Gospel—Norm Hiebert
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
We want to extend the warmth welcome to each one of the Suns of the gospel meeting of the evening. Maybe you can never be to a gospel meeting. Maybe your first time. We're going to introduce you to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who is the Savior of sinners?
So we're glad to have you here and under our bendy here who asked her birthday gospel message time and time again. And you're here again to listen. And maybe you don't know the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
So tonight we were together praying that if there were someone in the room that wasn't saved, that they would be saved tonight. Not because of Maine, but because the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking and he's using a weak vessel to speak that gospel message. I wonder if we could start this meeting by singing hymn #20 behold, the Savior at the door. He gently knocks, has knocked before.
Has waited long, is waiting still.
You use no other friend, so I'll open the door. He'll enter in and Sup with you and you with him. Let's stand and sing #20.
Behold the Savior.
At the door.
Yeah.
That's great anymore.
Nsnoise schedule Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
When I get born here in my eyes go to silence.
Nsnoise.
I talk with you and you.
Should we pray, ask God's blessing on this meeting? Our blood, older ones, but for the children. So let's think Jesus loves me. It's on the Backpage #40 and we'll remain seated this time. This is for the children. So I expect that the voices of the children will rise above the voices of the adults. That doesn't mean that the adults stop singing though. Please, Jesus loves me.
00:05:41
Yes, please. I love me. Yes.
CWC.
And the bolt of lightning bodies did well on some way in mind feelings where the Father is most of the time. God made him that. I believe that the last day. Yeah, He knew the last one's amazing. Yeah. He's not lost me, but I'm fine. Ankles that I hold down. Sleep. Don't sleep, don't.
3005 million dollars is making their own wireless minds better in the way we can be done once they're shining home on the heart. They don't watch me where I lie. You haven't seen that last day. Yeah. See, that's what I've made. Yeah. I have to ask you anything, but I don't know why I'm talking about and I don't know anything about.
You so much.
Oh my God. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But you make it, yeah.
Well, I think it's God's father. It's normal without me because I don't know, I wanted you to do the agony for us for some reason, because I'm a nice story. As we were driving out here yesterday, we stopped for the day before we stopped and I hotel and uh.
Next morning we're checking out, there was a man who was cleaning the floors and I greeted him and he went this way.
So anyway, I I said good morning anyway and carried on in my room, but he didn't hear me. He didn't hear me.
When I went back to my room, I was a little bit under conviction. I felt that I needed to talk to this man. So after we checked out, he was out there cleaning his floors and I said to him.
And he went.
And then he said to me, I did the rest of the actions and he agreed again. And finally in the closing comment to me silently, he said.
I knew what he meant. I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you as you're driving. Well, that was a wonderful thing. I was so pleased that I was able to communicate with him. I had learned the sovereign language. Jesus loves me and this man had a huge smile on his face. I believe he's the Lord. He was praying for me and my wife as we were driving. Wasn't wonderful to know that, to be able to talk to somebody even if he can't hear you. Well, let's take the word of God.
And the Word of God speaks to our hearts tonight. And I trust you can all hear what's being said. If you want, I can maybe turn the volume up a little bit. Let's turn to the book of Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16.
00:10:15
And we'll start reading at the 16th verse. It came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination.
Met us, which brought her Master much gain by soothe saying the same followed Paul and us and cried, saying These men are the servants of the Most High God, which show unto us the way of salvation.
And this did see many days, but Paul being grieved, turned and said to the Spirit.
I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. And when her Master saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrate, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive.
Neither to observe being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them. And the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging this jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight.
Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them, and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were open and everyone's hands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awakened out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed him self, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm.
For we are all here. Then he called for light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in my house. I'm going to stop there for now and go back to the earlier part of the chapter.
And uh.
It tells us there that in the 61St where it says, and it came to pass as we went to prayer. I want to tell you all here sitting in the room that before we came up here, there were a lot of brothers in the room that were praying and they were praying for you young child. They're praying for you young people. They were praying for you older ones who may still not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
They were praying for you earnestly. You know, I come away from these prayer meetings and I find tears in my eyes to see the earnestness of the prayers that went up on your behalf. And you're sitting in this room tonight. You're going to hear the gospel message.
