Before we turn to God's word, a little
comment.
It's always dangerous for me to make little
comments, because they can become big comments.
One of the abominations of modern society is
the facility with which every nutcase in the
world can send you an email.
Email's a wonderful thing if it's used for
my purpose.
If it's not, I must say, I could...
was it Al Gore said he invented the
internet?
Well, let's shoot him.
And that's a joke, by the way, I'm
not calling for violence.
That's all just a joke.
Don't want the FBI or whoever it is
coming looking for me.
But you'll know that in two days you
have an election.
We get criticism.
One dear lady who cloaked her lies in
very nice language saying, you're one of my
favorite preachers.
Quite obvious from what she wrote.
I don't think she'd ever heard me in
her life, but this was a form letter
to every preacher she could write to.
You're one of my favorite preachers, you're wonderful,
blah blah blah, but you're now a rascal.
And the rascality is that we're not really
here to tell you who to vote for
when it comes to election day.
And that means we're controlled by the government.
We give you a tax receipt, so therefore
we're in the government's back pocket.
I can't criticize Nancy Pelosi.
I can't talk about abortion.
I can't blast the sodomite industry.
That's why I say I don't think she
ever listened to me, because I think that
anybody who has listened to me over a
period of time would know that other than
Ms. Pelosi, whom I had never heard of
until fairly recent times, I don't really think
she's quite from Pickens or Greer, so she's
not really in my area to know all
that much about.
I think I have fairly rigorously covered all
those things.
Point I'm making is this.
We don't endorse candidates.
In fact, we have a rule here that
if a candidate came before an election, we
don't even recognize him from the pulpit.
We're not in the business of playing politics.
However, I would say that if people come
to this church and they hear what is
preached and they believe what is preached and
they don't know how to vote on election
day on the issues that are before them,
then either they're deaf or I'm dumb, because
I think an instructed people will know where
the Word of God commands them to take
a stand when our state is deciding whether
to state it constitutionally that marriage is what
God said it is between a man and
a woman and not between two perverts, then
I don't think you need me to tell
you this is where you should place an
X or not.
I would simply say something else to you.
There's a great deal of concern among people
who want the best for their nation, not
only in America, but in Ulster and England,
anywhere where you've got God's people and they
want the best for their nation, you sort
of get fed up with politicians and you
get fed up with big time leaders and
you get let down in them.
And I know that there's a great deal
of discontent and people say a plague in
all their houses, let them all go.
There's none of them worth anything.
I must say I have a great deal
of sympathy with that, that it seems to
me that there's an awful lot of people
who want you to put them in there
to line their pockets and well, we're not
getting into that.
But you know, there's sin and sin.
The Bible does teach that all sin is
damnable.
But the Bible also teaches that all sin
is not equal.
I want you to think that through.
And as you pray for your nation, and
I would hope engage yourself in the process
of your nation in the days to come.
And I say your nation because I'm still
British.
And I can't vote in American elections.
I'm just free to criticize everybody and say
I had nothing to do with it.
But as you would engage in that process,
I would hope that you would recognize that
there are rascals of every party, but there
are people who are dedicated to the eradication
of every vestige and semblance of Christian morality
and decency, and indeed the very right of
Christianity to exist or have a voice in
the marketplace of ideas.
And I would pray that God's people, while
they may find that the alternative is not
the archangel or the best, they would really
be able to put their finger on that
which is not only something they don't like,
but it is something that is fundamentally anti
-Christian in the worst sense of the word.
We don't tell people how to vote.
That's not our job.
We're here to tell you God's truth.
And if you can't make the decisions of
life when you've got a handle on God's
truth, as I say, either you're deaf or
I'm dumb, and I will not put it
the other way around.
I am feeling somewhere in that.
So to the people out there who want
you to believe and want me to believe
that as a preacher I deny God because
I allow our treasurer to give you a
tax receipt, and because I'm in Nancy Pelosi's
back pocket, I just say, waken up and
come to reality.
There's a great battle to be fought in
the day in which we live, and I
trust that we will see God intervene.
Mr. Green was praying this morning that the
Lord would intervene in the affairs of the
nation, and God would do a great thing.
What we ultimately need is a visitation of
the Spirit of God.
That's really what we need.
There's a power in the gospel that all
the politicians and politics in the world can
never muster, and thank God they can never
match.
Remember Luther's words, that word, no thanks to
them.
