Detroit Conference: 1965
Table of Contents
The Demoniac
Gospel—C. Whitaker
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Now we open our meeting tonight by singing hymn #18 Hymn #18. God loved the world so tenderly, his only Son He gave that all who on his name believe its wondrous power will save #18.
God loves our world, salt and early.
Yes.
Not.
The courage.
Child not having.
Play.
That's all about the world that he can kill for homeless mom.
But.
Turn off Airways.
Shut up, my parents.
Have a feeling of in him.
Come.
00:05:06
So we also think #30 hymn #30 weeping will not save me. Though my face were bathed in tears that could not allay my fears, could not wash the sins of yours. Weeping will not save me.
Jesus bled and died for me.
Jesus suffered on the tree. Jesus waits to make me free. He alone can save me #30.
Waiting for nothing.
To it.
Laughing, not happy. I feel like that's a lot of good.
Pleasing for my.
Sleep. We want to grateful to make me free, give me our own cancer.
Where they Call My Name.
So I see that I can do it all the time later.
Come on. Oh my God, I love you. Where people love to play with you.
For me.
Jesus support on that way.
They lost wage to make me free.
Yellow can save me.
Faith and flies will save.
Trust in him.
He has gone.
Through this time, by now, we run.
Faith in Christ will save me.
Your heart for me.
Give us a fall on the tree.
Give us grace to make me free, He how long can say me?
Shall we bow in prayer?
Turn with me please to.
Gospel According to Mark, chapter 5 and verse 35.
Mach 535.
435 through chapter 5, beginning at verse 35 and chapter 4.
And the same day when even was come, he saith unto them, let us Passover unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship.
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And they were also with him other little ships, and there arose a great storm of wind.
And the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full.
And he was in the hunger part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish. And he rose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still. And the wind ceased. And there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it?
That you have no faith.
And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this?
That even the wind and the sea obey him. And they came over onto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit.
Who had his dwelling among the tombs, and no man could bind him.
No, not with chains, because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been struck asunder by him, and the Fed is broken in pieces. Neither could any man tame him, and always night and day he was in the mountains and in the tomb, crying and cutting himself with stones.
But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is legion.
We are many, and he beside him much that he would not send him away out of the country.
Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding, and all the devils are demons. We saw him saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
And forthwith Jesus gave them leave, and the unclean spirit went out and entered into the flying, and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. There were about 2000 and were choked in the sea.
And they that fed the flying, fled and told it in the city and in the country, and they went out to see what it was that was done, and they come to Jesus.
And see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legions sitting and clothed, and in his right mind. And they were afraid.
And they that thought told them how it befell to him.
That was possessed with the devil.
And also concerning the swine.
And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
And when he was coming to the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
And he departed and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel.
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35 years ago, my wife and I went into the heart of Africa.
And at that time.
I didn't suppose that there was such a thing as demon possession. I'd rather doubted it. I didn't deny it, but I questioned it. But I hadn't been there more than two weeks when we had opportunity to realize that there was such a thing as demon possession.
A very solemn thing, a very hideous thing.
And since being in this country again for many years, I'm not convinced also that all the demon possession isn't in Africa, that there's a good deal of it right here in this so-called Christian country.
And so tonight, if the B1 here who doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her Savior, you are lost and you are under the control of Satan and you're hellbound and you're a friend of mine. I love you. And what I have to say tonight is not to offend you, but to seek by God's grace to help you. Because here in this account read we have a very plain picture.
Of a soul that's lost and doomed for distant darkness.
From God, it's a side picture and I believe the things that are true.
Of this maniac, this demon possessed man of Godera are also in a very math degree true of you.
And if you're honest before God and with your own heart, you'll have to admit that it's so.
We have here, first of all, this man's condition.
And it's a pathetic condition. We find that he's naked.
And that's the way that God sees you.
Outside of Christ, you're naked. It tells us so over in Hebrews chapter 4. I believe we have a word there that would answer to this condition in Hebrews 4.
And the 13th verse.
Of Hebrews 4, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of women with whom we have to do. Remember, God sees you. He knows the condition of your heart tonight. He knows whether you're in Christ or out of Christ, and so that's the way God sees you.
If you are outside of Christ, you don't have on the robe of righteousness. You are in your sins.
