In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the urgency for people to wake up and take action. He highlights that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have all done their part, and it is now up to individuals to respond. The preacher warns that it is not just their own souls at stake, but also the souls of their loved ones. He shares a story about a church that had lost its glory and explains the importance of being obedient to God's will. The sermon concludes with a call for individuals to surrender their lives to God and allow Him to use them to save souls.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me please to the book of 2 Corinthians, and I want to deal with a passage of scripture that I believe the Lord is directing us to today because of the vein that the meeting is in, and I don't want to get out of where we are, and I just would love to deal with this passage. I was thinking back how many years ago I dealt with this passage here in this church, and it was so far back I couldn't remember. I just remember the occasion when Dr. Oswald J. Smith's son, Paul Smith, was here. I dealt with this passage, and I have never been able to get away from this particular message. Back in the days when I was extremely well physically, many times when I would deal with this message it would take me weeks to get over it because of the impact it had on my life. I trust that today will not be an exception to that, that God will use it mightily. Let me read just a couple of verses out of the 6th chapter of the book of 2 Corinthians. We're actually going to deal with the 2nd verse, if we're going to deal with any verse in particular, but actually we're dealing with a whole chapter. He says, "...we then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. For I have heard thee in a time accepted in the day of salvation have I suffered thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation." I don't think it would take a real serious student of the word of God to realize that this passage is written to save people, not lose people. And I realize that we use it a great deal in addressing people that are without Jesus. We tell them that today is the day of salvation, now is the accepted time. But you have to take that verse out of its context to make that application, and you also have to realize that when God is dealing with a person, it is the day of salvation, it is the accepted time. But this passage, in its context, God is talking to the church at Corinth, and he's saying today is the day of salvation, now is the accepted time. And when I began to see that this passage was written to the Christians, I began to ask God, I said, now Lord, I want to see what you're saying to the Christians. Today is the day of salvation, now is the accepted time. Now, what could you be saying to the Christian? Because a Christian is saved, he's born again, and yet you're saying today is the day of salvation, now is the accepted time. You have to realize that Paul is writing to a church that had a great number of baby Christians in that church. There was a great number in that church that were very immature, they were very childish. There obviously were some spiritual people in that church, and there were obviously some carnal people in that church. But there were also some baby Christians in that church, and there is a difference between a baby Christian and a carnal Christian. A carnal Christian is a person that has heard the word of God and refused to obey it. But a baby Christian is a person that just has not grown up in the teaching of the word of God, possibly because they haven't heard it, possibly because they haven't had time to grow up, and I trust it's never because they have rejected the word of God, because that gets into the area of being a carnal Christian. But the passage here tells us that there were some people in the church at Carth that were baby Christians and carnal Christians and spiritual Christians. But nevertheless, Paul said to this crowd, today is the day of salvation, now is the expected time. What could he be saying to this crowd? He gives them several arguments that should actually establish spiritual maturity. For one is, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. That really should challenge anybody to be spiritually mature, to realize that your body is the dwelling place of God and should grow you up. It really should. It should grow you up, it should really mature you. God has a dwelling place, the Son has a dwelling place, but the Holy Spirit, you are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit of God. That should grow any person up. Really, it should. But this passage that we're dealing with is another passage that really should grow us up. And I believe this is the area that we've been dealing with last night and this morning, and that is this. Today is the day of salvation, now is the expected time. This is one of the unique challenges to me, to grow me up. I said last night that I can't win the world with Jesus, but I can be at the right place at the right time with the right message, right with God. And listen very carefully, because I want to take you on a trip. Back some years ago, I was visiting in Cuauhtemoc, Mexico, and while visiting in that little town, I was out visiting out on what they call Missionary Hill. There were about five homes out there, and four of those homes were occupied by missionaries. But one of those homes was occupied by an American-Mexican pilot. And one day we were having lunch in that pilot's home, and after lunch I went out in the backyard just to look around, and I walked up to a huge fence and looked over that fence, and there was a cliff and a river. I saw some of these little Mexican people out there working something like a garden, and they were growing corn. I've seen some pictures of these people and I've heard some