Gospel—Josh Stewart
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Welcome to the Gospel meeting tonight.
And we could begin by singing the 1St 2 verses of #26.
There is life and a look at the crucified One. There is life at this moment for thee. Then look center. Look unto Him, and be saved unto Him who was nailed to the tree. Someone could raise the tune 1St 2 verses of #26.
Nsnoise.
There is a light.
Wind where I am flying Pakistan's mum and one of the beginnings.
851556 one man according to the beginning.
Well, there's time. We'll send the last three verses of this him at the close of the meeting, if we're still left here.
Before we pray, I'd just like to read one verse that's been on my heart. God's Gospel chapter 6.
The short verse but.
Part of my burden tonight, John's Gospel, chapter 6.
The end of the chapter, verse 64.
It reads, but there are some of you that believe not.
I'll read it again, but there are some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not.
Tonight, uh, the exercise of the local brethren here in Cuyahoga Falls and my exercise and the exercise of many others here tonight is that the gospel would go forth one more time, clearly and simply.
And I don't know who here does not believe, but Jesus knew from the beginning those who stood there that did not believe. And there might be someone sitting here tonight that does not believe. And if if you're that person.
Beg you to just, umm, we beg you to listen carefully and consider what's presented tonight in the Gospel. Well, that's for the Lord's help before we begin.
Loving God and our Father, we thank Thee this evening for the privilege that we have to present the gospel one more time.
In this dark day that we're living in, the gospel has been preached for almost 2000 years now and we thank the our God and Father for extending the time that we have to preach this wonderful gospel. We just pray again that there's someone here that is not yet accepted that gospel and believed in their heart and been saved that they would do so tonight. We just pray for liberty of the Spirit to to just give our souls what what's required for those of us who are already saved to warm our hearts.
But most of all, that one person that's sitting here that does not believe that they would turn to the Lord Jesus today. We ask this in the worthy and precious name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
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I said, uh, purposes to just present a simple gospel message like was presented last night. It's the same same old story that you've heard so many times before, but I'm very happy to be able to tell it to you tonight. And I'd like to turn to the book of Romans. And a lot was mentioned today from the book of Romans and, uh, very happy to hear that. And I love the book of Romans. So such a foundational book.
And as her brother mentioned.
Awards subject that he presents in this wonderful epistle as the gospel. And so I'd like to read a few verses from the book of Romans tonight and make a few comments. And I don't plan to speak for very long, but let's start with verse one of the first chapter of the book of Romans.
Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, separated under the Gospel of God which he had promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
Paul was saying here that he was separated under the Gospel of God, and it's Paul's burden in this epistle to present the Gospel of God, and that's our burden tonight.
And it's God's good news and we're just so happy to be able to present that one more time. God's good news. But it says in verse 3 concerning his Son, Jesus Christ and the gospel is concerning his Son. And you know, I could try to persuade you intellectually, logically, I could try to give you examples, tell you about how I was saved, tell you about how many others were saved and use that as a reason and use that as a basis for.
The Gospel. But the gospel is concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and his Son was.
Made of the seed of David according to the flesh he was a man, he was 100% a human being sent a part, but he was 100% human just like everyone in this room. But it says also verse four and declared to be the son of God with power.
He was not just a man, He was God and he was the Son of God. You know, he was declared to be the Son of God with power. We could look at the Lord's life and I'll read a verse that John summarizes what he writes in his book, the last verse of his 20th chapter. Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that he might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing he might have life through his name.
And throughout the Lord's life as he lived here.
Through the miracles that he did, the words that he spoke and the things that God said and speaking from heaven and other signs, it was declared that he was the Son of God. But more than that, later in the verse it says by the resurrection from the dead and the Lord Jesus Christ, he died and then he rose from the dead. And we're going to talk a little bit more about that. But you know, the Lord Jesus when he died, he said it is finished. He's talking about.
Umm, his work and redemptions work on Calvary, which is the basis of the gospel. You know, when God raised him from the dead, it was God saying it is finished. And that's what we need to hear tonight is that God is satisfied with the work of Calvary.
