Gospel—J. Bilisoly
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Hospital meeting this evening.
I wonder if we could stand together and sing hymn #10 in our hymn sheet.
There is a city.
On high in the glory, a Savior who suffered on Calvary's tree, a Savior as willing to save now as ever.
His arm is almighty, His love great and free will. Come now to Jesus, that dear loving Savior.
Receive him this moment, and peace shall be thine. But someone raised the tune, please.
Oh.
Should we just ask God for His help in this time together?
I'd just like to begin by reading a verse in the book of Acts.
Acts Chapter 8.
And verse 35.
Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture.
And preached unto him Jesus.
Or, as another translation, Mr. Jay and Darby's translation puts it.
He announced the glad tidings of Jesus unto him. I like that He announced the glad tidings of Jesus unto him. The dear ones, that's the purpose of this meeting this evening that has been scheduled is to announce the glad tidings of Jesus unto you.
You know, I wish you could have been in the prayer meeting that was held just before this meeting.
And I wish you could have heard.
The tender and loving appeals that were made for your soul if you are without Christ this evening.
I don't know if there were physical tears in any of the eyes of the brethren that prayed in that room across the hall.
But I know that in their hearts they were crying out for your soul, and they were beseeching a loving God that He would speak to you.
And so we just desire that this evening, that's their desire in prayer, that if you are without Christ, that you would come to that Blessed One.
Not put it off, not even wait till the end of this meeting, but that you would accept Him as your savior.
And so we're not here tonight to.
In any way entertain.
Or anything of that nature. But we're here to present to you the Lord Jesus. You know, I thought it was nice this morning as we were considering what to have before us in these meetings.
And it was suggested that we have Christ before us. And it came over me. Could there be a more worthy subject? Could there be a better Object for our hearts to be occupied than with Him? No, there couldn't, because there. And so it's our desire tonight to announce the glad tidings of Jesus unto you, as this dear faithful evangelist Philip did to this Ethiopian eunuch here.
He pronounced unto him the glad tidings of Jesus.
You know, I had just stopped a little while ago to buy some gas and I went in to pay for the gas and the lady there was doing some other things and she didn't see that I was there. So I waited a minute and then she turned and.
She came over and took care of me and.
She said.
That pretty gloomy outside, isn't it? Kind of dreary? Not a very nice day. Yeah, it is a little overcast and.
She said you must have worked today, did you have to work? And I said, no, I I'm attending a Bible conference here in Des Moines. She said, oh, that sounds fun.
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And.
They said, well, it's been very nice and then I gave her a track to read. But you know what, the thought came over me that.
It's too bad, isn't it, that it seems like so often.
Things are measured in this life by whether or not it's fun.
And whether or not it's enjoyable to us.
And so I guess I wouldn't measure a conference in that way, whether it's fun or not. But I can tell you this, dear friend.
That if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
And if you feel attracted to him?
Then I can say that being at a conference and having him before you will bring joy, the pleasures of this life.
Cannot offer. It will bring you joy to be occupied with him as we were this morning.
Is that what you want? Is that what you're looking for?
It will bring you joy, but what I had before me.
This evening was to leave with you 5 expressions that are given to us in the Word of God.
And the first one that I want to look at is in the book of First Samuel. Now these expressions are all very short.
I think most of them are maybe 4 words and a couple of them are three words.
But this first one that I want to look at is in First Samuel chapter 17.
And my father-in-law touched on this portion earlier today.
It's not my intent to go into any of these portions. I just want to pick out these phrases and with the Lord's help, try and.
Blend them together.
But in First Samuel chapter 17.
I just want to look at this forward expression in verse 10.
Give me a man.
Now that's quite an expression. Only four words.
Now, I don't know if the man that made this statement, the Philistine warrior, the giant Goliath of gas, I don't know if he made this statement every day for 40 days. It says he presented himself 40 days.
But suppose he did, and each day you had this statement ringing in your ears if you were among the armies of Israel. Give me a man.
Now how would you respond to that dear 1:00 tonight?
If we were to read the beginning of this chapter, we would find.
How formidable.
And intimidating this mighty foe was.
He gives us some details. The Spirit of God gives us details about this man, about his stature, about his strength, and we get the feeling that he's an overwhelming enemy.
And he comes, and he defies the God of Israel.
And he comes and he says to them, He challenges them with these words. Give me a man.
Now how are they going to respond to that? How would you respond to that dear friend tonight?
Who would you send out to represent, to represent you against this mighty foe?
Do you have someone in your mind? Is there someone that you would say, oh, I would send?
So and so Do you have a man that you look up to? Do you have someone in your life?
