So I'm gonna mind the Lord tonight if that's okay with y'all. Are you in Romans chapter 9? Would you stand with me please? Start reading in verse number one. The Bible says, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, the kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever, Amen. I want to preach tonight this thought, burdened for the lost. Burdened for the lost. Father, help us this evening, I pray. Put all this together in our hearts as only you can, in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for standing. You can be seated. A young man by the name of Christopher Searcy was playing basketball with his friends on May the 16th. 1998 when he was shot in the chest and a bullet perforated his aorta. His friends helped him get to within 40 feet of the entrance to Ravenswood Hospital. and they couldn't carry me any further. They left him on the ground and they ran inside and asked for help. The hospital staff refused to help Christopher saying that it was against the hospital's policies to administer aid to those outside the hospital. Eventually, a policeman was able to get a wheelchair and wheeled Christopher into the hospital where he was helped by the hospital staff. They worked on him, but it was too late. About an hour after he got in there, Christopher died. What I have noticed is that many times churches are surrounded by people that desperately need to hear the gospel. Yet Christians are content to share it only with those that somehow manage to make it inside the church. This week our theme has been fight the good fight. We have sat here and it's been a combination of boot camp, It's been a combination of R&R. It's been a combination of reloading, loading up with ammo, getting some supplies and filling our knapsacks and rucksacks and canteens. And now tonight, this last message is a mission brief. Because now we're about to be deployed. We're about to leave the base and we're about to enter into the war zone. We're about to enter into the battlegrounds. We are about to get on the front lines. And I don't know any other way to say this, but just say it like this right here. We've quoted all these verses about Paul being a fighter. Fought a good fight. Fought a good fight. Is everybody still with me? Don't lock up on me. He wasn't fighting about the King James Bible. He wasn't thrown in prison over dress standards. He wasn't stoned and beaten with rods over contemporary music. And I'm going to fight about those things as much as anybody. But if we're going to preach context, The Apostle Paul fought a good fight. And his fight and his battle and his sufferings and his persecutions was all about taking the gospel to the lost. It was about preaching the gospel. It wasn't about standing up in a camp meeting and strutting your feathers and seeing how many standards you got and how spiritual you can make yourself look. Paul's battles was always about getting lost people saved. And all I wanna say tonight is, this is the mission brief. The fight starts in the morning. Some of y'all will be here next year at this Jubilee, and you will pat yourself on the back just cause you made it back. But you won't win a soul to God between now and then. Some of you won't even try. A lot of people today are burdened about a lot of things. They're burdened about their problems. They're burdened about their predicaments. They're burdened about their lack of prosperity. They're burdened about their pursuit of money. Some people are burdened about their physical condition. But in this passage of scripture, we find a man that was burdened about people. You may say, why would you preach a message like that at a place like this? Where else would I preach it? Where else would you give a mission brief to but to a bunch of soldiers? If we can't preach on soul winning, if we can't preach on reaching the lost, if we can't preach on having a burden for lost people in an independent Baptist Jubilee, pray tell me where in God's name we're supposed to preach it. Look at the text, verse number one. If you're taking notes, let me start with this. We see, first of all, the verification of the Spirit. Verse number one. Paul said, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bear me witness in the Holy Ghost. Now, let me just break this verse down for you. Paul's burden for the lost is vocalized by his mouth in the first part of this verse. I say the truth in Christ. Paul says, I've got a burden for lost people. He's saying that. Some people talk about having a burden for souls. In fact, a lot of people talk about being soul conscience. They believe in their heart, their soul conscience. They would gladly identify with the soul winners in their church even though they've never led a single soul to Christ. They pretend during preaching on soul winning that that message is not for them, it's for everybody else. They really truly think they're doing all that they can to win the loss when really they're not. Paul's burden for the lost was vocalized by his mouth, but then his burden for the lost was validated by his conscience. Now watch this. Paul said, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness. Let me ask you a question. Look up here just a minute. Does your conscience bear witness with what your mouth is saying about your burden? Because it's easy to say something. It's another thing when your conscience is telling you the whole time, that is not true. You know, I noticed when preachers get up like Brother Curley did this morning and preached on prayer. By the way, if you wanna lock down the average meet and preach on prayer or soul winning, those two messages will lock it down every time. But hear a message on prayer and people amen. Like they're praying. Amen, brother, that's right. because you're not praying with me one hour. That's what I'm talking about, preacher. They never prayed an hour in their life. You can say something with your mouth. Your conscience cannot bear witness that what you're saying is the truth. And Paul says, I'm saying it with my mouth. I'm vocalizing it with my mouth. And it's validated by my conscience. And it's verified by the Holy Ghost. That's what he said. I lie not, my conscience also bear me witness in the Holy Ghost. My question is, does your conscience bear witness to what your mouth is saying about your burden for the lost? And does the Holy Ghost, can the Holy Ghost bear witness to what your mouth is saying about your burden for the lost? Because the burden for souls is impossible to hide. A burden for souls will be evident. A burden for souls and for the lost is not something you say, it is something you show. A burden for the lost is not something you declare, it is something that you demonstrate. Is everybody still with me? You can no more brag about being a soul winner. When you don't win souls, then you can brag about being healthy when you don't exercise and you weigh 500 pounds. It's that obvious. I mean, you're saying it, but the Holy Ghost ain't verifying it, your conscience ain't validating, and anybody that's been around you for any length of time knows that it's not true. It's not something you say, it's something you show. and you're lying to yourself and everybody else. You're living in a fantasy world. If you're not taking people to heaven with, listen to me, if you're not taking people to heaven with you, you are not a soul winner. If you never share the gospel with a lost person, you do not have a burden for the lost. I can't make this any more plain. If you say you want to catch fish, but you never go fishing, you're a liar. If you say you want to kill a deer, but year after year after year, you never go hunting, you're a liar. And if you say you love to pray, but you never pray more than about five minutes, you're lying to yourself. And if you say you have a burden for souls, but you will not put your life on pause long enough to go soul winning, you are lying. Paul said, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. Paul said, I'm not lying when I say I've got a burden for souls and my conscience is bearing witness and the Holy Ghost is bearing witness. You can't profess to believe in soul winning if you never do it. You can't pretend to be supportive of evangelism if you're not involved in soul winning. You can't boast about being a member of a church that has a soul winning program if you don't go soul winning with your church. Paul not only had a burden, but the Holy Ghost was a witness of that burden. Because a burden is real. It's not a figment of your imagination. A burden is not just a word that we use to sound spiritual. A burden is not a catchphrase that we use to throw around to try to raise money. A burden is not something missionaries say they have so they can get support. A burden is real. Burden for the lost is real. So my question to you tonight is to you, Do you have a burden for the lost? Before you answer that question, let me ask you this. If you think you have a burden for the lost, who else knows that you've got a burden for the lost? Who else has seen your burden? for the lost, and who has been saved as a result of your burden for the lost, and who around you has been motivated and inspired and stirred to be a better witness because of your burden for the lost. The average independent Baptist church, their baptismal pool is dry rotted. You go to the average independent Baptist church, you go up in the Baptist tree, and I ain't done it here. Look over in the Baptist tree, and it's dry rotted, full of spider webs and dead bugs. When I was on deputation, I made a habit of doing it, and I had to stop because it was getting to me. Baptismal pools full of five-gallon cans of paint, drop cloths and paint brushes and rollers. Baptismal pools filled with Christmas ornaments and boxes and storage. They hadn't had nobody baptized in there so long. Last time somebody got baptized in that Baptist tree, Moby Dick was a minute. We're so in the church. No, you're not. If nobody's winning anybody to Christ, it's not a soul winning church. Because that's kind of what that means. A missionary to Africa told the story of an elderly woman who had been saved as a result of the gospel. And she was blind. She could not read or