Gospel—Dn. Spence
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All kinds of difficulties and problems, and sometimes I just barely make it out to the plane.
And this past week was a marked difference. The week was going exceedingly well.
And I woke up Friday morning and I to a telephone call. It was kind of a normal, normal Friday morning.
Early morning call somebody.
That I love was having a difficult time.
Wanted to take her life.
Felt that it wasn't worth living any longer. We talked for about 1/2 hour 45 minutes.
I went down to the meeting room in Buena Park then and I got out the power vacuum and vacuumed the lot. It's about 1/2 acre in size. It's a dirty job. Went home and got a shower.
Fed the dogs and the cat.
And.
Gene was up and we had a little oat bran for breakfast.
We're trying to reduce the cholesterol count a little bit and it was just everything was just sailing along. So well went through the bank, went to do some xeroxing, fix the sprinkler system, fixed the electrical circuit that had gone out.
Packed things in the car and by then it was about 1:00. My plane left at 2:40.
Inside, I was going through this tremendous struggle. What's wrong with this trip? Why? Why haven't I been hit with all of these trials and troubles that normally come and block my way?
And we got out on the freeway. It's normally about 1/2 hour to the Ontario airport. And when we got up to the Pomona Freeway, we hit a solid wall of traffic that was stopped.
Any of you who are familiar with Southern California know that the freeway system is inadequate, but it is especially inadequate on three day weekends and.
This three day weekend started early.
So I said to Jean, I said, well, we'll just hop off here on the 57 and go to the 10 and we'll try that one. And we hit a solid wall on that one. We had about 17 miles to go and we were averaging about 1.7 mph.
So we knew that it would take approximately 10 hours to get there.
And I said to Gene, I said, I don't think that we're going to make it now. I had one of those tickets that you buy that they have no refund on. You get a special deal on them, but there's no refund if you don't make the flight.
So I said to Gene, I said, honey, take out that map there and look at the surface streets. We better try that. So we got off on the surface St. and we were going along and we hit every single stoplight and everybody else had decided to do the same thing.
So I have a tendency to get frustrated at times and I kind of bang my hand on the dash or the steering wheel. I'm trying to suppress this frustration. I said to Jeanne, I said, honey, I am not going to make this flight. I'm not going to make it.
And she said, well, honey, why didn't we leave a little earlier? I mean, my wives always have such easy solutions to the problem.
I said. Honey, I figured an hour and 45 minutes was enough for this fight. I didn't realize that it was going to be this bad.
And we fought the traffic and fought the traffic. And finally I said, honey, close your eyes. I'm going to do some unorthodox things from here on. So we did.
And we got to the airport and the plane left at 2:40. It was 236.
And I grabbed the bags and I ran inside of the airport and immediately I looked up at the television monitor to see if perchance the flight was late. And I couldn't even. I didn't even look to. I couldn't even find my flight. All of them said on time, on time, on time, on time.
So I ran up to the counter, had all these bags, and I said, Sir, my plane leaves at 2:40, what should I do? And he ignored me.
He just looked away from me, continued to do his business with this other lady he was working with.
So I said to Jean, I said, honey, he's not going to listen to me. She said maybe you'll listen to me. So she went up to him and she said we've got to get on this plane. It leaves at 2:40. He said, I'm sorry, the gate is closed.
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So I said to Gene, I said I've got about one minute here. I said you take my bag and get it to Des Moines somehow. I'm going to the to the gate. So I ran and crammed those bags through the X-ray machine, ran over somebody on the other side of the X-ray machine. I don't even know who it was.
And I ran out there. I was desperate. I ran out there. I had these bags and I ran out there to the gate. And he had given me the wrong gate. So I looked around, there was one, There was one more gate down the way. So I went down there and I said, Sir, is your plane going to Denver? And he said, yes, it is. The gate was locked. It was shut. And I said, can I get on that flight? And he said, yes you can.
