In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the concept of judgment and the end of the world. He describes how the Son of Man will send his angels to gather all those who offend and do iniquity, casting them into a furnace of fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The preacher also shares a personal anecdote about a time when he had to wake up a sleeping congregation and asserts his authority as a man of God. He encourages the audience to embrace the Bible and enjoy good preaching, contrasting it with those who only want to hear about heaven and salvation.

Well, it's good to be with you this morning. We had a great time in Sunday school. And I just want to thank you for praying for me the last several months. I've sensed your prayers. We were in a meeting last week in a Christian school in Wise, Virginia. And we saw God move in in mighty power, but this is a new hour. And this week could be the greatest week of our lives. Why? Because if God decides, and I believe He is, to move in, folks, we just are in for some good things. But we need to pray, and we need to obey, and we need to believe. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. And would you just simply ask God to speak to your heart today? The preacher of my neighbor needs to be spoken to more than me. You might be surprised. You might be surprised what you need today and what I need today. I get preached to when I preach, because God often makes me live up to the sermons I preach. I never have liked that, but He does it quite often. He said, Preacher, you didn't preach that yesterday. Now, here's the circumstance. You've got to live up to what you preach. Now, I wish I could say every time God's done that to me, I pass with flying colors. But I'm sure on that heavenly report card, there are a few Fs, Brother Jules, that this sorry preacher has flunked out. But the good news is this, God never gives up on His children. He's more committed to us than we're committed to Him. And I'm grateful for that kind of faithful God that wants to bless us in spite of who we are. I'm so grateful for that. Now, this morning I have a message that I believe is important for us to have presented. So let's turn in our Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew chapter number 13, beginning at verse number 36. Matthew 13, beginning at verse number 36. And I want to speak on this subject, counterfeit Christians. Counterfeit Christians. We'll be looking at other portions of Matthew and also the Gospel of John. Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came unto Him, saying, declaring to us the parable of the tares of the field. Notice, Jesus did not give this parable to the multitudes, but to His disciples. He answered and said unto them, So if the good seed is the son of man, the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom. But the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore the tares are gathered and burned in fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. The son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them that do iniquity. And shall cast them into a furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the son in the kingdom of their father, who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Now let us pray together and then we'll move right into the message. And would you do this today? Would you simply ask God if you are a counterfeit Christian to show it to you? You know, the Bible says our hearts are deceitful, desperately wicked, who can know them? And there are a lot of things that sings right unto man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. And I think one of the greatest needs in God's kingdom today are for those who are members of churches, those who have learned to be faithful in the flesh, those who have been studying the Bible in their minds, who have never been truly born again, to really have an encounter with Jesus for the first time. Where all things will pass away, behold, all things will become new, and they'll have a genuine birth into the kingdom of God. Brother, you cannot have revival until there's a resurrection. And you might be surprised today, there could be just one person, it could be two, brother pastor, it could be as many as five, it could be more than we can expect, who really don't know Jesus. And would you simply say, Lord, if I'm deceitful, you show me today, if I truly know you in an intimate, personal relationship. I believe he'll do that today if we ask him. Amen? Let's pray together. Father, this is your time. We simply want you to superintend this preaching hour with an unction from on high, and spiritual revelation in the heart. And Lord, for those who could be here, and they've been deceived by the God of this world, their own deceitful hearts, God, pull back the covers, and may conviction reign, and conversion reign in this service. Bring glory to thyself, in Jesus' name we pray, with thanksgiving. Amen. Counterfeit Christians. You know, they tell me in the banking industry that quite often, bank tellers and other bank officials are trained to try to find out what counterfeit money looks like. Now, I want to ask you a question today. Okay? Which of these $20 bills is counterfeit? Which one, this one? Okay. Anybody else want to guess? Which one of these is counterfeit? Neither one of them. I want to ask this question. How do we even know? Do you know the only way to tell a counterfeit from a real one? You've got to know what the real one's really like. That's how they train bank officials. They show them exactly what a real $20, or $5, or $100 bill looks like, and when they so learn what the real one looks like when a counterfeit comes by, you know it. I don't think there's anybody in here that's studied a $20 bill close enough to believe both of these could be counterfeit. Man, I'd be in trouble, wouldn't I? I appreciate the fruit basket that you left me over at my dwelling place, but you