All right, well, as I was saying, it's good to be here and appreciate your pastor asking me. It's a great privilege, always kind of a great privilege to preach and have some influence. Anytime a preacher asks another preacher to come in and preach in that pulpit, he is trusting that preacher with influence. Personally, as a pastor, I've always enjoyed having pastors in. because they understand a congregation a little better than somebody who is not. I'm not against an evangelist, please don't. misunderstand what I'm saying. But there's something about knowing a church when you've pastored one. And so I appreciate the trust that Pastor Lynn has put in me for coming here this week. And I'm looking forward to it. Our church back home is praying. They always pray for me when I have the opportunity to go out of town and minister. And so it's a privilege to get to be here. and go ahead and tell you before I get to my text about when I got saved. I like to know that whoever's preaching the Bible to me actually has been born again. That's always an important part of the transaction that takes place during preaching. And I actually am not originally from down south. I lived for many years in Tennessee and I was called to pastor a church in Kentucky, but I was originally born in Ohio. I was born in Northeast Ohio up in Lorain County near Cleveland. And I was a Cleveland sports fan and learned how to cry a lot. But, uh, I had some flashbacks when I saw a sign, a road sign coming over here today. I don't, I've not been to Pennsylvania but once or twice and I was coming in it said Pittsburgh 85 miles and I just kind of had a shudder go through me. I don't know what that is, it's flashbacks or something, withdrawal, I don't know. But I was raised, I was fortunate enough to be raised in a Baptist church when I was a young boy. I was brought up in a Baptist church. We went on Sunday mornings at least. I heard the gospel from an early age. And I remember the gospel went to work on me as a young boy of six, seven, eight years old. I just remember something. I don't believe in pressing children into making professions of faith. but I also will not forbid them to come, because the Lord will save them." The gospel's the same. There's no over-18 gospel of grace and an under-18 version. You know, here's the kids' version of the gospel. It's all the same. They have to come to a place where we see our need, and in repentance, turn to Jesus Christ in faith. And when I was a little boy, I would hear a lot of preaching, and I would get feeling uncomfortable. I didn't like it a whole lot. My mom, she loved watching Billy Graham. And Billy Graham had those Crusades on back in the day. And when Billy Graham was going to be on, I was always bummed out for two reasons. Because mom was going to watch Monday through Friday night of those Crusades on television. And that meant two things. Number one, that was no Dukes of Hazzard for me on Friday night. Billy, Trump, Bo and Luke. But also I would hang around and I remember Mom folding clothes, sitting there in the living room listening to him preach. And I remember him preaching from the very passage that I'm gonna preach from tonight. And he talked about a man that died and he went to hell and had a great memory. And that stuck in my heart and in my mind and I would be troubled. I didn't like to hear preaching like that because it troubled me. But I'm thankful that God troubles people. A lot of times people, I've seen teachers, t-shirts that say, I want to go to church and not feel guilty. Well, if you're guilty, do something about it. You know, this idea that covering up guilt is good. I'm going to tell you something. Guilt is to the soul. What pain is to the body. It's a blessing because it lets you know you need help. You better have this looked at. And so I started feeling guilty. And I had a guy one time challenge me. I was eight years old. He said, you were eight years old and you had sin. I said, I was very much aware of it. And so was the spirit of God. Because you say, what did you do? Well, sin is the transgression of the law. I knew I had stolen small things. And that felt guilty. That's number eight. I knew I had lied to my parents to get out of trouble. That's a break into number nine. And by lying to my parents, that broke number five, honor thy father and thy mother. And so all I know is I knew that stuff was there. I was ashamed of it, and I knew I was in trouble because of it. And I was afraid to meet God. And so finally, the first Bible verse I learned went like this. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And I remember that in the middle of a Sunday school hour, I raised my hand as an eight year old and I said, what would I have to do so I could be saved? And they took me out of that classroom and a man opened the Bible. I don't recall. I was worried about my salvation for a lot of years in Baptist churches because I don't recall what verses he showed me or what I prayed, but that doesn't matter. What matters is, is I put my trust. in the Lord Jesus Christ and I turned to him and I know salvation is not in a feeling but let's not play off feelings because I left the church that day feeling a great burden off my shoulders. Jesus did say come unto me and I will give you rest all those who are heavy laden, laboring And so I got saved when I was eight years old. I trusted Jesus Christ. And sometime after that, I followed the Lord in baptism. And it was in my 20s that the Lord led me to a good church there in Tennessee. I can't say I always was in church and served the Lord. But I do know this, that I may have wandered off from him, but he never wandered off from me. In fact, he kind of went after me, it seemed like, and would always show up at the most inopportune times in my life to remind me, hey, remember what I did for you? And so I finally got in a good Bible-believing church down in Carthage, Tennessee. Pastor Ron Ralph was my pastor. And God began to show me the Word of God and teach me the Word of God through good preaching and teaching. And my life pivoted there in my mid-20s. And within a few years, the Lord had impressed upon my heart to preach the gospel. And I began preaching in nursing homes and on street corners