In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the universal nature of sin and the need for individuals to acknowledge their sinful state. He highlights that the Bible is the only book that reveals the true nature of humanity and pronounces God's judgment against sin. The preacher warns against relying on good works or personal righteousness, stating that salvation can only be found through acknowledging one's sinfulness and turning to God. He also references biblical examples of individuals who were struck with fear and awe when confronted with the presence and glory of God, emphasizing the seriousness of having a relationship with the true and holy God. Additionally, the preacher explains how the Israelites faced judgment and suffering due to their sin, serving as a reminder of the consequences of disobedience to God.

The Book of Judges, chapter 6, verse 19. The Book of Judges, chapter 6, verse 19. And Gideon went in and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour. The flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And there rose a fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God, for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee. Fear not, thou shalt not die. Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah Shalom. Unto this day it is yet an ophrah of the Abba Yisra'el. Upon whatever subject the word of God touches, it speaks with authority. The word of God does not make guesses, or present half-truths, or falsehoods. Upon whatever subject the word of God touches, it speaks with assurance. And in this sense, the written word is very kin to the incarnate word, the Lord Jesus Christ. For it is written of him closing his message on the Sermon on the Mount, that the people were astonished because he taught them as one having authority. They were used to going to the scribes who would say, Well, I think so, or it might be so, or it looks to me like it's this way. But the Lord Jesus Christ had no such statements to make when he taught that Sermon on the Mount, or when he taught on any occasion. When he spoke, he spoke with authority. There was no think so, or hope so, or maybe. The Lord Jesus Christ said, Thus and thus it is, and thus it doth, and thus and thus it shall be. Heaven and earth shall pass away, he could say, but my words shall never pass away. And whatever subject this book treats, it speaks with that same authority. Whether it be creation, or salvation, or whatever it be, it makes no difference. The word of God comes straight out with what the truth is. For instance, in regard to creation, you read the magnificent opening sentence of the whole word of God, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In regard to man, the word of God is just as crystal clear in the second chapter, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. I have no argument to make between the word of God and science. It's not my field. But wherever the word of God touches on a scientific subject, though it is not a book of science, the word of God speaks with authority, and it has stood firm. You can go into any second-hand bookstore. They're outdated and worthless. What was taught as truth years ago, by the hand of Moses, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the Lord God, and this book speaks. When hearing the word of God, the wisest man that ever lived saw could stand at the side of a grave or a tomb, and could bring all the learning that he had gained to bear from that subject. He could use his brain and his mind far more wisely, and he could assert all his mental power, and the only thing he could come to was that I don't know what lies beyond that tomb, and that's where men and women make their... It was the writing of a man, who using all the knowledge he could gain from under the sun, applied that knowledge to the subject. What happened after the person died is beyond the knowledge of any other writer of scripture. The word of God knows nothing about a... The only thing... Eternal salvation. There isn't any other... I want to take up with you tonight... You may know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you... Eternal life. And I'm using a picture of... Take the history of this man. He was a man of the nation of Israel. They were in distressed circumstance. Whenever Israel went out to... Whenever they took care of... Their houses were rifled. And here was a people to whom had been promised a land. God said, I'll cut out all your enemies before you. I'll give you that land. Their long labors through the years, and building up their harvests in their fields, and their vineyards were all gone for nothing as they watched... Ah, this people had sinned against... God very often used the Gentiles... Sin for deliverance, and they got no... I warned you about the gods and the Gentiles. I exhorted you not to go after them. I forbade you to set up idols and worship them. And you disobeyed me. And that's the only... You and I are under the judgment of God because of sin. And let's not quibble about this tonight. The word of God is just as clear... Might appear sin. You love to call yourself... Or a mistake. Or an oversight. God's word doesn't quibble with such terms as that God's word calls it sin. S-I-N. And what you do and what you fail to do are