write. But she went to that missionary and she said, would you please give me a copy of the Bible? He gave her the Bible. She said, now would you do me a favor? Would you help me find John 3.16? She opened up the Bible to John 3.16. She said, okay, I need to mark this with a piece of paper. Would you do me a favor? Would you take a marker and highlight John 3.16 in this Bible? And so he did that. She said, thank you. His curiosity got the best of him. And he followed her. She walked down the street to the schoolhouse, stood on the street outside the school. And when the school was dismissed, he watched her grab a young boy and said, excuse me, young man, can you read? He said, yes, ma'am. She said, would you please tell me what this says right here? And opened up that Bible and pointed to that verse. And he read John 3, 16. And then she said to him, do you know what that means? The missionary went on to tell that 24 of those school boys, that woman led the Lord, eventually became preachers. You say, that's a great story, brother. Yes, it is. Do you have a story? Do you have one? Some of you have been saved 15, 20 years. You have never, never taken your Bible or a gospel tract or a New Testament and led another person to Christ. Number two, we see the vexation over the sinners. Look at verse two. Paul's continuing his thought. There's a comma at the end of verse one. Holy Spirit still bearing witness. His conscience is still bearing witness that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. Oh my goodness. Paul's burden produced a heaviness. That's where we get the word burden. That's where we get the word burden. It's heavy. That word heaviness in that verse literally means pain, grief, annoyance, affliction, a person that is mourning. Paul said, I have a great heaviness. It wasn't just a heaviness, it was a great heaviness. I call that a significant heaviness. I think it was this morning, might have been yesterday, one of the preachers was preaching. It was Brother Curley. He referenced over there in Matthew chapter 26, the garden of Gethsemane. Stay with me now. And he referenced Jesus trying to get them to pray with him. And here's what it says in Matthew 26. Is everybody still with me? It says in verse 37, he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. This is Jesus. But you get over to verse number 43, he came found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy. And you know what I had to conclude? I've had to conclude that most church members are heavy, but over the wrong things. They're living under a heaviness, but it is a carnal, self-serving. They're heavy over temporal things. They're heavy over physical things. They're heavy over things that personally and directly affects them, while Jesus, on the other hand, was heavy over eternal things. You're sorrowful and heavy over the sins and the souls of the world. We've got church members full of people that have great heaviness, but very few of them are being heavy over lost souls. It's amazing. It's amazing. Significant. It's more than just a back of the mind awareness. He went on to say, I have great heaviness and continual sorrow. Sorrow means a consuming grief. Like you would experience if a very close family member were to pass away and you were to get that phone call, that feeling that would settle in on your heart. that mood, that feeling, that would overcome you standing in that funeral home, looking over at that loved one and that casket, that sorrow, that heaviness, and folks are coming in, shaking your hand, patting you on the hand, saying, we're praying for you. I wish there was something I could do, but they can't because there's a sorrow, there's a heaviness that's on you. That is the same word that the Apostle Paul used to describe his burden. He didn't just have a sorrow, He said it was a continual sorrow. Continual sorrow. In other words, there was never a time during the day or during the night when this burden for the lost wasn't on him. It don't matter where he was at. It didn't matter what he was doing. In the computer world, we would say that program was running. That program was always running. And he was so consumed with souls that he was willing to go to prison. Just tell one more. Just preach one more time. Give the gospel just one more time. There was a heaviness. There was a continual sorrow over him, not over the finances of the church, Not over the sick people in the hospital. Not over the shut-ins that couldn't make it to the church. He wasn't tore up about the fact the Sunday school rooms needed to be painted or the carpet needed to be replaced. He was tore up, as we'd say down south, from the floor up. And it was the burden for the unsaved is what it was. And I believe I'm safe in saying this. I don't want to say it because I'm embarrassed to say it, but I believe I'm safe in saying that the majority of Independent Baptist Church members today have never felt that heaviness or that sorrow over lost souls. Not one time. They get more bent out of shape over their college football team losing than they do over their neighbors dying and going to