In this sermon, Ray Comfort addresses the issue of modern evangelism and its high rate of backsliders. He shares the shocking statistic that 80 to 90 percent of those who make a decision for Christ end up falling away from the faith. Comfort emphasizes the importance of understanding the seriousness of sin and the need for repentance. He uses the analogy of a terminal disease to illustrate the urgency of sharing the gospel and the cure for sin. Comfort also discusses the use of gospel tracks and creative methods to engage non-Christians in conversations about faith.

Welcome to from the pulpit and classic sermons each week We bring you a different message from some of history's greatest speakers in the christian faith And powerful sermons for modern preachers too this week. We have ray comfort with his message hell's best-kept secret In the late 70s god very graciously opened an itinerant ministry to me as I began to travel I found I had access to church growth records and found to my horror that something like 80 to 90 percent of those making a decision for christ Were falling away from the faith that is modern evangelism with its methods is creating something like 80 to 90 of what we commonly call backsliders for every hundred decisions for christ Let me make it more real for you in 1991 in the first year of the decade of harvest A major denomination in the us was able to obtain 294 000 decisions for christ that is in one year this major denomination of 11 and a half thousand churches was able to obtain 294 000 Decisions for christ. Unfortunately, they can only find 14 000 in fellowship, which means they couldn't account For 280 000 of their decisions and this is normal modern results and something I discovered way back in the 70s Greatly concerned me. I began to study the book of romans intently and Specifically the gospel proclamation of men like sturgeon wesley moody finney woodfield Luther others that god used down through the ages and I found they used a principle which is almost entirely neglected by modern evangelical methods I began teaching that principle was eventually invited to base our ministry in southern california the city of bellflower in california Specifically to bring this teaching to the church of the u.s Things were quiet for the first three years until I received a call from bill gothard Who had seen the teaching on video and he flew me to san jose in northern california. I shared it with a thousand pastors In 1992 he screened that video to 30 000 pastors the same year david wilkerson called from new york Called from his car. He'd been listening to the teaching in his car called me on his car phone and immediately flew me 3 000 miles from la to new york to share the one-hour teaching with his church. He considered it to be that important And recently I heard of a pastor who had listened to the audio tape 250 times I'd be happy if you'd listen just once to this teaching which is called hell's best kept secret The bible says in psalm 19 verse 7 the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul What is it that the bible says is perfect and actually converts the soul? Why scripture makes it very clear the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul And to illustrate the function of god's law. Let's just look for a moment. It's civil law Imagine if I said to you i've got some good news for you Someone has just paid a 25 000 speeding fine on your behalf You'd probably react by saying What are you talking about? That's not good news. It doesn't make sense. I don't have a 25 000 speeding fine My good news wouldn't be good news, too You'd seem foolishness But more than that it would be offensive to you because i'm insinuating you've broken the law when you don't think you have However, if I put it this way, it may make more sense on the way to this meeting The law clocked you at going 55 miles an hour through an area set aside for a blind children's convention There were 10 clear warning signs stating that 15 miles an hour was the maximum speed But you went straight through at 55 miles an hour. What you did was extremely dangerous There's a 25 000 fine. The law was about to take its course when someone you don't even know Stepped in and paid the fine for you. You are very fortunate Can you see that telling you precisely what you've done wrong first actually makes the good news make sense? If I don't clearly bring instruction and understanding you violated the law then the good news will seem foolishness It will seem offensive But once you understand that you've broken the law then that good news will become good news Indeed now in the same way if I approach an impenitent sinner and say jesus christ died on the cross for your sins It'll be foolishness to him and offensive to him Foolishness because it won't make sense The bible says that the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness and offensive because i'm insinuating He's a sinner when he doesn't think he is as far as he's concerned There are a lot of people far worse than him But if I take the time to follow the footsteps of jesus that may make more sense If I take the time to open up the divine law the ten commandments and show the sinner precisely what he's done wrong That he has offended god by violating his law then when he comes as james says convinced of the law As a transgressor the good news of the fine being paid for will not be foolishness It will not be offensive. It will be the power of god under salvation now with those few thoughts in mind by way of introduction Let's now look at romans 3 verse 19 We'll look at some of the functions of god's law for humanity romans 3 verse 19 Now we know the whatsoever things the law says it says to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped And all the world may become guilty before god So one function of god's law is to stop the mouth to stop sinners Justifying themselves and saying there's plenty of people worse than me. I'm not a bad person Really? No, the law stops the mouth of justification and leaves the whole world. Not just the jews, but the whole world guilty before god Romans 3 verse 20 therefore by the deeds of the law There should no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So god's law tells us what sin is first john 3 4 says sin is transgression of the law Romans 7 verse 7. What should we say then says for is the law sin god forbid? No, I had not known sin But by the law Paul says I didn't know what sin was until the lord told me in galatians 3 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to christ that we might be justified by faith God's law acts as a schoolmaster to bring us to jesus christ that we might be justified through faith in his blood The