and different places. And any place I had a chance, in the jail, and in the car to my wife and you know she does some preaching in the car as well but she's not ordained. But nevertheless, God called me to preach, and then he opened the door for me to go to Kentucky. And I've been there for the last 17 years. And I want to brag on my church. There's probably some of them listening right now. And I'm not saying this for any reason other than I'm thankful. I praise the Lord for the people that I pastor. We've got a church of about 175 people. And that's a blessing, and I'm excited about it. And this month is Pastor Appreciation Month. And they gave me a really nice pastor appreciation check last night. And that's a real blessing. And so if you want to make a preacher excited, take him out to eat or give him a check. Amen. And so I appreciate my church. They're a blessing to me and they have allowed me to learn. them and my prayer has been that God would mature me up and grow me up that I might do and execute what he's called me to do for his people and that's feed the sheep and lead them and try to counsel them and prepare them for the judgment seat of Christ someday and so I'm thankful for the church I pastor it's a privilege I'm not burnt out I'm not ready to pack up slack up or back up as they say I'm enjoying myself and yeah there's problems but I tell you what we've got a lot to be thankful for if you know the Lord Jesus Christ and the pardon and forgiveness of sin and lots to be thankful for. All right, let's turn our Bible tonight to Luke chapter 16, and I'm not here to depress you. I just want to look at some realities tonight and talk about some things that maybe we've not thought about before, but I want to help you tonight with the Word of God. I want to help you all week long. I've asked the Lord to help me to do that, and our church back home is praying I'm thankful to get to be here. Let's go to Luke chapter 16. Let's begin reading together in verse 19. Very familiar passage of scripture probably to you. During the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, he gives us this narrative. It is not a parable because he doesn't say it's a parable. And secondly, he uses a man's proper name. In parables, he did not use proper names. And you say, well, how do you know when he's speaking a parable? Well, there's this Bible study tool that'll help you. When Jesus is speaking a parable, it'll say in the Bible, and he spake unto them this parable. And so you know you're reading a parable when it says that. When it doesn't say that, it's not a parable. and uh so it's something that he is showing us this is a narrative and he's going to pull the curtain back on eternity and the death of these two men we're going to focus on the one who died unprepared but i want you to look at verse 19 with me the words of our lord jesus christ the bible says this there was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, thou art tormented. Beside all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from thence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for getting me here safely today. Thank you for this invitation to be at this church and be with this pastor and these folks this week. Lord, I do pray that you would use me to help this church strengthen these things and help these people. And Father, I can confess publicly that without you, I can do nothing. So, Lord, I pray you'd come and help me to preach the Word of God tonight. Help me not to say anything that would be an entanglement to somebody's mind, but help me, Lord, to speak plainly and clearly. And, Lord, I pray that the Spirit of God would open hearts and give us understanding tonight. Would you please meet with us now? And I pray you'd be glorified and honored. And I ask it all in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Now, this is a passage that is not one that is necessarily pleasant to read or even consider. But the fact that it's in the Bible means that God wants us to know about it. As I stated at the beginning, it's not a parable. It's just telling you about two men that died and two places that they went. One man went to paradise, and one man went to hell. And Jesus Christ is teaching us some things, and we get a clear look into eternity. And hell, of course, is an awful place. It's a place where men are conscious. Clearly this man is aware, he has desires and he's aware, he can remember. He has desires that are not being met, not being satisfied. Something as simple as thirst is not being met. And can I tell you the old things that you see on bumper stickers about, you know, I'm going to hell and we're going to party with my friends. The problem is if you're an addict or if you're a drunkard and you're hooked and in bondage to liquor, to drugs, when you get to hell, there is none of those things there. The devil is a teetotaler. And so the problem is you still have those desires when you get there. I can remember one time being in the Cleveland Hospital for children when I was a little boy. And I was up there for some problems and issues I was having at the time. And I could hear down the hallway a young man that just sounded like he was being tortured to death. And I was terrified. I asked my mom, I said, what are they doing to him? you know keep that nurse out of my room whatever's going on and uh my mom said i don't know and she's kind of looking down the hallway and she come down she said oh it's really sad she says that boy is having withdrawals he's on some kind of drug and they're detoxing him and i remember that i went down i had an ivy and i rolled past that boy's room and i could look in And in that room was a young man, maybe 11, 12 years old, and I remember his eyes, the bags under his eyes, the sweat running down, his hair was stuck to his face, and they had him handcuffed, and a police officer was in there to a bed, and he was pulling on those handcuffs. And I didn't understand at the time, but I said, what's going on? And my mom says, his body is craving what he's given it for so long that now he's having what they call withdrawals, and it must be something really bad. Well, can I tell you something? When this man was just asking for water and he couldn't get