In this sermon, the preacher discusses why God sometimes turns his back and hides his face from us. One reason is that God wants us to learn to depend on Him more. The preacher shares a personal experience of preaching a powerful sermon and realizing the importance of relying on God's hand and blessing. He also uses the analogy of playing sports and confesses that he is not an expert in any of them, emphasizing the need for God's guidance in our lives. The sermon concludes with a touching story about a father and son grieving the loss of their wife and mother, highlighting the comfort and assurance of God's presence and love.

For just for a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord my Redeemer. Are you sitting this morning in the place of one who is forsaken temporarily by God? Have you sought the will of God and find it impossible to find? Have you prayed and found your prayers bouncing right back in your face? Have you ever come to the place in your life to where honestly you examined your heart and you knew there was no gross sin in your life? And you knew you were sincere and you knew that you were willing to do God's will. And yet when you came to God, it was as he had turned his back on you and had hid his face from you. You know an interesting thing that God said to his people sometime? He said, don't inquire of me. Don't inquire of me. He didn't say I'm not going to hear you. He said, just don't bother me. Just don't bother me. Did you ever say that to your child? Did you ever say anything else to your child? Just don't bother me. And that's what God says. Sometimes God says to his own children, now don't bother me anymore. And seemingly, we don't know why. Often in the Bible, in fact, you can check your prudence concordance and you'll find the word God hides his face or God has hid his face or God's face is hidden from his people is often said in the word of God. For example, Cain in the garden at Eden, the Bible says that Cain was cast out of the garden and God hid his face from Cain in Deuteronomy 31, 17 and 18, Deuteronomy 32, 20. It says, God said to his people, I've hidden my face from you. Job in Job 13, 24 said, uh, said, uh, why have you hidden your face from me? David in Psalm 44, 24 and Psalm 88, 14, David said, uh, the Lord, you've hidden your face from me. When David was running from Saul and Saul had threatened to kill him and taken a spear, hurled a spear against the wall. Boys in the front row, sit up and listen to me. All three of you fellas, don't you move again in this service. Look at me, son. I don't, you won't get smart here. We'll take you out with a nap of your neck and shake you so hard you won't know what hit you. This is no hippie joint where folks come and act like you may go to school and act that way, but you don't do it here. Nobody does it here. That's for all you folks that might want to cause a bit of problem too. We're not pacifists and nobody's ever read a manifesto from this pulpit. And, uh, the quicker you learn to behave, the better off you're going to be here in this church. And so the Lord said to David, uh, I've hidden my face from you. And when David was running from Saul, he looked up and he said, Lord, you've hidden your face from me. And again, in Psalm 13, verse one, David said, how long, oh Lord, will you hide your face from me? And then the David lived in fear, constantly lived in fear that God would once again, turn his face from him. The worst thing about hell is the fact that God's face is turned from those who perish in hell. God's presence is not there. And I believe hell is fire. And I have no patience with these people, be they preachers, evangelists, or theologians who say that hell may or may not be fire. Hell is fire because God says hell is fire. But the worst thing about hell is the fact that God is not there. God is hidden his face and there's eternal separation from God. Don't you recall the awfulness about the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve had sinned, they ran and they hid themselves from God and sin had separated them from God. I think that's the worst thing about the cross. When Jesus prayed the prayer and the garden of Gethsemane father, um, if it'd be possible, let this cup pass for me, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. I think the cup that he hated to bear was the cup of the sins of all the world. When God, the father would notice that the son was bearing our sins and God being a holy and just and righteous God, not willing to look upon sin, turned his back upon his son. And there the son of God, Jesus Christ himself was hanging between heaven and hell alone. The father had hidden his face from