In this sermon, the preacher describes a scene of desperation and famine, comparing it to the current situation in Texas. The people are suffering from thirst and hunger, with parched ground and dry wells. Even the animals are affected, with deer abandoning their young due to lack of grass. The preacher emphasizes that this suffering is a result of the people's disobedience to God's commandments and their sinful behavior. He warns that God may no longer accept them and will remember their evil deeds, leading to punishment. The preacher references Hosea chapter 4 to highlight the connection between sin and the land's mourning, with the death of animals as a consequence.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you so much for guiding us and leading us in this word that you have prepared for us. Father, and we pray that you would speak it through your servant, and that your servant would neither be heard nor seen, and that everything would be of you, Father. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Our scripture comes from Jeremiah chapter 14, verse 17. Jeremiah chapter 14, verse 17. Jeremiah chapter 14, verse 17. And it says there, Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them, let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow. In a modern translation, and thank you so much for putting up that verse, that is so helpful. A modern translation of it says, Night and day my eyes shall overflow with tears, I cannot stop my crying, for my people have been run through with a sword and lie mortally wounded on the ground. And so the title of our sermon tonight is, The Tears of God. Tears, of course, come along with crying, and we cry when we get hurt, or we cry when we are confronted with impossible situations. We might cry when we get a bad doctor's report. We weep and cry when a loved one dies. We weep and grieve for a child that dies. We weep and grieve for a mom or dad that dies. We weep and grieve when a family member or a friend dies. So the question is, why does God weep? Does he really shed tears? If I asked you, what is God like, what would you answer me? What is it that you think about God? Some say God is love, and some say God is an angry God. Some say he's just waiting to hurt you when we do wrong. Some say he's far away, he's aloof. You cannot really know him. The scriptures teach us that there is one and only one living and true God, an infinite, intelligent spirit whose name is Jehovah. He is the maker and supreme ruler of heaven and earth. He is inexpressibly glorious in holiness, and he's worthy of all of our love. He's worthy of all glory, and he's worthy of all praise. Now, scripture teaches us that there are three persons within God, and God is one, but the Godhead consists of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and they're equal in every divine perfection because they're one. And so they execute, however, distinct and harmonious offices in the great work of redemption. And then scripture teaches us that we need to know the Lord Jesus Christ to really know God. And some of you say, I know God without Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ said in John 14, verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And Jesus says, if you want to know my Dad, you have to know me as your Savior. There is no other way. Now, we are given the characteristics of God from the Bible, and yes, he's love, but he's not only love, he's also merciful, he's gracious, he's long-suffering, he's good, he's full of grace, he's forgiving, patient, kind, and faithful, but also he judges. He has wrath, he has anger, and he will take action at some time point in your life, and in my life. And at the end of the life, we must stand before that throne of judgment and give an account of the life that we have lived. And if there is no one there to defend us, beloved, and there is an advocate that Scripture talks about, an advocate is like a lawyer. And so we need a lawyer when we stand before God because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And praise God, that lawyer that stands before God, the Father, he will say, this man Edgar Wright here, he's my client. And not only is he my client, but he confesses that he has sinned. And yes, he has gone wrong, but Father, I am his lawyer. And not only am I his lawyer, but I have paid the death penalty for him. And therefore, Father, I ask you that you would relieve him from that penalty of death in hell forever and ever. And each person here tonight can know this advocate, this lawyer, that will step in for you, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will defend you if you ask him to come into your life. And beloved, some of you are at an older age. Some of you have hardened your hearts. You have never accepted Christ. Maybe you feel it's too late. It's never too late, beloved. It's never too late. And God has called you here tonight. Maybe you think, well, I came by myself. But everyone here tonight is because of the mercy and grace of God. He has called you here to tell you that he loves you. And he loves you with an everlasting love through his Son. He gave his Son for you that you might live, that you might have that advocate, that