Never forget that.
No thanks to the rulers of this world.
This word abideth, and it's going to prevail.
So pray and labor, discern carefully, and remember
that there is a fundamental warfare going on,
and we need to make sure we know
the battle of our day, and don't be
so busy fighting skirmishes with other Christians that
you are failing to engage the real foe
who is really seeking the overthrow of all
that we all hold dear.
So that's something for my critics out there.
That's as much for the people who will
listen on internet and by tape as it
is for you.
I just wanted to get it out there
that I'm not yet employed by Miss Pelosi
or by anybody else, and if she needs
me to name her, I'll name her.
If the president needs me to name him,
I'll name him too.
I'm not a politician, but I believe every
preacher should have a prophetic voice, and I
believe every preacher should be willing to open
the scriptures and let the scriptures speak to
any situation, and if the people like it,
hallelujah.
If they don't like it, two hallelujahs, because
it's true anyway.
Now I said I better be careful about
little comments because they become big comments, and
there I better draw the line because that's
not the sermon for tonight.
That is only getting the vocal cords oiled
in order to get going.
This evening we're reading in the Old Testament
scriptures once again the book of Ezekiel chapter
32.
Ezekiel chapter 32.
When God's word opened before us, let's simply
and briefly bow together in a word of
prayer.
Our loving God and our Father in heaven,
we thank thee this evening for the word
of God and for the opportunity now to
open it, to read it together, and to
hear what it would have to say to
us.
Thou dost see the state of every soul
before thee.
We have been singing how sad our state
by nature is, and O Lord, we fear
that in the day in which we live,
there is little emphasis upon the terrible depravity,
the pit into which Adam brought mankind, that
depravity of soul, that sad state of the
unseemed.
O Lord, we pray that thou would speak
to hearts tonight, that not one man, woman,
or boy, or girl would leave this place
still in their sin.
We ask thee to speak to us this
evening individually.
We pray that thou would speak, O Lord,
across this great nation.
There is need for a prophetic voice.
We live in a day of corruption and
confusion, a day of wickedness, a day when
sin is so prevalent and ungodliness so prevalent.
And O Lord, we confess to thee that
we even feel to be shocked anymore at
the wickedness in high places as well as
right through society.
America needs Christ.
O God, we confess that to thee, and
we cry out to thee, O that thou
wouldst visit this land again.
Support every faithful preacher of Christ tonight.
Lord, uphold every messenger of grace this evening.
Destroy false doctrine, the apostasy and the heresy
that the devil is seeking to use to
infect the church and to destroy its witness.
Lord, raise up prophets of truth.
And God grant that thou will use the
Word of God with great power across this
nation and indeed to the ends of the
earth.
We pray that thou will bless thy church
worldwide.
We think of those who are lying in
prison tonight.
We think of people in places as far
away as China, people lying for years in
the prison cell for the sake of their
confession of Christ.
O God, remember those who have suffered the
loss of loved ones, churches that are martyr
churches.
O we pray that thou will bless thy
church.
And O God, to the ends of the
earth, raise up a standard of gospel truth.
And God grant that we will in our
day see a mighty sweeping visitation of the
Spirit of God.
Now hear us, still us in thy presence.
Speak, Lord, in the stillness while we wait
indeed.
Hush our hearts to listen with expectancy.
We pray in Jesus name.
Amen.
Ezekiel chapter 32 and verse 17, verse 17
of Ezekiel chapter 32.
And it came to pass also in the
twelfth year in the fifteenth day of the
month that the word of the Lord came
unto me saying, Son of man, wheel for
the multitude of Egypt and cast them down,
even her and the daughters of the famous
nations, unto the nether parts of the earth
with them that go down into the pit.
Whom dost thou pass in beauty?
Go down and be thou led with the
uncircumcised.
They shall fall in the midst of them
that are slain by the sword.
She is delivered to the sword.
Draw her and all her multitudes.
The strong among the mighty shall speak to
him out of the midst of hell with
them that help him.
They are gone down.
They lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
Asher is there and all her company.
His graves are about him, all the slain,
all of them slain, fallen by the sword.
Whose graves are set in the sides of
the pit, and her company is round about
her grave, all of them slain, fallen by
the sword which caused terror in the land
of the living.
There is Elam and all her multitude round
about her grave, all of them slain, fallen
by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised
into the nether parts of the earth which
caused their terror in the land of the
living.
