66 · Book 03 · Ecclesiastes 12:13

► Watch this lesson on video (26:52)

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This is the lesson the way it was preached on Sunday evening - near word for word. The “uh”s and the starts-over are taken out; the sentences are left the way they were said. Bible verses are printed exactly as they read in the King James. Anything marked GOING DEEPER was NOT preached on Sunday evening - it is extra study for anyone who wants to dig further.

THE ONE POINT

EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN IS VAPOR - SO FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS.

I. The Man Who Tried Everything

All right. Well, this evening we’re going to continue in the Route 66 thing. You know, every other Sunday night is the First John series, and the other one is the Route 66. Tonight we’re going to talk, from the book of Ecclesiastes, about the man who tried everything. Our text, Ecclesiastes 12:13. Ecclesiastes 12 and 13. Of course, we’ll read a few more Scriptures in Ecclesiastes.

But you remember, so far we started with the book of Proverbs. And again, remembering this concept of the staircase - not taking steps to complete our salvation, but we’re talking about climbing a staircase. The higher we get, the better fellowship we have with Jesus. And the lower we go, the more distant our fellowship with Jesus becomes. So we began with Proverbs, and you remember what that first step was before we do anything else: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Then we looked in the book of Job, and this pretty much proved to us that proper fear of the Lord is effective even in the stormy parts of life. And tonight we’re going to look at Ecclesiastes and learn that nothing else in life works like proper fear of the Lord. That’s pretty much the foundation, pretty much the only foundation that works, or that holds up a life in the world that we live in.

Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. And you remember Solomon was the richest, wisest king that Israel ever had. And near the end of Solomon’s life, he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. And the whole book can pretty much be summed up in the one verse. Remember, each book that we look at is going to have what we call the key verse - the verse that unlocks the remainder of the book. And the significance of that is, when you determine the key verse, we look at every other verse in the book through the lens of that key verse.

All right. Ecclesiastes 12 and 13. The conclusion of the whole matter, we’re told here, is to do what? To keep a list of rules, to do as good as we can, and to remember that as long as we’re sincere we’re okay? No. The Bible says:

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

Now, the one point that we’ll make to our lesson this evening is that everything under the sun is vapor. So, fear God and keep his commandments. In other words, that’s the only thing that lasts.

II. Everything Under the Sun Is Vapor

All right? So what exactly do you mean when we say everything under the sun is vapor? Do you mean my job’s not important? Do you mean my hobbies aren’t important? Do you mean the things that I like to do in life, none of that’s important? No, that’s not what we mean at all. But we’re going to learn here in just a moment: if the whole sum total of my life is my yard, well, one of these days that yard’s going to grow up and have stickers, and then where will my life be? If the sum total of my life is to be the best quarterback that’s ever been, well, what’s going to happen to my life when I get forty-five, fifty years old, or bung up a knee and can’t be that quarterback anymore? You see, if an activity - whatever it is - if everything means everything to us, then everything we are will one day turn to vapor and disappear, because nothing in this life lasts forever. That’s kind of a backdrop of where we’re going with this.

So let’s notice how the book of Ecclesiastes starts. Chapter 1, verse 2. Vanity. Well, what in the world does vanity mean? The Scripture says here:

“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

Well, vanity is equal to a vapor. Now, we’re getting close to the cooler season of the year. When you go outside and you breathe and you can see your breath, that’s vapor. You can’t see it for very long, can you? It, like, totally disappears.

The point here: Solomon tried it all. It’s listed. You can read it in the book. Laughter and wine. It was enjoyable, but it ended. Houses and vineyards, silver and gold, singers and music, entertainment - the greatest man of his day, Solomon was. And here is what Solomon found in all of these things that he tried. Chapter 2, verse 11. Chapter 2, verse 11.

“Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).

He says, I looked at everything that I had accomplished in life. I had the money, the position, and the power to do anything I wanted. And I pretty much did. And I looked back at all of these things that were so important to me at the time, and I looked at the labor that I had labored to do. And behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Now, most of the things that King Solomon did were not wicked. They weren’t bad things. In fact, many of them were actually gifts that God had bestowed upon him. The trouble - and this is what we alluded to just a moment ago - the trouble was that Solomon, he looked at all of these gifts, the works of his hands and everything, he looked at all of this as the purpose of his life. I’m going to say he looked at these things as though they were everything to him. Yeah, I realize a new four-wheel-drive truck is important and impressive, but folks, if we look at something like that as “it means everything to me,” well, what’s going to happen when that truck wears out? And it will. Okay? Oh, I want to be the biggest athlete. I want to be the best dancer. I want to be the best whatever, whatever. Well, I’m not saying that that’s not important. And it may be impressive if you do rise up in the ranks, but do you think you’re going to stay there? If that quest is everything to you, well, what are you going to do when it’s not there anymore? Okay, that’s what it means when it says “vanity of vanities, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” You can’t keep it. Okay? You can just have it in your hand for a short time, and then it disappears. If that’s what your whole life is built on, well, what happens to your life when that goes away? That’s the idea.

You know, one of the things that I struggled with in my life - I try to come up with a personal example - my job. Okay? Back as an engineer, I had visions of being the owner or the boss of every factory that I ever worked at. But you know, and I was good at what I did. All right? And I’m not just blowing smoke. I was good at what I did. But every bit of progress that I ever made as an engineer was either stolen or ignored. I either embarrassed my bosses because they didn’t think of it first, or I just totally ignored. All right, we’ve got to get rid of this guy. Every step up the ladder, somebody was there ahead of me to saw off a limb so I wouldn’t get to where they are and become a threat. Yeah. And I learned this too late. All right? There is no such thing as the perfect job. It does not exist. And the only people that are ever going to fully appreciate your talents - okay, what you do - is your family, hopefully your spouse, and more than likely your children. You know, I realize my dad was just a normal person, and I told you this story before: I idolized Daniel Boone when I was growing up, you know, about Wyatt’s age. Daniel Boone could do anything. But then my dad could whoop Daniel Boone. All right, that was my mentality. You can depend upon your family, but that’s about as far as it goes. Everyone else has an agenda. All right?

