If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Luke chapter 9. I remember preaching on a Sunday
evening, and I said, one of these days,
you're going to go in to the doctor, and he's going to walk out of
the examination room, And when he comes back, he's going to
be doing this, shaking his head. Early that week, my wife was
having some problems, and I took her into the doctor. And that's
exactly what he did. He come back shaking his head.
And he said, you have a brain tumor. And so we weren't expecting
this. I thought she had had a mini
stroke or something. I left the house open, the dog
was in there with no food or water, and we were waiting on
an ambulance to transfer her from one hospital to another
for the operation. And so I ran home, and I got
all that in order, and I came back. And now it's at night,
and I'm in Shreveport, which I'm not real familiar with, and
I couldn't find the hospital. And I was just panicking. And I was in the wrong part of
town. Late at night, I spy a policeman. And so I pulled into the parking
lot, and I told him my dilemma, and he said, follow me. So I
did, and he took me to the hospital. And when I got out, I thanked
him for helping me find the hospital. And he said, well, he said, I'm
not done yet. And he said, follow me. So this
is a huge hospital. And so I followed him, and we
go all through this hospital, up and down steps, got on the
elevator, went up, got out. He said, my wife's a nurse in
here, and it just happens tonight, she's your wife's nurse. To preach the gospel, which is
what I hope to do, is to guide men and women to Christ. It's to tell them what you know.
Brother Mahan told us years ago, he said, you can't tell what
you don't know anymore and you can come back from someplace
you haven't been. This man had been there. He knew
exactly where my wife was at. And he took me to the one I love.
And that's what I hope to do tonight with this message. The Lord had given to his apostles a supernatural power. He gave them power to cast out
all devils. Gave them power over all devils.
He gave them power to heal diseases. You know these faith healers
you see today, they cure people's headaches and things. These were
lepers. Their face was rotted away. And
He healed them. He raised the dead. I haven't
seen any faith healer do that yet. So you might want to listen
to somebody that God has given those qualifications. He was
confirming these to be His ministers. And he gave them these powers. And then authority over all devils. I think we'd be shocked to know
in our day how widespread and active these evil spirits are
and are at work in men's minds and hearts. I'd say without hesitation that
every false religion on earth is a product of demon-possessed
men. That's what our Lord said. They
said, God's our father. He said, no he's not. You're
of your father the devil. And Ephesians chapter 2 is pretty
clear about those dead in trespasses and sins. They walk according
to the prince of the power of the air. Isn't that what it says? Satan works in men and women's
lives in such a way that he's rarely detected, except in a
few. And these men were given authority
over all devils, and they came back rejoicing about that. And
then at the end of the day, there were thousands there listening
to Christ preach, and these men had come back rejoicing. And
they said, we're out here in the desert. It just suddenly
dawned on them where they were. They were in a desert. That's
where we are, in the desert. This whole world is a desert.
And the Lord said, well, we're going to have to feed these people.
And they said, well, the most we can come up with is five loaves
of bread and two fishes. He said, set them down in companies
of 50. And so they did. And they fed
everybody there and picked up 12 basketfuls of remains, leftovers. And then at the end of that,
the Lord called them away from that company of men, and He said,
whom do those people say that I am? And they said, well, some
of them said you're John the Baptist. And some of them say
you're Elijah or Isaiah or one of the prophets. But whom do
you say that I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to you, but the Spirit of God revealed this to you. And
as soon as he said that, this is the same 12th now, he said,
here's what I have to do. I have to go to Jerusalem, and
I'm going to suffer at the hands of the high priest, and the common
priest, and the scribes, and the Pharisees, and the elders,
and then they're going to put me to death. They're going to
nail me to a cross and raise me up, and I'm going to die.
And three days is going to pass by after they put me in the tomb,
and I'm going to rise from the dead. Peter went, what? That wasn't in my revelation.
