Be Reconciled To God

Gospel—Bernie Roossinck
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Well, good evening everybody. My name is Bernie. I am from Fremont, MI I'm really happy to be here with you tonight.
The message of the gospel that we're going to share with you tonight is a wonderful message.
Of the love of God and the provision of God.
For our needs, and we have a great need.
I know it's been really fun to be swimming and playing out there, hasn't it, guys? Pretty fun right now. I want to talk to you for a little while about your soul. So I want you to listen to the Word of God.
You know, I have the dinner hour, kids.
I saw up there on the deck.
A2 lists one of them said found and one said lost.
And I was happy to see a lot of names on the found list.
Well, you know, as I looked at that list, kids.
I remember a day when my name was on the lost list.
And I saw five names on that list tonight. This.
Was under the word lost and the news of the gospel is Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And that's what we're going to present to you tonight. I wonder if we could stand up and sing #10.
M #10 on your hymn sheets.
Not going to talk for a long time tonight.
I would like to ask you to listen carefully.
This might seem like a strange thing to say, kids.
For the next 40 minutes, don't be a bird.
What I mean by that is.
The enemy could use you to distract your friend next to you, or maybe show you something on a phone or look at a book, and it takes God's Word out of your heart and ears and plucks away the seed of the Word of God. So I want you to listen carefully to what God is saying to you.
The gospel, friends, means good news.
Proverbs 25 verse 25 speaks of cold water to a thirsty soil and that's what the gospel is, good news from a far country, and the good news is Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
I don't want you to listen to what I'm saying tonight. I want you to hear what God is saying to your heart and your soul.
We read in Two Corinthians 5.
We are ambassadors for Christ.
We beseech you.
In Christ's stead, maybe I have to read this to get it right.
I want you to listen to what God is saying to you.
Two Corinthians 520 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God, said, Oh, listen to me.
Listen to the Word of God as if God Himself was speaking to your soul from the pages of His precious book. Sir, we all know what this book is.
00:10:05
What is this deal? The Bible, God's precious word, and in it we have his message of reconciling. What does it mean to be reconciled? Somebody help me out.
Jack, what do you say? What's reconciled mean?
How about Marcus?
Reconciled means there are two things that ought to be like this and they're not. They're way far apart and they need to be brought back together. Kids, when God created Adam and Eve put them in the garden. We had this earlier today. It says that he saw that it was very good. Everything was very good.
And you know, it didn't take very long for Satan to come into God's creation.
And he began to work to get Adam and Eve to sin. Sin means go against what God says. And he was successful in doing that. And so we find that.
Satan tempted Adam and Eve and he put doubt in their mind and they disobeyed what God said. God said don't eat of the tree.
And the Satan said, did God really say that? And Eve said, well, he said don't look at it, don't touch it, don't eat it. Well, he has said don't eat it. And then Satan said to her, now that's a lie. God's not being truthful with you, you'll be fine. Eat it.
And so she did, and sin entered into the world. They disobeyed God.
And suddenly that fellowship and that communion was broken.
And God was perfect and holy and mankind, everyone of us has descended from Adam and Eve. We're sinners, we're born in sin, and we're shaping in iniquity the Word of God teaches.
You know, I'm going to tell you kids something that I'm ashamed of. When I was about the age of 1 of you boys, I was in.
A store in York Harbor, Newfoundland, owned by, at that time, Pauline and Faye Byrne, both sisters in our meeting at that time. And there was a box of candy there in that store that looked really good to me. You know what I did?
What do you think I did, Aidan?
I made sure that they weren't looking and I snuck one of those. It was called the chocolate chunk.
And I slipped it out of the door as fast as I could.
And I ate it. I stole it.
I'm ashamed to tell you guys that, but it's true, Becky. You probably stood in that same store a bit many times. I stole a candy bar from Bay and Pauline Burn. There was sin against God. Why did I do it? Because I'm a Sinner and you were a Sinner. And we need to be reconciled to God. And so.
That's what the gospel is about. You know, before we get any further into this, I want to.
I try to remember when I was a kid like you guys, I liked it when people told me a few stories. You'll guys like stories, all right? I also like history.
