Won't you take your Bibles and turn with me to Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter 12 in your Bibles, and we will begin reading in verse 16. Luke chapter 12 and verse 16. When you locate that, if you would please go ahead and stand with me, stretch your legs one last time while we read the text and pray. Luke chapter 12 and verse 16. The Bible says, and he, Jesus is who it's speaking of, and he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, This night thy soul shall be required of thee, then who shall those things be which thou hast provided?" This bower heads together, every head bowed please, every eyes closed. Father, we love you tonight. We thank you for your word and thank you for what we're about to examine. I pray, Spirit of God, that you'd fill me and use me tonight. Lord, I yield to you as sincerely, as completely as I know how. I ask, please, that you'd bind the enemy, the strong man, off the service, off every mind and heart. We plead the blood of the Lord Jesus on this place. We ask that you'd hedge us about. I pray, Lord, that you'd convict the hearts of people, draw the loss to the Lord Jesus, minister to each of us as your people in a powerful way. And Lord, we'll give you praise and glory for what's accomplished, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Go ahead and be seated, please. In Luke chapter 12, I want to talk to you the passage that speaks here, speaks of a man that God made reference to as a fool. And I want to talk to you for a while tonight about the subject, why God called a man a fool. God called this man a fool. And the tragedy is, it was after he had drawn his last breath, when it was too late to change his status, he heard from the lips of God, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, then who shall those things be which thou hast provided? There are several reasons why God called this man a fool, and certainly God knows one when He sees one. He's more than qualified to determine whether our actions are foolish, whether we qualify scripturally as a fool in the eyes of God. I certainly want to figure out why God called this man a fool, because I don't want to fit the bill. I don't want to find myself in a position that this man found himself in. And there are a number of things that this text points out. First of all, this man was guilty of putting himself before God. I don't know if you noticed as I read the text, I tried to emphasize the 14 personal pronouns that are used. I, me, my, mine, I think, I want, I like, I will. This guy had eye trouble. I don't mean he needed glasses. Everything revolved around himself and his will, and this fellow replaced the will of God with his own will. He put himself ahead of God, replaced the will of God with his own will. You know, the Bible does tell us where the will of God begins. He said, the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The will of God begins with me repenting and receiving Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. So the Bible tells us that this guy was not interested in the will of God. He had not entered the will of God. Everything was about his will, his desire. And by the way, he's not the first one in the history of the world that was guilty of that. If you recall, In Isaiah chapter 14, beginning in verse 12 going through verse 14, the Bible tells us about Lucifer. Now you do understand that God did not create a devil in the beginning. According to Ezekiel 28, verse 11, God created Lucifer, son of the morning. He was the anointed cherub that covereth. He was in the very garden of God. And in Isaiah 14, verse 12, it said that Lucifer's heart was lifted in pride. And you know what he did? He said, I will, five times. I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. One of those times he said, I will be like the Most High. The name Most High is the name El Elyon. It means the highest high one. It means the strongest strong one. It means the one who has no equal. And Lucifer said, I'm going to be equal with the one that has no equal. I know why God created me, but I'm going to do my will instead of His will. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 14 that Lucifer was cast down and became the one that you and I now know as the devil or Satan, the adversary of God. He was reduced to that condition by his pride and self-will. Now stay with me. How did Lucifer become a devil? Did he rob a bank? Did he murder somebody? No, he replaced the will of God with his own will and it made a devil out of him. Let me ask you a question. If replacing the will of God with his own will made a devil out of Lucifer, I wonder what it does to you. Do you think you have some kind of an exemption? Do you think that it does not put you in an adversarial position with a holy God? Do you think it does not put you at enmity with God, as the Bible says? The truth is that people frequently impose their will and they do it in pride. You know, in 1 Samuel 15, verse 23, the Bible says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. And stubbornness is his idolatry and iniquity. But he said rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Why is that? They have the same author. Lucifer was the first rebel against God that we have historical record of. And he's also the author of witchcraft. He is the author of rebellion. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and then stubbornness is as idolatry. Did you get that part? Idolatry has to do with bowing before a false god, an image, something of your own making. And he said stubbornness is as idolatry. I talk to people sometimes and they act like stubbornness is a virtue. They're proud of it. Now let me explain the difference between conviction and stubbornness. You say, well preachers are stubborn. I'm not going to tell you that they never are because they're human. But when it's Bible truth and they will not budge, that is not stubbornness. They have conviction. They have no liberty to change what God has said to lower the standard. On the other hand, when you see the word rebellion, it's always identified with somebody who is exerting their will over God's will, somebody who's resisting God's authority. But he said stubbornness is as idolatry. You say, how is that? How can it be like idol worship? Well, I'll tell you how it is. You have become your own little deity. You worship at your own altar. Your attitude is, I don't care what God says I'm going to do. So now you have become your own final authority when in reality God is the final authority. You were doing your will instead of his will. You were sitting in the seat of God and guilty of idolatry. Worse yet, you're your own idol. Because you're going to do your will. Oh, you say, preacher, you don't need to worry about me. I'm not going to do the will of Satan. Well, that goes without saying. You're not important enough to the devil for him to have a specific will for your life. You know what the devil's program is? He doesn't have a plan for your life. His plan is anything but that. I don't care what you do, just don't do the will of God. You see, the devil knows how rebellious you are by nature. But you know what he does? He comes to you and said, don't do my will and don't do God's will. Do your own will. Doesn't that sound liberating? What was it that made a devil out of him? Doing his own will. So he tries to get you to imitate him. He said, don't do my will, don't do God's will, do your own will! This man had bought in and God described him as a fool, first of all, and by the way, you won't find anything that says this man was living a wicked life. He was just poisoned by poor priorities. And the first mistake that he made was he put himself and his will ahead of God's will. He was in God's seat, in God's place in his life. But then there's a second mistake that he made. He put his body before his soul. As a matter of fact, he had the two confused. He said, soul, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. This is a lost man. Isaiah 57 verse 21 said, there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked, those who are still in their sin and lost. And this guy said, soul, take thine ease, I tell you folks, it's not your soul that eats, that's your body. it is not your soul that drinks, that is your body." He said, eat, drink, and be merry, thinking that was his soul. You'd be shocked at how many people have the two confused, and you would be shocked even more if you realized how many people were willing to sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate, to gamble on losing their eternal soul for just one more day in sin. One more party, one more fling, one more day in sin. You know the warning in Mark 8 verse 36, he said, what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? If you could get all the wealth of the world and all the power of the world and all the prestige of the world, all the fame of the world, and then you die in your sin without Christ, you are a loser of the worst sort. no greater loss than to lose your soul. And Job said there's nothing you can do to redeem it once you've lost it, you've missed your window of opportunity. So this man put himself before God and operated in self-will, in pride, and then he put his temporary body ahead of his eternal soul and lost both. You do realize that body you live in, it's gonna die. I'll deal with this verse in a little more detail in a moment. The Bible said it's appointed unto men once died. You understand that is the ultimate statistics, right? That one out of every one dies. Nobody escapes death! And for me to invest in what I cannot keep and lose what's permanent is the height of foolishness. No wonder God called this man a fool. He put himself and his will ahead of God's will, literally was guilty of idolatry, worshiping at his own altar. Then he put his temporary body that he could not keep ahead of his eternal soul and lost both of them. You know, several years ago I was in Washington, D.C. I was knocking on doors. woman came to the door and I began to talk to her about her soul, and she looked at me and said, preacher, now it's no use you talking to me. She said, you know what kind of a woman I am. I said, well, you know, it really doesn't matter what kind of woman you are. If you'll repent and receive Christ, he'll save you. She said, well, she said, you don't need to worry about that. She said, I grew up in church. I heard it all. I know what it takes to be saved, and I'm not going to do that, at least not now. And I said to her, I said, so tell me, I said, if anything were to happen to you right now, where would you go? Well, she said, I'd go to hell. I said, is that where you want to go? Well, no, that's not where I want to go. I said, well, if you don't want to go to hell, why would you choose hell? You don't get what you want, you get what you choose. And if you refuse to receive Jesus Christ, you have chosen to go to hell. But she said to me, preacher, no use talking to me. I like my men and I like my parties. You know what she was telling me? She said, I know that I'm lost on my way to hell. She said, but I'm willing to gamble on losing my soul for one more wild party, for one more adulterous affair. I'm willing to gamble on losing my eternal soul for one more fling in sin. Willing to gamble and bank on something as fragile and uncertain as tomorrow. Hey, this guy put himself before God and he put his temporary body ahead of his eternal soul, lost both of them. There's a third thing we learned in this passage. That is that he made the mistake of planning for this life only. It's pretty apparent that this guy had planned for this life. The Bible said that he had done so well for himself that he was going to tear down his present barns and build