Bob Holmes: I want to speak to you on don't make an excuse by living outside of safety. So I need the five people to come up here for me that were selected. Okay, we have one, two, three, four, and Jed.

All right, make a line behind me like sort of together. All right, I'm going to call this right here a place of safety. All right, this is a place of what?

Safety. Every man is tempted when he's drawn away. This is drawn away.

When he's drawn away of his own lust. There's lust, okay? And enticed.

There's Mr. Enticement. And when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin.

And sin, when it's finished, bringeth forth death. And this is the last day he's going to help me in my ministry. But that's what James 1.14 says.

But I want to show you something amazing. We think that as long as we're living somewhere around here, as long as we don't get as bad as that, okay, that we're okay. But I'm going to show you, and hopefully you'll get it in a very quick way, that we're far off better to live right here than not even get drawn away.

And so let's look at how this happens. First of all, it'll start out with being drawn away. Maybe somebody else is doing something and you just want to do it because someone else is doing it and you don't want to be left out of the crowd.

So you get drawn away. Okay, everybody scream the first step. Drawn away.

Now, how does this process happen that leads to deep sin? And we know we need to stay as far away from that as possible. So, and especially that.

Okay, but you've got to stay in a place of safety. That's the only way to do it, and don't make an excuse to live anywhere along the line here. So a person tempts you with drugs.

What you ought to say is they can entice me if they want. They can try to get me going astray. One boy, I'll never forget it, got up and cried at his school.

He said, I got so addicted I don't even remember seven Christmases. And he said, I don't even remember last Christmas. Imagine that.

And the drugs had destroyed his memory so bad. Another boy said, my little brother grew from a toddler to third grade, and I don't even remember it. None of it.

I used to write poetry. Now I can't even finish a sentence. I've quoted these things to millions of kids.

I watched a friend die in front of me because I was too high to call 9-11. Wow. I accidentally gave my little brother pills and he's now a vegetable the rest of his life.

I got drawn away. I thought, wow, this would be cool to take drugs. Everyone else is.

Must have made you feel better. Yeah, but look at how it progresses. You get lustful for it now because the little bit you started with when you got drawn away caused you to want to lust more of it.

And then all of a sudden now the enticements came with all the people smiling, thinking, oh, this is great. But I haven't genuinely laughed for four years, said one teenager.

And then you go to that. We know that this is where we ought to live. We ought to stay far away from sin by not getting where the desires start taking over.

Alcohol is a perfect example of this. Now you say, well, I don't drink. Well, I'm going to tell you something.

The temptation may come sometime for you to leave the place of what? Safety. And to get what?

Drawn away. Well, think of what happens. One boy is now crying his heart out all the time because he hit a bus of kids.

21 of them died. But aren't you glad we serve a God who can forgive sin? How many are glad about that?

A God who can take that person and change his life. A boy passed out drunk in the snow after a party. He froze to death before sunrise.

They found him with his phone in his hand, with a text to his mother open that said, I'll be home soon.

What happened? He left the place of safety. He got drawn away.

Everybody's drinking. Well, then all of a sudden he gets more and more enslaved by it. And then the enticements come.

The dumb commercials. And I don't care what the Budweiser commercial says, Bud never made anybody wiser. Right?

You can say amen if you choose. I'm telling you, I've seen so much heartache that I just want to pour this out at you. And you hear these quotes and you hear the heartache of what Satan did because they got baited, but he hides the hook.

The hook doesn't get seen; only the bait does. A sin enters like a guest but becomes a master. There's a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end is the way of death.

Now we know none of you are here yet. Now you may feel dead, but how many of you are glad you're not here yet? You are still alive.

You're still moving. But understand that your pride will tell you, well, just live here, as long as you haven't gone there, just live here. Well, it's continuing to lead, because sin, when it's finished, bringeth forth what?

Say it louder why do we keep repeating it? Because I'm tired of the devil telling you the lies on the stupid commercial it ends up in? Say it again and what you ought to say is I am going to look down the road the way of the Lord is strength to the upright, but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.

Whosoever despises the word shall be destroyed, but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded. So go to the Bible. God loves you.

He's a friend and he wants you to stay in safety. Say it. Safety.

You leave this place, I don't care how strong we are, it can go down the road here. Now, listen to this. Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth this color in the cup, and when it moveth itself aright.

Don't even look at it when it turns into alcohol. Now, how many would agree? If we're not supposed to look at it, we're sure not to drink it.

So, don't even look at it. Because at the last, it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. It fascinates, then it assassinates.

It fascinates by being drawn away, and then lust, and then you get more enticed, and all of a sudden the fascination causes you to end up doing it, which can actually in the end lead to death. And boy, have I seen a lot of people die early deaths. Wine is a mocker.