the son. Now it's easy to understand why God would hide his face from Cain. Cain had sinned against God, killed his brother. It's easy to understand why God would hide his face from Cain. It's easy to understand why God would hide his face from David. David killed Uriah. And you recall the awful sin that David committed in the awful, uh, murder and the, and the, and Bathsheba incident and Uriah incident and all the lying and the cheating and so forth. It's easy to understand why God turned his back and turned his face, hid his face from David. But why would God sometimes come to his people when they're not in sin and hide his face? Every person in this house this morning has known what it is to come to a place. You couldn't account for it. You prayed every day. You read your Bible. You came to church. You love God, but some unknown reason people have said to me for the house. What's wrong? I don't feel what I used to feel. I don't, I don't, I don't have the, the, the feeling I used to have. I come to church. I don't have that feeling. I had, and I want to get it back. But it's like God has turned his back on me. In some cases, God does hide his face from you. But now why, why would God come Dr. Billings to a person who's trying to serve him and hide his face from him? I think I know why there are three reasons to which I've called your attention this morning. The first reason is that, you know, God wants us to stay closer to him. Did you know, doc, you can get so busy building a school. You don't spend, you get as close to God as you really ought to stay. And, uh, and brother Helton, you get so busy as registrar of the school before you know it, God says, I wish you'd spend more time with me. I wish you'd get closer to me. I, uh, I wish you'd, I mean, I, you, oh, Matt, when Max first got saved, he didn't have all the things he has to do now. And he used to love to be with me and I wish you'd spend more time. And so God comes along and he turns his face and Max says, Hey, Lord, where are you? And the Lord says, uh, I'm not going to tell him where I am. I'm going to hide my face. I'm going to make old Max that my mother, God bless her. We used to go downtown a lot back before shopping centers, uh, biggest day in the week. We'll go downtown, get on the street car. And we'd mama'd get some, uh, street car tokens and a little thing called six cents a piece back in those days. Now you've got a mortgage, a house to ride a bus, but, uh, and get some, and I used to have a little school card. Oh, about the size of a credit card, had numbers all the way around it. And every time I'd get on the bus, they'd punch one. And, um, and that, that cost three cents for me to ride and six cents for mother to ride. And so we won't go downtown. We didn't have nine cents. So we'd go sell some Coca-Cola bottles and so forth. Many of you folks know, I used to go up and down the street, look at Coca-Cola bottles thrown away on the side to go sell Coca-Cola bottles. Don't look so pious. You did the same thing. And, uh, so we'd go downtown and get on the street car and go downtown Dallas and go to grand and Silver's. That was a five and 10 cent store. They had the best malted milks you ever tasted in your life. The glasses smell a little bit. They use some terrible soap on the glasses and the glasses didn't smell very good. So you held your nose and drank the Baltic milk and you got it for a nickel. And so mama would say, son, you stay close to me now. And I stay close, but all that popcorn always smells so good in grand and Silver's. And McCrory's was right next door, a five and 10 cent store, and Crested's was down the street. And I'd go around at popcorn. I'd say, mama, can I have some popcorn? And mama would say, son, don't have any more money for popcorn. We already spent all the money we got from selling the Coca-Cola bottles, you know? And, uh, so I'd stand around and every once in a while, somebody dropped some popcorn. I'd catch it before it hit the ground, uh, the floor. And, uh, I'd stand and mama says, son, will you stay close to me? And I'd say, and then I'd smell that candy. There's nothing like a candy counter at a five and dime store. Nothing. I won't go around them to this day, uh, because, uh, well, I just can't, I can't, I used to couldn't afford it money-wise. Now I can't afford it stomach-wise. But anyway, I, I, and mother says, son, stay close to me. And I'd say, okay. And, but I'd keep drifting away and see things I wanted and keep drifting away. And then all of a sudden I'd say, mama, mama, mama. And a thousand ladies would say, yes. A lot of mamas were there, you know. I'd say, mama, mama, I want my mama. And I'd find that little