law doesn't help us. It just leaves us helpless It doesn't justify us. It just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of the holy god and the tragedy of modern evangelism Is because around the turn of the century when it forsook the law and its capacity to convert the soul To drive sinners to christ modern evangelism had to therefore find another reason for sinners to respond to the gospel And the issue that modern evangelism chose to attract sinners was the issue of life enhancement the gospel degenerated into Jesus christ will give you peace joy love fulfillment and lasting happiness Now to illustrate the unscriptural nature of this very popular teaching I would like you to listen very carefully to this following anecdote because the essence of what i'm saying pivots on this particular illustration So please listen carefully Two men are seated in a plane The first is given a parachute and told to put it on as it would improve his flight He's a little skeptical at first as he can't see how wearing a parachute a plane could possibly improve a flight After time he decides to experiment and see if the claim is true as he puts it on He notices the weight of it upon his shoulders and he finds the difficulty in sitting upright However, he consoles himself with the fact he was told the parachute would improve the flight So he decides to give the thing a little time as he waits He notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him because he's wearing a parachute in a plane He begins to feel somewhat humiliated as they begin to point and laugh at him. He can stand it no longer He slinks in a seat unstraps the parachute and throws it to the floor Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart because as far as he was concerned he was told an outright lie The second man is given a parachute but listen what he's told He's told to put it on because at any moment he'd be jumping 25 000 feet out of the plane He gratefully puts the parachute on he doesn't notice the weight upon his shoulders nor that he can't sit upright His mind is consumed with the thought of what would happen to him if he jumped without that parachute Let's analyze the motive and the result of each passenger's experience The first man's motive for putting the parachute on was solely to improve his flight The result of the experience was that he was humiliated by the passengers He was disillusioned and somewhat embittered against those who gave him the parachute as far as he's concerned It'll be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on his back again The second man put the parachute on solely to escape the jump to come And because of his knowledge of what would happen to without it He has a deep-rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that he's safe from sure death This knowledge gives him the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers His attitude or those who gave him the parachute is one of heartfelt gratitude Now listen to what the modern gospel says it says put on the lord jesus christ He'll give you love joy peace fulfillment and lasting happiness In other words, jesus will improve your flight So the sinner responds and in an experimental fashion puts on the savior to see if it claims the truth And what does he get the promise temptation tribulation and persecution the other passengers mocking? So what does he do? He takes off the lord. Jesus christ. He's offended for the word's sake He's disillusioned and somewhat embittered and quite rightly So he was promised peace joy love fulfillment and lasting happiness and all he got were trials and humiliation His bitterness is directed at those who gave him the so-called good news His latter end becomes worse than the first another inoculated and bitter backslider Saints instead of preaching that jesus improves the flight. We should be warning the passengers They're going to have to jump out of the plane But it's the point of the man wants to die and after this the judgment And when a sinner understands the horrific consequences of breaking god's law, then he will flee to the savior Solely to escape the wrath that's to come and if we're true and faithful witnesses That's what we'll be preaching that there is wrath to come that god commands all men everywhere to repent Why because he has appointed a day in which he'll judge the world in righteousness You see the issue isn't one of happiness But one of righteousness doesn't matter how happy a sinner is how much he's enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season without the righteousness Of the christ he'll perish in the day of wrath richest prophet not on the day of wrath But righteousness delivers from death peace and joy are legitimate fruits of salvation But it's not legitimate to use these fruits as a draw card for salvation if we continue to do so Sinners will spawn with an impure motive lacking repentance now Can you remember why the second passenger had joy and peace in his heart? Was because he knew that parachute was going to save him from sure death and as a believer I have as paul says joy and peace in believing because I know that the righteousness of christ Is going to deliver me from the rapids to come Now with that thought in mind, let's take a close look at an incident on board the plane We have a brand new stewardess. She's carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee It's her first day She wants to leave an impression on the passengers and she certainly does because as she's walking down the aisle She trips over someone's foot and stops that boiling hot coffee all over the lap of our second passenger Now what's his reaction that boiling liquid hits his tender flesh does he go? Man that hurt. Mm-hmm. He feels the pain But then does he rip the parachute from his shoulders throw it to the floor and say the stupid parachute? No, why should he he didn't put the parachute on for a better flight He put it on to save him from the jump to come If anything the hot coffee incident causes them to cling tighter to the parachute And even look forward to the jump now If you and I put on the lord jesus christ for the right motive to flee from the rapids to come When tribulation strikes when the flight gets bumpy, we won't get angry at god. We won't lose our joy and peace Why should we we didn't come to jesus for a happy lifestyle? We came to flee from the rapids to come and if anything tribulation drives the true believer closer to the savior And sadly, we have literally multitudes of professing christians who lose their joy and peace when the flight gets bumpy Why they're the product of a man-centered gospel. They came lacking repentance without which you cannot be saved I was in australia recently