"The Sands of Time Are Sinking" by Isaac Zimmerman | KFW 2024

Greetings and peace this evening in Jesus' name. What a joy to be a part of Jesus' kingdom. It is a joy. There's nothing I would rather do.

I know very few of you. I don't know if I have ever preached where I knew this few people, and that is all right. My wife is here. She's a beautiful person, and one of her childhood, one of her girlhood fears was marrying a preacher one day, and so I fulfilled that dream or nightmare for her. But she is here, and I just want to bless her this evening for her sacrifices for the kingdom and her support for me. Thank you, dear.

I was given the title "The Sands of Time Are Sinking," and somehow we're supposed to blend that with the theme of this weekend, which is salt and light. And as I meditated on these words, I began to see them blend. And I don't know how you find it, but when I hear the words "The Sands of Time Are Sinking," there's almost a sense of sobriety and urgency that creeps into my heart.

Because once the sands have slipped down through, they don't go back up to go down again. And it's a sense of urgency. We all, I think, know where those words come from. We don't use hourglasses very much anymore, but it used to be an accurate way of measuring a certain amount of time.

The sands would trickle through at a certain rate from the top to the bottom. And as you were watching that hourglass, as the amount of sand that was in the top got smaller and the amount of sands in the bottom got bigger, you knew that your time was running short.

I remember playing a game at our house growing up called Boggle. Any of you play Boggle? It's a word game. It's enjoyable. I was very good at it, but it was kind of disturbing to be looking for words and seeing if you glanced over at the hourglass, you just see it's about to run out, and it kind of keeps you on edge. But the sands of time are sinking. And I just wonder tonight if the reality of eternity grips us like it should. In fact, I know it doesn't. It doesn't always grip me like it should. But there is a huge difference this evening between the person who is living in the reality of eternity and the person who isn't.

And there's just a sobriety that comes into the life of someone who meditates on eternity.

You know, I'm sorry I don't have a whiteboard. I'm not quite techy enough for the projector and that, but I'm used to a whiteboard. But if I would have a whiteboard this evening, I would draw something on it. I would draw a line from this edge to this edge, and then I would put a little, two little lines here and just mark off just a segment, maybe a centimeter. And I would just remind us this evening that eternity is longer than that longest line, and life is shorter than that little segment I would mark on the board.

And if you ever wonder why are we facing so much spiritual opposition and pressure, I tell you what it is. It's because Satan knows how short his time is. The Scripture says that. And he is fixed on you, young people and all of us, for this one purpose: to destroy our souls. It is no wonder we face pressure when the time is that short.

I want to read Romans 13:11-12. If you have your Bibles, you're welcome to turn there. "The Sands of Time Are Sinking."

Romans 13:11-12. "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light." I meant to pray before I began. Could we still stand for prayer? I feel tremendous need for the Lord's help this evening.

Dear Father, we come to you this evening, and I just pray, dear God, that it would not be me this evening, but it be you. And would you cleanse me of self and sin and pride and my own agendas and my own thoughts and do what you want to do? And we want to be a part of that, dear God. And would you work in our hearts this evening, work in my heart first and all of our hearts a fresh vision of eternity? And Lord, that we could live in reality.

In Jesus' name, Amen. You may be seated. I would subtitle this message this evening "An Urgent Call to Reality" because reality is actually living in light of eternity. The things that are not seen in life are more real than the things that are seen. We don't understand that. We don't think of it that way. We think that the things we can see are houses and trucks and money and things. They're tangible. We can get our hands on them. But I tell you tonight, the things we can't see are far more real. And to illustrate that, I don't know if Brother David Bersot is here this evening, but he uses the analogy of a Monopoly game.

How many of you ever played Monopoly? What a waste of time. But we know how it is. You're playing there, and you're engrossed in the game, and your piece or your dog or hat or car is coming around the board, and you've got the boardwalk and the park place, and you're just in this game, and you just know that somebody's going to land on one of those hotels, and the rent is huge, whatever it is. And then just imagine that I'm here in this Monopoly game, and then my father comes in. He says, "Son, it's time to round up the cows for the sale. Let's go. And I'm going to let you you're going to split the profits with me.

