Thank you, Joe. That's no problem. The verse that I was thinking of when I chose this script reading was, where are we here? And if you call on the Father who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. The Library of God. I would never have thought that such a simple interest on a single verse about a single thought like that could expand into a series like this. Some time ago when Joe and I were discussing how many Sundays we each would need for our messages, I told Joe that if he needed two Sundays, he should take two, no problem. The stuff I was working on would probably only take two as well. Well, this is my day, too, and by the end of this message I won't even be halfway done to the list of books that I've come up with. It just proves to me that the Word of God is living and powerful. Last Sunday we answered the question, why would our all-knowing God need books in heaven? And I stated that it is because of man's fallible mind, in either forgetting or choosing to forget facts of our own history, and because of our limited presence and that we have not been present through it all things in time and history. It is these two reasons that God must have books in heaven in order for him to carry out justice in a manner for us to understand. For in order for him to be glorified, he must reveal things to us that we can see his will and his justice displayed and do this at a level that we can comprehend and understand. for His ways are higher than our ways, and we cannot give glory to God if we do not know Him or His ways. Also, last time we looked at the first book in my list, the book of works, a book written from each one of our lives and the actions that we have done here on earth. Everything, all the good, all the bad, And I want to start us off with just a paragraph from the story of the room. I referred to it last time, but just a few lines is all we need to start off our minds in the direction I want us to go. And I quote. Defeated and utterly helpless, I returned the file to its slot. Leaning my forehead against the wall, I let out a long, self-pitying sigh. And then I saw it. The title bore, People I Have Shared the Gospel With. The handle was brighter than those around it, newer, almost unused. I pulled on its handle, and a small box no more than three inches long fell into my hands. I could count the cards contained on one hand, and then the tears came. I began to weep, sob so deep that it hurt, started in my stomach, and shook through me. I fell on my knees and cried. I cried out of shame, from the overwhelming shame of it all. The rows of file shelves swirled in my tear-filled eyes. No one must ever know of this room." We all know that feeling. That feeling of shame and guilt. And that feeling is there because of a book that is before God. He knows all that is in it. And this morning I've called this book The book of transgressions, the point number two. The following scripture references are not so much as another book by itself, but would probably be written in or be a part of the book of works that we looked at last time. But I separated them, not so much to create the illusion of it being a different book, but to separate them to show the difference in the theme when scripture is speaking of them. These passages speak on sin. on transgressions and iniquities, and brings a different point to what the previous book was. Two of these passages are because of oppression, and two more are more personal. But these four references have one thing in common, and that is the blotting out of sin. As we saw in the book of works, how it spoke of everything of our lives being written down, Our works, as in 1 Corinthians 3, 13 through 15 says, that each one's work will become clear, for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet as though through fire. But not only our works are recorded, but also our words. Matthew 12, 35 through 37 say, a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the treasure of his heart brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words, you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. It is all written down and all recorded in our book of works. So not to confuse you, we could think of this book of transgressions as being a book within that book. Like our Bible, which is a single book made up of 66 different books, so would this book of transgressions be a section in the book of works? Possibly a separate chapter. A separate chapter of the really bad things that we have done. Because in this book, the book of transgressions, there is a theme of blotting out things that have been written in it. And that is the first thought that we want to look at this morning. The blotting out of sin. So let's start by turning to Psalm 109. It is a psalm of David. A psalm of oppression and deep distress. But think not only of this psalm as some unnamed oppressor to David, but also think of this passage from the viewpoint of Jesus speaking about Judas. And I'll explain that part later. So turn with me to Psalm 109. To the chief musician, a psalm of David. Do not keep silent, O God of my praise, for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love, they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love. Set a wicked man over him and let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him be found guilty and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children continually be vagabonds and beg. Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places. Let the creditor seize all that he has and let strangers plunder his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy to him, nor let there be any favor to his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off in the generations following. Let their names be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and let not the sins of his mother be blotted out. Let them be carefully, let them be continually before the Lord, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. And we'll stop there. Matthew Henry in his commentary writes of the verse like this, and I quote, David here fastens upon one particular person that was worse than all the rest of his enemies, and the ringleader of them, and in a devout and pious manner, not from a principle of malice and revenge, but in a holy zeal for God against sin with an eye to the enemy of Christ, particularly Judas who betrayed him, whose sin was greater than Pilate that condemned him, end of quote. We know that from the New Testament how the events of Judas unfolded. And Peter says in Acts 1, 16-17, and verse 20, Men and brethren, this scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry. And verse 24, it is written in the book of Psalms, let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it, and let another take his office. Gil writes in his commentary, this Psalm was written by David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit concerning Judas, the betrayer of Christ, as is certain from Acts 1, 16, and 20. Hence, it is used to be called by the ancients the Iscariotic Psalm, end of quote. The thought that I want to present here is that the sin of someone has been recorded in their book of transgressions, and David's request is that it not be removed. Not only their sin, but also the sin of their parents, that there would be no forgiveness from God, that God would not blot out the sins that have been written, that the Lord would continually remember their sin. With that in mind, let's also turn to Jeremiah chapter 18. The prophet Jeremiah, who suffered many things and was continually the bearer of bad news, was seldom appreciated among the Jews. Jeremiah 18, and we'll start off with verse 18. These are the men of Jerusalem speaking to him. Then they said, Come, and let us devise plans against Jeremiah. For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words." And now Jeremiah continues and speaks out to God in the remainder of the chapter. Give heed to me, O Lord, and listen to the voice of those who contend with me. Shall evil be repaid for good? for they have dug a pit for my life. Remember that I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them. Therefore, deliver up their children to the famine and pour out their blood by the force of the sword. Let their wives become widows and the bereaved of their children. Let their men be put to death, their young men be slain by the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard from their houses when you bring a troop suddenly upon them, for they have dug a pit to take me and hidden snares for my feet. Yet, Lord, you know all their counsel, which is against me, to slay me. Provide no atonement for their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight. But let them be overthrown before you. Deal thus with them in the time of your anger. Again, the request is for their sins to remain. A request that the Lord would not show mercy to their sin. A request that God should deal thus with them in the time of His anger. You see, verse 23 shows us two things. First, as we looked in the first message about the knowledge of God, that He is all-knowing, and Jeremiah says that the Lord knows all their counsel which is against Him. And second, not to blot out their sin from his sight, not to remove the iniquities that have been written in the books. Now, even though Jeremiah was speaking out of anguish, it reveals a wonderful truth about God, about his mercy, about how our God deals with our actions and the things written in our books, and that great possibility of our sins being able to be blotted out. For this we will turn to Acts chapter 3 and we will start with verse 13. Peter is speaking here and brings us a wonderful message in his rebuke to the Jews. He says in Acts 3, starting with 13, the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But you denied the Holy One and the just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses, and killed the Prince of Life, and his name, through faith, In his name he has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers, but those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ would suffer has thus fulfilled. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that a time of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." Is that not a comforting verse? Is that not something to sing hallelujah about? That we can repent of what we have done and have our sins blotted out Peter says to the Jews, repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. We have the privilege and power to rewrite history and our sins we can remove. We can erase them. We can remove them from that great book of our works. But you may sit there and think, my sin is too great. The book of my transgressions is too long. Listen to the last text that we will look at, and this is also from King David. We'll turn to Psalm 51. David, the man after God's own heart, forced an adulterous encounter with Bathsheba, conceived a child and then tried to cover it up with lies by inviting Uriah home. And when that didn't work, he initiated and orchestrated the murder of Uriah, who was one of the 30 great men listed in his army. Now let's listen to his cry in Psalm 51. To the chief musician, the Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone into