In Acts chapter sixteen, and then we'll refer to some other text that we'll go later on. Acts chapter sixteen, we were speaking on this Philippian jailer last Lord's day, with a few comments to make, you know, also this morning, but especially that one verse, verse thirty, fallen silence. brought them out, that is, the prisoners and the jailer, and said, Sir, the jailer comes out and says, Sir, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. I trust you'll undermine that underline, and thy house. This past week I ran across something, in other words, it was handed to me that I was very glad to get. See, Edgar Hoover has stood very tall in this nation throughout the world ever since she became head of the FBI, and I've heard many remarks about this man, that he was a real Christian and a real father. Oh, was he? He was a Baptist. But here are a few things about Hoover, and I want you to hear them. He says, for me, said Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, Jesus is a living reality. He is truly man's hope for joy and salvation. No matter what problems confront me, I know that I can count on our Redeemer for strength and courage. Coming from a Christian poem, Mr. Hoover said, My parents read the Word of God aloud and explained it to us children. They made it relevant to us so that we could look to the Bible as our guide for our daily life. For me, the Bible is a constant source of inspiration and encouragement. I think that's very important to realize that a man that made such a mark as he did in the history of this nation and also in the history of the world, to have such a background as that. You'll find in many cases where you see men who may be looked upon as giants, men with penetrating powers of perception, men with great megal powers, men of great strong characters. These men, in many cases, come from a Christian home. You trace the background of these men, and you'll find out where they got their character, where they got their training, on how it was they were men of vast capacity able to achieve great things. Not only is this true of this man I have referred to, J. Edgar Hoover, but I have in my library a number of books to bring out these men, great men, great men, and godly men. And in almost every case, these men came from a spiritual, godly background. Now today we're speaking on fathers. One word, I believe, sums up the features of a father. Some don't realize it when they stand at the front and say, I will, as a young man did yesterday. He doesn't realize what a mouthful he said. In other words, what does it mean when a young man gets married and ultimately becomes a father. Of course, I don't really think that far ahead, but nevertheless, one word I think sums up the features of a true father, and that is responsibility. The moment you become a father, you are responsible to provide. Provide what? Provide food? provide clothing, provide shelter, in other words, a home, and provide education. But the greatest discharge of responsibility of a father's death, spiritual education. And that, as a rule, is neglected. Oh, yes, they like to educate their... Send them to the best colleges or universities. They're concerned about the mental ability of their offspring. They're concerned about them being able to make a good living, being a doctor or a lawyer or something of that kind. But when it comes to the spiritual side of the question, the most important thing that is the benefit in nine changes out of ten. Yet here is a responsibility that God has placed upon every father, and you better discharge, because God will hold you responsible in a day to come. And you may do all these other things that I mentioned. You may be a good provider. You provide education, shelter, food, and clothing, abundantly. Your son may climb, and he may become a great man. But if you neglected the spiritual, if you neglected the soul, you have neglected your greatest responsibility and that which you have to face God with. And I thought of a number of scriptures this past week. Relative to God's education to fathers in the Old Testament. And I'm going to leave them to you. You may jot them down, for I question if you'll turn the pages as fast as I read them. But over in Exodus chapter twelve and verse twenty-six, And it shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you, that is the Father, what meaning by this service? That he shall say, it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. who passed over the thousands of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses, and the people bowed the head and worked it. Then in verse thirteen of chapter thirteen, and every first sling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb, and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck, and all the firstborn of man among Thy children, thou shalt redeem. And it shall be when thy son asked of thee in time to come, say, What is this? That thou shalt say unto him, Thy strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage. In other words, you teach your son, about this unclean animal, he speaks of here, the first sling of an ant, thou shalt redeem the land. And if you don't redeem it, you've got to kill it, you've got to break a snake. And so now I want you to get this point. We're all unclean. We're unfit for the presence of God. But God has made a provision. as he made a provision for this unclean animal in a little lamb, which is a clean animal. So God has made a provision for man in his uncleanness, and that provision is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the clean one who died for the unclean. What a story every father had to tell in those days, not only explaining salvation, but explaining the Passover. and the deliverance out of Egypt. And then again in Deuteronomy chapter six and verse six, he says, And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart. Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house. You don't talk about your neighbors back there. Thou should talk about the word when thou stood us in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, go for a walk with your son, talk about some critical things. And when thou lightest down, and when thou risest up, and he says, And when the son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What do you mean the testimonies and the statutes? and the judgment which the Lord our God hath commanded you, then thou shalt say unto thy son, we were fellows from men in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Then another in Joshua four, that this may be a sign unto you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, what mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. And it passed over Jordan. The waters of Jordan were cut off, and these stones shall be for memorial unto the children of Israel forever. And here's a solemn one. Joel one and fifteen, Alas, for the day, for the day of the Lord is his hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children and their children another generation. Now these are the scriptures that God gives us in the Old Testament, and this was his counsel with advice that I might say, His command. The Father teach their children these things. And if you go into all these incidents, these days, it covers a lot of ground. Teach them the way of salvation. Teach them how God delivers under the hand of the enemy. And also teach them how God can cleanse the unclean. And also teach them my word And if you go to the walk with your son, talk to him about the Scriptures. If you sit in your home, what more profitable time could you spend than speaking to your boy or your girl about the things of God? And also talk to them about the day of judgment. It's going to come. I wonder now how on today measure up to this stature. I know a year ago I spoke on fathers, and a brother came up to me afterwards, well, he said this morning I came out thinking I was going to get a pat on the back. But he said, I did. Well, I do believe in patting fathers on the back, low enough, hard enough, and often enough. In other words, I think we can trace a lot of what we have today in the decline and lengthening of our rising generation to a lack of fathers hovering up to their responsibility. In teaching their children the things of God, is that a hard thing to do? It's the most important thing. And this is what God says. I don't know where I've been today if I hadn't had a godly father and a godly mother. And a lot of other young men can say the same thing. And in reference to this dealer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be dead in thy house. God loves to save folks. It's God's will that all in the family be in heaven, that there be no broken burial in the door. But a lot is going to rest upon the broad shoulders, maybe the slender shoulders of the fathers. You know the fathers had a very important place in God's program right from the beginning. And that is this, before the time of Israel's history as a nation, before she was given the priesthood, before the nation was organized, and the tabernacles set up for the tribe of Levi's tomb, before the commandments were given, way back in the time of Job. And Job is about the oldest book in the Bible. He was the contemporary of Abraham. And you have no instruction back there as to the priesthood, the Jewish priesthood, and how to worship and all of that. Well, who just care of the spiritual needs of the family back in that day? As in those days, the Father. God looked upon the Father as the head of the hunt. And the father was looked upon in those days as a kind of a mediator between God and that family. He's the one that came between. How do you know that? You find it in the book of Job. And I'm going to read to you. Here is Job, and he had seven sons and three daughters, and they had a father, and they evidently quite frequently. You'll notice what he did in Job one and four and five. And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day, and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. That's nice, too, when the brothers can take their sisters along. And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all, for those there it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did those continue. Here is Job and his children have had a party and they're coming back. The next morning gets up early and he functions not only as a father but as a priest. as obedience, and he offers us sacrifice for each one, various sacrifices. He offers them up to God, lest his children have sinned, and in order to appease God and show them all the only way he can appease God relative to things by a sacrifice. He is a person whose sins have got to die, or the substance who's got to die for the sinner. and go through that away back in the beginning, because I know that my Redeemer lived, and Job offered a sacrifice from every one of his children, early in the morning. Here's the responsibility that a father had back in those days, and God says, I know Abraham, that he will order his family and Avraham will pass on what I've told and revealed to him. He will pass it on to his sons, and they'll