Can God lie? A lot of folks indict him with lying. They say he won't, but he said he will. Making God a liar. God won't do that for me. No, he said he would. You make God a liar. Now, he said he'd never leave thee nor forsake thee. You feel forsaken? He said he'd never do it. We'll take that one word tonight. No order, no rhyme or reason to it. Just going to look at it. 2 Chronicles chapter 15. Let's look at what it means to be forsaken. People say God's forsaken me. Azariah, that great prophet of God, 2 Chronicles 15, the Spirit of God came upon him. He was the son of Oded. And I always perk up a little bit when I'm reading the scripture and I see a man that goes before a king and with boldness, by the Spirit of God. A lot of people are bold and they're just foolish. But I said, by the Spirit of God. With boldness, by the Spirit of God, he went out to meet Asa and said unto him, hear ye, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin Notice this, the Lord is with you. And most people would love to just stop there, let's shout, run. The Lord's with me, yay. As long as you're with him. You still feel forsaken? You still feel God's let you down? Still feel that God's done you wrong? God's given you no rest, God's given you no peace. Question tonight is simply this, when did you leave him? Probably stopped there. When did you leave him? The reason, you know my stump speech, well, 19 of them by now, The reason we hear all this encouragement today, and encouragement today is encouraging you to get a bunch of thumb-sucking babies that left God a long time ago and can't get right with God, is you've got to try to get them to pick their heads up to walk another half a mile with Jesus Christ, and most never have walked with Him anyway. I'm sorry, was that too plain? OK, we'll tell you what the Bible says. That's a whole lot more plain than what I said. The Lord is with you while you be with Him. And if you seek him, he'll be found of you. That's why we know there's none that seeketh after God. Because if you seek him, he'll be found. By the way, you can find him on your own is what that says. There's none that seeketh after God. Natural man's seeking relief, he's seeking a system, he's seeking a profession, he's seeking some type of experience, but he's not seeking after God. Some of these young men, young ladies, old men, brother Ronnie's here. Last couple years, talking about seeking God, and they finally get down, and they finally get saved. They realize, I wasn't seeking God. I was looking for relief. I was looking for something else. I was looking for some type of experience to happen, flashing lights. He said, if you seek Him early, you'll find Him. He said, you'll seek Him. You'll find Him when you search with all of your heart. Did He not say that? So you say you're seeking God, then why haven't you found Him? How far away is he? Well, I'll tell you right now, if he's ever nigh unto me, how precious he is. You don't seek him in your closet without this. You don't seek him in your car without this. You don't seek him in your life without this. Now listen, if your thing is chicken soup on the sole sitting on the can, have at it. Never worked for me. Days of praise never worked sitting there either. Call to glory never worked for me sitting there either. And I don't read this sitting there, just throwing that out there. The table to work for you is the Word of God. Folks say, well, this is too plain for me. OK. But if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. That's his choice. You forsake God, he will forsake you. You turn away from God, he'll leave you to hang out to dry. He'll walk away. He'll hide his face from you. By the way, it means a whole lot more when his face shines upon us. It means a whole lot more than we ever know until we've been to a place where we've forsaken Him. We've lost the shine of His face. And those of you that have experienced it know the pain of not being able to find Him because we've left Him. You read that poem, Footprints in the Sand. I said for many years, that poem doesn't apply to me. I never did hardly walk along with Him. There are two sets of footprints in the sand. I'm like, yeah, mine was over there and his was over there. Never did work for me. I know Brother Willard Thomas wrote that. He meant well. Amen. People say that's an anonymous. Brother Willard Thomas said somebody stole him from a church one day. He was in there next to his notes being published all over Christian bookstores. Writer unknown. Brother Thomas said, that didn't bother me one bit. He just kept preaching. Where's your relationship with God at? Is in the practice of religion or is in the inward parts of God ministering to you daily? If you don't have that, let's find out why tonight. Can we do that? I'm not a big fan of religion. I don't go to church, let's go to church. It's not a sacred duty or an obligation. It's in my will to do so. There's a lot of folks, I don't believe it's in their will to do so. A lot of folks you have to cajole and prod and bribe, kind of like children, to get them to go to church. There's young people that are here tonight, rest assured, they