[Robert Dick] For one last time, good afternoon. And I salute the remnant of the house of Israel – all those still standing. It's been quite a Feast, in that regard, to arrive at a time when the flu comes through, but I'm surprised how many of you have been able to stay upright through it all, or have gone through and come out the other side. I don't know how long it lasts, but I know some friends that have had it and are back with us. It's good to see all of you on this final service.

I'd echo Mr. Japhet’s comments about all of those who have served. I always enjoy…my wife and I have been sitting over on this side all the time, and I get to look over and watch the instrumentalists. They always add a great deal. You don't realize how much they add until they're not there, and then you say, “Wow! It's nice to have the brass and woodwinds” – if we do have them, which we do here – “and the strings.” Just a very nice supplementation to the service.

You know, every minister echoes the same thing. As a minister for many years, you chuckle when you're sitting, and someone gets up and says, “Boy, I was hoping he didn't steal my scriptures. Phew! He didn't steal my scriptures.” And I was telling Mr. Peter Corrigan at lunch…I said, “You know, this is the first time I can ever remember that I said to myself, ‘I hope both of the Davids steal some of my scriptures.’” They both did, and I was glad they did. I thought, “You know, that saves me time. I can refer back to their sermons, and say, “He already said it. Listen to what he said, because it was spot on and I'll go on to other things.” But, because normally you're protective, it's, “Aw” – if they do a real good job explaining it – “they took that out of my message. What am I going to do?” But this time, I said, “The more the merrier.”

I pose a question to you: What is the greatest doctrine held by the Church of God? I realize it's a difficult question, because there is not just one. And so as you sort and you try to give a priority to them, I know that you can get into juggling as to which one do I put one, and which one do I put two, and which one do I put down from there. One of the greatest doctrines of the Church of God is that we will one day be literal sons of God. It's, in many circles, a blasphemous doctrine. And it's a shame. It's sad that Christianity, in many circles, puts a ceiling on eternity and allows you, maybe, to be an angel, but it's not going to go any further than that. And even though we're called sons of God – and even the vocabulary is prevalent throughout the Christian world – for some reason, there is that unwillingness to dare to believe what scripture says.

I will cite some scriptures without giving you book, chapter, and verse, because as one of the writers in the Bible said, “I'll remind you of things you already know.” So I don't need to give you all the references. But I love this scripture that says, “We don't exactly know what Christ will look like at His appearing, but what we do know is we will look like Him.” What a phenomenal comment! We don't know exactly what He's going to look like when He gets here, but what we do know is that whatever He looks like, we're going to look the same! That's an awesome doctrine.

Another doctrine that we've been rehearsing for the seven days – that preceded this Holy Day today – is that Christ will come back to this earth to establish His Kingdom – to bring universal peace and to teach all mankind how to live His way – to have all the things that man has failed at doing from the time of Adam and Eve, and have Christ come back to this earth and say, “Let Me show you how it's done. Let me show you what you could have had in all of these past centuries and millennia, if you had taken Me at My word and lived it.”
There's yet another – which for me, is one the greatest doctrines. And it's the doctrine that we have been picturing in this last annual holy hay of the holy day cycle. And it is the teaching that both of the previous speakers have referenced. It is the teaching that all mankind will have a chance for salvation – that there will be no one left behind and there will be no one left out. Every single solitary human being who has ever lived will have one fair chance at salvation.

I'm going to make some contrasting comments. And before I begin to make the contrasting comments, I want to simply say to you that I'm saying these things to you in an academic sense. It is not my intent to demean or to be combative with anyone else. It's simply an academic awareness of the realities that exist in the Christian faith. You and I are here today celebrating something that is not offered by the Christian world. We are a Christian body. Every once in a while, someone who has read stuff about us will say, “Well, are you a Christian?” And it's like, “Duh! Why would you ask me that?” “Do you believe in Jesus Christ?” And it's like, “Hello?” But you and I hold, as Christians, a teaching that is not offered by the Christian world. When you and I look forward to this Eighth Day – this Last Great Day – we're looking at something that is not offered by the Christian world. And the alternatives have never rung true. How do you reconcile a loving God with eternal torment? How do you make the reconciliation? I've read the attempts. And there are some people who have phenomenal eloquence, but at the end of all their eloquence, and at the end of all of their reasoning, it still rings hollow. No matter how skilled the theologian or the commentator, there is no way to leave the hearer or the reader at peace with a teaching of a God of love assigning people to eternal torment.

