Now I'm not going to sing with them, I'm just going to stand here for a little bit and make it a little awkward for them. But I just want to point something out about these men that are standing behind me. How far back do we have to go? Two years ago, they had a knowledge of Christ. They had an understanding of the Word of God. Some of them had made professions throughout. One of them, I know, had never made a profession. But these men have found peace in the person of Jesus Christ. And so what you're about to hear from them, they know. That's different than somebody performing a song. You understand what I'm saying? I want you to sing it through once, and we'll see what the Lord does with it. But at least once through, and we'll go from there. Does that sound okay? You know, God didn't, before you start, God didn't design your condemnation. He didn't design for you to be condemned, but you were. And He didn't send Jesus Christ for you to be condemned. He sent Him because you were condemned already. And why won't you come? Why won't you come? He said, my sins, they're nailed to the cross, and I bear them no more. And I can remember Jesus Christ a couple times talking about his hands being pierced, his feet being pierced, and speaking about, he couldn't forget you, you're graven upon the palms of his hands. You know, when you're in hell, God forbid, you're still gonna be graven upon his palms. It doesn't need to be that way. Certainly not God's will. And we're not just going to sing some song. We're going to sing a song that's got a very specific message. Would you hear it? I've seen the man as his hand shakes the pew, and the preacher says, won't you come? Oh, but he says, no, I just won't go. Too many things left to be done. But that very night death came to him, and there was no more time to be saved. But what would he give in exchange for his soul? The Lord will never pass his way again. So don't say no to him, for the Lord could come for you. It makes no difference, young or old, rich or poor, when your time comes to go. You must be born again. Free from your sin Come to Jesus while you can Don't be like that foolish man He may never pass your way again A wooden cross, how the blood flowed down. Yet Jesus gave his life for me and you. How can you turn him away after the price he paid? The perfect sacrifice, this is true. But if you're here tonight, he's calling you. Won't you just turn your life over to him? Don't be like the foolish man. God's given you another chance, but he may never pass your way again. So don't say no to him, for the Lord could come for you. It makes no difference, young or old, rich or poor, when it's your time to go. You must be born again. from your sin. Come to Jesus while you can. Don't be like the foolish man. He may never pass away again. Come to Jesus while you can. Don't be like the foolish man. He may never pass away again. Why are you in trouble? Amen. Why is that bothering you? You've told people so long, you're ashamed. You're ashamed to tell folks you're not. But you're in trouble. Yeah. Get your records out while you're in trouble before it's too late. There's a verse I'm not afraid to do. It's a command from God. It said, examine yourselves whether or not you be in the faith. He said that to the church. Examine yourselves whether or not you be in the faith. I've done that quite a few times after being saved. The end of that result is sometimes much agony until God reveals Jesus Christ to me. And then it's quite joyful. Then it's joy beyond measure. Then it's rejoicing where I get to shouting in the car, where I'm overjoyed at what God has done for me. It gets me to be quite stupid all by myself. Well. Why are you able to examine yourself and find Jesus Christ? I'd say this. I went down a very long road of trying to get to God and trying to get to this thing of salvation that Brother McVeigh has just talked about. So why are you troubled trying to get to that place where I wouldn't be troubled? And I had come to a place where I reckoned that if I was troubled, I was lost. And I couldn't explain that in the word of God. I could today. But I knew I did not have faith. And I struggled for a long time. I'd be under preaching, and I got to go under preaching here and there and all over the place. Very troubled about my soul, much to the annoyance people around me, some preachers, different ones, very frustrated that I wouldn't just say I was saved. And I think they'd call me saved behind my back, really. But they were wrong. If I died, I'd have been in hell. And they wouldn't have known until they got to heaven. And sorrow upon sorrow for them, because they would have sorrowed at that day. I was very troubled about my soul. I had one major problem. I thought I had to get to God by my works. But I couldn't have explained that to you before salvation. I could not have. I did not see the error of my thoughts. I did not see it. And God wanted me to come to repentance on that, but he needed me to come to repentance on that. And how was he going to get me to see that? Well, it was preached over and over again from the pulpit. I couldn't see it. It said over and over and over again, but I couldn't see it. It said over and over again, explicitly, where my error was. I just didn't see it. That calls a lost person blind, and that's very true. That's very true. But near the end of that thing, I began to understand, OK, so I'm wrong, but I don't see it. And I'd say the last day God began to bring verses to my mind to show me exactly how I was wrong. I remember right before God began bringing verses to my mind one after another to show me my condemnation in this thing of thinking I needed to get to him by works. He showed me, I'm describing it how I wouldn't have described it at that time. I would never have said that. I said, God, I've labored harder than they all. That was Timothy. That was Samuel. After they'd professed salvation, I was very, very bitter at God. Very bitter. Almost foaming at the mouth bitter. That's pretty crazy, but I really wanted it. And I said, God, I've labored harder than them all. And it brought to my mind that I just changed the word labor and work. I just changed those because I had some understanding in the scripture to understand that labor and God had called you to labor to enter into that rest. So I just called everything that I did labor. Everything I was doing was labor. It wasn't work anymore. But I believe it's because of this that I should be earning this thing of salvation, that God should