And we trust it's of the Lord. And there have been prayers that have gone up to the Lord asking him that you will turn to the Lord Jesus Christ today. They came from prayer. So what did they do?
They went out to preach and as they were preaching there was a woman there who was possessed and she was saying some very interesting things. Is there something wrong with what she said it? She said it says yes. She followed Paul and us and cried, saying these men are their servants of the Most High. God would show unto us the way of salvation. She thought that she must introduce these people as showing the way of salvation. You know, that's the way we operate in the world. We like to introduce people and tell them how wonderful they are and what wonderful things they've done and they're going to do and all the things they've achieved. And it's all fluff, all fluff.
This woman was being directed by somebody else, and it was a demon.
00:15:00
As you know, the enemy is whispering perhaps in the ears of some here this evening and are saying don't listen to that or they may even say something favorable. My friend, if it isn't the word of God, don't listen to it. Don't listen to it here. He came to this gospel meaning to hear the gospel message. And she did this for a number of days. And I often wonder why it took Paul so long.
Well, may I ask you the question, why does it take so long for you?
To come to the Lord Jesus Christ. What's holding you back?
Is it your friends? Is it your boyfriend? Your girlfriend? Is it your mom or your dad? What's holding you back?
You know, when you enter into eternity, if you don't accept Jesus as Savior, you'll go in there alone with nobody to support you, nobody to hold your hand, nobody to do anything for you.
If we find here that Paul was grieved, and so there are many here that are grieved today.
That you, my friend, may still not have accepted Jesus as Savior.
Paul was preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a remarkable conversion on the road to Damascus when the Lord Jesus struck him down with a bright light. And he said, Who art thou, Lord? Who art thou, Lord? Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus, whom thou persecute us.
You know, Paul was a very intellectual type of an individual, highly educated, and he had a hate for the name of Jesus, but there was an about face. There was an immediate change in that man when the Lord Jesus spoke to him. And you know, if you accept Jesus as Savior, there's going to be a change in your life. If it's real, if you really want to do it, you're doing it before the Lord and not before those that are sitting beside you or around you.
If you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, there's going to be a change.
But you know, the end came. It tells us that Paul, being great, turned and said to the Spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ. I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
Is that power? Sure is. Was that Paul's power? No. They got that power in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where the power came from.
And we find then that.
The ones that were working in the background, the ones that had all the spin things and all the things they did to get to earn money. And we see that today too. They were upset. They were upset and they said here we they realized that their hope of their gains was gone and that they brought them to the magistrates.
These men, being Jews, do exceedingly troubled our city.
My wife and I went last, uh, fall, went for a walk along the shore of Lake Ontario on the north side and uh, we met, we saw a Barbadian man sitting there and we said nice evening, great evening, isn't it? He said, yes, yes, very nice. I said, well, this is the day that the Lord has made. Yes, yes. And we carried on and we met another man, big, tall, lovely, great looking man. And we had seen this couple sitting at the picnic table and, uh, this man, we talked to him and I said the same thing to him and I only got halfway through the verse and he called the rest of it. Well, we had a wonderful time.
And he told me, he says, you know, I was just downtown here in Burlington, ON. And he said I was, I just go around along the beach and I, I stopped somewhere and I preached the gospel. And he said I was downtown preaching the gospel. And finally one of the bartenders there phoned the police and I wanted him removed. And a kindly police officer, who I believe may have been a Christian said to him, hey, Sir, what you're doing is wonderful. It's just wonderful. But the bartender here is upset because he can't sell any more.
Drinks. Would you move away a little bit? I said I just walked away and started somewhere else. He was a delightful man, but he was not intimidated. He was not intimidated by the words of these people. Besides which he was a pretty big man, but he was but didn't bother. But didn't phase on him. And then his wife was sitting there and she came over and we had a delightful time and ended up praying in the park just the four of us. That is a man who was on fire for the Lord and didn't care about what people thought about him.
And he carried on preaching in various places.
