This sermon emphasizes the importance of sharing the Gospel with others, highlighting the need to confront sin and the reality of God's judgment. It encourages believers to use God's law to bring conviction and understanding of sin before presenting the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. The speaker shares personal experiences and challenges listeners to be bold in proclaiming the truth, even when faced with rejection or discomfort.

And in his absence, we are blessed to have our good friend, who's a well-known author, Hell's Best Kept Secret, he's going to let you in on the secret today. And street evangelist, our great friend, Ray Comfort. Ray, come on up and bless us with a word this morning. Thank you. Psalm 90, verse 7, if you would turn your Bibles, thank you. Psalm 90, verse 7. It's good to be back. It's been about four years, if I remember rightly. Four years. Psalm 90, verse 7. For we're consumed by your anger, and by your wrath we're troubled. We have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance. For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We spend our years as a tale that is told. I've done many radio interviews, and one that remains firmly fixed in my mind was way back in the 1980s. I don't know if you realize it, but most radio stations have what's commonly called a cough button. That is, if the announcer wants to cough, he can put his thumb on a little switch or a button and press it down, and he can cough. And you don't hear him cough. You can say, here is the news, read by such and such. And you don't hear the, Well, I had a friend, a radio announcer, his name was Dudley Scantleberry. Dudley had a name that suited his voice. His name sounded like he was a rich English aristocrat. And his voice sounded like that. He had one of those velvet voices that speaks clearly, and has resonance to it. But Dudley had problems with his sinuses. He was continually blowing his nose, and it was so bad at one point in time he couldn't even taste his food. Well, I was doing an interview with him on a Sunday afternoon. I was in the studio, it was live. And he begins the program with, Good afternoon, welcome to the program. Today is going to be an exciting program. We have with us Ray Comfort. Ray, welcome to the program. I lost it. I actually fell off the stool. I was sitting onto the floor, and my wife was listening to the interview. She said afterwards, what was that grunting in the background I could hear? That was me on the floor. I lost it. Well, around that time we had a young man join our youth group. I was a youth leader in our church back in the 1980s. And this man's name was Peter. This was way down in New Zealand. And I was a youth leader. He was from Australia. And Peter had a serious facial disfigurement. The right side of his face looked like it had kind of melted. His eye was down about an inch. His mouth was pulled right down. And so he was part of a youth group for about two weeks. And one day I thought, man, I have to face this. I'm going to go up and ask him what happened. And so I went up to him. I said, Peter, what happened with your face? Hoping you wouldn't say nothing. What happened with yours? But he was very gracious. And he said, actually, it was far worse. He had a very bad speech impediment. He said it was far worse than this. And he said his face was all melted down about two inches further down. And surgeons and two major operations had actually lifted up. He says, I look much better than I used to look. And he had a great sense of humor and very gracious about it. And one day he was at the altar at the church I was at. And I went down and I said, Peter, what are you seeking from God? And he said to me, I want to be a radio announcer. I said, excuse me? He said, I want to be a radio announcer. I said, you want to be a radio announcer? And in my mind I was thinking, Lord, give me a blind man. What am I going to say to him? And so I just said, Peter, delight yourself in the Lord. He'll give you the desires of your heart. And unbeknown to me, Peter got a job at a radio station working through the night sorting out recordings for the next day for the radio hosts. And I had a radio program at that time, and he introduced it just for fun and gave it to me. And I listened and I thought, who is that? Someone said, in a nice voice said, and now we have Ray Comfort. I thought, what? That's Peter. So I took it to the manager of the radio station, and they employed him as a Christian radio announcer. God was so faithful. And about three or four months later, Peter was in another alter, and I went down to him and I said, Peter, what are you seeking from God? And he said, I want a wife. I thought, oh Lord, give me a blind man. And I thought, whoa, I just said, well, Peter, delight yourself in the Lord. He'll give you the desires of your heart. Long story short, last I heard, he was married, living in Australia with three children. God certainly is faithful to his promises. Now, also around that time, in the 1980s, I had a burning heart's desire. I desired that God would bring forth laborers. I don't know if you're familiar with Jesus' command to pray in Luke chapter 10, verses 1 and 2. He said, pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would raise up laborers. Well, that's a command for you and I to pray for laborers. But I surmise that's probably the most ignored command to pray in scripture. Because I know how many people actually do labor for the gospel. Statistics show that about 2% of the contemporary body of Christ in our country, in America, regularly share their