In this sermon, the speaker shares a harrowing story of a man who falls into temptation and suffers severe consequences. The man is lured by a beautiful woman but is then ambushed by a group of people who beat and abuse him. Despite his wife's efforts to pay a ransom, he is ultimately beaten to death. The speaker emphasizes the importance of resisting sinful desires and the need for discipline and wisdom in making choices. He encourages the audience to learn from their mistakes and remember the consequences of sin in order to avoid falling into temptation. The sermon references Proverbs and highlights the significance of understanding the Hebrew word "acharit" which relates to the final consequences of our actions.

In the name of Jesus, amen. Amen. You can be seated. You can be seated. What I'm about to say to you, I don't say lightly, but for many of you, tonight's message will be the difference between heaven and hell. The difference between life and death. And many of you have heard thousands of messages and have forgotten most of them. Just like I have heard so many messages and could not tell you what many of them were about years later. But I tell you, you will never forget this message. My heart has been bursting with this. As I've looked out at you, sometimes it's been difficult even to back away and just to worship because of the burden of this. Years ago, a truth opened up to me from the Word that's so basic and simple and plain. And over a period of many years, there was never a theme that I preached on twice in the same way from the Word, except God would bring me back to this one. And I'd preach it in different parts of the world and I'd see somebody years later and they'd come up to me and remember this. I've been in the revival now for almost four years. Preached many Wednesday night and Thursday night services and some Saturday night services and now some Friday night services. And in a revival service, I've not yet preached on this. It was not until I wrote my 10th book, Go and Sin No More, that I even put this in print. I have to have a special sense from God to bring this. I never wanted to be trivialized in my own heart, in my own life. I never wanted to be common. I tell you, this has saved me from sin. I want you to turn with me to Proverbs, the 19th chapter. I don't think it's going to take me a long time to deliver this. Proverbs 19, verse 20, and then we'll be elsewhere in Proverbs. Before I get into this message, though, I'm going to give you a Hebrew lesson. You say, a Hebrew lesson? You said this is the most important message some of us will ever hear. Difference between life and death, a Hebrew lesson. Correct. In fact, I want all of you to begin by clearing your throats. And I want you to repeat a word after me. That word is acharit. Say it again, acharit. Here's your little Hebrew lesson. In Hebrew and Arabic and the other related languages called the Semitic languages, sometimes prepositions, sometimes words having to do with the order of things or direction. They come from parts of the body. For example, if I want to talk about someone being right next to me in Hebrew, I say they're by the hand. They're right next to me. They're by the hand. When I'm standing in front of someone, I'm literally to the face. I'm facing that person. To the face. When I want to talk about something that's on top, the top of a mountain, I talk about the head of the mountain. And because this is on top, this comes first. Words for first, words for beginning, come from the Hebrew word for head. The word acharit is related to the Hebrew word for back. And it literally refers to that which comes after. This is the principle. From your vantage point, looking on at me, you cannot see my back. Everyone in front of me, looking at me, you cannot see my back. Here I've got a suit on. Everything looks fine. But if I sat on something, maybe I sat on wet paint and the back of my suit was completely marred, you can't see that from this angle because you cannot see the acharit. You cannot see that which comes after. And Satan's great device that he has used to destroy countless hundreds of millions of lives is to blind you to the acharit. And your whole means of salvation and deliverance and perseverance is to never lose sight of the acharit, that which comes after, the final consequences, the end. When the Hebrew prophet, when Isaiah spoke about in the end of days, he spoke of the acharit of days, that which comes at the end, that which comes last. And this verse, Proverbs 19, 20, sums up the whole purpose of the book of Proverbs. And in so many ways, the whole purpose of everything God does. Listen to advice and accept instruction and in your acharit, in your final end, you will be wise. I remember one time, after yielding to the flesh, it was a relatively minor thing, you might say, but afterwards I was grieved in my spirit and I said to myself, if I could only remember the way I feel now, if I could remember that before I was tempted the next time, I'd never sin. If I could remember the way I felt after sinning and hold on to that the next time temptation came knocking at my door, I'd say no, because I'd remember the acharit, I'd remember the final consequences. I want you to turn with me to Proverbs 5. What I'm going to talk to you about is real life. I've had close friends of mine destroy their ministries, destroy their lives, destroy their marriages, because they lost sight of the acharit. Proverbs 5. You will find more lengthy sections in the book of Proverbs dealing with sexual sin than any other specific sin. You'll find the theme of wisdom throughout. But if you're looking for one specific sin that's nailed and spoken of in particular, at length, whole chapters devoted to it, it's sexual sin. And when Paul gives lists of sins in his epistles, he lists sexual sin first. And what we've heard confessed to more at this altar than any other sin, including from visiting pastors and ministers, is sexual sin. Nehemiah 13 reminds us about Solomon, the one that we understand, wrote these very words that it was sexual sin that destroyed him. My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Listen well to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil. She's so pretty. She makes you come alive. She's got what you need. Look at her at the front of that magazine cover. Look at her calling to you on your computer screen. Look at her smiling at you in the workplace. Her lips, her face, her curves, her figure. She's got what you need. If you'll only give yourself to her, you'll be satisfied. If you'll only go that way, that