any. When somebody, some sinner that dies unrepentant and dead in their sins, lost in their sins and they end up in hell, they're very conscious and they still have all of their old desires. That's an awful thing. Conscious, he's confined. He can't get out, and he's concerned for his family. He remembers. Maybe memory would be one of the worst things about hell. He remembers he has five brothers, and he doesn't defend them and say, they're good people, and I know they're going to paradise, and they believe in God, and all of that stuff we say, or people say about their relatives in order not to think about an awful place that they could possibly go someday. But he wasn't being dishonest here. He was saying, hey, could you send somebody to tell my five brothers about this awful place that they might not come here. He's concerned about what's going on. back on earth. The Bible talks about this place being obviously we've heard about everlasting fire and everlasting destruction it never ends but there's also one that says everlasting contempt and shame. You know what's the problem on earth is many times God equipped every man with a conscience. A conscience has the law of God written in it, the moral code of God. Every man, whether he's ever read the Bible or not, he knows it's wrong to steal, he knows it's wrong to lie, he knows it's wrong to take another man's wife or vice versa. And so the point being is there's conscience there, but if you sear it long enough and if you go against it long enough, you can deaden your conscience to where, as the Bible says, you get to a place where sin doesn't make you blush anymore. In other words, there's no shame that goes with it. That's the problem in the society we live in now. You want to know why people aren't flocking to Jesus Christ? It's because they see no need. It's not that they don't have a need. It's because they don't feel it, they don't see it. Why? Because they look around and they can always find someone who's worse. But it don't take a whole lot to look around and find somebody that's worse, amen, in society we're living in. Things are getting crazy. But here's the problem. When you get to hell, God restores that conscience. You say, how do you know? Because shame is the feeling that you get when you're aware of your guilt. You can be guilty and not feel shame. That's when you deaden your conscience. But when you first feel guilty, when you say you feel guilty, what you mean is I feel ashamed of what I've done. I know and I can sense the wrong that I have done and I regret it. That's shame. Well, when you get to hell, God restores that conscience, it appears, and a man is fully aware of his shame at that point. Now here's the thing, many people hear bits and pieces of this kind of doctrine from Bible-believing Christians and they say, well, what kind of a God would do this? What kind of a God would create a place for man like this? Well, the answer is very plain. In Matthew 25, hell was not prepared for man. That wasn't God's original intention or his original plan for man. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. But after Adam sinned, as you're aware, man fell. And because of the fall, men are separated from God. They're born into this world, separated from their creator. They have a problem. They're born wrong and they must be and need to be born again. So when you're looking at this kind of stuff and people start talking that way, the truth of the matter is, the fall was not God's original plan. And so this man ends up going somewhere where he's a misfit. This wasn't prepared for him, but he died unprepared, and he went there, and people still go there now. So you say, what sent him there? Well, we're gonna look at that tonight. Why did this man end up there? And it wasn't, you say, well, he must have been a really wicked living sinner. Well, there's plenty of wicked sinners who have found mercy and grace from God that didn't go to hell. That's wonderful. The church is not full of people who are just holier than thou. You know, people say, I wouldn't go down to church because I'm afraid the ceiling would fall in on me. Those people are good people. No, no. The people down there that make up the church are people who've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And therefore, we've been changed. Our identity is different now. We're no longer in Adam. Now we're in Christ. There's been a great change. We've made new creatures. We are now saints in Christ. And don't be afraid to say that. I tried this out one time on the church back home. And no wonder people don't answer preachers' questions. We set you all up all the time to knock you down. So when you ask a question, nobody will answer half the time, because they're like, this is trick. Don't do it. you know but I was I told him I said no trick question I said how many of you know that you were just an ungodly sinner man and when you came to Christ across the auditorium every hand went to the ceiling I mean straight up in the air amen we're sinners preachers nothing but sinners saved by grace I kept preaching and I knew what they would do I just knew it because it is something God has shown me a little bit later I said now how many I said raise your hand if you know you're a saint and about a third of them went like this And they all put it right here at their ear in case somebody looks over and shakes their head, they can just pretend like they're scratching their ear. I said, now wait a minute, why don't you have your hands in the air, those of you? I said, how many of you trusted Christ? All the hands went back up. I said, then why are you afraid to say I'm a saint? He said, well, and a man approached me, and this is his thinking, and this is the thinking of 90% of the church. He said, brother, isn't that kind of being arrogant to say I'm a saint? I said, you're not a saint because of anything you've done. but it's because of everything he's done. And you didn't have to wait on the Pope to vote on anything. You say, where's that at? Start watching forward in Paul's writings to the saints in Christ at Ephesus, to the saints at Rome, to the saints in Christ at Philippi. He's telling them, here's your location, you're with people of God, but