Thessalonians chapter 1 verse number 5, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 5, For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were among you, for your sake. Father, help us tonight to rightly divide the Scripture, to get, bring forth that that needs to be brought forth, and Lord, we're in need of you to pass by. We're in need of you to give us strength and, and ability. And Lord, just to touch our hearts that we, as far as me as the preacher, Lord, that I might have something that would help someone, not, I can't, but you can as you make it sharpened to them. And then Lord, make their hearts ready to receive what needs to be received and do something in their lives and prepare them for the point that you may pass and save them. Lord, that's the most important thing and it will make a difference in their lives. Now help us tonight to be sensitive to you. I plead the blood again asking your will be done. Bind us together, hover over us, form a vacuum and cast aside every demon of hell that would hinder somebody from hearing or getting hold of what they need tonight. We'll thank you and praise you for what you do. I want to say I love you. Help me to love you more day by day. Help me to walk in your Now expose error, reveal truth, lift up and exalt the precious Son of God and edify the saints and do something in the hearts of every person in this place tonight that you might get glory and we'll thank you for it but we ask it in Jesus' name for His sake we do pray, amen. You may be seated. As we said, we're dealing with a series, Jesus Passing By that we're looking at We said the first thing we dealt with the first night we dealt with this is we said the condition of every man before Jesus passes by and by that we meant those that's reached a knowledge of accountability. Thank God that man is safe till he reaches a knowledge of accountability. course, we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We're born into this world as far as having a sin nature because of Adam's sin. But thank God, save till you reach a knowledge of accountability, which is having a knowledge of good and evil. Now, I don't know where that's at exactly, but may the Lord speak to our hearts and help us in that area. But at that point, when you reach that knowledge of accountability, you're responsible before God. And this is the condition of every man before Jesus passes by. I'm talking about every man who's reached the knowledge of accountability. We said, as we've dealt with that, we've said that, first of all, man is in that condition, he is dead and trespasses in sin, Ephesians 2, 1. He is depraved, totally corrupt, Romans 5, 6, where it talks about when we were without strength, under the anesthesia of sin, no consciousness toward God, weak for good and then strong for evil, ungodly, that we talked about being dominated by the flesh, the world, and the devil. And then not only that, but deceived. Now, not only dominated the dead and depraved and dominated, but deceived. Every man's deceived because the God of this world hath blinded our minds, lest the light of the glorious gospel shine down in our hearts and we be saved. Also deceived because the heart's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. Every one of us have been deceived. But as a result of that, if we reach the knowledge of accountability, we're doomed. That means we're under the wrath of God, and God holds back that wrath in His goodness from us, that He might give us a space of repentance. But we are a doomed creature. He that believeth not is condemned already, and the wrath of God abideth upon him, John 3.18 and John 3.36 said. So it remains over our head. We can't see it. We may not believe it, but that's why a man has to come to the place to recognize that before he ever be saved. So that's a terrible place for man to be in, but we're all that way before we're saved. If you've reached the knowledge of accountability, that's your condition tonight. And it takes a work of God in your heart to awaken you that you might get hold to something. But let me tell you tonight, even though the Lord painted a bad picture, and that is a condition of every man before Jesus passed by, you're still dear to the Lord because He loved you. We said that, but God, who's rich in his mercy, if we're with you, loved us. He loves you tonight. He's graced you tonight, amen? He's graced you in that he sent the light across your path so that you might come to the point to be awakened. He sent not only the light, he sent the seed, kindred in a sense, but the seed, he planted the seed, he's watered the seed, he sent the human instrument across your path that God uses and every man who is going to be saved, every believer got to have the human instrument and he sent the Holy Spirit to reprove the world of sin and righteousness and judgment, if you please. Therefore, your grace tonight, you're a blessed people whether you realize it or not, even though that you are lost, even though that you've reached the knowledge of accountability, the Lord wants to do something for you. And so the condition of every man before Jesus passed by, dead, depraved, dominated, deceived, doomed, but yet dear to the Lord. We dealt with that a couple of weeks ago, I guess it was. But the second point, the message we dealt with, I believe this was last Wednesday night, I'm not for sure what night it is, but we dealt with the fact of not only the condition of every man before Jesus passes by, but the work of the Holy Spirit before Jesus passes by. Now by Jesus passing by, in reality we're talking about the point of salvation. I know He comes by in the person of the Holy Spirit to awaken you and in that sense when He awakens you there's a sense He loses you from some of that bondage and gives you some, pulls a scale from your eyes so that you might get hold of some truth and He'll teach sinners in the way. But yet what does the Holy Spirit do? He first of all brings you to that knowledge of accountability. Now I don't know where that's at in my life. You don't know where it's at in your life. But God was good to you to keep you held back that wrath while you didn't even know what was going on. Some of you might not have even been in church at that time. But he was good to you to bring you to the place and position you to receive light. Because there's a light that lighteth up every man. God loves you. enough to give you light. Don't care where you're from, where you're at. If you'll obey light, God'll send you more light. I don't care if you're in the hot and taut of Africa. If you'll obey light, God'll give you more light. And so therefore, He's graced you in that sin of doing that. And He's positioned you to receive light. He also positions you to work reproval in your life. The work of reproval, which is called Holy Ghost conviction, He wants that in your life, and He wants to work that in your life. He's not willing that any should perish, but all come to repentance, and so therefore, He loves you more than you even love yourself, amen. He loves you more, and He knows your need more than you even know your need, and He wants to work in you all that's needed that work of reproval. So, as we said, He's sent the Holy Spirit, He graced you by positioning you to receive light and positioning you for the work of reproval, but He also works that reproval. See, it just doesn't put