I have been – you know we all have our proclivities – my proclivity – I have had a fascination with the evolution of religion in America. And as a result, I have collected, and am a collector, of denominational analyses. Every so often, in American history, somebody looks over all the churches of that day and time, and they give a statement about what they believe, why they believe, who they are, where they come from, what their membership is like. I'm only missing one of substance. I didn't realize, until a few years back, that one of the President's wives was the writer of the first one. And one of the Mrs. Adams wrote the starter. Mine begin in 1830 and go all the way up to the present age. And as I look at these denominational histories, I'm struck by the fact that you and I offer something that is unique. What I also have noticed, as I've walked along through these histories, from the 1830's to the 1870's to the 1920's to the 1950's and then the beginning of the 21st century, is that over that time more and more people who profess to be Christians have abandoned orthodox historic doctrines, because emotionally, they simply couldn't make them jive. So today, if you read a modern history – a modern analysis of denominations – and the analysis says, “What percentage of American Christians” – Barna would be a good source to go to today – “What percentage of American Christians still believe in a literal hell?” And it's way, way, way less than would have been the answer in 1900, 1850, 1800, 1750. And I don't have any trouble understanding why. Because you can't justify it. You can't stand in the pulpits and preach a God of love, and then try to reconcile that end for billions of people.

Another belief – only slightly less difficult to defend – is the doctrine that this is the only day of salvation. On a par with explaining a God of love who assigns people to hell, is explaining a God of love who leaves people out of His reward, because they were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. If you look at Barna today, Barna will tell you that the God of salvation is losing more ground every year that goes by. Or to put it another way, there are more people born in China and India – in those populations – that do not profess Christianity, go through a life cycle and die still in their faith, than those that Christianity is capable of converting out of those religions into Christianity. So the net result is, we're not gaining ground. We're losing ground if the theology is “Today is it. This is your chance. If you miss this one it's gone. But I'm sorry, we couldn't get to you. The government wouldn't let us in to your country. Our missionary made this village, but he didn't make that village. This one is going to go to Heaven. This one goes someplace else.”

If you look at Barna's surveys, you're also going to find that in trying to cope with and wrestle with this dichotomy – a loving God – which is preached more today than in any time in American history – I don't say this disparagingly – we are a warmer and fuzzier time in history. There are more denominations who have a warmer, more affectionate approach to preaching Christ than has been true in ages past. But how do you reconcile? So you'll find, even if you look at, again, surveys, such as Barna's, that there are more and more people who are simply becoming ambivalent. They have gone from one ditch to another ditch – and by that I mean they have gone from saying, “I can't reconcile a God who will leave this person out because we simply didn't get to him, And therefore, emotionally, I am going to assign him salvation, even though he never became a Christian. Because this one is so repulsive, I'm going to replace it with something simply illogical.” You live in a very special group of people. By your calling, you can embrace one of the most beautiful doctrines that God has offered. And we live in a world that doesn't offer it.

I was fascinated. We had somebody from a denomination, that you would know, come to our congregation in Portland. They were all enamored with it. They were embracing it. They had left responsible positions in their previous church and they had pedigree. Their families had gone back in that congregation generations. And it looked like they had embraced this way totally. One Sabbath, I noticed they were gone, and I asked somebody if they had seen them and what had happened. And the previous week, one of the speakers had mentioned the doctrine that we're talking about right now. They walked out the door and said, “We don't believe in no stinking second chance, and we're not coming back.” And I thought, “How in the world do you do that? How in the world do you think about your faith and assign billions, who have never heard of Christ, arbitrarily, to eternal torment? Isn't it worth thinking that maybe God would give them an opportunity?” But they had their mind made up that it's now or never, and anything other than that, we're not going with. These teachings don't make sense. They don't jive with a God we know. They don't jive with a God that all the Christian world proclaims.