Today is Canada Day, July 1St is Canada Day and.
I'm ashamed to say, even though I'm a Canadian, I have no idea how old Canada is today.
But it's also another day for Newfoundland. There's it's called Beaumont Hamill Day.
And that day was the.
Beginning of the World War One some offensive, which is a battle that happened in France over many months and on July 1St.
19 Sixteen, 780 Newfoundlanders went over the top.
And in less than 10 minutes, there was only 69 men left alive.
So that's called Beaumont Hamill Day. To Newfoundlanders. If you ever go to France and Belgium, I'd like to go with you and see that memorial. But anyway, there were men that day, that morning in that trench that were in imminent danger of entering eternity within minutes.
00:15:08
And friend, that could be you. Right now. There is no guarantee that that clock will get to 8:20 and you could be an eternity.
Two weeks ago tomorrow.
5.
Explorers got into a small submarine called the Titan submersible.
That was towed out of St. John's Harbor by the Polar Prince. I feel like I have a connection to this because it happened in Newfoundland.
And those five people begin to descend into the depths of the sea.
And an hour and a half after they left the surface.
In 0.2 milliseconds they were ushered into eternity when that submarine was crushed.
By 67000.
Pounds of pressure on that submarine and those people in that were in that submarine were instantly killed. I doubt they even had a chance to hear the thing breaking.
You know what's sad about that story to me? There's lots of people told them don't do it, it's not safe, you won't be able to survive. And they did it and they were ushered into eternity.
Two weeks ago tomorrow.
It's funny how.
A story like that can capture the imagination of the world. Well, you know, friend, as I thought about that and you kids, as I thought about that story, I thought about how if you do not know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you right now are in imminent danger.
Of going into a lost eternity should your life end or the Lord Jesus come back. And both of those things are mentioned in God's Word as facts. That will happen. Either the Lord will come back and you're going to go to heaven if you belong to Him, or you're going to go to hell if you don't. Or you're going to die and you're going to heaven if you belong to Him, or you go to hell if you don't.
And the message I need to impress upon you kids so strongly is now is the time.
To accept the Lord Jesus as your savior? Well, maybe you say, hey, Uncle Bernie, I don't understand.
I'm just a kid trying to live my life, so I want to try to make this as easy as I can for you.
All of us are born in sin. God is holy. He can't have sin in his presence, and so somebody has to pay the penalty for sin.
You know, I thought of a lot of different things today. I really enjoyed the meetings today.
And I thought of.
Abraham and Isaac as they went up there, you know, through that mountain and God told Abraham, you're going to have to sacrifice your son. And it reminded me, really brought tears to my eyes of God the Father and the Lord Jesus looking down at you and me and all of us in this room and saying.
They need a savior. Who's going to go?
And the Lord Jesus said, here am I, send me with.
Find that in Isaiah 6.
And so the Lord Jesus came into this world.
Born into Bethlehem's Manger or into the Virgin Mary. And the Angel of God had told her, that holy thing that will be born of you will be called the Son of God. And so God's beloved Son came into this world.
You know what happened the night he was born, guys.
They said to his mother, we don't have any room for him.
There was no room for him at the end, and so he was born in a barn, out in a stable, since they laid him in a Manger, wrapped him in swaddling clothes.
What a humble beginning to the Son of God.
And he could walk through this world.
And in perfect obedience to His Father's will, time after time is written in the New Testament of my need is to do the will of Him that sent me.
00:20:09
I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straightened? Don't be accomplished and so on. The Lord came for one reason and that is to go to Calvary's cross and die because you and I.
We're in a hopelessly lost condition with nothing that you could possibly do.
To get out of it by yourself, Nothing. You know, another thing that happened in history that intrigued me was.
Guys, remember when the mind collapsed in Chile?
And this is about 12 or 15 years ago, there was 33 miners that were.
Way down deep in the earth mining for gold and copper and there was a mine collapse and they were trapped.
Down there and there is absolutely nothing that they could do to rescue themselves. Zero. They tried to climb up the ventilation shafts and they were all blocked. And they came to the realization we're doomed and we're going to die and there's nothing we can do about it.
