Through Jesus

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) ♪ The worthy is love ♪ ♪ Lamb who was slain ♪ ♪ Holy, holy is he ♪ ♪ Sing a new song ♪ ♪ To him who sits on ♪ ♪ Heaven's mercy ♪ ♪ Who held the sing at this morning ♪ ♪ Word is love ♪ ♪ Lamb who was slain ♪ ♪ Holy, holy is he ♪ ♪ Sing a new song ♪ ♪ Sing a new song ♪ ♪ To him who sits on ♪ ♪ Heaven's mercy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ His Allah God almighty ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Ooh, yeah ♪ ♪ With all creation I see ♪ ♪ Praise to the King of Peace ♪ ♪ You lie on my everything ♪ ♪ And I will adore you ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Lord and rainbows ♪ ♪ On a living color ♪ ♪ Flashes lightning rolls of thunder ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Let's sing another strident ♪ ♪ Glory and glory ♪ ♪ To you the only wise King alive ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ His Allah God almighty ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Ooh, yeah ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, creation I see ♪ ♪ Praise to the King of Peace ♪ ♪ You lie on my everything ♪ ♪ And I will adore you ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Clear with wonder ♪ ♪ All struck wonder ♪ ♪ Have the mention of your name ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Jesus, Your name is power ♪ ♪ Runnin' in the water ♪ ♪ Such a marvelous mystery ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ God almighty ♪ ♪ Ooh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is ♪ ♪ And He is with me, God ♪ ♪ Great Irish, Lord, I have seen you ♪ ♪ The whole creation ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus, He is with you ♪ ♪ We are like a love ♪ ♪ You are like a thing ♪ ♪ And I will adore you ♪ ♪ Oh, me, oh, me, oh, me ♪ ♪ It's the Lord, God of my King ♪ ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ And I, with all creation I sing ♪ ♪ Way to the people ♪ ♪ You are my enemy ♪ ♪ And I will adore you ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ It's not the God of my life ♪ ♪ You are my enemy ♪ ♪ And I will, holy, holy ♪ ♪ You are my enemy ♪ ♪ And I will, holy, holy ♪ ♪ You are my enemy ♪ ♪ And I will adore you ♪

♪ And I will adore you ♪ ♪ You are my enemy ♪ ♪ You are my enemy ♪ ♪ You are my enemy ♪ ♪ You are my enemy ♪ ♪ And I will adore you ♪ ♪ You are my enemy ♪ ♪ And I will adore you ♪ (audience applauding) - Great and anointed music that lifted the Lord Jesus Christ today. It's good to see you in God's house. And I guess those first few songs were a portend of things to come Friday night, right? I'm into it. That made me wanna preach. How many brought a Bible this morning? Let's see it. You're gonna need it. Wow, all the way in the balcony. There, people brought their Bibles. We're gonna repeat a reading for this coming week. Second Timothy, that's a repeat. So please join me in doing that. Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name and all of the earth, none like you, none higher, none beside you, no one equal. And yet you and your sovereignty and mercy have chosen to let mere mortals partake of the divine nature, to get a taste of you,

knowing that one day we will be with you with glorified bodies that we will be able to comprehend a little more and a little more through eternity of the greatness and goodness of our God and the precious Lamb of God that washed away our sins. And in the presence of the Holy Spirit that brought us to Christ and kept us, taught us, strengthened us, I now come to you Lord, this preacher needs help. I say it, Lord, because it's true. These people need to know again, this is not natural speaking ability, I don't have it. But when you touched me a long time ago, you put a word in my mouth and you laid your hand on my head. So I stand here today, Lord, is your servant. This is not my church, I didn't build it. It's yours, you built it. But Lord, I've tried my best to be faithful to you in preaching this gospel. So may that be said, may I feel it when I leave today that I was faithful to the Lord and that I preached everything you laid on my heart. Save somebody today, Lord. Save somebody from the flames of hell today. And Lord, while you're at it, encourage the body, your people, help them to realize that what you started, you'll finish. And you'll never leave us and you won't forsake us.

