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that have gone on before us, that have died for us, that have died to make us free, dear God. And Father, I just pray that you would bless the service and please be honored and glorified. Father, with everything that's said and done, in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Well, in Romans 13, my text verse is in verse number 11 where the Bible says, And then knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. Well, this weekend is Memorial Day, of course, and I was reflecting a little bit just about our country. I was thinking about where our country came from. I was thinking about the way things are now, where it's going. And I was thinking about my two grandparents, my two grandfathers on my mother's side and my father's side. Both of them fought for our country, World War II, and neither of them died in those wars. Memorial Day, of course, is to recognize those that have died for their country, Veterans Day is for those that are still living. But both of them were shot. Both of them received Purple Hearts. They were wounded in battle. My father's dad was over in France fighting against the Germans over there. And my mother's father was over in Japan, or not in Japan, but he was in the Pacific fighting against the Japanese in the Pacific theater there. He saw a lot, and he actually lied about his age to get in. And he was 17 years old, and he lied about his age just because he wanted to go and fight for America. He wanted to fight against the forces of darkness in this world, against the Emperor in Japan, against the Nazi Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and these wicked men who wanted to destroy our way of life. They wanted to take away our freedom. They wanted to put us into bondage, which we came out of originally when we made this country. But I was thinking about just the stories that my grandpa told me and just horrible things, things that would make your stomach turn, terrible things that he saw and was exposed to. And I remember I was talking about 9 or 10 years ago, and he said, you know what, Steve? He said, looking around at the way things are right now, looking at the America that I live in right now, he said if I had it to do over again, and this was a very sad statement, if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have wasted the best years of my life fighting for this country. That's what he said. And you say, well, what's that about? Well, I don't really blame him for having that attitude because he's seen it. He's watched the downward spiral. He saw what it was like back then in the glory days, and he sees what it's like now. I think Bill Clinton was president at the time. He'd just been indicted for all the lewd behavior. He'd just been proven how he was committing filthy acts of adultery in the Oval Office. And desecrating the office of the president of the United States, dragging the whole name of our country in the mud. And he looked at it, and he said, looking back, he said, why would I spend the best years of my life fighting for a country that was going to go down this road to hell that it's going on right now? I want to preach to you this morning a sermon entitled, Wake Up America, Wake Up America. It said it's time. Now is the time that we need to wake out of sleep, the Bible says. And we need to wake up in this country. Turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 13. First book in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13, and I'm going to read for you this parable of Jesus here in verse number 24. Matthew 13, 24. The Bible reads, another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? For once then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest while you gather up the tares you root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. You notice that phrase there where it says, while men slept. You see, this country was sowed with good ground when it was started, but unfortunately, while men slept, the enemy came in, the Bible says, and sowed tares among the wheat. And now we're seeing those tares grow up among the wheat, and we're seeing our country being destroyed. You see, why did it happen? Why has our country gone down the downward spiral that it's gone down? Why in the world do we see the things we're seeing today? Because God's people have been asleep, and it's time for America to wake up. What am I talking about? While men slept, the enemy came in and sowed his evil seed. While men slept, our country has changed dramatically, let's face it. While men slept, the murder of unborn and newborn babies was legalized in 1973 with Roe vs. Wade. While men slept, perverts and child molesters are let off the hook with a slap on the wrist. Like this week, a gentleman was let off the hook, a pervert, filthy, animal, child molester was let off the hook. Why? Because he was five foot one inches tall. Figure that one out. Some liberal female judge, and yes, female judge, women were not supposed to be an authority, I don't care whether you like that or not, that's what the Bible says, but some liberal female judge stood up in the courtroom and said, if we sentence this pervert to jail, he's so short, he's a pervert, people are going to beat him up and abuse him, because he's so short he can't defend himself. And so what she did is she gave him ten years of probation. He's not allowed to date anyone that's under 18. And by the way, he's about 40 years old. He's not allowed to date anyone that's under 18, he's on probation. You stop that, don't do that anymore, sir, for the next ten years. Hey, I