And before God, your nicknames, and you're going to have to stand before the Great White Throne, naked and in your sins, and notice the throne is white. No mercy there, no blood there. It's only God's righteousness and God's holiness. And you'll stand there and you will, you will condemn yourself and justify God's.
Your mouth will be otherwise closed. You will be speechless as you read in another gospel.
Well, this dear soul.
We find was there among the tombs in agony and naked.
And you know tonight as well as I do, and I know from experience too, having gone on in my sins for a number of years, that I was in agony, in agony, in awful misery, and afraid to die. But I thank God for bringing the gospel to my heart, my ears, and that I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ 45 years ago and took him as my Savior. And I can recommend him to you tonight. He is able to keep.
As well as to save and he's able to satisfy.
All whom he saved he certainly does, and we praise him tonight for his great faithfulness.
Regarding that thought of nakedness, let us take a look at Romans chapter 3.
Romans chapter 3 and verse 10.
As it is written, there is none. Righteous, no, not one.
There is none that understand it. There is none that seeketh after God.
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They are all gone. Out of the way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre. With their tongue They have used deceit, the poison of asters under the lip whose mouth is full of cursing. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace.
They have not known.
There is No Fear of God before their eyes. That's a description of a lost soul.
And we have another one over in Isaiah 57.
As we were approaching.
The African shore.
The captain of our liner asked us if we would like to see.
A very interesting sight. We said yes, we'd be glad. We said come up with me on the bridge and I'll show you something. And he said, Do you see that murky.
Grimy stream coming out from the Congress shores and we're 100 miles from land, but it said that.
Is the Conga River forcing its way out into this Placid blue Atlantic?
And turning and bringing up mire and dirt. And I thought of this verse in connection with the lost soul in Isaiah 57 and verses 20 and 21.
A very fine description.
A wicked heart.
But the wicked are like the troubled sea.
When it cannot rest, whose waters cast up milder and dirt, there is no peace, saith my God to the wicked, awful, very pointed description of a soul apart from the Savior. And God sees your heart tonight. He knows your needs, and that's why he sent the Lord Jesus to die on Calvary, that His precious blood might be shed to cleanse your wicked black heart from sin.
And so we read.
Something that might be a help to you tonight over in Isaiah 64. You know man is born with a thought that he's pretty good and that he can do something to help save himself. That his good works might perhaps add a little bit and his benevolence and all of those things that he might contribute to.
A better way of life might add to help him to be saved, but God says no.
Leprous is a very common thing in the tropics, and we spent a month in one area where there was a leper serum that.
Cared for 350 lepers and we noticed.
All types of.
Suffering and.
Emaciation and decay and putrefaction. Some had their ears off, some had their hands off, some had their feet off.
Others had holes in their faces and rags stuffed in their holes to keep the flies from working out of their heads. And there they sat, just slowly dying. Well, you know, that's the way God sees your good works. He sees your good works is still derives, just like those rags that are around the sores of those leopards.
Just like those awful, filthy bandages. Who wouldn't think to take those bandages to try to make a necktie or sewing up together to make a shirt? No, they're filtered. Well, God says here in Isaiah 64 and six that your righteousness, your good works are just like those filthy rags. But we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
Rags.
And we all do fate as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind.
Have taken us away.
So you see their soul tonight, your helplessness before God. Apart from God's grace. There wouldn't be one of us, your state tonight. Apart from His love, apart from his. His son going to Calgary, shedding his precious blood, dying on Calvary's cross, going into that grave there for three days and three nights, being raised for among the dead by the power of God. None of us tonight could know Him as our Savior. None of us could.
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I'd be sick or saved from health. But because he died, because His precious blood was shed, because we had his wonderful gospel to proclaim, there is hope. And there's help tonight for everyone here who doesn't know the Lord Jesus. You own yourself as one who is.
Lost, who is undone, who is helpless, and who is without hope. And you come to him, and you cry, as we heard night before last. God be merciful to Me.
For me, a Sinner.
Take them as your savior, and all will be well with your soul. Yes, indeed. Well, we have here this man.
Dead.
As far as God was concerned, as far as the Lord Jesus was concerned, he was dead in trespasses and sins. And that's the way God sees you tonight. Outside of Christ. Any soul outside of Christ is dead in trespasses and sins. You don't have spiritual life. You're half dead. At least you're physically alive. But before God, you're dead. Seriously speaking, you are dead and you need to be quickened by the Holy Spirit of God. And so tonight we thank God for.
His precious gospel.
