(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now in Revelation chapter 16, of course, we have the famous passage of the vials of God's wrath being poured out. This is, of course, off in the future. It's going to happen someday, and God's telling us about the book of Revelation. He's warning mankind about these judgments that are going to be poured out. And the part that I wanted to focus on is the beginning in verse number 10. Actually, verse number 8. The Bible reads, And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these flames. And they repented not to give him glory. Look at verse 10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain. And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. Look at verse 21. The Bible reads, And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talon. And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great. And so God here is giving us examples of the fact that as he's pouring out his wrath upon man. And keep in mind, before this, he already came in the clouds with great power and glory. The trumpet already sounded, and the dead in Christ rose up, and those that were alive and remain were caught up together with him. And if you remember, on the day that that took place, there were men in Revelation chapter 6. They were crying out for the mountains and rocks to fall on them, and they were saying, The great day of his wrath has come, they said, hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne. And from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand? And the Bible says that when he came in the clouds, every eye would see him. And so here, people are being judged by God, and God's pouring out his wrath in all these horrific ways that we read about in chapter 16. And yet, they're not repenting to give him glory. They're still staying on their course of blaspheming the name of God. And no matter what he does to punish them, no matter how many plagues he pours out, whether it's scorching them with great heat or whether it's the hail that he's pummeling them with, by the time we get to chapter 21, they just blaspheme him more. And he's saying they don't even repent or give glory to God, which have power over these plagues. They're saying, look, God is the only one that can stop these plagues. Just like in the land of Egypt, God plagued the people. And the only one who could make the plagues go away was God. And that's why Pharaoh would have to entreat Moses to beg God to make the plagues stop. These people, no matter what he does, they will not even give him the glory of admitting that he's the one that's plaguing them. They won't even confess that he's the one that's punishing them. They will not give him the glory and say, this is God punishing him. They're just blaspheming God. They're just cursing God's name for allowing this to take place. Now go to Proverbs 27. And this is really the key concept that I want to preach about tonight. It's found in Proverbs 27 and verse 22. This is really the crux of the sermon right here. It says in Proverbs 27, 22, Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. You say, what is that talking about? What does that mean? What does it mean to bray someone in a mortar with a pestle? Now, a mortar and pestle, now we may not know what this is just because in modern life we have a blender, or we have a grain mill, or we have a KitchenAid, or whatever. But when you're braying wheat in a mortar with a pestle, this is basically, and I've seen this when I visited Native American type places, sometimes you'll see a lot of things like this where they'll have a smoothed out round stone that looks sort of like a bowl, I guess you could call it. And then they have another round stone and they put things into that bowl and they basically grind them down really small by using the round stone in their hand and the rounded bowl that's made of stone. Who knows what I'm talking about? Pretty much every hand is going up because everybody knows what I'm talking about. You probably didn't know the terminology of saying this is a mortar and pestle. And you probably didn't know that it was called braying wheat in a mortar with a pestle. But that's what it's referring to. That's what it's talking about. And who's ever done that before? Who's ever used it? The only time I've ever used it was when I was visiting one of these American Indian exhibits where they let you try it and they'd give you some grain and they'd let you try it and so forth. But what God is saying here, he's saying, Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from it. He's saying if you were to basically just put him into that bowl somehow, and obviously he's speaking metaphorically, and just grind him down with a stone, he still won't get it. His foolishness will not depart from it. Now think about this for a moment. And my sermon tonight has nothing to do with child-gearing or spanking children. But while I'm here, let me say this. The Bible says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. But the rod of correction will drive it far from it. Now do you see the difference between that concept and what we're seeing here in Proverbs 27 and 22? He's saying foolishness is bound in the heart of an adult. No. He said foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. But the rod of correction will drive it far from it. But when that child becomes an adult, and that adult is a fool, in many cases, they can be in a place in their life where even if you do, brave them amongst wheat in a mortar with a pestle, which is a lot more severe than just spanking a child, obviously. He's using a really extreme example that doesn't even exist. He's speaking in a very superlative way, in a hyperbole-type way. He's saying it's too late at that point. I mean, you cannot get the foolishness to depart from them anymore, like you could when they were a child, for example, if you properly disciplined. You see, there are people who are just too far gone, and no matter what you do with them, they're not going to get right. They will not get right with God. The people in Revelation 16 were a perfect example. This guy is an example of that in Proverbs 27 and 22. Go to Isaiah 26. Go just a few pages to the right in your Bible. From Proverbs, you'll hit Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and then Isaiah. Look at Isaiah 26. In Isaiah 26, the Bible reads in verse 9, With my soul have I desired thee in the night, Yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early. For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Now