The Withered Fig Tree

Studies and things like that, just prayer times. And I have to say, Don, my heart always feels the same about you, brother. And I think of you many times. And I thank God for you, a heart for revival. And we should be expecting revival. God has all power. Amen? There's no one that can stop his hand or say, what can you do? God is sovereign. He has all power. And he's just looking for men and women who will be completely set apart for him. And when that happens, God will move. We don't know to what degree always. But I do know that I just want to share a few things. Just down the road from where I live, there was a revival back in the 40s. And it was at Little Southwest Baptist Church. And the church basically had gone through quite a bit of a dead period. And one of my friends, he's an older gentleman, but a man of God who I love, Wilbur Matthews, he was actually one of the men who was converted in that meeting. And there were two nights, and this preacher, Joe Strack, and he wasn't a great orator or nothing like that. And many of the churches didn't even want him to come to their churches, because he didn't meet their qualifications. But at the same time, during that time, after the war, a lot of the churches, especially a lot of the Baptist churches, had become quite liberal. And all the different liberal thoughts had been creeping in. And so this church wanted to see something happen. So they brought this guy in, and he preached in two nights. There was over 90 people saved in two nights. Wilbur was one of them, his brother was another one, and his sister. She became a missionary, actually, to Africa, I believe, or India. His brother, actually, and his brother's son now would be out in New Maryland out there, Matthew's out there, so I don't know him well. But I just know the family well, and Wilbur and his son. And I was just thinking, if God moved that way in two nights, imagine that, 90-some people, and there's almost no fall away from those numbers. At the exact same time, on the island of Hebrides, with Duncan Campbell, there was over 20,000 people converted in five weeks. In 1904, with Evan Roberts, he actually had that same sense. Liberalism and modernism had just invaded the church. Nobody was praying, nobody had faith, almost. And during that revival, he actually felt that the Lord told him before, there was gonna be over 100,000 people converted. That's actually in his diaries, I've read just about everything you can get on that revival. And within six months, there was over 100,000 people converted. Stocks of Bibles were sold out, taverns were shut down, sports things were shut down. And out of that movement, many missionary movements also actually happened and went all over the whole globe. Think of that, like a place smaller than New Brunswick and 100,000 people, what would it look like if 100,000 people were converted in New Brunswick? And literally transformed, and I'm not talking about religion and turning over a new leaf, I'm talking about being born of the Holy Spirit. Regeneration is a supernatural work of God, where God literally, through the gospel, takes out a heart of stone, puts in a heart of flesh, and puts his spirit in that man and that woman. And they become alive in Christ, become a new creature. All things pass away, and all things become new. And that's the will of God that his kingdom come, isn't it? That his kingdom come, that people be added to his church. And I think when we read the book of Acts, we look at that, that was some kind of a strange thing. But realistically, that was just a reoccurring theme over and over and over. In our church life now, in all of us, we have become very deadened by our culture and society. And we need to get back to the Bible, and get back to praying and believing the promises of God, and not following men, but following God. And don't follow men, whatever you do, and don't follow this man, and go home and examine what I'm saying, and see if it's true after or not. And your Bibles, be like the Brians. And so I just wanted to share that this morning to encourage you that God is mighty, he's able to move, he wants to move, but there may be some things that need to be removed in us. And see, what we're gonna talk about this morning is some of the things that's gonna need to take place for personal revival and awakening, and also for corporate revival. And I can't guarantee any numbers or nothing like that, I'm just a man. But I do know that it's the Lord's will that people be added to his kingdom. So I just wanna go to prayer, and we're gonna go to Matthew 21, 18 through 22. And one revival I forgot to mention too was, and I got to talk to Bill McLeod before as well, the revival at Saskatoon. There that revival as well, and some of my good friends are actually all connected with him, Don Kern, and people that's connected him with the Satira twins and things. So I'm kinda in that kind of vein, I like Ravenhill, Don and I like a lot of the same guys, I like Spurgeon, Moody. If they're on for God and on for truth and awakening, I'm on for it. If they're just dead, either way, I'm not into reading their minds. Anyways, let's pray. Father, thank you God today, Lord, for your word. Your word is absolute truth. It's inerrant, infallible, and it's sufficient, and it's all we need for life and godliness. Lord, let everything else be put aside. And I pray, Lord, that we would be a praying people. I pray that God, that your spirit would meet with us today, Lord, that you will bless these people here today. And Lord, that you would awaken us, and Lord, that you would convict us. Lord, your word says when the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict, Lord, of righteousness. Lord, it's sin and judgment, Lord. So today, do that, Lord, that you would awaken, Lord, that people would be encouraged, God, today that you are, Lord, alive and well, and Lord, willing to do things, Lord, if we will just get on your side. In Jesus' name, amen. And so, Matthew chapter 21, and verses 18 through 22. I wanna just read this passage. It's called, and this message is actually entitled The Withered Fig Tree. And may that not be said about this church. You know, when I think about evangelical churches, I want them to stay open. And we plant churches, and we don't compete with other churches. We're hoping to complete with other churches that preach the true gospel and believe the Bible. And so, what we wanna see is that happening. And so, when I preach that message this morning, I want you to understand that my heart is for you as a Christian and as a pastor. And that I love people, I love the gospel, but I will say things this morning that will be hard probably to hear for some people. But I pray that we would all humble ourselves before the Lord and hear his word and say, God, whatever needs to take place, just do it in my life. And if we will humble ourselves, we will be exalted. But if we exalt ourselves, God will humble us. So we have to take our pick on that. And I pray that we will. Early in the morning, as he was on the way back to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And then he said, may you never bear fruit again, and immediately the tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed at how did the fig tree wither so quickly, they asked. And Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. And so this morning, I wanna look at this. And this is an object lesson, first of all, for the Old Testament Jewish Church, the nation of Israel. And this is the primary audience, but it's also an object lesson for the early church, for the church all through the ages. And Jesus is with his people to the very end of the age. But it is a warning for the churches as it was for Israel. And that we don't wanna be withered. So the Jewish