faith with others. There are not very many laborers. And I surmise that not too many people are praying, oh God, raise up laborers. Because if you're not laboring, you won't pray that prayer because you'll feel a sense of guilt if you do, because you're not a laborer yourself. So Satan gets a double victory. Not only are you not a laborer for the gospel, but you're not even praying for laborers. And I had an itinerant ministry, and as I traveled I found there truly was this dearth of people who were actually prepared to do what God commanded us to do in the Great Commission. I'd say in large churches, where's your evangelism team? And they'd say, oh, evangelism. Oh, he's over there sitting on the end of that pew. And there were so few actually sharing the gospel with the unsaved. And I'd look at these great evangelistic outreaches where combined churches would combine for a combined church crusade. Or 200 churches would combine in a large auditorium and we'd see 50, 60, 70,000 people gathered together and we'd say, oh, what a wonderful outreach this is. But really, when you ask yourself, are those combined churches combining for a combined church crusade, who is it that's at the combined church crusade? Why, it's combined churches. It's actually preaching to the choir, basically. It's Christians gathering together to preach the gospel to Christians. And my prayer was, oh God, give me a group of 50, 60,000 Christians in a stadium. And I wouldn't just preach to the unsaved, I would challenge them as to the validity of their walk with God if they're not obeying the Great Commission. I would say to them, what would you think of a man who waxed his car and loved his car and was getting a great shine on his car when suddenly he looked out the side of his eye and he saw a kid drowning in his swimming pool. One of the neighbors, three-year-old kids drowning in his swimming pool. And he thinks to himself, man, I can't leave the shine, ruin the shine, I've got to save that kid, I'll just keep shining this vehicle. Man, he's guilty of a terrible crime. He's not only morally guilty, he's guilty of violating a law that's called depraved indifference. And that law is perfectly named. Depraved means it's as low as you can get. And indifference means you couldn't care less. And it seems that much of the contemporary church is guilty of the crime or the sin of depraved indifference. If we don't care about the loss, that's as low as you can get. We're saying, world, go to hell, I couldn't care less. Love could never wax a car while a child drowns. And love can never wax bold and worship and sit super-glued to a pew while sinners sink into hell. Must do something. My Bible says, he that loves not, knows not, God for God is love. So I'd say to my group of 50, 60,000 Christians, Charles Spurgeon said, have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you're not saved yourself. Be sure of that. And I'd repeat it. Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you're not saved yourself. Be sure of that. So the Bible speaks of true and false conversion. Tears among the weak. Foolish virgins among the wise. Bad fish among the good. Goats among the sheep that Jesus said, I'll sort out on the day of judgment. And all those who are saved are those who do the will of God. Because if you are saved, one sign you are saved is that Jesus will be your Lord. And when he says, go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, you'll do what your Lord commands you to do. And so that's what I would say to a group of Christians in a stadium. And then I'd go for the lost and preach the gospel for any that were in the midst. Around that time, I remember it was a Thursday afternoon, I looked at a portion of sermon by Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers. I was sitting in my office, and this is what I read. Saul, you will find it a hard thing to go at war with the law when the law came in peace. Sinai was altogether on a smolder, and even Moses said, I exceeding fear and quake. What will you do when the law comes in terror? When the trumpet of the archangel shall tear you from your grave? When the eyes of God shall burn their way into your guilty soul? When the book shall be opened, and all your sin and shame shall be punished? Can you stand against an angry law in that day? And I remember looking at it and thinking, oh, that's a little different from, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. I thought, what is Spurgeon doing? He seems to be using God's law to cause sinners to tremble and to flee from the wrath that's to come. And I tucked it in my memory bags. Two days later, I read Galatians 3.24. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But I didn't read it as that. I read it as this. Wherefore, the law was Israel's schoolmaster to bring them to Christ that they might be justified by faith. But I said, it doesn't say that. It says us. Is it legitimate to pick up the law from the Old Testament and bring us to contemporary society and use it as an instrument to drive sinners to the cross? So, I went out and found myself a sinner and experimented on him. I sat next to a guy and I gave my kind of personal testimony, but instead of saying, and Jesus filled that God-shaped vacuum in her heart. And I found true peace, joy, lasting fulfillment when I gave my heart to Jesus. I didn't say that. I took him through the commandments. I said, if you've lied, you're a liar. If you've stolen, you're a thief. If you look with lust, Jesus said, you've committed adultery in your heart. And there's a day of judgment, and if we're