listen, it's very important when you're reading the Bible to read the Bible in context, because if you were to take this verse out of context, you'd get the wrong idea. Because in the next verse, he's going to explain why what he thought was not correct. Because in verse 9, he's saying, you know, in the night, I desired the Lord God. He's saying, my spirit within me wants to seek God early. Because in his mind, he believes that when God's judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. That's his thought process. So look at the next verse. He explains that that is not the case. That's why you've got to read the whole Bible in context. It says in verse 10, Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. Listen to this. In the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Now this verse flies in the face of a lot of modern philosophy that's out there. And you've probably heard things like this, where people will say, well, man is basically good. It's society that makes him bad. Who's ever heard a statement like that? You know, it's society that ruins people. Man is born good. And he is, in general, a good guy. But it's just society that's teaching him to be bad. Now that's obviously nonsense, because society is made up of all these good people, so who messed things up? And the truth of the matter is, that contradicts scripture, because the Bible teaches that there's none righteous, no, not one. The Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The Bible says there is none that seeketh after God. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. The Bible said, when Jesus was confronted with somebody, He said, why call us thou me good? There's none good but one, and that's God. Of course, he was God, and he's also good. I don't think anybody would deny that Jesus is good. If they are, if they do deny that, that would obviously have nothing to do with the Bible in the first place. But you see that man is not basically good, and people think that in the right environment, everybody, everybody will do right, and everybody will be good if they're around good people. But the Bible says right here, that even if favor is showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness, even in a godly society, will he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Now, here we've seen two sides of the coin. First of all, we saw that wicked people who have God's wrath poured out on them, they still won't change, right? We saw that in Revelation 16. We saw the fool that's being braed among wheat in a mortar with a pestle. Is that positive or negative? That's negative. That's a punishment. That's somebody trying to punish him. Did that fix him? No. But here we see the opposite side. You say, well, it's just positive reinforcement. If you'll just be nice to him, love him, overcome evil with good. Here he says, even if you show favor to the wicked, let favor be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. So you see, what I'm trying to show you is that there are people in this world that if you were to allow them to be judged and punished by God, that won't fix them. And showing them favor and love and kindness won't fix them either. Because guess what? It's just too late for them. That's what the Bible teaches. Now, when the Bible says, overcome evil with good, that is a biblical doctrine. That is something we should put into practice in our life. But when we overcome evil with good is when people do evil unto us and we return that with good to them. But that doesn't mean it's going to change them. We have overcome evil with good in that case. This is a victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. The fact that we have done right, we've won the battle. You see, winning the battle does not always mean that we see in this light a positive outcome. I believe Stephen won the battle of his life. When he stood for what was right and was stoned to death and killed, he wasn't a loser, he was winning the victory right there. Because just by standing up for what's right and just by doing what's right, that's what makes you a winner. It's not the fact that you were able to necessarily convert people to your side or get people to like you or to appreciate you. You know, when you do good unto those that do evil to you, you've overcome evil with good right there, whether or not that person ever changes. And the proof of that is that a few verses later, in fact, turn there just because I want you to see this. Go to Romans 12 where that's found, and let me just show you what I mean. The true meaning of overcoming evil with good. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to win that person over to your side. Because some people are incorrigible. The word incorrigible means they can't be fixed, they can't be changed. Go to Romans 12 and I'll show you what I mean. It says in verse 17, recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest to the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lie within you, live peacefully with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, save the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. Now, according to the passage that we just read, does overcoming evil with good necessarily mean that that guy is going to come over to your side and appreciate the good that you're doing? No. Where in this passage does it say, when you're good to him, that'll make him be good also? It says he'll heap coals of fire on his head. Does that sound like he's getting right? It sounds like he's continuing to do evil, he's continuing to do wrong, but because you did good, and if your enemy hungered, you fed him, and he thirsted, you gave him drink, you have overcome, because you did right, because you obeyed, because you were the greater man, because you were godly and Christlike. You know, the Bible says that God often is good to those that are unthankful and evil. And you know, oftentimes, you will do something good for someone in your life, and they won't appreciate it, right? We've all been there, where you did something really nice for somebody, you did something really good for them, and they didn't appreciate it at all. And it became obvious that they did not appreciate it whatsoever, even though it was a sacrifice on your part. But, you have to ask yourself, and this is what I always say, whenever somebody comes to me and says, hey, I did this for so-and-so, they don't even care, they don't even appreciate it. I always just say, you