you're a saint in Christ. You've been changed because of the new birth. Hell wasn't prepared for us. But this man went there not because he was a great sinner, although great sinners do go there if they fail to turn to God's provision. But this man went because of his failures. You say, his failures? Yes. And I think you'll see as we look at it tonight. First of all, look at verse 19. This certain rich man, the Bible says, was clothed in purple and fine linen. and fared sumptuously every day." In other words, money answereth all things. And it obviously had given him a very cush life, a very prosperous life. There is nothing wrong with prosperity. Now, I'm not a prosperity gospel preacher, but I'm saying if God has blessed you, if he's given you the health to work, and you've been smart enough to handle your money well, maybe invest, whatever, there's nothing in the Bible that says if you have money, you're wicked. But here's the problem, many times money becomes the thing that keeps us busy and we get distracted and we fail to do what? We fail to stop. You know, there's something about when you have everything that you need and you got plenty coming in, that we tend to forget God and we don't stop from day to day. We just keep on the treadmill of activity. And you say, well, what's the big, how come he went to hell? Well, he failed to stop. If you fail to stop, you'll fail to think. You know what's wrong with Americans right now? They don't think. They view, they watch, they don't read books anymore. And listen, books help you to think. They don't set, you know, meditation is not a New Age doctrine. That's a Bible doctrine. You meditate in the law day and night. You think about it. You think on things and God reveals things to your heart that way. Gets you to think. This man never stopped. He just continued thinking every day was going to be like the last. Just like the old boy in Luke 15, the chapter before, back in Luke 12, excuse me. He said, I'm going to tear my barns down and build bigger because man, I'm going to eat, drink, and be merry. In other words, God called him a fool. Why? Because he just assumed every day was going to be just like yesterday. And he never stopped. considered anything and that listen the world system that the devil runs keeps you hopping with legitimate responsibilities. And sometimes we fail to stop. You know, let me just encourage you, a quiet time with the Lord, getting outside on a walk, praying, doing whatever, but spending some time with the Lord is absolutely crucial. There's something I learned indirectly from Acts chapter 20, verses 13 and 14, where Paul visited with his buddies, his preacher friends, in Assos for like a full week. He preached somewhere, that's where Eutychus fell out of the loft. You know, and Paul had to go down and resurrect him. Now, don't you fall out of the loft, amen? Because if you do it, I ain't got what Paul's got. We're going to call the ambulance. But the truth is, he was there for that whole week in fellowship, but then he was going to meet them in Troas. And they took a ship to get there, to go where they were going, but he said, stop in Troas, I'll meet you at the dock, at the port. And it says he chose to go, quote, afoot. Why? It was a 20 mile trip. Paul got alone and he walked. Why? It was time. The brethren are wonderful, but you got to get away from them sometimes. He said, who do you get with? You got to get with the Lord because when you're with him, he'll help you to start thinking. and you stop and you step back from the rat race. This man failed to stop. The devil loves to keep people running. And because he failed to stop, he failed to look ahead and to consider. I mean, think about what Jesus Christ says. There's a song, I'll probably sing it this week. It was called Consider the Lilies, and that comes from the Sermon on the Mount. where Jesus said, consider the lilies. What are you saying? He's saying, you can learn something about God if you'll stop and consider some things. And notice, listen, I'm not against, I got an iPhone and all that stuff, but I'm telling you, that stuff is a snare. I mean, you can tell it just driving down the road. You better be paying attention, because there's people writing letters and taking videos and everything else, everything but driving. And my point is this, is it keeps us distracted. When you get distracted, you can sure wreck yourself. This man never stopped, and this man therefore never thought, and this man never looked ahead. And by not looking ahead, you know what he never considered? The thing that nobody wants to consider. He never considered that there's coming a day where I'm going to die and leave this life. Death is a serious topic, and it's something that needs to be considered. Why? Because it's a reality. Death has been on the loose ever since Genesis 3 and the fall of man. For by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. That's what the Bible says. So death is here. You're reminded of it if you're paying attention. You pass cemeteries. You pass funeral homes. You have relatives, you have people in your family that have died, friends that have died, some suddenly, some seemingly before their time, some at a time when you feel, hey, this is the natural order of things. Death is there. It's a reality. And here's the thing is you need to consider it. You need to think about it. You need to look ahead and consider your own death. And people don't do that. You say, I don't want to think about that. But you must. Because that is certain. Nothing else in life is very certain. But death is. I saw a poll recently where they said that nine out of nine people die. It's got a pretty good ratio. B.H. Carroll, an old Baptist preacher, was riding a passenger train with a young man when the seats in the passenger cars back in the 1800s would be facing one another. And this young man was sitting there, and he looked well to do. And so B.H. Carroll was looking for a way to give the gospel to him. So he struck up a conversation. He says, where are you going? He says, I'm going home, and I'm going to marry my high school sweetheart. And he says, so where are you coming from? He said, I just graduated law school. He said, I passed the bar. He