be having favor towards me. And nope, that's not the way it works. God required me to believe him, and I didn't have that. So the fearful and unbelieving, the fearful and unbelieving are cast into the lake of fire. And when I came to terms with that and thought, I remember I was staring at a closet wall when I thought that and I thought, okay, so I've just changed that definition. And God immediately began to bring other verses to my mind. And I remember as I walked around in that house and would consider, and I just began to have my different arguments about why it was unfair that God had not saved me yet, or why it was messed up that God had just saved my brother Tim. And this is real good, just for those who thought I was saved. Very, very holy of someone to be upset that someone's got eternal life. Very upset, like that really sounds like a Christian loving his brother. He's very mad that his brother's not going to die and go to hell anymore. And I began to go through the thoughts about why it was unfair. And I remember as I would think a thought, God would bring a verse to my mind, because I've been in the Bible a lot at that point, and he'd bring a verse to my mind to show me that thought. I'm talking instantly as I thought it. That verse would come to mind, and I realized, I'm wrong. And I don't remember how long that went on, or how many verses it was, or how many thoughts that God showed me, I'm wrong, I'm wrong, I'm wrong, I'm wrong, every time. I don't remember how long that went on, but I remember I finally came to a place, I think I stood still, and I just rise, so I'm wrong. And then I remember standing there a little bit longer and rising, but I'm still just as bitter. This hasn't helped anything knowing that I'm wrong. And I went and laid on the floor and I just began to, at first I didn't even want to because I was so bitter at God. I didn't even want to pray to him anymore. I didn't even think of those verses as coming to my mind as God talking to me quite yet. But, and that is how God talks to you. He uses the word of God. It's amazing. I mean, it makes sense. It's the Word of God. It makes sense. It just makes sense. It's His words. So that's how He would talk to you. He'd use His words. I'm just going to keep repeating that. But I remember I finally just went and laid on the floor. And I began to tell God about how I'm wrong. I know it. I know I'm wrong. But this hasn't solved anything. I'm just as bitter. I'm just as bitter, I'm just as upset at everything, but I know I'm wrong. I'm quite, I'm absolutely sure that I'm wrong. And I laid there for a while, and I continued laying there, and my wife came around and came near me, and I just kept laying there and not saying anything, and I realized I'm not bitter anymore. Just moments before, it was untouchable. I couldn't do anything to get rid of it. And in a moment, God had taken away my bitterness, such that I knew it was gone. I mean, it was gone. And I stood up. And I remember the testimony of some different people talking about the devils leaving them, and God just brought that to my mind. And I stood up, and then I walked around and I looked for a sheet of paper that we'd been singing that youth week. And it was a song that Brother McFarland had taught us, His Robes for Mine. And I knew a lot of scripture. I don't remember how many thoughts about Jesus Christ was going through my head at that point, but I sure knew one thing. God's robes have been swapped for my robes. And that's how salvation was had. And I just began to sing that song. And for the first time I had great joy in the singing of it. And I didn't even know I was saved yet. I'll be honest, I remained troubled about it for a little bit after that because I'd been looking for so long I didn't even know what I was looking for anymore. But God had done for me. He'd done it almost secretly behind my back where I didn't quite understand. He brought me to repentance and then saved me very biblically. That's a comfort to me. I'm glad I don't have an unbiblical testimony. Thank God for that. Well, I'm just going to, most people have heard my testimony, and a few people who were at the October meeting heard the first time I ever told people I'd gotten saved. And I just want to tell that portion of my testimony again. And it's about the struggle after I got saved, trying to figure that thing out and why I struggled with that. Because I got saved at the meeting down in South Carolina, North Carolina. No, it was not Twinkie Night. It was that Friday. No, but I had great peace that night and great peace the next day. And I was trying to figure out, okay, is this salvation or is this just that peace that comes from a service? You get that occasionally. And I was trying to figure out that. I texted Timmy the next day and asked him for the What's the name of that? Birth by the Word. Birth by the Word, that group of verses. I asked him to send that to me so I could go through them. So I was flying out to California the next day for the military. I was flying out there, and I wrote down the whole birth by the word thing. I was going through those. I listened to the Bible study Stephen had done. And I just heard people say how that Bible study convicted them and everything. I'm like, this isn't that convicting. Quite a great Bible study. I'm getting great joy from this, reading through that stuff. But I'd wanted to talk to the pastor that night, Pastor Asquith, and I never had the opportunity. I flew out to California. Just some of the sins that were in my life came back into my life. I'm like, OK, how can somebody who's saved have these sins in their life? And I was trying to figure that out. I was like, would they have these? So I went through the two weeks of training. I came back, and I just thought, I'll talk to the pastor, or I'll try to figure it out in services. And I'd go to services and be like, OK, am I saved? Am I not? In the services, and it'd be going through, and the person would be preaching. And they'd say a verse and be like, ah, you're saved. The next verse that had come out of their mouth, ah, you're lost. And it kept going for weeks. And there was a few different times I tried to speak to the pastor. But God intervened in quite hilarious ways, I think, now back when I look at it. A few different, I don't remember the first time it happened. I know God intervened three separate times. I don't remember exactly what happened the first time. But the second time, we were going down to the family camp meeting there. And