Gospel—Jim Hyland
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Let's begin the gospel meeting this evening with hymn #15 on the gospel hymn sheet O blessed gospel sound. Yet there is room. It tells to all around, Yet there is room the guilty may draw near, though vile they need not fear with joy they now may hear. Yet there is room. That's particularly thinking of this expression at the beginning of the third verse.
All things are ready. Come yet. There is room hymn #15. Let's stand up to sing this and if someone will please start it.
Oh, blessed God.
And.
Help. And it's all over your house. Yeah. So I had a camera. That's what I was doing.
God must have been crying, sweetheart.
And could not be.
Yes, I have recommended.
Hello. And they followed me to catch anything. Well, when you're proud of the newspaper.
Oh, good Granny handsome man. Yeah, yeah, I've been thrown through.
Call things directly from.
The battery's running.
Right, Saturday Night Sun. Yes, there's a good friend.
Oh, there, I guess. Smiles across the place. Many important nursing things.
Oh, thank you. Are you well-being?
Yes, everyone.
Yes, Sir. I'll make it Sunday.
I'm doing well, that's my way.
So far, well, thank.
Yes, I've never been through.
Let's ask God's help and blessing our blessed God and Father how thankful we are this evening for that glorious gospel. That's good news that is being sounded out around this planet this evening. We thank thee that Christ is still the Savior of sinners. We thank thee that there is still salvation being offered to the lost, and how thankful we are that yet there is room.
We thank before our precious Savior and that mighty work of Calvary. And now, as we're about to open my Word and present the glorious gospel here in this room, our God, we pray that it might go forth clearly, simply, and in the power of the Spirit, that Christ might be presented in all His loveliness, and that Thy Word might have its desired effect, that as the sword of the Spirit, it might Pierce tonight the heart and conscience, and that souls might be turned from darkness to light.
We ask thy help and blessing. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory. Amen.
Like to connect a number of portions at the beginning of the Gospel Meeting this evening. The first one is in Hebrews chapter 10.
Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 4.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice, and offering thou wouldest not.
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But a body hast thou prepared me? And then in John's Gospel, chapter 14.
John's Gospel, chapter 14 and verse two. In my father's house. There are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 25.
Matthew's Gospel, chapter 25 and verse 41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, and one more portion for now back in the 22nd chapter of this same book, Matthew's Gospel, chapter 22.
And verse 2 The Kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made us a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding.
And they would not come again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden.
Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fatlings are killed. Well, at first glance these might seem like strange scriptures to to read and consider at the beginning of a gospel meeting like this, but I have it on my heart this evening in presenting the good news, the glad tidings to speak a little bit from some scriptures that bring before us the subject of preparation.
And first of all, we're going to begin with what God has prepared for the blessing of man. Because, you know, it all goes back to what God has prepared for the blessing of man. Because apart from God bringing in something tonight.
On the grounds of grace and what he can do, we have no good news to tell, because there's not a man on the earth that sin that doeth good and sinneth not. And the Bible plainly declares all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and there is none good. No, not one. And not only are we sinners when we're born into this world, not only are we sinners.
But let's be very clear that there is nothing that we can do to better our position before God. There's nothing we can do to get rid of one sin. There is nothing we can do to make ourselves fit for the presence of God or His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But thank God. The good news is tonight that God has made every provision for the Sinner. What good news we have to tell.
And even the boys and girls here, I think, understand what it means to prepare, what preparation really is. You know, a little while ago, we left this room and we went up to the dining room and we sat down to a wonderful meal. But do you realize that that meal just didn't happen? That meal just didn't put itself on the table for us to help ourselves? No. There was a great deal of preparation.
Went into that meal to have these meetings this weekend. These meetings didn't just happen. No, there was preparation. Went into the planning of these meetings and those of us who have parents understand what it is to prepare our children for different stages of life in the natural and secular realm. When we have little ones, we send them off to school to prepare them.
To get an education and to learn, we send them to elementary school to prepare them for high school.
When elementary school is done, we send them off to high school to prepare them for college.