says, you're going home now that you're a lawyer? He said, yeah. He goes, what are you going to do when you get home? He says, well, I'm going to marry my sweetheart. He said, she's been waiting on me and I'm going to get married. He said, then what? He said, well, I'm going to open a law firm right there in that town. And he says, I'm going to start practicing law. And he says, then what? Well, he says, I hope to expand the law firm, maybe add another lawyer or two eventually. And he says, I've got this thing mapped out and where I think in five years I can be doing very well for myself. He says, that's great. Then what? He goes, well, my wife and I want to have some children. We'd like to have a lot of children. He says, that's great. Then what? He says, I hope as they get older that I can do things for them, maybe take them around the world. I want to travel. I want to see places. He says, that's great. He goes, then what? He says, well. I hope eventually, I guess, you know, to save some money and eventually, I guess, get to the place where I could retire. And he says, that's very good. And then what? And he's getting frustrated because he's thinking, man, this guy just running me through my life. And he says, well, I guess then I'll die. And he says, then what? Nobody ever gets that far in their thinking. But you're wise if you do. The devil kept, this man failed to stop, the devil kept him busy. Because he failed to stop, he failed to look ahead. And when you fail to look ahead on something this serious, you're unprepared when it overtakes you. How do you know? Because the Bible says, it came to pass, and it always does. It came to pass, the rich man also died and was buried. Now you know what his rich friends all did? You've been at those funerals before where they get up and they make stuff up about religion and about God. My wife says, what do people do that don't know the Lord? I says, they make it up. They just make it up right there in the funeral home. Well, we know that they're at peace. We know now that they've gone on. He was a good man. You've heard it. And so this man dies, death has caught up to him, but he died unprepared. Have you ever, this is the best way to do this. Every one of you in here, I'm gonna ask you to do a mental exercise with me tonight for just a moment. Have you ever considered your own funeral? Have you ever looked and pictured the funeral home or the church? Picture yourself laying in the casket. Picture the family, picture your friends. Picture maybe your enemies that are coming just to make sure the news is true. You ever see those videos? They're really sad because you know what your life boils down to at the funeral home? About 10 minutes worth of photos that they found in a shoebox after you died. There you are as a baby you know there's your mama holding you. There you are, you know, holding somebody's hand, toddling around on the beach. There you go to kindergarten. There you are graduating. There you are getting married. There you are bringing your first baby home. There you are getting old and annoyed. And now here we are. You say, what is that? That's life. That's called life. What is your life? It is even a vapor. that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away but you've got to think because you've got to know here's the question to ask yourself when I when my body my physical temporal frame that God gave me is in a casket about to be laid to rest under the sod where will I be because the body that you lived in is going to be put in the ground, but the person that you are is going to go on living somewhere forever. And those are sobering thoughts, but we need to be sober about this. Because you can mess a lot of things up in life. You can fail a test and take it again. You can fail to graduate and go back and do it again the next year. You can go bankrupt in your business and start another one and be successful. You can do over a lot of things in life, but my friend, death, you can only do that once, and you must do that right. You cannot be wrong about that one. And you gotta know, what does the Bible say? This man never stopped, the devil kept him busy, and he never looked ahead, and now he has died. There's a tombstone, Dr. Adrian Rogers, quoted this and I jotted it down and he said on this tombstone it says, take heed as you walk by, as you are now so once was I, as I am now so you will be, so prepare to die and follow me. Some joker went by and he put his own verse on there and taped it to the tombstone. To follow you I'm not content until we know which way you went. And that's very true. This man never stopped. He never looked ahead. But most importantly, while he was here, he never listened. Say listened. Listened to what? Well, drop down in your text and look at 27. He says, I prayed thee, therefore, Father, thou wouldest send in my father's house. I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Now watch what Abraham's answer was to him. Abraham saith unto him, they, the people on earth, where you came from, they have Moses and the prophets. Now watch it. Let them hear them. He's still arguing with the preacher, even when he's in hell. No, nay, father Abraham. One went unto them from the dead, they'll repent. He said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets. So you know what that tells me? That tells me that they could hear if he could have heard, just like his brothers could hear, if they would but listen. And you know who they were supposed to be listening to? A great Old Testament preacher that Baptists won't have in to preach anymore. Moses. Somebody said, brother, I'll talk, what are you saying? Let me just say this, Moses' preaching is necessary for a proper and full scriptural gospel presentation. You say, why? Moses doesn't save anybody. No, but he's got a lot of educating he'll do. And he can preach and if people will listen to preacher Moses. They'll get the help they need. Say, what do you mean? A man can hear the voice of Moses even today. The Bible talks about when Moses is preached in the synagogue. They were doing that as late as Acts 15. He said, look, you can go in and hear Moses being preached. When he's preached, they're hearing his voice. And what does his voice