My message tonight is titled,
A Great Storm is Brewing. It's brewing. These things didn't
happen the day Moses stood before Pharaoh. They happened the following
day. A great storm is brewing. A great storm compared to all
these other storms. A storm of fire and ice. Hell
mingled with fire. Now this is the seventh plague,
and seven is a very unique number when you're going through Scripture.
It always has to do with completion and fullness. And surely the
fullness of God's wrath has come. And He says to them, unlike anything
He'd ever said before, He said, this is it. I'm going to cut
you off from all the earth. Even Moses knew when he preached
to Pharaoh what Pharaoh's answer was going to be. And even though
after that grievous hail and fire and thunders and storms,
nothing like it since Egypt was even founded. Nothing ever seen
like it by anybody living in that length. So it had to be
a horrible storm. And you know Pharaoh was sincere
when he called for Moses. He had to be scared and sincere
to come up before Moses and confess himself a sinner to that lowly
Hebrew. And yet he did so. God's wrath
had reached to fullness with Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and
now they were warned in no uncertain terms. Look at this here in Exodus
9, verse 15. He said, For now I'll stretch
out my hand that I might smite thee, and thy people with pestilence,
and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. Now God speaks twice
in the Scriptures. I want to try to show you the
relation of this plague to things and try to get you set for what
I'm going to tell you this evening. But when God destroys the world,
There's two elements involved. Fire and water. In Noah's day, he destroyed it
with water. In that day that Peter talks
about over there, that day, he said that this earth, by the
same word, the same word that held the earth in store to be
under that water, under those good mental waters of God, that
same word holds this world reserved under fire against that day. and the perdition of ungodly
men. The water and fire are the two elements of judgment. And
they are the two elements used in the tabernacle when God taught
Israel how to worship. The two primary things in that
tabernacle was blood, I mean, fire and water. Fire and water. Now, I know blood was the main
thing in the tabernacle, but I want you to see these two elements
included in it. And there's two. And he said
concerning the divisions, we talk about those sometimes when
you read through the Gospels. And I often quote you that verse
over Matthew, but I want you to listen to what he says here
in Luke where he's talking about divisions. And that's what's
happening down here in Egypt. God's about to draw a line in
the sand. He's about to say, these are
mine and these are not mine. These I'm going to bless and
these I'm going to curse. He's about to make a visible
line. Now listen to what the Lord said here in Luke 12, verse
49. He said, I am come to send fire
on earth. That's why I'm here. To send
fire on earth. Spiritual fire, judgmental fire,
purifying fire. And what is it to me if it already
be kindled? Now listen to what He said. I've
not come to give peace on earth, but a division. Father and son,
mother and daughter, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, and so on. And
then he tells them, he said, oh, you hypocrites and blind.
He said, you can see the clouds and discern the weather. But
how is it that you do not discern this time? He said, you look
over there. What's that old adage we used
to hear when we was kids? Read at night, sailors delight.
Read in the morning, sailors take warning. That's what he was telling them.
They were seamen and sailors. He said, how is it that you can
look at the sky and discern the weather, but you can't discern
the times? And you're spiritual leaders.
You're doctors of the law. You're those who are out here
professing to be teachers. There's a storm brewing. That's
what he was telling them. There's a storm brewing. And
standing before this potentate of Egypt, Moses raised his hand
toward the heavens at God's command and declared, on the morrow,
he said, about this time, on the morrow, about this time,
God will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, a very grievous
hail. Such hath not been seen in Egypt
since it become a nation. And he said, go now and gather
all that you have in the field. For on tomorrow all that's left
in the field will die. And he that feared the Word of
the Lord went and did exactly what Moses said. He went and
got his cattle and got whatever crops he could get in and whatever
else he could find and he took it into the house. But there
were some who just flat out disregarded the Word of God, didn't they?
And we'll come back to this just a little bit later on. But here's
the thing. There's a great storm coming.