greater, and that he was going to kick back, eat, drink, and be merry, and enjoy some semi-retirement. There's nothing in this text that implies that this man was an aged man about to divide the inheritance with his children. This guy was probably, from everything we can understand, in the prime of life, he was so successful He was going to have a little hiatus and take a little reprieve here, eat, drink, and be merry. But the Bible tells us he didn't get to do what he thought he was going to do, but he planned for this life only. He was a good provider for his family. He had planned. He had wealth. He had substance. They had every physical need met. But this guy didn't plan for the inevitable. You know that verse I quoted you a little bit ago in Hebrews 9 verse 27 where he said, and as it is appointed unto men once to die. Do you understand tonight that you have an appointment with death? You did not make the appointment. You cannot cancel the appointment. You will not be five minutes late for the appointment. Bible said it's appointed unto man once to die. You understand that that is inevitable, it is certain, it is not a possibility, it is a certainty that you are going to die. Now tell me, if I know for sure that I'm gonna die, and I don't know when I'm gonna die, and I don't know where I'm going to die, and I don't know how I'm going to die, but I'm certain that it's going to come to pass, tell me, why would I not prepare against something that certain? Isn't it rather foolish? You realize we have people, maybe even in this room, we have people that are insurance poor. And I'm not preaching against having insurance, but you understand insurance is to protect me from the possibilities. And when I buy insurance, I hope I never use it. You buy fire insurance to protect a home. The possibility of it burning! And I'm not going to argue about the wisdom of that. I think it's wise if you can have it, to have it. But did you notice that on the way in tonight, most of them hadn't burned down? I think it's wise to prepare against the possibility of your home burning. You buy car insurance, and in most places now they require it, but even if they didn't, you buy car insurance because you may have a car accident, and then you may not. For some of you, it is inevitable. But you buy car insurance to protect yourself from the possibility of an accident. We buy health insurance because we may fall sick and have a long stay in the hospital. And then, of course, you may have a massive heart attack or be in a car accident and never get to use the insurance. So it may be wise to prepare for the possibilities of life, but do you realize that some of us have prepared for all of the possibilities of life, and have not prepared for the one certainty of life. Somehow we get the idea we're going to ward death off until we're good and ready. But in Isaiah 28, verse 18, God said, and your covenant with death shall be disannulled. You know, people somehow think they have a covenant with death. I can keep it at a distance, and at the last minute before I die, I'm gonna get saved. Really? Really? You better not bank on something that foolish and frivolous. God said this man played the fool, number one, because he put himself and his will ahead of God's will. Number two, because he put his temporary body and its carnal desires ahead of his eternal soul and its desperate need of a Savior, and lost both. And third, he planned for this life, but he planned for this life only. He did not plan for the certainty of death. And it cut him by surprise. By the way, you understand, this man may have been lost and didn't even realize that he was lost. You know, there's nothing in this passage that says that he lived an ungodly life. There's nothing in this passage that said that he was an atheist. Nothing in this passage that implies that his wealth was ill-gotten gain or he was a crook. But one thing is for certain, he died unprepared. He died and went out into eternity lost. He not only left his wealth behind, he left his eternal soul, and God described him as a fool for that reason. But you know, there are a lot of people that have enough religion to salve their conscience. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, the Bible said, "...if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them who are lost, whom the God of this world," talking about Satan, "...hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, which is the image of God, should shine unto them." The Bible said the devil blinds the minds of lost people. He tampers with their thinking. You know what the devil does? When the preacher's preaching and talking about being born again, the devil comes and says to you, he's talking about when you got baptized. No, I'm not. He's talking about when you joined church. No, I'm not. He's talking about catechism, returning over a new leaf, or the sacrament. That's not at all what I'm talking about, and that's not what God's talking about. He's talking about me repenting of my sin, turning to Jesus Christ in faith, and receiving Him at a definite time and a definite place, experiencing the life-changing miracle of the new birth. So the Bible declares that the devil is a deceiver and he is going to labor to try to deceive people and make them think that they're all right when they're not. So this guy may have been lost and did not even realize that he was lost. There are a lot of people that think they're all right. But when you ask them about their conversion experience, they can't tell you of a time and a place when they know they met the conditions that Scripture lays out, when they personally received Christ as their Savior. Can I say to you, if I ask you tonight, are you married, I don't think you'd say, well, I'm as good as the next guy. I think I am. I should be if I'm not. I hope I am. You'd either tell me yes or no. And I assure you, if