In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of finding refuge and safety in God. He discusses the sorrow that comes with true conversion and the need for a repentant heart. The preacher highlights seven specific areas where individuals may experience sorrow and conviction, such as living ungodly lives, being covetous, speaking wrongly against others, and not loving God wholeheartedly. The sermon also draws parallels between the days of Noah and the present time, emphasizing the urgency of preparing for Christ's return.

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, Post Office Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771, or by calling 903-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. And I got, tried to go upstairs to bed and ended up back downstairs praying again for a season. And during that time of prayer, God began to speak something to my heart. Just something very personal to me. I'm not suggesting I had a vision or anything like that, but just a strong personal impression upon my heart. And I felt in my heart that we were living at a time just like the days of Noah. And as I had my face down on the couch and I was beginning to pray, and there was such a burden upon my spirit that I said, God, I can't go to bed until I have this thing settled in my heart. And I began to pray, and as I began to pray, it's like I saw Noah standing by the gangplank of the ark, and the animals were coming in two by two, all different sorts. I saw in my heart, it's almost as if Noah had a checklist of the animals as they were coming in. And God began to speak to my heart that we're in the day of loading the ark. Christ is returning soon. And an ark has been prepared through His shed blood on Calvary, and all those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life can come into that ark. And we have a place of safety, we have a place of refuge from the coming storms. We have a place of promise that we're not going to be partakers of the suffering, of the wrath of Almighty God upon those who have rejected His call and claim upon their lives, but He has ordained us to a better thing through Christ Jesus. I'm going to bring a message tonight that's entitled, The Sorrow of the Converted. Now this message is not really about sorrow, but it's about a heart attitude the Apostle Paul says is found in those who have truly found Jesus Christ. My heart's desire and the heart's desire of God is that you all in this house, and your families, your friends, those who will hear this message perhaps through your lips, or perhaps will hear it on tape in the future, will be sure to allow the Holy Spirit to examine their hearts, to make sure that the proper attitude of repentance has been formed in their hearts, to have that acknowledgement in our lives and hearts that we truly are written down in the Lamb's book of life, and truly we're going home to be with God for eternity. There's a certain sorrow that comes with those that have repented, a sorrow that produces action, a sorrow that brings us to a place of obedience. Father, I ask tonight in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord God, that your kingdom would move forward. Lord, that you would do a deep work. I ask for an anointing of the Holy Spirit to go deep, to channel deep into the heart, the motives, the lives of all who are called by your name. Lord, it's not your desire that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, that all should come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I ask, O God, that you would move in sovereign anointing power tonight in this assembly hall. And God, that you would touch every life, overturn every stone. If there are any here tonight who have had a false conversion experience, who have truly not really come to you, Lord, their hearts are not turned, they've never experienced the sorrow of the converted. Lord God, I ask that you would reveal this by your Holy Spirit tonight. Not to bring harm, but to bring good. Not to bring death, but to bring life. Not to bring condemnation, but to bring conviction, O God. Not to bring sorrow, but to bring joy. Lord, I ask for a sovereign moving of your Holy Spirit, a sovereign touch of your Spirit tonight. Hallelujah. Lord God, I ask for the skill tonight as a preacher of your gospel to be able to rob hell tonight, O God, and to see the kingdom of Almighty God increase, to see the testimony of Christ begin to abound, O Lord, to see the knowledge of Christ formed in the inward parts of all those who are called by your name. Hallelujah. O Lord God, I ask for a smiting Holy Ghost conviction tonight on any who are playing a dangerous game with sin, any who are playing a dangerous game with God tonight. O Lord, I ask that you would bring them to the knowledge of repentance, O God, bring them to the knowledge of what is necessary to have a true and lasting victory in their lives, O God, a true and lasting joy, and a true and lasting assurance of what it is to be saved through Christ Jesus. Hallelujah. Thank you for this tonight, O God. Thank you that you will give an eye salve anointing. Thank you for allowing me to preach your gospel one more time. Thank you for choosing such a weak and foolish vessel, O God. Thank you for allowing me to stand behind the cross again tonight, O God, that your name alone may be lifted up. Jesus, strengthen your church. Let your kingdom go forward. I ask it in your precious and holy name. Amen. 2 Corinthians, please, chapter 7. 