Well, who do you think that Christ is? Why do you think He had to come
into this world? He came into this world to suffer
and die for sinners. He came into this world and lived
a life for us that was impossible for us to live. He came into this world to save
sinners. And he didn't dance through this
life. This life was nothing but suffering
and pain and rejection and persecution. Everywhere he went. And somehow
religion's got it in our head that the life we live is gonna
be all bubbly and happy and everything that we do is just gonna... Oh,
now wait a minute. Wait a minute. And that's exactly
what Peter said. Whoa, whoa. He said, get thee
behind me, Satan. He wasn't calling Peter Satan,
but he was calling what he did in Peter's head Satan. You've
got this vision of just being so, everything gonna be so smooth. Oh, no it ain't either. He's
gonna turn you upside down. And there's several reasons why
he's gonna do it. One of them is this. to prove
his work of faith. That's his faith that he gives
you. And he's going to prove it. He's going to test it. He's
going to try it in the fire. Is that right? That's exactly
what he's going to do. So he said that to Peter. His life would be a life of rejection,
a life of persecution. Those whose offices and stations
were recognized to be men representatives of God. That's what they thought
the high priest was. That's who they thought the Pharisees
were. Did you know you offended them? Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. So Peter rebuked him. Our view
of these things is distorted. It's distorted by our preconceived
notions of religion and what salvation is, of God's kingdom
and of God's way of redemption. And that's the heart of satanic
deception. That's exactly what it is. One
man told me, he said, he left the church. Boy, he was upset.
And he said, man, I just think if you, when a guy goes to church,
he ought to come away feeling better about himself than when
he went. I said, you got the wrong idea. You may leave that
place on your knees. You may leave that place turned
upside down. I have several times. Now listen to this, verse 24.
I just wanted you to see the sequence of events that led up
to this. And you'll do well to go home
and study what happened afterwards. After all this, after all these
rebukes, after all that, then he takes them up on the Mount
of Transfiguration and they're going to start building monuments.
Huh? That's us. We need saved, don't
we? Every minute of every day. And
here's what he told them, verse 24. For whosoever will save his
life shall lose it. But whosoever will lose his life
for my sake, the same shall save it. Now here's where I want to start.
The believer is a person made meat, given the ability to be
partaker of the inheritance of enlightened saints. God has given
him the ability to believe, to repent, to love. There's four
or five things that only believers can do. You can read about it
in Ephesians chapter two. Only believers can worship God. Everybody says they're going
to worship, they're not worshiping God. Only believers can worship
God. He that worship me must worship
me in spirit and truth. Only believers can love God. We love him because he first
loved us and he don't love everybody. But those to whom he reveals
his love, they love him. Only believers can do these things. He's a person made meat to be
partaker of the inheritance of enlightened saints, and these
folks no longer walk in the vanity of their minds. This world walks
in the vanity of their minds. They work things out. Prudent. You know what that means? That's
somebody good at putting the puzzles together. He's prudent.
Boy, he can just grab that thing. My son-in-law loves to put puzzles
together. I hate it. You're going to fit. Get my knife out here to fit. Wise and prudent. He's hidden
these things and revealed them under bags. These folks no longer walk in
the vanity of their minds. They have the mind of Christ.
They have the revelation of God in His Son. We know, John said,
that the Son of God hath come and given to us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true, that were in him that is
true, even in his son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. What's he say next? Little children,
keep yourselves from my idols. Keep yourself, you know who God
is. Now keep yourself from these
idols. Keep yourself from these vain thoughts, these vain ideas,
these ungodly ways. Everybody likes, they'll get
a son or a daughter or a grandson or somebody and they're going
down here to this free will church and they say, well, I'm just
going down there because my grandson goes and I'm hoping I can have
a little influence. Don't do it. You want to have
influence on your grandson, come where the gospel is preached.
Let him see that. Let him know that. I'm not going
down there. We know that the Son of God has
come and this is the true God. This is eternal life. This then
is the message which we've heard of Him and declare unto you that
God's light in Him is no darkness at all. We say we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie. Do not the truth, but
if we walk in the light, as he is the light. Who's the light? Christ is. He's God manifest
in the flesh. If we walk in the light as he
is the light, we have fellowship. What's that? That's fellows in
the same ship. Fellowship. We have fellowship
one with another. Fellowship ain't what we do back
there eating cake. This is fellowship right here.
We fellowship around the son of God. We fellowship around
the gospel. We have fellowship one with another
and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all
sin. One of the old preachers ran
into a man he grew up with and now, like himself, He's a pastor
of a church, and they're both in the same town. And they ran
into each other out on the sidewalk. And this man's talking to him.