Well, let's drop down to verse 16.
Romans one verse 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew 1St and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, that just shall live by faith.
And tonight I can say that here now, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
And it's not always true. I have to hang my head. But I can I can say to your local brother here in Cuyahoga Falls are not ashamed. You know why? It's the power of God.
That's how I was saved. Power of God.
Through the gospel, you know, the world would look at what we're doing here tonight and say it's foolishness, but God is pleased by the foolishness of preaching, by the foolishness of preaching to save us, and it's the power of God.
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It says also that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith on the principle of faith to faith. And tonight you need faith from God to understand this. You need faith to believe the gospel. You know something?
Faith comes from God. It's a gift of God, Ephesians chapter 2 tells us. And we trust the Lord will give you that faith tonight to believe His word.
Well, in the first three chapters of the book of Romans.
Umm, God establishes that all are guilty, and that's the first thing. As mentioned last night, I'll mention it again now, we need to understand that we're all guilty. And you know, maybe you're here tonight and you're saying, yeah, I've heard that before. I've heard that before. But think about it as we read these verses. We're all guilty. We all need salvation.
In Romans chapter one now verse 18, he begins his treatise. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth and unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. For God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.
Even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
Well, these verses are saying that to every person born into this world, every man.
There's enough evidence in the creation. The things that are made, that's the creation. There's enough evidence by looking out these windows and seeing these trees, the lake, the animal creation, and seeing all that, you know in your heart of hearts that there is a God. Not just that, there is a God. It says his eternal power. And God, you know he's a God and you know he's a powerful God.
And so everyone is responsible. And as Paul moves through these chapters, he narrows in closer and closer on those who are more and more responsible. So then in chapter 2 and verse one you can say, therefore thou are inexcusable. Oh man, whom whosoever thou art that judges. So we find another group of people that that are those who judge. For wherein thou judge just another, thou condemn us by self.
For thou that judge us, do us the same things.
And this is a class of people he goes on to speak about.
Who are educated and they know a lot. And we're living in a world that's full of North America, that's full of educated people. We are remarking at one of the meals today that it's almost expected now that you have some sort of college education. And more and more people are going through higher and higher levels of education. And there's something called philosophy, and we're taught this.
You know, it may not be a philosophy class, but you're taught it. I was taught it when I went to school. And you know, man sees the condition of the world. He sees the growing creation. He sees the condition of man. And rather than taking God at his word, he comes up with reasons why it is and what we need to do to fix it.
And he would point at those in this world that live in an immorality and say, well, here's the reason why and here's the problem with that. But the truth is it's in their hearts as well. It's in all of our hearts. And we are inexcusable. Those who judge, we do the same things. We are all responsible.
You know, the more knowledge we have, the more responsible we are and.
And that's a principle in these first few chapters of the book of Romans and, umm, if you've been brought up in a Christian home, we're going to get to that next. You're the most responsible.
But it's so interesting, this week I was, umm, doing a little bit of research on a man umm.
Who's who's alive in the world today? His name is Richard Dawkins and he's an atheist and I'm sure many of you have heard of him and he's, umm, a great orator and he spoken many times on behalf of what he believes. And in my research and looking at, uh, looking at this man, I, I came across another individual who was very inspirational to Richard Dawkins. So I'm sure many of you heard of.
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And this man's name was umm, Christopher Hitchens. And Christopher Hitchens is dead now. But uh, he, he was not an atheist. He was, he was an anti theist and umm.
For those of you who don't know and agnostic is someone who doesn't know if there's a God, an atheist is someone who doesn't believe there's a God, but an anti theist says there's not a God and I'm glad there's not a God.
And he was very vocal and UMM influenced many, many people, thousands of people. So listen to him speak.
I thought.
It's not about how much you know. It's not about how smart you are. It's not about how intellectual you are. It's not about what degrees you have, whether you've spoken to Oxford and Cambridge and Yale. It doesn't matter. Here's a man who's heard the gospel probably more times than I have throughout his life.
