Hope you had a good afternoon, productive. Mine was very productive. And so I was diligently, well, not diligently. I guess I was diligently taking a nap. And so anyway, and I did do a little study, and then I took a nap. And it's good to take a nap sometime. When I was a kid, I never wanted to take a nap. Now that's all I want to do is take a nap. So life turns around on you. A few years ago, I preached a series of sermons here out of Revelation 320. And in thinking about what I should do, this is assurance. And assurance of what? Well, assurance of salvation. Well, of course, you have to have salvation if you're going to have assurance. And so I was thinking that I and the Lord bless those sermons. I know in the conversion of at least one and maybe being many others being helped. And so I decided. that this might be good to return to this. Actually, these sermons, what made me start thinking about these sermons is John Flavel. John Flavel was a Puritan, lived between 1628 and 1692, I think. He was a nonconformist, obviously, and so they, They, you know, there were some England and some laws in England that banned him from the pulpit. Well, in about 1662, he was not able to come to preach publicly in pulpit, so he had to improvise and he, there was a, a stone, a rock, that was near the coastline. And in low tide, the rock was exposed, and so he would go get on that rock and preach, and the congregation would hang around. And then when the tide began, he would preach until the tide came back in, and he would run all his heroes to the boats. So they'd have to get in the boats and leave. So it was kind of interesting. But he did not allow the fact that he was going to be arrested or fined to stop him. Well, ultimately, in about 1872, King James II, not the King James of the King James Bible, but King James II, allowed the nonconformance, called the Nonconformity Act, and he was able to go back after about 10 years to the pulpit. Well, I think it was about 1680, he decided that he should write a sermon or sermons on England's duty in the day of gospel liberty. So now that we have gospel liberty, in other words, to preach the gospel, what should England do? And these sermons were published under that title. Well, later, I think much later, someone was, and it is a habit of people to go to the Puritans And the Puritans were very wordy people. They never said in a word what they could say in a sentence. They never said in a sentence what they could say in a paragraph. They never said in a paragraph what they could say in a chapter. And they never said in a chapter what they could say in a book. So if you know anything about them, you know that I mean, they were just, their writings were just tremendous. And yet, like John Owen wrote a commentary on the book of Hebrews only, just the book of Hebrews, it was seven volumes, you know, two of them introduction. So he wrote two whole volumes on introduction to the book of Hebrews. That's not uncommon with the Puritans. Well, and so what people have done since then, they have gone in and taken certain portions of the Puritans and published them as books. So you might have seen something like Puritan paperbacks or something like, well, this sermon, these sermons, was popularized by a little book that I think was first published in the mid-19th century. But anyway, it was under the popular title, Christ Knocking at the Heart's Door by John Flavor. Now, that's the first time I was introduced to it. And it seemed a little odd that a Puritan would call his sermon that. Well, my suspicions bore out he never called it that. But someone who republished it did. Now, this idea in Revelation 3.20 of Christ standing at the heart's door has surely been in the last century or so, maybe a century and a half, has been a very common and a very favored subject of having Christ at the door of the heart knocking. There's even a famous picture that was developed, first of all, by a guy named William Holden, not the actor, in the middle of the 1800s or the 19th century. And then a man named Salmon. Now Holden painted it. Salmon was in the 20th century. And he called it the light of the world. Jesus. And he was standing there at a door. And he called it the light of the world. Salmon called it Christ knocking at the heart's door. However it's been handled and whatever has been done with it, it is obviously a passage of Scripture. And so, following Flabel, who has helped me immensely, I developed three sermons, probably should have been six. But anyway, I developed three sermons on Revelation 320 following Flavel. So if anything I say is Flavel, I give him credit now. I may say some things that's me, But I may say some things that I think is me, but was really him. So I just want to blanket giving you a blanket caveat, I guess. And but either way, if it's if it's true, it needs to be said no matter how many said it before us. And and really, what do I know? I've only know what I've read. I've only known I only know what I've been taught. I only know what someone else, and how did they know? I think sometime God has, I mean, there's surely a source where God gave it to me. And sometime God gives us as preachers, modern preachers, some things. But we surely shouldn't discount those before us. We stand on shoulders of giants. And I make surely no apology. If it has been said, then I want to say it as well as it has been said. And