You know that calf that's very hard to catch. If you help me catch that calf, you get the money for that calf." But I'm in the Monopoly game, and I'm about to make whatever it is, $2,000 rent. "I can't go, Dad. Don't you see? I got two hotels."

It's more real to us because it's here. We can see it. We can feel it. Lord, help us. There is a reality far greater than the things we see and feel every day. It's God. It's the reality of the kingdom. It's the things unseen.

Brother John, "Muse, O my soul, set my heart now to ponder thy narrow span of time."

Thank you for those words in your hymn book. "Look to thy end. Let eternity yonders speak to thee in thy prime." Young people, you don't wait till you're old to let eternity speak to you. It is just not necessary. And just a few weeks ago over here, right here in Shippensburg, a cousin of one of the brethren in our congregation was somewhere at a place I think he was maybe 19 years old. There was someone there that had a crotch rocket, and he offered to take him on a ride. And as I understood, he said, "I don't want to go." But they pressured him, and he went with him on a ride on his crotch rocket, and he never made it back. 19 years old.

Let eternity speak to you in your prime. You know, this evening, I just have a burden, and I don't know what you were hoping this message would be, or maybe you were hoping to come to this week and just have a nice time and go back home. But I just want to challenge us. What if the Lord wanted to do a work in your heart this evening? And I got to wondering with the amount of people that are here, is it possible that it's actually very likely that there are some here this evening that have never been converted, have never just made a clear allegiance to Jesus and His kingdom? It is very likely. And maybe your parents in ministry have been praying for you, and here you are now at Kingdom Fellowship Weekend, and it may be that this is your time.

The Lord is just calling you tonight. I just want to tell you, let eternity speak to you.

Some of us are here. We've been converted, but our love is growing cold.

Do you have the first love the Savior gave you? How is it? And maybe some of us are here and we're just riding the fence. And I tell you, what a miserable place to be. And we've probably all been there, and we've seen others, and I've watched young people, dear young people, going through months and years of misery because they were trying to do two things at one time. They were trying to serve the world and serve the Lord. They were trying to do just enough to get by and keep Dad and Mom happy and keep the ministry off my back. But there was just never a freedom that came into the life because there was never a total abandonment to Jesus.

And I've had young people tell me, "The Christian life does not work for me. It's not working out. It's not fulfilling. It's not rewarding."

And maybe it's because we never, ever just surrendered everything. There's an old-fashioned doctrine that this book teaches that we used to teach more than we do now, and it's called Dying to Self. It was a principle that at conversion in fact, this is one of the most important things that happens at conversion, among other things, but it was the whole idea that at conversion you walk away from the person you were, and you walk into a new life.

As basic as that Isaac Zimmerman, what Isaac Zimmerman was, what he wants to, what I want to do, what I used to be, what my personal tastes are, all those things. I walk away from all that, and my life has now one purpose and one focus, and that is to please Jesus.

And we're missing it. And we got young people getting converted and falling back into sin, and it's just a drag. And it's because this has never happened. Lord, help us. We're selfish. And I want to say this evening and again, where's my whiteboard? But I would draw two hearts up here on the board, and this heart over here and this heart over here. And this heart is the Christian, and this heart is the unbeliever. And there's a lot of differences between this heart and this heart. But I tell you what's one major difference. It is who is on the throne of this heart and who is on the throne of this heart. And one of them is Jesus, and the other is what?

Self. What I want to do. Recently heard a young person responding to some direction that was given to their life on the matter of clothing. They said, "Well, that's just not me to dress that way. It's not me." I challenge us this evening.

Is it all right for Christians to do what is me?

The theme of this weekend is Salt and Light. You are the light of the world. But I just have a burden this evening that if we're going to be the light, there's something that has to happen to us first, and that is that we must be lit.

