View Article EVERYBODY IS GOING TO REPENT SOMEDAY

EVERYBODY IS GOING TO REPENT SOMEDAY

(from the Breath of Life Series by C. D. Brooks)

transcribed and edited by Derek Morris

This is a solemn message tonight and anyone who doesn’t really search his heart isn’t really listening. In Luke 6:25 Jesus said, “Woe unto you that are full for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep.” There were many somber warnings from the Savior’s lips, usually because, as the divine Son of God and as a prophet, He could see what was coming upon a generation that was willfully impenitent and hopelessly lost.

You see, Christ could look at a man and know his thoughts. Christ could tell whether that person would ever listen to the promptings of God’s Holy Spirit or not. What frustration this must have brought to Him as He preached His heart out time after time and could look at the people and see they didn’t even care! They were not concerned about His message of salvation. He wanted so desperately to lead His people to everlasting life, but they were not only blind, they were willfully blind and willfully ignorant. When Jesus looked at this, it was like a knife in His heart. Time and time again He would say with tears in His voice, “Woe unto you, woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees. Woe unto you who have ears and hear not. Woe unto you that are full, for you shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh, for the time is coming when you shall mourn and weep.”

That’s why one day He sat on a hillside, and with tears streaming down His face, He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how I’ve wanted to save you and gather you as a hen gathereth her chicks, but you would not” (Matthew 23:37). It wasn’t that I didn’t want to save but you would not. The door of mercy was open, but you refused to come in.

I mentioned to you this morning that it is a dreadfully dangerous thing to flee from the Word of the Lord; to have a knowledge of the will of God for your life and do nothing about it, for with that knowledge comes an awesome responsibility. We read the word of the Lord together, “Be ye a doer of the word and not a hearer only, deceiving your own selves.” Would you say Amen? That’s a personal decision that you’ve got to make. I can tell you the truth but I can’t make you want to do it. I can bring you the Scriptures and expose error, but I cannot force you to do right. And God will not do it. He says what He said to ancient Israel, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24:15).

But I want you to know something: if you are lost in hell, you will go to hell over the bruised and broken and bleeding body of the Lord for He stands in your way. The cross is there as an obstacle to destruction, and you’ve got to bully your way past it to be lost. You’ve got to shut your eyes and stop your ears and seal off your heart to the greatest love and the greatest gift that this world have ever known in order to be lost.

What has the Lord done for us tonight? He has spared our lives and given us an opportunity to hear His last warning message. I tell you this evening, many right here in this area are asleep in death who didn’t think it would happen to them. Many are asleep tonight who thought that there would yet be time to do God’s will. Many are asleep in the grave tonight who were guilty of the sin of procrastination which is contemptible.

When a person hears the truth of God’s word and says, “I’ll do it later,” that’s what you say to someone when you’re just trying to get rid of them, am I right? “Oh, let me think about it. Maybe I’ll decide to get it later.” But we don’t even know if there will be a later. Would you say Amen? We don’t know if we’ll see another day. You don’t have to be old and sick to die. Even if you live for many a year, you run the risk of hardening your heart through willful transgression of what you know to be God’s will, and burning out your conscience, and committing the unpardonable sin. God knows that you run that risk.

That’s why Jesus longs to save now. He’s spared our lives to be here and hear the truth, and some are sorry they heard it. They wish they hadn’t. But I want to read you a text of Scripture. It’s found in Hosea 4:6. The Bible says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee.” It’s the Devil who says to you, What you don’t know can’t hurt you. If you have the opportunity to receive the truth of God’s Word, and you reject that opportunity, God says, I’ll reject you. That’s willful ignorance. That’s as serious as hearing and turning away. For the Bible says in James 4:17, “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

I hope that’s clear to you. Sin is not only not doing wrong. Sin is refusing to do right. Jesus said, not only should you not kill, but you should love your neighbor as yourself. Amen? Someone said to me, “Pastor, I don’t kill. I don’t steal. I go to church once a week. Surely God won’t destroy me just because I reject the Sabbath?” The Bible says, if you reject truth, I will reject you. If you keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, you are guilty of how much? All. Who do we think we are to bicker with God? Either He’s God or He’s not God. Would you say Amen? Either we’re going to make the decision that we’re going to follow Him all the way, or we’re going to be lost. Let’s say Amen.