Well, he brought them to the magistrate, so they said these men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city. Oh yes, you haven't seen anything yet. So I was at this stage. It's gonna be more to come as we read the story. So they told them that this is what happened and there was bias. They went on to the teaching customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe being Roman. God's word tells us that all of sin and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous. No, not one.
00:20:29
God's word tells us, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. There's gonna be a time coming when if you haven't accepted Jesus our Savior, no amount of knocking is gonna change that. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you except ye repent. Ye shall all likewise perish. And my friend, that is the reality. That's the absolute truth of the word of God. There's no fine print that says there's a condition that that's if you do certain things, you'll be alright.
That may be the case in things that man set it up. It doesn't work with the Word of God because God looks on the heart and He knows what you're thinking here, each one in this room. He knows what's going through your mind and he knows that you're either saved or lost. And if you're lost, you're a broad Rd. as the Bible teaches us, a broad Rd. that leads to destruction.
Is that where you really want to go?
I know what's going to happen. You say, well, but, but God, why would he do all these things that are happening in Haiti and and the earthquakes and so on?
Well, God is overall. God knows that there's been a rejection of him.
Why do you call on God when you're in trouble? He wants us, He wants you. He wants everybody all the time. And does that mean that it's going to guarantee you and me that nothing will bad will happen to us? No, that's not what he's saying. But what he does say that he'll take, I'll take your sins away. And God's word tells us that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sins. Not some sin, all sins.
I had a call from a neighbor about two weeks ago. He walked over, he had a, he has a beautiful dog. He walked by our place and he stopped and, and I thought he looked a little under the weather. And I said, uh, what's what's the matter, Dave? He said, I just lost my wife, just lost my wife. She died.
And he said it's pretty tough. I couldn't even get to imagine the agony that he he was going through. He's not a, he's not a Christian. He's a man of the world. So anyway, we talked a little bit. We invited him in and chatted with him and he came back and the next day and he had three pictures. He says my wife had no relatives. Her mother and dad died within the past year. I have two sisters that haven't talked to me for five or more years. I'm all alone.
I'm all alone.
So anyway, he says, would you do something for me? I said I'd be delighted. What do you what would you like me to do?
Could you take these pictures and do something with them so they look better and that I have something that I can look at of my wife as she was? We were married. He said when I was married I had to go and pick my wife up. Parents wouldn't have anything to do with it. I don't know what his background is, why it was so awful, but anyway, that's not the point. I brought the pictures to him and he was absolutely delighted he said it and I had to do it by computer to enhance them.
He went away to uh, Ottawa where his uh in laws host was to.
Settle all the different things that matters involving, uh, his wife's death. And when he came back a week later, he thanked me so much. He's, oh, you don't know how much I appreciate what you've done for me. I said, well, it's nothing. I didn't do anything. And then he says, and thank you so much for the gems that you sent me. I said, what? Thank you so much for the gems you sent me for you, Those of you who don't know what that means, I send out a ministry every day called gems for my reading.
Somehow.
That computer of mine picked up his name and transferred his name into my mailing list for gems. I think the Lord allowed that to happen. He was touched by that. Isn't it wonderful how the Lord works? And Dave isn't the Lord? Well, the next day I was speaking to our neighbor, a young fellow by the name of Chris and his wife Cheryl, and I said, did you know that Dave's wife died? Oh, no, no, we didn't know. You know, we had a falling out. But no, we didn't know. I feel terribly bad about it.
So anyway, I talked a little bit as he was driving. My son. I remember, I remember he got to be prepared and he kept on driving. He says I'll never be prepared. Once the paperwork's done, I'm gone.
00:25:09
What an awful thing to say. I'll never be prepared.
You should all that may not be an unusual statement. There may be some in this room that feel the same way. I'll never be prepared. I'm having a good time.
Time is running out. The Bible tells us at the last phase, difficult times shall come. They're here. They're here. We all feel it. I feel it. I feel it. It's very near. It's very serious. And we get an account of that here back in about 8053. Until they, they rent off their clothes. They were so furious that they mentioned the name of Jesus. And then they beat them. They beat them.
Well, none of us have had that treatment so far.