have to be here. Well, they just love the Lord. No, they don't. If they did, they'd want to be here. They love the Lord so much, no? That's why a blister can cause most people to miss the house of God. ingrown hair are causing him to miss services or less. Had the privilege of being with my former pastor out in Oklahoma. Talked about that a little bit yesterday. And he got up to testify and they gave him a few minutes to testify. They're gonna do a baptism after he got done. And he's just talking about the goodness of God and talking about how God visited him as a young man, brought him to a place of repentance. And I remember him telling them stories, being over there in Vietnam, bullets whizzing through the trees and he'd climb up in a tree and hide in some camouflage so they wouldn't see him. And he said he just felt like he'd get closer to heaven and he'd call out to God and God would minister to him. He'd be in Vietnam hanging in a tree. He said sometimes God's presence would be so real he'd just get in the glory, start shouting. You say, I don't believe that. You'll get the glory, you will. Paul and Silas did. Amen. How many of you are going to sing in jail? Is this going to help? I'm not talking about some little mamsy, pamsy, modern TV, cable TV, pool table, weight machines jail, brother Dale. Amen. Let's look at the word forsake through scripture. Let's go back and look at the seed of David, Psalm 89. God spoke to them. In Psalm 89, in verse 29, begin reading there. He's speaking to David here, and he's speaking of his seed. And he said, his seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. Now that's the promise of God regardless. God's made a covenant with David regardless of what his seed is going to do. But then he said, if his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor supple my faithfulness to fail." What is he saying? If your faithfulness fails, his won't. You leave him, he'll suffer you. You can go on, but it's going to cost you. You'll bear the wounds of it. You'll bear the stripes of it. You ever wonder why people can just leave church, get out of church, years at a time, nothing really ever happened to them? Well, I don't want to be too plain about this. Let's do it. The Bible says, whom he loveth, he chasteneth. The Bible also says, whom he loveth, he scourgeth betides. That means he will take the rod of chastisement and he will scourge his own. If you don't have chastisement, you're not his. So how do people get away from walking away from God? They're not his. If that's too plain for you, read the Bible. Because I was away from God for nine, 10 years. All of a sudden, they just show back up. You know, I'm gonna start walking with God again. I'll tell you what's not fully wrong with that. Where's the chasing? Where's the scourging? Where's the hand of God upon them that love him? Is God a bad father? Has he ever failed to discipline his children? Has he ever failed to correct his children? Has he ever failed to teach his children? To indict him with being a bad father is to indict him with wrongdoing. And he's a good father. He said, well, I went out and I went out and partied for about nine, 10 years. And, you know, all of a sudden get old and can't party anymore, have children. You know, I'm just going to go back to church and walk back in like everything's okay. Nothing's wrong, but out in sin, living in fornications and adulteries, no chastening, no scourging. I know we're talking about Israel heaven. We're talking about the word of God when we forsake his laws and forsake him and iniquity abounds in our life. He said it will not take his loving kindness, his faithfulness won't fail, his covenant will not break nor alter the one thing that's gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David, his seed shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established forever as the moon is a faithful witness in heaven sealed. That's the promise to David. That's the covenant he's made. Then the next verse says, but thou hast cast off and abhorred. Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant. Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it down to the ground. Thou hast broken down all the hedges. Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin. I'm going to stop there. But I want you to understand, when you walk away from God, It's not a flippant thing. It's a serious thing. Your children are away from God. It's serious. You say, what do you mean away from God? Let me just say this real plain. God's people visit with God. They go where God is. They go to the Word of God, they go to the place of prayer, they go to the house of God. God's people. You know where my children go? My house. You just go ahead and say amen whether you like it or not. If it indicts your whole family with wrongdoing, just let it indict them with wrongdoing, you just believe God. My children go to my house. My children talk to me. My children listen to my rules. You know why? They're my children. You have a whole generation of David's seed that's forsaken the Lord. And we see that all through scripture. Did God forsake his covenant with