And there is no substitute for a personal encounter and commitment to Jesus for that light to be lit.

I may need to ask for some water. Actually, here is some. Thank you, brothers. There is no substitute for that.

You know, young people, your ministry, your parents, your church can't light your lamp for you. It's something you must do yourself with Jesus.

Is there I just want to ask a question to myself and to all of us. Is there anything inside you tonight that is pushing you toward more holiness? It is pushing you towards the Lord Jesus. It is motivating you towards more godliness. Is there anything inside us that is doing that this evening? And if not, are you a Christian? Do you have the Spirit of Jesus?

And young people, it becomes very apparent what is inside when we're away from our parents. So you're out there on the mission field. You're on a work project. You're there, and these young people are coming from all over the place. It becomes very apparent who has something within and who doesn't.

What happens there far away from home?

Remember Daniel? Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Young men who were in Babylon, away from all their bishops and deacons and ministers and mamas and daddies and church agreements and all those wonderful things, but they were there in a heathen nation. And what did they do? They stood strong.

The convictions of back home is the convictions we have here, and there was no change. And the pictures that came back from the mission field didn't grieve anybody because there was a principle within, as Brother John Dee would say it.

I want a principle within. And I just ask you this evening, is there something in you that would be there with you if you'd be on the mission field or you'd be on your honeymoon or you'd be somewhere away from all these other influences? Is there something inside you that keeps you going the right direction and that you take those values and convictions with you?

Do we have the Holy Spirit? It is a strange thing how many people claim to be full of the Holy Spirit but cannot overcome sin in their lives. I just want to warn us this evening, if any spiritual manifestations and things that are happening to us while there's sin in our lives, there's something wrong because one of the first things the Holy Spirit is going to do is illuminate those areas. He's going to convict the world of what? Righteousness and sin and judgment to come.

Something is not matching up here. The Holy Spirit, dear ones, I just have recently and over the years, I've been sensing a need for more teaching on the Holy Spirit because there's a lot of confusion. The Holy Spirit is a wonderful thing. The Scripture teaches that when Jesus said it this way, "If any man love me and keep my words, we will come unto him and make our abode with him." The Holy Spirit is the presence, the power of Jesus moving into a heart where it's not just that Jesus is way up here helping me out, but He actually comes and dwells in a heart. What a beautiful thing that is.

And what is going to be the result of that? The result is going to be someone that looks a lot like Jesus.

The Holy Spirit.

The sands of time are sinking. And I ask you this evening, how real is your personal walk with Jesus? A call to reality.

Some of the most sobering accounts that I know of in Scripture are accounts of people coming before the great throne, the judgment seat, fully expecting to enter into Zion with Jesus only to be disappointed. Those are very sobering words to me.

It grips my heart. The possibility of thinking you're in when you're out. Therefore, a call to reality this evening.

I'm not ashamed to put pressure on for the kingdom of Jesus. Now, there's wrong ways that can be done. We understand. I said a minute ago, it's a voluntary thing. But I tell you, young people, the world has at you all day long, every day. You can't even drive the turnpike, or I don't know if the turnpike has a lot of billboards, but a lot of these roads, the world has all the billboards. The world has the media. The world has all these things that are constantly trying to win you over. The world is very evangelistic and very zealous and very unashamed. And why should the ministers of God sit down quiet and shrink back?

And we can't get practical. We don't want to put any pressure on. And no, you guys got to make your own decisions. I refuse to do it. Tonight, I'm urging you to complete commitment to Jesus and His kingdom, and I'm not ashamed to do it.

I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. It is the power of God to salvation. And because I know that here in just a little time when the last sand slipped through the glass, the world will be calling for rocks and mountains to hide them.

And listen, young people, some of you are some of you are worried about what some of your friends would think if you make a radical commitment to Jesus. But those friends will have nothing to offer you when the last sand slips through the glass.

I love you, young people. This is not supposed to be a hard this is not meant to be condemning.