ministering australia is a small island off the coast of new zealand I preached sin law righteousness holiness judgment repentance and hell I wasn't exactly crushed by the amount of people wanting to give their hearts to jesus. In fact, the air went very tense After the meeting they said there's a young guy down the back who wants to give his life to christ I went down the back and found a teenage lad who could not pray the sinner's prayer because he was weeping so profusely Now for me, it was so refreshing because for many years I suffered from the disease of evangelical frustration I so wanted sinners to respond to the gospel. I unwittingly preached a man-centered message the essence of which was this You'll never find true peace without jesus christ You have a god-shaped vacuum in your heart that only god can fill i'd preach christ crucified I'd preach repentance a sinner would respond at the altar i'd open an eye and say oh no This guy wants to give his heart to jesus and there's an 80 chance He's gonna backslide and I am tired of creating backslides So I better make sure this guy really means it he better be sincere So I'd approach the poor guy in a gestapo spirit. I'll walk up and say What do you want? He said i'm here to become a christian. I said do you mean it? They say yeah, I said do you? Really mean it He'd say yeah, I reckon Okay, i'll pray with you, but you better mean it from your heart. He said, okay, okay Now you repeat this prayer sincerely after me and mean it from your heart sincerely and really mean it from your heart sincerely And make sure you mean it Oh god, i'm a sinner Oh god I'm a sinner and i'd say man. Why isn't there a visible sign of contrition? There's no outward evidence. The guy is inwardly sorry for his sins If I could have seen his motive, I would have seen he was 100 Sincere he really did mean his decision with all his heart He sincerely want to give this jesus thing a go to see if you get a buzz out of it He had tried sex drugs materials and alcohol Why not give this christian bit a go see if it's as good as all these christians say it is peace joy Love fulfillment lasting happiness. He wasn't fleeing from the wrath that was to come because I hadn't told him there was wrath to come There was this glaring omission from my message. He wasn't broken in contrition because the poor guy didn't know what sin was Remember romans 7 verse 7 paul said I had not known Sin, but by the law, how can a man repent if he doesn't know what sin is any so-called repentance would be nearly what I call Horizontal repentance he's coming because he's lied to men He's stolen from men But when david sinned with basheba and broke all 10 of the 10 commandments when he coveted his neighbor's wife lived a life Stole his neighbor's wife committed adultery committed murder dishonored his parents and thus dishonored god. He didn't say I've sinned against man Did against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight when joseph was tempted sexually? He said how can I do this thing and sin against god the prodigal son said i've sinned against heaven Paul preached repentance towards god and the bible says godly sorrow works repentance And when a man doesn't understand that his sin is primarily vertical. He'll merely come and exercise superficial Experimental and horizontal repentance and fall away when tribulation temptation and persecution come ab earl Said i've found my long experience That the severest threatenings of the law of god have a prominent place in leading men to christ They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy. They'll not escape danger until they see it I'd like to do something a little unusual. I'll not embarrass you. I give you my word But I would like to ask How many of you were thinking of something else when I was reading that quote from ab earl now? I want to admit something to you I was thinking of something else when I was reading that quote from ab earl I was thinking nobody's listening to me. They're thinking of something else So to make a very important point i'd like to be really honest If you were thinking of something else and you haven't got a clue what ab earl said, could you raise your head up nice and high? Up nice and high. It's usually half to two thirds and we've got that here tonight Let's try again God bless you pastor for your honesty Ab earl was a famous evangelist of the last century who had 150 Converts to substantiate his claims satan doesn't want you to get a grip of this So listen very closely ab earl said I have found by long experience That's the true test that the severest threatenings of the law of god have a prominent place in leading men to christ They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy. They'll not escape danger until they see it You see you try and save a man from drowning when a man doesn't believe he's drowning He'll not be too happy with you. You see him swimming out in the lake. You think I think he's drowning Yes, I believe he is you dive in pull him to the shore without telling him anything He's not going to be very happy with you you won't want to get saved until he sees he's in danger They'll not escape danger until they see it. You see if you came to me and says hey ray I said you you said this is a cure to groanin's disease. I sold my house to raise the money to get this cure I'm giving it to you as a free gift I'd probably react something like this What cure to what groanin's disease you sold your house to raise the money to get this cure you're giving me as a free gift Why thanks a lot. Bye Guys are not I mean, that's probably how i'd react if you sold your house to raise the money to get a cure for disease I've never heard of you're giving to me as a free gift. I think you're rather strange But instead if you came to me and said ray you've got groanin's disease I can see 10 clear symptoms on your flesh You're going to be dead in two weeks and I became convinced I had the disease the symptoms are so evident and said Oh, what should I do? And then you said Don't worry. This is a cure to groanin's disease sold my house to raise the money to get this cure Given to you as a free gift. I'm not going to despise your sacrifice I'm going to appreciate it and i'm going to appropriate it. Why because i've seen the disease But I might appreciate the cure and sadly what's happened in the u.s And the western world has followed is that we have preached the cure without first convincing of the disease We have preached the gospel of grace without first convincing men of the law that transgresses and consequently Almost everyone I try and witness to in southern california or around the bible belt has been born again six or seven times They say you need