In this sermon, Brother Denny emphasizes that God is not slack in fulfilling his promises, but rather patient and long-suffering towards humanity. He desires that all people come to repentance and be saved. However, the day of the Lord will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night, and the heavens and earth will be destroyed. Brother Denny warns believers to be aware of the deception of the wicked and to remain steadfast in their faith, growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. If we could start here this morning, let's just kneel for prayer. Father, I come to you, a needy man this morning, preaching to needy people. We thank you for your Word. Thank you for the Word of God in the English language this morning. This is my prayer, O Father, that you would let your Word be heard this morning. Let the Word of God be heard. Speak, Lord. My servants, listen. Pray that thy Holy Ghost would come here, minister to the congregation of your people. You'd minister to me, Lord, not able of my own self. So, I yield this message to you. I yield this congregation to you. And this next hour, into your hands. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Yes, well, I want to welcome each one of you to this sweet day of rest that saw our Lord arise, if you know that song. Somewhere in church history, back there, I'm not sure where, it was very early, but there was a change made and we aren't gathering together and resting on the seventh day anymore. I'm sorry, but we're resting on the first day. We consider the day of rest to be the first day anymore. Somewhere back there in church history, maybe someone else could fill me in on the particulars, but I know that somewhere that got changed. It got changed from the Sabbath of the Old Covenant and placed on the first day of the resurrection of Christ. And that's why that song is written, Welcome, sweet day of rest that saw my Lord arise. Because Sunday is a resurrection day. And so, we honor this day as the day of resurrection. Sunday, while we don't necessarily honor this day as Easter like the world does, in many different ways and fashions and for different reasons, yet we do recognize that the Lord Jesus is risen from the dead today, which we celebrate each week. I'd like to also say a word of thanks here for those of you who make it a practice in your spiritual life to pray for the preacher. I really appreciate that. Sometimes in my early morning hours when I'm feeling my need and crying for inspiration, I'm amazed sometimes how many times inspiration flows. And I rarely take credit for my own prayers, but I assume that someone is praying for me. And I appreciate that this morning. I want to offer you your position, your importance in what happens here on Sunday mornings. Your prayers are important. I had another topic that I'd been pondering for this morning's message. This happens sometimes. And I'd been pondering it and preparing in my heart. I was going to look into this and that. And I woke this morning, and there was a subject laying on my heart this morning. I woke up, and there were words in my mind, words on my heart and a subject that I couldn't shake. And so I am perceiving by that that the Lord would have me speak about this this morning to the church. I don't know why, but my message this morning is the grace of Jesus in delaying judgment. The grace of Jesus in delaying judgment. And I have one thing I thought I should say here, lest confusion come in here. And as I was preparing this message sometime down the way, the thought occurred to me that I might be misunderstood as making some connection between this message and the death of Isaac Coates in Honduras here a week ago. And I just wanted to say I am not thinking of Isaac Coates at all this morning when I preach this message. From the testimony that I hear, God had been doing some good work in the heart of Isaac before his death in the rivers of Honduras there. And as far as we know, his conscience was clear with God before he died. I'd like to begin in the book of 1 Kings if we could. I know that Brother Rick sometime ago preached the message from the life of King David that involved this man Shimei. And I would like to also draw an illustration from the death of Shimei. 1 Kings 2, verse 36. Just to give a little backdrop of where we're going to break in here. King David has died. And one of the things that King David asked Solomon to promise that he would do is he said, Solomon, promise me that when I am dead, you will kill Shimei. You must not let him die of natural causes, but bring his head down to the grave in blood. Because when I was fleeing from Absalom, he cursed me and has done much grief. And you remember when King David came back, there was a big dispute over whether he was going to be forgiven or not. And he said a bunch of things there. And so Solomon had the wrath of King David resting upon Shimei. And it seems that right after David's death and Solomon is established as king, Solomon is a diligent man like we heard about in our children's lesson this morning. And he went right to business, cleaning the kingdom. He put Joab to death, told Abathar. I think he also put to death his brother Adonijah who conspired against him. He also