guilty on the day of judgment, the Bible promises we'll end up in hell. But it's not God's will he sent Jesus to die on the cross. To take the punishment, to redeem us from the curse of the law, to raise from the dead on the third day and defeat death. And all who repent, trust in him, receive forgiveness of sins. God dismisses their case, and he allows them to live. And this guy stood to his feet, and he said, I've never heard that put so clearly in all my life. And I thought, yes! The law is a schoolmaster. It teaches. It brings understanding. It brings knowledge. And so I began to search the literature of Wesley and Spurgeon and Whitefield, and they said, if you do not use the law to bring the knowledge of sin, you'll fill the church almost certainly with false converts. And folks, it's as simple as this. What farmer sows seed on hard ground? He'd be a fool to do that. If he's got good quality seed, he turns the soil, breaks it up. Good seed, good soil, good harvest. Modern evangelism doesn't do biblical evangelism. It doesn't take the time to do what Jesus did. To break up the soil of the heart before the seed of the gospel is planted. It's as simple as this. What doctor gives a cure to a patient when he at first doesn't convince the patient he has a disease? He just says, hey, here's a really good cure. The patient's not going to appreciate or appropriate that cure. He must have a knowledge of his disease before he'll appreciate the cure. The gospel is the cure. The disease is sin. And the convincing agent that tells us the diagnosis is the law of God. It brings the knowledge of sin. It prepares the heart for grace. And that's the principle of biblical evangelism. So I formulated this into a teaching called Evangelical Frustration, which was later entitled Hell's Best Kept Secret. And I began teaching it and I thought, man, I've got an established itinerant ministry. It is dead in the water. I've lost this. If I preach this, people are going to slam doors on me and call me a legalist. The exact opposite happened. Doors began to fling open. Someone heard it. A pastor in the United States. He said, America must hear this teaching. Invited us to base our ministry in Southern California to bring the teaching to the church of the U.S. For three years, things were quiet. Then David Wilkerson put his commendation on the teaching. Bill Gothard put his commendation on the teaching. Doors began to open further. And one day, Kirk Cameron called. Kirk is from the Growing Pain sitcom. Fine Christian. He saw the Left Behind movies. And he said, I have just heard Hell's Best Kept Secret. He said, I am devastated. I've never heard anything like this in my life. You see, for Kirk, a Christian was someone who went down to his backyard, sat amongst the green grass, looked at the blue sky, opened his Bible, listened to the birds singing, and thanked God for creation. He had no concern to the lost until he understood the principles of biblical evangelism, true and false conversion. He began to realize that he had never found a place of genuine repentance. He had never been concerned for the salvation of his loved ones or his neighbors or strangers. And God transformed his life overnight. And over the next 12 months, he joined ministry with me and he kept saying, how can we get this teaching to the church? How can we get this teaching to the church? And I'd say, well, Kirk, welcome to Club Frustration. I've been a member for 20 years. You just have to get used to it. Well, one day he was on TBN talking about Left Behind 2. And he mentioned our website address. Well, the next day, we got 73,000 hits. The thing collapsed. It crashed. It couldn't take the traffic. So we got our own server. I called TBN and said, hey, it crashed. They said, well, come on again. You come on with Kirk and talk about your ministry. So the day we were due to go on, TBN called and said, the host that was going to interview you guys is sick. Will Kirk host the whole two-hour program? And knowing Kirk, I thought, no way. He's not one to be identified with Christian television in that respect. I thought, there's no way he's going to say yes. And I called Kirk and told him, and he said, yes, if they'll let me preach Hal's Best Kept Secret. So I thought, no way. They're not going to let him preach Hal's. No way. Called TBN, and they said, yes. We'll give an extra 20 minutes on top so he's got some elbow room. So Kirk preached Hal's Best Kept Secret word for word, and the next day, our website got over a million hits in one day. The ministry exploded. TBN said, please, Kirk, come back each week and host the program because their ratings went through the roof. So they had channel surfers that never stopped on TBN, but suddenly see Mike Seaver preaching from the Bible, and they had beached themselves on TBN of all places. So their ratings went through the roof. They pleaded with him to come back. He says, no. He said, no, I won't. But I'll tell you what I'll do. Ryan and I will produce a television show called The Way of the Master that brings out principles of biblical evangelism. And so that's what we did. We're coming up to our third season. It won People's Choice Award 2004, 2005, NRB 2005 Best Program Award of the Year. And this is a television program about evangelism. So it has blown me away at what God has done. The principle behind what we teach is so simple and yet so profound. It was kind of summed up in something a member of our staff told me. A guy's name is Danny who works for our ministry. And he said, you know, before I was a Christian, he said, I actually ended up in