For his wonderful words, for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that cleanses heart from all sin. This man was unclean. It tells us so. Well, sometimes, you know, people take great offense when you tell them that they're sinners. I walked into a home one day and there was an agent lady sitting there.
And I read to her, Romans 323 all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And she was nearly 90. And she said, I never said, I never did anything wrong in my life. And she got up and she's going to put me out the door. By the time the breeze hit her, she cooled off. And I said, now listen, you take this vital reason for yourself. Here it is all have sinned and come short of the glory of goddesses. That means you as well as me. That takes you in as well as me. And it means.
That you haven't anything that you can claim before God that would save your wicked lost soul. You must have Christ as your savior. You have to come God's way, just as I did. And you have to come now because you're getting close to the end of life journey Well over in Psalm 14. We have what some people say, you know, and they're very bold to say it, but they do and it's pathetic that.
Lost souls.
Take such liberty with the truth and claim themselves to be.
Sinless to be perfect before God, I remember one time.
Our late brother Hale said on the train he met a woman. I met a man and this man said I don't believe in God. He said man, He said you're worse than a fool. He said because the fool has said in his heart there's no God and you said it out loud. You said it out loud. And so here it tells us in Psalm 14.
This is God's word the fool has said in his heart. We haven't called you that. It's God's word itself that speaks to you. The fool has said in his heart there is no God.
They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that do it good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the turn of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all going to sign. They're all together, become filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Now that takes you in it. It takes me in apart from the sovereign grace of God. I've come into that category tonight, as well as anyone behind the bars in the penitentiary, and I often tell the boys to go in and talk with them.
That they're only only one difference between me and you.
Between uni and that is you got caught and I didn't because just as bad as you, but for the grace of God, I'll be right back in that behind that bar with you.
God saved me and kept me from going into such a depth, and tonight we can proclaim to you the gospel that is able to save your soul and bring you hope and bring you help and bring you eternal life through faith in the finished work of Christ. Well, this man was going about there in agony and he was homeless. And notice it tells us in that second verse that he was living out there among the two.
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And he there was an unclean spirit.
And there was in such agony that he was cutting himself.
Just a mangled mass of flesh and blood and mud, cutting himself day after day with stones, sharp stones. Oh yes, we've we've seen him carry on that way in the Congo. Yes, it's a terrible thing. But thank God, we've also seen some of those witch doctors, except the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. And I had one come to me one day with his idols, his basket of idols, and his name was Sakambundi. He said, I've come to give you something, white man, I said, oh, what is the second bungee? He said. I have taken the Lord Jesus as my savior.
I have come to give you my idol, my whole basket of idols, and I still have them. I said, well, that's wonderful. And it wasn't long until he came back a second time and he said, I've been reading God's word and I want to be at that time. Oh, I said, that's wonderful, that's wonderful. But I said, I don't know you. I said, there are some of your elders sitting out there under the tree. You go and talk to them about it, see what they have to say regarding your conduct and your change of life.
Well, they came and they said, well, Sakam Bunji really has been living a different life.
He used to commit murder. He used to be a terrible man in the village. He is a divine and cause too much sorrow and fear and suffering.
But he's a different man. Well, they said we think he should be baptized. So it was my privilege, before leaving that part of Africa on one Lord's Day morning while there were about 700 on the banks of the Zambezi River to baptize near Sockham Bungee, along with seventeen others. Our saved souls, an ex witch doctor saved by the power of God, by the grace of God, and transformed by grace divine. And he can do the same thing for you that he did for Sakambunji. And you're just as much in need of that salvation.
Tonight in Saka. Bungee Bunny. Exactly. Because you're in the clutches of the devil. You're you're in the power of Satan. You're shackled and you're in you're in *******. And so tonight, that's why we have this gospel meeting. We read that this man was dangerous over in Matthew 828. That he was dangerous. People feared him, didn't want to come here. He was dangerous. Well, I met some folk in this country that I didn't believe would classify as dangerous. We have some back home in Des Moines that the police don't want to even have anything to do with. They're scared of them.
And they're being these police are being shot. They're being they're being beaten up and they're afraid of these men. They're dangerous. They seem to have definitely come out of the control of safety. And their their their really strike terror into the hearts of the people, snatching persons and breaking into houses and stealing and causing great havoc night after night. Oh, I think some of that is perhaps demon possession. Well be that as it may.
There's hope and there's help and so tonight.