You know, everything under the sun turns into vapor when we ask whatever that is to be the sum total of our life, to define everything that we are in life. Think about all those people. And again, you know, back in the seventies when I was growing up, when you could about believe about half of everything you heard on the news, you know how many news stories I heard about people that worked hard, worked like dogs for fifty years, looking forward to a retirement - a retirement that they put money out of every paycheck they’ve ever made into this retirement account, only to have that retirement fund stolen out from underneath them? You see, they were putting all their eggs into one basket. Their happiness was defined by this one thing. You’ve got to be careful. The point is, when our happiness is defined by one thing, well, what happens when that one thing falls apart? You know, there’s countless people that paid money into a retirement fund their whole life, and then some crook on Wall Street or whatever wound up destroying the retirement fund, and then where were they? Okay? All their eggs in one basket, and they lost everything.

But you know, what we do for God is literally the only thing that is not vapor. What we do for God, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t have to be anything big. Okay? Turning the TV off ten minutes early before we go to bed so we can read our Bible. Saying a prayer, taking time out of our busy days to kneel down beside our bed. Okay? And there’s nothing wrong with kneeling down at our bed at night and saying a prayer. These are the small things that nobody in the world will ever know that you do, but somebody knows that you do them. God does. And these are the kinds of things that will never disappear, okay? They’ll never be taken from us. They are not vapor that will just disappear. They’re the only things that will last.

III. The Bottom Line

Solomon, an old man, when he sits down and writes the book of Ecclesiastes - I want you to picture him sitting at the kitchen table and opening a book, a ledger, a diary. All right? And he’s going to write down everything in his life. And, okay, was this valuable, or is this - now that my life’s about over - was this only something I thought was valuable?

Chapter one. Oh, all the good times that I had. I was king. I had money. I was a good-looking guy. And I had all these good times. I had good times my entire life. Can you carry that to the end? It’s nothing but vapor. Well, what are you saying, preacher? The good times are over. So now how are they valuable?

Chapter two. Oh, he was shrewd. Every business deal Solomon ever made, he came out on top. And he calculates all that. Oh yeah, I made all this money, and - well, it equals vapor. Why? Well, last time I checked, there’s not any money in heaven, is there? Nothing in the Bible indicates the streets are made of gold. So if you make it to heaven with a big bag of gold, you can just go pick up rocks alongside the streets and be just as wealthy, because the streets are made of gold. So what good is it to come out on top on all those business deals when you enter into eternity?

Chapter three. Fame. Oh, I finally achieved my goal. I was the best at, name your poison. I was number one at whatever. I had the prettiest face, when I was a teenager. When I was sixteen, I had the prettiest face - if we’re a girl. Oh, I had the biggest muscles, you know, and women always like to brag about their hair. I had the longest, prettiest hair. Well, all of that is equal to vapor. Why? The grave doesn’t care how pretty you were when you were sixteen or how strong you were when you were twenty-four. I mean, the grave doesn’t care.

Chapter four. Education. I had over a four-point average in college. I’ve got six degrees. I can speak fourteen languages. A mind sharp as a tack. It’s all equal to vapor. In fact, we’re told that in the kingdom of heaven, those in the kingdom of heaven, they have the humility of a child.

GOING DEEPER · THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM

Not preached on Sunday evening — extra study.

The greatest in the kingdom of heaven will possess the humility of a child.

“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:4).

The final chapter in this book of things he’s valuing - the only thing of value in the whole book, he finally realizes - is fearing God and keeping His commandments. Now let’s read chapter 12:13 again.

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

Now you’ll notice in your Bible - and this is not a mistake, there’s not anything wrong, but I just want to point this out - the word duty in your Bible will be in italics. Well, what does that mean? That means the translators added the word. If it’s in italics, the translator added it to make it a little plainer. It’s not wrong. It’s not a mistake. It’s just something they did, and it’s beneficial. But I want to point out, if we leave that word duty out and read the Scripture, see what it says: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man.

Now, what exactly does that mean? Well, fearing God is not just one item on a to-do list of things that a Christian needs to accomplish. Fearing God is what we are for. Keeping His commandments, guarding what is important to God - that’s our purpose. Fear God and keep His commandments. These two things go together. A fear of God which does not motivate us to obey God is not really a respect. It’s not a proper respect for God at all.

You may or may not remember last Sunday night, 1 John chapter 2 and verse 3, we read about how we were supposed to keep God’s commandments, and we learned that it meant to guard and to watch over. That’s the same idea here. And I want us to think about whether or not we fear God enough to value what God values. Do we fear God enough to make sure His commandments are safe and not forgotten?

GOING DEEPER · WHAT LIFE IS FOR, NOT HOW TO GET SAVED

Not preached on Sunday evening — extra study.

A guard on this point: Solomon is not telling us how to GET saved. Solomon is telling us what a life is FOR.

Let’s look at Mark 8 and verse 36. Mark 8 and verse 36.

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

Now, once again, the one point to our lesson this evening is: everything that we can build our life on is nothing but vapor, with the exception of God’s truth. Everything under the sun is vapor. So, we should fear God and keep His commandments, because that’s the only thing that won’t disappear.

IV. Read the Bottom Line Now

Ecclesiastes 12:1. Now, Solomon found what life was for pretty much at the end of his life on earth. But because of the Scripture, we can have this same knowledge that Solomon had at the beginning of our life. Notice what he says. Ecclesiastes 12:1.

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

Now, when you’re young, you have a difficult time making a connection with what comes next. “While the evil days come not.” Well, what do you mean, evil days? Oh, man. We went on a little walk this afternoon, and I thought I was going to die. My hip started hurting and my nerves were all balled up, and it’s like, oh my goodness. A twenty-year-old doesn’t have those kind of issues. All right? “While the evil days come not,” when every day is good. All right? “Nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” You young people, you can have at twenty years old, you can have in your youth, what Solomon only found when he was way, way, way past his youth. And the rest of us, the ledger, the diary on what is valuable in life has already been written. Solomon wrote it down a long time ago. And so there’s no need to spend whatever years we have left rerunning the test that Solomon already made.