jail for not paying parking tickets. I said, you're kidding. Why did you just pay them? And he said, well, it was just parking tickets. It's no big deal. Parking tickets. And he said, what happened is the police arrived at his home at 4 a.m., put him in a big black bus and took him to L.A. courts. He found himself standing before a judge. He said, fortunately, I had $700 in my pocket. He said, I'd fix things up. So when his case came, he said, judge, I've got the money here now. I can pay those fines and I can pay court costs. And the judge says, Mr. Goodall, I'm going to say if you're paying out all that money, you're going to jail. And Danny said he was terrified. Now his problem was that he trivialized his crimes. Just parking tickets. And thus he deceived himself. Had he known the judge's ruling that he was going to end up in jail, he would have immediately got things right between him and the law. Now you and I have a case pending. We've violated God's law, and the case is with the Supreme Court of Heaven. Every single one of us will give an account of himself to God. One day death will seize upon us. It will arrest us and drag us before the judge of the universe. We will fall into the hands of the living God. And we'll not be concerned if we don't understand the judge's ruling. Now if you've seen our television program, you'll know this is a typical encounter. Recently I was in a taxi with a taxi driver. And I says, hey, how you doing? I said, hey, can I ask you a question? What do you think happens when someone dies? This gentleman's name was Mohammed. And he was a Muslim. And I've learned how to handle Muslims. I said, what happens when, using biblical principles, what happens when you die, what do you think? He said, you either go to heaven or you'll go to hell. I said, where do you think you'll go? He said, I hope, I hope, I don't know. I hope I'll go to heaven. So I said to him, Mohammed, let me tell you a little story. There's a criminal standing before a judge. He's committed a very, very serious crime. But he thinks he's going to get off because all he's going to say is, Judge, I'm really sorry and I won't do it again. He says, is he going to get away? Is the judge going to let him go? It's a very serious crime. Oh, you're sorry? Oh, I didn't realize that. You won't do it again? Okay, case dismissed. No way. The judge is bound by law. He must do what is right and just. There's no way he's going to let him go because he's sorry and he won't do it again. Of course he should be sorry. He's done wrong and of course he shouldn't do it again. And Muslims trust in that very principle. They really think they're going to tell God, I'm sorry and I won't do it again. They're very sincere. And it's not going to hold water. So I said, do you think you're a good person, Mohammed? He says, yeah, I think I'm a good person. I'd go to heaven. Have you ever told a lie? He says, yes, yes. I said, what does that make you? I want to personalize his crime. I want to show him how serious it is. And he says, oh, I have told just fibs, just white lies. That's how people react. We trivialize the crime and thus we deceive ourselves. We're like Danny, who trivialized just parking tickets and thus he deceived himself. And the Bible says, he that says he has no sin, which is what you're doing when you sell, it's just white lies, it's not really bearing false witness, deceives himself. Ever stolen something? Yeah, but just little things when I was a baby. People are like that again and again. Yeah, when I was three or four, I took a tiny piece of candy and I took it back. We trivialize our crimes and we deceive ourselves. Here is the judge's ruling on liars. All liars will have their part in the lake of fire. You say, what? Yeah, all liars have their part in the lake of fire. All liars. That is the judge's ruling. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. That means extremely detestable to God. Lying lips. He takes deceit very, very seriously. You say, I don't believe in hell. Well, that's like my friend Danny saying to the judge, I don't believe in jail. What's the judge going to say? He's going to say, excuse me, take him away. Our unbelief doesn't negate reality. Of course there is a place called hell. Of course God is going to punish murderers and rapists and thieves, but God is so good, he's going to punish liars and fornicators and blasphemers and adulterers. He's going to punish right down to the thought and intent of the human heart. He that hates his brother is a murderer. Every idle word a man speaks, he'll give an account thereof on the day of judgment. We cannot let sinners continue to trivialize their crimes. We must learn to make it personal. It must be like Nathan, the prophet, who was so faithful. When he stood before David, and David had violated the commandments, he had murdered, he had committed adultery, he had lived a life of deceit, he had stolen, he had coveted, he had broken the commandments. But when Nathan stood before him, he didn't say, David, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. He didn't say, there's a God-shaped vacuum in your heart only God can fill. He said, no, no. He said, you are the man! Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord? He personalized the crime. He brought out the serious nature of the crime, because David must be made to tremble. He must be made to see the judge's ruling that he had seriously violated the commandment of the Holy God. But today's popular preachers don't personalize sin. They gloss over it. They don't want to make people feel uncomfortable. They don't want to make people feel guilty. They actually hide the judge's ruling from the sinner. They never mention hell from a pulpit, or judgment, or righteousness, or holiness, or law. And thus they allow the sinner to continue to deceive himself and trivialize his crimes against the Holy God. They say, oh, that method is too confrontational. It is confrontational, but it's confrontational for good reason. Let me give you an example. You're having a business meeting in a restaurant. A very serious talk about very important business propositions, when suddenly a stranger comes up to you, a waiter. And he walks up and he just says, may I take your order? You don't turn to him and say, excuse me? I was just talking business with a friend, very important business, and you just walk up and butt in. You are very rude. Now that doesn't happen. It never happens. And the waiter knows that it never happens. Why? Because he knows he's got what you want. Food. That's why you're there, for food. And that is his confidence. That's what gives him that boldness to come up and butt into the conversation. And you and I have got what the world wants, everlasting life. Within the heart of every single human being there is a cry of, I don't want to die. Remember that Korean guy that terrorists took a hold of some time ago? They put him in front of a video camera. They were going to kill him, and they did the next day. But they let him plead with the camera, and he said, please, I don't want to die. And you and I empathized with that. Because we're human beings. We're not like the animals. We're separate from the animals. We're made in the image of God. We're human. Human means lowly. Being means that we're aware of our existence. We're aware that we exist. And we have an appointment with death. And in the heart of every single one of us is this cry of, oh, I don't want to die. That's our God-given will to live. And every single sane human being has that. And we've got what they want. We've found everlasting life. They just don't understand that. They think we are religious. But we've found the greatest treasure any human being could ever hope to find. And what we've got to do is make them understand the issues. So we have a new waiter. He comes to the restaurant. His manager says, there's a couple of businessmen over there that are just going, but you'll be fine. He says, I don't want to look at them. They're wearing suits and ties. They're busy talking. So what does the manager do? He puts him with an experienced waiter. And the experienced waiter walks up. The shy waiter stands beside him. The experienced waiter just walks up to these businessmen and says, may I take your order? And they say, oh, yes, certainly. Yeah, we'd like this, this, and this. And the shy waiter looks at them and says, oh, it works. He was confrontational. He butted in. And they didn't mind one bit. And that's what gives him his confidence. That's what makes him bold. Now let me put you for a moment with an experienced waiter. Let's turn to Romans chapter 2. And look at how Paul is confrontational. There is nothing sensitive about this. Oh, I don't want my hearers to feel guilty. He's not afraid to mention certain words. He doesn't get the scalpel out and cut out words that may offend. He's faithful. He's true. He doesn't water down the medicine. Romans chapter 2, verse 3. He's speaking about judgment, the judgment of God. It's according to truth. And he says, do you think this, oh man, that judge them who do such things, that you shall escape the judgment of God? You do the same? Oh, do you despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering? Not knowing the goodness of God will lead you to repentance. But after your hardness and impenitent heart, you're treasuring up to yourself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds. To them who by patient continuance and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. But to them that are contentious and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, wrath, tribulation, and anguish upon every soul of man that does evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek. And then Paul in Romans 2, verse 12 speaks about God's law and us being judged by that law. And in verse 15, he says the work of the law is written on the heart, on the conscience. Every one of us knows it's wrong to lie and steal and commit adultery and kill. And then over in verse 21, Paul gives what we commonly call the good test. He takes someone through the test to see if they are good. And look how he personalizes the commandments. Firstly, he says in verse 20, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, who have the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. You, therefore, who teach another, you shall do not teach yourself. You that preach a man should not steal. Do you steal? You say a man should not commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? See, he's personalizing the Ten Commandments. You that abhor idols, which is the first and second Ten Commandments. Do you commit sacrilege? You that make your boast of the law through the breaking of the law, you dishonor God. When we violate the law, we sin against God. We don't sin against man, we violate his law. We become a debt to the law. For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles for you, as it is written. Paul was confrontational because he knew what sinners should hear. He knew what they needed to hear, the ruling of the judge, that they might see the crimes in their true light, see the seriousness of the transgression, and realize