That you would say I would send him against that foe.
Were there any in the armies of Israel that were willing to go out?
Look at verse 11.
When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
I think it's.
It's remarkable that it says specifically when Saul and all Israel heard those words. Now turn back just a few chapters to the 9th chapter of this book and let's see what kind of a image we get of Saw who was the leader of God's people, Israel the king at that time.
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Chapter 9 and verse one. Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish. Verse 2.
And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice young man and a goodly. And there was not among the children of Israel a goodly or person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people, dear ones.
Here's the man that you might say was the most excellent person.
That the flesh could desire. This was the best, the goodliest in Israel among all those numbers of the children of Israel. It says there wasn't a good Lear person than he Here's the best man that's a flesh man in the flesh can offer.
The sin saw out against this man, this giant.
But what does it say?
Back in our 17th chapter.
They were dismayed and greatly afraid. Saul was dismayed and greatly afraid. He's not going to be able to go against this enemy.
Who would you send dear? 1:00 tonight?
You know, the world has their leaders. I'd like to tell you about an experience that I had.
Probably something that I'll never experience again.
This happened less than a year ago.
I work downtown in Denver, Co.
And to the West of where I work, there's a city and county building that's quite imposing. It has a very nice groomed land in front of it, landscaping and so on. And it's kind of a natural.
An area where they they often use for get togethers and rallies and so on.
And before you get to the city and county building, there's a library. Now, not too long ago, the library was just an average library. I mean, it didn't look impressive or or any different than than most buildings or libraries, but.
Couple of years ago, they put a lot of money into the library and greatly enhanced it and expanded it and made it very, very impressive. And if you ever have an opportunity to be in our city, you might want to take an afternoon and go to the library and look at it because it is unusual, I think at least from any library that I've been in. Well, they decided that.
The the President of the United States decided that he would host an economic summit.
With eight world leaders in this library, and that took place in June, I believe it was the last year.
And I knew that this summit was going to be going on because it was posted all over. They had banners on the streets and so on.
Well, I, I had to go into work on the Saturday that the the summit was going to begin. And so knowing that this was going to be going on, I thought I would take the binoculars along. And I work in a building that's eight stories tall and there's some windows that provide an excellent view of where this all was going to be going on. And our building had not been secured in a sense of sealed office, some of the other buildings in the area.
Although there was more police and protection than I'd ever seen before. Well, anyway, when I got there and looked out the window, I could see that things were beginning to happen. And they were. They had rolled out a big red carpet and there was a man that was grooming this carpet, so it was just perfect. In front of the library. They had a color guard that was very impressive on both sides of this carpet.
They had guards, color guards, stationed at the entryway into this library, and the one on the right or left had an American flag and the other one on the other side had the flag of the country that would be approaching.
I don't remember all the countries that were there, but there was the United States and Canada and Great Britain and.
France and Germany and Japan and perhaps another one, don't remember, but each of these countries have their own motorcades and escorts and attendance and a whole trail of vehicles. And they would come up one by one, and the band would begin to play. And President Clinton would come out of the library and he would need the dignitary from that country, the leader. Usually he would embrace and they would turn and pose for pictures. He would motion to the stands where all the press, the media were, and then they would turn and walk in towards the library, turn and they get more pictures taken, and then they would go on in.
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And then the next country would come and so.
I was somewhat spellbound to be that close.
Perhaps with the binoculars, it seemed like maybe from here to the front row there and see all these men come in these world leaders. And it came overcame me to think this. Just think of the power earthly speaking, the power that these men will these eight men, these leaders.
And it was very impressive to see this. And then I my thoughts turned to our blessed Savior.
And how he came into this world and how he left this world and the treatment he received while in this world.
Nothing like that that I was witnessing before me.
And I thought in view of what we've had this evening.
Would you want to send anyone of those men? Would you want to send them before this giant? Before this bow? Oh dear ones.
Who are you trusting tonight?
Who are you putting your trust in?
Well, there was number man in Israel to go against this giant.
They were all dismayed and greatly afraid.
But you know, it's beautiful, isn't it, to see how the Spirit of God introduces to us in the very next verse.
God's remedy. It's like God is going to take.
The enemy up on his challenge.
He's going to send a man that can overcome him.
And David. And so it begins in verse 12 by saying, now David was the son of that epithet.
And we know, don't we? We know and enjoy much of what we have about David.
The name David means the love.
And I would just leave this to your own meditation.
But I've enjoyed looking into the New Testament.
And searching out the use of that title of his, My beloved son. Can I just leave this with you to look into yourself? But as far as I could tell.
