In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of recognizing our sinful nature and the need for Jesus Christ as our Savior. He highlights that God requires of us what we cannot achieve on our own, and without Jesus, we cannot escape God's wrath. The preacher expresses his disdain for the manipulative tactics used in evangelism and the watering down of the message of Christ in America. He shares a personal anecdote about a troubled young man who found hope and transformation through hearing the preacher's message. The sermon concludes with the reminder that all people are in desperate need of a Savior and that Jesus Christ is the only solution to our sinful condition.

Now here's the last of the last three messages preached by Brother Ralph Barnard, and this one was taken from the 19th chapter of Revelation, and it was preached on Sunday night of January the 19th, 1969. I've been told by your beloved Under Shepherd, he and Brother Holder are seeking to work together, and Brother Holder's congregation, the Metallic right now, they'll be here during the weeknight. He's hopeful that you'll follow over the next week or so, is that right? And I told your pastor, I do not like to try to talk anybody into making a profession of faith until I've preached to them for three weeks, and so I want you to be patient, and wouldn't it be wonderful if you were numbered, but you've always given you a beautiful building. I'd love to see a lot of people in it, wouldn't you? Not just so we could fill the pews, but in the day in which we live, there's no climate for the gospel. You go into a hall, and you have a hard time ever getting to the subject of the Lord, don't you? You meet a man down on the street and talk about everything, but it's awfully hard to say a word about God Almighty and his claims and his provisions for men. There's no climate. Nobody is anxious to find out whether there's any remedy for them. They think they're all right. Now that's conditioned with things, and I think we ought to face it, and we ought to just get us a great big old plow. I used to do in West Texas on the farm, and go to plowing deeper than we ever have plowed before. If we don't do some plowing we haven't been doing, we're going to get thinner and thinner and thinner. I lost my reputation many, many years ago, and I just got a bad name, a seven-year-old, somebody said, and so I don't have to worry about whether we have any results or not. I'm just concerned that whether we do what God would have us do at a particular time, and I think we pay more attention to that. God will take care of his end of it, don't you? And I'd like to hear somebody in these two weeks together, if you hear one, I could hear two. I'd like to hear somebody very much concerned, crying out, is there any hope for me? Now that'd be what you call a Bible, isn't it? You walk down the street, whether it's just that town or somewhere, I know, because that's where you work, and somebody would walk up to you and say, you got a minute? Yeah. I wonder if you could tell me, do you think that God would show mercy to me? Boy, wouldn't that be something? Now, I tell you what type of man ever gets to heaven is when somebody does that, and you get the privilege of telling the old story. He never heard it before. He'd been preached a thousand times, but he never heard that story. There was good news to him, but it is now. And you don't have to tell it to him, but once. And then you hear the cry of a newborn babe. Oh, that's a little heaven on earth. Now, would you few people who are seeking to be a testimony here, would you get excited about the possibility of that? Would you recommit yourself? Let's just try to see one thing here. Let's see if God would confront somebody with himself in Christ Jesus. That's the only way anybody ever gets saved. People are not saved when they make a decision. What you decide, you can undecide. People are saved when they're confronted by the living Lord in the gospel. Is that right? God puts you've had so much of man's decisions and so little of God's presence. I want to see the latter. You're going to pray for us, pray one little for another. At the invitation, I'm going to ask you to do a definite thing. I'm going to let you know or not. I'm just going to ask you as a brother in Christ. I want to read from this, and I don't know what to speak on in the morning. I just don't have the least way of knowing what kind of congregation I'll have, whether it'll be God's people, whether you'll be able to bring people in, and the Lord will give me something for the first service in the morning, I trust. I want to speak to you tonight on a very solemn thought. And the day is coming when God's people are going to be called upon to shout a great hallelujah as they watch God send their loved ones to eternal hell. Every Christian facing you tonight is going to be at this meeting. When you'll be, you'll join the chorus of people saying hallelujah, taking sides with God, rejoicing that God is going to win this war we're in, that every enemy of almighty God is going to be brought in subjection to Jesus Christ. I rejoice in bad times when it looks like the devil has got our whole nation, and our homes, and our churches, and our schools, and our society, and our business world, looks like the devil has got the whole business locked up. And one wonders how much longer the long-suffering of God shall be at our disposal. And when you kind of look around