the vehicle we're in broke down. And I had purposed to myself, I'm going to speak to the pastor tonight. God had other plans. Then two weeks later, I'd said, okay, I'm gonna speak to the pastor again. And I started to get a panic attack, which if you know me, I don't normally panic over things. And God just showed me, when was the last time this happened to you? And I'm like, when I was gonna speak to somebody, I shouldn't. I was like, okay, I can't go speak to the pastor. Like, okay, God, I don't know why you don't want me to speak to him. I don't know why you're not showing me in the services. And then it came to the October meeting. I'd gone through the Shippensburg meeting there and God used that meeting. Cause I was, I was very angry with God for not getting these answers. God used the Shippensburg meeting to just calm me down. I needed that. Then we went to the October meeting. And I just decided one night, I'm going to look into the word of God. Until about three in the morning, I just read through the word of God. And God clearly showed me that I was saved. And I'm like, oh. And God just showed me that he wanted to prove himself through his word, not through what a man can tell me. It was through his word. And I was just trying to find the comfort in men. when I could have the comfort in his word. Thank you. Somehow I avoided getting saved for 25 years. Somehow While being in church, being a pastor's son, and going to camp meeting after camp meeting, and being in Sunday services, and being in Wednesday night services, and being in Thursday night Bible studies, and driving hours and hours to go to church, I avoided God through it all. I'll say this, I'm thankful that I was in church, and I was in those services, and I heard that preaching, which would hammer me all the time. Because I would get comfortable in myself. I would get a little comfortable thinking I'm all right. I would spend so much time around men of God that I would start to take their way of thinking like, they believe the King James Bible, so I believe the King James Bible. They believe in repentance, I believe in repentance. I just believe I'm wicked enough to not repent. I just have avoided that this whole time. But I would get under preaching and you would feel comfortable in that opinion of yourself because you agree with these men of God. You don't disagree with them. You're actually on their side. And then you would sit in the preaching The preaching on sin would start to be really hard and I would start to think, wow, maybe I'm not on their side because I'm a sinner and I'm wicked and I hate God. And I knew I hated God after I got saved because I didn't want salvation. I wanted pleasures more than God. I would be in a service and the preaching would get really hard and condemning sin and I would start to get to this point of, Man, I need to reform. Somehow I need to fix this. I need to get right with God. And I would get on the altar and weep and cry. Oh God, would you help me? Would you change me inside? And then that night be back at what I normally do. Back at sin. Just didn't care. The next day, I remember being under conviction in a service. And I would see another girl that I knew was kind of putting herself out there. And I was a young man, and I would see that. I knew that she was being really flirty. And I would be in a service and be under conviction and think, oh, God, man, if I got saved, I'd lose my chance with her. And I would see those girls. I was a young man. I'd find them. Found that one, that one, that one. Just immediately know those are the girls that I could have my way with if I wanted to. And I would get under that conviction and immediately the resistance because I knew. We used to have campfires after youth weeks. Those campfires after youth week. And I would think, man, after the service, finally I can have my time. I could go talk to a girl or something. That is how I would resist God. God always had an open for me. I always had a chance to repent. I always had a chance. I remember one time being under so much conviction with a man of God who loved me. Zach Vernon was sitting there with me. My friend Eric Bailo was sitting there with me. I remember just weeping to the point of forming a puddle in the ground. I was so wicked at fourteen. I mean I was so wicked already at fourteen. Terrible, terribly wicked at 14, and I sat there just weeping, but resisting, resisting God so hard, resisting Him because I knew if I went to school, there'd be girls I would see, and I couldn't be like that anymore if I were to get saved, because I would have to make that choice for God. But then I started to get older, and the weight of that started to weigh on me. I started to think of all the wasted years. I started to think of the time when I could have got saved at nine, but I rejected God because I love my sin. I love pleasures more than God. I started to think of how I was getting older and older. I know men that I've worked with who are about five years older than me and have completely destroyed their lives in alcohol and fighting and women. I'm not exaggerating that at all. I'm not exaggerating that at all. I mean, hitting bridges at a hundred mile an hour and drunk all the time and punching people in the face when they get mad. This is the way they live. And I've, I started to think about that, that that guy was no different than me because I, in my sin, he would stay up all night drinking and I would get up two hours of sleep and have to go to work and think, cause he, cause you're a sinner and you're a pervert. And I was just like him. except I had a chance and I thought that I could go to 80 years old without repenting. I could hold on to this. I could keep this up. I could keep being under conviction on the pew and weeping and convicted and then go to the altar and cry and go back and talk to a preacher and be under conviction and never repent. I could make it to 80 because there's men that have done that. There's men that have made it to 80 years old and die and burn in hell. And I started to realize that, that I was to that point I could have gone on But I made some decisions to obey God. The week I got saved, I started to hear the preaching, and a man of God preached about, you ought to choose the woman that God wants for you. And that was always a resistance to me, because I wanted to choose whatever girl showed off that vibe to me. I would pick up on that, and I would think, man, I don't want to choose what a man of God wants for me, or what God