Acts Of Providence

I am often amazed when watching God act in such an amazing providential way. The providence of God is something I believe should cause us to praise God every waking moment we have. What is providence, and more specifically, what is the providence of God?

According to Webster’s Dictionary the word “providence” refers to the act of providing or preparing for future use or application. It also means foresight; timely care; particularly, active foresight, or foresight accompanied with the procurement of what is necessary for future use, or with suitable preparation. In theology, it refers to the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures.

Just the other day I got to enjoy once more a “providential moment” of the Lord. My brother and I were on our way to church and, as usual, we were using the train. We arrived at our stop and got off. As we were leaving the station we happened to pass a coffee shop. My brother offered to buy me a coffee so in we went. It was early Sunday morning so there were very few people about. Not only that, but apart from the girl behind the counter, my brother and I were the only ones to be in the coffee shop. We proceeded to place our orders. Ever the opportunist, I slipped a million pound gospel tract to my brother. “Ask her for change,” I said, grinning broadly. He grinned back. Our hearts were set on evangelism but we knew that potentially we were going to have some fun as well.

As my brother went to pay for our coffees he handed the girl the million pound gospel note. “I’m rich!” she exclaimed. I could see it had made her smile. (Observation is important; not everyone is amused by it.) I waited to see if my brother was going to witness to her more directly. He did not, so I took the opportunity. I found her to be quite open, although being Romanian there was a slight language barrier. Still, she spoke very good English. Much better than my Romanian!!

It was a fun witness encounter. I tried to use as much humour as I could. With a stern and serious look I said to her, “You know, when you’re dead, you’re dead for a long time! This is important stuff!” That made her laugh. Because I was loaded with tracts I was able to hand her the coin tract that has the Ten Commandments on it. Being able to visually show her the Ten Commandments was a huge blessing as it added that much more to the impact of what I was telling her. By the time I was finished she also had the comic tract (which is simply brilliant because the entire gospel is so well laid out), as well as my “business card.” My church’s website is on it and when she saw that she enquired about it. I told her the church was in the area and not far away. I could see that she did have some religious background (most likely Catholic). Unfortunately time did not allow me a sufficient amount of time with her but I left thanking and praising God for the opportunity.

As I was turning to leave I was greeted by a young man who simply said, “Hey, I liked your message.” As it turned out he was a Christian. It must have looked to the girl like we were all together! It was a real blessing to meet another believer in the Lord, specifically when it meant the person I was witnessing to got to see how two Christians who are complete strangers instantly share a common bond through Christ. That in and of itself is a powerful witness.

I may not have been able to share the entire gospel with her but I got to leave three tracts with her, as well as my contact details, along with details of my church. There should also be an opportunity for me to meet up with her again fairly soon, God willing. All in all, a very productive and worthwhile witnesses encounter. And to think that if we had not stopped to get a coffee this witness encounter would never have happened. God is most certainly always in control.

The Bible Stands Alone

In 1889 a schoolteacher told a ten-year-old boy, "You will never amount to very much." That boy was Albert Einstein. In 1954 a music manager told a young singer, "You ought to go back to driving a truck." That singer was Elvis Presley. In 1962 a record company told a group of singers, "We don’t like your sound. Groups with guitars are definitely on their way out." They said that to the Beatles. Man is prone to make mistakes. Those who reject the Bible should take the time to look at the evidence before they come to a verdict.

1. It is unique in its continuity. If just 10 people today were picked who were from the same place, born around the same time, spoke the same language, and made about the same amount of money, and were asked to write on just one controversial subject, they would have trouble agreeing with each other. But the Bible stands alone. It was written over a period of 1,600 years by more than 40 writers from all walks of life. Some were fishermen; some were politicians. Others were generals or kings, shepherds or historians. They were from three different continents, and wrote in three different languages. They wrote on hundreds of controversial subjects yet they wrote with agreement and harmony. They wrote in dungeons, in temples, on beaches, and on hillsides, during peacetime and during war. Yet their words sound like they came from the same source. So even though 10 people today couldn’t write on one controversial subject and agree, God picked 40 different people to write the Bible—and it stands the test of time.

2. It is unique in its circulation. The invention of the printing press in 1450 made it possible to print books in large quantities. The first book printed was the Bible. Since then, the Bible has been read by more people and printed more times than any other book in history. By 1930, over one billion Bibles had been distributed by Bible societies around the world. By 1977, Bible societies alone were printing over 200 million Bibles each year, and this doesn’t include the rest of the Bible publishing companies. No one who is interested in knowing the truth can ignore such an important book.

3. It is unique in its translation. The Bible has been translated into over 1,400 languages. No other book even comes close.

4. It is unique in its survival. In ancient times, books were copied by hand onto manuscripts which were made from parchment and would decay over time. Ancient books are available today only because someone made copies of the originals to preserve them. For example, the original writings of Julius Caesar are no longer around. We know what he wrote only by the copies we have. Only 10 copies still exist, and they were made 1,000 years after he died. Only 600 copies of Homer’s The Iliad exist, made 1,300 years after the originals were written. No other book has as many copies of the ancient manuscripts as the Bible. In fact, there are over 24,000 copies of New Testament manuscripts, some written within 35 years of the writer’s death.

5. It is unique in withstanding attack. No other book has been so attacked throughout history as the Bible. In A.D. 300 the Roman emperor Diocletian ordered every Bible burned because he thought that by destroying the Scriptures he could destroy Christianity. Anyone caught with a Bible would be executed. But just 25 years later, the Roman emperor Constantine ordered that 50 perfect copies of the Bible be made at government expense. The French philosopher Voltaire, a sceptic who destroyed the faith of many people, boasted that within 100 years of his death, the Bible would disappear from the face of the earth. Voltaire died in 1728, but the Bible lives on. The irony of history is that 50 years after his death, the Geneva Bible Society moved into his former house and used his printing presses to print thousands of Bibles.

- Compiled by Jordan and Justin Drake (Taken from The Evidence Bible)

Pushing Through

After a rather trying month, witnessing to my fellow man has been quite difficult at times. A person's state of mind and walk with the Lord is ever so important when it comes to sharing one's faith. I have had to overcome some rather difficult personal issues of late and so this has impacted my witness.

Making things even more difficult has been many of the people I have witnessed to. Whether it has been a hardened indoctrinated Muslim, a care-free Jehovah's Witness, or a proud and self-righteous humanist, I seem to have had them all these days. But praise God, there have been those who have been clealry moved through what I have shared. One such person was a young man named James.

James was particularly open to the gospel. I was able to share the whole counsel of God with him and I could see that he understood the need to repent of his sin and trust in Christ. I finished by handing him a tract as well as my "business card," which of course has all my contact details on it. I have not heard back from him but the seed has been sown. Remember, it is not our job to do the saving. That's God's job. Our job is to faithfully proclaim forth the gospel. We cannot manipulate or coerce someone into the kingdom. If they are argued into Christianity they will just as easily be argued out of it. There must be brokenness and godly sorrow over sin. The Bible tells us that godly sorrow produces repentance, which leads to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10). It is repentance, not a mere "decision," that we must always aim for.

This is why the preaching of God's moral law (the Ten Commandments) is so important. The Bible tells us that through the law comes the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). It is only when the exceedingly sinfulness of sin (Romans 7:13) becomes personal to a person that godly sorrow is produced. This is our aim, to show the sinner the extent of his sin so that he recognises his need for the Saviour. It is for this reason that Charles Spurgeon once wrote these words,

"There must be true and deep conviction of sin. This the preacher must
labor to produce, for where this is not felt, the new birth has not taken place."

Hell's Best Kept Secret

There is perhaps no other message today that has impacted the way I evangelise as much as this message. There is nothing I can think of that has given me a greater zeal and passion for the lost. Pay careful attention to what you read. It very well could be that you will never witness the same again.

In the late seventies, God very graciously opened an itinerant ministry to me. As I began to travel, I found that I had access to church growth records, and found to my horror that something like 80 to 90% of those making a decision for Christ were falling away from the faith. That is, modern evangelism with its methods is creating something like 80 to 90 of what we commonly call backsliders for every hundred decisions for Christ.

Let me make it more real for you. In 1991, in the first year of the decade of harvest, a major denomination in the U.S. was able to obtain 294,000 decisions for Christ. That is, in one year, this major denomination of 11,500 churches was able to obtain 294,000 decisions for Christ. Unfortunately, they could only find 14,000 in fellowship, which means they couldn't account for 280,000 of their decisions, and this is normal, modern evangelical results, and something I discovered way back in the late seventies; it greatly concerned me. I began to study the book of Romans intently and, specifically, the gospel proclamation of men like Spurgeon, Wesley, Moody, Finney, Whitfield, Luther, and others that God used down through the ages, and I found they used a principle which is almost entirely neglected by modern evangelical methods.

I began teaching that principle; I was eventually invited to base our ministry in southern California, the city of Bellflower, specifically to bring this teaching to the church of the U.S. Things were quiet for the first three years, until I received a call from Bill Gothard, who had seen the teaching on video. He flew me to San Jose in northern California; I shared it with a thousand pastors. Then in 1992 he screened that video to 30,000 pastors. The same year David Wilkerson called from New York. He called from his car. (He had been listening to the teaching in his car and called me on his car phone.) Immediately, he flew me 3,000 miles from L.A. to New York to share the one-hour teaching with his church; he considered it to be that important. And recently I heard of a pastor who had listened to the audio tape 250 times. I'd be happy if you'd listen just once to this teaching which is called "Hell's Best Kept Secret."

The Bible says in Psalm 19, verse 7, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." What is it that the Bible says is perfect and actually converts the soul? Why scripture makes it very clear: "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Now to illustrate the function of God's law, let's just look for a moment at civil law. Imagine if I said to you, "I've got some good news for you: someone has just paid a $25,000 speeding fine on your behalf." You'd probably react by saying, "What are you talking about? That's not good news: it doesn't make sense. I don't have a $25,000 speeding fine." My good news wouldn't be good news to you: it would seem foolishness.

But more than that, it would be offensive to you, because I'm insinuating you've broken the law when you don't think you have. However, if I put it this way, it may make more sense: "On the way to this meeting, the law clocked you at going 55 miles an hour through an area set aside for a blind children's convention. There were ten clear warning signs stating that fifteen miles an hour was the maximum speed, but you went straight through at 55 miles an hour. What you did was extremely dangerous; there's a $25,000 fine. The law was about to take its course, when someone you don't even know stepped in and paid the fine for you. You are very fortunate."

Can you see that telling you precisely what you've done wrong first actually makes the good news make sense. If I don't clearly bring instruction and understanding that you've violated the law, then the good news will seem foolishness; it will seem offensive. But once you understand that you've broken the law, then that good news will become good news indeed.