Yet have they borne their shame with them
that go down to the pit.
They have set her abed in the midst
of the slain with all her multitude.
Her graves are round about him, all of
them uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
Though their terror was caused in the land
of the living, yet have they borne their
shame with them that go down to the
pit.
He is put in the midst of them
that be slain.
There is Meshach, Tubal, and all her multitude.
Her graves are round about him, all of
them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they
caused their terror in the land of the
living.
And they shall not lie with the mighty
that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are
gone down to hell with their weapons of
war.
And they have laid their swords under their
heads, but their iniquity shall be upon their
bones, although they were the terror of the
mighty in the land of the living.
Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst
of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them
that are slain with the sword.
There is Edom, her kings and all her
princes, which with their might are led by
them that were slain by the sword.
They shall lie with the uncircumcised and with
them that go down to the pit.
There be the princes of the north, all
of them, all the Zidonians, which are gone
down with the slain.
With their terror they are ashamed of their
might, and they lie uncircumcised with them that
be slain by the sword, and bear their
shame with them that go down to the
pit.
Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted
over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all
his army slain by the sword, saith the
Lord God.
For I have caused my terror in the
land of the living, and he shall be
led in the midst of the uncircumcised with
them that are slain with the sword, even
Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord
God.
Amen.
The Lord will add his own blessing to
the reading of his own precious word for
his name's sake.
Even this brief reading will tell you Ezekiel
is a difficult book.
We all know that.
That's why many of you in reading the
Bible have left it out.
But it's a book that you should read,
for it has a message.
It transcends the centuries, and I trust tonight
we will find it has a message for
us in this day.
This 32nd chapter of Ezekiel is a prophetic
lamentation of the impending destruction of Pharaoh and
of his armies, of the great Egyptian nation,
and what this portion calls her daughters, that
is the surrounding nations that depended for their
security upon Egypt.
Now this was not a popular prophecy, because
at that time it appeared to the nations
of that, what we now call the Middle
Eastern region, what would be Israel, Palestine, those
surrounding areas, it appeared to them that Egypt
held out the best hope of thwarting the
designs of the great king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar,
hitherto an all-conquering king.
The only chance of stopping him overrunning the
rest of the nations appeared to lie with
Egypt and her mighty army.
So prevalent was this belief that it had
really taken over the political elite in the
land of Judah.
The king of Judah believed it, his princes
believed it, their prophets believed it, their priests
believed it, and their people believed it.
The only trouble is that Jeremiah, the only
true prophet of God, did not believe it
and God did not teach it.
There were many in Judah depending on Pharaoh,
and Pharaoh encouraged that trust.
This is your bulwark against the oncoming hordes
of the Babylonians, but it was a forlorn
hope for the doom of both Judah and
Egypt was sealed.
To Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, it seemed
an absurdity as well as an impossibility that
he and his army, his prosperous and powerful
nation with all the nations around about to
support him could be overrun and defeated by
Nebuchadnezzar.
Pharaoh was rich and he was powerful.
His nation was wealthy and it was prosperous
and with such a surrounding number of nations
giving their allegiance to him, it just was
unthinkable that he could be overrun.
But the Lord had a word for Pharaoh
and to Pharaoh.
He said to the prophet, son of man,
wheel for the multitude of Egypt and cast
them down, even her and the daughters of
the famous nations, unto the nether parts of
the earth with them that go down to
the pit.
And then the Lord turns the question directly
to Pharaoh and to Egypt.
Whom dost thou pass in beauty?
Go down and be thou led with the
uncircumcised.
In other words, the Lord was saying to
Pharaoh and to Egypt, you are great, but
you are not unique in this.
There have been other great nations before you,
nations that were also wealthy and powerful, attended
by great armies that had been able to
spread their terror across the earth and subjugate
others to their control.
But where are they now?
Consider Assyria or Assyria, Elam, Meshach and Chubal,
Edom and the princes of Zion.
They were great, they were wealthy, just as
you are.
They had all those advantages in which you
are depending.
But they have perished everyone, and so will
you.
The Lord is really in this passage saying,
go to their graves and see where they
lie, their hosts, their armies, their soldiers lie
buried, their bones interred in the earth.
Let those solemn scenes from the graveyards of
these nations be a witness to you of
their destruction.