hope that they beat the hell out of him when he gets to jail, because he's a pervert. That's what the Bible says. It needs to throw rocks at people like that and kill them. And so don't tell me that he's too short. We've got to let him up to it. And it's just one story out of one again and again and again and again every week they come down the pike. I don't even get the news, but when I get on the Internet, when I sign in to do my job, it comes up the headlines. And every week, some judge gave some guy six weeks in jail for being a child molester. Wake up! Wake up, America! Wake up! While men slept, the Bible was kicked out of the public schools. While men slept, prayer was kicked out of our public schools. While men slept, gambling at casinos are springing up all over this country. Casinos are being built everywhere under the guise of Indian reservations. While men slept, homosexual characters have been slipped into every sitcom, every show on TV. They've been put in there to indoctrinate you, that it's okay, that it's funny, it's something we laugh about. While men slept, the two-edged sword of the King James Bible has been replaced by the butter knife of the NIV. While men slept, rock music has gotten into our churches to replace the old-time hymns of the faith. Why? Because we're asleep. We just let them slip it in, and it's just gotten worse and worse and worse. You know, we're to the point now where our children in most churches in America don't even know the old hymns anymore. They don't even know the hymns. I mean, you sing the hymns and they look at you cross-eyed. They're not even familiar with songs that have been sung by God's people for hundreds of years. But ask them about the rock music. They know all about it. Ask them about the TV shows. They know all about it. You see, they used to know Amazing Grace. Now they know Will and Grace. They used to know In the Sweet, By and By. Now they know Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. They used to know How Great Thou Art. Now they know Homer Simpson and Bart. They used to know To God Be the Glory. Now they know all about A Shark Tale and Toy Story. They used to know Blessed Assurance. Now they know Bel-Air Fresh Prince. They used to know Close to Thee. Now they know VH1 and MTV. They used to know My Faith Has Found a Resting Place. Now they know Star Trek and Lost in Space. They used to know Wounded for Me. Now they know CSI Miami. They used to know Send the Light. Now they know Entertainment Tonight. They used to know Revive Us Again. Now they know Seinfeld and Friends. They used to know On the Solid Rock I Stand. Now they know Spongebob and Spiderman. They used to know At the Cross and He Lives. Now they know Everybody Hates Chris. They used to know Shall We Gather. Now they know Ted Koppel and Dan Rather. They used to know Whiter Than Snow. Now they know The Late Late Show. They used to know Sweet Hour of Prayer. Now they know A Current Affair. They used to know When We See Christ. Now they know Desperate Housewives. They used to know Keep Nothing Between. Now they know Billy Graham and Joel Osteen. They used to know On Zion's Hill. Now they know Oprah and Dr. Phil. They used to know When We All Get to Heaven. Now they watch Frasier and 7th Heaven. They used to know Oh Say But I'm Glad. Now they know My Two Dads. They used to know He Hideth My Soul. Now they know American Idol. And they used to know There is a Fountain. Now they go to the theater and watch Bull's Back Mountain. Some filthy satellite movie, homosexual garbage that's in the mainstream theater. Wake up! Wake up America! How did we get to the point where I remember when I first heard about this movie come out? I thought that it was some B movie. I thought it was in some theater in San Francisco somewhere. I thought it was going to be at some filthy place in Los Angeles somewhere. I thought it was going to be in Chicago, Illinois somewhere. No. It's right here. I could throw a rock and hit it. It's in every theater in America. Some queer movie. You say I don't like this kind of preaching. Then don't come to this church. Because in this church I'm going to say it's time to wake up and get out of sleep in this country. Well I'm not going to let this country go to hell without a fight. Why are we asleep? I'm going to show you four reasons from the Bible why we are asleep in America. I mean why are we asleep? Why do God's people sleep while the whole world goes to hell? While this country is destroyed around us. Why? Well I found four reasons in the Bible. Reason number one. Turn to Judges chapter 16. Judges 16. This is the Old Testament. Seventh book in the Bible. Judges chapter 16. Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges. Judges chapter number 16 and look at verse number 16. Judges 16, 16. And this is the story of Samson. This is a very common story in the Bible. Hopefully you know the story a little bit but the Bible says in Judges 16, 16. And it came to pass when she pressed him daily with their words and urged him so that his soul was vexed unto death. He told her all his heart and said unto her, There had not come a razor upon my head. For I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb. And if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me and I shall become weak and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines saying, Come up this once, for he hath showed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her and brought money in their hand and she made him sleep upon her knees. And she called for a man and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head and