fulfillment you're longing for will come. She's special. The lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil. But her acharit, in other words, the final consequences of associating with her, her final end, the final end of those who join with her. Her lips drip honey, her speech is smoother than oil. But her acharit is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lead straight to the grave. She gives no thought to the way of life. Her paths are crooked, but she knows it not. There's some stories that I've read and people I've known, and their stories have impacted me, and some of them I've never forgotten. One of our grads heard what I was preaching on tonight. I just said the word acharit. He remembered it, and he remembered this very illustration. There was a rich businessman on Long Island, married man. And I read this account in a newspaper one day while going to teach in New York City years ago. I never forgot it. A young lady met him, offered him what he wanted sexually. Meet me at such and such a place, and we'll have some fun together. Here he is, a married man. Here she is, young, beautiful, giving him whatever she'll, whatever he'll want, if he'll only come along. As the story read, he met her at the location. But when he went in, instead of just her, there was a whole gang of people with her, and they jumped him. They beat him up, tied him up, threw him in their vehicle, and then brought him to an abandoned building in the city. There were extra thick boards on the windows so that you couldn't hear him from the outside. And they began to beat him. They began to burn him with cigarettes. The men began to sexually abuse him to the point of injuring his organs. They were waiting for ransom money, and his wife was coming up with it. But before the money even arrived, they beat him to death. They forced him to relieve himself in a diaper. The last five days, they gave him no food. I began to think of that picture. I began to think of this man's aharit. If he could have only seen himself shut in that room, screaming for mercy, burned with cigarettes from head to toe, beaten, humiliated, abused. If he could have only seen his aharit, I don't care what that young lady offered him. I don't care if a thousand young ladies offered him whatever he wanted. He would have said, no, I won't touch it. But that's not the way of the devil. The devil comes with the emotion of the moment and the need of the moment. Oh, he's just what you're looking for. You've got one opportunity to be with him. How can you say no? The lust and the passion rises. See, some of us have forgotten something about sin. Sin is tempting. The devil knows the weakness of the flesh, and sometimes we don't even need the devil to do it. Because we give ourselves over to the weakness of the flesh. The devil pushes people like Esau. What do you need a birthright for? What do you need these things for the future? You're hungry now. Forget about the consequences. Forget about what's going to happen later. Forget about the fact you'll end up in jail. Forget about the fact it'll destroy your marriage. Forget about the pain. Forget about the sexually transmitted diseases. Forget about the unwanted pregnancies. Forget about right now you're hungry. Forget about the fact that you're a minister and you've got to preach tomorrow. That porno's calling to you. Give yourself to the moment. Listen to the warning of Proverbs. Now then, my son, listen to me. Do not turn aside from what I say. Keep to a path far from her. Do not go near the door of her house. Lest you give your best strength to others in your years, to one who is cruel. Lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil and enrich another man's house. And in your acharit you will groan. When your flesh and body are spent. I remember visiting someone in the hospital. I got a call from a pastor I just met. He said, is there any way you can get to the hospital? There's someone there, needs ministry. I didn't even know the person. She had shacked up with a guy. Good relationship. Nice guy. Not married, but that's okay. Shacked up with this guy. Had a baby with him. Some years after that, the baby dies mysteriously, no one knows why. Until she comes down with AIDS and they realize what killed the baby. There she was in the hospital. Couldn't talk. All the tubes in her mouth withered away. I just began to talk to her. She hadn't received the Lord yet in her life. I just began to talk to her. And it turns out, later that night she was gone. Later that night she entered eternity. I believe right with God by His mercy. I began to talk to her and said, if you could have seen this. Could have seen your baby dying. Could have seen your own life cut short. Would you have ever gone near this guy? No. Only could have seen the acharit. Only could have seen everything stripped away. Friends that have walked with God for years, ministers of the gospel. It takes a long time to climb up that mountain. Takes a long time to climb up that place where people respect you. And you have a reputation for integrity and honor and trustworthiness. But you can fall from that mountain in one minute. You can open the door, open the door, open the door, open the door, open the door. And then take one step and you're through it. In your acharit you will groan. If only, if only I could go back and do it over. If only I could have seen what was coming. Do you ever have a dream and in that dream you've committed some horrible crime or some horrible sin? And you wake up and thank God it was just a dream. The problem here is you wake up and it's not a dream. You wake up and there's your board sitting there, your church board and you're confessing adultery and it's not a dream. And there's your wife out the door and it's not a dream. God bless you brothers from New Hope Home as the Lord is restoring your lives and restoring your families. How many baptismal testimonies have we heard when people said I lost it all. For what? For a little pleasure. For momentary satisfaction. For fleeting fulfillment. For what? To satisfy some animal desire? In your acharit you will groan when your flesh and body are spent. You'll say how I hated discipline. Why didn't I listen? Why didn't I listen before I went that way? I used to be free. I wasn't bound. I wasn't a slave. I was free to do the will of God. I was free to be holy. I was free to say no to wrong relationships. I was free to say no to temptations. Why didn't I open the door to the devil? Why didn't I listen? Why didn't I go forward at the altar that night? Why didn't I completely shut the door? Let