He opened the gate and he let me in. I ran over to the stairway. It was outside. He went up the stairway, went in the plane. They closed the door, pulled the the stairway out, and the plane was moving before I sat down. I sat down in this seat. I didn't. I hardly knew where. I didn't even know if I was in the right seat. My heart was beating at about three times the rate, and I was hoping I was not. This was not going to be the end.
You know, I thought a lot about that.
Since then, and I thought about this little hymn that we were singing #20 Admit him air or the hours at hand when at his door the night you'll stand.
And I was so thankful that I made that flight, even though I did some unorthodox things to get there.
I made it within 5 seconds.
And I say to you, my friend, tonight, that we do not know how much time is left.
But one thing that we do know is that God's schedule is always on time.
Just like that monitor on time, on time. When Jesus Christ came to this world, he came on time. When the Holy Spirit came down, he came on time. When Christ is coming back through this world, he is going to come on time. You have a measured amount of life, and when your life is over, your time is up, it is gone, and it will be too late.
I was so thankful that I made that flight.
I didn't want to go home. I wanted to be here. It's been a great blessing to be here.
But heaven is even going to be more wonderful still.
And I want to encourage you because the time is running out and there will be roadblocks in your way of coming to Christ tonight. I want you to expect that that there are going to be things that will come in your mind. It could be someone that will distract you during the meeting. It could be a person next to you that wants to talk.
I assure you that the devil will make sure that you have a hard time coming tonight if you're going to be saved.
You know.
There is a verse, I'll just read it with. You don't need to turn to it. It's from the Gospel of Matthew. It says that from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. The margin says the Kingdom of heaven is gotten by violent violence or the thought is that it is advancing, but if you're going to get it, if you're going to come into the Kingdom of heaven.
You're going to have to overcome some struggles, some roadblocks, some difficulties that are set in your way because it's not going to be easy. It's simple to be saved and we're going to talk about that tonight, but there are going to be roadblocks.
Gene was telling me I called her Saturday morning about 1:00 in the morning and I said, honey, I made it. She said yes. I noticed you weren't at the gate when I came there. But she said, you know, as they were pulling your plane out, there was a lady that came running around the corner with this bag in her hand and she ran down to the gate where you had gotten on and the gate was locked. The plane was being pulled out and she said.
This lady asked if they could stop the plane, she said. I got to get on that plane. I must go.
I have to be in Denver within about 3 hours. I've got to be there and they said I'm sorry, it is too late, too late.
Tonight I'd like to continue the subject that we had this afternoon of Grace.
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We're going to look at an example of grace. You know, when some of you young people go to school and you learn a little theory?
Then the instructor will say. Now let's have an example to see how this works. So I'd like you to turn to the Gospel of John.
John, Chapter 8 and we're going to read this story.
It's a story that is not often used in the gospel, but it's a tremendous example of grace.
And it is a tremendous gospel story. John chapter 8 and verse one.
Jesus went unto the mount of Olives, and early in the morning, and he came again into the temple. And all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.
Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned.
But what saith thou this they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.
But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and rode on the ground.
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even under the last. And Jesus was left left alone, and the woman standing in the midst, when Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, Where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said. No man.
Lord and Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee, Go and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Now we notice here that the day starts out to be a somewhat normal day.
Jesus comes from the Mount of Olives, where he had been praying, no doubt.
And he comes into the temple area and there are people that gather around him.
To listen to him teach.
My friends, this is the purpose of our Gospel meeting tonight, to introduce you to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was the most wonderful person that ever graced the face of this earth. And when he came here, he taught. He taught people the Kingdom of God. He taught people moral righteousness. He taught people how to live. He taught people how to walk. He taught people spiritual principles. He taught people about God. In the morning he taught, and in the afternoon he touched. He went out and he touched.
The generation of people that were around him, he talked to them and he came in contact with them. He talked with them and he touched them. He touched the man who was blind. He put clay on his eyes, the leopard. He touched him. He was that kind of person. And here he is in the morning and he's teaching and right in the midst of this, this little meeting where they're teaching and enjoying the word of God.