know, well, you know what, you weren't doing it for them, no, you're doing it for Jesus. Doing it for God, you know, that's got to be your attitude. Because if you're looking for appreciation in this life, for doing things to help other people, and doing nice things for people, well, you know what, you're going to live a very disappointing life. And you know what, sometimes you do something nice for somebody, and they appreciate it greatly, and that's great when that happens, but you know what, that's not the majority of the time. Usually people, and sometimes people have an entitlement mentality, where they just think the world owes them a living. And so you do something nice for them, and it's just, well, yeah, of course. Because they just think everything is just coming to them. But you have to get your joy from realizing, hey, I'm doing good unto others, and basically Jesus said, if you've done it unto them, you've done it unto me. If you've done it unto one of the least of these, my brother, you've done it unto me. So that's what he means when he says overcoming evil is good. He's not saying you're going to fix everybody. You're going to straighten everybody out, because I've got news for you. You're not going to straighten everybody out. We're not going to get everybody saved. We could literally go soul-winning all day, every day, at every Christian in the world. Even the millions of Christians who sit around and do not do any soul-winning, do not preach the gospel. If all of them were to mobilize today, and we were to just preach the gospel to every person in the world over and over again, not everyone would get saved. That's the simple truth. Now, if we go out and preach the gospel, we'll get a lot more people saved than if we don't. But at the same time, there are people that, if their door were knocked every day for the next hundred years, they would never get saved. There are people who, if you did everything, and sometimes I'll be out soul-winning. And this is the biblical truth that I'm preaching tonight. Sometimes you'll be out soul-winning, and I'll be a silent partner, for example, and somebody else is doing the talking, and they'll do a great job of presenting the gospel and giving the gospel, and the person will not get saved, and that person will often ask me, you know, what can I have done better? You know, what should I do? Or sometimes they'll give the whole gospel, and then they'll kind of look at me and say, you know, Pastor Anderson, do you want to have anything? And I just, I pretty much say I have nothing to have because they did a good job. And then it's like, well, what can I do better? It's like, wait a minute. You didn't do anything wrong. There's nothing you could have done better. It's just a fact that not everybody's going to get saved because it has to be their choice, and some people will never get saved. It doesn't matter how many times you talk to them. It doesn't matter how many times you give them the gospel. They're not going to get saved. And this is a fact that you need to come to grips with, and, you know, you're going to be a really frustrated outsole when you think that everybody might get saved if you just try hard enough and do a good enough job because you go out there, and you're looking for the one that's receptive that wants to get to hear the gospel, that wants to get saved, but you know what? Some people, if you spend five hours with them, it's not going to change them. They've already made their choice. They've already decided what they want to believe. Think about this when we talk about those that are in the land of uprightness, and they still deal unjustly. One day Jesus Christ will rule and reign on this earth. If you would turn to Titus chapter 3. One day Jesus Christ will rule and reign upon this earth for a thousand years. It'll be a perfect government. It'll be perfect rule, perfect laws. Satan will not even be there. Satan will be bound up for a thousand years. Him and his minions will be bound up. They will not be there to go out and deceive the nations. The wolf will lay down with the lamb, the Bible says, and the lion will eat straw like an ox. The world's going to be a peaceful, wonderful place, but yet at the end of that thousand years, there will be a group that rebels against the Lord Jesus Christ and tries to physically assault the Lord Jesus Christ and his saints to try to overthrow his kingdom. Why? Because there are some people who just will never do right, and they just will never get right. They will never obey God. They will never change. Now, it may not be the most positive sermon that I'm preaching right now, but it is the truth. And it couldn't be any truer. Look at Titus chapter 3. And this is another thing to remember when you're out sowing. You know, some people just aren't going to get it. And don't be hard on yourself. Don't get frustrated with yourself. You know, what am I doing wrong? What should I have done better in that situation? You know, sometimes we could have done better, but usually I walk away saying, well, no matter what you would have done, you would have had probably the same outcome. I mean, you preached the gospel. You did the best you could. You showed them the verses. They got to make that choice. Look at Titus chapter 3. It says in verse 9, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions. Contentions are basically arguments is what he's saying. And stridings about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. Vain means they're a waste of time. They don't have any value. He says, a man that is inherited after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he is such a subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself. It's not your fault, he's saying. He's condemned of himself. It's his choice to reject the word of God when you show him the first time and show him the second time. He's rejecting it. He's condemning himself. It's not your fault. You're doing the best you can. He wants to be inherited. He doesn't want to hear the truth. He doesn't want to believe the scripture that's shown unto him. And this is an important thing for soul winning because a lot of times you'll get tied up at the door when down the street there are a lot of people that could have been saying, I think of last Wednesday night we were on soul winning, or a couple Wednesday nights ago, or maybe it was last Wednesday. I don't know. But sometime recently I was on soul winning, and this guy, he was just dead bent on getting me in some kind of an