In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the urgency of seeking God's mercy and salvation. He shares personal experiences and illustrations of people who died suddenly, emphasizing the uncertainty of life and the need to make a choice for eternity. The preacher warns against delaying the decision to follow God, citing the verse "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found." He also highlights the consequences of not choosing God, referencing the story of the rich man and Lazarus in the Bible. The sermon concludes with a call to be watchful and prepared for the return of Christ, as described in various biblical passages.

Can we bow for a moment of prayer, please? Thank you, our dear Father, for the privilege of being back here, to these lovely people who have come, and all because of Jesus. We thank thee that we can gather because of Christ and nothing else, our love for Christ and to glorify Christ, because of his death, his blood, his salvation, his gift of eternal life, and that we are now the children of God, brothers and sisters, with one Father for eternity. We do bless thee for Jesus, our Savior, above everything, and ask that this night he may be glorified. Wash me therefore afresh, deeply in his blood, that I may be a vessel made for the Master's use. Anoint, anoint by thy Holy Spirit, and speak to every heart, in Jesus Christ's sacred, precious, holy name. Amen. Second Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 8, he will return, he will return, he will return, taking vengeance on them that know not God, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished, who shall be punished with everlasting, everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. Tonight, I want us to consider the fearful possibility, I want us to consider the fearful possibility of separation, separation from our loved ones, to be separated eternally from our loved ones, to be separated eternally from our loved ones. Firstly, firstly, at Christ's return, firstly, at Christ's return, separated separated, at Christ's return, 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 2, the day, the day of the Lord, so cometh as a thief, a thief in the night, the day of the Lord, so cometh as a thief a thief in the night. Years ago, when I was young, my good father had built a very beautiful home for his family, at much sacrifice. In my bedroom, our bed, my bed was alongside of the wall, which had a very large window, overlooking a very beautiful view. Those days, we didn't have security like we do in South Africa now. We didn't have fences. Today, we build prisons and live in them to keep the criminals out. Terrible, but that's Africa, and much of the world. And so, there were no burglar guards, there were no, there wasn't much crime, especially in the decent areas that we were privileged to stay in. And I lay asleep with my windows open, wide open, for fresh air. And I woke up at a noise, as I heard the curtains being drawn, suddenly, the curtains being drawn. And I, in my half-asleep state, listening to it, I thought, it must be a storm, a wind that's blowing the curtains like this, that they're drawing. And then I began to think as I lay there, but there's no wind. It's dead silence. So, I opened my eyes, and I looked up, and just above me, I saw the face of a man looking down at me, at my face. He must have been incredibly big, because those windows were not low, they were high. And he was looking down at me. His hand was just above my head, pulled the curtains, just looking down at me. Now, of course, I, at the fright of my life, I looked up at him. He couldn't see that my eyes were open, and he didn't realize I was looking at him, because it was darker in the room than outside, with all the garden lanterns and lighting across the lawns. I could see him looking in at me, but he couldn't see that I was watching him, but frightened and shocked. And suddenly, I thought, I better not wait too long to see what he's going to do. So, I shouted, that's Zulu. What do you want? Suddenly, he pulled his hand out of the window and fled. I pulled myself up and looked at this man. Now, the size of him is incomprehensible. He was so big, but for some reason, you couldn't hear him running. You couldn't hear a thing, not a twig break, whatever he had on his feet to do this, but he ran, this massive man, down the lawns, over the landscape, to the road. I saw him just, well, you couldn't hear a small sound as he ran. Tell me, souls, will you awake? Will you awake suddenly as the thief God speaks of? Will you awake as the thief draws back the curtains of time in one moment, and you see his face suddenly looking down at you? Will fear grip you like it gripped me? Will fear grip you? We read in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 2, that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief, a thief in the night. The next verse is, but ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Revelation 16, verse 15, behold, I come as a thief, he warns, blessed is he, blessed is he that watcheth, that watcheth. Revelation 3, verse 3, if therefore thou shalt not watch, if therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee, Christ warned. Luke 17, verse 34, I tell you, in that night there shall be two in one bed, the one shall be taken, the other left, two women, two women shall be grinding together, the one shall be taken, and the other left, two men shall be in the field, the one, the one shall be taken, and the other left. And they answered and said unto him, where, where, Lord? And he said unto them, wheresoever the body is, that is the carcass, referring to Christ himself, thither, there will the eagles, that is the saved, be gathered together. Man and wife asleep in bed, she hears the noise and turns her head, he's gone. Oh, that we'd all been ready, brothers climbing up a hill, one disappears, and one left standing still. Oh, that we'd all been ready, but there's no time to change your mind, the sun has come, and you've been left behind. Separated eternally from our loved ones, separated eternally from our loved ones, firstly at Christ's return, at Christ's return, but secondly, separated, separated eternally from our loved ones, at death, at death. Hebrews 9 verse 27, it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, after this, the judgment. Oh, God lied, it is appointed, that's an appointment not one of you will miss, you have no say in that. Unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. You can do nothing for all eternity to change that, just judgment. Is that door closed? Oh, prepare thyself, God's word says, that puts the onus on you. Oh, start cutting out all the verses that I could quote for at least 30 minutes