And he could stare death in the face and say I don't believe is a God and I don't want to believe there's a God. He, he got cancer. Umm, he died I think 3, three years ago or so. And he was, umm, about to attend a conference of others who believe the same way he believes. And he said.
He couldn't go, so he wrote a letter. At the end of his letter, he signed the letter and umm.
He he mocked the Apostle Paul, where Paul says I have kept the faith, he said don't keep the faith. And that was the last thing he wrote. And umm, think of that man with all that education, one of the most brilliant men that have lived in our time and yet he could.
He could take what he knows from what God has shown him and he could walk straight down the plank into hell. As far as we know and just realized it's not the wise man, it's not the mighty, it's not the noble that are called the Lord Jesus said I thank thee, O Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good and I sight and it's wonderful tonight because you don't need a degree to accept the gospel.
You only need to believe it's so simple.
And I'm so glad that that's the way it is. Umm.
But then we come to another group of people, and I believe we fall into this category in in verse 17 of Romans 2. Behold our call the Jew. Now we're not Jews, but bear with me here and rest us in the law and make us by boast of God and knowest his will and approve us The things that are more excellent being instructed out of the law, and are confident that thou thyself are the guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness.
And in structure of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has the form of knowledge and of the truth and the law. Thou therefore which teaches another, teachest thou not thyself?
You know, there was one of these debates. This man was that and.
And uh, Richard Dawkins, a man I mentioned earlier, was debating the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia, and a man asked the question of them both.
An atheist and an Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and the man asked this question. He said I'm an atheist. When I die, what will happen to me?
Well, Richard Dawkins, what he said.
Was it depends on if you're buried or cremated. But if you're buried, your body will go into the ground. Your brain, which is the part that thinks of your body, that thinks will rot and that will be the end of you.
It's terrible, but listen to what the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church said.
He said well you have a never dying soul, that's true.
He said that when you die, your spirit and your soul will leave your body. That's true. Then the man spoke up again. He said, will I go to hell? And he said no, you will not go to hell.
And here we are. We're living in a day.
And in a land that has had the word of God.
And those who have the most light, they have this book. Infallible word of God have taken this book.
And they have denied what God has said. They have taken what they had from God, his revelation to us, and they have changed it and said an atheist would not go to hell when he died. And I just thought for a minute, you know, really who's more responsible?
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Is it the the man who judges who, uh, goes to college and gets a college education? Or is it the man who says I'm a teacher of the word and then teaches that kind of error?
You know, and I'm not here to point fingers, but just to make this point by the word of God.
That we are all guilty, all of us, every one of us is guilty. And you may never have done something like that, like stand up there and say something wrong like that or or commit a terrible crime, but we're all guilty. And we're going to read that in the third chapter of Romans.
And verse 9.
Romans 3 version.
Verse 9.
What then? Are we better than they? That's the great question, isn't it?
You say, yeah, I'm bad, but I'm not as bad as him. I'm not as bad as her. I'm not as bad as that person over there. Are we better than they? No.
And no wise, in no way are you better. In no way are you better. We're all guilty.
For we have before approved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.
And so this written, there is none righteous. No, not, no, not one. There's none that understand this. There's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way. They're all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one.
Verse 19.
Now we know that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and that all the world may become guilty before God. And tonight I can tell you on the authority of the word of God, that the whole world has become guilty before God. Every single person in this world is guilty before God.
You need to see that because you're part, you're part of that. I'm part of that. We are guilty before God.
But you know, this is the good news, and that's what we're getting to, so let's read on.
Verse 21 but now.
But now.
And.
When he received the gospel.
It's a wonderful thing. You suddenly see that something is different. You read the be from the beginning of the Bible. You come to a chapter like Genesis chapter 5, and you read and he died and he died and he died.
And, umm, if you listen to an audiobook version of the Bible, you sort of hear things a little bit differently because you're reading through it much quicker. That's one of the things that stuck out to me was, and he died and he died and he died, and that's going to be true of everyone in this room if the Lord doesn't come and he died and he died.