you might have that lawyer. And so we are made then in the image of God. And because we have emotions that we experience, God has those same emotions. And those emotions include tears. Now, our emotions are infected with sin, and they are infected with wrongdoing. So our emotions are not pure. This is why we need to be born again, to have those emotions from the Father, to give us a new mind, to give us a new heart, to give us a new spirit. And he's so willing to do that. Now, the verse we read tonight, Jeremiah 14, verse 17, comes from Jeremiah 14. And I would like us to turn to that chapter, please. And we're going to read the first 17 verses. And I'm going to read from a New King James Version, and then I'm going to give a very quick interpretation in today's language, because we have many young people here, and I want you to understand what this text says. So the first verse in Jeremiah 14 says, the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. So here was a word from God the Father to Jeremiah, who was a prophet, and there was a great drought going on. A drought is when there's no rain, and the earth is parched. And then in verse 2, and it says, Judah mourns, and her gates languish. They mourn for the land, and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. So the land is mourning or is sad. Business has ground to a halt. And a cry has gone up from the city because they're thirsty and there's no food. And then in verse 3, it says, the nobles have sent their lads for water. They went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty. And so here the city fathers, they sent people out to the wells and told them to get water. And the people said, there is no water. The wells are dry. And so the people became desperate because when you get thirsty, there's a lot of pain involved. And then in verse 4, it says, because the ground is parched, for there was no rain in the land, the plowmen were ashamed. They covered their heads. So the ground was cracked. You know when ground really gets very dry, it splits apart. And there was a lack of rain, and the farmers were ashamed because they weren't able to grow any crops for the people. So there was hunger and famine, and they raised their hands over their head. Verse 5, yes, the deer also gave birth in the field but left because there was no grass. So here the deer gave birth. The deer then deserted her little fawn because there is no grass. In verse 6, the wild donkey stood in desolate heights. Upon the bear, they sniffed at the wind like jackals. Their eyes failed them because there was no grass. So here the wild donkeys, they're like horses, they were standing up on the hills and they were panting because they couldn't find water. And they were like thirsty jackals, which is like a small wolf, and they strained looking with their eyes for grass and for water, but there was none to be found. Now in verse 7, the people said, listen to this, older people, I beg you, this is so important for you because now the people changed their tune. They see that God had brought a famine to them, and by the way, not too far from here is a famine going on in Texas. They had porridge ground. One third of the wheat was lost in Texas. And so here, in verse 7, they say, O Lord, our iniquities testify against us. Do it for your name's sake. For our backslidings are many. We have sinned against you. So the people said, well, we better repent. We better repent. But it was really too late. And so they said, Lord, we have sinned against you. Our sins testify against us. Help us for the sake of your own reputation because we have backslidden, but we're your people. So don't do that, Lord. You've got to give us water because we're your people. And then in verse 8, and then it says, O the hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land and like a wayfaring man who turns aside to Terry for a night? And there they were saying, O God, you are our only hope. You are our Savior in times of trouble. Why are you a stranger to us? Are you just passing through the land, just stopping for one night? And then in verse 9, now they changed the tune again because that didn't work. The Lord wasn't responding to them. There was still no rain. So now they're changing the tune and they're trying a different approach. And they're saying, why should you be like a man astonished, like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet you, Lord, are in our midst and we are called by your name. Do not leave us. So they're saying, are you baffled, God, that you're not doing something? Are you upset? What's wrong? What's happening here? Are you helpless to save us? Can't you save us? What's the matter, God? O Lord, you're right here among us and we carry your name. So we are called Israelites. We are your favorite people. And you're not doing nothing. What's the matter? We are known by your name, Lord. Don't desert us now. And now listen to that response in verse 10. And here says the Lord to his people, thus they have loved to wander. They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them. He will remember their iniquity now and punish their sins. And you know, our Heavenly Father is like an earthly father to some