argument. As soon as I got there, he wanted me to come in the house. He said, come on in. So I walked in. OK. He invites me to sit down. And then he just wants to just waste my time and argue with me. And I was out of there in two minutes. Amen. Now if I wanted to, I could have stayed there for two hours and talked Bible with him for two hours, or three hours, or four hours. I got out of there in two minutes. And then later, 20, 30 minutes later, he tried to flag me down and get in a conversation with me again. I mean, this guy was just out there. And you know what? In the time that I was soul winning during that time, I had three people saved. Or I could have just been with him. So what should I have done? Give him the first admonition, second admonition. And I did that in two minutes. And I said, hey. And I wasn't rude to him. I just said, hey, have a great day. I want to talk about this. Sorry, I got to go. Have a good one though. God bless you. See you later. You know what I mean? I'm not saying to be rude. I just want to get out of there. Because I know that there's other people out there who want to hear the gospel. Now we were talking about this. Sometimes when I'm in a really, really unreceptive neighborhood, where I've been knocking doors for three or four hours straight and no one is talking to me, sometimes I'll kind of allow myself to get sucked into these conversations just because it's so boring when nobody's talking to you. That kind of happened to us today. We were soul winning. And we were in an area that was so under a sector. People weren't even taking the invitation out of our hand. Nobody wanted to hear it. Just hours and hours and hours of just walking up and down these streets. And let me tell you something. When you're soul winning and a lot of people are listening to the gospel, it goes by fast. You'll go soul winning for three or four hours and it blows by. But when nobody's talking to you, you'll feel like you've been out soul winning for three or four hours and you look at the clock and you're like an hour into it and you're like, whoa, this is taking a long time. Because it's boring when people aren't answering the door or they're not interested. So we were kind of in that mode today. We're out soul winning. And Chris was doing the talking. We knock on this door and I mean, we hadn't talked to anybody. So this was like, wow, somebody's talking to us. But this guy, he just wanted to hear himself talk. He didn't want to hear what Chris had to say. So this guy was just the biggest windbag just going on and on. And he must have went on. And Chris kept trying to be polite and trying to, okay, what can I show you? Trying to get in there and trying to squeeze in there with the Bible verse and show the guy the gospel. But this guy just wanted to talk and talk and talk. And so Chris Broughton barely got anything out to the guy because the guy just kept shutting him down every time. And he wasn't really explicitly disagreeing with Chris, but he's just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I mean, he's going on and on. He went to a Lutheran church, but he goes to a Baptist Bible study every week. Okay. And listen to this. He literally, in 20 minutes of talking to us, he did not quote us a single scripture to back up or support what he was saying. And he's just going on and on, just total false doctrine, you know, total thinly veiled work salvation, total lose your salvation. He's not getting it. He's not, you know, he just doesn't want to hear it. So I mean, I was just, I got to the point, I'm sitting there, I just couldn't believe the stuff this guy is saying. And so I just start reading my Bible, you know, because I'm just bored with this guy. And the guy is just preaching every heresy that, you know, I'm sorry, when I hear false doctrine and heresy, it gets me mad. It gets me mad. I, you know, thy word is exceedingly cured, and I love it, but he said I hate every false way. And I hate every false way. I hate false religion. I hate Islam. I hate Catholicism. I'm not saying I hate all Catholics or Muslims. Obviously there are people in these religions that are deceived. My wife is raised Catholic. They need the gospel. But the religion of Catholicism I hate. I hate Islam. I hate Judaism. I hate Hinduism. I hate every, I hate Mormonism. I hate the Jehovah's Witness false doctrine. I'm not saying I hate the people. I want to get them saved. I love them and want to preach them the gospel. But I hate false religion, and I hate false doctrine. I refuse to listen to it. I hate it. And so when the Mormons come to my door, I send them on their way within 10 seconds. Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door, I send them on their way. And when I'm out stolen, and somebody tries to turn the tables on me and preach to me, it's like, see ya, I'm outta here. Because I'm not here to be preached to. I'm here to preach. I'm not here to hear your heresy. So I basically, I just, you know, I switched to reading my Bible, you know, as Chris Broughton strove to try to get this guy to listen. And I don't blame Chris Broughton because, I mean, we were bored. I mean, nobody was talking to us. So I'm reading my Bible, and I'm just kind of zoning out of this guy, trying not to listen to him, but I kept hearing him anyway. And I'm just like, man, this guy's an idiot. You know, man, these are such lies of the devil that this guy is speaking. And I'm just, but you know what? I, as the Bible said in Romans 12, I try as much as is in me. It isn't possible. I try to live peaceably with all men. So I try to stay out of a confrontation. That's, and by the way, rejecting the heretic after the first and second admonition also keeps you out of confrontations. You can avoid the contentions and the strivings just by saying, hey, have a good day, see you later. You know, I'm just not wasting your time with it. So I'm just sitting there, and I'm just, I'm just infuriated with this doctrine, and I'm just reading my Bible. So finally, Chris Broaden realized this is a lost cause. So he grabs his water bottle, and he kind of, you know, makes the motion like, all right, see you later, you know. This guy just wants to keep talking. So Chris Broaden tells him, see you later. Then the guy looks at me. And I mean, I haven't said a word this whole time. I'm just minding my own business, just reading my Bible. And he says to me, he says, so, don't you have any comment on this? I mean, don't you have any opinion about this? Is that what he said? Something like