If you want to read with us, we'll be reading out of the book of Isaiah in the 40th chapter. Let me start out by maybe just real quickly introduce myself just a little bit. Not that I am anything. Nothing more than just a sinner saved by God's grace. I owe it all to Him. And I want to say in the outstarts that if I say anything or do anything that causes you to get a little bit of something from heaven, you give God every bit of the glory out of it. I'm nothing more than a mouthpiece. I've always said that the only reason, I think one of the main reasons the Lord called me was just because I'm a loudmouthed Girard. That's about it. I'm just a boy from the upper end of Lumpkin County in a little old valley called Yehoola Valley. Most of you probably don't even know where that's at hardly, but it's just a little simple place filled with just a simple country church that I can call home when we get to go there. as much as we can, and it was there that God touched us as a ten-year-old boy. And I tell you what, folks, I like that song he sung, I'm Glad I Got Lost, because I want you to know this on the outstarts, folks, and we'll get to this as best we can. I just want to follow God as best I can, you see, because if I follow me and if I follow man, then I'm just going to stumble and fall just like every man that you know. I want to tell you this right quick, like, if I can, If you're following man, and if you're trusting in man, and trusting in what some man might have told you about salvation, whether you got it from him or whether you got it from somebody else, bless God, if you didn't get it by the Spirit of God, you ain't got it, I'll just tell you that. on the authority of God's Word. And I want to say this too. It was said here this morning. I was glad I got to be here this morning for the start of revival, if I can say that. The Spirit of God fell and it was said this morning. It's true as far as I'm concerned. Anytime I'm up behind the pulpit I don't know Jamie. The best time I've met him tonight is the first time I've met him. And if I can speak for him, if that's alright. Bless God, this altar is open any time you want to fall in it. Whether I'm up doing whatever. If God's soul pricks your heart, you get up and move by Him. Because it is by the Spirit of God that you are led to an altar of repentance. And it is by that same Spirit that you're lifted up, saved. I don't claim to preach anything new. It's an old way, but it's the only way. In the 40th chapter of the book of Isaiah, in the first verse, the prophet wrote, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortable to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway. For our God, every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said, Cry! And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is a flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord dwelt upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, But the word of our God shall stand forever. Folks, I know this was talking, and it was talking about the forerunner of Christ Himself, of John the Baptist who has come, and make straight the way that Jesus might be able to be proclaimed and be the forerunner, and let everybody know just a little bit about this Christ, the Messiah, the one that was promised that He was coming, and He was going to make Israel great again. And see, somewhere down along the way, Israel lost that whole point that John was trying to make. It was just a simple message that Christ was going to come. And today, it's not any different. It's a simple message. It's a simple thing. You see, it's us that's made it hard. Salvation is simple. Christ done the hard part. You see, salvation is simple. Because all you have to do is be convicted of the Holy Spirit, fall in some altar of repentance with a humble heart, that broken contrite spirit, and fall before God Almighty, and give yourself unto Him, confessing your sins that He might be... Hey, I know He already knows them anyway, bless God. And some of us, me included, It took us a little bit longer to get in that altar and maybe confess them just a little bit, I don't know. You know, I've seen people get saved and the moment they start out of the bench, the moment they're able to be able to realize that they can be saved, I've seen them get out of the bench and before they even get up in the altar, they get saved, bless God. I've seen others like us old stubborn Gerards sometimes get into an altar of repentance, have to pray for just a little while. I guess we had a little bit more to account for than other folks, I don't know. But see, simply put, all it took was the willingness to be able to accept what Jesus Christ did for us. That's all it takes. It's as simple as that. And then, once you accept that, you believe it, accept it in your heart, confession is made unto salvation. You say, well, that don't seem too hard. It ain't. It's not too hard. It's not too hard. So, when we talk about making straight the way, You see, if you turn over into Matthew, in the seventh chapter of Matthew, you find where Christ actually said, why do we want