I know it's difficult. I know the journey is real. One of my wife and I's favorite things to do is have young people over to our home. We do it a good bit, and my wife makes some of her famous iced coffee, and we sit together and just share together. And I wish I could do that with each one of you this evening.

I just want you to know you'd be welcome in our home for some iced coffee, and we would want to care about what you're facing.

There's something else I'm concerned about. It's a view that has crept into the church. It's about sin. Sin is a very serious thing. It goes without saying, but with time, it can become less serious to us. And again, if I could draw two hearts up here on the board to illustrate two different views of what the blood of Jesus does with our sin, I would do it this evening. But I have a heart over here. Just imagine I would draw a big heart, and then I would draw a heart over here.

And in this heart, I would draw a lot of little black spots. What would those black spots be? Sin. They'd be sin. And so here's a heart that's full of sin. And here is what there's a teaching out there, and it's creeping into the churches that says that what the blood of Jesus does is that here's this heart full of sin. What the blood of Jesus does is it gets a blanket, and it throws it over that heart of sin. And it's the blanket of God's righteousness. And when God looks down from heaven, what does He see? He sees His righteousness draped over this sinful heart.

Beloved, is that what the Scripture teaches?

And the spots are still there. There is nothing has changed in that heart.

Lord, help us. We know what the blood of Jesus does. It cleanses us. It washes us. It makes us free. And I would take that chalkboard eraser, and I would erase those spots. And when Jesus yes, and His righteousness fills that heart. And yes, when God looks down from heaven, what does He see? He sees Jesus.

But the spots are gone. And what happens? And then there's another spot that comes, and we're quick to repent. We're quick to come back to Jesus. We come back to be covered by the blood. Are you with me this evening? I don't know if you agree, but I'm concerned that this view of sin, this blanket covering spots that have never been dealt with, will leave many people disappointed on Judgment Day.

And there'll be people with pornography coming up to the gates fully expecting to enter when the Scripture clearly says that all in cleanness stops you.

We've lowered the standard. We've lowered it. And you know why sometimes it is? Because my own heart isn't as pure as it should be. I tell you, you cannot preach a message on moral purity if you are not living in victory yourself.

And so the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin.

The sands of time are sinking.

And if there is hidden sin in your life, you're in trouble.

You're in trouble. I found another reason that some people never move ahead in their Christian lives is because they have never completely confessed all their sins. They have confessed some. They have shared some things. I had some struggles as a child. As a youth, I did some things I shouldn't have done. But there's never been a time when the bucket was just completely dumped, and it wasn't Dad's fault, and it wasn't Mom's fault, and it wasn't the church's fault. But I was a bad person, and for this, I am sorry.

And until that happens, the blood of Jesus cannot cover us. If we do what? If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

Tonight, if you've never been converted, if you've never experienced this, here is what you must do. You must come to Jesus.

You must come to Jesus. You must be born again. You must come to Jesus. In the Old Testament, there was a different provision made. If you did something bad in the Old Testament, what did you do? You went out to your flock, and you got a nice little lamb. And we have some sheep at home. So you take this little lamb, and maybe you're a daddy, and you got angry, and you need to do something about it. So you take this little lamb, and your children see you, and this little lamb is dying, and blood is dripping. And the children knew that it was because Daddy did something bad. This lamb had to die. And so then when Jesus came and He was the sacrifice, those people understood that.

When His blood dripped, it was because for bad things we did. And what you need to do this evening, if you've never repented, you've never been born again, is you need to come to Jesus and tell Him how bad you really are.

And it's not anybody else's fault. You're just acknowledging tonight that you have a problem at your very nature, at your very core. You're a selfish person, and it's all about me. And Jesus, please do something about it. I cannot. Please save me tonight.

And you're done with sin, and you're placing your faith in Him. It's what you need to do this evening. I still believe in old-fashioned conversions, and I believe they ought to make a difference. I remember so well when my older brother got converted. The whole family was happy.