that. Don't you have a comment about this? What's your view? I said, oh, my view is that I don't agree with anything that you've said for the past 20 minutes, and I think it's all lies. And I said, and you sit here and talk about how what we believe should be based on scripture. You haven't quoted a single scripture in the last 20 minutes. All I've been listening to is your hot air for the past 20 minutes, and I don't believe any of it, and it's all false doctrine, and you're not safe. I said, that's right. And I didn't yell at him at all. I mean, I said it in a very calm, nice voice. And he said, well, you know, it kind of took him aback. But then again, he asked me what my opinion was, and I wasn't going to say anything. I was going to walk away, as sure as I'm standing here, when Chris Broughton grabbed his water bottle and said, see you later. I was just going to walk away and go to the next door. But he wanted to, and he kind of said it in a belittling way to me. You know, are you going to say something? Okay, you want me to say something? Would you like Pastor Anderson to say something to you after you just preached false doctrine to him for 20 minutes? You know, and I said it very nicely, very calmly. I just told him exactly what I just said to you is exactly what I said to him exactly that way. And I normally don't say that to people, but this guy finished preaching false heresy to me for 20 minutes, and he asked me what I thought about it, and I just told him what I thought about it. And he said, well, he said, well, you know, there have been things I've been wrong about, so, you know, I let other people be wrong too sometimes, because I know that I've been wrong about stuff. So he's basically saying, like, I have the right to be wrong. And I said, well, the only thing is, I said I'm not the one that's wrong. You're the one that's wrong. And I said, Chris here, I said, my friend Chris here has tried to give you the gospel. You know, you won't let him get a word in edgewise. He's actually got a Bible open, and he's pointing scriptures to you, but you don't want to listen. And I said, if you've been having a Baptist Bible study, I said, if the Baptist hasn't straightened you out in the last 20 years, you said you've been going to that Baptist Bible study, we're not going to straighten you out right now on your doorstep, so we're just going to see you later. I said, you know, have a good one. And he said, oh, you're not very loving. You know what? I don't love false doctrine. And you know what? That's the most loving thing. You know who's not loving? The Baptist that Bible studied with this guy. And he said, I go down there and we have all these discussions. The Baptist that listened to this guy's garbage and nobody's ever told him the truth. And the person who loved him is the one that said, you're not saved. But the Baptist that he's been studying with for the last 20 years, they never told him he's not saved. They think he is saved. I told them the truth. You're not saved. I didn't say it in a mean way. I didn't say it as a curse upon him. I said, I even said, the last thing I said when I walked away was, I said, I hope you get saved. You know, I have no ill will to the guy, but I just made it clear to him, you're not saved. I hope you get saved, but you're not saved. You know, see you later. I don't want to spend time listening to you. And he kept trying to talk to me, and I didn't want to talk to him. But the bottom line is, there are people out there that you're wasting your time with. And if Chris Broughton and myself, and you say, well, it would have been different if you were doing the talking, it would have been the same thing if I was doing the talking. I just would have been out of there sooner. But honestly, I couldn't have got this guy saved. Chris Broughton couldn't get the guy saved. Nobody's going to get the guy saved. He's been going to a Baptist Bible study for 20 years, and he believes everything that's contrary to what Baptists believe. It's obviously too late for the guy. Are you listening to me? Whoa, it's not too late for anybody. That's not what the Bible teaches. And so you can't go on this crusade to fix everybody and right every wrong in the world and get everybody saved and get everybody right with God. It's simply not going to happen. You're going to live a very frustrating life if that's what you think is going to happen. There are going to be some that get saved, and there are going to be many that do not get saved. Broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in their act, because straight is the gain and narrow is the way that leads them to life, which leads them to life, and few there be that find it. And, look, I don't go out and be rude to people. I don't want you to get the wrong impression, because I don't think you should go out solely and just go out and be rude to people. But there comes a time when you do need to shake the dust off your feet. There does come a time when you tell them, look, you're preaching heresy. You're preaching a false doctrine. You're not saved. And if you're asking me what I think about it, I'm going to tell you what I think about it. And those Baptists should have told it to them a long time ago. He would have quit. You think that guy's going to come and have a Bible study with me? No, because I'm a real Baptist. And I'm not going to listen to him preach heresy every week for the last 20 years at some little free-for-all Bible study where everybody gets to listen to themself talk because they like to hear themself talk. Not because they know the Bible, not because they have a Spirit-filled sermon to preach, but because they like to hear themself talk and nothing that they're saying is coming from the Bible. Go to Revelation 22, and let me give you something from the Bible, not somebody's opinion, not what somebody thinks is right, not what somebody says because it sounds good upon the ears of the people that they're speaking with. Let me show you something that the Bible actually teaches. And don't tell me I preach into Old Testament because I'm on the last page in my Bible. Okay, this is the God of the New Testament, which, by the way, is the same as the God of the Old Testament. If this part of the Bible isn't relevant, I don't know what is. We're on the last page. He said in verse 18, For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plates that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. And let me tell you something. When he takes your part out of the