Welcome to the Princess Chapel Church in Ashland, Kentucky. Pastor Brother Douglas Salyer. We would like to thank you today for joining us. Our prayer are that these messages will edify the saints and exalt the Savior. We would like to invite you and your family to be a part of our worship services. We are located just south of Asheville, Kentucky in Kennettsburg on U.S. Route 60 and the junction of State Route 5. Thank you once again for listening today and we hope you receive a blessing from these messages. May God richly bless you and your family. With my soul in the earth. But like I said, I want to get right into the message this morning because there is a lot going on today. This is Old Fashioned Sunday. Brother John had mentioned something about the old past, the old ways. That was part of the text I have to go back and deal with this morning. I told you last week that we're going to be in 1 Peter chapter number 1. last week was the source of our salvation. Today is going to be the certainty of our, or the security of our salvation. But I'm going to deal with this quite differently. Most people get a message like this and they preach on to the believers on the security of their salvation. But I'm going to preach this message just the opposite. I'm going to preach it to the unbelievers so that they can have security. They can know that they have security of their salvation. So last week, like I said, was the source. Today is the security. I want us to read the first five verses of 1 Peter 1, and then we will get right into the message this morning. 1 Peter 1, verses 1-5. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered abroad throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. I let, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, verse number 5, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Let's bow our heads this morning for a word of prayer. Lord, our most kind, gracious God, we thank you, Lord, for this another privilege by your tender, loving mercies and your grace to assemble in the house of worship God, we ask you, Lord, to bless the reading of your word this morning. Anoint my lips of clay, God, that I may speak with power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit. Lord, that these words might go forth here this day, and Lord, you might be able to use them so that they might touch the heart of the lives of those who need it. In Jesus' name, and amen. Verse 5 says, who are kept by the power of God. through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. You need to know something this morning, but you need to know, first know that you know. We are kept by the power of God. But a lot of people want to take that for granted. A lot of people want to take advantage of that. A lot of people have not been changed by the power of God, but they want to lay hold to the keeping of the power of God. In other words, they want to talk about security, but they don't ever want to talk about being sanctified. Okay? In order to be secure, you are being sanctified. This morning, I want us to take a moment just to look at our security. Our security, He is exactly that. He is our security. We are not secure in ourself. There is nothing that we can do within ourself that makes us in any better or any right standing with God. If we don't have Christ this morning, if our trust is not in Him this morning, then we have no security at all. I would hate to think, and you all have heard stories like this. Matter of fact, there may be people that have experienced this in life. Imagine paying all of your life on a life insurance policy. And it's term life. And it only goes till you're 70 years old. And after you're 70, it don't pay a thing. You paid from the age of 40 to 70. You paid a premium of $35 a month. But when you turn 70, that's term life. It's not whole life. It expires. You don't get a thing. It don't pay out nothing to nobody. You've got 30 years at $35 a month down the drain for nothing. If I was in a case like that, I'd just pray and hope to God I died at 69. Amen? Okay? Who would want to do that their whole life and then leave this world? Of course they wouldn't if people said, well, I'm not going to know about it. Who cares? It ain't going to affect me none. No, it's going to affect your children. It's going to affect your spouse. It's going to affect your grandkids. It's going to affect all those bills that you left behind. Hello? Come on. We need to be caring about it. All right? But who would want to do that for 30 years in pain and then leave this world and leave their family stranded? That's what a lot of people have in this world concerning their security in Jesus Christ. They have no security. They're paying into it, but it's not there. Why? Because they've got a false hope. They don't have a relationship. They've only got religion. They have no assurance, and they have no security. Why? Because it's about them, it's not about Him. That's exactly right. It's about them, and it's not about Him. It's got to be about him this morning, or there is no security. There is no... If you're being sanctified, we know we have security. Oh, if I'm being chastised, I know I have security. I can have that assurance. But until those things are being produced in my life, I have no security. None at all. He wants total Listen to me. Oh, we might not like this. This might put a burr in our saddle. He wants total surrender. What's that mean? Total surrender? That's not 99.6. That's not 99.9. He wants total surrender. He wants obedience. He wants total faithfulness. He wants complete trust in Him and Him alone. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. That's the kind of belief. That's the kind of faith that changes one's life. It will change one's life to the point where they're willing to offer their only son to God if commanded to do so. That's faith. That's the kind of faith that you can have security with. Why? Because that's the kind of faith that changes a person's life. Oh, my goodness. That's the kind of faith that brings forth the security that you can have assurance and know that, oh, I'm one of His. Oh, elect, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, and I'm kept by the power of God. But if those fruits, if that evidence is not in your life, if there's no perseverance, then you cannot know that. You have a false hope because you have no assurance and you have no security. Verse 3, 4, 5, one more time. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten. Notice that word begotten. You know what that means? That means you were born of God. You were born of God. You know what that means? That means there's a change, folks. And if the change ain't been taking place, you ain't born of God. If you ain't born of God, you ain't kept of God. You have no security. to an inheritance begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time. I want to make a very bold statement this morning. I want to make a very outright and upfront statement this morning. You are not kept by the power of God unless you are being changed by the power of God. If there's no change in your life, You cannot lay hold of this promise. You can't! You can't lay hold of this promise if there's never been a change in your life. If you're not being transformed, then you're still lost. You have no security. You have no assurance. My friend, you have no hope. Paul says in Galatians 4.16, he said, Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? You're here today, you might be here today for various reasons, but if you're here today and you're lost and you're looking for something, you're seeking for something, you're desiring to fill that deepest, darkest void that's in your soul, that's in your heart, that's in your mind and in your spirit. But yet you are content to linger in sin because that's just who we are. before God gets a hold of us, before we are gotten again into a lively hope, until we are born of God. That's just who we are. That's in our nature. And I'll prove it to you. Turn to Jeremiah chapter number 6. Brother John has already talked about this this morning. But I want to relate this, tie this in with the message this morning. Jeremiah 6, 16. One verse in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah the prophet says in the sixth chapter, and this is you this morning, this was you, this was me this morning, before God got a hold of me, before God did the change in me, before God regenerated me, before God quickened me. I know, you know how I know I'm kept by the power of God, because every single day I'm being changed by the power of God. God works in me. I don't work for my salvation. I'm already saved. Amen? I can't add to the finished work of Jesus. What makes me think I can? But glory to God, I am humbled. I am humbled to know of what He's done for me. And then the Holy Spirit has made me to know that. And that has changed my life. As Jeremiah 6.16, thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths. Where is the good way? And walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Why? Fine, because the wind hadn't blown yet, that's why. I'm going to tell you, that's why. That's the bottom line. God has to do the change. God has to plant the seed. God has to make the seed sprout forth and bring forth increase and bring forth an abundance of fruit. God has to do the work. He said in Ezekiel 28, I believe it was 26 or 28, God said, I will wash. I will cleanse, I will sanctify, I will put in you a new heart. If God hasn't done the work, there is no change, you are not being changed, and you cannot lay hold of the promises of security and assurance in Christ. You can't! We can say all we want to. We can say, I go to church. Well, bless the Lord, I'm happy for you. You all know my story. Little 11 year old boy. Grew up in church his whole life. Oh yeah, daddy was a preacher. I'm talking about one of them old snot singing holy ghost preachers now. I'm talking about one of them preachers now. Grew up in church my whole life. Boy, I tell you what, 11 years old, you know what I've done? Walked the aisle. knelt at the altar, shed a few tears, said a prayer, got up, professed Him as my Lord, went out in the water hole and got baptized. I wasn't a bit more saved than a man in the moon. Boy, I wasn't a bit more saved than a man in the moon. You know what I did? I'm going to tell you what I did. Somebody help me do the math here. A little slow this morning. I've been up all night. 28 minus 11. What is that? 17? You know what I did? Played church for 17 years. If I'd of died in that period, you know where I'd of went? Where'd I'd of went? I'd of went to hell. I'd of busted hell wide open. Oh, but you know what happened to me one day? Oh, God got a hold of me. Oh, the wind started to blow. God got a hold of me. And God did the work. God broke my heart. God humbled me. God took away my pride. God took away my self-righteousness. God took away my good deeds and all of my works. and all about me, and God did the work in me. He took out the old stony heart and put in a new heart of flesh, and I've been a new creature ever since. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. He didn't say just some of them. He didn't just say if every other man be in Christ. He said if everyone with a number four on their forehead or everyone with an E underneath their tailcoat is in Christ. He said if any man be in Christ. You know what that means? It means God did the change. You didn't. Then you can lay hold of the promises of God. then you can lay hold and know that I'm kept by the power of God. Why? Because I'm being changed by the power of God. Pastor Ian Paisley once said, the church of Jesus Christ is largely sleeping like a great bedroom. And you have all the Christians lying in bed, and they are sleeping, and they are saying, now listen, this is what he said now, they're saying, please don't wake me up. I want to sleep on. Isaiah 52, 1, the prophet writes, he says, Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for henceforth there shall come no more into thee the unclean and the uncircumcised. Verse 1 is saying, Awake, awake, Awake, children! Awake, saints of God! Awake, Christians! Awake, people! That's what God is trying to get you to do! He's trying to get you to awake and put on strength. Wake up, you sleepy Christians! Wake up, you that sleepeth! God has a work for His children to do. But you must first awake. You must first submit. You must first... Oh, people don't like this. You must first mortify your flesh. What's that mean, Brother Doug? That means you've got to die to yourself. Die to the flesh. That's what the old timers did. Boy, they'd come to church like this, John, every Sunday. Didn't matter. You know why? Because that's who they were. They didn't try to be something they weren't. They didn't try to walk around with a mask on. They was who they were. They searched for the old paths, and glory to God, they found them. And Margaret, it's because of those old-timers that you're sitting in here today. It's because of those old-timers that Brother Paul is right there today. Brother Tom and Brother Ted and Brother Woody and Sister Tana and Mary Ann. It's because of these old-timers that this old-timer is here right now. Amen? Come on now! Hey! Thank God for those old-timers that wasn't ashamed of the basic ways and the fundamental ways. They said, this is who we are. We love Jesus. That's all we care about. That's all we care about. You know what? I told Mamaw already tonight. I said, glory to God, I'm wearing these back tonight. I ain't even changing. Woo! Amen! Hey, these are comfortable! Thank you, Brother Ted. I kept saying, I'm going to go to Canova, I'm going to go here, I'm going to go there. Went to Walmart and they were $34. I said, forget that. Hey man, that's a half a tank of gas for me. I said, I can't... Brother Ted called me the other night and he said, you ain't bought no coveralls yet, have you? No denims? No, bibs. Bibs, that's what he said, bibs. I said, no, what I need bibs for? Both of my kids are up. They're grown up. They don't have them. No, I didn't say that. But that's what I was thinking, Brother Ted, when you asked me that about the bibs. He said, I've got a pair. He said, I've got a pair. He said, they're extra. Matter of fact, still got the tags on. He said, never been worn. He said, I'll give them to you. Thank you. You know what that's called? That's called old-time family. Amen. That's old-time love. That's old-time Christianity. That's old-time brotherly love. That's the old ways. That's the old pipes. Amen. Glory to God. I'm glad that that's the way I was raised. You know what? Yeah, I went through my whole little thing when I was 11, 12, 13, 14, all the way up to 17 years old, 18 years old. Played church till I was 18. Then walked away from God. Laid down my Bible and picked up a rifle and joined. Went off with, left my father and went off with Uncle Sam. Uncle Satan should have been what it was called. Amen? But let me tell you what happened. God let time run its course. At my appointed time, when it was time for me to come, I came. But I came on God's terms. Oh, I didn't come to say, well now, Lord, if you're going to do this, this, and this, and oh, by the way, I need a new car. And oh, by the way, I need a new pair of shoes. And oh, by the way, I don't want one of them leather-bound Bibles. I want a genuine leather Bible. God said, no, if you come, young man, you're going to come on my terms. You're going to come my way. That boy, that little boy one time, he didn't look up and say, well, I tell you what, I'll go back and talk to Daddy if I can have me a big T-bone steak dinner. No, he was filling his belly with the husk that the swine did eat and would have fain to fill his belly with those husks. He would have died if he hadn't have been stooped to the point. A Jew boy out there feeding the swine, feeding hogs. mixing himself in with an unclean animal, he was brought to his lowest point. Why? Because that's what it took for him to wake up. He would have come to himself a little earlier if he would have recognized who God was and who he was. Maybe he wouldn't have had to have been brought so low. But glory to God, God did that. God did that. He brought that boy to the cross. If you're here this morning and you're saved and you have assurance, you can know that you've been