and see hell popping loose everywhere, churches going out of business, waiters quitting the ministry by the multiplied hundreds, everything just tearing all to pieces, I like to take the Bible once again and soak my soul in its promises that we'll one day mirror the time when righteousness is going to cover this earth as the waters cover the sea, and when God is going to put down all rebellion, and when all mankind are going to bow their knees with their lips, confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ. When I was a kid, I lived on Horatio Alger's books. Now, I don't know whether you ever read them or not. Any of you ever read Horatio Alger's books? Lift your hand. You wouldn't be happy when you get to heaven if you didn't do that. When I was six, seven, eight years old, I just devoured those books. There were a lot of them just alike. I expect I read a hundred of them. It was all about the poor little orphan boy that he'd come into New York City and he'd have a dime in his pocket and holes in his shoes, and he'd finally get him a job for about a dollar a week, you know, and he had the awfulest struggle you ever saw in your life. And if it wasn't he'd get him a job as a boot blacker, clerk, or something, and he was a good little boy, but the old mean boys, they'd give him a lot of trouble. And after I read a few of them, I learned the secret. Every time I'd get a new book, I'd read the last chapter first. Anybody got any sense? Want to enjoy a book, read the last chapter first. And I got to where I'd biggest fun reading those books you ever saw, because I wouldn't read about all the trouble that boy had, and then by the meantime, and get accused of dishonesty, and look like he's just going to be ruined, and he'd get knee deep in trouble, and the devil would pack it down. I never would read that first. I'd read the last chapter, bless the Lord. In the last chapter, the boy came clear, and he was vindicated, and he married the president of the bank's daughter, you know, and got elected vice president, and built him a big house up on a hill, and just lived happily ever after. And after I'd read that chapter, then I'd go back and start the beginning. And when my hero would get in trouble, it didn't bother me much after. I know it's not going to come out, bless the Lord. They ain't going to get him. It looked like he's a goner, but he ain't, praise the Lord. Hear me? I've got good sense to it. I love to read. I know it's not going to come out. It's not going to come out. And my Lord Jesus Christ is going to be on top. He's going to be the victor. Amen. The devil's not going to get him the last lick. A world is going to be brought under the subjection where there is happiness and peace. No man can live in God's world and have any peace and happiness unless he latches on to the will of God as a central thing in his life. I like to read that promise in this picture. Nevertheless, we look, do you? According to his promise, he gave it for new heavens and a new earth wherein shall dwell righteousness. It's coming. It's coming. And I tell you, the biggest thing between the eternities is to have some assurance that when the wind-up time comes, you'll be in the crowd rejoicing that God won instead of being in the crowd and that Jesus Christ puts his foot on people's neck and makes them surrender to his rule. Now we'll talk about that crowd tonight a little while. We're going to be, thank God, on safety side, on hallelujah side, on rejoicing side, on taking side with God's side when God brings his awful judgment on this world. Let's read here in the 19th chapter of the Revelation, verse 1. And after these things, some things have taken place. There's God's last rebellion broken forth and then crushed. The last battle's been fought. Now there's a counting time. The crop's in now and the judgment is set. And after these things, I heard a great voice of much people and they're in heaven. Our fathers thought heaven was a place to be gave. They really did. They thought it'd be wonderful to go from this life to a place called heaven. And sure enough, after the thing, history's run its course. The prophet here is allowed to be present in vision at the wind up, he says, a whole lot of people in heaven. And he said, they got a great voice and they're opening their mouths and saying, hallelujah, hallelujah. They're in heaven and they're glad they're there. And they, the whole lot of them, bless the Lord. And they're saying hallelujah. And they're happy because salvation is of the Lord. And they're happy because glory belongs to God and he'll give his glory to new man. And they're happy because all honor is of God and power. Hallelujah. Salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. And they're just shouting these wonderful inscriptions to God over one thing. Here's the thing that enables them to shout and describe all praise and honor and adoration and worship and glory. Salvation to almighty God. Something's taking place. These people have witnessed it and they set their seal to it. They said God's right. God's doing right. Whatever God does is right. What he's doing here is judging. They're shouting hallelujah because now they're able to say true and righteous are his judgments. It's a little hard to say in this life, but yonder God's people are going to be able to shout and say hallelujah as the judgment of God falls on the biggest monster that's ever been let loose between the eternities. That's