say? Well, it's a very gracious thing. It's the law. That's what Moses represents, is the law. And a man can hear the law. Listen, Jesus Christ, He was made of a woman, made under the law, the Bible says. And His first public message is what we call the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5, 6, and 7. What's the first thing He introduces? He says this, Think not that I am come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. Then He begins to preach the law. And you know what Jesus does? People will say, I have said it, and there's a better way to say it than this. But I used to say, He raised the bar of the law. No, he didn't. The law didn't change. He just showed us the depth of it. He said, you've heard it said of old time, thou shall not commit adultery. But I say unto you, and what he does is he takes it from just the action or the behavior and he presses Moses into the heart and he says, but I say unto you that if a man look with lust upon a woman to lust after her, he hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. He says, now you've heard him say of old time, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt do no murder. He says, but I say unto you, if you're angry with your brother without a cause, that's murder in the heart. In other words, God's law, Moses, doesn't just check the outward behavior, he looks at the inward attitude. And the law is designed to measure us, not to save us, but measure us. Now you say, what would he have heard if he had listened to Moses? Well, I can tell you this. Very few listen to him anymore, but he's got plenty of good stuff to preach. You say, what will he do? Well, the first thing Moses will do if you'll hear him is he'll single you out of the congregation. He's good at that. I remember one time I was preaching on sexual immorality, preaching against it. You got to be clear these days. And there was an older lady that waited out in the lobby after I'd been there maybe a year, year and a half. And you could tell she was upset. And I went out and I said, Ms. So-and-so, I said, everything okay? She goes, when you preach about adultery, stop eyeballing me. Okay, I really didn't have you on my mind in that portion of the sermon. But you know what that tells me? People don't like to be pointed out. But that's exactly what the law does. If you'll listen to it, it'll single you out. What do you mean? You're driving down the interstate, much like I was today. You know how you soothe your conscience when you're breaking the law? Everybody else, that guy's going five miles an hour. Okay, I'm doing this. My wife wasn't with me today, but she has gotten onto me for so long, I can hear her voice echoing in my head. And I'm driving down the interstate hearing her say, that's kind of, you know, a little, well, but the first thought is, but these people over here are probably going five mile an hour faster. So we justify ourselves that way until the law pulls in behind us and the lights come on. Then your heart starts racing and your palms start sweating. Amen. You start looking around, you know, using the air freshener, whatever, but you're singled out. And now, you know, the law's after me. That's what Moses will do. He'll single you out if you'll listen to him. Secondly, something else Moses does, and this is a wonderful thing he does if you'll listen to him, he silences sinners. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 3.19, he says, now we know that whatsoever things the law saith. Moses got something to say, got something to preach. We just have to listen. The man in hell never listened. He never got this, and this is important. The law singles you out, and if you keep listening, it'll silence you. You say, yeah, it sure will. Why? Paul says, now we know that whatsoever things the law saith. It saith to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. You've never had anybody argue that stealing was all right, unless they were a politician. You've never had anybody argue that adultery is okay, you know, unless they're a college professor. Amen. I'm saying that the moral code on the inside tells you in your conscience that, yeah, that's right. And it stops your arguments. And I'm telling you, everybody that got saved, before they came to Christ, their mouth was slapped shut. No more excuses. No more denial. No more justifying self. No more comparing myself with somebody else. No, the law measured you. You fell short of the glory of God and it silenced your arguments. In Galatians 3, it says that they were shut up under the faith which should be revealed. And I think that's a great translation. Because it says Moses shut you up. He silences you if you'll listen to him. And then he sentences you. The Bible says, Moses says that whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty, guilty. Paul says, you know what, people ask, preacher, what about this particular cult? What about this particular church? They teach this and they teach that. How are you supposed to know all of these different things? Here's what you'll find. You'll find that religion will always use the Bible to prop up its error. And it always uses something from the law. to make you feel like you haven't, you got Jesus, that's good, but you need something more. You need to keep the Sabbath, you need to do this, you need to do that. Paul says, those of you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear what the law saith? In other words, the law demands perfection. It doesn't say, do your best. It doesn't grate on a curve. You'll never hear God say at the judgment, good try, nice effort. That's not what the law demands. The law demands constant, continual perfection. That's the only thing that will satisfy it. Here's the problem. That's God's standard of holiness, the law. The law says all the time, people say, I'm gonna do right from here on out. The problem is the law says you gotta do right from here on back as well. And because God has demanded perfection and we have not produced it, it makes us sweat it out. It makes us say, well, how can I be saved? That's what you do when you listen to Moses. You come to the end of yourself and you realize, hey, what am I going to do? How am I going to make it? The Bible