it reminds me of a kind of humorous statement by J.D. Gray, who is a longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. In fact, he was alive and I knew about him even as I became a young preacher, J.D. Gray. And here's what J.D. Gray said, I will preach better sermons when they write them. So when they write them, I'll preach better sermons. Meaning, you know, obviously we depend upon others. Well, here we are, Revelation 3.20. It is in the context of the seven letters to the churches in the book of Revelation. Now, let me just say this, maybe more for the preachers than anybody else, but let me just say this, that the book of Revelation is probably one of the hardest books in all the Bible to understand what it's saying. In fact, John Calvin wrote a commentary on every book of the Bible, all 65. But he didn't write one on Revelation. Now, if John Calvin was not willing to touch it, I'm not really sure we should be, but Martin Luther, now Martin Luther was, of all of the reformers, Martin Luther's really my favorite guy because of his, how can I put this very nicely, because of his wit and sarcasm. Let me just show you a little bit of his sarcasm. When Leo the 10th excommunicated Luther for saying we are saved by grace alone and started a real stir, he was excommunicated by the Pope, Leo the 10th, where Luther, after he found out that the Pope had excommunicated him, he excommunicated the Pope. So that's pretty good. Well, Luther said, and of course, you know, the most famous statement or the most famous account of Luther is that he was in Wittenberg Castle and he, no, I'm sorry, he was in Wartburg Castle and he was studying and actually translating the Bible out of Greek and Hebrew into English. And the devil, as he said, showed up and mocked him. and he picked up the inkwell, you know they used to write with quills and they'd dip it in the ink, and he picked up the inkwell and threw it at the devil. And even today, the castle's still there, you can go and see the ink spot on the wall where Luther threw the inkwell at the devil. Now, I was reading in Christianity Today an article by a long time ago, this was in, early, I think this maybe was 1980, I read in a guy named R.C. Sproul, I didn't even know who he was. So this is back in 1980 now, a long time ago. And so R.C. Sproul wrote an article, Christ Saved Luther's Sanity Too. You know, and so, because Luther had these interesting accounts in his life. You know, he's riding down. He was Catholic, very superstitious. His father wanted him to be a lawyer, and he's riding his horse, and a thunderstorm came up, and lightning came out, you know, struck and struck a tree right very close to him. I don't know if you've ever been around that, but lightning striking very close to you is something that would be horrifying. Well, he fell in the mud and cried out, being superstitious and a Catholic, saying, Saint Anne, if you save my life, I will become a priest or a monk. So he did. And his daddy was very upset with him, because his daddy wanted a lawyer, because lawyers make more money than preachers. And so anyway, he had, but I remember writing a letter to, a letter to the editor. And it got printed in Christianity Today, my letter. How about that? And I said, if Martin Luther was insane, may God rain insanity on us all. Luther said of the book of Revelation, throw it out of the Bible, nobody understands it. Now, I'm not in agreement with that, but that shows you the frustration of the book. But simply because it cannot be grasped by most people or has not or may not have been grasped by most people, doesn't mean it should be ignored. I mean, if you don't really know fully what it's saying, the book should not be ignored because first of all, it says in chapter one, blessed is the one that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy. So that's clear that this book should be read out loud in the church. Blessed are they who read this book and they that hear the reading of this book. And so we should go in and find these wonderful passages of Scripture through the book of Revelation that are powerful texts that can be preached even if you don't understand everything that the book is talking about. And here is one of those passages. I think, of all the preachers in here, how many of you have done a series on the seven letters to the churches? Well, I think maybe all of us have done that. So it's preachable. It is preachable. Now, this is the church at Laodicea. The problem with the church at Laodicea is that it makes God nauseated. God said, you know, I would spew, now I think after Bill and Ted's great adventures, Bill and Ted, I think after his, they, spew does now actually mean vomit. You know, so, but here, spit you out, but literally the word here is, in verse 16, So this would be Revelation 3, 16. So then, because thou art lukewarm, neither hot, cold, nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. I will vomit you out of my mouth. That is not the kind of language you want God to be saying about your church. Or about you. God cannot stand a casualness. Either hate it, Fight against it. Despise it. Or embrace it with zeal. But don't play with it. Don't be casual in it. And I'm wondering, you know, if God was writing a letter to us today and to the church seeing today, would he not say something similar because of the casualness? Why would you be casual with your