nation, the nation of Israel, that that church in the Old Testament was without fruit. That's the point of the message. And also we're gonna look at the fact that many New Testament churches bear no fruit. And the Bible uses it this way in Revelation chapter two, that Jesus himself actually sometimes removed the land stand. Now that's scary. And when I think about churches like driving through the Maritimes and I've preached in Ontario, especially a lot of places in the southern states, in Georgia, and Louisiana, and Florida, and different places like that. You drive through and see churches being boarded up or being closed down. It's a sad thing for me. I don't look at that and think, wow, isn't that great that these are being closed down, my heart breaks when I see it. Because see, those churches were once actually fruit bearing churches at one time, obviously. They were once salt and light, but they had lost its savor and the light had grown dim and the glory departed and Jesus himself actually removes the land stand. And we don't wanna see that in the day which we're in. We need more churches. How many people read in Fredericton, like in the surrounding areas, close to 100,000 people count in the surrounding area. And if you actually took how many people are in evangelical churches that believe the Bible and believe that you must be born again, they are low. And getting lower. And so we need churches and we need churches like this one, not only to stay alive, but we wanna pray that God would actually bring revival and expand these churches. And also, the third lesson we're gonna look at this morning is that every fruitless professor of faith is in danger of being cursed, and that's the doctrine of apostasy. Not gonna get into that extremely, but we're gonna look first at Israel. The Lord's curse on the fruitless tree. You think about that, that these, and so Jesus actually curses this tree. And so when we think about Jesus Christ, what I wanna look at this morning is that he has an eternal divine nature, John 17, 5, that was with the Father in the beginning. He wasn't as the Father, he was with the Father, his divine nature. And then they took on human nature, and so what you have in Jesus the Christ is one person and two natures, a divine nature, which was eternal, and a human nature that he took on so that he could become the sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the whole world. And when he just spoke to this tree, like you imagine going up to a, talking to a tree, you know? And sometimes people do it. I remember quite a few years ago there was a sign over the bank of Nova Scotia on the downtown, and it was between there and King's Place. And it was a picture of David Suzuki, and he had his hand holding up on a tree, looking up at it, saying, could this be my mother? And I was thinking, I don't think that's his mother. So it just goes to show you that a man can be quite intellectual and smart and not be wise at all. And so, and quite twisted. But Jesus was what you could understand about him. He's not just the man of Galilee. That's his human nature. But his human nature could be hungry. He says, I thirst, all these different things. But his divine nature was with the Father in the beginning. In Genesis chapter one, he said, let there be light, and there was light. It's the exact same second person in the Godhead saying to this tree, may you never bear fruit again. When he speaks, it happens. When we speak, it doesn't necessarily happen. But when God speaks, it's a finished deal. And Jesus is God in the flesh. Now there's a heart searching lesson for us in this here, in this withered fig tree. So early in the morning, again, here's Jesus. He's on his way back to the city. He's hungry. So here's his human nature, right? He's not only divine, he is actually hungry. And seeing the fig tree by the road, he found no fruit on it except for leaves. And leaves aren't a very good sandwich. And then he said to it, may you never bear fruit again. And I just think about that, the leaves on there, immediately the tree withered, just picture him saying the words. All the leaves just dry and crumple and the tree just withers and falls. Like the power to be able to say that, like, you know, this is the eternal God. And that fig tree full of leaves, but it had no fruit, was a picture of the Jewish Old Testament church Israel. And when Jesus was upon the earth, they had everything though. On the outside, they looked alive, like many churches today. They had many things on the outside. The Jewish people, they had the temple. They had the priesthood. They had the daily sacrifice. They had the yearly feast, the Old Testament scriptures. They had the scriptures. They knew what the scriptures said in the courses of the Levites on duty. And they had the morning and evening sacrifice. But beneath all those good leaves, this nation, this Old Testament church was utterly barren of fruit. They had no real fruit. They just had leaves. It's a shell on the outside. They had no grace. And I want to say even at the top, no love. Which is the greatest of all. No, no, no love, no grace, no real fruit, no humility. And boys, I want to say today I preach all over. That is a really lacking thing amongst God's people. And I was very blessed to be around some of those old revival preachers back in the 70s when I was a boy growing up. And I remember being at meetings where all you could see was just people in black shoes and people weeping and crying out for their children and for their grandchildren and praying for the Lord to come. Brokenness and repentance. And it's like today so many people when they hear things, they just sit there. And I pray that we're not amongst that here today. I pray that God softens our heart and that we're really for him. But if we want to see God move, we've got to humble ourselves. You read the book of Nehemiah and Ezra. You read them confessing sins and getting things cleaned up before God comes. We can't just sit in our seats and hear the message and say, oh, that tickled my ears today or that was interesting and then not do nothing. We are to humble ourselves before God. Amen. God is holy. You read Isaiah 6. Isaiah sees Christ exalted and his train filled the temple, it's filled with smoke and the threshold shook. And Isaiah didn't say, oh, that was a good message. Or, you know, I really feel good about myself and have a lot more self-esteem now. He said, woe is me. I'm undone. That's what happens when you meet God in those ways. And quite a few years ago for me, and I'm not a charismatic. Hopefully I'm charismatic in the right kind of way. But I'm from the older school theologically. And I'm a firm believer in every single thing that the word of God says. I don't believe God's speaking outside of his word. And I believe whatever his word says is finished. And we're not to add to it. And we're not to take away at all. But there's a lot being taken away from it today. And back in the mid-90s, I was reading my Bible and praying. I was working to that in such a way I was working from 3 till about 10 every night. And so my wife and I and then we had four little small children. They're all grown up now. One of our sons is a firefighter here in Fredericton. And another one's a carpenter. Our daughter's married to a logger guy. And our youngest son just finished forestry. So we got five grandkids now. So things have changed a lot. But during those times, I was spending a minimal of five to seven hours a day in the word and prayer every morning. And seriously, like two or three hours in intercessory prayer, seeking the Lord. And at times fasting. Because I'm reading my Bible and I was going to churches, you know what I'm saying? I'm not seeing what the Bible's saying. Something's missing. And I've seen things happen