to make it straight? Well, Christ said, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way. Straight as a gate, narrows the way. It's still a simple message. And see, we'll take something as hard as that right there, or something as easy as that right there, and try to make it hard. When it's easy, I like to look, the Lord struck me with this this morning, about it being narrow. Why is it narrow? Why is it straight and why is it narrow? And, you know, I could put it into a couple of different contexts. I got to thinking, well, maybe I could put it into the context of planting a garden. How straight the rows need to be. That way it's good and straight for the irrigation and for being able to come back in behind it and plowing around it and making things the way it should be in a straight and fashionable order along the line. And then I got to thinking about, well, maybe narrow. Narrow being, it's a little difficult, and it's the path that's untaken sometimes. But simply put, God said, hey, how about making it a little simple, why don't you? Why do we call it narrow? I like to look at it this way. God said it's narrow because it's the only way. It's narrow because it's just one way to the pearly gates. It's one way that you might be able to accept Jesus Christ as your first and last. It's the only way. People say, well, you know, I believe you've got to do this, and I've got to do that. I had one fellow tell my father-in-law, that, well, you know, I believe if I just do the best I can, do a few little good down here, then everything will be all right. Folks, don't fool yourself. Don't kid yourself and don't listen to that bull. Ain't nothing you can do that is worthy of the glory that God has prepared for us to be revealed unto us on that day. Ain't a thing you can do. You say, well, what if I give my own life? You know, service for our country. Boy, I can appreciate the men and women who've served our country proudly, able to stand on the front line, be willing to give their life. But unfortunately, not even that will get you into heaven. It won't. You see, because there was a life given some 2,000 years ago, and that life was the only life that was perfect. It was the only life that was worthy for us to be able to have a way into heaven. And now all you've got to do is accept that way. and believe that way, and confess that way, that we might be able. And then we, we become as John was. We become the forerunner of Christ. You say, how's that? I'm not no preacher. John the Baptist, he preached Jesus, he preached the way. Hey, I want to tell you live, whether you like it or not, the moment people find out you're a Christian, you're already preaching, bless God. comes out of your mouth, you think people ain't looking at you? You think people ain't trying to be like you? Trying to pattern their life after you? They don't know no better. They think it's got to be this hard thing until we make it simple for them. Straight, right towards Jesus. Ain't no turns. Right or left. You know, I was trying to tell people how to get down here this evening. I say, get on down to 400. Try to make it as simple as I could. You try to get down on 400. Go down there. Jot them down the road, take a right. Head on out there to the roundabout. You go through that roundabout, go straight on through the roundabout. Come on out there. Couldn't remember what the road was. I said, I believe it's about the second road on the left there. I tell you what, look for a driveway that's got two rocks in front of it. And when you get to a garden spot that ain't got nothing in it, that's just good and cleaned and plowed, that's the road. Turn down that road. It'll be out on the left somewhere. I tried to make it as easy as I could, you know, try to get them here as best I could. And people, you know roundabouts, they just throw us off awful, you know. That's some of the most confusing things. People pull up to a roundabout, it's about like giving a math problem to a monkey. They just stand there and stare at it. They ain't got a clue. Who's supposed to go next? You are! Go on! You know? And it's just like, we make things harder than what they're supposed to be. Bless God, salvation is easy! Salvation is simple that even a child can accept it. The Bible says that a wayfaring man, though he be a fool, he'd not err therein. See, it's simple. Salvation is simple. Why should we come along and make it any harder? Straight's the way. Jesus is just straight that way. Which way? Straight that way. Which way? The way God wants you to go. Straight that way. Straight toward Him. Narrow's the way. Why is it narrow? Because it's the only way. It's narrow because it's... Yeah, but there's got to be more to it than that. No. No, they don't. You know, my wife sometimes... Honey, I'm sorry. My wife sometimes, she'll look over at me. I'll have something, you know, kind of working on me, kind of stirring on me, you know. She'll say, what's wrong with you? I'll say, you know, I just got this on my, I just got to thinking about this. And that's too simple. And I try to tell her, honey, I'm just a simple