you in a place where he can do it. He works that reproval. And of course, I know there's some conditional things in that. Promises, if you'll obey the light you've got, he'll work more. And that's what we need is some obedience in this place, amen, that he might work all that's needed in our hearts and lives. Well, as he works reproval, he said in John 16, 8, when he's come, Jesus said, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit, another comforter. He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more, of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. Now the word reprove is a word where we get our word Holy Ghost conviction from and that's a good word. I even know some people want to deny that and say the King James Bible only uses the word convicted one time and it was talking about the conscience. Well, you see there's five English words we told you last week, last time we dealt with that the five English words, it's translated from the same Greek word, which means, if we look at the definitions, it'll describe the whole work of reproof. The word reproof means to lay blame on with the purpose of correcting it sharply, and, well, a word rebuke is a second word which means to lay blame on sharply and sternly with authority. and then he gives a, he tells a fault, it means to, that's another word it's translated, it means to give evidence of, you need evidence that God's real. In most people's lives you don't see anything of those who claim to be saved. I mean there's some preachers I know, and I'll use them because there's supposed to be something in their life, but there's some preachers I know that I wouldn't want to go hear them. Amen. I mean I wouldn't walk across this road here. I'm talking about some big time preachers. I wouldn't walk across the road to hear him preach the word of God. I really wouldn't. And of course, I did over all I'd be doing is be critical, I guess. But the thing about it, I wouldn't walk across the road to hear them preach the word of God. But you see, we've got too many people who claim the name of Jesus, and yet their lives don't show forth anything that something's real. They don't give evidence of the fact that something's real. And that's why God, in the work of approval, he says that you need someone in your life, and that's where human instruments cross your path, to give evidence of the fact there's something to salvation, there's something real about the Lord Jesus Christ, there's something real about His work in your life. And He uses you to give evidence so where you come to the place that you say, well, I saw this in her, I saw this in him, and I want what they have, but yet you need to say, I want who they have, amen. because salvation's in a man, not a plan, amen. And so therefore, give evidence of, that's what, and then of course the word convict is another word, or word convince is another word that's used, translated from that verb, which means to persuade by argument using the evidence at hand. And you say, what does that mean? That means that God argues with you, the Holy Spirit argues with you. You say, why does He argue with me? Because you argue with Him. He'll say you're a sinner, you'll say I'm not. He'll say you're lost, you'll say I'm not. So he's got to convince you, persuade you there is something real to this thing the preacher's preaching and he'll show you evidence in people's life to bring you to a settled persuasion that I need him. I need what they have, okay, that's all right. I need who they have, whatever you do. And then of course the last word is convict which means to prove guilt. to bring to a point to where you prove guilt. That's therefore no man will ever be saved till you've had the gavel of God's justice fall on you and say, lost, doomed, and you recognize the part that you're doomed, see. Most of us in that condition, most sinners in the condition of being doomed don't even realize the condition they're in and most so-called Christians don't even care where they're at and that means they're lost as well but God cares and he sent his son to die on the cross of Calvary he sent the Holy Spirit that you might be drawn and the work of approval done so the whole definition of that word, word means to lay blame on with the purpose of correcting it sharply and sternly with authority using evidence at hand to bring you to a point of being persuaded without any doubt I need the Lord and brought to a point of conviction that my sin has nailed Jesus to the cross, amen. He reproves you of three things. Holy Ghost conviction is in the area of three things. John 16, 8, of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Now the word for sin, of course, is singular, which means he's dealing with the root problem. The sin of unbelief is what he's bringing you to see. You've never really repented of that sin. You may think you have, well I believed in Jesus all my life. You'd be surprised how many people today in the United States of America believe I'm okay because I've been a Christian all my life. Not so. You've got to reach a knowledge of accountability. You've got to have a work of approval in your life. And that comes to a point, place, and a time. in your life, where He did that work. And so as a result, you got to get to that place, and He brings you to that place of letting you see your sin nail Jesus to the old rugged cross. And it's not just lying, stealing, drinking, adultery, and murder. That's 5 of the 726 that theologians say are sins in the Bible. And if you tried to, somebody say, you've got to just deal with all your sin. Well, if you started out, it'd take you forever. You'd never get through them. You don't even know where they all are. But once he, he may deal with certain things in your life. What you make an issue will be an issue with him. And he'll deal with that. But he'll bring you to that place to where you come to the place to see that you've never believed on the Lord Jesus. Well, I've believed on about Jesus all my life. That's the problem. You believe the values. you believe what you were taught in Sunday school, you believe the set of facts, but you've never really seen the Lord Jesus Christ. He's been, He's hidden in the bosom of the Father, and it takes the Lord's Holy Spirit to reveal that to you, amen? And so therefore, He brings you to the place, He said, of sin of unbelief. Now, I use the word judgment second because this is where most people get hung up. He will reprove you of judgment. And most people say, well, I've had that in my life. I mean, I don't want to go to hell. I know hell is the judgment of God. That is true. It is part, it is the wrath of God. The beginning, that lake of fire, of course, is the ending. And he said that's hanging over every man's head. That's where you'll spend an eternity in the lake of fire. One day, the wrath of God will be poured up on you, but every saint of God will escape all the wrath of God. So therefore, he's got to convince you of that fact of judgment. Now, we sometimes, even though we say we're sinners, and even though we say we're lost, and even though we say we deserve what we're gonna get, we deserve hell, we don't believe it. Amen? I mean, you know in your own heart, many of you, if you'll be honest, you've said that, I don't really believe it in my own heart. Because you see, I'm born in America. And after all, we look over here at