But you know, up there at the surface, the Chilean government had put together a plan. They needed to be saved.
And over about 69 days, they were drilling, drilling, drilling through all this rock, about 2600 feet of solid rock. And I think they missed their target like 20 times.
Finally, 1 drill hit the target and those miners that were down there spray painted the drill bit red and when they pulled it up they realized somebody painted this red. They're down there.
And then they drilled out a bigger hole and they got those men out of there.
And a little capsule that was only 21 inches wide, and these men were getting pulled up. Let's think about that, Brother Tim. I'm claustrophobic.
Here they had to. That's the only way to get out. Either get in the capsule and be saved, or stay where you're at and die. That's it. And that's the way it is. What the gospel to you kids say to God. Well, I think my way is good enough.
I'm just going to do it the way I want to do it, and God will. He'll probably be happy with that. No, that's not the way it works. It says in Hebrews, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? The answer is you won't escape if you neglect so great salvation. And so God sent his Son into the world. You know something else about that minor story that really thrilled my soul?
When those men came up, they were all wearing the same shirt.
You guys know about this?
And on it, in great big letters, it said Gracias senior, Thank you, Lord. And it had I think it's.
Psalm 95 maybe?
The deep places of the earth are in his hand. We'll have to look it up after, but every one of those men came up wearing that shirt. Thank you, Lord.
I sat in my truck soil sampling a field.
When the 1St man was lifted and then I was fascinated by that and it took like 1/2 hour for him to come up and they opened the door and he stepped out and the announcer read that shirt and I thought, great gracias senior, thank you Lord.
Friends, that's what the Lord Jesus wants to do for you and your sins is bring you up out of that horrible pit. Tim was talking last night about Jonah going down to the bottoms of the mountains.
You know, think about that. You know, I was thinking about that submersible sub too and.
It's way down there, 12,000 feet down, and they were hoping to see the Titanic is what they wanted to see.
That's the bottoms of the mountains. That's where you're at, friends, without the Lord Jesus. That's where I'm at.
We need a savior, and the beautiful news of the gospel is Jesus came into the world to save sinners. You know, I thought of another verse. I've been quoting a lot of verses here, but I think it's good to have the Bible open and I feel bad that we haven't opened it enough yet. Turn to Romans 8.
00:25:02
I was thinking about Abraham and Isaac.
And I was thinking about God and his Son.
Let's read verse 32. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all.
Think about that, brethren, God gave his Son.
His only begotten Son, that One in whom was all his delight from a past eternity.
And they sent him into this world. He spared not his own son. You know, I think about kids, the Lord Jesus and the cross, and he's arrested and hauled away on trial. And they convict him to be crucified and they take him out there. And I take that they would have a cross laid there on the ground and they stretched him out.
Started pounding those nails into his hands and feet. You know, this past week I had a problem with this finger right here.
And I don't really know what it was, maybe gout, but I'm not sure except to tell you this. It hurt a lot. I couldn't even hold a pencil.
And you know, I was laying in bed and going like this. Oh man, this hurts. You know what I thought about?
The Lord reminded me, since my hands, my hands hurt too.
They pound those nails into the hands of the blessed Lord Jesus.
Pound those nails through his feet. They pick up that cross, set it in a hole in the ground.
And there he is, kids, God's beloved son, hanging there.
Between heaven and earth.
And he's there because of my sins and your sins. But you know, it wasn't the Lord hanging on the cross that paid for my sin four years.
It tells us in God's Word that at the 9th hour, 6th hour, there was darkness over the whole land until the 9th hour. And during that time God poured out on His own Son. He didn't spare His Son. He poured out on the sun all of the blame and the penalty and punishment that belonged to me and to you for our sins.
That's what paid the penalty for our sins, God.
It says in Two Corinthians 5/21 He hath made him to be sin for us.
Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Jack, that's what it means to be reconciled to God. God didn't have to change. It's me and you that had to be brought back. You understand? God was perfect, God was right, God was holy. We were sinners.
I hope that the word were is correct. If you're still in your sins right now, you are on your way to a lost eternity. I hope your kids understand that and think about it. God didn't have to change. We had to be brought and reconciled to Him.
Another verse that I think of is.