The Lord indeed goes further and says to
Egypt, look beyond the graves of earth, for
those great nations have not only seen their
armies buried in the earth, but those nations
have long since sunk into hell to endure
the wrath of the God they despised and
of the God whom they opposed.
And from hell, if you will but have
an ear to listen, you will hear them
speak.
Our text tonight is in verse 21.
The strong among the mighty shall speak to
him, that is Pharaoh, out of the midst
of hell.
The Lord is saying to Pharaoh, Pharaoh, this
is a testimony you need to hear.
Those ancient nations did not perish by accident.
They were not merely the victims of a
superior military force.
No, they lie in hell because of the
just judgment of God.
I hope you noted as we were reading
through the passage that there is this constant
reference to the terror that these nations had
inflicted upon the earth.
Because of their might and their wealth and
their armies, they had been able to spread
their ideas by force.
They had terrorized the land.
But in the 32nd verse the Lord says,
I have caused my terror in the land
of the living.
I have brought them down to hell.
That was the Lord's message to Egypt.
Standing there on the edge of the grave,
Egypt was commanded to listen to the voices
from hell that bade her prepare for the
coming day of judgment and of the wrath
of God.
Those voices and myriads of others who have
since perished with them still speak.
It is usual in this pulpit that I
will draw your attention to the voice that
speaks from heaven.
And I do so again tonight.
But on this occasion the voice that speaks
from heaven bids you listen to the voices
from hell.
That's what I want us to think of
this evening for a few minutes.
Voices from hell and what they have to
say to America today.
First and foremost, very obviously they testify to
the reality of hell.
Now I know that commentators and linguists generally
coming to this passage take the word that's
translated hell, the Hebrew term sheol, and they
most generally say that it refers to the
grave in the sense of simply the state
of death.
There are places where that is the significance
of the word.
But to insist on that in this passage
is to ignore the main thrust of the
meaning of this word.
Wherever the word sheol appears in the Old
Testament to describe the state of people after
death, it always has the connotation of darkness,
a place of dread, a place that is
threatened as the punishment of God upon sin.
In fact I agree with the great American
theologian W.G.T. Shedd when he said
in reality sheol is the proper name for
hell in the Old Testament.
And there really is no other.
I want you to understand this therefore.
This is not merely a translation or a
mistranslation of the King James translators when it
says hell where many modern versions will say
grave.
They have got to the depths of this
word.
They have laid hold of the true and
inward meaning of this word and of the
idea in the passage.
God is dealing with people whose bodies are
lying in the grave.
But if that's all he had meant to
say, there would have been another term entirely
that he would have used.
He is going beyond the obvious.
He is going beyond the place of interment
and he is looking to the place of
souls.
He is speaking of a continued existence.
He is speaking of people who are testifying
from their place of punishment in the darkness
and the terror of God's hell.
The very first thing that is obvious if
this is a reference to hell as it
is, is that these people in hell like
the man that Jesus spoke of in the
Bible of Debas, the rich man and Lazarus
saying hell is real.
That's a message that America desperately needs to
hear today.
According to the pollsters and of course we
live in a day when you have polls
about everything.
I was taken, I thought it was rather
humorous.
A local radio station just the other day
was conducting a poll and the poll was
are you going to go to the polls
on Tuesday?
Vote to tell us if you are going
to vote.
You know they take a poll about anything
nowadays.
But according to the pollsters, Americans want to
believe in heaven and they do believe in
heaven.
Of course they have the most obscure, heretical
and crazy views as to who gets to
heaven and why.
If ever you want to get proof of
the utter curse of apostasy and what it
has done to this nation, you just got
to find out what Joe Public believes is
the way to heaven.
And it's totally unbiblical.
But when they are asked about hell, no,
no, we don't believe in that.
And here is the amazing thing, well maybe
it's not amazing at all.
When they go to the churches, they go
around the churches and they ask the same
question.
And we are reaching the stage where there
is practically nobody left in the churches who
believes in the reality of hell.
And those who do sing dumb about it
and preachers rarely mention it, it's not the
end thing.
It's not the way to win friends and
influence people, so therefore you ignore it.
But men and women let me tell you
why preachers and evangelists, I and even theologians,
pervert their skills and their learning to try
and prove the fact as they would see
it that there is no hell.
God says there are voices from hell and
you should listen to them.
In many ways as I have indicated, this
text in Ezekiel 32 is an Old Testament
counterpart to that passage in Luke chapter 16
where the Lord Jesus speaks of the rich
man and Lazarus.