respect. And kids, you know, when you drive your daddy too far, what does he do? He gives you a spanking, right? And if you drive it too far with God, guess what? He gives you a spanking. But in this case, it was too late. In this case now, God says in verse 10 and in today's language, the Lord replied, you have loved to wander from me and you have not tried to follow my commandments and my ways. Therefore, I will no longer accept you. For some of you, it's the last time today that you have a chance to find God, beloved. Because He might say to you after this, I no longer accept you. And we find that in Romans 1 where God says I've had enough with some of your people and I'm giving you over to your own lusts. I'm walking away from you. And so God has led you here tonight by purpose because He wants to tell you that He loves you, but He says, therefore, I will no longer accept you. Now I will remember all the evil you have done and I will punish your sins. And now in verse 11, the prophet speaks and there it says, then the Lord said to me, do not pray for this people for their good. And so here the prophet Jeremiah tried to intercede. He tried to step in and he said, oh God, give them another chance. Please! Help them! Don't reject them. Don't step away from them. And the Lord said, do not pray for them anymore. I've had enough. It's finished. I'm done. And beloved, when that point comes, it's such a dangerous point. Also for young people, you don't know what might happen. You go out on the road and you might never have a chance again to find the Lord Jesus Christ, to find that advocate, to find that lawyer that can defend you before God. The one who has paid your price. You go before a great court and you know that you've done wrong in your life and you think, well, who will forgive me? So you need to have a lawyer, an advocate. You need to have the Lord Jesus Christ. You say to Him, forgive me, forgive me, my Savior, my lawyer, my advocate. And then defend me because you have paid my price. You have paid my death penalty. Praise God. And then in verse 12, now, when they fast, I will not hear their cry. And when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them, but I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. And so in verse 11 here is a terrible, terrible answer. The Lord told Jeremiah, don't pray for them anymore. In verse 11 and verse 12, God said, when you fast now, I will not pay any attention. It doesn't matter if you withhold food. It doesn't matter now that you want to do good. I'm not going to listen anymore. And then God said, when they present their offerings and sacrifices to me, I will not accept them. What I will do is I will kill them, my God of love, my gentle God, my wonderful God, my generous God, my patient God. You see, I should be in hell today. He's forgiven me thousands of times, and I never knew how close I was to the brink of hell. Because every breath I take is only because of Him. If He withholds that breath from me, I die right here before you. He can do the same with you. And so He has given you that opportunity tonight. And so He said, what I will do, I will kill them with the sword, which is war and famine, nothing to eat, and by diseases. And then in verse 13, Jeremiah said, then I said, ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, you shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place. And here, Jeremiah said to God, oh God, there are prophets out there, there are other prophets beside myself, and there are preachers, and there are pastors, and they're telling them everything is well. Everything is well. That no war or famine will come. And they tell the people, He will surely send them peace. And there are preachers out there, they say, God is only love. And beloved, I was wrestling all afternoon, and God said, no, you must tell them the truth. You must tell them the whole truth. You cannot withhold from that, that part where I must step in and finish the lives of those that will not give up their sinning, that will not turn to my Son, Jesus. And you must warn them, because if you don't warn them, I'm going to require their blood at these hands here. At my hands, I'm going to be at fault because I haven't told you. Because I haven't told you. So I've got to tell you the truth. He's a wonderful, gentle, He's a gracious God. He's a kind God. But beloved, there is a day that comes when He cannot accept our sins anymore. And there will come a day where we must go on into a grave, into an eternity of hell, if we have not accepted His Son, Jesus Christ, as our lawyer, as our advocate, as the one who will stand before judgment and say, I will defend this boy. I will defend this girl. I will defend this young person. I will defend this old person. And so God, God said, you must tell them. And so the Lord Jesus Christ is our only hope. And now we're going on in verse 14. And in verse 14 it says, And the Lord said to me, the prophets prophesy, Lord lies in my name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them. They prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. And so in today's language, the Lord said the prophets and preachers are telling lies in my name. They're not true