And you will be with us always, even to the end of the age. Hallelujah. And the whole church said, amen. We're gonna do something just a little different. I'm going to an odd passage of scripture that you wouldn't think would be used for congregational reading. But it's in Ezekiel, are you there? Ezekiel chapter three. big old prophecy or prophet. Jeremiah, Isaiah's Jeremiah, Ezekiel, you got it? Wow. Here's the rule. Everybody reads out loud. Everybody speaks the Word of the Lord. We're in the house of God speaking the Word of God. Join me, please, with verse 16. Now, it came to pass at the end of seven days that the Word of the Lord came to me saying, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore, hear a word from my mouth and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, you shall surely die and you give him no warning nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life. That same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul." Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin and his righteousness, which he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning. Also, you have delivered your soul. So if you ever wonder why Spirit-filled preachers preach the way we do with vigor and passion and unction and anointing, oh, it's because we love you, but there's another reason because we're going to stand before God. And if I don't warn and if I don't preach, he will hold me responsible for what happens out there. And the church said amen. Thank you for being seated. I think it was about the middle of the 70s up until the beginning of the 80s.

A phenomenon took place in the American church. It was a young man who wanted to start a church, he and some of his friends, and they gathered a little group to do just that. And they decided people don't go to church anymore. Let's find out why, and let's see if we can do something about it. So they split up and they went through the neighborhoods of Chicago. That's where this took place. They took a survey and they asked people, why do you not go to church? Answer, why should I? It's boring. We don't like the music. We don't like hearing about bloods and across. We don't want to hear about sin. Actually, we don't go because we leave feeling worse than we did when we went. So they gathered the surveys and put it all together and decided to build a seeker-friendly church. A church built around sinners, a church designed to make sinners happy, to accommodate sinners, to make sinners feel comfortable. And I don't know if they'd ever read their Bible or not, Those guys, but that's what Paul could do. preached and Jesus is not glorified and altars are not filling up and people either, it's not a church. It's just a group with a religious hat on. So they decided that they would alter or customize the service so people would come in and boy, it worked. It was the largest church in America at that time. What did it consist of? Fun. It was partying all the time. The music was secular music. They sang some light rock and roll songs, blues and jazz because that's what people liked and they swayed and clapped. They liked the music. And then the sermon consisted of about a 15 minute skit called a life lesson. It was drama. It was life acted out. And then the preacher got up and tried to apply a scripture to the skit. And then, of course, everybody was told that they're beautiful. God loves you just the way you are. See you next Sunday. Bring a friend and they brought him. But it didn't last long because God wasn't there. And today, that church is essentially gone. But there are alleged scandals that took place during that time, immorality and propriety is in the leadership. It's just really a horrible thing that took place. And yet, that was the spawning ground for many of the churches you see today. Many of the mega churches are just the same thing repackaged. No gospel, no conviction, no weeping, no praying. It's just a gathering of people who love to get together during the week, come together on the weekend and be entertained by another gospel. It was people living in trespasses and sins who were without God and had no hope and living under condemnation who came to church and left feeling better. Let me tell you something, church, the Holy Spirit did not come to comfort

sinners. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin and unrighteousness and judgment. If sinners can come and be in a church and not squirm and feel uneasy and look at their watches and wonder why they came to start with, it's not really a church. Because when the gospel is preached and the Holy Ghost moves, conviction takes place and people start getting sweaty and thinking about their lives and hoping this won't last much longer. So the Holy Spirit convicts and then he confronts. He says, "You've heard that you're a sinner. Now what will you do about it? Will you go out and live just the way you were living? Will you take the truth that you've heard? Will you take this lifeline that's been thrown to you and cut it and go out and live your own way? Or will you yield to the truth of the gospel and the demands of Jesus Christ? Just let me tell you, friend, and if I go back over to Ezekiel, which I just eat at me all the time, I think I can honestly say that I rarely prepare a message that this doesn't come to my mind. You hear me? Son of a man warned them, "You are a watcher. When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you don't warn them, and they die in their sins, I will require their blood of you.'" Who? Of Dennis, the choir director? Larry, the soloist? No! wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul. Again, when a righteous man is everybody listening right now, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. That means when someone who has followed Christ has now aired from the faith and turned their back on the truth and has gone back to the world, God will try to get your attention. He will put a stumbling block in your way. He will slow the process down and while he's doing that, the preacher better be warning that man who is committing iniquity that he is under the judgment of God. But if I don't do it, his blood will be on my hands. That's why I preach the way I do. That's why full gospel, evangelical, spirit, field, preachers preach the way they do because we have a mandate from Almighty God and we will stand before him and we will give an account. Folks, let's get it through our heads and hearts. Gospel preaching is offensive. It doesn't soothe sinful souls. It upsets them. Gospel preaching is offensive. It blesses the saints. I can tell you right now, if you're living light, a message on hell won't bother you one bit. It blesses the saints, but it stirs up the center because it exposes sin. Sin's you thought were hidden in the shadows when