stinker. You know what she had done? She had hidden. She had hide behind a counter and make me cry and cry and cry. And then all of a sudden she'd jump out and say, now, then you're going to stay close to mama. I'll bind you one thing. That little hand right there hung onto her skirt the rest of the day. I never got away. I knew what it was to be away from mama. I knew what it was not to be close to her. I knew what it was to be downtown Dallas. And all I could see was knees and a little bit of short fella. All I could, nowadays you can see knees if you're a big tall fella, but, uh, uh, all I could see was knees. And, and I'd say, mama, mama, mama. And, and I knew what it was to miss, have, not be with mother and no car fare home and no way to get home. And I thought, oh, what will I do? I guess I'll just die down here and no, nothing, nothing, no way to get home and nothing to eat. My mama's gone. And I'd hold on to mama's skirt. That's what the Lord does. Sometimes the Lord comes and says, I want you to stay close to me. Now, I don't mean you've gone to deep sin. I don't mean you've killed anybody lately. I don't mean you've gotten drunk or run off with somebody else's wife. I don't mean that you're going to deep sin. I don't mean that you're cursed and lied and sworn and cheated and stole. I don't mean that. I mean, you, you've been doing good. You've been busy with a choir, been busy with a school, been busy with a bus, been busy with a, with the traveling, been busy with the visitation, been busy with the church work, been busy with the work of God, the Sunday school department, but you've forgotten that the whole purpose of the Christian life is that God might redeem for himself a peculiar people that he might have fellowship with himself. And we get so busy and the Lord says, okay, I'm going to turn her back. And the Lord turns his back and we say, dear God, where are you? Where are you? And we go to the pastor and say, the Lord, I feel, I don't feel like I used to feel. And the Lord is simply saying, okay, now I'm going to, Oh, I'm going to come back now and turn my face towards you. And we say, Oh Lord, it's so good to see your face again. I thought you'd never come back. And that's what the Lord means when he says, he said, I turned my back on you for a little while that I might redeem you with everlasting mercy. I hid my face from you for a moment that I might have you all the time. And my mother being smart as she was, she said, if I'll just hide from Jack and he'll wonder where I am, he'll come to find me and I'll teach him a lesson. And she did teach me a lesson. Let me ask you a question this morning, young people. You can get so busy. I mean, even at a Christian school that you forget to be close to God. Savior, let me walk with thee. I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses. And he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own. It's easy to get busy at a Christian school or outsole winning even and not be close to God. Dr. Billings and faculty, it's easy for Christian. I mean, I mean, you have the right skirt links and I mean, you have the right hair links and I mean, you teach scholarship and the boys and girls say, yes, sir. And yes, ma'am. And there's no riots and no revolution and there there's dignity and honor and decency and respect for law and order, but it's easy for fundamental people who walk straight and lay upright to get so busy in our good things we do until we forget to stay close to God. And sometimes the Lord comes to a school teacher behind the desk and I want to hide my face from her. She's not talking to me enough. She's not close enough to me. Oh, let me say, dear friend, the thing that God wants more than God wants anything in this world. He wants his children to talk with him. You heard me. I'm sure say this. When Becky was a little girl, about five, I'd say, I'd say, Becky want to go to the grocery store? And Becky said, Oh, goody, goody, goody. I get to go to the grocery store with daddy. Goody, goody, goody, goody, and when she got about 17, I said, Becky, you want to go to London, Paris, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Jericho, Capernaum, Rome, Athens, Cairo with daddy? She said, No, I want to stay here with Tim. Who's Tim? A little toe-headed idiot that married her and took her off. And didn't want to go. And Becky was home not long ago. And so I was leaving the house. And she said, Where are you going, dad? I said, I'm going up to the store. And Becky said, Can I go? Can I go? Don't you think that, dear Lord, sometimes, I recall, Dr. Billings, when you used to be a young Christian, you used to want little things, you'd go with me to the store