Strong drink is raging. Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. So get out of the churches that teach social drinking.

If we're not supposed to look at it, we're not supposed to drink it. Right? Because at the last it bites and it kills.

Woe unto him that rises up early in the morning. Can you hear me in the back all right? Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink that continue till night till wine inflames them.

Look down the road. Don't just look at here. Don't just look at the commercials.

Realize this is right coming up. Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and maketh him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness. So even the alcohol leads to all kinds of things, sexual sins and everything.

Now the ads fascinate, but they don't tell you how it ends. Sin when it's finished. Say the word finished.

Finished. Say it again. Finished.

I feel like I'm leading an army here. That's what the whole theme of the conference is. Finished!

Don't look at how it starts. You say to yourself, I'm so weak, I'm just going to stay way over here. I'm going to stay far away from even getting where I watch all these dumb commercials, right?

So listen to this. The advertisements never show you the following things. Are you with me?

If so, raise your hand because I don't want anybody getting sleepy. The drunk driver who kills a family.

Ever see that on a commercial? The broken home. The liver disease.

The lost job. The children going hungry. The wife living in fear, trembling before he gets home from work, supposedly work.

The friend who was buried too soon. The hangover of regret. The DUI arrest and the court fines.

The prison sentence. The shattered reputation. Ever see that on a commercial?

The depression deepened by drink.

The teenager who never made it home. The marriage destroyed by unfaithfulness, the wasted paycheck, the car wrapped around a tree, the innocent pedestrian struck down, the man sleeping on the street, the child crying at night for a sober parent, the fire started by drunkenness.

The friend who was betrayed, the fight that turned into murder, the cancer of the mouth and throat. The wasted years, the wasted potential, the loss of self-control, the loss of dignity, respect, the addict shaking with withdrawal, the student failing class, the athlete losing everything, the mother who drinks while pregnant, the child born with defects.

I mean, this list goes on and on. The young life wasted at the bar. The preacher's son who never came back.

The spirit broken. The police knocking on the door with tragic news. The parent identifying the body of their child.

The college dream destroyed. The career that never started. The baby left alone in a crib while the mother drinks or dad drinks.

The hospitals filled with broken bodies. The jails crowded with broken lives. The young girl taken advantage of, the crime fueled by addiction and the regret in old age.

Say to yourself, I'm not going to wreck my life. I'm going to stay where I'm safe. Say to yourself, I'm not going to get drawn away by my lust and entice because it leads to sin, which can lead even to early death.

I prayed so hard. Oh, God, don't let me just give facts today.

God, please speak to every heart, not just their brain, but their heart, because alcohol has drained more blood, destroyed more homes, destroyed more children, plunged more people in bankruptcy, armed more criminals, pained more kids, broken more marriages, defiled more innocence, blinded more eyes, twisted more limbs, wrecked more manhood, dishonored more womanhood, broken more hearts, driven more to suicide, and dug more graves than any substance on the earth.

I say woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink why?

God loves us when he gives us the Bible how many of you believe this Bible is a love letter from heaven and God when he warns us is loving us and we can see it with all those things and I didn't even finish the list a drunk teenager drove through a stoplight killing a young mother pushing a stroller and her baby's body landed 30 feet away.

I'm telling you, it's heartache. If you have your Bibles, I guess you brought them. Look at Proverbs 7, and I'm going to show you a young man who was destroyed by a prostitute.

And it's very interesting that this young man went through the steps of these men behind me right here. In Proverbs 7, we're going to see how the young man left safety.

I've got to go fast because the clock is going fast, so let me keep moving here. I hope you can think quickly because I've only got 15 minutes, maybe 20 minutes left. Time goes too fast.

Proverbs 7, look at verse 7. We're introduced to a young man. So behold among the simple ones, I discerned among the youth a young man void of understanding.

Now, why did he lack understanding? You're going to see right in this passage that he left the place of what? Safety.

And he got what? Gone away. How did this happen?

Watch. In the next verse, passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house. He didn't even get to her front door.

He just came near the corner where she lived. So he got drawn away. Now he's living right here.

He got drawn away not by jumping right up to her doorstep, but by coming near the corner where she lived. And then the next verse, verse 9: in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night, behold, there met him a woman. And he wouldn't have met her had he not come near her corner.

And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of a—now she was using the way she—I was going to say the way she was dressed, but let's be honest, the way she wasn't dressed.

She was using her attire of the harlot and subtle of heart. She is loud and stubborn. Her feet abide not in her house.

Now is she without and in the streets and lieth and wait at every corner. Oh, don't miss this. Safety got left.