you're married and you forget, your wife will remind you. I assure you, if you're a born-again Christian and you get wayward, the Holy Ghost will remind you. And Hebrews chapter 12 says, As many as he loves, he chastens and scourges every son he receiveth. And if ye be without chastisement, we're of all our partakers. Then are ye bastards and not sons. Oh, don't bristle. That's not a cuss word. It is when people use it out of the context of the Bible. But that verse is telling me that people who profess to know Christ, who can live long-term in sin without consequence, without gut dealing with them, as with sons, because they're not in the household. God doesn't spoil his children. He spanks all of them. He deals with all of them when they get off. and there are a lot of people that claim to know the Lord as their Savior that live in sin and have perpetually without consequence. You go ahead and trust that if you want to, but the Bible says that's not going to happen if you're saved. I can't see inside your heart, but I do believe every word of that book, and the book says that if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, you're not in the household of God. You're not one of His. So the Bible tells us about this man that he may have been lost and didn't even realize he was lost. You know, it's bad to have cancer. Agreed? The only thing worse than that is to have cancer and be unaware of it. And it be doing its work unchallenged because you're oblivious to its presence. What I'm talking about is somebody who is really ill but they feel pretty good. You know, there was a man that worked with my dad. And he fell sick and had been sick for about a month. He went to the doctors. They ran a battery of tests. And when they did, they told him, you are full of cancer. There's not anything we can do. They said, you're beyond treatment. If we had caught this 10 years ago, we could have cured it. And he said, whoa, whoa, whoa. He said, I've only been sick for a month. said, yeah, but you don't understand. It's not the presence of the cancer that's making you sick. It's the fact that it is now attaching itself to the organs and stopping the organs from working that's making you sick. It has been there for a long time. So here's a guy that thought he was the picture of health, when in reality, he had a cancer working in his body. And by the time he realized it, it was too late. You know, it's bad to have cancer, worse to have cancer and think you're all right. Bad to be lost on your way to hell as a sinner, worse to be lost and think you're okay. Feel pretty good about yourself when you have never been born again. Think that it's all right. This man may have been lost and did not even realize that he was lost. I'll tell you something else about him. He died when he did not expect to die. He was not planning to die. He was not planning to divide the inheritance. He was planning to enjoy semi-retirement, to build new barns, greater barns, to sit back, eat, drink, and be merry and enjoy a little bit of what he had accumulated But all of a sudden, the Bible does not tell us how he died, but he did, and it certainly makes it clear that it caught him by surprise, unprepared, when he least expected it. I don't know if he was out in the barn looking his wealth over and a skid of material fell over and crushed him. Or if he got so stressed out accumulating his wealth, he had a massive heart attack and dropped over dead. Or if somebody found out he was wealthy and robbed him and killed him in the process. The Bible does not tell us, hell, he died, but it does tell us that he died, and he died unprepared. He died when he did not expect to die. You know, in James chapter 4 and verse 14, he said, what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away." You understand, life is but a vapor. You ever walked outside? I realize you live in Florida. But have you ever walked outside on a cold morning and breathed and you could see your breath and then just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared? God said life is like that. There's not always warning signs. You don't always lie in a hospital bed for days or weeks or months or even hours. Sometimes life is gone just like vapor disappears. That's why in Proverbs 27 verse 1, He warns us and said, Boast not thyself of tomorrow. Girls, quit talking up there. Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day. may bring forth. You may not have a tomorrow. You may not have another opportunity. He said, behold, now is accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. God puts some urgency on the matter of salvation because we have no guarantee that we have a tomorrow. Several years ago on the fourth of July, I was going to tune my old truck up. And I had a friend that had the points and the plugs and the condenser. I'm from a small town, just a couple thousand people in Pennsylvania, central Pennsylvania. Everybody kind of knows everybody. So I got in my car and I began to drive to this place where I could get the points, the plugs, the condenser. I got about a mile from his garage, and there was a crowd of people gathered and an ambulance along the road. There was a motorcycle lying in the weeds, and there was a white sheet spread on the ground with a pair of sneakers sticking out the bottom of it. I stopped and got out of my vehicle. I walked over to a young guy named Brian, and I said, Brian, what happened? He said, it's Doc Spade. That was his nickname. guy was one year younger than me, one year behind me in school. He said it's Doc Spade. He said he was coming down the road on his motorcycle on a street stretch of road. Nobody can figure out what happened. He got off the edge of the road. He was headed for a pole and said he jerked the bike away from the pole and it missed the pole, but he lost his balance and fell toward the pole and it hit him in the