book of life, you're done. When he takes your part out of the holy city, you're done. He said, I go to prepare a place for you, but when you tamper with this word, when you delete from or add to God's word, he says, you're done. You're part of the book of life, the place where your name would have been. That part is not even there. The mansion that could have been yours is gone. It's too late for you. And so what if you were to come across one of these people? One of the editors of the NIV, for example, that deleted so many thousands of words and deleted whole verses from our English Bible and changed all kinds of doctrine and made Joseph out to be Jesus' father and gave Jesus an origin when the Bible says he's from everlasting. Go to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. What if you ran into these people? Could you talk some sense into them? No. It's too late for them. You see, there are people out there where it's too late. Now, I believe that everybody has a chance. But then later, it becomes too late once they've had their chance over and over again. Just look at Matthew 12. Here's another biblical statement that backs this up. It says in verse 32, And whosoever speaketh the word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him. But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. And obviously, when the Bible talks about blaspheming the Holy Ghost, the Bible defines this in Mark 3. He said, this is when they said that Jesus Christ was possessed with the devil. So I've heard some people debate this and say, well, can a person even commit this sin today because of the fact that Jesus is not on this earth so they couldn't really accuse him of having a devil? Now, there's this thing that's been out there called the blasphemy challenge where atheists have tried to encourage people to go on YouTube and record a video of themselves blaspheming the Holy Ghost just to prove how much they don't believe in God. That they have no fear of it. That they're willing to damn their souls eternally. And there are all these hundreds and thousands of videos, man, we're young people, teenagers, going on there and saying, I right now, to the best of my ability, am blaspheming the Holy Ghost right now. Whatever that means, whatever that is, they'll say, I'm blaspheming the Holy Ghost right now just to prove that I don't believe. And you know what? Listen to me now. I believe that God will take them up on it. Whether Jesus is walking this earth anymore, whether or not Jesus is performing miracles, and you could look at him and say, you're filled with the devil, I believe that these people are damning their souls eternally right there. I mean, think about it. I think God will take them up on it if they say, God, I don't even want to even leave the door open for there to even be a possibility of me being saved. And if you talk to many of these atheists, they'll come right out and tell you. They'll say, if that's the God of the Bible, if he's God, then I want nothing to do with him. I'd rather go to hell. I've heard people say it. If that's what God's like, I don't even want to go to heaven. You know what? God's listening. He says, you don't want me? You don't want my son who died on the cross and was beaten and spat upon and lived a sinless life and was tempted at all points as we are, yet without sin, sacrificing his life, being beaten, mocked, spit upon, and saying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And then they look at him and say, you're not loving. As he's mangled and as he says, this is my body which is broken for you, they say, you're not loving. You won't accept fags. You won't accept adultery. You won't accept me being a transvestite and a pervert. You won't accept my rock music. You won't accept my fight mutilating my body. You won't accept abortion. You won't accept murder. And you're not loving. And one day, that son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, that poured out his blood and broken body on the cross and said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, one day he's going to come back with a vengeance and pour out his wrath on those that are rejected. And when you look at Jesus Christ and you blaspheme him and say, I want to blaspheme the Holy Spirit of God because I just don't want there to be any chance that I can ever go back on my decision to be an atheist. You know what? You probably sealed your fate right there. You're done. And hell is your destiny. And nothing can change that. Because if you tampered with God's word, hell is your destiny, nothing can change it. If you blaspheme the Holy Spirit of God, hell is your destiny, and nothing can change it. It's too late. No matter what happens, it will not change. The people in Revelation 16, go if you would, in John chapter 12. The people in Revelation 16, remember how God kept pouring out his wrath and they would not repent of their deeds? They would not even give him glory. They wouldn't even acknowledge that he was the one pouring out his wrath. They probably said, oh, this is global warming. I mean, as the sun scorched them with great heat in Revelation 16, they probably gave Al Gore the glory. Because it said they didn't give God the glory. They didn't say, this is God punishing us because we're wicked. It was like, oh, Al Gore was right. This is global warming. We're being scorched with great heat. But why was it that none of them would change? Because you know why? So many of them had taken the mark of the beast. And in fact, at the beginning of chapter 16, it talks about the fact that he was specifically pouring out extra punishments and extra wrath, if you read the first few verses of chapter 16, upon the men that had the mark of the beast. And guess what? The Bible teaches very clearly that when this all plays out, those who take the mark of the beast, there will be no hope for them. It's too late for them. So this doctrine that says it's never too late for anybody is a false doctrine. Because if you tamper with John's word, it's too late. If you blaspheme the Holy Ghost, it's too late. If you take the mark of the beast, it's too late. Look at John chapter 12. And people will love to use a hypothetical today. And they'll say, well, what if somebody, you know, takes the mark of the beast and then they believe on Jesus Christ? What about that? Or what about if somebody, you know, blasphemes the Holy Ghost and then they change their mind to believe on Christ? What then? Or what if somebody, you know, tappers with the word of God and