pass it on to their sons. And by the way, that's the way God has ordered that his word be perpetuated down the century. It's based in Psalm twenty-two. Who shall declare Christ generation? And it was all that they shall come and declare his generation unto a people that shall be born. And it's the first generation telling the second generation, the second generation telling the third generation, and thus it passed on from generation to generation. Who's going to tell your grandchildren about the way to heaven if you haven't told your children? God's program now from the beginning was a father tells the children, the mind of God, the way of God. And then his children grew up And if I will best bring up your children in the future, an admonition of the Lord, will your children tell their children, and their children tell their children, and slow down the age. Is it any wonder we're in the midst we're in today? Fathers have failed. father's of faith. They haven't occupied the place that God intended in the economy. They haven't fulfilled the responsibility that God has placed upon them to bring up the children in the Nath-Nusha, that's what it's called, thou and thou host. And fathers, God will hold you responsible, and will hold your house responsible. That's a big responsibility, isn't it? But you know it's a delight. We'll look upon it as something irksome, something you don't want to do. I've been many homes in my life, and the Father has delighted in telling his children about the things of God. I think one of the greatest gospel preachers I ever heard was Tom Wilkie of Grand Bend, about forty miles from my home in Canada. And he could get up on how he could tell a story from the Bible. Illustrate things. And I said to him one day, I said, Tom, how did you get the knack of telling those incidents from the Word of God? Well, lastly, he said, you know, I have two children. Whenever I'm home, they climb around and eat before it goes to bed. Before they go to bed, they say, Daddy, tell us a story. Tell us a story. And it had to be provided. You know, he said, I told about all the stories I knew about Noah and about Daniel in the lion's den and about the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace. He said, I told about all the stories that I thought they should know about the Lord, and also about the heart, and also about the will. I told them all the stories. But he said, I always try to think, you know, I've got to get something up for the children's life, or I know, just as soon as their time comes, we're going to climb around by an evil boy on one hand, the girl on the other. And he said, I'm going to have to tell him a story. And he says, you know, I couldn't get five of them. If I told them one, I told them about two, three months' books. Daddy, you told them that. You're told, is that? And he said, I have to be a stretch of my mind all the time to tell him a new story of the Bible. And he said, I've gone from Genesis to ever leave to my Bible. turning at length with an incident from the Scriptures. And that man carried that ability over unto his preaching, and he won many of those with Christ, as he told them of those same illustrations, that he boldly should. And so he delighted in them. He reveled in them. And if you are the same father, and you are a godly father, and you want to leave your mark upon you, the children. For the day is going to come when we are going to look upon your face in that country. What goddess will they leave behind? What flowers? Oh, I wonder. May it be able to say to look upon you, I have a godly knowledge. He left me a good example. He taught me the Scriptures, and He led me to Christ. I can say that of my father. When I used to go home when Dad was living, and if ever I told my conversion, and I told the incident how I could go home, and sat beside my father in the kitchen, and my father led me to this danger. And as I would move with that incident, My father would start wiping the tears from the eyes of the audience. He was the happiest man in the world. He wouldn't have taken a million dollars to hear me tell how he led me to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a failure. And you fathers don't know what you're missing unless you're getting into this boot and able to pass on. the contents of this book for the benefit of your children. Thou and thy parents. Do you know this promise? A lady in the audience this morning reminded me of the first time she ever met us without a rock in Blue Ridge, North Carolina, and these have a panel, and the preachers had to answer these questions. And as it happened, I had this question. What must I do to be saved? Believe on the word Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And she had set this in. And she was in the audience this morning, and it's before I came to all that, and that's longer than seventeen years ago. And you want to know what did that mean? And thy house, for he has an unsaved husband. and possibly to unseal yourself. What does that mean? And my house. Can I claim that? Can I go before God and say, God? This is what your word says. And my house. Can I claim that promise before God? Let me say this. That is not an unconditional promise. You can go before the Lord and say, Lord, this is what it says, and my house. Though I know by that the head of the house is saved, all the family is saved, and after where do I go to sleep? No. That's not the explanation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and in thy house, but those children were old enough to believe. father's