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EZEKIEL 9:8

"I WAS LEFT"

Intro:   All of us have had experiences where death passed close by. We
         realize how  easily it could have caught us, but I was left. Tony
         Fontaine.

I. WHY WERE YOU LEFT? (IT COULD AS EASILY BEEN YOU.
        A. If you as yet have not given your life to Christ -
                1. Could it be God's grace giving you another chance?
                        a. But how long will God forbear?
                        b. How many more opportunities will He give you to
                           reject Him.
                                1. As you sit here this morn., how do you
                                   know but that this could be it?
                                2. Right now you can look back and say, I
                                   was left.
                2. Consider:  God is under no obligation to sustain you.
                        a. "The God in whose very hand thy breath is."
        B. You that are Christians here today - why were you left?
                1. That you might accomplish His perfect will.
                        a. Paul at Lystra.
                        b. Paul to Timothy - "I have finished the
                           course..."
                        c. Two witnesses of Revelation.
                2. If l am left that I might do His will - this should be
                   paramount question each day.
                        a. "What would you have me to do Lord?"
                        b. Paul on Damascus Road.
                        c. How long should God forbear with your foolish
                           projects?

II. "I WAS LEFT" - MANY TIMES THE CONCLUDING LINE TO A STORY OF
    THANKSGIVING.
        A. By right I shouldn't be here.
                1. Stronger, wiser, better men than I were taken.
                2. For a reason known only to God, here I am -I was left.

Ill. A DAY IS COMING SOON WHEN TO SAY "I WAS LEFT" - MOST TRAGIC AND
     PATHETIC CRY EVER UTTERED.
        A. Jesus has promised to come for His church & remove them prior
           to God's judgment upon the earth.
                1. "I will come again."
                2. "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven."
                3. "Because thou hast kept the Word."
        B. After the church removed - period of great-tribulation,
           "greater," Jesus said, "than the world had ever seen or will
           see."
        C. Imagine some day, awaking to the terrifying fact that "you are
           left".
                1. You start dialing frantically all your known Christian
                   friends - no answer.
                2. Jesus came for His church and I was left.
        D. Why will you be left?
                1. It's not easy - you had to fight to be left.
                        a. You had to continually reject voice of God's
                           Spirit.
                        b. You had to turn your back on Jesus & His deep
                           love for you.
                        c. It was a hard struggle to keep from being a
                           Christian - God's Spirit was so persistent.
                        d. You had to reject every appeal of the minister
                           & your Christian friends.
                                1. There may have even been times when you
                                   almost surrendered - but you didn't &
                                   now you are left.

Left to face the judgment you deserve. Left, because you rejected God's
way of escape.