That was just a change. He was different, and there's something wrong when, "Oh yeah, so-and-so got converted, and they're just the same." And I know they're baby we're baby Christians when we first get converted. But I tell you what is there. There is a desire there for Jesus. There's a desire toward God. There's a principle within. There's something going to be in that heart that's pushing that person forward towards holiness. It may be small steps. It may be very needy. It may be all those things, but it's going to be there. And if there's nothing there, there's no passion, there's no hunger and thirst after righteousness.

There's something wrong. I remember my brother taking his sleeping bag up on the hill behind the house. He spent nights out there, just him and God alone. And I saw the fruit coming out of that. I saw him fasting.

Today, he's a very useful person in the kingdom. He's a minister, but his life changed.

If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. We know that. We should expect that. In our churches, when a young person gets converted, we want them to share that themselves. We don't feel like, as a minister, we should be having to kind of coax it out of them and set things up just right. And maybe no, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.

And there's something wrong if you can't talk about it.

What excites us this evening? I just wonder. Ask the people around you, what is it that gets you fired up? Your friends will know. It's very telling. And some of us are more shy by nature. I understand that, but there is something deeply wrong. If you can get all passionate and stirred up in a conversation about trucks and hunting, and when the conversation switches to something spiritual, you're awkward and you're quiet.

There's something amiss here.

Do we love Jesus? Do we love Jesus?

The sands of time are sinking, and it's just good for us to look deep in our hearts and see what is really, really there. It is very easy to be a hypocrite. Very easy. You can have your white shirt on, top button, button, and there can be an awful lot going on inside that is not like Jesus.

It's very easy to pretend.

We sometimes get very hard on the old-order people because they will let people in their churches that aren't converted because they're just adhering to certain outward standards. And that is a concern. That is a problem. The other problem is when we develop good enough talk and have a lingo and our young people, we, myself, I can learn how to say the words and sound spiritual, and I might be able to join church and not be converted too because I know how to say it.

There's a call to reality. It's got to be real. It's got to be real.

Are you finding fulfillment in being a follower of Jesus?

That song, "The Sands of Time Are Sinking," I sang it some with my wife after I was assigned this title, and I noticed one of the verses said this: "The streams on earth I've tasted, more deep I'll drink above."

Streams on earth. What streams are we drinking from this evening?

Where are we finding our satisfaction? There is something wrong. If I come home from a hard day at work and I sit down at the table and my wife has mashed potatoes and green beans and gravy and chicken, and I'm just sitting there, and I take a little spoon of this and push the rest around, you would think, "I'm sick or something's wrong with me." But what if you went out to my truck? And yes, there you found it. And there's a Dairy Queen bag in my truck with a cheese curds container and a flamethrower box and a Blizzard cup.

Aha. No more questions. Bless your heart and shame on me when my wife had supper waiting. But did you know that spiritually, many of us are so full of Blizzards and flamethrowers and things, it's no wonder we can't come home and enjoy a good meal? What is quenching your hunger and your thirst this evening?

And may I be so bold as to suggest a few alternative sources of fulfillment other than Jesus? Is that all right?

Pleasure. Pleasure. A lot of people turn to pleasures, even legitimate things: games, volleyball.

I did not say it was wrong to play volleyball. Where are you finding your pleasure? Where are you finding your deepest fulfillment? What are the high points in your life, young people? The stirring points: professional sports, hunting, all kinds of things. I remember talking with a young man. He said, "Hunting is my thing.

It's my thing." Bless his heart. He probably had no other thing.

Pleasures. They're Blizzards from Dairy Queen. They may have their place, but you can't live on them.

And there is this longing inside each one of us, and we fill it with these things: music. Music. A lot of people turning to music. Even good music can be a problem. You're riding along in your truck. You're just discouraged, and you really ought to pray through. You really ought to seek God. Or maybe you should call your wife and discuss what happened, or you should call the brother, whatever. But what do you do? You just reach over and push the button and, "Oh, yeah, good music."