responsibility is returning away. The child has got to expect it to reach the age of accountability. In other words, the fulfillment of that covenant is conditional. Non-conditional, if conditional, if conditional on father, fulfilling his obligation, and the mother. to bring up their children? For many a way. The word and the ways of God. Oh yes, if you put in your part, if you can put their head on the pillow at night and say, O God, I've done my part. I've taught my children the Scriptures. I've explained to them the way of salvation. I've taught them what is right and what is wrong. I've set before them an example, a godly example. I've taken them to Sunday school and a church. I've given them every opportunity to become a Christian and know how a Christian they are. Lord, if I die during the night, I die with extreme conscience. And although my family is not saved yet, Lord, I fulfill my responsibility. I'm going to claim that promise I've done my part. The next Lord is up to you to fill that promise and die out. Many a man has died without being his family saved, but they've been saved afterwards. They've been saved afterwards. God will fulfill that promise if you have fulfilled your obligation and your responsibility. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, that's a potential promise depending upon you to cooperate as a promise. And in this case, it was fulfilled that they were saved and it was for us for faith. as a passage indicated. Bring up your children in the New Church on that redemption of the morning. You know the Bible is a solemn book. And there are many families in the Scripture who were divided at death and will be divided towards eternity. The first son ever born into this world went to hell. came. The king not know the truth is. His parents told the story of the meaning of the coat of skin that covered them. How God threw the animals and clothed them with coat and skin. Blood was shed for their sins of evil. Otherwise, how did they, the Lord? They don't know the right way. I've got a sacrifice, but King didn't. Sure there isn't the parents taught the children, but King says, I'm not whom to obey, my father. I'm a woman of God. Woman of that race. There you have, that is, don't you? No, no, thank God. The first son ever born of the world went to him. David had away with son Absalom. David lamented, At the death of Absalom, O Absalom, Absalom, my son, Absalom, what God had died for me. O David, you can't die for Absalom, your son. Only one can die for him, just David. And that's the word. There had to stand the high priest that is built, and God smoothed them there. because they dropped the train's fire before the Lord. Nadab and Baidu were smitten dead, and yet their father was the high priest in Israel. Eli the priest in Samuel, chapter one of first Samuel, two of his sons were smitten dead at the Pada matter because of their wicked life. So the Bible told, there are children who die, although they have godly terms. They die in their sins. I don't think any blame should be attached to Adam for what came to him. I'm sure no blame should be attached to David for what Absalom did. I'm sure no blame should be attached to Aaron for for what his true son did. For Aaron was a high-freaked citizen. While I am sure old Eli was not to blame for the way his true son died. He warned them the Bible said that, for they paid no attention to it. They went astray, but they had been taught the ways of God by old Eli. And when Eli heard that God's judgment fell upon his new son, The old man died. He fell off his chair and took his name. The snares of a father who did his father, but his son and his children didn't drop it from. And so we've got to look at this text in a true light. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thine house. But give the responsibility that rests upon the Father. As other scriptures imply, you have a responsibility. Getting back into this chapter, we're not going to have time to do much of this morning. Last week we were speaking on this Philippian gator. And you have in the opening part of this chapter how Paul is choosing his partners. He and Barnabas have had to fall out, but now Paul is choosing his partners for more partners and members of his party. It's very evident if you read this chapter, the little word we and us comes in. Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles, including that we and us, and we and us, mention of it does here, imply that Luke must have joined the Apostle Paul on his second missionary journey. Paul was a victory man, and Luke joined. And so Paul, he selects Silas, and it tells us that Silas was one of the chief men among the brethren. Find that over in the twenty-second verse fifteen chapter. And then he chooses, He comes to Lystra in Iconium, and he meets a young man, Timothy. And Timothy was a tender young man. Paul speaks of his fears. He was a thickly young man. Paul says, take a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thy offspring. Timothy was young because Paul said that no man despises him. Timothy was timid. Paul writes in a distal testimony to try on both remarks. And Paul's next Timothy, and both these men were commended highly by the church. The church at Antioch highly commended Silas, and the church at Lister, and the church at Iconium, two of them highly commended young Timothy. And Paul takes these two along, and the doctor goes with them. and thus they begin their journeys. He also noticed in this passage how the Spirit walks the pathway of a servant of the Lord many times. Yes, we