soul? You have to be blinded by the devil to be casual about your soul. You have to be eaten up by this world to be casual about your soul. You have to be totally insensitive to the things of God to be casual about your soul. And the Lord said, be hot or be cold. I tell you, I'd much rather have someone fighting against me and denying the Scripture and saying it is nothing but the imaginations of men It's poppycock. It has no truth in it than to have these people who say, well, you know, we're Christian too. And they are just everything contrary to it. It's better. Here's what Peter said in 2 Peter 2.21. It's better never to have known the way of righteousness. or the way of truth than wants to have known it to depart from the holy commandment. Ignorance is much, much more acceptable in the sight of God. Ignorance is something preferred by God than arrogance. It's better never to have known the way of righteousness than once to have known it to depart from the holy commandment because it's happened to use the true proverb. The dog has returned to his vomit. Now you know what that means, right? If you know anything about dogs, dogs will eat their own vomit. I'll never forget the, I had a big dog, Belle. A big dog, Belle. She was the best dog I ever had. A cross between a boxer and a rock wilder. She had a stout heart. And she ran the neighborhood. I mean, the rest of the dogs, when they got together, called her boss. And when Katrina came, and everybody lost their electricity. and all this meat was ruined, they threw it out. And my dog ran over there and vacuumed it up. And then, I'll never forget, she ran into the house, my house, well, actually the house the Parsons at the church owned, ran into the house and got in the middle of the living room and you guessed it, hacked it right up there in the middle of my living room. But it was okay, because he turned right back around and ate it again. I don't know what's worse. The true proverb, the dog has returned to the vomit, and the sow who was washed and her wallowing in the mire. Would you ever expect the Bible to say it's better never to have known this? It's better for you not to know these things than to know them. See, that's the danger. That is the real danger of being raised by Christian parents in a church setting. A real danger. You become cynical. You think you know the answers because you can quote the vocabulary? Because you can answer the theological questions? Let me say this to you. Salvation is not the ability to answer theological questions. Nor is it to believe these things in the sense of having faith in your knowledge of them. See how subtle this thing is? I was listening to these men preach this morning. How subtle is this? Your assurance is based on what? It's based upon the work of Christ, the shedding of His blood, and the transfer of His righteousness to you. And yet immediately after that, it says there's some internal evidences of this. So it's not about what you do and it's about what you do. It's about claiming the imputed righteousness of Christ and yet it is about that imputed righteousness of Christ becoming an imparted righteousness to you. And I could see why somebody sitting would be so confused by these things. Because it's so subtle. And there is a real nuance to this. Because Christianity is never, and I'll use a phrase that I've heard all my life, Christianity is never taught. It is caught. It is something that happens to you Because if your parents could teach you, they would. If the preachers could teach you, they would. And what we do as preachers is we preach this gospel as it were. We throw out life preservers preaching this gospel into the dark. And we do not know if the drowning people in that dark ocean of sin and degradation will ever seize it or not. Our desire is that they do. We are not. I remember when I was in senior and high school, I learned the difference between uninterested and disinterested. Uninterested means you just really have no interest in it at all. You lack interest. Disinterested means you don't really care about the outcome. A referee should be disinterested, but not uninterested. I mean, a referee needs to keep his head in the game, but he should be disinterested. In other words, he shouldn't be pulling for one team or the other. Preachers. are not uninterested, obviously, but nor are we disinterested. Now we know, those of us who understand the sovereignty of God know that God has to do something for you and that my words are not the words of God. The words of God have to be More than my words. My words have to become by a supernatural act of the Spirit of God, the words of God, or they will be of none effect to you. That's why we preach in fear and trembling. We're not fearful and trembling because we're afraid the congregation won't like us. We're not in fear and trembling because we're afraid someone will fight us or curse us or dislike us. No, we are in fear and trembling that God may not use us. That nothing will change. That's what brings great fear and trembling to the heart of the preacher. It has to be something God does. And we don't control. But we have to push with these words, the words and all we have is this gospel. That's all we ever had. That's all we will ever have. This preached gospel, this gospel that is that is set on fire by prayer. Preaching in prayer. And God may not use the first or hear the second. We