2 Corinthians, chapter 7. While you're turning there, I'll give you a little bit of background. The Apostle Paul is writing back again in response to, I believe it's 1 Corinthians, chapter 5, where he had written to the Corinthian church. And what had happened in that church is that there was a man there who had entered into an incestuous sexual relationship and the people hadn't done anything about it. The Apostle Paul found out about it. He was so disillusioned. He was hurt. He wrote back to the Corinthian church and told them that they were to put this particular man out of their midst. And so, the Apostle Paul now is writing back. Apparently his letter had caused sorrow. But it had caused a sorrow that had brought the people to repentance. Maybe they had grown accustomed to living with certain types of sin in their midst. I'm not sure what it was. But they had allowed this thing to coexist with the word of God. And the Apostle Paul had written to them and caused them to come to a state of sorrow. And that state of sorrow brought them to a place of repentance. And that place of repentance brought them back to the place of victory that was theirs and is ours in Christ Jesus. 2 Corinthians, chapter 7, beginning at verse 8. The Apostle Paul says, For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent. For I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance. For you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of. But the sorrow of the world worketh death. For beyond this selfsame thing, that you sorrowed after a godly sorrow. Now here's godly sorrow. What carefulness it brought in you. Yea, what clearing of yourselves. Yea, what indignation. Yea, what fear. Yea, what vehement desire. Yea, what zeal. Yea, what revenge. In all things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Now the Apostle Paul says in verse 10, that there's a sorrow that's only of the world. It's a carnal sorrow. It's birthed in the human heart. It's got absolutely or little to do with God. And it's a sorrow that only brings about death. Now a worldly sorrow can be experienced by a man who comes to church, for example, and he hears the word of God. And in hearing the word of God, he becomes sorry, for example, that he has lived for himself. Or he's sorry that he hasn't loved his wife. Or a wife is sorry that she hasn't loved her husband, the way the scripture says that she ought to. Parents sit in the house of God and become sorry, that they haven't lived godly lives before their children. Another man comes to the house of the Lord, and the Bible is opened up perhaps to the book of 1 Timothy chapter 6, and he becomes sorry that he has been a covetous man, which has been evidenced in the fact that he has loved money more than he has loved God. Another becomes sorry that he has or she has spoken wrongly against others. The scripture is open, and the word of God brings conviction, which brings a sorrow. But it's not the sorrow that leads to repentance. It's a worldly sorrow. Another man comes and he realizes through the preaching of the word, that he has not loved God with all of his heart. And he's sorry for this. And so he's sorry because of the consequences of his sin. He's sorry that he has lived for himself, and not lived for God. And so an altar call is given in the church service, and I have seen as a preacher, my precious brothers and sisters in Christ, I have seen this happen over and over again over the years, where an altar call is given, and sorry people rise to their feet, because they have been brought under conviction by the word of God. And they come down to the altar, and they cry tears, they put their face down on the altar, their face down on the carpet. I've been in services with tremendous, a tremendous outbreak of sorrow has come over the people, as the word of God has left them in a position of acknowledging, their need of Jesus Christ as their Savior, their Strengthener and their Redeemer. But they're not sorry enough to produce change. They're not sorry enough to change. It's like the man who comes to church, and he sees that he's sorry because of the consequences of his sin. He's sorry because his wife has left him, because he's always yelling in the house. He's sorry because he's a drug addict. He's sorry because he's an alcoholic. He's sorry because he's a covetous man. He's sorry because he's always maligning other people, and standing in a place of judgment that God hasn't put him in. But he's not sorry enough to change. And that's what the Apostle Paul is speaking about. It's a worldly sorrow that will only produce death. It's a sorrow that just uses the altar as a dumping place for conviction. And folks, I have seen this over and over again, in the body of Jesus Christ, where people come under the conviction of the Holy Ghost, come out of their seats, and instead of coming to a place of sorrow, that produces genuine repentance. You know what repentance is? It's a willful turning away from what you know is wrong. As much as we willfully walk into sin most often, it's a willful turning away. It's a saying, I know this thing is wrong. God, you have revealed it to my heart. And so, in that revelation that you give me, I trust you Lord God, as I turn from this thing to give me the strength to walk a holy walk. I know I can't do it by myself, but God, I'm turning, and I'm walking in the opposite direction. I'm not going back to that liquor store again. I'm not hanging around that street corner where the pushers hang out. I'm not going to do the things I used to do. By the strength of Almighty God, there shall be a change in my life. That's why the Scripture says, if any man is in Christ, it doesn't say he should be, he ought to be, he might be someday, but he is a new creature. The old things in his life pass away, and all things become new. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And Paul says, For godly soul worketh salvation, worketh repentance. In other words, godly soul brings you and I to a place of repentance, to a salvation not to be repented of. Did you know tonight that there's a salvation that needs to be repented of, even in the house of God? I think the deepest need throughout the whole body of Jesus Christ in North America right now, is to have once again the preaching of the Word of God come into his house, and to expose the false comfort that so many who are called by the name of Christ are living under. They're living in that day just like the Apostle Paul spoke about in Romans chapter 6. They're living in a time when they say, Let's go and sin more that grace may abound even more. Let's just continue to sin, and cast ourselves continuously on the mercy of God. There's no sorrow that has brought them to a place of repentance. And Paul said, That's a salvation that needs to be repented of. That's a false salvation. It's a false comfort. There's no change in the salvation. It's just a continual running forward with the same sins. A continual coming down and crying. And now, I'm not against this, and neither is God, if it's really in your heart to want to change. But if you're using the altar of God as a dumping place, I want to warn you that that's a dangerous game to play with God. I warn you it's dangerous to step out of your seat, because you've come under conviction, and come down and cry just long enough to get rid of the conviction, and then go out the door with the intent in your heart to carry on in the same sin you were doing before you came to the house of the Lord. That's the sorrow that works death. It's a worldly sorrow that doesn't bring you into the place that's called heaven. Now, the apostle Paul says in verse 10, But the sorrow of the world works death, but godly sorrow works repentance to salvation that's not to be repented of. Godly sorrow. Romans chapter 2 verse 4 says, The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. The goodness of God. And so, Paul goes on and talks about this godly sorrow. The sorrow that's found in those who have truly been converted to Jesus Christ. And there are seven things that Paul talks about. And I want you to ask right now the Holy Spirit to reveal to your heart whether any of these things or all of these things are found in your life. If you are truly born again of God, if you truly have come to Christ, at least for sure the first one is found in your life. Or the second, perhaps the third. If you've been walking with God, you ought to be able to say for any space of time, you ought to be able to say, By the grace of almighty God, all seven of these things are now found in my life. And you'll see as we examine them that they're not haphazardly written. The Holy Spirit gave these to the Apostle Paul. And you'll see that they go in a succession, in a proper order. There cannot be true conversion without godly sorrow. And if we're looking for evidence of Christ within our lives, let's examine these seven points that Paul speaks about in verse 11. He says, For behold this selfsame thing, that you sorrowed after a godly sorrow. In other words, your sorrow was a godly sorrow. You did something about what you heard. It brought you to your knees, but it also brought you to a place where you exercised those things that were instructed to you. You decided to walk in obedience. First thing he says, What carefulness it brought in you. What carefulness. In Psalm 139 verse 23, the Psalmist David says, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. What carefulness, Paul says, came into your life? Because you had been brought to a place of repentance. Search me, O God. Is that the cry of your heart every day? Is it the cry of your heart, not only when you're in the house of God, but when you leave the house of God? When you open the word of God? When you go into fellowship with God? When you fall on your knees before God? Is that the cry of your heart? I tell you, if you're a child of God, it is. Search me, O God. Holy Spirit, is there anything in me that's displeasing to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Is there anything that hinders that anointing of God's Holy Spirit in my life? I remember several years ago, I was preaching in Western Canada, and Western Canada is noted for its wheat fields. Beautiful, beautiful wheat fields. And I remember one day I was driving down through the prairies, and I saw a wheat field out the window of the car. And it was beautiful. I thought, oh, what a beautiful wheat field. The wheat was about that high, and the wind was blowing, and it's just sort of cascading, and the wheat is just moving. And I thought, what a beautiful wheat field. People must have put a lot of work into that. And