Comes this group of people.
And Justice Barges right in.
And they've got this woman who was taken in adultery.
Now.
I don't know exactly how to illustrate this. I'm going to try to.
To let you know how this woman felt.
Now down here in the front row is a friend of mine by the name of Cleo Reynolds.
And Cleo is one of the dearest friends that I have in life. It's been like a father to me, a great encouragement to me. And I'm. I'm just going. We're just going to pretend here a little bit. Something about Cleo. I hope he won't mind. I meant to talk this over with him before the meeting, but I know Cleo well enough to know that he will. I think he will allow this, Let's suppose.
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Let's suppose that Cleo Reynolds is an FBI agent, OK?
And I say I'd like to introduce you to my friend from the FBI, Cleo Reynolds.
How would you feel about that? I'd say I want you to come up after the meeting and meet him. He is one of the most highly regarded agents in the United States of America. I want you to meet him.
How would you feel about that?
What if I told you that that Cleo was a man who was well acquainted with your life and he knew what was on your income tax statement last year?
Let's suppose that I said that also that Cleo had the latest electronic surveillance equipment and that he had been had a record of how fast you had been driving over the past week.
Let's suppose that, I said. Also, Cleo knows almost every detail of your school life. He has the ability to find out school records. He knows things about you that your folks don't know.
How many of you would how many of you young people would like to come up and say, well, Cleo, it's nice to meet you. I've always wanted to meet an FBI agent.
I have a feeling that there would be a number in this room that would say I think I would just as well not meet your friend.
Let's go a little bit further in this illustration, and let's suppose that.
You, 20 years ago, had robbed a bank.
And in this bank robbery, there was someone who was killed.
You did the killing and you were apprehended and you were put into prison and you were given a life sentence.
And let's suppose that after spending a year in prison, you broke out of prison. You broke out of prison, and you killed the guards.
And you were you've been on the run for the last 20 years.
Let's suppose that you were on the FBI's list of 10 most wanted people in the United States.
And let's suppose that I said, you know, Cleo is here because he's looking for the someone on the 10 most wanted people's list in the United States. How would you feel?
I think that you would probably be thinking right now, I wonder whether I ought to go get a drink real quick and go out that door and never come back, or whether I ought to just kind of silently blend into the crowd. Because I know that you would feel uncomfortable in the presence of a man who knew your record and who was here to apprehend you and to convict you for your record of sin.
And crime, You know, here is a woman in this chapter who it says is taken in adultery.
And I think that we can recognize that this is the most embarrassing kind of thing to get caught in in in.
Now I want to talk a little bit about this situation, because this sin of adultery is something that is sleeping this land. It's been brought up several times in the meetings.
About the problems that we're facing in this country, and it is not only sweeping across this land in the adult population, but through the schools of the United States.
Young people.
Young people are taken in immorality.
The figures say something like 90 to 95% of them before they graduate from high school.
Some of you have gone to high school graduations this year.
And you know that about 90% of those who are graduating.
Our people.
Who have gotten involved in this very kind of sin.
Now this woman is a woman who you might say has an unhappy marriage.
And this woman.
If you were to ask her why did you do it, she would probably say because I have an unhappy marriage. Now it is possible that this woman was married to one of the Pharisees. That is possible.
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And this woman may have been married to this man who was a law keeper. And any of you who are wise can imagine what that would be like to get up every morning and have a list of rules and regulations by which you must guide your life. And when you didn't keep the law, you can imagine that there wasn't any grace at all.
There may have even been some physical abuse involved, as this man must have exploded in rage at this woman.
And for some reason, at some point in her life here, she decides that she's going to bail out of this situation. She's going to go somewhere else. She could not find in this man that she was married to. She could not find happiness.
Kind of like that woman in John Four who sought happiness in five husbands and then tried outside of marriage.
But you see, there's always a tendency on our part to blame the problem on someone else.
You see, the reason that this woman committed adultery was because of a deeper problem.