this man or this woman, and we say, man, I'm not as bad a sinner as they are. I mean, I've never took a drink in my life. I've never caroused around and done what they've done. And we always pick out what we can deal with. We don't want to deal with what we, our problem is anyway, you know. And so the Bible said that if we compare ourselves among ourselves, we're not wise. In other words, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, I believe it is, says that. And we're not wise to compare ourselves. Listen, when we match up to Jesus, we all fall short, amen. If we ever get the good look of what we really are, we've broken every commandment in the book. Somebody said, well, I'm not, I'm not that bad. I mean, you know, maybe. And a lot of people believe just maybe that their good is going to outweigh their bad. Even badness who say they believe you got to have a point in time for salvation. even say that you can't lose your salvation after you're saved, but they're really depending on their goodness to get them to heaven. When the Bible said there's none good, no, not one. And your good's not going to outweigh your bad. Your bad, in fact, somebody said, well, I've kept some of the commandments. Well, which one? I mean, thou shalt have no other gods before me. Every one of us has broken it. Amen. Any time you give your heart allegiance to something else or someone else besides God, you've got another God before you, amen? And there's not a one of us in here who hadn't had another God. Back when I pulled tractors, you know, that's my God. I didn't realize that. If you'd have asked me, I wouldn't have said that. But it was. It can be sports, it can be hobbies, it can be job, it can be husband or wife or children. I mean, this and anything you give your heart's affection to and you place it above God, you've got a God before you've broken the commandment. And as I've said before, you've got a pen. Brother Randy had a pen over there, had ten gates where he kept his heart. It didn't matter which gate was left open. Amen? If the horse is out, the horse is out, amen. Whether it's number one or number 10, amen. And see, but somebody said, well, I'm okay, I've not done all of them, but we've broken every one of them, if we'll analyze it. See, we've had other gods, we've had other gods. Does that bother you to think that you've actually worshiped another god? Well, we have. Do you agree? I have a witness. Amen, Brother Paschal, amen. I mean, I have a witness on that. We've had something that's taken our hearts' affection and Jesus said, you cannot be my disciple in Luke 14 unless you hate your mother, your father, your own life also in the long list there. That means to love less is what the word means. It means I love Jesus supremely. And sometimes when you follow the Lord and do what the Lord wants you to, the world is gonna say, your family's gonna say, your kinfolk is gonna say, your wife or husband, your mate in your bosom is going to say, what's the matter? Don't you love me? Do you hate me? Why is it you do this and do that? Because I love my Lord. And God's got to bring you to that place. Amen. He's got to bring you there. You can't work yourself to that. And by the way, he said, that's being my disciple. That doesn't mean a second work of grace down the road. See, a lot of people, you hear them preach about discipleship, you know what they talk about. They talk about, well, take Jesus as your Savior, and somewhere down the road, you just come to the place that you'll reach what he talked about in Luke 14, where you forsake everything. Listen, He's Lord at the point of salvation, amen. He's got to be Lord, and that means that you're going to have to put Him first above everything, and any time we've got something in our heart that causes us to go attracted after this or that, it may be things, it could be fishing, amen? It becomes a God. Every one of us has had other gods before us. Y'all, let that sink in. We don't want to admit that sometime, but we've broken the First Commandment, the very first one that seems like it ought to be the easiest of all in America, in Marshall County, amen, in Calloway County, wherever, amen. It seems like it ought to be the easiest of all. But the second one, what's the next one say? Anybody can help me? It said, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. I believe it's the second one, isn't it? All right, well, you say, what does that mean? Well, the Mennonites tell you you're not supposed to take pictures of yourself and hang them up and look at them. I don't believe that necessarily means that. But it was talking about an idol is what they actually talked about in the beginning. Something they bowed down and worshiped, an idol. Well, you say, but now I've not done that. I mean, I've not carved out a Buddha like the Buddhist have. I've not got that thing like they got down in Peking, where he comes out there every once in a while and goes through his rigmarole, you know. I don't have those idols. We may not have, but folks, I'm going to tell you what, we may, we've all had an idol. That's akin to the one or the gods. We've had something that we have worshiped more than the Lord. Sometimes it's your family. Amen. For instance, I mean, you analyze them, like I've told you many times, I used to thank the Lord for Mother's Day and Daddy's Day. I didn't have to go to church. We always gathered at the lake and had a big family reunion. Folks, that was an idol, whether we realized it or not. It was something that we bowed down to and put more emphasis in instead of the Lord and His church. Listen, His church is the most important thing on this earth today. Amen. It should be number one. And we forsake not the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhort one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Listen, we're going to have to have come together more. Now we won't be coming together in this public building. We'll be out yonder in the bushes somewhere and some holler somewhere when we have to go underground, but we're going to need it to stay how victory whenever things get rough. I didn't say if they get rough, I said when they get rough, because they're going to get rough in America before it's over with. I may not see it in my lifetime, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if I didn't. Amen, Brother Tommy. I mean, I don't know what's happening. You just wait about two more years and a half, and we'll find out where we're headed, amen, and see what gets in the White House, and we may be headed to a worse place, amen. but the thing about it, we need to come together on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. Amen, we need to be there. I know sometimes your work gets involved on Wednesday night, and I understand that, but at least Sunday morning, Sunday night, and it's good for the Wednesday, and it won't be long, we'll have, I like three meals a day, don't you? I mean, I eat three meals and then I snack in between sometimes. And so next week we're going to snack in between with Brother Tim come preach to us at the meeting. Amen. We're going to snack and it's all right. I mean, it's all right. And all the food's already been blessed. I'll aggravate it real good. He knows that. I love you, baby. But it's okay. We'll enjoy that. We'll enjoy that. But that's the second commandment. Then the third commandment is not to