Now, I’d ask our musicians to come forward this evening as we prepare for an invitational hymn. I want to remind you what the definition of insanity is. The classic textbook definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Well, Solomon’s already done everything under the sun, and he says it’s all pointless, with the exception of fearing God and keeping His commandments.

So, what I want us to do for homework this week is - you know, are we the only people that have calendars, and we write doctor’s appointments and things that we intend to do on the calendar? Well, I’d like for you to take your calendar and pretend that what I’m about to tell you is an appointment that you need to keep. I’d like for you to write “fear God and keep his commandments” on your calendar just like it was an appointment, or something that you needed to accomplish this week. And remember that everything under the sun is vapor. So, fear God and keep His commandments.

And the one question I want to leave you with this evening: what are we asking to be everything to us? What are we building our entire lives upon? If it’s anything but God and His Word, we’re building it on a vapor that will disappear. Strength and beauty disappear. That first-place trophy always gets replaced the next season. All we take into eternity - and think about this - all we are able to take into eternity is faith in Jesus Christ and love for His truth. I mean, I admire you if you’re the best quarterback, the athlete that ever was. That’s fine and dandy, but you’re going to leave those accomplishments behind when you go to the grave. You can’t take them with you. So, the point is, if we can’t take it with us, what’s the point? Well, what can we take with us? Faith in Jesus and a love for the truth. We can have those in our hands when we walk through those gates. I know that’s just to say we can have faith in one hand and love for the truth in the other when we stand before God in judgment. We can’t have anything else.

So consider: what are you building your life on? Please consider as we sing number 400 in the big book. 400.

The Helper We Forget — The Spirit in Prayer

We do not know what we should pray for as we ought . . . and God did not leave us alone with that.

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A note on the Scripture in this study: every verse is printed WHOLE. The words set in ordinary type are the ones this lesson leans on and emphasizes . . . the words in italics are the rest of the verse, printed so that nothing is ever handed to you as a fragment with the remainder missing.

The last two parts have been heavy ones. Asking amiss . . . and a kinked line . . . and six things that hinder a man's praying . . . if a man read those two back to back he could come away thinking that praying is a narrow business and he is likely to get it wrong.

So this one is the relief, and it is not a change of subject . . . it is the same subject from the other side.

Because Paul turns around and admits, flat out, that we do not know how to do this – and then tells us what God has done about it.

THE ADMISSION

Romans 8:26 — “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

We know not what we should pray for as we ought. That is Paul writing . . . the man who wrote Romans . . . if he did not know – I am going to quit pretending that I do.

And be careful how you read that. He is not saying that we do not know what we want – we know that fine. He is saying we do not know what we OUGHT. What this means – is that we cannot see far enough down the road – to know what is best . . . and half the time we are asking for the thing that would ruin us.

Now most preaching stops on that verse and makes it about our weakness. But Paul did not write it to make us feel small . . . look at the first four words. The Spirit also helpeth. The admission is only there to set up THE HELP...

THE WORD PAUL USED

The word behind helpeth – is one of the biggest words in the New Testament – and it is only used twice in the whole Bible.

It is built out of three pieces – along with - over against - and to take hold . . . put them all together and it says: to take hold of a thing ‘on the other end’ alongside somebody.

That is not a man calling advice out to us from the porch . . . that is a man who comes down and gets under the other end of it alongside of us…

And the only other place it shows up is Martha - in Luke 10 - asking the Lord to bid her sister help her… She was not asking for suggestions about the kitchen… She wanted somebody on the OTHER END of the work.

WHAT HE ACTUALLY DOES

Romans 8:27 — “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

Now put the two verses together - because there is a chain running through them - and it is the whole comfort of this passage…

I do not know what I ought to ask for… BUT the Spirit does - and He takes hold of the other end . . . and what He carries up to God - is according to the will OF God – which is the very standard that ‘Part Seven’ said everything has to meet…

So look what has happened . . . the thing I could not do for myself - is being done for me - at the exact point where I was going to fail… I could not get my asking lined up with His will . . . so - somebody else is lining it up…

And notice one more thing… He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit… The Father is reading THE SPIRIT rather than reading my wording . . . my poor words are not the message… They are the occasion for the message.

✍️ AUTHOR'S NOTE

If we go back to the 107 PS… Remember the four groups that were mentioned here – the wanderer – the prisoner – the fool – and the storm tossed… I remember being “the prisoner” guilty of rebelling against the Word of The Lord – being “bound” in affliction and iron – and there was NONE to help… When I recognized my position – I had no words to offer – all I had was a cry ‘in my heart’ – and it was this CRY that The Holy Spirit found when He searched my heart – and this is what He took to God in the form of my prayer… with a request (and words) that I did not know how to make… — C.T.

THE INTERPRETER

Here is the picture I keep coming back to.

A man is standing in an office - in a country whose language he does not speak… He has a real need . . . and it is urgent . . . and every word he owns is the wrong word… He can point . . . and he can say it louder - and none of that is going to help him.

And a man steps up beside him who knows both languages perfectly… He listens to the mess the man is making of it – gets what he actually means - not what he actually said – and turns to the man behind the desk and says it right.

The stammering man did not become eloquent… He got an interpreter . . . and the message that arrived at that desk was accurate - and it was accurate because of the interpreter and not because of the man with the need...

That is Romans 8:26. And notice that a man cannot hire this interpreter and he does not have to… He is already standing there.

Simple truth: God did not answer our not knowing how to pray by teaching us to be eloquent… He answered it by sending Somebody to carry it up for us...

GROANINGS WHICH CANNOT BE UTTERED

Now that phrase . . . it has been made into all kinds of things it isn’t - so let us handle it carefully.

Cannot be uttered means exactly what it says – not able to be spoken . . . whatever this is - it is not something coming out of a man's mouth… Paul is not describing a sound we make… He is describing something too deep for sound.

And the groaning is not new in the chapter . . . it is the third one in a row… Verse 22, the whole creation groaneth… Verse 23, we ourselves groan within ourselves… Verse 26, the Spirit groans with groanings that cannot be uttered.