head. Well, I don't need to tell you that on impact, He was killed. While I was standing there talking to Brian, the mother and sister of this young man who'd been killed were down there at the body to identify it. And they came up through the field just hanging on each other. The mother recognized me and she said to me, she said, my God, preacher, he just left home 15 minutes ago. I'm sure it was longer than that. But she said he just left home 15 minutes ago. He said he'd be back for dinner. Did I tell you he died when he didn't expect to die? And most people do. You know the thing that amazes me? I've talked to men when they were strong and healthy and watched them reject Christ. I've talked to the same men in the hospital when they had already been told by the doctor, there is not a chance that you will survive. And I've had the same men tell me, not now, not today. Really, it's not ever. They had squandered their final opportunity. You don't have a covenant with death. We already covered that. It's going to come to you. You better make sure it doesn't catch you by surprise. This man died when he did not expect to die, and most people do, by the way. Finally, let me say this. He wanted a second chance. but he couldn't get one. So how do you know he wanted a second chance? Well, because in Luke 16, we find a true story of a man who literally died and went to hell. God put that in the Bible so we'd know the reaction when they arrived. And when that rich man arrived in hell, he began to beg for mercy. Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send lancers. He may dip the tip of his finger in water. And cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. And Abraham said, Son, remember. Son, remember. How awful will the memory be in hell. You're going to remember every sermon you heard. every soul winner that ever talked to you, every time you ever rejected Christ, and when you're suffering beyond measure unbearably, your memory will torment you as bad or worse than anything else in hell, because forever you will remember every wasted opportunity and be reminded by your own memory, you chose this. You were too proud to go to heaven. Your life was too full of material things to go to heaven. You were too worried about what everybody else would think to go to heaven. The things of God had no interest to you. You had your good things and likewise Lazarus' evil things, but now He is comforted and now tormented, and beside all this, between us and you, there's a great gall fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot. Neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. He said you are forever sealed in your fate, but everybody who arrives in hell wants a second chance. Everybody in hell wishes they could sit where you sit tonight just one more They wish they could have one more invitation. They wish they could hear one more sermon. They wish they had one more chance. But their chances are gone forever. And their problem, as I mentioned to the young people this morning, is without remedy, Proverbs 29 and verse 1. He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. That man in Luke 16 had no longer a remedy for his problem. He had wasted his final opportunity. Hey, listen to me, folks. He wanted a second chance, but he could not get a second chance. Everybody wants a second chance once they arrive in hell. But Acts 4 verse 12 says, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Did you get that last part? We must be saved. This is not optional. This is a must. But there's no other name that has saving power but the name of Jesus. And there is no other time to get saved but under heaven. That's why you're breathing walking on this planet. When you close your eyes in death and open them on the other side, if you're lost, you're lost forever. There is no reversing it. You know, several years ago, An old country preacher was preaching in a small country church, and he preached a whole sermon titled, Don't Gamble With Your Soul. Don't Gamble With Your Soul. And the old man poured his heart out and pleaded with the people, showing them the jeopardy they put themselves in, pleading with them not to gamble with their soul. And while he was preaching, there was a young couple seated near the back, and the whole time the old man preached, they wrote notes and talked and goofed around. Didn't pay him much mind. When the service came to a conclusion, more than a dozen people in that country church walked the aisle to receive Christ as their Savior. They dealt with the people and they got saved, and then, of course, they dismissed the service. And when they dismissed the service, The first two people out the door was that young couple. They went and got in a little red Volkswagen, drove off. Several minutes later, while some of the church members were fellowshipping on the church lawn, they heard the screeching of tires and the bending of metal and the shattering of glass and a loud bang. A couple of men got in their cars and drove to a small intersection that was at the foot of a steep hill. When they arrived, they saw a rather strange sight. They saw an 18-wheeler that was in the ditch on this side of the road. They saw wreckage strewn everywhere, but they did not see a second vehicle. When they walked up to the cab to see if the trucker was all right, they noticed that beneath the cab of that truck was a little red Volkswagen that had been completely overrun. I don't guess I need to tell you that they were killed on impact. But that's not the end of the story. There was a little old lady that cleaned up the songbook racks every Sunday after the service, got the bulletins that had been left behind and put the songbooks back in, straightened things up, picked up paper that had been put on the floor. She came to the seat where that young boy and girl had been seated, and I say young, I'm not talking 