know what I thought when I looked at it? I said, that's a beautiful artificial basket. So I went over there and began to smell it, and began to feel it, and this morning began to taste it. The only way I could find out was to investigate to see if it was real. There's a certain brand of watches that are pretty expensive. They're called Rolex watches. I don't know. They say they run at least $2,000 up to maybe $30,000 for a watch. I think that's pretty expensive. They're collector's items. They hold their value. But, you know, quite often you'll find in these magazines Rolex watches for $500 or $100. You know by the price that they're counterfeit. And if you look at them on the outside, they look just like it, but it's the inward works that makes the difference. There was a TV program a number of years ago when, you know, had these comic, I mean, these programs. It's called To Tell the Truth. How many of you ever saw that program To Tell the Truth? You're going to tell on your age. Amen? Well, they had this program where you had three people come out on the stage. What is your name? My name is John Smith. What is your name? My name is John Smith. What is your name? My name is John Smith. John Smith wrestles alligators for a living in Florida. And he's been doing this for 20 years. And then the panel asks them questions. And then they cast a vote who the real John Smith is. And it's usually the skinny fellow that you never think wrestles alligators. Amen? Listen, and many times that entire panel and even my entire family, when we watched that program, would be deceived because a man can put on, but the real one knew who he was. Where are you getting to, preacher? Why are you saying all that? Because in the kingdom of God, we have a lot of people that say they know Jesus and say they're born again and have been baptized in every creek and pond to the frogs, know them by name. Amen? And have their names on church rolls and teach Sunday school classes and they become Christian leaders, but they have never had a real encounter with Jesus because they did not change. Now, there are three very simple points I want to talk about today in my message. First of all, let's talk about the sheep. The sheep. You know, you can tell a real Christian because a Christian is a sheep and their father in heaven is the great shepherd, Jesus. And there are several things about a sheep I want you to notice. First of all, a sheep knows they belong to God's flock. They're members of the flock of God. Isaiah 40 verse 11 says, He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. Luke 12 verse 32 says, Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Psalm 103, We are His people and what? The sheep of His pasture. What are you talking about, preacher? Well, you know, when somebody is truly born again, I become part of His flock, the church. And that means when I'm saved, I enjoy being around other sheep. Amen, brother Jules? And I enjoy listening to my shepherd. I know that I don't belong to myself anymore, that I got bought out by the blood of Jesus Christ. And because I'm bought out by the blood of Jesus Christ, I lose all rights to myself and I belong to somebody else. And that's good news because if I belong to God, it's God's responsibility to take care of me and you. And when you belong to His flock, you enjoy being in fellowship with God's people, don't you? And when God is my shepherd and I'm His sheep, I know that God's devoted to me. He has devotion toward me. Why? Because a true shepherd watches his sheep real close. He knows when they get in the bramble bushes. He knows when they get in fast-moving streams. He knows when they're hungry. He knows when the wolves come. And my shepherd's taking care of me. Hasn't he, you? I'll tell you something else about our shepherd. He delights in us. One thing that God's been teaching me in these days is that God's thoughts toward me are good, not evil. That my God today has a delight in His child. I'll tell you something else about my shepherd. He likes to distance from me. If God chastens those He loves. That's one reason you know you're a Christian because you can't get by with wrong anymore and can't enjoy it anymore. I used to enjoy doing all kinds of wicked things. I just loved it. Ate it up. I mean, boy, I loved to sin. When I got saved, I decided to go back and sin one day. So I bought me a baggie of hashish from this fellow named Burnout Robert. And I was going to take me a smoke of that hashish. And I did. And what happened? I got sick. I felt awful. I felt guilty. And I got rid of it. Why? Because God had given me a new desire. God put conviction on me. And I'll say this today, folks. My God loves you and I We get by well enough to get on our heads when we're wrong. A friend of mine was in a revival meeting. A pastor's daughter came down. She was in her twenties and made a decision for Jesus. Supposedly got saved. And the evangelist got happy and he said, Praise God, hallelujah. Praise God, hallelujah. But he noticed the pastor didn't seem to be too happy. And so the pastor came up to my friend and said, Brother, I notice you seem to be upset with me that I didn't get real excited when my daughter came down and made a decision. He said, That's right. You should have been happy. She got saved. We've been praying for her. He said, My brother, you'll see me shout when I see God treating her as though she was his young'un or child. Can I say this today? When God treats you like his young'un, you'll know that you're his child. Amen. Number two. We'd like to be fed by the shepherd. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. That means when you and I are saved, we shall be saved and you shall go in and out and find pasture. John 10, 9. His delight is in his law and in his law doth he meditate day and night. We shall live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. You know how I know you and I are saved? Because we love the Word of God. Eat it up. Can't get enough of it, man. I mean, the hotter and the heavier, I mean, the more fervent the message is, the more it cuts up. Whoo! Give it to me, preacher. Boy, this crowd that says, Oh, boy, God didn't do her another sermon. Oh, boy, I've got to listen to another hour's sermon. Get me out of here at 12 o'clock dull, preacher, so I can go home and watch my TV program. My ball team is playing at 12 o'clock. Get me out of here, preacher. Folks, I want to tell you something today. Somebody that's true to save loves this book and they like good preaching. They like good teaching. In fact, they can't get enough of it. I have trouble with this crowd that's always picking apart the Word of God and picking out the parts of the Word they want and don't want. Right? I know of a crowd, all they want to hear about is heaven and salvation. Why? Because they won't put you under conviction. I get tickled. These people like to watch these slop operas as the stomach turns. Day after tomorrow, my day was like theirs, I'll be looking for tomorrow too. The young and the shameless. Reading True Magazines and National Inquirers and People Magazine, reading all that slop. Amen? And you know, when you feel yourself with that stuff, folks, you come to the house of God, no wonder you're bored. I tell you, when I got saved, I've never read the Bible that much in my life, but when I got saved, I got the Bible, and that book fascinated me and still does. I got the book of Revelations, the first one I got in after I got saved. Man, I was through the tribulation, seeing those demon-like locusts come out of the pit. I was asking that preacher, what in the world is going to go on? Are we going to be around here? He said, no, we're going up. I said, hallelujah. Hallelujah. I'll let you know, folks, you ought to love the Bible. In fact, you know what they did in Romania? A man would preach to irons and they'd get through preaching and they'd start weeping and they'd say, give us more. Give us more. Now, brother, you can preach and people fall asleep on you. I went to one church one time, or I could even get started. I was a young preacher, three of them, and one got caught back in snoring. So, you know, I didn't have any better manners. I'd be like this. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! I mean, they got right through your door. And I said, hey, listen, I'm a man of God and if you sleep on me, I'm going to wake you up and embarrass you. First sermon I heard in years. Old pruned up, gone puff up me. You're going to hear a man of God. I'm tired of people sleeping on me. Saw those wives punching and these old bow cats got bowed up at me and I preached. A couple old ladies walked to the church and preached. It was about time somebody woke those dead heads up. Now, if you're on medication, we understand that. If you've had a long night and you're tired, we understand that. But, brother, if you can come in the house of God and sleep, there's something wrong with you. Now, amen. Now, if the preacher's born, we can understand that too, but I don't think I'm that born. Hope not. You'll want to be fed by the shepherd. Number three, you're familiar with the shepherd's voice. Familiar with the shepherd's voice. My sheep hear my voice. I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and have known them mine. All that ever came for me are thieves and robbers and the sheep did not hear them. Can I say this? Once you get saved, you'll begin to know how God's voice sounds. By the way, God's voice always coincides with this book. When I was growing up, I knew my daddy's voice. Boys, come on up for supper. I knew it was my daddy. Because I'd heard my daddy's voice from birth. You know what God told me right after I got saved? First week I got saved, brother Jules, you know what God told me? And I'd never heard a sermon on tithing. He used to give me a tenth. I made 70 bucks. I gave God $7.50 just to let the devil know I'd been saved good. That's Florida God. I'll tell you this. No one had to tell me that when Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night came, my place was in the house of God. Amen? No one had to tell me when revival came I adjusted my schedule to be there even though it was tiring. Nobody told me that. My father told me that. And by the way, my father likes me to obey his voice. He doesn't want me to be a knothead. By the way, it's known that sheep become so familiar with their shepherd's voice that when a stranger comes by and tries to call them if they hear another voice, those sheep will run from that stranger. You know how I know people that are saved? That when the devil beckons them with hypocrites and backbiters and liars in the church, they don't want to listen to that junk. Number four, they want to follow their shepherd. They want to follow their shepherd. John 10 3 says, He calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. John 10 27. I want to say this, if you're really one of God's sheep, when He calls you and tells you to do something, you follow Jesus. Of course, God has led you to preach to all kinds of places. Why does He lead you? Because He knows the best way for me to go. Now, I wanted to be a college basketball coach after I got saved. I wanted to go back and get my master's degree and I wanted to be a college basketball coach. God wouldn't even talk to me about that. He had designs on me to be a preacher. And on November the 17th, 1977 at Second Baptist Church in Great Falls, South Carolina, God put His hand on me and so convicted me. I couldn't even take notes, Brother Jewel. I was thrown into conviction. I'd been saved about two and a half years and I was convicted and weeping and I threw up the white flag and told God I'd preach the gospel. Amen. I didn't want to be a preacher. Why? Because preachers get a hard time. Right? I tell you folks, I wish some of you would be a preacher for a week. You'd thank God. Amen. All they ever do is sit around and drink coffee and preach sermons. Where's your head at, folk? Where have you been? Had to fight the devil and demons and hypocrites and back biters and didn't have a family and trust God? Hey, listen folks, I know this. I'm called a preacher. I know I've got the right woman. Why? Because God hunted her up for me. I waited on God for that baby doll. Saved. Raised in a Christian home. Sings. She didn't want to marry a preacher. God had to ring her out to get her to marry me. Amen? You know why? Because God knew exactly who I needed. And see, He led me to her. There are a lot of girls who came by, all counterfeits. Nice looking. Played the piano. You know what happened? Got around her and God said, don't even date a preacher. There's a trap. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. God never leads me to sin. He tells me when to get my hair cut. He tells me what kind of clothes to wear. He tells me the kind of people to fellowship with. Why? Because He's my Lord and your Lord. Isn't that good to have a God like that? All you had to do was walk with Him. There's a boy on this train station platform, about eight years old. He was just going around there going, woo boy, good boy, just jumping around there. And this old revivalist, James Stewart, saw him. And he was just running around. He said, son, where are you going? He said, I don't know. Woo wee, yippee. He said, son, where are you going? He said, I don't know, but there's my daddy. Ask him. See, you don't need to worry where you're going. You just need to walk with Him. I have a problem, Brother Jules. These people are always trying to do what they want to do and never ask God what His opinion is. That's the difference between Christianity and religion. Christianity, God starts it. Christianity, man starts it. I mean, Christianity, God starts it. Religion, man starts it. That's the sheep. We belong to His flock. We're fed by the shepherd. We're familiar with the shepherd's voice and we follow the shepherd. Now, is that you? Number two, let's talk about the seed. The seed. What about the seed? Well, over here in Matthew chapter number 13 and in verse number 3 through 9, it talks about the seed and the soil. And it says here, there's the first kind of seed and the first kind of soil that the seed can get on is the stubborn heart. Notice in verse 4 of chapter 13, and he went and sowed and some seed fell by the wayside and the fowls came in to buy them up. I want you to notice what else it says in verse 5. And they come to church and they hear the word, but because their hearts are hard, the seed doesn't last very long because the demons come along and take the word of God away. Those are the stony hearts, the hard hearts, the stubborn hearts. And I always had a crowd, Brother Jill, in my church that you couldn't move if you dynamited them. You know, they were the stumps in the water daring you to move them. Bless me if you can, preacher. I've been here longer than you, I'm a pillar in the church. I could tell how stiff he was. Never moved, but there, there, devil happened there. Those are the people who have stubborn hearts. Have you ever met people that go so stubborn, rebellious, arguing with the word of God, getting, bucking up on the preacher? I've met them. You've seen them. Too busy to hear God running here and there, rushing here and there, going here and there. Too busy for God. That's our trouble. We don't have time to wait on God, no. That's why we have so little comprehension of Him these days. We don't have time to wait on Him, no. Then also, the stubborn heart, number two, you have the shallow heart. Notice verses five and six. Some fell upon stony places or little soil where they didn't have much earth forthwith. They sprung up because they had no deepness in the earth. When the sun was up, they were scorched because they had no root and they withered away. Notice the explanation of that is found in verse 20 and 21. But he that received the seed into stony places is he that heareth the word, and immediately with joy receives it, yet he hath not rooted himself, but lasts for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word by and by, he is offended. Here's somebody who has a shallow heart. Here's somebody who makes an emotional decision. Amen? They're emotionally moved. He hears the word. It's planted for a moment seemingly. But when the true test to walking with God comes, when somebody makes fun of them or tribulation comes, there's no root in it and they don't last. That's that crowd that'll make a decision emotionally. They'll cry and thank God for the emotions being moved. But you can't find them after a month and they say they're saved. I always had a crowd on my church row when I used to pastor. I didn't know where they were. If they showed up here, I'd have a heart attack. Yeah, but they've been saved. Yeah, preacher, I remember when I got saved. I walked down and shook the preacher's hand and prayed a prayer and was baptized. I know I don't go to church, but I know I'm saved phony bologna friend. Don't you let anybody fool you if somebody's not in the house of God and is not convicted about being in the house of God and could care less about being in the house of God. I don't care how many prayers they've prayed. I don't care how many decisions they've made. They need to be in the house of God. They're not there. They're probably not God's child. They had a superficial decision that didn't last. See, the super soul winners have done us that, you know. I inherited a church where they sent out 50 or 60 people a week to soul win, and they had 50 or 60 decisions a night. Here's what they say. Brother, you're a sinner, aren't you? Yeah. You want to go to heaven, don't you? Yeah. I want you to pray this prayer for me to save you. Okay? They pray. Folks, there needs to be holy ghost conviction where somebody is so convinced they're lost they know hell's ready to swallow them up and where they're willing to repent and get