me just warn some young people here. And I say this to you by the Spirit. It's not just something that I'm throwing in. And it's not just percentage with several thousand people here. It fits. I say this by the push and unction of the Spirit. Some of you here are playing games with the devil by leaving the door open to the possibility of a wrong relationship. Leaving the door open to the possibility of sin if that opportunity comes and your only hope friend is to slam the door on the devil's face and to turn the opposite way and walk away and leave it behind. Otherwise you will go down. You will say how I hated discipline. How my heart spurned correction. Anyone that works with me knows that I'm easy going as far as people making mistakes. I make mistakes. You make mistakes. I forget to mail this thing out. You forget to make that phone call. We make mistakes. And students can make mistakes and blow it in certain ways and we're just forgiving and loving and compassionate. But when somebody won't receive correction, that's it. When somebody hardens their heart to loving rebuke, that's when I tremble. When somebody can't hear a word of life designed to deliver them from the snare of the enemy, pride comes up. Or who are you to talk to me? Or because they are holding on to the sin, they're clutching to the sin, that's going to damn them to hell. That's when it's dangerous. You will say how I hated discipline. How my heart spurned correction. I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors. I've come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly. I remember meeting this family. What a tragedy. Years ago. I doubt the wife is alive anymore. I doubt one or two of the other kids are alive anymore unless God miraculously intervened. I was preaching and brothers told me a sad story. They introduced me to the family. The husband was gone. He was dead. Oh, he had been a preacher. He had been used by God. There are people that have been in this revival touched by God that are in backslidden conditions right now. And others lost and in hell. I wish with all my heart it were not true. And I hoped when we started to school that it would not happen. Although I knew I was hoping against reality. But I hope we wouldn't get a casualty report about a grad that messed up and blew it. Someone came to me the other day with a broken heart and said, you know, so and so, one of the pioneer students in the school, one of the first 84 to graduate, you know, he's bound by sexual sin and messing up his life. How can it be? How can it be? Here was a pastor used by God. He was even a church planter. He got discouraged. And friend, remember, if the devil can't come in the front door, he'll come in the side door, the back door, a window. He may not be able to get you to go out and get drunk. Dear man, hear me. And if the women are here from Waterfront, hear me. Devil knows when you get out of the program, he can't just come and hit you from the front because you're strong, because you're grounded in the Word. But he also knows when the wife says, look, I'm just not ready for you right now. And when that job offer suddenly leaves, and when somebody betrays you and steals some money, and you're down, or when you just have a fight with your spouse, or when your friends reject you and you're down, that's when the devil comes knocking. That same temptation that you said no to for the last six months, he comes knocking when you're vulnerable. This pastor got discouraged. He got down. He was in New York City. He went out and got drunk. Next thing, he ends up at an orgy. Next thing, he ends up having sex with another man. I don't know what his background was. I don't know if he came out of that or what. Think of the humiliation. Think of the shame. Think of the pain. Think of the grief. Agony of heart. What did I do? Who gets right with God, receives forgiveness, confesses, little by little is restored, goes back to ministry, everything's okay. No. One night. One sin. One time. AIDS. Kills him. Kills his wife. Kills his kids. If only he could have seen his acharit. If he could have seen his wife and kids weeping as they lowered his casket into the ground. I don't care how discouraged he got. I don't care how hot the temptation was. I don't care how severe the pain, the rejection was. He never would have touched alcohol. He never would have gone near those people. He would have said to his family, Chain me to the bed. Don't let me out of the house. If only he could have seen the acharit. There are people, I've got friends in this room, dear co-workers, and they know some of these people. My wife Nancy knows every one of them. People that we worked with. People that we labored with. People that I submitted to as pastor or leader over me. Over a period of 17 years, four main men, and three out of the four destroyed their ministries through adultery. I'll never forget the face of one of them. When I heard what was going on, I knew there were problems in his life. I had no clue he had gone that far. When I heard what had happened and God confirmed to my heart he was guilty, and I called him, he didn't want to talk to me, so I pursued him. I went to his house, and he finally opened up. After all, he finally opened up. He confessed. He began to cry. We went down to the basement of his house. He had this horrific look on his face, this contorted, anguished look. This agony, and as my heart was breaking for him, I was still praying a prayer, God, don't ever let me forget what he looks like. Don't let me forget this face. Some beautiful young lady came along. He had opened the door. He had opened the door. He had played games. He had hardened his heart. He let a little sin in here and a little sin in there, a little disobedience in there, and dropped a standard here and dropped a standard there. Before that, he was praying. Somebody came right along. He had his fling. He took off for a week. Instead of going to praying fast, as he told us he was doing, he took off with this lady. Oh, he may have had the time of his life. He may have had more pleasure than he ever had before, and all he's got now is a mark in grief. Lasting grief, that mark hanging over him. Reproach! In your acharit, you will grow. Hear me, friends. People have said this for centuries. It's so true. Satan shows you the bait. He doesn't show you the hook. All the advertising campaigns, all perfect plastic surgery, this, this, this, this. Oh, if you could only have that. Oh, if you could only touch that. And it's always out there. The glitter of the moment. I remember when I worked in New York