without non-stop, that puts the onus on you. Don't blame God, sir. Prepare thyself to meet with thy God, Amos cried out in chapter 4 verse 12. In Romans 8 verse 1, God promises that there's no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. There's no condemnation, no judgment awaits them. God promises to them which are in Christ Jesus, any one of you who has one eye or two of true conscience needs to read the rest of that chapter, because there's always a condition to every promise gave us in this book, if you're honest, a radical condition that puts God at no obligation, sir, lady, if you don't fulfill the conditions. Whether they in the verse, the next part of the verse that the Jehovah Witnesses can't read the second half of a verse, because it cancels out what they say the first half means, don't be like that. If it's not in its immediate context in the light of the rest of the scriptures concerning that particular doctrine, you are a total heretic if you don't look at every single version, compare scripture with scripture, and if there's any verse that contradicts your interpretation of any single passage or verse or doctrine or facet of this book, and you don't tell people as you're giving your interpretation, then you're a heretic, total heretic and a great grief to God. There's no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, God promises. Revelation 14 verse 13, blessed, I love that word, are the dead which die in the Lord. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, but there is the tragic possibility, there is the tragic possibility of being separated from our loved ones, separated from our loved ones for all eternity at death. Have you ever thought of that, sir? This is why we all long to be sure that they are truly saved before we die. We all carry a great burden for our loved one's salvation while we live, we all carry a great burden for our loved one's salvation while we live, if we are truly saved and believe this book, and if we are rightly related to God, we all carry a great burden for our loved one's salvation. Back in South Africa, we have friends, Jenny and I, Henny and Stella Faree, lovely people, godly people, they were sharing with us of a close friend of theirs, which I believe had heard me preaching, but I don't remember ever meeting. Their friends were Gert and Rita van Weyk, the farmers in the Bupfontein area of Southern Africa. Now, they had known, Henny and Stella had known Gert from the days of university, so they've been friends for a long time. But when we arrived there, they told us of this terrible tragedy that had just happened. You see, Gert van Weyk was a farmer, and they say today if you want to die very fast, in Africa just become a farmer or a policeman. They're just slaughtering them, slaughtering them. It's tragic. Gert van Weyk was standing along a section of the road where lorries and people would come with their vans and lorries and trailers, because he would sell the afterflow of all his produce of the farm, and a lot of money was being transacted. At that particular spot every week, he would stand there with his particular crops they had and sell them, and people would get them a lot cheaper, but an enormous amount of money flowed. And suddenly they were attacked with all these people, cars everywhere. This van pulls in, these big guns, a couple of men climb out, not even trying to disguise their faces, brazen, and they came from where the money was all being transacted. The foreman tried to intervene, the foreman on the farm, and they just riddled him with wood. People just dragged him, at the cost of their own lives, to a car, drove, but he died before they could reach the prison, before they could reach the hospital. The foreman, Gert himself, the farmer, didn't try to intervene when they saw what he did to this man who tried to intervene, they just said, but in spite of his saying, take it all, they just shot him. No regard of life, no need to kill him, he wasn't, there's a total disregard to life, to those who have closed their mind to God, to the degree so many have in our world. There's no value to anybody's life, it's worthless. That can happen, that can happen to many multitudes, it has happened, no regard, no remorse, no reason. Now he didn't die on the spot, never caught those men, never brought to justice, but that Gert van Weyk hung on to life for 61 days. There was no possibility of him ever recovering, there's nothing medically they could do. He was dying, but he hung on, battling, struggling, hanging on 61 days. The doctors didn't quite know what to do, the family didn't know what to do, and a Christian stood there and said to this farmer, don't hang on any longer, don't struggle like us, you're ready to meet with God, let go, let go, absent from the body, present with the Lord, don't hold on, let go Gert, you're ready to meet with God. And this man spoke for the first time, he whispered, struggling to say words, tears coming down his face as he looked up and said, I can't let go, my wife is not saved, and I'm so scared that I will never see her for all eternity. I can't bear that, I can't bear the thought of my wife going to hell, she's not saved, I will never see her again, I can't let go. There he was in this state, agonizing for his loved one who was not saved. His wife heard him say that, he didn't know, his wife was standing behind this man and other people and heard her husband say these words, she fell right there on her face, onto her knees and sobbed for God to save her soul through the said blood of Christ. She sobbed aloud, crying to God, she lifted herself up and came and flung herself over her husband and told him what she'd just done, and he looked at her, the tear gently coming down his face and he smiled and he died, he let go. I was preaching on a tour a few years ago now, three years ago I think, and to many, many thousands of people as I went from one school assembly to the next as they strolled all over this tour of the Eastern Cape of Southern Africa that I've done 10 years in a row now, and been very privileged preaching up to seven times a day. In one place we didn't get much of a crowd one year, so the next year we come and what do they do? The Christians decide to get all the people to come, there's no little invitations, so let's do something that'll work. So what do they do? They advertise a breakfast service, so everyone came, I believe the entire, because it's a free breakfast. On condition you have two meals though, after the physical meal there has to be a spiritual meal, you know, you have to sit through a sermon. They didn't worry much about that, there's a free breakfast and a good advert, so there was an old man, he was sitting there, 88 years old. Now