David? No, he did not. Can I liken it to this? I know I have young children. I don't need anybody to point that out to me, believe it or not. They say, well, you haven't raised your children yet. No, I have not. But if my children forsake this Bible and forsake the house of God and forsake the things of God, I will pray for them as lost children. Are you listening to me? And I will pray until they return. And I will pray until God draws them. And I will pray until conviction comes upon their head. I will pray until they have assurance of faith. I will pray until I see a mighty move of God upon their head. And they return to the Most High God that they left. But it's not going to change the covenant I have with God. Not one bit. Will it be to my hurt? Yes, it will. but does not gonna change my standing with God. Rebellious children don't change your standing with God. Hardhearted children don't change your standing with God. Rebellious husband does not change your standing with God. Rebellious wife does not change your standing with God. It's a grief, it's a sorrow, it's a hurt. But it doesn't change what the Lord's done for you. But the issue at hand is they're not gonna ride your coattails into heaven. They're not going to grab a hold of you and expect you to take them across the finish line when they've forsaken the way of their fathers. Again, forsaken, 1 Kings chapter 8. I move around a lot. I have 30 scriptures written down, but I never have read more than five because I can't get there. 1 Kings chapter 8. When you all get there, just wait for me. In verse 57, the Lord our God be with us as he is with our fathers. Notice this, let him not leave us nor forsake us. That's the prayer of the children. as He was with our fathers, and let Him not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts unto Him to walk in all His ways." The great responsibility of a parent is to walk in the ways of God that their children have no excuse. Many have failed. I may fail. I'd be a fool to think I won't. If I don't, it's the mercy of God. But to incline thine ear, to walk in all his ways, to seek his face, the things of God, to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. Let me ask you this, is that possible? In a day when that's impossible, is it possible? Can you keep the commandments of God? Can you walk in all His ways? He said you could. If we won't forsake Him. Hebrews told us, reminded us, He's written, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So why is God so far away? You say, well, preacher, how do you know that? Your face tells me. The lack of liberty tells me. The oppression tells me. The depression tells me. And I have what they call seasonal depression. I don't get enough Christmas presents. I get depressed. Every year, I'm sad. You probably have to give something to get something. Maybe I should learn from that. I remember one year, I asked my mom at Christmas, I said, Mommy, have I been adopted? She said, not yet, son, but we're trying. It's been rough. I go through those down times just like real humans do. I go through up times like real humans do. But you know something I've learned about down times and down swings and depression, and I can't use postpartum, I tried, first two children didn't work. You know what I've learned about it? The whole time God's just sitting there waiting for me. You say you can't help it, it's seasonal, I know. I've used that excuse for 50 years. Like most, I was three years old, I think I'm depressed. All we had was Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs, I was depressed. Didn't get what I wanted for Christmas that year either, I was depressed. But the Vernon calls it the Mully Grubs, whatever in the world that means. Must be a southern thing. You're walking around with their lips out. Now you listen. I understand depression is real. I'm not one of these preachers that just dismisses it. But you know most people's depression comes from a lack of relationship with God. Drift away from Him. That thing that you just cannot put behind you, that thing you cannot put down, that thing you cannot get victory over, which is you, by the way, that is your besetting sin, is you. And it pushes you down one more time and you just quit. Just stop. And meanwhile, there's God the whole time just waiting. These people in this room have been through horrors in their life, things I've never experienced. Thank God I've never had to experience them. I've had people in this room who have talked to me about their childhood, the terrors of their childhood, the nightmares of their childhood. I spoke with a man earlier tonight that had nightmares up into his 70s after Vietnam and wake up bellaring in the room. I've been sleeping on a sofa bed in his, well, I've been laying on a sofa bed in his living room. Nobody's ever slept on one of them. And I'm laying there, I'm listening to him hollering from the bedroom, trying to figure out, I realize he's back in Vietnam. The horrors, the misery, the sorrows, the hurts of life. I've had a good life, I have no excuse. But I've also watched some of those same people walk with God and have victory in their