Well, yeah, that's a bonus. He wasn't crying anyway. It's always a pleasure to have my good friend Dr. Kevin Wynn with us. I tell people all the time that the church, the main church there in Mexico City that he pastors is getting more people saved than any church in the world, I'm sure. And the 7,000-seat auditorium, they fill it up three times on Sunday, twice on Sunday morning and then on Sunday night, and have started over 400 churches in Mexico and other parts of Latin America. His goal, if I remember right, is to start 700 churches in Mexico and 500 in the rest of Latin America during his lifetime, and he's well on his way to doing that. And I'm always glad when he's here, Dr. Kevin Wynn. Thank you, Pastor. It's a tremendous honor to be here. We love this church and love your pastor and are very, very grateful to our relationship with Liberty Baptist and all that they've done to help us through the years. And the work in Mexico would not be what it is if it was not for Liberty Baptist Church. And we're very, very grateful for your giving, your sacrifice, and your hard work here in San Antonio, Texas. Let's open our Bibles, if you would, to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 3. Son, if you can bring me that timer so I will try not to go over time. I have that tendency. Exodus chapter 3, verse 1 through verse 8. And let's stand, if you would, as we read the Word of God. Give you one last chance to stand. Thank you, Son. Appreciate it. Exodus 3, 1-8, Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back side of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush, And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see God, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people. And by the way, my friend, he sees our affliction. He sees our pain. He sees our suffering. He sees our broken heart. uh... the the very hairs of our head or number for some of us that's easier every year he has all of your tears uh... it written in his book and actually kept the psalm say in a bottle around his neck and uh... uh... god says i've seen the affliction of my people in egypt and i've heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters for i know their sorrows And then verse 8, God says to Moses, I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of the land unto a good land, and large, and unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Lord, we ask you tonight that you'd help us first to understand your word. We ask you, God, that we then would apply it to our lives and to our hearts and to our families and to the ministry that every child of God has. And God, we ask you that those who are not sure that they're on their way to heaven would trust Christ as their Savior. Lord, we ask you to bless your word tonight and speak to our hearts, edify your children, save those who are lost, and bless this congregation in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. I'm going to do something tonight I very, very seldom do. I'm going to preach on just basically a sermon I've been preaching in my own church. The reason is I've already preached everything I know here at Liberty Baptist. I have nothing left. But here in this chapter, we see one of the most important chapters in the Word of God. We see where God reveals himself to Moses, the great servant of God, a prophet who was an example of the Lord Jesus Christ. He prophesied that the Lord would raise up a prophet like unto me, Moses said. And Moses here, at this chapter, has an encounter with Jehovah God. With a manifestation, I believe, of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, God at times would reveal himself. It's referred to as the Angel of the Lord, or the Angel of Jehovah. The word angel means messenger. And although many times in the Bible an angel is a created being, a servant of God, At times in the Bible, the word angel has different interpretations. For example, in the book of Revelations, the angels of the churches were the pastors or messengers of God to those churches. That's why those letters were sent to the pastors or the angels of the church. Your pastor is an angel, whether or not you believe that. But some people say he's a demon, but I don't believe that. But at times the word angel or messenger of the Lord is referring to a manifestation in the Old Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can see that when you read the text because the people that spoke to the angel of the Lord realized that they had had encounter with God, that they had seen God. That's why they were fearful, that's why they were afraid, because they knew no one could see God and live, and that's very true. If we ever saw God in His pure form, I don't think that means that you would be so scared that you would die. I think God is so wonderful and so glorious, if everyone was able to see Him as He really is, your heart would just stop beating. You desire so much to be with Him that you would no longer take another breath. You would just, literally, your breath would be taken away and you would die. Every manifestation of God in the physical form, I believe, is a manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the image of the invisible God. And we see here that God reveals Himself to Moses in a burning bush. The bush is burning and yet it is not consumed. And Moses leaves those sheep and goes up the mountain and has his first encounter with Jehovah God. Now, there are several reasons, I believe, that God manifested his presence to Moses in a burning bush or in fire. First, I'd like to mention the name of God. Moses tells Jehovah, he says, when I go to the people of Israel and they ask me your name, what will I tell them? What is the name of God? And Jehovah responds to Moses and says, I am. I am. That's very important to understand. When we say Jehovah, Jehovah is a word that means, He that is. It's