brought to the cross. You can know that you've been saved. You can know that you have grace. Why? Because you're continuing to be changed. Why should one come to the cross? Why should a person embrace death with the Lord Jesus Christ? Why should a man be willing to go on into identification down to the cross and into the tomb and up again? I'll tell you why. Because it's the only way that God can get glory out of any human being. They must first be born again. They must first be brought to the cross. They must first be willing to submit and humble their self and be broken like Jacob was over in the book of Genesis. Oh my goodness, we look at Jacob and you know Jacob was tore up from the floor, up wasn't he? He had more problems than anybody and everybody, and their 14 cousins. But I will tell you something, Jacob was made a great man. Jacob was made a man of royalty. Yeah, buddy, he was a prince with God. His name was changed from Jacob, conniver, heel grabber, surplanter, to Israel. A prince with God. That was Jacob. But before that happened, He was brought to the hog pen. Before that happened, He was brought to His lowest point. Why? You've got to be broken before you can be blessed. Oh, you've got to be defeated before you can be delivered. Oh, you've got to be crippled before you can be crowned. God broke that man. Literally broke his hip. His hip joint came out of socket. Why? Because Jesus just went, boop, just touched him. See, he wrestled with the Lord until the break in the day. And Jesus said, let me go. Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Jacob knew what he had a hold of. Amen. You say, Brother Doug, how do we know? We know because Jacob said after that whole ordeal was over, Jacob named that place Penel. And he said, I've seen God and my life has been preserved. And Jesus Christ has told us, He said, no man seeth the Father. He said, I am and my Father are one. He said, when you've seen me, you've seen the Father. God the Father told Moses, He said, no man can see my face and live. No man can look up. Jacob said, I have seen God face to face. That wasn't a vision. That wasn't a dream. That wasn't an apparition. Or that wasn't a ghost. That was Jesus Christ in the flesh who came down as either a man or the angel of the Lord. And he physically, literally wrestled with Jacob. that He was broken before He was blessed, He was crippled before He was crowned, and He was defeated before He was delivered. That's why you've got to go to the cross. Because it's only the cross and the work of the One who died on the cross and said, It is finished! As long as you hold on, as long as you keep the law, as long as you do the Ten Commandments, As long as you come to church, no, he said, it's finished. It's finished. You say, now, Brother Doug, you mean to tell me that we're supposed to do anything we want to do? No, I'm telling you what, once you've accepted and embraced that it's finished, you'll want to do all the rest. Why? Any man being Christ, he's a new creature. All things are passed away, and behold, all things have become new. Now, I want to show you this illustration. Lord, God's good. The Lord gave this to me. This is one I can take credit for. I do a lot of reading. Oh, love to read. I don't read... Come on now. Hey, I'm not picking on nobody. I don't read Gardening Club magazines. Okay? I don't read the Shotgun News. I don't read hunting books. And I don't read gun magazines. I don't read cookbooks, ladies. Amen? I don't. I look at one every now and then, glory to God. But I don't dedicate my time to them. You know what I read and I study? The Word of God. Amen? Because that right there is my meat. That right there is my bread. That right there is my taters. Amen? And there'll be times I'll get down in the dumps, Ted, and I'll feel like a honey bun. I'll open it up, and right there, He'll give me a honey bun. Amen? One of them super glazed honey buns. Or maybe a piece of German chocolate cake. Everything I need is right there. I've got my steak, my potatoes, my bread, my water, my wine, my oil, and glory to God, I've got my cake, my ice cream, and my apple pie. Right there! It's all there! I spend my time in His Word, and God showed this to me, and buddy, I started jotting it down. Who now listen to me. Come on now. I know. My mom and dad. They live in Louisiana, Kentucky, still alive. I love them, love them, love them to death. I know my mom and dad. I love my mom and dad. I do not want to hurt my mom and dad. Why? Because I love them. And I know. I love them and I know them. I don't want to hurt them, not intentionally. And I, because I know them and because I love them, what do I do? I desire to please them. I desire to please them. I'm willing to submit to them. I desire to please them because I know and because I love them. Now, this is what the Lord showed me. Not. Oh, this is good. Not so I can keep on being their son, but because I know that I am their son. And I love being their son. Oh, I love it when mama calls me Dougie. I love it when daddy calls me son. I love being their son. I know them and I love them. I do not want to hurt them. I desire to please them. Not so I can keep on being their son, but because I know I am their son. Well, let me ask you to apply that to your relationship with God. Do you know Him? Do you love Him? Are you desiring to please Him? Because that's what I do with my mom and dad. You know, when Mamaw was sick in the hospital, you know, I stayed