hell. They get more bent out of shape over a bad call and a referee on the field that's blind and throws a flag when he shouldn't or don't throw a flag when he should. They get more vocal, they get more upset, they get more worked up over that nonsense than they do the fact that their co-workers are lost and going to hell. A real burden will be felt by the people for whom you are burdened. Does that make sense? You can't have a burden for lost people and lost people not know that you have a burden for them. That's what I'm saying. D.L. Moody told the story of his conversion and he told it like this. Here's what he said. He said, when I was in Boston, I used to attend a Sunday school class and one day I recollect my Sunday school teacher came around behind the counter of the shop where I was working He put his hand on my shoulder and he talked to me about Christ and about my soul. He said, I had not even felt that I had a soul until then. And I said to myself, this is very strange. Here's a man who never saw me till lately and he's weeping over my sins and I never shed a tear about them. He said, but I understand it now. And I know what it is to have a passion for men's souls and weep over their sins. He says, I don't remember what that man said, but I still feel the power of that man's hand on my shoulder even tonight. And the concern and the burden of a godly Sunday school teacher that had a burden for somebody outside of the 10 o'clock Sunday school hours standing in his class. resulted in the conversion of a man who saw over a million souls come to Christ. Preacher, I wish I had some new people in my Sunday school class. Well, the city's full of them, go get you some. Go get you some. Had a wall in my office, some of these men's been in my office. I got a pretty cool office, I ain't gonna lie to you, I got a cool office. And I had a wall in there, and I said, you know what would look good on that wall right there? A deer mount. That's what would look good on that wall. And I thought about it, and thought about it, and thought about it, and I thought about it, and I thought about it, Jared, and guess what? It never did put a deer head on that wall. And I reached out to one of the men in my church, Brother Rich. I said, I want a deer. I want a wall hanger this fall. I said, I've been hunting. I ain't shot nothing. I'm about aggravated. He said, I know where they're at. I got deer cameras. I got food plots. I got stands. He said, I know when they going to be there. He said, we will get you a wall hanger this fall. That is a promise. I said, OK, that's pretty strong talk. But I wanted that deer on that wall. And so I went hunting. He saw some deer that day, little four pointers or six pointers, and he said, that ain't the one. Let it walk, let it walk. I said, man, that's a good looking deer. He said, just let it walk. Second time, I'm talking about a purdy, a purdy, big old six, walked out, and was standing right there, and I had my crossbow, and I had it right in the, right in the, and Josh is behind me, said, don't, don't do it, that ain't the one. I said, man, I got, I said, that thing is so stinking dead right now, he just don't know it. I got my crosshairs, that scope, I'm talking about that crossbow, I said, he won't know what hit him. He said, I need the one. He said, you want a wall hanger, we're gonna get you one. And the third time I went out there on my birthday, Muzzleloader Day, I got me one. And it's still at the taxidermy. That was October the 19th of last year. That's my birthday. And some of y'all still ain't writing that down. And the woman, The woman that does the taxidermy, she said, take about a year, 13 months before you get it. And I went in her shop, and I picked it out. There's a catalog. You pick this pose and everything. And I was so excited about getting that deer head on that wall. that I took the picture that they took of me posing with that deer, and I put it on a canvas, and I built a wooden frame, and I hung it on that spot. And everybody that comes in my office, I said, now that's just till I get the deer. But they set the taxidermy. There's a deer head going right there. I said, preacher, what in the world are you saying? I'm saying thinking about winning somebody to the Lord. Don't get it done. You're going to have to leave the house. You're going to have to get up off the couch. And you're going to have to go out there. And you've got to go find them. And you've got to go win them. If you want one hanging on the wall, you've got to go get them. The woods are full of them. They're everywhere. Number three, we see the verse number three. This is a hard verse for me to preach. We see thirdly. the volunteering for separation. Now, if it wasn't for verse one, I wouldn't believe verse three. Are y'all still with me? If I was sitting with one of y'all at the table, and one of y'all said to me, what Paul said in verse number three, I might not say it, I might, depending on who it was, but I definitely would thank it, you're full of it. That's what I think. You are so full of it. But verse number one said that he's saying this and his conscience is bearing him witness with the Holy Ghost and he is not lying. And you know what he said in verse number three? My burden for the lost is so heavy and the sorrow is so continual. that I would volunteer to be separated and accursed from Christ for my brethren to be saved. That's what he said. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren. And trust me, Paul believed in hell. Paul believed in eternal damnation. Paul believed in eternal separation from God. Huh? Sure he did. No, I say he believed it. We just say we believe it. But Paul's burden produced such a heaviness that he said, I could wish that myself were accursed. He said, I wished if I could, I would wish that I could go to hell in the place of my countrymen. That's how bad I want to see them get saved. Now, I'm not going to stand up here this evening and tell you that that's my burden, because I don't feel that. Stay with me. Preacher, there ain't no way in the world. Preacher, there's no way in the world. You say, there's no way, there's no way I could go to hell for a lost person. I'm with you on that. But do you think you could hand them a track? Preacher, there ain't no way in the world I'd go to hell for them. Hey, I'm sold. You ain't got to convince me. But do you think maybe you could knock on their door? Do you think you could risk the rejection? Do you think you could handle the psychological trauma of them slamming the door in your face or cussing you out and leaving you standing there feeling dumb? Do you think you could handle that? I get that you don't want to go to hell for them, but could you just witness to them maybe? That's how I read the verse, Brother Frazier. I ain't met a lost person yet I want to go to hell for. But Paul said, my burden is so heavy, I can't get my head wrapped around this. I'm going to be honest with you. I mean, this is the man that said to be up from the bodies to be present with the Lord. This is the man that said my desire to depart. I've got a desire to depart. I want to go. I've got a glimpse of heaven and I want to go. This is the one that said, look at that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the one that said, he's coming back at the trump of God, comfort, one another with these words. That's the one that said that. He's saying this. I'm so busy, I just don't have time. Charles Peace. a notorious criminal in England, was executed on February the 25th, 1879. And just before his execution, an Anglican minister half-heartedly read, from the constellations of religion, this statement. Those who die without Christ experience hell, which is the pain of forever dying without the release which death itself can bring. Charles Peace interrupted that minister and said, sir, if I believe what you and your church say you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it if need be on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that. Paul's passion for souls puts us to shame. Fourthly and lastly, we see in verse 4 and 5, we see the value of their soul. I don't have the time to milk all this, there's a lot in here. I'm just going to hit the highlights. Paul went to great detail, used a lot of phrases here to point out that the Israelites, in verse number four, who are the Israelites? This was his brethren, his kinsmen, according to the flesh. He's pointing out that these are the ones, according to verse number five, whom for Christ came. That's what verse number five says. These are the ones that Christ came for. Are y'all seeing that? And he detailed all these phrases and all these who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. Man, every one of those are powerful. But let me just summarize it. Let me just break it down. I got a church full of new converts and young Christians, so I preach simple. I don't preach deep. I could, but it wouldn't do no good. I just keep it right down there. Here's what he's saying. He's saying all that Old Testament, all those covenants, all those typologies, all those foreshadows, man, there's tons of them. I mean, the 10 commandments, the law, all of it, all of it had one end goal, to see them saved. It was pointing to Jesus Christ I don't want to oversimplify, but that's what he's saying. He's saying, my Israelite brethren, all of that Old Testament stuff that they were just so obsessed over, he said all of that, all of that was so that you could get saved. You say, well, preacher, what in the world? What's your point? Here's my point. He had an exceptional burden for the Israelites. In John chapter number one, it says he came unto his own. And his own received him not. That was the Israelites. They rejected him. Remember standing out in the street, give us Barabbas, let his blood be on us and on our children. That was the Israelites. He came unto his own and his own received him not, but to as many as received him. to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Can I say it? Yeah, all those Old Testament, all those Old Testament types and all that, all those shadows and covenants and commandments, all that was to see Israel saved. But we know that