second person. When God refers to Himself, He would say, I am. When they referred to God in second person, they would say Jehovah, or He that is, the eternal, existing one. Now that's important when you get into the New Testament and realize when the angel told Mary and Joseph what the name of the child would be, they said his name would be Jesus, which is Yeshua, which is literally Jehovah saves. Jehovah saves the eternal, the always existing one. The Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end saves. His name is Jehovah saves because he saves his people from their sins. We see that's important in John chapter 8, if you would. John chapter 8. Jesus has an encounter with the Pharisees. And he tells them something very important in verse 24. He says, I say therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins. We have to believe, when I'm witnessing to a Jehovah Witness. I always make sure I talk about the divinity of Jesus Christ. I've won a few Jehovah Witness to Christ, but I always make sure they understand that Jesus is not a creation, but he is the creator. If you don't understand who Jesus is, you cannot be saved. He said there is no forgiveness of your sins unless you realize that I am. Look down, if you would, to verse 42 in John chapter 8. If God were your father, you would love me, for I've receded forth and came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? even because you cannot hear my word. You know, sometimes people come to church and pretend that they don't understand what the preacher is saying. Usually, it's because they don't want to understand what he's saying. I was soul winning this Saturday, and I was witnessing to a man, and that man said, I'm not going to listen to you. I'm not going to. You're a foreigner. You don't even speak good Mexican. Tu no hablas buen mexicano, como yo. You don't speak good Mexican, like I do. I felt like saying, sir, it's not Mexican, it's Spanish, not Mexican, that we're speaking here. But my mother taught me when I was a little boy, don't get into a kicking contest with a jackass. Jesus said, why is it you can't understand what I'm saying? Why is it that you don't understand my speech? You don't understand what I'm saying because you don't know who I am. You of your father, the devil, the lust of your father, ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, a bold knot in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? That's a mighty statement. There was not one thing Jesus did in his entire life or ministry that anyone could point to and say that was sin. That's amazing in and of itself. And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God, heareth God's words. You therefore hear the not because you are not of God. People ask us at times, how in the world is it that you have so many people going to church in Mexico City? And the simple truth is we preach a lot the Word of God. not just from the pulpit, but in the streets, and door to door, and on the subways, and in the plazas, and all around the city, where there are thousands of people going out on Saturdays and all week long, witnessing and preaching the Word of God. And folks, when you preach the Word of God, those who are of God want to hear the Word of God. We don't have to spend our time defending the Bible. We need to spend more time preaching the Bible. The Bible will defend itself. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art Samaritan, and hast the devil? Jesus answered, I have not a devil, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. And I seek not mine own glory, there is one that seeketh and judges. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then saith the Jews unto him, now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead. The prophets, and the prophets, and thou sayest of a man, keep my sayings, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? And the prophets are dead? Whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my Father that honoreth me, of whom ye say that he is your God. Yet ye have not known him, but I know him. If I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you." Boy, Jesus was a kind preacher, wasn't he? He was a loving, tender preacher. Though he was very direct, he was very pointed. Paul exhorted his young preachers, preach the word of God, rebuke them sharply that they might be sound in the faith. He says, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus, by the way, finished his ministry at thirty-three years of age. They said, You're not even fifty, and you're telling us you knew Abraham? Who are you? Who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus said unto them verily verily I send you before Abraham was I am I am It's interesting when they came to arrest Jesus crimes He told the disciples he they he said to Peter put away your your sword He said I could call 12 legions of angels to come and defend me, but Jesus didn't even need those legions of angels when they came to arrest him that night. And they told him who they were seeking. He said to them, I AM. And they fell backwards. Jesus, with the power of His Word, could have destroyed this planet. Jesus is the one and true and only great I AM. and he is now revealing himself in Exodus chapter 3 to Moses in a flame, in a fire that is burning in a bush, and yet the bush is not consumed. Fire, oftentimes in the Bible, has relationship to God and to the Word of God. Remember, Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. And many times God in the Bible uses fire to explain sanctity, to explain judgment, to talk about purity, and to help us understand some of the attributes and characteristics of God. Look, if you would, at 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. Verse 7, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen ye loved. and though you see him not, yet believing, he rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Folks, I don't know about you, I've never seen Jesus. And I doubt you have too. But I love Him. I love Him because I have His Word, because the Holy Spirit of God lives in my heart. I love God. And Peter tells the Christians, your faith is going to be tried by fire. He says your faith is precious. It's more precious than gold. And those who work with any type of metal know in order to work with metal, you have to use fire. Fire purifies. Fire makes it where you can be molded and shaped and become something or someone that's useful to God. And Peter reminds the Christians of the first century, God is going to try you with fire. you're going to pass through fire in order to be used of God. And the first thing that Moses sees before God uses him as his servant, and God uses him as his messenger, and God uses him to pull the people of Israel out of slavery and out of bondage, the first thing that Moses sees is the fire of God. The purity of God! The holiness of God! And his faith begins to be molded and changed. Look at 2 Peter, if you would. Chapter 3. 2 Peter, Chapter 3. Look at verse 7. but the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store and reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant of this, that one thing, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some uncount slackness, but as longsuffering to us were. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Some people say they don't even believe in repentance, and yet repentance is the only reason that God is waiting to come back. He's giving time for more people to repent and to be saved. But that day, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens, note this, shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then, that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Looking for and hastening unto the coming day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." Someday God is going to consume and destroy all the sin, and all that has been tainted with sin, and all that has been touched with sin. And God will consume it and destroy it. And Peter is saying, listen, understanding that ought to motivate you to be a good soul winner. Understanding that ought to motivate you to live a holy and pure life. Why would you live a life trying to please the world and trying to please worldly people when this world is going to perish? Why would you live for things knowing that someday soon Christ is coming back again? He's first going to rapture us. There's going to be seven years of tribulation and three and a half years of tribulation, three and a half years of great tribulation. sometimes that spanish slips out on me uh... that mexican uh... that there's going to come a millennial reign where we see this this earth christ will be reigning in the this world will be a paradise on earth and god wants i think god just wants to show us for a thousand years what things would have been like if we'd let him rule and after those thousand years god will consume This universe, and the stars, and the heavens, and all that exists will be consumed. And God will make, glory to God, a new heavens, and a new earth. And Peter is saying, listen, if you understand that, why in the world would you live for the world? In the first place, you're not going to last that long. First, the Bible teaches the average person dies at 70 and the strongest live till 80. I was talking to my father-in-law the other day. He's 90 years old. He's telling me, Kevin, I'm going to die. I said, yes, my dear father-in-law, yes, you are. I didn't tell him, but I was going to say, you're overdue. Folks, the truth of the matter is, God is the only one that's eternal. And only what we do for God is important. He is the eternal fire that does not allow us to be consumed. What He wants consumed will be consumed. And what He wants to preserve, He will preserve. Moses could not understand how can this bush be burning and yet it is not consumed. And the reason was God wouldn't allow it to be consumed. Look, if you went to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, I know it's a lot of Bible, but But it's good stuff. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 18, the apostle says, for you're not come unto the mount that might be touched, that burneth with fire, nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest, the sound of a trumpet, the voice of words with the voice that they heard and treated, that the words should not be spoken unto them anymore. For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it was stoned or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. The apostles, in Hebrews, he's trying to teach the Jews that had trusted Christ as Savior, he's trying to teach them that we have something superior to the Old Testament. He's saying we have something better than the Old Testament. We have the New Testament. He said, you haven't come to that mountain where Moses received the law and where the mountain was burning with fire and the people could not approach to the mountain lest they be killed. He said, you haven't come to that. This isn't a repetition of the Old Testament. He's saying this is something much better than that. The people, when they heard the commandments of God, they feared, they trembled, they said, we can't endure that. And by the way, no one can. No one will see heaven by fulfilling the commands. Years ago, I was out soul winning, and a man started to tell me, he said, well, I'm saved because I keep the Ten Commandments. I said, well, that's wonderful, sir. Could you please tell me what the Ten Commandments are? And he began to tell the Ten Commandments. He didn't give them an order. He just said, well, don't commit adultery. Don't kill anybody. Don't lie, even though he was lying. Keep the Sabbath. And, and, and, I said, now isn't this