And I want to tell you this puts
an end to all argument.
We have learned theologians who will tell you
there is no such thing as an everlasting,
burning, tormenting hell.
It's not real.
They tell you I can't conceive of this,
I can't believe in this.
You know that's not really the point, is
it?
What does it matter what I can bring
myself to believe in or bring myself not
to believe in?
What does that establish?
Nothing except that I may be crazy.
We've got to get to some objective truth
and reality here.
The Lord Jesus who spoke more about hell
than all the other preachers in the Bible
put together.
The Lord Jesus who has love incarnate.
The Lord Jesus who out of love gave
Himself to save sinners because there was a
place called hell.
The reality of that place stamped upon His
own heart and mind.
The Lord Jesus said there was a rich
man who died and was buried, and in
hell he lift up his eyes being in
torments.
Wouldn't it be good enough for anybody that
the Lord Jesus said there is a hell,
a place of torment?
Wouldn't that convince anybody who had any ounce
of spiritual insight or wit?
But the Lord Jesus goes further.
And He lets you hear the voice from
hell.
And the rich man cries, I am tormented.
Now if the testimony of the Son of
God on its own is not sufficient, will
you not hear the testimony of the man
who has already died and he's already gone
into eternity?
And he says, hell is real.
And then the Lord Jesus adds a third
strand for a threefold cord is not easily
broken.
And He gives you the testimony of Father
Abraham.
And He looks at this man and He
says, thou art tormented.
And men and women, I want to put
it to you very clearly.
Hell is real.
That realization brought our Savior to tears.
I read in Luke chapter 19 that He
stood one day and He looked.
As He came near, He beheld the city,
verse 41, and He wept over it.
I wonder what He would do with New
York, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Greenville.
He wept over it saying, if thou hadst
known, even thou, at least in this thy
day, the things which belong unto thy peace,
but now they are hid from thine eyes.
The reality of hell reduced our Savior to
tears.
Do you hear the voices from hell tonight?
Some of you young people perhaps and some
of you not so young anymore.
You're deafened by the din of the world
and you're dazzled by the glitter of the
world.
And you're deceived by the attraction of the
world.
And you hear the hiss of the serpent
in your ear to tell you this is
all right.
There's nothing to worry about.
You don't believe all that old, fogey, old
-fashioned stuff that Kearns and his like will
talk to you about.
Men and women, I want you to understand
tonight the voice from heaven bids you harken
to the voices from hell.
There are people of your age who lived
and died and went to hell.
I have personally labored one-on-one with
people to see them saved only to see
them slip out into eternity still in their
rebellion against God.
Hell is real.
That's the message.
The voices from hell not only speak of
its reality but they warn of the danger
of going to hell.
Here we read Asher was there, Elam was
there, Meshach and Tubal were there and while
these names may not register much with you
today these were names that were the superpowers
of their day but they perished.
You see the first thing you've got to
recognize here is they learned too late that
with greatness comes great responsibility.
And from the voices from hell that's a
message for America that this nation must learn.
This is a great nation.
It has been said quite accurately that it
is the world's sole remaining superpower.
It's a uniquely prosperous nation.
It's a uniquely industrious nation.
I am not American by birth but I
can certainly honestly say that by human standards
no nation can stand taller or hold itself
more erect and that's not to overlook its
sins and its failures but it is to
say in an imperfect world this is a
great nation.
But it is a nation that's battling for
its soul.
It's a nation that is officially and by
officially I mean by decree of those elected
to govern and the judiciary that is in
place to oversee that government.
It is a nation officially at war with
God.
Sometimes when you're living in a nation you
don't really keep up with what is going
on.
You're so much taken up with the sound
bites of the television report or you're so
much taken up with the political intrigue of
getting this or that policy through or stopped
as the case may be that you fail
to recognize what has happened.
Not only to America just as much to
Britain maybe even worse there at times but
a nation that is officially at war with
God is a great responsibility that
lies in a great nation.
And from the depths of hell there come
voices of other super powers in their day
that fail to match the greatness of their
position, of their possessions, of their power the
greatness of the advantages that God conferred upon
them with corresponding greatness in their attachment to
spiritual right.
Those voices from hell will testify that no
nation however great and powerful can long survive
without God.
Asher and all the others were proofs of
this and could bear witness.