the light of the gospel is preached, it begins to shine on the cockroaches of your soul. It convicts you to the point you feel agitated. You want to say to the preacher, why do you have to preach like that? Why do you have to be mean to sinners? I was told a couple of weeks ago that somebody was waiting in the hall for me after I'd preach. They just want to know why I have to be so mean to homosexuals and sinners and well, they didn't get to me and I'm glad because I would have said because they're in sin. That's why I preach the way I do. It confronts gospel preaching, confronts people with eternity. Everybody please hear me today. Something happened to me several years ago. I was so disturbed and moved by the concept of eternity. That those who know Christ are going to live in a heavenly city eternally, no end to it. And those who die without Christ are going to be in a lake of fire for eternity, no end to it. I have said time and again, whatever state, whatever spiritual state you are in when you die, that's the state you will be in for eternity. If you are lost, you are lost for eternity. There is no purgatory. You don't spend an amount of time. Nobody can get you out. It's over. And that's why I preach about eternity. That's what drives us. But you know if Satan can't stop gospel preaching, he will try to confuse the message. Let's go again back to Genesis chapter three. You can just about see the whole pattern of Satan and how he's even working in the world today, the way it started in the garden of Eden. So I'll be brief with this. He comes up to Eve and he said, by the way, did God say that you couldn't eat of any of these trees in the garden? Well, he knew God didn't say that. And he said, no, he said we could eat them all except the one. And he said, if we eat that one, we will surely die. The very day we eat it, we will that right because God knows, God knows that the day you do this, you're going to be like Him. You'll know good from evil." Are you sure you heard it right? And of course, Satan knows about that. That's why he was in the garden as a serpent tempted the woman because he wanted to be as God, knowing good from evil. And of course, all of that consideration, that contemplation about one commandment, when it was twisted by the deceiver, caused her to break the law of God. And she gave to her husband, and he did eat, and the world is in the condition, the world has been in this condition ever since that first juicy bite. So there we are. But I noticed something. In the third chapter of Genesis, it's where that all happened. If you go to the last book of the Bible, third chapter of Revelation,

wow, Genesis 3 over to Revelation 3, guess what I found. Let me read it to you. This is to the church at Sardis. To the angel of the church in Sardis, right, these things says, "He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars." I know your works that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Remember that message I preached? You watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard whole fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Watch this. "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit is saying to the churches." Here's the point. The Bible says, "If you overcome, you will be clothed in white garments, and he said, 'I will not blot out his name from the book of life.'" That's simple to me. That means if I overcome sin and I defeat temptation and I walk with the Lord and I continue in faith and I trust Him every day, when that day comes, he'll have a white wardrobe for me. And I promise that my name will never be erased from the book of life. That's simple to me, right? Is that simple? Well, guess what? The devil doesn't want that taught. I'm amazed over the years. I have in my library at home a book that's three inches thick. That's a big book, between six and seven hundred pages. And in that book, this one man spent five years writing it to prove that this verse doesn't mean what it says. Just like Satan says, God doesn't mean what he says. He comes over here and in this book it says, "Well, it can't mean that your name can literally be blotted out of the book of life because it's in there for eternity. So how can it be blotted out?" And then you begin to find out that a lot of this study and interpretations and books and commentaries come from people who studied under John Calvin, or studied about John Calvin, and they are Calvinists. Now listen, it's amazing how people who have been indoctrinated will try to make the Scriptures fit their doctrine. I've seen it over the years. We believe this I don't care what Calvin said. I don't care what Martin Luther said.