There's a great storm coming. That's what he's telling them,
on tomorrow, about this time. Now, I've been around rain a
lot, and I'm telling you this, it ain't perfectly clear when
rain comes. It starts out with little clouds,
don't it? And then the clouds begin to build. And I believe
when Moses went out and raised those hands up toward heaven,
those clouds begin to roll in. They begin to come in, they begin
to see it. There's a storm coming. They didn't immediately shoot
out all this rolling lightning. And you can go through the Psalms.
I don't have them all listed here, but there are several Psalms
that talk about this lightning and hail and make the application
of it. But they didn't immediately start
shooting out a rolling lightning. He said, the fire will run along
the ground. Now, I've only seen that one
time in my life. And it was something to see.
We were driving home one night from Henry Mahan's. We'd been
up there to a meeting, was driving. I live 50 miles down the river,
and we was driving home, and the lightning was hitting those
hills, hitting those trees, and rolling down the side of the
hill. I'd never seen anything like it. And when I got home,
I almost had spots like you do when you weld. Sometimes you
get these spots before your eyes. That's the way I felt when I
got home, all that lightning and that storm. And that storm
was nothing compared to what hit Egypt. This fire is going
to be mingled with hail, he said. Mingled with hail. Great storm
brewing. The skies begin to give the sign. They darken and begin to swirl,
and the wind begin to blow a little bit. And even so, as God pours
out these vials of wrath in the gospel age, we are told over
in Revelations chapter 16, that the seventh vial, it's the same
as the seventh plague in Egypt, the seventh vial, when they dumped
it out, what was it? It was thunders and lightnings
and hail. That's what it said. There was
voices and thunders and lightnings and there fell upon men a great
hail out of heaven about the weight of a talent. Now I'm going
to give you some idea, and this is out of Revelation chapter
16. There's all kinds of talents.
It depends on what country you're from. But the Jewish talent,
which we've got every reason to believe that's what he was
talking about, is 115 pounds. So you're talking about a hail
ball about this big around. We ain't talking about baseball
size or golf ball size or mushroom size. We're talking about hail
bigger than a beach ball coming down. Hail that'll break trees. Isn't that what it said over
here in Egypt? The trees in the field are going to be broken.
We're talking about egg hail. Of course, this is a spiritual plague
that he's talking about in Revelation. This is an actual plague he's
talking about over here in the book of Genesis. These final
plagues are ruinous plagues. They're plagues poured out upon
a condemned, deceived world. These are hearts hardened of
God, and He'll demonstrate even while they live the enmity and
the hard heart of man that just will not be broken. It's not
going to bow to God. No matter how severe the plague.
Over in Revelations, it talked about all these plagues and all
these vows being poured out on men. And at the end of all the
vows, you know what they did? They blasphemed God. That's what
they did. It wasn't humbling to them at
all. Hail is frozen water. As the rain is pulled up high
into the atmosphere, it's frozen and it sticks together and it
forms hail and it comes back down. The higher that storm is,
the more it's going to hail. When you see hail, you know you're
in the middle of a big storm. These little storms don't rain
no hail. And even so, the water of God's
Word that evil men have disregarded It's drawn up to God where its
very nature's changed and it's sent again upon this earth, not
as a cleansing, cooling, refreshing rain, but a severe hail. It's sent back as a judgment.
God's Word is preached to men and it's preached in such a fashion
as to demonstrate His mercy and grace. We preach Christ crucified. And we stand before men and we
preach that. And men shake their head and laugh. and disregard
the Word of God and go out the door, the next time that Word
comes back, it comes as a judgment. A judgment. That same Word, that
same water that brings about regeneration, brings about eternal
damnation, and that same Word that gives hope can take it away.