to give your life to jesus christ I did that when I was 7 11 17 23 25 28 32 You know, the guy's not a christian. He's a fornicator He's a blasphemer, but he thinks he's saved because he's been born again. What's happening? He's using the grace of our god for an occasion of the flesh He doesn't esteem the sacrifice for him. It's not a bad thing to trample the blood of christ underfoot Why because he's never been convinced of the disease that he might appreciate the cure biblical evangelism is always without exception Law to the proud and grace to the humble Never will you see jesus giving the gospel the good news the cross the grace of our god to a proud arrogant self-righteous person No, no with the law. He breaks the hard heart and with the gospel. He heals the broken heart. Why? Because he always did those things that pleased the father God resists the proud and gives grace the humble everyone who is proud of heart scripture says is an abomination to the lord Jesus told us in the gospel is for he said the spirit of the lord is upon me Because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor the broken-hearted the captives and the blind Now they are spiritual statements the poor in spirit the broken-hearted are the contrite ones the captives Are those of whom satan has taken captive to do his will and the blind? Are those of whom the god of this world is blinded? At least the light of the gospel should shine on them only the sick need a physician And only those who are convinced of the disease will appreciate an appropriate cure So we're going to now very briefly look at examples of lord of the proud and grace to the humble Luke 10 24 Luke 10 24 and when I give you a reference from the pulpit i'll give it twice Because I know that men are present and men need to be told things twice Men need to be told things twice This can be backed up biblically when god speaks to men in the bible He uses the name twice abraham abraham saul saul moses moses samuel samuel because men need to be told things twice women once I don't know how many times i've sat in a pew preacher said i'll look 10 25. I turn to my wife and say What do you say? She says luke 10 25. I said, thank you, dear help Mate, that's why god created women because men could not handle it on their own. The whole thing is Men lose things women find things Where's the keys love hanging on your nose dear? I mean, I don't know how many times open a cupboard. There's no honey here, honey. She says here it is here dear Where would man be without women? Hmm still in the garden of eden eve found the tree Adam didn't really know what was going on In fact, if you look at the creation of women to create women The bible says god put man into a deep sleep and scripture doesn't say if it came out of it In luke 10 25, we see a certain lawyer stood up and tempted jesus. This is not an attorney But a professing expert in god's law stood up and he said to jesus How can I get everlasting life now? What did jesus do? He gave him law. Why? Because he was proud Arrogant self-righteous here. We have a professing expert in god's law Tempting the son of god the spirit of his question was and what do you think we've got to do to get everlasting life? So jesus gave him law. He says what is written in the law? What is your reading of it? He says, uh, you should love the lord your god with your heart mind soul and strength Love your neighbor as yourself and jesus said this too And you shall live Then the scripture says but he willing to justify himself said to jesus Who's my neighbor the living bible brings that more clearly the effect of the law on the man? And said the man wanted to justify his lack of love for some kinds of people. So he asked Which neighbor so he didn't mind jews, but he didn't like samaritans So jesus then told him the story of what we call the Good samaritan. It was not good at all And loving his neighbor as much as he loved himself He merely obeyed the basic requirements of god's law And the effect of the essence of the law the spirituality of the law of what the lord demands and truth was that that man's mouth was stopped See, he didn't love his neighbor to that degree The law was given to stop every mouth and leave the whole world guilty before god Similarly in luke 18 verse 18 the rich young ruler came to jesus said how can I get everlasting life? I mean, how would most of us react if someone came up and said? How can I get everlasting life would say oh quickly say this prayer before you change your mind But what did jesus do with this potential convert? He pointed him to the law. He gave him five horizontal commandments Commandments to do with his fellow men and when he said i've kept those for my youth Jesus said one thing you lack and he used the essence of the first of the ten commandments I'm the lord your god You shall have no other gods before me to show this man that his god was his money and you cannot serve god and men Lord of the proud then we see grace being given to the humble in the case of nicodemus Nicodemus was a leader of the jews. He was a teacher in israel. Therefore. He was thoroughly versed in god's law He was humble of heart because he came to jesus and acknowledged the deity of the son of god a leader in israel We know that you've come from god for no man can do these miracles that you do unless god is with him So jesus gave the sincere seeker of truth who had a humble heart and a knowledge then via the law The good news of the fine being paid for him for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son And it was not foolishness to nicodemus, but the power of god to salvation Similarly in the case of nathaniel nathaniel was an israelite brought up under the law indeed Not just in word in whom there was no guile. There was no deceit in his heart Obviously the law was a schoolmaster to bring this godly to christ similarly with the jews on the day of pentecost They were devout jews godly jews who therefore ate drank and slept god's law Matthew henry the bible commentator said the reason they were gathered together on the day of pentecost was to celebrate the giving of god's law In mount sinai, so when peter stood up to preach to these godly jews, he didn't preach wrath No, the law works wrath. They knew that he didn't preach righteousness or judgment. No No, he just told them the good news Of the fine being paid for them and they were pricked in their heart and cried men and brethren What should we do? The law was a schoolmaster to bring them to christ They might be justified through faith in his blood as the hymn writer said by god's word at last my sin I learned then I trembled at the law i'd spurned till my guilty soul imploring turned to calvary first timothy