and we'd talk and fellowship. You didn't have to take care of all the faculty back in those days. You didn't have to take care of all the school and the baptist city and the carpet and the lockers and the color of the walls and the wallpaper and the foundation and ordering the furniture and the chairs and all that. Don't you think sometimes the Lord says, I wish Bob Billings would get closer to me? I guess I'm preaching to you this morning. You're typical of all of us. He can say to me, and he does say to me, I always get so busy traveling and trying to save the country and stir the preachers and get the people right and get the job done and get preachers on fire. He says, I think I'll just turn it back the other day. You know, we preachers are a strange lot. And that leads to the second point. And that is, you know, the second reason why God sometimes turns his back for a moment and hides his face for a moment is God wants us to learn to depend on him more. I had a sermon the other day. Boy, it's a good sermon. It's the best sermon I've got. It's the one I pray, when I preach, you don't have to pray about because I know it's going to turn out okay. You know, because it's a whoppin' sermon. Boy, it's a masterpiece. It's a combination of William Jennings Bryan, Robert G. Lee, and Billy Sunday, all wrapped up in one sermon. And I preached it here. Boy, we had a great service. I want you to know that. And I preached it somewhere else. We had a great service. And so I was in a hurry. And I got on a plane and had about 15 minutes to get from the airport to the pulpit. And I ran to the pulpit. And I was puffin' and puffin' and I still needed a shave. And I smelled like tobacco because I'd been in Dr. Billings' car, I mean, on the airplane. And I smelled like tobacco. And I said, Lord, help me. And I'm going to preach the best one I got, because this, I know this never, never has failed. And so I opened my Bible and I said, now open your Bible to a certain, certain passage. And I started on my introduction. Did you know the Lord forsook me? And I got in the middle of that sermon and I said, is this the same one? Is this the sermon? And I began to stutter and stammer and I would flare. And the people were wiping their eyes, not from tears either, for boredom. And I thought, good, I thought I was a pretty good preacher. And I thought, this is a pretty good sermon. And this is the best one I've got. Well, what if I'd preach the worst one? And after I got through, I went to my room and I said, Lord, what's wrong? And the Lord seemed to say, I had to turn my back on you a little bit to let you know it's not the sermon that gets the job done. It's walking with me. It's depending on me. Oh, I wonder sometimes if we don't get to the place where we think, well, we got the machinery at First Baptist Church. We have the school. We have the church. We have the Sunday school. And we don't depend on God. I can recall when I was a kid, my dad was a big man. Great, big, great, big fella. He was, oh, dad was 235 and he used to be a wrestler when he was a young man. Strongest, strongest man I ever met was my dad, really. And, oh, unless it's David's dad. But anyway, strongest man I ever met was my dad. And so we had an old clunk of a car. That's all we ever had, an old clunk of cars. We'd pay $25 for one if we had a little extra money. And sometimes it'd run, sometimes it wouldn't. But I said, Daddy, and I can still recall, Daddy, can I drive? And my dad would say, well, of course, son, you can drive. And I'd get in Daddy's lap and I can still feel his hands around mine. And I'd put my little hands on the steering wheel. And we didn't have automatic transmission. Remember the old Spark used to be up on, you don't remember this, you, and we had a, remember the gasoline used to be at Model A Ford, a gasoline tank used to be up just in front of the windshield. How many remember that? Huh? God pity you. Dr. Rice says you're too young to be, to know anything. But anyway, I'd drive and I'd say, hey, mommy, mama, I'm driving. And so Daddy would hold his hands on mine. And finally I'd say, I want to drive by myself. And Dad would say, son, you better let me help you. Now, you're a good driver, all right, and you better let me help you. I said, I want to drive by myself. And Dad would say, now, I can drive by myself, can't I, mama? And she never answered for some strange reason. And Daddy said, now, son, you're a good driver. You're a good driver, son, but you better let Daddy help you. I want to drive by myself. And so we'd get out on some country road where the ditch wasn't too deep. And I'd say, I want to drive by myself. And Daddy said, okay, that's the way to