We thank God for the power of the God, the power of the precious Blood of Christ that can break the sack of sin and set the Sinner free. Bring him into a new life in Christ through faith in the precious finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross where we go on here and we see something else as to this dear soul he was.
Going on in a miserable manner and I was thinking of something that my wife read to me last summer. We were traveling along. We're reading a portion concerning Isaiah 1 and verses 5:00 and 6:00, and I think I'd like to pass that on to you tonight. A little thought from Doctor Wilson as to this precious portion over here in Isaiah chapter one.
And verses 5:00 and 6:00.
I believe it's versus.
Three and four. Yes, Isaiah 1/3 the ox N is owner and the *** his master's crib. But Israel does not know my people, does not consider there was a farmer one time standing by his fence and.
Thought of that very verse and he said my cow knows me, she comes up and she she licks my hand. But he said I don't know God. I don't know God. I don't know him. And so here it says the ox knoweth his owner and the *** his master's crib. But Israel does not know. Do you know? Do you know? Do you know God tonight is your father? Do you know the Lord Jesus your savior? But Israel does not know my people.
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Does not consider well, what else? What a sad thing to be going on, Agony's soul and to be going on.
In a hopeless path, with no light, with no hope, no help ahead only.
Distant darkness and to be cast into a place where there is nothing but hatred and darkness forever because God not going to be there.
Where you're going, there's no light and there's no love, because God is light and God is love. And so where you're going into a lost eternity, you're going where there's going to be intense hatred and dense darkness. Oh, and that's going to be forever. Think of it. You will never get out of there. There'll be no exit. There'll be no place where you can find repose or rest or relaxation from the awful, dense darkness.
And hatred and wailing and gnashing of teeth. That God's word tells us about the Lord. Jesus tells us about 6 about 10 * / 10 times over. And that's the place you're going to. Well, I'm so glad tonight that we have something.
That speaks of deliverance here, that which is wonderful, And we rejoice tonight that there is deliverance for you. And we notice here in the first part of this reading that the Lord Jesus comes through a storm. There, in verse 35 and 36 through 41 There's a.
Terrible storm. And would that not speak to our hearts of the storm The Blessed Lord Jesus has come through to reach you. He came through this storm to reach this gallery, and he has come through the storm of God's wrath.
The wrath of a just and righteous and holy God against sin. They're hanging on. Calvary. He bore all that storm. All those waves and billows went over him for me, for you, and he said, My God, my God, why?
Has software shaken me? Why? Why?
And he also said.
Father, forgiveness for the non, what they do. That was his first prop there on Calvary, and the last prize for the next to the last it is finished and over tonight we would invite you to trust in him that you might rest in that finished work, that finished work, that work that he completed to the satisfaction of God in heaven.
He met all the just requirements of the holy God, the righteousness, just a holy God against ****. He met it all that you might have the Lord Jesus as your substitute and go free tonight. Go free and have the joy and peace of knowing that your sins are forgiven, knowing that all is well. You have a clear title to heaven, knowing that you'll be there with him and like him in that glory scene. For forevermore, turn to Acts 2618. Oh yes, it's this wonderful, wonderful gospel.
That we have to proclaim that concept Captives Free Acts 26 and 18 tells us this.
To open their eyes. And tonight your eyes are closed in blindness, blindness to the beauty that there is in the Lord Jesus. And I like the words of the blind man. When he said in John 925. One thing I know, whereas I was blind now I see oh, tonight can you see? Do you see beauty in the Lord Jesus? Do you see him as your savior? Or do you just see him as a good man Just to teach him well? He wants to open your eyes tonight. To open their eyes and to turn them.
From darkness.
Light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins. Oh, isn't that wonderful? Forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in need. That verse reminds me of a man in the penitentiary over in Ohio who was.
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In death row.
And the mother of this lamb, this young man wrote a very.
A sorrowful letter to the governor of the state of Ohio. This happened years ago.
Or she said, he is my only son. Can't you go and do something for it? Can't you set him free?
Can't you cancel his sentence of death? Well, the governor decided. Yes, I'll go see what I can do. The governor wrote out a pardon he put in his pocket.
And he took a Bible under his arm, and he went over to the penitentiary. And he asked the warden, he didn't tell the warden he was the governor. He didn't introduce himself to this prisoner. He just went in and with the Bible in his arm. And he tried to speak to this dear young man about God's word. And this young man said, get out of here. I don't want anything to do with you. I've had enough preachers around here. I don't want anything to do with you. And I want you to go, and I want you to go now.