when I was younger. I've seen revivals and little awakenings and stuff. And so having seen that, I sought the Lord. And honestly, for two or three years. And one particular time while I was praying and reading my Bible in my dining room, the doors closed. It's just like the Lord showed up. And there was such a heaviness come upon me. It wasn't like I had this real good feeling about myself, like a lot of people are saying today. I trembled. My knees knocked. And this happened to me a couple of times. And you know, it never really happened again since that time or before that. But I talked to many godly men after that. God was setting me apart from ministry at that point to preach his word. And I do believe that God wants his people to be filled with the spirit. And that doesn't mean flopping around in the boat like a dead fish, like fish dying in the springtime in your boat. But what it means is to be alive in Christ. And so I know what it is to be awakened. I can remember when I was born again. And I also can remember that time in the 90s when God was setting me apart. And there's something different happened after that. It just seemed like when I started talking to people, people started coming to Christ. And within a few years, I had led over 40 people to Christ. And then we were in church planting. We were in Moncton. Then we moved from Moncton back on to Fredericton for a little while. And we just met with a bunch of people here. And then I moved over to Dovetown. That's where I actually grew up. That's not a real big spot. Some of you might know where it is. If you blink, you'll miss it, they say, in the way through. But at that point, you know, God was calling us. There was four or five of us. And we prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. And within that first year, over 27 people came to Christ. And we baptized 27 people. And the next year, there were 17 that came to Christ. And every year, as a matter of fact, four more people just came to Christ. Where we live, there's just under 800 people. And our church, if it's full on Sunday, if everyone's there with all their kids and families, we have between about 150 and 180 people now. And the high majority of them people have all been born again and converted at our church. And so God is moving in small populations. We planned another church in Rishabuckto. Chris Sibley is the pastor of that. And that church started off in a guy's living room. The same thing, that church has grown now. And we have another church, actually, that we planted here. But we're over in Marysville, in that area. We're building a new church facility now for our flock. And so again, there too, we started off with about so many people in the living room. We just started praying and God started saving people. And so I want to encourage you that you got a lot of people around you here. And God's arm is not too short to save. And it's actually, He actually would rather people be saved than perish. And so we need to be about His business. But see, Israel had no love. They had no humility. And greatest of all, they were not willing to receive Jesus as their Messiah, were they? And Jesus even said right before He was crucified, shortly before, He said, how I long to gather you together to the people. As a mother hen gathers her chicks. But you were what? Unwilling. It wasn't that Jesus was unwilling. He was willing. But they weren't willing. And the question is this morning, are we willing to be completely surrendered to Jesus Christ? Not only as having as our Savior or some ticket to heaven, but as the Lord of your life, that He rules your life. This is the only path to joy too. I'll say that. The reason why many Christians don't have any joy is because they're trying to control their own lives. Andrew Murray wrote a great book years ago. It's called Absolute Surrender. It's phenomenal. And what God wants is full surrender of our hearts. He doesn't want us holding on to parts to lay down everything, all of our weapons of warfare and say, take my life and let it be consecrated God unto thee. Everything. Hold nothing back. And so the Jewish church and the Old Testament church like the fig tree was soon going to wither away. And we all know about that from reading the Bible. By the time you get to Hebrews, it was already done. The sacrifices were done. You know, and it's talking about no more sacrifices, but this is the one sacrifice for all time. And so they were soon going to wither away and it was going to be stripped off of all of its leaves. All of its outer activities. They had leaves, but they had no fruit. They were utterly barren and destitute of fruit. But on the outside, just like churches, when you read in the first revelation, they have a reputation for being alive. But Jesus said, you're what? Dead. And his members were scattered all over the world and the temple was destroyed. And the daily sacrifice was taken away and the temple would soon wither to the ground. And by AD 70, it did. It was destroyed. And now, even today, we see in every wandering Jew, when you look at them, people, you see a branch of a fig tree that was cursed. I believe God has a purpose when you read Romans chapter 10 and 11. And, but I do believe we're living in extremely dark and wicked days. Morality is affected by the temperature of the climate of the church. You know, as the church goes, Ravenhill said, so goes the world. And when we compromise on what we believe and we start condoning and accepting sexual morality and homosexuality and all these things, what we're doing is we're not being loving, we're actually destroying the church. And as a matter of fact, I want to say that every time I've met someone that's actually in that lifestyle, I've shared the gospel with them. And one of the guys that we shared the gospel with several years ago now is actually a worship leader. He's repented of his sins. He said, God's given him a new heart and a new desire, and he's never gone back to that lifestyle again. 1 Corinthians 6, 9, as such were some of you, but you were washed, you were cleansed, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. God can save whoever he wills, amen. And when he saves a drunkard, he doesn't leave them a drunkard. When he saves anybody from their sins, he's saving us from our sins. And he's actually given us a new heart. That new heart has new desires and the Holy Spirit gives us power to fulfill the new desires. And what we want to look at now is not only the Jewish nation, but if we look at verse 20 in chapter 21, it says, when the disciples saw this, they were amazed. How did the fig tree wither so quickly, they asked. So also not only with Israel, but every fruitless branch of Christ's visible church is in danger of becoming a withered fig tree. I've seen churches right where I live that seem to be thriving in the 50s and 60s and 70s now close down. We were in Maine, my wife and I, and here's one of the saddest ones for me ever because I like to get down there just because I like the history in New England of the great awakening that happened with Jonathan Edwards when like hundreds of thousands of people were converted all over the place. At one time, Edwards said that there was, it's reported that up to 200 people a day were being converted and coming to Christ. Can you imagine that? 200 people a day come to Christ. It completely changed the landscape of everything. And see, when people get changed, society changed because people make up society, don't they? And the reason why society is not changing today is because we have a lot of goats in the church, a lot of false converts all over the place. They think that just by repeating a prayer after somebody and saying some words, that makes you a Christian. That doesn't make you a Christian. Jesus said, he didn't say you