life. have relationship with Jesus Christ. But then there's others. They can't get victory. They cannot get relief. Somehow, of all the people in the world, God has chosen them to forsake. Some of you here, I'm not pointing fingers. I'm just making a broad-brush statement. Folks, in case you didn't know it, there's folks in this room that suspect they're lost. You say, don't you think they know they're lost? No, if they knew they were lost, they'd get found real quick. They suspect they're lost. You're not gonna hold to that statement. Go ahead and keep telling people, but you're wrong. When you get lost, you get desperate. Amen and amen. You don't really think you're that lost. Quit telling people you're lost. When I got lost, I got desperate. Are you listening to me? When I got good and lost, I got real desperate seeking after God. I cried from the rooftops. I cried from the mountaintops. I went and found God. Are you listening? I went and found God when I got desperate. I got good and lost. Until then I was comfortable in my sin. Until then I was comforted in my sin. As long as I thought I had another day, as long as I thought Jesus wouldn't come back, as long as I thought I just had a little bit more, I was comforted in my sin. But the day he came to me and showed me my lost estate and showed me I was going to die and go to hell in my iniquities, the day I got gloriously saved. Amen. Well, God's just forsaken me. When the Son of Man has come to seek and to save, that was His loss, and the people indict Him with forsaking them. God's forgot about me. A God that knows the number of the hairs on your head forgot about you? I don't think God cares. He only stretched out His arms on a cross, was nailed to the cross. He suffered in agony, was buried, died in agony, and died in pain. And somebody says, I don't think God cares about me. He took your cross. He took your death. He took your hell. Because he took your sin. I don't think he cares. He cares more than you do. When we were yet without strength, In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. 2 Chronicles chapter 7. One little word, forsaken. Verse 19. Sorry, verse 18. 2 Chronicles chapter 7. Again. Then will I establish the throne of the kingdom according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, Thou shalt not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel. But notice this next little word. But if ye turn away and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods and worship them. Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land, which I have given them, and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations." Did God do what he said he would do? Yes, he did. When they forsook him, he took the house that he'd planted in Israel. And he took it away. You know why there's so many dead churches all across northern Pennsylvania, the southern tier of New York? Because there were people that forsook God. And God shut the doors. It's a miracle the doors are open here. I said it's a miracle. Y'all just praise him. A part of this congregation ought to thank God he's kept it. Thank God he didn't walk away. Thank God he didn't shut the doors. You know, the Black Greek Baptist Church, it's a miracle of God that those doors never closed. Manassas Community Baptist Church of Blaine-Pennsylvania, it's a miracle of God those doors have not closed. It's just the mercy and the long-suffering of God. Listen, I've known enough sin in these churches I've named that God could have slammed the door, burned the building down, sent us all to hell and he would have been just in doing so. But he was merciful to us, he was gracious to us, he was kind and long-suffering to us. God's really let me down. God's failed me. I just can't find God anywhere. I'm going to tell you where we are. Now listen, nobody needs to turn around and look behind them. But this place is always available to pray. It's always available to pray. You just got to swallow your pride. But you ought to just lift up holy hands without wrath or doubt and just bless the name of the Lord. God would give us a place to worship him. God would give us a place to assemble. God would give us a house that we can assemble in and believe this Bible. God's kept the word of God in our hands. God's given us men of God to preach to us and we ought to be thankful for it. We don't deserve it tonight. What we deserve is to be in hell. We deserve to be lost in our state, without God, hopeless in this world. That's what we deserve. He said, I'll never leave thee, nor forsake thee. But, he said, if you leave me, the last place I see the ark, if I believe him right, in Shiloh, is when they made the ark their God. And they said, the ark will save us. And God himself forsook the tabernacle that he had put in Shiloh. You see, that was God's tabernacle. Now you can believe what you want about it. But I believe probably some of them Arabs came and got them goat skins dyed. They got some of those badger skins. They melted down their silver taches and made rings. I believe they probably made a mockery and a light of it. Because when God forsook it, it was done. You say, I