they need to repent and trust in the Savior. Think of Lazarus, the story of Lazarus and the rich man that Jesus told. Jesus said there was a certain rich man who feared sumptuously, and he was dressed in fine linen and purple. And I see this as a picture of the contemporary church. The rich, fat lair to see in church that says that it's rich, and in need of nothing, but in truth it's poor, blind, wretched, miserable, and naked. It's dressed in fine linen, the righteousness of the saints, and purple, royalty, the royal priesthood of believers, who couldn't care less about the lost. Lazarus, starving at the gate. They're too busy feeding themselves, heaping to themselves, teachers having itching ears. No concern for the salvation of the lost whatsoever. But it was in hell the rich man suddenly became evangelistically concerned. It took hell to awaken him about the plight of others. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and he cried out, Father Abraham, go to my brethren and testify to them. Testify to them. What would he have them testify? I mean, if he appeared in front of you at the moment, the rich man suddenly appears in front of you. His clothing is smoldering, his skin is blotched, his eyes are a flame of fire, there's terror in his voice. He says, testify to my loved ones. What should you testify? What does he want you to say? God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life? He'll fill the God-shaped vacuum in your heart? Jesus will help your marriage? No. He wants you to speak about the reality of hell. He would have you say, hell is a real place of fire and of torment, of God's indignation, His wrath, tribulation, and anguish. Where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched. Please tell them. Tell them to look to the law and see the knowledge of sin and realize that sin is exceedingly sinful. Let them understand the ruling of the judge. Let them see that God in His mercy provided a way of escape. He's provided a day of grace in Jesus Christ for the suffering death that Christ redeems from the curse of the law. He made it a curse for us. Tell them to repent of all sin and trust in the Savior. Folks, that's our message. That's what we should be preaching. How far we've removed from that. Listen to the message of popular preachers. Week after week after week, not a mention of sin, of righteousness, judgment, of hell, of the law. It's just life improvement. What you can get from God. How you can be your best and do this and do that. Health, wealth, prosperity. And it's not just in the prosperity. It's moved right through the body of Christ. The same inward self. No concern about the lost or being faithful to the message. Preaching the unadulterated word of God. Listen to what Nobel Prize winning American physicist Stephen Weinberg said in a recent PBS interview regarding religion. He said, I have very good friends who belong to religious denominations whose teaching is that since I don't accept their teaching, I am damned for all eternity. And you'd think that these friends would try to convert me. But they never do. Now you could explain this in various ways. It may be that they really don't like me very much and are just as glad to see me damned for all eternity. That's a possible explanation. But another explanation which I tend to think is more likely is that although they know what their church teaches, they give lip service to it. They draw near to God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him. And the Bible says we worship God in vain when we do that. I think that man nailed it. That's the problem. We don't believe God's, what he says. If we don't believe, how can we call ourselves believers? How can we say we belong to Jesus Christ if we don't do what he says? For we are consumed by your anger, and by your wrath we're troubled. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance, for all our days are passed away in your wrath. So says the psalmist. By your wrath we're troubled. Contemporary America is not troubled by the wrath of God. They've got a wrong image of what God is like. They're not troubled by wrath. God isn't mad at us. He's our friend. We call upon him in times of crisis. Oh no, the Bible says we're enemies of God in our minds through wicked works. Who is a friend of the world is an enemy of God. And any talk of wrath, they're offended by it. And I believe they're offended by any thought of God's wrath because the church has forsaken the preaching of God's law. When you hear that law thundered from pulpits, when you see flashes of lightning at Mount Sinai fall upon congregations and put the fear of God in them, because the Bible says the fear of the Lord causes man to depart from sin, what the law does is it makes hell reasonable. If God is that holy, if he considers hatred to be murder, lust to be adultery, we are in big trouble. The law shows sin to be exceedingly sinful. It reveals why we're concerned by his anger. It is because he has set our iniquities, that is our lawlessness, in front of him. He's like a judge who looks at a criminal who's raped and murdered six young teenage girls. He's raped them and then slit their throats. So what does the judge do? He sets the man's lawlessness in front of him. He takes the evidence of the man's guilt, the photo of the girls with their throats cut, the knife the murderer used, the fingerprints on the knife, his note boasting of what he did. And then he passes sentence in the light of that evidence. And God has set our iniquities before him. But more than that, our secret sins are in the light of his