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The good news in the proclamation of the

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Gospel is to convert men to God.

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We see this in Acts 26.18, to

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open their blind eyes, to turn them from

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darkness to light and from the power of

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Satan unto God.

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But in a day where the church lies

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in a spiritual stupor and the Gospel is

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not preached, creates an atmosphere of death and

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decay as many members of congregations are in

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a perishing condition.

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The preacher's duty is to preach to men's

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consciences with the purpose to awaken them to

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alarm.

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The Apostle Paul so declared, knowing the terror

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of the Lord, we persuade men.

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If a man is sound asleep and his

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house is on fire, he first must be

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roused and shown his danger.

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He must be awakened before he can become

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alarmed.

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So too, with a sinner alienated from God,

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they are fast asleep and soft words will

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not awaken them.

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In a day of spiritual declension in the

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church, the majority rest upon an empty religious

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profession as they live a lie of a

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false assurance, as they walk on slippery ground,

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unaware of their peril of dying in their

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sins and being cast into the torments of

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hell.

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As the psalmist declares, surely thou did set

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them in slippery places, thou cast them down

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to destruction, how they are brought into desolation

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as in a moment they are utterly consumed

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with terrors.

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Multitudes in our churches today will pray, they

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will serve, they will give, they love to

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talk about Jesus, yet they are strangers to

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a bloodstained Christ, like the scribes and Pharisees,

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they are very religious, but void of God.

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They have never sat under the sound of

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the gospel with the threatenings of God ringing

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in their ears.

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Their pastor has merely spoken soft words to

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them about heaven, about the love of God,

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but soft words will not awaken men hardened

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in their sins.

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Men need to be warned of their peril

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of hell and its torments by dying outside

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the blood of Christ.

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The preacher must face his hearers with a

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sword in one hand and a hammer in

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the other to hew men down by the

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sword of the Spirit, and like a hammer

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pound away on all false foundations with the

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express purpose to break up the stony heart

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so God can make it a heart of

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flesh.

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A God called preacher will not fear man,

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but only God, and press upon his hearers

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their duty of repentance and warn them of

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the miseries of a burning hell.

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He will be like the prophet Ezekiel, who

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fearlessly pulls men from the fire with a

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clear cry of danger.

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Thus saith the Lord God, smite with thy

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hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say,

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Alas for all the abominations of the house

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of Israel, for they shall fall by the

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sword, and by the famine, and by the

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pestilence.

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But sadly, many pastors fail to warn their

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people and speak to them only smooth and

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encouraging words while their congregation sits on rotten

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plankboards of an empty religious profession ready to

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give way beneath their weight and send them

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down into a devil's hell.

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One must ask himself before God an honest

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question, Am I saved?

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Have I ever been lost?

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Have I ever been awakened to my lost

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condition to feel my danger and see my

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need of a remedy for sin?

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Have I exercised heartfelt repentance toward God and

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faith in a bloodstained Christ to wash my

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sins away, or have I merely done what

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the minister told me to do and did

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a physical act by walking an aisle or

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repeating a prayer and merely making a decision

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for Jesus?

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Am I living a lie as an unconverted

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church member, or do I know the reality

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of being united to a living Lord through

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saving faith?

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May the Holy Spirit shine his searching spotlight

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upon my heart to show me any falsehood

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in my profession and grant me the grace

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of saving faith in Christ Jesus.

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Amen.