are called, and I told them in Africa, and I've used this at Bethlehem. We are called as preachers to do the impossible. Anybody can do the possible. If Christianity could be transferred to you by the possible, we would have already done it. We're not called to do possible things, but impossible things. And who's sufficient for such things? How could we do that? The rich young ruler came to Jesus. Good master, what must I do? He said to Christ to be saved. Jesus said, why are you calling me good? That's a shocking statement. That's a shocking reply. The first time I read that, I thought, what? You are good. What are you doing to this guy? Why did you say that? Why are you calling me good? There's none good but God. Well, I must give the rich young ruler points for being persistent. That didn't rebuff him. I think Jesus was saying to him, do you see something in me? Are you here because you see something in me? Or are you here because you see something in you? He said, keep the commandments. The young man says, I've done that. I can just see a lot of the people in my church, a lot of young people in my church saying the same thing. I've done that. I'm telling you, I've done that from my youth up. When I was in the nursery, they were catechizing me and teaching me these words. Right on up. I know the words. I've kept the commandments, he said. Now don't ever contend with Jesus, because you know what Jesus will do to you? He will strip you naked in front of everyone. I've done that. He didn't argue with him. He didn't say, no, you didn't. Here's what he said. Fine, go sell everything you have. Give it to the poor and follow me. And the Bible says he walked away very sad because he was very rich. And the disciples were astonished. All their lives they have been taught there are two things you need, two things that guarantee the blessing of God in your life if you're religious and wealthy. And here's a religious, wealthy man Rejected by Jesus, not rejected by Jesus because Jesus, you know, said to him, you know, I reject you, but rejected by Jesus because Jesus exposed him. To himself. And to everyone around. And the disciples were astonished. who then can be saved. If this rich religious man can't be saved, what does a poor ignorant fisherman, what chance does he have? And Jesus said, well, I'll tell you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And then the King James Version says, they were sore amazed. Have you ever been so amazed that you got sore? They were sore amazed. Who then can be saved? Jesus says, well, with man it's impossible. But with God, all things are possible. So here is a church that is nauseating. You say, verse 17, I'm rich. I'm increased with goods. and have need of nothing. And you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. That's what you are. What do you have need of today? I can tell you one of the most, one of the most clearest, or maybe I should say the clearest evidence that you are not a believer is that you have need of nothing. You sit here having no need then you're in your sin. And Jesus gives them some advice. And then verse 20, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man heard my voice and opened the door, I will come into him and will sup, meaning I will eat with him. We get the word supper from this. I will eat with him. I will fellowship with him. And he with me. So you can't lose that part. And he with me. Now the sadness of this story is that Jesus is standing outside the door of this church. Jesus is not in the church. He's outside the door of the church. And Jesus is knocking Jesus has come to that church. He's not ignored that church. He's not left that church alone, but he has come. And when Christ shows up, he never is there without making his presence known. You see that? He's there. Did they invite him? No. He came. on his own, for his own purposes. He came to the door and they are not ignorant of the fact he's there. He's made himself known. He's knocking. He's knocking at the door. He's not just standing at the door hoping somebody might notice. He's knocking at the door. And then he shifts. This is very interesting what the Spirit of God does. Here's Christ shifting His language. I stand at the door, knock. If any man hear my... He doesn't say knock. If any man hears my knock, he doesn't say knock. You think, following this, that the word would be knock. If any man hears my knock. But He doesn't say that. He says, if any man hears my voice. It's about a voice. If Christ is outside your life, you know He's outside your life. He has surrounded you with witnesses. You are swimming, as it were, in an ocean of witness of Christ. You can't run away from His knocking. You can't close your ears to His knocking. It's all around you. And sometimes it pinches your conscience. Often, it doesn't. You're able to be in the presence of Christ in your little casual way of living as if He owes you something. When He owes you nothing. And every time, you see, there is, and again, in a sermon or in a line of the sermon, Flavel says, the hazard, there is a hazard in this present Conditioned that you are in outside of Christ. You're in the church and outside of Christ. What a hazard. All things are coming well. God is blessing you greatly. What a hazard in these precious seasons that the Lord has given to you. It's because it hardens you. Because you take it for something that