prophets, they're not true teachers of my Word, says God, because they're not telling you the truth. And beloved, I'm sharing the truth and love with you tonight because it's the only hope you have. Because there is a Savior. There is an advocate. There is a lawyer who will stand before the judgment seat and say I will stand up for them. I will speak for them. And then in verse 15 it says, Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name whom I did not send and who say sword and famine shall not be in this land. By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. And so the Lord said I will punish these lying prophets. They're going to go to hell. They will die by war and famine. And they themselves shall die. In verse 16, And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem. Because of the famine and the sword they will have no one to bury them nor their wives, their sons, nor their daughters for I will pour their wickedness on them. And here God says all of you people who believe these lies, you will die with those false prophets. You will die with them. So beloved, this is your truth here. Would you read it for me please? Would you read it at home every day? Would you study it so that you know what is truth? That you understand the whole character of God. That you're not falling short in your knowledge. That you're not deceived by these preachers on television. That you're not deceived by false preachers. And your pastor Brian Long is teaching you and preaching the truth to you. Praise God. He's telling the whole word of God to you that you might know. And now in the next verse, in verse 17 now, he said, Therefore you shall say this word to them. So this is God speaking to the prophet here in verse 17. Let my eyes flow with tears night and day and let them not cease for the virgin daughter of my people has been broken with a mighty stroke with a very severe blow. And in today's language, the first part here, let my eyes flow with tears night and day. God says, I'm going to weep for you, but I'm going to send you to hell. I love you, but I'm going to send you to hell. I want you, and I've given My Son's life for you that you can live. But if you say no to My Son, there's no way out. There's no way out, beloved. And so I urge you this day to consider this lawyer in court, in the heavenly court, this advocate, this person who will step in and say, Father, this person, this person knows Me. Yes, he's been a sinner, but I've forgiven him. I've covered him with My blood. And I've shed My blood for him and for her that they might live. I have paid that death penalty for them that they might live. And now God has said to the children of Israel here, it's too late to repent. He would let judgment come. And what actually happened was that King Nebuchadnezzar came from Babylon to kill most of the Jews and to bring a remnant to the city of Babylon for 70 years. And God's weeping occurred for His people around 597 before Christ and between 588 to 586 before Christ there was a second assault and the Babylonian army invaded the land of Judah about which this was written. And then Jerusalem was under a terrible 2.5 year siege, a 30 month siege. And the siege is when the city is surrounded. You can't get in or out. You cannot get food. You cannot buy food. And for two and a half years, they suffered in that city because they had rejected God. They had said no to their own God. And so then we find out what the prophet Jeremiah reports in Lamentations 2.21. It says, See them lying in the streets, old and young, boys and girls, killed by the enemy's sword. In Lamentations 4.8, 9, and 10, Jeremiah wrote, But now their faces are as black as soot. No one can recognize them. Their skin sticks to their bones. It is dried and hard and withered. Those killed by the sword were far better off than those who die of slow starvation. Tenderhearted women have cooked and eaten their own children. Beloved, when you turn to Leviticus 26.27-29, Leviticus 26.27-29, God warns us, verses 27-29, Leviticus 26.27, and after all this, if you do not obey me, but walk contrary to me, verse 28, then I also will walk contrary to you in fury. Fury is violent anger with the intent to do harm. That is also the character of our loving God. That is also the character of our God. And then in verse 29, this is what happened to them. You shall eat the flesh of your sons and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. Never heard this message before. You see, we have a great and loving God, but if you drive it too far, and I don't know when that point is, beloved. We talked about the 27 club the other day with 42 plus 10 dying at the age of 27. So I don't know when God will say to you, it's enough. But you have a lawyer and an advocate in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He came to die on a cross on this earth for us. And if you have a relationship with Him, if you ask Him to forgive you your sins, then He will become your advocate. He will become your lawyer. He will represent you in that heavenly court in front of the great white throne judgment. And He will say, Father, this person's name is in the book of life. Praise God. I am the defender. I am the advocate