God gives every person an opportunity to make a decision for truth, and you’ve had yours. When you come up in the judgment, God’s not going to listen when you say, “Well, Lord, I would have served you if it wasn’t for my mom or my dad.” God has given you life and an opportunity to hear His last warning message, to hear His call to come out. He’s done that for you.

God has sent everything to us necessary to know His will. He sent His prophets, but Matthew 23:34 says, “You killed them and crucified.” They don’t do that exactly today, but they malign, they ridicule, they lie. John spoke in 3 John 1:10 of a man named Diotrephes, who gossiped about God’s servant with malicious words and you know why he did it? Pride. And there are Diotrephes in this valley. Preachers who have called me the antichrist (who say that I’m a self-ordained god); malicious words. But no one ever came with a Bible under his arm. Would you say Amen? We offered ten thousand dollars for a single text showing that God changed His Holy Sabbath day and told us to keep Sunday holy, but nobody ever came to claim. Would you say Amen? Folks may be good at malicious gossip and slander, but when it comes to supporting their spouting from the Word of God, they cannot deliver. The Bible calls them blind leading the blind. And they manifest the same spirit as those who slew the prophets in the days of old.

Then He said, I sent My Son, and what did you do with Him? You met together, the Bible says in Matthew 21:37-39, and you said, here comes the Son, let us kill Him. And then God sent the Holy Spirit but folks resisted Him until they grieved Him away. God sent the Word of God. It’s readily available to you. But in 1 Peter 2:8 the Bible says, “They stumble at the Word, being disobedient.” Unless you make up your mind that you’re going to obey the Lord, you’ll always stumble at the Word. You need to be converted if you want to understand God’s will.

But then in 2 Peter 3:3-5 the Bible speaks of scoffers who will come in the last days, whose sole purpose is to belittle, to create a scene, to try to loud talk the Word of God in their ignorance. The Bible says in verse 5, they are willingly ignorant. They’re not ignorant because they cannot know; they are ignorant because they refuse to know. This is unbelief.

So Lord, what have you got to say to people who act this way? Morris, read them Genesis 6:3. Tell them My spirit shall not always strive with man. Tell them to go back and read the pages of history. Read the end of those who turn their backs on God and His word and yield their wills to the Devil and to unbelief. My Spirit shall not always strive with men.

Mrs. Billy Graham uttered this profound statement. She looked at what’s going on, what’s brazenly plastered in the newspapers. She looked at what you would see on the magazine rack in a drug store. She is listening to folks debating the merits of perversion. Mrs. Billy Graham said, “If God doesn’t come soon and punish this wicked generation, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

The day is going to come when God will be through saving men and women. He’ll be through answering prayer. The day is coming when the door of probation will be shut and the plagues will fall on all who have received the mark of the beast, and only those who have received the seal of the living God, only the remnant who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus will find shelter. For the Lord is going to stand up and say, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and whoever is righteous let him be righteous still.”

The Word of the Lord is plain in Hebrews 10:26-27. The Bible says, “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” Well, Lord, what remains? “But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” When one knows God’s will and won’t do it, that’s all he’s got to look forward to. And as sure as God sits on the throne, it’s coming!

The Bible tells us about those who are going to perish. Over in 2 Thessalonians 2:10 the Bible says, “They received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” Verse 11-12: “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

But there’s a word I want you to catch. I believe it slipped by somebody. The Bible says that they will perish because “they received not the love of the truth.” It’s not enough to say, “Well, I see it.” It’s not enough to say, “Well, I agree”. The truth doesn’t need your agreement. It’s the truth whether you believe it or not. Would you say Amen? It’s not enough to say, “Well, Pastor, you sure told the truth.” The Bible says that you’ve got to love the truth. You’ve got to love it more than you love father or mother. You’ve got to love it more than you love material possessions. You’ve got to love it more than you love friends and acquaintances. You’ve got to love it more than you love life itself. Until we come to the place where we love the truth of God, we are in trouble. And so the Lord said, “Woe unto you that laugh, for ye shall mourn and weep.”

