I am speaking tonight from the Gospel according to Luke. There are two extremes that any human being, who has an interest in his soul's welfare and wishes to be right with God and to know something of the comfort and his bliss in eternity, must avoid. First – making a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in too big of a hurry. Nobody much has got time to listen to the Word of God sufficiently long that God's Spirit may awaken faith in them and they may be able to close with Jesus Christ.
The second extreme is substituting anything on earth for simple faith in Jesus Christ. Hell is going to be crowded with people who made Holy Spirit conviction a term of a man; they have substituted that for Christ. And hell is also getting crowded today by men and women who are trying to earn their way into the good graces of God by what they call sitting at the feet of Christ mourning over their sins. There is deadly danger in hearing the Gospel and not closing with its terms. There is deadly danger here if he gets in too big of a hurry he is liable to make a false profession; if he takes too much time he is liable to run into the wrath of God who demands immediate repentance.
I want to talk some tonight, if God's Spirit will help me, about this last danger. I am speaking on "When the Lights Go Out on the Road to Hell." And they are going out for men and women all about us. I can't prove it, but I believe that America is made up largely of men and women who cannot be saved. I believe they have played and trifled with truth too long. And there is one thing that God Almighty gets angry about; it's the people who treat lightly any move that God makes to bring light on our pathway. That sure is serious.
There comes a time when God Almighty will reprobate a man, will reject a man. He rejected Pharoah. He rejected the nation of Israel; and it appears to be by the blank expression on people's faces that many, many people in America have been rejected, because God has had them under His long-sufferance to the point where He cannot be God and deal with them any more. And so He just rejects them and they begin to live in hell here on this earth and hell in time to come.
My text tonight is Luke 11:35, but I begin reading at verse 29-30: "And when the people were gathered thick together, He began to say, This is an evil generation.' they seek a sign,' and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation."
they want Him to put on a show. A man is in a bad shape if he won't take God's Word for it. An evil generation won't believe what God says, they want a sign. God said, I have given the sign of Jonas the prophet, and I will give no more; that sign is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you bypass the Son of God there is no hope. The people of this generation who demand more from God than He is willing to show us, they will be at the judgment and the Queen of the South who lived a long time ago when there wasn't near as much light from God on the road to hell as there is now. The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of a man, who was Solomon. She was looking for all the help she could find. She heard about a wise man by the name of Solomon and she journeyed many days to listen to Solomon. And behold a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold a greater than Jonah is here. You have heard the Son of God, and you haven't repented. You have had more light than the men of Nineveh and they repented at the preaching of a man. Verses 33-35: "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness."
Take heed eternity-bound men and women that the light which lights the road to eternity isn't put out and where there was light, there will be nothing but darkness.
Thank God that ever once in a while on a man's pathway toward eternity, the thunder rolls and the lightning flashes, to show men where they are and where they are going. Thank God. I thank God for that. Poor blind sinners bound in the cords of their own sins, do not go to hell without being warned of God, without light crossing their pathway. Here is a man walking in utter darkness and he is walking right toward a precipice, where if he steps over it will be death; thank God, before he gets there, God will send a flash of lightning to show him.
And repentance means that the light shines and shows you; act on it, and turn around, and start in the other direction. Take heed that the light which is in thee be not darkness. There is terrible danger in refusing to walk in the light that you have from Almighty God. And the Scriptures are plain that no man walks without God bringing light on his pathway.
There is teaching in the Word of God that all of us are headed for final judgment. All of us in some way or another are going to meet face to face Him sitting on a throne, to Whom all judgment has been committed. But my text tonight isn't talking about the judgment in eternity. My text is talking about a judgment; that trail of which is found in the dealing of God with the covenant people in the Old Testament and all through the New Testament; that is the present judgment of God. When God Almighty blinds people, when God Almighty hardens people, when God Almighty turns the light off, and leaves people in utter darkness. Oh! how terrible to walk in utter darkness. This is a solemn thing tonight. I do thank God that He deals with men now. I want to warn you now that a man is going to be responsible for his response to every truth that God brings across his pathway. It is impossible for anyone to ignore truth and God brings truth as a light on a man's pathway. And a man makes a decision and choice in response to every bit of truth that God brings to him. The Bible is crystal clear that there has not been a man or a woman who has ever lived on God's earth, that had the slightest excuse for heading on toward the judgment of Almighty God. The Bible is crystal clear that all men have light from God on their road to eternity, and that light God gives them to light their pathway, and to warn, and threaten and show; and that man is responsible for his reaction to that light.