he couldn't understand much English, and by the way, in case you don't know what the Boer-English war was, much like your English war, but there are people today that are still fighting it. They never forgave the British, never forgave. Oh well, anyway, this old man didn't understand English and he wasn't too interested in English, and here he had to listen to an Englishman, and he was hard of hearing, so he sat there listening to me, and he thought, oh no, I can hardly understand anything the man's saying, this Englishman, and why does he have to speak so soft? I can't hear a word he's saying. So he's getting angry at this old Englishman, and he says, I'll behave myself, he says. At the meal, you know, I just behave myself and just sit still, though I can't hear the man, and I don't understand most of what the man's saying. He's sitting there, and suddenly, how God does this, I don't know, 88 years of age, never once thought about eternity, in the light of the word. Well, he heard this word, as I just began to quote from John 3, where the old Nicodemus, good man, religious, believed everything. Jesus said to him, accept a man, be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. There's no possibility of him ever going to heaven, unless he knows what it was to be born twice, a second birth. Ye must be born again, Nicodemus, ye, with all your religion, integrity, believing God, going to the orthodox, the ordained religion, God said on earth, ye must be born again. How can a man be born again when he's old? Can he come out of his mother's womb a second time? He was stunned. Of course, God was thinking of you when this was happening. Billions would hear these words. He wasn't thinking of Nicodemus only. God knew you and I, everyone would be reasoning, listening to Jesus said, no, no, Nicodemus, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the spirit, that is capital S, is spirit. That which is born of the flesh, when you're born a child of your mother and father, you're not born a child of God. That doesn't make you a child of God. You're just a child of your mother and father. Ye must be born again. And that is a spiritual birth that a baby can't have anything to do with because it involves the intellect, the free will, the embracing, the obedience to the words of God concerning what God promises if you do, he will not turn you away through Christ Jesus. A baby can't do that. This is a spiritual birth. Now, this old man was listening to these words and he sits up. What's this Englishman speaking about? Now he gets worried. It's amazing. The Bible says, you don't know how God works. It's like the wind, the working of the spirit. You don't know where it's coming from or when it's coming, where it's going, but you know when it comes. In one moment, the first moment of his entire life, he's awakened. Wow. Through what? One verse in English that he hates. Now he's worried. So he goes home. The breakfast is finished. He says to his son-in-law, my boy, he's saying Afrikaans. That's the language of the early European settlers across Africa that are spoken by millions and millions of people as a daily language. He says, what's this Englishman speaking about? You must be born again. What's this? I've never heard of that. What's he talking about? Daddy, we have prayed for you all these years for God to show you that you're not born again, that this must happen. Daddy, we've grown to God. We've tried to explain you've never been interested. You just say, I've got my church, leave me alone. Daddy, I'm so grateful you're listening now. I'm so grateful, Daddy. Daddy, I have to go back and close up all the place, pay for the breakfast and all the halls and everything else, because he, the son-in-law, had organized this with other Christians. But when I get back, I'll immediately sit with you with the Bible. Daddy, you don't know what this means to me. And he's weeping. So he's gone. So this old man is now very worried. And he sees the man who organized the tour with me, sitting, having a peeling an orange on the little stoop in the front garden. His booty, that means little boy, okay. What does Englishman mean? You must be born again. I didn't understand most of what he's talking about. What does that mean? Oh, he's awakened, pow, and he's worried. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. Oh, so this man peeling the orange, of course, had heard him speaking to his son-in-law and prayed, God, let him come and ask me. So he says, Uncle, sit. He took the Bible, and he began to show. Now the old man says, I must do that. I must do that now. Oh, how is it I've never known? How could it be possible? So they kneel and cry. He wept his way to God. Now, I don't know how God does this, but he does. That man stood up, and he wasn't putting on a front, you know, mind of a man. He knew he was saved. He knew. You see, the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, God says. We know that we've passed from death until, if you don't know you're saved, you're not saved. Do you honestly believe God mocks you, died for you, cries out, he'll never turn away? You obey everything in the light you're given and embrace Christ, and then you have to live hoping, but not sure. No, God won't mock you, have to die for you. He won't. This man knew he was saved, and he stood up rejoicing with peace and joy, unspeakable and full of glory. Oh, hallelujah. You see, the Spirit, capital S, itself, Romans 8 tells us, also beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. Now, God tells us that, and God doesn't lie, sir. The Spirit itself also beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. 1 John 5 16, he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not, God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that is not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. You know, we know, John says in 1 John 2 verse 50, we know that we've passed from death unto life. Is this mockery? No, this old man stood up in one moment, 88 years of age, one prayer, agonizing before God, just awakened, crying out to God, and he knew, and he wasn't playing the fool, he was born of God. By the Spirit he became a child of God. The work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth, if you obey and embrace Christ's death, as he had, and resurrected power. Now, this man comes back home, and he's rejoicing. He says to his son-in-law, his daughter, both wonderful Christians that we stayed with, I'm born again. Hallelujah. He's just weeping, and they could see he meant it. Daddy, this is just wonderful. Oh, they're all weeping and praising God from their souls at last he's died. He has come to Christ before death. Then the old man says, where's mommy? Mommy never heard