chapter 1 verse 8 says Now we know that the law is good if it is used lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed God's law is good if it's used lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed. Well, what was the law designed for? Following verse tells us the law was not made for a righteous man but for sinners It even lists the sinners homosexuals Fornicators if you want to bring a homosexual to christ don't get into an argument with him over his perversion He's ready for you with his boxing gloves on. No, no, give him the ten commandments The law was made for homosexuals show him that he is damned despite his perversion If you want to bring a jew to christ lay the weight of the law upon him Let it prepare his heart for grace as happened on the day of pentagon. You ought to bring a muslim to christ Give them the law of moses. They accept moses as a prophet Well, give them the law of moses and strip them of their self-righteousness and bring them to the foot of a blood-stained cross I heard of a muslim reading a book held best kept secret and god's family saved him purely through reading the book Why because the law of the lord is perfect converting the soul Think of the woman caught in the act of adultery violation of the seventh commandment the law called for her blood She found herself between a rock and a hard place She had no avenue but to fling herself at the feet of the son of god for mercy And that is the function of god's law paul spoke of being shot up under the law. It condemns You say you can't condemn sinners Saints, they're already condemned john 3 verse 17 He that believes not is condemned already. All the law does is show him himself in his true state Ladies, you might recognize this thought your table needs dusting in your living room So you dust it clean all the dust is gone Then you draw back the curtains and let in the early morning sunlight. What do you see on the table? Dust, what do you see in the air dust? Did the light create the dust? The light merely exposed the dust and when you and I take the time to draw back the curtains of the holy of holies And let the light of god's law shine upon the sinner's heart All that happens is that he sees himself in truth. The commandment is a lamp and the law is light That's why paul said by the law is the knowledge of sin That's why he said by the commandment sin became exceedingly sinful In other words the law showed him sin in its true light Now normally at this stage of this teaching I guess with the ten commandments one by one But what i'll do is share with you how I witness personally because I think it would be more beneficial Now i'm a strong believer in following the footsteps of jesus Never ever would I approach someone and say jesus loves you totally unbiblical There's no precedent for that in scripture. Neither would I go up to someone and say i'd like to talk to you about jesus christ Why? Because if I want to awaken you from a deep sleep, I wouldn't use a flashlight in your eyes That will offend you i'd turn on a light dimmer very gently first the natural Then the spiritual why because the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of god Neither can he know them their foolishness to him because they're spiritually understood Now the precedent in scripture is given in john 4 for personal witness We can see jesus example with the woman at the well he started in the natural realm Swung to the spiritual bought conviction using the seventh commandment and then revealed himself as the messiah. So when I meet someone I'll talk about the weather. I talk about sport let them feel a little bit of sanity Get to know them maybe joke here and there and then deliberately swing from the natural to the spiritual Now the way I do this is that I use gospel tracks I've printed millions and millions of tracks and our tracks are unusual if you get a hold of them What you'll have to do is have a stack on you because people chase you and ask for more Let me give an example This is our optical illusion track which looks bigger if you can see does the pink look bigger you see that? For those listening by tape They're the same size it's an optical illusion they say it's actually a gospel track instructions are on the back how to get saved They say you can keep that he said hey Thanks a lot. This is me. Whoa got another gift for you out of my pocket I get a pressed penny with the ten commandments on it. We have a machine that does this we buy the pennies new from the bank Nice golden looking pennies and we feed them into this machine and it presses them We'll do your thumbnail if you want to hold still But it presses them with the ten commandments. It's legal to do this. This is considered art. It's not the facing a penny So I say here's a gift. He says well, what is it? I say it's a penny with the ten commandments on it Did it with my teeth? The eyes of my teeth, but the ease are really difficult Now what I'm doing is I am putting out a feeler to see if he's open to spiritual things if he says ten commandments Thanks a lot. He's not open. But the usual reaction is ten commandments. Hey, thanks. Appreciate this Yeah, I think you've kept the ten commandments. He's not you pretty much. So let's go through them. Never told a lie He's oh, yeah. Yeah wanted to so what does that make you? This is a sinner. I said no. No specifically. What does it make you? He's a one man. I'm not a liar So say how many lies then do you have to tell to be a liar pen and the bell rings and cross your forehead Is it true you tell one lie and makes you a liar? He says Yeah, I guess you're right. So have you ever stolen something? He says no say come on. You've just admitted to me. You're a liar Have you ever stolen something even if it's small he says yeah I said what does that make you? He says a thief So jesus said if you look at a woman and lust after you commit adultery with her in your heart ever done that he says Yeah plenty of times so from your own admission You're a lying thieving adulterer at heart and you have to face god on judgment day And we've only looked at three of the ten commandments. There's another seven where they can be pointed at you Have you used god's name in vain? Yeah, i've been trying to stop You know what you're doing instead of using a fully of filth word beginning with s to express disgust you're using god's name in its place That's called blasphemy And the bible says every idle word a man speaks who given account thereof in the day of judgment The law will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain Other says if you hate someone you are a murderer folks when you look at those commandments They certainly leave us guilty. They don't paint a pretty picture