perverted religion. The judgment of God comes and they shout hallelujah for true and righteous is his judgment or they just sing as he has judged the great whore. This is religion which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And they shout again hallelujah. They see the smoke of the one thing that's damning more people than even as I am saying. That's religion. Everybody in this community, they're religious. If you don't think so, you go look in the mirror yourself. See what a good opinion of yourself you have. And how you kneel deep in hell, one foot in the grave and the other dangling over hell, but you've made a little profession of faith and everything's all right. You're going to sleep on chances are till the judgment catches up with you. Or you knock on this door down and say I'm all right. I go to church. I believe this. I believe that. And they've got a religion that doesn't make them holy and doesn't set them hot after the pursuit of perfection and that leaves them perfectly satisfied to call themselves Christian when they can be satisfied with anything less than the likeness of Christ. And they say I'm all right. And you say we have a meeting down at our little church building. They don't say it out loud, but what they say in their hearts will work. Lucky you to have time to hear the gospel. Don't need it. Don't need it. Oh, thank God one day this monster that bears the name of Christianity, which is really anti-Christ, is going to come under the stroke of God Almighty's judgment. And the smoke of the torment of this crowd is going to rise up forever and God's people are going to shout hallelujah, hallelujah. The war is over. The victory is won. God's still on the throne. The Lord's got omnipotent reign. And you can do that right now. Couldn't we shout hallelujah as we seek God, bring judgment? The day will come when we will. You know that's something of the faith. You're a Christian? Let me challenge you afresh as I would my own heart. That take down your sign or get out of the rut that passes for being Christians today. Ladies and gentlemen, I see more Christian among drunkards than I do amongst this generation of church people. Something's happened to us, folks. I never met a drunkard yet. Wouldn't give me the shirt off his back if he's drunk. Gamblers stick together. If one of them gets in trouble, they help each other out. But what passes for Christians today is a bunch of folks that watch each other, hoping they'll fall so they can stick a knife in them. There's not enough love manifest amongst professing Christians now to fly a kite. God knows there's not enough real sure enough concern for our brother men and women, boys and girls still outside of Christ. Mr. Wet Eyes, quit attending our services a long time ago. This is a lovely little church building, but I don't like this rug. It's so clean. Looks to me like you people haven't wet it with your tears. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Mr. Wet Eyes had come back to church. And Mr. Amen. Amen to the book. I used to go to meetings and after the first service, they served people that come to me, treat me like I was a gentleman. Brother Barton, help me pray for my loved one. My boy is going to hell. Won't listen to me. My husband's going to hell. Can't reach him. My daughter, my neighbor, can't even talk to until I work by her. Full of alibis. One would be reminded of Hezekiah. God was pleased to say to Hezekiah two things. Hezekiah, I've seen your tears. I've seen your tears. You haven't seen many amongst professing preachers and church people lately, folks. As in, and I've heard your prayer. Is there any hope for us? Let me challenge you. How do you think you'd act? How do you think you might act if we took seriously the fact that if we don't witness down here, it's going to be a little embarrassing when we have to witness it to judgment and be on God's side. And as we see God send eternally to the face of poor men, men and women, boys and girls, we'd have to say, hallelujah, God, you're doing right. I believe we'd face that and we'd get into war. I've heard several expressions since I've been here. Don't misunderstand me. Just bring my little wisdom against yours. Who's the smartest? None of us smart enough to know much about it. I've heard, oh, I wish we could have revival. I don't believe we can have it. I don't believe God won't touch us side, top and the bottom until we do a lot of rearranging. I don't think revival will help us much. I think we're going to have a revolution, just work us over top, side and bottom. That's what I think. I'd be too desperate for us to have a little movement and call it the spirit of God. I think it's time for every preacher and every professing Christian for we are told not to take the name of the Lord without God's name. That means plainly what we're not. I think it's time for us to do some soul searching. I don't think this is any time for complacency. I think we ought to find out what it means to afflict ourselves and plow our own heart and learn how to mourn. One more time. I see you got mourners' pictures here. They were the dying unless there's mourning in the heart and in the spirit. You never hear me? How much longer are we going to claim to be parts of the grace of God in Jesus Christ when we are not totally sold out to the proposition that men desperately need a savior from the just wrath of almighty God. There ain't but one issue with that. You