for that person. Praise God. Now we know from other examples in Scripture that sometimes God has enough. And we know that there was a great flood. And when the flood waters rose, everyone on the earth had to die. And it says in Genesis 7.20 that the waters covered the earth above the highest mountain by 22 feet. It gives another measurement there, but if you take the English measurement, it's 22 feet. And if the highest mountain then was Mount Everest in the Himalayas with 29,035 feet, then the height of the water was 29,057 feet. And sometimes your plane flies 20,000 feet high or 30,000 feet high. And when it's 30,000 feet high, that's about where the water went to. And God said He was grieved. Why was God grieved? Can't He change everything? Is He not big enough to avoid His own grief? Is He not big enough to avoid His own tears? Is He not big enough to make you do everything right? He could. But you see, God elected in the Garden of Eden and He said, I don't want to create puppets. I don't want dolls to play with. I'm going to create men and women in my very own image with all of my emotions, with all of the things, or many of the things that I have. He didn't give us omnipotence. He didn't give us omniscience, which is all knowledge. He didn't give us all power. That's up to God. But He gave us a lot from His own image and that we might be able to relate to Him, that He could walk and talk with us, that we could love Him freely out of our own free will. And so He said, when I create you, you will have a choice in that Garden of Eden and the day when Adam and Eve ate from that tree, there was rebellion against God and then they fell into sin. And that sin, unfortunately, has affected the whole human race. And so when we grow up, we don't need to learn how to sin. We don't need to go to public school to learn how to lie. We don't need to go to high school to learn how to steal or to get angry or to punch someone. It comes automatically in our nature. It simply develops. It is there. And so we sin, beloved, and we fall short of the glory of God. And God said, however, I love you so much, human race, I let you decide. I let you decide. I will draw you unto Myself. I will help you to come to church. I will help you to come into this building because it's a miracle when we're in church. It's a miracle. And so you are here today because of a miracle from God, because He loves you so very much. And He says, I want to walk with Ted, Mary, John, Paul, Emmy, Hannah, whoever. I want to walk and talk with you for eternity. I want you to have eternal life through My Son Jesus who is that advocate, who is that person that will step in and cover your sin with His life which He gave on the cross. And you can have that new life to go forward. And now, beloved, we know that in the book of Revelation, we find the apocalypse revealed in the hidden secrets of God. And it's God's plan to redeem mankind from all sin, reestablishing the purity of the relationship that once existed in the Garden of Eden. And so God says, I have no choice. I will weep for you, but I'll kill you. I'll weep for you if you don't accept My Son Jesus, but I'll kill you. I'll send you to hell forever and ever and ever, beloved. And it's a horrid, horrid message to give you the choice that clearly. But beloved, I owe it to you because I love you. At least you have a chance. You might just walk in and out and say, well, I got a nice sermon again. God's love is going to cover me and I think I'm saved. Goodbye. You go into your grave and you go to hell and you say, what happened? You misled me! You didn't tell me the truth! Preach the truth to them, the Holy Spirit said. Tell them! Tell them so that they have a chance. Give them at least the opportunity. If you want to walk out and say, no, my hands are clean. My hands are clean. There will be no blood on my hands. But if I didn't tell you that my hands are full of blood, says God, because I know the truth and I'm supposed to tell you the truth. And if I don't, then your blood, God, would require of my hands. And now, beloved, we're very close to the end times when God will do things even in our country. There were some more tornadoes up in Connecticut today. I don't know how many. But when we look at what is happening, 230 tornadoes in April which killed 45 people. Tornadoes in seven states. Fires and floods and earthquakes all over the place. We're getting very, very close. Beloved, you don't have much time to make up your mind. Don't play with God because it's your own life at stake. I'd like to relate to you some other unusual events which occurred at the end of 2010. And in January of this year, several hundred dead birds fell from the sky in Texas. Thousands of birds fell from the sky in central Kansas. 500 birds fell from the sky in Louisiana. 100 more birds fell from the sky in Kentucky. Two million fish washed ashore in the Chesapeake Bay area. 100,000 fish lay dead in the Arkansas River. 100 tons of dead fish were in the waters of Parana, Argentina. Tens of thousands of dead birds fell to the ground in Manitoba, Canada. 