don't believe that. Well, go look at the temple there. They forsook the God of heaven. God came and destroyed that temple. That temple's still destroyed. You listen to me? The gold was gone. The cups were gone. The holiness was gone. The basin was gone. Those oxen were gone. God only forsook the place where he could meet with Israel. And he's forsaken it unto this day. But there's not a Jew on the face of this earth that they come to Jesus Christ. that he wouldn't reach out his hands and say, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden. Amen. Amen. There's not a disgruntled church member in this entire county that if they wouldn't come to Jesus Christ, he wouldn't hold out his hands and say, come. Amen. Amen. Thank you, God. Will you return? Will you come to me? Deuteronomy 31. Deuteronomy 31, verse 6. Be strong and of a good courage. Fear not, nor be afraid of them. For the Lord thy God, he that doth go with thee, he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. You ever get where you feel like God's failed you? No, not us. He said he wouldn't. You say, what about all this sickness that came upon my body? You don't think God knew? To know the fellowship of his suffering? You say, what about these hard times I've had to go through? You don't think God knew? What about the loss of my family member? You don't think God knew? He never failed you nor forsake thee. Chapter 4 of Deuteronomy. There's no rhyme or reason. It all just goes together. Verse 31. And here's where it is. Let's start at verse 30. When thou art in tribulation, you know, I could be like one of these novice preachers and just go read the whole chapter. That's what they do. You know, verse 26, well, you know, I'll just go back and start in verse 1. Everybody's like, oh, more Bible reading in church? I bet you don't read it at home. You may as well read it here. Verse 29, that's all the further I'll go back. Us seasoned preachers know how to do that. But from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him. You believe that? You think God's lying? If you're seeking, you'll find him. There is one condition, though, that thou seek with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation and all these things have come upon thee, even in the latter days, thou turn to the Lord thy God and shalt be obedient unto his voice. And there's some parentheses that kind of break this up. For the Lord thy God is a merciful God. He is a God of mercy. In your darkest hour, in your darkest day, when you feel like everybody's forsaken you, there's a God of mercy that'll raise you up. There's a God of mercy that'll never forsake you. He says, mercy, for on the end of the parentheses, he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, Nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which ye swear unto them." You know Jonah, I know he's prophesied in chapter 2, I believe it's in verse 8, we talk about them forsaking all their mercies. God wouldn't forsake them, but they forsake his mercy. They consider the longsuffering of God such a trivial thing that they never consider that God may not pass by again. Because that's just scare tactics, no? God's not obligated to ever visit you again. You can't find one verse that says God will ever visit you again. But if God visits you in this hour, you're obligated to seek him early. You're obligated to search with all your heart, with all your soul. You young people, especially struggling, look, listen to the preacher, look up here. If you search with all your heart and your soul, he promised that you'd find him. Go ahead and call him a liar if you want to. But he promised. But one of these men has now been saved, called to preach. Remember him indicting God with that very thing. And me telling him to his face, you're telling God's a liar? No. I said, yes, you are. The whole time, God is standing there with hands outstretched. Spirit of the bride saying, come. That intellectual pursuit to God. He didn't say, oh, your mind. He said, your heart and your soul. Amen. I was looking at both of you. I got left eye on Peter, my right eye on Stephen. He didn't say, come with your mind, boys. He said, come with your heart and your soul. I'll think my way to God. No, you'll think your way to hell. Once you've got it all figured out, you're going to figure out too late you didn't know anything. That's where faith comes in. Oh, just reach out and touch the hem of his garment. He says, that's all I got to do? Well, yeah, pretty much. That's all she did. Her testimony last night, all she had to do is come, put a little bit of ointment upon his head. Body rained down upon his garments, got down to where his feet. She ceased not to kiss his feet, to wash his feet, anoint his feet with oil. That's all it took. You say, well, I could do that. Well, do it then. Salvation can't be that simple. No, it's actually simpler than that. If you want to preach the type of biology, she probably got saved when she walked in the house. You know why? It's where Jesus was. You say, that's too simple. No, that's all he requires. He that cometh to God must believe that he is. But do you believe he'll reward