But you know, sometimes when we're not included with the group in school maybe, or in a youth group maybe or in an assembly setting or maybe in your church setting, there's something that troubles you and you feel really bruised. My friend Jesus is there. Jesus loves you. We were singing that Jesus loves me. He tells us that John 316 for God so loved the world.
That He gave, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish.
But have everlasting life, for God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Would you like to be saved tonight? I would recommend that you don't wait till the end of this meeting, because I read in God's word of the coming of the Lord draws nearer, draws nigh. That could happen before the hour if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
You can accept them where you are, wherever you're seated. You can ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your heart, to wash all your sins away. You'll do it. He promises that. That you have to admit that you're a Sinner, that you're bad. All bad. Totally bad. We all were. But all. What a wonderful thing for those in this room who've accepted Jesus as Savior.
These bruises that we may get at work, at school.
Maybe even in the Sunday School fire. Sometimes they hurt, don't they? Turn your eyes to Jesus, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.
Well, it tells us that after they had beaten these guys up to pulp, they were told to take them to prison. And, you know, these guys weren't exactly gentle. That tells us here. Let's read it again in verse.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, did they lead him into prison and put him down gently? No, it says cast them in. I get an impression that they just picked them up and tossed them into the prison cell.
And charge the jailer to keep them safely. I don't think these fellows were going anywhere anyway. They were pretty badly beat up. And he cast or thrust them into the inner prison and put their feet, feet in their stocks. They couldn't move. They had, they were under guard. There wasn't anything they could do to save themselves from the awful pain that they were experiencing and the bleeding from their back.
There wasn't anything they could do.
Who was happier there? Was it Paul and Silas, or was it the other prisoners? Or was it the jailer? Or was it those that were beating him, those that stirred up this controversy? You know, these two brothers with their feet in this, in this, in the stocks and the inner prison, bleeding and painful at midnight. One is paying the worst the midnight, isn't it?
What, you're gonna paint it in in the morning? It may not be all that bad, but midnight is the worst time.
They were singing, they were singing. I was thinking about that this morning when, uh, the hymn was given out #156 Praise ye the Lord. Again and again the Spirit strikes the chord. Nor toucheth he our hearts in vain we praise, we praise the Lord.
00:30:00
Verse 4. Clean every wit thou saidst it, Lord, shall one suspicion alert? Thine surely is a faithful word, and thine a finished work. Forever be the glory given to thee, O Lamb of God, our every joy on earth and heaven. We owe it to thy blood.
Can you do anything about it? Can you work through your salvation? You may well say yes. Some do. I go to church, or my grandfather or grandmother sang in the choir. Beautiful, lovely. I like music too.
It. But what about you? Did you sing in the choir? No, No. Well, then what does that have to do with it? Well, I didn't. I don't put it quite that way. I don't want to get into an argument with these people or I might be beat up too, you know? So anyway, you you raise these things with them and you know what they're saying.
I am good. I'll get to heaven my way. I'll do it my way. Oh what a sad awakening to find out that you can't do it your way.
Well, you know, there was a.
There's a, a young fellow, well, he's my grandson. We like to play hockey. He loves to play hockey. And every once in a while some of us get down there and watch them play hockey. Maybe a couple of dozen or so parents and grandparents are there. And he's just, he's only, I don't know, 8 years old or younger, seven maybe. And he's got all his equipment on and, and he's a real tiger on the ice. And, you know, after he came off, there was a little bit of, you know, giving, giving him the, the go ahead, move on, move on, move on, move on, move on get. And so when he came off, I said to him, uh, could you hear the, see, here's some of the people calling you.
The only one.
The only one I can hear is my daddy.
The only one he heard was that why is that? He was listening for them. He recognizes dad's voice. Do you know and hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to you or do you just hear the crowds cheering and urging you on saying, oh, you're a wonderful guy, you're playing wonderful hockey player and all this kind of stuff that is that what's burning you on?
My friend, you're gonna have space, God.