Now in the same way, if I approach an impenitent sinner and say, "Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins," it will be foolishness and offensive to him. Foolishness because it won't make sense. The Bible says that: "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness" (1Cor. 1:18). And offensive because I'm insinuating he's a sinner when he doesn't think he is. As far as he's concerned, there are a lot of people far worse than him. But if I take the time to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, it may make more sense. If I take the time to open up the divine law, the ten commandments, and show the sinner precisely what he's done wrong, that he has offended God by violating His law, then when he becomes, as James says, "convinced of the law as a transgressor" (Jam. 2:9), the good news of the fine being paid for will not be foolishness, it will not be offensive, it will be "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1:16).

Now, with those few thoughts in mind by way of introduction, let's now look at Romans 3, verse 19. We'll look at some of the functions of God's law for humanity. Romans 3, verse 19: "Now we know that whatsoever things the law says, it says to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God." So one function of God's law is to stop the mouth. To stop sinners justifying themselves and saying, "There's plenty of people worse than me. I'm not a bad person. Really." No, the law stops the mouth of justification and leaves the whole world, not just the Jews, but the whole world guilty before God.

Romans 3, verse 20: "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." So God's law tells us what sin is. 1 John 3:4 says, "Sin is transgression of the law." Romans 7, verse 7: "What shall we say then?" says Paul. "Is the law sin? God forbid! No, I had not known sin but by the law." Paul says, "I didn't know what sin was until the law told me." In Galatians 3:24, "Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith." God's law acts as a schoolmaster to bring us to Jesus Christ that we might be justified through faith in His blood. The law doesn't help us; it just leaves us helpless. It doesn't justify us; it just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of a holy God.

And the tragedy of modern evangelism is because around the turn of the century when it forsook the law in its capacity to convert the soul, to drive sinners to Christ, modern evangelism had to, therefore, find another reason for sinners to respond to the gospel. And the issue that modern evangelism chose to attract sinners was the issue of "life enhancement". The gospel degenerated into "Jesus Christ will give you peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness." Now to illustrate the unscriptural nature of this very popular teaching, I'd like you to listen very carefully to this following anecdote, because the essence of what I'm saying pivots on this particular illustration; so please listen carefully.

Two men are seated in a plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put it on, as it would improve his flight. He's a little skeptical at first because he can't see how wearing a parachute in a plane could possibly improve the flight. After a time he decides to experiment and see if the claim is true. As he puts it on he notices the weight of it upon his shoulders and he finds that he has difficulty in sitting upright. However, he consoles himself with the fact that he was told the parachute would improve the flight. So, he decides to give the thing a little time. As he waits he notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him, because he's wearing a parachute in a plane. He begins to feel somewhat humiliated. As they begin to point and laugh at him and he can stand it no longer, he slinks in his seat, unstraps the parachute, and throws it to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart, because, as far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie.

The second man is given a parachute, but listen to what he's told. He's told to put it on because at any moment he'd be jumping 25,000 feet out of the plane. He gratefully puts the parachute on; he doesn't notice the weight of it upon his shoulders, nor that he can't sit upright. His mind is consumed with the thought of what would happen to him if he jumped without that parachute.

Let's analyze the motive and the result of each passenger's experience. The first man's motive for putting the parachute on was solely to improve his flight. The result of his experience was that he was humiliated by the passengers; he was disillusioned and somewhat embittered against those who gave him the parachute. As far as he's concerned it'll be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on his back again. The second man put the parachute on solely to escape the jump to come, and because of his knowledge of what would happen to him without it, he has a deep-rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that he's saved from sure death. This knowledge gives him the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers. His attitude towards those who gave him the parachute is one of heart-felt gratitude.

Now listen to what the modern gospel says. It says, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness." In other words, "Jesus will improve your flight." So the sinner responds, and in an experimental fashion, puts on the Savior to see if the claims are true. And what does he get? The promised temptation, tribulation, and persecution. The other passengers mock him. So what does he do? He takes off the Lord Jesus Christ, he's offended for the word's sake (Mark 4:17), he's disillusioned and somewhat embittered, and quite rightly so. He was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness, and all he got were trials and humiliation. His bitterness is directed toward those who gave him the so-called "good news". His latter end becomes worse than the first: another inoculated and bitter backslider.

Saints, instead of preaching that Jesus improves the flight, we should be warning the passengers they're going have to jump out of the plane. That it's "appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). And when a sinner understands the horrific consequences of breaking God's law, then he will flee to the Savior solely to escape the wrath that's to come. And if we're true and faithful witnesses, that's what we'll be preaching. That there is wrath to come; that God "commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). Why? "Because He has appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness" (vs. 31). You see, the issue isn't one of happiness, but one of righteousness. It doesn't matter how happy a sinner is, how much he's enjoying "the pleasures of sin for a season" (Heb. 11:25). Without the righteousness of Christ, he'll perish on the day of wrath. "Riches profit not on the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death" (Prov. 11:4). Peace and joy are legitimate fruits of salvation, but it's not legitimate to use these fruits as a draw card for salvation. If we continue to do so, sinners will respond with an impure motive lacking repentance.

Now, can you remember why the second passenger had joy and peace in his heart? It was because he knew that parachute was going to save him from sure death. And as a believer, I have, as Paul says, "joy and peace in believing" (Rom. 15:13), because I know that the righteousness of Christ is going to deliver me from the wrath that's to come.

Now with that thought in mind, let's take a close look at an incident on board the plane. We have a brand new stewardess. She's carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee. It's her first day; she wants to leave an impression on the passengers, and she certainly does. Because as she's walking down the aisle, she trips over someone's foot and slops that boiling hot coffee all over the lap of our second passenger. Now what's his reaction as that boiling liquid hits his tender flesh? Does he go, "Ssssfffff! Man that hurt"? Mmm-hhh. He feels the pain. But then does he rip the parachute from his shoulders, throw it to the floor and say, "The stupid parachute!"? No. Why should he? He didn't put the parachute on for a better flight. He put it on to save him from the jump to come. If anything, the hot coffee incident causes him to cling tighter to the parachute and even look forward to the jump.

Now if you and I have put on the Lord Jesus Christ for the right motive, to flee from the wrath that's to come, when tribulation strikes, when the flight gets bumpy, we won't get angry at God; we won't lose our joy and peace. Why should we? We didn't come to Jesus for a happy lifestyle: we came to flee from the wrath that's to come. And if anything, tribulation drives the true believer closer to the Savior. And sadly we have literally multitudes of professing Christians who lose their joy and peace when the flight gets bumpy. Why? They're the product of a man-centered gospel. They came lacking repentance, without which you can't be saved.

I was in Australia recently ministering; Australia is a small island off the coast of New Zealand. And I preached sin, law, righteousness, holiness, judgment, repentance, and hell, and I wasn't exactly crushed by the amount of people wanting to "give their hearts to Jesus." In fact, the air went very tense. After the meeting, they said, "There's a young guy down in the back who wants to give his life to Christ." I went down the back and found a teenage lad who could not pray the sinner's prayer because he was weeping so profusely. Now, for me it was so refreshing, because for many years I suffered from the disease of "evangelical frustration".

I so wanted sinners to respond to the gospel I unwittingly preached a man-centered message. The essence of which was this: "You'll never find true peace without Jesus Christ; you've a God-shaped vacuum in your heart that only God can fill." I'd preach Christ crucified; I'd preach repentance. A sinner would respond to the alter; I'd open an eye and say, "Oh no. This guy wants to give his heart to Jesus and there's an 80% chance he's going to backslide. And I am tired of creating backsliders. So I'd better make sure this guy really means it. He'd better be sincere!" So I'd approach the poor guy in a Gestapo spirit. I'd walk up and say, "Vhat do you vant?" He'd say, "I'm here to become a Christian." I'd say, "Do you mean it?" He'd say, "Yeah." I'd say, "Do you REALLY MEAN IT!?" He'd say, "Yeah, I reckon." "Okay, I'll pray with you, but you'd better mean it from your heart." He said, "Okay, okay." "Now you repeat this prayer sincerely after me and mean it from your heart sincerely and really mean it from your heart sincerely and make sure you mean it. 'Oh, God, I'm a sinner.' " He'd say, "Uh...oh, God, I'm a sinner." And I'd think, "Man, why isn't there a visible sign of contrition.

There's no outward evidence the guy is inwardly sorry for his sins." Now, if I could have seen his motive, I would have seen he was 100% sincere. He really did mean his decision with all his heart. He sincerely wanted to give this Jesus thing a go to see if he could get a buzz out of it. He had tried sex, drugs, materialism, alcohol. "Why not give this Christian bit a go and see if it's as good as all these Christians say it is: peace, joy, love, fulfillment, lasting happiness." He wasn't fleeing from the wrath that was to come, because I hadn't told him there was wrath to come. There was this glaring omission from my message. He wasn't broken in contrition, because the poor guy didn't know what sin was. Remember Romans 7, verse 7? Paul said, "I had not known sin but by the law."

How can a man repent if he doesn't know what sin is? Any so-called "repentance" would be merely what I call "horizontal repentance". He's coming because he's lied to men, he's stolen from men. But when David sinned with Bathsheba and broke all ten of the ten commandments (when he coveted his neighbor's wife, lived a lie, stole his neighbor's wife, committed adultery, committed murder, dishonored his parents, and thus dishonored God), he didn't say "I've sinned against man." He said, "Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight" (Ps. 51:4). When Joseph was tempted sexually, he said, "How can I do this thing and sin against God?" (Gen. 39:9). The prodigal son said, "I've sinned against heaven" (Luke 15:21). Paul preached "repentance toward God" (Acts 20:21). And the Bible says, "Godly sorrow works repentance" (2Cor. 7:10). And when a man doesn't understand that his sin is primarily vertical, he'll merely come and exercise superficial, experimental, and horizontal repentance, and fall away when tribulation, temptation, and persecution come.

A.B. Earl said, "I have found by long experience that the severest threatenings of the law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy; they'll not escape danger until they see it." Now I'd like you to do something a little unusual. I'll not embarrass you; I give you my word. But I would like to ask, how many of you were thinking of something else when I was reading that quote from A.B. Earl? Now, I want to admit something to you. I was thinking of something else when I was reading that quote from A.B. Earl: I was thinking, "Nobody's listening to me; they're thinking of something else." So, to make a very important point, I'd like you to be really honest. If you were thinking of something else and you haven't got a clue what A.B. Earl said, could you raise your hand up nice and high...up nice and high. It's usually half to two-thirds and we've got that here tonight. Let's try again...God bless you, Pastor, for your honesty.