It's referenced 8 times in the New Testament, and one of those times it's.
Not really a title, but by way of reference in Luke 20 there the connection with the man that had a vineyard and let it out to husbandmen. And we know that that story so nicely pictures to us the Lord Jesus being sent by the Father.
They will reverence my son, my beloved son, but what do they do? This is there. Come, let us kill him and seize on the inheritance.
And so.
Seven times it's mentioned by way of a title, My Beloved Son.
Look it up and enjoy it for yourself.
So I like to think of that as I think of David here, his name meaning beloved.
And to think of God's beloved Son coming into this world, the one in whom he was well pleased. Oh dear ones, tonight.
Do you know him? Do you know him as your savior?
We know the story here, how the David goes down into that valley of Elah, which means an oak perhaps springing before us, the thought of the cross. David goes down into that valley and he goes and he meets the giant, a picture of Satan, and he overcomes the strongman and spoils his goods, doesn't he? The dear ones, tonight we have a Savior in high in the glory. He's willing and ready to save you. Are you going to trust to some man?
To take care of you. I don't want to speak.
Hill in any way of these dignitaries? I don't mean to do that at all.
But you know, when it comes to your soul, they can't do anything for you. They may have a lot of power and they may have a lot of influence in this world.
But they don't have any power to save your soul.
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No one can by any means redeem your soul or give to God a ransom for you, no, only the Lord Jesus Christ.
Through his precious blood shed on Calvary's cross. And do that for you tonight. Let's move on to the next expression that I wanted to look at.
And that's in John 4.
John, Chapter 4.
And justice, the 1St 4 words of verse 29.
Come see a man.
Oh dear ones tonight.
This is God's man we're talking about God's man. For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The enemy pictured there in the Goliath of gas of Satan would say, Give me a man.
And God takes up that challenge and he provides a man that can overcome the enemy.
And this woman here, this woman of Samaria that had met this man.
She says come see a man.
Have you ever stopped and considered that, dear one?
Perhaps when you think of God and the things of God, you think of that which is not.
Attainable or that which is distant and mysterious. We hear all kinds of thoughts, don't we? Man's thoughts, as to those things, divine things. But I want to tell you tonight.
He's a man. He was a man in the scene. God come in the form of a man. He took a body just like your, yours and mine, that he might die upon the cross, that he might shed his precious blood.
In order that you could have life.
He's the man. And this woman, she says. Come see a man. Dear one, that's an invitation to you tonight too, to come and see a man.
We want to direct you and point you to the Lord Jesus. We want to tell you about the one.
Who was in this scene? One who could walk through the scene and he could become weary with his journey.
It tells us that in the first part of this chapter, it would become thirsty in the scene, the very one that would later stand up in this book.
And I'll just read it in the 7th chapter.
In the last day, verse 37, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Just think of that dear ones, the one that could say come unto me and drink is the very one that was thirsty in the theme too. He was weary with his journey. He was a man.
And this woman meets him.
And her whole life has changed. He exposes her sinful heart.
Maybe you don't like that.
Maybe you say I don't want to come because I don't like exposure.
Well, we don't like exposure, Dewey. But let me tell you something, dear friend.
He would only expose you to.
To bless you. He wants to bless you. He wants to give you eternal life. He wants to give you water, that water of life so that you would not thirst. You have a thirst. You have a longing in your heart tonight. Is that why you came tonight? Because there's something missing in your life? So I want to point you to a man and I want you to invite you to come like this dear woman did.
This woman that was exposed, did she want to get away? Perhaps at one point in this conversation she wanted to. She would like to have fled a man that could reveal all of her sin and degradation. And yet.
He wanted to bless her.
And it's like she can't contain it any longer and she.
Goes to where she had come. She went her way into the city. She leaves her water pot.
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She goes into the city and she says to the men, come see a man.
Which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this for Christ. Oh dear ones, he was a man in the scene.
And he wants to bring blessing into your life.
He wants to take care of that thirst in your soul. He's the only one that can.
Don't turn anywhere else.
Allow Him to expose your heart to let you see what you really are, that you are a Sinner before Him.
But then he wants to turn around and bless you and.
Impart salvation to you.
So that you can be at rest in His presence and enjoy His company.
And as a result of this woman's testimony, it tells us in verse.
41 That many more believed are inverse.
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, and then in verse 41 and many more believed because of his own words. Oh, dear ones, this is God's man, the Christ.
Come be a man. An invitation to you tonight.
And as you come and as you are with him, you're going to find more and more that you delight and being in his company.
Where will you find him? Well, I would encourage you to take up the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 4 accounts that we have given to us in the inspired Word of God. Take it up, come and see a man in those books. You will find out which answers to that first in your heart.