in the mirror And the one I am the lord your god. You shall have no other gods before me That means god our creator commands that he be the focal point of our affections We are commanded to love the lord our god with all our heart Mind soul and strength and to love our neighbor as much as ourselves to a point where our love for mom and dad brother and sister And our own life seems like hatred Compared to the love that we have for the god who gave those loved ones And that life to us and there's none of us that can say i've kept the first of the ten commandments The bible says there's none that seek after god Second is you should not make yourself a graven image. You should not make a god either with your hands Or with your mind Will one say oh my god isn't a god of wrath and judgment. My god is a god of love and mercy He would never create hell Someone says that to you agree with them say you're right Your god would never create hell because he couldn't he doesn't exist He's a figment of your imagination the place of imagery. You've shaped a god to suit your sins You said i'm the potter you're the clay made a god to suit yourself It's called idolatry. It's the oldest sin in the book and the bible says idolaters will not inherit the kingdom of god And the wonderful thing about god's law is that god has taken the time to write it upon our heart Romans 2 verse 15 which show the work of the law written in their hearts the conscience bearing witness Now conscience means with knowledge con is with science is knowledge conscience So when he lies lusts fornicates blasphemes commits adultery he does it With knowledge that it's wrong god has given light to every man The holy spirit convicts him of sin righteousness and judgment sin, which is transgression of the law righteousness Which is of the law judgment, which is by the law his conscience accuses him the work of the law written on his heart And the law condemns him. So I say so god judges you by this standard on the day of judgment You're going to be innocent or guilty. He says guilty I say well, do you think you'll go to heaven or hell and the usual answer is heaven Product of the modern gospel. I say why do you feel like that? Because you think god is good and you'll overlook your sins. He says that's it He'll overlook my sense I said we'll try it out in the court of law You've committed rape murder drug pushing very serious crime The judge says you're guilty all the evidence is here Have you anything to say before I pass sentence and you say yes judge I'd like to say I believe you're a good man and you'll overlook my crimes The judge would probably say you're right about one thing. I am a good man and because of my goodness I'm going to see that justice is done because of my goodness I'm going to see that you're punished And the very thing that sinners are hoping will save them on the day of judgment the goodness of god Will be the very thing that will condemn them because if god is good He must by nature punish murderers rapists thieves liars fornicators Blasphemous god is going to punish sin wherever it's found. So with this knowledge He's now able to understand he now has light that his sin is primarily vertical that he has sinned against heaven That he has violated god's law and he has angered god and the wrath of god abides upon him He can now see these weighed in the balance of eternal justice and found wanting Can now understand the need for a sacrifice Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us God commended his love toward us and that while we get sinners christ died for us. We broke the law He paid the fine. It's as simple as that And if a man will repent if a woman repent and put their faith in jesus God will remit their sins so that on the day of judgment when their court case comes up God can say your case is dismissed through lack of evidence Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us And therefore exercise repentance towards god faith toward the lord. Jesus christ Put his hand on the plow and not look back because he's fit for the kingdom That word fit means ready for use the soil of his heart has been turned that he might receive the engrafted word Which is able to save the soul Now I haven't got time to share these quotes with you, but they're in a literature These men i'm sure you recognize their names John Wycliffe He said this is the bible translator said the highest service to which a man may obtain on earth Is to preach the law of god why because it'll drive sinners to faith in the savior to everlasting life Martin luther said the first duty of the gospel preacher is to declare god's law and show the nature of sin in fact We read these quotes. These men are so They have so much conviction. You can feel their teeth grip They say things like if you do not use the law in gospel proclamation, you will fill the church with false converts Stony ground hearers who receive the word with joy and gladness Listen, what martin luther said is that satan the god of all dissension? stirs up daily new sects The last of all which of all others I should never have foreseen or once suspected He has raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law But generally exhorted by the preaching of the grace of christ. So what's luther saying? He's saying listen guys There's a demonic satanic sect has just risen up man. I never ever would have believed this could happen He's raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law But gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of christ, which perfectly sums up most of our evangelism Matthew henry john wesley said to a friend of writing to a young evangelist. He said preach 90 percent law and 10 percent grace You say 90 percent law 10 percent grace pretty heavy. Couldn't it be 50 50 think of it like this I'm a doctor You're a patient You have a terminal disease I have a cure But it's absolutely essential that you are totally committed to this cure If you're not 100 committed, it will not work. How am I going to handle it probably like this? Come in here sit down Some very serious news for you. You have a terminal disease. I see you begin to shake I think to myself good. He's beginning to see the seriousness of the situation I bring up charts. I bring out x-rays. I show you the poison seeping through your system I speak to you for 10 whole minutes about this terrible disease How long then do you think i'm going to talk about the cure? Not long at all when he's sitting there trembling after 10 minutes. I say by the way Here's the cure you go Your knowledge of the disease and a terrific consequence has made you desire the cure You see before I was a christian. I had as much desire for righteousness as a four-year-old