would have for me. That's ridiculous. I want to choose what my own lusts want for me. I would. I would be at work and see some girl that was kind of acting a certain way, and I would think, that's the one. I don't want to marry her, but that's the one. And that's just the way I was. And I would live by that. I lived by that code. I remember being one time, I told Brother McVay, I said, I think I'm past all this lasciviousness and licentiousness that the Bible talks about. I think I could get saved. And I remember a couple of days after that meeting thinking, no, you weren't. No, you weren't. All you could think about was that sin and that perversion and that filth that you were so excited to get back at. And I never gave that up. But I remember a man of God preaching to me, and he would come down, and he was just preaching, you ought to just choose the right one for you. And he chose me to like kind of push me in my chest as he's preaching, leaning over, kind of shaking me, and he chose me. Brother McVay came up to me after the service, and he really doesn't do this ever, and he came up to me and he said, you know that was you, right? That was all for you. He said, God did that for you. He said, I know that people got into conviction, but that was for you. And I remember just having that, oh man. But that helped me, because for the first time I thought, maybe I could choose God over my own sin. Maybe I could choose the great God of Israel that through my whole life had helped my parents and saved them and put them together, had helped my siblings and brought them back into church. Maybe I could choose His way over my way. And I went on the rest of that week with that thought that if I ever got the chance, if God were to provide me another chance, I would take his way. I would take his way, and God provided me that chance. The meeting was extended to a Saturday, and the man of God just preached about pride, your own pride, and so much of that was pride. I didn't want, I was so stubborn and rebellious. I didn't want to admit to all these, I didn't want to admit that I was proud and bitter. Peter and I are pretty good friends, spent a lot of time together. I knew Peter was bitter because he was mean, and so you know he's bitter, but I'm not bitter. I don't have a problem with bitterness, but no, God exposed that to me. You know that song that we just sang, He may never pass your way again. I was sitting in the back of the van with the McVeighs driving down from the Vadas' house where we are at Black Creek. They were staying there above the town, coming back into town for Youth Week at a service. And Mrs. Gearheart, she told me, she said, Tim, I wish you would just take the time. I wish you'd just take it serious enough. I wish you'd just go out into the woods and just pray to God. I wish you would. And it hit me how serious she was. And it hit me how serious I would act. how serious I would act about that, but that flippancy, that holding on to sin, I wasn't ready to break. But finally, when I had made that choice, I wanted God's way, there was no more hope for me, because I realized at that point when I really wanted God's way, there was nothing I could do. There was nothing. Literally nothing. I remember coming to that conclusion. What do you do? How do you get saved? Finally, you come to that question, how do you get saved? Believe. How do you believe? How do you believe? How do you come to that? And finally, when there was no hope and there was no chance of me to work my way out of this, I thought I had to get my life right. There was no way to get my life right enough to come to repentance. And about at that moment, I just thought that I do believe God could save me. I believe that could happen. I mean, if it was going to be like this, it would have to be a miracle so complete that it was completely without me, and I believed that. And then I started to think, oh my God, I believe that. I believe that God could save me, and it was peace. It was utter peace right then, and it was just calm. It was wonderful. Thank God. In case you wondered why, it takes people so long sometimes. I'm not saying this to bring a reproach or to shame any one of these men up here. You say, why would it take so long for preacher's sons, preacher's grandson, preacher's neighbor in church? Let me tell you why. Would you boys listen to me? Porn. Amen. Porn. You can't see God looking at porn. Porn will send you to hell, it'll destroy your body, it'll destroy your mind, it'll destroy your relationships. We got a world hooked on porn. Don't tell me you're seeking God looking at porn. I know some of you old timers struggle with that. Every, every, every young man lost without Christ has a porn problem in this world. You tell your little girl something, you're getting away with it, flaunting yourself advertising. Not every whore sells herself, most of them just advertise. You were telling me something about that vibe. It's a woman letting folks know suddenly she's available, and that's out of hell. Destroyer of souls. Our sexuality is destroyed as a people. It's destroyed a nation. It's destroyed churches. Fornication abounds. Let me be real clear. Any sexual contact outside the bond of marriage is fornication and it's out of hell. Any sexual contact outside the bond of marriage where folks are married is adultery. To conceive it in your heart is adultery. Sodomy is a whole nother ballgame. But let me tell you, a lot of folks just sodomize because they're bitter. Porn didn't satisfy. Fornication didn't satisfy. So they jumped into the next field and tried that. Let me tell you where sodomy leads. The legion of the gun barrel pointed out your head. We are a perverse and a filthy nation. And those of you naive enough to think it's not in this church, you're real naive. The 100,000 which stand, the Black Creek Baptist Church, and that pastor, and his prison ministry man, and other evangelists, and myself, and Pastor Hayden, would get up and deal with the issue of sexual immorality, and perversion, and pornography. Young lady asked me one time, she goes, specifically of Timothy. It's so confusing to me why he doesn't get saved. You know what I told her? He looks like porn. She said, no. I said, oh yeah, he looks like a lot of porn. How about you? See, it confuses people. Why are they in the altar weeping? Why is Johnny up on the altar crying for an hour? Because he's going to prison. Don't let that bother you. See, you shouldn't talk personal like that. You aren't going to prison. You