I don't care what Schleiermacher and Bultmann said. These are German and Swiss theologians. When I was at Lee University in one Bible class, for a whole semester I had to study German and Swiss theologians. And what they said about soteriology, salvation, and numeratology, the Spirit. And I thought to myself, even as just a little ignorant guy from Wadesboro, North Carolina, I didn't have any background like this. I thought, "Why are we studying these men when the Bible is the source of all truth?" It's still beyond me how people will quote from men when you've got the Bible right in front of you there. I don't care what John Calvin said. I care what John the Baptist said. I care what John the Apostle said. He doesn't matter to me. And boy, I'm going to get the criticism after I say this. I'm not an old-fashioned guy. I'm not an old folky. I'm not an archaic old Pentecostal preacher. I'm a sincere man of God. I believe this is the truth. I believe this is the way. I believe you can get an answer about everything from the Word of God. I mean this. I believe you can go in a closet somewhere and get on your knees, and you can shed tears and say, "Holy Spirit, teach me what your Word is saying, and he'll do it." I'm going to tell you right now, that's where I get most of my messages. You may not think much of them, but boy, I do, because I believe I hear from the Lord, and I think I've heard from the Lord today. I didn't go into a library and write this down. I didn't pull this down off the Internet.

I got a little closet there. I got a little prayer corner. And when it's time to come and feed your soul, I won't walk up here until I've laid down on my face and said, "God, I need direction. I need food from heaven. I need to feed this flock. These people are depending on this." It's funny though, they have a term for saying when they say it says it, but it doesn't mean what it says. They have a term for it. And for this, litotis, L-I-T-O-T-E-S, it's a litotis. That's what that is. That's what Satan gave Eve, a litotis. It doesn't really mean what it says. God didn't really mean what he says. Right here, I won't block your name out of the book of life. It's a litotis, which means it's there, but it doesn't mean what it says. Now, why would God say it? If it's not possible for it to happen, hello? Can somebody help me with this? Why would God say it if it's not possible that it could happen? Of course it's possible. The other time Paul said, "If you go back to the law, you are fallen from grace." They say, "That's a litotis," because once you're in grace, you can't fall out of grace. If you fall out of grace, it never was grace. But Paul said, "You have fallen from grace." I warn you, Church, you stay on that internet and you hear enough preachers and teachers. You're going to get confused. You're going to be questioning things you thought you believed. You're going to listen to some Greek and Hebrew expert tell you that what you believed all

these years was wrong. Well, I'm old-fashioned enough to say this. We weren't wrong. There is only one way. There is only one Savior. There is only one blood that can wash away sins. You have to live a holy life. We weren't wrong. We're not wrong now. The Bible gives commandments. Those commandments demand that if you name Christ, you walk away from sin. Another man said, "I heard him say it." And metadonia means to turn around or to change one's mind about something or someone. He said, "And in this case, in the Bible case, metadonia means you change your mind about Christ, but it doesn't have a thing to do with stopping your sin." It's what he said, "It's just about changing your mind about Christ. Repentance doesn't require that you stop sinning," he said. "But I read in Isaiah, let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him turn to the Lord, and he will abundantly pardon." Stop sinning? It doesn't say stop sinning, I think when Jesus forgave a woman of her sin. She's the only one standing there and all of her accusers have gone, and Jesus said, "Woman, where are those thine accusers?" She said, "They're not here, Lord." He said, "Neither do I condemn thee." Yay! Great for Jesus and great for the woman, but he's not finished yet. Go and sin. That was great! Don't go back to it.

Don't repeat it. Don't do it again. Fight for your life. Fight for your soul. Flea the appearance of evil. Remove everything in your life that would draw you back to it. Cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. That holiness in the fear of God, holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. That's what it says. Romans 6, Paul, "How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?" No, he says, "If you are led by the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh." So what happened with this new, seeker-friendly movement that took place that's just tearing us, just destroying people, sending them to hell, giving them false assurance? It has worked its way into the very fabric and fiber of so many churches. Folks, I just want to say it again. It's not a church if Jesus is not glorified, if his blood is not preached, if the cross is not held up, if sin is not noted, if heaven and hell are not emphasized, it's not a church. It's a gathering. I don't care what they say, the Lord's only in the middle of those who talk of him and worship him. If you get together in his name, he's there in the midst of it. What happened is you developed into a, what does that term I use this morning? Easy-believism. You've heard of hyper-grace. Hyper-grace is that doctrine that says, "Once you come to Jesus and believe on Jesus, it doesn't matter how you live after that." It's hyper-grace and easy-believism. Let me talk about it for a moment. They will use Acts chapter 16 and the Philippian jailer as an example. You know when Paul and Silas were in jail and at midnight Paul and Silas sang praises