Or a vocation in life or university. A young person studies hard, gets through his course or his training so that he can get a job. Once we he gets a job, then he begins to put a little aside to prepare, maybe to get married and buy a home or get a car. We get a little older. We start thinking of a retirement fund and putting a little away so we can prepare for the day when we can retire, or at least not have to work so hard.
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But you know, we spend our whole life preparing for things down here, preparing for what we call the next stage of life.
But tonight we want to talk about preparation in light of eternity. And first of all, we find here.
In Hebrews chapter 10 The Lord Jesus brought before us a body Hast Thou prepared me?
Now in these chapters in Hebrews we have a contrast. Vofton said that God teaches by contrast because God has made the way of salvation very, very plain.
It tells us that the way of righteousness is so plain that a wayfaring man, though a fool, may not err therein. We're not going to speculate tonight on how to be saved. We're not going to speculate tonight on who the Savior is. No, God has made it very plain, spelled it out very clearly in His word. There's a lot of difficult things in life, isn't there? And sometimes our young people, they sign up for a course at school.
And they decide after a few weeks. Oh, that's too difficult. I'll never be able to grasp those concepts that they're trying to teach me.
You get a job and you say it's just more than I can handle. It's so difficult. Maybe you've made lots of good preparation. It's so or so it seems, but it just seems so difficult. But tonight we want to present a way of blessing, a way of salvation that is not difficult. We may complicate it in our presentation of it, but in itself it is not difficult. That's why we're going to, as the spirit of God gives liberty, bring before you the word of God.
We complicate the word of God sometimes with our explanations, but the word of God itself is very, very simple. And so here we find a contrast in these chapters, a contrast between the bodies of the sacrifices in the Old Testament and the Lord Jesus taking human form and coming into this world to go to Calvary's cross and to offer himself.
To die at the cross as that supreme sacrifice. If we were to read these chapters, we would find that the bodies of those beasts that were slain and burnt from day-to-day and year to year in the Old Testament, they never put away sin. It tells us later on in the next chapter every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices that could never take away sins.
And those priests and Levites and the children of Israel in the Old Testament.
They understood very clearly that as they brought those sacrifices from day-to-day and year to year.
That those sacrifices only atone for that one sin, and then they had to bring another, and another and another.
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever, sat down on the right hand of God.
The sacrifices accomplished to God's glory, to God's satisfaction, because the Lord Jesus came in bodily form.
A body hast thou prepared me? We call it incarnation.
And if you were to look up in the dictionary the word incarnation, it would vary slightly in its wording from one dictionary to another.
But Webster's dictionary declares incarnation Christ come in human form. I was thrilled when I first read that. And then I thought, what else could it be? No one else has ever come in the way the Lord Jesus came into this world. The Lord Jesus came, sent of God the Father, the eternal Son, and He took on him human form and it was predetermined in the past eternity.
That in the fullness of time he would come forth born of a woman.
You know it tells us in the book of Isaiah unto us a child is born.
Unto us the Son is given. You know those two statements are remarkable and vital in themselves. First of all, it says unto us, a child is born. That's his manhood. The Lord Jesus came born of a woman into this world. He was conceived of the Holy Ghost, but Mary was the instrument used to bring him into this world. But it doesn't say unto us the Son is born.
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Unto us a child is born. That's his manhood. But as to his deity and the eternity of his person, unto us the Son is given. He was the eternal Son given by God. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Does that touch your heart tonight? I don't have any sons, but I do have two daughters, one of which is sitting in the audience here this evening.
And I would never send those daughters out of my home if I knew they were going to face some difficult situation or some situation that was going to cost them their their life. No, I would have kept them home that day if I know, if I knew there was some danger facing them. But God sent his son into this world, knowing that his son would go to Calvary's cross. The Lord Jesus said, Lo, I am come in the volume of the book. It is written of me to do thy will of O God, did he know what that will would mean. Indeed he did.
When Jacob or Israel sent Joseph to check on his brethren back in the book of Genesis.
Did either Jacob or Joseph know what was going to happen that day?