But back to our beliefs. When I watched the hands go up from where I was – “How many years have you been keeping the Feast?” – it’s a seasoned group. You've been here a long time, and you've observed this day a long time. But how many of you have stood back and looked at this day from a standpoint of saying, “Can I justify it? Can I defend it?” Someone recently said to me, “You know, there's nowhere in the Bible that the term second resurrection appears.” And I said “You're right.” You're right. The Bible never uses the word second resurrection. It doesn't use the word third resurrection, doesn't use the word second judgment, third judgment, fourth judgment. Those terms aren't there. There are a number of terms that are fundamental to our beliefs – that if somebody simply says to you, “Show me in the Bible where that phrase is used” – if you're honest, and you know your Bible, you'd have to look at them, and say, “It's not.” If you know your Bible well, you're going to say, “No, it's not,” and in your mind, you're going to say, “But so what? Let's talk more. We're both in agreement the term isn't there. Does it have any bearing?” We're going to talk about some things that we celebrate every single year on this day – that if somebody says, “Show me exactly where this is,” you'd have to look them in the face, and say, “I can't.” And it doesn't make any difference. And if you'll bear with me, I'll show you why it doesn't make any difference.

But to comprehend what I'm just saying, we have to go all the way back to the very foundation of Bible study. Because the Bible expresses it's gems of truth in two general ways – direct declaration and overarching principles. They are both equally valid and they are diametrically the opposite. One is not singularly the way God expresses Himself. One is not singularly valid invalidating the other. When we look at direct declarations, they are those gems in the Bible that are simply stated, stated directly, they use an economy of words. “God is love.” “Sin is the transgression of the law.” “The wages of sin is death.” “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Simple. Direct. Clear. Subject, verb, modifier. There are a number of teachings that fall in that category. Direct declaration.

But there are a number of doctrines that are embedded in overarching principles. Now when I use the term overarching principle, I'm talking about a principle that expresses how God thinks and how He views things. You see with overarching principles, the details may be missing, but the direction of His thought is clear and cannot be argued.

I'm reminded of one of the founding statements in American governance that begins with the statement, “We hold certain things to be unassailable.” They are. Are those things stated directly? Are they embedded directly? No. The founders of the Constitution were saying these are overarching principles and everything has to fit within those concepts.

Years ago, on the Council of Elders, we invited a gentleman to instruct us on strategic planning. And our focus was on strategy, and on objectives, on measurables, on specifics, on things that we could look at at the end of the year, and say, “Assignment set, year is passed, objective met.” And he said, “Before you get there, you have to ask what your guiding principles are. You have to determine what your mission is and what the guiding principles are that drive your mission. All the rest of it simply flows from that.”

Well, God has given us overarching principles that say, “This is who I am. This is how I think. This is where I'm going. Now, everything has to fit under that.” Some of the doctrines that we hold are arrived at by direct statement – great example: the Sabbath. Creation comes, God makes it, He says, “I rested on this day. It's holy.” Mount Sinai comes, He says, “Here's a commandment.” I love the way that the commandment regarding the Sabbath is expressed uniquely. It is the only commandment in the Ten Commandments that starts with remember. He says, “I'm not teaching anything new. Remember! Remember what I did at creation. Now live with it. Do it. Honor it. Obey it. Respect it.” This is a doctrine that is a direct statement.

Some doctrines are arrived at by deduction from overarching principles. And once the principle is clearly in place, it gives a basis for asking the deeper questions. For example, as I said earlier, the term second resurrection doesn't appear in scripture. Does that mean it doesn't exist? No, it doesn't mean that all. In fact, as we proceed through the sermon, we'll show you very plainly that the scripture is very plain that it exists, but it didn't bother to label it by those two words. There is no direct statement that all mankind will have a chance for salvation in the second resurrection anywhere in the Bible. And every year we come here to celebrate that fact. But it is arrived at through the understanding of overarching spiritual principles.