must repeat after me. He says, the kingdom of God is in, now repent and believe the gospel. Amen. Someone may have been converted, when they said the sinner's prayer, but it wasn't because they said that prayer. It's because God, the Holy Spirit, convicted them when they heard the gospel. Amen. That's what actually saves a person. So every fruitless branch of Christ's visible church is in danger of becoming a withered fig tree. So in New England, we were going down through there and it was actually one of those congregational churches. And I'm not sure if you know a lot about them, but today, most of the time, we think of a lot of those denominations as being liberal. But at that time, those were the churches that were alive and on fire. And Jonathan Edwards was actually one of those people. And also, George Whitfield spoke at those churches at the same time. And those were two of the leading key figures in revival in John Wesley, of course, in the UK. But at that time, we went into this church and it said congregational church and it was built in 1700 and something. And I looked at the thing and it was built, Rachel, in the great awakening. And now, they had two people who were absolutely, completely opposite of the gospel, selling candles made out of beeswax. You know, and I thought, it made my heart weep. I remember being in the Grand Ole Opry, my wife and I, I was invited to speak in First Nashville of the Big Baptist Church down there. And as I'm preaching down there, they took us. They said, would you like to go see the old Ryman Auditorium? I said, yeah, I'd like to go see it. Because I grew up over home where we are, everybody probably pretty well listened to country music and that was it. So I had all these people I knew about. So I went there, but one thing I didn't know about the Ryman Auditorium, it was actually a church as it started out. And there was mass revivals there. And this sea captain who got converted under this preacher actually built this for this preacher to preach at. And there was thousands of people coming to Christ, just thousands and thousands coming to Christ in Nashville, Tennessee. And then they got kind of doing a little bit more music and less preaching and more music. And pretty soon it was all music and the church had died. And see, that's happening all over the place. Churches are dying. A friend of mine who lives in Ontario, he was telling me that over 200 Baptist churches in Ontario, actually of the group that he was with, in the last 20 years have closed their doors. And another friend of mine in Arkansas, Mike Taylor, telling me over 100 Southern Baptist churches closed their doors in the last 10 years. There's a massive apostasy going on. The love of most is growing cold. We're in those days. And we need another awakening. And so these trees that are doing this, when we see a church closed down, it wasn't just that the elders decided to close the church and they just said, well, you know, it's time for a change. No, I'll tell you what my Bible says. Jesus removed the lampstand. He walks among the lampstands. And when they stop beer and fruit, he pulls back the lampstand. He curses the tree and it withers. That's sad news. I don't want to see that happen to any evangelical church. As I know, Lord have mercy upon us that we'll humble ourselves and repent. And if you look at Matthew 3, verse 10, it says every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. And it's not talking about tree there. Again, this is an object lesson. It's talking about people who say that they're believers and they don't bear fruit. God, they'll be cut down and thrown in the fire. And it's the same thing in Matthew 7, verse 16. It says this here, Matthew 7, verse 15, rather, talking about bearing fruit. And Jesus is actually finishing at the end of his great sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. And this is what he says in verse 15. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ferocious wolves. And here's what he says. By their what? By their fruit, you will recognize it. Not by their profession of faith, not by their baptism certificate, not by church attendance, not by good works. You can still have all those things and be either saved or lost. That does not ensure that a man is saved. A new heart or a new woman is the obvious lesson that a person's been born again. And it says by their fruit, you'll recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire. Thus, by their fruit, not by their time of decision, by their fruit, Jesus said, you will recognize them. In our lives, and see, this is what happened to Israel. They had the profession of faith. They said, oh yeah, the Ark of the Covenant, we got this here. We had the priesthood was here. And Jesus actually cursed them because they actually had no fruit. Outside activity, but no real fruit, no real life. So a church can be full of programs. It can be full of activities. It can have lots of meetings, but many times, and I'm just glad to hear Don talking about prayer in here because any church that does not have a prayer meeting is a dead church. It's a dead church. And so in Acts chapter one in verse 14, it says they all met together constantly in prayer and the women and they were meeting in the prayer. In Acts chapter four, it says they raised their voices together in prayer. And see today, when you go by churches on Tuesday or Wednesday night, that 20 years ago, I used to live here in Fredericton, there were prayer meetings. Now there's many of the big churches, they don't even pray. They think it's their activities that's gonna make the church go. See, they have a reputation for being alive, but Jesus said they're dead. So don't be discouraged because you don't have mass size. That doesn't mean anything necessarily. A church with no prayer is a dead church. And I've watched churches like that over the years happen. And in the 90s, you know, you see, it's just only elderly people at them, which we love elderly people. We get every age in our church too, but every age matters. I don't think it should just be some yuppie age. We want everyone right from birth right up into the 90s until they go home to be with the Lord. It's just that this, all these talks about having this church for these kinds of people, that's a bunch of ridiculous stuff. It's a church for the saints, amen. That's it. All this other stuff is ridiculous. If we have more activities, more people. One time at this church in Frederickson years ago, we were going to, people left it because they were bringing McDonald's treats and they had one of those hot air things that kids can jump. So the preaching was better at this other church, but they went to this other one so their kids could have McDonald's snacks. Like not a good reason to change churches. Completely carnal and worldly. Any church that doesn't pray is lukewarm and is in danger of being cursed. Jesus said, he didn't even say my house will be a house of preaching. My house will be a house of what? I want to ask you, do you come and pray at this church? It's Tuesday or Wednesday, what is it? Sunday evening. I encourage you, you know, don't stay home and watch TV. The whole world's perishing us. People are going to hell all around us. And I'll tell you, the world is in a dying mess. Come out here and pray. Unless you have some kind of illness that prevents you to come out here. I want to tell you, God will hear your prayer. God hears and answers the prayers of people who will humble themselves. And it's not because we're righteous, but because he's merciful. God is good, amen? Programs and activities, but no holiness. Committees, you know, on the day of judgment is not well done, good and faithful committee. Well done, good and faithful sermons. Ceremonies, but no true repentance and faith in the