this. Mommy never knew this. What does that mean? Where is mommy? Where is mommy? I always thought I was going to see her again. Will I ever see mommy again? Daddy, you're never going to see mommy again. We'll never see her again. You will see us, Daddy. We'll be with you for all eternity. You'll never be separated from us, but you'll never see mommy again. You know what that old man did? He sunk on his knees, and then onto his face, and he sobbed so aloud they thought he would die in the agony, the joy in one moment, now the agony. Oh, no, God, no. They all got on their knees, trying to console him, weeping at his grief. That old man stood up. We came back two years later, and he had died. He had walked from that day when we left, and he went to every single home in the whole community with a Bible, with the verses highlighted. In Afrikaans, you must be born again. And it is told to us that he wept at every single home as they opened the door. They all knew him, the whole community, a large community. He wept as he begged them. I never knew. You don't know. You will never see your loved ones again. This hasn't happened I will never see my wife again. Please, I'm begging you. Seek God like I have. Find God. When he got to the last door of the last home in the entire community, he wept, he begged them, he showed them the scriptures, and he went home, and as he walked in the door, he fell down dead. The last, you think that has happened? You see, God knew there's not one single preacher in that town that ever would do that. Not one single Christian that ever did that or would think of it. An old man, so shaken at the eternal separation of those who have not been saved because of his wife. He went to every single home, and then God just took him away as he walked in the door, that there wasn't another home to go to. Or do you think that just happened by mistake? God let him live and have the strength for the last home. Oh no, brother. No, sister. My father's last words to my mother as he lay dying. My father's last words. Morty, and the tears just came down his face as he held her hand, dying, just about to die. I'm not sure you're saved, Morty. I've always lived in fear and scared to tell you but, Morty, I'm begging you. I'm so scared you're going to go to hell, Morty. I'm so scared that I will never see my Morty again, for all eternity. And that's unbearable. I love you more than anything in life, Morty. I'm begging you to see God. I'm begging you to be sure you're sure that I see you. I'll be waiting for you. Please, please be sure that I see you again. What a burden to carry for our loved ones. If we're not sure of their salvation, that we'll never see them again. I have here a newspaper cutting that I took out of one of our major newspapers in Southern Africa this year. Father Drowns. This is the headline. Father Drowns trying to save his children. Father Drowns trying to save his children. You know what I thought being a preacher? Immediately, I thought of all the fathers and mothers that I knew that are godly, but agonized because their children embraced sin and rejected God. But agonized and grieved on their faces and died prematurely. I guarantee you that through the agony those children put their parents through as they rejected and even mocked their father's grief and sin, went and served Satan, sitting at Satan's houses, at Satan's table, with Satan's people, feeding what Satan held out, rejecting God's houses, God's people, and God's gift. Oh, I thought of those mothers and fathers that I know have agonized and died prematurely at the agony their children put them through. I've even been in homes where their children beat them up that you wouldn't believe a human could do that to another human, beloved. Oh, the agony, the agony, the agonizing, desperate cry of a godly person for their loved ones. I know a young man, his name is Ian Coetzee, back in South Africa. He's a prieter, he's a pastor, and a very godly man. He was in our mission when he was young, years ago now, but what a fine young man, and today he's very revered in Southern Africa because of his integrity in the pulpit and with the scriptures, and his zeal for God. Now, Ian Coetzee shared his testimony to us years ago, and it made such an impression on me. He was sitting in a church that was very, very large, a great auditorium in Cape Town. I've preached there in ministers' conferences, I've preached in conventions that are held out there, and people come from all over. But in that particular service, the pastor of that church, before he preached, he said, is there anyone that would like to share if they have a genuine grief and great burden that they just are carrying, and they would like to share, and we can just pray for them as a congregation. And Ian Coetzee sat there with his two brothers, big boys, 18, 19 years old. There was their daddy, and he stood up, their daddy, and he shouted. With a loud voice, he cried out, weeping, yes, my three sons, and he pointed to these three grown boys, are going to hell. They're serving Satan with both hands, earnestly, unashamedly, imprisoned, no matter what it does to me, no matter what a grief it is to me and their mommy. My three boys serve the devil, and they're going to be cast into hell for eternity if God doesn't save them. And I'm agonizing, I can't sleep. Please pray for them, please. Well, Ian said he nearly died, as everyone of this massive building turned around looking at these three godless boys. Oh, Ian said he was so shocked as everyone started turning around, and the people behind him were looking, that he tried to crawl under the pew. Have you ever tried to crawl under a pew? It's a very difficult thing to do when you're big, but he literally tried. He couldn't face it. Are you judge his daddy and say that was very wrong, unethical, unwise? No, it wasn't. That made Ian begin to seek God that day. He was so shocked at his daddy's grief that he had never hit him, and the shame of being unsaved and grieving his parents publicly was now known. He began to seek God with such desperation. God mightily saved him, and he became first a missionary in our mission, and then a preacher in many a few pulpits. Now, I've preached for outreachers in a number of cities across South Africa where he was the preacher. Now, you may say that's wrong. You may judge his father, but let me ask you something. If those boys had gone to hell, unless their father had done that, would you still judge him? Would you still sit there judging if they were still serving God and probably dead by now in their sin and wickedness? I don't think we can. I, on a tour of a certain part of Southern Africa this year, there was a man called Tinus van der Westrezen. He's a leader of a large