Hell is not going to be full of people to be pitied. Hell is going to be full of people who would not react in the right way ,to the mercy of God in lighting their pathway. You don't much believe that, do you? But it is so. We must remember that men are in the shape that they are in because of the act of their own will against Almighty God.
God didn't get men in the mess that they are in, men got in the mess they are in by sinning willfully against the Holy law of God. And the God of all grace is the God who warns and threatens, and lightens the pathway of every person sufficiently to cause them to stop and be brought to repentance.
We worry a good deal about the heathens, but the Scriptures are clear that any man that starts walking in the light that he has; God Almighty will get more to him. That's so. The Bible says that every man has the light of a God-given conscience, and the conscience either accuses you or excuses you. The best description of a God-given conscience: it's not native to you, it is a gift of God. It is a light that God gives every human being on his road to eternity. Isaiah 30:21 says: "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn lo the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."
Your conscience speaks to you lots of times. Haven't you heard it? It says: go this way, don't go that way. Every man has received from God the gift of conscience. It is wonderful if a man will listen to it. But if a man sins against what his conscience tells him, after a while instead of it accusing us, it will excuse us, and we can be at peace with a conscience God gave us, because we now have a seared and an evil conscience. The Bible is crystal clear that if a man looked up at the stars, that would leave him without any excuse. God has so manifested Himself and His purpose and His will and His way and His character in creation, as to leave all men without excuse.
And then the Bible talks about the law of God written on men's hearts. Isn't it wonderful that God has never sent a man to hell who didn't know right and wrong, because that is a gift of God to all His creatures. That's light, isn't it?
Then some of us have had the glorious privilege of hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed. And if a man hears it once, every time he hears it again without action, the Gospel becomes a condemnation instead of a joy. What a privilege to have lived in the place that God appointed us, where somebody proclaimed the Gospel of the glory of God. Isn't that wonderful? How precious that is a light on the road to hell.
Then some of us have heard that Gospel preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and it came not unto us in word only, but in the power of the Holy Ghost and in assurance. Praise God that's light on our pathway. And some of us have known what it is for the Holy Spirit to prick our hearts with the Word of God, and reveal to us that we were a guilty lost sinner, and put us under Holy Ghost conviction of sin, and brought us to our wit's end. And when we cried unto Him for mercy, He heard our cry and delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. He gave us grace and faith to believe. Praise the Lord, salvation is of the Lord.
Some of us have known what it is for the Holy Spirit to strive with us. Not every man the Holy Spirit strives with gets saved; but the Holy Spirit strives with every man. I tell you what's the truth, there has been lots of light given to the people in America, and they are without excuse. There has been enough Gospel preached in America to save a world; if there was faith added to it. The Bible says in Hebrews 4:2, "For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them,' but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."
God isn't filling hell with innocent victims. Hell is being filled with rebellious refusals to walk in the light they have got. Men and women are responsible to walk in the light they have and could have from Almighty God. We are to walk in all the truth and light God is pleased to give us. If a person walks in the light God gives him, I believe God will give him more light.
Man will say I can't believe. Do you believe this: tithe is Holy unto the Lord. Can you believe that? This is God's world and you owe Him the tithe. Yes, I believe God tells the truth when He says, "The tithe is mine." Well, why don't you walk in that light? You may say, "I am not a Christian," but you are one of God's creatures, and the Bible does not teach that the tithe of saved people belongs to the Lord. He says, "The tithe is mine." And in Malachi 3:8, He says: "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings."
You could at least be honest, couldn't you? Why don't you start walking in that kind of light? God always takes you through the school of law in order to get you where you will appreciate grace. Somebody says, "I am not a Christian, so God doesn't expect anything from me." All He expects is for you to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind and with all thy strength; and love thy neighbor as thyself. That is His commandment. Well, I want to be saved. No, you don't, you won't even walk in what you know is so. You must walk in the truth and light that God brings across your path. He doesn't bring it for you to argue about. He brings it to light your pathway so you can walk straight. A man cannot walk in light that he doesn't have, a man dare not do less. There can be no unbelief and no faith apart from revelation, but there is revelation in a star. Every time your conscience speaks to you, that is God's gift, and every time it speaks to you, you make a response. You ignore it or obey it. Every time the Gospel is preached in your hearing, something takes place in you; and you make some sort of response to the demand of Christ, Who is presented in every line of the Gospel. Unbelief is not ignorance, unbelief is rejection of truth. Men and women reject truth every day. Every sinner who goes down to the grave has walked in sin and rejected truth every day and refused to be influenced by evidence. Every time you see a graveyard, that proves to you that you are going to die and the Word of God says, "I! is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." Oh! the awfulness of refusing to walk in the light that God gives you; and refusing to believe that judgment is coming and God must punish sin. Now the awfulness of what I am talking about is this: God Almighty judicially blinds those who refuse constantly, deliberately, and over a period of time, the length of which is determined by God. God deliberately, judicially blinds those men, and where there was light, the light becomes darkness. Three times in the book of Romans, men were given up by God. First to uncleanness – Romans 1:24: "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves."