City, when I taught Korean students training for ministry in the mid-1980s, and I'd go at lunchtime and walk over to a Christian bookstore to get some books to read as I'd take the train back. And I remember walking, and on one side of the road was this nude theater, you know, nude women advertised, and on the other side was the identical thing except it was all men. And I remember saying to myself, I remember saying to myself, even though the all men thing was no more in my background than it was in my background to be the next Martian president of the United... I mean, it was unrelated to my life. I remember saying to myself, if the devil can get you in here, he can get you in there. See, once you become a slave, once you become chained, as we preached before, as we lay out in the opening chapters of Go and Sin No More, sin leads to more sin, sin leads to worse sin. And before you know it, you're doing things you never dreamed of doing. Before you know it, there are cop cars around your house, and you're being carted off for child abuse. How did it happen? The devil blinded you to the akhirah. He blinded you to the consequences. And I want you to see something. Young ladies in particular, please hear me. Look in the sixth chapter of Proverbs. Chapter 6. You go home, you get on your knees, you read through all the 5 and 6 and 7 in the book of Proverbs, and ask God to everlastingly burn it in your hearts and minds. Verse 20, My son, keep your father's commands and do not forsake your mother's teaching. Bind them upon your heart forever, fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you. When you sleep, they will watch over you. When you awake, they will speak to you. For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life, keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife. Do not lust in your beauty after her, in your heart after her beauty. Do not lust in your heart after her beauty, or let her captivate you with her eyes. For the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life. Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man's wife. No one who touches her will go unpunished. Now I know temptation can go both ways. I know women can be tempted with the eyes, and men can be tempted to display themselves in certain ways. But for the most part, and in our culture, and the images that we have in front of us, constant, alluring, sinful, sensual images of women disrobed in every different level, calling, appealing to the eyes of men, appealing to the lusts of men. We used to tell our daughters as they were growing up, they're 22 and 21 now, we used to tell them, young men that are not right with God, they're just like dogs, going after some other dog in heat. They're just driven by these hormones and unclean. Assume that they're unclean and they're thinking towards you. You say, that's extreme. It's more right than it's wrong. And I'd rather be too extreme and warn there's a pit there, there's a pit there, there's a pit there, and there are only two pits instead of three pits, than say everything's okay and watch them perish. Young ladies, hear me, there is tremendous pressure on you to look a certain way, to dress a certain way, to behave a certain way, to have this certain kind of perfect shape and perfect body. And I urge you, young men as well, older men, older women, as well of all ages, but young ladies in particular, hear me, do not ever yield to the temptation to dress in a way so as to draw sensual attention to yourselves. Never, never do that. Never be a stumbling block to your brother or to your sister. You say, are you telling us, brother, that we ought to dress like the Islamic women and cover ourselves from head to toe? I'll tell you, if I had to choose between that and contemporary American dress, I'd choose that. Is there a happy medium? Sure there is. But if you're going to go to the extreme, go to the extreme of modesty, not immodesty. Trust me, you're not going to stand before God and God's going to say to you, why were you so modest? Why did you go to such an extreme with this purity stuff? God's not going to say to me on that day, Mike, why were you so strict? I don't mean laying trips on other people. I don't mean putting you into some legalistic bondage. And let me tell you, you can cover yourself from head to toe in burlap sacks and that won't save you and that won't make you right with God and that won't bring you forgiveness of sins. That's a gift by the grace and mercy and goodness of God. And we receive it as a gift. As I was writing my book on revolution that I wrote at the beginning of this year, one of the chapters is on uncompromising holiness. That's the theme of the chapter, the standard of the revolution. And I was sending some of the chapters as I was writing them to dear friends here in the worship team, Benny and Hazel. And I talked about dress in that and conduct. And Benny just sent me a note, a principle, that they've taught their family. Two things about dress. Clothes. The clothes that we wear should draw attention to the face. And the purpose of dress is what we're trying to cover up, not what we're trying to reveal. I like that. Come on, my brother. Is it just that you ran out of money to get new shirts once you started lifting weights? Is it just in case somebody's car is stuck and they need a push that you want to let them know that you're ready to help and you've got... Come on! Young lady, you lost some weight. Do you have to show everybody? Does it have to be the, look at me, look, I can get into this tight thing. If you're conscious as you're dancing and celebrating before the Lord, and you're drawing attention to yourself, and you're doing it in such a way, thinking of, look at how I look. Look at what I'm showing off. See how I look in this new outfit? See my legs? See the way it flatters my body? See this, see that? You are working with the devil, my friend. You are a co-worker of hell. You may be saved, but your plan was lying. And you may just get your heart's desire. Some animal guy may just get you on the way home. He may find in you just what he wants, but he may not want you to tell anybody about it either. Let's rise higher. Let's be holy people. Let's be people of modesty and godliness. Let me say it again. Never dress in such a way. I'm talking about your public dress. Never dress in such a way so as to draw sensual attention to yourself. Never dress in such a way so as to be an object of lust. Let me just tell you one more gruesome story, and then I'm going to move on. Another story that I never forgot. Fifteen-year-old girl on Long