it's not. You misunderstand it. You think God is doing you a favor. But when you do not believe, when you are in your sin, greedily receiving all the wonderful blessings of God in your life and ignoring Him and His knocks and His voice outside your life, you are living on the precipice of a great abyss. And the next step could cause your foot to slide and you will be for eternity in hell away from Him. And you skip and play and dance and seek the things of the world as if you are far from the edge. As if you have all kind of time. As if every, you know, every urge and lust that you have, you can fulfill it and then you'll have some ability, some time to run back to Christ. I knew a man in the church that I pastored and he was an infidel and he was a whoremonger. And he was unfaithful to his wife and to his children and to their interests. But he lived long enough to where all of that stuff left him. And I remember listening to him talk about what he used to be. I mean, in a sense that he was kind of, you know, confessing. But I could hear in his voice the longing for that sin. that he physically no longer could participate in. And this man was so hardened that the gospel rolled off of him like water off the feathers of a duck. And if we were not emphasizing him, if we were not giving him praise, if we were not giving him a platform. When I first came to that church in Baton Rouge, they were doing all kind of crazy stuff. So I showed up, and one of the craziest things they did is every Sunday, if somebody had a birthday or an anniversary, they'd come down, put a little money in this little bank that was shaped like a church, and then we would sing happy birthday to him. I said, oh, my soul. And so I put up with it for just a little while, and then I just basically forgot to do it. This person came up to me and said, you forgot the birthday today. I said, yeah, right. Anyway. And so I forgot it day after day until finally they said, we're not doing birthdays and anniversaries anymore. I said, no, that's right. We're not. Over. That was BC. That was before Kerry. Well, I'll never forget this guy caught me in the hallway and said to me, you don't know much about pastoring, do you? I don't know much about pastoring. You whoremonger old fool. I don't know much about pastoring. What do you know except your sin? I didn't tell him that. But I wanted to. I didn't know. See, that's the danger. That's the danger you are in. That's the danger of being a church member from the beginning. Now, it could be a wonder. It could be a wonderful blessing of the Lord. Or it could harden your heart and send you straight to hell. What's the difference? Pride. I remember when I first learned about a catechism, I had a man look to me and said, you catechize your children. I said, aren't you afraid that you're going to put it in their head and not their heart? And I told him in one of these moments that the Lord gave me a great answer at standing flat footed. I said, well, sir, that's the only place I can put it is in their head. It'll take the supernatural power of God to put it in their heart, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to put it in their head. Look, the wind blows where it listed, where it wills. But I'll tell you one thing, I'm going to put my children where the wind blows. The wind has known, I mean, we have known the wind blows here, so I'm going to put them there. But again, There's a great danger in it. So here's the Lord. Knocking. These are witnesses. The knocking of Christ are the witnesses. These are God's witnesses to all the offers And to all the pleading made of Christ by the gospel. So this knocking are these witnesses. So who are these witnesses? Or what are these witnesses? Well, first of all, it's his ministers, his preachers. These preachers, what we're doing here before you, And you can tell this irks the flesh. You can tell that when we are up here teaching these vital things, we're not talking about things that are just periphery on the edge. We're talking about vital things. We're talking about things that you must know if you're going to survive this world. And you're not going to die in your sin. These are things you must know. But they irk your flesh. And you can tell. Look at the little ones among us. Look at the ones that are just totally in the flesh and are not subtle enough or sophisticated enough to hide it. Who will say to their mother, I hate church. But see, you won't say that. You're too sophisticated for that. I don't like this preaching. Well, I know it irks your flesh, and I know, so how do you know? Because it irked mine. You're not the first person that ever happened into this world. Yes, your parents, no. You know why? Because they were you. And a lot of times parents are very upset with you for doing things. You know why? Because it reflects what they did. And they were so hoping that you were their second chance. But you're not. They have their life. You have your life. Any parent that tries to live his or her life in their children, they are wrong. They are foolish. and they will be hurtful. You've had your life, they have their life. And you want to deliver them from the mistakes you've made, which is indeed something that's commendable. But the problem is, and often Christian parents forget, we have been changed and they have not. So here's my advice to parents concerning their children. Put