Jesus of Nazareth Is Passing by - Part 2 — Brian Long

Amos and the Final Call

And when one example is the book of Amos, Amos chapter 7, I believe it is, here it is, chapter 8, Amos chapter 8, verse 2, he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, a basket of summer fruit, then said the Lord unto me, the end has come upon my people of Israel.

I will not again pass by them anymore. That's judgment. Every time he passed by a people, it was in mercy. He's come to save. He's come to bring good news. He's come to heal the brokenhearted, set the captives free.

He's come to bring recovering of sight to the blind. But when God says, I will not pass by you anymore, you have just heard the final call. Does God really come to a place, as long suffering and patient as he is, does God ever come to a place when he says, last call, no more?

Noah's Ark and the Closing Door

Yes, he does. Yes, he does. In the days of Noah, 120 years, that righteous man preached out for people to repent. God's sending judgment. Judgment is coming. That's why I'm building this ark. Turn to God.

Turn from your sin. Come to God. Repent. Judgment is coming. And day after day, they heard it and no one responds. And God was so patient, not wanting anyone to perish. Hundred and twenty years go by, and then one day God says, Noah, get in.

And your family, your sons and their wives and Noah gets in and God shuts the door. Last call. Now there's no more mercy, there's only judgment. And there will come a time if you're lost tonight, you've never been saved and your name is not written in the book of life.

And right now, if you were to die, you would not be going to heaven. You would be going to hell. We don't know if this is your last call. I don't know that. Who in the world would trifle with that? Who in the world would say, well, there'll always be another day?

When none of us are promised tomorrow. And the truth is, Jesus Christ is coming again. And what if he were to come tonight or tomorrow? I have a good friend that's in Guyman, Oklahoma. He's a Hispanic pastor of a church.

The Tragedy of Delayed Repentance

We call him Brother Cuco. One time, Brother Cuco went up to Liberal, Kansas, and he was leading a Bible study up there and he had a lot of families gathering there. And there was one particular young man whose mom went to that Bible study and his mom had been praying for him for years to get saved, to come to Christ.

This young man was a partier and he was living a sinful life. Brother Cuco had talked to him many times before. He had gone to this Bible study on a certain evening, he got there early, and this particular young man came to find his mom's to see if he could get some money.

And he came and Brother Cuco sort of intercepted him and said, how are you doing? He said, good. I just need to talk to my mom to get some money ready. I'm in a hurry. I got to go. And Brother Cuco had, he said, I had such a strong burden to tell this guy to talk to this young man and to plead with him to come to Christ.

And he did, he pleaded with him, come to Jesus, come to Jesus. Don't you think it's about time to leave that lifestyle and come to Jesus? He said, Brother Cuco, I know what you're saying is right. He said, but I'm not ready right now.

Can you give me another chance? Brother Cuco said, if it were up to me, I could give you another chance. He said, but it's not up to me. He said, well, I'm not ready. And he left. He got in the car with two other friends.

That very night, that very night, the police pulled him over. Whether it was front of stop sign or speeding, I don't know. But the police pulled him over. That young man had a bag of drugs in a paddock.

He put the drugs in his mouth and he swallowed the bag of drugs. That very night, after the police wrote the ticket, he let them go. And not long after that, he bent over with excruciating pain. The other friend said, he said, get me to the emergency room.

They got him to the emergency room and he died on the emergency room table. Last call, the last appeal. We don't know how many more times Jesus will pass by waiting for someone to say, Lord, wait, save me.

The Urgency of Responding to Christ

Save me. We don't know when our last call is. And I want to plead with you, young people, in Jesus name, I plead with you. If you have never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior, if you've never come to that place of being convicted tonight, you're convicted of sin.

You say, I know God is speaking to me. I know he's knocking on the door of my heart. Maybe it's an older person. You've been in church for years, but you're religious and lost and God's knocking on the door of your heart.

I'm not trying to manipulate you. You say you're trying to scare me. If it would work, I would. If I could scare you into heaven, I sure would. I'm just telling you the truth. We don't know when you will hear the gospel for the last time.

The Gospel of Christ's Sacrifice

And the gospel is this. God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ, came from heaven to earth. He became a man. He lived a perfect, sinless life. And he came for this purpose, to die in your place on a cross as God's perfect sacrifice for sin.