Island. Having problems in the home. Broken family. Mother, stepfather. Constant battles, constant conflicts. She was a good-looking young lady. And God may have blessed you with good looks, and God may have blessed you with a good figure. Let me ask you something. If God blessed you with an ability to break into homes, I mean, you're just real slick with breaking into homes. Does that mean you ought to be a thief? Perhaps if God's really blessed you with a beautiful body, why be in church? Why not be a prostitute and make a lot of money? I mean, let's just wake up. Let's just use a little common sense. Let's just be honest. You say, well, you're stealing my joy. If your joy is to be an object of sensual lust, then get saved. But don't go around parading as a believer. I love to look out at our student body, men and women of all ages, and look at the beauty on their faces. Look at their enthusiasm as they're going after God. There's a beauty. There's something special. I look at some young couples. I say, what an awesome young couple. Look at them. Look at how they glow. Don't degrade yourself, friend. A young lady, 15 years old, but she looked very mature for her age. Finally couldn't take the conflicts in the home. Decided she was going to leave home. Went with a friend. They started hitchhiking down south. Picked up by a trucker, and he paid them some money to perform a particular act with them. And afterwards, they wept in shame. They got out of that truck and they wept in shame. They could not believe what they had done. Well, she made it down to Texas and wrote her family, everything's fine, I'm working as a waitress in a restaurant. What she didn't tell them was that she needed some money, because she was young and good looking, and mature body for her age and all this, and good personality. Well, she ended up, not quite as a waitress, but she ended up working in a bar with pornographic movies in the background, and then would come in and pick out which lady they wanted. It was just house of prostitution. It had only been a few months earlier that she wept with shame over something far less degrading, but the heart gets hard. You say, man, I don't watch people take their clothes off on TV. I mean, Steve Hill preaches about that. What's he so fanatical about? That doesn't bother me. Friend, it doesn't bother you because your heart is hard. What's your problem, man? You don't go to the beach with all these bikini-clad people walking around. What's your problem? My problem is I love Jesus. My problem is that that stuff is unclean and defiling and brings lustful, suggestive thoughts into your mind, and if it doesn't bring them into your mind, it's not because you're so holy, but because you're so hard. This may be a little extreme statement, but friends, this is life and death. And I'm doing my best to speak in such a way that whatever I'm saying, as radical and extreme as it is, is not using certain words and terms that are going to send kids scurrying to ask what I'm talking about. But, you know, there are people that actually hang out in nudist colonies, and they're not turned on being around that. Is that because they're really holy people? Is it because their standards are so high? No, it's because they get used to it. We've gotten so used to the smut. We've gotten so used to the junk. We've gotten so used to the low standards. Listen, as bad as things have been on television and radio, I got this report last night just checking the news and saw it on the Internet. From 1989 to 1999, one decade, there is now three times as much sexual content on network television. Three times as much. We get used to it. We get hard. We lose touch with reality. Watch them shoot them up on television, shoot them up on video games, go into school and shoot them up. What's the problem? What did I do wrong? This young lady was now in prostitution. She became the most popular girl there. Just 16 years old now. Became the most popular girl in the place. And then realized that the other girls were getting jealous and decided she had to get out of there while she could. But they caught her. The owner and his wife caught her when they pulled her naked body out of the river, when the police pulled her out. They said it had been the most horrifically tortured body they ever saw. Sixteen years old. Cigarette burns from head to toe. Broken jaw. Shot to death. Thrown in the river. She could have just seen the video of her life advance a little bit. She could have just seen it. Watch them pull that body out. She would not have heard her screaming for mercy if she only could have seen her Aharit. She would have let her parents scream and yell at her. She would have let her stepfather say whatever he wanted. She would have taken all the verbal abuse. She would have just sat there and smiled. Anything but going that way. Friend, when that end comes, when that Aharit comes, you can't reverse it. You can't go and turn it around. When you stand before God and He says, Just depart from me. I never knew you. You can't say, but God, now that I understand, can't I have another chance? You can't pull that Aharit back. Look with me in Proverbs 23. It's going to take a couple more minutes. Give you a word of encouragement and call you to a decision. A life decision. Proverbs 23, verse 29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it's red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. Its Aharit bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. You ever see the beer commercials on television? My dad, who died in 1977, my dad was a senior lawyer in the New York Supreme Court. Of course, knew laws very well. When I was a kid, he said, You know, on these commercials on television, it's against the law to show anybody actually drinking. I didn't realize that. Most people never realize that. That's why they got to make that cup look so good. That mug look so good. That glass look so good. Here it is. You're hot. You're sweaty. You've been out there working hard. You've been playing hard. Oh, it's been a long day. And you come in and there it is. And they pour that beer, that golden beer, that white head just on top of it. Oh, it looks so good. It just gets to the lips. They never show you drinking it. Not allowed to in the commercials. It's glowing. Just what we need. I remember as a boy, my friend and I decided that we just had to have a beer. My dad used to have a card game at his house and some of his friends would drink beer. And he had it in the house. My mom and dad went out one night. My friend and I decided, We're going to have some fun. We're going