she began to afflict him. And his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times before and shake myself. Watch this next phrase. And he wished not that the Lord was departed from him. But the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of brass and he did grind in the prison house. You see this is the story of Samson of course. Now Samson was a man of God. The more times about Samson than any other man in the Bible this phrase is said, The Spirit of the Lord was upon him. I mean here's a mighty man of God. A preacher, a leader. But what happened? He got to sleeping. And why did he get to sleeping? Well look at him. He says, I'll get up and shake myself at other times. He says, it doesn't matter that I'm living in sin. It doesn't matter. I'm just going to get up and do what I've always done. But what did it say? He wished not that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him. And you see, I would call this the sleep of the overconfident. Here's the sleep of the overconfident. Oh, we're America, man. Nothing could ever happen to us. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave. This is God's country. This is a Christian nation. No, look. We think we have the blessings of God in this country, but I'm going to tell you something. We're living off the past. We're living off the past. If we'd always been the way we are right now, you think we would have got here? You think we would have became the most successful country in the world, the most powerful nation in the world? Absolutely not. We got here because of the righteousness of the past. And when you sow, it takes a long time to reap. And right now we're still reaping some of the righteousness, some of the godliness. Pretty soon it's going to catch up with us. Don't get overconfident. Yes, it could happen in America. Yes, bad things will happen in America if we don't get right with God. You see, we are living on the past, and we need to realize that the sins of our present right now, talking about the sin, the compromise in churches, talking about our laziness as far as getting out and preaching the gospel, about fighting the good fight, that is going to bring down the judgment of God on this country. You say that's never going to happen. It will happen. It's always happened. Read the history books. Read the Bible. You see, if you read through the Bible, you'll find all kinds of people who did abortion. All throughout the Bible. It talks about people sacrificing their children. It talks about people murdering their own children. Look it up. You'll find it about 20 times, literally. And find out what happened to those people. They all brought down the judgment of God. Look at the queers throughout the Bible, the sodomites, as God calls them, the sodomites. Look at the filthy queers throughout the Bible. God always judged a nation because of the queers. That was the one thing that just was the straw that broke the camel's back. Take that, Brokeback Mountain. Your stupid, filthy movie is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back of God damning this country to hell. That's what's going to happen. And you see, God has always judged those two sins very harshly. I remember when I was a child reading through the Bible and I'd read about these people who burnt their children in the fire, that sacrificed their sons and their daughters to devils, and they murdered their own children. And I thought to myself, boy, the preacher keeps saying that things keep getting worse and worse. But I'm like, it seems pretty bad back then. What's the deal? But see, I was just so young and naive and ignorant, I didn't realize that the same thing's going on right now a hundred times as much. A hundred times the quantity is going on right now among us. And it's the norm. It's legal. The police will protect it. The police will stand guard out in front of it and protect it if somebody tried to burn it down like it ought to be burned down. And so, God's judgment could come to America. Don't get overconfident. Get on your knees and pray and turn from your wicked ways and God will hear from heaven and forgive our sins and will heal our land if we repent. And see, we can't be overconfident and think, let's just go through life. Let's not worry about it. Hey, my house is fine. I don't worry about it. Look, it's time to worry about it because it's getting bad and it's time for Christians to wake up and start worrying about it. Number two, that was the sleep of the overconfident. I think part of the reason why we're asleep in this country is because we're overconfident like Samson. We think we can live however we want. We think we can do whatever we want and just get up and shake ourselves as in other times. But we don't know in this country that the Spirit of the Lord has departed from us. Let's look at number two, Matthew 25. Matthew chapter number 25. Look at verse number one. Back to Matthew chapter 25, verse number one. Matthew 25, verse number one. The Bible says here in Matthew 25, one, Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you. But go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with them to the marriage, and the door was shut. And so here we have the sleep of the unprepared. We have the sleep of people who are not prepared. We saw first the sleep of the overconfident. The sleep, and this one goes hand in hand with number two, the sleep of the unprepared. You say, what do you mean unprepared? Now, should we go like stockpile six months worth of canned goods and build a bomb shelter? No, that's not what I'm talking about. Should we gear up on all the camouflage? I