says the last thing that Moses will do when he preaches to you is he will school you. Educates you after he silenced you after he has caught you and singled you out and after he has silenced your arguments And after he has sentenced you as guilty the next thing he'll do is he'll say you're at the wrong mountain This is Mount Sinai. If you want to live, you got to get out of here as fast as you can. Where do I go, Moses? Can you listen to him? He says, get out of here and get to Mount Calvary as fast as you can. I'm going to chase you all the way there. And once you get there to Jesus Christ, that's as far as I can chase you. That's what the law does. Boy, Moses has got some great things to do, and the last thing he'll do is he'll school you. The law was a schoolmaster to lead us to Jesus Christ that we might be justified by faith. You say, man, how does that all work? Well, the prophets, remember he said they have Moses and the prophets. The prophets said something like this pretty clear. He says, that all we like sheep have gone astray and have turned everyone to his own way, your sin didn't catch God by surprise. And he says, and the Lord, capital L-O-R-D, that's the Father, hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He, Jesus Christ, is who this is. He was wounded for our transgressions. Transgressions of what? The law. It's glorious. Moses has plenty to preach, and if you'll listen, he'll lead you to Calvary. And if you'll really listen to what the law demands, here's a wonderful thing. The law makes demands and threats. The gospel makes an offer and a promise. When Jesus Christ said, come unto me, All ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I've told people that invitation is to a specific people. You say, are you Calvinist? I just believe the word of God right there. He says, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. You say, who is that? That's people that are laboring under a burden of guilt. That's people with a guilty conscience and a debris field in their past and they're wore out. The law has chased them until they're thirsty. So that's why when Jesus gives invitations when he's here on earth, he'll say, come and drink. He says, let him that is a thirst come and drink of me. He says, hey, are you burdened and heavy laden and laboring under burden of guilt? Come unto me and the promise is, I will give you rest. And he does. How can he do that? Why? Because God sent him down here, born of a virgin under the law, kept the law perfectly. Him and Moses were just hand in hand. I mean, holy, harmless, undefiled. He said, I do, and that's what the law calls on us, is to do something. He says, I do always those things that please the Father. He lived a perfect, sinless life, and then turned around and took responsibility for our guilt and our sin. Died on the cross. and satisfied justice. Can I tell you something? God would never violate or compromise any of his attributes to save any one of us. Calvary is the legal way to justify sinners. Because his justice has been served, his wrath has been expended, his law has been met. The demands of the law, you know what the law demands when you break it? Death. Jesus Christ tasted death for every man, and at three o'clock that afternoon, he cried out, it is finished. Redemption's work is all done. I've done everything necessary to clear sinners so that they can settle out of court before they stand before God. And if you'll listen to Moses, he'll take you to Calvary. And when you get to Calvary, you see your representative, your substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ dying, the just for the unjust. Why is he doing this? What motivated him? It's the love that he has towards sinners. God commended his love toward us. And while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Your redemption is a legal transaction and it's glorious because God has satisfied every attribute. His holiness, his righteousness, his justice, his wrath, all of that's at Calvary. Then you get to the mercy, the grace, and the love. I told the church yesterday, I hope you'll appreciate this, some of the old timers will remember, there was a song that they used to sing in the 60s, this duo, and it was God Bless You Please Mrs. Robinson. They say, Jesus loves you more than you will know. Miss Robinson doesn't need to hear about Jesus loving her. Miss Robinson needs to get hit with the second table of the law, and she needs to hear that her adultery has kindled the wrath of a holy God. Then she'll be interested in the love of Jesus. But the Baptist found out that if you cut that first ugly part out, people will listen to you. Yeah, but the problem is, if you don't introduce them to the law, they rarely feel their need of Jesus. and you have to turn him into like a life enhancement thing. Are you lonely? Are you sad? Jesus will be your friend. Can I tell you something? You need Jesus because you're guilty, and you're going to meet God as judge. That's the biggest problem humanity faces, and the gospel answers that. I'll tell you this, and I'll close tonight. This man failed to stop, he failed to look, and he failed to listen. And so when death overtook him, his soul dropped into hell, And he was tormented in the flame. And he said, please send somebody to my family. I don't want him to come to this awful place. But he didn't listen, and now he was feeling the results of a God-rejecting, or he didn't, the Bible never says he directly rejected God. He just lived his life in total ignorance of God. Even though God was saying something, even though God was trying to get his attention, he never stopped, he never looked ahead, and he never listened. When I was just a little boy, I was about five years old, My dad had a study where he worked on spring-driven clocks, and he'd been at the flea market. And I went in there, and he said, hey, I got something for you today. And he pulled out this case, this box. It was a case pocket knife. Beautiful red handle, two brand new blades. I mean, just sharp as razors. He said, now, this is yours. Oh, man, my eyes were big, and I'm thinking, I want that knife. That is awesome. And by the way, mamas, don't, don't forbid your boys to carry knives. They're going to be all