And the governor told him that I have some very good news for you. I have some very good news for you. I don't want your good news. You said I can't get up. And he went up and the door closed behind him. The cellblock was again locked and the warden came back and he said.
You know, he said the governor, that was the governor. He told me before he went out of the penitentiary that he had a pardon in his pocket for you and you wouldn't have.
You refuse all the good news that you want to bring. Oh, that I thought he was a preacher. I thought he was just another preacher, he said. And I told him to get out and he went.
Oh, the Lord Jesus has come to forgive your sin. Will you have that forgiveness tonight? That's what you read about here. The preach the forgiveness of sins and to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan under God. Will they have them? Will they have the pardon? Will you have the delivery? You know a pardon is of no value.
No good whatever until it's accepted. And if you won't have it, it won't do you anywhere. If you won't have the Lord Jesus, he can't help you tonight. But if you have it, he'll help you. He'll deliver you as he delivered this maniac, this demon possessed man of the death. Oh, tonight we thank God that there is delivers. And you know, it tells us here plainly that the Lord Jesus made the first move. That man didn't come to the Lord Jesus. No.
God's Son came through that store and made the first move to come.
To the man of Gaddafi and the Lord Jesus has come all the way from heaven's glory. He came right to where I was, on a little farm in southern Minnesota. He's come right here tonight, right where you are. He's come to save your soul. He's come to do it. And he wants to deliver you tonight from your wrested condition. Oh God, so loved the world that takes you into you in the world.
That whosoever believeth in him should not take God's soul of the world, that he gave his own, that he got his Son, his only Son.
Whosoever that takes you in, whosoever believeth in him, should not perish but have everlasting life. Do you want that life to make? It's for you. God is not winning and he should pay. He's not winning any surprise He gave his Son, that you might be redeemed, that you might be born again, that you might be delivered from the powers of darkness into life, and from Satan under God, and from death, and that to life and glory.
Forevermore. Oh, it's for you tonight. This is free. You can't pay 124. You can't work one moment for it. It's free. Not a worthless. Any man should vote all of God's sovereign free grace. Boy or girl? Man or woman tonight. God loves you. He so loved you that he gave his son and he wants you to be born again. He doesn't want you to perish. He doesn't want you to go out Into Darkness, into eternal damnation and separation from from God forever. No, no, He doesn't want that.
That's your choice. That's not his. He has made it possible, through the gift of his only Son, through his death on Cabernet, that you might be born again, that you might be delivered, that you might be saved and saved forever more in Christ.
Well, we have here this wonderful case of deliverance. How this man.
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Recognized the Lord Jesus as we have there in verse 7.
And he cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God?
Even that being for this man recognized the Lord Jesus, I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For Jesus said unto him, Come out of the man, Thou unclean spirit, thou voice of power. Come out of the man. And he has power tonight to deliver you from any shackle that's holding you, from any power of Satan that's binding you. He has power tonight to deliver you, he said, Come out of a man, the unclean spirit.
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion.
Anywhere from 4 to 6000. Think of from 4 to 6000 Demons in that man. What a terrible condition. My name is Regent, for we are many, and that's why it was uncontrollable. He was under the control of 5000, approximately 5000 people. They'd tie him up like we heard the other day. He'd break the fetters, they'd tie him again, he'd snap the chains. And here he comes now to Jesus with a chain book and dangling from fish. He's coming and he's coming home.
Oh, tonight, won't you come? Won't you come and have the Lord Jesus as your savior? Ah yes, He wants to deliver you from the power of doctors.
And he decided much that he would not send him away into the country.
And so he went into the swine, and then we come on down.
And that we find in verse 15.
And they come to Jesus. These are the populace now, the people. They had more care for those swine. Those 2000 herd of swine had a swine. They had more care for those swine than they had for that man's soul. They said They come to Jesus and they see him.
Who that was oppressed? Well, it tells them the 14th verse. And they that fed the swine, fled, and towed it in the city and in the country, and they went out to see what it was that was done. And they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting and closed.
In his right mind, and they were afraid.
And they that thought told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out of the coast. And when he was coming to the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with.