by my mom the whole time. It liked to kill me. I'm 44 years old, amen. I ain't no spring chicken no more. I'm getting up there with the rest of y'all. And y'all ain't waiting on me. You're keeping going ahead too. But glory to God, I stayed by her side. Why? Because I loved her. She's my mother. I knew I was her son and I desired to please her. Oh, apply that with your relationship with God. Am I by His side? Am I walking with Him? Is He walking with me? You see, He don't get off track and come over and start walking with you. You know what you've got to do? You've got to walk with Him. Amos 3.3 says, can two walk together except they be agreed? No, they can't. Why? Because they're going to be in disagreement. And God's not going to walk with disagreement. God's not going to walk with sin. So you've got to leave the path you're walking, search ye for the old path. Jeremiah 6.16. And when you find them, walk therein. But what do people say? We will not walk. Apply that to your relationship with God. Are you seeking after Him? Are you loving Him? Are you knowing Him? Do you desire to please Him? If you can answer that question and you say, yes, I love God, I desire to please God, then you know what you can do? You can look at your life and say, am I being changed? Is my desire different now? Am I being changed? And if the answer to those questions are yes, I love God. I know God. I desire to please God. I'm being changed by the power of God. If you're being changed by the power of God, then you can lay a hold of the preservation of God. If you're being cleansed, then you can lay hold of His security. If you're being sanctified, then you can lay hold of His security. But if you're not, You have a false hope. If you're not being sanctified, if you're not being chastised, if you're not being cleansed, if you're not being changed, you have a false hope. All you've got is religion. And God wants us to know that we know. He said, I'll read this and I want to read this in one more verse and then we'll close. But I want to read Psalm 24. You don't have to turn there, I'm just going to read this very quickly. Listen to what he says here. He says, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place? Listen, He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessings from the Lord, and the righteousness of God of his salvation." Are you being changed this morning? Is God working in you? You say, Brother Doug, I don't know. Well, I can't answer it for you. Only you can answer it. And you're not going to be able to answer it honestly until you've been pricked in the heart by His Word. You're not going to be able to answer it honestly until He's pulled the scales down off of your eyes. You say, I'm saved! Glory to God! Well, praise the Lord, more power to you. Amen. But are you being changed? What are you saved from? A lot of people don't know what they're saved from. They just want to lay hold of salvation. I'm saved! I dare, how dare you? You know I'm saved. Don't you question me. I grew up in church my whole life. You know I'm saved. What are you saved from? Are you safe from bitterness? Are you safe from lust? Are you safe from lying? Are you safe from jealousy? Are you safe from cheating? Are you safe from covetousness? Are you safe from stealing? Are you saved from rebellion against your parents? Are you saved from laziness, slothfulness? Because that's what salvation does. Salvation comes in and starts working throughout your whole body. That's what it means to be saved. I'm not only saved, but I am being saved. Because He is working in me. And I have security. I have salvation. I know that I have made my calling and election sure because of His work in me. Because of how it's changed me. And because I know that now, I can lay hold of these promises in 1 Peter chapter number 1. And you know what else I can do? I told you, one more verse after Psalms, and I was going to quit. I can lay hold of that very last verse, almost the end of the Bible. In the book of Jude, Jesus' half-brother. Let's read that. Turn to Jude, and then we'll close in a word of prayer. Jude! You'll look at me funny if I say 124, won't you? But it's Jude, verse 24. Because there's only one chapter. in the book of Jude. Jude verse 24. Now, I've been able to answer all these questions through and by the Word of God, through and by prayer, through and by supplication, through and by the Holy Spirit working in me, through and by knowing that the change is being wrought in my life. I know what salvation is. I know that I've been justified, and I know that I am now being sanctified. Not because of what I do, but because of what Christ first did for me. Now I can lay hold of the promises of security. Now I can lay hold of the promises of assurance. Now I have a better hope. And I can lay hold of what old brother Jude said here in verse number 24. He said, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling. He's going to keep you from falling if you're in Him. You say, I don't believe that. I do. Why? Because the Bible's full of verses like that. Brethren, be diligent of this one thing to make your calling and election sure. And if you do this, you shall never fall. 1 Peter 1.10. And then here we have Jude 1.24. He's able to keep you from falling. And why is He going to keep you from falling? Because he's going to present you one day faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. But you know what he's going to do in you