right. Let's raise some men. Huh? How about that? Let's quit raising these victim mentality sissies that can't handle life. Yes. And so anyway, he says, no, I'm not going to give you this knife. He says, until you're old enough to handle it. And I said, but you know, he said, there'll come a day when he goes, you'll cut, you just know, you'll cut yourself and you don't. And I said, dad. So I went out and I came up with the plan. And I came in, I said, dad, I tell you what, I really want that knife. I just want to carry it in my jean pocket. And I said, and I won't, I won't even open the blade. He said, you won't open the blade if I give this to you. I said, no, no, I'll, I'll just look at it. He said, all right, I'm going to give you this knife. the agreement that you don't open the blades I said I won't I just carried around so he said all right so I put it in there well he taught me to carry a handkerchief in my back pocket so I had a handkerchief I had this knife I went outside you know and I'm walking around I'm thinking man if the boys up and down Chestnut Street right now knew that I had a case knife and I'd reach in my pocket and I pulled out and I'd look at it man that looked good and I put it back in there and I pulled out a second time and I thought well I I'll just open the blade halfway. I won't open it all the way. That's what he didn't want me to do. He didn't want me to open it all the way. But halfway will be alright. So I opened it halfway. Man, that thing was razor sharp. And I was looking at that silver in there. And I had my thumb there. Well, it's a brand new knife, so it's stiff. So I'm pushing, pushing, and finally it goes snap. And I yanked my thumb out of there. Oh, I thought I cut myself. Well, I had, but since my heart had not beat, the blood had not, you know, so just a second later, that flesh laid open and out comes, I said, whoa, it was sharp. And I mean, it wasn't just a little scratch. It was a lay it open. It needs two, three stitches. So it's burning and I'm wiping it in the grass. I get the thing out and I'm really not, the burn and the blood that's rolling down there, that is not what I'm worried about. I'm worried about now having to face dad. So I'm squeezing that and I'm going, maybe he won't notice. I'm going, there is no way. I mean, it just, I'm holding it up like this and it's dripping, you know, and I mean, I can, I can feel my heartbeat in my thumb and I'm tightening down on it, you know, and I'm going, oh no. So finally I've got it wrapped up and I walk in, my dad's up there, he's doing something, his back's to me. I said, dad, he said, cut yourself, didn't you? I said, yes, sir. And I thought, man, I'm gonna get a whipping now. He turned around, he said, son, if you can't listen, you can feel. Just remember that in life. If you don't listen, you can feel. You know what? Listen to me, the cut healed. My thumb's okay. But there are people in America, they could be listening. There was a time that churches, just like this one, were full. There was a time there was a respect for the Bible. And people came to hear it. They expected their preacher not to be an entertainer. They didn't expect him to be a restaurant manager or a theater usher. They actually believed the preacher was called. His main job is to open the Bible, feed my family, feed my soul, and help me to hear from God. Yes, you can read your Bible. Yes, the Spirit of God can speak to you. But obviously, the Lord has ordained this thing called preaching and teaching. And he gave to the body of Christ a gift. That gift in Ephesians 4 is said to be pastors and teachers. And so you can go somewhere and hear the Word of God. And as you hear, if you'll listen, God will teach you wisdom and he'll tell you what you need to do. This man never listened. How many Americans? There is Bibles that are crying out. This is the voice of God in print. And I'm here to tell you the same thing my dad told me. America, if you can't listen, you can feel. This man never listened individually. He could have, but he didn't. And now he feels the consequences because he says, I'm tormented in this flame. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever slowed down or how busy are you? The devil will keep you running on things that just don't matter. You ever stop? Do you ever consider things? You ever turn off the news feeds, the YouTubes, and think? When you start thinking, you'll start thinking ahead. And you'll start realizing and weighing out your priorities. And then as you're sitting in silence, you can open a Bible and you can hear what God has to say. And if you'll listen, all I can tell you is God is merciful. He wants to get your attention not to antagonize you, but to redeem you, to walk with you, and to use you, and to call you home someday to a wide-armed welcome in heaven. That's what the Bible offers. And if anyone will listen, you can hear. If you can hear Him, you can heed what He says. But if you won't listen, you can't feel. I hope you know, and what about you tonight? I know there's plenty of Christians here this evening, but do you still get your Bible out and expect to hear what God has to say? We suffer from a weightlessness of the Bible these days, and by that I mean we treat it, it's like it's words fall on us like a balloon would bounce off our head or our shoulder. We don't really feel any weight. My friend, if you're holding a balloon, you barely can tell it's there. You can bat it around and it barely brushes your hand. I feel kind of like that's how Christians in America take the word of God. It carries no weight. But there was a time in our country where when a preacher said something and someone got a hold of it in their mind, it was as heavy as a brick in their heart. It stuck in their mind. They felt the weight of it and felt like, I have to do something with this. The Bible has become weightless in our churches. We throw Bible verses around never really hearing what they're saying to us. I hope you know him tonight. I'm going to turn it over to your pastor, whether you come and conduct the invitation, if you want to have one, however you want to, but you need to stop. You need to look ahead and you need to listen. And if you'll listen, God will speak.