A.B. Earl was a famous evangelist of the last century who had 150,000 converts to substantiate his claims. Satan doesn't want you to get a grip of this, so listen very closely. A.B. Earl said, "I have found by long experience [that's the true test] that the severest threatenings of the law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy; they'll not escape danger until they see it."You see, you try and save a man from drowning when the man doesn't believe he's drowning, he'll not be too happy with you. You see him swimming out in the lake; you think, "I think he's drowning. Yes, I believe he is." You dive in, pull him to the shore, without telling him anything. He's not going to be very happy with you. He won't want to get saved until he sees that he's in danger. They'll not escape danger until they see it.

You see, if you came to me and said, "Hey, Ray," and I said, "Yeah." You said, "This is a cure to Groaninzin's disease; I sold my house to raise the money to get this cure. I'm giving it to you as a free gift." I'd probably react something like this: "What? Cure to what? Groaninzin's disease? You sold your house to raise the money to get this cure? You're giving it to me as a free gift? Why, thanks a lot. Bye...That guy's a nut." I mean, that's probably how I'd react if you sold your house to raise the money to get a cure for a disease I'd never heard of and your giving it to me as free gift, I'd think you're rather strange.

But instead, if you came to me and said, "Ray, you've got Groaninzin's disease. I can see ten clear symptoms on your flesh. You're going to be dead in two weeks." And I became convinced I had the disease (the symptoms were so evident), and said, "Oh! What shall I do?" And then you said, "Don't worry. This is a cure to Groaninzin's disease. I sold my house to raise the money to get this cure. I'm giving it to you as a free gift." I'm not going to despise your sacrifice; I'm going to appreciate it and I'm going to appropriate it. Why? Because I've seen the disease that I might appreciate the cure.

And sadly, what's happened in the U.S. and the Western world has followed is that we have preached the cure without first convincing of the disease. We have preached a gospel of grace without first convincing men of the law, that they're transgressors; and, consequently, almost everyone I try and witness to in southern California or around the Bible belt has been born-again six or seven times. You say, "You need to give your life to Jesus Christ." "Uh, I did that when I was seven, eleven, seventeen, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-eight, thirty-two?" You know the guy's not a Christian. He's a fornicator. He's a blasphemer, but he thinks he's saved because he's been "born-again". What's happening? He's using the grace of our God for an occasion of the flesh. He doesn't esteem the sacrifice. For him it's not a bad thing to trample the blood of Christ underfoot (Heb. 10:29). Why? Because he's never been convinced of the disease that he might appreciate the cure.

Biblical evangelism is always, without exception, law to the proud and grace to the humble. Never will you see Jesus giving the gospel, the good news, the cross, the grace of our God, to a proud, arrogant, self-righteous person. No, no. With the law he breaks the hard heart and with the gospel he heals the broken heart. Why? Because He always did those things that please the Father. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (Jam. 4:6; 1Pet. 5:5). "Everyone who is proud of heart," scripture says, "is an abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 16:5).

Jesus told us whom the gospel is for. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, the broken-hearted, the captives and the blind" (Luke 4:18). Now, they are spiritual statements. The poor in spirit (Mat. 5:3). The broken hearted are the contrite ones (Is. 57:15). The captives are those of whom Satan has taken captive to do his will (2Tim. 2:26); and the blind are those of whom the god of this world has blinded lest the light of the gospel should shine on them (2Cor. 4:4). Only the sick need a physician (Mark 2:17), and only those who are convinced of the disease will appreciate and appropriate a cure.

So we're going to now very briefly look at examples of law to the proud and grace to the humble. Luke 10:24...Luke 10:24. And when I give you a reference from the pulpit I'll give it twice, because I know that men are present, and men need to be told things twice...Men need to be told things twice. This can be backed up biblically. When God speaks to men in the Bible he uses their name twice. "Abraham, Abraham...Saul, Saul...Moses, Moses...Samuel, Samuel..." Because men need to be told things twice. Women once. I don't know how many times I've sat in a pew, preacher said, "Ah, Luke 10:25." I turn to my wife and say, "What'd he say?" She says, "Luke 10:25." I say, "Thank you, dear." HELP-MATE. That's why God created women, because men could not handle it on their own. The whole thing is: men lose things, women find things. "Where's the keys love?" "Hangin' on your nose, Dear." I mean, I don't know how many times I've opened the cupboard, "[Burp] There's no honey here, Honey!" She says, "Here is here, Dear." Where would man be without women? Mm? Still in the Garden of Eden. Eve found the tree. Adam didn't really know what was going on. In fact, if you look at the creation of woman, to create woman the Bible says God put man into a deep sleep. And Scripture doesn't say he ever came out of it.

In Luke 10:25 we see a certain lawyer stood up and tempted Jesus. This is not an attorney, but a professing expert on God's law. He stood up and he said to Jesus, "How can I get everlasting life?" Now, what did Jesus do? He gave him law. Why? Because he was proud, arrogant, self-righteous. Here we have a professing expert on God's law tempting the Son of God. And the spirit of his question was, "And what do you think we've got to do to get everlasting life?" So Jesus gave him law. He said, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" He says, "Ah, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength; love your neighbor as yourself." And Jesus said, "This do and you shall live." And then the Scripture says, "But He, willing to justify Himself, said to Jesus, 'Who's my neighbor?' " The Living Bible brings out more clearly the effect of the law on the man. It said, "The man wanted to justify his lack of love for some kinds of people; so he asked, 'Which neighbors?' " See, he didn't mind Jews, but he didn't like Samaritans. So Jesus then told him the story of what we call the "good Samaritan" who was not "good" at all. In loving his neighbor as much as he loved himself, he merely obeyed the basic requirements of God's law. And the effect of the essence of the law, the spirituality of the law (of what the law demands in truth), was that that man's mouth was stopped. See, he didn't love his neighbor to that degree. The law was given to stop every mouth and leave the whole world guilty before God.

Similarly, in Luke 18, verse 18, the rich, young ruler came to Jesus. He said, "How can I get everlasting life?" I mean, how would most of us react if someone came up and said, "How can I get everlasting life?" We'd say, "Oh...quickly say this prayer before you change your mind." But what did Jesus do with His potential convert? He pointed Him to the law. He gave him five horizontal commandments, commandments to do with his fellow men. And when he said, "Ah, I've kept those from my youth," Jesus said, "One thing you lack." And he used the essence of the first of the ten commandments: "I am the Lord your God...You shall have no other Gods before me" (Ex. 20:2-3). He showed this man that His god was His money, and "you cannot serve God and mammon" (Mt. 6:24). Law to the proud.

Then we see grace being given to the humble in the case of Nicodemus (John 3). Nicodemus was a leader of the Jews. He was a teacher in Israel. Therefore, he was thoroughly versed in God's law. He was humble of heart, because he came to Jesus and acknowledged the Deity of the Son of God. A leader in Israel? "We know that you've come from God for no man can do these miracles that you do unless God is with Him." So Jesus gave the sincere seeker of truth, who had a humble heart and a knowledge of sin by the law, the good news of the fine being paid for and "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son." And it was not foolishness to Nicodemus but the "power of God to salvation."

Similarly, in the case of Nathaniel (John 1:43-51). Nathaniel was an Israelite brought up under the law in deed, not just in word, in whom there was no guile; there was no deceit in his heart. Obviously the law was a schoolmaster to bring this godly Jew to Christ.

Similarly with the Jews on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). They were devout Jews, godly Jews, who, therefore, ate, drank, and slept God's law. Matthew Henry, the Bible commentator, said the reason they were gathered together on the day of Pentecost was to celebrate the giving of God's law on Mt. Sinai. So when Peter stood up to preach to these godly Jews, he didn't preach wrath. No, the law works wrath; they knew that. He didn't preach righteousness or judgment. No, no. He just told them the good news of the fine being paid for, and they were pricked in their hearts and cried, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (vs. 37). The law was a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ that they might be justified through faith in His blood. And the hymn-writer said, "By God's word at last my sin I learned; then I trembled at the law I'd spurned, till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary."

1 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 8, says, "But we know that the law is good if it used lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed." God's law is good if it's used lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed. Well, what was the law "designed" for? The following verse tells us: "The law was not made for a righteous man but for sinners." It even lists the sinners: homosexuals, fornicators. If you want to bring a homosexual to Christ, don't get into an argument with him over his perversion; he's ready for you with his boxing gloves on. No, no. Give him the ten commandments. The law was made for homosexuals. Show him that he is damned despite his perversion.

If you want to bring a Jew to Christ, lay the weight of the law upon him; let it prepare his heart for grace as happened on the day of Pentecost. If you want to bring a Moslem to Christ, give him the law of Moses; they accept Moses as a prophet. Well, give them the law of Moses and strip them of their self-righteousness and bring them to the foot of a blood-stained cross. I heard of a Moslem reading our book Hell's Best Kept Secret, and God soundly saved him purely through reading the book. Why? Because the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.

Think of the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:1-11). Violation of the seventh commandment. The law called for her blood (Lev. 20:10). She found herself in between a rock and a hard place. She had no avenue but to fling herself at the feet of the Son of God for mercy; and that is the function of God's law. Paul spoke of being shut up under the law (Gal. 3:23). It condemns. You say, "You can't condemn sinners." Saints, they're already condemned. John 3, verse 18: "He that believes not is condemned already." All the law does is show him himself in his true state.

Ladies, you might recognize this. Your table needs dusting in your living room. So you dust it clean; all the dust is gone. Then you draw back the curtains and let in the early morning sunlight. What do you see on the table? Dust. What do you see in the air? Dust. Did the light create the dust? No, the light merely exposed the dust. And when you and I take the time to draw back the curtains of the holy of holies and let the light of God's law shine upon the sinner's heart, all that happens, is that he sees himself in truth. "The commandment is a lamp and the law is light" (Prov. 6:23). That's why Paul said, "By the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20). That's why he said, "By the commandment sin became exceedingly sinful" (Rom. 7:13). In other words, the law showed him sin in its true light.

Now, normally at this stage of this teaching I go through the Ten Commandments one by one, but what I'll do is share with you how I witness personally because I think it would be more beneficial. Now, I'm a strong believer in following in the footsteps of Jesus. Never, ever, would I approach someone and say, "Jesus loves you." Totally unbiblical; there's no precedent for that in Scripture. Neither would I go up to someone and say, "I'd like to talk to you about Jesus Christ." Why? Because if I wanted to awaken you from a deep sleep, I wouldn't use a flashlight in your eyes. That will offend you. I'd turn on the light dimmer very gently. First, the natural, then the spiritual. Why? Because "the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God; neither can he know them. They are foolishness to him because they are spiritually understood" (1Cor. 2:14).