The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. I think that's first John Four, We have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. And so the Lord Jesus, in obedience to his Father, went to the cross.
You know, Aiden, there was a on either side of the Lord Jesus, there were two other people that were crucified.
And they were thieves and they were bad dudes and.
For a while they were making fun of Jesus, like hey, hey, take us down, take us down.
And then I think one of them realized something about the Lord Jesus.
And he said we're getting what we deserve here. But this man has done nothing in this. And that was true. But he was there because of me and because of you. That's why he was there.
You know, we had that story of Abraham and Isaac earlier today, and it says that Abraham bound his son and laid him up there on the altar and he took the knife and he held it up like that. And Brother Don, I really appreciated what you shared about the Lord. Jesus spared his father from bringing that knife down.
00:30:00
But you know kids.
Somebody had to be punished for our sins. The Lord Jesus paid the entire debt, all of the penalty for our sins. And when it was done, he said it is finished. And then instead of God taking his life, the Lord Jesus dismissed the Spirit. He said it's finished, completed, all done, all paid.
And then he laid down his head and dismissed his spirit, and he died.
They took him down from the cross, they put him in the grave, and probably most of them thought, well, that's the end of a bad job.
But that's not the end of the story. You guys know what happened next.
On the first day of the week, some of those friends of the Lord Jesus, dear friends of his, that were so sad that he had been killed, they went to the grave.
And they were bringing some spices and some other things, things that they could treat the body of Jesus with kindness and dignity. And you know what they found?
He wasn't there.
There was a giant stone in front of that cave where he had been buried.
The stone was rolled away.
And there were some angels there and they said he's not here, he's risen.
And they're like, what?
And a couple of them even went in and looked the Ellis. Sure enough, he wasn't there. There was the evidence that he'd been there.
Wrappings that they would have wrapped up his dead body and were there. I've often tried to wonder what that looked like. I don't believe it was a strewn around mess like some kid getting out of a sleeping bag. I don't think so.
Sometimes I thought it was almost like there was a balloon. Then he just pricked the balloon and the balloon deflated and everything was just all wrapped up. But there's nothing in there. He's gone.
He's alive, and God raised him from the dead. His Father was totally satisfied with what he did at the cross to pay for sin, and he was so satisfied that he brought his Son back to life. He rose from the dead. It's called resurrection. And the Lord Jesus right now is a man in the glory.
And he's there inviting you to take what he has done.
As a gift from him to you. How much do you have to pay for a gift, young people?
It's free, right?
The Word of God tells us the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now you have the ability to turn down a gift.
It's not a very smart thing to do, but some people have done it over history. There was a man in this state, Ohio, one time that was a terrible criminal, and some of his family and friends were lobbying the president of the United States to give him a pardon. And they were successful. And the president agreed to pardon him and let him out of prison. I can't remember his name now.
Anyway.
The warden of the prison went out there and we'll just say his name was Theo. He's a Theo.
I have here a pardon and it means you can walk out of here a Freeman. No penalty. You know what that guy said, Theo?
He said I don't want it.
Isn't that crazy? Who would say that? That's what he said, I don't want it. I reject it. And the warden of the prison said, well, you can't do that. What do you mean you don't want it? Yes, I don't want it. Get it out of here. And I went all the way through the Supreme Court of the US and the decision was made. A pardon is only a pardon if it's accepted.
And that man rejected his pardon and he was executed for the crimes that he did and he deserved it.
Kids, God is offering you a pardon. He says I paid my son, paid all the debt for your sin. All you got to do is accept it. Believe that my son did what I asked him to do on your behalf. Believe that what he did was enough.
Are you willing to believe in what God is offering you and accept the gift of God? I hope you are. Don't put it off kids. You know I put it off a grid many times.
00:35:07
But there was a night a couple weeks ago I was up in Rideau Ferry and I went to a senior citizen's home with the.
My uncle Ralph and with Paul House and after the Bible study that they did with the senior citizens, we went by a lady's room named Judith Wilkin. Maybe somebody you remember her.
I was sitting in Sackville conference.