you? He said he would. Now listen, y'all think what you want doesn't faze me one way. I was thrilled in the service last night. I talked to a preacher friend of mine today. We talked about the service. He was talking about baptism. He brought it up. And he said, you know, he said, I'm about tired of these churches baptize everybody. He said, he said, brother, I believe you don't get baptized till somebody gives a good testimony and they have a little bit of evidence to back up they got saved. I said, preacher, let me tell you a little story. Amen. Now listen, I know there's always critics. I don't really think she got it. Well, they said about me when I got saved and you know what? I got it. Amen. Say, well, she said one or two words wrong. Now listen, I'm going to listen. I love that young couple sitting over there. I do. Thank God for him. Can't wait for them to have a baby. I can't wait. He's about three years old. I can deal with him. Amen. Listen, you say, she said, she's got to set a couple of things wrong. Listen, you had to hurt her six months ago. She was at a whole lot of things wrong. Amen. what salvation will do amen salvation will come in it'll make you different I just can't get to him what's between you and him well we got nine verses out of the way 64 to go Let's go to the Psalms. There is a forsakenness speaks out, it's a comfort. We go to Psalm 94 first. Look at verse 14. For the Lord will not Cast off his people Do you believe that wait, oh wait, I'm sorry that's just for the Jews These hyper guys drive me nuts Do you realize that we are the people of God I'm a child of God. I belong to him he said he'll not cast me off secondarily not only that but he speaks of in this in this passage verse 14 neither will he forsake his inheritance let's go back Psalm 71 got two in Psalm 71 I'm gonna look at verse 9 first He said, cast me not off the time of old age. And then he says to the Lord, forsake me not when my strength faileth. Again, the psalmist in verse 18 says, now also when I'm old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, and look at this, until I have showed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to everyone that is to come. The prayer of the aged man. I say this knowing there's aged men here. When you lose your physical strength, you lose your spiritual strength at times. You cannot be the man you once were. By the way, I swear you young people, you look at that head, that hoary head and you honor that head. You look at the face of that old man and you bow to the face of that old man. God tells you to. Listen, I've lost a lot of my strength. It's not going to get better. There'll be a day, listen, I don't have the strength in the pulpit. I know you all don't believe this, but I used to preach over an hour sometimes. I'd walk around the church, walk down the aisles, climb up in the choir loft. It wasn't a show. It's just how I preached. I could barely stand still, and I can barely stand here now. I've lost strength. But to plead that old man, Lord, don't forsake me when I get old. Let me just show your ways to this generation. You know what the promise is to you aged folks? I'll never leave thee to forsake thee. You see, I'm not the person I was, but he's still the same God he always has been. You see, I feel forsaken of God. No. You just need to go find him. Listen, I love old people. I love the smell of peppermint, muscle rub. I've been using that joke for years, ladies. OK, I hope it's OK. My parents are old now. My children's parents are getting old. Hey, man. There's gonna be a time in my ministry, a time in my life that I'm gonna be praying, Lord, please don't forsake me. Lord, let me be used of you. Let me do something in my age. Listen, I've watched too many folks just quit on God. They say, I'm too old to do something. I'm too old. I just, I can't do what I once did. But he said, it never leaves you to forsake that. You know what you can do? Pray for him. Pray for him. Pray for him. Pray for me. Pray for one another. He said, that's all I can do. Listen, I got a little secret to tell you all. Nobody else is doing it. It's a pleased ill. If that's all you ever do, you ladies, you can never lift another spatula. You give yourself to prayer. You aging men, you get to the point you can't walk. You say, I got a wheel everywhere. Wheel yourself in a prayer closet. Get a hold of God. You'll find out he hasn't forsaken you. You'll find out he hasn't left you. I've got an old preacher friend, he's with the Lord now. And it's almost unbelievable to me to say that he was my friend. I've had a couple preachers like that over the years. He was like a minor celebrity in Baptist circles. When he got old, his son told me, he said, we had to rewrite dad's prayer list last year. He said, his eyes were so bad, we had to write it in three-inch letters, double-spaced. He said, brother, his prayer list is this thick. I've called up there at the house 1030 in the morning. His wife would say, well preachers in praying. I have to give you a call when he gets up. He told me his son told me four o'clock every morning he'd crawl out of bed, go in that place of