interesting? You're going to get to heaven because you keep the Ten Commandments and you don't even know what they are. And I said, sir, by the way, they were not Ten Commandments. There's over, different rabbis say different things, but there's over six, between 613 to 614 commandments. In fact, the two most important commandments of loving God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and loving your neighbor as yourself are not even found in the Ten Commandments. They're found in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and Leviticus chapter 19. If that's wrong, don't say anything until I'm done. That's a problem. I love to preach at other churches where the pastor doesn't know the Bible. I get away with all kinds of stuff there. It's more interesting, too. No one, no one has ever fulfilled the law. Even Moses was fearful when he heard the word of God and the commandments of God. But the apostle says, you've not come to that mount. He says, verse 22, you are come unto Mount Zion. unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven." Well, I just don't like to come to church. Don't worry. Where you're going, there are no church services. "...and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See ye that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escape not who refused him to spake on earth, much, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. But now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shall shake not the earth only, but also the heaven." Have you noticed how these verses coincide with each other? What Peter is talking about and what the Apostle, I believe Paul, is talking about here in Hebrews. This word, yet once more signify it, the removing of those things that are shaken. as of things that are made. But those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved, let us have grace. I talked about that the other day here. Grace, gratitude, love for God, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. By the way, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Note what he says, for our God is a consuming fire. My friend, listen closely. You'll either be consumed of the fire or by the fire. The day of Pentecost, they like to talk about everyone speaking of tongues, but what they don't talk a lot about was there was flames of fire above their heads. They were just physical manifestations. God wanted to understand that God, the Holy Spirit, now dwelt within people. And God, who is a consuming fire, placed fire upon the head of the disciples so that people would know something has changed. We're now in a New Testament. We're now in a new time. And now God literally dwells in the hearts of His disciples. That's why now that our lives are changed, and Paul explains that in Hebrews chapter 10, and explains the new covenant that your conscience is purified, and your conscience is changed. If anyone is in Christ, they're a new creature. And God is now inside of us, living inside of us. His Spirit is inside of us. His Word lives within us. And that needs to consume your life. That needs to be the main emphasis of your life. Sometimes soul winning in Mexico. Sometimes people, being kind, will hand him a track and say, would you allow me just a few minutes to explain to you how you can be sure that you're on your way to heaven. Sometimes people will say, well, I get to know him. We need to have a little bit of time for God And that sounds nice and everything sometimes some of you go so winning I imagine and someone will say well there's we need to have a some time for God and And uh, uh, and that sounds good and everything but folks that's not what the bible teaches. God needs to be the priority Seek ye first the kingdom of god It's not i'll come to church if I have some time it's i'll do the other things if I have some time but god's first God wants to be a consuming fire. He doesn't want to be second or third. He wants to be first in your life. And those flames of fire upon the disciples were showing that now the Word of God dwelt within them. Look at Jeremiah chapter 23, if you would. Jeremiah chapter 23. What time is it? Okay, we've got a few minutes. Jeremiah 23 verse 21, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken unto them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings. Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? And by the way, God that works in one country can work in another. Can any man hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Sayeth the Lord, Do not I fill heaven and earth? I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of deceit, of their own heart, which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams, which tell every man to his neighbor as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. Note this, what is the chaff The chaff are those who are preaching dreams and revelations and opinions and philosophies. What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord? Is not my word like a fire, saith the Lord, like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? People tell me, Brother Kevin, people's hearts nowadays are just hard. Well, keep swinging away. Keep preaching the Word of God. God's Word is like a fire. Remember when Jesus rose again and some of the disciples couldn't believe it. And some were walking down the roadside and Jesus, they were talking about the resurrection and what the women had said that had gone to the tomb. And Jesus himself came and began to walk with them, but he hid himself, though they would not recognize him. He asked them, what are you talking about? And they said, are you a stranger here? You've not heard all that's going on? He said, what? What's going on? I wouldn't be surprised when we get to heaven sometime, we found out that Jesus came to church services sometime. And we didn't know who he was. By the way, you better be