And then there are other kinds of music that are worse: money, making money. I tell you, you can see it sometimes in people. You can see it in yourself. You just get a little discouraged spiritually. And what do you want to do? You just want to go to work and just make money and just kind of just focus on that for a while.

Money is an alternate stream.

How about our self-image? Many of us find fulfillment in a self-image and glorifying ourselves and nice clothes and just being just right and just, "Yeah, and then I went to that social event, and I was wearing so-and-so, and yep, my friends noticed." And there's just it's a stream that's not Jesus.

Technology. Useful, yes. I recently was at a meeting, and a speaker gave some cautions on technology, and someone said afterward, "Why don't we ever hear about the benefits of it?" Well, if I felt like y'all were not using it at all, and you should be, I might share on the benefits because there are some. But most of us would acknowledge we're already using it. We already know it has a lot of benefits. So therefore, I might give a caution on the other side that it can be a stream that you can drink from that is not Jesus.

And I think we're going to have a topic on how it can be used in beneficial ways for the kingdom.

Here's one you young people won't like, but I'm going to say it. Are you ready? Many young people coming up through their 15, 16, 17, 18, not old enough to court, I believe in courting and getting married, but many young people are finding fulfillment in cross-gender relationships that are premature and not under authority, not ready to go, not serious. And I'll just admit, there is a fulfillment that comes from that. When you're 17, 16, you're just hanging out. It's a different stream. It's not Jesus.

And if you want to talk more about it, come over for some iced coffee. I am willing to discuss it. So these are streams, dear ones, that we may be drinking of, and there are many, many more. And Lord, please show me what are the streams in my life that I am drinking that are not You because I want to stop drinking there. And there probably are some, and I may not know what they are, but I want to know, and the Lord will show me. And I have church brethren that will help me see that.

There is no lasting fulfillment outside of the life in Jesus. Yes, there are struggles, and yes, there will be persecution, and yes, there are challenges, and yes, there's self-denial. But I tell you tonight that in His presence is fullness of joy.

You want to be a part of this kingdom. It is exciting to be a part of the kingdom of Jesus. It is exhilarating even. And people are longing for something real to invest their lives in and just take our nation right now and all that's happening in politics and the economy and all those things. People used to get very stirred in patriotic ways and the Star-Spangled Banner and the national anthem, and you had people like Nathan Hale saying, "My only regret is that I only have one life to lose for my country." And some of that, I think, is dying as people are becoming more disillusioned with our nation, and there's not a lot to die for.

But that patriotism, you know those billboards? I don't know if you have them here, but in Kentucky, there's some billboards for the U.S. Marines or the National Guard, and there's a picture there of Uncle Sam saying, "I want you." Some of them have that. Some of them say, "Freedom, honor, courage." I don't know what all they say, but it's all intended to stir up the blood of young people for a passion and a cause that, "Here's something you want to invest your life in. Here's something to die for. You want to be part of something bigger than yourself. You want to be somebody. You want to be part of the winning team." I tell you, there is a winning team to be a part of this evening, and it's the kingdom of Jesus.

And we should get more stirred up about His kingdom, about His church, and about heaven than those mobs of people do at the Trump rallies. Now, I'm not saying we're going to be screaming and doing crazy things, but our hearts should well up with praise to our Jesus.

And if He does something, we should do it. It's a cause to live for and a cause to die for. And the beauty of this kingdom is that it'll never fail. The earthly kingdoms they fought rise and fall. There's never been one that didn't. It'll happen to all of them. They'll have their brief glory days, and then they'll crumble, and they'll go down in histories and other ruined kingdoms.

But this kingdom of Jesus will keep going and keep going and keep going, and we'll win and be victorious. It's not as if we're left to guess the outcome of the battle. It's already been determined. That old world that has such a pull on us and is so attractive to us, it's going down. It's a sinking ship, and it is so strange how close we want to be to the sinking ship.

And did you know that when a ship goes down, it sucks people down with it? It is strange. It is better to keep our identity clear with the people of God and with Jesus because when the civil war is over, you want to have the right color uniform on, and there's a battle coming. And why do you want to why do you want to identify as closely as you can with the losing side?