A world that is not right (groaneth) - a people who feel that it is not right (groan within ourselves) - and a Spirit who takes that ache and carries it to God (groanings that cannot be uttered) . . . that is a chapter about hope, and this is what this concept is talking about…

AND HE IS NOT ONLY FOR THE HARD DAYS

This is not just for the times ‘a man’ is too broken to talk… Paul puts the Spirit in the middle of ordinary praying:

Ephesians 6:18 — “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”

Jude 20 — “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,”

Praying always… All prayer… So ‘in the Spirit’ is not a SPECIAL GEAR for emergencies . . . it is meant to be the ordinary way - a saved man prays.

And He (The Holy Spirit) is the reason a man can call God ‘Father’ in the first place…

Galatians 4:6 — “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

Abba . . . that is what a child in that country called his daddy . . . it is not formal, and it is not grand - and the Spirit is the one who put that word into our mouth…

So - every time a man opens his prayer with ‘Father’ – the way the Lord taught us in Part Five – that word came from the Spirit - before it ever came from the one praying...

📖 FROM THE PULPIT

Think of a small child who cries when ths when they are hungry – when they need a diaper changed… the mother knows exactly what the child is trying to say – and the child cannot even talk yet… Our old dog could say things that I understood – he never uttered a word – but I could tell by his bark – what he was wanting to say… Our prayers will NEVER be heard because of our MUCH SPEAKING – they will only be heard if our heart is humble before God… — C.T.

NOW LET ME GUARD THIS

Two guards - and I want both of them to be plain…

Knowing that The Holy Spirit is going to interpret – is NOT a reason to quit trying to pray well... The Spirit helping does not mean my part is nothing… Paul did not stop praying after he wrote Romans 8 – he prayed MORE . . . and he told churches what he was praying ‘for them’ - in detail . . . the presence of an interpreter does not excuse the man from opening his mouth…

And this is not a license to make prayer strange… Groanings which cannot be uttered are - by Paul's own word - not uttered (not spoken) ... So - whatever a man hears out loud in a room during a prayer - is not what this verse is talking about... I want us to be careful here . . . because this passage gets pulled around a great deal . . . and the plain reading is both ‘plainer and better’ than all the strange things it gets pulled into.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

There are three – who are praying for you – and only one of them who is praying – is you.

The Son is at the right hand of God and ever liveth to make intercession – that was Part Six… The Spirit is inside - taking hold of the other end - carrying up to God what we could not say ourselves – and that is this part… And the Father is reading the Spirit's mind while He listens to our words.

So - a man is not standing at that throne by himself - working up the right words with everything hanging on whether he gets them right… He is the smallest part of his own praying . . . and that is the best news in this whole study.

TRY IT THIS WEEK

Find the thing you have not been able to pray about – and there is usually at least one thing in our life that fits here . . . the thing we start praying about and then quit - because we don’t quite know what to ask for…

Take this to Him this week without a request attached... Say - Lord, I do not know what to ask for here . . . and then be quiet a minute and leave it there…

That is not giving up... According to Romans 8 - that is the prayer with the best help behind it…

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NEXT — Part Ten: Keep Knocking. If God knows and God helps, then why does He make us ask twice? Elijah sent that boy up the hill seven times . . . and the Lord told a story about a widow who would not go home.

The Nine Who Never Came Back

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday morning service, November 1, 2026 Give Thanks · Lesson 4 · Luke 17:11-19

► Watch this lesson on video (41:21)

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This is the lesson the way it was preached on Sunday morning - near word for word. The “uh”s and the starts-over are taken out; the sentences are left the way they were said. Bible verses are printed exactly as they read in the King James. Anything marked GOING DEEPER was NOT preached on Sunday morning - it is extra study for anyone who wants to dig further.

THE ONE POINT

ALL TEN GOT THE MIRACLE - BUT ONLY ONE CAME BACK TO THE MASTER.

I. Ten Prayers, Ten Answers, and One Thank You

All right. Our text verse this morning will be Luke 17. Luke 17. And we’re going to talk about ten prayers, ten answers, and one thank you.

Now again, we’re going to kind of focus our lesson on the concept of a staircase. And you know, in our Christian lives, we don’t go from the first step all the way up to the top step in terms of fellowship in just one fell swoop. Our whole life after we are saved is pretty much a description of climbing a staircase to have a closer, more personal relationship with the God that saved us. And we take one step, we learn things, we experience life, and we take another step. And that’s pretty much a summary of how we spend our whole life - going up a step, going up a step, going up a step, getting closer and closer to the God that saved our souls.

Now, last Sunday the first step down this staircase that we’re talking about was a thank you that never got said. Well, this morning we’re going to look at ten men and nine thank-yous that never got said. Luke 7 - beginning in verse number 11 - or pardon me, 17. Luke 17, beginning in verse 11.

“And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” (Luke 17:11-19).

Now, so we have ten men. These ten men prayed the same prayer. The ten men that prayed this prayer, they all received the exact same miracle, but only one went back to Jesus to say, “Thank you.” And Jesus asked out loud, “Well, where are the nine?”

So, our one point this morning is that all ten got the miracle, but only one came back to the Master.

And kind of to plant a seed in our minds this morning where we’re going: everybody in this auditorium is probably saved. But how many of us, after having received God’s gift of salvation, have gone back to the Savior to tell Him thank you? Or have we just wandered off like Demas? Not worried about hell anymore. So now I can get out into the world and have fun. That’s kind of the mindset here of the nine that refused to return.

II. What All Ten Had

Now, what did all ten of these lepers have? All ten of them were lepers. Now, leprosy is a disease that actually eats away at a person’s skin. Doesn’t kill them all at once. It’s just kind of a long, miserable existence. And the law of Moses put a leper outside of the city. If you had leprosy, you were not allowed to live in the city and cohabitate with the town dwellers. You were taken out of the city. You were removed. You couldn’t live with your family. You get the idea. You just had to camp out basically on the outskirts of town.

Notice Leviticus 13 and verse 46. Leviticus 13 and 46. We learn here that the leper had to dwell alone outside the camp. And this was a picture of what our lives would be like today if there was no church for us to worship in after we were saved. We would be outside. Okay? No way to fellowship. You get the idea. I say it’s just a picture of what it would look like. Leviticus 13:46.

“All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.” (Leviticus 13:46).