while you're up here on this earth? He's going to be sanctifying you constantly. He's going to be working in you. He's going to be purifying you. And if he's not doing that this morning, you cannot lay hold. of the promises of his security and his assurance. If he's not working in you, if he has not changed your life, then what you have, my friend, is a false hope. And I'd rather have a man have no hope than have a false hope. You know why? Because somebody that has a false hope will be puffed up in their self their whole life. And they will be ashamed because of pride to commit to Christ. They're worried about what other people are going to think about them. Well, I went to church for, you heard me, 11 years old, glory to God, I preached for four years and I was lost. I was lost. I stood behind the pulpit for four years and preached the word of God and I was lost. George Whitefield, the greatest evangelist America has ever seen in the 17th century or 1700s, which would have been the 18th century. He preached in America, but he went to college at Oxford. He made a profession of faith and he wasn't saved till his junior year in college. But the whole time he thought he was saved. We have Jonathan Wesley. You all know the Wesleyan Church and the Methodist. Jonathan and Charles Wesley, who started the Wesleyan Church. He left England and got on a boat and was coming to America to do mission work in America. Had been preaching for, I believe it was either five or seven years, I'm not sure exactly. I believe he'd professed Christ for seven years and been preaching for five years. I'm not exactly sure on the details of that. I'd have to go back and re-read it. But he didn't get saved until his voyage across the Atlantic to come to America. Got down in the bottom of the ship, Brother Tom, and some old Moravians were down there. And they were talking about the amazing grace of God. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Wesley got in there and started listening to him, and talking about being dead to the law, and being dead to the flesh, and being dead to self, and that salvation is by grace through faith. Right then and there is when Jonathan went. I believe right then and there is when the wind blew for John Wesley. Because everything before that, he was trusting in something else. I'm telling you folks, The only way you can have that assurance and that peace is in Him. Go back to the old ways. This country was founded on the biblical principles of this book right here. Oh, that's right, folks, you can disagree with me if you want. I can take you all the way back. I can take you back to some of the comments that were made by Benjamin Franklin, who stood up in, I believe it was 1786 or 1787, after about 15 months of debate in the Continental Congress. He stood up. Everybody was bickering and fussing and fighting. And he stood up and he talked about the sovereignty of God. He talked about God's providence. And he said, it is God who raises up kings and sets puts down kings. It is God who establishes kingdoms and dethrones them. And he said, you think that we're going to do this on our own without first first consulting him? Benjamin Franklin said that to paraphrase and look at us today. Won't even let our little babies, won't even let our little kids pray in public schools. of public schools. But, oh, we'll let them read from the Koran. Amen. Watch the news, folks. I'm telling you. And then we write back as Christians and then we say, well, I'll tell you what, it's our own fault. It's our own fault. You know why? Because if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, speak my face, turn from their sin, then will I hear from heaven We need to turn away from our sin, folks. We need to turn to God. Why? Because He's got a job for us to do. And I'm going to tell you, He's about to judge America. I'm not no prophet. I'm not no doomsday prophet. I'm not no apostle. I can't give you no prophetic vision. Hey, but the writing on the wall is clear, folks. America has been weighed in the balances, and she's found wanting. Why? Because the church has gone to sleep. And Isaiah said, Awake! Awake, you sleepy Christians! Glory to God. What have we been saved from? We know it. Let's act like it. Amen. I'm going to close here. I'm going to start preaching a whole new sermon. Let's bow our heads. Lord God, we thank You this morning for Your amazing grace. God, we thank You for Your sovereignty. Lord, we thank You, Lord, that we know that You are working in us. Lord, I know this morning, I'm speaking for myself now. I'm not speaking for everybody here, Lord. But Lord God, I want You to speak to their heart this morning. The Holy Spirit must speak through their heart to let them know, Lord, that they need to know that they know. And they can know that by their perseverance, by their endurance, by their wantingness to please you and desire you, their desire to walk with you, to be by your side, to be ever so with you, God. Help us, Lord, to know that this morning. Speak to our hearts, O God. Draw us ever so near and ever so closer to You. Awaken us up from our sleepy slumber, O God, that we might, Lord God, know that we know. And then, and only then, through and by Your work, through and by the changes that's being wrought in our life, through and by the power of God, we can lay hold of the promise that we are kept by the power of God. speak to our hearts and our lives this morning in Jesus name and amen.