boy has for the word bath What's the point see jesus said a blessed of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness How many non-christians do you know who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness? The bible says there's none that seek after god Since they love the darkness they hate the light neither will they come to the light place their deeds to be exposed The only thing they drink in is iniquity like water But the night I was confronted with the spiritual nature of god's law and understood that god requires truth in the inward paths That he saw my thought life and considered lust to be the same as adultery hatred the same as murder. I began to say I can see i'm condemned What must I do to be made right? I began to thirst for righteousness the law put salt on my tongue It was a schoolmaster bring me to christ charles spurgeon said they will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy law D l moody john bunyan john newton who wrote amazing grace and if anyone had a grip on grace, it was newton. He said that the correct understanding of the harmony between law and grace is to preserve oneself from being Entangled by errors on the right hand and on the left Charles finney said evermore the law must prepare the way for the gospel. He said to overlook this and instructing souls There's almost certain to result in false. Hope the introduction of a false standard of christ experience and to fill the church with false converts Since the first thing david wilkerson said to me when he called me on his car phone was I thought I was the only one who didn't believe in follow-up Now I believe in feeding a new convert I believe in nurturing him I believe in discipling him biblical and most necessary, but I don't believe in following him I can't find it in scripture. The ethiopian eunuch was left without follow-up How could he survive all he had was god and the scriptures? You see, it's my understanding You know what follow up now? Let me explain follow up for those of you who don't know follow up is when we get decisions either through crusades or local church And we take laborers from the harvest fields who are few as it is And give them this disheartening task of running after these decisions to make sure they're going on with god What it is is a sad admission to the amount of confidence we have in the power of our message And in the keeping power of god if god has saved them god will keep them. They're born of god They'll never die if he's begun a good work in them. He'll complete it to that day If he's the author of their faith, he'll be the finish of their faith He's able to save the uttermost them that come to god by him He's able to keep them from falling present and faultless before the presence of his glory the exceeding joy Jesus said no one will pluck you from my father's hand. See the problem is saints Lazarus is four days dead. We can run in the tomb. We can pull him out. We can prop him up We can open his eyes, but he's stinker He needs to hear the voice of the son of god and the sinner is four days dead in his sins We can run up and say say this prayer Still he needs to hear the voice of the son of god or there is no life in him And the things that primes the sinner's ear to hear the voice of the son of god is the law It's a schoolmaster to bring him to christ that he might be justified through faith Saints the law works it converts the soul that makes a person a new creature in christ that all things pass away Behold, all things have become new so find yourself a sinner an experiment on them But as you do so Remember this one anecdote You're sitting on a plane. You're suffering your coffee. You're biting a cookie. You're watching a movie. It's a good flight Very pleasurable when suddenly you hear This is your captain speaking you have an announcement to make because the tail section has just formed this plane. We're about to crash There's a 25 000 foot drop. There's a parachute under your seat. We'd appreciate if you put it on Thank you for your attention. And thank you for flying with us airline 25 000 feet Man, am I glad to be wearing this parachute you look next to you. The guy next to you is biting this cookie Suffering this coffee watching the movie. You say excuse me. Did you hit a captain put the parachute on? Turns to him and says I really don't think the captain means it besides i'm quite happy and thanks Don't turn to him in sincere zeal and say Oh, please put the parachute on It'll be better than the movie And that doesn't make sense If you tell him that somehow the parachute is going to improve his flight he's going to put it on for a wrong motive If you want him to put it on and keep it on Tell him about the jump say excuse me ignore the captain if you wish jump without a parachute splat He says i'm, sorry, I beg your pardon. I said if you jump without a parachute law of gravity on the ground he says Goodness me. I see what you're saying Thank you very much And as long as that man knows as long as he has knowledge he has to pass through the door And face the consequences of breaking the law of gravity There's no way you're going to get that parachute off his back because his very life depends on it Now if you look around you find there are plenty of passengers enjoying the flight They're enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season godman's excuse me Did you hear the command from the captain of our salvation put on the lord? Jesus christ he turns to and says if I really don't think god means that god is love besides. I'm quite happy. I am Thanks, don't turn to him in sincere zeal without knowledge and say Please put on the lord. Jesus christ He'll give you love joy peace fulfillment lust and happiness got you back in my heart Only god can fairly hear a marriage problem drug problem alcohol problem. Just give your heart to jesus No, he'll give him a wrong motive for his commitment Instead say oh god, give me courage and tell him about the jump So say hey, it's a point of a man wants to die If you die in your sins god will be forced to give you justice and his judgment is going to be so thorough Every idle word a man speaks you've given a counter of in the day of judgment If you've lusted you've committed adultery if you've hated someone you've committed murder Jesus warned that justice will be so thorough the fist of eternal wrath will come upon you and Grind you to powder god bless I think i'm not talking about hellfire preaching hellfire preaching will produce fear-filled converts Using god's law will produce tear-filled converts This one comes because why he wants to escape the fires of hell but in his heart he thinks god is harsh and unjust Because the law hasn't been