then later they're sorry about it and they change their mind and get saved and believe the word of God? The truth. But it's a hypothetical, my friend, because it doesn't exist. Look at John 12. In John 12, and see, whenever you, that's why the Bible says avoid foolish questions because there are a lot of questions that have no answer because they're just foolish questions. And there is no answer to those questions because it doesn't exist because it's hypothetical. And it says in John chapter 12, verse 37, But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. Even though they saw him raise Lazarus from the dead in the previous chapter, John 11, even though they'd seen him turn water into wine, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, they didn't believe on him. Why? Because there are some people that will not believe on Jesus Christ no matter what you showed them, no matter what you say to him, no matter what you do to him. Look at verse 38. That the saying of his eyes the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom at the arm of the Lord been revealed? Watch this. Therefore they could not believe. Now look. It says they could not believe. Were they able to believe? What if they would have believed? What if the Pharisees, after they blasphemed, only goes earlier in the book, what if they would have believed? It's a silly question because they could not believe. It says therefore they could not believe. Because of his eyes, again, his eyes explain why they couldn't believe. Because he has blinded their eyes. Do you see that in verse 40? He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. They should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said to Isaias, when he saw his glory and spake of it. Nevertheless, among the teeth were his rulers, also many believed on him. But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. So he says there were some rulers, because later on, the Pharisees are going to say, none of the rulers have believed on him. Why? Because the few rulers that did believe on him, they wouldn't confess him openly. For fear of the Jews. They were still saved. If they believed on Christ, they were saved. But because of their cowardice and their failure to stand up for the truth, people were able to say, none of the rulers believe on him. Later. When really some of them did. In fact, many of them did. But they wouldn't confess him openly, because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. But notice, amongst the Pharisees and amongst the Jews that he was speaking to here, it says that they couldn't believe many of them. Why? Because God hardened their heart. Why? Because God blinded their eyes. Why? Because it was too late for them. And listen to me, I'm not a Calvinist. I don't believe that these people that Jesus is talking to, I don't believe that they were just born a reprobate. I don't think that they were just born with the destiny of hell. I believe that they were born with the same opportunity that you and I have, of they could have, when they heard the word of God preached, they could have believed it. They could have received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. But because they rejected him, because they blasphemed the Holy Ghost, because he did so many miracles in front of them, and they still didn't believe, finally God got to a point where he hardened their heart. And it was too late. Now you say, why preach a sermon like this? What is the point? It's negative. It's not uplifting. Why preach it? First of all, I preach it because it's in the Bible, and I should preach the whole council of God. And if I left out this concept, I'm leaving out some doctrines of the Bible. Many, many reasons to preach this sermon. Let me shortly give them to you, and then I'll be done. Number one, I preach this sermon because it's a biblical doctrine. Number two, I preach this sermon so that you won't get frustrated in your life, trying to bear the whole weight of the world on your shoulders, and holding yourself accountable for what other people do. You can't blame yourself when people don't receive the gospel when you're out soloing. You're doing the best you can. Nobody's perfect soloing. I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. We go out. We're human. We're weak. We're not going to do the perfect job. But you know what? We've got the Word of God in our hand. We've got the Holy Spirit. We're going out. We're trying our best. Are we perfect? No. And people criticize our soloing. It's better than their non-soloing. Right. And so we do the best we can. But you know what? At the end of the day, you've got to go home and just realize, you know what? It's not my fault. It's just everybody's not going to get saved. Everybody's not going to do right. You can't always try to force people to do what's right or force people to get saved. It's not going to work. Some people are encouraged when they can't change. That's the second reason. Number three, it's a warning. It's a warning to those that are not saved. It's a warning to those that do not believe the gospel and that are not, maybe they think that they have unlimited time to make a decision about it. You know, there are people out there that go soloing and say, well, let me think about it. I'm not ready, you know. You don't have unlimited time because you get to a point where God gets sick of it and it's too late for you. Now, I don't know when that time is, but you know, there comes a time when you've had your last chance. You know, you could die today. You could die on your way home right now. You know, when you're out soloing and somebody says, not today, not today. You know, that person, they don't know when they're going to die. They might think, oh, right now I'm a soloist. I don't want to think about religion. I don't want to think about church. I want to think about... And not that you have to go to church or turn away from your sins to be saved, but they don't even want to think about that. They want to live an unbridled life of sin. And then later, when I'm older, I'll see God because you know, it might be too late when you're older. Or you may never get older. You might die today. You could die tonight. Any one of us could die tonight. We don't know when a day's going to break forth. And number four, it's a warning, and this wasn't even in my sermon notes, but honestly, it came to my mind in the early parts of the sermon. It's a warning to us to raise our children properly and to drive the foolishness from