Did either the father or the son have any idea of the circumstances that we are going to unfold as the result of the sun being sent to see how it was going with his brethren? Indeed they did not. If Jacob had had any idea on that occasion what was going to happen to Joseph, and that he wouldn't see the son he loved so well for so many years, and that he was going to consider him dead for so many years.
I daresay he would have kept him home within the veil of Hebron had Joseph known how his brethren were going to treat him.
And that he would be taken down into Egypt and that eventually he would be in prison for.
Uh, FA being falsely accused? Would Joseph have been so willing to go on that occasion? I have often wondered.
When Jesse sent David to the camp to see how the battle was going and to take some provisions to his older brothers.
Did Jesse have any idea what was going to happen that David was going to go down with just five stones in his shepherd's bag and a sling in his hand and meet the champion of the Philistines? I doubt he had any idea or he would have kept him home feeding those few sheep in the wilderness. Did David know that as a result of his obedience that day, that after slaying the giant he was going to flee for his life, he was going to live in The Cave of Adalam, flee as a verge of the mountain? Feel rejection from his best friend Jonathan?
I daresay he may not have been so willing to go on that occasion, and even initially to be misunderstood and judged by his brothers.
For coming down at their Father's bidding. But God the Father knew, the Lord Jesus knew.
And yet he came in obedience and love. Obedience to his Father and love to us, because he knew there was no other way that a Savior could be provided. He knew there was no other way that God could offer blessing and salvation apart from him coming in human form, taking the form of a servant, and being made in the likeness of men, because it tells us further, and being found in fashion as a man.
He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Oh, what a glorious gospel we have to present tonight. What a glorious man we have. The man Christ, Jesus Christ. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He came as a man.
He was the most accessible man that ever walked the face of the earth.
He walked on the one hand in separation, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.
And yet, I say, he was the most accessible man that ever walked the face of this earth. So Leper could come to him. The blind man could plead his cause. The children could sit on his knee and receive blessing.
People could come to him at any time of the day or night. A woman at the well could find a savior on that occasion when he sat there weary with his journey. Oh, I say we have a man to present the man, Christ Jesus, the one who was made. I say again in the likeness of men. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior tonight? Is he your Savior?
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Because it took more than just the Lord Jesus coming in incarnation. It took more than just that perfect life and that blessed example that he left in his footsteps. Oh, it took him going to the cross.
He had to lay down his life, and that precious body was nailed to a cross after it had been abused beyond what any of us can ever imagine. And yet those physical sufferings never atoned for one sin, awful as they were. But after they had abused him, they laid hands on him once again, and they led, let him out to be crucified. They took that precious body, those kind hands that had dispensed blessing, those feet that had trod wearily up and down the dusty streets of Palestine.
And they nailed that precious body to the cross of Calvary. Does that mean something to your soul tonight?
If that means nothing to your soul tonight, I wonder what goes on within your heart. But oh, there the Lord Jesus hung, and there they heaped more abuse on him. There they mocked the Lord Jesus. There there were some who sat down at that crossroads where he hung as a spectacle for men and angels. And they.
Continued to deride him, there were others who passed by and wagged their heads.
There were the thieves who both at first gnashed on him with their teeth. One did repent in the end. Thank God.
But there he hung, a crown of thorns on his head. They gave him vinegar to drink when he said, I thirst.
But you know, there came a moment, There came a moment in the history of this world when God said, that's enough. You've abused the body of my son Nina. And he shrouded this world in darkness. At high noon the sun was blackened and there was darkness over all the land for three hours. And in those three hours of darkness, the Lord Jesus bore my sins. Listen to this.
In his own body, on the tree, a body hast thou prepared me, And in that very body that was prepared for him, the Lord Jesus bore my sins. Did he bear your sins? Can you say that he died for you, that he bore your sins in his own body? On the tree, after those hours of darkness, the Lord Jesus cried with a loud voice, and said, It is finished.
He cried again, and said, Father into thy hands. I commend my spirit.
He bowed his blessed head, and he gave up his life.
Nobody, ever, it wasn't suicide. Nobody ever has been able to give up their life in this way. Only the one who came in Incarnation could say I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father.