know there ain't no risk of cold. You know there ain't no pastor in most of our churches. I hope this isn't true here. You know what he has to do? When the service is over, he's got to ask somebody to benedict while he runs to the back door while all the unsaved church members get out as soon as they can. I used to preach to churches where a church member was broken hearted if he showed up at a service like this and wasn't able to sit beside some old sinner he brought there and prayed for. Now we come and sit, sleep through the service, put a little money in the pot and get out as fast as we can and join the crowd and all go to hell together and call it Christianity. I'm going to ask you two questions tonight. Do you believe God ought to punish sin? He's going to. Days coming when you're going to have to shout, hell yeah, you're doing right God. God's going to deal with rebellion against his sovereign rule. That's what sin is. Any man who denies the Lordship of Christ in any aspect of your personality or your life, that's his iron sin. There ain't but one sin in the world. What we call sin just sprouts from it and that's everybody being God himself and denying God the central place in his life. Everything sprouts from that. Do you believe that the rebellion that started in the Garden of Eden and it's going on right now over just one issue, who's boss, under whose authority there might act? Mine or God's. Do you believe God ought to put that rebellion down? He's going to. All rebellion going to be put down. God's going to win. Of course it don't mean everybody's going to save. It just means God's going to save some by grace. If he can't save you by grace, he'll bring in seduction by power for everyone he's going to battle. Nobody's going to escape. Do you believe God ought to punish sin? Do you believe God will punish sin? Do you? Hear me? Let's be honest a little while. All this fool talk that, oh, you want to see a revival, do you? Well, what happened to your conviction? Let the one reason men are in desperate need of a mediator, Jesus Christ, is because God must and God will punish sin. Why are men inclined in this community, anywhere else in America, for the gospel of Jesus Christ? I'll tell you why. Because this generation, while we've been clear in church and time to wish Jesus off on unclouded hearts, this generation has lost all consciousness of God Almighty. Doesn't anymore believe that sin will be punished than a monkey? And nobody ever yet has got desperate about who Jesus Christ is, whether he did anything on a glory course that would help anybody or not, except as the hasty fact that whatever has happened, whether anybody's ever saved or not, one thing's dead certain, God Almighty's going to see to it that not one sin ever goes unpunished. God hates sin. Sin is worse than death. Sin is worse than hell. God's going to punish sin. If a man believed that, he'd be afraid to die and meet a God that hates sin and is sworn to punish it. I don't know whether I'm getting over to you or not. What I'd like to see in this community and the one to follow, are you agreeing with me? Is this what you want? I'd love to see a blow struck by God. People now get your water, chew in the back of your mouth and begin to spit and their juice in the spirit of this age. And with tears of compassion and a boldness of the Holy Ghost, quit trying to get this generation to take Jesus. Quit trying to wish an unloyalty to Jesus on sinful men and who men and women are under the scorching searchlight of the first message of gospel preaching. And that is that God Almighty requires of men what they cannot perform in themselves. And unless they have what God requires of you, done for you by Jesus Christ, there's no way on earth men can escape the coming wrath of God. No way on earth. You believe God ought to punish sin? Do you? Sure enough. Do you believe God will punish sin? I've spent my life fighting what we call evangelism. I'm called the greatest enemy of evangelism in America. I hate what we call sowing it. I hate all the methods and tricks and the whittling down of the claims of God in Christ that have made America at once the most church nation on topside of God's earth and the most godless at the same time. I've given my life, my mouth fixing to stop. I've got it in for all of this business of ignoring the fact that both in the Old Testament and the New, you cannot ignore the laws of God's harvest. A farmer that goes out here and plants his seed on unplowed ground is a fool. And we've been wishing the gospel on a generation whose hearts have not been plowed by the holy requirements of God ever since I've been Lehi to a duck. And we've got everybody to take Jesus and go on to hell. That's right. I'm saying it's time to call a halt. And remember that you can show the blessed, sweetest story that ever was told. The glorious good news of a crucified, exalted Lord. You can show it on unplowed hearts, and it'll never make a dent. Brother Pastor, we just well roll up our sleeves, put it on our hands, and let somebody else brag about how many men they've won to Christ they can't find and know how, and just start doing some plowing now. Would you love to see it? In the Old Testament and the New, we're forbidden in the Old Testament to sow among thorns. In the New Testament, we're forbidden to cast our fur before swine and to give holy things to dogs. What does that mean? Well, that means you attend every church now. You