part and section of Southern Africa, and he organizes tours for me, which have really been a wonderful privilege, wonderful man. He was telling me how he has a home. Although he's a missionary, they didn't sell their house when they left for the mission field, him and his wife, a place called Malmesbury, a very famous place called Malmesbury. They speak in a unique way that anyone in Africa would know where you come from. Malmesbury, yes. He said, in Malmesbury, there's a strange thing. In the city, there's a bend in the road that goes to the big silos that hold all the corn of all the farmlands all around for miles and miles. So they bring in these lorries, the wheat and the corn, you know, all filled and driving one after the other, coming down. And as these lorries turn that corner, they don't slow down. And there's always spillage of wheat all over the street at that bend in Malmesbury, the city of Malmesbury. Now, the birds watch. And over the years, from when he was a young fellow to this day, as those things turn the spillage, the birds and their hundreds swoop down onto the street to take up all the corn they could, all these little picking. And the next lorry is coming swiftly, don't want to slow down. And all these hundreds of birds. And then they swoop up sometimes seconds before that lorry gets, but tragically, some linger just too long. And every day there are hundreds of birds lying dead over that corner, over that bend. Every day, there's a hundred who saw the other birds left it too late. Their lives cut off, knowing, knowing it can happen. But they linger just to feed a little longer, just to feed a little longer from the corn, knowing the danger, knowing that you could be cut off, your life could be cut off. That is, to me, very fearful, beloved. It's like sin. You foolishly linger on. You know the possibilities there of death, you know it. You'll never be able to say to God, you weren't aware that that could have happened. I mean, how many die a day? How many do you know has died? Cut off. You know, but you just, with that danger, you could be cut off. You just want to feed a little longer from sin. You want to sit at the devil's table, go to the devil's places, do the devil's things, feed from what Satan holds out, just a little longer. How do you know? Answer God. How do you know? I stood with a boy, 16 years old, and I begged him, with weeping, to see God. Minutes later, his body was chopped in half, as he just, angry. I've stood preaching with whole families, an entire family, in the place called Dundee. And I've said at the end of the sermon, how do you know you're going to reach home? And you're not saved, sir, and your whole family's not saved. How can you be sure that you'll even reach your door tonight, without being taken? And none of you, why don't you seek God? Seek God. And I was broken, weeping to these people, that whole family, sought God that night, many did. They got out into their car, drove out of the town, and were slaughtered, in one moment. How do you know? You say that won't happen. That's not going to happen. It can. It may. Twenty years went by. I was preaching in a Dutch Reformed church, a very large church, I'm afraid, a very large crowd. And at the end, standing up, right before the clock, for the first time in twenty years, I recalled what happened down there, in Dundee, so many years ago, when I was younger, how that family didn't reach the front door. That didn't happen because I preached or said that that was going to happen. That was God's final call. Don't think that just happened. So I said, up there now, in Freyheight, the same thing. And then I looked at a family standing in the back, and I cried, sir, there you are, the back row. Look at the size. Same thing. How do you know that you're not going to all be dead, your whole family for eternity? This is God's final call. And you won't reach your door. You won't go back in your home before you're all dead. And you're not going to see, oh, they did see God. First time they've ever been in an evangelical service in their life. And the last. They got in their car, they drove home. And an insane man, I'm going to all the political reasons, but he just slaughtered them. Their bodies dead at the door. They didn't go in there. You think that happened because I preached? No! That was going to happen. That's God's mercy crying out. How do you know? I got a sermon that's just on two hours that they spread across the world, the media, the Christian, of illustration upon illustration upon illustration upon illustration of events that happened to people I stood with. And either that day or the next day, but mostly that day, sometimes in minutes we're dead. I even remember preaching and crying. And in my sermon, a man just fell down dead as I was preaching. You think you can wait for the end of the sermon for an appeal to make a choice? Do you? How do you know you're going to be alive? How do you know? Answer God! 16 year olds, answer yourselves if your soul actually means anything to you, or are you your worst enemy? No one else is to blame for where you will be for eternity when you're cut off. How do you know as you linger? There's a verse in the Bible that says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Now, sir, that's not a promise. That's a warning. And it's in God's word. Seek ye the Lord. God's word cries out while he may be found. Call upon him while he's near. Is he near? You think he's going to come near again and again until you decide, I've had enough of sin. I'm close to it. Do you honestly think you can play the fool with eternity with your soul in God? Don't play the fool with God's soul. This could be God's final call. I preach like this because I know what can happen. Don't you judge me for preaching like this. Judge me if I didn't preach like this in this day of playing the fool with God. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. To our God we will abundantly pardon. What more can God say? But God won't force you to seek him. Now is the acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation if you will harden not your hearts. Now is the acceptable time. I can save you now. Today is the day of salvation. If you will harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation as they did in the Old Testament against God and he slaughtered them mercilessly. Oh seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Tomorrow may not be coming for you sir boy. Oh you think you can just linger the sin? It's a little longer. Knowing the possibility but just playing the fool with eternity. That's very foolish. That's very very foolish. Be careful you may be tempted to pursue to linger a little longer as those birds in their hundreds daily. Knowing you could be cut off and you will be separated forever from your loved ones who prayed for you, who pled with you, who pled with you. Beloved we dare not fail to warn them urgently. I wonder how many people are more desperate as they speak to their child or concerned of their child's education but they've never been desperate in about their child's soul. Never is concerned. Don't leave it too late to warn them of the eternal suffering they will face if they do not prepare themselves to meet with God. Luke 16. Terrifying chapter. I memorized all these verses preached on them in the light of many other verses comparing scripture with scripture. Luke 16. There where he speaks of the rich man and Lazarus. Now either this is a joke or you need to take it deadly seriously. One of the two choose because Christ said these words. Here this man wakes up in hell. He lifted up his eyes being in hell. Being in torments God says. Is that a joke? Is this just something of a little story? It's not literal. There's nothing literal be like that. Let me tell you there are seven judgments not just the great white throne. I heard a man speaking of the seven judgments and I was shaken in the light of the scriptures. If you die without Christ you don't wait for the great white throne. The second you die you will be plunged into hell. Revelation after the great right throne death and hell will be cast into the lake fire and brimstone which is the second day that the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever. No but the moment you die you don't wait. You're in hell. Your judgment is procured if you die without Christ. Don't doubt that. This man woke up in what Christ termed hell. Of course there's different meanings to the word hell but it was torment. I am tormented in this flame. And so he cries for mercy. No there's a gulf fixed between us and you. No one can leave from you ever to come to us. Can you imagine seeing recognizing those who made it and being told no you will never ever be able. There's no second chance. Send Lazarus. Dip the tip of his finger in water and touch my tongue for I'm tormented. Now either this is not just a little parable that's just a story that has nothing of significance to eternal flames to torment to eternity separation from God and man and no second chance. And then this man says something interesting and tragic. I have four brothers. I have five brothers. Brethren. Now suddenly here's an unshaved man in hell deeply concerned for the salvation of his family who are coming to the same place. Sir if one was to go from the dead from hell and warn them they would surely repent. No even if one went from hell itself they so set their minds to serve sin no matter what the consequences for eternity. God knew this. The folly of a man in sin who knows knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things were their death not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them. This is a terrible thing in Romans 1. You know but you have enjoy sin. Though you know the judgments of God are coming upon that sin you still go on. Now that to me is terrible. But there will never be anyone that could preach more effectively and desperately and compassionately as someone coming out of hell standing in front of a loved one and begging them not to face the same eternity. Though one comes from the dead. Isn't that tragic? That is one of the most tragic things God's ever revealed in the scriptures concerning our loved ones. But there's another passage that's even more tragic and fearful to me. And I've never heard a man in my life preach it. I've never found a commentary that's willing to make a statement that makes any common sense about it because it's too controversial. But in the last chapter of Isaiah the gospel according to Isaiah is the gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. There's one other book in the bible the gospel according to Isaiah. This side of Calvary before Christ died. But every single aspect of the gospel was there. The gospel speaking of the gospel dispensation from 7, 14, 9 chapter 9 every aspect that you will find of the vital doctors right down to the salvation of Isaiah 53 the cry to it for all the world to come it's free to he will know ways. Isaiah 56 and so it just goes on right through to the elements burning and all the heavens and the earth just being destroyed and flaming fire and a new heaven a new earth and then Isaiah ends this gospel according to Isaiah it ends with these amazing words staggering words the last two verses of the gospel every aspect having spoken about the the flames that the the the melting of the elements of the of the whole universe and the earth and the the judgments of God and it comes to this you see close to 70 percent they say of the new testament this is the old testament that's why you've got to know the old testament otherwise you really are ignorant about what it means even the death of Christ is in every sacrifice you're in poverty unless you soak yourself in the old testament and look at in the light of the new testament but the old testament sir it ends with it shall come to pass verse 23 of the last chapter that from one new moon to another and from one sabbath to another so all flesh come to worship before me say the lord and they shall go forth and look they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me they worm their bodies shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched there's no ending to a soul it'll never cease and they should be an abhorring unto all flesh now i want to go into dangerous territory don't you dare say keith daniel preached us and said this is for certain but i want to ask you why is that in the bible of course it's beyond our comprehension now anyone who's truly saved it's beyond my comprehension could be made to look into hell and see his children so i'm not saying this is definite that would put me into some real danger so don't you dare make me a heretic in this world okay by saying he you please no but i'm gonna dare to do something i'm gonna dare to actually read those two verses and in all the major commentaries they don't comment on it apart from some little shallow comment that doesn't put them into any danger on such controversial statement and how could god in our bliss eternal allow us to look i mean if it's one chance in a billion okay i'm not saying it is so don't you dare challenge me but if those two verses are not just there for some little meaningless if there's one chance in one billion that you could see your son daddy you're there i'm here for all eternity daddy i'm here because of you though you were there daddy your life made me reject christianity daddy can you just imagine though i still cannot