unto God and the doors were shaken and everyone's chains fell off and the jailer came out thinking that the prisoners had escaped and he was going to commit suicide and stab himself and Paul said, "Do yourself no harm. We're all here." Boy, this is a touching passage and the Philippian jailers said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Paul said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved in your house." And people say, "Yes, see there?" That's all it took, just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But I read on down here, so they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll be saved you in your house," then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and all that were in his house. He didn't just say, "Believe on Jesus, we're done and we're out of here." He said, "Believe on Jesus, now let's go in and have a Bible study." And then he instructed him. He believed on the Lord Jesus, then he received fuller, deeper truth about the Lord Jesus, and then he was baptized. So what about the thief on the cross? He didn't yet baptized. He didn't walk down the Roman road. Nobody witnessed him. Of course not. He was on a cross. He was about to die in a few minutes. But he believed that Christ was coming into a kingdom, and Jesus said, "Today you will be with me in paradise." So what I've been, I don't want to say harp. I don't want to say I've been harping, but I've been repeating something. And that is the deception of thinking that just coming to the altar. Have I mentioned this? Or just coming down in a crusade is salvation? No. And that's what's being preached. Just come to Jesus. But folks, I have to tell you, I did a deep dive this week, and I went over to the book of Hebrews. You see me messing around up here. I got all kinds of scriptures and I went down into this and I said, "Lord, there's something more that I've not gotten. Just come to Jesus." Well, let me explain. The Holy Spirit will bring you to Jesus. But Jesus will take you to the Father. It's not just coming to Jesus. Jesus came to take you to the Father when he said, "Pray like this, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." He said, "There is a Father in heaven." And when Jesus talked about to the woman at the well,

the Father is seeking such to worship Him. What does that mean? They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth, Holy Spirit and in Jesus, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. The Father is looking for people to worship Him. So what did Jesus meant when He said, "Enter in by the narrow gate." He didn't say, "Come and stand there. Come to the door. Come to the gate." He said, "Enter in." And I believe that one of the problems with modern evangelism today is that we get people to the door, but they never enter in through Jesus Christ. I'm the way the truth to life. No man can come to the Father except He come through me. I've never seen this before, it's tearing me up. God the Father wants you in His presence and you can only get there through Jesus Christ. You cannot stop at Jesus. You cannot just come to Jesus, but the Bible says that the blood of Jesus and the flesh of Jesus was the veil. Like in the Old Testament, you had an hour court, then you had an inner court and in that inner court was bred and it was a light and altar and it was separated from the most holy presence of God by a thick curtain. And when Jesus rose from the dead, that curtain split from the top to the bottom so that now God the Father is as accessible as Jesus the Son. But the book of Hebrews, I'm getting happy, I'm sorry, but the book of Hebrews says that the veil is the flesh of Jesus. And if you want to get to the Father, you enter through the flesh of Jesus. You put on the Lord Jesus Christ and He takes you to the very throne room of Almighty God the Father. Hallelujah to God. Let me finish. Sometimes I feel like apologizing to you guys because you've already heard this once, but I'm not. So here's what we're dealing with. Men love darkness. That world out there loves it. They love spiritual ignorance and they love the depths and the privity of sin. They love it. Men love pleasure. It drives the human race, pleasure, pleasure. Second Thessalonians chapter 2 says the wrath of God is going to fall on this world because they love the pleasure of unrighteousness. It's going to happen. The gospel demands self-denial. The world's not going to have that. You can't do everything you want to do. You can't say everything you want to say. You can't look at everything you see. You have to say no. No. No. You present your body, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. That's the least you can do, he said. You can't do everything that your flesh wants to do, but the world says fully on that. I don't know how much time I have. I'm going to have a good time.