But for those who are saved, we have a hope. We're exempt from death, and that's a wonderful, wonderful thing.
And umm, now the righteousness of God, this is something the gospel is bringing without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe.
For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Here it is, All have sinned, all have sinned and come short. Doesn't matter how short you come, you've come short. If you're jumping from A10 story building rooftop to another ten story building rooftop and you come short in your jump, does it matter if you were a foot short or 10 feet short? It doesn't matter. You fell short and all of us have fallen short of the glory of God.
But it's unto all, and the gospel goes unto all, but it's only upon all them that believe. And so tonight what we're trying to make sure is that everyone in this room is a part of quote, all them that believe. And I hope that I can say that all those in this room tonight believe the gospel.
Well, it says in verse 24.
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Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, freely by his grace. And the gospel tonight is free. There's not a price.
You can come and drink at the waters that that that are flowing tonight. You can come and you can drink freely. There's not a price. There's nothing to pay. We're not here trying to sell indulgences. We're not here trying to ex exact a certain code of conduct from you or get you to follow or or join a church or anything like that. It's free. You can just come and take it. It's free.
Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, how can God save a Sinner? How can God save a Sinner? Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, a mercy seat through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, that He might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
You know.
It's very important to understand that when God saves a Sinner.
He doesn't bend the rules to say the center very important that you understand that maybe there's someone here, a young person that's heard the gospel for and they thought about it and they said that doesn't really make sense. You know, how can you know? How can that work? Umm.
Yeah, you need to understand that when God saves a Sinner, he's not bending the rules.
When God saves a Sinner, he maintain He maintains his own righteousness. He may. He remains consistent. That's what righteousness means, consistency.
And, umm.
You know, if you are playing the game of Monopoly and you, you, uh, have all your properties mortgaged and you land on someone's hotel on Boardwalk or Park Place.
You know you could, when no one's looking, swipe a couple bills from the bank and pay the debt that way. But is that righteous? No, we know that that's cheating to take money from the bank.
Let me ask you this did God?
Act inconsistently when he saved me, when he saved the thief that died beside him on that cross, did he? No, he did not. It says that God might be just and a justifier of him that believe it in Jesus. He's both he's just and he's just and he is the justifier. What does it mean to justify someone? Well, if any of you have have, uh, interlinear Bible, you can look and see it's the same word as righteousness just.
It just means instead of righteousness, it seems it means to be made righteous. That's what it means. God has made me righteous. I'm not righteous to myself, but he has looked at me and he said Josh and he's he looked in his book and he put a check mark next to my name and he said I'm righteous. Now I haven't told you how or why he did that, but he did. And in order to do that.
He gave his son to die.
That's what it costs him to be able to do that, you know, and that's what you need tonight because you need to be justified. We're going to see that in the next chapter.
And we'll turn there now. Romans chapter 4.
How can a man be just with God?
Well, there was a man named Abraham, and it says if you read your Bible in the Old Testament, it says.
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.
And Paul, by the Spirit of God, takes this example and unfolds beautifully in this chapter how and why God took my name and checked righteous. Why did he do it? Well, we'll turn right to the end of the chapter for time's sake.
Verse 20 He staggered. Abraham staggered not at the promise of God. Romans 4. Verse 20 He staggered not the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith. You mentioned that today the two opposites, unbelief and faith. He was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness, that is, his belief in what God had promised, that that faith was imputed to him for righteousness.
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Now God made a promise to Abraham and Abraham believed it. And what are we to believe? What? What are we to believe? So that God will say he has faith, So he will just, He will say to you that you have faith to the next verse.
Now it was not written for his sake alone, not just for Abraham, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him.
What that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. That's the story of the gospel right there. Delivered for our offenses, raised for our justification.
And umm, and then the first verse of the next chapter gives us that precious, precious truth. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. You want peace with God. You want to be able to stand before God without any doubt or fear in your heart. You need to be justified by faith.
He was delivered for our offences. You know, it says, I'm just going to turn. You can turn if you'd like to. Isaiah 53.