them before it's too late. Before they get set in the ways of folly, we should raise them right before it's too late. First of all, get them saved by all means. That's the most important thing. And a lot of people just take their... For granted, oh, my child will be saved because I take them to a good church and they hear it from the pulpit, and they're going to be saying, you know what, you need to take your child and set them down and personally give them the gospel. And don't think that your wife is going to do it, and don't think that your husband's going to do it, and don't think that the pastor's going to do it, because you know what? There are children who grow up in churches where the gospel is consistently preached and they grow up and they don't get saved. And often we just take it for granted. You know, you ought to sit down with your children before this world has corrupted their mind and sit down with them and give them the gospel repeatedly, and talk to them and make sure that they understand it and plead with them to be saved. Because at that age, it's not too late for them. But when they get older, they'll be doing it. But aside from that, just because somebody's saved, does that mean that they're going to live a righteous and godly life? You know what? My most important thing for my children is I want them all to be saved and go to heaven, but that's not enough for me. I also want them to grow up and live a godly life. And so I better pray for them now, and I better discipline them now. Because the Bible says that a rebuke, a verbal rebuke, enters more into a wise man than many strikes into a fool. You can take an adult and beat them with many strikes in many cases and it won't do any good. But when they were a little child, just a spanking, just a wooden cooking spoon to the bottom would have done the job. The bell would have done the job when they were just a young child. But when they get older, even being beaten and thrown in prison by the police for armed robbery won't even straighten them out. Because it's too late for them. You know, you need to realize that you need to spend your young years with your children having them in church, teaching them to consistently be in church. If you want them to grow up and be in church, do you want your child to go to one service a week or three services a week when they grow up? What do you think's gonna help them probably live a better life in this world that we're living in? Do you want your child to live a godly Christian life? Do you want them to read the Bible? Read the Bible to them when they're young. Read the Bible with them as a child, that way they'll grow up and read it. You know what? I'm gonna tell you something. I've got three sons and three daughters. And it's a lot easier to spank your sons than it is your daughters. Isn't that true? Who here is a dad that, you know, can realize that? You know, nobody's raising their hand. But anyway, for me, I have an easier time spanking my sons than my daughters. Because it's just, you know, you're a dad and you're a sucker. My wife constantly says, oh, you're such a sucker. She sells it at all times. Because, you know, I'm so easily fooled by the daughters, you know. They will basically, you know, give me the sob story. Oh, well, you know, let's go easy here. You know, let's take it easy. I always have an easier time disciplining my sons. But you know what? Whenever my daughters are defiant and disobedient and need a spanking, you know what I do, though? I just, this is how I bring myself to spank them. I basically just imagine just every obnoxious, brawling, loud-mouthed woman that I've ever known in my life that was rebellious against their husband. I just think of women that were rebellious against their husband. And I think of just loud-mouthed, short-haired, pants-wearing, just, you know, ruling over other men, just loud-mouthed women. I just look at my daughter, and I just say, I have to do it. Seriously. And I'm not making a joke right now. I mean, I look at them, and I just say, you know what? If I want them to do right, if I want them to serve God, if I want them to go out and be right, I've got to do it. And that's what gives me the strength to do it. You know what I mean? Because I just look at them, and I say, you know what? I am not going to deal with this later. Because you know what? When they're 15, it's going to be harder to deal with. When they're 16, and I'm not saying it's too late. You know, if I had a 16, 17-year-old daughter that's rebellious to me, I'll fix the problem. But you know what? I'd much rather fix it when they're a little child, when the rod of correction will drive it far from them than to try to braid them in a mortar with a pencil, you know, when they're a teenager, and it's going to be a lot harder. And so nip it in the bud, you know. Make sure that your children are living a godly life and obedient. And you know, don't let them, don't let them, oh, I just, they're so cute, I love them too much to diss someone. Right? That's no wrong. Because he did spare at this rod, he did this something. But he did love at them chasing at them at times. And that's what I do. That's what works for me. I just think about, you know what? This is what I don't want them to be like, so I need to step in here and correct it now. And I'm saving myself trouble later. Okay. So there's a lot of reasons why this doctrine should be preached. So that's probably not worth a prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, dear God. And Father, I thank you I got saved before it was too late for me, and I just wish that others would listen to your warnings and take them seriously. When we were out knocking doors so wide and gay, there were so many people that just did not have any interest in hearing the gospel. And it's sad, it's a tragedy that many of them, it might be too late for them. Maybe they've heard it too many times and it's just going in one ear and out the other at this point. Help us to realize that we need to go out soul winning today, not tomorrow, today because of the fact that we need to get to people before it's too late for them. We need to get out there and reach people before it becomes too late for them. Because for many it's already too late. Help us to get out there before it's too late for many more. And help us to raise our children and to teach them the truth before it's too late, and not to think we're going to do it later. Help us to do it now. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.