The precedent in Scripture is given in John 4 for personal witness. You can see Jesus' example with the woman at the well. He started in the natural realm, swung to the spiritual, brought conviction using the seventh commandment, and then revealed Himself as the Messiah. So, when I meet someone, I'll talk about the weather, I'll talk about sport: let them feel a little bit of sanity. Get to know them; maybe joke here and there and then deliberately swing from the natural to the spiritual. Now, the way I do this is that I use gospel tracts. We have something like 24, 25 different tracts; we're a ministry to the body of Christ. We've printed millions and millions of tracts and our tracts are unusual. If you get a hold of them, what you'll have to do is have a stack on you because people chase you and ask for more. Let me give you an example. This is our optical illusion tract. Which looks bigger, if you can see? Does the pink look bigger? Can you see that? For those listening by tape...They're the same size; it's an optical illusion. I say, "It's actually a gospel tract; instructions are on the back...how to get saved, actually." I say, "You can keep that." He says, "Hey...thanks a lot! This is neat...Whoa!"

"Got another gift for you." And out of my pocket I get a pressed penny with the ten commandments on it. We have a machine that does this. We buy the pennies new from the bank; nice golden-looking pennies and we feed them into this machine and it presses them, or it will do your thumbnail if you want to hold still. But it presses them with the ten commandments. It's legal to do this: this is considered art. It's not defacing a penny. So I say, "Here's a gift." He says, "Oh...what is it?" I say, "It's a penny with the ten commandments on it; I did it with my teeth....I do the i's with my eye teeth but the e's are really difficult."

Now, what I'm doing is putting out a feeler to see if he's open to spiritual things. If he negatively says, "Ten commandments? Thanks a lot," he's not open. But the usual reaction is, "Ten commandments...Hey, thanks! I appreciate this." I say, "Ah, do you think you've kept the ten commandments?" He says, "Ah, yeah...pretty much." I say, "Let's go through them. Ever told a lie?" He says, "Ah, yeah...yeah, one or two." I say, "What does that make you?" He says, "A sinner." I say, "No, no. Specifically, what does it make you?" He says, "Well, man, I'm not a liar." I say, "How many lies, then, do you have to tell to be a liar? Ten and a bell rings and 'ppppbbbbtttt' across your forehead? Isn't it true if you tell one lie, it makes you a liar?" He says, "Yeah...I guess you're right." I say, "Have you ever stolen something?" He says, "No." I say, "Come on; you've just admitted to me you're a liar." I say, "Ever stolen something, even if its small?" and he says, "Yeah." I say, "What does that make you?" He says, "A thief." I say, "Jesus said, 'If you look at a woman and lust after her, you commit adultery with her in your heart' (Mat. 5:28).

Ever done that?" He says, "Yeah, plenty of times." "Then from your own admission, you're a lying, thieving, adulterer at heart, and you have to face God on judgment day; and we've only looked at three of the ten commandments. There's another seven with their cannons pointed at you. Have you used God's name in vain?" "Yeah...I've been trying to stop." "You know what you're doing? Instead of using a four-letter filth word beginning with 's' to express disgust, you're using God's name in its place. That's called blasphemy; and the Bible says, 'Every idle word a man speaks he'll give account thereof on the day of judgment' (Mat. 12:36). 'The Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain' (Ex. 20:7). The Bible says if you hate someone, you are a murderer (1 John 3:15)."

Now the wonderful thing about God's law is that God has taken the time to write it upon our heart. Romans 2, verse 15: "...which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness..." Now, conscience means "with knowledge." Con is "with," science is "knowledge." Conscience. So when he lies, lusts, fornicates, blasphemes, commits adultery, he does it with knowledge that it's wrong. God has given light to every man. The Holy Spirit convicts them of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). Sin which is transgression of the law (1 John 3:4); righteousness which is of the law (Rom. 10:5; Philip. 3:9); judgment which is by the law. His conscience accuses him-the work of the law written on his heart (Rom. 2:15)-and the law condemns him.

So I say, "So if God judges you by this standard on the day of judgment, are you going to be innocent or guilty?" He says, "Guilty." I say, "Well, do you think you'll go to heaven or hell?" And the usual answer is, "Heaven." A product of the modern gospel. I say, "Why do you feel like that? Is it because you think God is good and he'll overlook your sins?" He says, "Yeah, that's it. He'll overlook my sins." "Yeah, well, try that in a court of law. You've committed rape, murder, drug pushing-very serious crimes. The judge says, 'You're guilty. All the evidence is here. Have you anything to say before I pass sentence?' And you say, 'Yes, Judge. I'd like to say I believe you're a good man and you'll overlook my crimes.' The judge would probably say, 'You're right about one thing. I am a good man, and because of my goodness, I'm going to see that justice is done. Because of my goodness, I'm going to see that you're punished.' " And the very thing sinners are hoping will save them on the day of judgment, the goodness of God, will be the very thing that will condemn them. Because if God is good, He must by nature punish murderers, rapists, thieves, liars, fornicators, and blasphemers. God is going to punish sin wherever it's found.

So with this knowledge, he's now able to understand. He now has light that his sin is primarily vertical: that he has "sinned against heaven" (Luke 15:21). That he has violated God's law and that He has angered God and the wrath of God abides upon Him (John 3:36). He can now see that He is "weighed in the balance" of eternal justice and "found wanting" (Dan. 5:27). He now understands the need for a sacrifice. "Christ redeemed from the curse of the law being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13). "God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). We broke the law; he paid the fine. It's as simple as that. And if a man will repent, if a woman will repent and put their faith in Jesus, God will remit their sins so that on the day of judgment, when their court case comes up, God can say, "Your case is dismissed through lack of evidence." "Christ redeemed from the curse of the law being made a curse for us." And, therefore, exercise repentance towards God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21), put his hand to the plough and not look back because he's fit for the kingdom (Luke 9:62). That word fit means "ready for use". The soil of his heart has been turned that he might receive the engrafted word which is able to save his soul (Jam. 1:21).

Now, I haven't got time to share these quotes with you, but their in our literature. I'm sure you'll recognize these names. John Wycliffe, the Bible translator. He said, "The highest service to which a man may obtain on earth is to preach the law of God." Why? Because it will drive sinners to faith in the Savior, to everlasting life. Martin Luther said, "The first duty of the gospel preacher is to declare God's law and to show the nature of sin." In fact, as we read these quotes, these men have so much conviction you can feel their teeth grit. They say things like, "If you do not use the law in gospel proclamation, you will fill the church with false converts." Stony ground hearers who will receive the word with joy and gladness. Listen to what Martin Luther said. He said, "Satan, the god of all dissension stirs up daily new sects. And last of all which of all others I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ." So what's Luther saying? He saying, "Listen, guys. There's a demonic, Satanic sect that's just risen up. Man, I never, ever would have believed this could happen. He's raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ," which perfectly sums up most of our evangelism.

John Wesley said to a friend, in writing to a young evangelist, "Preach 90 percent law and 10 percent grace." And you say, "90 percent law and 10 percent grace? Pretty heavy. Couldn't it be 50-50." Think of it like this. I'm a doctor; you're a patient. You have a terminal disease. I have a cure, but it's absolutely essential that you are totally committed to this cure; if you're not 100 percent committed, it will not work. How am I going to handle it?Probably like this.

"Come in here. Sit down. I've some very serious news for you: you have a terminal disease." I see you begin to shake. I think to myself, "Good. He's beginning to see the seriousness of this situation." I bring out charts; I bring out x-rays. I show you the poison seeping through your system. I speak to you for ten whole minutes about this terrible disease. How long, then, do you think I'm going to have to talk about the cure? Not long at all. When you're sitting there trembling after ten minutes, I say, "By the way, here's the cure." You grab it and gulp it down. Your knowledge of the disease and its horrific consequence has made you desire the cure.

You see, before I was a Christian, I had as much desire for righteousness as a four-year-old boy has for the word "bath." What's the point? See, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." How many non-Christians do you know who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness? The Bible says, "There is none who seek after God" (Rom. 3:11). It says they love the darkness, they hate the light; neither will they come to the light least there deeds be exposed (John 3:19-20). The only thing they drink in is iniquity like water (Job 15:16). But the night I was confronted with the spiritual nature of God's law and understood that God requires truth in the inward parts (Ps. 51:6), that He saw my thought-life and considered lust to be the same as adultery, hatred the same as murder, I began to say, "I can see I'm condemned. What must I do to be made right?" I began to thirst for righteousness. The law put salt on my tongue. It was a schoolmaster to bring me to Christ.

Charles Spurgeon said, "They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy law." D.L. Moody, John Bunyan, John Newton, who wrote "Amazing Grace" (and if anyone had a grip on grace it was Newton), he said that "the correct understanding of the harmony between law and grace is to preserve oneself from being entangled by errors on the right hand and on the left." And Charles Finney said, "Evermore the law must prepare the way for the gospel." He said, "To overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the church with false converts."

Saints, the first thing David Wilkerson said to me when he called me on his car phone was, "I thought I was the only one who didn't believe in follow-up." Now, I believe in feeding a new convert; I believe in nurturing him. I believe in discipling him-biblical and most necessary. But I don't believe in following him. I can't find it in Scripture. The Ethiopian eunuch was left without follow-up. How could he survive? All he had was God and the Scriptures. You see, follow-up...now let me explain follow-up for those of you who don't know. Follow-up is when we get decisions, either through crusades or local church, and we take laborers from the harvest field, who are few as it is, and give them this disheartening task of running after these decisions to make sure they're going on with God.

What it is is a sad admission of the amount of confidence we have in the power of our message and in the keeping power of God. If God has saved them, God will keep them. If they're born of God, they'll never die. If He's begun a good work in them, He'll complete it to that day (Philip. 1:6); if He's the author of their faith, He'll be the finisher of their faith (Heb. 12:2). He's able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him (Heb. 7:25). He's able to keep them from falling and present them faultless before the presence and glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24). Jesus said, "No one will pluck you from my father's hand" (John 10:29).

You see, saints, the problem is that Lazarus is four days dead (John 11). We can run in the tomb, we can pull him out, we can prop him up, we can open his eyes, but "he stinketh" (vs. 39). He needs to hear the voice of the Son of God. And the sinner is four days dead in his sins. We can run up and say, "Say this prayer." Still, he needs to hear the voice of the Son of God, or there is no life in him; and the thing that primes the sinner's ear to hear the voice of the Son of God is the law. It's a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ that he might be justified through faith (Gal. 3:24). Saints, the law works; it converts the soul (Ps. 19:7). It makes the person a new creature in Christ. That old things pass away; behold, all things are become new (2Cor. 5:17). So find yourself a sinner, and experiment on him. But as you do so, remember this one anecdote.

You're sitting on a plane, sipping you're coffee, biting a cookie, and watching a movie. It's a good flight, very pleasurable, when suddenly you hear, "This is your captain speaking. I have an announcement to make. As the tail section has just fallen off of this plane, we're about to crash. There's a 25,000 foot drop. There's a parachute under your seat; we'd appreciate it if you'd put it on. Thank you for your attention, and thank you for flying with this airline." You say, "What!? 25,000 feet!? Man, am I glad to be wearing this parachute!" You look next to you; the guy next to you is biting his cookie, sipping his coffee, and watching the movie. You say, "Excuse me, did you hear the captain? Put the parachute on." He turns to you and says, "Oh, I really don't think the captain means it. Besides, I'm quite happy as I am, thanks." Don't turn to him in sincere zeal and say, "Oh, please, put the parachute on.