mean, I just geared up on some camouflage the other day. We went out shooting the other day. But hey, that's cool. But is that what I'm talking about, being prepared? Let's build a fortress and let's get all our weapons and food and rations? No, here's what I'm talking about. I'll just read this for you. You don't have to turn there, but Luke chapter one, verse 80. I'm talking about the sleep of the unprepared. These five virgins, they were too busy sleeping and they weren't prepared for what was coming. But Luke chapter one, verse 80, and I'll read this for you. The Bible says, and the child grew. This is a reference to John the Baptist. And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel. So here's a man, John the Baptist. His Bible college was called Wilderness Baptist Bible College. Out in the wilderness his teacher was God. His textbook was the King James Bible. And here he is out in the wilderness being prepared by God to be a great preacher. But notice I love this phrase. I love it. It says right here, he waxed strong in spirit. Boy, how are you going to be prepared for when bad things come in this country? How are you going to be prepared when persecution and tribulation for the faith arises in this country? You've got to be strong in spirit. That's how. How are you going to get strong in spirit? Well, I don't know, but I've got it written down here. No, I'm just kidding. How are you going to be strong in spirit? How about being faithful now? I was thinking about this. Think about Peter. He says, I'll die for you. I'll go anywhere with you. And Jesus looks at him and says, today you're about to deny me. In less than 12 hours you're going to be denying that you even know me. So how do you expect to live for God when things get hard? If you can't even live for God now. If you can't even show up for church now, how are you going to show up for church when it's illegal? If you can't even go soul winning now, do you think you're going to be preaching the gospel when it's illegal to preach the gospel? When there's a battle against us as believers? Do you think that you're going to live for God all of a sudden when any kind of persecution arises? Are you living for God right now? Are you waxing strong in spirit? How can I be prepared if bad things are going to happen? How am I going to be prepared for these things? Well, prepare yourself by getting strong in spirit. You say, well how do I do that? How do I wax strong in my spirit? How do I get my spirit strong? Well, I'll read this for you. John 3.34. You don't have to turn there. But this is John the Baptist preaching. Same man. This is the man that spent all that time in the wilderness. This is the man, I want to listen to him tell me how to get strong in spirit because the Bible says that he was strong in spirit. Listen to John 3.34. John the Baptist preaching again. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. It says he was strong in spirit and he says, listen, here's how you can tell who God sent. Here's how you can tell who's a man of God. Here's how you can tell who's strong in spirit. He says he speaks God's words. And it says the Father, it says God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. See, a man who will speak God's words, a man who has God's words inside of him and will speak those words, the Bible says there's no limit to how much Holy Spirit's power can be placed upon a man that will be waxing strong in spirit through God's word, through meditating and speaking God's word. How about memorizing the Bible? Almost a lost art in this country. Memorizing God's word. I'm not talking about memorizing John 11.35, kids. Jesus wept. I learned John 11.35 A and B. Jesus and wept. I'm not talking about rejoice evermore and pray without ceasing. How about memorizing large amounts of God's word? You hardly meet anybody who does it anymore. Brother Carpenter, I was telling you about my friend Brother Hymstead. And he just in the last, I think, nine months, he's got the first half of the book of Proverbs memorized. Proverbs 1-15, he's got it memorized. He called his mom. And this is not a guy who has a natural ability for that at all. And we were talking about it when he was first starting out with it. And he called his mom and said, Mom, I memorized Proverbs 1-5. And she thought he meant verses 1-5. She's like, oh, great job, son. He's like, no, chapters 1-5. And see, memorizing the Bible is phenomenal. I wonder if Brother Hymstead has any wisdom. Do you think he might have some wisdom? He's got half the book of Proverbs memorized and he'll be done soon. He's sped up on it. He's going through it. Memorizing God's word. Meditating on God's word, Dana. I'm not talking about some shallow little Christianity where you show up at your little church that's trying to imitate Joel Osteen and you get there and it's some little 55 minute service which is 45 minutes of music and 10 minutes of some queer little sissy giving some little devotion out of the Bible. I'm not talking about some rock band with a bunch of miniskirted girls on stage oohing and aahing while the worship leader leads you in praise. I'm talking about real Christianity like the Bible. I'm talking about waxing song and spirit. I'm talking about meditating on God's word day and night. The Bible says, you know what it says about the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law that he meditate day and night. You know what it says? It says he shall be like a tree planted by the ribs of water that bringeth forth his fruit and his season and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. See, that's