think about it. So I'd drive by myself. And all of a sudden I'd see something I wanted to see out the side. And I'd look at that. And all of a sudden we'd run off the road, out into the field. And I'd say, Daddy, help me drive. Help me drive. I'm talking to a lot of people this morning in this room who are just the same way. Oh, there was a day when you got saved and you said, Lord, help me. Oh, God, give me strength. Lord, help me to have the victory. I used to drink. I want victory over the bottle. Lord, I used to smoke. I want victory over the cigarette. Lord, I used to curse. Give me victory. And every morning he got up and said, help me today, just today. But the day came in your life where you said, I want to drive by myself. And the Lord said, you better let me keep my hand on your hands now. I want to drive by myself. You know, I got a letter the other day from a fine man who said, I'm not much the kind to seek counsel. And I said, he's also a fool. He is also a fool. Nobody ever gets to the place where he can drive by himself. Solomon said there's wisdom in a multitude of counselors. And there's never young people. There's never, there's never wisdom in driving yourself. Somebody somewhere has gotten the idea that it is manly to say, nobody tells me what to do. No, that's not manly. That's idiotic. One of our preacher boys said not long ago, he's a, oh, it's been a few years ago. He told, he saw Jim Lyons and he said, guess what, Jim? And Jim said, what? He said, I make my own decisions now. And Jim said, why? Well, he said, I used to call Brother Hiles, but said now I'm big enough. I figured I'm going to have to do it on my own some of these days. I'll just go ahead and make my own decisions. He did. He went in the ditch. His church died. He had to quit the church. Not because he didn't call me, but because he said, I won't drive by myself. Nobody does that. Oh, sometimes we drive and the Lord said, let me hold your hand. And the Lord holds our hands and we drive and everything's okay. But then we get a little cocky. Don't we? Huh? I read, I read an article. It says, Dr. Jack Hiles is pastor of the largest Sunday school in the whole world. And I read that and I say, Hey, that's me. Yeah, that's me. But I tell you what, the only hope, the only hope in this world for Jack Hiles or anybody else is to let the hand of God be on your hand and let God direct and let God steer. And so sometimes the dear Lord turns his back. We don't depend on like we should. And oh, I, I, time and time again, brother, Dr. Beebe, I have gone to the pulpit and I didn't have a very good sermon and I knew it, but I had a burdened heart and my heart was broken. And I said, dear God, I can't do it by myself. I can't make it by myself. I've got to have your help. And, and you know, that's the best service we ever have. That's the best service we ever have. But time and time again, somebody's gotten up and they said, we're glad to have Dr. Jack Hiles with us this morning. Dr. Hiles is the pastor of the great First Baptist Church of Hammond. And I say, yeah, that's right. That's me. Dr. Hiles has written 18 books. Yeah, 19 coming up too. And I get up to preach and suddenly, all of a sudden I stumble and I stammer. And the Lord wants me to know that it's Dr. Jesus, not Dr. Hiles. And the Lord wants me to know it's his mighty arm and not my little weak arm. Oh, if we could only learn the lesson that our very sustenance depends on him. Our breath depends on him. Our hope depends on him. Our strength depends on him. Our Sunday school depends on him. Our college depends on him. Our high school depends on him. We've got to say, oh my God, we're weak. We may be Dr. Hiles and Dr. Billings and Dr. Evans, but we're just a bunch of helpless, needy people that can do nothing without the hand and blessing of God. Lord, let me drive by myself. No, you don't need to drive by yourself. You need the hand of God around your hand. And that's the only hope you've got to make it to the destination. I used to play every kind of sport in the world. I'm a jack of all sports and master of none. You let me preach this sermon now. And I'm a jack of all sports and a master of none. I can play any sport fairly well. I'm not an expert at any of them. Oh, card playing on a shark, but other than that. But I've always thought I liked chess because you can sleep so long between moves. Anyway, I know all sports and follow them and can play most any sport there is to play, but not, not, I'm no Bart Starr at football, and I'm no Sandy Koufax at baseball, and I'm no Wilt Chamberlain, thank God, at basketball. But I, I love sports. And I used to play out all the time. And mother can tell you, I