put Abiathar, the priest out of the priesthood, said, Go home to your field. You can no longer be priest. Though you deserve to die, you're a priest. And you suffered the things my father did, and so I'm not going to kill you. But you are removed from the priesthood. And one of the things that Solomon did here, starting in at verse 36, it says, And the king sent and called Shimei, and said unto him, Build thee an house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither. For it shall be that on the day that thou goest out and passest over the brook Kidron, the brook Kidron flows right down to the bottom of the hill of Jerusalem there, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die. Thy blood shall be upon thine own head. And Shimei said unto the king, The saying is good, as my lord the king hath said so. So will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days. And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away unto Achish, the son of Machah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, thy servants be in Gath. And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath, to Achish, to seek his servants. And Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath. And it was told Solomon, that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again. And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Did I not make thee to swear by the Lord, and protested unto thee, saying, Know for a certain on the day that thou goest out, and walkest abroad, any whither that thou shalt surely die? And thou saidst unto me, that the word that I have heard is good. Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the Lord, and the commandment that I have charged thee with? And the king said moreover to Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness, which thine heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father. Therefore the Lord shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head. And King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever. So the king commanded Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, which went out, and fell upon him, and that he died. In this story, King Solomon seems to typify Jesus Christ here. In that he does not kill the one guilty of death, but rather binds him never to leave his own presence under pains of death. I wonder if you see the leniency of Solomon there. Yes, wisdom, because he knew the nature of Shimei. But yes, leniency. See, he could have done the same as he did to Jehoiada. He could have just beheaded him there and had done with it. But look at the leniency, and look at the wisdom of what he said. And is there not a type and a shadow of what Jesus Christ has said to our own souls? Solomon said, Shimei, here is the agreement. You come and live in Jerusalem, and you are stuck here. You may not leave this city. Now, Jerusalem is not a small place. There is a lot happening there. It is the center of the world, you know. The Bible calls it the navel of the world. And Jerusalem is the capital. Solomon is the greatest king, the wisest king that ever lived. And at this time, he is not that wise. I mean, he has not received that yet. But that is what is coming. And he tells him, I want you to be close to me always. That is all I require. I am not going to kill you, Shimei. You may live. And the only thing I want from you, don't leave my presence. Don't leave Jerusalem. Live here. Do everything you want to do in Jerusalem, but don't leave my presence. If Shimei had chosen to yield himself totally to the command of the king, he would have lived there very happily. If you think about it, he lived there three years. If he had just stayed, if his servants had gone away, if he had sent somebody else after them, or whatever, he could have lived there and died an old man. He could have seen many wonderful things in Jerusalem. He could have seen the building of Solomon's house. He could have seen the building of the temple, the coming of the Queen of Sheba. He could have seen silver as common as stones in Jerusalem. And he saw none of these things, because he despised the commandment of the king of kings. He despised the commandment. He thought it a light thing that the king of the world, Solomon was the king of the world, the king of all other kingdoms were subject unto him. And he despised that word and lost his life for it. When he could have had everything else, I would say he was a fool. Had his life spared, given that simple commandment, just stay in my presence, and he lost it. Jesus warned us too, that if we do not abide in Him, we will dry up, be cut off, and be burned. Isn't that similar? Shimei had his eye on other things. While kings and queens came from far to see and hear Solomon, Shimei thought lightly of his closeness to the center of the whole world. He thought lightly of it and lost it and his life. Well, I'd like to give a little definition this morning to the word leniency. Leniency is mercy, clemency, mercifulness, leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or an agency charged with administering justice. That's leniency. And the Lord Jesus, in His graciousness, is very lenient. In putting off the day of judgment, He delays it. It delays and delays and delays. And that is the grace of the Lord Jesus. I want to establish this morning in our hearts that Jesus is the judge of the world. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of John, chapter 5. Jesus is the judge. In chapter 5, it would be in verse 22 is where I'm headed. But let us break in here in verse 19. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father doeth. For what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loves the Son, and showeth Him all things that He Himself doeth. And He will show Him greater works than these that ye may marvel. Now skip down to 22. For the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. Turn to Matthew 28. I know you all know this verse, but let's just look at it. Matthew 28, verse 18. Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth. We won't go into the rest of it. But He's making an acclamation that the declaration to go into all the world is based upon the statement that I have been given all authority. All power is Mine. And Romans 14, verse 10 through 12, is very clear. Why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Now I know when I grew up, I grew up under a misnomer and a false conception that somehow God was the judge. And Jesus was this knight in shining armor standing between me and Him. And He was going to stand before, I don't know if you've heard some of those things yourselves, but you know when God said, Why should I let you into My heaven? I'm not condoning this view of heaven, I'm just saying this is how I grew up. Why should I let you into heaven? Then Jesus was going to come to my rescue and say, Let him in for My blood's sake, and then into heaven I go. Well, that is totally false and non-void. That is nonsense. It's not even the Word of God. Because when you stand to give an account for your deeds, you're standing before Jesus Christ who died and bled for you. And if there's blood to be applied, it will be applied by Him. He is the judge of the world. We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For as it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, Jesus Christ. And every tongue shall confess to God, that's Jesus Christ. So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God at the bema seat of Christ. The judgment seat of Christ. Jesus is the judge of the world. There is a day of judgment, like Rick said this morning, there is a day of judgment coming. But yet, now we are living in what the theologians call the age of grace. This is the grace age. The blood of Christ has been shed. The wrath of God is appeased. Propitiation has been made for man. These are the years when the gospel of salvation and the remission of sins is being preached in Jesus' name. God is overlooking very much at this time. His clemency, if you know what clement means, clement just means genial, easy to get along with. So placid and so peaceful and so appeasable. That's God's clemency. God is so clement and lenient at this time. And it's evident, isn't it? Evil men don't die. Lightning doesn't strike every day. We are living in an age of grace. Judas Iscariot is an example of Jesus' grace in delaying judgment. He was sent out with the 70, even though Jesus knew that he was a devil. He was sent out with the 70, two by two. He was fed with the 5,000 and with the 4,000. He seemed to have a special relationship with Christ because at the Last Supper, you remember, when Jesus said, what you need to do, go and do quickly, everybody thought that he was telling him to go give some money to the poor as if it was something normal for Jesus to say something like that to Judas. There was a special connection with Judas. He had the money bag. And so Jesus, when there was a money issue in the disciples or in his life, he talked to Judas about it. Jesus washed Judas' feet. Jesus, it says, loved him to the end because in the beginning of that chapter it says, having loved his own, he loved them to the end. And Judas was included there in that love that Jesus had. He poured out love upon that man. Jesus called him friend in the garden. When he met him and Judas kissed him, he says, friend, do you betray me with a kiss? I don't know if those words would stick in your throat. But Jesus loved him to the end. He could have repented. Barring all the theological implications of that statement, Judas could have repented. He had ample warnings. Jesus warned him, but woe be to the one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. He could have repented. It seems also that as we look at spiritual history of the earth, that this whole age of time that we know from the beginning of the world until it's closed when Jesus comes, this whole age of time is a demonstration of this very principle to an awesome extent. In that God is showing such leniency with His adversary, the devil. I'll be corrected if you'd like to talk to me about it, but just let me ask you, is God not able to throw the devil into the lake of fire today? Is it beyond His power? No, it is not beyond His power. Jesus said, all things are possible for you. Even the turning around of salvation's plan is possible for you. God is showing such leniency with His adversary, the devil. God could have cast the devil into the lake of fire long ago, but