And a little later on they came to the Lord Jesus, and a soldier with a spear pierced his side.
And forthwith came there out blood and water.
I want to stress that for a moment, because the cure for sin tonight.
Is none other than the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I was touched by reading a little story recently about two children in a family, a brother and a sister. For our purposes tonight, I'm going to call them John and Mary. It'll be easier that way. I'm not sure what their names really were, but a true story.
John had had a very serious disease and he had had the stamina by the mercies of the Lord to fight that disease and to recover.
But shortly thereafter, his sister was taken by the same disease.
She was younger and did not have the stamina the doctors knew to survive the ordeal without a blood transfusion. But there were two problems standing in the way. She needed a blood transfusion from someone who had the same blood type, and she had a very rare blood type, and she needed blood from someone who had had the same disease.
Well, her brother's blood type matched her blood type and of course he had had the same disease.
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And so they went and talked to this young boy, and the doctor explained the seriousness of his sister's situation.
And that unlike him, unless she had this transfusion, she was going to die. And he asked John if he was willing to give blood so that his sister could have the needed transfusion.
He hesitated. His lip quivered. He looked into the eyes of the Doctor.
He looked into the faces of his parents standing by, and finally he nodded and he said yes.
I'm willing to give my blood for my sister.
It wasn't long until they were wheeled into the operating room.
John looked very, very serious, but he looked into his sister's face. He saw her weakened condition, and he smiled.
As the doctor inserted the needle and began to draw the blood into that tube.
For the transfusion, John watched this for a while, and then he turned to the doctor. And all the innocency of childhood, he said to the doctor, Doctor, when do I die?
Only then did the Doctor understand why there had been some hesitation on the part of John.
When he was asked if he would give blood for his sister's transfusion, he had mistakenly thought that in giving his blood he was going to have to lay down his life.
And yet he was willing to do it for his sister. Of course, John didn't have to give his life, and his sister did eventually get well. And how thankful those children were that they were able to grow up together. And they never forgot that day when John gave his blood to save his sister's life. But John didn't have to give his life to give his blood. But all the story of the Gospel goes far beyond a story like that.
The story of the gospel is that the Lord Jesus had to lay down his life. He had to shed his blood so that sinners could be saved, so that we can, quote a verse like we often, quote forgot the blood of Jesus Christ. His Son cleanseth us from all sin. And I know there's just many in this room who rejoiced to look up and with the Apostle Peter speak of that precious blood of Christ that has redeemed us. And we look forward to that day when the eternal song will burst forth unto him that loved us and washed us in his blood and that he's washed us.
And redeemed us out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. And so before we pass on, I want to question each soul here. And I wish I had time to go up and down the rows, but I don't. But the question each one in your soul, Are you washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus? There's no gospel hymn. I've sung from the very early days of my youth. Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you walking daily by the Savior's side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb tonight?
Has the blood of Jesus Christ taken away every sin and made you fit for the presence of God?
In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness.
Of sin.
But then I read in John's Gospel chapter 14 as well, because here we have the Lord Jesus speaking.
And he says, I go to prepare a place for you.
Where was the Lord Jesus going? He was going back to heaven. He was going back to the Father.
It tells us he had come from God and he must return to God. And he knew that the hour was come, that he was going to return.
Not without going to the cross, of course, but he was going to return. And he tells the disciples, I go to prepare a place for you. And I believe that the minute the Lord Jesus returned to the Father returned to heaven, to the right hand of God, the minute that happened, the place was prepared. It's spoken of here in the future tense, because the work of Calvary hadn't been yet accomplished.
The Lord Jesus had not yet died, the blood had not yet been been shed, So Lord Jesus had not yet risen from the dead, and I want to stress that in a moment, nor had he returned to heaven.
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You know after they took the Lord Jesus down from the cross, they laid him in a tomb. But you know it says he died, he was buried and he rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures.
You know, some of us in this room have visited in countries where they worship and pray to someone who's in the tomb. You know, Mohammed is in the tomb tonight. Maybe you've never heard people wail out their cries at the hour of prayer, but it is a desperate thing if you ever hear it. Maybe you've never seen people bow down to idols of wood and stone, but it's a very, very sad thing.