40,000 crabs washed ashore in the UK on January 6th. 10,000 antelopes lay dead in Kazakhstan. Bees are dying out in unprecedented numbers. In Sweden, 100 jackdaw crows fell to the ground. In Italy, 8,000 doves fell from the sky. And there have been no satisfying explanations. The scientists don't know why. They have not been able to establish a cause of death. But hear the word of the Lord in Hosea 4, verses 2 and 3. You can read the answer. In Hosea 4, verses 2 and 3. And I'm reading the first verse, number 2. By swearing and lying, killing, stealing, and committing adultery, they break all restraint with bloodshed after bloodshed. That's talking about the people doing that. And then in verse 3, and I'm quoting from the New International Version because there it is very clear. Because of this, the land mourns. The land weeps because we sin so much. And all who live in it waste away. The beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying. They're dying, beloved. They're dying. That's the cause. Sin is the cause. And we know that there's sins in America. I love America. You gave me blood to live. So I don't want to say anything bad. But we've got to speak about the truth. And so, you know, would God get upset and weep for 50 to 60 million kids we have killed? Would He get upset about that? I don't know. You tell me. Didn't He know them before the foundation of the world? Isn't that what Scripture says? It's not just the fetus. It's not just the conception. He already knew. He loved that child. That child was to be born. 50 to 60 million babies. Well, you know, Hitler killed 6 million Jews. We say he's a pretty terrible man. And I agree with you. Stalin killed 20 million of his own Russian people. Pretty bad guy. But us wonderful Americans, we have killed 50 to 60 million babies. God have mercy on us. God have mercy on us. And we laid most of them on the altar of lust. And that has become our God, lust, beloved. And so, I don't know what to tell you, but God looks at what we do. And so, they just took a Gallup poll. A Gallup poll is a very reputable poll in America. 69% say it's okay to divorce. 60% say it's okay to have sex outside marriage. 54% say it's okay to have children out of marriage. 56% say it's okay for men to lie with men and for women to lie with women. And we protect pornography under the rights of American laws. What should God say about that? Should he pull a stop sometimes? And then TV, David Wilkerson, who just died, was up late one night watching the Late Show on TV. And he was asking the question, Lord, what would happen if I sell this TV and spend the time praying? And so, David Wilkerson prayed that prayer in 1958. He devoted, from then on, 12 midnight to 2 a.m. every night for prayer. David was used by God to change the lives of gangs, of drug dealers. He founded Teen Challenge. He rode the cross and the switchblade, selling 50 million copies. And in 1986, he founded Times Square Church with 8,000 worshipers. I was driving with a young man, and I asked him, do you love God? And he said, of course I love God. And I said, what do you do? And he said, well, I work during the daytime on computers. And I said, what do you do at nighttime? And he said, oh, I love video games. And I said to him, well, how long do you play video games? And he said, well, sometimes I start when I get home at six or so, and I play through the whole night. And I said, when do you read your Bible? And he said, well, sometimes. And I said, well, when do you pray? Well, sometimes. And I asked him if Jesus would think that he truly loved him. And he said, absolutely. Jesus knows I love him. And then I said, well, suppose Jesus counted the time that you spend on the computer and the Internet and the cell phone. He added all of that up on the one side. And then he added up on the other side my time in prayer and my time in reading his Word. What would he say? Which is my God? Which is my God? We have reached the point of no return in America. And so, beloved, we must get to a point where we return to God. And more judgments must come from God. And he sends disasters because it's our only chance to draw back to him. Some of my brothers went to the Joplin area to help people there. And they said that the people there, their approach, many of them, was that they wanted to draw near God. So maybe God has to take everything away from us that we might draw back unto him. You see, God is a loving God, but he's also a just God. And because God loves us so much, I want to share some Scriptures with you that he also loves us because I want that to be foremost in your mind that he does love us. He doesn't want to do these things. And so, when a mother has a new baby, she will count the fingers and the little toes. And God says, I not only count the fingers and the toes, but I'll count every one of the little hairs. I love you so much. And I'll write your name on my hand. I love you so very, very much. And in Isaiah 49, 15, and 16, it says, Can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely, they may forget. And he's saying, here's a mom with a newborn son. She might forget. But then he said, I will never, never, never forget you. I love you so much. I'm looking around every corner for you. I love you so much. I want you to come to me. I want you to come to my son Jesus. But I'm