take the Lord thy God's name in vain. Folks, we've broken every one of them. We broke that. Have you ever, you say, I've not cussed. Well, you just listen to yourself sometimes. You'd be surprised how many come close to it when you're not trying to. Using little slang words or something on the side and you hear people talk, well, I don't even want to use them. I mean, what they say. And they shorten Jesus' name and, you know, and make comments And probably if we get down to it, I mean, you know, we've just literally fell into a flying cussing fit, most of us. Oh, I'd never do that. Look out, you lot will do it before daylight. Amen. I mean, it can happen to you. What I'm saying is we've broken that command. And then remember the Sabbath day, and I know we're not today, we're not on the Sabbath as like Saturday, but Saturday is the Sabbath. He's talking about a time of rest, a time set aside. And if you see through the Bible, it started out that day and then you'll find that even in the Old Testament time they was worshiping on the first day of the week, but yet they come along in the New Testament time and John was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and that's the first day of the week which commemorates his resurrection. And so we ought not desecrate it, if you please. I believe it's connected to that, amen? And we've broken it, we've broken it. I never will forget the first time, you know, back years ago that, you know, I just can't work on Sunday, you know. I was taught not to. We'd go look at the crop and whatnot and see, figure out what we was going to do on Monday and check the cattle and do what needed to be done. But I remember the first time that I wanted to try to get ready for Monday morning. And I got in an old case combine. I ought to know, I was in bad shape. I bought a case combine the first thing. You know, that was bad, wasn't it? But I remember I had to pull, I pulled off my bean header over one place and needed to drive it eight miles. And I wanted to just, I said, well, it wouldn't be nothing wrong with me to drive that case combine over there eight miles to the other farm, where in the morning I can put the bean header on it and go to thrashing bean by the time the dew gets off of them, you know. I remember driving down the road and hoping I didn't meet nobody from our church. Y'all know what I'm talking about? You see, I was lost as a ball in highways, amen? But I didn't want to meet nobody in our church, you know? And yet, as time went on, everybody else is doing it, and it's pretty easy to just do this, and do this, and do this, and do that. Desecrate the Lord, broken the commandment, is what I'm trying to say. We've sinned, we've broken, how's our good going to outweigh the bad? We've already broken four of them. Well, what about honor thy father and thy mother? We've always done that haven't we huh? I never will forget one day I was preaching about that Billy told me when he left that morning. He said I'll see you tonight if I'm still alive Because you see that's a commandment with promise that you'll live long and he didn't know what brother Gary He might not even make it to not not because of you but because of the Lord a bit And he sure has changed over the years. He's better than he was and I appreciate that maybe he don't mind me using him for an exam We've all been there You ever, your daddy didn't know nothing, did he? Momma didn't know nothing, did they, when they was young teenagers, right? Oh, I wish they, you know, were fluent and fit and say, well, they don't know nothing. But they sure do learn a lot sometime when they get to about 25 or 30, you know, and they get, you get about 25 or 30. Momma and daddy really learned a lot over those years, didn't they, huh? Did they have that trouble, Miss A, there back in your day, too? I mean, we all did. Sure, we broke them the commandment. We've not always honored our father and mother. We've talked back to them, we've sassed them, or we might not have done it to their face, but we got back behind the corner somewhere. I'll tell you what, if they don't treat me right, I'll run off from home. Ain't nobody ever done that. I guess all of us has run off a time or two in our mind. Yeah, we've broken the commandment. You see what I'm saying? And then he says, thou shalt not kill. Well, the Bible said in the book of James, if you hate that you're well on your way to murder, and you say, but I've not murdered anybody. You might not have pulled a pistol or shot somebody, literally, you know what I'm saying, in that sin. But Jesus said, if you hate, and how many times have you got an old grudge down inside, an old bitter spirit down inside that just, literally you say, I just hate this. You may not say it, but sometimes you'd be surprised how many have that, amen? In fact, all in that condition have that kind of ball of, what do you call it, bitterness down inside, a gall of bitterness down inside. That's hate comes out. Kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Well, you say, but preacher, I've never done that. I've never been unfaithful to my wife. Well, listen, Jesus said you look to lust. You've broken the commandment. Now he talked about the woman looking, and normally they say the girls don't look, but I found out they do. Amen. They told me, I mean, I heard them say about that. They look to lust, and so is the real, I'll not call any name, but they said, I'm a girl, amen, I'm a girl. And it tells me that that's just a, and you say, but temptation's not sin, that's right. But most of the time, we're not careful, we'll look a second time. and we've committed adultery in the sight of God. Amen. We don't want to admit that, but we've committed it. If not the actual act, we've done it in form. We've broken the commandment, and thou shall not steal. Well, I've never stole. Well, what about that dime you got off the desk at Daddy's and you got Mama's money or you slipped into his pocketbook and got a little, he'll never know it, huh? He'll, or that candy bar you got from your brother, your sister, uh-huh. Uh, you, you, you see, see, that's little things. Or that bag of chocolate peanuts at the, at the local drug store, you know, that you wanted so much, you know, and didn't have the money to buy them, you know, that type thing. Or the FFA camp, and, and run out of money before the week's over and slip around and, and then try to get, reach up and get a candy bar and got away with it, you say. Well, God knows all about it. See, we've stole, we've stole. You know, and if we don't pay our tithe, we stole. We stole from the Lord, amen. So we've all robbed God. We've all stolen at one time in our life. We were thieves. We've broken the command. I'm just trying to show you. And thou shall not bear false witness. That means not tell a lie. Why? Has anybody ever told a lie? Somebody said, not me. You just told one. Amen, right? You've broken the command. Covenant, you say, well, boy, I tell you, I like that good looking car. I wish I had that. I wish I had that one, is what you're saying. You coveted what your neighbor has. We've all said those things. You say, but I didn't mean it. Yeah, we did. We come, our hearts deceived. I'm just trying to show us we have sinned. We have broken the commandments and our good does not outweigh the bad and the judgment of God is upon us. And if God punished His only, His right hand