them under the law. Don't deal with infidels. Don't deal with people who are dead in their sins with grace. You put them under the law. And you watch them because they are little heathens. They will do, you see, exactly what you did. Disadvice. I remember advice parents giving their children. Send them off out in the world, in a car, in the dark, hormones raging. Fools! And say, now don't do anything I wouldn't. Right, Dad, I won't. Because Dad did the same thing. I'll never forget this boy came to my office. I thought he was kind of bold to come to the preacher's office, but he came to the preacher's office, and here's what he said. He's about, I don't know, I guess he's 17 maybe. He said, now, preacher, I want to ask you a question. I said, all right. How far is too far? How far is too far? You're sitting in my office, looking across my desk, asking a preacher, how far is too far? Well, son, you've already gone too far. And then he bowed up at me. Well, you don't trust me? No, I don't. I would trust you about as much as I trust the devil. No, I don't trust you. And in fact, I wouldn't trust me in that setting. An old guy who has a wife, I wouldn't trust me in that setting. Why would I trust you? So the parents basically have to put guard over your life or you'll ruin yourself. See, I have a responsibility with my children and I knew it from the moment I was 20, two almost 23 years old, and they handed me this baby. Poor baby. That I'm gonna have to take care of him and raise him. 18 years. That was an optimistic, that was a very optimistic guess. It was longer than 18 years, trust me. Here it is. Here's the baby in my hands. And now I'm responsible for this child. What am I going to do? How am I going to be able to raise this child? Sinful little brat. I mean, almost immediately they become brattish. And then what's interesting is, there's not like three, they begin to talk and then they know more than you do. So I would say to them, you know, this, this, uh-uh. What do you mean, uh-uh? What do you know? You got about 17 synapses going on in your brain. Well, yeah, I'm a guardian. And I have this responsibility to get them to adulthood. I knew that. I had the responsibility to get them to adulthood as unscathed by this world as possible. As possible. And so I put them under the law. And when they got old enough and began, you know, when you're a young child, A young boy, you don't want to get girl germs. Ew, girls. Then all of a sudden, you wake up one day, and that's all you want is girl germs. So I said, well, sure, you want to take this girl out? That's fine. I'll go with you. What? I said, yeah. I mean, I won't sit between you. I'll just sit near you. And the only thing I ask is that you buy me some popcorn, and then just keep feeding me popcorn, and I'll go. They said, ah, nah, never mind. I don't really want to go. I said, well, good. So I don't have to take time to go with you. And what I'll do is I'll call this girl's father, and I will ask her if it would be all right for me to go with you Now, see I had to get them to adulthood as unscathed as possible because they're sinners and they will ruin themselves. They will ruin. Do you realize one moment of pleasure and lust will ruin your whole life? And you get one life. So I am responsible, you see. And it irks you. It irks you. But one day you will rise up and call your mother and your father blessed because they didn't let you. So here are the ministers preaching. called of God to do one thing, and that one thing is this gospel witness. Preachers may do a lot of other things, but the one thing they've been called to do, gifted to do, ordained to do, responsible to do. Here's what the Apostle Paul tells the young Timothy Give heed to yourself and to this gospel. For in so doing, you will save yourself and them that hear you. Second of all, what is this knocking? The witness is the gospel itself. This gospel which is preached to you. It's a testimony or a witness for God. And it is a witness against everyone who rejects it. The Lord says in the 12th chapter of John, verse 48, He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken. The same shall judge him in the last day. When you stand before God. See, the world says you won't. Your friends say you won't. Your flesh says you won't. Everybody says there's no accountability, there's no standing before God. Everyone says that to you except God Himself. And God Himself says you will stand in judgment And what will judge you? This gospel that irks you, this gospel that you hate, this gospel that you have rejected, shall stand up in that day and point a finger in your face and say, you are the man, you are the woman you see. that deserves punishment, because when God in His gracious design came to you, my friend, you didn't have to find Him when you could not go to where He was. He came to you. And He is in this room tonight. If we have done two things, Jesus Christ and His Spirit is here. If we have truly praised God, If we have truly sung the praises of the living God, that's why our songs should be filled with more things about Him than things about us. We should be sure, if we can only sing one, let's sing, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Who were't and are't and evermore shall be, only Thou art holy. Praise Him. I tell you my friends, start praising Him. Praise Him in the morning. Praise Him in the evening. Fill