careful how you treat that little bus kid. Might be Jesus. Jesus began to talk to them about the scriptures and he went through every scripture from from the book of Genesis Through the entire Bible and all the prophets and told them what the Bible said about him When they got to the where they were going to lodging They begged Jesus to stay with him still not knowing who he was and when they were breaking bread They recognized him. He allowed them to see who he was and then vanished from their sight And they said to each other, did not our heart burn when He opened to us the Scriptures? When He explained to us the Word of God? Wasn't there a fire burning in our heart? And my friend, if you're right with God, when the preacher is preaching the Word of God, there'll be a fire burning in your heart. There'll be a desire to know God And to be in his presence meant fire. What our nation needs, my friends, I thank God, I prayed, I fasted and prayed that Trump would win the elections. I hope you don't lose your tax-exempt status because I just said that. But I'm glad that President Trump got voted in. But my friend, the hope of the United States is not politics. The hope of Mexico is not politics. The hope of any nation are preachers that preach the Word of God. And one of the things I fear is that we're losing the fire out of our pulpits. And the fire in our preachers. And they're becoming preachers that want to please men instead of please God. And what we need is the fire of the Word of God! We used to talk about, what Brother Coral preaches about, the fires of evangelism. We need that again. It's amazing, those who God does not send go out. spreading their lives and Jehovah Witness will go out door knocking 40 hours a week and Christians have the true message and the true Messiah and the true Savior and we know who Jesus is and we have the true Word of God in the King James Bible and yet we will not go out and start the fire. We need that fire. God, there's so many scriptures 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Very quickly, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. The apostle, here's teaching a carnal church. And he says to this carnal church in verse 13, every man's work shall be made manifest in the day, shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire. The apostle John, when he talks about seeing Jesus revealed to him on the Isle of Patmos, He talks about how his eyes were a flame of fire. By the way, God sees into our heart. God knows our motives. God knows why we do what we do. There's no secret things as we saw in Jeremiah. God fills the universe. He knows everything. He sees everything. And when you read the Word of God, by the way, the Word of God will reveal that to you. You'll know there's no hidden life. God sees everything I do and God will judge me. And the Bible gives us a fear and a reverence toward the consuming fire of God. Paul says here, every man's work shall be manifest. What sort it is. If any man's work abides, Which yet built thereupon he shall receive a reward if any man's work shall be burned He shall be suffer loss note this but he himself shall be saved yet. So as by fire You know, it's interesting the Bible teaches works and salvation have nothing to do with each other In fact when on Judgment Day There's the book of life on one side, the book of the Lamb on one side, and there are the books of our works on other sides. The only thing that determines if you get into heaven or not is if your name is in the book of life. And that's by faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But your works determine one of two things. If you're lost, if your book name is not in the book of life, Your works determine your level of judgment in hell. If your name is in the book of life, your works determine your recompense or your reward in heaven. And Paul's exhorting the church. He's saying, listen, don't be carnal. Don't live for the world. Live for something that's going to endure. Live for something that's going to abide the fire, that's going to pass through the fire of judgment, and something that's going to get you rewards, eternal rewards in heaven. It's more important to make sure your children are in Sunday school than to send them to school on Monday. It's more important for you to go out soul-wanting than it is to go to work. Now, I'm not saying don't work. If you don't work, you don't eat. It's always a good idea to eat. But God wants you to have your priorities right. Make sure what you do abides the fire. One of the ways you do that, look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Look what Paul says in verse 31. It's very important. Paul says in verse 31, If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. First thing you do when you're soul winning, we explain to people that we're sinners. There's none righteous, no not one. Young people today, they're always saying, how are you doing? I'm good. I hate that when they say that. I'm good. I always tell them the Bible says there's none good. I'm good. It's good. I'm good. No, you're not. You're bad. You're evil. And when someone is willing to admit that they're a sinner and they're on their way to hell, it's easy to lead them to the Lord. If you judge yourself, you're not going to be. You know, that's true in a Christian's life as well. You know, it's sad when we give the invitation The ones who really don't need to, usually the ones that come to the altar, and the ones that really need to, are the ones that usually don't. If you judge yourself, you won't be judged. You don't want to be burned by the fire. You need to judge yourself. You don't want God's fire to judge you, those burning eyes that see everything you've ever done, and know everything you've ever done, and know the condition of your heart. You need to judge yourself. You need to ask God to forgive you. You need