To read a few verses about our precious Savior.
Verse five. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed all. We, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
He has brought us a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shears is dumb. So he opened openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who shall declare his generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living, and for the transgression of my people was He stricken.
You know the Lord Jesus.
It cost him so much.
To be delivered for our offenses.
To bear the transgressions that we had compiled before God, all the things that we have done, if you're saved tonight, the Lord Jesus has bore those things.
You know, Lord Jesus came into this world, we said before he was a man, but he was the Son of God. He was in a place in heaven where.
He was always treated just the way that he deserved to be treated.
And I mean to speak reverently when I say that, but he came into this world and there was no room for him at the end.
And that just characterizes his whole life down here, you know?
You know, they should have, uh, his people should have just received and been so happy to see him. You know, Jesus is Jehovah of the Old Testament. Do you know that, that, that Jehovah, the Old Testament, the one who gave them the manna, the one who, you know, bore with them as they murmured in the Old Testament?
Jesus is that same person. He came to his own people.
I, I guess when I think of that, it just touches my heart because here he came. Don't you know me? Don't you know me? But they didn't know him. They didn't know him and they rejected him.
He's despised and rejected of men and he he walked through this world perfectly before God, all the things that he suffered.
We will never understand. Perhaps in some of the aspects of the suffering we can understand a little bit, but.
Misunderstood by everyone around him, he was umm, denied by one of his own disciples. Forsaken by all of his disciples.
One of his own, Judas, betrayed him.
He said if it was an enemy, I could have borne it, He said. You know, if it was one of my enemies that had betrayed me.
In a sense, he would have been. It would have been OK. But it wasn't. It was his own familiar friend, the one that sat at his table, that ate of his bread, that walked with him in sweet counsel to the House of God. It was his own.
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And uh, you know it says in Zechariah.
If you think good, give me my price. So they counted to me 30 pieces of silver.
And 30 pieces of silver was the price of a good slave. You know, this world took the Lord Jesus and they said, you know what he's worth the price of a good slave. And that was how they treated our blessed Lord.
You know, he was taken, says, from prison and from judgment. And he was taken from Pilot to Herod, back to Pilot. Earlier. He was led from the hall of the high priest, the Pilot. The Jews would have killed him then if they could have, they would have stoned him. But they didn't have authority, so they had to get Pilot to sign off.
I'll examine him. I find no fault in this man.
Uh, the Lord Jesus, there was no fault in him, and yet what a death he suffered. He was crucified. A death reserve for the worst of criminals. Roman citizens will be exempt from that death. It was so terrible.
You know, but he hung there.
After those soldiers drove those nails into his hands and stood that cross up into the hole that stood in and.
He would watch as the soldiers would gamble for his clothes.
You know that touches my heart because.
You know, clothes are what Marcus is being human. You don't see animals wearing clothes.
But our blessed Lord, they took even that from Him.
All those things he suffered. But you know, it wasn't the Roman scourge, it wasn't the mocking of the Sanhedrin, it wasn't any of those things that took my sins away. It was those three hours of darkness where he was delivered for our offenses.
And, uh, as her brother brought out last night, he hung there in those three hours.
And uh.
2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21 is a verse that is.
Unparalleled in the Word of God.
What's this, Rita?
First Second Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.
That we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Will never understand what it meant for the Lord Jesus.
There one who did no sin. There was no sin in him. He knew no sin.
Always in the bosom of the Father.
To be made.
The expression of what we are sin to be made the thing that God hates sin. You cannot have one sin in His presence. One sin will keep you from heaven. One sin will send you to hell.
The Lord Jesus was made sin and judged for it on Calvary's cross.
He was forsaken of God in that time.
And, uh, that kind of suffering.
Is uh, like no other suffering Nothing will ever understand.
You said our fathers trusted in me, and now this delivered them. This is Psalm 22. Our fathers trusted.
And now let's deliver them. But me?
My God, my God, thou hast forsaken me and he was forsaken and umm.