It will be better than the movie." Now, that doesn't make sense. If you tell him that somehow the parachute will improve his flight, he's going to put it on for a wrong motive. If you want him to put it on and keep it on, tell him about the jump. You say, "Excuse me, ignore the captain if you wish. Jump without a parachute...SPLAT!" He says, "I'm sorry; I beg your pardon." "I said, if you jump without a parachute, law of gravity. 'Ppppbbbbtttt' on the ground." "Ah! Goodness me! I see what you're saying! Thank you very much!" And as long as that man has knowledge he has to pass through the door and face the consequences of breaking the law of gravity, there's no way you're going to get that parachute off his back, because his very life depends on it.

Now, if you look around you, you'll find there are plenty of passengers enjoying the flight. They're enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. Go up and say, "Excuse me. Did you hear the command from our Captain about salvation, 'Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.' " He turns to you and says, "Oh, I really don't think God means it. God is love. Besides, I'm quite happy as I am, thanks." Don't turn to him in sincere zeal without knowledge and say, "Please, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness. You've got a God-shaped vacuum in your heart only God can fill. If you have a marriage problem, drug problem, alcohol problem, just give your heart to Jesus." No. You'll give him the wrong motive for his commitment. Instead say, "Oh, God, give me courage!" and tell him about the jump. Just say, "Hey, it's appointed to man once to die. If you die in your sins, God will be forced to give you justice, and His judgment is going to be so thorough.

Every idle word a man speaks he'll give account thereof on the day of judgment; if you've lusted, you've committed adultery. If you've hated someone, you've committed murder. And Jesus warned that justice will be so thorough, the fist of eternal wrath will come upon you and [SMACK] grind you to powder. God bless." Now saints, I'm not talking about hell-fire preaching. Hell-fire preaching will produce fear-filled converts. Using God's law will produce tear-filled converts. This one comes because why? He wants to escape the fires of hell. But in his heart, he thinks God is harsh and unjust, because the law hasn't been used to show him the exceeding sinful nature of sin. He doesn't see hell as being his just desert, that he deserves hell. Therefore, he doesn't understand mercy or grace; and, therefore, he lacks gratitude to God for His mercy. And gratitude is the prime motivation for evangelism. There'll be no zeal in the heart of a false convert to evangelize. But this one comes knowing he has sinned against heaven. That God's eye is in every place beholding the evil and the good and God has seen darkness, as though it were pure light. He's seen his thought life.

If God in His holiness on the day of wrath made manifest all the secret sins of his heart, all the deeds done in darkness, if he made manifest all the evidence of his guilt, God could pick him up as an unclean thing and cast him into hell and do that which is just. But instead of giving him justice, he's given him mercy. He's commended his love toward him in that while he's yet a sinner Christ died for him. He falls on his knees before that blood-stained cross, and he says, "Oh, God, if You do that for me, I'll do anything for You. I delight to do Your will, oh, my God. Your law is written upon my heart." And like the man who knew he had to pass through the door and face the consequences of breaking the law of gravity and would never take his parachute off because his very life depended on it, so he who comes to the Savior, knowing he has to face a holy God on the day of wrath, would never forsake the righteousness of God in Christ because His very life depends on it.

Let me see if I can coagulate this teaching as we draw it to a close. I was in a store some time ago, and the owner of the store was serving a customer and using God's name in blasphemy. Now, if somebody used my wife's name in blasphemy, I would be extremely offended if they used her name as a curse word in that sense. But this guy was using God's name as a curse word, when God had given him life, his eyes, the ability to think, his children, his food; every pleasure he's ever had was given to him by the goodness of God, and he's using God's name as a curse word. Indignantly, between him and his customer, I leaned and said, "Excuse me. Is this a religious meeting?" The guy says, "What? H-E-L-L no!" "Yes it is, because now you're talking about hell. Let me get you one of my books." So I went out to my car and got a book that I've written called God Doesn't Believe in Atheists: Proof the Atheist Doesn't Exist. And it's a book which uses logic, humor, reason, and rationalism to prove the existence of God, which you can do in two minutes without the use of faith. It's a very simple thing to conclusively, absolutely prove God's existence; and it proves also that the atheist doesn't exist.

In fact, let me show you our bumper sticker. "National Atheist's Day: April 1." So I gave him this book, and two months later I went in and gave him another book I've written called My Friends Are Dying! A book which is a true and gripping story about the ministering of the gospel in the most murderous portion of Los Angeles; a book which also uses humor in its presentation. I gave him those books and he called me and told me what had happened. He told me his wife kept giving him filthy looks, because there he was reading a book called My Friends Are Dying! and laughing every two minutes. But he was cleaning out his room and he picked up God Doesn't Believe in Atheists. He said, "Ah," and he opened it up and read the first page and then he read the whole book, 260 pages. He said, "It was weird because I hate reading." Then he read My Friends Are Dying!, gave his life to Christ, bought himself a Bible, came around to say, "Hi," and told me after two days of being a Christian, in his Bible he was already up to what he called the book of "Lev-ih-tie-kus." And I guess he was going to read "Palms" and then John. But up until his commitment, the man was a practicing witch. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul."

And it's as though God looked down upon me, as for many years I open-air preached, and as I fought off the enemy with the feather duster of modern evangelism, it's as though God said, "What are you doing? My weapons are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (2Cor. 10:4). Here are ten great cannons." And as I lined up the ten cannons of God's law, no longer did sinners scoff and mock. No, their faces went pale; they lifted their hands and said, "I surrender all! All to Jesus I freely give!" They came across to the winning side never to become deserters. Such converts become soul winners, not pew warmers, laborers, not layabouts, assets, not liabilities for the local church.

And now saints, with every head raised and every eye open, and no music playing, let me challenge you as to the validity of your salvation. Modern evangelism says, "Never question your salvation." The Bible says the exact opposite. It says, "Examine yourself and see if you're in the faith" (2Cor. 13:5). Better now than on the day of judgment. The Bible says "make your calling and election sure" (2Pet. 1:10), and some of you know that something is radically wrong in your Christian walk. You lose your peace and joy when the flight gets bumpy. There is a lack of zeal to evangelize. You never fell on your face before Almighty God and said, "I've sinned against You, oh God! Have mercy upon me!" You've never fled to Jesus Christ and His blood for cleansing, in desperation crying out, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" And there's a lack of gratitude; there's not a burning zeal for the lost.

You can't say you're on fire for God; in fact, you're in danger of being one of the ones that are called "lukewarm" and will be spewed out of the mouth of Christ on the day of judgment (Rev. 3:16) when multitudes will cry out to Jesus, "Lord, Lord." And he'll say, "Depart form me you worker of iniquity-lawlessness: I never knew you" (Mat. 7:22-23). No regard to the divine law. The Bible says, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity"-lawlessness (2Tim. 2:19). So today you need to readjust the motive for your commitment. Friend, don't let your pride stop you. I would like to pray for you: I'll remain up here, you remain in your seat. And if you'd like to be included in this prayer, I'd like for you to slip up your hand, but remember this. If you say, "Well, I should put my hand up but what will people think?" that's pride. You prefer the praises of men to the praises of God (John 12:43). Everyone who is proud of heart is an abomination to the Lord (Prov. 16:5). God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. So humble yourself before the mighty hand of God; He'll exalt you in due time (1Pet. 5:5-6). Call it a recommittal; call it a committal. But whatever you call it, make your calling and election sure.

- A Message By Ray Comfort

The Big Bang Theory, Pt. 1

The Big Bang theory has been accepted by a majority of scientists today. It theorizes that a large quantity of nothing decided to pack tightly together,—and then explode outward into hydrogen and helium. This gas is said to have flowed outward through frictionless space ("frictionless," so the out-flowing gas cannot stop or slow down) to eventually form stars, galaxies, planets, and moons. It all sounds so simple, just as you would find in a science fiction novel. And that is all it is.

What’s it all about?

The originators—*George Lemaitre, a Belgian, struck on the basic idea in 1927; and *George Gamow, *R.A. Alpher, and *R. Herman devised the basic Big Bang model in 1948. But it was *Gamow, a well-known scientist and science fiction writer, that gave it its present name and then popularized it (*Isaac Asimov, Asimov’s New Guide to Science, 1984, p. 43). Campaigning for the idea enthusiastically, he was able to convince many other scientists. He used quaint little cartoons to emphasize the details. The cartoons really helped sell the theory.

The theory: According to this theory, in the beginning, there was no matter, just nothingness. Then this nothingness condensed by gravity into a single, tiny spot; and it decided to explode! That explosion produced protons, neutrons, and electrons which flowed outward at incredible speed throughout empty space; for there was no other matter in the universe. As these protons, neutrons, and electrons hurled themselves outward at supersonic speed, they are said to have formed themselves into typical atomic structures of mutually orbiting hydrogen and helium atoms. Gradually, the outward-racing atoms are said to have begun circling one another, producing gas clouds which then pushed together into stars. These first stars only contained lighter elements (hydrogen and helium). Then all of the stars repeatedly exploded. It took at least two explosions of each star to produce our heavier elements. Gamow described it in scientific terms: In violation of physical law, emptiness fled from the vacuum of space—and rushed into a super-dense core, that had a density of 1094gm/cm2 and a temperature in excess of 1039 degrees absolute. That is a lot of density and heat for a gigantic pile of nothingness! (Especially when we realize that it is impossible for nothing to get hot. Although air gets hot, air is matter, not an absence of it.)

Where did this "super-dense core" come from? Gamow solemnly came up with a scientific answer for this; he said it came as a result of "the big squeeze," when the emptiness made up its mind to crowd together. Then, with true scientific aplomb, he named this solid core of nothing, "ylem" (pronounced "ee-lum"). With a name like that, many people thought this must be a great scientific truth of some kind. In addition, numbers were provided to add an additional scientific flair: This remarkable lack-of-anything was said by Gamow to have a density of 10 to the 145th power g/cc, or one hundred trillion times the density of water! Then all that packed-in blankness went boom!

Let’s take it point by point—That is the theory. It all sounds so simple, just as you would find in a science fiction novel. And that is all it is. The theory stands in clear violation of physical laws, celestial mechanics, and common sense. Here are a number of scientific reasons why the Big Bang theory is unworkable and fallacious.

1 - The Big Bang theory is based on theoretical extremes. It may look good in math calculations, but it can’t actually happen. A tiny bit of nothing packed so tightly together that it blew up and produced all the matter in the universe. Seriously now, this is a fairy tale. It is a bunch of armchair calculations, and nothing else. It is easy to theorize on paper. The Big Bang is a theoretical extreme, just as is a black hole. It is easy to theorize that something is true, when it has never been seen and there is no definitive evidence that it exists or ever happened. But let us not mistake Disneyland theories for science.