stories about how these people would grow that corn, and once it got ready to gather, they'd gather it, and then they'd let it dry out and they'd shuck it and they'd shell it, and then they'd take stones and beat that corn into a cornmeal, and then they'd make tortillas out of that cornmeal. And then they'd take those tortillas down to the open market and they'd sell those tortillas for a few pesos, and then they'd save those pesos and they would keep those pesos in a sack until a certain day when they would make a pilgrimage to a statue of Jesus Christ up in the mountains. And they'd get in that, they would start on that pilgrimage and that statue of Jesus Christ up in the mountains. And the terrain would be so rough that many times many of them had to crawl, and their clothes would be torn and they would be bloody all over because they had to crawl up to this statue of Jesus Christ in the mountains. And they would actually be fearful to turn back because all along the way there would be big stones that say, Bill and Mary, or Mary turned back or Bill turned back and they turned the stone. And it's sort of hard for you and me to believe that people could be that ignorant. But yet they'd make a pilgrimage to that statue of Jesus Christ up in those mountains. People do that every year, and you've read about it, you've seen it on television when they make a pilgrimage to the statue of Guadalupe there in Mexico City. And it's the same thing going on in those mountains. And these people would make a pilgrimage to that statue and they would get there and they would be bloody all over, their clothes would be torn, and the priest would be standing there and saying, Now you know you love Jesus, and because you love him you need to give to him. And they would give their money, they would reach in those sacks, sometimes they would stain that money with their own blood. And they'd give those pesos, they'd put it in something like a tub that had a chute out of the bottom, and that money would go down into that hollow statue of Jesus Christ. And after they heard a message in Latin they couldn't understand, they would look up and Jesus would be crying, big old tear ducts, in that stone God's face. And there would be a priest down on the knee pumping water, and pumping water through those rubber holes that had made tear ducts. And there that statue of Jesus Christ would be crying, and some priest would say, Jesus is not satisfied with what you've done, you need to do more. And they'd get all the pesos they had, and they'd put those pesos in those tubs, give all they had. Rather than buy meat with those pesos, they'd eat those huge lizards out there. And they'd give all those pesos to that statue. And the churches in those cities would be lined in gold. That's right. It was incredible. And I was standing there in the backyard of that pilot's home, and I was watching these people work, and all of this was going through my mind. And God began to deal with me about something. God began to ask me a question that I have never, never, never gotten over. I have never gotten over this question. God began to speak to my heart and say, Son, he said, Son, why is it that you are standing here saved by the grace of God? Why is it that you are standing here and your clothes cost more money than those people will ever see in a lifetime? Why is it that you are standing here saved by the grace of God, and you didn't do one thing whatsoever to get saved except repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and even that was enabled by the grace of God? Why is it that you are standing here today saved by the grace of God, and that little Mexican down there is lost and headed to hell without Jesus? Now, folk, if you came up and asked me that question, I believe I could handle you. But I'll tell you, God asked me that question, and I couldn't handle God. I did try to offer a few explanations. I said, well, you know, God, you are sovereign. There is no question about the sovereignty of God. But nowhere in the Bible does the Bible teach the sovereignty of God relieves man of his responsibility. And I just said, well, God, you know, you are sovereign. And then I got to thinking about it, and I thought, well, Lord, what if I told that little Mexican fellow down there that I was saved, and he wasn't saved because you were sovereign? Do you think he would want a God like that? That really shouldn't be. I realized I didn't have an argument. I didn't understand, but I didn't have an argument. I couldn't handle that. And I tried to offer God some excuses, and so finally I just said, Lord, I don't understand why I'm standing here today saved by the grace of God, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and that man down there is lost without Jesus Christ. But there is a word that came to my attention. I don't remember if it came that day or if it came a little later. I was reading a book on theology last week, and I ran across that word again. And the word is imputation. The word is imputation. By the disobedience of one, sin entered into the world, and all man became sinners. That's imputation. By the obedience of one unto death, righteousness was provided, salvation was provided, and by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be saved by the grace of God. And that's somewhat imputation. I asked Clark Finnick one time, I said, isn't there some easier word to use than the word imputation? And he said, Brother Manley, there is no greater word to explain what has happened to man than the word imputation. You see, because when Adam and Eve sinned, beloved, their sin went to the next generation and the next generation and the next generation. Now, Jesus Christ came into the world and took that sin upon himself and went to the cross and provided righteousness, holiness, salvation in him by repenting of sin and believing on him. But listen