I'm going to give you some of those right now. You're going to find that there are overarching biblical principles that demand a second resurrection. I'm going to give you two huge overarching biblical principles that, on the surface, appear to war against one another in such a way that they make God to appear, to the blinded carnal world, to be a joke.

Do you ever have somebody, who is a scoffer, come up to you and take doctrines that you're very comfortable with and secure in what you've learned and what you've studied and mock them? And you sit there, in your mind, and say, “There is no way that I can convince this person in their casual “Give me a one-liner, give me a sound bite, give me a zinger that will show me that I'm wrong.” You say, “There aren't any.” And they're not willing to hear anything but. And so you realize that it's an exercise in futility. There are two huge overarching biblical principles that war against each so dynamically that they make God appear, to the blinded mind, to be absolutely foolish and contradictory.

Principle number one: God would like to have every single, solitary human being who has ever lived saved. You want to know where His head is? You want to know where God's mind is? You want to know if God can wave a magic wand...and you know, God doesn't wave magic wands any more than we do. He would tell you, “If you ask Me what My greatest desire would be, it would be that every single, solitary human being who has ever lived would end up in My Kingdom.” Now we know that's not going to happen, because the Bible tells us it's not going to happen. But I can tell you where God's head is. I can tell you where His mind is. 1 Timothy, chapter 2. Paul knew where His mind was as he was ready to finish his ministry, giving his last instruction to his follower, Timothy. He said to Timothy, in 1 Timothy, chapter 2, and verse 3 – he said:

1 Timothy 2:3-4 – For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Turn to 2 Peter. Let's look at his counterpart – Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, and Peter, the most dynamic personality among the apostles that were going to the other part of the world. 2 Peter, chapter 3 – he said:

2 Peter 3:9 – The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9. He said God isn't slack concerning His promises. If you want to know where He is, His desire is that every – He's willing – He is willing that every human being who has ever lived come to salvation.

Now we could spend literally all the time I have allotted just reading scriptures buttressing this overarching principle. But my intent is to give you a sampler, because I know I'm speaking to an audience that can automatically say, “I can take it from here, and I can find a dozen more easily.” So let's go to the most quoted scripture in all of the Protestant world – John 3:16.

John 3:16-17 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He said, “What did I send Him for? Did I send Him here saying, ‘I'm perfect and you're not. Gotcha!’ Or am I sending Him here saying, ‘I'm perfect and you're not, and I will die for you. That's how much I want you to have salvation.’”

So here we have a huge principle that runs throughout all the Bible – a God that loves mankind and wants nothing more than to share eternity with him. Sermon after sermon after sermon, during the last seven days, have given you scriptures and expositions telling you this very fact. You have in your notebooks – if you're note taking – you have a number of scriptures that the men have been reading to you making this particular point.

But there is a second overarching principle that flies directly in the face of what I've been reading to you. As we turn to Matthew 13 – and those of you that memorize portions of your Bible, know immediately when I say the 13th chapter of Matthew – you know exactly where we're going and what we're going to say. As Jesus Christ began His ministry of speaking in parables, His disciples came to Him and said, “Why are You doing it? Why are you giving Your instruction in parables? And He said in verse 11 of Matthew 13:

Matthew 13:11 – Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Is this the God that we just finished reading about in John, and Peter, and Timothy? Therefore, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts – and this is where the New King James falls flat on it's face, because the Old King James says: and be converted. “I am doing everything within My power to see that they're not converted.”

John 12 – John, chapter 12, verse 37. John read, in verse 37 of John 12:

John 12:37-40 – But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him – that the words of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” They're doing such a good job of quoting Isaiah. Let's go back to Isaiah 44 – Isaiah chapter 44, verse 18 says:

Isaiah 44:18 – They do not know nor understand, for He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.

Let's throw in one more author. Let's go to Romans 11 and see Paul's comment on the same subject. Paul is doing a critical analysis in chapters 9, 10, and 11. At the start of each chapter, he poses a proposition, and spends the chapter with exposition on it. By verse 7, he is beginning to make exposition on a proposition he made at the beginning of chapter 11. In verse 7, he says:

Romans 11:7-10 – What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it. And the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.”