man, Lucifer, John 6, John 8, verse number 11 said of sin, He said of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. If God judged him, his right hand man, his most anointed cherub, for sin, then we can't get by. We're going to have to be judged. See, we're going to have to find an escape route. And it's not through anything man does, but it's through the Lord Jesus. And that's what God's wanting to get you to. Just get you to the place to where you haul a calf rope. get you to the place that you recognize your judgments upon you. And most people, if we're not careful in the society we live in today, they'll say, listen, you're going to hell if you don't quit that. You're going to hell if you don't quit that. And they'll use the scare tactic to try to get you to make a profession of faith and say, why don't you just ask Jesus to save you? And you won't have to go to hell. God don't save you to keep you out of hell. God saves you for his glory. And you need to realize that judgment's upon you. That's true, but oh, you need to come to the place to recognize that it's not just hell. And yet, it may be that, like Brother Ray's testimony, he said God held him over hell for three seconds and he said, if you'll come back, I'll preach. In other words, when he surrendered to preach, God saved him. But what happened was, somebody said, well, that doesn't go along with what you say. Listen, in his heart, he surrendered to preach. He yielded. There was a turning in his heart from the judgment to the fact, I need you Lord, I want you Holy Spirit to come back and finish in me what's needed and I'll obey, I'll surrender, I'll yield to what you want. So there's got to be that turning in your life. In other words, it's not just going to hell. Now hell is a reality. Hell is a reality, but God never made hell for human beings. that's why the doctrine of election like some teach it's wrong because you see some people say any many mighty more you hell you heaven and they talk about these children amen can you imagine point these little kids and say he's going to hell and she's going to hell and she's going to heaven or something that ain't the way God does that amen they're safe thank God today but they say if they'll die in that condition if that If God chose them to hell, it matters not what age they are, they're going to hell. That's malarkey, amen? I don't know what malarkey is, but that sounds pretty good, all right? But God doesn't do it that way. You see you're safe till you reach a knowledge of accountability, then God holds back that wrath off of you, giving you a space of repentance, working reproval in your life, and letting you see you need the righteousness of God. You need to know hell is real. It is a place. It is hot. It is awful. I mean, whatever we could use to describe it wouldn't do it justice. The worst thing about hell, there'll be no God. Have you ever heard somebody say, boy, I'm living in hell on earth? No, no. Listen, it ain't nothing compared to what hell's going to be really like. because there's gonna be no God. Even if you don't think there's a God around doing anything for you, listen, his son come up on you this morning, his son will set the night, we had a little shower of rain today, and I mean it's God's grace and God's goodness to us, and this is not hell. We may have a lot of things going wrong in our life, but it's not hell. I don't care what your circumstance is, it's not hell. Hell's the worst thing you can think about, but folks, I'm gonna tell you, Jesus paid your hell, amen. You need to be convinced of the righteousness of God who satisfied God's holy righteousness and that is what he's talking about, reprove the world of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more, verse 10 of John 16 says. In other words, and as a result you need to come to that place to see that you need Jesus Christ who is your righteousness. 1st Corinthians 130 said he is the righteousness of God. He's made righteousness for us. In other words, Jesus or God is satisfied with Jesus righteousness. And what was his righteousness? One righteous act on the cross of Calvary. all because of the fact of the virgin birth, the sinless life, the vicarious death, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension, sprinkling his own blood, his ministry of intercession, and his bodily coming back again, but yet it satisfied a holy God, and you need to be convinced that Jesus is your only way out. You've broken the commandments. Your good can't outweigh the bad. God's got to do that for you, and it's got to be done before Jesus passes by. See, you need to ask yourself a question. That profession I made, was it done in my life that way? Some of you already know it wasn't. It may be the second or third or fourth or fifth. It don't matter how many you've got. I want to tell you if it hadn't been done in some capacity in your life, what we're dealing with, the ingredients have got to be there, no matter what age you are or where you're at. If that hadn't been done, you ought to thank God for His goodness to hold back that wrath from you because you're dear to the Lord today. You're dear. Yes, depraved. Yes, dominated. Yes, dead and deceived and doomed. But oh, thank God we're dear to the Lord. That's because He's waiting. He wants to pass by. He's longing to come by and pass by and do a work in your heart that's real. So therefore, He works the work of reproval in your heart, in your heart. I've told this before but I want to say it again. I remember being in a meeting over at Campbell, Missouri one time and the main speaker got up and he said, he said, no man will ever be saved, never be convicted unless you preach on hell. Folks, that's not what God said. John said these things are written, these miracles that Jesus did and what Jesus said in the book of John is written that you might believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Did you know what Jesus wrote in the book of John? God's Holy Spirit wrote down. He never used the word hell one time in the book of John. not one. Now it's alluded to, but he used the word heaven a lot. Now God don't save you to carry you to hell. God don't save you to keep you out of hell. He saves you for His glory. He saves you to take your sin and nail them to an old rugged cross if you please. He loves you that much. Knowing full well who we are, He died for us when we were yet sinners. He died for us, the ungodly. if you please, and He did that for us. So you need to be convinced, you need to be reproved of that, and you need to ask God to do in me all that's needed to complete that work, whatever it takes. Now that's hard to say sometimes, because you don't know what it's going to take, but you need that more than anything, and He longs to do that. And you know what? He's loving and gentle and longsuffering in doing that. He could break you in a moment, pick you up like a twig and break you, but He knows it would break your character and make you, He's not going to force something upon you, even though they call it irresistible grace. There is a point you come that you don't want to resist, and it looks like it's irresistible, but that's God's work, and to Him be the glory in that. So therefore, He works the work, I'm talking about the Holy Spirit that He sent to us and graced us with, works the work of reproval. And now what amounts to He empowers the