played till late. I'd get up in the morning when you could, you know, you ever play golf early in the morning and you couldn't see the ball? Well, where I hit it, you can't see it anyway. But, but we'd stay out till so late at night and, and we'd keep playing ball as long as you look down and just see the ball in the sky somewhere. And mother say, son, come in. I said, just a minute, mama. And we lived alone. She said, son, I said, come in. I said, I said, just a minute, mama. And finally one night I went in, it was dark. I'm home, mama. There's no mama. I was only about nine. Mama, I'm home. There was no mama. I said, mama, mama, mama, I want my mama. And my mama had hidden in the closet. My mama was the meanest woman in the whole world. She'd hidden in the closet. And as you know, I cried and I cried. And I thought somebody had taken my mama or my mama was dead. Or I thought my mama had gone off and my mama had been kidnapped. And she came out of that closet. She never looked so pretty. And I, and I, and I said, and I say, I'm going to come home. I'm going to come home. And sometimes the Lord says, Jack, I want you to depend on me. And I say, oh, but Lord, I can make it by myself. Like the fellow sliding off the roof and he got to a two-story house. He said, help me, Lord, save me. And he, all of a sudden his riches caught on a nail on the roof. And he said, nevermind, Lord, I make it by myself from now on. And that's where most of us are. Most of us are. Two fellows out in a life raft and, and, and out in the ocean and a storm was coming up and they had nothing to eat and about to starve to death. And one of them said to the other, said, you ever talked to God? And he said, never have. He said, one of us would talk to God now. He said, dear Lord, I come to you. I haven't prayed in 15 years. And if you'll get us out of this mess, I promise you, I won't bother you for another 15 either. I know that's where most of us are. Most of us. But God wants to bother. God wants us to bother him. And God wants us to depend on him. When you sing a solo, let his hand be on yours. When you preach a sermon, let his hand be on yours. When you face a trial, let his hand be on yours. Sometimes the Lord turns his back, not because we've been in deep sin, because we just haven't depended on him like we should. Not because we've been, been out drinking and cursing and swearing. We haven't depended on him like we should. There's a third reason. Not only does God sometimes turn his, hide his face from the righteous because he wants us to draw closer to him. And not only does he do it because he wants us to depend on him in service, but God does it sometimes to make his face sweeter. To make his face sweeter. Never, never sweeter than the time that you haven't seen it for a while. Have you ever come to pray and you said, Lord, why did you turn your face from me? Why did you hide your face from me? You ever play hide and go seek? I can recall when Becky was a little girl, play hide and go seek. She and I said, it's my time to hide. You close your eyes. And she'd be like that. I'd say, hide your eyes! And she'd be like that. And finally I'd say, it's your time to hide. And she'd say, come find me! And she thought she'd hidden from me because she'd closed her eyes. No, no. The Lord sometimes turns his eyes from us and hides his eyes and hides his face. Have you ever been to the place? Oh, I have. I have. Oh, listen. I preached seven nights. It's been six months ago at a certain place. And I was tired and I was weary. And oh, it just seemed like there was so much to think about. And I dictated over a hundred letters that day. And I'd had so many decisions to make and there was money to raise and bills to pay and property to buy and property to sell and things to approve. And staff members needed advice and help and folks needed counseling. I'd counseled about 20 people that day and I was so tired and weary and I went to preach. And oh, the freshness was gone. The freshness was gone. And while I was preaching, I said, Lord, where are the tears? Where are the tears? And I tried to cry and couldn't. I tried to get happy and I couldn't! And I tried to get with it and I couldn't! And I went to my room and I said, Lord, I'm going to pray all night if I have to, but I'm going to get the sweetness back. I'm going to get the sweetness back. And oh, the next morning I stood to speak and, Dr. Billings, it came so easy. And the tears came and the joy came. When I thought about heaven, I wanted to shout. When I thought about hell, I wanted to weep. When I thought about the love of God, I wanted to clap my hands and praise the Lord. When I thought about sin, I wanted to