Two overarching principles. Two overarching principles that, without an understanding of this day, are so totally contradictory as to make a new person simply close the Bible, and say – as many hundreds of thousands have over the years – this book is nothing but a contradiction. This book is nonsense. It speaks out of this side of its mouth, it speaks out of that side of the mouth. What do you still have for that?” God's design is what we're looking at. These two great principles are totally contradictory, unless the whole issue is about timing. These two principles fly in the face of each other, unless the whole issue comes down to when, not if. And when we understand that God is talking about when, not if, then there is no contradiction whatsoever. In fact, it opens the plan of God in a way that Paul, at one place, just shakes his head and says, “This is absolutely fantastic. It's beyond the mind of man to wrap his head around all of this.”

We're celebrating today the second resurrection – among other things – but we're celebrating a second resurrection, even though it's not called by that.

As we go to the next book that Paul wrote from where we are right now, 1 Corinthians 15. I have read this scripture in more funerals than I can remember. I honestly don't know how many funerals I have officiated at. I have read this scripture in the overwhelming majority of them. It is stated almost like a mathematical equation. Mr. Meidinger would understand this quite well as a math teacher. He says as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive. Very simple, we have an equation. 1 Corinthians 15:20-22. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But he says, and this is what we need to focus on – (verse 23) But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, - and he'd been talking earlier about, he said, you know, some of you in the church don't believe there is a resurrection. He said, if there is no resurrection, then Christ has not been resurrected. And if He has not been resurrected you don't have any hope. So after he addressed that audience that were scoffers he then went on to say, look, everybody died like Adam, and everybody is going to live like Christ but you need to understand that everybody does this an order, and first is Jesus Christ, afterwards, those who are Christ's at His coming. Now Paul is not giving an exposition on all of the matter of resurrection. He's speaking to a church where some are doubters and he's expelling their doubt and because it is a church audience he's talking to them about what's relevant to them. Which is the day when the trumpet blows and you're changed from mortal to immortal, from corruptible to incorruptible. So he doesn't continue beyond that point. He just says here's where it starts. It starts with Christ, and then after that at His coming those of you who are Christ's. So we have that much from 1 Corinthians 15. What is important is he says there is an order as to how these things play out. Every reasoning mind says oh, this is great. Jesus Christ is resurrected, those who are Christ's at His coming, but that left the overwhelming portion of society that's lived dangling in nowhere. We've had the citation of Revelation 5 a couple of times. Let's go back there.

You literally need to read Revelation 20:5 with half of your head in 1 Corinthians 15 at the scripture we just read and half of your mind in Revelation 20. Because Paul had said Christ is first, those who are Christ's at His coming and if we want to address the whole, the whole will be every man in his own order. Well, in Revelation 20:5 as was read earlier, we all know earlier in Revelation and we know from Paul's writings, and we know from other writings that at the sound of the seventh trump the saints are raised. Those who are Christ's at His coming. And they will reign and rule with Christ a thousand years. And he says in Revelation 20:5, But the rest of the dead – so he picks up where Paul left off. Paul left off with those who begin to reign at the beginning of the thousand years, the saints, those who are Christ's. To John it was revealed that the rest of the dead do no live again until the thousand years were finished. And then he makes the parenthetical comment about the saints who have been reigning for a thousand years, oh by the way, parenthetically, the saints who have been reigning for a thousand years, well, they're the first resurrection. We all understand the nature of numbers in our language and in other languages if there 's a first; there's a second. If there's not a second, then there's not a first. There's just a 'the'. If there's only one it's 'the'. If there's a first there's got to be at least a second. And it's open ended. From the word of God you have to ask how many are there, well, it's not addressing that. It just simply says those who reign and rule with Christ a thousand years, oh by the way, they were in the first resurrection. The one Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 15. And the rest of the dead, well, they don't come up until the thousand years are finished. So is there a second resurrection taught in the Bible? Absolutely positively. Is there any place it's called a second resurrection? No, there isn't. And that doesn't contradict the reality in any way, shape or form.