rather He continues to give him life, uphold his very existence by the word of His power, and by Jesus' power, He too consists. It's written in the book of Colossians that all things consist, whether in heaven, whether it be thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, all things were created by Him and for Him, and in Him all things consist. So the very existence of the devil is upheld by the power of Jesus Christ today. We must come to recognize that God is kind and merciful to all men. I appreciated my brother Myron's teaching this morning on the grace of God, and I had to say amen. I thought maybe it would say much of what I had to say here. But God is kind and merciful to all men, even evil, unthankful, unjust men. See, turn to Matthew 5, and I'll show you that. In Matthew 5, that would be verse 45, Jesus concludes and says, that ye may be children of your Father which is in heaven, for He maketh His Son to rise on the evil and on the good. He sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. And then also in Luke 6, 35, is where Jesus speaks of evil and unthankful men. Luke 6, 35 and following. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be children of the highest. For He is kind unto unthankful, and He is kind to the evil. That's why we should be kind to evil men. So God is kind and merciful to all men regardless. You cannot judge God's opinion of the man by His kindness towards the man. I don't know how many of you have heard hospital testimonies. Have you ever heard any hospital testimonies? I've asked people, have you been born again? And they say, oh yes. And immediately launch into their hospital experience, where they had cancer, and God saved them from cancer. And that's all they have to say about their salvation. That's not salvation. That doesn't even mean that God has good intentions for that man on judgment day. It means God is benevolent, kind, and good, even to unthankful and evil men. We dare not get mixed up here, thinking that just because the blessings of God are coming our way, He is healing us, feeding us, prospering our work and such things, that our state in the coming judgment day is good. God is merciful, kind, clement, benevolent, and gracious to all men, and even to men with whom He is angry every day, and men on whom His intense wrath is resting, and men whom one day in judgment He will cast into hell and torment with fire, night and day, into the ages of ages. God is still kind to those men, because He is delaying the day of judgment. We are living in the day of grace. This is the grace of Jesus in delaying judgment. Romans 2, 5 says, But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself. You don't get wrath now. You treasure it up, wrath, against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. The hope of repentance is the motivation for delaying judgment. The hope of repentance is the whole motivation for delaying judgment. The Bible says, Ezekiel 33, 11 says, Say unto them, As I live, sayeth the Lord God. As I live. That's about as sure as God can get. As I live. And there is no one that lives like God lives. He lives, and by Him all things live. God says, As I live. I am the ever existing one. I am the living one. That's my definition. I am. And as I live, He said, Sayeth the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? I'm going to kill you. Is what He's saying. Isn't that what I'm talking about? God's grace is putting off the day of judgment. And through His prophet, He's crying to the damned. He's crying to the man who is awaiting His wrath. And His anger is burning toward that man. And yet at the same time, He is saying to that man, Turn ye, I don't want to see you die, but I'm going to kill you. If you keep going the way you are, you make me so angry, someday my wrath is going to be poured out on you, and I can't hold it back. You have to turn. The hope of repentance is the motivation for delaying judgment. How many times did God send prophets to the backsliding Israel to call her to repentance? Even when He had spoken the word that He would no longer pardon them, in Jeremiah, I believe it is, He says, Don't even ask Me, Jeremiah, I will not hear you. He told Israel, Though you scream in My ears, I will not hear you. I am done with you. The sin of the king, Manasseh. The sin of Manasseh is before Me, and it will not be blotted out. I am done with Israel. I am going to destroy you. And He had made all those statements. Even when He had spoken that word, that He would no longer pardon Israel, that He would no longer change His mind, then through the prophet Jeremiah at the last hour, if you remember the story, Jerusalem is surrounded by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. I mean, it is about to be destroyed. I think this is actually the last of the... No, it isn't. It's not the last. It's the first of the falls of Jerusalem. I may be wrong there. But it's totally surrounded, and God has been saying to Jeremiah, I'm going to come in. I'm going to burn this place. I'm going to rip your pregnant women open. I'm going to kill your children, your old men, your young men are going to bleed in the streets. I'm going to destroy you. Repent. And even at that moment, I mean, they are right