The deeper problem was that she was a Sinner and the fault was hers.
The infidelity was hers. And so here is this woman who has taken in the very act of adultery and now she becomes a a political football that's thrown into the public arena of controversy.
She becomes she makes the headlines, like making the headlines of the Des Moines Register. Can you imagine that here in the city, right out in public, this woman is taken and she is brought to the Lord Jesus Christ. She is brought to him and she is accused.
How would you like something like that?
How would you like that to happen?
I remember some years ago I got a call. It was one of the strangest calls that I've ever gotten from someone who was a Christian. And they said I've got someone who's renting a house that I have here in Southern California, and they're having serious marital problems. They're not saved, They're not Christians. They don't even want to be Christians, but they need help. Could you go and help them?
I always have a tendency to say yes and then regret it later sometimes. So I said yes, I'll go. And I went over to this house was about 9:00 at night. I I knocked on the door and I said, my name is Dan Spence. Have you been expecting me? And she said, oh, yes, we have come right in. There was a young girl, about 2122 years of age and she brought me into the living room. And so I sat down there and her husband came in.
And so I said, well, folks, I'm here to help you. I said tell me what the problem is.
And so the wife sat up in her chair a little bit, and she said the problem is him.
And she began to tell me all the things he was doing, terrible things that he was doing. They were just literally blow any marriage completely apart. And after she got going about a minute or two, he said wait a minute, the problem is not me, the problem is her.
And he began to go and and finally it got so loud and so.
Boisterous. I felt like there was going to be some violence, so I thought I better step in.
So I said, Folks, do you recognize this book that I'm holding in my hand?
And they said.
No. Well, well, is it a Bible? Yes, it's a Bible. I said in this book it has the secret to your marital problems. Do you believe that? And they said, I don't know.
But what is it? And I said, well, first of all I want to talk to you, the wife.
It says in this book that a wife should be subject to her husband.
And I said to the husband, how does that sound? He said it sounds wonderful.
And I said, now I want to talk to you. It says that you should love your wife infinitely.
And that you should sacrifice yourself for her in every way, even if it means your life. I said how does that sound to you, the wife? And she said wonderful, but there's one problem. They both said in unison, we can't do that.
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We cannot do that. We don't have the ability to do that. And I said that's right.
That's what this book is about. This book is about the fact that men could not do what God asked him to do. And that's why Jesus Christ came into the world. That's why he went to a cross. That's why he died, that you might be born again. That's why the Bible says you must be born again. Without that, you cannot do that.
And justice. Then there was a knock on the door. And this is what I always fear. There's a knock on the door. And somebody came in. This person was he looked like a tramp off of the street. I guess he was one of their friends. And he propped himself right up against the wall right next to me. And he kept interrupting the discussion. So I said, folks, I'll have to come back later and we'll continue this discussion. We never continued it. And I think I made a mistake that night because I should have asked him to step outside of the door for a while. We had a matter to talk about.
And that's the way I feel about this meeting. I know.
That there are those in this room right now that are under conviction about their sins.
And the devil is going to step in and unless you take some action.
And get him outside the door. You may never have another night like this.
This woman was taken in the very act of adultery. I just something makes me shudder about this. I feel so sorry for this woman.
And she's taken, and she is brought out in public, out of her home, out of the home that she was in, wherever she was. She's brought out in public with these accusing fingers all pointing at her, saying there is the center right there.
Now, there's something that is strangely missing in this story. The thing that is missing in this story is the man.
The man that committed adultery, where is he? Because when we read in the law.
In Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 10 if you want to look it up, it says that a couple that has taken in adultery both should be stoned.
Both of them, and somehow the man is missing.
And it makes me wonder sometimes, because the Pharisees are so much this way if they didn't have, if this wasn't one of their friends.
And they're pointing the finger of blame at this woman.
Here is this woman She's brought to the Lord, and the question is now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what says thou?
You see there, they know that Jesus is a man of love if there's one point that got a cross in his life.