people sometimes, you know. Many visible churches have been cursed by Jesus and they've withered. And we're going to look at a few of them here. You know, but they don't have the fruit of the spirit. They don't have, they're not obedient. They think that obedience is something that you can do subsequent. You know, Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments, amen? The man who says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments. First John chapter two, verse three is a liar and the truth is not in him. So there's no such thing as having Jesus as savior, but him not as Lord. As a matter of fact, in Luke chapter nine, when he back in the people come unto him, he said, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me daily. And one guy said, let me go home first and bury my father. What he meant was wait till I get all my resources together. And then once everything's going good for me, then I'll come and follow you. You know, to the other one, let me go home and see my family. Let me ask my family if it's okay, if I follow you. No, you yourself need to decide I'm going to follow Jesus Christ, amen? I will, I'm surrendered to him. Love, big time and forgiveness amongst all of us as people. You're not holding, keeping records of wrong. Love doesn't keep any records wrong. If you're bitter at someone else as he'd been sitting in here this morning, you don't have the love of God in your heart. God commands us to love one another. He commands us to love the lost and even our enemies. I was watching about Perpetua, this missionary in the 200s. In Perpetua, and some people were converted. She got converted through, actually through the slaves. And when she got, she could have lived. They just said, just put a niche, just put a pinch of incense and say that the emperor's Lord. And she said, I won't do it. And they took them all out and they were all killed. They died for their faith. Today, people would say, oh, I want to protect myself, you know? And so I don't want any of that pain. But the thing is, he has to be Lord. And there needs to be not forgiven. There needs to be forgiveness amongst us. And today, I find one of the big things is no disciple making. Jesus said, go and make disciples, right? Matthew chapter 28, verse 18. Therefore, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples. Amen. Go and make disciples. I want to ask you this morning, are you personally making disciples? See, that's the condition. He's telling us disciples. And now they're gone. We're disciples. Go and make disciples. That means go share the gospel. And then win that person to Christ. And then disciple them, teach them the scriptures, and to follow Christ. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. And you know, forsaking the Lord's Day today, I find for many people, they do that and they've done it for their kids. And they take their kids and play hockey. You know, I'm not one bit against sports or any of that kind of stuff. It's fine and dandy. But I'll tell you one thing. People do that and they take their children out of church their whole life. And my wife and I have witnessed several people and dozens of families that have been completely destroyed. Once churchgoers, but they thought their kid was going to be good enough to make this team. And many times adultery and destruction of the family. On the Lord's Day, we're not to forsake the gathering. Amen. Do not forsake the gathering as in the manner of some, Hebrews 10:25. And so when you do that and you go out and take your kids and you don't go to church and do that, you're actually making hockey an idol. And at that point, you're actually provoking the Lord's wrath against you. Now, I know people do it and people do it all over, but I don't measure myself by people. I measure it by the Bible. Do not forsake the gathering as in the manner of some, Hebrews 10:25. It's called the Lord's Day, Revelation 1:10. And we're not to forsake that gathering for nothing or nobody. Unless it's an act of mercy, like say if Don's house with the roof blew off of it and it's going to rain, it's normal, then that Sunday morning, we better all go to his house and try to get him covered up. That's an act of mercy or a necessity. But to go play sports or just do what you want in your own hobbies, that's not necessity. That's actually just what you want to do and it's putting what you want to do ahead of what God wants you to do. And it will bring discipline on you as a believer. I've watched it happen many times. And also people who just completely keep on rejecting on an individual level God's Word, that person is in danger of being cursed. And what that means is apostasy that actually God will eventually abandon. And even divine patience has an end. Even divine patience has an end. You know, a church can go on a long time with leaves, but still have no fruit. And so we all know about Ephesus, right? Jesus talked to them. He said, you know, you're doing good deeds, you know, you put out those who say they're apostles and they're not really apostles and you're doing all these things. And he says, but I got something against you. And every time I read that, even right now, it makes my legs weak. To hear Jesus say, I got something against you. Like that's actually to a church. This is New Testament here. This is not Old Testament. This is New Testament. I got something against you. And he said, return to where you were at first. Repent and do the things you did at first. Otherwise, he said, if you don't, I'm going to what? I'm going to remove your lampstand. I'm going to remove your church. I'm going to close your... He's speaking to this pastor. These elders. If you don't repent, I'm going to close down your church. And that's what happens when churches close down. Jesus has removed the lampstand. It's not just that the people decided to do this. No, God is sovereign. He's over all these churches. Ephesus, Sardis, Laodicea, Thyatira, Smyrna. Where are all those churches now? I've read a decent amount on church history. I want to tell you, not one of those churches are existing today. Not one. Even by 120 and 130 AD, according to church history, all those churches were shut down. Guess what? They heard a warning from Jesus and they said, no, we'll do it our way. Just go read chapter 2 and 3 of Revelation. You'll see he closed the churches down. He shut the... He removed the lampstands and they're gone. I mean, we're reading about these churches in Acts when they're being planted. There's life there and all these things are going on, but they forsake their first love. They have a reputation for being alive, but they're dead. There's sexual immorality going on in these churches. And after a while, he just says, even after 30, 40, 50 years, he says, that's it, I'm done. And may that never be said about you here. May the Lord cause you to prosper and be blessed here. That's my prayer for you. And these churches were cursed by Jesus. Their lampstand was removed. And the sad thing is, is that many lampstands are still being removed across our country today. Because they quit preaching the gospel and they think that entertainment is a good substitute for the word. It's not. Stick to the word. Don't go to the new. Go back to the original, the Bible. And that's what we do. People, we went to this big thing in Georgia and I spoke in front of 5,000 pastors because our church had seen so many conversions and they wanted to know what our secret was. And I said, what's your program? And I said, we don't do any programs. I said, we just preach the gospel and we pray for people and we keep going and evangelizing. We keep coming back until they either get saved or tell us not to come back anymore to their house, one of the two. After a while, you get over yourself. You