Now this is why the lepers stood afar off - no hugs, no church, no family table. Remember an example a lesson or two ago, where this person got fed through a crack in the door. They sort of got the goodies from fellowship with the family, but they had to stand afar off. And when it became mealtime, they didn’t get to go put their feet under the table with the rest of the family. They got fed through a crack in the door. Well, that’s pretty much a description of what it’s like for us in terms of spiritual food. Well, preacher, I know for absolutely certain I’m saved. Well, yeah, I attend church. I’ve been attending church for like forever. But if you’ve not been properly baptized in that church, you’re getting a plate handed out to you through a crack in the door. Okay? There’s something that we are missing when we fail to commit to proper baptism and become part of the church. Attending church is not the same thing as being part of the church. All right?

All ten of these men prayed, and they prayed a good prayer. There was nothing wrong with the way that they prayed. They said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” There was no bargaining, no “well, but” - just mercy. That’s all they asked for. And all ten of them even obeyed. Jesus said, “Well, go to the priest and show yourselves.”

Now, you see, only the priest back in this time could say that the leper was clean and send the leper home. I want to point out that the priest did not heal the leper. The priest was the inspector. The priest inspected the leper and said, “Okay, you’re good.” Well, what does the church do? The church doesn’t heal anybody, but there are some boundaries in the church that define: this is what God teaches, this is proper worship, and this is outside proper worship. So the church does not heal anyone’s lives, but the church inspects the foundation of our lives. Somebody says, “Well, if you’re building your life on this foundation, you can expect that house to crumble, because it’s built upon the sand.” You get the idea.

So only the priest could say that the leper was clean. And it’s interesting to note here, all ten of these lepers started walking while they were still sick. The Bible says as they went, they were cleansed. Now, all ten of them believed, and all ten of them obeyed before the healing actually arrived. The Bible teaches us that salvation is through faith. And where a lot of the world gets balled up is what comes next. Fellowship afterward is found through thanksgiving. If we never tell God thank you, that doesn’t mean that we’re not saved. It means that our fellowship with God is about this much, when a couple of thank-yous could make it this much.

You know, the nine men that didn’t return, they were not bad people. They were blessed, they prayed, they obeyed, they were healed, and they were on their way to the priest just exactly the way Jesus told them that they should do. And their skin was pure again. That was proof that God was good. But what do you think their failure to return to Jesus showed? What did that indicate? Yeah, God saved my soul. I don’t have to go to hell. I’m not afraid of that anymore. God healed my leprosy. But the fact that they refused to return and thank the One who healed them - what attitude do you think that promoted? Do we understand what it means to love the gift more than we love the Giver? Do we understand what it means to get caught up in the glitz and the glamour of the world and sort of put what God wants on the back burner? Fact check, folks. If it weren’t for God, we wouldn’t be able to even notice the glitz and the glamour of the world. Who do you think is responsible for arranging circumstances so you can just go down and use a credit card and get something to eat at Walmart or some restaurant? You know, there’s been generations in this world that had to scrounge for something to eat, literally. All right. Who do you think’s responsible for all the leisure time that we have? You know, sometimes - fairly often - I think we take God’s blessings for granted.

Is there something that we look at as, well, that was a bad thing that happened, and we kind of carry that chip on our shoulder? We carry that anger around with us, and maybe have for several years, and not ever once realized that that wasn’t really something bad. And even after that realization, we never turned around and thanked God for it.

What I’m getting at there, there’s a real-life example. Back in the 1970s - actually 1970 - you may or may not remember the Apollo program, the space program. Apollo 13. There was an astronaut, Ken Mattingly, and he had trained an entire year to make this flight on Apollo 13, and he knew the command module. He knew all the procedures just like the back of his hand. Well, three days before Apollo 13 was due to launch, the doctors discovered that this lead astronaut had been in the same room with one of the other astronauts’ sons who had German measles. And that’s it. He didn’t have the measles, but he had been exposed to it. Well, the flight surgeon said, “Nope, we’re not sending you in space, okay, because you’ve been exposed and you’ve got no immunity. You know the drill.” So NASA pulled Mattingly off of the mission. The backup man took his place, and this lead astronaut stood on the ground and watched Apollo 13 go into space without him.

Well, two days into the flight, what do you think happened? An oxygen tank blew up on the ship in space. The three men that were on the main ship, they were going to go to the moon, so they had the little lunar module. They had to abandon the main ship, crawl into the little lunar module to stay alive. Well, to get home, the crew, when they did their little deal on the computer and headed back, they had to crawl back into that cold, dead ship that they turned off. And they had to turn the main ship back on in just the precise order. Flip this button, wait two seconds, flip this button, wait four seconds, and move this little lever over. It had to be done just exactly right, because the battery was just about dead. And if they did it just right, they’d have just barely enough power to do things the way they ought to be done, get through the atmosphere and land safely.

Well, who didn’t NASA call to do this? Who do you think? The man who was exposed to the measles and never caught them and was removed from the mission. Well, Mattingly reported he lived in the simulator to figure out the right procedure to do all this for several days. He worked it all out. They called him on the radio and told them what to do and when to do it. They splashed down four days later, alive.

Well, I go through this to point out that the worst day of this lead astronaut’s life, from a vocation standpoint, was being grounded. But where did that disappointment put this lead astronaut? Nobody else could have done what he did, because nobody else was familiar enough with the main ship to be able to figure out the right procedure. Okay, this disappointment put this astronaut in the right place to bring these men home. The disappointment was the blessing. All right. But this astronaut, he wasn’t able to see the blessing from the launch pad.

GOING DEEPER · THE LORD WAS NOT THROUGH WITH MATTINGLY

Not preached on Sunday morning — extra study.

And the Lord was not through with Mattingly either. Two years later he flew to the moon on Apollo 16.

Well, think about 9/11. I remember hearing stories about some passengers on some of those ill-fated airplanes who had missed their flight that day. The passengers who missed the flight that day were disappointed at the time. But think about the blessing in that empty seat of a doomed airplane. All right, you get the picture.

Getting the blessing is not the same thing as giving thanks. All ten lepers got the miracle. Now, if it had been 9/11, then all ten of these would have been passengers who missed their flight, but only one of them made the connection to what God had done for them.