We will eventually, and when we get to the place in the scriptures that we arrive there I will remind you of some of the things we've been saying so far and as to why they are the way they are. Living again is only half the issue. You know if the second resurrection is simply to come up out of the ground and God to say, okay, I've got you all alive in time to tell you that you're all going to Hell. We didn't gain any ground. We didn't gain any ground. Not only did we not gain any ground, but we're back to the fact of saying okay, if God said as a principle that is just interwoven throughout the whole New Testament – I love man, I care about man, I want him saved. Well you might as well throw that one in the waste bin. Because actions speak louder than words. If the majority end up in torment the words weren't worth anything. Living again is only half the issue if all they did was come to life to be condemned, when the great overarching principle is that God wishes man to be saved fails. Man has to have a chance to be saved or it's all a pipe dream. It's all wistful thinking. And you know, you and I worship a God who is way, way, way above pipe dreams and wistful thinking.

What constitutes a chance for salvation? That's almost a rhetorical question. There's not a baptized member in this congregation that can't answer that question. We may put the order differently. We may express it differently. But everybody here knows what constitutes a chance for salvation because the formula is there in the Bible. You know after Jesus Christ finished His temptation, Matthew, Mark, both state the very; if you've got a red-letter edition of the Bible just simply go back and read the first red letter after the temptation. And from that day forward Christ began preaching – what? Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. First word out of His mouth – repent. None of us is worthy of where we're going. So unless we change course we're not going to get there. All repent means is “to turn”. I'm going this way. God says that's where I'm found. If I'm going this way, and that's where He's found; I've got to turn. So He began teaching turn. Repent. To have a chance for salvation – you know Paul put it well where he talked about the audience and he says “How are they going to hear without a preacher? And how are they going to have a preacher unless he's sent?”

We've been talking about this blind audience. We've been talking about this universal blinding of people. We have a part of our vocabulary, a piece of vocabulary that is going to go away when the millennium arrives. Today, we ask, are you called? You're here by invitation. You're here by invitation. You didn't find it on your own smarts. You didn't find it because you were more brilliant than somebody else. You're here by invitation. You know there are people that were given the same invitation that you were and said “No thanks” and so God took the invitation away.

I've watched scores of people on the front end saying “I want to go this way” and then when the truth was given to them and they said “No, I won't do that. No, I can't do that. No, that's too difficult.” You watch God just take the rheostat and turn it down and the light gets dimmer and dimmer and dimmer and dimmer until the light's gone out. I'll give you an invitation, if you don't accept it I'll take away from you what you have. You know that statement in Matthew was capricious where it says to those who have been given I'll give more, and to those who haven't I'll take away what they have. What God has given you if you use He's giving you more and more and to those who haven't used it He's taken away what they had until they don't have anything.

Salvation requires a calling. Thankfully in the millennium everyone will have a calling. We will arrive at the time where no more will people ever say “Know the Lord”, because everybody will know the Lord. What you do with it is still a person's choice. But you won't be able to say “I don't know.” Calling will be universal. Open minds will be universal. But you know when the 3,000 people who were cut clear to their heart when the apostle Peter said, “You killed the Son of God.” And they said, “Oh, no. What do we do?” And he said in Acts 2:36-39, Repent, and be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit. The formula was given the day the Church of God began. Turn from where you're going to the way you should be going. Be baptized. Receive the Holy Spirit and you shall be saved. This is your continuum. This is how it takes place.

You know what's one of the overarching principles that's a part of both Bible teaching and our doctrines? Now we don't state it as a doctrine, but we state it as a held position that has been a part of the fabric of this church as long as I've been in it. And I've been in it about as long as those of you who have been in it a long time. There's always somebody in the room who's been there a little bit longer. But I've been around a long time, and it's been a part of the fabric during all that time.