on the verge of falling to Babylon. God says through Jeremiah, King Zedekiah came to Him and says, What is the word of the Lord? And Jeremiah says, Even now, if you will go out to the king of Babylon, I will not burn this place. I don't know how God does that with His honesty and His word, but God can do what He wants. But listen to the mercy of God. Even at the last hour, it is not the will of God that the wicked perish. It is the will of God that He repent before His wrath be outpoured. And even at that moment, He told Zedekiah, If you, at this moment, will surrender, go out to the king of Babylon, I will give you your life as booty. You will not die. I will not destroy this city. And I will not burn the temple with fire. Repentance was the cry of the prophets, one and all. The prophets' cry was, Repent! God, you are far from God. You have lost your way. Repent! And they came speaking in the name of the Lord. Even Jezebel in the church of Thyatira, who was leading others into fornication, Jesus says of her, I gave her space to repent of her fornications, and she repented not. Even a woman in His church, leading His men into fornication, He said, But I gave that woman space to repent of her fornication. Turn with me to 2 Peter 3. 3.9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Skip down to verse 15. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you. Skip down to verse 17. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware, lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and ever. Amen. God is not slack like the children's lesson this morning. That's what it's saying. God's longness in waiting to bring the world to an end is not accounted for His laziness. It's not like He just hasn't got the ambition to do it right now. But He is earnestly interested in the salvation of men. He is waiting for men to repent. And He is putting off the day of judgment. It is grace. He's putting that day off when His Son will sit on the white throne and judge the nations like the sheep and the goat. He's putting that day off farther out ahead. And in the meantime, giving men life, breath, happiness, shedding the gospel light around, bringing it into their ears, giving them time to work through, see their condition. In that time of grace, God in His clemency is seeking men. But there are limitations to grace, I must say. In the church, purity demands judgment. The Word of God speaks differently when it comes to church life. It actually commands the church to bring judgment. It seems that purity necessitates judgment at times. Because if there's no judgment, then a sin would spread like leaven and pollute the entire church. And then some offenses are also so grievous to God that He will take the life, even of one in the church, such as Ananias and Sapphira, and those who sleep, who did not discern the body of Christ in communion. Some offenses to God are just... I mean, even that grace that holds the whole judgment day off for the world won't cover. And He brings the man to an end. It also seems that an evil man or woman can abide long, as King David said, spreading out like a bay tree. And the grace of Jesus keeps feeding him and giving him the very breath that He uses to blaspheme God. Yet when that man or woman begin to influence others and especially touch His church, then judgment is many times not far off. Jezebel is good in the book of Revelation there again as an example. The wrath of Jesus Christ is pending. The wrath of the Lord Jesus Christ is pending. It is just waiting for completion. There's a day coming when the wrath of the Lamb will be seen. Today, repentance is an option to you. But repentance will not always be an option. Do you believe that? That's the Word of God. Today, the voice of God is crying, Repent ye, and I will forgive it all. But that option is not open forever. Why do we wait so long to yield to the One who created us? Why do we harden our hearts like we do? Now is the day of salvation. What holds us from salvation today? Now is the day of salvation. Tis midnight, and the Savior calls, Come unto Me, both great and small. From every kindred, nation, tongue, Come one, come all, come old and young. Tis midnight, and we hear the cry, The Savior now is passing by. Oh, will you let Him call in vain, Lie down and fall asleep again? Ye slumbering nations, wake and rise. Lift up your heads, look to the skies. The Savior's invitation heed. Awake, arise, and make full speed. Bring oil and lamps, and march along. The Lord to meet a happy throng. The precious time may soon be o'er. You'll hear the Savior's call no more. Now is the time, the day of grace. For all the fallen human race, Come to the Lord, accept His hand, Or soon you must rejected stand. Oh, will you now the call obey, Or will you longer lingering stay? Until you hear the trumpet sound, The dead rise from the quaking ground. Then make your bed in torments, Where God will not hear your bitter prayer. Gnashing of teeth will be your doom, No light, no hope, eternal gloom. Oh, will you make that awful choice, Or will you hear the Savior's voice? Come unto Me, while yet I call, For now I will forgive you all. I don't know if you've ever been surprised by an alarm clock, Or a sudden realization that you're