It can take it away. That same Word that turns away
wrath, falls upon the unbelieving with a deadly consequence. And
that's what we're seeing down here in Egypt. David, over in
the Psalms, began to praise God concerning His Word. And he said,
fire and hail, snow and vapor, stormy wind. He said, fulfilling
the Word of God. God's Word. And a goodly portion
of what Israel saw down here in Goshen was a judgment upon
Egypt which had eternal consequences. Eternal consequences. Let me
give you four things tonight concerning this plague of fire
and hail and try to draw a bit of a line between Egypt and Israel
and the church in this Gospel 8. And the first thing I want
you to see here is God's eternal purpose and sovereign hand in
this plague. It was God who sent the plague.
God who told Moses to go stand before Pharaoh and spread his
hands toward heaven, gave him the words to say, and powered
those words. so that what He said come to
pass. This is all done by God's eternal
purpose and His sovereign hand. God's hand of judgment is called
in Scripture, you can look it up over in Isaiah chapter 28
verse 21, it's called God's strange work, His judgments. His judgments come upon men,
He calls it His strange work. It seems strange and foreign
of a God of love and mercy and grace, don't it? Seems almost
contrary to its nature. You remember when the big hurricane
hit New Orleans? You remember what people said?
The churches and things began to talk about God's curse on
New Orleans and how the news people raised such a big fuss
and said, that's totally contrary to God. Well, it seems like it
might be. Seems like it might be. But strange
or not, it's the work of God. It's the work of God. And what
he sends now upon Egypt is according to his divine wisdom. It's right,
it's just, and it's necessary. There was all kind of heathen
nations around there. He didn't rain fire and hail
down on any of them. The Canaanites, Hittites, all
them hikes over there, he didn't even bother with them. He didn't
send them an ambassador. His people wasn't over there.
He didn't have anything to do with them. He was dealing with
Egypt. Now he'll deal with Canaanites
soon enough and hit that. But right now he's dealing with
Egypt. And that's the way God does. It's according to His divine
wisdom and it's right that He does it. How many opportunities
did God give that man? Now this is a man that God raised
up for this purpose. Raised him up. Made him to inherit
the throne of Egypt for this very purpose. to declare His
name and His power. And not only in that age, but
in every age. We're sitting here tonight talking
about it. And I dare say you'd be hard-pressed to talk to anybody
who's ever darkened the door of a church who don't know something
about the judgment of Egypt and the deliverance of Israel. They
might not understand all the particulars, but they know about
it, don't they? It's according to His divine
wisdom. And God warned him and warned him and warned him. He
gave him opportunity after opportunity, but they would not. They would
not. And God knew they wouldn't. And
neither will any man if God leaves him alone. That's what's being
showed to us throughout all of these plagues. He's showing us
that it's God's sovereign hand of grace that allows you to see
and allows you to understand and perceive the situation and
understand what's going on. And if he don't intervene for
them, he knows exactly what you're going to do. We'd do the same
thing. We'd do the same thing. But there
was a hand of grace in this thing. What God sets his hand to do,
he does. He does. If God set his heart
to destroy New Orleans, New Orleans is history. If he sets his heart
to destroy Los Angeles, Los Angeles is history. I don't care how
much preparation they make. I don't care how much they disregard
His Word. It's gone. It's history. All
of these spiritual plagues poured out on this generation are poured
out by the just decree of God. Old Pharaoh, he continued to
go to the river. I pointed that out to you. That
river was their deity. He wasn't going out there for
a bath. He was going out there to worship that idol, worship
that river God. And he went to the furnace. We
talked about that here last week or the week before last. We talked
about those ashes from the furnaces causing those boils and blames,
that old ungodly altar that he went to. And he just continues
to go back to those things. And when he's not going to the
altar, he's counseling with his magicians, isn't he? He's talking
to them. In our day, men go to church,
so-called. And they walk down aisles, and
they join the church, and they call upon the religious magicians
of their day. But it doesn't change a thing
with God. It doesn't change a thing. The curse is the same. These plagues mark out for the
believer all of the history of God's providence. Can you see
that? What's going on in Egypt, in
these plagues, mark out all the history of God's providence concerning
His elect and this world. It's all demonstrated right here
in these plagues. Not a single plague was given
that it did not declare God's judgment of this world and His
mercy on His people. Exodus 9.15, He said, And now