know, people, they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting Christ. But this is what needs to happen. We need to get serious about the Lord. Every person who makes a profession of faith is not a Christian. Matthew 7, verses 21. Jesus said, not everyone who says to me, listen to this. This is Jesus speaking, Matthew 7, verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he, not who understands or even knows, but he who does the will. So that's not works. The doings, the fruit, the faith is the root. You see that? And if there's a root, there's a fruit just like Israel. They could say, well, I don't have to have fruit because I got a root. But no, Jesus cursed the tree because it had no fruit. There's no such thing as good trees that don't produce good fruit. So if a person's just content to, with mere leaves of religion, having a reputation, you go to church on Sunday, don't come out on Wednesdays. And then your talk to the week's not great. You gossip and slander about other people. You backbite people and stuff like this here. I want to tell you one thing. God's presence is nowhere near you. We as, even as Christians, we can grieve the Holy Spirit and he'll just back off of us. That's why the Bible says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit. We need to be sensitive to the Spirit of God. Don't grieve it. And we grieve it. If I became ugly at dawn or he became ugly at me and we got a friction going, guess what? Next Sunday, God's not going to be doing anything through my preaching. So if there's anything here between you that's not right and you're unwilling to make it right, God's presence is not with you in a manifest way. What that means is you won't have peace and you'll actually become more bitter. And we don't need to go to a whole bunch of counselors. We need the Holy Spirit. That's the counselor we need. It's a waste of time. All these Christian counselors, imagine paying people money to go see somebody. We need to just go to Jesus Christ. He has the answers. You don't see this in the early church. We have not got better than the early church. As a matter of fact, we have more books and more stuff than we've ever had. And we're hardly seeing anything happen in our country. And I know because I talked to pastors all over Canada. But in those days of revival in the 40s after the war, it took the war. That's what happened in those revivals is that people were coming home with half their body shot off or else buried somewhere over there. They come back and their wife were having kids by someone else where we lived and people were drinking and drunkenness and the days were wicked. And people were almost borderline starving to death. They didn't have the food. Military taking all the big rations for stuff and there was just nothing. And so people got desperate and God brought the fear of God on the place. And out of that, he brought a revival. And that revival, even in the 40s, was felt all over the world in different pockets. And again in the 70s, but we have not seen a move of God. I'm telling you in a spot in a long time that's genuine. We need a move of God. Amen. And the only way it's going to happen is we humble ourselves. But proud men and women who will hear things like this and say, oh, I don't agree with that. Listen, I feel for you. We need to humble ourselves. And I want to say if some of the older men, like older than my dad's age, them men humbled themselves. But it seemed to be like during the baby boomers time, it kind of became all about us and we felt like everything was for us. We're just unworthy servants and we're just doing our duty. We're nothing. If it weren't for Jesus Christ, we're absolutely nothing. We need him. But if a person is just willing to go on having a reputation for being a Christian, showing up when it's convenient for them, if there's not something better on TV or some other thing they'd rather do. Maybe not as bad. You know, people's testimony is I don't drink and I don't smoke. I don't swear. Well, that's fine. That's good that you don't do those things. But it's not so much what I'm just not doing. What are you doing for Christ's sake? Amen. It's good that we turn from civil habits. Well, that's holiness. That means setting ourselves apart. But righteousness means doing right. So it's not just holiness, but it's holiness and righteousness. That we need in our lives. Satisfied with church attendance, you know. And here's the big thing. Sins not forsaken. And I find today many people are hooked on their phones for internet pornography, reading evangelical churches. I want to tell you one thing. God will, he'll be nowhere near you. The Bible says they're sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God regardless to their profession of faith or whatever else they have. And so the thing is, a person cannot be practicing immorality and people can do it right on their phone or whatever and expect God to use them. He just won't, he just won't be with you. Does that make sense to you this morning? Sin has to be forsaken. And see what happens is when you get a new heart, you repent. Right? God gives us a new heart. All of a sudden, boom, he makes us alive. The Holy Spirit comes. We hear the gospel. It's like, man, conviction is sin. And you see Christ, you repent. Put your faith in Jesus. You're justified by faith. Adopted into his family. And then guess what? Sanctification does happen. And as Leonard Ravenhill said before, if there's no sanctification, regeneration and justification never happened. Have you forsaken your sins here this morning? Have you forsaken your sins? My uncle Atherton was 84 years old when he was converted. He was a member of a Baptist church his whole life. Knew the Bible quite well, but he was miserable. And even as two of his own boys wouldn't come to his funeral. That's how miserable he was. Hateful to his children. And yet he's a member of this Baptist church. And so, but yet there's no life in there. His wife, Edith, dies. It was my aunt. And he was not good to her at all his whole life. He was miserable and mean to her. But I want to tell you at that funeral, it was just like an explosion. He just started weeping. He started crying out. He said, God have mercy on me. He realized the Holy Spirit woke him up and saved him at his wife's funeral. He was a professing Christian for 60 years. He lost. Church is full of people like that. No love in his heart. Miserable to his wife. Look, if you're miserable as a man to your wife and short and snappy, there's something wrong with your heart. God has called us to love our wives. As Christ loved the church, amen? That's not optional. It will also, even if we don't treat them with respect, as the Bible says, it will hinder our prayers. That means they're just going to bounce off the ceiling. God's not going to hear our prayers. But when I watched him change after, you could just say the name Jesus, and he'd start crying. 