But you know, if you set Jesus as Savior, he's going to deal with this because when he died on the cross of Calvary, his blood was shed. He would. He took away all the sins of those that accept him as Savior. God's word tells us that he has removed my transgressions as far as the east is from the West. He's buried them in the deepest sea. Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
No, Wonderful. Would you like to do that? You say? But but, you know, I've done some pretty bad things. Yeah. So why so is everybody in this room? So we're all in the same boat, except that there are those who said I'm lost, I need a savior. And for those who have done that, they're now safe.
They're still in this world, and God's Word tells us that the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
People are dying every day.
In the last few years I've got the white hair, the wrinkles, the eyeglasses, and a metal valve in my heart and sore knees and all these kinds of things. We're in a world that's full of sin, and we as Christians are also affected by the sin. But would you like to have somebody who bore those sins for you and know with assurance that when he comes, you go with him? The Lord Jesus said if I go away, I will come again.
I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. God's Word tells us that the Lord Jesus is going to come back and the clouds very soon.
And it tells us the dead in Christ shall rise first. My father, my mother, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, my little brother. And friends of yours who belong to Jesus, never rise 1St And.
The rest of us are gonna better say they're gonna be caught up to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the air, and God's word tells us so. Shall we ever be with the Lord? And then there's another little verse that says, comfort one another with these words. Are you comforted with this reality? Has it laid hold of your hearts? Are you happy that today is the year 2 two thousand 2010?
00:35:12
And you're still OK. You thought that the year 2000 would be the end of time with 10 years passed. The Lord is is coming, but he's got the date set. God's got the date set. You don't know what it is. I don't know what it is, but he's coming. And I say that with the authority of God's Word. Let's get back to Paul and Silas. They were singing. I would like to have heard them saying.
I'll tell you when I'm hurting, I don't feel like thinking. My wife's a nurse and she says I'm not a good patient. I don't think I'd be singing. I'd be probably complaining. Oh, wrap up those sores on my back. They were singing. Why would they sing? Wouldn't that be peculiar to all the prisoners that were there that saw the condition that these two men were in bleeding?
Wouldn't that have some impact on them? And they say this, there's something different about this man.
There's something different about Batman.
And then to sing, oh, they had something in their hearts that probably most, if not all the other prisoners didn't have. They had Jesus there. That's who they were talking about. And that's when they were tossed unceremoniously into the prison. It tells us the prisoners heard them.
The prisoners heard them. Well, now let's go back to that.
20th verse.
These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city. OK, you watch the trouble now. And suddenly there was a great earthquake.
I've often wondered how scary that must be. An earthquake such as was experienced in UH, in UH, these islands, the the the South Islands and Chile and a few other places, and the threat of a tsunami in the whole, in Hawaiian Islands, in Japan, and even off the coast of Vancouver and Canada where the Olympics were being played, there was danger.
But nobody seemed to pay any attention to it, and God in his mercy spared a lot of people.
But you know, man is so absorbed with what they can do and what they can put on the programs they can put on and the and the thrill and the joy of of all these things. Yeah, I like to, I like sports too. I like to go out walking, although slow down a little bit. You know, when you pass that three score and 10 years 4, you, you slow down that there's a switch seems to go on and and you're not going quite as fast as those Olympic sports people did. But anyway, here they were. And there was an earthquake, but that wasn't the end of it.
It tells us something more.
The foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bands were loosed. Now this is uncanny. How could that happen? How could the how could their bands be on loose? How could they? They're, they're light their their legs come out of the stocks. How could the doors be open?
With God, all things are possible and he can bring in an earthquake. He could bring it right into this town. He shook them up because.
I believe they attacked.
His people all in silence, His faithful witnesses. They attacked him and the doors were open.
Well, the the jailer, he was sleeping, but he got what you would call a rude awakening when he saw this happening. And he knew very well when he saw the doors open that he was in deep trouble. Deep trouble because if one prisoner escaped.
He would have to pay with his life.
My friend, if you reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you're not saved before you die.
No hope for you, so the Bible tells us.
That's serious. But while you're sitting here today, you're breathing, you're hearing the word of God being quoted. You have a responsibility.
You have a responsibility because you've heard the Bible being read to you.