ain't got caught yet. That's right. That's right. You go ahead and say amen on that. Amen. By the way, I knew already, I knew. I wanted to go up there and kick you in the head. I really did. Your dad and mom back there weeping. Johnny's on the altar. I want to go, you schmuck. Now, as soon as you've been awful hard on Johnny, it's okay. Thursday night of youth week, he got up off the altar, smiled on his face, joy in his heart, the fullness of Christ. And God gave him a wife. Amen. A little bitterness. You know, a lot of folks are bitter because they're perversion. That perversion has made them bitter. Why would God leave me like this? Go back to the time you made that choice. Go back to that time you made that decision to click, click, swipe, text, call, wink, smile. Go back to that time. Now blame God for it. Blame God. I'm being real sensitive, real careful. We all know a man, and I can say who he is, but we all know who I'm speaking of up here. He laid on the altar for three and a half hours one night, sobbing and weeping like a baby. Did he get saved? No. But he quit looking at porn. He quit drinking. last July on Twinkie Night. Amen. He come to me Friday and said, I want you to know that Tuesday night I saw Jesus Christ for the first time in Scripture, Psalms of Asaph. We just rejoiced with him. He told me, he said, I don't know if anybody said anything or not, but Sunday afternoon at the house, my wife came and told me God saved her. Two years after quit looking at porn. Two years having that double life. Two years having the filth in this life. Now, I'm not too naive. Let me just say this. I know I'm getting older. I'm going to lose touch with reality. I'm not convinced these young ladies aren't looking at it. They get that phone out of curiosity. That little boy texts them, first thing they do, send him to filth. That's pornography. Got to come clean with God. Quit blaming God for the circumstances you created. My wife's naive to a lot of this. Thank God for that. But she still told me stories of little teenage girls in sleepovers, church, with curlier hair. So unclean. So wretchedly vile and filthy. All in Jesus' name. You know, a man who told me, he said, my daughter learned Spanish because she wanted to be a witness, go to Mexico, and hand out tracts. He never recanted on the statement, but the reality is she learned Spanish to get out of the Mexican restaurant and pick up the workers. Preacher's daughter. The filth and the vileness and the uncleanness of perversion. You better get that stuff out of your life before it kills you. We're on the cusp, we're on the cusp of churches being destroyed by fornication, adultery, the deceit of it, the lies of it, the cover up of it. How many of you young men would willingly take your phone right now to your parents and hand them your phone and say, look? I didn't see any hands. That's a legitimate question. How many young ladies take your phone to your parents and say, hey, look, you can look at anything you want to look at on my phone. Here's my phone. We got a problem. Sing that song again. We got a problem. You're not going to get right with God until you solve this problem. As you told me, I have liberty. I'm not taking liberty I don't have. As you told me, I have perfect liberty. If 110 people get mad at me if one person gets right with God, I'll be okay. God certainly requires truth on the inward part. For the one that's so offended that's also involved at the same time, why are you offended? It's you. Why are you offended at that? Why don't you just get right with God? That's some of the hardest things you'll ever do, talking that thing out. You better. God can deliver you. I'm absolutely certain that God can deliver you. I've seen the man as his hand shakes the pew, and the preacher says, won't you come? Oh, but he says, no, I just won't go. Too many things. left to be done. But that very night death came to him, and there was no more time to be saved. But what would he give in exchange for his soul? The Lord will never pass his way again. So don't say no to him, for the Lord could come for you. It makes no difference, young or old, rich or poor, when your time comes to go. You must be born again, free from your sin. Come to Jesus when you can. Don't be like a foolish man. He may never pass your way again. A wooden cross, how the blood flowed down. Yet Jesus gave his life for me and you. How can you turn him away after the price he paid? The perfect sacrifice, this is true. But if you're here tonight, he's calling you. Won't you just turn your life over to him? Don't be like that foolish man God's given you another chance But he may never pass your way again So don't say no to him, for the Lord could come for you. It makes no difference, young or old, rich or poor, when your time comes to go. You must be born again, freed from your sin. Come to Jesus while you can. Don't be like that foolish man. He may never pass your way again. Come to Jesus while you can. Don't be like that foolish man. He may never pass your way again. Stay here. When they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore, the name of it was called Marah. The people murmured against Moses and said, what shall we drink? They got hopeless. So what did they do? They turned on the person that told them the truth. And he cried unto the Lord. When was the last time you cried unto the Lord? This poor man cried. And the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth them all. He cried unto the Lord. The water was bitter. Broken relationships, broken families, broken homes. Miserable husbands, miserable wives, miserable children. Children bitter with their parents, wives bitter with their husbands, husbands bitter with their wives. Bitter with God, bitter with pastors, bitter with people that have hurt them, bitter with people that have wounded them. They're in the waters of bitterness. We've all been there. They've hurt me, they've wounded me. My parents don't understand me. My husband's a jerk. My wife's a jerk. Our family's a bunch of jerks. The pastor's a jerk. The church's a bunch of jerks. Everybody's wrong but you. Some of you live in those waters of bitterness. You defile everything you touch, every person you touch. Esau defiled everything he ever touched in his life. But don't you ever forget he's the one that despised the birthright. When he cried with that exceeding great and bitter cry, will thou bless me also indeed? He'd already despised the birthright. I want you to listen real close. Because he would not come, he lived in bitterness. So what did God show Moses? He showed him a tree. When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Scarcity for a righteous man, one who died for adventure, for a good man, some would even dare to die, but God. Commended his love towards us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Where did he die? He died on a tree. Why did he die on a tree? So that we had to live in the bitter waters. He'll give you sweetness to your soul. He'll give you the fullness of Christ, the joy of the Holy Ghost, the peace of God that passeth all understanding. He'll put a new song in your heart. Write your name in heaven. Give you a new name. Give you a new standing. He'll birth you into Christ. Why did God show Moses a tree? Because it's the garden. God's been showing mankind a tree. And every once in a while you just need to be reminded it's the tree. Where was he hung? He was hung on a tree. Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. He was cursed for us, made sin for us. And there he was nailed to the cross. He regarded transgressions, by the way, and he nailed them to the cross. And the bitterness became sweet, and the waters were turned. And I'll go far enough to say not only were they made sweet, they became a fountain of life, springing up into everlasting life. And I know when you're lost, when you're confused, when you live in doubts, You really just don't think this is real. You say it's just a show. How could they really be like that? How could they really say that? How could they really live that way? I want you to drink and find out. I want you to just go ahead and put your face down in the waters and drink. You find out how sweet that water is. God will take that old bitterness out of your life and make it sweet. God will take that old bitterness out of your soul and make it sweet. God will take all that unforgiveness in your life and make it sweet. God will restore you with your parents again. God will restore you, husbands with your wives, wives with your husbands. That's what the fountains do. That's what the waters do. That's what that sweetness of the waters do. That's what Calvary did for us. Oh, the men would praise the Lord for His goodness. And He is good. He's a good God, hallelujah. It's His very character. It's His very nature to be good. The Lord is good and doeth good. But not only for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children of men. You see, it wasn't just the work of the cross, and I'm not trying to undermine the cross. I'm not trying to short the cross. But it's the work He's been doing since the cross. That God would look down to see us and consider our need. that God would have enough about us and see enough about us to love us and care for us. He said, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. One of my children's favorite songs, Song of Solomon two and four, he brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me was love. How could he love us when we're unlovable? How can he put the love of God in our hearts and then shed it abroad by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us? because of that tree. Because that tree cast into those bitter waters that made it sweet. Have you ever drank at that fountain? You used to love your sin. You drank at that fountain, you're too proud. I'm gonna be real clear. I had a burden, a heavy burden late this afternoon. And neither what I was gonna say or what I was gonna do But none of this shocked me tonight. None of this has surprised me. But what surprised me is the coldness of heart sitting there. That surprised me. God's trying to stir in His folks not even cognizant it's God. Folks indifferent to the fact it's God. God can restore you. God can make you new. God can take all that bitterness and make it cease. God can fix your home if you just humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. You know, we are reconcilers as children of God. We're to reconcile men to God. What I ask most of our ministry today is reconciling people with each other. It ought not be so. Why don't you get rid of that bitterness and just reconcile yourself to people? You don't have to go gush and mush and snot all over them. Just in your heart, reconcile yourself to them. And then seek God with all of your heart. Be reconciled to Him. You're as close to God as you want to be. And if he's a far away God, it's because you've chosen that. If he's very nigh unto you, it's because you've chosen that. But he said, draw nigh unto God. What's his promise? He, and there's that little word we spoke of in Sunday school, will. You know what that tells me? He wants to draw nigh unto me, for he will draw nigh unto you. Then he said, cast in all your care. It's upon Him. For He careth for you. Are you too bitter to see that? You too bitter to understand that? Cast is a strong word. Casting all your cares upon Him. When's the last time you did that? For He careth for you. I can feign caring with the best preacher. I can genuinely care. Charles Waggon, the struggle of life, the depression of life, the lowest point in his life, he said it best when he wrote in verse, no one ever cared for me like Jesus. How much did he care? It's not cliche, but he cared enough to take that cross and to make those waters sweet that you also might find relief for your soul. Come all ye that labor, finally, and are heavy laden, You know what he said then? I will. Glory to God. It's his desire to give you rest. I will give you rest. If you're tired of fighting, tired of the turmoil, tired of the hell on earth, the hell at home, the hell at work, he'll give you rest. How about it? Let that bitterness cease. A little word, it's two syllables. Forgive. Forgive. Forgive. Be kind one to another. Tenderhearted. You know why Nabal died? God killed him. His heart was like a stone. God couldn't do anything with him. But just the contrast is his wife, Abigail, tender-hearted, desire to see the will of God done. So he said to be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another. Why? Even as God, for Christ's sake, hath, that's present tense, that's future tense, it's an ongoing tense, hath forgiven you. Who's wrong with you so much you can't forgive? What sin was not laid on Christ that could not find forgiveness? You say, well, you don't know what they did to me. No, but I know what they did to him. So you don't know what happened to me when I was a child, no, but I know what happened to Christ. Because long before you were born into this