That it was that they knew he was a man of grace, they knew he was a man of forgiveness. And these men wanted to put him on the spot and say what about the law?
And so they bring this question before him, and it says in verse six that Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground.
As though I heard them, not. Is he ignoring them? No, I don't think so. That's why. As though he heard them not. As in italics, he wrote a message on the ground. And if you turn over to Acts chapter 31, I mean, I'm sorry, Exodus chapter 31.
We'll find in Exodus 31 and verse 18.
Moses had been up in the mountain getting the 10 commandments, and it says, And he gave unto Moses when he had made an end of communing with him.
Upon Mount Sinai, 2 Tables of Testimony, Tables of Stone. Notice this written with the finger of God.
I know there's a lot of speculation about what Jesus wrote, and I'll speculate here a little bit tonight, that he wrote the law, the law that is recorded in Exodus 20 and elsewhere in Scripture. I believe that he just began writing at least one of those tables of stone.
I would guess that if he wrote one of them and he started with those that dealt with man's relationship with other men, and so he probably wrote things like honor thy father and thy mother.
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Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not lie, Thou shalt not.
Covet.
He's writing these all down on the ground, I believe, And and these men no doubt are are watching, watching what he writes as he writes. And if that's what he wrote, why these men are looking at it and what he what he is telling them is you have picked one of those laws to convict this woman of death. But what about you? What about the sins that you committed? What about the lies you told?
What about the covet team times that you coveted somebody elses wife or somebody elses property or what? What about the times that you disobeyed your parents?
And those men are there, and they look at this.
And it's.
It says that in verse 7. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Think of this.
He's written those down, perhaps, And then he says.
Whoever is without sin.
You cast the first stone, and those men turn around 1 by 1, starting with the oldest.
Because they had the longest record, starting with the oldest, and they slowly, silently, coweringly creep out of that of the door.
Isn't that something? You know, my friends. I know. I know how we think.
We look down on those who are down in the gutter, those who are the drug users, those who are living in sin, and we say those are the people Jesus came to save. That's true. But he came to save you. He came to save you. And in James chapter 2 and verse 10, we read whosoever keeps the whole law and offends in one point, he is guilty of all.
It's like a chain. I suppose that I had a chain made out of paper with 10 links in it, and I have a little man hanging on the end of it and I dangle it over a box called the Lake of Fire. And you know that if I go and clip anyone of those chain links, that man is going to fall into the fire. And that's the thought I believe in a simple way in James Two and verse 10, whosoever keeps the whole law and just breaks one of them.
Is guilty of all. The effect is the same.
And so these men are convicted.
Notice they're convicted, but not pardoned. They're convicted. It's possible to be in this room tonight and know that you are a Sinner but never receive the pardon. It's possible.
How would you like your record of guilt to be displayed on this wall? I would not like that. I would not want that. How would you like that?
Was a man who knew everything about this woman. He knew her record of guilt and he was now found himself face to face with her.
And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Just two people.
Jesus and this woman.
Remember the message that we had this afternoon? The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
And now here is our two people.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect man, the Son of God come down to save, and a woman who was taken in the act of adultery, a woman who feels her sinfulness. She did not leave with the rest of those people, and she's standing there with Jesus alone.
Somehow, my friend, I would like to bring you tonight face to face with Jesus.
I would like to bring you into close proximity to him.
Because Jesus stood with this woman and bridged the gulf with the cross with the grace based on faith that was talked about this afternoon, but based on the work of Calvary's Christ.
Because Jesus was going to give this woman a pardon, had a pardon to offer her.
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But it was all based on a work that he had not yet done.
He was going to have to go to a cross. He was going to have his hands and feet nailed to a cross.
He was going to be ridiculed, he was going to be beaten, He was going to hang there in the shame of that hour.
He was going to bear her shame.
He was going to go into the darkness and suffer for this woman. He was going to shed his blood. Why? Why should this woman become so important to Jesus? Because he loved her and he loves you. And you know, my friend, that between you and and the Lord Jesus Christ is a goal that has been caused by your sin. You know, when people talk about communion, you know when people talk about contact.