countenance. God's not in the dark as to what we've done. He sees the thoughts and intents of the heart. And they're in the light of his countenance. They're not at his feet or his hand. They're right in front of his face. And he's holy and just. He must bring every work to judgment, including every secret thing whether it's good or evil. The goodness of God would kill us if we stood in the presence of God. When Moses asked to see God, God says, you cannot see my goodness and live. God is like a good judge who is filled with fury at a heinous criminal. He's just waiting to bring down that cow and bring justice. And God is so good, his wrath abides upon us. We are consumed by his wrath. The law convinces us that it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and drive us to the cross. You say, how can I bring that sort of message to an unbeliever? How do I bring that subject up? Well, folks, I've learned how to do it. It's very simple. It's very easy once you learn how to do it. I always carry with me gospel tracts, and let me show you this one. This one is a million-dollar bill. It's not a real million-dollar bill. Well, I wouldn't hold it up in front of other human beings. Okay, if it was real. It's not real because there's no such thing as a million-dollar bill. Okay, if it was, it would probably look just like this. On the back, it has a very clear gospel message. And I use this to bring up the subject with sinners. I just say, excuse me, you're doing a great job. Here's a million dollars. People go, what? A million bucks. Whoa, thanks. I say, it's great when you get the change. They say, good. So it's got a gospel message on the back. Have you had a Christian background? I say, yeah. I say, what do you think happens after someone dies? Do you believe in heaven and in hell? You just get them talking about what they believe and say, what do you think happens? And they say, well, I, most people, they react like this. Yeah, oh, boy, I believe in heaven. I don't know if I believe in hell. And they say, well, do you think you're good enough to go to heaven? They say, yeah, yeah, I'm good. The Bible says every man, almost every man will proclaim his own goodness. I say, well, there's a way to find out. Just go through the Ten Commandments. Let's do a little test. Don't take a minute. It's four questions. Nothing to lose. Most important thing you'll ever look at. Have you ever told a lie? Ever stolen something? Look with lust. Blaspheme God's name. Open up the commandments. Bring the knowledge of sin. Let them tremble before a judge in their vital. Let them hear the judge's ruling. All eyes will be upon the lake of fire. Now, I travel a lot by plane, and I carry these tracks with me. And I've noticed there's a bit of tension in planes. For some reason nowadays. So, when I go in, I like to lighten things up a bit. You know, I just show my ID. You can't see this, but this is my ID. This is what I show them. It's a picture of me with a stretched head. You know how to do that? It really hurt when they did it. And it just lightens things up straight away. The flight attendant goes, oh, that's funny. Give me that. Give me your wallet. Look at this. Shout at other people. And then I say, hey, you folks are doing a great job. Here's a million bucks. They go, oh, that's funny. Oh, that's great. So, I give one to the other flight attendant. I say, how many drivers is there? Two? Okay, one for the pilot, one for the assistant. There you are. And they say, thanks a lot. And I speak very loudly, and there's a reason I speak loudly. It's because I know that just to my right there is the business section. And in the business section are businessmen. They're sitting there mining their own business, but they look up, and they live for this stuff. That's what they live for. You see? And I'm giving it out. And they go, what is a guy giving out money? What's going on up there? And their eyes went. So, I turn around, and I realize that God created me this size so that my money will be in the eye level of businessmen. So, I turn around, and they say, money. And when I see their eyes go, ooh, I go, did you get your million? They say, hey, thanks. I say it loud enough for the guy behind them to know what's going on. So, I gave out down the plane about 30 of these as I'm going down the plane. And I sit in my seat halfway down the plane when a flight attendant comes walking up to me and says, a man down the front wants one of those million dollars. So, I give her one. But instead of just giving her one, I gave her a bundle. She turns around to the rest of the passengers and says, anyone like a million dollar bill? She's giving out tracks. So, folks, you can do this. You can get these on livingwaters.com. You can listen to tapes free of charge. You can download the tapes. They're non-copyright. You can duplicate them. And you can learn biblical principles. Just go there and click on the audio section of livingwaters.com. But to encourage you as we begin to close today, I want to share with you a witnessing experience that I see as my worst ever witnessing experience. And the reason I want to do this is so that it will bring great comfort to you if you have a bad time. I was in Santa Monica in Southern California on a Friday night. It was a very dark Friday night. It was worse than the time that I, as a new Christian, went out door knocking. Knocking on doors. I just didn't want to do it. I felt self-conscious. Jehovah's Witnesses had stolen our thunder knocking on doors everywhere. And people didn't want knocking on doors. And there I was knocking on someone's door. So