carefully, that doesn't mean that there is an automatic imputation of righteousness. That doesn't mean that there is an automatic imputation of salvation. It means, my dear friends, that there is simply a provision made. Now, I don't know if you have taken a look at this, but I want us just to look at it this morning. This message is about four hours long, and so I'm trying to wade through here and see what part I'm supposed to deal with you. But are you aware that the gospel was preached in Africa before the 2nd century was over? Are you aware of that? That's right, the Eunuch took the gospel, if no one else, the Eunuch took the gospel to Ethiopia and to South Africa and to Africa. The gospel was preached there. The gospel was preached in India. That's right. The gospel was preached in India. There is a church right now that they claim that Timothy started in India that they still have to this very day. Right, Brother Sonny? As far as I know, they talk about this church that was started by Timothy in India. And they tell us that the gospel was preached in the Far East before the 8th century. But I know there is no question about the gospel being preached in Africa and India. And when you look at the beds of heathenism, where the heathenism that's just going across America like wildfires, you'll find that it came out of those three basic areas. You'll find that in Africa, so heathenistic up to recently. You'll find in India the same way. And you'll find in China. But here's what I'm wanting you to see. The gospel went out of Jerusalem at Pentecost. The gospel went out. And as God's people sought to get the heavenly vision and were obedient to the heavenly vision, the gospel went out. And the gospel kept spreading across the world as people sought the heavenly vision and were obedient to that heavenly vision. And that gospel spread from one generation to another generation, from one generation to another generation. And my dear friends, when those people sought the heavenly vision and were not obedient to the heavenly vision by the way of the cross and giving their lives totally to God, even though the gospel had been preached in previous generations, the gospel died and turned to religion. It turned to religion. Now listen carefully as we deal with this as best we can. I was standing there in that backyard of that home and I was looking at these people and I was pondering these thoughts, how that the gospel had come from one generation to another. Now, I had always known that I owed my salvation to God's love for me. I always knew that. I always knew that I owed my salvation to Jesus' love to me. And I realized that I owed my salvation to the Holy Spirit's love for me. It was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit working to bring me to salvation. But folk, I had never realized in my life up to that point that I owed my salvation not only to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit but I owed my salvation to a saint and to saints before me who saw the heavenly vision and embraced the cross and prayed the price for the reality of Jesus Christ to come to my life and reveal the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God who died on the cross for me. And more, I began to see it, that I owed my salvation to people that walked before me. Not only God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but I owed my salvation to people who literally paid the price and walked before me and so the power of God could work through them and bring me salvation. I didn't know this. I didn't know this. But a few months ago, I was in, I didn't know this back there in that home that day, that pilot's home. I didn't realize this. But I've always thought that a great deal of my Christian heritage came through my mother's side of the family and I didn't know what I'm about to tell you. But a few months ago I was in Laurel, Mississippi and a man walked up to me. I knew we had some relatives in that country, but I didn't know them personally. A man walked up to me and asked me if I was certain certain fellow's boy, Henry Beasley's boy. And I said yes. And then when he said little Henry Beasley's boy, I knew he knew something that very few people knew. And I said, who are you? And he said, well my name is Smith. And he said my father was the missionary that married your great aunt. And he just told me who he was. And he was my cousin. My cousin. Well, he said there's another cousin here in town and she'll be by to see you I'm sure before the week's over. And the next night as I preached I looked out over the congregation and I looked at a lady and I said, you know I know that lady. Now really in my lifetime, when I was about four or five years old, I had played with her, but I hadn't seen her in years and I didn't know her, but she just favored the Beasley so much, you know, I could see the resemblance in them. And I just knew that I knew her. And so sure enough, she came up after service and she said, I I'm so-and-so and I realized she was my cousin. And, and we talked for a few minutes and she says, you know, I have something that I think you would love to see. And I, and love to have. And I said, well, what is it? She said, it's a story of your great-grandmother. And she said, it's a, it's actually a story, actually about her life and about, it's actually part of an obituary. And she said, I'll bring you a copy tomorrow night. And folks, she brought me that copy and I, I'm still weeping about it. It's still difficult for me to even talk about it and not cry because I read this story and it was written by the Baptist paper in the state of Mississippi. And I don't know how she had such clout that she got in that state paper, but they had a story of my great-grandmother who was left with eight kids and my, how she brought them up in church and how she walked with God and how she died to herself. When the weather