Gospel to you. He empowers the Gospel to you. See the Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection, we've heard that. But it talks about the sinless life and vicarious death and virgin birth and all those things we've dealt with from time to time. But it takes the sanctifying work of the Spirit involved in that. But that's why we read the scripture a while ago, 1 Thessalonians 1, 5. Our gospel came not unto you in word only. Now that means you've got to have the Word. The Word's got to come your way. But folks, if God doesn't empower that Word, it's just ink on paper. How many years did I read it and it didn't do nothing for me? I didn't read it much, but I read it. I mean, I got it, well, I remember one time when I was in, I think they had a junior class, I believe. That's what they called it, something about the junior's age. I don't know, how old is that, about nine? Nine years old, is that about right, Junior? I don't even know how old they are, but nine years old. I remember our teacher come in one day and said, if we'll read the book of Mark, I believe it was, she'd give us a ballpoint pen. Could you get your kid to read for a ballpoint pen? Man, I read the book of Mark to get a ballpoint pen. It probably had hazel lumber company on it when I got it. You understand cheaper. I don't know what it had, but but I read it to get a ballpoint pen. I grew up in the dark ages. All right. That's what I started somebody the other day and said, Yes, and you walk to school mildly. And I said, Yeah, appeal both ways. You know, that's what it always that way. But usually it's two mile or four mile. But But no, I didn't walk to school. I rode a school bus. But I'm talking about that was the old philosophy, then it talks about walk four miles through the snow uphill both ways, you know. Y'all remember that? To hear those tales like that, some of them wasn't tales, it's true. I don't know how it's uphill both ways, but it felt like it in the snow, I imagine. But the thing about it is, he said, Our gospel came not in word only. It means you've got to have the but also in power and the Holy Ghost and much assurance. In other words, He's got to make it powerful to you. And that's what's missing today in our churches because we've allowed the filtering, I guess the leavens come in and leavened the whole lump till we're in a mess in our churches today, amen. We're in an awful mess because we've slipped in unawares, as Jude said, men slipped in with this easy believism method. Million more in 54, the slogan, amen. going to get a, got to have a greater number, got to have more, got to have this, got to have that, and you know what? They begin to move without God. One day God said, I'll just not show up and see what happens and things went on as usual. He was outside by the plans and programs and what was happening was nothing but false profession after false profession and then those that made false profession went off to the seminary and were taught by those who didn't even believe truth about the virgin birth and they had been infiltrated with ungodliness and then they come back to the pulpit and said, we've learned how to do it. We've learned how to do it. I'm an expert in that field, you might say, and as a result, what happened is we've got churches, that so-called churches, that has no power, and ours is one of them. Amen. Y'all know what I'm talking about? So thrilled that we can trace our genealogy all the way back through that three-toed bear. Y'all know what I'm talking about. I mean, oh, yeah, we got the right, we got the perpetuity and all that. Folks, what good is that if there's no power? Nobody's going to be saved with that. Amen. I'm not trying to be cruel. I'm just trying to get back to work, get back to where we need to be. We need him to show up, you see, and he will do that before he passes by. He's got the empire, the gospel, the word of God's got to get sharp. Oh, I pray that he'll show up. God's sending some people by this week that some of them know a little bit about the truth. Maybe they're going to hold the ropes in prayer, amen. I don't believe they're going to fuss and carry on and argue about some things. They're going to try to hold the ropes, I pray, in prayer and see God do something, amen. May he come down and, listen, he could come down and arrest every one of us today. put us on our face before God, break our heart to where we wouldn't worry about even going home and eating, going out in the fellowship hall and eating. I'm talking about just get to the point, we just need Him. Boy, wouldn't that be good? He's got to do it. And we can't do it, we can't make it happen. Oh, you say, we'll help Him make it happen. No, if you put your hands on it, He'd go back off until you get your hands off. Folks, we ought to know we can't. You ought to know you can't. I ought to know I can't. So maybe God will just come and do something for us this way. So it come not in a word only, need the word, but also in power and the Holy Ghost and much assurance. He said that's when the gospel comes. So he empires the gospel. He makes it sharp, sharpened to it. That's why he said in Romans 1 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. for it is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to the Greek, that's us, the Gentiles if you please and He wants to do that for us. He empires the gospel, and I'll tell you something else, when he empires the gospel, he also grants repentance and faith. You're not going to be saved without repentance and faith, and yet repentance is left out of a lot of messages today, left out of a lot of church, out of a lot of writings, and we've been dealing with some on the email, and they honestly say that sounds like camp meeting preaching to talk about repentance and Holy Ghost conviction. Well, I'm glad for some countenance that believe that. Amen. All of them don't. But that's the truth of the Bible. Amen. God has to grant repentance. What is repentance? Repentance is not just a change of mind only, like some people try to say. I mean, sometimes, you know, I come along to the table and I say, pass me the sweet potatoes, and then I change my mind and say make that mashed potatoes. That's not repentance, amen? And some people, all they do is turn over a new leaf. That's reformation. Every leaf I've ever turned over in the woods was dirtier on the underside than it was on the upper side, amen? And that's what people are doing today. They make repentance a word. I repent, I repent, now I've repented. Folks, I don't tell you if God hadn't worked that in your heart, you're still not saved. He's got to work that in your heart. Repentance is a change of mind, but it's a change of attitude. It's a change of direction. It means turning around from sin, from self, and the world, and turning toward God, and taking up sides with God against yourself. That's repentance, and it's God's work, and He's got to grant repentance. And he said, if you don't repent like they did, like he talked about in Luke 13, 3 and 13, 5, except you repent, you'll perish like those people that didn't repent. In other words, there'll be no salvation without repentance. And repentance comes coupled with faith. And it's a work of God. He grants repentance. Godless sorrow works it. Deeds cause grief over our sin and our need for the Lord, and God's got to show you. And it causes repentance to be worked in you. Thank God for His goodness that holds back That wrath giving you a space of repentance, that's because you're dear to the Lord. Did he not say in Romans 2, 4, and by the way, that's what works repentance is, I know it's godless sorrow, but you know, His goodness leadeth me to repentance. That means His love, that means you're dear to the Lord, that means He's graced you, and that leads you to repentance. Long suffering, you see the fact, I deserve hell. I deserve that wrath to fall on me, but God's been good. All those years, 40 years, round figure, okay? 40 years. 