fella, you know. It don't take much to stir me, just, you know. It don't take much to confuse me, you know. I'm simple. That ain't it. What is it? And I tell her again, no, this is it. No, that can't be it. You're too upset. That just can't be it. It's got to be something else. Ladies, we're simple people, okay? Us men, we're just simple. It don't take much to get under our skin, okay? Some things, it could be just a light. It's a little old thing. It just burns us down, you know? We're just simple people. I've got to where sometimes I'll just make something grand up, you know? I'll make something real big up. Okay, I'll accept that. That's okay. You know, it's simple. On the day that God knocks on your heart and convicts you, what day is that? Whenever day of God is ready for you. How old will I be? I don't know, that's between you and the Lord. That's why we call it just the day. There's not an age put on it. The age of accountability. That's it. What's that? You've finally become accountable for the sins that you've done. Well, I ain't done nothing bad. Hey, we all got cursed to death just because somebody took a bite out of a little piece of fruit. How's that for simple for you? You know? It's simple. You've done wrong. Somewhere you've done wrong and you've become accountable for that wrong. And now you're going to be judged by that accountability. So what are you going to do with it? Well, the Holy Spirit of God convicts that heart and makes you realize you're accountable for it. What do I do with that? get you on your knees somewhere in an altar of repentance. Does it have to be a church? No. No. My son got saved at the foot of our bed. My wife got saved in a mud hole on the creek bank. My uncle got saved in the top of a two-story chicken house. Bless God. He said, what about that? That must have stunk. Yeah, but I don't think that was a stink he was worried about, bless God. You see, wherever God convicts, the place and the time is right. And when He convicts your soul and you fall on your knees in an altar of repentance, confess your sins and accept what Jesus Christ did for you so many years ago. Simple. He lived a perfect life. Not spotted with the stain of sin anywhere in it. A perfect life. He was convicted, tried, and executed for your and my sins. What we did. He carried those. Carried those sins on that cruel rugged cross. And was crucified. Crucified for us. And bless God, what we're about to celebrate, one of the greatest acts that mankind could ever be able to tell, was died, buried in a borrowed tomb, and on the third day, rose victorious over death, hell, and a grave. And was the first fruits of the resurrection. It's simple. You accept that in your heart, believe it, and confess it, and be saved. Brother Russell. I was clothed in the rags of my sin, wretched and poor, lost and lonely within, but with wondrous confession, the King of all kings. In pity and love, took me under his wing Oh yes, oh yes, I'm a child of the King His royal blood in my name, and I who was wretched and poor now can see. Praise God, praise God, I'm a child of the King. I'm a child with a heavenly home My Holy Father has made me His own And I'm cleansed by His blood And I'm clothed in His love And someday I'll see Oh yes, oh yes, I'm a child of the King. His royal blood now flows in my veins And I, who was wretched and poor, now can sing Praise God, praise God I'm a child of the King Oh yes, oh yes I'm a child of the King. His royal blood now flows in my veins. And I, who was wretched and poor, now can sing. Praise God, praise God. I'm a child of the King. My whole life of sin was getting me down. But he had me forever bound In the still of the night The sweet spirit came Telling me I was lost But there was a Savior who saved sinful me So I could be saved Under conviction weary of sin That was my only way To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I needed To know that I my way to sweet Calvary. Stumbling around in the darkness, trying to see when I realize Past all the life waiting to save me at an old rugged cross. So I could be saved. So I could be saved. Under conviction, weary of sin. That was my only way. That was my only way. To know that I need it. I need it to know that less would apply. Less would apply. I'm glad I got lost. So I could be found. What wonderful night. I could tell of a story When he lifted the sick, when he raised up the dead, I could see all the others like the blind man to see. But I'd rather tell you, What's happened to me? I'm saved through the uttermost And I know that I am Washed in the blood of a precious lamb Through the Father, through the Son, through the Holy Ghost, I'm saying to the others, To make heaven your home. The good life you're living won't do it alone So trust in the Savior and he'll save you today And with blessed assurance you too can say I'm saved to the uttermost, and I know that I am washed in the blood of the precious Lamb. Through the Father, through the Son, through the Holy Ghost, I'm saved to the uttermost. Through the Father, through the Son, through the Holy Ghost, I'm saved to the uttermost.