almost have to have a deputy sheriff. It's a sort of ensee, especially in a business meeting. And the Lord warns, you ignore the laws of the harvest, and the folks will turn rim to the pieces. They fire the preacher if he preaches anything now. Huh? That's right. What have we got? We spawn the monster, and we do it. We did it by ignoring the plain teaching of the Word of God, that until people are stabbed in their hearts with the awfulness of their sin and the wonder of God's exaltation of Christ the Supreme Lord, until they're stabbed there, you start again and take Jesus. Huh? You go through the motion, but there'll be no change. Would you love to see somebody in this community actually anxious to hear the old, old story of the gospel? You can't do it unless this church gives its whole ministry to the Bible ways that we've ignored in most places so very long. You believe God ought to punish sin? Why did Jesus die if God won't punish sin? You believe God ought to punish sin? You believe God must punish sin? You believe God wouldn't be God any longer if he let a single sin go unpunished? If you don't, then you'll agree with the preacher that the God of the Bible's a monster. If he hung his son on a cross like he did when he's doing overlook sin anyhow, he's a monster. Oh, my friend, we want what we call revival? Well, let's just come back to what your mommy and daddy believed and what we take for granted and have almost lost. God help us, dear ones. Listen to Brother Barnett. Everything that's wrong in America is laid at the door of our churches. If morality had almost gone in America, us professing Christians look in the mirror. We call it. That's right. No use to blame the politicians. They didn't do it. We did. That's right. That's right. God intends for his people to control things. God bless your heart. I'm under conviction. I'd love to get you under. Let me come back to my question. You believe God ought to punish sin? He's going to. Is the God you worship, does he have to punish sin? Can he be God and overlook sin? If he does, he'll go out of business. The Bible says there are two sovereigns, two absolute monarchs. Paul says that if I am sin, he personalizes it, said sin reigns. And the other sovereign, grace now reigns through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. One of them's going to reign. Which side you on? This is the issue of the hour. Don't tell me about your creeds or about your doctrine. It may not be much better than mine. I'm not particularly interested in your confession or mine. I'm not particularly interested in your testimony or mine. He's saying that leading us up now is the reclaiming to be followers of Jesus Christ. And we've lost the wrong conviction that, that, that makes the whole thing make sense. And that is that men are in such desperate condition in the sight of God that the crucifixion of the Son of God was an absolute necessity for everybody sent to hell. That men desperately need a Savior. Mr. Wilson, when he was President of the United States, took a little stroll down Pennsylvania Avenue, and he looked to his right and saw smoke belching out of a little humble dwelling. And he ran over and rang the doorbell and knocked as loudly as he could. A nice little dainty housewife came. Oh, Mr. President, how nice of you to call. Come in and let's have a cup of tea. And Mr. Wilson said, I didn't come for great tea. I came to tell you, your house was on fire. Every church member now is full of convictions. He got this pocket full of them and that one. He's full of opinions. And we're trying to wish our opinions off on people. We try to wish our convictions ain't worth a dime. What men need not to bleed like you do. What men need not to have your opinions. What men need not to bleed like you do. This is right and that's wrong. What men need is a savior from the penalty of this iron sand. That's what men need. That's what men need. I got to where I see a church member coming out and talking to me. I want to run. I know he didn't try to tell me about one of his convictions or one of his opinions, and I'm not interested. Oh, opinions are no opinions. Convictions are no convictions. This is the nub of it. Either God must punish sin or he mustn't. If God is set to punish sin, if all hell can't keep him from punishing sin, it's high time we quit inviting people to tease. It's high time with tears in our hearts we begin telling people their house is on fire. Well, everybody hears us or not, and can come on the head of our business. But God knows if I knew how, I'd light a fire under myself. And I'd light a fire under every professing Christian I could reach. And I'd light a fire under every congregation that calls itself a church. Oh, if the fire would burn us out of taking it so easy that men are going to hell, rejecting God's claims on their lives. Oh, if we could get excited, I think somebody else might get excited. If we were a little bit excited, maybe we could get somebody interested. I tell you right now, I'm tired of living in a refrigerator and calling it satanic in Christianity. I'd like to have a little fire, wouldn't you? I believe that the reading of the script says you get to plow and plow your own heart, honey. People say, oh, Lord, give me a burden. Sassy, fresh. You want to get a burden, go to doing what the Lord said, and you'll have one. Huh? Huh? That's right. That's right. I heard these dear little church people, I know you wouldn't