along with all commentators cannot comprehend or even know how to honestly but forgive me for mentioning it that the whole book the most quoted book in the old testament of the new testament cement dispensation ends with those words staggering their loved ones in the glory whose dear forms you often miss when you you end your earthly story will you join them in their bliss will the circle be unbroken by and in that bitter home awaiting in the sky in the sky ay in the joyous days of childhood off they told of wondrous love pointed to the dying savior now they dwell with him above you remember songs of heaven which you sang with childish voice do you love those hymns they taught you or are songs of earth your choice you remember the happy gatherings round the fireside long ago and you think of tearful partings when they left you here below one by one their seats were emptied one by one day went away here the circle has been broken will it be complete one day will the circle be unbroken by and by by in that bitter home awaiting in the sky in the sky well that was the first part of the sermon has anybody looked at their watch stand up on your chair and tell us why no one well that's wonderful should they or anyone objecting me going on for 10 minutes you would be brave saying yes i wouldn't so there you are 10 minutes time me then say down boy okay let's just quickly see what i can do god's word also warns us of the tragic possibility of being separated ostracized from our loved ones here on earth i want to read to you some tragic passages and perhaps i won't read all of them simply because of the time now micah chapter 7 speaks of what the gospel dispensation for christ repeated these words the son dishonor of the father the daughter rises up against her mother the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law a man's enemies are the men of his own house and so christ speaks of this again and again matthew 10 34 luke 12 51 luke 14 and relates to these verses being speaking of the result of the gospel a man you don't know what an enemy is sir i've seen a man take his wife who he was good to the day she was saved and when she refused to turn back to what she was and enjoy sin with him he threw her till she was covered in blood down the steps and had no compassion he hated her oh god knew i've seen people beating up ostracized ostracized through these through salvation separated here on earth completely from our loved ones i won't go to all the verses psalm 69 verse 8 i have become a stranger unto my brethren my brothers an alien to my mother's children why psalm 88 verse 18 loved ones as lover and friends loved one sorry and friend has thou put far from me all my acquaintances into darkness isn't that staggering psalm 27 verse 10 god cries out when my father this man cries out in god's word when my father and my mother forsake me then the lord will take me up that's the comfort of losing your loved ones and they do you honestly think that the most christian homes all get united in christ brother you in another world if you don't know they don't as i 49 verse 15 god promises can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have a compassion yes they may forget it's possible but i will not forget thee he has said i will never leave thee nor forsake thee hebrews 13 verse 10 wonderful words but we need to be very careful here beloved the offense of the gospel it's impossible but that offense will come it does not give you the right to be offensive i want to repeat that though god says it's impossible but the defense will come beginning in the home men will turn on you and treat you like their worst enemy you don't know an enemy out there outside of your family in your whole life that is so cruel so merciless so brutal as what can happen to you if you suddenly don't want sin in that home and your loved one if they don't want god but god doesn't give us the right to be offensive blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake god says but if you're not persecuted for righteousness sake but for folly for stupidity for that which god says isn't christianity doesn't what god wants then you send them to hell you have to be christ like sir offense will come enemies will come in your home but if you give them the right blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you so they may all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice but if what they say is true if you really are foolish and unchrist like that anything but what god tells you christianity should be you reveal to them then you are the reason they're going to go to hell sir where god wanted you to reach them don't believe we have to be very very careful here very careful a brother offended proverbs 18 verse 19 is harder to be one than a strong city their contention is like a bars of a caution listen in its context this is speaking about a brother offended unnecessarily that could have been avoided i believe that with all my heart where god says agree with thine adversary your enemy quickly while it's not in the way with him unless at any time the adversary delivery to the judge the judge delivered the officer they cast him to hell listen agree with thine adversary especially at the advert the enemy is a member of your own household why don't agree by compromising there must never be a point of compromise but be careful be careful to be careful with these these words before you open your mouth sometimes it's better to speak to god about your your son than to speak to your son ever again about god he can't stop you doing that before a brother becomes so offended you'll never win him again ye fathers if he's in six verse four provoke not your children to wrath he's speaking to christian it's possible that you can be unjust in the way you provoke that god says you shouldn't do this this shouldn't be in your christianity 1 corinthians 30 has lived out in the home or the rest that you try and live it out is a lie and a farce and hypocrisy if it doesn't work in the home sir it doesn't work anyway ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the lord this is through the grace of god through you that is the result coliseum's for verse six let your speech be always with grace seasoned with thought you've got to be so careful sir i said to one man that's losing his family in this world i won't tell you what country for me weeping stop speaking man ask god for the grace to be quiet they know your grief they know your standard you don't have to have a blow up every single day and now they want to leave you and desert you and stop speaking just show them love don't compromise don't join them in front of these things when they want these things he says things have changed since then radically