was bad, she was there. When she was physically in pain, she was there. They tell how she would literally get so happy when God would move through that place that she would shout until her little old bun fell down. And I mean, they, they, they told the story of how she walked with God. And on there, she, that the fellow writing that obituary said, said that if you're one of her children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, you can be assured that this woman laid many a prayer up in glory for your salvation and your sanctification. Oh my, I'll tell you folks, let me tell you something. I realized that day I wasn't just saved because God the Father loved me, God the Son loved me, and God the Holy Spirit loved me, but I realized, folks, that I was saved because people before me, mothers and friends and neighbors and loved ones, grandmothers, great-grandfathers were saved and walked before me. Amen. And I was saved by the grace of God because of that. My dear friends, I was standing there watching that little Mexican person, wondering why I was standing there saved by the grace of God, and he was headed to hell without Jesus. And I, I want to just give you a bit of history, just a bit of history. When the people came to America, when they came to America, folks, they came looking for God and freedom and ability to walk with God as they were convicted. But when they went to Mexico, which includes South America, they went looking for gold. Does that tell you something? Does that tell you something? I've read it in history. I've studied anthropology and taken special courses just to see how the religious, religious activity of the world has taken place. And folks, let me tell you something. It's because that man there in Mexico was lost and headed to hell without Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, and God will be justified in casting him into hell forever and ever and ever because his parents, his grandparents, his great-grandparents, his great-great-grandparents did not know Jesus Christ as the son of the living God, and they did not care to find out. And the reason I was standing there saved by the grace of God, washed in the blood of the Lamb, is because somebody, not only God the Father, not only God the Son, not only God the Holy Ghost, but somebody was willing, my dear friends, many somebodies, to embrace the cross, pay the price, not only to be saved, but to be holy, where the Word of God could come and work effectually in me and show me that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Lamb of God that died just for me and saved my soul. Yes, sir. Yes, sirree, brother. And today, you may not believe it, folks, you do not live to yourself. You live to others. Yes, sir. And we're sitting here today on this Thanksgiving day, folks, because someone has paid a price that's walked before us. Yes, sir. Yes, sirree, brother. Jimmy Robinson is saved by the grace of God because somebody lived before him who loved him. Amen. And paid the price. And others of you, everyone in this building, friends, God used somebody to touch your life. He used someone to bring you to Jesus. And when Paul said today is the day of salvation, now is the accepted time, what was he saying to that church at Corinth? He was saying, listen, today is John's day of salvation. Today is Bill's day of salvation. Today is Mary's day of salvation. Today is some other person's day of salvation. And while you're sitting here, church, at Corinth, and you're playing church, it's this person and that person and that person's day of salvation, and you are sitting here playing church with a bunch of immaturity, and these people are dying and going to hell because it's their day of salvation. So he's saying, wake up. Wake up, folks. Wake up because, you see, God the Father has done what he can do. God the Son has done what he can do. And you may not believe it, but God the Holy Spirit is doing all he can do with what he's got to work with. And my friend, if you would lose your own soul over this thing, if you would lose just your own soul and go to hell, that would be one thing. But you see, my dear friends, you're not dealing with just your soul. You're dealing with the soul of that daughter, the soul of that son, the soul of that grandson, the soul of that granddaughter, the soul, my dear friends, of people. I think about here today, and I look out and see so many of my friends in Christ, that God allowed me the privilege to walk by one day, and they met Jesus. My friends, what if that had not happened? What if that had not happened? You say, Brother Manley, God would have got them in anyway. I don't know, friend. If he had, there wouldn't be any reason to have any blood on your hands. I don't think you can shun that off. That's right. Just think about it. Just think about it. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Are you aware that today you could get saved by the grace of God, washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you aware that you can get saved by the grace of God today? And as a child of God, you cannot embrace the cross and be obedient to the heavenly vision. As a child of God, you can play church, and the Holy Spirit cannot work through you to birth people into the kingdom of God. And you can rear your children up in the best singing and the best preaching, but without the power of God therein. Are you aware what will happen to those kids? You know what? They'll take on your religion but not know your Christ. And you know what will happen? They'll grow up. And when they hit the storms of life, the reality of Jesus will not be there. You know why? Because all they'll have is religion. You know why? Because in your life, you were not obedient to the heavenly vision, you did not embrace the cross, you did not live a holy, righteous life, and my friends, through your life came religion, not