not going to force you. It's got to be freely from you. And he says, I will weep for you if you don't accept my son Jesus. But you will have no place in Heaven with me. I cannot take you. You must accept my son Jesus. And so, then he says, I've known you before the foundations of the earth. I know when you get up and when you lie down. He's looking over every person here, whether you're saved or not saved. He's looking over. Is that person still willing? Is there a chance for him to come to me and accept my son Jesus? I keep him alive. I keep him alive a little longer. Yes, he's sinned again. He's gotten drunk again. He's taken meth again. He's gone gambling again. He's done all of these things. And God looks and He says, my compassion has not yet run out for that person. Won't you take his offer today? Accept his son Jesus by faith and live? Why should you die? Why should you go to hell forever? Only Satan would want you to do that. Why would you want to go with Satan? Does that make any sense? Does that mean you're sensible people? I mean, you've got to look at both sides. And God said, why should you die? Why should you go to hell forever? Because God desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of truth. God is not willing that any should perish and He wants all to come to repentance. And He says, believe on that Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now, I got misled on that. I'll tell you the truth. I once spoke the words that a preacher said, speak those words. I spoke the words and then nothing happened. I was a hellhound before and I was a hellhound after. Guess what? I wasn't saved. And so the words by themselves do not give you that guarantee, beloved. You must have a relationship with Him. You must ask Him to come into your life. And then you've got to look at this book sometimes because that's your life manual from then on. It's how to live and how to die. It's right all in here. And so God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And in Ezekiel 33.11, God said, say to them as I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in your death. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. I'm not here to kill you. I don't want to kill you. I love you. But I want you to take My Son as your advocate. I want you to take My Son as that lawyer. Turn, turn from your evil ways. Why should you die? Live! Live! Live! Live! Live! Live abundantly because God has made it possible for you. Beloved, and He loves you so very, very much. And the breadth and the width of His love is too wonderful for us to understand. But He says, I will weep for you if you don't accept My Son, but you have no part of My heaven. Let us close in a word of prayer, please. And Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your holy and wonderful, but also awful word, Father. We are so touched in our hearts, in our spirit, because you are that great, loving God, and yet there's also wrath, there's also judgment, Father, and we don't understand that too well. I don't like to hear that myself, Father, but it is the truth. And all of these dear, dear sisters and brothers and youth and children have heard the truth this day, Father. And so I pray that you would move their hearts that this day they would accept you and that they would make their life right with you in sincerity, trusting you that you will save them through your Son, Jesus, and that they will reach out to Him so that they might be saved. And so I thank you so much that you will help them to do that, and I praise your holy name. In Christ's name, Amen. Beloved, thank you so much. Would you please stand for a moment? And I'm going to ask you again, all of you if you wouldn't mind, to come and stand in front of this altar if you wouldn't mind. Please, all come. And just stand right here. And if you're a Christian, perhaps you have again realized the solemn hour that this moment represents for us. The solemn moment where you need to walk as an example for your sisters and brothers that are not yet saved. Where you must pray, and I ask you to pray, to bow your heads and to pray as you come to the front. And then those young people, the youth, the older people, those that need to be saved, those that have not yet accepted that lawyer and that advocate, I'm going to ask you to pray quietly. I'm not going to ask you to raise a hand. But I'm going for you to stand and to raise your voice quietly to the Lord Jesus Christ and say, Lord Jesus, I really want to be saved. I want to get right with you. And I'm addicted, Lord. I don't know what I'm going to do about that. I'm on meth or I'm in gambling or I'm into other drugs or I'm into sex or whatever it is. I'm hooked! The Lord Jesus Christ can set you free tonight. He can set you free tonight. And I pray that you would bow your head and even pray as you stand. And I'll give you a minute or two for each one of you to pray, please. So let us pray. And all of you Christians, if you're right with the Lord, pray! Pray for the Holy Spirit to convict those that are lost because they have no chance. Those that are old, you may never have another chance again. I pray that you would accept that Lord and Savior. And I thank You so much, Lord.