We have read this passage tonight to find
that they were guilty of many sins.
Verse 25 they have borne their shame they
were nations drowning in shameful sin and they
cared not.
But verse 30 says they shall bear their
shame with them that go down to the
pit.
In verse 27 we read they have laid
their swords under their heads that means simply
they died unconquered and unbowed something of a
natural death but their iniquity shall be upon
their bones.
I want you to get a picture here.
Here were super powers they were rich and
powerful but for a time they appeared to
thwart the very plan of God.
They could exist without God.
They gave themselves to lust and shameful and
wicked things.
Men and women let me make you understand
this that all that sowing had to have
a terrible day of reaping and if there
is one thing we need to recognize today
in the midst of all the prosperity that
America has generated and there has never been
in the history of the world a more
successful or more prosperous nation in the midst
of all the undoubted greatness that this country
has achieved in the midst of all the
wonderful things that this nation has brought about
and with which it has blessed its people
and indeed the world this country officially declaring
itself it says neutral but the reality is
without God has sunk into shame shame of
unmentionable descriptions and proportions shame my we have
such a tidal wave of wickedness and sin
and perversion we have got to the place
where the sins of this nation are so
blatantly filthy that the old fashioned wickedness and
I am not excusing it by the way
it is still vile and filthy but the
old fashioned wickedness of immorality and prostitution seem
almost straight by comparison we are living in
an evil age shameful shameful thing God
says their iniquity will be upon their bones
he will bring them down no nation can
survive long without God America rose quickly to
become what it is I don't think the
America that many Christians look at looking back
through history with rose tinted spectacles the America
that was always practically the land of the
saints on earth ever existed no such nation
existed but this nation was uniquely great because
it was uniquely visited of God tonight it
is weltering in shame and lust and filth
and wickedness there is something wrong when the
purported right of free speech or the purported
right of privacy takes precedence over everything godly
and decent when people can hide behind such
concepts to cover up murder we have now
had 47 million babies brutalized and murdered by
official decree in America Jeremiah the prophet the
second chapter speaks for God he reminds you
of the blood of the poor innocents and
it will not be forgotten it will not
be forgotten 47 million here
you probably heard the news reports and the
attorney general the area is looking at what's
happening I believe in Kansas City the same
thing is happening in English hospitals all the
time where children who are within hours or
days of a natural and full term birth
are being butchered murdered murdered
the British Medical Association has gone on record
as saying that even after the doctors have
done their best to murder them these children
often come into the world and they're still
alive and the doctor who has sworn that
he'll give himself to health and healing has
to take that infant and kill it again
kill it again shame, I
want to tell you no nation not even
with the resources of this nation not even
with the wealth of this nation and the
armies and the weapons of this nation not
any nation can long survive with such shameful
wickedness but on top of all that
there's one thing in our Bible reading that
I'm sure you noticed that will enable us
to discern the crowning sin of those nations
whose voices we now hear from hell verse
19, 21 24, 25, 26 27, 29, 30,
32 there is this reference to the uncircumcised
the uncircumcised without getting into all the details
the evident meaning is we're dealing with people
who had no interest in God's covenant mercies
and so they perished in the case of
this nation these voices from hell and what
they have to say to America today is
that if you're divorced from God and you're
divorced from His covenant and you're cut off
from the mercies of His covenant you're in
trouble big time remember the words of the
9th Psalm and the 17th verse it's a
scary scary proposition the wicked shall be turned
into hell and all the nations that forget
God the nations that forget God
I am not going to get into the
thorny issue of church and state tonight there's
a whole lot more to be said on
that issue than most American Christians imagine but
we have a generation even among bible believers
who have so bought in to the secular
definition of separation of church and state that
they believe that it is wrong even to
have any concept of the state supporting or
the state admitting or the state establishing or
the state looking favorably upon what is good
and what is godly now I want you
to stop and think for a minute I
am not advocating that the American government establish
the free Presbyterian church as the state national
religion I would run a million miles from
that to be quite honest nothing would destroy
us more quickly what I am saying to
you is this there is no neutral ground
let's understand this there is no such thing
as being neutral in the great war with
God Jesus said it don't take my word
Jesus said it, you are either for me
or you are against me now is that
clear you are for me or you are