III. What Only One Received

Now, what did only one of these lepers receive? Now, all ten of them were cleansed. All ten of them received the miracle. But there was something that only one of them received. When he saw that he was healed, the one man looked down at his own arms. Okay? Where’d all the scabs go? And he made a connection of the fact that he was healed to the Master that he had prayed to, just like the passenger who understood what the empty seat meant on 9/11. Okay? And you probably remember similar stories. Okay? And he gave God the glory.

Well, the moment this leper saw the empty seat, if you will, he turned back. Now, he didn’t turn to the disappointment, the flat tire, the sick child, the lost ticket, the long line that kept him off the plane, whatever it was that messed his plans up. He didn’t focus on that, but he turned to the source of the blessing. Now, the original destination that he was going to, where he had planned to go, that could wait. But the trip to see Jesus and say thank you, in his mind, in his heart, that couldn’t wait another second.

It says, “With a loud voice” - with the same loud voice that cried for mercy, that voice now shouted thanks. And you know, sometimes we’re anxious to receive God’s blessing. Well, yeah, I’ll say thank you, but we say, “Lord, help me.” He helps us and we say, “Thank you, Lord.” The point is, the cry for mercy was public. So in this particular instance, the thank you was just as public and just as loud.

He fell down on his face at Jesus’s feet. Now, this is the one who realized exactly what he had received, and he realized who he had received it from. And of all things, he was a Samaritan. The significance of that: an outsider, a Samaritan. They were big-time prejudiced. All right, there’s just no other way to say it. They were big-time prejudiced. And these Samaritans, they were practically dogs, subhuman. They had nothing to do with them. So what we find here is the man who had the least religion came back with the most worship.

And then we see the treasure in this - the thing that this one received that the nine didn’t.

“Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” (Luke 17:19).

Now, we can take a look at the Scriptures and we can see different layers. And if we want to preach this just as salvation, that’s fine. Nothing wrong with that. But if we want to peel back a layer or two, we can see two different types of cleansing that occurred here. The nine received salvation, but the one who returned received an abundant life after salvation. Now, Demas was saved, but he had a lost life. The Apostle Paul was saved, but he had a whole life. And that’s the connection I want us to see here.

Matthew 5 and verse 45. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 45. God tells us that he sends the rain on the just like he does on the unjust.

“for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45).

Now, before the rain begins to fall, the rain doesn’t look down and say, “Well, I’m not going to fall over here, because these are not good. I’m just going to fall over here.” Rain falls on the man who thanks God for it, and also on the man who cusses the mud. All ten get rained on. Nine of them can walk off wet and satisfied, but one returned around to find out where the rain came from.

Are we saved and satisfied with having escaped the flames of hell? Or have we fallen in love with our Savior? You know, “saved; yet so as by fire” is one side of the coin, but receiving a “well done, thou good and faithful servant” is the side of the coin that so often times we lose sight of.

Again, attending church. People say, “Preacher, I’ve gone to that church down there for twenty years.” That’s fine and good, and it’s good that you do, but attending is not the same as being baptized into that church. Dating somebody resembles marriage. Okay? But is dating the same thing as marriage? Uh-uh. Well, my point: attending is like dating, but proper baptism is the commitment and the blessings that go with a marriage.

Now, everybody here can recall a disappointment in their own life that was actually a blessing in disguise. What I mean by that is it turned out to be an empty seat. Okay? We’ve all received a blessing in one form or another. But how many of us have received the whole blessing? Now, I mentioned most, if not everybody here, has been saved. We’ve received the miracle of cleansing our souls. But how many of us have turned around and gone back to thank our Savior?

The man who returned, the man who returned to Jesus, his life was made whole. Now, obviously, if he receives the picture here by faith, “thy faith hath made thee whole.” Well, yes, our faith saves our soul. But then if we continue to live in faith, what happens? Do we do that to maintain our salvation, to keep from losing it? No. There, you look in the third chapter of Corinthians. I always get mixed up. I can’t remember if it’s first or second Corinthians, but there’s only two. Just take a look at chapter 3, and in both of them you’ll find reference to gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble, and a reward, or being saved, yet so as by fire. That’s what we’re talking about here. “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” Your faith has given you an abundant life. Not just you’re saved by the skin of your teeth. Nine got a miracle and missed the Master. But one of them got both the miracle and the Master.

GOING DEEPER · THE THANK YOU WAS FAITH TURNING AROUND

Not preached on Sunday morning — extra study.

A guard on this point: the man was not made whole because he said thank you. It says, “thy FAITH hath made thee whole.” His thank you was his faith turning around and coming back to Jesus. We can experience salvation and live our entire lives outside the church - the body of Christ.

Now, basically, or quickly: the truth that we talk about so much is not just a list of rules. The truth that we talk about, the truth that we’re supposed to keep, guard, protect, and practice, is actually a Person. Notice John 14 and 15, and also John 14 and verse 6. John 14 and 15, and also John 14 and verse 6.

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15).

Now, John’s not telling us here, “If you love me, keep a list of rules.” He’s telling us, “If you love me, connect your life to Jesus Christ.”

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6).

Now, the nine that didn’t return, they treated Jesus like He was a place to take their needs - a location. I’ve got a problem, I need to take my problems to this particular location. But the one who returned, he treated Jesus like a Person, a Person he could go back to over and over and over. Now, salvation is equal to coming to Jesus in faith. But the abundant life after salvation is equal to returning to Jesus over and over and over. Now, thanks is the only thing that we’re able to return to the Giver. That’s the only thing we’re capable of returning to the One who gives us whatever gift it is. The other option, we could just forget about saying thank you and run away with the gift.

Well, where are the nine this morning? Some of us are in the church pews. We’ve been healed. We’ve been helped. We’ve been saved. But like the nine, we’ve just gone quiet. We see the empty seat. Okay, we understand this disappointment really wasn’t - it was a blessing. We see that. But instead of returning to say thank you, we just continue on to the ball game, or wherever we had in mind to go.