your mind and your mouth with His praises because He, the Spirit of the living God, will inhabit those praises. He'll come. And if we have met here in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, now maybe we hadn't. Maybe we've met here in the name of volleyball. Maybe we've met here in the name of swimming hole. That'd be a pathetic thing to do, that swimming hole. I mean, it'd be the ocean maybe, but that's a mud puddle, my friends. Y'all playing in a mud puddle. You met here for that? You met here to see each other? No. We're here. In the name of Christ. And if we are, he's here. He's here. And you're sitting in his presence. Thinking about mundane and worldly things. While the gospel is a witness to you. Oh, my friend, it is a witness to you. Oh, how I pray. It will never become a witness against you. And then every man's conscience is a witness. He hath a fair offer once made to him. Your conscience has made a fair offer. The very consciousness of the heathen that never saw a Bible, that had no other preachers but the sun, the moon, and the stars, and other works of nature. They have seen this witness. How much more, my friend, is this witness to you, this witness that God has given to you? They've never seen a Bible, and you probably have six or seven Bibles. They've never heard a gospel sermon, and you've heard them ad nauseum. They've never had a mother to pray over them, a father to live godly before them, and yet they're responsible because of the law that's written in their hearts and in their conscience, also bearing them witness and their thoughts. The meanwhile, either excusing themselves or accusing themselves. And what a witness have you had? And then the witness is all those That do believe and obey the gospel that are around you. The examples of those that believe and obey the gospel are so many witnesses for God against the despisers and the neglecters of this salvation. That's why the devil can't stand it when someone is converted. Another witness. And not only that, your flesh can't stand it. That's why there's so many people. You see, when someone becomes a Christian, the first thing they do is go back to their old friends. But you know what? Their old friends reject them, so they have to get a new set of friends. Because this one who believes the gospel comes back and stands before you and accuses you for not believing it. Not because they want to accuse you, the very fact that they believe accuses you. It's a witness. It's a witness. That's why a lot of people delight in the fact when Christians fall. Oh wow, some big Christian you are, right? There's a line in its own property of Dylan by Bob Dylan on the property of Jesus, I'm sorry, by Bob Dylan. He says, go ahead and talk about him. Go ahead and talk about him because he makes you doubt. Because he's denied himself of things you can't live without. Because he can't be bribed or bought by the things you adore. So here's this one, maybe even in a youth group in church, or there's those in the youth group who have made decisions that have not changed their lives. Then here's one that God reaches down and transforms in your very presence before your very eyes. Oh, that's nice. Oh, I'm so happy for you. But deep down in your heart, you despise it. because it shows you what you are not. It's a witness. Oh, how I pray. And my prayer is that the Lord would reach down and magnificently convert two or three among you and that it would just will run through the group as a fire because of the witness of what God has done in them. Maybe it will expose you as those who play the game. How subtle, how flattering. Oh, you know how. You know how to be and do and say exactly what you think the poor foolish preacher wants you to do, think and say, or your parents or your Sunday school teacher or whatever. But you know what's in your heart. And God continues to knock. And you continue to run. And God continues to put these witnesses, these preachers in your way, this gospel in your way. These friends that have been converted in your way. You continue as a madman running away from these things, you see. The psalmist says it's a hedge with a wall in it. You know, it's bad to run through a hedge. If something gets after you, you'll run through the hedge. You'll scratch. And you don't care because your adrenaline's so up. This thing's going to catch you. This monster's going to eat you. So you're running through the hedge. But then in the middle of that hedge is a wall. Boom. You're running in the dark. Well, that's the gossip. If God will have you, that's where he's going to chase you. He's going to chase you through this hedge and you're going to get ripped to shreds. And then ultimately, it's do you no good to run from him. You're going to hit that wall. With the God tonight, he puts a hedge around us with a wall in the middle and you and you're running, well, tonight, hit that wall and say, I give up. There's no profit in running away from this gospel. Thank you, Father, for the bones you have broken. Rejoice. Let's pray. Help us, Father. Help us who are Christians to continue to be that witness. Rid our life of hypocrisy and duplicity. And the poor sinner who sits here tonight, wrapped in a cloak of religion, strip it from her. Strip it from him. May that knocking get louder and louder. Until they hear the voice. The voice of Christ. And we pray it in his name. Amen.