40 years, 30 years, 20 years. Hey, if it's just one, it's goodness. holding back, long-suffering. You know what that word means? Long-suffering means to suffer long with somebody who injures you. That's what it is if you're long-suffering with somebody. So if God's long-suffering does, that means we injure Him. And He even called us our enemy in Romans 5.10. And if we're enemies, we've sure injured Him. We've talked about Him. We've lied about Him. We've belittled Him. We've done everything you can think of about poor God, amen, because of this old man. And I know it was ignorance. I understand that a lot of it was, but I want to tell you what, it's still God suffered long with us. He said, because He's dear to me. Oh, I love Him. He's dead, He's dominated, He's deceived, He's depraved, He's doomed, but He's dear to me, and I'm gonna hold back that wrath, even though He don't understand, and He's done it year after year after year. I've been here 20 years. He's been holding it back, amen. Forbearing means to hold back that wrath. All he's got to do is just pull it back and you'd be in hell in a split second. Without God, you'd be in hell. Without the Lord, you'd be in hell. But that's God's goodness to you that leads you to repentance, giving you a space of repentance. And God's got to grant you that. He's got to give it to you. That's a noun. It's God's part. And it's coupled with faith. And so, therefore, he gives you the grace. He grants you repentance and he grants you faith. Now, you say, but I've had faith all my life. You may have had faith. and some things. You had faith this chair would hold you tonight. You didn't even talk about it. You didn't even think about it. You knew, you just had faith that chair would hold you up. There's this seat would hold you up tonight. You plopped down on it, ka-plop, and if it had fell, you said, well, my faith wasn't very good, but it didn't fall, did it? You didn't even think about it. You did it naturally. But I won't tell you until God gives you faith to believe with saving faith, you'll never be saved. It's saving faith. It's not an intellectual faith. You need that. He's got to give you that. You've got to believe God is before you ever seek him. But faith works. If you've got an intellectual faith, it leads you to a seeking faith, and that seeking faith will bring you to a point of rewarding you, as He said in Hebrews 11, 6, that if you know God exists, in other words, and He's a rewarder of them that do what? Diligently seek Him. That's a careful, steady effort, just keeping on. And that's why He said, He said that the obstacles that I strive to enter in, there's too many obstacles set in your way. Your flesh sets some of them in the way. The devil sets them in the way. your family will set them in the way. Amen? The devil, the world will set those obstacles in the way and you're going to have to strain every fiber of your body to get in and overcome those obstacles and get to that point. But oh, when God begins to get you to that place then He'll increase your faith. He'll, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10, 17 said, that word for word is the word harima which means utterance, in other words God utters to you His word, His promises and that builds your faith. Now the devil tries to steal it and he does sort of cover it over and wanes it away to where you, it's not as fresh as it one time was. Anybody had that problem? Have you had promises and it's gone, not as much as it was? Or if God, now you can't name it and claim it. Well, a preacher told me. Well, that preacher may have told you truth, but I've tried to tell you God's got to do that. That's what's wrong with some of our preachers in our group, used to be group. They try to tell you you need to do it today. I'm telling you because I'm God and I'm in God's stead. I won't tell you what, that won't do nothing to get false professions. Agreed done it didn't got false profession. That's all it's going to do I mean and if you got saved under that condition it wasn't because of that preacher is because of God's work in your heart but the thing about it you need to come to that place to where repentance has been granted to you and Faith has been given to you saving faith. It's his faith. He's got to grant you that and until you get to that point there's an impossibility for you to be saved and You can bawl and squall and cry and do whatever you want to do, but I'm going to tell you, you'll never be saved until God grants you repentance and God grants you faith because you've got to obey the gospel. And that's why I say He'll empower the gospel, He'll grant you repentance, He'll grant you faith, and then He'll enable you to be obedient to the gospel. What is obedience? To be obedient means to obey in the sense of repenting and believing. That's the verbs. And you can't repent till repentance is granted and you can't believe till faith is granted. But when faith is granted and repentance has been granted, you can repent and you can believe. because, and it'll be so simple, because it's all of God. And you know what's the next thing you'll say? It don't matter how much you went through all the circumstances and all the striving and all the seeking and all you've done and all that, you'll say, He did it all. To God be the glory. The Bible speaks about us being the elect. those that save, they elect according to the foreknowledge of God, through sanctification of the Spirit, that's the work of Holy Ghost conviction, the work of the Holy Spirit before Jesus passes by, unto obedience and the sprinkling of blood. In other words, you've got to come to the point of obedience, you've got to obey the Gospel. And he said in 2 Thessalonians, if you don't obey the Gospel, you'll be visited with everlasting destruction. That means hell, the wrath of God. But God in His goodness is holding back, giving you a place to obey. And even when you obey, He won't be saying, look what I did, I obeyed. No, you'll say to God be the glory. He granted me repentance through godless sorrow, Holy Ghost conviction. He granted me faith through His utterance. He showed me this. He spoke to my heart. He taught me in the way as He gave me the understanding I need. and enable me to obey the gospel so that I could be saved. And I'll tell you, when you come to that place and He enables you to obey, that's when Jesus passes by. But He's hidden in the bosom of the Father and the Holy Spirit's got to reveal Him to you. And when you see Him, when you get hold of the fact, it's all about Him. It's Him. It's not us. It's not something we've done. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And He grants you repentance and He grants you saving faith. Then you can believe and you can repent and it'll be coupled together and God has sprinkled you with His blood. Well, what happened to you, He'll, at some point in there, right about that time, He'll call you with an effectual call. In other words, it's effectual, it's capable of producing the desired effect. I don't mean you've got to hear the same thing. It just means, I mean, He went by Lazarus' tomb and said, Lazarus, come forth, and the dead man comes scooting out. Amen? Now, it's typology in a sense. but he called Lazarus by name. Somebody said, what would have happened had he not called Lazarus by name? Ever grave on the face of the earth with a burst forth. That's how powerful he is, amen. But he said, Lazarus, come forth. When you are granted repentance and you're granted faith, he'll pass by, he'll beckon you. He'll call you. I don't say there's got to be a certain word or a certain father, but it'll just be that you'll know that you can come. You'll know you can repent. You'll know you can believe. And at that point, he'll pass you by and you'll cry out to him. Some way, it may not be with the head, but it'll be with the heart. The Bible said in Isaiah chapter 58, verse number something, right? Left hand page, left hand column, I believe it is. But he said there, he said, then you'll cry, and he'll answer, here I am. Where's God? Oh, sometimes you ever, yeah, you hadn't ever said that. Where's God? I'll tell you, some saints have said that. Where's he at? See, he's withholding his faith. Oh, Daniel. Do you know Daniel prayed? Look what kind of man of prayer he was, and for three weeks, he couldn't hear from God, couldn't get a touch from God. The heavens was brash, he couldn't do nothing. And for three weeks, what did he do? He continued. That's what he did. He went to his window, raised it toward Jerusalem, and prayed just like he had always done. Even though it got him thrown in the lions' den one time, he still did what he'd always done. He prayed. Did he hear from God? Three weeks, dry, nothing happening, in captivity, away from home, but he kept doing what was right. And one day, an angel showed up and said, Boy, I've been wrestling with that old booger. God sent me and we've been warring with the devil for three weeks and I couldn't get through. Listen, if an angel, one angel killed 185,000 men in Syria one day and that angel is so powerful. Listen, this is probably Michael the archangel warring with the devil and he couldn't overcome it. He couldn't do it. You know, we sure can't. If He's no match for Him, we're not, that's for sure. But our Lord is. But He had a purpose. And so when He's withholding His face to shine upon us, it's for a purpose to see, well, it's not for Him to see. He already knows what you're going to do. But it's for you to see what you've got, whether it's real or not, whether it's seeking faith. If I've got a seeking faith that's willing to go, Even if God don't speak to my heart tomorrow, next day, next week, next year, this meeting, am I just going to continue on to see if you've got enough character and stamina just to continue? Hey, that works for the preacher, too. It's been 20 years. It's dry. It's not an easy thing. I'm not complaining one bit, all right? I'm just trying to get you to see we've got to continue. Then you'll cry. Then when? When the Holy Ghost has done a work in your heart, that work of reproval, He's empowered the gospel, He's granted repentance, He's granted faith, He's called with the effectual call, and He's enabled you to obey the gospel by repenting and believing. Then he'll answer, here I am. Everything's lined up. All your ducks are in a row, amen? Everything's right, all is worked. You're come on home, you're mine, amen? And he'll beckon you. I don't know exactly, don't try to put something that I say, the word terminology I use, you can't describe it, but then he'll do that. Then you'll cry! I'm looking someday for you to cry! And then will the Lord show up in power! enable you to believe the gospel, because Jesus will pass by. But there's got to be a work of the Holy Ghost completed in all three areas, sin, righteousness, and judgment. But when Jesus passed by, it'll be done. It'll be done. Amen? Because He'll enable you to believe. And you'll say, you'll say, why couldn't I have done that before? Probably. You'll probably think it. but yet you'll know there wasn't no possibility of me ever doing it one minute before that day, that time, why? Because the work of God wasn't complete, amen? In other words, he's got a time, and that doesn't mean you sit there idly by in a passive waiting, you active waiting, knocking, crying, but then you'll cry when the work's done, when he's granted your repentance, he's granted your faith, he's given, extended a call to you, then you'll cry. And he'll say, here I am. And you know what? You'll fall at his feet. Oh, it's me. You're worth it all. Hallelujah, what a Savior. To God be the glory. You see, I'm not trying to put anything in your mind. I'm just trying to get you to say, it'll be of him. And he'll get all the glory. And he can do it. And when he does it, it's done. Our gospel came not in word only, but also, meaning the word had to come, but also in power and the Holy Ghost. and much assurance. That's what we've gotta have, is Him to show up in power, giving you that you need, and He'll pass by. Oh, I pray He'll pass by tonight. I pray He'll pass by this next week. I pray He'll pass by with saving faith and repentance granted to someone. You say, what about one? You talking about one? Well, if He comes by one, there'll be another, and I'll still be praying for her, you see? And even if 25 people got saved in this place, He'll still deal with you as one, one on one. It'll be real to you and real to you and real to you, amen? Just let God finish that work, His work. Don't short-circuit it, don't let anybody short-circuit it. And I pray that, I don't think we'll have anybody here that'll try to short circuit you this week. If they do, I'm gonna run them off. Amen, I got some ushers to help me, amen? We got some ushers to help. I'm fed up with it, amen? We need Him to show up, you understand? Now, if they're coming to get help, that's one thing, amen? And they might bicker a little bit while they're getting help, but as long as they don't try to hurt you, amen? But I don't want them hurting you, you know what I'm saying? And I pray that God won't have to have somebody carry somebody out, amen? Well, the thing about it, when then you cry, when work is complete, when Jesus passes by, you'll say it is done. In other words, it's over. It's finished because he did it all to God be the glory. Father, I pray you'd help us all to see the condition we're in, that those that's not saved, they'll see the condition they're in, but see that they're dear to the Lord. They're loved by the Lord. and he's long-suffering, he's holding back that wrath, giving them a space of repentance. He'll work reproval in their life. He'll finish that completed work of Holy Ghost conviction. He'll empower the Gospel. He'll grant repentance. He'll grant faith. He'll enable them to obey after he calls them. He'll enable them to come and obey. And Lord, what a day that'll be when Jesus passes by. Oh, pass by some soul tonight, some soul in the days to come, that you might get glory. We'll thank you for what you do, for we ask it in Jesus' name. For his sake we pray. Heads bowed, eyes closed, altars opened. We remind the Lord tonight.