Like Paul and Silas knew what they were doing, but then Paul noticed something. He saw the jailer pull his sword out and he was going to end his life. And you know, that's what's happening today with a lot of people.
00:40:09
They're ending their life because they cannot face the reality of what's going on around them. They want to put an end to it, forgetting or not knowing or not caring.
It's just the start of eternity.
That's not going to improve anything.
You know, I had a brother-in-law who is 82 years of age. He was a professional football player in the Canadian Football League.
You Americans may not think it's very professional, but it was. He was a good, he's a good football player and he played for many different teams and he was a macho type. He got an Olympic award in swimming. He was a big fellow and he married my sister many years ago.
And two years ago, I think it is, you got very, very sick. 82 years of age. He had never, as the saying goes, darkened the door of a church. My sister was the Lord she saved.
And she lived with this man. He was kind to her and everything, but he was a macho type, you know, and, uh, and he got a lot of attention when he was playing football and, and when he didn't get it, you know, he, you get into kind of a funny mold, you know, I'm important. Come on people, I'm important. Let's hear the cheering. That's what he wanted. Well, as he realized that he was dying, suddenly there was a change in him. I'd written him a couple of times and, and outlined the plan of salvation for him. And, uh, but we had no indication that he.
Had accepted Jesus as Savior, and my sister phoned and she said, well, you know.
Spoke to him about the Lord again and he said well you know, I have read what Norm is written.
That is all on the Lord's hands now.
He confessed, the Lord, his granddaughter said to us. I didn't think this would ever happen. Whatever happened to Dad? It was just around the time when they were playing the Grey Cup and the nurses were bringing in television sets for him to watch the game. You know what he said, Take it away. I don't. I don't want that. I just want my wife here.
I just want my wife to be sent. He realized that he had spent too much time on those things.
And he's now in glory and a wonderful thing. Don't you wait for 82 to roll around. That may just not happen with Ernie. It happened and he's safe with the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful thing to know that that he accepted Jesus Christ as Savior.
Well, it tells us here then, that.
Saul cried out. Don't kill yourself. We're all here.
Well, first of all, how did he know that they were all there? How did he know that you know?
The Lord Jesus gives the Christian an insight into what's going on.
But I think he had a loud voice. I might have had some competition with Paul. I think he had a loud voice. And when he and Silas were singing in unison, they heard the words that were being stung.
And he was giving a message and he knew that the people were there. But there's one more thing. God kept all those prisoners from running away. What would happen if the prison in this province or this state or or not one of our provinces, the doors were opened. I guarantee you most of them make a run for it. Most of them make a run for it. They all stayed. They all stayed. You know, I'm glad to see nobody running out of this room.
I hope it's because you're either a Christian.
Or I hope it's because you're under conviction. They didn't run away. This man was so struck by this.
That he called for a light. He sprang in. He came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas. A different man. Something had happened. He was changed. He saw that these men had something that he didn't have. And he saw all the prisoners there. He knew that committing suicide wasn't the answer. And he made a good choice. He made a good choice.
He saw what was going on and he cried out and he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
You say. What does that mean? Saved. Well, let me tell you.
00:45:01
Many years ago it was a beautiful garden called the Garden of Eden. And God created man and put him in there and created a woman and put him in there. God said I want you to enjoy this. I want you to enjoy this lovely garden. There's only one thing I don't want you to do. There's a there's a tree in here that I don't want you to eat of. It's one tree, don't eat of it.
And you know, these two walked in that cool of the garden and God was there and he enjoyed. He wanted that companionship of his creation.
But one day as they were walking and looked up at that tree and said, oh man, what a beautiful tree. I don't kind of fruit. It was. Well, let's say for argument's sake, it wasn't apple tree. Oh, that those beautiful apples and voices.
As God told you that you're not supposed to eat of this. Oh, they put a doubt in their minds.
He's holding something back from you, because if you eat from this tree, you'll get wisdom and you'll get ABCDEFG. And they couldn't resist or didn't resist. They didn't think about what God had said for them not to do. Don't eat of that fruit. All sort words, nothing complicated.