fall on my face and confess! And oh, how sweet it is. How sweet the face of Jesus. That sweet little story that every preacher's told and I've told again and again illustrates what I'm saying this morning. A mother died, leaving a father and a little boy, just a little tyke, alone. And so they had the days of waiting for the funeral. And finally the day came when the funeral was conducted. And the father and the little boy sat here, as we've done so often in this service, this auditorium. And they sat on the front and their hearts were crushed, for in the casket lay the body of their wife and mother. And so they followed the hearse out of the cemetery and heard the thud of the dirt as it peaked on the casket that held the body of mama and wife. And they turned and got in the car and drove back home. And there was an empty place at the table, and there was an empty chair that was filled. And the little boy was tucked in bed that night, and his dad went to his room. And out of the darkness of the night, the little boy said, Daddy, are you there? And the dad said, Yes, son, I'm here. But the little boy missed his mother. He missed the kiss on his brow and the tuck of the cover and the pat on the cheek and the good night. He said, Daddy, are you there? And the daddy said, Yes, son, I'm here. And the little boy, a few minutes later, out of the darkness there came the little boy's voice, and he said, Daddy, can I come and sleep with you? And the daddy said, Well, of course you may. Of course you may. And the little boy got out of bed and ran in and crawled in bed with his daddy and turned his face toward his daddy. And his daddy went off to sleep, and he was awakened by the little boy's voice as it said through the darkness, Daddy, Daddy? Yes, son, came the dad's voice through the darkness. Daddy, Daddy, is your face turned toward me? And the daddy said, Yes, son. And the little boy said, Would you hold my hand? And the daddy reached out and took the little boy's hand in his. And the little boy whimpered and said, Oh, daddy, it's so much easier when you hold my hand and your face is turned toward me. And I thought of that night when my dad left home, never to come again in our house. I recall when my mother said goodbye to my dad and our home was broken. And dad went away, never to walk back over our threshold again. And I slept back in the little back room out of the four-room apartment. I'm sorry, three-room apartment. No, four. And I can recall that night a big clock was up on our wall. And every time it'd go off, it was a big grandfather's clock. Every time it'd strike the hour, I'd be awake. And my dad was gone for the first night. And I called my mother and said, Mama, can I come and sleep with you? I don't know why. It just made it easier. Oh, ladies and gentlemen, that's why sometimes God in his mercy has to say, I'm going to turn my back on you for a few minutes. I don't want to, but I'm going to. I don't want to turn my back on you. I don't want to hide my face. And you haven't been in deep sin, but you just haven't been as close to me as you ought to be. And you don't depend on me like you ought to depend on me. And my fellowship hasn't been as sweet as it used to be. And so the father turns his back, and I look up and say, Oh, God, why? Why? Are you ever going to turn back again? And the Lord turns his face back, and he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I'm his own. And the joys we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known. What a fellowship. What a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms. Let us pray. We apologize, our father, because we get so busy doing thy work we forget thyself. We apologize because we get so busy carrying thy message we forget thyself. Help us not to forget thee. Help us to depend upon thee. Stay close to thee. Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed. Let me ask you a question this morning. Have you been so busy doing God's work you've forgotten him? Have you been so busy carrying his message you've forgotten him? You know, sometimes I get up before the sun rises. The other day I was convicted about it. I had been getting up before the sun rises to do his work, and he seemed to say to me, I wish you'd get up some morning just to be with me. Just to be with me. Just to be with me. Father, is your face turned toward me? I want to drive by myself. I want to drive by myself. You're in trouble. Nobody drives by himself in God's work and is successful. I want to drive by myself. Have you been trying to drive by yourself? I wonder how many would say this morning, Brother Howells, I'm a Christian. I know I'm saved, but I'm afraid God may have to