when the door opened, with a very sincere tone, I said to the lady that opened the door, Oh, hello, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness. And she said, Well, I am. Santa Monica was worse than that. It was worse than the time that I was talking to two young ladies and wanting to relate to them and be friendly. So I said, that's because I wanted to witness to them, I said to the one that was pregnant, When are you a Jew? And she says, I'm not. I said, My, what a full dress. Well, must go. Santa Monica was worse than that. It was worse than the time that I was at KABC radio, which is a secular station. I did a radio program regularly on a Sunday night where I was in a studio with a Catholic priest and a rabbi for two hours talking about religion. And I was in the lobby, and there's a security guard standing there. So I thought, fell at liberty to talk to him, seeing it was a Christian program, kind of, religious program. And I said, So you had a Christian background? He says, No. I said, Well, do you think you're a good person? He says, Yeah, I'm a really good person. So I said, Well, have you ever told a lie? He says, Yeah. I said, What does that make you? He says, A liar. I said, Have you ever stolen something? He says, Yeah. I said, What does that make you? He says, A thief. I said, Now Jesus said, If you look upon a woman to lust after her, you commit adultery already with her in your heart. Have you ever done that? And suddenly, he looked down. And I lost eye contact with him, so I grabbed his hand. I said, Have you ever looked upon a woman to lust after her? And he looked at me in the eyes, and he said, No, I'm gay. And I was holding his hand. Santa Monica was worse than that. Let me tell you what happened in Santa Monica, Southern California, on a dark, very dark Friday night. I've been open air preaching. I went there every Friday night for about three and a half years. And during the open air preaching times, during the break, I would get down, and I would give out gospel literature. I'd give out tracts to people as they went by. And as I was giving out tracts, and people were taking them, suddenly I saw a lady in an electric wheelchair come from my left, and she was hooting it. She was doing about eight, ten miles an hour. She was going really fast. She had her foot to the pedal, and she was like that. And I noticed she had some terrible disease where her face was just contorted, and her hands were flashing back and forth, with this horrible disease. And I went out to her, and I thought, oh, I'd love to give her a tract, but just, what was that? She was gone. And I thought, oh man, I felt so disappointed. About ten minutes later, I looked to my right, and back she's coming. This time, no foot to the pedal. She's moving about two miles an hour because the lady is pushing her along. And I thought, oh, this is my opportunity. So I grabbed the tract, and I went up to give it to her, and as she went to grab the tract, this horrible disease made her hands rash like that, and she couldn't get a hold of it, and her face looked so disappointed. So I tried to give it to her again, and again, she missed the thing, trying to take hold of it. And I felt, I just felt sick, and I felt so disappointed. She was trying to get this, and she looked disappointed and frustrated. And so I started walking alongside the wheelchair, and probably two or three times, I tried to put it in her hand, and this terrible disease made it rash back, her hands rash back and forth, and her face looked disappointed and frustrated once again. And I was trying to put it between her fingers, when suddenly, the lady pushing the wheelchair said, can't you see? She doesn't want it! Do it! Ugh! Her frustration on her face was not because she couldn't get hold of it, it was because this silly little man with a mustache was trying to put a piece of paper between her fingers, which she didn't want! Get this thing out of my face! And I just bowed my head and said, Lord, if you're thinking of taking me home any time in the future, now would be really appropriate. So the next time you say something wrong when you're trying to witness to somebody, or that somebody rejects you or you chicken out, please, don't be discouraged. Speak comfort to your soul. Just say, remember Ray Comfort in Santa Monica. Let's close in prayer and ask God to seal this word to our hearts, shall we? Father, we come before you and say, Lord, we have neglected that which we should do. Lord, we have sinned against you with complacency. We've been guilty of the crime of depraved indifference, and often I have when I've walked past someone knowing that more than likely the person is a non-Christian and if he dies in his sins, he could be snatched into eternity. In a heartbeat, he will go to hell forever, and I have been unconcerned. I ask you for forgiveness. I pray that you would raise up laborers even this day. Raise up laborers and thrust us into the harvest fields to do what we know we should. We pray for anyone here who has never been born again, who has never cried out, God, forgive me, I'm a sinner. May they understand the judge's ruling today, that all liars will live their part in the lake of fire, that you're holy and perfect and righteous and good. You're by no means clever or guilty, but you've provided a way of escape through the blood of Jesus Christ, through the cross of Calvary, through his death and resurrection. Let them find a place of repentance and faith in Jesus this day, that they might pass from death into life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.