It's nothing like that, but that's what it took.
To save your soul, to save my soul. And that is the work that he has accomplished for you. If you're not saved tonight, just need to accept it. We read it there in, uh, Romans chapter 4. Believe on him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification.
If you just believe it, it'll be true of you, it'll be true of you and and you can stand before God. Righteous, righteous, you need that. You need that tonight.
You know, our brother Umm was bringing out a little bit today in the book of Romans, and I love the book of Romans because, you know, salvation doesn't end with being saved from hell, you know, and you know.
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I won't go into it because we'd be here for eternity. Speaking of all the wonders of what God has done, all his blessings. But you know, he's even broken the power of Satan. You don't have to sin anymore. Maybe you're hearing you're saying I just can't stop. I try and I try and I can't stop. Not true. If you're saved, the work has been done. Satan's power is broken. You can look like the children of Israel back on the.
On the shores of the Red Sea and you can see those enemies dead. Dead. Power has been broken. You have Deliverance. Or maybe you're an older one here tonight and you're having trouble walking up the steps.
You look at your body and you say it's true of all of us. We're all dying and you say.
This poor world, this body that I have.
Not even that, not even that escapes God's great salvation. And he turned to the book of return to Romans chapter 8, and you see how even our bodies have been saved. And this is what's waiting for you tonight, your body, the redemption of your body, even if you'll just accept this wonderful, wonderful salvation.
I'd like to, uh, close now.
And uh, before I do, read and make a few comments on some verses in Matthew chapter 5.
What we had before us tonight.
Has been the love of God.
And sending his son to die in Calvary's cross.
What we've had tonight is this great heart of love.
Toward you and toward me, when we were enemies. We could have read that in Romans chapter 5.
For a good man, some would even dare to die.
Umm, you could lay down your life for your friend.
Umm, but when we were enemies.
God gave His Son to die for us, but we spoke another love of God, and it's His love that enables us to be here tonight and hear this message one more time. I feel compelled to read a portion that would speak of the urgency, the urgency that you would receive the Gospel. Romans chapter 5 and verse 25. Sorry, Matthew chapter 5 and verse 25.
It says agree with an adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him.
Lest at anytime the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and they'll be cast into prison.
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by number means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost Farthing.
This might seem like a strange portion to read in connection with the gospel. It's really speaking about, umm, offenses and seeking the forgiveness of others and talking about someone who comes to the temple to offer a sacrifice and they know they've offended someone and the Lord tells them here, don't make, don't offer your sacrifice. Drop it. Go tell that brother. I know I did something to offend you. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Go back, pick up your.
Your sacrifice and and offer it and and God will be pleased.
But I'd like to apply these these verses that we read to the gospel.
It says in two places.
And it's a quotation from the Old Testament. So that would be three in the Scripture. And perhaps there's others that God sets his sets himself against the proud. He gives grace to the humble, but he sets himself against the pro, against the proud. You know, there's a sense tonight if you're not saved.
That God is your adversary, He's a righteous judge, and you will be judged for your sins if you do not. What that what, what what the Lord Jesus did be true of you?
You will be judged. And the exhortation here is time. Time is running out here. This man is and there's, he is an adversary that he is wronged and uh, he's not acting quickly and he's just saying, well, I'll get around to, I'll apologize to him. I'll make it right with that person.
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The Lord says do it quickly and tonight.
I've been pleasing with you about the love of God, but.
I would beg you to do it quickly, to receive the gospel quickly, because what could happen?
Your adversary could find you, that could take you at any moment.
That does not respect persons, old, young, rich, poor, that could take you at any moment.
What will happen?
Well, he'll deliver you to the judge.
And every, every one of us, every man is going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ. For me, I'm not worried about that day. I'm kind of looking forward to that day actually. But for you, it's actually going to be a different place. It's going to be a great white throne and heaven and earth will flee away and you'll stand there.
The judge will deliver the to the officer and now be cast in the prison. The sentence will be completed. The sentence will be fulfilled.
Thou shalt by no means come out thence to thou hast paid the uttermost Farthing.