turn his face from me for a while. I've not been with him like I should. I've trusted my own strength too much. I've wanted to drive by myself too much. I haven't spent the time with him. Oh, Augustine said, Dear God, give me thyself. Give me thyself. That's the greatest thing about the Christian life. Give me thyself. I wonder how many would say, Brother Howells, I've neglected him. Maybe I've not neglected his work, but I've neglected him. Maybe I've not neglected his business, but I've neglected him. This morning I'm going to draw closer. Would you raise your hand, please, all over the building? All over the building? You may drop your hands. God bless you. Now with heads bowed, I'm talking to somebody this morning. There are many somebodies who have never yet trusted Jesus. You don't know that if you died this morning you'd go to heaven, but you wish you did. You would like to be a Christian. You would like to go to heaven when you die. You want to be saved, but you don't know that you are. You'd say, Brother Howells, I'd like to be a Christian. I'd like to know that I'm going to heaven. Would you pray for me? I want Jesus as my Savior. I want to know him. Paul said that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. I want to know Jesus. I want to be saved. I want to be a Christian. I want to go to heaven when I die, but I don't know that I am. Pray for me that I might be saved and know it. Would you quietly raise your hand, please? I'll pray on the lower floor first. I'll pray for you. I want you to be a Christian. God bless you. I see that hand in the aisle. God bless you. Lift it again here next to the aisle, would you, so I can sit in the center aisle. God bless you, sir. I see you. God bless you. Who else on the lower floor? You'd say, pray for me. I'd like to become a Christian. Would you pray for me? Lift your hand, please. Way in the back. God bless you. I see that hand. I see it. Who else on the lower floor? You'd like to be saved and know it, and you'd say, pray for me. Lift your hand, would you, please, on the lower floor. I'd like to be saved. In the balcony on my left, that's the east balcony. Would you lift your hand and say, pray for me. I want to be a Christian. God bless you. I see you. God loves you. Who else in the east balcony? The center balcony. You'd say, pray for me. I'd like to be a Christian. I don't know that I am, but I want to be. Lift your hand, please, would you? The balcony on my right, that's the south balcony. God bless you, son. Are there others in the balcony on my right? God bless you, little lady. Are there others in the balcony on my right? The south balcony. You'd say, include me in the prayer. Would you lift your hand, please? Our Heavenly Father, I pray for all of these. O God, this morning, speak to their hearts. May this be the morning when they say yes to Christ. Our heads are bowed. Tonight I'm going to preach on this subject. Just keep on coming. Just keep on coming. Just keep on coming. By the way, that's the way you get saved. You just come to Jesus. You just come to Jesus. Right where you are this morning, would you say, sir? Lady, would you say this prayer? Child, would you say this prayer? Teenager, would you say this prayer? Dear Jesus, I know you died for me, and I come to you this morning. Come to Him like you'd go to a doctor when you're sick or go to the table when you're hungry. Just say, I'm going to come to Jesus. You know why that's the way to get to Him? He said, Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Wasn't that great? Just come to Jesus. Right where you are. Say, dear Jesus, out of my bondage, sorrow, and night, Jesus, I come. Out of my sickness and sadness and night, Jesus, I come to Thee. Would you trust Him now? In a few moments, we're going to stand and sing. When we do, I'm going to ask you to leave your seat, come toward the aisle, down the aisle to the front, if you're willing to say yes to Jesus. Make this the day when you become a Christian. Make this the day when you become a child of God. You can do it, and so leave your seat when we sing. Come toward the aisle, down to the front. But wait a minute. How many are saved? You know you're saved, but you've not been baptized since you got saved. Would you raise your hand, please, all over the building, all over this building. Yes, you're saved, and you know it, but you've not been baptized since you got saved. Yes, thank you. Are there others? Thank you. Are there others? I see you. Are there others? Yes. Are there others? You know you're saved. God bless you. Are there others? All right, and this morning you come for baptism. On the first stanza, leave your seat and come and obey Christ.