It makes no sense.

Go forth to life, old child of earth, still mindful of thy heavenly birth. Thou art not here for ease or sin, but manhood's noble crown to win. Though passion's fires are in thy soul, the Spirit can their flames control. Though tempter's strong beset thy way, the Spirit is more strong than they.

Go on from innocence of youth to manly purity and truth. God's angels still are near to save, and God Himself doth help the brave. Then forth to life, old child of earth, be worthy of thy heavenly birth. For noble service thou art here, thy brother's help, thy God revere.

This is the call this evening: to go forth that way.

The sands of time are sinking.

Jesus is asking for a complete commitment. He always has. He's always asked for everything. That's what He has required. There is a kingdom. If you just want to do kind of do a halfhearted thing, there is a kingdom that will accept you that way.

But it's not the kingdom of Jesus. It's the kingdom of this world. It is no problem for the kingdom of this world if you want to go to church, give some alms, sing the hymns, dress plain, go to Kingdom Fellowship weekend. As long as you keep some of your allegiance with the world, that is all fine.

But Jesus is not satisfied that way. He requires everything, and that is sobering to me. Dear Jesus, what have I not given up for You? And again, I do feel that one of the things we find the hardest to give up is something that's very special to us, and it's ourselves.

But there are other things. There are other things. And surrender is difficult for us. But young people, allow me to just share something that's special to me. I don't have time to read it, but when the rich young ruler came to Jesus, he said, "Jesus, what do I need to do to inherit eternal life?" And that's a good question to ask Jesus. And he came to Him there, and Jesus answered the way He did. And the young man said, "I've done those things." And then Jesus, it says in the Scripture, and I should read it to you, but it says that Jesus, beholding Him, loved Him. He loved Him. I don't know if the young man knew that, but what a precious thing it was for Jesus to look at you and love you.

And He loved Him and said, "One thing thou lackest." And I just want to tell all of us this evening, when Jesus asks us to surrender, when He asks us to give something up, He loves us. Can you trust Him that way? He loves you. And I saw a picture recently. Someone sent it to me of this little girl with a ragged little teddy bear in her hands. And there was a picture of Jesus kneeling in front of her, which you ought to be careful with pictures of Jesus. Some of them aren't very accurate, none of us. But anyway, but here, Jesus was kneeling in front of this little girl with His hands outstretched as to ask for her little ragged teddy bear.

He had one hand out here asking for her little teddy bear. And what you could see in the picture, but what the little girl couldn't see, is that behind His back, He had this beautiful, large, stuffed teddy bear that would be beyond a child's best dreams behind His back.

But the little girl is saying, "But I like this one."

You just don't see it. Surrender is not a bad thing. It's a beautiful thing. He loves you.

Surrender is difficult for us because we do not know how good He is. We don't trust Him. Surrender is easy when you trust someone. I have seen young ladies leave communities and homes and securities and follow a man because they trusted Him. It wasn't all that difficult because they trusted Him. They believed He was good. They believed He loved them.

He's good tonight. He's good. I didn't always believe that. When I was 12 years old, my family had prayed for months for my mother's healing of cancer. I watched her body be lowered into the grave. I did not know if God was good, at least not to me.

And that's another story. But I want to tell you that one of my favorite themes now to preach is the goodness of God. And if Satan can keep us from believing God's goodness, he's got a lot of it's going to be the rest will be easy. That was his first tactic in the Garden of Eden. He said, "You know what, Adam and Eve? Tell me again. Excuse me just a minute. Why was it that God wait, he said you couldn't eat?" And he cast out on the goodness of God. He's still at it today.

I believe He's good. Amen. I trust Him. I want to trust Him more. If you would see who He really is, you would want to yield your life to Him. You would know it's the best way. It's the safest way.