I think of this and the thought that comes to mind is a plea bargain. Raise your hand if you know what a plea bargain is.
OK, well I'll explain it.
To the best of my knowledge, a plea bargain is similar to what we have in this these verses.
It's when you've been convicted, you sorry, you've been accused of a crime and you've been imprisoned and you've had a hearing maybe or you're about to have a hearing.
Up until the trial.
Umm, oftentimes in a trial by jury, the prosecuting team will evaluate their case and they'll say, let's say it's murder and you've committed murder and you're guilty of it. You know it in your heart, but you're pleading not guilty. Why? Let's say you live in Texas where they use the death penalty. You know that if you're found guilty.
Lethal injection for you. You're gone. So you plead not guilty. Your only hope, but then.
There's always, there's always uncertainty in a trial by jury. Always.
And the prosecuting team will say, you know, well, these people might have biases this way and that way, and the evidence here is only circumstantial, so.
We might lose. And if they lose, then you'll be acquitted. So rather than have you acquitted, they'll go to you and say before you go into those into that courtroom and say, listen, change your plea to guilty. Change your plea to guilty and we'll give you life in prison instead of death.
And, you know, many criminals have taken that bargain, many criminals. But there have been some who have thought life in prison can't do that.
And uh.
You know, if you were standing outside those doors.
And the prosecuting team came to you and said there's a plea bargain on the table.
Change your plea.
Agree with an adversary quickly. Waldauer in the way.
What would you do? Because you know something, once you walk through those doors and the jury is there and the judge is there, there's no more opportunity. The bargain is gone. No more chance.
I have to tell you something about the corpse scene that you're gonna see.
If you reject the gospel, when you go into there, into that room, there's gonna be no jury of your peers. It's gonna be the Lord Jesus. And you look to where the judge sits and who will be, It'll be the Lord Jesus, the one that you rejected, and he'll be sitting there. And I can tell you with that judge and that jury, there is no uncertainty. There is no uncertainty. The verdict will be guilty.
And death will be the sentence.
Not them that kill the body, but then that kill the soul, and the Lord Jesus will have to say, depart from you. Workers of iniquity. I never knew you. You'll be cast into the lake of fire. A lake is a body of water that has an inlet but no outlet, and you'll never escape. It says you will not come out thanks until you have paid the uttermost sparthing. How many years will it take to pay off your Lotus?
Forever, forever. So I would beg you tonight, agree quickly with an adversary while thou art in the way.
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Lest he deliberately to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and I'll be cast into prison.
And one more thought.
The bargain that God offers is not.
Life in prison versus the death penalty. I'll tell you, it's much better than that. It's, uh, eternity in heaven. It's, uh.
It's membership in the body of Christ for you. It's uh.
Spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ.
Perhaps greatest of all, it's.
Being a Son of God as your Father.
And, umm.
You know, on one side you have a great, a very great thing to worry about.
Carroll Van Nation on the other side, you have blessing.
Set before you this day, life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life. Let's sing the rest of our hymn.
Versus 3-4 and five number 26.
Someone could raise the tune again.
Air and supply. Air supply, There's no man, according to me.
And what, what are you gonna do? Is just gonna have, uh, whatever you need to do, uh.
I swear. And it's like in my life I thought you're gonna lose me like 1.
Umm.
851 There is five classes long and importantly.
It's closing prayer.
Loving God and our Father, we thank Thee for this privilege again to have the gospel presented. We pray that again, if there's that one that's standing here that believes not, that they would have that saving look.
To Christ crucified, hanging on the tree, bearing their sins.
It would have that believing look and be saved. We pray that we would not doubt our welcome since God has declared there remaineth no more to be done.
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We thank you that we know our God. Thy very character of righteousness assures us that we can never be sent to a lost eternity.
We just pray if there's one here that is not yet avail themselves of that wonderful, wonderful good news that they would tonight.
We ask this and we pray for your blessing on my word. Pray that souls will be saved tonight. We ask this in the worthy and precious name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.