The world loves lawlessness. Don't tell me what to do. I've never heard as much as I'm hearing it now. The government's not going to tell me what to do they say. Hey, my parents aren't going to tell me what to do. I'm not going to let a church dictate my life and tell me what to do. The Bible, why that's an old-fashioned book, it's irrelevant. It's not going to tell me what to do. In that preacher, he surely isn't going to tell me what to do. But we will go to a church. If we can find one, we will go to a church that will tell me, Jesus loves you just the way you are. Have you ever heard that? He loves you just the way you are. Wrong. He hates the way you are. You disgust him. Ooh, okay. Let's let it settle down a moment. You make him sick. Why else do you think that he sent his son? If you were not really that bad, you know, like your little sweet toddler, you're on a hike. And the little toddler falls in a mud hole and you say, you know, I love you just the way you are. You didn't fall in a mud hole center. You're the seed of Satan. You're dead in trespasses and sins. You're a rebel against God Almighty. You're the enemy of God. God is holding back his wrath. You're not chuked. God doesn't think that you're just, he's fine. No, you are disgusting and unacceptable as the seed of Satan. His spirit abides in you. Your flesh controls you. Any man that's a friend of the world is the enemy of, this is old-fashioned preaching here. I feel a little something coming back at me here this morning. If any man will be a friend of the world, he is the enemy of God. Well, I'll go to a church as long as they tell me I'm fine just the way I am. I'm cute. Or I'll go where there's no penalty. You see, folks, church, listen. The world doesn't think there's a penalty for living in sin. People think they're going to get away with it. There are some Christians that think they're going to get away with it. That's why I read what I did in Ezekiel twice. If a righteous man commits iniquity and he doesn't repent and God puts a stumbling block, God slows him down. God puts a preacher in his path or a wife or a loving husband or somebody and says, "Stop, you got to quit this." Or if God lets them lose something or their life comes undone, that's God putting a stumbling block in the way of a righteous man who has turned

away from the truth. But if they don't yield to it, they will die in their sin. Their righteousness will never be remembered. This is Bible brothers and sisters. I don't believe there's a penalty. I'm just gonna live my life and I don't know where I'm going, who knows? I do. What do you know? I know what this book says. This is the only thing I've got. This is the only thing I need. This is the word of the living God, you see. And this book says to all those who are happy in their sins, the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life. You wanna hear another, le totes? (congregation laughing) They say, see there? It doesn't say eternal death. It just says the wages of sin is death. No, but the very sentence itself. The wages of sin is eternal death. But the gift of God is eternal life. There's no le totes about that. God means what he says. How about David a long time ago? The wicked shall be turned into hills and all the nations that forget God. Oh Lord. Or how about numbers?

Chapter 22, when Moses said to Ruben and Gad and half of a NASA, those tribes that wanted to stay on the other side of the Jordan, he said, I'll let you stay. But when we get in a battle, you gotta come help us. And they said, we promise. He said, I hear you. And you better keep your word because your sins will find you out. Your sins will track you down. I wanna preach to somebody today. You didn't get away with it. The red light's on, isn't it? You didn't get away, you're not getting away with this. That's gonna be a time, sin is a great tracker. He's a great agent. He knows where to find you sooner or later. He will track you down. You can be sure that your sins will find you out. And then Paul said, do not be deceived. There it is, don't trick yourself. Don't let anybody, don't use a letotaz and try to work your way out of something. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. If you sow to the flesh, you will of the flesh reap corruption, but if you sow to the spirit, you will of the spirit reap life everlasting. And the church said-- - Amen.

- Then with me, please. - Amen. - I'm gonna, I'm gonna backtrack for a moment. This letotaz thing's got me kind of worked up. (audience laughs) And I will not blot his name out of the book of life. Let me just say it again. Jesus said, don't rejoice because the demons are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Oh yeah, there's a book and there are names in it. And here's what God said to Moses. When Moses said, oh Lord, these people have committed a great sin and have made for themselves a God of gold. Listen to Moses, yet now, if you will forgive their sin, but if not, I pray, blot me out of your book which you have written. And the Lord said, whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. He said, Moses, be quiet. You don't get to negotiate with me about my book. I decide, and if a man sins against me, I will blot his name out of my book. And I'm praising God right now for the power of confessing my sins. If we confess our sins, he's somebody else happy? 'Cause there's not a one of us that didn't need some forgiveness this week. If we confess our sins, he's faithful. Come on.

(congregation applauding) If you're here today and you fall into any of those categories, you're wicked and you haven't turned away from your wickedness, you heard it. If you're, you call yourself a Christian, but you're still indulging in sin, you heard it. You heard it. with the affairs of this life, you know, you can get tangled up. See we are so surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us. Let us run with patience, this race that is set before us looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Folks, you can't live six hours in this old world without getting crud on you. And these days with, you know, the problems we have with family and business, you can get so tangled up like you're in a bramble bush until you just have devotions to survive. You just read the Bible to make it through, to check it off instead of walking in the joy of the Lord. Let me just ask you a question. Are you a believer today that's tangled up? Have you let somebody trip you up? Are you involved in something that's holding you back? Well, the same God that can immediately save a sinner is able to cut you loose from all of those things that do hinder you. So just think about it a moment. I think I will. If you don't know Christ, I don't believe you'll ever in your whole life hear a straighter message than you've heard today. If you don't know Christ, if you're not ready to meet Christ today, you can come through the veil, through Him, into the Father's presence and have your sins forgiven. I invite you to come down.