to drink a beer. We got those big pretzels, those big hard pretzels. And it was wintertime and there was snow on the ground, but we wanted to go out bike riding just so we could get like in that commercial. All sweaty and hot, and even though it was winter, there was snow on the ground. My parents had this tandem bicycle. It was a two-seater. And we'd drive out on this thing, on a flat tire actually out there in the snow. And we came back home. We were good and sweaty and all that. We took out those glasses and we poured. Oh, it looked just like it looked in the commercial. We poured that thing and took a pretzel to get our mouths nice and dry. It was absolutely horrid. Not what we expected at all. How many of you remember that first puff of a cigarette? We still tried it another time because we saw so many commercials we were convinced it must be better. Again, I was on a train one time going into New York City and I looked and there was this champagne ad. It was one of these perfect settings, you know, an exotic island somewhere. That's just the feel you got looking at. And the perfect couple. They were not born, they were chiseled. You understand? I mean, perfect features, perfect everything. And they're looking there. They're sitting there. And there's that glass of champagne on the table. And you know, the light's hitting it in such a way that there's that reflection in the eyes. Oh. And there you are, sir. 674 pounds with warts from head to toe and no teeth. If you can just get that champagne, you just kind of enter into that and she'll just be sitting there glowing looking at you. Oh. Do not gaze at water. And when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smooth, it'll calm your nerves. So much pressure. So much on you. Come on, nobody can handle just that one little drink. It'll calm your nerves. And it does. I don't feel so bad. The world's a better place. I'm going to make it. Life is all right. I'm feeling a little happy. I just need another cup. I need another bottle. I need another drink. Man, that white powder. Just snort it. Just heat it up with that little spoon there and shoot it in your veins. You'll feel like a king. I have a friend in ministry for a while. His ministry funds went down and he couldn't figure out why. Monies didn't seem to be coming in like normal. Turned out there was a man on his staff that had been stealing all cash that had come in in different forms. He'd been an alcoholic before he was saved. And as a believer, was walking with God for years until one day he had one drink. I've heard this story too many times. I do not believe you can make a case from the Bible that teaches clearly. This is my own belief and understanding, having studied the Scriptures carefully. I do not believe you can make an airtight case from studying Scripture that says that believers under no circumstances should drink alcoholic beverages, wine, beer, anything else. I believe you can make a very strong case based on principle, based on example, that we ought never to touch it, have it in our home period, in public or in private. Even if you could justify it on any other level, somehow, somewhere, even if you felt you could and said, well, there's no drunkenness, there's no abuse, there's no this, there's no that, you open up the door for someone else's destruction. You get some other weak person. You say, well, I don't do it in public. If they ask you about your private habit, you should be able to say, I don't touch it. That's why every night when Steve urges people, if you've got booze at home, pour it out. We say, Amen, pour it out. Get rid of it. You remember the old ads for Marlboro Country? Marlboro Country. There's this big, strong cowboy on a horse. He wasn't on a horse, that was a steed. And there's beautiful green pasture as far as the eye can see. You just take that cigarette. I was never a cigarette smoker. Most of my friends were. You just take that cigarette. Just take a drag. It's not until you get that poison in your lungs, you're in Marlboro Country. You're now big, strong cowboy. There you are living in your roach-infested apartment in the inner city, but no, now you're in Marlboro Country. Just have that drink and just enter paradise with the partner of your dreams. You know where Marlboro Country is? It's the lung cancer ward of the hospital. You know what happened to the Marlboro man? I heard it from two relatives, and then I found out it was just public knowledge. He died of lung cancer. Was it worth it? Smoking cigarettes? Was it worth it? There's the dad holding the kid's hand as his wife is withering away in the hospital, dying of lung cancer because of cigarette smoke. Never see him again in this world. She could have only seen her ahareet, seen the final consequences of her actions. She never would have touched it. Is it worth it? You go walk the streets of New York City and other major cities, and you'll find somebody laying on the ground in their own urine, vomit all over them, bloody nose. They'll have some bottle of glue there that they're trying to huff to get high from. Two years before, they were the CEO of some company happily married with a family. Little cocaine, little drink got into their lives and destroyed them and took everything. If they could have seen their ahareet, seen them laying there, seen the hopelessness of it, seen the shame. I don't care what situation presented itself. They never would have touched it. Your eyes will see strange sights. Your mind imagine confusing things. You'll be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the ring. They hit me, you'll say, but I'm not hurt. They beat me, but I don't feel it. When will I wake up so I can find another drink? God help us. You know, there's something encouraging, and I'm going to close here and give you an opportunity to respond. Some of you right here tonight, it's going to make the difference between life and death. You're going to turn away from playing games. You're going to turn away from sin. You're going to turn away from the devil and turn to God. That's what repentance is. And the blood of Jesus is going to wash you clean and give you a brand new start. Oh, there's six months from now, a year from now, five years, ten years, temptation is going to raise its head, and the Aharit is going to come back. You're going to remember. And as your hands are ready to touch that thing, you're going to say, it's not worth it. Every BRSM student and grad here, more than anybody in this place, my heart is lit with you. I plead with you. I beg of you. Remember the Aharit. One of the most painful things