Christianity. And you give your children, you give your family two generations, and they will be worshiping heathen gods. If you don't believe that, folks, you go to Europe. Amen? You go. That's right. You may be playing the game, folks, but God's not. Today is the day of salvation, now is the accepted time. God is passing by right now. You really believe that, but it's hard for you to accept it. What would God do today if every member of your church was right with God, walking in the pile of the Holy Ghost? He said, if you can do that and would do that, don't you know we're responsible for not having it? Don't you know that what God could do, he's not able to do? Because you and I, my friends, are stopping him from doing it. Today is the day of salvation, now is the accepted time. Sobering innocence. Let me tell you something, folks. Mr. Reagan, I love him. I'm not interested in politics too much, but I think he's God's man, and I'm sure the devil is trying to destroy him. But I'll tell you one thing, friends, Mr. Reagan is not the thing that's keeping this thing together today. You know who's keeping this thing together today? Righteousness, exalted in the nation. I guarantee you some little old woman up in the mountains of Tennessee, lost every tooth in her head, amen, may not even have a turkey on the table today. She may have a raccoon because she's so poor, but she's so holy and righteous, moves with an almighty God, that God is looking down and seeing that little old woman, and he said, boy, I won't destroy it yet. I won't destroy it yet. Yes, sir, folks, when we're not righteous, folks, let me tell you something, we determine the destiny of this nation. The wickedness of our hearts is determined in the destiny of this nation. That bunch in Washington, D.C., doesn't make God one hill of beans, folks, doesn't mean one hill of beans to God. The people that's determining the destiny of this nation are people that are walking with God, are rejecting God today. That's the people that's establishing this nation. I was in South Africa in 1945. I realized I was just a little boy, but I was there, and I saw the heathens working in the fields worship their gods. I saw the heathens worship their gods. And then when I came and got saved in 1948, I heard the Christians say, at the present rate of evangelism in America, America will be more heathen than Africa in thirty years. And I just said to myself, they've never been to Africa. They've never seen those people worship, those heathen people worship their demons by all of this ungodly music. And folks, less than twenty-five years after I had heard that statement, I have seen the people in America literally bow down at the God of this world by the same identical music. It's just got Christian words to it. Same ungodly stuff. And it's because we that are saints of God are not being obedient to the heavenly vision, embracing the cross, and paying the price that it takes for God to work through us and bring our children and our children's children to a real genuine salvation. I can remember right here in this place, and I can remember in other places how in days gone by, folks, the number one thing was to seek the face of God and to be holy. Yes, sir. And how we have diluted that message and turned to live other ways. Today is the day of salvation. Now is accepted time. Yes, sir. There was a church right out of Chicago, Illinois that gave over half a million dollars a year to missions in the thirties. One day that church lost its glory and power. And many years later, a young man and an elderly man was in the same hotel, both of them preachers. Both of them were of this particular group. The young man had heard about the great church, how God had mightily used it even during the depression, a half a million dollars a year to miss it. The young man was so inquisitive since he was going to preach there on Sunday night, he asked the elderly man, he said, what in the world has happened to that church that all the glory of God has departed and it's only living in the past? The elderly man said, son, when you start to that church tonight, he said, when you get to a certain red light and you take a right and start up the hill, he said, you watch carefully because there'll be a sign that will tell you what has happened and what is happening to that church. The young man got in his car that night, got to that red light and started up that hill. And all at once his lights caught a yellow sign, a field background with big black letters. And you know what it said? It said, caution, children at play. And folks, that was what was happening at the church at Tarrant. There was a bunch of babies at play. And Paul was saying today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Caution, children at play. See, there's a bunch of children in that church playing the game. And there was a day of salvation for people without Jesus. It was the day. It was the time. He said, well, Brother Manley, what in the world are you calling on us to do? I'm calling on you to seek the face of God until you see things like God sees them. I'm calling on you to embrace the cross and say, Lord Jesus, whatever it takes from here on out, I want to be at the right place at the right time with the right message from the right man. I want you to sing with that songwriter, but drops of grief can never repay the debt of love I owe. Lord, I give myself away. It's all that I can do. Yes, sir. Some of you young people here, my friend, some of you adults, may God cross your life today, this week, to the place that you will say, Lord Jesus, not what I want, but what you want. Here is my life. Here is my life. What God, what you give, God takes. What he takes, he cleanses. What he cleanses, he fills. And what he fills, he uses to the degree of saving souls and bringing the saved into a right relationship with him. May God bless you.