2 - Nothingness cannot pack together. It would have no way to push itself into a pile.

3 - A vacuum has no density. It is said that the nothingness got very dense, and that is why it exploded. But a total vacuum is the opposite of total density.

4 - There would be no ignition to explode nothingness. No fire and no match. It could not be a chemical explosion, for no chemicals existed. It could not be a nuclear explosion, for there were no atoms!

5 - There is no way to expand it. How can you expand what isn’t there? Even if that magical vacuum could somehow be pulled together by gravity, what would then cause the pile of emptiness to push outward? The “gravity” which brought it together would keep it from expanding.

6 - Nothingness cannot produce heat. The intense heat caused by the exploding nothingness is said to have changed the nothingness into protons, neutrons, and electrons. First, an empty vacuum in the extreme cold of outer space cannot get hot by itself. Second, an empty void cannot magically change itself into matter. Third, there can be no heat without an energy source.

7 – The calculations are too exacting. Too perfect an explosion would be required. On many points, the theoretical mathematical calculations needed to turn a Big Bang into stars and our planet cannot be worked out; in others they are too exacting. Knowledgeable scientists call them “too perfect.” Mathematical limitations would have to be met which would be next to impossible to achieve. The limits for success are simply too narrow. Most aspects of the theory are impossible, and some require parameters that would require miracles to fulfil. One example of this is the expansion of the original fireball from the Big Bang, which they place precisely within the narrowest of limits. An evolutionist astronomer, *R.H. Dicke, says it well: “If the fireball had expanded only 0.1 percent faster, the present rate of expansion would have been 3 x 103 times as great. Had the initial expansion rate been 0.1 percent less, the Universe would have expanded to only 3 x 10-6 of its present radius before collapsing. At this maximum radius the density of ordinary matter would have been 10-12 grm/m3, over 1016 times as great as the present mass density. No stars could have formed in such a Universe, for it would not have existed long enough to form stars.”—*R.H. Dickey, Gravitation and the Universe (1969), p. 62.

8 - Such an equation would have produced not a universe but a hole. *Roger L. St. Peter in 1974 developed a complicated mathematical equation that showed that the theorized Big Bang could not have exploded outward into hydrogen and helium. In reality, St. Peter says the theoretical explosion (if one could possibly take place) would fall back on itself and make a theoretical black hole! This means that one imaginary object would swallow another one!

9 - There is not enough antimatter in the universe. This is a big problem for the theorists. The original Big Bang would have produced equal amounts of positive matter (matter) and negative matter (antimatter). But only small amounts of antimatter exist. There should be as much antimatter as matter—if the Big Bang was true. “Since matter and antimatter are equivalent in all respects but that of electromagnetic charge oppositeness, any force [the Big Bang] that would create one should have to create the other, and the universe should be made of equal quantities of each. This is a dilemma. Theory tells us there should be antimatter out there, and observation refuses to back it up.”—*Isaac Asimov, Asimov’s New Guide to Science, p. 343. “We are pretty sure from our observations that the universe today contains matter, but very little if any antimatter.”—*Victor Weisskopf, “The Origin of the Universe,” American Scientist, 71, p. 479.

10 - The antimatter from the Big Bang would have destroyed all the regular matter. This fact is well-known to physicists. As soon as the two are produced in the laboratory, they instantly come together and annihilate one another.

* Indicates that the person named and/or quoted is not known to be a creationist.

- Taken from The Evolution Cruncher, Pg. 69-73

The Filthiness of Sin

Filth is offensive to all cleanly persons. We cannot bear close contact with a person who neglects the washing of his body or of his clothes, so as to become a living dunghill. However poor a man is he might be clean; and when he is not, he becomes a common nuisance to those who speak with him, or sit near him. If bodily filthiness is horrible to us, what must the filthiness of sin be to the pure and holy God! I cannot attempt to express the abomination of sin to God. He hates it with all his soul. If we are to be acceptable before God, there must be no keeping up of favorite sins, no sparing of darling lusts, no providing for secret iniquities: our service will be filthiness before God if our hearts go after our sins. He saith, “Be clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” He would not have the vessels of his sanctuary touched with filthy fingers. Have we well considered this? Lay aside, then, all filthiness unless you wish to arouse the wrath of God.

- C.H. Spurgeon

Evolution Could Not Do This - The Mallee Bird

The Mallee Bird lives in the Australian desert. In May or June, with his claws the male makes a pit in the sand that is just the right size: about 3 feet [9 dm] deep and 6 feet [18 dm] long. Then he fills it with vegetation. As it rots, it heats up. The bird waits patiently until the rains, which increase the heat to over 100o F. [38o C.] at the bottom of the pile. The bird waits until it is down to 92o F. [33o C.]. When the right temperature is reached, he calls for his wife; they mate; she lays one egg a day for 30 days; and then leaves. The male then covers the eggs with sand, and continually checks the temperature with his amazing thermometer bill for 7 weeks. He cannot let the temperature go up or down even one degree. If it cools at night, he piles on more sand. If it overheats in the day, he pulls off sand. At hatching time, the chicks break their shells—and crawl up through as much as 2 feet of sand! Arriving at the top, each one is fully able to fly and is on its own. Neither father or mother Mallee bird gives it any further attention or training. When it grows up, it does just as its parents did.

- Taken from The Evolution Cruncher, Pg. 66

Compel Them To Come In

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) spread the Doctrines of Grace in the mid to late 19th century with his passionate and eloquent sermons on the sovereignty and grace of God. What thrills me the most when I read Spurgeon's work is that although he had a deep, deep rooted passion for the lost he was also faithful to Scripture. He preached God's Word faithfully. Alas, much of this sought of preaching would be frowned upon today, as if to say that man will be turned away from such preaching. Yet it is the preaching of the pure, unadulterated Word that is always most powerful to save.


"Compel them to come in."—Luke 14:23.

I FEEL in such a haste to go out and obey this commandment this morning, by compelling those to come in who are now tarrying in the highways and hedges, that I cannot wait for an introduction, but must at once set about my business.

Hear then, O ye that are strangers to the truth as it is in Jesus—hear then the message that I have to bring you. Ye have fallen, fallen in your father Adam; ye have fallen also in yourselves, by your daily sin and your constant iniquity; you have provoked the anger of the Most High; and as assuredly as you have sinned, so certainly must God punish you if you persevere in your iniquity, for the Lord is a God of justice, and will by no means spare the guilty. But have you not heard, hath it not long been spoken in your ears, that God, in his infinite mercy, has devised a way whereby, without any infringement upon his honour, he can have mercy upon you, the guilty and the undeserving? To you I speak; and my voice is unto you, O sons of men; Jesus Christ, very God of very God, hath descended from heaven, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. Begotten of the Holy Ghost, he was born of the Virgin Mary; he lived in this world a life of exemplary holiness, and of the deepest suffering, till at last he gave himself up to die for our sins, "the just for the unjust, to bring us to God." And now the plan of salvation is simply declared unto you—"Whosoever believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved." For you who have violated all the precepts of God, and have disdained his mercy and dared his vengeance, there is yet mercy proclaimed, for "whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." "For this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief;" "whosoever cometh unto him he will in no wise cast out, for he is able also to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us." Now all that God asks of you—and this he gives you—is that you will simply look at his bleeding dying son, and trust your souls in the hands of him whose name alone can save from death and hell. Is it not a marvelous thing, that the proclamation of this gospel does not receive the unanimous consent of men? One would think that as soon as ever this was preached, "That whosoever believeth shall have eternal life," every one of you, "casting away every man his sins and his iniquities," would lay hold on Jesus Christ, and look alone to his cross. But alas! such is the desperate evil of our nature, such the pernicious depravity of our character, that this message is despised, the invitation to the gospel feast is rejected, and there are many of you who are this day enemies of God by wicked works, enemies to the God who preaches Christ to you to-day, enemies to him who sent his Son to give his life a ransom for many. Strange I say it is that it should be so, yet nevertheless it is the fact, and hence the necessity for the command of the text,—"Compel them to come in."

Children of God, ye who have believed, I shall have little or nothing to say to you this morning; I am going straight to my business—I am going after those that will not come—those that are in the byways and hedges, and God going with me, it is my duty now to fulfil this command, "Compel them to come in."

First, I must, find you out; secondly, I will go to work to compel you to come in.

I. First, I must FIND YOU OUT. If you read the verses that precede the text, you will find an amplification of this command: "Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind;" and then, afterwards, "Go out into the highways," bring in the vagrants, the highwaymen, "and into the hedges," bring in those that have no resting-place for their heads, and are lying under the hedges to rest, bring them in also, and "compel them to come in." Yes, I see you this morning, you that are poor. I am to compel you to come in. You are poor in circumstances, but this is no barrier to the kingdom of heaven, for God hath not exempted from his grace the man that shivers in rags, and who is destitute of bread. In fact, if there be any distinction made, the distinction is on your side, and for your benefit—"Unto you is the word of salvation sent"; "For the poor have the gospel preached unto them." But especially I must speak to you who are poor, spiritually. You have no faith, you have no virtue, you have no good work, you have no grace, and what is poverty worse still, you have no hope. Ah, my Master has sent you a gracious invitation. Come and welcome to the marriage feast of his love. "Whosoever will, let him come and take of the waters of life freely." Come, I must lay hold upon you, though you be defiled with foulest filth, and though you have nought but rags upon your back, though your own righteousness has become as filthy clouts, yet must I lay hold upon you, and invite you first, and even compel you to come in.

And now I see you again. You are not only poor, but you are maimed. There was a time when you thought you could work out your own salvation without God's help, when you could perform good works, attend to ceremonies, and get to heaven by yourselves; but now you are maimed, the sword of the law has cut off your hands, and now you can work no longer; you say, with bitter sorrow—

"The best performance of my hands,

Dares not appear before thy throne."

You have lost all power now to obey the law; you feel that when you would do good, evil is present with you. You are maimed; you have given up, as a forlorn hope, all attempt to save yourself, because you are maimed and your arms are gone. But you are worse off than that, for if you could not work your way to heaven, yet you could walk your way there along the road by faith; but you are maimed in the feet as well as in the hands; you feel that you cannot believe, that you cannot repent, that you cannot obey the stipulations of the gospel. You feel that you are utterly undone, powerless in every respect to do anything that can be pleasing to God. In fact, you are crying out—

"Oh, could I but believe,

Then all would easy be,

I would, but cannot, Lord relieve,

My help must come from thee."

To you am I sent also. Before you am I to lift up the blood-stained banner of the cross, to you am I to preach this gospel, "Whoso calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved;" and unto you am I to cry, "Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely."