everybody can get saved. Everybody can get saved. I mean, over there, remember the story of Cornelius? Remember Cornelius, huh? Yeah, in Acts chapter number 10, when they were amazed, they were shocked, they couldn't believe it. When the Bible says in Acts chapter number 10, when Cornelius and his family got saved, the Bible says they were, but when they of the circumcision, which believed, but they of the circumcision, verse 45, which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because of all the Gentiles, also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. I'm going somewhere with this. Notice the name of the book. It's not to the Hebrews. It's not written to the Israelites. The name of the book is to the Romans. And in Romans chapter number one, verse number seven, Paul said to all that be in Rome, beloved of God called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father. Beloved of God called to be saints. That was the Gentiles. No doubt there were some Jews in there. But I believe we would have to all agree that the church at Rome was not made up exclusively of Jews. And I can prove that in verse 13 of chapter one. Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes our purpose of coming to you, but was let hitherto, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. For I'm debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians. Verse 15, as much as him he is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also. Hey preacher, what in the world was all that about? I think what Paul is trying to explain in these verses is the value of a soul. I hope I'm not putting anybody to sleep tonight. Paul said all that. All of that. So that lost people can be saved. So Let me close with this. I want to ask you a question. Are you going to run around this year beating your chest like Tarzan because you still use the King James Bible and you haven't switched over to the ESV? Are you gonna bolster your confidence and pat yourself on the back and feel real good for fighting the good fight, because you're still singing the old hymns and you haven't let the Bethel and Hillsong and Elevation garbage come into your church? Are you gonna walk around with your chest out and your head up, because you still got standards? Fighting the good fight, brother Shepherd. We're fighting the good fight. We're still old fashioned. Praise God, I love old fashioned. but you can't use Paul's verses about fighting the good fight. You can't hang out with Paul when we get to heaven and say, I know what it's like to fight the good fight, if you wasn't doing what Paul was doing when he said, I fought a good fight. I'm a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The greatest demonstration of gratitude to God for saving your soul is to bring Him another soul to save. Someone said if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for. So I wanna ask you this evening, gearing up for the fight this week, what's that look like to you? What does that look like to you? Because soul winners do it on purpose. Jeffrey Epstein didn't hang himself and tracts don't pass themselves out. And here's where we're at in our independent Baptist churches. We're subcontracting out the Great Commission. Throw a few dollars in the missions plate and pay somebody in India or Japan or Africa or Peru to do what you and I are not willing to do right here in our own town. And I'm not a prosperity preacher. If you know me, you know that. But I can tell you this, if everybody in here was a soul winner, your church couldn't hold them all. People are... I'm talking about people are ripe. They're ready. Here's what Jesus said. Well, I want to wrap this up. Jesus didn't say nothing there yet four months. He said the fruit... He said they're ripe already in the harvest. We talk about Calvinism and our independent Baptist churches are fully Calvinist. Because you believe that if God wants to save them, bless God, He'll get them down here and they'll hear the gospel and they'll get saved. And I got one small thing I want to throw at you and I'm done. I dare you to show me in the book of Acts one person that got saved inside the church. The church is for saved people. This is the sheep fold. It's fixing to get real tight in here. The church was built and designed and created for the saved people. The pastor is to feed the flock of God. In the Bible, the model was they got saved out yonder. And then they came to church. If I give him a church, I let the preacher take it from there, he might not have a salvation message Sunday. Then what you gonna do? Well, he ought to give the gospel Sunday morning. He might, he might not, but it's your job to give the gospel just as much as it is his. I hate to pop your bubble tonight, but the Great Commission wasn't just given to ordained preachers. The Great Commission was given to every born-again, blood-bought child of God, going to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It wasn't given just to the preachers, it was given to everybody. So when it comes to being burdened for the lost tonight, what did God say to you about that?