why we're not having prosperity spiritually in this country because we're not meditating on God's word. We're too busy sitting in the counsel of Oprah Winfrey. We're too busy sitting in the counsel of Dr. Phil. We're not sitting in the counsel of God. And that's why we're not strong in spirit. Time's running out. It's time to strengthen the spirit. You say, well, we're living in peace and prosperity. Hey, you don't know when sudden destruction's coming. And so it's time now to wax strong in spirit. It's time now to peel yourself away from the video games, peel yourself away from all the entertainment a little bit, and go out to the wilderness for a little while and meet with God and learn God's word. Now, this isn't for kids to memorize the Bible. This is for adults. We should be saying, okay, kids, you memorize five verses because I memorized five chapters. You need to memorize 50 verses because I memorized 50 chapters. We're the leaders. Here's Johnny, little Johnny, you memorize all these verses, okay? And you don't know any verses. It's time for you to memorize verses, Mom and Dad. This book is for everybody. This book is for John the Baptist. It's not just for little Johnny. So that's many ways that we could wax strong in spirit. So number one, there's the sleep of the overconfident. Don't be overconfident. The Bible says, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. Number two, we've got the sleep of those who are unprepared. They're just not prepared. They're not preparing themselves. But number three, we have the sleep of the backslidden, the sleep of the backslidden. Look at Jonah, if you would, chapter number one. It's the minor prophets right toward the end of the Old Testament. Look at Jonah chapter one. Jonah chapter one. And let's start reading in verse number four. Again, very common story from the Bible, but Jonah chapter one, verse number four, the Bible reads, But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. Boy, he's just sleeping away. The whole ship is perishing. They're throwing all the luggage overboard. They're screaming and yelling. They're scared to death. But what's the preacher doing? What's Pastor Jonah doing? He's sleeping. He's just relaxing. He's taking it easy. He's sleeping in the sides of the ship, and they have to go wake him up. Boy, it's too bad when the people have to go wake up the pastor, because he's so busy like sitting around sleeping instead of soul winning. Anyway, they go wake him up and say, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Listen, you lazy pastor. Listen, lazy preacher, get to work. Call upon thy God. If so be that God will think upon us that we perish not. We're in verse number seven now. And they said, Everyone to his fellow, come and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is thine occupation, and whence comest thou? What is thy country, and of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am in Hebrew, and I fear the Lord. And now he's just this phenomenal man of God. I'm a Hebrew. I fear the Lord. And I lost my place. The God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. He's like, they wake him up. And he starts preaching his little sermon. Oh, the God of heaven. It's like, wait, you should have been awake a long time ago, sir. You should have been preaching to these people a long time ago. And it says, Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Have you ever noticed how people, when they're backslidden, and this is not in my notes, but have you ever noticed when people are backslidden, I mean, let's face it, Jonah was a man of God. Look at 2 Kings chapter 10. You'll see that he was a great preacher that God was using in 2 Kings chapter 10. Here we are in the book of Jonah. He's backslidden. He's running from God. He sleeps all day. He's lazy. And so they get him out of here. And this is the thing about backslidden people. People who used to live for God, I'm talking about the guy who used to go soul winning, the guy who used to go to church three times a week, the guy who used to read his Bible, but now he's just so dead and moss is growing on his back because he's just so dead and liberal. And so here's what happens. They always, always, they can't help but keep their mouth shut around you. Do you ever have relatives that are liberal and backslidden and they just have to rub your nose in their liberalness? They have to rub your nose in everything that you're fundamental about, that they used to do, but they've come so much further. And notice this. This liberal preacher, he told them, yeah, yeah, I'm running from God. It says he'd already told them this before the storm even happened. Yeah, I'm running away from God. Yeah, I got out of those fundamental Baptist churches a long time ago. I got out of those churches that scream and yell a long time ago. Oh, man, I'm part of fundamentalist synonymous. I'm trying to recover from all the psychological abuse that I took from real preaching. And so now I go to Grace Community Church. And so I don't hear that kind of preaching anymore. And so anyway, that's what it is. They just can't help but keep their mouth shut. That was part of the sermon, but it's true. Yeah, I was free. That's right. Now the rest is going to cost you. See me after the service. But anyway, the point is you'll get around family members and you just want to leave well enough alone. You don't even want to go there. And so you're just minding your own business and they just have to bring it up and bring it up and bring it up and bring it up. And pretty soon you have to rip their face off. No, I'm just kidding. Just