prayer. Now I want you to listen to me. I go there, I call it 1030. He'd still be praying. I'd call in that feeble voice, say, Brother McVeigh, I wish you had married my granddaughter. I'd say, I know, but I didn't. He'd laugh. He'd say, I prayed for you this morning. I'd say, I know you did. You know why? He prayed that prayer list every single day. I was there when he stood in the pulpit. He said, don't you folks forsake me. He said, nobody leave the church. Don't forsake me. He used to run 600 down to about 40 people. And he said this, but if you all leave, God will still help me. You know why? He'll never leave you to forsake you. He'll never leave you comfortless. He'll never leave you without hope. He'll never leave you without assurance. He's faithful. Jesus Christ cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me in the words of my roaring? Psalm 22 one. I believe he cried that for us because we'd never be forsaken of God. You can believe what you want on that. When he was forsaken and made sure that we'd never be forsaken of the father through the blood of the everlasting covenant. And my friend, for 27 years, God's never forsaken me. And I've used some strong words nowadays. It used to be strong words. Now people are so pacifist, you can't say anything. But listen, I've been that guy sucking my thumb, pity party, feeling sorry for myself. I've been that guy. Nobody loves me. Oh, everything's falling apart. But you know what I found out? All of a sudden, I go back to that place where I left him. And he's been standing there all along, just waiting for me. And I can go back and get at his feet one more time. Worship him and love him. Find out how precious he really is. Psalm 27, verse 9. Hide not thy face far from me. Put not thy servants away in anger. Thou hast been my help, leave me not. Neither forsake me, O God of my salvation, when my father and my mother forsake me. He said, then the Lord will take me up. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies. I know folks never knew their parents, but they had him. He's a man I know that's right up the street from me. He's my friend. I'm going to miss him. I taught him to move to New York. First time I went to the church where Rebecca grew up, I met him, and just immediately I said, I like this guy. Some of you met Brother Wayne. Grew up in foster homes, grew up being horribly abused in foster homes. Was in an orphanage, a boy's home, for four or five years. Struggles with bitterness because of the hurt of his life, and he struggles. But he gives that testimony. He gets, say, 15 years old, going to the house of God, getting under conviction. In all those years of never having parents, never having anybody to love him, nobody that cared about him, even as Jesus Christ himself cried and looked on the right hand, there was none to help. No man cared for my soul. And he speaks of getting saved with the good grace of God that night. And he always speaks in that testimony. I never had an earthly father that I knew, never had an earthly mother that I knew. But I have him. And He'll never leave you. You can have parents that are abusive, vile, wicked. Jesus Christ will never forsake you. But you'll forsake Him. As many in this room had wonderful parents, but not everybody. My wife, I mean, just wonderful parents. She's sitting here. But they really were. Flawed, just like all parents. Wonderful parents. Every opportunity in the world. House of God, Word of God, things of God. Every opportunity in the world. to come to Jesus Christ. There's some of you had good parents, but they were godless, wicked. And a man speaking to us about that, growing up, riding around the back of a car, dad drinking a fifth of whiskey. But you've had every opportunity in the world to be saved. There's some in here that had no parents that you knew of. That God's put you in the house of God with every opportunity to be saved. You know why? It's his tender mercies. That God thought enough of you to put you in the house of God. Put you under preaching. Draw you with an everlasting love. Call you unto himself. call you by name, Moses, Moses. Samuel, Samuel. Saul, Saul. And one day I heard, Tim, Tim. And I came. And I've never been forsaken. Old yet young, not seeing the righteous forsaken, nor his seed baking bread. If you have food on your table today, if you thanked him. Roof over your head if you thanked him. There's folks in this building, there's times you didn't have a roof over your head. Folks in this building, there's times you didn't have a place to stay. There's folks in this building, you didn't have food for your belly. Curl up with a bottle of booze that you found in the street. Go under a bridge or go under a hiding place. Drink that booze. Try to put yourself to sleep because of the misery of your life. Now God's put you in the house of God and seated you in heavenly places. And then those folks sit there and indict him with forsaking them. One of my favorite verses in all the Bible, Psalm 2-4. He brought, and here's where it gets personal, me to the banqueting house. And his banner over me was love. Why would he bring me to the banqueting