Bethsheba, have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight, that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part you will make me known wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones you have broken may rejoice. hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me by your generous spirit, that I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners shall be converted to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth your praise. For you do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it. You do not delight in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These, O God, you will not despise. Who more than David would want his sins blotted out? He was the king. He was the one who was to uphold the law. He was the one who was supposed to keep order in the kingdom. He was to be the example to all people. But all of this came to a grinding halt when Nathan the prophet came and trapped David with his own words when he said those four little words You are that man. No more hiding. No more pretending. No more covering up. No more excuses. Because David knew what he had done. He hadn't forgotten. He knew it was his sin, not someone else's fault. He knew that God had written in his book every single deed that he had done. And now he pleads with God to blot them out. Blot out my transgressions and blot out all my iniquities. It can be done. There is always hope. But there must be an acknowledgement of sin and true repentance, as David says in the verse, for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight, that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge. There is freedom from sin. and there is great victory over it. 1 John 1.9 says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sin, He is faithful. He is just in forgiving our sins. These then can be removed or blotted out of this book, this book of transgressions, and will not come up in that day when we stand before our Lord. For Isaiah 61, it begins with, for I, the Lord, love justice. And if the Lord can do away with our sins in a just manner, then that will bring glory to him. For he knows what we are going through. He knows all our sorrows that we bear. For as good deeds and bad deeds, good works and bad works can all be recorded, He also records the sorrow, and that is the title of the third book, the Book of Sorrows. Turn now to Psalm 56. There's only one reference to this book, and we'll read 1 through 13. to the chief musician set to the silent dove in a distant lands, a miktam of David when the Philistines captured him in Gath. Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up, fighting all day he oppresses me. My enemies would hound me all day, for there are many who fight against me, O Most High. Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God I will praise his word. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what can flesh do to me. All day they twist my words and their thoughts against me are for evil. They gather together, they hide, they mark my steps when they lie and wait for my life. Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down these peoples, O God. You number my wanderings, put my tears in your bottle. Are they not written in your book? When I cry out to you, then my enemies will turn back. This I know because God is for me. In God, I will praise his word. In the Lord, I will praise his word. In God, I have put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Vows made to you are binding upon me. O God, I will render praises to you, for you have delivered my soul from death. You have not kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living. Matthew Henry writes in his commentary, God has a bottle and a book for his people's tears, both the tears for their sins and those for their afflictions. He observes them with tender concern." Gil writes in his commentary, Are they not all in thy book? Verily they are, that is, the tears and the afflictions of his people. They are all in his book, of what he calls the book of purpose. They are all appointed by him, their kind in nature, their measure and duration, their quality and quantity, what they shall be and how long they shall last, and their end, and their end and use. They are taken notice of and numbered by him, and shall be finished, that they shall not exceed their bounds. These tears will be turned into joy and God will wipe them all away from the eyes of his people." End of quote. In that great library of God, there is such a book for the believer. A book that has a list of all the things that try us, that burden us, that bring us down. Some of them are self-inflicted. Some of them are allowed by God to test us, to try us. God knows what you are going through. It is all in this book. James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4 read, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." God is in control. No matter what the sorrow, what the trial, what hard times you are in right now, He has it all written down, and nothing surprises God. The only thing that you can decide is how you will handle it. If you will continue to live right in spite of the circumstances, or if you will fall and defeat, that is your choice. As in the case of our fourth book, the Book of the Righteous. Book four and book five, which is the Book of the Living, are both mentioned in Psalm 69. It is a Psalm of David, and again, a Psalm of heaviness and anguish. And we will read from verses 18 through 28 and turn to Psalm 69. Starting with verse 18. Draw near to my soul and redeem it. Deliver me because of my enemies. You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you. Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their tables become a snare before them, and their well-being a trap. Let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see, and make their loins shake continually. Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their dwelling places be desolate. Let no one live in their tents. For they persecute the ones you have struck, and talk of the grief of those you have wounded. Add iniquity to their iniquity, and let them not come into your righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. That's usually my job and I forgot it today. The two books listed in verse 28 have given rise to many different views in the commentaries and many different interpretations that come out of this one verse. But first we'll look at the phrase and the book, not written with the righteous. Some commentaries take the words, written with the righteous, as not to be allowed to have their names written with those who will inherit eternal life. Thus his prayer would be that these sinners would not be allowed to have salvation. Others say not to be written with the righteous, only means that they should not enjoy the good life of living in fellowship with God. Warren Worsby puts it like this in his commentary, and I quote, David asks, in verse 28, that his enemies be slain, blotted out of the book of the living. Even more, he didn't want them to be identified with the righteous after they died, which meant that they were destined for eternal judgment. While this kind of prayer is hardly an example for God's people today, we can understand David's hatred of their sin and his desire to protect Israel and its mission in the world." End of quote. We can trust that our Lord knows all things and that he is just and true in all things. As is said in Isaiah, for I the Lord love justice. And if David fully trusts the Lord, then this prayer would not need to suggest eternal damnation for these people. Evelyn Warren in his commentary wrote, this kind of prayer is hardly an example for God's people today. I think that it is possibly not a request that David is making, but rather an agreeance with God. Barnes notes on the Bible commentary writes like this, and I quote as well. Let them not be registered or numbered with the righteous, as they are wicked. So let them be numbered, so regarded. Let them be reckoned and treated as they are. They deserve to be punished, so let them be. All that this necessarily means is that they should not be registered, not be treated as righteous when they were in fact not righteous. It cannot be shown that the author of the psalm would not have desire that they should become righteous and that they should then be regarded and treated as such, all that the language here implies is a desire that they should be regarded and treated as they were, that is, as they deserved." End of quote. Barnes' commentary further writes on the context of the chapter and says this, those who reject God's great salvation offered to them may justly fear that his indignation will be poured out upon them. If men will sin, the Lord will reckon for it. But those that have multiplied to sin may yet find mercy through the righteousness of the mediator. God shuts no one out from that righteousness. The gospel excludes none Sorry, let me start that sentence again. The gospel excludes none who do not, by unbelief, shut themselves out. But those who are proud and self-willed do so that they will not come into God's righteousness. They shall have their doom accordingly. They themselves decided it." End of quote. Each person individually makes a choice in this world to either accept God and his great plan of salvation or reject it. It is they themselves that choose where they will spend eternity. It is your choice to choose where your name will be written. Barnes says, you decide for yourselves if you will be labeled or written as a righteous person or as a wicked person. For we live in an age, an age where this world lifts up the wicked and puts down the just, just as it is written in Proverbs 17, 15. He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord. No one can choose how they come into this world, but we each have a choice of how we will live. Only you can choose and decide where you'll be, where you will be recorded, either in the list of the righteous or in the list of the wicked. As Barnes says, they are wicked, so let them be numbered, so let them be regarded. But all of them are recorded together in one book, together. And that is Book 5, which records all of those who are born into this world, the Book of the Living. Just as we looked at Psalm 69 and focused on verse 28, we now want to look at the first half of that verse. Let them be blotted out of the Book of the Living. Barnes simply puts it like this. Let them be blotted out of the Book of the Living. That is, let them cease to live. Let them not be numbered among the living people. Let them be cut off." End of quote. I think it is that simple. There is a book before God called the Book of the Living, in which all people are, all people that are ever conceived, were born and are alive on Earth are written in this book. 7.4 billion people are now in this vast book. This past week I found an interesting world clock counter. online as to how many people are being born. It came out to adding two and a half people every second, 25 people for every 10 seconds, 150 people every minute are being added to this book. That's twice the size of our church right now, every minute. Each one of them has a name, each one has an eternal soul, And each one has their name written in the Book of the Living. As I said earlier, there are many different views of what this book is to represent. Some say it is those, some say either it is those who have eternal life. Others say it is just those who are alive today on earth. And I think it is the latter. For example, listen to Deuteronomy 9, 13 and 14. Furthermore, the Lord spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and indeed they are a stiff-necked people. Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their names from under heaven, and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. That was the Lord speaking to Moses. Deuteronomy 29, verse 20. The Lord would not spare him, for then the anger of the Lord and his jealous would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in the book would settle on him, and the Lord would blot out his name from under heaven. Also in Psalm 109 verse 13, which we read before, this would also be in this group. It says, let his prosperity be cut off, and in the generations following, let their name be blotted out. But turn to Exodus chapter 32. This is the account of Moses speaking with God when Israel created the golden calf. This is where most of the controversy comes from. And we will start with verse 30. Verse 30 says, Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, You have committed a great sin, so now I will go up to the Lord. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, O these people have committed a great sin and have made for themselves a god of gold. Yet now, if you will forgive their sin, but if not, I pray, blot me out of your book which you have written.' And the Lord said to Moses, whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. Now therefore, go and lead these people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment on them for their sin. So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made." Moses requested that he be blotted out of this book which the Lord had written. Just as the previous verse, there was a wide range of opinions that accompanied this verse in their commentaries. With this verse, some of the writers state that Moses saw the sin of the people and wished that if God would destroy them, that he, God, should destroy Moses as well. Some say that Moses knew that he was a sinner as well, while others say that he would not want to see the destruction of Israel from before him. Some commentaries want to go as far as placing Moses, in this verse, as a type of savior. that he was willing, because of the great love for his brethren, to suffer eternal damnation and separation from God in exchange for the salvation of his people. The eternal security camp goes as far as to say that this was his request, though not desirable or even possible, in the fact that Moses was saved and could not fall from this grace. After reading many of the different viewpoints, I would like to give you my own opinion, and it would be this. First of all, Moses' request would be this, that if the Lord would not forgive the people's sin, and they should be punished with death, then he also needed that punishment. Moses saw that these people who came up out of Egypt, who had left all that they knew, even though they complained and grumbled about it many times, It was because of fear, desperation, and lack of faith that they sinned in creating the golden calf. Unlike Moses, who had premeditated murder in his past, he was just as capable of evil as the rest of Israel. Moses, who was the one to carry the tablet with the words written on it, you shall not murder. This Moses, I think, knew that if the people's sin would not be forgiven, then neither should his be. Secondly, is the fact that Moses knew there was a Savior coming. For in Genesis 3.15, he wrote, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Also in Deuteronomy 18, verses 15 through 18, Moses speaking says, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, him you shall hear. According to all you desire of the Lord, your God in Horeb, in the day of the assembly saying, let me not again hear the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore lest I die. And the Lord said to me, what they have spoken is good, for I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." I think Moses knew that a savior was coming, not just as a great prophet, but also a great deliverer, someone who would be able, someone who would be like him, but one who could truly take away the sins of Israel and the world. And thus I think that when Moses desired to be blotted out of the Lord, out of the Lord's book, it refers to the book of the living, those who are registered today. But because the Lord responded with, whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book, many commentaries think that this book is the book of life. And it is on this point that my thinker became sore because almost all of the commentaries were either at one end or the other with this point. And even with such a broad field of views, it became a very fine line that divided the points that this book is either the book of the life or just the book of the living. I always say that if you have a view, it must always fit in all places of Scripture. A view that fits in one place in the word of God cannot contradict in another. So thirdly, in showing that this is the book of the living, the Lord said to Moses, whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. We must first look at the context of this verse. Israel had committed a great sin. They had made a golden calf and proclaimed it, it was their God. Moses spoke to the people and said, so now I will go up to the Lord. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin, your sin, the people's sin. Moses spoke to God and God spoke to Moses as a man speaks to his friend, Exodus 33 11. They were having a personal conversation about what Israel had done in verse 31. Then Moses said to the Lord, O these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a God of gold. And then we have verse 32 and 33. The ones that we read before. But in verse 34, the Lord is still speaking to Moses, and he is talking about the people. Israel, he says, talking about the people Israel. And he says in 34, Now therefore, go and lead the people. to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin." So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. In the context, the Lord and Moses were talking about the here and now. These people who had sinned would be blotted out of the Book of the Living, but not right away. They were to be led to a specific place, and when the Lord visited them for punishment, it was for what they did. I think where it changes, and commentaries take it further, is when they take the verse out of the context that it is in, and apply it to the general teaching of the Bible. which is, in a nutshell, Ezekiel 18.20, which says, the soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. The believer will be saved by his repentance and faith in Christ. The lost will forfeit it and will die. Just as Barnes said in the quote, those who reject God's great salvation offered to them may justly fear the indignation that will be poured out upon them. If man will sin, the Lord will reckon for it. But those that have multiplied to sin may yet find mercy through the righteousness of the mediator. God shuts no one out God shuts not out any from that righteousness. The gospel excludes none who do not, by unbelief, shut themselves out. This is a great truth. Perpetual, unrepented living in sin will lead to death. Spiritual death, physical death, and also eventually eternal death. This truth that Barnes teaches can be taken out of out of Exodus chapter 32 and 33 can be found and is taught throughout scripture that sinning unbelievers will not be written in the book of life. But we must be very careful that when we apply this verse back into the chapter in this form, this chapter of Exodus, and if Moses and the Lord are talking about the same book, let's say the book of life, then Moses is requesting his death into hell over heaven. His eternal death over eternal life, which I think goes against the character of a man like Moses, who spoke to God face to face. With these three points, I think that in this context, in this verse, in these verses of 32 and 33, we have what is referred to Moses and God as the Book of the Living. A great book in the presence of God with the list of names of everyone that is alive today. We haven't even covered some of the aspects of how one is blotted out of this book. It is death, of course, but think of this. God has given mankind all the power and capacity of filling this book through procreation. God only put two names into this book, and can anyone guess who they would be? Adam and Eve, all the rest, all the rest of them have been placed there by humans, by us. Everyone else has been placed in there, in that book, by means of a man and a woman in the form of another person being born. But Adam and Eve were not the first ones to be blotted out. And can anyone tell me who would be the first one to be blotted out of that book? Abel. You see, God has given man a free will, which can be a horrible thing. God has given man the capability of putting names into this book, but also the capacity of blotting out pages and pages of this book as well, in the form of murder. That is what Moses did. He caused the name of that Egyptian to be blotted out. By his own hands, he removed a name from that book. As I said, man has been given the horrible power through free will to wipe off pages and pages of names from within this book. And it is a horrible thing. It is not what God intended. Each one, all of us are in that book. And as I shared before, how fast people are being added to that book, 150 every minute. But the sad part is, they are also being removed almost as fast, and most of them without hope. For there is only one way, that is through the cross of Jesus Christ. He is the only way that we can, he is the only one who can take the punishment in place of others on that cross. And our goal should be that we should never cease getting names that are written in the Book of the Living into that great Book of Life. So in conclusion, we looked at four books today. The Book of Transgressions, in which it was not so much a separate book from the Book of Works, but I labeled it separate because of the difference in how it views sin. And we know that all things are written in the Book of Works, but through repentance, our sins can be blotted out of that book as well. Second, the Book of Sorrow, where not so much our actions may have played a part in the writing of this book, but rather the actions of others that bring us pain and heaviness. God knows all our sorrows. He knows all our trials. God knows the things that trouble our heart. And lastly, we looked at the Book of the Righteous and the Book of the Living, and I think that is all they are. The Book of the Righteous is a list of those who are righteous as opposed to those who are wicked. The Book of the Living is only a book containing all those who are alive on earth today, with people being added to it and removed from it each and every second. May we use our time here on earth, while our name is still in that book, to bring glory to God and live right before him. Thank you.