But tonight we have a tomb too, in Christianity. But it is a tomb with the words over it. He is not here. He is risen. Come see the place where the Lord lay. What is unique to Christianity?
And the gospel is that the tomb is empty and we proclaim a living savior. And not just a savior who's living, but a savior who's in glory, who's in heaven. There is a savior on high in the glory, a savior who suffered on Calvary's tree. A savior is willing to save. Now as ever, his arm is almighty, his love great and free. And the invitation is, oh come now to Jesus.
That dear loving Savior receive him this moment, and peace shall be thine and the place here that the Lord Jesus spoke of going to prepare. It's all been prepared the moment He entered there with the marks of atonement in his body, those wounds in his hands and in his feet and his side. The moment he entered there, the place was prepared for the people. What prepares the people for the place is the work of Calvary. Have you availed yourself of the work?
Are you prepared for the place? The place is prepared for you. Heaven is a place beyond telling, beyond description. Paul was caught up there for a little while. He said it was so wonderful. He didn't know whether he was in the body or out of the body. He said it was so wonderful, he heard unspeakable words that it was not lawful for a man to utter. In fact, it was so wonderful. And so I'm going to use the word awesome.
That he didn't even talk about it for 14 years. And he never talked about it till he was forced by inspiration to talk about it in recording it into the in the second Epistle to the Corinthians. And that's something, you know, when I have a great experience, I can't wait to tell everybody. I want an opportunity to talk about somewhere. I've been some wonderful experience, but it was so tremendous to be caught up for a few minutes to heaven.
That Paul wouldn't even talk about it until the Lord said I want you to tell those Corinthians.
What happened 14 years ago? But oh, that's the place I'm on my way to. Oh, you say, Jim, that's presumptuous. It would be, except to know from the word of God that having availed myself of the work of Calvary being washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus, my sins are gone. And God has promised me at that heaven that his Son has prepared. And if God were to refuse me entrance there now, he'd have to refuse his own Son. And that is absolutely impossible.
Unequivocally impossible. He cannot. And so everyone who knows the Lord Jesus, everyone who receives him as Savior, can know for assurance that that place that has been prepared.
Is going to be their final home at the end of the journey. But you know, there's something else that God has prepared too. And we read about it and it is very solemn and very serious. And that's hell. And we read in Matthew 25 that hell has been prepared for the devil and his angels. You know, heaven was never prepared for man. Heaven, I'm sorry. Hell was never prepared for man.
Nor was hell pre prepared for the Sinner. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels when Satan LED a rebellion against God and lifted up himself in pride, and he had a host, a legion, who followed legions who followed him in his rebellion. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, and Satan will be eventually cast into the bottomless pit with those fallen angels, and he will never be released again.
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But the solemn thing is that while it's true that hell was never prepared for man or prepared for sinners.
Yet those who refuse God's offer of salvation, those who refuse his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
God has no choice but to send them to the lake of fire. And if we were to take the time and go to other scriptures, we would see this so solemnly and seriously brought out. And we read in Revelation of the Dead, small and great, in the coming day, standing before a great white throne with the Lord Jesus as the judge on that throne. And they're judged from the books, and they're judged in their for their sins, and they're taken and cast into outer darkness.
They're cast into the lake of fire. How solemn it will be, because it's a place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. The story is told of a preacher of the gospel who lived in a village where there was a glass factory, and one day he was passing that glass factory and he noticed, as he passed the open door that just inside the great furnace had the doors of it open as well.
The Stoker had been stocking the fire, the man who tends the fire, and he had gone for some more wood, and he left the door of the furnace open and the preacher stopped and he gazed as if mesmerized into the flames of that that fire. And as he gazed into those seething flames out loud, he said what must hell be like. He didn't realize that just around the corner the Stoker was listening.
The Stoker was an ungodly man, but those words burned into his soul. And a few days later there was a knock on the door of the preacher. And there stood the man. And he said, Sir, I can't get out of my mind what you said a few days ago, the preacher said. What do you mean? Oh, he said, you don't realize. But when you stood in the doorway of the factory a few days ago and you said, what must hell be like, he said, those words have never left me. He said, I don't want to go there. I want to be saved.