Don't put it off. Come see a man.
If we could look on to the.
19th chapter, the same book.
John, Chapter 19.
The last three words of verse 5.
Behold.
Amount.
Who said this?
Well, it was Pilot, wasn't he, that Roman governor?
He said that at the time when they were about to crucify the Lord of glory.
And perhaps.
Pilate said it in lightness.
Perhaps in mockery.
I don't know.
But what a profound statement. Behold the man. And if you'll notice, there's an exclamation mark at the end of that statement. Just three words. But oh, to think of all that they contain those 3 words.
Behold, the man. Perhaps Pilate had no idea.
Of the significance of what he was saying in that brief statement might have turned and lightly made it.
To the crowd that was gathered there, behold the man as he presented the Lord of glory to them, the dear ones.
I would like to encourage you and I.
And especially if you don't know the Lord Jesus as your Savior to behold Him, what does that mean to behold?
Is it just a quick glance in his direction? No.
It means to fix your eyes on him.
Like the dear sister wrote in her hymn, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful faith, and the things of earth will grow strangely down in the light of his glory and grace.
Behold the man.
I'll tell you another little story that happened not far from where I work. I was not walking at lunchtime one time, and this was about six years ago.
And the Democratic Party political party in this country was having a rally out there in this the same area that I mentioned just beyond the library, between the city and county building and the library and this large grassed area and.
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Presidential candidate Bill Clinton was there and he was going to give a speech.
So I was just walking along and you could hear speeches going on of dignitaries in the city that were.
Preceding his speech.
And then pretty soon, I heard the booming voice of the announcer saying, ladies and gentlemen.
And now I present to you the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, Mr. Bill Clinton.
And there was a lot of applause and so on.
And then afterwards, after his speech.
There was a quite a rush to get near him and I saw him pass from that podium to his vehicle and.
People were thronging him just to touch him, just to get near him, just to shake his hand if they could.
That impressed me to think.
Of the numbers of people that were there and the efforts that they made to get near a man.
What about this man?
Behold the man.
If we were to behold him.
As he's revealed to us in this precious word, dear ones, tonight, where would we begin?
If you begin in the beginning of the Bible, he's there in the very first verse of this blessed book. In the beginning God.
Below him the Trinity.
Supreme.
You don't enter into it, do we?
He's there though, the Creator. And if you go to the last verse of the Bible, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. There he is again, dear ones. He's throughout this entire book. He's revealed to us.
Behold him.
Well, we could look at many scriptures.
Tonight.
But speak to us of beholding Him.
But I wouldn't know where to begin. There's so many.
Let's speak of this Blessed One.
I might just look at one why we hold our place here and look for.
Tell us a little bit about this Blessed one.
In Luke 4 and verse 18.
I might read verse 17. And there was delivered unto him, that is the Lord Jesus, the book of the properties, Zaius. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, and recovering of sight to the blind, set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And look at verse.
22 And all bear him witness. And wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, It's not this Joseph's son.
You could behold him there in that portion of Scripture. You could spend a long time, couldn't you?
Thinking of that Blessed One and what his mission in this world was, do you fit into any of those categories of those that he came?
To heal. To bless.
To minister to.
Or we might turn our thoughts to.
Another aspect of this lesson 1.
You know, dear ones.
His glory is just shine out from this book. We couldn't begin to Plumb the depths of it.
He couldn't hide his moral glories, could he? They'd just shone out.
And I was thinking of Colossians one there where it tells us that by Him were all things created in verse 16 that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him and for him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things subsist.
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The one that sustains the universe. Can you explain it to me?
We can't explain it, we can't enter into him, but this is the one that we are to behold.
Behold the man.
What a man to behold for our hearts.
You know Him, dear ones. Do you want to behold Him? Come to Him and accept Him as your Savior. Own your need as a Sinner.
And let him impart life to you, that you can behold him, and begin to behold Him as the one who is everything to you.
We'll just look over a chapter before this for the 4th one that I wanted to look at.
In verse 40.
Now we've had before us.
This Blessed One, and we've touched a little bit on some of his glory. We've beheld Him, as it were, for a few brief moments.
Now, what is the response to this blessed one? What is going to be the response to this crowd that has gathered around or the response from them?
Look in the middle of verse 40.
Not this man. Oh dear ones.
I can hardly think of anything more awful.
Than this statement here.
Not this man.
Is that what you are saying in your heart tonight as we have sought, and admittedly feebly, to present the Lord Jesus to you? Are you saying in your heart not this man?