to seek His forgiveness, His mercy, and He is great in mercy. years ago in Italy. I'm sure I've probably given this illustration. In Italy, a duke or a prince of Italy went to review some prisoners that were in a galley in a slave ship where they would chain them to the oars and force them to pull the oars until they died. And that duke went down into the galley and began to walk down the aisle where the slaves were chained to the pews. That would be a good idea for church service too, huh? Nobody would leave for the bathroom that way. But he walked down the alley and began to ask the prisoners, why are you here? What have you done? And the first prisoner responded, I did nothing. I was accused of murder, but I am innocent. I did nothing. I was falsely accused. And you, what did you do? And he said, I was accused of thievery and being a bandit, and I'm innocent. My prince, please, please, you must believe me. And he went to one after another. If you've ever had prison ministry, it's interesting. Nobody in prison is guilty. Nobody. And he went to one prisoner after another. And they said, I'm innocent. And finally came to the last man chained, and he said, you, what is your story? And he says, sir, I was hungry. My family was hungry. I went to the market, and I stole some bread. And the duke looked at him. He said, you pervert. You evil man. You're a thief. What are you doing here with all these innocent men? Soldiers, release him. and the chains fell off and he walked out free. My friend, if you'll judge yourself, you won't be judged. That's what salvation is. Salvation is not me doing good works. Salvation is me hiding myself in the Lord Jesus Christ. Putting my faith in Him. Not in myself, but in Him. If any man be In Christ. Are you in Christ? Years ago, a week ago, I was out in Colorado, preached at three churches last Sunday in the state of Colorado. But as we left Colorado, going back to Mexico City, I looked out over those prairies. And you passed, we passed, you could see the prairies of Wyoming, and you could see, if you've ever seen those great prairie states. Mile after mile of grasslands. It's amazing. Looks like an ocean of grass. Settlers in the old times would come across those prairies. And every now and again, a prairie fire would start. And I read about a group of settlers in their covered wagons crossing the prairies, in the open prairies. And they looked behind them, and there was a prairie fire. And that fire was coming towards them. The wind was blowing. And folks, there's no way you can outrun those fires, especially back then with covered wagons, and children, and animals. And that fire was coming towards them. And the women began to cry, and the men began to cry out. And the old wise guide that was taking them across the prairie took and started up a torch and said to the people, don't panic, don't run. And he set a fire. And he burned the grass that was in front of them. and told them, now move the wagons into the grass that's been burned and the ground that's been burned. And they did as quickly as they could. And when the fire caught up to them, and by the way, my friend, your fire will catch us eventually. Your sin will find you out. When the fire came up to them and reached the ground that had already been burned, they could go no farther. Folks, that's what salvation is. Jesus Christ was judged for our sin. And when we by faith hide ourselves in the Lord Jesus Christ, and put our faith and trust in Him, and we don't try to justify ourselves, but we say what a great Savior He is. He is the great I Am. He is Jehovah Saves. He is Jesus. And we put our faith and trust in Him. The judgment of God will not touch us because we are literally in Jesus who has already been judged for us. And our judge becomes our Savior. The consuming fire becomes our Savior. Are you following me? Tonight, judge yourself. There's many other scriptures. You could see in the book of Acts what the disciples would do when they got saved and how they would take their books of witchcraft and their sorcery and how they would burn them. A lady in my church said, Preacher, I'm giving up pants. And I told her, take your pants and burn them. I'm giving up pornography. Burn it. Don't give it to somebody. Burn it. I'm giving up some vice, something in my life. Burn it. Burn those bridges that are behind you. Don't go back to the world. Judge yourself. Let God forgive. Let God purify. Let God save you. and you won't be judged. The fire of God, let it burn in your heart and it won't consume you. There's so many scriptures that correspond to this. That fire is burning in your heart. You won't be discouraged in this heart. There'll be a fire in your soul. It doesn't matter. Folks, I'm 60 years of age. I've got more desire to serve God and to build churches and to see people saved than I've ever had in my life for ministry. The problem is, folks, you're not feeding the fire. You're not feeding the fire. You've got to put gas in a tank. What runs a car? My wife doesn't understand this, so I hope, honey, you're not talking to Mrs. Nichols during the service, right, honey? You put gas in the car, there's a fire. Those pistons are burning gasoline. Those spark plugs are igniting. There's fire in the car. The fire then moves the car, gives you air conditioning, gives you comfort, gets you to your destination. You ever seen a car on the side? By the way, people drive crazy here in San Antonio. I thought they were bad in Mexico. I've seen eight accidents here in San Antonio in two days. Eight accidents. I only caused three of them. But you ever seen a car burning? That fire on the outside destroys it. Fire on the inside makes it run. Christian, make sure the fire of God's burning in your heart. Or you will be destroyed with it. Because God is a consuming fire. God, we ask you that you'd help us to love the Word of God, to have the