too late. You've got a plane to catch. You had a meeting arranged. You were supposed to meet someone somewhere. And you look at the clock, And it's already that time. Has that ever happened to you? It's an awful feeling, isn't it? You cannot turn the clock back. You cannot turn it back one minute, And make myself there where I'm supposed to be. I missed. I missed it. But how much more awful, you know, like that song says, When the trumpet blows, And to know you are on this side of the blowing of the trumpet, And there is no way possible to get on the other side of the trumpet again. It's happening. And yet men put it off, As if tomorrow is the day of salvation. But the Word of God says today is the day of salvation. Today I am having grace with you. Today my grace is extending, And delaying the day of judgment to a place no man knows where. And yet God at the same time, His heart is angry with the wicked every day. His wrath rests upon the man who is not saved. The Bible says, And that wrath will carry him straight to hell. 2 Corinthians 6 says, We then as workers together with Him, Beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. And that's the grace today. That's the grace that is putting off judgment, And leaving you space for repentance. For He saith, I have heard thee in an accepted time, And in the day of salvation I have succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. You can't respond to my voice tomorrow. You can only respond to the Word of God today. You can only respond to the Word of God now. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. I'd like to say to hearts here, That have been around the horn, If you know what that means. You know, I tried to get born again a few times. That's depressing. That's discouraging. I warned it. But if God is calling, Then you may respond. I give you the Word of God. If God is calling you to repentance, And He's calling you to a day of grace, And to lay hold of that which He is offering to you, Then you may respond, Because there's no authority higher than God. There is no one to stay your hand At taking the gift of God if God is offering it to you. If God is commanding, Then you can do. If it is God that commands it, You can do it. Where God calls us to do something, It must then be in our power to do it, Or He will give us the power as we respond in faith. But we should never feel like there's no use responding now. That is of the devil. Today is the day of salvation. Well, I have a conclusion and some practical application here. But I wonder if we couldn't just sing a song. Would that be fitting here? I don't know who's here. I don't know where you're at. But I think we just sing a song here And give an opportunity for anyone that would like to respond this morning. You need to repent. God's calling you. His voice is calling and saying, That's you. You're in the day of grace. If you died today, If that trumpet blew right now, You'd be in a bad place on that day of judgment. If that's you, I open an offering here. Can you just respond to God? Come and get some help. Respond to an altar and say, Lord, that's me. I'm done with my pride. I'm done with my waywardness. I'm done with my will. Should we sing a song? Where's Garrett? Do you have a song there, brother? Let's just sing a song. And 896. Sing, Oh, Why Not Today? Instead of, Oh, Why Not Tonight? Oh, do not let the word depart And close thine eyes against the light Poor sinner, harden not your heart Be saved, oh, today Oh, why not today? Will thou be saved? Will thou be saved? Then why not today? Tomorrow's sun may never rise To bless thy long-due sight This is the time, oh, then be wise Be saved, oh, today Oh, why not today? Will thou be saved? Will thou be saved? Then why not today? Our Lord in pity lingers still And wilt thou thus his love requite Renounce that once thy stubborn will Be saved, oh, today Oh, why not today? Why not today? Why not today? Will thou be saved? Will thou be saved? Then why not today? Who holds you not? Believe, obey, the work is done Be saved, oh, today Oh, why not today? Will thou be saved? As each one of you humbled your hearts And been honest with the Lord here There are some prayer rooms in the back, I think This way, if I'm not mistaken If you just go out the right-hand door here to my side If you'd like some time to pray alone Or someone to come and talk with And maybe get some help Just go back and find a prayer room And if some of you who are counseling, counselors Could just be mindful And make yourself available there Just ask if someone would like help That would work well, I think Yes, Brother Myron, I thank God for His grace Because the glory of Jacob does not change Therefore, ye are not consumed, oh Israel His mercy and His clemency and His benevolence Are going on this morning, going on to us But I would like to bring a conclusion for us here 2 Peter 3.17 said Ye therefore, beloved Seeing that ye know these things before Beware, lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked Fall from your own steadfastness But rather, grow in grace And in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ To Him be glory, both now and forever, Amen I have 15 things that we can do To grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ I'm just going to list them here Number 1 Acknowledge and ponder the grace of God in Jesus You have to acknowledge it This is the grace of God That the door is still open today The trumpet has not blown today The judgment seat has not come with its river of fire Flowing out from underneath it And ten thousands of ten thousands gathered for judgment in front of it That day has not come yet And consider that a grace of God Number 2 Pray that God will make you grow in grace Grow in the grace that God is showing you Showing that same grace Growing it in your heart That grace growing towards others That grace also in your life Pray that God will make that grow Number 3 Turn your conversations to Jesus and His Word Turn your every day Your every conversations to Jesus and His Word Number 4 Spend time in your prayer closet with God every day I don't know where your prayer closet is I'm not saying you have to have a room in your house where you shut the door on But somewhere you have a closet That you retire to where everybody else is out And God and you commune Spend time there every day Even if it's on the road Even if it's in the midst of something doing dishes or whatever If it was like John Wesley's wife or mother I think it was It was under her apron Her prayer closet Spend time there with God every day Number 5 Read your Bible Read your Bible Don't just look at your Bible Read your Bible And not like the scribes whom Jesus reproved For not knowing the Scriptures Because they didn't understand what God was trying to say But read your Bible Like David Brainerd said to a young ministerial candidate He encouraged him not to be satisfied with a superficial knowledge of the Scriptures But he said rather go deep with the Word of God And search out the hidden nuggets And try to understand what the heart of God was when he wrote those words Springtime business is a hindrance here Springtime business is a hindrance But you know what? Springtime business won't change the Word of God Or the truth that we're talking about this morning Let's put springtime business in its place Number 6 Avoid carnal company Avoid the company that does not lead you into the grace of God That just has its mind Those young men and women Those fellow Christians even may I say Whose mind is only on earthly things Avoid that company I'm not trying to say I'm sure that there's some balancing going on in all of your minds There are places for reaching out I think you know what I mean I mean company I mean fellowship In carnal matters Avoid it Number 7 Make friends of God's children Make friends of God's children Like the song says Take time to be holy Make friends of God's children Number 8 Hear me please End friendships that are hindering your growth In grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus End them This morning Please Number 9 Start spiritual conversations When you're in a group Start a spiritual conversation Share an inspiration you read in your Bible Ask a question that's been wondering you Number 10 Avoid empty chatter Don't just fill time with talk Avoid it It'd probably be better if we had more quietness When we're together You know I would often times rather company That would just sit and ponder something with me In quietness like Job's friends Then just fill the time with chatter And there is time for good words And building relationship with words I'm not saying that's all out But if it's just chatter I mean talk about this, talk about that, talk about this What does it mean? Avoid it It would only spread like gangrene the Bible says Number 11 Spend time with those older than yourself Young men, young ladies Spend time with those older than yourself Number 12 Listen to older men and women's conversations Number 13 Be a good listener in a group discussion Be a good listener If there's something being shared that's meaningful Ponder it Don't just be quick to spout off responses Be a good listener Think deeply Number 14 Read books and materials That will encourage God's grace in your life And number 15 Be faithful in gathering with saints whenever possible Be faithful In gathering with saints whenever possible Can we stand to our feet and have a word of prayer? There I have delivered thy word Oh God Now I pray that you Tempt the earth for thy seed In every heart Lord Oh make us people that are growing in grace And in the knowledge of God Lord We are living in perilous times Save us oh our God this morning By thy eternal word Save us Lord Help us to see things right In Jesus Christ's name Amen Well blessed be The name of God The heart of God That He gives us the word of God In a clear way I'm glad the message of God on this subject is simple And even a child can understand it You don't have to Be somebody the world would call highly educated or whatever But it's a message that is very straight And very real And we can all understand it And even picture it I think in our minds I somewhat I'm thankful for that Thankful that It'll be clear The reason it's so clear is None of us will have any excuse on that day of judgment Will we? Every mouth will be stopped You know it's interesting You can go to someone now and They have a lot of excuses sometimes Sometimes we do too don't we? When