84 years old. And he became the most loving man I ever met. He would weep. And he always even hated kids. He actually literally hated children. And Lisa and I had our oldest son, Anthony. He's 28 this year. And he would come in wherever he was, and he would just pick them up and love on them. And everyone said, what happened to this man? He was born again. Got a new heart. Filled with love now, not hate and a mean, spiteful spirit. There's lots of people, just like my Uncle Atherton, if they die in their sins that way, they're going to go to hell. God, you cannot live a contradictory, a vain life to the gospel and expect things are going to go well for you. Sins must be forsaken. And this is a real picture of being cursed or withered. And this is provoking God to wrath too when we do this. And even to discipline us. In Hebrews, it talks about that God disciplines those he loves, even his own children. Because we have enough battles as it is, don't we? Even as believers, amen? There's struggles with the way you think, the way you talk, the way you do things. It's a constant battle because the flesh and the spirit warn. But the fruit of the spirit, I'll say this this morning, is the real evidence that a person is saved and on their way to heaven. They love. Let me ask you, do you love God this morning? Do you love Jesus Christ? When I got saved, I'm not kidding you, I just absolutely fell in love with Christ. You know, it's just boom. I was hard-hearted and like five minutes later, I'm actually broken in tears, worshiping Jesus Christ as my Savior. I loved him. See, that's what happens when you get born again. You get the new heart. You love Jesus. He's delivered you from the wrath of God. He saved you from all your sins, past, present, and future. You're free. You love him now. You worship him. It's not just religion or I go to church. The fruit of the spirit and then joy. And see, how many people have no joy but it's joy unspeakable and full of glory? 1 Thessalonians 5:16, be joyful always. That's the command. Be joyful always. Prayer, do you pray at home? Do you pray at home? Like, do you actually get on your knees or bow your head? Do you actually pray and seek the face of God each day? And on Sunday night, do you come to this church corporately with these brothers here and do you pray with them? See, in the early church, nobody missed the prayer meetings. In the revival times, nobody missed the prayer meetings. When a church is lukewarm, the spiritual adolescents say, I won't bother going tonight. It's just the prayer meeting. That's what happens. Sins are forsaken. And even when you do sin, you feel terrible about it. Isn't that true? I know when I sin, it's just like, man, I hate that. It almost ruined my day sometimes. It would be the smallest thing and someone else might say, well, that's not that big of a deal, dude. But it was to me. Because I sinned against he who died for me. He died for that. And it bothers me. It convicts me. And it ought to. And then the other evidence is that you're continuing to repent and believe. And see, in the church, many who profess to be saved across our land, the Bible says, are lamps without oil, Matthew 25. They're goats, Matthew 25. They're tears, Matthew 13. Or bad fish in the net, Matthew 13. And Jesus even said that five foolish and five wise. What did he say in that passage? Half of the professing body of Christ is actually, they're just lamps. It's a profession of faith, but no possession of the oil, the grace of God in their hearts. No Holy Spirit. And so God is looking for fruit, amen? He's not just looking for a profession of faith, is he? Anybody can say, oh yeah, I know Jesus, you know. But let me ask you, do you actually speak with them? And as he's speaking back to you, is there a relation? Is his spirit testifying with your spirit that you're a son or daughter of God? And if you don't have fruit, I want to say to you this morning, encouraging news, that God is so merciful. I just want to share that with my Uncle Atherton about you. But I want to go to Ezekiel 36 this morning, 26 and 27. Just share this here as we're closing. Ezekiel 36, 26 and 27. Now, my Uncle Atherton, he would have been the type of guy to snap at preachers for saying things. I don't agree with that. Like, you know, I've heard him say things like, I don't agree with what this guy's saying. I want to tell you, after he got saved, every time they spoke, he just wept, tears running down his face. Changed heart, changed man. Here's what needs to happen. If you don't have power over sin, here's, I got good news for you today. Here's what God says. Ezekiel 36, 26. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone. That's the one from Adam. I'll remove from you your heart of stone and give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. Look at the next verse. And I will put my spirit, capital S, the Holy Spirit in you. And the result will be and move you to what? Follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You see what happens? When you get a new heart and the Holy Spirit, from then on, from then on, no one has to go around reminding you because guess what? The Holy Spirit's reminding you. And he makes you careful to obey him. And so don't keep trying over and over. If you've been lived the Christian life, I've at our church, even I'm not kidding you. We've seen at least 30 people who are professing Christians who after sitting there for five or six months were born again and completely changed after that. And I'm talking about all different ages of people. And so what it is, it's like, I'll not, I'll try harder. I'll flip over a new leaf. God, I need a new heart. It's getting desperate, isn't it? I can't change me. I can't change my bad food. I can't stop my gossiping and slandering. And I can't stop my filthy mouth. I can't stop looking at these things. God have mercy on me, a sinner. And what ends up happening is when God gives that person a new heart, they got new power. The Holy Spirit comes in, new desires, new power. So I just want to encourage you on that this morning. If you're here and I don't know everyone's heart, everyone could be saved here this morning, but I doubt it. Usually in a crowd this size, there's always a few people not there. I'm not your judge, God is, but I just know it from experience. I've preached in a lot of places. There needs to be a full surrender on your heart. And if you really want to get right with God, you need to repent. God, I'm a sinner. I don't have any power over my sin. Help me to forsake my sin. And I believe that Jesus Christ is the only way. And it's like signing the registration paper over of your life. You know how when you do that to a vehicle and you give it to the person? Well, that person gets both sets of keys if you got them right. But many times what we do is we sign the registration paper and hold back a set of keys. And sometimes both doesn't work. He gets both sets. And you get in the passenger side and he gets in the driver's side and you follow him. That's the Christian life. That's the real Christian life. I shared about that revival. I just want to share the four things in closing that were happening. The first thing for Evan Roberts in 1904, the first thing was he told the people, confess any known sin to God. Anything in your life right now that you know, bad talk, talking about somebody else, talking down on somebody, slandering people, bitterness in your own heart, or whether it be watching filth on the computer or the internet or on your phone, needs to be taken care of. Because if you don't take care of it now, you'll stand before God and give an account for that. That's why we need to do it now, amen? Now is the day. Now is the accepted time. That's the first thing we need to do. And then make any wrong right with other people around you. Even in your own family. Some people have feuds for years. You got to make it right. And secondly, you got to put away any doubtful habits. And you know what Romans 14, 23 says? Everything that does not come from faith is sin. Might not be sin listed in the Bible, but it may be sin to you. You're violating your conscience. If you know something, you got no peace on it, don't move on it. And thirdly, obey the Holy Spirit promptly. And if you're following God and reading his word, he'll just prompt you to want to go do things for people. He'll prompt you to go and talk to this person, evangelize this person. If you're walking close with God, I'm not kidding, it just happens. It's not that he's speaking to me in audible voices, but it's just a prompting and a moving on my heart and a brokenness from that person to do something for them. That's what happens. And fourthly, confess Christ publicly. Acts chapter 1, verse 8, it says, when the Spirit comes upon you, you will be my witnesses. Not you might be. When the Holy Spirit comes upon a man or woman, they will be his witnesses. And just at a few more verses, Matthew 28, 19, Jesus, last words, go therefore and make disciples. Mark 16, 15, go and tell every living creature. Luke 14, 23, go out and compel them to command Jesus, said that my house may be filled. That's how you know you're filled with the Spirit. You're walking tight with God those ways. People say, well, I don't have that gift. Well, I want to say this morning, go and make disciples isn't a gift, it's a command, amen. Don't ever get that mixed up. In Proverbs 11, 30 says, he who wins souls is wise. Not he who knows a whole bunch, but he who wins souls. It'd be better to know a whole lot less and obey it. Than to know a whole bunch and not obey any. And too much has been given, much is required. And so this morning, as we think about that, 100,000 people saved in six months. 