kidding. But anyway, the sleep of the backslidden. And by the way, here's another thing that's free. Backslidden Christians are the only ones who can't handle this kind of preaching. They're the only ones in the world who can't handle this kind of preaching. If somebody got saved yesterday and we brought them into the church today, they can handle this preaching. I've brought new converts all the time to church and the preacher will get up and scream and yell and they'll say, That was great. New converts have come to this church. They liked it. They're not. They don't believe half of it, but they love it. But you know who doesn't like it? And by the way, the Christian who's moving in the right direction, who's growing, who loves God, they like hard preaching too. But you get the person who's old and dead and they've been in church for years and they can't even hear the Holy Spirit anymore. It's like, Hello! And they don't know what it's like to be under conviction anymore. And they come to a church like this, they can't take this kind of preaching. They don't like this kind of hard preaching. They don't like preaching that gets down where they live. Backslidden Christians are the only ones who can't handle this kind of preaching. That's why I preach like this, because I don't want them around. They can go take a hike. I want the new converts who want to grow. I want the people who love God to come. There's plenty of churches for the backslidden Christian. They can go wherever they want. I don't want them here infecting the whole church here. So what? They're welcome. Come on in. God bless you, brother, Mr. Backslidden Deacon. Come on in. Have a seat. And let's see how long you last, sir. Let's see how long you last when the truth is preached, sir. And so that's why we preach like this, because backslidden Christians can't take it. Everybody else loves it. They do, right? No, I'm just kidding. It's starting to scare me a little bit. All right. People, you know, there's some dead backslidden Christian. They don't like it. This is what they don't like. They don't like when you name sin. They don't mind if you get up and say, Sin is wrong, and Jesus died on the cross for your sins. But they don't like it when you say, Sin's wrong. Let me start naming your TV shows that are out of hell. That's what they don't like. But backslidden Christians, they're asleep, just like Jonah was asleep. Number one, we're talking about the overconfident. They're asleep. Number two, we're talking about the unprepared. They're sleeping. They're not strengthening their spirit. But number three, the backslidden are asleep. Talk to a backslidden Christian anywhere you go. They think everything's fine. They think I'm a lunatic. Like, what are you talking about? Everything's fine. You know, my 401k is doing fine. And they think if they're a backslidden Christian, you can try to explain it to them. Don't you see the impending doom that we're facing in our country? And they'll say, What? What are you talking about? And they don't get it because they're sleeping. So they need to wake them up a little bit, slap them around a little bit, and wake them up. They don't see that our country is turning to total socialism. They don't see that we're going to have nationalized health care, where my paycheck is paying for every person in the ghetto to have, well, I forgot it already is. But even more so, there's nationalized health care. They don't care that they're passing laws right now that would force me to buy health insurance and take away my freedom to choose what I want to do. They don't care that our country is turning totally socialism. And don't tell me, look, Joseph in the Bible, they bought the whole land of Egypt. They bought everybody's property in Egypt. They took away their personal property rights, and they bought their property. And you know how much they were paying in taxes? 20%. Now look, you know we pay a lot more than 20% in our taxes by the time you pay it at the gas pump, the electricity, the plumbing, and all this stuff. And preachers, we're kind of talking about this before the service, but preachers, this is what they say, Well, I preach about moral political issues, like abortion and homosexuality, but I don't really preach about economic political issues. Look, is there anything more moral than the Ten Commandments thou shalt not steal? That sounds like a moral issue when somebody reaches into my pocket and takes my money and gives it to somebody else so that they'll vote for them. When they take money out of my pocket, they steal money from me. They take it away from me and say, I'm going to give it to this guy, because if I give it to him, he'll vote for me. And that's what's going on. That's why all the money's ripped out of your bank account before you even see it in your paycheck. Try and explain that to somebody who's backslidden. They'll look at you like you've got two heads. They don't know what you're talking about, because they're sleeping. They're dead asleep. They're dreaming. They're living in this old dreamland where they're laying in their beds sleeping. It's like, wait, wake up, man. Look around. Reality. But lastly, and by the way, also, two preachers, I know two preachers in Canada, a liberal neighbor to the north, Canada, two preachers have been put in jail for preaching against the Sodomites, for preaching out of the King James Bible. And it is now, right now, as we speak, because they did it over the radio, and they were put in jail for it. Nowadays, right now, as we speak in Canada, it is illegal to read portions of the King James Bible publicly in a