Second to vile affections – verse 26: "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature."
Thirdly God gave them over to a reprobate mind –verse 28: "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient."
God doesn't always put up with men's refusal to walk in truth and light. God will not always put up with men's refusal to be influenced by the evidence all about them. In Romans 11:1, the question is asked, "Hath God cast away His people?" Verse 2: "God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew."
Then we have the story about Elijah making intercession to God against Israel saying in verse 3 and following: "Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, and digged down Thine altars,' and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Verse 7: "What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded."
They were blinded according to the character of God. Verses 8-10: "God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them; Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway."
Isn't that terrible language? Back of the rejection, and the blindness, and the stumbling, and the snare, and the giving of eyes so they can't see, and ears so they can't hear; is the willful rejection of people to walk in the light that God has given them. God never reprobates a man apart from that man's willful rejection of truth and willful refusal to walk in that light.
I know I can't preach it like it ought to be preached, but I wish I could scare any of you, sitting in the seat of waiting for God Almighty and laying the blame for your damnation on Him. Him Who hung His Son on a cross and sent His Spirit to finger your heart, and has enabled you to live in a land where the Gospel is preached. Listen to me, we are dealing with a God, Who at times when He sees fit, instead of giving you eyes that you've had to look at truth, then refuse to walk in it; He will give you eyes so you can't see, He will give you ears so you can't hear. He will set a snare and a stumbling block. Oh! my soul, this is the time when the lights go out on your road to hell, and you stumble on the rest of the way in darkness. God leaves you alone. I could give you other Scriptures, but that is enough. This is solemn. Hosea 6:3 says: "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord;..."
Jeremiah 29:13: "And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart."
May I give you two experiences to illustrate what I have been trying to solemnly lay upon you from God's Word. I am thinking now about a man named Dutch. He owned the biggest saloon in the suburbs of Houston, Texas, and I was there in an evangelistic campaign in a Baptist church. And in two or three days after we started the meeting, the fine Godly young pastor came and said, "Brother Barnard, I want to talk to you about something and I want your advice." He said, "There is a man in this town who is a church member, happened to be a Catholic, and he owns the biggest saloon in town, and he has got the young people of most all of this section under his grip. He is a likeable sort of fellow and he delights to do things for young people. I don't question his motive, but he's got them under his grip, and most all the young people in this section, in the churches and everywhere else, they just follow him. And he is blocking the work of God in this town. He is on the heart of my congregation and myself. We have been talking and praying about it, and we have made a covenant with ourselves, and I want to ask you what you think about it. We have agreed that there will be two people in the little church building all the time spending an hour's time during this meeting until God does something about Dutch. We are going to have somebody representing this congregation on their knees praying for him. We have also agreed that two people will enter his saloon every hour, on the hour, and go in and witness to him about his soul. What do you think about that, Brother Barnard?" I said, "Don't ask me, boy, has God put that on your heart? .... Yes, we believe He has." I said, "I can't touch that if God told you to and you say you believe He has, and you may be right. I'd better not interfere with God." So they went in his saloon every hour. At nine o'clock two people would enter his saloon and talk to him; they would leave. At ten o'clock two more. That news spread like wildfire and in two days time the town was red hot. About ninety percent of the church people in town were as mad as fire; and they were cursing the pastor and the people of the Baptist church and they were called some awful names. They were red hot about how they were taking advantage of Dutch, the saloon keeper. And they sure were making it hot for him, and I don't know whether God was in it or not; they said He was, so I couldn't touch that. He had made arrangements with the mayor and we had street services every day and they let us have a loud speaker. The people listened and they threw rocks and eggs. I was scared. It was pretty tough to go downtown.
And the crowds began to come and I didn't know what was going to happen. But they continued to go in and witness to Dutch throughout that meeting and the thing got more and more intense. They were really putting that poor saloon keeper on the spot. You may say, "They ought not to do that." But this pastor and his congregation got so burdened about Dutch and those young people that he was leading to hell with him, that they were really putting him on the spot.