since he just asked god for the grace said to watch oh lord upon my mouth keep the doors of my lips ostracized through salvation in your life ostracized through exclusivity exclusivity oh i admit so many that i thought were the real thing but the next thing i found they were an exclusive sect that did there's a danger to society that a danger to anyone and you could lose your loved ones if they get involved in them you could be taking the right of even speaking to your loved one this world is so full of exclusive sects make themselves little gods you know oh they quote scriptures oh they speak of salvation but give them a while and they take your children away they won't allow you to see them be careful separation can come i know people that are because of doctrinal differences with manifestations and charismatic and fundamental christianity because of differences between calvinism and armenianism and i could go down the list they have nothing to do with their family they've lived there they've thrown out their family on doctrine exclusivity on certain doctrines biases can make you lose and be separated from your loved ones too i know a boy who loved his father farmer i was stunned at looking at this godly farmer weeping and saying his boy spoke in tongues as other manifestations and his boy tried to get them and they said no that isn't what god's speaking about in the light of 1 corinthians 12 13 14 there's something more that you have to seek not those things and that's corinthians 30 that boy couldn't work with his daddy left him after to just be to lose the farm he wouldn't speak for years you could be separated through doctrinal differences because it has so affects people by whom the radicals they're with oh be careful of losing your family losing your family oh god have mercy through religion and what we call evangelical religion through exclusivity and bias doctrines that make you willing to put them through hell or lose them but you won't change brother there's something wrong sister there's something wrong be careful of exclusive sex that are everywhere these heretical sects 2 timothy 3 13 warned us all who will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution now that's if you godly not just religious all who will live godly in christ you shall suffer it begins in the home though in the light of all the scriptures and be careful but evil men and seduces shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived in its context speaking about within the christian circles or under the banner of deceiving with heretical beliefs and you will be persecuted in the context here not just through them being ungodly and wilderness but through the ungodliness of knowing their deception is evil but through pride david wilkerson said the first thing god removes from any christian or any preacher through sin through continued harbored sin is discernment you lose discernment of this book you become exclusive you can become an animal cruel brutal and reveal nothing of christ to exclusivity deceiving and being deceived they deceived and they deceiving people oh be careful of these people and you will find them everywhere but then one godly lady who's been so cruelly treated by her family because of her pursuit of god and their pursuit of other things she said there's a verse in the bible Isaiah 58 verse 7 that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh be careful not to throw them aside if they're treating you like that reveal christ to them separated through divorce jenny's mommy once said the most important choice you will ever make in your life apart from us seeking god's salvation is whom you choose to marry i want to repeat that because you can suffer if it isn't god's choice the most important choice you will ever make apart from seeking god's salvation is when you choose to marry as with a man who is lying dying this year full of cancer and i knew him for many years a very godly man he wanted to go out in the mission field all he wanted as a young man i'm going out pow and he believed nothing else but that was for him and god said something amazing to him i don't want you to go out there to china i want your mission field to be your wife i want you to care for her like no other man take care of her love her make her life a joy be so christlike let her be your first mission and your children and he said as he lay dying he did and his wife testified to that with tears isn't it lovely i can tell you how godly a man is by looking at his wife's countenance a very godly man said to me and i could just go on and on and on and on but no one stopped me and i think you're wonderful for not stopping me all the separations that can come here on earth well the big question is now and all the things we discussed will you be separated from your loved one through any of these things christ eternity for all eternity death for all eternity no matter how they pled or here on earth separated wow through religion exclusivity pride i said to this one great man how is it possible that people who can quote scriptures stand on the streets preaching with such authority that they could become this dangerous sick that's doing so much damage to anyone who come here that these people's lives are in danger now even on the national television he said oh brother there's one thing that caught it at pride once you allow pride even if you can quote scriptures for you can lead souls to christ you're not the danger the next thing it opens the door to you to become a danger to society and you don't know it because the first thing that's taken away and pride is as wicked as sin as any other morals and his discernment and you believe you're right and the cruelty you're doing to your own father and mother the cruelty you're doing to people separated even here on earth can we stand please father take this message and to whom it is meant to the youngest child to the preachers to those who are soul winners and to those who sit in meetings like this but their hearts are out there with the satanic places because they love sin more than god and pleasure more than god even if they go to hell for eternity and put their parents through hell on earth oh speak and let this message bear fruit lord of salvation to all who sit here in these conditions and fruit on every aspect we've touched lord in the most staggering way do it bless us in this weekend these two more days left lord in a way that we will never ever recover we think we may forget but help us if we lie awake fearful as the messages come to our hearts with a vengeance as if we're sitting in the building until we obey god do that to every soul here lord in jesus christ's name and for his sake alone we ask these things in unswerving faith amen