against me no middle ground I have often
reminded you of a meeting of pastors in
Chicago that I attended when I was not
long in the United States these were leading
fundamental pastors and good men one and all
good men Dr. Bob Jr. was the chairman
of that meeting I felt really out of
my depth because it was a large hotel
and I wasn't used as this little fellow
from Ulster I wasn't used to anything like
the grandeur of these meetings but I was
there, why I was there I have no
idea but I was there and they were
discussing the moral majority and Jerry Falwell's activities
at that time now there was a whole
lot wrong with the concept of the moral
majority but the constant criticism that was being
picked up against Dr. Falwell and his moral
majority was that they were seeking to legislate
morality and of course that's wrong and the
pastors were drawing up a resolution against legislating
morality and I'm sitting there saying you know
I know I'm only a country bumpkin and
I know I'm only in from Northern Ireland
but am I really hearing what I'm hearing
are all these learned men are they all
going crazy so I said to the preacher
beside me whom I knew I said you
better speak up here he says why I
said well I mean do you want the
government to legislate immorality you're either going to
legislate morality or you're going to legislate immorality
you're either going to legislate the murder of
the unborn or the protection of the unborn
you're either going to legislate sodomy or you're
going to legislate what the bible says against
sodomy no middle ground here so I said
do you really want the government to legislate
immorality he said no I said well then
you better speak up because if these fellas
put this resolution through they're going to condemn
the government and those who would ask them
to legislate morality I want the government to
legislate moral and righteous laws I want that
and the closer they get to the divine
standard of the law of God and everything
moral the happier I'll be and so he
did speak up I know some of you
will not find it easy to believe that
I was so mealy mouthed and so quiet
that I didn't want to speak up but
believe me came better from an American and
a great preacher and so he did speak
up and suddenly I could see eyes opening
and I got a letter from another very
eminent preacher in America who's now with the
Lord one of the greatest men of God
in fundamentalism and he thanked me he said
I noted you and I prayed for you
from that day because I realized it was
a valuable intervention men and women let's understand
this the nations that forget God cannot long
survive ah worse than that God will turn
them into hell these voices from hell without
a cautionary word that no nation can by
its power or possessions ward off the judgment
of God you see there is a I
think there is a feeling abroad today that
the American bubble can never burst you have
solved the problem of inflation you have solved
largely the problem of unemployment you have solved
every monetary crisis and I have to say
yes thus far you have I don't say
those things facetiously I say them truthfully there
was a time when Asher thought the same
her armies couldn't really be conquered the only
one who could defeat Asher was Asher herself
it's the way it is with America is
it not let me tell you my friend
when God put his finger in Asher the
bubble burst I'm not even going to turn
to it tonight because I get off on
another sermon but I do have a sermon
title and the prophet speaks of that time
when the music stops that day is coming
the voices from hell will warn this nation
all your money all your business all your
military might all your bombs and all the
ability to defend yourselves it's of no consequence
once God moves what I'm saying they witness
to is of the danger of going down
to hell they warn of the endless finality
of hell you see the warning to Pharaoh
was that he was facing not annihilation but
retribution he was told about nations that had
been in hell for some time and would
stay there because hell is forever hell is
real hell is a danger you now must
face not only for the nation but for
the individual and hell and yet you know
the picture isn't all bleak what's bleak for
Asher etc those in hell but there's mercy
promised for those who are still in the
land of the living the Lord you know
promised Egypt that after 40 years he would
give a new generation the privilege of benefiting
from the folly of their fathers he would
restore them he did the same to Judah
after 70 years and he revealed his mercy
even more clearly the point is this my
friend hell is final hell is terrible but
while you're in the land of the living
God has a message not just of warning
but a message of grace in raising up
prophets to give his warning the Lord gave
a promise if you just turn over the
page in Ezekiel to 33 verse 5 you'll
have this statement he that taketh warning shall
deliver his soul he that taketh warning shall
deliver his soul there's a warning for America
I trust that God will move you to
pray for this nation I trust that God
will let you see the crossroads at which
it stands I trust that God will let
you see the forces that are at work
for its destruction and I trust that God
will burden you by word of witness by
labor of righteousness and by urgent fervent prayer
to give yourself for the salvation and the
deliverance of this nation if it is not
too late let us pray that God will
turn the nation back to him but all
this of course comes down to a personal