The sands of time are sinking. Is there one thing in your life if you would come to Jesus this evening and ask Him, "What do I need to do to inherit eternal life?" Would He look at you with that loving gaze and say, "You've done well in many things, but there is one thing." And if it's come to your mind this evening, you know what it is.

And I've seen it be different things for many people.

It may even be a good thing, but it has a place in our heart that it should not have.

We want to be filled with the Spirit. We want Jesus in our hearts. And do you know, I think sometimes Jesus is waiting. We have a each one of us has a throne in our heart, and it's a throne. It's a chair. It's a throne that only one person can sit on. And we forget that, and we think it's a pew. And so we say, "Oh yeah, Jesus, let me just scoot over and have a seat, Jesus, and let's go together." But the chair has room for only one.

And if the chair is full, there is no entrance of the Holy Spirit. There is no Jesus. The chair is full. How is our chair this evening?

Eternity is real. It's coming. The last sands of the last sands are going to slip through the glass. Life is not going to always be as it is now. There's a change coming. The bridegroom's coming for the bride. Are you excited? Can you lift up your eyes and say, "Even so, Lord Jesus, come." It's a beautiful thing. And we all know how it is when you can't do that. You got sin in your life. You know you're not right. And the clouds look kind of funny. And as a child, I struggled. I was very oversensitive. But when the clouds looked a little different and there was a little strange light in the sky, I thought He might be coming.

How is it for you this evening? Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Lift up your heads. Your redemption draweth nigh. It's a wonderful thing. Not afraid to close my eyes and die. Not afraid to bid this world goodbye. What a beautiful place that is, a place of rest.

The dawn of heaven will shortly break, and it will be a beautiful, beautiful dawn.

And let us make decisions now that we'll be glad then that we did. That is my call this evening.

This evening, maybe there's a battle raging in somebody's heart. You know what you need to do, but you're scared to do it. I tell you what the devil wants you to do: go back to life as usual. The devil's good at that. Get back out with your friends, talk and laugh, eat some snack, and drown out the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit.

That's what Satan wants you to do.

Sometimes we find ourselves looking at the two options. None of us want to go to hell. None of us want to be on the Broadway. None of us want to just be out and out bad. But maybe this evening you're just looking at the other option, and it sounds kind of radical, and you're just not sure.

You've seen people that were that way, and you and your friends kind of laughed at them because they were kind of holy and all that stuff. And so you're not sure. And then there's persecution. You don't want to be laughed at, but you don't want to go to hell. So what are you going to do? And you're just in this conflict. And then to your longing eyes, there opens up a third option.

And it's a road where you can get some of each. You don't get too radical. You don't get too committed. You stay normal enough to keep your friends over here, and yet you have some fellowship with these people over here. And you're not on this downward road over here that's leading to hell, but you're maybe not on the just like the super radical path. You're just here in the middle, a third road.

What a wonderful thing to a longing heart that's not ready to commit. But have you ever been on an interstate and you did not notice the exit-only sign before it was too late, and you end up in downtown whatever, New York?

I tell you this evening, this road has an exit-only. It's a merge, and it exits only one way, and all lanes must exit. And it goes this way. It goes to it joins roads with the downward road. That is all it does.

The deception of the third road. Lord, help us. There are only two.

How is our devotion to Jesus? I think of a story that Gary Miller has in his book about two young Moravian men who heard that on an island there was a group of people that never heard the Gospel, and no one could get there. And there was a wicked landowner there, whatever, a lord there that controlled the island. He would let no preacher on it.

And they heard of this need, and their hearts just stirred in them. And that is just a mark of the children of God, that their hearts stir within them when they hear of lost people. Their hearts stirred within them, and they came up with a way that they could go. They sold themselves as slaves to this wicked man, and they got aboard a ship to sail for this island, and they were never heard of again.

Young people,

how is it? What are we giving our lives to?

The sands of time are sinking.

I know I've lifted up a high standard this evening. I'm not ashamed to do it. My prayer is just that I would live what I'm preaching, and I want my life to be an open book. I have needs, but this is the way I'm pressing.