So the 8 of it you may say if you're not unsafe, did you say what's the big deal? I often go and eat food off a tree.
Disobedience is the great deal, which means they sinned.
No Sinner will get into heaven unless they accept the Lord Jesus Christ. Before we get to that point, we find that they were told to leave the Garden of Eden and there was a guard set up so they couldn't get back in And God said you're going to be having trouble. Let's I won't go into the details, but you know, it was at the end of the story. God said can't have anything to do with you, you send.
God and sin are can't go on together.
But God had a plan, and we read about that plan long before it happened.
God sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ into the world. A baby born of a virgin, a baby in a Manger. The Lord Jesus Christ, no room for him when he came into this earth. They didn't want him. Even then they tried to kill him. Many babies had to die. Oh what a sad thing. Poor babies, dying because the King.
Was so jealous of that one who was born who was.
Considered to be the king of the Jews, and he was.
The Lord Jesus worked in his dad's workshop, carpentry shop, and then for three years he went out and he ministered to the people and the Jews.
He ministered to them, He healed people and he did all those wonderful things that go on and on and on and on.
But you know something? There were people there that were just like these people here. He's turning the world upside down.
They didn't want Jesus.
And finally the day came when they caught him, when Jesus allowed himself to be caught and they bound his arms and they let him away to pilots home. And they had a a, they had a, a, a judge there. And he was, he was listening to all the arguments he had.
They had no evidence, no evidence.
And they were looking for someone to come forward, the high priests and, and and so on. They were looking for someone to come and say what he had done that was wrong. Finally he said, Oh yeah, he said he could tear down the temple and build it up in three days.
How would that wash the US court or a Canadian court? It's the most unjust trial that ever occurred.
The governor tried to release him in some what he thought to be a legal manner. Didn't work. Didn't work. They said crucify him, crucify him. We do not want this man to reign over us.
Let His blood be upon us and our children. That's what they said. And so finally.
Pilot said that he couldn't find any fault with him. They crucified him. You can read that in the in the Gospels that we have here. The first four books of the New Testament about what what happened to Jesus, the trial. They spit upon him, they put a crown of thorns on his head. They beat him about the back, They hit him with their hands. They did everything despicable. Then they took his clothes off and they put her all on him.
And they put a reader's hand, and they bowed and mocked him.
00:50:03
And then they rip the clothes off, that bleeding back. Oh, the pain that he endured at the hand of man. Then they took the Lord Jesus, and they led him to Calvary. He took his cross partway, and then someone else took it from there.
They laid the cross on the ground and they stretched out his hands and put cruel nails through both His hands and through His feet. Can you imagine the pain that was experienced just at the right point where it would weaken the muscles so that He would have to put all His weight on one nail? Jesus suffered, He suffered.
And what happened to all his accusers?
And sitting down, they watched him there.
Is that what you're doing? Is that what you're doing? You hear the gospel message and you're sitting there watching, hearing, knowing.
You go through about it, we can do about it. Well, Jesus is on the cross and suddenly everything went dark and for three hours there was darkness. Jesus hung on that cross in three hours and something happened during those three hours. Nobody knows all the details, but one thing we do know that God.
Turned his back on his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He could not look upon sin because.
Jesus died so that the incident in the Garden of Eden could be dealt with and that sinners could come to Him. He died, His blood was shed, and after the light came on again.
We find that the lower we hear the words, read the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, Eli, Eli lambasted. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
I know why He was forsaken. Many in this room know why the Lord Jesus was forsaken. He was forsaken that you would not be forsaken if you accept His pardon.
Of salvation. This is what? How much does it cost? Is that what you're asking? What does it cost? I want to pay for it. You're too late. Too late. It's paid for. It's a gift. It's a gift. He's giving it to you. The gift of God is eternal life.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus hung on that cross.
And they gave up the ghost. They gave up the ghost.
And then?
Is getting close to their their uh, ceremonies, you know and said, well he's gotta come off the cross and he had died so a soldier came and put a spear in his side and blood and water came out the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth us from all sin. Would you like to claim that as your own Jesus was taken from that cross. He was bound in all these linen clothes and he was taken to.