right with Jesus any way they can, friend, and have faith in a person who changed them. And that's when a person gets saved. And we birthed a bunch of illegitimate children in the kingdom of God and we're trying to get them revived and we need to have them resurrected. Endure it for a while and when the calls come, they fold up. Then you have those who have a sensual heart. Verse 7, some fell upon thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them. And verse number 22 gives an explanation of that. He that also hath received the seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choked the word and he becometh unfruitful. Here's somebody who is unseparated and unrepentant. And they receive supposedly the word of God but see the world still has a hold on them. That's that crowd that loves the pleasures of this world and loves the possessions of this world. What do you mean preacher? Folks who have a better time outside of there and rather than here. And what we've done today in order to get a crowd we've had to ruralize our churches. What do you mean? Oh, we've got to have a ball team and we've got to have this and we've got to have that to get them. I thought you were supposed to get them with God getting them and get them where they become disciples and cross bearers and true disciples where they don't want to be entertained. They just want to get into the presence of God so they can meet their king and worship and pay the price. See, I had a bunch of men boy, when deer season came around brother you couldn't find them. Up there four o'clock in the morning freezing to death painted up trying to kill a big buck. And that big buck up there in that tree freezing to death. You couldn't get that crowd to have an early morning prayer to meet and save your life but boy they'll shift their schedule take a vacation send those words starve to death freeze to death they kill one old buck and then they get mad because it's not a big one. Isn't that something? I'll tell you I just wonder about that crowd. I'm not saying they're not saved but friend, when they get more excited about killing a buck than seeking God it's something wrong. Another crowd bow down to slimy fish. Amen? Rather than hunting for men. Ladies, you'd rather knit than crochet. Amen? People rather have green stuff than God. There's nothing wrong with having money. God gives people the ability to make money and give to the kingdom. That's amen. As long as money doesn't have you that's fine. You can have all you want but you got to be willing to let it go whenever God tells you to let it go too because it doesn't mean much to you. You know what's happened to America? We're materialistic and self-centered and pleasure oriented. I went to a church. God helped this church to visit it thinking about joining it visiting it. First Sunday we went there looked at the bulletin Sunday night Super Bowl Sunday night. Going to put up a wide screen TV shoot the Super Bowl up there eat popcorn and peanuts and Coca-Cola's and then at halftime give an invitation get people to Jesus. And the preacher said this is a great way to get our lost friends because this is a way of getting them to come to church because I know some of you wouldn't come anyway because you can watch the Super Bowl. How in the world can our God you know try to compete with just spud the dud? My children are 10 and 7. You know what my son did when he looked at that little pamphlet? He said, Dad, this is a liberal church, isn't it? And it is. And we didn't go back. Super Bowl Sunday. I know of pastors that call Super Bowl Sunday family night so they can go home and watch it. I know of two preachers that are friends of mine that call Super Bowl Sunday family night because they were afraid the crowd would run short. We had our biggest crowd Super Bowl night in Maryland. You know why? Because I told them if they stayed at home I was just wondering what they would even say to watch that junk. Nude cheerleaders and beer and all that slop and cheering for teams that what they did but boy you are bound down to your God. The God of athletics and sports and entertainment. Bound down in front of that TV. Amen? Bound down in front of that softball team. Football team. Athletics. Bound down to the God of sports. Now we now we now you've got the athletes that stand up and talk about being Christian. I'm sure there are some but I think of all of them just shallow as can be and doubt they are saved because listen a lot of that crowd would not do what they are doing if they were saved. Christian movie stars God help us. Christian beauty queens how in the world can somebody say walk out on the platform dress like a nudist and let men lust after and say God let them do that junk. Is that good preaching? It's the truth folks and I'll tell you I'll tell you why folks we've got people in our churches who've had central hearts but they've never been saved. Let's have a softball team we'll get lost people out there so we can win Jesus on the softball field. Follow me. Below me. So once you got the worst players in the city they used to go out to the best so they can win the trophy. Then they got there and get in fights like my home church they got into a fight down there and had to call the police. They did. Mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law got in a fight and then all the daddies and in-laws got in a fight and had to call the police to break it up. And then that's the first Sunday I joined my home church I'd only been saved about nine months. Went there and they had a business meeting to keep the softball team out of the church because if we're going to act like that we're not going to have it. And two men stood up one old boy stood up and said Preacher I'll let you know if you keep the softball team out I'm going to have something to say about it. And I said there's nothing wrong we just made a mistake. Both those fellas back slinging as a donkey getting up there after the