And boy, it don't take long. He realized they're at opposite
poles on Doctrine. And his friend's just frantically
searching for some kind of common ground, some way to keep them
together, you know, and make them one, make them brothers,
you know. And he's going on and on. And finally, he says, now
wait a minute. He said, let me give you an illustration of what
I'm trying to say. He said, salvation's like a large
gray elephant. And we're all blind. And one
has a hold of his tail, and one has a hold of his leg, and the
other one has a hold of his trunk. And we're all declaring the same
thing. We're declaring what we feel.
We're all declaring the same thing, but our description is
somewhat different. And the old preacher said, well,
he said, I've got three things that I find wrong with that. He said, number one, salvation
don't have anything in common with a large gray elephant. Nothing. And preachers are not describing
what they feel. They're describing what God has
revealed to them. And thirdly, we're not blind.
Blessed are your eyes, for they see. Huh? Oh. Believers know. They know these
things. Well, what do they know? Well,
first of all, believers know they're sinners. They know they're
sinners. Paul said in Romans 7, 18, I
know. I don't speculate. I don't think. I know that in me dwelleth no
good thing. How many people you know that
know that? When you know that, you'll quit
looking inside for answers. Huh? You'll quit looking inside. and you start looking to Him.
There's no light here, this is all darkness. This is a black
hole, that's what it is. And you'll get lost in it. What are you saying, I'm saying
this is a life-altering revelation. That's what we're talking about.
We're talking about saving a life or a life lost. Or what is this
saved life? It's a life that the believer
knows these things. He has eyes to see. He has a
heart to understand. God's done a work of grace on
him. And he knows that he's a sinner. He might not know much else,
but he knows that. Well, if we know we're sinners,
why do we pretend we're not? Why don't we just take our place
as a sinner? The man who truly believes this
will have no confidence in the flesh. That's who truly worships
God, isn't it? That man who has no confidence
in the flesh. He'll quit looking within for
answers and start looking to God, God's Word, and God's servant. Why would anybody sit down in
a pew and let a man open the Bible and tell him what it says?
Because he knows he's ignorant. That's why. That's exactly why. Until you're ready to sit there
and take your place as an ignorant sinner, you can't be taught anything.
Oh, that's your opinion. Well, you'll change your tune
if God ever convinces you of what you are. You'll change your
tune about that. I knew, you know our Lord, these
people, boy, he had a big multitude. Man, he started talking about
eating his flesh and drinking his blood. This man nuts. He's talking about cannibalism.
And they just walked away. He turned around, there wasn't
anybody left but his apostles. So the Lord cuddled them all
up. Oh, no he didn't. He said, well, you go too. Huh? You going to go too? Where
are we going to go? Now listen, thou hast the words
of eternal life. When you know that, you'll sit
and you'll submit yourself to a man. When you're convinced
he's God's man, you'll sit there and listen to him, and you'll
listen to him every time he gets up to speak. When he speaks, you think God
will talk to you? He will. He'll talk to you through
his preaching. How did he talk to the people in the Old Testament?
Through the prophets. Huh? Sure he did. Through a man. That's God's way. And this is
a life-altering revelation. Sinners, non-righteous. All by myself. Non-righteous. I love how he
starts that. He said, I've already proved
both Jew and Gentile, they're all under sin. They're not floating
around gasping for one more breath. They're under sin. They're submerged. Well, what do you mean, Paul?
They're non-righteous. That's what I mean. And just
in case you got to come back, no, not one. What else do you
know? There's none that understand
it. And because there's none that
understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God. They're all
gone astray. They together become unprofitable.
There's no profit in them. People all trying to bring something
to Jesus. There's no profit in you. You don't have anything
to bring. None that seeketh after God.