church service. If I got up and I turned to Leviticus chapter, I think I will do it right now. Let's pretend like we're in Canada right now. Let's say Leviticus chapter 20, and they'll turn to a scripture like this, where it says, if a man also lie with mankind as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. If I were to read that today in Canada, it's against the law. It would be breaking the law. You say, that's never going to happen in America. Look, it's happening in Canada, and we're always right behind Canada and Europe with this kind of stuff. And so it's coming. It's coming. And we'll separate them in from the boys. We'll see who really believes this book or not when it comes. But try to explain that to somebody who's backslidden. They'll say, no, it never would happen in America. But number four, and lastly, the fourth reason that I see in the Bible, number one, overconfident. Number two, unprepared. Number three, backslidden. And number four, the sleep of the sorrowful. Look at Luke chapter 23, or I'm sorry, 22. Luke 22, 39. Luke 22, 39. Luke chapter 22, verse number 39 is where we'll begin reading. Luke 22, 39, it says, And he came out and went as he was wont to the mount of Olives, and his disciples also followed him. This is Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. He's about to be betrayed and crucified. And when he was at that place, at the place, he said to them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them without a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thy be done. And there appeared in heaven unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, and said unto them, Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. Boy, isn't that an interesting phrase there? Sleeping for sorrow. You know, I always thought, just reading that, just reading through my Bible, I always thought they were sleeping because they were tired. I thought they were sleeping because they're tired, it's late at night, they're praying, and we've all fallen asleep praying before, if you've ever prayed for anything this time. And so they're praying in the garden, Peter, James, and John, and he says, Please, I want you to pray with me, just for one hour, he says. One hour I want you to pray with me. And the Bible says he came back, he finds them sleeping. He wakes them up. He does this three different times. Well, why were they sleeping? They were sleeping because they were sad. That's what the Bible says. It says they were sleeping for sorrow. And the point that I want to make here is that, look, we all face a lot of sorrow in our lives. You say, Man, what do I worry about, America? I'm just trying to make it through my whole life. I'm just trying to get through things that I'm going through in my personal life, let alone worry about America. And say, Here's another reason why people sleep. They get overcome with sorrow. They're overcome with their own personal heartaches. Because, let's face it, we're all going through heartaches from time to time. There's always going to be some kind of a tragedy going on. There's always a thorn in the flesh. There's always sadness. And we're all overwhelmed from time to time with sadness. And we get to where we're just so sorrowful that we want to just throw up our hands and quit. And I think sometimes that's why the devil attacks us so much. Because he just wants to wear us down and wear us down and wear us down and get us so defeated and so depressed and so down that we'll just kind of cock out and go to sleep. But God says, I know you're sorrowful. I know you're falling. You're so sorrowful that you're passing out. He said, The spirit is willing. In the same passage, The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He says, I know that you want to be awake. I know you want to do what's right. I know that you don't want to enter into temptation. I know that you want to be strengthening me during my darkest hour of agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. And he says, I know you're tired, but please, could you watch with me for just one hour, please? Would you just slap yourself and wake yourself up and just please for one hour? I mean, here's Jesus. He's sweating drops of blood. He's so sad. He's so in agony. He's suffering in the garden. And he says, Christian, I know you're sad. I know you're sorrowing, but could you read your Bible for one hour? Can you watch with me for one hour? He's saying, Can you please just pick up the Bible and read it for one hour? He says, I know it's tough for you. I know you're going through hard times, but he says, I'm about to die on the cross. I'm about to go to hell for three days and three nights. I'm about to save mankind. I'm about to do the most greatest act that's ever been done so that people all over the world could be saved. And he says, Please, I know you're sad. I want to comfort you. I'm going to send the Comforter after I die. I'm going to try to help you. I'm going to give you the Scriptures to come for you. I'm going to do everything I can to help you, but please, can you just watch with me for one hour? Could you pray one hour, Christian, please? I know you're going through a lot. Would you pray for one hour? I know it's hard. It is hard. I'm not downplaying it at all. I know that there's hard times, but can you read your Bible for one hour and not do your little devotion? Can you read the Bible for one hour? Can you go soul winning for one hour? Can you just spend one hour warning people so that Jesus Christ's blood that he shed on the cross could be as efficient to get as many people saved as possible? That