I just thought it was so nice. And that night, after the service when I preached, I went back to the house where I was staying, and the news was on, and I sat down to watch the news on television. And the local news came on after the main international news. And I was so surprised to find out that that year they had decided to plow down the whole wheat harvest. They said that the wheat fields had not come up as expected, and thus and thus was wrong with them. And they were plowing the whole thing down. Now, I had thought that the wheat looked fairly good. If it was up to me, I would have been out there with a combine trying to harvest the whole thing. But you see, somebody with a trained eye, a little bit better than my eye, had come in, somebody that knew what he was doing, and had surveyed the wheat field and said, folks, it's going to cost more in gas to harvest this thing than what it's worth. Plow it down. Just throw it back into the ground. We'll hope for better next year. And that's the way it is when a man or woman, when you decide to do a spiritual inventory of your own life. I tell you, every time you look into your own life and examine your own motives, you're going to come up smelling like a rose. There's no doubt about it. You take a look because your eye is not trained like God's eye. But if you will allow the Holy Spirit of God, who is the candle, He searches the inward parts of the belly. If you will allow the Holy Spirit to come into your life and do some searching, then all of a sudden, there will be things beginning to be stirred up from deep within that you didn't even know were there before. God's Holy Spirit has a much better eye than I have or you have. And we're wise to let the Holy Spirit search me, O God. I'm not going to do the searching. You do the searching. And as you bring it to the surface, O God, I will agree with you. And as you give me grace and strength, if it's something that needs to be repented of, O God, I will turn away from it in order to bring honor and glory to your name through my life. The Scripture says, Every man's way will be right in his own sight. Proverbs 14, 12 says, There's a way which seems right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 21, 2, it says, Every ways of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord ponders the heart. Proverbs 20, 27, The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly. I would rather have the Holy Spirit search my life than try to do it on my own. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That's why when we come to the communion table tonight, the pastor gets up and reads a portion of Scripture and it says, But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you in many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Search me, O God. Paul said, What clearing of yourselves! That was an evidence that you had sorrowed after a godly sorrow that brought you to repentance. The secondly thing, he says, What carefulness! And secondly, he says, What clearing of yourselves! First of all, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and to bring to our understanding things that are displeasing in the sight of God. And secondly, Paul says, What clearing of yourselves! Acts chapter 2, verses 36. Turn there please with me. Acts chapter 2, verse 36. The Apostle Peter is standing up now and preaching the very first Holy Ghost message on the day of Pentecost. All the people standing around, many possibly of whom were yelling, Crucify Him! Not too many days before. Now all of a sudden, they're standing there. They're under the convicting power. The piercing eye of the Holy Spirit of God now has come upon this multitude of people that are gathered around. The gospel that they would have shunned and the gospel that they had profaned, the gospel that they had cast away, now is bringing conviction into their hearts. And in verse 36, the Apostle Peter says, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. And so now, Peter is speaking in the Holy Ghost and saying, It's not the Romans. It's not the Pharisees. It's your sin that has crucified the Lord. And I believe that as Peter is speaking, the Holy Spirit now is beginning to search the inward parts of those who are being humbled in the presence of God. And all the words that they had spoken, the deeds that they had committed, things that were not right in the sight of God, were now all coming to the surface. And they're all standing there guilty before God. Isn't that an incredible thing when God's Spirit is involved in searching the heart? Verse 37, Interesting that there was nobody there that said, No, we're righteous. We've fulfilled the law. Under the searing, piercing eye of the Holy Spirit, everybody stood speechless before a holy God. Verse 37 says, Now when they had heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and they said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7, What? Clearing of yourselves. When God began to reveal to your heart the things that you were doing displeasing to the Lord, you did something about it. You were pricked in your heart and you said, What must we do? And the answer is in 1 John 1, 9, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What must we do? We must come to God, humbled before the Lord, acknowledging that we can't continue on in a life of sin and somehow think that the mercy of