The evangelist invited him into his home, and before he left, he had come to know the Lord Jesus as his savior. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, and God does not want to send you to hell tonight.
No, He wants to save your soul. The Lord Jesus has prepared that wonderful place called heaven.
Are you on your way to heaven? Do you have that security?
Recently from an in flight magazine in one of the airplanes I was flying on, I tore out a an insert. It's a advertisement for MetLife and I was. What struck me about this was the caption lower down on the page. First of all it says life, it belongs to you. You know God is offering you eternal life tonight. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It's there for the taking. It's offered free at great cost, yes, but it's offered free if you will take it. But what really caught my eye was this statement. Replace today's uncertainties with guarantees. You know, man is always trying to do that, isn't he? And maybe this ad caused the number of people to take out life insurance and as they thought, replace today's uncertainties.
With tomorrow's guarantees, let me tell you another little story. I was impressed about Reed in reading about the Last King of Siam. Siam is called Thailand today, but back in the early 1900s it was still called Siam and I won't try to pronounce his Uh Siamese name, but he was known when he came to the throne as Rama the 7th and he took the throne of Siam on November 26th.
1925, and he reigned for something just short of 10 years.
History tells us that he was a very unlikely candidate for the throne. He was a very reserved, retiring man. He was did not have a personality that really suited him to reign over a country and subjects and he was forced to abdicate on March the 2nd 1935 and he went to England in exile. But you know, it's interesting because shortly after he took the throne.
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He must have realized what was brewing and that he was not a suitable monarch and he took out life insurance against his throne. He's the only king in history that it recorded history that took out a not a life insurance policy. I'm sorry, an unemployment policy. An unemployment policy is the only king that ever did that. The only monarch that ever reigned that we know of that took out unemployment insurance against his throne.
But you know, as a result, he took it out with a British and a French, uh, company. And as a result he lived very comfortably in exile in Britain for many, many years until the day of his death. There was a man who had foresight, there was a man who was looking to the future. And yet men will be so careful in these things they'll take out life insurance to try to guarantee some security for their heirs when they leave.
A man will take out unemployment insurance even against his own throne. But what about eternity? Are you prepared for eternity? And again we find another preparation that God has made. We read about it in the 22nd of Matthew, the story of the King's Son, the parable that illustrates the gospel and God's preparation and provision so beautifully. Here. This king had made us supper. Everything was prepared as he said. My fatling and my oxen are prepared.
And he sends out an invitation to come. That's why I decided we would sing that hymn at the beginning of the Gospel Meeting.
All things are ready. Come. God's house is filling fast. Some guests will be the last. But, oh, tonight there's room. There's room. Tonight the invitation is still going forth, and through the work of God's son, the Lord Jesus, a banquet has been prepared. Not a banquet like we enjoyed over in the dining room this evening, but a banquet in heaven, referred to as the marriage supper.
Of the lamb. Are you going to be at the marriage supper of the lamb? You know, we enjoy getting an invitation to a wedding, don't we? It's such a happy occasion, especially if there's real love and a wedding in the a marriage in the Lord and so on. We enjoy that. And we love to be a guest at a wedding. John the Baptist said he would rejoice. He rejoiced at the sound of the bridegroom's voice. But oh, there's a marriage supper of the lamb to which God is inviting every Sinner.
Who will come and receive his salvation? Again, there's nothing that you can do to prepare. You know. It's interesting when you visit other cultures and societies, and especially ancient cultures and societies, to see how many of those societies spent their whole life preparing for the next life. They may have had a very misconstrued idea of how to do it, but they were very sincere.
I've stood at the Great Pyramids on more than one occasion. Those pyramids are tremendous edifices.
But they're the tombs of the kings that were buried there and they spent their whole life preparing for the next life. In fact, the biggest of those 3 pyramids, the king who was buried in there. He made such meticulous preparation that not only did he have that pyramid built with much of his wealth secured inside for what he thought he would need in the next life, but when they excavated some years ago on the outside of that pyramid.