we do something wrong or We say well you misunderstood me We have a lot of things we can say sometimes don't we? And some of it even sounds pretty logical to ourselves But there'll be a day when every mouth will be stopped Because it'll be clear It'll be open And I thank God for simple messages like this Where it's clear today too So that we'll be without excuse And may God have mercy on our hearts That we can have soft hearts And that's part of the work of the word of God isn't it? To soften our heart Because there's so much in this world Working to harden your heart Do you know the devil is your enemy? You know the devil is your enemy And one of the things he does God works on hearts but do you know the devil works on hearts? He will blind your heart He will put blinders on your heart He will harden your heart So that you won't hear But the word of God is still clear And it will come and it will soften your heart And break your heart But you must also let it Are you letting the word of God do that to your heart? That's a question I have to ask myself often As I read the word of God You know one of the things on his list was Read the word of God Don't just look at it I don't know if you do this But every time I read the word of God I pray before I read the word of God Every time I pray God please Break my heart Open my heart Because you know reading the word of God Is not reading words It is a spiritual encounter And our heart must be Open For the spiritual truths Because it's not a book like any other book is it? There's no other book like the Bible And so we must approach it differently Than any other book Because it speaks to who we are and who God is And somehow we need to meet with God When we read the word of God Amen Alright well Maybe we'll open it up here for a bit If someone would have maybe a confession Something the word of God has spoken to them this morning Something you feel would add to the message Add to what God is doing here Hand on the wing Be mindful of the spirit of God Yes Amen I was very convicted and blessed of the message I have a confession to share this morning I'm sitting here just very convicted You know God's judgment is being delayed And I just have a short little testimony to share I was out at Walmart I believe it was Monday night I was at Walmart and there was a group of young people there There was about four cars sitting there And there was a lot of young people there About ten to twelve young people And I had come out of Walmart And they had all their cars parked And there was a lot of foolishness and silliness going on They were out honking their cars It was just basically a hangout They were out honking their cars and carrying on And dancing in front of the car And doing very ungodly things there And the spirit of God told me Calvin you need to go up and witness what those people talked about Christ And I really didn't want to do that I sat there in my car And to my shame this morning I didn't go talk to them And just realizing that those young people They needed to hear that They needed to hear the word of God And who is going to tell them And maybe they've heard but still The judgment is coming The time is short Today is the day of salvation Would that grip my heart Would that grip the church's heart All our hearts That the time is very near Pray for me that I would not have the fear of man That I would be the man of God That Christ wants me to be And share the gospel whenever I can Thank you brother I had attended the Catholic church For a number of years And there I was taught A terrible lie And a doctrine of presuming Upon the kindness of God And what was so beautiful this morning In hearing this sermon Was that the kindness of God Is there for us Now Not for us to presume upon And what I was taught was that Well We could go ahead and live our lives In any way that we decided And if God didn't pronounce a judgment upon us Right at that moment It could be deferred And what brother David brought out this morning That I so appreciated is That this is the day This is the hour This is the time And I just I hope that anyone that didn't Respond here this morning Considers that Even though perhaps it looks like Whatever Carnality Whatever lack of Pressing into the kingdom of God That we might have That we think well God is looking upon that kindly And therefore I'm okay Rather may we Consider this grace of God That He's giving He is calling to us He's calling to us For a deeper walk And I appreciate that And I recognize that need in my own life For a deeper walk To not take the kindness of God Like I used to And presume that well I can live my life as I desire And it will all come out in the end But rather take the grace That He's given me now And use it As brother Myron brought out For the glory of God And so thank the Lord For what we received this morning Yeah, I'll just stand up And thank God For His grace towards me I want to grow in that group Amen, thank you Isn't God good? Do you know that Even His judgment Is good Because shall not the judge of all the earth Do right It's a hard thing to Maybe get your mind around But it's a matter of faith And seeing and knowing who God is Even His judgment Is good Because it's right But it's also terrible