church butting bellies with the preachers wanting to fight with them. Preacher I'll tell you what I'm going to whip you right here. I said Lord did I join the right church? I used to see this down in ballrooms every Friday night. Lord what's going on here? Isn't that something folks? The sensual heart. Hey but the last thing is if somebody has the right kind of heart in which they have a spiritual heart. Verse number eight But some fell on good ground and brought forth fruit a hundredfold sixtyfold and thirtyfold then verse number twenty-three says but he that receiveth the seed into good ground is he that heareth the word understands it which also beareth fruit brings forth some hundredfold sixtyfold thirtyfold Here's somebody that really gets saved. They receive the word of God their spiritual conception and then their spiritual fruitation. You know can I tell you somebody that's saved somebody that's saved beareth fruit. Somebody that's really saved and walking with God they beareth fruit. What you mean? I haven't been saved over a week and I was telling people about Jesus and I never had a course on soul winning. First fellow I ever witnessed to was a friend of mine that went to school with me I called him up and you'd have to know the circumstance I was in and told him I was in a lot of trouble but I've been saved and the fellow had some church background and it didn't turn him off too much he came down and helped me out and I told Bobby about being saved then I got on a bus to move in with the Baptist preacher I got saved and a sailor sits next to me and the Spirit of God told me tell him what happened to you and I said friend I got saved yesterday he said from what? Were you drowning? I said no Jesus saved me he found him another seat in the back of the bus Why? Because see God was in my life and God was living through my life and I suddenly saw that my life was not my own I wanted to be different for Jesus sake I didn't want to be ugly anymore I didn't want to be nasty anymore I wanted to have something that people could have Amen? And see when you get saved my friend you get the goods In fact I'm finding out this Brother Joseph people really soundly converted they act more mature than most people who have been in the church for 30 years because they just love Jesus and have childlike faith and do anything God tells them to do Hello God gave me about two rows of street people in Maryland God wanted to himself I'm talking about crack addicts harlots I mean son girls with tattoos boys with hair down to here and of course they got that stuff cut off or baptized Amen? Why you do that preacher because that's their sign that was their glory and that was their God and I said I'm not going to baptize you because that's going to confuse other people because they'll still think you're doing dope and in every case when they were soundly converted the hair went and they were glad it went That's right What would they do? That crowd when I preached cheered me on They'd never been in church they didn't know how to act They'd go That's good Amen Beat on each other Girls out there I know this isn't right but when they sang Amazing Grace they'd be in the bar and they'd wiggle a little bit to the music A bunch of them all stiff dead heads what you going to do about all those girls that are wiggling on the front row I said nothing God tell them it's wrong and he did They'd go preacher that's good I said lay it on us preacher Remember old Chad old crack addict played thrashed rock music had twenty thousand dollars worth of rock albums and memorabilia that he burned with five gallons of gasoline after he got his hair cut that long scalp held that scalp up and sang Jesus saved while he was burning his rock albums took a picture of it Old Chad said shared her testimony said preacher lay it on us I like it hot and heavy before you put me on the pew because I need it Yet I had a crowd that had been saved thirty years every time I said something they looked at each other like prune faces That's that crowd and I know this crowd is a good crowd but they just happened to be on my left in my church It's a little old group I call it the devil's seat They all congregated together Amen They sat together you could see them Isn't that something? But when you get saved folks you'll start bearing fruit and you'll want to bear fruit Don't you want your life to touch as many people as it can for the glory of God and you be changed from glory to glory and have God bear eternal fruit that you'll pay off up in heaven Yes, I hope so Well, the last point is this Let's talk about what Satan can do as I close I read in chapter 13 beginning at verse number 36 about Satan sowing the seeds Let me tell you three things that Satan will want to do to you today Number one He has opposition by deception The very word devil means diabolos liar and the devil works in secret and in darkness and he can be an angel of light Now I'll tell you what the devil will do The devil will give you false salvation experience if you're not sensitive Now I'll tell you what the devil will do The devil will move you emotionally The devil will let you pray a prayer and the devil will even back off you enough where you can act halfway decent and still be lost Now I want you to listen to me that the devil can keep you in the dark about you really not being saved He'll give you a position in the church let you even act like you're doing right and keep you in the dark but when you die Jesus said depart from me ye that work iniquity I never knew you because many will come to me in that day and say Lord, Lord didn't we do many wonderful works in your name didn't we preach and didn't we even cast out demons Well how can somebody not save cast out demons Well if the devil knows they're not saved he'll just let the demons go and it won't be under the authority of God it'll be under deception of Satan There was a man in Oklahoma who was a deacon in the church and the