There is yet another class. You are halt. You are halting between two opinions. You are sometimes seriously inclined, and at another time worldly gaiety calls you away. What little progress you do make in religion is but a limp. You have a little strength, but that is so little that you make but painful progress. Ah, limping brother, to you also is the word of this salvation sent. Though you halt between two opinions, the Master sends me to you with this message: "How long halt ye between two opinions? if God be God, serve him; if Baal be God, serve him." Consider thy ways; set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. Because I will do this, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel! Halt no longer, but decide for God and his truth.

And yet I see another class,—the blind. Yes, you that cannot see yourselves, that think yourselves good when you are full of evil, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter, darkness for light and light for darkness; to you am I sent. You, blind souls that cannot see your lost estate, that do not believe that sin is so exceedingly sinful as it is, and who will not be persuaded to think that God is a just and righteous God, to you am I sent. To you too that cannot see the Saviour, that see no beauty in him that you should desire him; who see no excellence in virtue, no glories in religion, no happiness in serving God, no delight in being his children; to you, also, am I sent. Ay, to whom am I not sent if I take my text? For it goes further than this—it not only gives a particular description, so that each individual case may be met, but afterwards it makes a general sweep, and says, "Go into the highways and hedges." Here we bring in all ranks and conditions of men—my lord upon his horse in the highway, and the woman trudging about her business, the thief waylaying the traveller—all these are in the highway, and they are all to be compelled to come in, and there away in the hedges there lie some poor souls whose refuges of lies are swept away, and who are seeking not to find some little shelter for their weary heads, to you, also, are we sent this morning. This is the universal command—compel them to come in.

Now, I pause after having described the character, I pause to look at the herculean labour that lies before me. Well did Melanchthon say, "Old Adam was too strong for young Melanchthon." As well might a little child seek to compel a Samson, as I seek to lead a sinner to the cross of Christ. And yet my Master sends me about the errand. Lo, I see the great mountain before me of human depravity and stolid indifference, but by faith I cry, "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain." Does my Master say, compel them to come in? Then, though the sinner be like Samson and I a child, I shall lead him with a thread. If God saith do it, if I attempt it in faith it shall be done; and if with a groaning, struggling, and weeping heart, I so seek this day to compel sinners to come to Christ, the sweet compulsions of the Holy Spirit shall go with every word, and some indeed shall be compelled to come in.

II. And now to the work —directly to the work. Unconverted, unreconciled, unregenerate men and women, I am to COMPEL YOU TO COME IN. Permit me first of all to accost you in the highways of sin and tell you over again my errand. The King of heaven this morning sends a gracious invitation to you. He says, "As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but had rather that he should turn unto me and live:" "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as wool; though they be red like crimson they shall be whiter than snow." Dear brother, it makes my heart rejoice to think that I should have such good news to tell you, and yet I confess my soul is heavy because I see you do not think it good news, but turn away from it, and do not give it due regard. Permit me to tell you what the King has done for you. He knew your guilt, he foresaw that you would ruin yourself. He knew that his justice would demand your blood, and in order that this difficulty might be escaped, that his justice might have its full due, and that you might yet be saved, Jesus Christ hath died. Will you just for a moment glance at this picture. You see that man there on his knees in the garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood. You see this next: you see that miserable sufferer tied to a pillar and lashed with terrible scourges, till the shoulder bones are seen like white islands in the midst of a sea of blood. Again you see this third picture; it is the same man hanging on the cross with hands extended, and with feet nailed fast, dying, groaning, bleeding; methought the picture spoke and said, "It is finished." Now all this hath Jesus Christ of Nazareth done, in order that God might consistently with his justice pardon sin; and the message to you this morning is this—"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." That is trust him, renounce thy works, and thy ways, and set thine heart alone on this man, who gave himself for sinners.

Well brother, I have told you the message, what sayest thou unto it? Do you turn away? You tell me it is nothing to you; you cannot listen to it; that you will hear me by-and-by; but you will go your way this day and attend to your farm and merchandize. Stop brother, I was not told merely to tell you and then go about my business. No; I am told to compel you to come in; and permit me to observe to you before I further go, that there is one thing I can say—and to which God is my witness this morning, that I am in earnest with you in my desire that you should comply with this command of God. You may despise your own salvation, but I do not despise it; you may go away and forget what you shall hear, but you will please to remember that the things I now say cost me many a groan ere I came here to utter them. My inmost soul is speaking out to you, my poor brother, when I beseech you by him that liveth and was dead, and is alive for evermore, consider my master's message which he bids me now address to you.

But do you spurn it? Do you still refuse it? Then I must change my tone a minute. I will not merely tell you the message, and invite you as I do with all earnestness, and sincere affection—I will go further. Sinner, in God's name I command you to repent and believe. Do you ask me whence my authority? I am an ambassador of heaven. My credentials, some of them secret, and in my own heart; and others of them open before you this day in the seals of my ministry, sitting and standing in this hall, where God has given me many souls for my hire. As God the everlasting one hath given me a commission to preach his gospel, I command you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; not on my own authority, but on the authority of him who said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature;" and then annexed this solemn sanction, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned." Reject my message, and remember "He that despised Moses's law, died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God." An ambassador is not to stand below the man with whom he deals, for we stand higher. If the minister chooses to take his proper rank, girded with the omnipotence of God, and anointed with his holy unction, he is to command men, and speak with all authority compelling them to come in: "command, exhort, rebuke with all long-suffering."

But do you turn away and say you will not be commanded? Then again will I change my note. If that avails not, all other means shall be tried. My brother, I come to you simple of speech, and I exhort you to flee to Christ. O my brother, dost thou know what a loving Christ he is? Let me tell thee from my own soul what I know of him. I, too, once despised him. He knocked at the door of my heart and I refused to open it. He came to me, times without number, morning by morning, and night by night; he checked me in my conscience and spoke to me by his Spirit, and when, at last, the thunders of the law prevailed in my conscience, I thought that Christ was cruel and unkind. O I can never forgive myself that I should have thought so ill of him. But what a loving reception did I have when I went to him. I thought he would smite me, but his hand was not clenched in anger but opened wide in mercy. I thought full sure that his eyes would dart lightning-flashes of wrath upon me; but, instead thereof, they were full of tears. He fell upon my neck and kissed me; he took off my rags and did clothe me with his righteousness, and caused my soul to sing aloud for joy; while in the house of my heart and in the house of his church there was music and dancing, because his son that he had lost was found, and he that was dead was made alive. I exhort you, then, to look to Jesus Christ and to be lightened. Sinner, you will never regret,—I will be bondsman for my Master that you will never regret it,—you will have no sigh to go back to your state of condemnation; you shall go out of Egypt and shall go into the promised land and shall find it flowing with milk and honey. The trials of Christian life you shall find heavy, but you will find grace will make them light. And as for the joys and delights of being a child of God, if I lie this day you shall charge me with it in days to come. If you will taste and see that the Lord is good, I am not afraid but that you shall find that he is not only good, but better than human lips ever can describe.

I know not what arguments to use with you. I appeal to your own self-interests. Oh my poor friend, would it not be better for you to be reconciled to the God of heaven, than to be his enemy? What are you getting by opposing God? Are you the happier for being his enemy? Answer, pleasure-seeker; hast thou found delights in that cup? Answer me, self-righteous man: hast thou found rest for the sole of thy foot in all thy works? Oh thou that goest about to establish thine own righteousness, I charge thee let conscience speak. Hast thou found it to be a happy path? Ah, my friend, "Wherefore dost thou spend thy money for that which is not bread, and thy labour for that which satisfieth not; hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." I exhort you by everything that is sacred and solemn, everything that is important and eternal, flee for your lives, look not behind you, stay not in all the plain, stay not until you have proved, and found an interest in the blood of Jesus Christ, that blood which cleanseth us from all sin. Are you still cold and indifferent? Will not the blind man permit me to lead him to the feast? Will not my maimed brother put his hand upon my shoulder and permit me to assist him to the banquet? Will not the poor man allow me to walk side-by-side with him? Must I use some stronger words. Must I use some other compulsion to compel you to come in? Sinners, this one thing I am resolved upon this morning, if you be not saved ye shall be without excuse. Ye, from the grey-headed down to the tender age of childhood, if ye this day lay not hold on Christ, your blood shall be on your own head. If there be power in man to bring his fellow, (as there is when man is helped by the Holy Spirit) that power shall be exercised this morning, God helping me. Come, I am not to be put off by your rebuffs; if my exhortation fails, I must come to something else. My brother, I entreat you, I entreat you stop and consider. Do you know what it is you are rejecting this morning? You are rejecting Christ, your only Saviour. "Other foundation can no man lay;" "there is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved." My brother, I cannot bear that ye should do this, for I remember what you are forgetting: the day is coming when you will want a Saviour. It is not long ere weary months shall have ended, and your strength begin to decline; your pulse shall fail you, your strength shall depart, and you and the grim monster—death, must face each other. What will you do in the swellings of Jordan without a Saviour? Death-beds are stony things without the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an awful thing to die anyhow; he that hath the best hope, and the most triumphant faith, finds that death is not a thing to laugh at. It is a terrible thing to pass from the seen to the unseen, from the mortal to the immortal, from time to eternity, and you will find it hard to go through the iron gates of death without the sweet wings of angels to conduct you to the portals of the skies. It will be a hard thing to die without Christ. I cannot help thinking of you. I see you acting the suicide this morning, and I picture myself standing at your bedside and hearing your cries, and knowing that you are dying without hope. I cannot bear that. I think I am standing by your coffin now, and looking into your clay-cold face, and saying. "This man despised Christ and neglected the great salvation." I think what bitter tears I shall weep then, if I think that I have been unfaithful to you, and how those eyes fast closed in death, shall seem to chide me and say, "Minister, I attended the music hall, but you were not in earnest with me; you amused me, you preached to me, but you did not plead with me. You did not know what Paul meant when he said, 'As though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.'"

I entreat you let this message enter your heart for another reason. I picture myself standing at the bar of God. As the Lord liveth, the day of judgment is coming. You believe that? You are not an infidel; your conscience would not permit you to doubt the Scripture. Perhaps you may have pretended to do so, but you cannot. You feel there must be a day when God shall judge the world in righteousness. I see you standing in the midst of that throng, and the eye of God is fixed on you. It seems to you that he is not looking anywhere else, but only upon you, and he summons you before him; and he reads your sins, and he cries, "Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire in hell!" My hearer, I cannot bear to think of you in that position; it seems as if every hair on my head must stand on end to think of any hearer of mine being damned. Will you picture yourselves in that position? The word has gone forth, "Depart, ye cursed." Do you see the pit as it opens to swallow you up? Do you listen to the shrieks and the yells of those who have preceded you to that eternal lake of torment? Instead of picturing the scene, I turn to you with the words of the inspired prophet, and I say, "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" Oh! my brother, I cannot let you put away religion thus; no, I think of what is to come after death. I should be destitute of all humanity if I should see a person about to poison himself, and did not dash away the cup; or if I saw another about to plunge from London Bridge, if I did not assist in preventing him from doing so; and I should be worse than a fiend if I did not now, with all love, and kindness, and earnestness, beseech you to "lay hold on eternal life," "to labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for the meat that endureth unto everlasting life."