used to show him the exceeding sinful nature of sin He doesn't see hell as being as just as it but he deserves hell. Therefore. He doesn't understand mercy or grace And therefore he lacks gratitude to god for his mercy and gratitude is the prime motivation for evangelism There'll be no zeal in the heart of a false convert to evangelize But this one comes knowing he has sinned against heaven The god's eye is in every place beholding the evil and the good and god has seen darkness as though a pure light He's seen his thought life Of god and his holiness on the day of wrath Made manifest all the secret sins of his heart all the deeds done in darkness He made man of all his evidence of his guilt god could pick him up as an unclean thing and cast him into hell and do That which is just but instead of giving him justice. He's given him mercy He's commended his love toward him that what he's here to sinner christ died from he falls on his knees before that blood-stained cross And says oh god, if you do that for me, i'll do anything for you. I delight to do your will Oh my god Your law is written upon my heart and like the man who knew he had to pass through the door And face the consequences of breaking the law of gravity would never take his parachute off because his very life depended on it So he who comes to the savior knowing he has to face the holy god on the day of wrath Would never forsake the righteousness of god in christ because his very life Depends on it. Let me see if I can coagulate this teaching as we draw it to a close I was in a store some time ago and the Owner of the store was serving a customer and using god's name and blasphemy Now if somebody used my wife's name and blasphemy I'll be extremely offended if they If they used her name as a curse word in that sense But someone was this guy was using god's name as a curse word when god had given him life His eyes the ability to think his children his food every pleasure He's ever had was given him by the goodness of god and using god's name as a curse word Indignantly between him and his customer. I leaned and said, excuse me. Is this a religious meeting? The guy says what? H-e-l-l. No, I said yes it is because now you're talking about hell. Let me get you one of my books So I went out of my car. Sorry. I went out of my car And got a book that i've written called god doesn't believe in atheists Proof the atheist doesn't exist And it's a book which uses logic humor reason and rationalism to prove the existence of god Which you can do in two minutes without the use of faith It's a very simple thing to conclusively absolutely prove god's existence and it proves also that the atheist doesn't exist In fact, let me show you a bumper sticker national atheist day april the first So I gave him this book and two months later I went and gave him another book I've written a book called my friends are dying a book which Is a true and gripping story about the ministry of the gospel in the most murderous portion of los angeles a book Which also uses humor in its presentation gave him those books and he called me and told me that what had happened In fact, he told me his wife gave him filthy looks because there he was reading a book called my friends are dying and laughing Every two minutes, but he's cleaning out his room and he he picked up god doesn't believe in atheists He said ah And he opened it up and read the first page and then he read the whole book 260 pages He said it was weird because I hate reading then he read my friends are dying gave his life to christ Bought himself a bible came around to say hi and told me after two days of being a christian in his bible He was already up to what he called the book of leviticus And I guess he was going to read palms and then job But up until his commitment the man was a practicing witch The law of the lord is perfect converting the soul And so god looked down upon me as for many years I open air preached as I fought off the enemy of the feather duster of modern evangelism This is oh god said what are you doing weapons of water? Not carnal, but mighty through god are the pulling down a stronghold Here are 10 great canons and as I lined up the 10 canons of god's law no longer did sinners scoff and mock No, their faces went pale. They lifted their hands and said I surrender all all of jesus I freely give came across to the winning side never to become deserters such converts become soul winners not pew warmers Laborers not layabouts assets not liabilities for the local church And now saints with every head raised and every eye open and no music playing Let me challenge you as to the validity of your salvation modern evangelism says never question your salvation The bible says the exact opposite It says examine yourself and see if you're in the faith better now than on the day of judgment The bible says make your calling election sure and some of you know that something is radically wrong in your christian walk You lose your peace and joy when the flight gets bumpy There is a lack of zeal to evangelize you never fell on your face before a mighty god and said i've sinned against you Oh god, have mercy upon me You've never fled to jesus christ and his blood for cleansing and desperation crying out god be merciful to me a sinner And there's a lack of gratitude. There's not a burning zeal for the lost. You can't say you're on fire for god In fact, you're in danger of being one of the ones that are called luke warm Will be spewed out of the mouth of christ on the day of judgment when multitudes will cry out to jesus lord lord You'll say depart from your worker of iniquity lawlessness I never knew no regard to the divine law The bible says let everyone that names the name of christ depart from iniquity lawlessness So today you need to readjust the motive for your commitment friend. Don't let your pride stop you I would like to pray for you or remain up here you remain in your seat If you'd like to be included in this prayer, I'd like you to slip up your hand But remember this if you say well, I should put my hand up, but what will people think? That's pride You prefer the praises of men to the praises of god Everyone who is proud of heart is an abomination to the lord. God resists the proud gives grace to the humble So humble yourself before the mighty hand of god He'll exalt you in due time call it a recommittal call it a committal or whatever you call it. Make your calling and election sure You've been listening to the from the pulpit and classic sermons series This week you heard ray comfort with his message hell's best kept secret Tune in next week to hear vince havner speak about the country preacher who came to town on from the pulpit and classic sermons You