A A2.
He was laid gently in the tomb by those who loved him.
And they rolled a big stone in front of this tomb, and the governor put his seal on it, and he posted guards around it so that the disciples wouldn't steal it away and say the Lord had risen. Oh, their conscience was pregnant. They had remembered something.
Have you remembered what you learned in Sunday school? Have you remembered what you heard in the gospel meeting? These men understood or understood something about it. Make sure.
You know, they were, they weren't very smart because they were all there and the Lord Jesus rose. Nothing could stop it. He had paid the price. He was untouchable from that moment on. Jesus walked in the scene and was seen of many of those that loved him. And then one day he went out of the city and he went to heaven.
And there were people observing this, and the angels said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus who has gone into heaven will come again.
He will come again. Jesus, the man who was man and God. He is a real person in heaven this moment. Jesus is coming and he's coming.
00:55:00
For all those who have been redeemed with a precious blood of Christ.
You know, we see many scary scenes and you know, the other day, that was on the 17th of March, which is Saint Patrick's Day.
My wife and I went out for a bite to eat in the evening with our son, invited us to go out to him and he had something to discuss with us. And, uh, I have a young son. My youngest son is a police officer.
And we'd call them too. So if you can join us, it'd be nice. And so we came in and we were sitting in a corner and, and he came in and he was in his uniform. And suddenly everything went quiet in the restaurant. There was a conscience there, conscience there, because the police were checking all these establishments to see if there's anybody with doing things they weren't supposed to do. But anyway, I said to my son, you know, I think we're gonna have some excitement in our, in the place where we live, because it looks like there's some very young people that are.
Starting to gather for a storm. But when we came back home, we saw about 4050 of them and they were didn't break anything, but they were sitting there and they were drinking on the street. And in about 20 minutes or no less than that, maybe 5 minutes also. And I noticed the car coming up the one side and another one on the other side, another one from this side and they were cruisers. They were cruises. They closed in on them. And then I noticed an unmarked car coming in, a dark blue one and it was my son.
And his little boy is three years of age, calls him, My daddy's using his sneaky car tonight. That's a car, you know, ghost car. They came in and they cleaned up on these people. And I was kind of watching between the curtains to see what was going on. And I heard my son say, get down there and clean up all the glass of the garbage. Well, we didn't do that. I don't care whether you did or not, you're here. Clean up. Those guys all obediently went cleaned up. They knew what was going to happen is they didn't listen to them. He booked all of them.
You know what happened? He didn't book any of them. He allowed them to go away.
He had mercy on them. He loves young people. He likes to sit down with them when he catches them with drugs and with alcohol and doing things. He sets them down as they get a little lippy. He says go ahead and run. My partner sitting out there and he talks to them about things in the future. He talks to them about their occupation. What you would like to be, Oh, I'd like to be an accountant. If I book you tonight, you're not going to be an accountant. They won't allow you in or I'd like to travel. So I cross the border in the United States with a, with a police record.
Like to lay it out for the His mercy on them. He gave them a chance.
Gave them a chance. We were talking earlier how some were rejoicing when they booked somebody else for speeding and Jim was telling us about that.
Sometimes you feel that way, but he has mercy. He had mercy on them. Well, anyway, about 15 minutes everything was cleaned up. In fact, I walked out the next morning there was this sign of any problem, but they all disappeared. He phoned us. He said I think the homeowners home now everything's fine now everything was fine. But if everything's fine with you tonight, you know I.
I have a sense that there's somebody in this room that is still putting off making a decision. I felt that in the prayer meeting before we came in here. I think there may be someone still isn't saved. Is that you?
Young people.
You older one, is it someone who hasn't heard the gospel before? I'm warning you, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming. He ascended into heaven. He said I'm gonna come again. And when he comes in the cloud, only those who've accepted Jesus as Savior will rise from the dead and those that are alive will go up to meet him and that's when things will be turned upside down because.
The Prince of Peace God will deal with the evil in this world.
You'd like to stay behind for that?
Terribly sad thing.
He loves you, He wants you, He died to redeem you. Let's pray.
Of God.