20,000 people saved in five weeks in Scotland. Same thing happened in Bill McLeod in Saskatchewan out there. In 1944, just down the road from me a few miles, 98 people saved in two nights. Two nights. Drunkards completely forsaken their alcohol. People in adulterous relationship completely abandoned those relationships. They made their wrongs right. And it was the evidence that their salvation was real. And so this morning, I just want to ask you, and I ask this to myself as well. And I don't think highly of myself. And I even still to these days wonder why God would use me. But I know he's called me and I speak his word. Second Chronicles says, if my people will humble themselves. Humble themselves. And what? Pray. Then I'll hear their requests, you know, and restore the land. So this morning, I want you to confess your sins. I plead with you to confess any sins between you and God. Maybe God's been pulling on you a long time about something and you've been ignoring it. I know I've had this happen to me. He pulls on you and you don't want to deal with it. But he keeps pulling on you. And the spirit keeps tapping and he's convicting you. This morning, if you have sin in your life, I plead with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Repent of your sins to God. Make it right with the Lord. If you don't, you'll just go on barren and joyless. And your life will have no purpose. And you'll actually just be dismal. Do you want it? Who here today wants to experience the joy of the Lord besides me? Amen. It's good, isn't it? And I want to say that God loves you. He's merciful. He's kind. And he's not willing that anyone here should perish. And even he's not willing that any of his people be joyless. If we're joyless, it's not God's fault. It's ours. See, joy doesn't depend upon happenings. It depends upon God. And the second thing I want to ask you to do this morning is make all wrongs right with other people. It could be a brother or sister, someone who's not even saved. Someone in your family. Make it right. No one's going to believe us if we're contentious with other people, if we're hateful, if we're unforgiving. Make the wrongs right. I'm not kidding you. If you do, you'll see God's hand move in your life. And if you don't, you'll continue to be just as you are. No joy. And thirdly, obey the Holy Spirit. God will start convicting you in your workplace. He'll convict you wherever. Go talk to this person, you know. Go give this person a track, you know. Tell them about me, you know. Go share your testimony. It's powerful. And then confess Christ publicly. Share the gospel. I don't know about you, but I know for me, I'm not willing to go through the motions and I honestly couldn't care if someone cut me in a million pieces. I'd rather stand before the Lord and please him. See, the fear of God will remove all fear of man. Who in this place really wants to experience personal revival? This is reality. This is for all of us. I mean, I want that. Do you want that in your life this morning? Who in this place this morning by a show of hands says, I want personal revival? My life. I want a revival. I want it, God. I want to be close to you. Remember when you first got saved and the joy was so powerful? I want that back again. I want awakening in my own heart. And then if we want that, and then see, that would affect our whole churches. All of our churches. Our church is only 15 years old, but we've had to deal with things a few times. But we do it in such a way that we don't handle the people harshly. We love them and come alongside them and try to show them things and work them together until we get it worked out, you know. The odd times, a few people blessed, but by the grace of God, we haven't had any splits. But we, as our elders, we try to deal very, we preach strongly, but we deal with our people very gracefully and very kindly and very lovingly, knowing that if the tables could be turned and it could be us, because we all get those blind spots. And so this morning, if you want that, here's what we need to do. We need to humble ourselves even right now. And the Lord will hear us. And I want to say, I don't know how you guys do things, whether you just want to stay right in your seat or some people want to do, but I encourage you, like Ferdinand's a big spot, and don't be discouraged by all the stuff you see. God's got all the power. They don't got the power. But if God's speaking to your heart this morning, call on his name and say, God, I want to confess my sins. I want things right. If we refuse to make things right in our lives on a personal level, there'll be no personal revival. See what I'm saying? And don't be afraid to come to God this morning. God's not like us. Aren't you glad he's not like us at times? The prodigal son, when he comes, God is full of mercy. And Jesus stands with his arms wide open. And he says, come to me, all you are weary and burdened. And that doesn't just count for when you first get saved. That means all the time. We can just keep coming to the throne of grace with confidence because he cares for us. And he says, cast all your cares on him for he cares for you. So I just want to encourage us today to pray. And maybe you may want to come and pray here. I don't know how you guys do it here, but we do in our church. People come right forward and they pray and they say, God, this morning, there's some things that need to change in me. So if that's the case this morning and God has spoken to you, I encourage you to humble yourself before God, even before each other, to say, God, some things are going to have to go in me. In order for me to experience personal revival, I need to make a few things right with some other people. And if you do that today, God will meet with you. And so I don't know, brother, do you guys close with a song here in the morning? Okay, yeah, that would be great. Yeah. And so maybe just as he's playing that, if you'd like to just come and seek the Lord, you know, I encourage you to do that. You know, it could be a day of brand new beginnings here. It could be a day of refreshing, a day of the new presence of the Lord back in your life. If you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts. Just say, Lord, there's some things today in my life that's got to go. There's some sin that's got to go. I can promise you that he is faithful and just, and he will forgive you of all your sins and purify you of all unrighteous if you'll just humble yourself before him. Please make it good with the Lord, you know, not for my sake. I mean, I'd like to see you again. I may never see you again. And, uh, but do it, do it for the sake of the glory of God and for your own soul, for your own joy. Amen. So I'll leave it with you. Amen. Please stand.