listed in the word of God as sin. To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not. Oh, it's simply an oversight. The word of God said it's sin. And the word of God is just as clear as to the consequences of sin. The wages of sin is death. And you and I are under the sentence of death. And I repeat, this is the only book in all the universe of God that... And show you exactly what... It says to them that are under the law that every... And all the world may be brought under the judgment of... Sitting here tonight, my friend. Oh, I cannot sit down with you about the gospel of... Not until the judgment of God has shut your mouth. Are you ready? And I trust you'll learn this truth tonight no matter how respectable you may be. You are nothing but a sinner on the road to a lost eternity. I was invited to address a very... Well, I said, well, there's only one thing I can give them. They too was... That sin was sin in their life just as much as it was in the life of... And so it is, my friend. The word of God knows no difference. There is no difference. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Too many of us are like the Pharisee who went up into the temple to pray... And my friend, it doesn't matter who you are tonight, from what kind of a home you may come, what kind of a life you may have lived. You are a sinner. The word of God says without exception, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Oh, I thank God I've lived to see that. Gideon belonged to a nation of sinners. Wherefore, it is by one man's sin upon all men, for that all have sinned. And you and I are descended from sinners. Oh, my friend, listen. You don't have to commit a sin to become a sinner. You commit sin because you are a sinner. If you weren't a sinner, you wouldn't commit sin. You commit those sins because by nature you are a sinner. Both by nature and by practice, you and I are sinners. And so Gideon was a member of a nation under the... Gideon felt that very much in his own life upon this present occasion. Alas, oh Lord God, what's your trouble, Gideon? Why are you wailing and bemoaning now? Why are you... Do you think you're going to die because that's the assurance that came to it? You're not. My friend, it's going to be a terrible day in your experience if you ever stand in the presence of the living God in your sin. I do trust tonight that God, by His Spirit, will so bring His Word to bear upon your heart that you will be brought face to face with the realization of a living, holy God. And you'll be brought to face the matter of your sin in His presence tonight and not wait until eternity when you appear at the Great White Throne. And in that coming day at the Great White Throne judgment about which we heard one night this past week, the heavens and the earth will flee away from before the face of Him that sits upon them. And if heaven and earth flee from God's presence and there's no place found for them, where are you going to flee? You, a sinner, must face a living and a holy God, a God who cannot, for whom it is a moral impossibility to overlook sin. It is no more possible for God to overlook sin than it is for God to sin. He cannot overlook sin and remain Himself holy. And so it has always been in the experience of faith. And I take the case we've used so often. God didn't pick out a man and say, Satan, do you see that wretched man down there who's living in sin and iniquity? Let's bring him out, Satan. Have you seen him? God didn't put that kind of a man through the test to show you what he is. God took His righteous servant Job in order to explain. It wasn't a man who lived in lasciviousness, who was outlying in the gutter of sin and immorality. It was a man moral and upright and religious in his day. And God took that man through the cross and revealed His own heart to him until Job. And my friend, if a man whom God said was righteous in his generation had to repent of his sin, what about you? And what was it that brought you? After all, there's talk through all those chaps. And I only trust my friend and through his word will bring a sense. All the sins of which they've been guilty, well unto you, well unto you, well unto you. I'm beginning to feel that much. I would to God tonight, you would go out of here. I would be the last in the world to put a pass. I would to God, some of you would spend a few sleepless nights tossing and turning about your sin until your pillow was like a bed of coals. I would to God that you would find no peace walking up and down the streets of Augusta all day long or in your office or wherever you might be, that constant burning thought, I must stand before the living God in my sin. It's a serious thing to have to do with the living God, my friend. There were those in the epistles of the Hebrews who fell away from all these things into the hands of the living. And if you tonight, knowing the truth of scripture, knowing the truth of the gospel, turn from these things. There's only one place you can go, and that's into the hands of the living God who will judge you. And I hope that burns into your conscience down in fear because so it was with even the beloved apostle John, when on the isle of Patmos, he had the revelation of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in chapter