Well, Lord, what’s coming? Daniel 12:4: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”

“At that time shall Michael stand up” (verse 1), “the great Prince which standeth for the children of Thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time Thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” A time of trouble is coming upon this world such as the world has never witnessed before, and I want to tell you who’s going to end that great controversy. It’s going to be terminated by our splendid Christ. He’s going to come riding down the skies to settle the issue of sin forever. And the Devil and his angels and all those folks who refused to be saved and follow the Lord are going to face their end.

In Jeremiah 25:30 the Bible says this: “Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall mightily roar upon His habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.” And the slain of the Lord--slain means killed. The Lord’s going to end this war. The Lord’s going to be the victor in Armageddon. Not Russia, not the United States, not China, but the Lord Himself is going to come and He’s going to judge the wicked. Verse 33: And the Bible says, “And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.”

Tonight the heathen rage and the scoffers mock. There are some who have become so accustomed to insulting God that they have become bold. They fear neither God nor man. It was the wise man Solomon who said in Ecclesiastes 8:11, “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” In other words, because you can mock God and ridicule His word without immediate retribution, you get bold. You think you can laugh in the face of God and get away with it forever? The Bible says man’s heart is fully set to do evil, because God doesn’t swiftly execute judgment.

But what we’ve got to realize is this: There’s going to be pay day someday. And though evil men scoff, though they thrust their fists into the face of God and call Him despicable names, though they belittle His word and His cross, He’s going to have the last word. The Bible says that someday soon the Lord is going to stand up. He’s going to cry out, “It is finished. He that is unjust let him be unjust still.” God is reaching out now. God is anxious to save now. God is reaching out His hand now. God says it doesn’t matter how dirty you are, if you come to Me I’ll save you and make you clean now. But My Spirit shall not always strive with man.

But someday soon Jesus is going to cry out, “It is finished.” And then the plagues begin to rain down, and the wrath of God falls broadside on the head of the sinner, then that sinner will cry out, “Lord, have mercy. Lord, we’ll change now.” But it’s too late. The saints of God have been already sealed. When the plagues are falling and the water turns to blood, when the wicked are suddenly afflicted with terrible sores and burned with fierce heat, it’s too late. Too late. And though they weep now because of their punishment, they would not weep because of their sins and turn to Christ while it was still praying time. It was too late to get into the ark when the door was shut and the fountains of the deep broke loose. It was too late to get right with God when the folks in Sodom and Gomorrah, who had laughed at Lot’s pleading with them to come out, saw the fire and brimstone coming down like a flaming fireball out of heaven. And it will be too late then, when the plagues begin to fall.

I want to read to you a solemn text from Proverbs 1 beginning with verse 24: “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded.” God’s calling. It’s hard-headed, pleasure-loving humanity that refuses. “I have stretched out My hand and no man regarded.”

Verse 25: “You have set at nought all my counsel.” Well, what is God’s counsel? It’s His Word. Folks heard it, but they put it aside in favor of human traditions. “But ye have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of my reproof.” Verse 27-32: “When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of My counsel: they despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.” Verse 33: “But whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” Oh, I’m glad that God ended on a positive note. He said some are going to listen. Some are going to find shelter in the Rock of Ages.

God gave us a great blessing this morning, and I thank God for it. There are many who are going to take their stand next weekend. They’ve made up their minds that they’re going to serve the Lord. And I thank God for them, with all my heart I do. But I want to tell you what’s on my mind right now. I’m thinking of those who put off a full surrender to God, in spite of the great blessing. I’m concerned about one person tonight. I’m concerned about one person tonight who understood God’s will but because of material things or because of friends or because of family they decided to say no to the Lord. In fact, there are people on my mind right now. And I wake up in the night and I pray for you. And I plead with the Lord for you. How long, O Lord, before that person lets go and makes a full surrender to you? How long, O Lord?