pastor said his best man that taught the Sunday school class and sometimes even supposed to lead people to Jesus he said every time he heard a message about false salvation experience a demon would whisper him and say now look at all the good works you're doing look how faithful you've been look how much money you've given and look how your family's living but one night the spirit of God showed him that when he prayed that prayer as a child it wasn't under the Holy Spirit conviction it wasn't under the Holy Spirit conversion it was under the guise of demonic counterfeiting and he came and got saved Number two opposition by imitation See it talks about here he plants his tares now it's something unique about a tare a tare is illegitimate wheat and when they grow together do you know the only time you can tell the difference between a wheat and tare is when the wheat matures do you know why Brother Jules we don't see more lost church members exposed because the wheat is so immature it can't expose the tares hello the phone rang didn't it there's not enough maturity in Christ likeness to expose the rest of the crowd so in many churches I go in you had to backslide to get in fellowship with the crowd you do carnal selfish don't want to seek God you talk about a prayer meeting they look like a calf at a new gate do you know what I mean I mean you talk about the deep things God said what's he talking about they're just showing how immature they are boy the devil has got his counterfeits oh Judas was the devil from the beginning but the only person that knew that he was one was Jesus now listen folks God's talking big time this morning then it's opposition by destruction you know what he wants to do he said he's going to take that sickle one day separate the wheat and tares and the tares are going to burn do you know who the saddest people in hell are going to be those who were in church all their life that prayed a prayer that went through the motion and when they take that last breath and you say how many of you right now heads bowed eyes closed if you're for sure for heaven as if you were already there raise your hands and brothers inadvertently most of them go pffft that doesn't do any good folks is Christ in you the hope of glory by the way if someone is great and is powerful and is lovely as Jesus is in your heart don't you think he can make a better difference in how you act see somebody that's true to say brother you don't have to beg them to come to church you don't have to beg them to give you don't have to beg them to sow why because they got the goods and their God's at work and my God has never left me alone since I've been saved and I'm glad of it he's been on my head every day of every week every moment every hour even in the dark times he's talking to me even in his silence man alive what a God and the old devil why because he tried to counterfeit with me when I was growing up I was sprinkled as a 12 year old boy didn't miss a Sunday in Sunday school for 6 years and even in spite of me sinning I thought I was a Christian because I'd asked God in my life but it wasn't until 1975 when God put conviction all of me and the little house in Charlotte North Carolina right at the brink of suicide I saw myself as a rotten good for nothing sinner and I knew I couldn't save myself and I was sick and tired you will never be saved to get sick and tired of liking it sick of it don't want anymore of it gotta change that's when God will change you my friend when God brings conviction on your soul and you feel like a dirty stinking worm a scumbag you know God I'm amazed you're even talking to me that's the crowd that gets saved in my church I pastored my associate had a wife that was a pastor's daughter and she never could get victory she'd get mad at me when I was preaching she'd let me say this and she resented me because she felt like I was trying to make her husband do more than he was supposed to and I really didn't I slacked off on it because she fussed so much may have been wrong in doing that but I did it anyway and she stood up one Sunday night and said I just want to thank God I got saved at the age of three now right then the spirit of God pushed the button and said there's no way in the world a three-year-old gets saved preacher they can't have any conception of centership and they can't have any conception of who I am at three now at most three years old or four years old I'll pray a prayer and I'm not saying they can't but it's hard because how in the world can they even remember what they did most time they pray because mom and daddy wants them to and God I just checked my spirit and I called Terry and said you know your wife's really had struggles with submitting to authority submitting to the word submitting to you and submitting to her Lord and I said it just might be you've got a lost wife and I said how would you like to go to heaven and look down in hell and see her screaming knowing that you might know she's lost so he got under the burden of it and began to pray and fast I began to pray with him and fast and we had a youth camp with brother Lou Rossi and brother Lou got under the burden of it too and by Wednesday that girl was so miserable she was snorting like a bull upset and mad most time the people are the maddest are those who are most convicted that's just the way of covering up for them being convicted so they had to lash out at somebody else they can't lash out at God so they're going to lash out at the preacher or somebody else or brought conviction on I just looked through that she got mad by Wednesday she was so miserable they took her down to the basement of this great big camp and God smote her and she fell on her face and said God I thought I was too good to be lost God saved me and that girl got saved and stood up in our church the next Sunday and said I've been deceived because my mother and daddy taught me how to be a Christian folks you make a mistake when you