I will stretch out My hand, that I might smite thee and thy people
with pestilence, And thou shalt be cut off from the earth. And
very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show
in thee my power, that my name may be declared throughout all
the earth." And God raised him up just for
that reason. Raised him up to inherit that
throne. As Henry said, just to dump him in the river. The second thing I want you to
see tonight is God's distinguishing grace. If we were up in a balloon looking
down, you'd look down on Egypt and all across Egypt was death
and disease and disaster. Everywhere you looked, there
wasn't anything left untouched. You look down on Egypt and it's
death and disease and disaster. It was being laid waste by the
judgment of God. One curse upon the other. And
I'm telling you, if you go through these verses, you'll see what
I'm talking about. You can preach four or five messages
out here. You just keep seeing subjects
that won't take your mind and wander off, don't they? You just
keep seeing these things. You see that judgment of God
on these people, that reprobation of these Egyptians and Pharaoh,
and that's a message in itself. And then you see the distinguishing
grace of God, and that's a message in itself. One curse upon the
other. Here's a message all to itself.
That continued rebellion is a continual curse. The more you rebel against
God, the more that curse is laid on you. Turn with me to Ecclesiastes
chapter 9. I don't know if I can twist this
around. I know that you see the obvious
that I just declared to you, but let me see if I can show
you something here that perhaps you've never considered. We're talking about Israel down
here in the distinguishing hand of God's grace, and these plagues
falling. Falling all around them. And
they're seeing these plagues, and they're affected by the plagues.
They're not falling on them, but they're affected by them.
They see the sovereign hand of God pouring out these plagues
on Egypt. Now, I want you to listen to
this over here in Ecclesiastes 9, too. All things come alike to all.
That is, all saved and lost. All men alike. Ecclesiastes 9,
verse 2. There is one event to the righteous
and to the wicked. Same event. Same thing happens.
Somebody dies of leukemia and he's a believer. There's an unbeliever
over here and he dies of leukemia. Same thing. There's one event to the righteous
and to the wicked. To the good and to the clean.
and to the unclean, to him that sacrifices, and to him that sacrifices
not. As is the good, so is the sinner.
And he that sweareth is he that feareth an oath." Same thing
happens. You look all around. These plagues
are falling. These physical things are happening
all around us. And then in this next verse,
in verse 3, he talks about an evil. What is that evil? The
evil is how men view that. It's how they see that, how they
perceive that. And that's what I'm talking to
you about now. I'm talking to you about the
distinguishing hand of grace that views those plagues in two
different manners. Two different manners. Now, I
know that the plagues, the physical plagues, didn't enter into Goshen,
and it didn't fall on Israel. But the reason it didn't, the
only reason it didn't, is because they were pictures of that spiritual
plague of which God protects his church from. But in our age,
we don't want to take that over to our age and say everybody
that goes to church and belongs to God, he ain't going to suffer.
Oh, no. You're going to get sick just
like everybody else. When the drought comes, my garden just
as dry as that fellow over at False Prophet over in Texarkana.
Sure is. Or right down here. We don't
have to go that far to find one. You can't look at the outward
circumstance and judge the spiritual standing of those who suffer
under the event. The judgment of the plague is
in the heart and mind of those who see it. God's people suffer
by outward things the same as unbelievers. But it has a different
effect on them. Has a different effect on them,
don't it? Now, I know that Israel was spared from these things,
and I explained that to you, but spiritual Israel has sometimes
sent physical suffering and physical trials. But it's not as an act
of judgment on them, but actually it's a blessing. And so this
was upon them. Now, as Israel, under the grace
of God, was allowed to see the plagues, they stood over there
and saw the plagues. And they saw those flags fall
upon Egypt. So the believer sees things from
a different perspective. What Egypt suffered caused them
to blaspheme God. What they suffered caused them
to harden his heart. I read it to you a few minutes
ago. He hardened his heart. He continued right on in his
rebellion, didn't he? But what Israel saw of the plagues
only prepared their hearts to leave that ungodly place. And
so it is with the believer. God sends us these things sometimes
just to prepare our hearts to be ready to leave. That's why
He sends us these things. If He left us alone, didn't do
anything, we'd stay here forever, wouldn't we? That just shows
you how really sinful we are. But God sends us these things
with an understanding. That there's a better, there's
something better out there. Something better than this place.