With Christ, you feel uncomfortable. You know when when you get your Bible out and you try to read it, it's nothing prayer. You are not able to pray.
Because you are not saved.
You know, there's a gulf there. There is one thing and one thing alone that can bridge that gulf.
And that is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for you.
And tonight, you know, though you're sitting out there in the audience somewhere, the Lord Jesus is standing now in close contact with you. He's facing you, and he's asking you a question, something like this. Do you want to receive the pardon for your sins? Let's talk about my friend Cleo a minute here again. Let's suppose that I said to you now, before you leave the room, whoever you are that has done this great crime.
Of killing a couple of people and robbing a bank and escaping from a jail. I want you to tell. I want to tell you that Cleo has authority from the president of the United States of America that once he finds you, that he has in his hand a pardon, that is, that he's going to offer you, that is signed by President Bush.
How would you feel? You know, the clouds of guilt that have hung over your life?
You would know that times that you have gone to bed and you don't know whether you're going to wake up in some other place like a prison, or whether somebody's going to get back at you. And I think there would be a wonderful wave of relief as you suddenly realize that this man that held your record of guilt also held in his other hand, a pardon for your crimes. And that's what Jesus offered this woman a pardon.
That pardon And she says, he says to her, Where are your accusers?
Hath no man condemned thee, And she says no man, Notice this. I'm going to underline it, capitalize it, embolden it. No man, Lord.
No man, Lord.
I don't. I believe that this woman accepted that pardon because she called Jesus Lord. I believe that she turned from darkness to light. I believe that she was born again in that very moment.
I I don't know how to get this point across that you must make that decision, that you must accept Jesus as Lord, as your savior. You must recognize that He's died on the cross and risen again for you, that He's seated in the glory that he is Lord.
I remember last summer a young lady.
Who was related to me? We were planning a little get together down at the beach.
For the Wright family, it was their 50th anniversary and we decided to have a little, well, we decided for their 50th anniversary we would give them a present of a week at the beach with all of the family.
Now may they may have been thinking of something a little quieter than that, but that's what they got. And we were we were praying. There's one person in this family that has never been saved.
She does not mind if I tell you this story. One person her name is Sue.
And Gene and I have been praying for her all summer that during this week at the beach, we would have the opportunity of sharing with her the gospel.
And Gene was supposed to join me for that week, but my daughter decided that she was going to have her baby a couple of weeks later than she was supposed to. And so I was left at the week, at the week, at the beach, alone, with no wife to cook the meals and all of that.
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And so we talked it over and we decided we should go ahead with our plans and we should seek an opportunity to talk to Sue at the beach.
And I remember the night that we find that I finally had the opportunity. She was sitting alone. I went over and I sat down beside her. And she's got some serious trials that she's going through. She and her husband, her husband has a serious illness. And I said to her, so how's Dan doing? And she told me not so good. And I said, how is his relationship with God? And she said it's not very good either. And I said, Sue, let me ask you a real personal question.
How is yours? And She said. I don't think I have one.
I said, Sue, you have been raised as a Catholic, is that correct? And she said, yes, that is. And I said, I want to ask you some real important questions. I said, do you believe that Jesus was born of a virgin? And she said, yes, I do. I said, do you believe that he lived a perfect, spotless, sinless life? And she said yes. Do you believe that he died on the cross for your sins?
And she said.
Yes, I do. And I said so let me ask you do you believe that he died for you there personally or do you believe it as a historical fact?
She said. I do not know what you mean, I said So it is possible that to believe that Jesus died in history.
That he died there, but never make it personal.
You see that Romans 10 and verse 9 says, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus says Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's personal. This woman confessed him as Lord. And I said, sue, until you come to that moment.
Where you make it personal and say he died for me. My sins were placed on him at Calvary and I'm willing to bow my knee and confess him as my Lord. You are not saved. And she said something really interesting, she said. Do you mean to say that the only difference between me and you people in the meeting?