One time I think I was 7 or so, eight maybe, and her husband Cam Wilkin was preaching the gospel and the Spirit of God got a hold of my soul. He said do it now, don't put it off. And you know kids, I said yes, Lord Jesus, I believe in what you did for me at the cross of Calvary. I accept what you have done for me. I know that you paid my debt and I.
Believe it, and I'm happy to take it. And I got saved. I got rescued from that deep dark pit of sin that I couldn't get out of by myself. Well, it was nice to see Missus Wilkin. I don't think she knew who I was, but I remember her. I spent many a happy hour at her basement playing with Ross and Gretchen and different ones.
And I mentioned Ross to her. Oh, that's my son, you know.
She remembered her son. She didn't know much about me.
But you know, God values his Son too, and he wants you to love and accept him too. You know, sometimes we sing Oh what a Savior that he died for me. The Lord Jesus loves you dear one, my friend He.
Wants you to accept him, to open your heart's door, to say yes, Lord Jesus, I'm a Sinner, I can't save myself. I need you to pay my debt. That's what happened at the cross. You know, when the Lord Jesus shed his blood. There's one more thing before we end here I was thinking about.
Isaac there as as going up that mountain with his father, and the question is asked.
Here's the fire, here's the wood, where's the burnt offering? And Abraham said to his son, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And that's what he did. And the Lord Jesus is called the Lamb of God. But you know, I thought about.
All of the thousands, hundreds of thousands of lambs that had been sacrificed through the centuries.
Think of the Passover lamb, right? They had to take that cute little lamb and keep it in their house for four days, get all attached to it. That's what would happen in our house, I guarantee you that.
And then the last day the dad would say, OK, kids, hand me the lamb. Look dad, what are you going to do?
But it killed it.
Take the blood, put it on the door. God said when I see the blood, I will Passover you. Then after they had the blood on the door, they would take that lamb and they roasted it in fire. Now you kids, how many of you are brave enough to stick your finger in a candle for three minutes?
About 3 seconds.
I tried it too once a day and then I didn't make it.
I remember giving this analogy in thorough Nova Scotia when I was in college and there was a kid named Andrew Devoe and he was a bit crazy and I gave him a 5 second challenge and he made it to four. I'm like, dude.
His mom yanked his hand out and it busted it all up.
Anyway, where I'm going with this is fire is really really hot and it says they had to roast it with fire, not boiled in water. When you boil something in water, it only gets to 212. That's what water boils at and it doesn't get any hotter unless you put it in a pressure cooker. But when you put something in fire, it gets.
Way, way hotter. Vastly hotter. But you know those, none of those lamps ever felt the fire. They did feel the myth, though. They never felt the fire. But kids, the Lord Jesus felt the fire of God's wrath against your sins and my sins, and he paid it all. And when it was all done, he said it's finished.
00:40:11
100% paid. All you got to do is believe that I did it for you and accept it. Are you willing to do that?
Dear friend, we're out of time.
Going to quote to you a couple of things that came to my heart today. You know, when I walked past that sheet up there at the on the porch with your names on them under lost and found. I thought about this him.
Those who are young.
Oh God.
Make them thine own.
Hear from thy blessed abode.
Make them thine owns now in their early days, turn them to thy blessed place.
Save from the giddy maze, Make them thine own. That's the heart of the Lord Jesus for you kids right now, that you would come and be saved.
That of another him, Julie. I learned this from your father a good many years ago.
Oh, don't turn the savior away.
He's calling unto you today.
I'll cry out unto him and pray or weep in that great judgment day.
Oh, your time is running out. Run center. Run to the arms.
To the arms of the Savior he's calling you come.
Oh rest not don't sleep till the matter is done.
Oh, flee while you can from the wrath that's to come.
Someday when your story is told.
And your body lies silent and cold.
What then of the riches you hold?
And what would you give for your soul? You know, people think about that, the ambitions to make money.
Have a big house, Have a fast car. Think about that.
What would you give for your soul? Don't turn the Lord Jesus aside. Make him your own tonight.
Oh what a Savior that he died for me. I hope everyone of you knows who loves the blessed Lord Jesus.
There's lots more we could say, but we're going to be done.
That's it.
Nothing to be added to the Word of God.