Some hyper-calvinist would tell me I am wrong in so doing. I cannot help it. I must do it. As I must stand before my Judge at last, I feel that I shall not make full proof of my ministry unless I entreat with many tears that ye would be saved, that ye would look unto Jesus Christ and receive his glorious salvation. But does not this avail? are all our entreaties lost upon you; do you turn a deaf ear? Then again I change my note. Sinner, I have pleaded with you as a man pleadeth with his friend, and were it for my own life I could not speak more earnestly this morning than I do speak concerning yours. I did feel earnest about my own soul, but not a whit more than I do about the souls of my congregation this morning; and therefore, if ye put away these entreaties I have something else:—I must threaten you. You shall not always have such warnings as these. A day is coming, when hushed shall be the voice of every gospel minister, at least for you; for your ear shall be cold in death. It shall not be any more threatening; it shall be the fulfillment of the threatening. There shall be no promise, no proclamations of pardon and of mercy; no peace-speaking blood, but you shall be in the land where the Sabbath is all swallowed up in everlasting nights of misery, and where the preachings of the gospel are forbidden because they would be unavailing. I charge you then, listen to this voice that now addresses your conscience; for if not, God shall speak to you in his wrath, and say unto you in his hot displeasure, "I called and ye refused; I stretched out my hand and no man regarded; therefore will I mock at your calamity; I will laugh when your fear cometh." Sinner, I threaten you again. Remember, it is but a short time you may have to hear these warnings. You imagine that your life will be long, but do you know how short it is? Have you ever tried to think how frail you are? Did you ever see a body when it has been cut in pieces by the anatomist? Did you ever see such a marvelous thing as the human frame?

"Strange, a harp of a thousand strings,

Should keep in tune so long."

Let but one of those cords be twisted, let but a mouthful of food go in the wrong direction, and you may die. The slightest chance, as we have it, may send you swift to death, when God wills it. Strong men have been killed by the smallest and slightest accident, and so may you. In the chapel, in the house of God, men have dropped down dead. How often do we hear of men falling in our streets—rolling out of time into eternity, by some sudden stroke. And are you sure that heart of your's is quite sound? Is the blood circulating with all accuracy? Are you quite sure of that? And if it be so, how long shall it be? O, perhaps there are some of you here that shall never see Christmas-day; it may be the mandate has gone forth already, "Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live." Out of this vast congregation, I might with accuracy tell how many will be dead in a year; but certain it is that the whole of us shall never meet together again in any one assembly. Some out of this vast crowd, perhaps some two or three, shall depart ere the new year shall be ushered in. I remind you, then, my brother, that either the gate of salvation may be shut, or else you may be out of the place where the gate of mercy stands. Come, then, let the threatening have power with you. I do not threaten because I would alarm without cause, but in hopes that a brother's threatening may drive you to the place where God hath prepared the feast of the gospel. And now, must I turn hopelessly away? Have I exhausted all that I can say? No, I will come to you again. Tell me what it is, my brother, that keeps you from Christ. I hear one say, "Oh, sir, it is because I feel myself too guilty." That cannot be, my friend, that cannot be. "But, sir, I am the chief of sinners." Friend, you are not. The chief of sinners died and went to heaven many years ago; his name was Saul of Tarsus, afterwards called Paul the apostle. He was the chief of sinners, I know he spoke the truth. "No," but you say still, "I am too vile." You cannot be viler than the chief of sinners. You must, at least, be second worst. Even supposing you are the worst now alive, you are second worst, for he was chief. But suppose you are the worst, is not that the very reason why you should come to Christ. The worse a man is, the more reason he should go to the hospital or physician. The more poor you are, the more reason you should accept the charity of another. Now, Christ does not want any merits of your's. He gives freely. The worse you are, the more welcome you are. But let me ask you a question: Do you think you will ever get better by stopping away from Christ? If so, you know very little as yet of the way of salvation at all. No, sir, the longer you stay, the worse you will grow; your hope will grow weaker, your despair will become stronger; the nail with which Satan has fastened you down will be more firmly clenched, and you will be less hopeful than ever. Come, I beseech you, recollect there is nothing to be gained by delay, but by delay everything may be lost. "But," cries another, "I feel I cannot believe." No, my friend, and you never will believe if you look first at your believing. Remember, I am not come to invite you to faith, but am come to invite you to Christ. But you say, "What is the difference?" Why, just this, if you first of all say, "I want to believe a thing," you never do it. But your first inquiry must be, "What is this thing that I am to believe?" Then will faith come as the consequence of that search. Our first business has not to do with faith, but with Christ. Come, I beseech you, on Calvary's mount, and see the cross. Behold the Son of God, he who made the heavens and the earth, dying for your sins. Look to him, is there not power in him to save? Look at his face so full of pity. Is there not love in his heart to prove him willing to save? Sure sinner, the sight of Christ will help thee to believe. Do not believe first, and then go to Christ, or else thy faith will be a worthless thing; go to Christ without any faith, and cast thyself upon him, sink or swim. But I hear another cry, "Oh sir, you do not know how often I have been invited, how long I have rejected the Lord." I do not know, and I do not want to know; all I know is that my Master has sent me, to compel you to come in; so come along with you now. You may have rejected a thousand invitations; don't make this the thousandth-and-one. You have been up to the house of God, and you have only been gospel hardened. But do I not see a tear in your eye; come, my brother, don't be hardened by this morning's sermon. O, Spirit of the living God, come and melt this heart for it has never been melted, and compel him to come in! I cannot let you go on such idle excuses as that; if you have lived so many years slighting Christ, there are so many reasons why now you should not slight him. But did I hear you whisper that this was not a convenient time? Then what must I say to you? When will that convenient time come? Shall it come when you are in hell? Will that time be convenient? Shall it come when you are on your dying bed, and the death throttle is in your throat—shall it come then? Or when the burning sweat is scalding your brow; and then again, when the cold clammy sweat is there, shall those be convenient times? When pains are racking you, and you are on the borders of the tomb? No, sir, this morning is the convenient time. May God make it so. Remember, I have no authority to ask you to come to Christ to-morrow. The Master has given you no invitation to come to him next Tuesday. The invitation is, "To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation," for the Spirit saith "to-day." "Come now and let us reason together;" why should you put it off? It may be the last warning you shall ever have. Put it off, and you may never weep again in chapel. You may never have so earnest a discourse addressed to you. You may not be pleaded with as I would plead with you now. You may go away, and God may say, "He is given unto idols, let him alone." He shall throw the reins upon your neck; and then, mark—your course is sure, but it is sure damnation and swift destruction.

And now again, is it all in vain? Will you not now come to Christ? Then what more can I do? I have but one more resort, and that shall be tried. I can be permitted to weep for you; I can be allowed to pray for you. You shall scorn the address if you like; you shall laugh at the preacher; you shall call him fanatic if you will; he will not chide you, he will bring no accusation against you to the great Judge. Your offence, so far as he is concerned, is forgiven before it is committed; but you will remember that the message that you are rejecting this morning is a message from one who loves you, and it is given to you also by the lips of one who loves you. You will recollect that you may play your soul away with the devil, that you may listlessly think it a matter of no importance; but there lives at least one who is in earnest about your soul, and one who before he came here wrestled with his God for strength to preach to you, and who when he has gone from this place will not forget his hearers of this morning. I say again, when words fail us we can give tears—for words and tears are the arms with which gospel ministers compel men to come in. You do not know, and I suppose could not believe, how anxious a man whom God has called to the ministry feels about his congregation, and especially about some of them. I heard but the other day of a young man who attended here a long time, and his father's hope was that he would be brought to Christ. He became acquainted, however, with an infidel; and now he neglects his business, and lives in a daily course of sin. I saw his father's poor wan face; I did not ask him to tell me the story himself, for I felt it was raking up a trouble and opening a sore; I fear, sometimes, that good man's grey hairs may be brought with sorrow to the grave. Young men, you do not pray for yourselves, but your mothers wrestle for you. You will not think of your own souls, but your fathers anxiety is exercised for you. I have been at prayer meetings, when I have heard children of God pray there, and they could not have prayed with more earnestness and more intensity of anguish if they had been each of them seeking their own soul's salvation. And is it not strange that we should be ready to move heaven and earth for your salvation, and that still you should have no thought for yourselves, no regard to eternal things?

Now I turn for one moment to some here. There are some of you here members of Christian churches, who make a profession of religion, but unless I be mistaken in you—and I shall be happy if I am—your profession is a lie. You do not live up to it, you dishonour it; you can live in the perpetual practice of absenting yourselves from God's house, if not in sins worse than that. Now I ask such of you who do not adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour, do you imagine that you can call me your pastor, and yet that my soul cannot tremble over you and in secret weep for you? Again, I say it may be but little concern to you how you defile the garments of your Christianity, but it is a great concern to God's hidden ones, who sigh and cry, and groan for the iniquities of the professors of Zion.

Now does anything else remain to the minister besides weeping and prayer? Yes, there is one thing else. God has given to his servants not the power of regeneration, but he has given them something akin to it. It is impossible for any man to regenerate his neighbour; and yet how are men born to God? Does not the apostle say of such an one that he was begotten by him in his bonds. Now the minister has a power given him of God, to be considered both the father and the mother of those born to God, for the apostle said he travailed in birth for souls till Christ was formed in them. What can we do then? We can now appeal to the Spirit. I know I have preached the gospel, that I have preached it earnestly; I challenge my Master to honour his own promise. He has said it shall not return unto me void, and it shall not. It is in his hands, not mine. I cannot compel you, but thou O Spirit of God who hast the key of the heart, thou canst compel. Did you ever notice in that chapter of the Revelation, where it says, "Behold I stand at the door and knock," a few verses before, the same person is described, as he who hath the key of David. So that if knocking will not avail, he has the key and can and will come in. Now if the knocking of an earnest minister prevail not with you this morning, there remains still that secret opening of the heart by the Spirit, so that you shall be compelled.

I thought it my duty to labour with you as though I must do it; now I throw it into my Master's hands. It cannot be his will that we should travail in birth, and yet not bring forth spiritual children. It is with him; he is master of the heart, and the day shall declare it, that some of you constrained by sovereign grace have become the willing captives of the all-conquering Jesus, and have bowed your hearts to him through the sermon of this morning.

– Delivered on Sabbath Morning, December 5th, 1858, by the REV. C. H. Spurgeon at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.