world, God took that iniquity in Himself and it was laid upon Him. And He buried the cross of Calvary and made those waters sweet that you could drink. Because you don't understand how awful my life has been. You don't understand how awful His death was, that you might have life. You rest assured this, no matter how awful your life in this world is, you close your eyes in death without Christ, and the sorrows of this world will be a flicker on the memory of your life when you enter into hell, the torment, the awfulness of hell. Get your thumb out of your mouth. Quit feeling sorry for yourself. Come to Christ. Forgive. Learn to love. And by the way, it's supernatural. And we'll see a lady tonight, his mama made a statement seven, eight years ago, I think about seven years ago when she got saved. She said she realized she didn't know how to love. She thought she knew love, never understood love until she met love in the person of Jesus Christ. He would divinely give you love. You'll love people you didn't think you could tolerate. Because it's supernatural. And then that love is shed abroad in their hearts, blessed be the name of the Lord, by the Holy Ghost. By the way, it's a gift which is given unto us. He said, by grace, for by grace are ye saved through faith. I'm sorry, Stephen, not of yourselves. It, what is that, faith, is a gift of God. Now before you label me, let me rest assured you know this, it's given to every repentant sinner. Not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship. If you see anything good up here, it's his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus on two good works. Again, you didn't know me when I was lost. You wouldn't have liked me, you can rest assured that. If you don't like me now, that's on you. But God made me love people that I never thought I could love. God gave me joy I never thought I could obtain. God gave me peace. And by the way, it does pass all understanding. I can't explain it. It's just peace. And he'll do that for every repentant sinner. May I tell you, except you repent, you'll all likewise perish. I tell you, when I came to the end of myself, when I quit wrestling with God, I was Jacob. I wrestled the night through. And finally, He smote me. Blessed be His holy name. If God's ever smote you, you'll know it. Hallelujah. Got a new name, he got a new walk, amen. Old things are passed away, behold all things have become new. Jacob was different. God'll make you different. If you don't like you, just get saved. You'll despise you then. You think it's bad now, waiting to see what you really are. But you find this joy unspeakable. Blessed be His holy name. How about you? How about you? Sister Grace, just play one verse of that song they were singing, just play. How about you? You done? You finished? I'll tell you why I'm tearing tonight, because the Lord pressed upon me heavily that this is needed tonight. And if it's you, why don't you make that move towards God? If it's you, why don't you make that run? If it's you, why don't you just come get it set up? So, They just couldn't bear to let go. They couldn't bear to be seen. They couldn't bear to be that shame. You're one choice away. One choice. Say, you're just trying to push people. Maybe. Maybe, why don't you just heed God? I beg you to just heed God. So troubled, so troubled, will you just heed God? I didn't get saved on an altar, but many choices did I make towards God and services such as this. Many times was I reproached to my church, to my father, to people around me as I went one more time up to an altar and wept before God. Many times I made that decision. I just don't care what people think. Do I want this or not? O thou rebel, O thou rebel, why wilt thou not turn? Everything. Everything. I had not planned on speaking. They asked me if I had anything, and I definitely think I do. I got saved just believing God and repenting. For those people who don't understand why it took so long, because obviously most of us, all of us, have been in church most of our life. Nick most of his life, Peter most of his life, but the other two and my brother John, all of our life, from the very beginning, nine months before. And so why did it take so long? Why couldn't you just get saved? And it comes down to that combination of repent and believe. It's both of them together. The devils believe, but they won't repent. And it took believing God and repenting. I can think of two instances, and I've just been mulling them over in my mind. If you asked me anything, I'd talk on these two. And one of them was just not believing. And you sit there, and it's corrupted wisdom. Say, I believe that. And you can use cigarettes as an example. Why won't that person quit smoking or chewing? And it comes down to the fact that They may believe that it's going to kill them, that their lungs are going to get filled up. But they won't repent. They won't change their mind and stop smoking. It takes a combination of the two. And so they'll go along believing, yeah, this is going to kill me. And they just won't change their mind. And the other one would be the believing. they just won't believe, so they can't repent. And I can think of myself, I went to my father one time, I was probably somewhere 18 years old, or maybe 16, somewhere in that time frame, so 16 years in church, plus nine months, and he just said, I don't care what happens, I don't care, I was saying this to him, I just, I don't care what it is, I just will seek God until I find him, because it says seek. You shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you. And that's probably pretty badly butchered, but I don't have my Bible in front of me, and neither do I know the reference. But regardless of that, it's just that idea that if you knock, he'll open. So I just determined I just whatever would happen. I just would seek and in his wisdom He got me to publicly say that so it would not slip through the cracks and I just don't I forgot I said that And so he made me call a bunch of preachers and just all the preachers I knew and so I just called him up and told him And I remember I ended with McVeigh and I called him and I just said I don't care what happens I just will seek God until I find him because I desire to be saved so badly and He talked about today is the day of salvation. And I remember just being with so much hope, clinging to Christ and not getting saved. And I never sought God. And I wasn't clinging to Christ. I was just in my own thought prospect. But you sit there and you think, well, he