A little while ago there was a series like this out in the State of Washington. The hall was packed every night. One night a big rugged man came up front, a working man in a pair of overalls. He said, “Pastor, I had to see you tonight.” He said, “I don’t know why I’m here. You can tell I didn’t dress to come here.” He said, “I used to walk with the Lord, but I’ve turned my back on Him. Married a non-Christian woman.” And he said, “For years I have refused to serve God and do what I know I should do.” He said, “I don’t even know why I’m here.”

But that man knew that God was speaking to his heart. He knew that God was giving him another chance. The tears began to flow. He saw the urgency of recommitting his life to God and before he left he made the decision that the next night he would come down to the front and take his stand for Christ.

The next night, the hall was packed. The Lord was present there that night, and when the call was made, that man and his wife popped up like two corks, walked down front and stood before the altar. That was Friday night. That was Friday night.

Now I’m going to read you a letter addressed to the preacher:

On Friday evening you made a call, and quite a large number of people gave their hearts to the Lord. Amongst this group was a Mr. and Mrs. David Anderson. Friday evening. Mr. Anderson had come from an Adventist Christian background but his wife had not. Both came forward and wanted to join the church. Saturday night, the next night, they were going home to a town a distance away. A drunk came and ran into them head on, killing himself and Mr. Anderson immediately. Mrs. Anderson was very seriously injured and is on the critical list here at the hospital. She died. Their little girl was brought here but she seems to be doing alright.

And then he concluded:

I thought you might be interested to know this; it might inspire you to go ahead and make more calls, because that was evidently the last opportunity for those two people to accept the Lord.

The next year that same preacher returned to the State of Washington and two middle-aged people came running over to his car. The lady threw her arms around his neck and said, “You may not know us but we are the parents of David Anderson. Thank God. Thank God you gave a call that night.”

Friends, I don’t want to end this sermon talking about the judgment of God. God said, “As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” As we close this service I want you to forget about me. I want you to think about what the Lord has gone to prepare. I want you to think of a Savior who’s mighty to save. I want you to think about Him. I want you to decide now what you’re going to do about Jesus. I’m asking you tonight, if you’ve not yet decided to do God’s will, why not now? Please bow your heads and close your eyes and let us pray.

O blessed Lord, we praise You and thank You for all that You have done. But Lord there are some mighty nice people who have not decided yet. I’m asking you to speak to them now, and if they can be moved, do what a man cannot do. I know You won’t force anybody. I wouldn’t ask You even if You could. But Lord, if there’s somebody in the valley of decision, if there’s somebody here who will yet do right, I’m pleading with You tonight to speak to that person, right now.

And now, beloved, if you feel that urging from within, if in your mind’s eye you can see Jesus waiting for you to come, if you can hear His voice calling you, that’s the Holy Spirit. That’s the way God draws people. If you feel that urgency in your heart tonight and you want to say, Lord I want to be baptized, too. Whether you want to be baptized in a baptistery or in a lake or in a creek, that doesn’t matter. But you’re saying, Lord, I want to be baptized as soon as possible. I want to do your will, then I want you to stand right now, while our eyes are closed and our heads are bowed. Stand up. Don’t hesitate. Tonight, while Jesus is speaking to your heart, while you sense His presence near, stand up and let God know.

Right now, I’m pleading for one person that loves Jesus tonight. We may baptize a big group, but I’m not talking about that right now. I’m talking to one person in the valley of decision. You want in God’s way and keep His commandments, and join with those who are preparing for His coming, then you stand.

I want to give you a moment to make that decision, to think about the goodness of the Lord. What He did for you. How can you hold back, when He did so much for you? I’m going to be quiet now, because if the Lord can’t reach you, nobody can, and I’m just going to pray silently in these closing moments that God will speak to your heart, while there is still time.

Have I given you ample time to consider it?

And now I want to ask all those who want the Lord to continue to guide you and to direct your path, would you all stand at this time?

O Lord, see us here and know our hearts. Bless those who have been baptized in the past twenty-four hours. Place a shield around their lives and settle them in Thy truth, I pray. Bless those who tonight have decided to do Your will. Bless those who are in the valley of decision and are asking You to work with them and speak to their hearts while it’s still praying time. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Let everyone say Amen!