They found buried there, the boat that he had used to traverse the Nile, buried there so that he would have that vote to convey him in the next life. And they've taken that boat up and they built a building over the pavilion, over it. And you can walk through that pavilion and up different levels and look at that boat. But it was very dare as preparation for the next life. But oh, tonight, the preparation for the next life has been made by God.
God has provided everything, but there is responsibility. And I want to, in the closing moments of this gospel, read some further scriptures that bring before us your responsibility in making preparation. God has done everything he can. Now there's a responsibility side. I'm going to read first of all in the book of Amos.
It's in the Old Testament.
Amos, Chapter 4.
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Amos, Chapter 4 and just a little expression near the end of verse 12.
Prepare to meet thy God. And then I want to read a verse or two in the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs, chapter 30.
Proverbs chapter 30 and verse 24.
There be 4 things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise. The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer. First of all we read Prepare to meet thy God, you say? I thought you said everything was ready. Everything was prepared. Yes, as far as God's part, everything is ready.
And everything is prepared. The only thing that is wanting in your life is that you need to come and have your sins taken care of by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to receive the Lord Jesus as your savior. I'm going to try to explain how very simple it is, because tonight we're not going to tell you you need to make some pilgrimage to some distant city. We're not going to tell you that you have to do Pennsylvania penance.
That you have to abuse your body in some way, That you have to climb some mountain, That you have to live in a certain region of the world all alone and that kind of thing. No, that's not what we're going to tell you. But it is this simple. This is how you can prepare to meet God. You can bow your head right where you are now. Don't wait till the end of the meeting. It might be too late. But bow your head right now and you can speak to the Lord Jesus in your heart.
He hears what you say, whether you utter one word aloud or not. And you can speak to God or to the Lord Jesus right in your heart and confess that you're a Sinner. But tell him that you receive his salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's as simple as believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And what does it say? And he believed rejoicing with all his health. That was so simple for that jailer who heard that gospel from the lips of Paul and Silas.
That's how simple salvation is. But don't wait till the end of this meeting, because the Lord Jesus is coming and the door of mercy is going to be closed at any moment. And when once the master of the house hath risen up and shut to the door, they're going to knock and say, Lord, Lord open unto us, but he's going to say from the other side of that closed door, depart from me. I never knew you. And so we turn to the ants, this beautiful illustration.
That Solomon uses back here in the book of Proverbs, and it says that the antis is small, but it's wise. Why is the Ant wise? Because it makes preparation and it prepares. In the summer. You boys and girls have watched the ants I did when I was a boy. Watch those ants as they're scurrying in and out of the Ant hill, and they've got crumbs on their back that are twice their size. And maybe they're struggling, but they know they've got to get that food down into the earth.
That the storms of winter are coming and that they'll perish if they don't prepare. While the weather is nice and the food is available. And there is a storm of judgment coming on this world. Yes, we've heard about some terrible storms in the last few years, But there is a storm of judgment coming on this world, unlike any storm that has ever passed this planet heretofore. Are you ready? Are you prepared? Now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
If the Ant waits too long, it's going to perish. But you know, the interesting thing is the lower creation. Follow the instincts of the Creator. Sometimes better than we intelligent, uh, people will follow the instructions of our Maker. The one who breathed into man's nostrils, the breath of life. And man became a living soul. The Ant will hurry and scurry to get its food in by winter, and yet man will linger.
Man, God beseeching.
Man refusing to be made forever glad Come for Angel hosts are musing, or this sight so strangely sad, man lingering. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Oh, have you made preparation for what's coming on this earth? Are you ready? Are you saved? Do you know the Lord Jesus as your savior? Before we close this gospel meeting, I want to read another scripture.
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And I want to read this as an encouragement to any parents in this room or grandparents or anyone who is praying for a loved one. Maybe there's a parent here. 2 parents were talking together before a meeting just like this. And they said, well, we've waited a long time for our son to be saved. And there's another opportunity. Maybe tonight's the night.
And there are parents I know praying for the salvation.