I remember the last day of the meeting came, and the pastor came to see me and said, "Dutch is awful mad and he is terrible. He's worse now than he was when we started. My heart is breaking, Brother Barnard, reckon we made a mistake?" I said, "I don't know, son." "Brother Barnard, I come to ask you, would you go and preach to him?" I said, "You want me to?" He said, "Yes." I said, "I'll go." He said, "All right, we will go at 10 o'clock." At 10 o'clock the pastor and I walked into his saloon to talk to Dutch. It was on Sunday and the meeting was to close that night. We went in at 10 o'clock and the saloon was crowded, because the people came in there to hear the people talk to Dutch and see what Dutch would have to say. The pastor walked up to Dutch and said, "Dutch, I know you are mad at us. I know we have put you on the spot, but Dutch, I want you saved." He said, "Dutch, this is the preacher and I have asked him to come and talk to you before he has to leave." Dutch said, "Preacher," and then he cursed a little bit. "I have got... so and so... all I can take of this and I want you and this preacher to walk out of my place, and I don't want you nor nobody else to ever mention Jesus Christ to me again. I've heard all of Him I want to hear." Well, that's pretty solemn. That preacher began to cry and said, "You mean it, Dutch?" Dutch said, "... So and so... yes, I mean it." The young pastor said, "All right, Dutch, I'm licked, you've won. We'll walk out of here and we will never mention the Name of Jesus Christ to you again." And we did. I closed that meeting that night and they took me into Houston and put me on the plane. I got to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the next morning. I hadn't been home but just a little while when the phone rang and they read a telegram to me. At eight o'clock Monday morning, the telephone of the pastor's rang and on the other end of the line was a nurse at the hospital, which said, "Pastor, Dutch is dying and he wants you to come and talk to him before he dies." Dutch had been seized about four o'clock in the morning, rushed to the hospital and just before he had the phone call, the doctor told him that he couldn't live but a few minutes longer and not until then. Dutch, who had been witnessed to every hour on the hour for two weeks. There had been men and tender women who went in his saloon to talk to him about his soul. Finally he had told the pastor and I to leave and not come back and never mention the Name of Jesus Christ to him anymore, and it had been accepted.
A few hours after, his heart failed him and they rushed him to the hospital. The next morning at eight o'clock the pastor's phone rang. The pastor got in his car and hurried as fast as he could go, got out of his car into the hospital, up to the elevator, to the room, and to the door. Exactly two minutes before he got there, Dutch went out to meet the Lord Jesus Christ, the One that he hated so much till he told the pastor that he didn't want no one else to ever mention the Name of Jesus Christ to him again. There is a man that deliberately refused to walk in light. There is a man who with an act of his will deliberately committed soul suicide. For no human being has the promise of tomorrow.
About two years ago I was in Kingsport in a meeting and a nice looking woman walked up to me one night after the service and said, "Brother Barnard, do you know me?" I looked at her and said, "I am sorry. I know I should, but I do not recall you." Then she made herself acquainted with me. About eight or nine years ago I was in the community where this woman lived in a meeting. She and her husband came to hear me preach and he got terribly offended at something I said. He quit coming and forbade her to come back to hear me preach. That went on for about nine days and she didn't get to come back. The news spread around and it came to me and the people began to pray. The last night of the meeting came. It was in the fall of the year as I remember and the house was crowded. They opened the front doors so the people out in the front yard could hear. Some sat in their cars and some stood for the service. This woman's husband had brought his wife in the car and made her sit in the car with him and she heard most of the service, but he wouldn't let her come inside of the door. The service was over and the people went away. I was outside and walked down the steps to the walk; and this woman quickly opened the door and ran over to me and said, "Brother Barnard, my husband has refused to let me hear you preach the Gospel, but Brother Barnard, my husband can keep me from attending church services, but he can't keep me from seeking the Lord!" And she said, "I may never see you again in this life, but I am going to seek the Lord till I find Him, or till He sends me to hell." So eight years later she looked me in the face and said, "Thank God, I found Him." Here was one who walked in the light God was pleased to give her and kept seeking the Lord till she found Him.
All hell is popping. The spirit of Antichrist blows in our very nostrils. Unbelief walks the land, God only knows what a day will bring forth. They may put you in jail. I don't know what will happen, but there is is one thing all hell couldn't keep you from doing. All hell hasn't got power to keep you from seeking the Lord with all your heart and if you do, you will find Him. Praise the Lord! That's walking in the light as you have the light. God help us. When a seeking Saviour and a seeking sinner get together, it will turn out to the salvation of a soul. Bless God, all hell can't keep you from acting in the light that you have got and seeking to be joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. All hell can't stop you. So I invite you to do it in Jesus Name.
"Our Father, in His blessed Name, we commit these people into Thy good hand. We are so glad You made it plain, and we praise God that You have shed abundant light on our pathway, and we rejoice in it. In Jesus Name, we cry that men may seek our Lord while He may be found. Amen!"