one. And he saw it may be a light thing for you to have to do with the God you concocted in your own mind. But with the living God of this book, the thrice holy God sitting upon a throne of righteousness, it's no light thing to have to do with that God. Suppose you had to, you must face that was Gideon. His fear came because he had seen an angel of the Lord face to face, but Gideon had a sacrifice. God had chosen this man to be delivered of the people of Israel and the angel of God came to him. I have no doubt in my own mind of pre-incarnate manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The angel of God came to him. Gideon said, I want to offer a sacrifice. Let me bring these things out to you. I want to make a present to you. And under the instruction of the angel, he laid the meat, the flesh and the meal upon a rock. And then the angel touched that offering with the end of his staff and fire came out of the rock and consumed the sacrifice. The same thing very nearly occurred in the case of the angel of God speaking to Manoah and his wife about the coming. When they offered their sacrifice, fire consumed that sacrifice and the angel of God went up in a flame to send it back into heaven. But he had a sacrifice. And it's because of that sacrifice that Gideon went free from the consequences of having to meet God face to face. His own heart was filled with fear. The only thing that kept him from dying was a sacrifice. That's all. That's all, my friend. And all of you tonight, some of us are bold enough by the word of God to say we are saved. We have eternal life. We will be in heaven. And there's not a one of us here tonight that says that, that puts any difference between himself and you in regard to his own character. I cannot say that because of any inherent goodness in me. I cannot say it because of any worked out goodness in me. The only difference, my friend, between you and me, if you're on the way to a mosque, that's the only difference. The only difference between Cain and Abel was a sacrifice. There is no indication in the word of God as to the moral character. The only difference between the two, why was Cain rejected? Cain brought a sacrifice of the fruits of his own hand. And God even says to Cain, there's a sin offering at the door, Cain. You can be accepted if you'll bring the right offering. And my friend Gideon was accepted. It's upon a death I did not die another's life, another's death. My acceptance tonight is the good God for me. By virtue of that sacrifice, he's forgiven, but only because of that. In the verse we've already quoted, he died. So I think that's the first part of it. He died physically. Loving hands took him down from the cross and laid him in Joseph's tomb. And there he was until that he and that glorified body came out. He died. All right. But that's only half the story. After death, the judgment. Of course, in his own experience, they were reversed. Did you hear him cry out of the depth of darkness on that cross? Ah, my friend, he was experiencing the judgment of God. The Lord Jesus Christ was an accepted sacrifice. Gideon's sacrifice was accepted. Fire came out of the rock and consumed that sacrifice. And that was always in the Old Testament. God's indication that he accepted this sacrifice. When the priests instituted their service in the tabernacle and they laid out their first sacrifice upon the altar, fire came out from the Lord and consumed that sacrifice. When Elijah had his contest with the prophets of Baal, God sent fire down out of heaven and consumed the sacrifice Elijah offered. God was accepting that sacrifice. So here was Gideon. So was Manoah and his wife. God accepted that sacrifice. And because God accepted the sacrifice, they were accepted because of the sacrifice. He shall offer that sacrifice for his acceptance. Oh, my friend, I have no acceptance before God tonight in myself. But there's one who's seated in glory at the right hand of the majesty on high tonight, and he's my acceptance. He was my sacrifice upon the cross for my sins and for yours, my friend. The only difference between you and me is a sacrifice. Oh, my friend, I beg you, what sacrifice are you bringing to God tonight? Is it the fruit of your own hand? Your labors, your church membership, your work, your tithing, your Bible reading, your prayer? A thousand and one things. There's only one sacrifice that God has ever fully accepted, and that was the sacrifice his blessed son offered upon the cross when he gave himself for you and me. That's the only sacrifice. Now, how do you come to God tonight? He, the Lord Jesus, is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him, by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. There's only one approach to God. That's by the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one sacrifice that can put your sins away, and that's the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. There's only one door opening to the presence of God, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life. And, my friend, this book is as crystal clear on that subject as it is on any subject. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. There isn't any salvation in any other. The Lord Jesus Christ is unequivocal in his use of terms in John 14. And I have been in several funerals, working with other men who use that verse, and invariably they leave off the last part of it. And so I never fail to use the whole thing. The Lord Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and they stop there. That isn't all he said. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. I am the door, by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved. It must be the Lord Jesus Christ who offered his sacrifice upon the cross. And, my friend, that is salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. The right sacrifice, the blood sacrifice that Jesus Christ offered upon the cross for you, that is the way to God. That is salvation. That is eternal life and death alone. You remember when Manoah and his wife offered that sacrifice to the angel of the Lord. That angel had appeared to his wife first, not to him. The angel of the Lord appeared and told her about the coming birth of Samson. And she told her husband, an angel of the Lord came to me and told me thus and so. And the angel of the Lord appeared a second time out in a field to that woman. And she ran back and got her husband. And they came and the husband conversed with the angel of the Lord. And then they offered a sacrifice. And the angel of the Lord who said his name was Wonderful. Wonderful. Whose name is Wonderful? Now she was called his name Wonderful. That angel of the Lord disappeared ascending in the flame of that sacrifice and poured. We have seen, I love the spunk and spiritual grasp of that woman. She said if it had pleased the Lord to kill us, he wouldn't have accepted our offering. That's it, my friend. All is because God has accepted the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ. My sins are gone. Now how did Gideon know beyond the shadow of a doubt that he would not die? How did he know? Gideon may have said and moaned like Manoah, I'm going to die because I've seen God. How did he know he would not die? Did he say, well, you know, I've lived a pretty good life and I've been doing quite valiantly here amongst the people of Israel. And I think because of that, God has accepted me and everything. And I've been pretty religious, you know, I've been going up to Jerusalem quite regularly to attend the feasts. And I've been doing just that and the other thing. And I think perhaps it might be that I'm not going to die after all. Was that it? Ah, no, my friend, I repeat the word of God knows nothing about that. Now, listen, verse 23. And the Lord said unto him, peace be unto thee, thou shalt not die. How did Gideon know he would not die? He had the word of the Lord for it. The Lord said unto him, thou shalt not die. How do I know tonight that I have eternal life? The Lord said, oh, don't misunderstand me. It's not any religious experience, an hallucination or a dream. But this book I hold in my hand is the word of the living God. And God has written in this book, in the language of the Lord Jesus, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. For again the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed out of death, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. That's the word of the Lord. He that hath the sun hath life. That's the word of the Lord. He that believeth on him is not condemned. That's the word of the Lord. He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life. Now, there's but one question, my friend. Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, don't tell me intellectually, yes, you agree with everything that Scripture says. I want to know if you have faced God with the matter of your sins, and you've realized that the Lord Jesus Christ offered a sacrifice for you, gave himself upon the cross, and now lives in glory. Gave himself that your sins might forever be put away. And you, in your own heart, have received that Savior as your Lord and Savior. For as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born of God. Have you received him? Ah, my friend, all we may have seen harsh tonight on the grand thing. What peace there comes to the conscience and soul of the individual who has received the Lord Jesus, peace be upon him, and being justified by him through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, tell me tonight, my friend, would you like to know that you have eternal life? Then listen carefully as we close. John writes in 1 John 5, 13, 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. Let me put it as, Dear Dr. Einstein, you may love to do. Suppose a letter is brought up to me tonight, or someone in this audience, and the messenger asks me if I would be kind enough to deliver it. And so I take the envelope, and I look on it. It's addressed. It's addressed to you who believe on the name of the Son of God. Now, I want to know one thing. Would that letter be addressed to you? To you who believe on the name of the Son of God, would that letter be addressed to you? If so, we rip the envelope open, and I take out the content. And here is a letter from the living God addressed to you who believe on the name of the Son of God. And what does God say? Oh, that you might know that you have eternal life. Have you believed on the name of the Son of God? Is he your Lord and Savior? Then he that hath the Son hath life. Shall we pray?