Greater than this place. More holy than this place. Some of you in this place, you've
got diseases that have severely affected your lives. And people
I'm talking to right now are going to listen to this tape
on the internet. They've got diseases and things that have
severely affected their lives. But God didn't send it on you
for a judgment. He sent it on you to prepare
your heart to leave this place. That's what it's all about. He
knows who and when and how to do it. I have no idea how He
does these things. But in Christ I see these plagues
marking out this world for destruction. I see these spiritual plagues
that's falling on our generation. It's marking this place out for
destruction. Write it down. Oh, you're just
gloom and doom. Well, that's all there is outside
of Christ. Gloom and doom. That's all there is. I see these
plagues making out this flesh. It's marking out this flesh for
the grave. That's what it's telling you.
Dust you've taken and you're going back to the dust. You don't
believe me? Wake up tomorrow morning and
look in the mirror. You ain't anything at all like you remember
yourself looking, are you? Look in there and who's that? The more I see, the more I'm
prepared to leave it, enter into that promised land. That's what
Paul said. He said, I'd rather go and be with Him, but it's
needful for me to stay here. And what did he tell old Paul?
Paul had some problems, didn't he? I don't know exactly what
it was. Everybody says it was his eyes
and the scales and things that was on his eyes and so on. But
he prayed and prayed and prayed sincerely three times. And God
told him, quit praying about it. He said, my grace is sufficient. I've sent it to you on purpose.
Later on, we see that he wrote half the New Testament. That's
why God sent him those things, so he wouldn't be puffed up. And then notice this, what he
says here in Exodus 9.14. I kind of read over that a while
ago. He said, For I will at this time send all my plagues upon
thine heart. That's the first time he said
that in these plagues. He's going to lay these hard
to bear on Pharaoh's heart. All of these plagues. Make him
to understand what these plagues are about. Send it upon his heart
and upon his servants and upon his people. And you'll find after
this plague that his people is begging him. They're even begging
and pleading with him to talk to Moses and bow to Moses' God. Alright, here's the third thing
I want to point out just briefly, is the confession of the damned.
That's in this chapter too. In Exodus 9 verse 27, Pharaoh
sent and called for Moses and Aaron and said unto them, I have
sinned this time. Don't that sound like a self-righteous
sinner? That don't sound like a man that
God's humbled down. He talks about his being born
in sin. All he could do was sin. Everything
he ever thought and did was sin. But now Pharaoh cries and he
said, I've sinned this time. I sinned this time. But listen
to what he says. The Lord is righteous, and I
and my people are wicked. And surely as this was the confession
of Pharaoh under the judgment of God, so it will be the confession
of all the damned in that final judgment in that day. They're
all going to say it. They're all going to say it.