And then, he tells you, they done good. And again, no, not
woman. Man at his best state, the scripture
said, is altogether vanity. You relation to Adam? Because
in Adam all die. The Apostle Paul goes into great
detail in Romans 3 defining what it means to be under sin. Destruction
and misery are in their ways. What's God have to do to damn
you? Turn you over to yourself, you'll self-destruct. Destruction
and misery are in their ways. Ignorant of the way of peace,
no fear of God before their eyes. And then he says in verse 19,
now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them
that are under the law that every mouth be stopped. What's gonna
happen when God convinces you of sin? You're gonna shut your
mouth, that's what's gonna happen. Just like that. And all the world
become guilty before God. Oh, I said on some jury trials
and I tell you when the guy's guilty, I'm in guilty and he
knows he's guilty. He has a law. You're not always
trying to do the best he can, but he's guilty. He'll sit there
like this. I look at the floor. He's not
looking at anybody. That's what happens when God
convinces a sinner. Huh? You got nothing to say. Nothing to say. Believers know
they're sinners. Some to a greater degree than
others, but all know what they are. And then secondly, and let
me tell you this, when God convinces a sinner, He's not talking about
a one-time shot back when you first believed. He's gonna convince
you in every message you hear preached that you're a sinner.
and that there's no righteousness except in Christ, and no judgment
satisfied except in Christ. And he's going to keep on convincing
you, because we have to be convinced over and over and over. Oh, in
Adam all die, ignorant of the way of peace,
no fear of God before their eyes. And oh, to find somebody. To
find someone, somewhere, whose mouth is being closed by a sense
of his guilt as God begins to show him what he is. He learns
that depravity is not a doctrine. Depravity is what he is. Depraved. Depravity is a diagnosis
when you hear it. It's a nature. It's a disease
of the soul. And believers know that they're
sinners. Secondly, believers know the will of God concerning
this world and everyone in it. This world is under the judgment
of God. I don't know if you know that
or not. It's under the judgment of God. Cursed. Cursed is the ground for thy
sake. This world's cursed. This world
is preserved from fire. Only because God has a purpose
of grace that he's fulfilling in it and as soon as that's full
this world's history a Lot of people talk about watching
that fire and watching it be so fast in the twinkling of an
eye Now from where I stand I look
around, same way you do. I see the TV, I see the disasters,
I see the floods, and I see chaos, I see unbelief, I see rebellion,
I see immorality, and a general deterioration of civilization
across the world. But from His lofty throne in
glory, God sees things as they are, and He sees His purpose
moving forward exactly according to His will. Can you find comfort
in that? Boy, I do. God has a people He chose in
Christ, made full provision for, and when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of children. And because you're
sons, He sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, and you
cry, Abba, Father. Having accomplished their redemption,
He ascended back into glory, took His seat at the right hand
of God, expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. And you
may have a little trouble swallowing this, but there's a time in the
life of every sinner determined by God, every chosen sinner. to bring him down to his knees
and cause him willingly to bow at the feet of Christ. He's gonna
do it. He's gonna do it. He's gonna
do it in God's time. Paul said, when it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace
to reveal his son in me. When it pleased God, that's when
it happened. And that's when it happens to
every chosen sinner. God has a time, he has a preacher,
he has a message, he has certain circumstances of providence arranged
for the calling out of his elect. We have obtained, Paul said,
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things. What's that include? All things.
Yeah, but what's all things? after the counsel of His own
will. And being to the praise of His glory, we first trusted
after we heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation.
And after we believed, we were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise. And regardless of how things
appear, the expectation of creation stays the same. It waiteth for
the manifestation of the children of God. You can read about it
over in Romans chapter 8. That's the only reason it's hanging
around. And this is how it is and what's going on even as we
sit here together in this place. And believers know this. We know
this. And then thirdly, believers are
the object of God's eternal love and mercy and grace. In this
present evil world, I call it a cesspool of iniquity. That's
exactly what it is. This place of ungodly men and
women, this place of heathen idolatry, this place of deceit,
lying wonders, this place of religion without God, faith without
Christ, faith without repentance. In this place, God has a people
that he loves. Hard to believe, isn't it? Boy,
I think back on myself, and it just makes me tremble. I think
back on the things I did, and the whole time I was doing all
this stuff, God's love was on me. I should have been dead a
thousand times, but He intervened. Why'd He do that? Because He
loved me. That's why. Why are you here
tonight? Because He loves you. He loves
you. Oh, in this place he has a people
that he's not willing to see perish. That's the only thing
that keeps you from falling. He's not willing for those he
loves to perish. 2 Peter 3, 9, the Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward. Who's he talking about? His elect.