find ourselves called by the Spirit in Thirteen and Two. They were sent forth by the Spirit, and also they were filled by the Spirit. Someone gave me a piece of paper this morning. I haven't had time to read it. About a million today. men in the religious world, in the spiritual world, are rediscovering the truth and the need for the Holy Spirit. It's time. It's time. One of the days of the spiritual world is discovering the need of the power of the Holy Spirit. All preaching is in vain unless the Spirit of God is accompanied with That was true with the disciples. They were called by the Spirit, sent forth by the Spirit, filled with the Spirit. But strange as it may seem, they were blocked by the Spirit, implying that Paul had his own idea. He was going to go to a certain place, and the Spirit suffered enough at that time. And he was going on again in verse seven, chapter sixteen. and the Spirit blocked this pathway again. But then someone in a vision revealed the importance of Paul as a man in Macedonia. Don't you? Say, come over into Macedonia and Galapagos. And Paul got the message. He tried on two occasions to go, and the Spirit stood in his path. Now God has to tell the Apostle by a vision. and he sees this man over in the Europe, as if it were the Gospel enters in Europe. Come over into Macedonia, over into Europe, and help us. And Paul got the message, and he went assuredly that the Lord had called him. And in this chapter we have a number of open things, as Paul enters Europe with the Gospel. He buys a woman's prayer meeting in that night to see a woman's prayer meeting. down here by the riverside. And in this chapter you have the conversion of Lydia, a business woman. You have the conversion of a slave girl who brought much, much money to her masters, and you have the conversion of a man. The conversion of Lydia. Wonderful thing, Lydia, if you read about this woman, she was a busy woman. If you read the verses thirteen and fourteen and fifteen of our chapter, she was a busy woman. She was very religious. She was at a prayer meeting and said she worshipped God. And evidently she was well off because she had servants. And that was indicative of those days of a person having earthly mean. They had the servants of the faith. All these things about Lydia, busy, cellar, purple, that speaks of goarly. He had to do with goarly, because purple was the color used by Rogge in that day. Yeah, very busy, very religious, very well off. And she prayed, and she worked. Is that not enough to take a person to heaven? No. showing how much a person can do, and he admitted, he was a very moral, religious woman, cultured, educated, and God opened her heart, and she received a message of Paul preach. She, with all her religion, hadn't heard, the sinful way of salvation, and when Paul presented The Lord opened her heart, and she received the word. She received the Savior. And she proved that she was a new creature in Christ season, because she urged the Apostle and his party to come into her house. Here's her heart to tell them. Now, I say it's a good thing when a person says they got saved, but it's a good indication they really got saved when they invite a bunch of preachers in to live on. the rule I ask a lot of other folks, maybe their friends around them, but fight a bunch of preachers in them. I don't know why a lot of them. Paul's sign of divinity, doctor Luke, there may have been others in Paul's party. She said, if you have judged me worthy of the Lord, come into my heart. This is a good indication that you've gotten a changed heart. Then you have the case of the girl full of demons. which had made much money from her master. And you notice what he had been saying since burning Paul in this party. These men are the servants of the Most High God, who show unto us the way of salvation, and fish full of demons. Well, that the devil was trying to do it through mockery to cast a scourge upon the Apostle, but Paul said, in other words, we don't want any patronage from the devil. And he commanded the spirit to come out of the girl, and they came out. And the masters of this girl who had made so much money, they took the apostle in this party, and they had to relent it. But in jail, Peter, why is it that Paul didn't exercise his privilege as being a Roman. He could have done that. He could have exercised his rights. Later on in chapter twenty, when he was being persecuted, he says, I'm a Roman. Although a Jew, I have my citizenship as a Roman. And when the sergeant at arms heard that, because they gave, don't you enter in these men, they're Roman? to do that for a Roman without a trial meant severe punishment. Why didn't all exercise his rights in the case here? Why did he permit himself to go to jail when he could have got off by saying, I'm a Roman? You know why? The jailer wouldn't have gotten saved if he had done that. Why Paul knew he was in the mind of God, and he took that punishment, found in the jail. Strikes had been laid upon him. At midnight he prayed and sang praise of the God. God has a purpose in this. And the jailer got saved. The gospel began in the early days. If Paul had exercised his rights, as he did later on, he wouldn't have been put to jail on this occasion, and the jailer wouldn't have found Christ. And this was the beginning of the church in Philippi, which began and grew to be a very powerful church. I was telling someone this week, how is it that all the prisoners didn't leave when the earthquake shut the prison, and it says everyone's bands were loose, and the prison doors were