Now, this quiet child of God, one of the - that represents the one of the nine that didn’t come back. Now, I want to reassure you that that has nothing to do with proving that we are not saved. It does not mean that we’ve lost our salvation. It means we just don’t have room in our life for God. We’re content with being “saved; yet so as by fire,” because we have not yet learned the importance of the abundant life. We’ve never really experienced it. So we think it must not be important.

So, the one point to our lesson this morning: all ten got the miracle, but only one came back to the Master.

IV. Turn Back for One Old Mercy

Our homework for this week: do what the tenth leper did. When you see the empty seat in your life - and you know what I mean by that - put your life on hold. Stop what you’re doing. The original destination, what you had planned, can wait. Turn around and go back to Jesus and tell Him thank you. Now, we don’t go back to Jesus and tell Him thank you so that we can add another item or two to our list. But we go to Jesus and thank Jesus for an old blessing, for a prayer that He might have answered a year ago, ten years ago. A prayer that we have never gone back and thanked God for answering. You know, and I’m talking about a disappointment that we finally saw as an empty seat on a plane of disaster.

GOING DEEPER · AN OLD MERCY, NOT A NEW ONE

Not preached on Sunday morning — extra study.

Think of the old mercies: the surgery that went right, the child that came home, the job that came through, the day we were saved.

You know, we can’t see the things that God sees. We can’t understand a lot of times why God does the things that He does do. But you know, the one promise that just covers everything: does God love us or not? What do you do for people that you love? You do everything in your power to keep those that you love from being harmed. Well, we’re talking about God, who can speak worlds into existence. And far too often we’re just caught up in the here and now. But Jesus is blessing us so that in eternity we will be wealthy, rich, however you want to phrase that. Okay? It’s everything to do with our relationship with God, our spirit with His Spirit. That’s what God focuses on. And that’s what it means when He says everything works together for the good. Not that our bank account will get better. Not that we’ll be richer here, but so that our relationship with God will grow and be stronger.

Psalm 116, verse 12. Psalm 116, verse 12.

“What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?” (Psalm 116:12).

Now, are we willing to say what God has done for us out loud, like the leper did? We should be willing to go to God in prayer, whether it’s in church, whether it’s at the supper table where our family can hear it, and realize that we weren’t embarrassed when we cried out for mercy. Why should we be embarrassed to say thank you in the same setting?

I once - I was in church, you know, little kid, and there was an old man, when he was called on to pray, he’d pray for ten minutes. Okay? But I remember one of his prayers one time. He was in the Navy on a ship, and to make a long story short, he was thanking God - and this was, he was an old man then, years and years later - the ship came within like three degrees of capsizing, in whatever war it was. Of course, if it had capsized, practically everybody would have been dead. All right. Though all those years later, he was still thanking God for that blessing, and he did so in public. All right. It wouldn’t hurt a thing in the world for some of us to mimic things that we are thankful for.

Notice Mark 5 and 19. Mark 5 and 19. This is the leper, okay? The one that came back. Jesus is telling him, “Howbeit” - he wanted to follow Jesus.

“Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” (Mark 5:19).

You know, and I begin to think, well, what are some of the things that I am thankful for in my past? Very quickly, first thing that pops into my mind: I’m thankful for Summer. Okay? The home turns around Summer. Without Summer, nothing would be the same. And then you’ve got Haley and Sarah. Well, they are a result of Summer. Then Andy and Mark. Okay, Summer’s example to Haley and Sarah resulted in their choice of their husbands. Then you’ve got the grandchildren, and they have parents that give the right kind of example to them. Well, as the family keeps growing, what there is to thank God for also keeps growing.

Now, I realize, okay, I’m putting a lot of weight and responsibility on Summer as the wife, as what Paul calls the weaker vessel. I totally get the fact that the husband is the head of the family and has great responsibility. But I want to point out that there are things that a God-fearing man simply cannot do without the helping hand of what is often referred to as someone that’s weaker, the weaker vessel. The hands of the man may build the cradle, but the hands that rock the cradle which the man builds are the hands that build the home. And I suppose it’s my home and all the help that I received to build it that I’m truly the most thankful for.

You might say, “Well, preacher, you know, I noticed you were talking about things you were most thankful for. You didn’t even mention the church. Do you think more of your family than you do the church?” Well, not at all. But listen to this. Did you notice how the role of the wife and the mother was the hinge upon everything that is good and positive in the home? Well, the reason the family is so important is because of how our families pretty much play the same role in the church as the wife and the mother plays in the family. No wife or mother, not much of a family - scattered and weak. No families, not much of a church - scattered and weak. The church is not a collection of individuals. The church is a gathering of families. Guard our families, and we guard the church of the next generation.

Notice Luke 17 and 17. Luke 17 and 17.

“And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?” (Luke 17:17).

Well, what will Jesus say about us? Well, there were ten families that I blessed in Dardanelle. Ten families I know that are saved, but I only see one of those families in the church that I put in Dardanelle. And I’d ask our musicians to come forward, prepare for an invitational hymn.

The one point to our lesson this morning: all ten got the miracle, but only one came back to the Master.

You know, if the blessing in our life is - you fill in the blank - how many of us will give God the glory for that blessing? Have we ever laid in the hospital bed and begged God to get us out of the hospital, and “if you do, I’ll serve you”? Have we ever had loved ones in the hospital and practically begged God, “If you’ll let my loved one live, I’ll serve you”? Well, we got healed. Our loved ones got healed. Now, then, we’re healthy enough to go to the lake on Sunday. We’re healthy enough to fill in the blank. But for some reason or other, spending an hour in an air-conditioned building on cushioned pews in church, we’re just not healthy enough for that. Where are they at? They’re on the lake. They’re at the ball game. They’re at wherever. Okay? They’re not in church. Where does that hit anybody’s heart this morning? We’re all guilty. We’re all guilty.

How much is too much love for what God has done? Can we ever love Him enough? I don’t care what level we’re at.

Hymn 403.

The Valley of Decision and the Mountain of the Lord

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Bro. Ken — Wednesday evening service, October 28, 2026 Joel 3 · Amos 1 · Revelation 14 · Isaiah 2 · Micah 4

► Watch this lesson on video (31:36)

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Bro. Ken brought the lesson this Wednesday evening. What follows is his lesson written up from the recording — his order, his words, and the places where he offered a thing as his own reading are marked as his.