say, Lord, if you see anything in my life, let this please and tell you. Wish you'd take it out. You big old liar, you no good now, something now you don't like. And he ain't going to take it out. He says, you do it. You put it there, you reach in there and take it out. That's right. Woo! I wish we could get on fire. Here's a story of the dear old woman in the Civil War. She lived in Kentucky. Some of the Kentuckians were for the Yankees and some for the Johnny Rebs. She happened to be a rebel sympathizer, and her husband, poor Sons, was off to war, and she was left alone. And the Yankees had come through in a little skirmish. They'd taken every pig and chicken and cow and everything that was loose at one end and left her there. And the only thing she had that was loose at both ends was a poker she stoked up the fire with. And one morning, she looked over and saw a few Rebs kneeling at her. And Jesus in mourning in our ministries would touch men and women. Oh God, deliver us from the niceness of the hour. It's a breeder of atheism and infidelity and threatening to do away with what we call our churches. I was in Kentucky years ago and holding one of these what's called simultaneous campaigns. All the Baptist churches were that association, all meetings together. It so happened that the church where I was preaching had a daily radio broadcast, and it so happened it was the largest church in that association. They also had, I believe, a 10 o'clock day service. None of the other churches had a radio broadcast, nor did they have day service, and pleased God to send the fire on the radio ministry. And pretty soon, people were having fistfights down on the street about the message. I'd love to see some of that, wouldn't you? I'm getting tired of everybody agreeing with me on everything. That means don't believe nothing, you know. I wish we could have some fights around here. I don't want to fight nobody bigger than I am, but some of you folks, little fellas, that's their song leader, I'll fight you. I'd love for somebody to believe something around here we can at least have a good lively scrap, wouldn't you? Aren't you so tired of everything being so peaceful like it's in a cemetery? I am, I tell you what's the fact. And they were cussing me. They don't cuss the preacher. They can't separate the messenger from the message, you know. They just had rain came down on the street, and pretty soon, people got coming up to the church house, and preachers brought their evangelists from the other churches, and they'd sit in on our day services and listen to the broadcast, and God blessed a little bit. And after the thing about to wind up, the pastor where I was preaching called me on the phone about the last day of the meeting, said, Brother Barnard, there's a committee here at my association, and they want to come down and talk with you if you've got time. I said, sure. He said, I'll come along with them. And so three men from that Baptist association, they came down to the hotel, and I know you ain't going to believe this, but it's the God's truth. They said, Brother Barnard, we want you to come back here next year sometime, so we can get things arranged, and you can. And said, all 48 of our churches will go together, and we'll rent the city auditorium. If we can't get the auditorium at that time, we'll put up a big tent, and said, we'll buy you an hour's time on the radio, and we'll have you preach on the radio every day for an hour, and then under the tent or in the auditorium for a solid month. And that sounded good to me, and I got trade with them, but they said, before you see any more of that, two conditions. I said, oh, that won't work. And I'm going to tell you the two conditions. They said, first of all, we want you to pray about it, and see if you could get the mind of the Lord, and if you thought you could, you tell us, and we'll set the thing up. Would you come to our city? Said about 50,000 people, a lot of churches inside and all around, you know, all of them will come together, do the best they could, and said, if you could make up your mind that this would be the will of God, you come, and every day on the radio for a solid hour, and every night under the tent of the auditorium, if you could find it in your heart just to preach on one subject. And I said, what's that? They said, put it in your heart to preach on will God punish sin. Said, nobody here believes it. Nobody believes it. Said, we're breeding a bunch of infidels and atheists in our Sunday school classes. We tell them some pretty little picture stories, but they don't know nothing about sin or God either. Said, our church members, my soul, they come to church on Sunday morning and raise hell the rest of the time. And said, you can't find anybody here that's interested in the gospel, whether Jesus is God, and whether he died on a cross, and if he did, what good did it do? He said, the reason that they don't believe God fully, and that God makes demands of men and women, and that God's set to punish sin. They said, they ain't no useless kind of people I'm going, trying to get men to accept Jesus, the ones they think they don't need him. And the boys ride down my alley, and I sit and trade with them. I said, what's the second condition? This is what you Baptist ain't going to be. They said, we'd want you to preach a month, an hour a day on the radio, every night long as you want to, in the tent, on one subject, not give any kind of a public