Is accepting Christ as my Savior, and I said that's right.
That's right.
She said, for all of my life, since I have met you all of my life, I thought that you were up here on some high spiritual plateau. I tried to climb it, but she said I could not reach it and she said I kept falling down. And you're telling me that there's only one step of faith involved?
And I said, that's right, one step. If you are willing now to confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will be saved, she said. It is so overwhelming, I cannot. I have to think about it. She thought about it and she got saved.
You know, that's what I want to say to you tonight, and we're getting toward the end of this meeting. I'm going to put a little emphasis on a couple of other things here, but I don't want to. I don't want to back off from this point that you must make a very personal decision for Christ tonight. You must make it. You must make it alone in the quietness and solitude of your heart. You must bow down and on Jesus Christ as your Lord and accept what he has done at Calvary is the pardon for your sins.
And you will walk out of this room tonight, a person who is new, a new creation, a new creature in Christ Jesus. You will be born again into the family of God.
Now you notice.
In verse 12 That Jesus says, Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Now here we have the pathway for every believer.
It is a pathway of obedience. It is a pathway of following Christ through this world. And as you do that you will walk in steps of light.
My concern is this, that there are some in this room tonight who are following in the shadows in the darkness, who are walking along in in those creeping shadows of sin.
00:45:10
With one foot in the testimony of being a Christian and one foot in the world.
I'm going to turn over and this will be the last verses that we talk about tonight to Ephesians chapter.
5.
And verse 5.
Because this is my great concern, that there is someone in this room tonight who has made some kind of a profession of being saved, but it's not real. Now notice in verse 5, Ephesians 5 and verse 5. But this ye know that no *********** nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God. What is he saying? He's saying that if you're out there in this adulterous world.
If you're out there going after the immorality, immoral things, and I won't name the long list of things that are available.
To everybody today, I won't name them. You know what they are.
If you're going after those things and there is no struggle that is taking place in your life and you're going after them, a *********** is someone who has no bridle to hold them back, someone who has unbridled lust. He's going after it. There's nothing to hold him back if you're going after the drugs of this world.
If you are going after the unclean things of this world, whatever they may be.
If you're going after the material things of this world, if that is your goal.
If you have given up and you're going down that pathway in your heart, nobody knows about it. You know about it.
I believe that this verse tells us you might well question that profession that you make of being a Christian.
I've heard of several people just today, just today who have.
Made a confession of being saved after they were at the Lord's table, after they were married, after they had children.
They were going through life with struggles, not able to cope with them, with sin, not able to battle it.
They were losing on every front. They were not saved. I fear that. I fear that if Jesus were to come this very moment, and the door to heaven, the gate to heaven were to close, that there would be those sitting in this audience saying why am I left here? I remember a time when I went through the procedure, I went through the motions and I'm still here.
Scripture tells us that there will be those who knock on the door, and they will say, Lord, Lord, open unto us.
I believe that will be the worst day of their lives when they hear the response. I never knew you.
You know this woman who didn't make the plane. It was a probably one of the worst days of her life. Nothing in comparison to those who will someday have the door to heaven shut, and it will shut suddenly in a moment of time like that, and it will be too late.
I want to encourage you tonight to come to Christ. It's simple. It is a matter that you can take care of there in your seat.
I want to encourage you to simply look up by faith. We're going to pray together. I want to encourage you, as we pray, to make that decision in your heart. To bow your knee, to bow in your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ on him as your Lord and personal Savior. To tell him that I know that you died for my sins personally on Calvary's cross.
I'll be here after the meeting and I have time. If you have any questions, please feel free to come up. Please feel free to look me up after the meeting. I have some plans, but they can easily be cancelled. They can easily be cancelled because the matter of your salvation is so important to me and it's so important to you and it's so important to God.
We have a room where we can go talk things over. We have a room where we can go and pray together. And I'll be waiting for you. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to come. Let's bow our heads in.