Who's he talking about? He's talking about chosen sinners. He's long-suffering to us. Now
listen, not willing that any should perish, not even the cheapest
sinner is going to perish, but that all should come to repentance. And come to repentance they will.
The glory of God's manifested in the life, death, and resurrection
of Christ, but it's also manifested in his providence, in his gospel,
and in the conversion of chosen sinners. And God's love, mercy,
and grace is manifested in the preservation, perseverance, and
keeping of his sheep. Now unto him that's able to keep
us from falling. and to present us faultless before
the presence of his glory. To him be glory forever. Paul wrote to that church and
he said, here's my confidence. This is my confidence in my own
congregation. This is my confidence. He that
hath begun a good work in you. Has he? Has he? then know this, he will perform
it unto the day of Jesus Christ. If you persevere, it'll be because
he preserved you and kept you from falling. And in that day,
you'll take that crown and you'll throw it down at his feet. Now here's where he finds us.
Paul describes it. I quoted some of it a few minutes
ago. We walk according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit which now
worketh in the children of disobedience. And we've lived our whole lives
in the lust of the flesh. Yeah, absolutely. And we're by
nature children of wrath, even as others, but God. But God, who is rich in mercy,
For that great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ. When'd he do that?
Oh, he did that way back yonder in eternity. And then when Christ
came over 2,000 years ago, before we was ever born, he died and
we died with him. He was buried, we was buried
with him, and when God raised him from the dead, he raised
us up together, the scripture says. When he ascended up into
glory, we was on the cloud with him. We're one with him. And we ascended right up into
glory, and glory opened her arms and said, come in and sit where
you belong. And he seated us together with
Christ at the throne of God. Huh? He loved us. Who's going to lose this life?
When we going to quit? pawing around trying to preserve
this life when we see something better. We had one of the most wonderful
seafood restaurants. I took Henry over there, and
he just loved it. I couldn't tell you how they
did it, but their seafood was outstanding. It was Marvin Stoniker's
daddy. Man, that stuff was good. But we was in there one cold
winter day, They had these little half ears of corn, you know,
in butter, a spicy butter. And this little boy, he was about
three years old. He had a hold of that ear of
corn. He done ate all corn off of it.
And he was still going on that cob, and it was time to go. And
they were trying to get him to let go of that corn without making
a big disturbance in the restaurant. And boy, they tried to get it.
Man, he was holding on to that. And then they threatened him.
Now, I'm going to take you out. And then they tried to be nice
to him. And that didn't work either. Boy, he was holding on
to that corn. And finally, Marvin's daddy came over. And he said,
folks, it looks like you had a little problem. He said, would
you mind if I made a suggestion? They said, you go ahead. We can't
do anything. We can't put a coat on. He covered
in butter and all that. Gerald took out a Hershey bar.
Man, he dropped that corn. Something better. That's what
has to happen. You have to see something better
than this world has to offer. And the only place you're going
to find it is in Christ. Huh? That's what preaching is
all about. It's to lead people to Christ. Bring them to Christ. Love them
to Christ. Tell them who He is. Tell them
who they are, and I'll tell you when you'll find out that you're
a sinner, when he reveals Christ to you. Huh? Oh, my. You wanna see how bad
something is, lay it down beside something perfect. Boy, you can
tell the difference, can't you? I don't know if you know this,
but redemption's a love story. Read the book of Ruth. It's a
love story. Now we know we're sinners saved
by grace. We know the will of God concerning
this world and its inhabitants. We know that believers are the
objects of God's love and mercy and grace. And then fourthly,
believers know that Jesus Christ has come and fully accomplished
their redemption, satisfied God's justice, and being raised from
the dead, declared their full free justification from sin. The only way your guilty conscience
will ever be quieted is when the Spirit of God takes the blood
of Christ and applies it to it. When you see yourself justified
in Christ. Justified, my sins, God's satisfied
with the sacrifice of his son. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. He's satisfied, he's not. Oh,
you gonna give an account? I did in him. I did in him. Salvation's in a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And if we're saved, it's due
to our eternal covenant union with him. Here's what the scripture
said, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things
passed away. What you talking about? Old ideas,
old inabilities. I ain't got any ability in this
flesh, but I have ability in Christ. Old ideas, old doctrine,
all these things. Old hope, it's all passed away.