obviously was repenting. He believed God. He was like, I'm going to seek God. And he repented. in that he will seek God. This is his beginning of a journey. A journey is a single step, and yet I never went anywhere with it. I can't remember a day that I sought God, not a day. So obviously I didn't believe. It's just head knowledge, and at the very best is corrupted wisdom, or corrupted belief. And you sit there and you're like, they're so convinced I believe, and yet I didn't for a day, not a single day. Did I seek for God or do anything with it? I was so discouraged I didn't save that night. And then I have another one where it's just that I didn't repent. I remember being under conviction so hard. I'm 27 right now. I'll be 28 here pretty soon. So I've been in church a long time and this was probably five years ago. maybe eight, somewhere in there. I just was under such conviction, probably closer to the four or five range years ago, but I was under such conviction, it hurt. And just a little explanation for those who were saved in simplicity, they never struggled for a long period of time. Um, the best way that I probably know how to describe it is people talking about reaching out to God and grabbing him would be if I were to tell you that there was a butterfly in this room and you just grab it and just reach out. And so many times they'll just reach out and Oh, there's no butterfly. And that's all God is to them is just a guy getting up in a pulpit and saying, you know, God's right there. Kneel at the cross. Um, cling to Christ and you sit there and one more time you reach out and grab nothing. And so when you sit there and you're trying so hard to seek for God, it's so much of a burden to put onto somebody. Heavier than a house, you just You're under such conviction and there's nothing you can do about it. You just keep reaching out for everything. And they're like, okay, pray, you know, be honest with God, tell him that you don't care. And you tell God you don't care and nothing happens. And, and it comes down to the fact that you just don't believe or you won't repent. And, uh, it's that corrupted wisdom. Cause you're convinced you are, you know, the, the going back to that belief thing, I was so convinced. That I was going to find Christ because it says, seek and you shall find. And yet I didn't go for a day. I'll just reiterate that. Not a single day did I seek for God. So clearly I did not believe or would not repent and actually do it. And so I was under such conviction under a meeting about four to five years ago and was in such burden for my soul. And there's just nothing I could do. You just sit there after a meeting and all these solutions, these men talking about how they came to Christ. And so you sit there and you're like, I'll just pray for a long time because that's how somebody else came to Christ. And you know, I just like Dale Morey stopped being a rebel and decided that I would, uh, stop rebelling against everything. And he came to Christ. And so you're like, I'll stop doing this or I'll pray for a lot. You get the idea. And, uh, I was under such conviction, that weight of a house just on my shoulders and just in so much pain. How do I get to Christ? And the only way that I could think of stopping that is I pulled out my phone and watched pornography, because it gives a release. And you sit there and you just think how much God hated it, despised it, the very actions. Why would he ever deal with you in a situation like that? hated my actions, hated them. And that's what I shoved in God's face under such conviction. And it wasn't the first time. I remember reading my Bible through the first time. This time I actually was pretty young. I was probably 10 or 12 or something like that. And I read my Bible through the first time. And I remember just coming, at this point I was pretty corrupted, and so I just came across a verse that just said, I believe, breast or something along those lines, and I just sped read the rest of my chapter so I could go watch porn. And you just sit there and you think, oh, why doesn't he come to Christ, right? He's a pastor, son. He's been in church his whole life, begging God for help. And every single time you're under conviction, you do something that God absolutely despises, hates it. I believe that was all I had to say. I guess I could end with just, I came to Christ by believing him and repenting. It was the combination of both of those things. I was saved in my pew. There was no altar call. It was during the services. I just came to Christ. I just believed and I repented. I've been in this long enough to know some of this gets tedious for folks. There are folks that have to work. There are folks that get up really early. There are folks under conviction. There are folks that hate this. There are folks that think this is just absurd. There are folks that medically may need to leave, short-term or long-term. If you need to go, please. No one's going to think less of you. No one's going to think harshly of you. If you need to go, we're dismissed. If you need to go, that's fine. That's not a prop. Please, do not be ashamed. Do not be embarrassed. They're seekers. They're folks with a conviction God's dealing with. You need to stay, we'll stay. I'm going to dismiss in prayer. If you need to go, go. If you need to stay, stay. I always say I'll be one of the last ones to leave. I used to say I'll be the last one, but then some of these jerks up here wouldn't leave. So I learned to say one of the last ones. If you need to stay, if you need to just see God's face, you need to pray, there's holiness in the house of God tonight. It's always a good thing to be under holiness, to be around holiness. It's always the right thing. Do you have anything? Not you, your dad. Father, I want to thank you for helping us tonight. I want to thank you for speaking to hearts tonight. I want to thank you for the testimonies we've heard, the conviction we've sensed. I pray that no one here would shake it off, but there would be those determined to make up their mind tonight. They're going to seek this great God. until they find Him. And you said of the search with all their heart, that you will be found with men. And I pray, Lord God, you'd open up the ears of those that cannot hear. You'd open up the minds of those that cannot receive truth. You'd open up the hearts of those that are hardened, that they would see Jesus Christ. For the glory of God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. You're dismissed.