And with their own tongues, they're going to bow before our great
Deliverer and confess God's righteousness in their own condemnation. Believers
confess that now. Isn't that what David said? That thou might be just? With
everything you said and everything you testified about me, he said,
I'm in agreement with you. In Philippians 2, verse 10, it
says, In that day, that at the name of Jesus, That's God's name
manifested by Him in the salvation of His elect. Every knee should
bow in things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the
earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. As Mediator King and
Lord of judgment, they'll all declare God just in His justification
of His people. Every one of them. And they're
going to declare Him Lord and just in all His judgments according
to their own condemnation. He's going to be Lord to the
glory of God the Father, consistent with the character of Almighty
God. And then the last thing I want
you to see is the right application of the pledge. Israel, though living under a
superior power, and we are in this world, We got no power against
Satan and his ministers. My soul, you drive around this
country right now with a camera, just right here. I ain't talking
about all over the world. Just drive right around here
in Arkansas with a camera. You could fill up a Sears and
Roebuck catalog full of pictures of nothing but churches. You
multiply that times the amount of people in there and the influence
they carry in this world, you'd be overwhelmed with how much
influence and power there is just in false religion. And that
has nothing to do with that awesome power of Satan himself or his
ministers and his spirits that he sends around in men. The power
in this place is way greater than us. But the Lord said, greater
is he that's in you. That's God. That's God than he
that's in the world. But Israel, though living under
superior power and in the midst of such a wicked and perverse
people, even among the very damned of God, were nevertheless put
in such a place as to be preserved from God's wrath, delivered from
the influence of that evil rule, and taught something of the name
of God right in the midst of it. Can you imagine? And what
you're seeing back there in the physical is exactly what's going
on today in the spiritual. It's exactly. They found blessing
in the midst of trouble. found themselves in a place and
among a people cursed of God. And by the sovereign grace of
God, who came to honor His own covenant, God sent them a deliverer
whose word God honored and separated them from the Egyptians. He put
them in such a place that they could see and hear the plagues,
but be preserved from the danger of them. And I tell you this, God's judgments
in our day is great. All you got to do is look around.
I see reprobation everywhere I look. It's total reprobation. You can't talk to them. You can't
show them. You could open this book from
now on. I read an article that a man sent me a while ago talking
about home churches, talking about people meeting over there
with two in their home. And the fact that there's no
preaching and pastoring and authority in the church or no such thing
taught in the Word of God, I went on and on and on reading in that
article just shaking my head. That's the kind of stuff going
on in our day. And it's going on not just in
the home or in secret, but it's going on in big organizations
everywhere. And they're teaching men this. And you go to talk to them, you
can't talk to them. You can't talk to them. You can
forget trying to reason with one God's judgment in our day is
great, but His mercy is greater. It's greater. Paul said, where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. It super abounds. It abounds over those things.
If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't go anywhere. We'd just huddle
right here on Wednesdays and Sundays, and I wouldn't go anywhere.
But I see God's hand. And Goshen is a type of Christ.
He gathers his people in Christ. And they're safe there, and they're
preserved there. But Christ is our refuge. You go through in
the Old Testament, and we'll begin to get into that a little
bit later on, how they marked out these cities of refuge. That's
a picture of Christ. And the manslayer was after you.
If you could get to the city of refuge, he couldn't touch
you. And so it is here. God won't
touch them when they're in Goshen. But it's a type of the churches
of God in this world also, being one with Christ and having the
promises of His Spirit and the preaching of the Gospel. He gathers
us together in a specific place. It's of particular interest to
me what He said to Pharaoh and his servants, and this probably
ought to be a message all by itself. But back in verse 20
in Exodus chapter 9, it said, He that feared the word of the
Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle
flee into the houses. And he that disregarded, he that
regarded not the Word of the Lord, left his servants and his
cattle in the fields. Now the children of Israel were
no doubt scattered throughout all of Egypt in their bondage,
and when they were in servitude to Pharaoh's dominion. But when
God sent His messenger to deliver them, they were all gathered
At one time? I don't think so. I don't think
so. But I think a little at a time
he gathered them and he put them over in Goshen. And the plagues
couldn't get them over there. He didn't leave them scattered
throughout the land. He gathered them together in
Goshen, didn't he? I believe that's what God does
in our age. I believe that's what the scriptures
teach. He has local churches in this world. When the Lord
gave His revelation to John on the Isle of Patmos, where did
He appear? How did He appear? There were
seven candlesticks, and He tells you what those were. Those were
the seven churches of ages. That was Ephesus and so on. Seven
visible churches in this world. And He had seven stars in His
hand. Who were they? That's the seven
pastors of the seven churches. And everything that He says in
the book of Revelation to this world, he says up front that
he says it through those stars and through those churches. And
I'm telling you this, God has established his local church
in this world. And they can say what they want
to about it. It's the ground of the truth. Ain't that what
he calls it? That's right. And that's where he gathers his
people. He gathers them. Now, where does he gather them
from? Well, he might get one way over here somewhere and one
way over there somewhere, but they ain't going to stay over
there because that's where the plagues are falling. That's where
the hail is raining down. And he tells them here, he said,
what's been charged to you? Do you understand where that's
coming from? You've got things in your charge.