Oh, dear. One, tonight I would plead with you, I would ask you to consider, reconsider.
Don't. Don't say this in your heart as these people did.
After they had seen perhaps some of the miracles that he had done, perhaps they had witnessed.
Some of those things, maybe they have been recipients of some of his goodness.
Maybe they had had their thirst satisfied in a temporal way. Maybe they had had their hunger satisfied.
Navy, They had touched him.
But then in their hearts said not this man. Can you imagine such a statement from the lips?
Of those that had witnessed all they had witnessed, to think of their measure of responsibility, to have had the testimony of this man, this blessed man among them for three years.
And then to turn and say.
Not this man.
Oh, I can't think of anything more fatal.
Anything more awful?
And then they stood, and they cried for his blood.
They cried all again saying not this man.
But Barabbas.
And if we were to have read further.
In verse six of the next chapter.
It says they cried out saying crucify him, crucify him.
Oh dear ones tonight. How awful.
I want to tell one more.
Event that I witnessed.
Again, I was in the building at work.
And I noticed outside that there was a huge crowd that was beginning to gather. They were coming from everywhere. I have never seen so many people. And I asked someone.
You know what's going on? I said it's it's a rally.
Looked at me kind of strangely, like why I didn't know, didn't understand, why I didn't know. It was a big event.
Well, what was happening was they were gathering together to honor the football team.
In our city that had won a world championship.
And they just kept coming and coming. And Groves.
And I heard someone estimate later that there was over 500,000 people down there.
I've never seen anything like it before. I just stood at the window there for a while and watched all these people. It was hard to get anything done. Anyway, my my office wasn't very far from the window and the noise was deafening.
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Over 500,000 people.
Packed together in an area probably maybe the size of 40 acres.
Quarter of a mile by 1/4 of a mile I would say.
I don't know how they all got in there, but it was packed in there and they began to chant and they began to.
Shout.
And it was something else to to behold that many people packed together.
But you know, they weren't crying out for the blood of these men. The.
They weren't saying away with them.
Oh, they were praising them.
They were praising these men. It was almost like they were overcome.
They were beside themselves, if you will. Not that they were getting out of hand, but they were just overcome with the emotions of the whole thing and I thought, that isn't it.
But now take that picture.
And picture this blessed man standing before that crowd and they're saying, not this man, crucify him. Crucify him, dear ones, that's your heart. Is that what you're saying tonight? Again, I would plead with you to reconsider.
I want to look at the last one now.
In First Timothy.
First Timothy, chapter 2.
And the end of the last four words of verse 5.
The Man Christ Jesus.
Hello dear ones, tonight.
I trust that you decide for Christ tonight.
But I want to tell you that even if you don't.
That oh far be the thought that you wouldn't. But even if you don't.
God has exalted this man.
Whom perhaps you and your heart have said, Not this man, I want to tell you, God has exalted him.
And he said him at his own right hand.
And there's the day coming when every knee is going to bow.
And every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Oh dear ones, I want to just leave that with you.
That God has highly exalted this one and given him a name which is above every name.
And if you don't own him as Lord now, you're going to in a coming day. But I want to tell you this.
I don't know what you're going to do with Jesus, like Pilate asked. What then shall I do with Jesus, which is called Christ?
I don't know what you're going to do with him.
But I can tell you this.
God has highly exalted him.
And so I would urge you tonight, in closing, to turn to this Blessed One.
The one who is the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. So in summer we've we've had the enemy that would present that challenge. Give me a man.
And then?
The earnest appeal to you come see a man.
Behold the man. Oh, and I trust you don't say not this man.
Because God has exalted him, the man Christ Jesus.
Could we, in closing, sing?
#21 together.
Decide for Christ today in God's salvation, see yield, soul and body, heart and will to him who died for thee. Someone please raise the tomb.
Please do it again.
You know, a number of years ago we were in Newfoundland as a family. And my brother Tom, I don't think he would mind me telling this.
We we had been in some little outport village. I don't remember all the details. He would have been about 8:00.
And somehow in the confusion of leaving from that place.
We left poor Tom behind.
And there was a few fishermen there that tried to comfort him.
But when we came back, I don't remember how long it was before we realized he wasn't among our number.
And we turned and hurried back to where we had left. And there was Tom. I'll never forget. He was standing on that Wharf surrounded by those fishermen, and they were trying to comfort him as best they could, but they were total strangers to him, and he was sobbing.
Thinking that he would never be found perhaps.
And knowing that if we went back home without him, it would be so far he could never get back. I don't know what all that went through his mind, but he, he had been left behind. And dear ones, we don't want you to be left behind.
Let's pray.