he already died for them? Don't make it go to waste. Can you spend that one hour? Can you spend that hour reading the Bible? Can you spend that hour praying? Can you spend that hour going soul winning? Can you spend that hour strengthening Jesus Christ in his time of need right now where he is desiring to see our nation get right with God, where he's desiring to see people get saved? Can you spend that hour, that one hour? Here's the conclusion of the whole thing. You say, what does this sermon have to do with Memorial Day? Well, I'll tell you what it has to do with Memorial Day. George Washington said, nations can't be judged in the next world. They have to be judged in this world. And a scripture came to mind. Now, first of all, I want to say this. In order for a person to be saved, all they have to do, the Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. It says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. But let me tell you something. Nations are not saved by faith. You say, what? Yes, people's souls are saved by faith. We went through that a couple weeks ago, just every hundreds of verses about how it says, by believing on Jesus Christ. Nations are not saved by faith, and neither is a church saved by faith. What am I talking about? See, God's judgment on a nation and God's judgment on a church happens in this world. And you know what God tells nations? Well, the same thing he told Nineveh. He said, what did they do when Jonah preached? It says they repented. It says that they turned from their sin. What does he say in 2 Chronicles 7-14? He says, if my people, people that are already saved, God's people, if my people shall humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways and seek my faith, then will I hear from heaven, and then will I forgive their sin and will heal their land. Did he say, if my people will call my... Well, just believe in me. I won't destroy America. Is that what he said? No. Did he say to Nineveh, if you just believe in me, then I won't destroy you. Yeah, if you want to go to heaven, that's the only way you're going to go to heaven, is by believing in Jesus Christ. But did he say to the seven churches in Revelation, you guys need to believe in me? No. He said, you need to repent of your wicked sin. Now, does a person have to repent of their sins to get saved? No, because I haven't even repented of all my sins. That's why God's constantly telling me to repent in the Bible. But once I put my faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, that's personal salvation. But when it comes to a nation, when it comes to a church, God says, as he said in Revelation chapter 2, verse number 5, this is why we're talking about Memorial Day, this is what he says, remember therefore from whence thou art fallen. Memorial Day. He says, America, remember from whence you're fallen and repent and do the first works. Or else, he says, I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place except thou repent. You see, God's judgment will come on this nation unless it repents, unless it repents of the sin. You see, the new evangelicals have got it all wrong. The liberal crowd has got it all wrong. This is what they think, and they're not even doing this, but this is what they think. Let's just get people saved. Let's get as many people saved as we can and forget the holiness, forget the doctrine, forget the righteous living. They say, if a rock band will get more people in so they can get saved, let's bring in a rock band. If a girl in a miniskirt up on stage will bring more people in, let's get it in there. Let's bring it down to the world's level. And, of course, they don't even half the time preach the gospel. Anyway, they tell you you've got to make a commitment to Christ and stuff. They don't talk about believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. But the bottom line is they think that that's how we're going to save this country. Now, listen, you know I'm for soul winning. I'm out knocking doors constantly, winning people to Christ. I'm all about preaching the gospel. I'm all about getting as many people saved as we can. But you know what? That's not the only thing I'm about. I'm also about living a righteous, holy, and godly life. I'm also about preaching against sin. I'm also about doing right because God will judge a nation of Christians if everybody in this country were saved. If everybody in this country believed on Jesus Christ and we still had the abortion and we still had the queers and we still had the television, God would judge this nation anyway. And so, yes, we need to get people saved and then we need to turn around and say, okay, now you're saved? You believe on Jesus Christ? You need to repent of your wicked sins now and live right or else you're going to bring down the judgment of God on all of us. You see, God's people are the ones who hold the fate of this country in their hands. It's not the Hollywood crowd that holds faith. He says, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven. He says, I'm not listening. I'm not listening while you gather your wicked ways. I'll listen when you turn from your sins. I'll listen to you, Christian, when you turn away from the wicked sins that you're committing and get on your face and watch with me for an hour and beg me to do something. But let's bow our heads and pray. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, God said. God, I wish that we would remember what this country used to be, what it used to mean. I wish when we'd sing the patriotic songs, we'd remember where we fell from in this country, what it used to be like.