Of their children here in this room tonight. And their young people, maybe grandparents, other loved ones, an aunt, an uncle praying for you especially that you'll get saved tonight. I want to read this portion. As a special encouragement to you, let's go to Hebrews Chapter 11.
Hebrews Chapter 11 and verse 7.
By faith, Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared. There's our word again prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. I think this is a tremendous encouragement, you know, Noah.
Worked on that ark and preached righteousness for about 120 years. You know he only had eight converts. Wasn't a very good record by today's standards. They'd say we don't want him as a preacher, but you know, the 8 converts were all his family and that tremendous to think about. Not an encouragement to those who are praying for their boys and girls for another loved one. God delights to work in households.
And I just want to encourage you, don't give up praying. It's God's will that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
You don't have to pray and say if it's God's will, will you save my loved one? It is his will.
Pray in faith, Noah preached. I am sure he prayed too. And when it was all said and done after 120 years.
Of faithfully working on the ark, preparing this ark to the saving of his household. He had the tremendous joy of going into that arc with his three sons and their wives. And eight souls were saved as that storm came down, the deluge, the flood that came up, and every other living creature on the face of the earth drowned. But you know, there's a solemn verse that says of this incident and the flood came.
And took them all away. You know, there must have been children living on the earth. There were young people living on the earth. There were middle-aged people inhabiting the earth. There were old people at that time. And the flood didn't discriminate. It came. And I think this is one of the most solemn statements of scripture and took them all away. And you know when the door of mercy is closed, when the Lord Jesus comes and the gospel no longer goes forth and the judgment falls.
It is not going to.
Discriminate.
I want you to think about that there's no discrimination when God sends His judgment, and in the end you will be sent to that place prepared for the devil and his angels.
One more little story.
Governor George K Nash was governor of Ohio from 1900 to 1904, and one day an elderly, white haired woman came to his office in real earnest and she said the Governor Nash, I have come to plead for my son.
Not for his sake, not for my sake, but on the grounds of mercy, I have come to plead for my son, who is on death row and about to be executed in a few days.
Governor Nash listened to her and promised her that he would do what he could for her.
A few days later he went to the prison where the sun was being held on death row.
And he went to the cell of that young man. And when the young man saw Governor Nash, he thought he was probably a preacher, come to offer him some scriptures in his last days. And he said to Governor Nash, I don't want to see you get out of here, go. He cursed him to his face. Governor Nash said, I've come to help you. I think I can be of some assistance to you in your situation.
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He said get out of here, I don't want you. He called for the guard and he had Governor Nash sent on his way.
After Governor Nash was gone, the warden came back and he said to this young man.
How did you and Governor Nash get on? The young man said what? That was the governor, and he threw himself down on the floor. And he said, I have cursed and sent away the only man that could help me, not solemn. And history tells us that that young man shortly thereafter was led out to the electric chair, and he died because he had refused, the only one who could offer him a pardon and save him.
From that sentence of death.
We shake our heads at a story like that, We say, how foolish of that young man. And yet this meeting is over.
Yes, this meeting is over, but I wonder how many people are going to get up out of their seats tonight.
And say I don't want it or I'm going to put it off or I'll wait. I'll make preparation later. God has made full preparation. Now it's up to you to prepare for eternity by receiving God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I plead with you not to leave this room tonight if you're not saved, if you don't have the assurance of your salvation tonight.
I plead with you. I beg you not to leave this room tonight. There are just so many who would be happy to talk to you. But oh, tonight I want to say again in closing, It's this simple. Whosoever shall call upon the Lord, the name of the Lord shall be saved. Prepare tonight by receiving Jesus being washed in His precious blood. Let's pray.
Our God and Father, our souls have are stirred as we realize that Thou has brought us through another gospel meeting.
And our souls are stirred to think that there may be those who are going to in a moment or two.
Get off these chairs still lost and in their sins. O our God, we pray, if there are such, that by thy spirit thou will restrain them to stay until they have settled the question and made that necessary, that vital preparation for eternity by receiving the Lord Jesus. We ask thy blessing. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory. Amen.