level a nation is just a conglomeration of
persons it's made up of so many individuals
and when you talk about a nation perishing
yes you're talking about a nation as a
national entity with its culture and its economy
and its military and all that but you're
also talking about so many individuals we talk
about the destruction of Assyria but think of
the hundreds of thousands of individual Assyrians who
died in that fall we hear voices from
hell voices belong to people men and women
tonight understand the warnings are personal let me
bring it right down to you hell is
real hell where is it I like the
answer that an old preacher gave a long
time ago hell is right at the end
of a Christ rejecters life I'm not interested
in the geography I'm interested in the reality
and I would trust tonight that you will
hear the warning I've talked about shame, the
shame of sin sin that is unconfessed sin
that has never been brought to the blood
of Christ sin that is indulged sin that
is cosseted sin that is embraced I've talked
about the shameful lusts that despoil America but
let me bring it down to you the
heart is deceitful above all things desperately wicked
I can't pretend to look beyond the outward
appearance but am I talking to people tonight
who behind the facade of a religious exterior
are hiding a heart of vile and wicked
shame perversion pornography immorality
lying or a thousand other expressions of self
and self love and self indulgence careless to
the things of God no interest in the
covenant of mercy or covenant of grace no
interest in the call of the gospel you've
heard from your youth up how that God
so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten son you've heard from your youth
up that Christ died for the ungodly you've
heard from your youth up the invitation of
the saviour come unto me all ye that
labour and are heavy laden I will give
you rest you've heard the command repent and
be converted that your sins may be blotted
out you've often learned you must be born
again you must be saved and yet here
you are tonight and thus far you've never
taken warning where is hell hell is one
heartbeat away from you without Christ one heartbeat
away from you without Christ but the promise
is he that taketh warning shall deliver his
soul and that's the promise you see these
voices from hell carry the message not just
to the nation but to you in reality
and I hope that God will bear this
into your heart tonight in reality what you
hear from the destruction of the lost is
not just voices from hell what you hear
is the voice of God and if you've
heard the voice of God tonight harden not
your heart let's bow together in prayer our
gracious God and our father in heaven we
thank thee that thou dost deal faithfully with
our souls we confess to thee that with
every justification we are concerned for the well
being and for the future of this nation
that thou hast so uniquely blessed gracious God
we pray for America tonight turn back the
tide of evil wicked perversion and sin oh
God we pray raise a standard of truth
cause the fear of God to fall upon
the people cause the fear of God to
fall upon those elected to high office Lord
give them a genuine faith in the gospel
put a fear of God in their heart
that they will not walk wittingly contrary to
what is just and good Lord have mercy
upon the nation we cry to thee that
thou wilt indeed awaken this great nation to
the unspeakable evil of the blood of the
poor innocents gracious God we pray rid us
of the scourge of secularism that has so
cursed the land have mercy on the land
save America from simply becoming another of the
superpowers that sink into hell Lord we are
also concerned about the individual we're concerned tonight
about men and women and young people in
this meeting cursed by sin dominated by the
devil slaves of lust Lord we cry to
thee tonight that thou would speak to young
men and young women I and men and
women without reference at all to their age
have mercy Lord oh God cause a deep
concern if there are those here tonight without
Christ the world doesn't know what's going on
in their heart we can't read the deep
and dark places the chambers of imagery in
the heart but thou canst gracious God we
pray that thou will speak we ask thee
oh Lord in Jesus name that thou will
cause deep conviction give honest confession and true
repentance with faith in Jesus Christ we were
singing tonight oh Lord Christ receiveth sinful men
even me with all my sin oh God
we pray that thou would bring the lost
to Christ we thank thee that when thou
discover to a man or a woman the
fact that they're sinners it's good news in
a way because Christ came to save sinners
Lord give grace to seek the Lord tonight
and grant that not one will leave this
meeting refusing to hearken we have heard voices
from hell let us now hear the voice
from heaven harden not the heart as their
heads are bowed and their eyes are closed
in a moment the meeting will be over
as stood in the ante room of eternity
tonight before you know it you will have
gone through the door how is it with
your soul if you're not saved oh I
trust you'll see how much how urgently you
need to be saved you'll get to Christ
Mr. Bream and I are here to help
you we can do nothing but point you
to Christ but we'd be happy to do
that don't leave without the Savior here and
your soul shall live come as the others
leave it is time to seek the Lord
part us oh God with thy blessing keep
us in thy fear grant that we will
not lose the solemn reality of thy holy
word we pray in Jesus name amen