What the Lesson Was About

Bro. Ken spent the evening on the day of the LORD and the reign that follows it — the judgment of the nations in the valley of decision, and then the mountain of the LORD’s house lifted above every other government on earth. The thread running through all of it is one he comes back to often: God has not replaced the nation of Israel with the New Testament church. When the age of the Gentiles is finished, God takes the Jews up again and deals with the world through them. He moved the way he usually does, a verse in one place sending him to a verse in another — Joel to Amos, Amos to Revelation, and back to Isaiah and Micah — but every stop was pointed at the same two things: a coming judgment no one escapes, and a coming kingdom with Jerusalem, not any church in America, at its center.

A Word First — and a Saint Gone Home

He thanked the church for its prayers for Pop, and he spoke about the joy a believer can have even at a death. The nurses, he said, could not understand why the family was happy when Pop got relief and passed away. His answer was that it is a blessed sight in the eyes of God when one of His children comes home: nothing can hurt him anymore, he is in the hands of Jesus, and those who have lost loved ones in the Lord do not have to worry about them any longer.

A Warning About Mixing the Old and the New

Before he turned to the prophets, Ken held up an article he had printed off and warned about a movement — he gave it the name Yeshua Ben David, “Jesus the son of David” — that combines messianic theology with Jewish traditions and wants to bring back temple worship, a Sanhedrin, and the Knesset renamed as a Sanhedrin, all in the guise of the local New Testament church. He said it will not work and that God will not accept it. God, through Jesus Christ, did away with the old so that He might establish the new: you cannot sew a new patch on an old garment, and you cannot put new wine in an old bottle. The man behind it, he said, is mixing what ought not to be mixed.

His larger point was doctrinal, and he made it plainly: the church is not bringing in the kingdom, and the church has not replaced the Jews. “He’s not replaced the Jews with the local New Testament church. Never will replace them.” When the age of the Gentiles is over, God will deal with the world through Israel again.

The Valley of Jehoshaphat — Where the Nations Are Judged

He turned to Joel 3.

For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land (Joel 3:1-2).

The valley of Jehoshaphat, he said, is just east of the Golden Gate — the eastern gate — running over toward the Mount of Olives, and modern maps tie it to the Kidron Valley. That is where God gathers the nations. To “plead” with them, he explained, does not mean they beg Him; the word is the same one used over in Ezekiel, and it means to administer judgment.

Then he read the call to war, and pointed out that it is the exact opposite of the millennial order — here God tells the nations to beat their plowshares into swords; in the kingdom the swords are beaten back into plows.

Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel (Joel 3:9-16).

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision,” and the sun and moon darkened — which, he said, is the very thing Revelation talks about. He placed the winepress on the map too: the Jordan River Valley filled, running down to the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, about 186 miles — the same winepress John saw.

The LORD Will Roar from Zion

Backing up to where Amos opens:

The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither (Amos 1:1-2).

He set it in its history: Amos prophesied in the days of Uzziah, when the northern ten tribes were being carried off by Assyria — Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, Sargon, and later Sennacherib, who came against Jerusalem in Isaiah’s day, when Isaiah said not to worry and God took care of it. “The top of Carmel shall wither” sent him to Mount Carmel — down past Caesarea and north up the coast — whose valley runs over toward the valley of Armageddon. He believes Mount Carmel will be brought down in that day.

Two Harvests — “On” the Earth and “Into” the Earth

This was the heart of the lesson. Ken said there are two harvests of the earth, and the Bible keeps them apart with a single preposition.

And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped (Revelation 14:14-16).

The sickle, he pointed out, is thrust “on the earth” — the grain harvest — and that first harvest is Christ coming for His people: He comes in the cloud, the world does not see Him, and He calls out His own.

Then the second:

And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs (Revelation 14:17-20).

This time the sickle goes “into the earth” — not the grain but the vine of the earth, gathered into the great winepress of the wrath of God, trodden outside the city, the blood to the horse bridles. That, he said, is the second harvest: the whole world sees Him as a great blinding light, the Jews who crucified Him look on the One they pierced and accept Him, and Christ comes out of heaven on a white horse to make war. “On” the earth and “into” the earth — the prepositions make the difference.

The Mountain of the Lord’s House

Against all that judgment he set the other side — Isaiah 2 and Micah 4, almost word for word.

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more (Isaiah 2:1-4).

“In the last days,” he said, is not the days of Christ’s first coming but the very last days — the toes of Daniel’s image, the ones we are living in. The mountain of the LORD’s house is established above the hills, the land lifted (he figured it as a plateau from Geba to Rimmon, with Ezekiel’s stream showing where the temple belongs), and all nations flowing up to it. And the word going out “out of Zion… from Jerusalem” — “not out of the local best church in America,” he said. In the kingdom the Jews deliver the word of God from Jerusalem.

He read Micah 4 right alongside it:

But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever (Micah 4:1-5).

He drew out the peace of it: swords into plowshares, nation not lifting a sword against nation, the learning of war over, every man under his own vine and fig tree with none to make him afraid. He pictured a world without computers, without cars, without oil refineries — people back to raising their own food, with nothing on their minds but serving God and their daily bread, the curse lifted and the lion lying down with the lamb.

The Toes of the Image

Daniel’s statue tied it together. The government of man runs from Egypt and Assyria all the way down to the toes — and we are in the toes, “the toenails,” he said, with the Lord about to cut them off. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands falls on the toes and crushes the whole governmental and religious system. Christ sets His feet on the Mount of Olives, the temple is built, the glory of God enters it, and He rules with a rod of iron from Israel.

Why Not Bow Now?

He closed with the appeal he always comes back to. Every knee will bow — Satan will bow, the lost will bow, every one who ever slapped God and Jesus Christ in the face will bow. So why wait for the other side, when it is too late, and bow then in hell? Why not bow now, be saved, and live? Submit to the Lord and to His Holy Spirit, he said, and you will be a far happier person — and he counted himself a hard-headed man who had learned it the hard way. And a last word on Israel: “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee.” Do not be found on the cursing side of the Jews. When Jesus comes, the age of the Gentile is over, and God deals with the world through them.