You've got children. You've got a wife. You've got
cousins. You've got a family. You've got a house, just like
Abraham had a house. David had a house. You're responsible
for that. You're responsible for them.
And so now what are you going to do? Well, you're either going
to regard the Word of God and gather them into the house, or
you're going to leave them out in the field. You see where I'm coming from?
I know that he's talking to to Pharaoh's servants over here,
but I'm just telling you the truth is applied this way. You
got people out here. When he called me, I was 50 miles
from near his church. And I stayed down there for a
little while. But pretty soon, God gave me eyes to see and I
went upriver. I found the church and joined
the church. I didn't stay out there. Because
I saw the plagues out there. I saw the hail coming down. I
saw things being destroyed. I saw the hand of God, the judgment
hand of God falling on that whole outfit. And I wanted out. I told
you that story about one night I went into a Free Will Baptist
church and I was sitting in there and they started the meeting.
This old fella kind of came in after the service was already
started. The pastor got up, announced his text, and he was just getting
ready to start preaching when this old fella came in the door.
He was about 85 or 86, something like that. He came in and they
sat right in front of us. And he couldn't hardly walk.
He finally got up there and sat down. The pastor just quit preaching,
and he said, I want to recognize so-and-so back there, old Joe,
or whoever he was. He was the founding father of
this Free Will Baptist Church. He said, how you and the Lord,
Brother Joe. Brother Joe throwed up two fingers
like that. God killed him dead. His head
hit the pew in front of me, and that's the end of my going to
those churches. I never want to go back again.
God showed me something visible. He showed me a visible condemnation
of that place, and I already felt it in my heart, but boy,
he drove the nail home, and I understood exactly where he was coming from.
And I'm telling you, if a man sets you out here, I don't care
where he is, he might be in Nebraska somewhere, wherever he is, but
he can save his elect, he can call out his elect, but he ain't
going to leave you up there in the field. He's going to bring
you somewhere where he has a church and a pastor and a teacher. Somewhere
where his presence is promised to meet and be with you. And
he's going to make you a part of it. And that church is going
to minister and continue to minister and they'll reach out and there'll
be another one out here somewhere and they'll preach to him. And
that's how this thing, that's how this thing set forth in the
Word of God. This business of sitting out
there and sitting out there and sitting out, that ain't in the
Word of God. And I think this is a very clear scripture concerning
those things, and I want you to see them as concerning that
plague. You disregard the word of God,
everything you've got in the field is going to be destroyed.
And I'll give you a good example of it. Lot. Lot. You say that righteous man, yes
he was. What happened to his house? What happened to everything
that was given to Him? Everything that was His responsibility?
What happened to it? It all perished. It all perished. Every bit of it. Our Father, we thank You for
this time to gather together, this time to open Your Word,
and to see these things which You've declared to us. We pray
that You'll use these things. I'm not standing up here tonight
trying to cause arguments or division, but I want to clearly
declare, as Moses did, I want to declare these things clearly,
that those who do regard Your Word might have that opportunity. God, help us. Help us to set
these things before men in the light of Scripture, for Christ's
sake. Amen.