10 years old, old enough to drive. came to the seat where they had been sitting, she picked up a bulletin. And on the back of that bulletin, it had a heart with an arrow through it that said, Billy and Susie. And below that, in one hand writing, it said, I'm willing to gamble, how about you? In another writing, it said, me too! They gambled. and less than ten minutes after the service closed, they lost forever in a situation without any possibility of reversal. Now, hear me and hear me well. You might not write it down and leave it behind, but if you walk out these doors tonight without Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you are as guilty of gambling with your soul as that couple was. It's not that they wrote it on paper that was the gamble. It's that they left the service without Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. And what they did not know is this was their final opportunity. Hear me tonight. For somebody under the sound of my voice, this very well could be your final opportunity. You say, you don't know it's my final opportunity. No, I don't. But on the other hand, you don't know that it's not. And it's not me that's gambling. I stand to lose nothing. I'm already saved. You are the one in jeopardy, and if I were you, I wouldn't gamble with my soul. Not for five minutes, not for ten, not for a day, not for a week, not for sin, not for pride. I would not gamble with my soul. This man was poisoned by poor priorities. He put himself and his will ahead of God's will. He put his temporary body ahead of his eternal soul. He planned for this life only. He may have been lost and a pretty good man and didn't even realize it. He certainly died when he did not expect to die, and he wanted a second chance like every sinner in hell does, but he could not get one. Don't wait until you find yourself in an irreversible situation to say, oh, what good I had. Maybe you ought to trust Christ tonight, and when you close your eyes in death, you'll be able to say, thank good I did. And I assure you there's nobody in this room that has a guarantee of a tomorrow. And if there's any doubt at all about your eternal soul, I would not leave here tonight gambling, because if you lose, you lose forever. I wonder tonight how many folks in this crowd could honestly say, preacher, if I died where I sit right now, I am 100% sure that I am born again on my way to heaven for a Bible reason. Now listen to me. I'm going to ask you tonight to be perfectly honest for this reason. The Bible says all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. You say, preacher, why will all liars be in hell? Because a person who will not be honest cannot be helped. A person that won't admit that they are lost will never be saved. You will doom yourself to hell by living a lie. Anybody in this room can raise your hand and lie to me and tell me by the uplifted hand, I am 100% sure of heaven, when in your heart you are not 100% sure. You can fake your way through this invitation if you think there's some value in that. You can fake your way through life, but mark my words, one of these days may be much, much sooner than you think. You must die. And when you die, you are not going to fake your way into heaven. It won't matter what you made me believe. If you play the fool by thinking faking a preacher out is going to help you, you are really playing the fool. If I were you, I wouldn't gamble tonight if there was any doubt at all. There's too much at stake to leave here unsure. Now is the time, God said. Behold, now is accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. But I want you to be honest tonight. Can I get you to be honest at church? I think you ought to be honest all the time, don't you? But if I can't get you to tell the truth at church, where are you going to start telling it? I wonder tonight how many of us in this room could honestly, honestly say, Preacher, if I died where I sit right now, I am 100% sure that I am born again on my way to heaven for a Bible reason. If you could honestly say that as a testimony, I want you to slip your hand up good and high, and if there's any doubt at all, don't you raise it, because someone else does. You be honest. All right, God bless you. You can put them back down. Listen to me. I want you to look at me. Up in the balcony down there, I want you to look at me. scattered across this crowd tonight. There were some of us who could not raise a hand. Thank you for being honest. Others of us who raised a hand very, very hesitantly. Now God loves you and Jesus Christ died for you. He was buried. He rose again in the third day, just like the Bible says. He wants to save you, but you better be aware that God does not take hostages to heaven. The Bible said, whosoever will may come and take of that water of life freely. Salvation's a gift, it must be received, and it ain't funny. Nothing funny about being lost. Nothing funny about the gospel. Nothing funny about being unprepared. pretty scary if you have good common sense and think about it. It ought to sober you big time because there's way too much at stake here. And I urge you, if you could not raise a hand, or if you did raise your hand, but in your heart there's doubt and uncertainty, don't leave here tonight rejecting Christ for somebody. It really could be your final opportunity. Don't gamble tonight. Use the opportunity wisely while you can. Father, thank you for speaking to hearts. Please bind the enemy off every life. We plead the blood of the Lord Jesus on every mind and heart, on every soul, and especially those who've responded. Pray you'd bind the enemy off their lives. We plead the blood of Christ on them. We ask for your hedging about the service, about them. We ask, Lord, that you'd convict and draw and instill that urgency in every soul. And we'll praise you and thank you for what you do, for we ask it in Jesus' name.