God judged his son, Jesus, on the cross to pay for your sins in full. And Jesus died on that cross. He suffered, bled and died for you. He died on the cross. They buried him in a tomb. And three days later, he rose from the dead, proving that he's God.

He ascended into heaven. The gospel is simply this. Jesus Christ died for your sins. Now you say, what must I do? You must repent. You must turn now from your sin to cry. Come just as you are. But you're willing to turn from that lifestyle to Jesus.

And you simply call out to him. The Bible says, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Artimaeus cried out, Lord, have mercy on me. You don't have to have a 30 minute eloquent prayer.

You've got to have a cry in your heart that says, Jesus, I need you. Jesus, save me, save me, Lord, forgive me for my sins. And the Lord will come and he will forgive and he will save. He will cleanse.

He will change you. He will deliver you. As we heard yesterday, a meth addict, he will deliver you completely, entirely. He is able. He has all power and all authority. He is mighty to save. But you must humble yourself and call out to him.

Following Christ in Baptism

Will you do that tonight? Will you do that tonight and someone perhaps and say, I've done that. What's the next thing he did? He followed him. He pulled off his garment. You throw off the old life and he followed Jesus.

And here's the first step. You follow him. You're baptized in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. You're baptized. Have you been baptized in obedience to Christ, baptized in water?

And many people will not be baptized in water because they don't want to mess up my hair. I was 60 years old and I know our child. I can't do that if none of my friends are. Jesus said, if you're ashamed of me before man, I'll be ashamed of you before my father in heaven.

What are you ashamed of? Jesus himself died on a cross, stripped, humiliated. He suffered and died for you on a cross. Are you ashamed of him who died for you? What is holding you back from saying, yes, Lord, I will serve you.

Forgiveness, Bitterness, and Spiritual Blindness

I will be baptized. And by your grace, I will follow you with all my heart. We make that decision tonight. One more thing, I feel the Holy Spirit putting on my heart. Did you know if you have hatred for someone, the Bible says you're blind?

Are you making that up, Ron? If any man loves God but hates his brother. He is in darkness. First, John 111, he that hated his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and knows not whether he go with because that darkness has blinded his eyes.

You may be a Christian here tonight. But you are in the prison of bitterness and unforgiveness, and there is hatred, there is hatred for someone. And you're in this prison of unforgiveness and bitterness, and you are still the same thinking it's OK to harbor that you're blind if you think it's OK to harbor that.

Jesus very clearly said, if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly father forgive you your trespasses. If you do not forgive your brother from your heart. As a very serious matter tonight, you want revival to come to your soul, you say, you don't know what they did and I don't know, but God knows and God is just and you need to give it to God.

Let God be God. He always deals justly in his time. You need to give it to God and you need to make a decision tonight. God, I don't feel forgiveness. I don't feel like doing this, but I choose to obey you.

I choose to forgive. I choose to release this person to you. I choose to forgive them. Now, Lord, change my heart. Otherwise, you remain blind and in the dark. Will you do that tonight? Will you do whatever it is that the Holy Spirit is telling you to do, but don't leave unchanged?

God forbid that we leave unchanged. Would you bow your heads with me as we pray? Now, our pastor is going to come forward and Stan's going to come forward and lead him of invitation. And I simply want to say to you that God is speaking to you tonight.

The Invitation to Come to Christ

If God is dealing with you in any way, Jesus is passing by that I can assure you of, and here is your opportunity to call out to him. Lord, please stop. Please don't pass me by. Please hear my humble cry.

Lord, please come and meet with me. For some of you, it's Lord, please save me tonight. And we're going to give you an opportunity to just call out to God as we sing, you pray. And then I also want to ask you if you want it, if you are willing to make a decision tonight or you want someone to pray with you and for you, that you would get up out of your seat.

And you would come forward to this altar. If you want someone to pray with you, we'd be glad to pray with you. If you're making a decision, say, Brian, I'm the one who needs to be baptized. I'm the one who's standing in need of prayer.

I want to invite you to step out of your seat as we all let's all stand. I want you to invite you to step out of your seat and come forward. You'll be welcomed at this altar. There's nothing to be ashamed of.

Jesus paid it all for us. Who's going to make a decision tonight? Bill, I'm going to place here to pray and I'll be over here to pray as well if you'd like to pray.