You know the Bible; now those of you that are, those of you that are going to be pointy headed with me, I'm going to catch you before I get started. The Bible does not use the word character. Those of you that are real precise will say oh yes it does, there's one place in Romans. There's one place in Romans in the New King James. And if you look at the word that's described as character, it isn't the Greek word for character. They were cheating. They took a quality of humanity that is produced from character and simply sloppily put the word character in there. But you know, every one of us knows, it's a given: I'm on this Earth to build character. I don't just say, “Lord, here I am. I accept. I'm baptized, hands are laid on me, I have the Holy Spirit, now let's get it all over with.” We are here to build Godly character. I don't know the times I've heard, and I know Mr. Elliott the same way, Mr. Elliott goes back farther than I do, because he started younger than I did. We've heard Mr. Armstrong in Pasadena during our childhood. Heard Mr. Armstrong talk about character. Character, character, character. You couldn't come away not knowing that character is what it's about. Character requires time. Character cannot be manufactured by fiat. It requires time. It requires choices and it requires decision making. So if you have a God who says I would like to see everyone saved, and the overwhelming majority of humanity throughout history have not been saved; they need minds that are opened, availability of God's Holy Spirit, and time.

Paul cracks open the door of understanding this doctrine; this doctrine about a chance for salvation for all who have previously lived through the vehicle of a second resurrection; in Romans 9 through 11. Turn with me back to Romans 9. I'm simply going to give you four snippets. You can read the three chapters. But Paul starts out by saying my heart's desire is that my countrymen be saved. He said I'd give up my life if my whole country could be saved. That's how passionate I am about the people. I love them to the place that I would forfeit my salvation if that would assure all of them salvation. That's how he starts chapter 9.

He starts chapter 10 in this way:

Romans 10:1-3 – Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear the witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God. So he says, “You know what? My countrymen are zealous people.”

You know what? I feel exactly the same way about everyone who says – regardless of his branding, “I am a follower of Jesus Christ.” I don't care if you're Catholic. I don't care what Protestant church you go by. When I see somebody that I can see written all over them – “I have a genuine heart. I really do believe what I believe and I really try to practice it” – you know what goes through my mind? The very words I just read to you. I bear them witness they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. When you're stuck, when this life is over – “I'm either on the up elevator or I'm on the down elevator.” They have a zeal, but not according to knowledge.

Paul goes on in Romans 11 – and now he starts getting down to the meaty part. He says:

Romans 11:1 – I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! Has God just simply said, “You know, the time went by. I missed it. Blew that one. Just write them off. Let's go on to the next?” Paul said, “Absolutely, positively not. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. “I'm not throwing them away. They are not lost.” He goes on in verse 7 to say:

V-7-8 – What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were hardened. So he says, “You need to understand something. Out of all of these people, there was an elect – a called out body. They received the promises. The rest were hardened.” Verse 8: Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” And I read verses 9 and 10 to you earlier, so I don't need to read that again.

V-11 – I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! So Paul is emphatic. He says, “Look. They can't see. They can't hear. They have hard hearts and they've stumbled and fallen.” Are they lost? No!

V-25-26 – For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. And you know this is the second time, just in this sermon, we have read the term mystery. You know, when God says, “I don't intend they understand,” then what does it make the knowledge? It makes it a mystery. “I blinded their eyes. I didn't intend them to see. So, even though it's true, it is a mystery.” I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery – lest you should be wise in your own opinion – that hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved. Now, if you believe this is the only day of salvation – if you believe this is the only day of salvation – what I just read to you is one sorry joke. Because it's not possible. It's even a mean-spirited joke. But it is no joke. God says, “I will save Israel. “

As I said to you earlier brethren, these two great overarching principles do not contradict each other if the question is, “When?” not, “If?” And that's why on this Eighth Day – Last Great Day – we celebrate a second resurrection to an opportunity for salvation.