She came near the corner. Now the lust is beginning to happen because of the way she wasn't dressed. Then the enticement started bombarding as this woman was very aggressive.

And by the way, sinners are bold. I think Christians ought to be bold more than the sinners. Amen?

But you see, the world is very bold. So she's out there at every corner trying to entice the man. You were Mr. Enticement.

So now he's living right here. Notice he's a lot closer to here than he was over there.

All right, so in the streets, she lieth and waited every corner. Now, the next verse in 13, look at this. She caught him and kissed him, and with an impudent, seductive, in other words, face, said unto him, I have peace offerings with me this day, I have paid my vows.

Therefore, I came forth to meet thee timidly. No, I came forth to meet thee diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. Now, he's where the enticements are.

Watch how that comes out in the next verse. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.

Notice she didn't say, come with me so I can get you the aids. Come with me so I can get you to venereal disease. No.

Come with me because I've made my sin look pretty and smell pretty. So cinnamon, perfume, she's enticing him to fall into what with her? Sin.

But with her much, now the next verse, verse 20, go to 21 to save a little time.

With her much fair speech, she caused him to yield. And with the flattering of her lips, she forced him.

Isn't that interesting? When you have a yield sign, watch this now. Can you see it over here?

When you come to a yield sign, you're supposed to give way to the oncoming traffic. He gave way to the oncoming prostitute. And what happened?

He yielded to her and fell into sin with her. Now he's right here; he's still alive. He's not there yet, right?

But he's right here. And boy, I can give you stories of kids that have died with AIDS. One boy told me, he said, Bob, he said, tell us everywhere you go.

My first assembly out of 6,000 schools, he said, Bob, he said, tell him that the AIDS virus is chewing my organs apart at night. Tell him that the commercials never told me about this. Tell me—tell them that I only have a few months left to live, and keep going with what you're doing.

I had 50 games. I've kept going. Now it's at 20,000.

Why? Because I promised a young boy I'd keep going. I don't know how long God's going to allow me to cover the court, but I just want to get this truth out.

Because how many of you are tired of the devil deceiving so many people? And it all happens because they leave safety. Now he yields to her.

Now look at this next verse, 22. He goeth after her straightway as an ox goeth to the slaughter.

Now say the word slaughter good and loud. Slaughter. Say it again.

Slaughter. Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks till a dart strike through his liver as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it's for his life. There you go.

Commercial doesn't tell you that the devil's after your life. Take it from somebody that's been in front of 6 million people. I looked at that Super Bowl crowd and I saw all those faces and I said, Oh God, if only once I could just tell how it ends to all those people.

And God put his armor on me and said, You've been in front of 60 times that amount of people over 43 years. But I'm going to tell you, it ends up in snare. It ends up in destruction.

It ends up in heartache. And that boy dying with AIDS. Please keep going.

What happened to him? He got to this point. He partook of it.

So God says, hearken to me now. I'm your friend. Hearken unto me now, therefore, O ye children.

Attend to the words of my mouth. Forget the dumb commercial. And then verse 25, That verse was quoted earlier this week.

Strong people can be slain. Well, I've memorized verses. Strong people can be destroyed.

I had a Christian high school of the most famous Bible college. They canceled my meeting because they said we found out you speak on sex, drugs, alcohol, bullying, and violence, and vaping, and all that. We don't need that at our Christian high school.

Well, some of the Christian school kids were telling me, boy, I wish you'd have come and gave it because we have some kids that are really in need of that. But the spiritual pride is absolutely rotten. How many think we all need it?

Let me hear you again. We all need it. Why?

Because many strong men can be slain by her. The only thing that's going to make you strong is stay far away from her. Stay where you're not coming close to it.

And stay where you won't end up going down the chain here. Attend to the words of my mouth, because the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb. Her mouth is smoother than oil, but her end is bitter as a wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

Now I'm not sure who's popular now, but I started out with Britney Spears, then I went to Lady Gaga and all of them. I said, they'll sing all their filth to you, but when you end up, when you're dying with some disease, they'll be in their heart-shaped swimming pool, swimming away with the money you gave them.

And I love you enough today to tell you, please don't mess up your whole future. With her much fair speech, she caused them to yield. So the excuse is, I can handle it.

The excuse is, everybody makes mistakes, as though that settles it all. The truth is, we make excuses when the consequences come. I got AIDS.

I'm shriveled up. I feel like the AIDS virus is eating my insides out, said that boy.

Then the excuse comes, my friends got me into it. The song goes like this. Do what you want, there's no tomorrow.

Pornography can trap in this whole, we hear a lot about that, and I thank God for Jim Van Gelderen's series on that. And the truth is, it traps, it destroys, it darkens the heart. A boy addicted to pornography from age 11 on a school iPad.