teach your kids how to be a Christian apart from the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit let me make this statement you check it out it might be a mistake to teach your kids to love somebody they don't know how can your kids love Jesus when they don't even know him you don't know him apart from the divine revelation you might want to teach your kids who he is they don't love sinners but teach them how wicked they are and they can't know God just think about that a minute and she got saved she's been changed I recently met with a preacher last Sunday Hurricane Baptist Church little old wind blowing but Hurricane Baptist Church he said I've been preaching for three years and God showed me that I didn't have it and got saved and quit preaching for a year to make sure he was really called and then he knew that God divinely called him after he had been saved now if God saves preachers wives and God saves preachers I wonder if there might not be a church member here today that you have a counterfeit and you've been hanging on to your religion and your church membership and your goodness and you've never been truly convicted that you're so rotten that you deserve hell and by God's grace God's speaking to you today and God loved you enough for Jesus his son to die on a cross and take your sins and my sins upon him he was buried and rose again the third day and ascended and he loves you enough to open your eyes to the fact that you don't know him you've never been saved if you're saved today you'll never know him in fact I want to ask you a question does Jesus know you I didn't ask you if you knew Jesus but you said I never knew you does Jesus know you as his child do you find it easy to sin do you find it easy to miss church do you find it easy to rebel do you find it easy not to understand the Bible the question is have you been handed a counterfeit the good news is this you can have the real thing today you meet our Lord but you've got to come and humble yourself and repent and believe in Jesus a person so you don't get saved by a plan it's not the plan of salvation it's the man of salvation you meet a person you don't have to pray some long prayer if God's convicted you you can cry out say God be merciful to me a sinner come in and take over you're saved on the spot but you've got to be willing to submit to him and let him save you and I wonder how many of you Christians right now know you're saved but you haven't been following your Lord now he's been whipping you he's been talking to you even this morning how many of you haven't even learned the simple lessons of faithfulness some of you already made up your mind you're going to stay at home if you can find it easy to stay at home on a Sunday night prayer then you're not even saved in the Hebrides Awakening you know what they consider a lost person to be somebody who didn't come to Wednesday evening prayer meeting if you were to die right now friend would you go to heaven if not you can meet Jesus today let's bow together in prayer now this morning here's what I want you to do I'm going to pray we're going to ask you to remain seated and the music is going to play after I pray but if you need to meet Jesus today I want you to step out of your seat and your pastor is going to be standing here in a moment I want you to grab brother Jill's hand and say brother I believe I need to meet Jesus and they'll lead you to a prayer room if you're a Christian and you know you haven't let your lord be your shepherd you need to slip out and go to the prayer room and meet with him that's two fold invitation if you're lost you come and talk to the pastor and they'll have somebody take you to the prayer room if you're saved and you need to meet God you slip out to the prayer room who would say today preacher God has spoken to me and I want you to pray for me that I would obey God today God has spoken to me and I'm under conviction and I want you to pray for me that I will not miss what God is saying to me would you slip your hands up if God has spoken to you young man thank you dear lady God spoke to me preacher and I don't want to miss him I want to obey him I sense him dealing with me now let me tell you what's keeping some of you from raising your hands it's a five letter word called pride that's going to keep you in your seat because you are more concerned about what people are going to think about you than what God already knows about you and you got to throw away your pride here's a preacher pride is really giving me a fit but I want to admit I have a need God spoke to me and would you pray for me someone else just be honest today thank you God's dealing with me preacher now I'm going to you know you need to meet Jesus just come and grab your pastor's hand Lord Jesus every need is bare before you by thy spirit do thy work thy way spirit of God do your office work today come and tell Brother Jules Pastor Jules I need to be saved Slip out and come won't you come home there's a verse in the bible says seek the Lord while he may be found Call on Him while He may be near. If God is near today to speak to you, respond. It may be a day that you'll come and God won't speak to you anymore if you're a lost person. What is God telling you to do? Is your obedience up to date? Just a moment or two more, we won't prolong this invitation. The seed has been planted. And I feel like God will move quickly or you'll need to go home with this. But I sense there's one or two of you, you're really having a struggle with the fact that you're counterfeit. And you're having a hard time because the devil is bringing up everything you've done for Jesus. And it's just like a report card telling you all the good things you've done all your life. And how good people say you are, what a good Christian lady, a good Christian person you are. And listen, the only thing God will show you is the only reason you're saved is because of His Son. Jesus is calling. Jesus is calling.