Ezekiel 37 was read to you. I had an elder write to me on email, and said, “Would you use Ezekiel 37? I can't find a single solitary commentary that will say what we teach.” And I wrote back, and said, “Don't expect it. Any commentator who admits to what we believe is contradicting all the rest of the doctrines that he holds dear. He emotionally cannot go there.” So I said, “Don't expect any support from the commentators.” Has there been any time – now I realize we can always dismiss something by analogy and allegory – but there has never been a time in history, that we all know, where bones came out of the ground, flesh was placed back on, air was put in their lungs, they stood, they could reason, and they were alive. The end of the Ezekiel 37 story is, “I will take you, and I will put you back in your own land, and I will give you My Spirit” – all the components. “I'll bring you back to life – fleshly human life. I'll put you in a land” – in a place where you can reside. “I will give you the Holy Spirit. You've got all the components you need. Now you have an honest, fair chance.”

You know, we read earlier in Revelation 20, and verse 5, that the rest of the dead do not live again until the end of the thousand years. Somebody can look at Ezekiel 37, and say, “Well that's great for the house of Israel, but that left out all the Gentiles.” It happened, that in Ezekiel 37, that the audience was Israel. But when you say “the rest of the dead,” it didn't say, “the rest of Israel.” It said, “The rest of the dead.” Israel isn't going to come up and all the Gentiles remain in their graves.

We often cite Matthew 11 and Matthew 12 – places where Jesus Christ is condemning the cities where He did His miracles. One of those was cited earlier in the Feast. I'll give you the place. It's Matthew 11, verses 20 through 24 and Matthew 12, verses 38 through 42. It doesn't matter whether they're talking about the men of Sodom, the men of Tyre and Sidon, the queen of the south – all of these people, who went the wrong way. In every one of them, Christ says, “It will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for them than for you.” How, how do you put tolerable into hell? Do you roast at 450 and I roast at 325? Now, I'm being facetious, because to me it's absurd. But, you know what? There are commentators that go that route. Read Gill's Commentary on Matthew 11:24, and he just simply says, “Your part of hell will be a little cooler than my part of hell”. That's what God is telling him. Utter nonsense. Damnation is damnation. Tolerable means latitude – elbow room – something that gives room for play. And for Gill to take that particular position – you see, he's not alone in it – but there's and absurdity to it that is phenomenal.

The last scripture I want to give you is in 1 Peter, chapter 2. And the reason I want to give you this particular scripture is because it will tie in what I said in my first sermon with where we are in this sermon.  

1 Peter 2:11-12. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among – who? The house of Israel? No – among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. You know, whether you realize it or not, you have been selling the Kingdom of God from the time you were called. Only trouble is, the product isn't going to be delivered until the day of visitation. And it will include the Gentiles. And they'll glorify God when they come back to life because they said, “I knew so and so. I thought they were nuts. In fact, I was pretty sure of it. But man, oh man, now that you've explained it to me, I've found out that I'm the nut. And you know what? I can recall to memory all the things they did, and I can say, ‘So that's how you do it. So that's how you do it.’” You know, there are going to be multiple features. So, Mr. Meidinger talked about teaching your own family. There are going to be a lot of people coming up in the resurrection that are being taught by you right now. They just don't know it. But they'll have recall then. And it will make sense.

Brethren, multiple great principles come together in the teaching of an opportunity for all mankind in the second resurrection. Those things that come together are these: that the love and mercy of God spoken of throughout the Bible is validated. It's validated. Christian theology does not validate the love of God – not when you assign billions to hell. The blindness God gives to people throughout the ages is understood as not keeping them from having a chance for salvation, but governing when. The process of conversion is validated by the fact that people have time to live a life that will demonstrate their sincerity and that they will have the Holy Spirit available to them – something that was not made available to them in ages past. And the mercy of God is shown in that He blinded mankind during this age, so that He would be able to show them mercy at the time He intended them to have their chance for salvation.

As we conclude the observation of this last holy day of the annual cycle, consider the mercy, the wisdom of a loving God, who not only would like to see all of mankind saved, but will give a full and fair chance to everyone who has ever lived. This is one of the greatest doctrines of the Church of God, and you and I are privileged to be able to celebrate it and commemorate it every year on this Eighth – Last Great – Day of the Feast. May God go with you as you return back to your homes.