house? It wasn't because of who my parents were. It wasn't genetic. It wasn't because I'm white. It wasn't because I'm a son of Japheth. It wasn't any kind of weird DNA coding. It was the mercy of God. And the fact that he loved me with an everlasting love, that he brought me to the banqueting house. And then he said this, whosoever will may come. He extended that offer to others. That's why you're here. Isaiah chapter 1. Nobody shout on this, but I'm going to skip a couple of verses, okay? Last time I did that, people shouted. Isaiah 1 and verse 4. Our sinful nation, a people laid with iniquity, a seed of evil doers. Don't let that bother you. That didn't bother me one bit. Hallelujah. All these stuck-up so-called preachers sitting here don't even help a man out. A seed of evil do. We're showing that they're corruptives. They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger. They're gone away backward. And then in verse 28, the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinner shall be together. And they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed. Let's go to the book of Ezra in chapter 9. Ezra chapter 9. Let's start in verse 8. And now for a little space, grace hath been showed from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in this holy place that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For we were bondmen. Yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage. When we were dead and trespassed in sins, he still cared. And I know the context, but I'll make it personal if I want to. It's my Bible, and I can write what I want in it. When I was still in bondage, He considered me in my plight. He considered me in that bondage. And He never forsook me. You know, when God does forsake a sinner, when they've rejected Him, and they've walked away from Him, and they've forsaken Him, they said, I'll never return. and they perish, he has no choice but to forsake them. If there's breath in your lungs, there's hope. If you have a pulse, there's hope. When you're in bondage, he'll never forsake you. He'll never leave you. He'll deal with you. as long as you'll be dealt with. I ran for Mother Herbert the other day. Did I tell you about that? I'll tell you again. A priest on Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Brother Herbert, my old pastor, he's in the hospital in Louisville. I had a stroke two days after I saw him. Still in the hospital, real bad shape. God put us together that last time, and he got to shouting. He said, if I wasn't so old, he said I'd run. I said, well, I'll help you out, preacher. I tell you how old he's getting. I went running by him, he swung at me and missed. That's how old he's getting. If God would consider you dead in trespasses and sins, he'd still not forsake you. If you reject his love, he'd still not forsake you. That you'd say no to him one more time. And that he would even visit you. speak to you. Shows the long-suffering of God. I feel like God just won't save me. Yeah, he hates you personally. Selfish, vile, wretched thoughts out of a putrefied heart. I'm going to say it for the fourth time. Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, have I drawn thee. I don't think God cares. He hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. Look what Ezra says, and now, O God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken thy commandments. Let's jump from bondage to Isaiah chapter 64, 62. For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles, thank God, shall see thy righteousness. In all kings, thy glory. And thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken. Proper name. He's no longer calling you forsaken. Why, Israel? He's going to bring you to himself. The same promise he made to Moses. The same promise he made to David. that I'll not leave you to forsake thee. And he said, neither shall thy land anymore be termed desolate, but thou shalt be called Hesphabah, and thy land Beulah. For the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. And I wanted to see if Timothy has any character at all. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. Amen. Just wanted to make sure. Amen. You ain't been married that long. Hallelujah. Thank God. Amen. Amen. Feel forsaken? God done you wrong? No, sir. God left you? His mercy has been extended. He's extended His mercy tonight. A lot of folks still confused. Folks in the bowels, they don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I just don't know. That's not God. God, He might have done it, but He did that to discomfort you. been indicting God with wrongdoing? It's merciful. It's long-suffering. You can no longer be called desolate, no longer called forsaken. God will give you a nail in this holy place. You'll be called the sons of of God. What a privilege. I don't need a piano. I don't think we need a song. But if we did, it'd probably be Beulah Land. If we did. But if you need to come, God spoke to your heart to come. You need to pray, you pray. If you need to thank Him, just come thank Him. If you need to repent, repent. The heaviness of the hour is of God. Whatever God is showing you, you just make that thing right.