Years later, he wept at an altar saying, I never meant to be the guy I am now. I just click once.

Oh, you left safety. And the whole process began. My friends got me there.

My life is already ruined, or there's no point in trying now. Aren't you glad God is a God of new chances? Listen to this.

David fell into sin and had someone murdered. And yet, look how God used him even after that. And that's no excuse for what he did.

But I'm saying God has a plan for you. You say, I've messed up. Get up and rise again.

The past doesn't have to become permission slip for the future. Let me stop there a minute. The past does not have to be a permission slip for the future.

Well, it's only a picture I'm looking at. In one Bible college, some of the students were saying pornography is no big deal. One of our well-known Bible colleges.

Well, I'd say if a man looks at a woman to lust after, if he's committed adultery already with her, it is a big deal. Because how many believe Jesus is a big deal? And what he says is a big deal.

Well, David sinned greatly, but boy, when he confessed his sin, he really repented of it. One guy said, I got AIDS now and used to be a weightlifter. Now I can't even get my leg off the bed in the morning.

There's so much more I want to say. I'm going to bypass some of this.

And you never know what's going to happen. You never do. You never know how it's going to end up, do you?

Oh oh oh a lot of times you get drawn away because something seems innocent like vaping now I'm not saying all of your vape but I am going to say this I've been in front of millions of people and kids are weeping afterwards when I talk about how the the vape has an oil-based substance that wraps around your lung. One boy said, "I'm 15 and I have an 80-year-old lung now.

What it did to me was far more, not that I'm excusing tobacco, but it did a whole lot worse stuff to me than tobacco. One girl was on the way to the hospital choking. She said to the ambulance driver, "Because of the vaping, please keep me awake or I'll I'll be dead by the time I get to the hospital.

Imagine it. And it looks like candy and colorful bubble gum and cherry smell. And they even have a magic marker now to disguise that somebody's vaping at school.

I got a magic marker. My. And what they don't tell you is that it's looking pretty with the advertisements.

But they do not tell you where it ends up. That's why I'm doing this.

Watch! You do not broad jump into deep sin. I don't try to broad jump.

You don't broad jump into deep sin. It starts with one step. Then this starts taking over, and then the enticements come at you like never before.

But thank God, even when we get here, God says if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us. And what? Cleanse us to get us back over here.

He can take you back where it all started if you humble yourself. One chest x-ray showed that this girl's lungs were filled with a white substance. That was the oil.

I had to relearn to walk. How sad.

The way of the transgressor is hard the Bible says but I want to end with this I go into a public school and I see a sea of faces but I think of all watch please don't miss the ending of this I see where sin takes them now but unless they come to Jesus Christ as Savior, they are going to end up in a lake of fire forever.

How many of you believe all of God's word is true? Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. If the Bible describes hell as a lake of fire, you know what it's like when you go on a lake and you swim, you've got water all around you?

Can you imagine having flames all around you forever? To where you're like a living rotisserie being, you know, cooked on every square inch of your body forever. I believe the Bible's true.

And it says furnace of fire. It says weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. You say, well, I think it's sad what happens to people when they sin in this life and don't get right with all the stories you've told.

But wait a minute, there's nothing. Say the word nothing. Nothing.

As bad as hellfire forever. Nothing. I mean, the Bible tells us there's going to be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

Go to any emergency room and you will find out in the intensive care unit that burn patients will gnash their teeth together to where they break.

Imagine that happening to somebody forever. Wow. I'm going to talk more about that in my final session over here in the auditorium.

I'm tired of that. I'm tired of heartache. I'm tired of people looking up to see bottom if they would just open the greatest love letter they could ever read, and how many are glad?

Here it is. The greatest warnings, the greatest love, the wonderful love of my Savior found in the pages of this book. Now, there's so many more things I had written down that it would make your hair stand up, and that's why I've gone from one gym to the next gym to the next gym to the next gym to the next gym.

I live in a gym day and night, and I'm going to tell you, I'm training him because I want him to suffer.

But the truth is, it takes an unbelievable amount of energy to play a whole team. But I was doing 40, 50, and 60 games a week. Why?

Because I don't see those kids on bleachers. I take him off the bleachers and I see him hanging over the fire, ready to fall into an eternity. And all of a sudden, God gives me the strength for the next game.

Why in the world? How could you play that many games? Because I see people ready to burn and scream forever, that's why.

And I don't want one person to go there. But I want you to have your life in such a way that you're not living here. Say what this was again, as good and loud as you're preaching it.

That was an awful weak sermon. Drawn away of your own and when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin. Sin when it's finished bringeth forth death.