It's all new in Christ. So how does a man get in Christ? You've heard preachers say it
all the time, they just don't like hearing that, I got saved.
No you didn't. Come down here and get saved.
That's not how people say it. How did I get in Christ? Listen
to this. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. He said, of him, of God, Are
ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption? How do I get in Christ? God put
me there. He put me there. We're buried
with Him in baptism wherein also we're risen with Him through
the faith of the operation of God who hath raised us from the
dead. There's a time coming when He
reveals to us our union with Christ. Shows us that we were
quickened with Him. And believers are swallowed up
in the knowledge of their salvation in Christ. That's what I'm trying
to get to. They're swallowed up with it. And then lastly,
believers know that there is a real King on a real throne
ruling all things, arranging all things to accomplish His
eternal purpose of grace. This is God's hand moving. Somebody
said, you need to let God take control of your life. He already
had control of your life. Not just yours, the heart of
the king's in the hand of the Lord. Just like those rivers of water
out there, just like that old Mississippi, the Ohio River,
he turneth it with her so ever he will. They're the real king. Now listen
to me. The life we live in the flesh, the life we've known since
our birth, the life we've experienced in this world is a life that
must be lost. It's got to be lost. You've got
to see it for what it is. Temporary at best. Paul said,
I'd rather go be with the Lord, but it's needful for me to be
here with you. The life we live, the family,
friends, nation, must be seen for what it is. Temporary at
best, and these relationships created are created to communicate
divine truth. The reason I have a brother physically
is because God created us and we're brethren. It's to communicate
that truth. Friends, same thing. Father,
same thing. They came to Christ, and they
said, I know you're busy, but your mother and your brothers
and sisters are here. He said, who is my mother? You
don't know who my mother is. Who are my brothers? Who are
my sisters? All of these things are made
to communicate truth. We've got to see them for that.
Does that mean I have to despise my family? No. Just realize what
it is. All of these things, typical.
And then, as I read to you the other night, Paul said, you're
dead and your life is hid with Christ and God. A life that is eternal, a life
not condemned, a life that death cannot rob you of. And when Christ
who is our life shall appear, then we appear with him in glory. Now, here's what he says. If
any man come after me, that's what we've been talking about.
If any man gonna come after me, let him deny himself. Deny himself as his own savior,
deny himself as a source of knowledge, deny himself of the attractions
of this world, let him deny himself and take up his cross, a life
of suffering and persecution Denunciation from this world
take up his cross and follow me that's what he said That's
what he said This is He said to live this life as
he did Knowing what he knew to be the will of God Not God's will for me to be nailed
on the cross. He did that to his son. But I
know what his will is. And believers do too. And that's
how they live this life. Whosoever will lose his life
for my sake, the same shall save it. And here's what he says. For what is a man advantaged
if he gained the whole world? Well, all I want is this. I had
a neighbor one time. And I worked for him off and
on building houses. And he told me one day, he said,
I'm going to buy that farm up there. We already had five or
600 acres, and he's going to buy another 300 acre farm. And
he don't farm. And I said, what do you need
with that farm? Well, he said, I'm not greedy.
He said, I just want the land next to mine. What you going to gain if you
gain the whole world? What's it going to do for you?
You're going to die. Then what? What are you going
to do with all this? What are you going to do with
all this peace and all this bubbly life that you've been trying
to preserve? What are you going to do with that when you die?
When that doctor comes in and says, you've got 30 days? Boy,
I tell you, everything out there melts away. Melts away. What are you trying to say, preach?
I'm trying to say that a life lost is a life saved. That's exactly what Christ told
his disciples. Boy, if I can leave you with
anything, let me leave you with that. Let me leave you with that. Would you save your life? Then
lose it. Lose it. Lose it for the glory
of God. Our Father, we thank you for
this great and high privilege to stand before your people. I pray that I've said some things
that will help them and encourage them. I pray that I've said some
things that will awaken dead sinners. See them rise from the
grave. See those bones stand up. I pray
that I've said some things that will encourage the pastor in
his work here. And Father, I pray for everyone
in this place. Lord, be gracious to them. Be kind to them. Love them. Use
what we've said for Thy name's honor and glory. We ask it for
Christ's sake. Amen.