If you don't know Christ, you can come down and we'll pray for you. Then, and you've got to know we've got a building full out there. We've got people at Wilmington and Lake Park, they're watching online, anybody's welcome to come down at any time. I thought I'd do this in this service. You've gotten a little tangled up with some stuff, you're tripping a little bit, stumbling around, you don't know what to do next, struggling spiritually. You can come down here, just as a sign to God that you know you need help. Just walk down here and we'll sing and we'll pray and you can go on your way. I want to ask a question, though, how many of you, by the raising of your hand, how many of you know that if you die before dinner tonight, you'll go to heaven? Hold your hand up. I can't see up in the balcony, but you know you'll go to heaven. I say, "Praise God for that." I'm waiting. You want to come down? Come on, man. Come on. I'm glad you're here. You heard the message this morning. God bless you. I'm glad you're here. You heard the message this morning. Yes. Anybody else want to come down? The first step is to recognize you're not right with God, but God, through Christ, can make it right today. I'll wait. At my age, what have I got to lose? I'll just wait.

I know somebody's under conviction. I know you're that sweaty-handed fella and you just don't want to deal with it right now. Come on. I know there's some more sweaty hands out there. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank God for sweaty hands. Thank God for sweaty preachers. Thank God. Thank God. Let's let it be silent for just a moment so they can talk and pray. Go ahead, you can play. [music] [music] Yeah, I mean, there's not a time limit. If you've been just dealing with stuff and it's choking you, what would he hurt to walk down here and say, "Lord, help me cut this stuff loose out of my life." What a great blessing. What is that? [music] God bless you, young lady. God bless you. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music]

[music] [music] [music] Amen. I just want it to be understood. We are not doing this so people can feel better. This is so people can be delivered from eternal damnation and have eternal life. Feeling better means nothing. Having your heart changed means everything. [applause] Lord, I pray for these who came down, something's working in them, they wouldn't even be here if something wasn't working inside. And you won't stop. When they walk out of here, Lord, you won't stop. I know it. So I pray that they will evermore listen to that voice, that inner voice. Hey there. Just like a family here? Wait, wait, wait. Well that's wonderful. That's wonderful. [music] Wow. [music] Praise God, Praise God, Praise God. [ Music ] ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ Oh, to thee I bless His angel ♪ ♪ I surrender all of one time ♪

♪ If I surrender all ♪ ♪ I surrender all ♪ ♪ Oh, to thee I bless His angel ♪ ♪ I surrender all of one time ♪ I should quit, I know I should, I'm not, I got something else to say. If sin isn't that bad, the Lord could have just sent an angel. But sin is so bad that only God Himself could deal with it. So, you know, it's not like, well, there aren't bad people. If you don't know Christ, you're wicked. Wicked, that's how God sees you, wicked. Can I say it again? You're not cute. You're an enemy of God, and only Christ Jesus could change that situation. That's why you call Him the name of the Lord, and the Lord will save you. Then I'm going to say this. I'm sure there's somebody in the congregation. I have all kinds of advisors that would say, if I could just get five minutes with pastor, I'd like to ask him if he could maybe tone it down. Maybe tone it down a little bit. Maybe, what did I say at 8.30? Lower the temperature. You know, I could bring my friends in the neighborhood if you could tone it down a little bit. Or I could get my family here if you'd lower the temperature. Why don't you do that? Are you going to do that? Nope. Nope. Because the temperature of hell is still the same. And I don't want you to go there. [applause] So until we meet again, I don't know what day of the week it might be, it could be any day. May the Lord bless you and keep you and remind you and guide you. May he smile upon you that are saved, and may he ratchet up the conviction towards you that don't know him yet. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer, amen. We pray that today as you watch Pastor Livingston's message, you will be encouraged and ready to dig deeper into a life with Jesus. To help you on this journey, Central has two resources for you.

First, you can sign up to receive Central's Jail and Prison Correspondents course through the mail by writing to Central Church, Jail and Prison Ministries Discipleship Center, 5143 Sardis Road, Charlotte, North Carolina, 28270. Second, by using Central's app and clicking on the button below, you can read a short daily devotional that will encourage you to read and pray daily as you draw closer to Jesus. Thank you for watching. [music] [music]