invitation for a solid month. Well, that sounded awful good to me, but I'm so sick and tired of begging him to take me. I never saw an empty seat converted in my life. I never saw anybody real converted before they felt a terrible need for a seat. I don't believe you'll ever get a human being to be interested one quick in the Lord Jesus Christ. My boy, I said, that's right down my alley. I wish the churches of America would quit this begging people, trying to wish Jesus off of them. He's to be sought, not to be. Auctioned off, bless God. He's the Prince of Glory, the Savior of the man, the Lord of hope. And you know, we traded about a year later. They couldn't get the oath to him. I went back and had a tremendous tent. I had the hour on the radio, and I didn't get quite carried out at the bargain. I preached three weeks, and about halfway through my sermon on Thursday night on the big tent for the last fourth week. And while I just preaching about, boy, I preached on will God punish sin on the radio. And every night I became almost beside. I preached everything I could find in the Bible about it, and there's plenty of it. And then I moved my imagination. And after I get through preaching, every night I'd say, good night. Go on to hell. That's where you seem to want to go. That was my benediction. That's where we're up in. Well, that's a little different, you know. That's a little different. You said, oh, when you take Jesus off, I'm a little tired. I don't want you taking him. You don't want him. Jesus isn't found that way. But Thursday night the last week, what was to be the last week, I kept preaching up away. And a man way back there, he got up and came running down the shoulder, strailed, came up on the platform, pushed me aside and said, for God's sake, preacher, I've got to say something. He broke up my good sermon. That's bad. Next year, that was 1951. Next year, he didn't get out of the penitentiary. He's been in the penitentiary ever since. He was president of the bank of that city, biggest bank in town. He's teacher of Sunday school, a deacon in the church. And he has $250,000 in the bank he stole in that month. Nobody knew it. Well, he got to listening to me on the radio, and he got to learning about that. And he got to coming here on the pen. All I say, God won't punish sin. I prove it. He always has. He's doing it now. He's going to do it. Some men and sins catch up with us in this life, and some follow them afterward to the judgment. But one way or the other, God's going to deal with that iron sin. And he got in a terrible shape. His little son's school teaching wouldn't help him, you know. That won't save a man. The fact he's a deacon, that won't save him. The fact he's the president of the bank, couldn't take care of it. And he got right to every place. And he'd go home at night, and I don't know why, he'd lock the door, and he'd get his Bible, and he'd get down on his knees. And you talk about praying up the storm. You just beg God to have mercy on him and save him. That's $250,000 to come up for. Ain't no way I'm asking you to do business with God without coming down on that old apple. And he just couldn't get God to pray with him at all. And he got so miserable that the day before, he came and interrupted my son, and he wrote a letter, put it in the mail, and admitted that he'd stolen a quarter of a million dollars from the bank. He got in touch with the chief of police and the powers that ran the bank. And there was some policemen there in the congregation waiting to arrest him that night. And he knelt and crawled up there on that platform and confessed his awful sin. And then he just fell down like a sack of sugar and sobbed like his heart would break. And then he looked up to his peers after a while and said he'd be anybody who could pray for an old sinner like me. And I saw some several thousand people in that big tent, saints and lost people hailed around him, everybody hailed him. They just said, Amen! And that's taught us all around. And beg God to have mercy on that old sinner who brought his sin out and he was trying to pull it over God's eyes to come clean before God. They arrested him, tied him, and sent him to the penitentiary. I get a letter once a month from him, hailed for all of these years. That's the happiest fellow you ever saw in all these years in prison. But bless God, there ain't no prison like S-I-N-N-A-D-A-N-C-E. Ladies and gentlemen, we're on seven more weeks. And I hadn't given any kind of invitation to start with. They wouldn't let me. I never did get to give a public invitation. We had to hire seven people to answer phones. We had to keep six people at a time, different ones, in that tent 24 hours a day to pray for and deal with men and women coming to the tent, asking somebody to help them see if there's any way on earth they could get to God. Ladies and gentlemen, we talk about, we want the blessing of God. I don't know what will ever happen to me again in this country, but it ain't gonna happen until we get back to camping on one thing. People need the Savior. They don't need it. Even if they don't need it, they don't need God's help. Even if God don't punish them, unless God punishes sin, it's like sin is sin. But if God does punish sin, hallelujah to Jesus. Thank God, God filled up the way that he did with his holy forgotten son. Thank God that he poured out his life blood in my spirit. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God.