I've ever had to do is look students in the eye. Sometimes I haven't even said a word. They blew it. Had to be put out of school. We do everything we can to see them restored and go on with God and come back and pursue the call. But to have to look at them, and there they are crying and shaking. I've had them sit in my office. They can't talk because they're crying. So full of shame. Why? Why? I preach this to myself, friends. Look at what it says in Proverbs 23, 17. Do not let your heart envy sinners. Always be in the fear of the Lord. NIV says always be zealous. It's just in Hebrew. Always be in the fear of the Lord. Oh, yeah, it looks like they're having a great time, the party life. Oh, man, you're so restricted. You're so bound up in church. There's rules, regulations. Old people telling you how to live. Stealing your funds. You need the party life. You need to step out. Just do your own thing. No, no, no. Don't let your heart envy sinners. There is an acharit for you. Your hope will not be cut off. Look in the 24th chapter. Verse 19. Do not fret because of evil men. Or be envious of the wicked for the evil man has no acharit. The lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out. You know what that's saying? Let the fate of the ungodly cut off. Destroyed from the presence of God. Darkness. Who are they? What about all their accomplishments? God. They were so big in this world. God. All they worked for. God. But the righteous have a future hope. The righteous have an acharit. The righteous have something to look forward to. And I love to think about it. I love to think of seeing people that I haven't seen in the rest of this life. Believers. Godly people. And here we are in God's eternal kingdom. Here we are in the heavenly kingdom. And I look and there's somebody glowing bright. There's somebody I can hardly recognize. And they're shining so brightly. The joy. The peace. The pleasure of God all over them. Is that you? That's you? Look at you. What an acharit. What a final and forever and ever and ever and ever. No joy. Forever and ever joy. Without sorrow. No pain. No suffering. No grief. No temptation. No problems. No tears. But endless fulfillment. Endless adventure in God. Endless joyful pleasure that's pressed forever and ever and ever and ever and ever without end. That's acharit. A weeping and gnashing of teeth. Cut off. Friend, the Lord loves us so much He warns us. Take heed to this instruction. Take heed to this counsel. So that you can be wise in your acharit. Everybody please stand. Everybody stand. Those with chairs please move them to the left and right. Otherwise nobody stir in this place. Please nobody else stir except prayer team that needs to. I ask you tonight. Is your life right with God? I ask you tonight are there secret sins? Are there tendencies? Are there hidden things which if allowed to reach their final culmination would destroy you? I ask you are there areas of compromise? Here's a very simple question. You know the way you're living. You're getting closer to the Lord. You're getting farther from God. You're becoming more sensitive. You're becoming harder. You're walking in the fear of God. You're playing games. If you continued on the path that you're on how would you end up? If you continued on the path that you're on what would your acharit look like? You may be here as a minister. You may be here as a visiting student. You may be in our school. You may be an usher in the revival. You may be a member of this church. You may be a visiting minister whoever you are. God's searching every heart. God's looking at every life. And this altar is going to be a place of mercy and forgiveness and grace. As Charles Finney said to a weeping crowd in a city that was nicknamed Sodom. As they were weeping and wailing and screaming he said you're not in hell yet. You can still pray. The final chapter hasn't been written. Your acharit has not been sealed yet. There's still time. I don't care if you've wasted years. You can get right with God. And the end can be better than the beginning. What will your acharit be? Don't hide in the back of the balcony. Don't hide in your home listening on radio or internet. If God's dealing with you right now his convicting spirit's fishing you out. If there's something in your life. If your life as a whole is not right with God. If there's secret sin. If there are things hidden and covered. There are things out in the open. Whoever you are I remind you Jesus paid the price for every sin you've ever committed. His blood cleanses us. His blood satisfies God. When we put our trust in him and say save me from my sins. He'll give you a brand new start. Whether it's a secret lust. Whether it's a relationship. Whether it's the whole pattern of your life. Whether you've never known Jesus. When I open these altars I want you to come with God speaking to you through this message. I don't want you to worry about what anybody else is thinking. What it looks like. God sent me to bring this message to save you from destruction. To save you from shame. To save you from destroying your ministry. To save you from hell. Father bring your people home. Save those who don't know you. Turn up the heat of conviction until every last unclean thing is burned out of our midst. In Jesus name amen. If God's speaking to you come right now. Don't wait for anybody else. Step out and come. Step out and come friend. Step out. I don't care who you are. I don't care how it looks. Step out. If God's speaking to you come on. Step down from the balcony. Make your way around people. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. Jesus. God knows. Don't hide it. If you harden your heart today you may not have a chance tomorrow. God's dealing with you. Come on. Step out. Humble yourself. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. Come on friends. Jesus. Jesus. Watch your screen Jesus. Show us the occurrence Father. Cast off the fear of man. Step out. Get right with God tonight. Jesus. Jesus. Are your hands clean? Can you look me in the eyes and say my hands are clean, my heart is pure. If not you need to be a patriot. Jesus. Jesus. There's several dozen people in their seats that have been guilty of viewing pornography in the last weeks. And you're standing in your seats. Humble yourself and get right. Humble yourself and get right. There's some guilty of every attitude of the heart we've been speaking about. And you're sitting there. Humble yourself. Get right. You say does that mean I have to leave the sin behind? Absolutely. Absolutely. Jesus. God's deal with you. Come on. Young people it's time to get consecrated. The overflow. Get right with God. Get right with God. Jesus. Just going to take one more minute. This is not a competition to see how many people we can get to the altar. When I preached this message at a men's conference that was sponsored in this church here, we got a letter subsequently from one man who had been living in adultery for years. And it's brought tremendous upheaval in his life to have to confess to his wife and the leadership in his church. But for the first time in years. For the first time in years. He's free. And he's on the path of restoration. Now listen. Some of you here have been covering your sins. Covering your tracks. You know just how to do it. But God's saying I see you. And destruction is near. I see you. You buried it. Covered it. Buried it. Covered it. Buried it. Covered it. God sees it. And if you don't deal with it tonight. It's going to come back and bite you. I'm saying this to help you. I'm saying this to help you. If God is dealing with you. In the balcony. In the overflow. In the front row. If God is dealing with you. Humble yourself. And step out. And get right. Forget what the people on the bus think that came with you. Forget about that. If you say but how am I ever going to tell my spouse? You're going to have to. Because that which is done in secret is going to be shouted from the rooftops according to scriptures. Unless we get right with God and it's cleansed. Anyone else that needs to respond. Anyone else. The seeds that you're sowing now are going to lead to destruction. The doors you're opening now are going to lead to destruction. The sin you keep trying to bury is going to come back and bite you. If that's you friend. And I give this last appeal. Linda will sing this through one more time. While the door of mercy and grace is open. Sing it through one more time Linda. Come breathe on me now. Oh life here and now. Come breathe on me now. Redeemer. You're looking for hearts. Broken and contrite. In love with faith. At least I'll be there. At least I'll be there. To stay your friend. At least I'll be there. It's alright. To follow your way. At least I'll be there. In time I'll be there. At least I'll be there. To stay your friend. At least I'll be there. At least I'll be there. Father I just pray right now for those that haven't responded. I pray Father. That the deep feeling of uneasiness and that. Conviction would only increase every moment that they resist. That you bring them to the breaking point. Lord if they leave here still resisting turn up the heat of conviction. Make them miserable in their sin. Lord I pray something I don't. Know that I've prayed before. Lord I pray this for me. I pray this for everyone here who says Lord I want you. Lord I pray that you would embarrass us and expose us. Before you'd allow us to destroy our lives for good. Lord I'd rather be ashamed in this world than in the world to come. Father bring secret things to light. Lord not those things which are confessed and turned from and under the blood. But those things Lord which are only going to come to destroy us. Lord bring them to light in your mercy. Before it's too late. Lord that man that's in our midst that is fully planning on going back to his drug life. Father. Lord bring it to the surface so he can get help before he kills himself. Before he takes that one step and doesn't wake up to think about it again. Lord for that couple that stands here in our midst and hears this message. Contemplating divorce. Lord open their eyes to truth to reality. To the pain of it to the consequences of it. To the blemish of it to the hurt of it. And save them and spare them Father. And those that just feel so ashamed and too ashamed to even come. Lord show them that you're a forgiving God. Show them Lord the only way out is to come clean. Those that have committed crimes and are terrified to make it known for the consequences. Lord show them it's the only way to get out of the prison of their soul. Jesus. Just feel to say this one last time. If there's anybody that God's dealing with even as I pray. Just step out right now because we're going to pray. Jesus. Jesus. I'm not going to have you turn to the person next to you. I'm not going to have you prompt anybody. I just don't feel to do that. There's one last person. We're still waiting for you. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. There's some lives still in the balance. I hate to see you leave without the surrender. Everybody at this altar just ask God to wash you clean and change. Just ask God for a fresh new start. Ask God to put a hatred of sin in your life. To show you how ugly it is. To show you that your worth and your identity is something a whole lot different than what you've been living for. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. I want you to pray with me at this altar. Prayer team, here's what I want you to do. I want you to get with these people as Lendl continues to lead us in quiet worship. Because we're going to go right from that back into just pursuing the Lord in his heart. I know this is pretty heavy and pretty intense. But eternity will show the fruit. Prayer team, if you make your way out. We're going to pray with these folks and then you're going to squeeze your way in right where they are. You're going to get with them. If you can kneel next to them, put your arm around them. Those that want to stand up, you can stand with them. But let's seal this thing at the altar. And someone's going to pray with everybody right here at the altar. Nobody's going to leave untouched here. And if you've got to just confess the most terrific thing, get it out. We've heard it all up here. Everybody at this altar pray with me now. Say this out loud. God, Heavenly Father, I confess my sin to you. I don't hide it. I don't make excuses for it. I've sinned. I've broken your laws. I've hurt myself. This night, I ask you to wash me clean with the blood of Jesus. Lord, remove the guilt. Remove the stain. Remove everything that stands between us. This night, I turn from my sins. I renounce everything unclean. I say no to compromise. And I ask you to give me a brand new slate through the blood of Jesus. I'm yours, Jesus. Spirit, soul, and body, I hold nothing back from you. My life is yours. Use me for your glory. Give me a blessed Aharit. May my final end be one of joy and victory. This night, I renounce Satan. Devil, you lose. I am not yours. I belong to Jesus. Jesus is my Lord. Jesus is my Master. Jesus is my King. Jesus is my friend. He is with me. And he will carry me through. Prayer workers, just get...