open? Now, you give a bunch of prisoners in one of our jails that opportunity, you wouldn't find one. But every prisoner went out of the jail and fill a bar. Why didn't they run? Paul says, we're all here. When the jailer came in, so excited, when those days of a jailer allowed the prisoners to escape, he got put to death. And he was scared. He fell at Paul's feet. Why did Paul just say, all are here? Could it be that those prisoners were all Christians? Because persecution in that day was such they were putting Christians into jail. And if all those prisoners were, presence for Jesus Christ, they were in the jail. No wonder they didn't believe. They stayed there. Because Christians don't do things that sinners do. At least they do. And so you find Paul telling this man, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. And so the man got saved, his household was saved. And I'm asking you this morning, as a father, for this man was a father, you have the conversion of a businesswoman, you have the conversion of a slave girl, you have the conversion of her government official in this chapter, and this official was a father. and his whole household was saved, isn't that one? The same thing with Cornelius over in chapter ten, the whole household, his household, got saved. But I want to go back for a minute to Job. Job was a wonderful character and a wonderful father. He was a very pious man, one of the greatest men in all the East. But he had a man along with two other companions, these three so-called friends of Job, and they came along, and this one especially, Eliophist, he was a religious dogmatist. He was a man who sought self-glory, and he was a man who liked the sensational. And he tried to tell Job in chapter four, and he says, you know, a spirit came before my eyes. And he just, my hair stood straight up. Well, that's understandable. He got a scare. And he had the wet scared out of him, this man of life. And he was trying to dogmatize with Job, or Job, you ought have had the experience I had. I'm not concerned about your piety and all that you suffered. You ought have had the experience I had. A spirit came before me and, boy, my hair stood up straight. and he didn't think Job had any chance of reconciliation with God. He was just a dogmatic man, depending on an experience that he had that wasn't from God at all, because that's not the kind of vision that God gives. And this man now is trying to berate Job and tell Job that all this piety doesn't mean anything. And I want you to quote, I want you to know what he said. Verse nineteen of Job sixteen, Also now behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. My friend swore me, this judge, says Job, but mine eye foreth out tears unto God. He says, My witness is in heaven. My record is on high. In closing, I want to tell an incident that happened in the last two weeks with me about two weeks ago, possibly three. I was asked to visit a man in the hospital, if I mentioned his name, a number of you would know. He used to come to the chapel. We got worried that he was very ill. So we went to see him in the hospital, and he was ill. He broke down. He sobbed like a child. When I walked in, he took my hand, he said, Brother Wilson, I always like to hear you preach. You've made it so simple. And he said, I can say I'm ready. He says, I made it right with the Lord. And he said, there's one thing worrying me. He said, and that is my church record. Well, I left after a little visit with him, prayer, and I visited him again. Well, he said, I'm satisfied. I'm relieved. Oh, I said, what happened? Well, he said, you know, I made a profession down in a little church in a country where I was about thirteen. And he said, a preacher friend of mine that I've known for a long time, I told him about it, and he went down the country and he said, found the record. Sure enough, everything was there the day I made the profession and was baptized and received a service. And a few other things relative to my family. And he says, you know, we had a wonderful little service right in the hospital. A minister from a local church, and I'm not going to mention it, one of the top churches. And we had a little service right in the bedroom here in the church. And I had all my records transferred to this church. And he said, I am satisfied now. I am relieved. All the records have been transferred to this church. Well, I believe the man may have got the same, but he needed a lot of life. And the text that came into my mind was this text. My record is on high. Let me say, friend, God doesn't care a hill of beans where your records are on earth. What confusion there would be in heaven if all the records of all people was transferred to earth to heaven? You need the computer to straighten things up. The only records that are in heaven, God has kept them, no man. And if your name is in all the churches in Albany, it's not for the register in heaven. The only record that God's going to accept is the record that he knows. And he writes down. I said to him, Well, I'm glad for one thing. that the Lord Jesus speaks of the Lamb's book of life. And everyone who accepts Christ as his Savior, his name goes down in the Lamb's book of life." His wife spoke up and said, well, she said, all my records were in a church, Baptist church, and the church burned down, so she said, I'm pretty bad saved. But she said, I don't think that matters so much. I said, you're right. If your name's in the Lamb's Book of Life, you don't have to care a bit about all those records. God doesn't accept those records. He accepts the records that he thinks. My Bible tells me when a person is born again, that person's name goes down in the Lamb's Book of Life. I want you to read this. So I'll read it to you, Psalm eighty seven. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. This man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said this and that man was born in her, and of the highest himself shall establish it. The Lord shall count when he writeeth up the people that this man was born there. See now. In other words, God is picking out the places where men and women accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, and their name was written down in the Lamb's Book of Life at heaven. The Bible concludes whosoever's name is not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life is cast into the lake. Friend, is your name written there on that book, White Bear? In that book, in the glory, is your name written there? That's to be. It's not, is your name in some church here on earth. They can't keep the record straight. I know some people that join the church or turn their own new leap and rededicated themselves. For many times, I questioned they themselves for the exact date when they got saved. I know of Anthony McDonnell. He was a big iron worker. He got saved in North Carolina. He lived about three doors up from where I was staying, and if he came down to where I was staying, once he came down about six or seven times that month, and that one month. And every time he said, now, I see it now, I'm saved now. And we go. Two days later, come back, same thing over again. I said to one day, GK, I said, the Lord knows the day. You don't seem to, but the Lord knows it. And that's the wonderful thing. When you have Christ, when you've been born again, and when you parents had your children, we had one of our young men, and he was a father of a boy this week, My, was he proud? The boy was born a week ago today to have to have a boy now to perpetuate the name. He was proud to have that God in the records. God is proud, but another one of his children can be written in the heavenly records. God will write your name down this morning. in the Lamb's Book of Life. The recording angel of eternity will write your name down. And there it will be, and God says, I will not blot out your name out of the Book of Life. When your name goes down, it goes down forever. Written by God, and the records are straight. Joe says, my record is on high. That's a wonderful thing to be able to say, and my witness is in heaven. Sometimes witnesses are necessary when a record is big. Job says, well, not only is my record on high, my witness is there too. And God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are the three witnesses. When a soul accepts Christ, His name or her name was found in the Lamb's book of light, and the angels rejoice, for for one sinner that repented, heaven celebrates, when a soul is saved, born again, and the name recorded, and there to stay, to of the long, happy angels of eternity, for the one whose name is inscribed indelibly, on the land, spoken land. Friend, don't put your trust in any records on earth. In any church record, whether it be when you join the church and follow it, be sure that your records are on high, written by God. They are the only records you can depend upon. And how wonderful that a man can know here in this life that he saved and his name was written in heaven. You don't believe that. Do you accept the Lord Jesus Christ this morning? And God says, He that believeth on the Son hath the witness in Himself. The Spirit of God will give you the witness that your name has been written down in the land's book of life. Will you accept Christ today? Will you believe he suffered and bled and died on the cross for you? Will an open heart like Lydia, open your heart, just like a bud of the rising sun? Open your heart this morning to Christ. Accept him, and you'll be saved. Your name shall be written in the land of the book of life. May you fathers have a record that you'll be proud of in that day. a record that you'll not be ashamed of, a record that can be opened and read before the assembled host of the redeemed. You accepted Christ. You accepted the responsibility. You discharged your responsibility. You brought up your children. You exercised a guardian's rules. And in that day when the records are read, God will reward For your faithfulness, to him, to his word, and to your family. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we come into thy presence. We thank thee for thy word. We ask thy blessing on it. How searching it is, nevertheless. How salutary and how needful. Oh God, we pray for the fathers here this morning. We know it's a difficult age to bring up children, but God is sufficient. We pray, if there are any here today who are not saved, that they will open their hearts and come to Christ and have it settled. Thou will supply the necessary need after conversion that will enable them to glory by thee and bring up their children for Christ. We ask these things in our Savior's precious name. Amen. Shall we sing verse two of two hundred and forty-two. Out of my bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come. Into thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus, I come to thee. We'll just sing the one verse. Someone comes to Christ with me. Sing a second. If you're not a Christian, you want to be to come up and talk with us. And if you made the decision today or previously in your having confessed Christ publicly, do so as we stand the sickness.