God is going to be our portion in the latter end. There's got to be a clearing. There's got to be a settling of accounts. There's got to be a reckoning, a day of reckoning with God. And the third thing he says, First of all, carefulness. And then he says, clearing of yourselves. Then he says, what indignation? What indignation? Have any of you ever experienced that holy indignation of God? I'm not talking about for others, but for yourself. To say, how could I have lived like this? How could I have done these things? That's the mark of a man or woman who has come to genuine repentance in Jesus Christ. How could I have done these things? I remember when God first fully began to get a hold of my heart. One of the very first things that came over my life was an absolute grief for the way I had lived. The people that I had caused to suffer, the things that I had done. A shame, a grief came over my life. I said, God, how could I have lived like this? How could I have done this? You see, until you have that, you're going to be prone to go back to what you used to do. If you don't see it as evil as it is, if you don't allow a godly soul for the things that you used to do come into your life, you will be prone to go right back into the same old quagmire that you came out of before. There has to be a holy indignation. Old Jeremiah the prophet said, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. And who can know it? The apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 1, he said, he called himself the chiefest of sinners, because I persecuted the church of God. In other words, I went out and I caused men and women to blaspheme the holy name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He goes on to say, But I did it ignorantly and in unbelief, and because of this I found forgiveness. But Paul calls himself the chiefest of sinners, and that never ever ever leaves his doctrine, it never leaves his life, it never leaves his mind. How could I have lived like this? He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 9, I am the least of the apostles, and I'm not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. Oh, hallelujah! How could I have lived like this? What clearing of yourselves! Yea, what indignation! Then he goes on and says, What fear! What fear! The fear of the Lord, the scripture says, is the beginning of wisdom. It's a resolve to fear God and keep His commandments, and not to walk in sin anymore. Once you've let the Holy Ghost show you your heart, once you have cleared the slate and made it right with God, once the indignation of the Holy Ghost has gotten a hold of you, then all of a sudden the fear of the Lord becomes your chiefest state, it becomes your wisdom. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul says, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. You see, the Apostle Paul had been on a road, and he had come into the presence of the risen Christ. It had knocked him off of his high horse and blinded his eyes for a season. He was humbled in the presence of a holy God, and he knew that one day he was going to have to come back into that presence again and give account of his life, give account of his ministry, give account of what he had done with the revelation that had been given to him through Jesus Christ. And he says, I know the terror of the Lord. I know that every man is going to stand in the presence of a holy God one day, therefore I persuade men, I persuade them to live holy lives before God. I persuade them to turn from their sin. I persuade them to count everything this world has got but done, that they may win Christ and be found in Him. I persuade them to transfer their affections away from the things of this world to the things that are on high. I persuade them to give their whole heart, soul, mind and strength to the Lord Jesus Christ. I persuade them of the reasonableness of laying down your life as a living sacrifice for God, which is your reasonable service. Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. There was a season in my life when I had an encounter with the Spirit of God in a very, very special way. I had known fear as a policeman. I had stood, I had known what it was like to face a gun. I had known what it was like to have knives brandished in my direction. I had known what it's like to be outnumbered even in situations. But I had never known fear like the fear that I knew that night that God's Holy Spirit touched me and laid me on my face on the floor and began to speak about my life. And from that day forward, I stood up and understood what the Apostle Paul meant. He said, when he said, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. The first thing on my heart when God was done dealing with me that night was that one day I have to stand in the presence of this Holy God once again. This Holy God. Paul says in Hebrews, See that you refuse Him not that speaketh. For if they escape not who refused Him that spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him that speaks from heaven. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved. Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. Our God is a consuming fire. Paul says next, What vehement desire after the indignation of thinking of and the fear of the Lord coming into your heart. What vehement desire. David said in Psalm 42, As the heart of the deer pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. What vehement desire for God comes in your heart when you're born again of the Spirit. Oh, hallelujah. I have problems with those who say that they love the Lord and have no vehement desire for Christ. I have gone places, I have ministered in churches where after the service is all over, I couldn't get the pastor to open the Bible. I couldn't get him to pray with me. I remember one case, I went to open the Word of the Lord to share what God was showing me in my morning devotions and he actually got up and ran out of the room. And I have serious, serious, serious reservations in my heart about a salvation that leaves you without a vehement desire for Jesus. A desire for holiness. A desire for His heart. Oh, Jesus, I've seen what I am. You've revealed it to me, God. I'm casting it off like an old rag. By the power of Your Spirit, I'm turning away from my sins. Jesus, now I don't want anymore of my old life. I don't want any part of what I used to do. I'm turning away from this. Now I want You. I want everything You are. I want Your heart to burn within me. Jesus, I want my hands to be Your hands, my feet to be Your feet. My covenant God, I desire You as the deer that's thirsting runs for the water brook. So pence my soul after Thee, O God. That is the cry in the heart of somebody who has sorrowed to repentance, has come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. You can't say you love Him. You can't say you know Him if there's no vehement desire for Jesus in your heart. One time I visited with a man who was a preacher of the gospel and he had such a zeal for God in the pulpit. This is the end of Side 1. You may now turn the tape over to Side 2. All excited. All the rhetoric that you hear or have heard in so many places and times past. But I was so shocked, and I was younger than him in the Lord, and I was so shocked when we got alone that you couldn't get him to say the name Jesus. You couldn't get him to talk about the things of God. You couldn't share with him. One day I opened the Bible and tried to speak to him of something that God was showing me and he turned to me and in so many words virtually told me to shut up. His whole walk with God was a display. It's a show. It's a living. That's all it is. It's an absolute sham. There's no vehement desire for Jesus. And so according to the Scripture, that Paul says it's only a godly sorrow that works death. That's all it is. Because an ungodly sorrow, I mean a worldly sorrow that works death. Because a godly sorrow will leave you with a vehement desire for the righteousness of God within your life. A godly sorrow will leave you with a vehement desire to see Jesus birthed and formed within your inward man. And so you can say like the Apostle Paul, it's no longer I who live, it's Christ who lives within me. That vehement desire. I don't want to be the man I used to be. I don't want to even look at pictures of what he was like. I want to be like Christ. He's my standard. He's my heart. He's everything I'll ever have or want. Then he says after this, after what vehement desire, the next thing, the sixth thing, the sixth evidence of a godly sorrow that has worked out salvation through repentance is what zeal. What zeal, Paul says. If any man will be my disciple, Jesus said, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. What a desire for the Word of God comes into your heart. What studying, what praying, what a desire to know his heart, what a desire to fulfill the commission of Christ. You can have a zeal for the Lord, my brothers and sisters, but it can be an unrighteous zeal if it's not been through godly sorrow that leads to repentance. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 10, verse 2, speaking of his brethren, the Jews, he says, I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. They've not come in God's way, but they have a zeal. Oh, there are people in the church of Jesus Christ all over North America that have a zeal. You will find them out on the street corner passing out tracks. You'll find them, the first to do this, the first to do that. I'm sad to say I've met some of these people and they're going to be among the first in hell when it's all over. They have a zeal, but it's not a zeal. It's according to righteousness. They have not come into the kingdom of God, God's way. They've not allowed the word of God to pierce and penetrate the heart and bring them to an altar of repentance. Bring them to a place where there's a godly sorrow within their lives. A godly sorrow that brings about change. That's the evidence of it's a godly sorrow. If it's a worldly sorrow, it brings about tears with no change. And lastly, he says, what revenge? What revenge? You notice these things build in order. It doesn't start with revenge and go back to carefulness. It starts with carefulness and ends up with revenge. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11 verse 12, The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. What revenge? What a desire to see the kingdom of God move forward. I remember when God first began to call me into the ministry, out of my lifestyle and out of the things that I was doing and the comfort zone that I had found as a Christian. One of the very first things that He put within my heart is a desire for revenge on the kingdom of darkness. I had lived as a policeman and I had seen enough battered and bruised children. I had seen enough horrible misguided home situations. I had seen enough dead bodies on kitchen floors. I had seen enough of it all. And when I went into the ministry I said, I'm not coming into this thing just to give some nice little platitude on Sunday morning. I'm coming into the ministry to take back from the power of hell what He has stolen, the heritage of God. What revenge? What revenge? A desire to see people saved. A desire to see them loosed from the grip of the enemy who kills and steals and maims and crashes and destroys. An understanding that Christ has triumphed on Calvary. Christ triumphed on Calvary. He triumphed over the powers of hell and darkness. And they have no right to the souls that are in this city. They have no right to your families. They have no right to your neighbors. And in every situation that God puts me in, in my heart, I declare the triumph of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ over every principality of evil and power of darkness. What a desire to see the kingdom of God go forward and the kingdom of darkness come to absolutely nothing. Hallelujah! That's the end result of somebody that's been touched with a genuine sorrow that brings you to conversion, that brings you to Christ. We have so many pastors all throughout the nation that try day in and day out to motivate lethargic people who really don't want to serve God. And they don't want to serve God because they've never been brought to a genuine place of repentance and conversion. Trying to motivate the dead. And you can't do it until they come to life in Christ. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, please. My last scripture. Turn there with me. Hallelujah! Do you see and understand what God wants to do in your lives? And in my life? Oh, He wants to bring you into such a depth of Christ that you'll know what real joy is all about. I haven't come here to harm anybody tonight. I've come here to bless you and strengthen you in Christ. Those that have been living in sin or you played games with God, you've been at this altar. There are some people in this church, you've probably been at this altar a dozen times, but it's never fully been in your heart to want to turn away from what you're doing. And it's evidenced by the fact that you're not out this door five hours before you're right back at it again. You've got to be able to see yourself in the light of eternity. God's mercy is there for if you'll truly repent. If you'll truly do it God's way. There's mercy, there's grace, there's strength. Just don't play games with God. Come down and make it right once and for all. Have a determination. I so thank God that I'm hearing testimonies today and yesterday of people that are leaving this church recently after services. And they're going home and making it right. They're pouring out things that should have been poured out long ago. They're beginning to pray for things they should have prayed long ago. Fathers are taking their place in the home. Mothers are beginning to pray for their children. Things are beginning to set in order because people have come forward and they've had a genuine repentance in their life. They've gone out and said things are going to change. It's not going to be the way it used to be anymore. I've come to Christ, I've seen my heart. I don't like what I see, but I love the mercy of God that He's revealing to me. I love the fact that God reveals to me He'll change any who call upon His name. He'll change my life if I'll come to Him in truth and sincerity. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 3 says, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Now this is what the Apostle Paul is speaking. He's talking about revenging. He's talking about letting the kingdom of God move now through your life against powers of darkness and taking back that which the enemy has stolen. Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Now the key verse for you and I today is verse number 6. He says, And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience. In other words, that's the sign. There's a willingness in us to revenge all disobedience. When your obedience is fulfilled. I want you to meditate on that just for a moment. Having a willingness. What revenge, Paul says? Having in your heart, in your life, a willingness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. When you have come the way of salvation. When you have come the way of obedience to God. When you have determined to walk it His way. Then God will put these things in your heart and you can stand up and take the authority that's given you in Jesus Christ against the things that come against your life, against the things that come against your home, the things that come against maybe your co-workers and your family. You can stand with authority in Christ and there will be a desire to revenge disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Hallelujah! Yea, Paul says, You sorrowed after a godly sort. What carefulness it wrought in you! Yea, what clearing of yourselves! Yea, what indignation! Yea, what fear! Yea, what vehement desire! Yea, what revenge! What zeal! In all things you have approved yourselves to be pure, clear or pure in this matter. Hallelujah! Would you stand please? This is the conclusion of the tape. This is the end of Side 1.