This shows us where the minds of people really are. They had more care for their possessions than they had for this man's soul. And the Lord Jesus said that the value of a soul, a soul, is worth more than the whole world. And what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? And they thought that their slime were far more important than this man's soul. But will they find him now? He's sitting and clothes and in his right mind having the mind of Christ. And we have here in Isaiah 61 and 10 a little bit about that Gamma. I wonder if you have that garment on tonight.
In Isaiah 61 and 10, that's the way they found him clothes now.
The man who had been naked and in agony and cutting himself with stones, roaming about the tombs and.
In such faces here he is now sitting in his right mind. And here we have in Isaiah 61 and 10 this lovely verse about that garment of salvation. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garment of salvation. He has covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom, decadent himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth himself with her jewels.
Are you closed tonight in that robe of righteousness, the righteousness of God in Christ? Or are you still in your sins naked before God? Oh, you know and God knows we can't see your heart. But God knows, and he would have you tonight to be clothed in the garment of salvation, that you might not be naked in that day before the great white throws. Oh, it's a wonderful, wonderful account how they saw him.
And in his right mind. Or they were afraid of him before. And such a change has come over and they're still afraid. And so they go and tell it abroad to the people. And then this man does something. I'd like to see more dear saved souls Do you know we're praying for unsaved? We're lost loved ones. And we've been praying for you tonight. And God's word tells us very plainly that everything is possible with him. While we had witch doctors and medicine men.
00:50:19
What we said were mine, it doesn't seem possible God can save them, but he did. He did. And here in Mark 10/27 he tells us and Jesus looking upon them saying with men, with men it is impossible. But not with God. Keep on praying for your lost loved ones, not with God. For with God all things are possible. All things are possible. It's possible tonight for souls right here to be set free from the sack of sins.
As possible for unsaved, lost, hell bound souls tonight, right here to be transformed by grace divine and to bout face and be a turn toward the Lord. Turn from going toward the pit and turn toward blowing right here tonight if possible. And God wants to do that very thing. With man it is impossible. We can't do it. But with God all things are possible. So we just take God at his word and believe that he can bring about the transformation.
And remember, it's God's love.
Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation.
To be the one who had died on Calvary's cross as our substitute, as we would have him as our state. He wants to be your savings night. I'm no better than anyone else. Nobody else is any better than you. We're all on the same plane, so to speak. God is no respecter of persons or creed or color or cast. He wants you and he says whosoever will may come and that takes you in. That takes me and that takes you, boys and girls. Who's ever gonna come this poor.
Maniac came.
He He believed he was set free as shockers were released, and he came just as he was. Well, if our gospel be hit is hit to those that are lost, and if you don't, if you don't want to open your blinded eyes, if you don't want to come to the Lord Jesus tonight, you'll go on in your darkness, You'll go on your skin and you go on down, down, down to a loss, endless eternity. But there's hope tonight, and there's help. But I like what this man did, and as I said, I would like to see more doing it. It tells us there.
In verse 18.
And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord have done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish into capitalist how great things Jesus had done for him. And all men did marble.
These old sheeps and witch doctors used to come to our brand. They had heard the gospel and they couldn't read. But they said, you know, we want to go and tell our friends what we believe Yesterday that changed our hearts. Now tell us that story again. Tell us slowly. Now read it to us so we can understand it and we want to go and tell our people. I'd like to see boys and girls, young men and young women, doing that very thing. Have you confessed Christ yet?
To your mother, to your father, To your wife, to your husband. Take a look at Romans 10/9 and 10.
Or if you have come to know real peace in the Lord Jesus Christ, have you told anybody about therefore being justified by faith? We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. If you have that peace, have you made it, made it known? Have you told someone else about it? Romans 10/9 and 10 Oh, this is so important. Dear lost souls, tonight, if you take the Lord Jesus of your savior here and I'll tell somebody about, make it known at television, Romans 10 and nine, that if thou shalt confessed with thy mouth the Lord Jesus.
And shall believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from among the dead. Thou shalt be saved, For with a heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Have you done that yet? If not, why not? Are you ashamed of the Lord Jesus? Are you ashamed of the one who died for you on campus, whose precious side was pierced, who was there bearing that awful load of God?
Just judgment against sin. Are you ashamed of him? He died for you. He died that you might live.
00:55:02
Are you not willing to confess it? Would you not like to make him known tonight to your to your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your wife, your husband?
Or are you just going to go on and hide where your light under a bushel or under the bed? Well, I like what it tells us over in Psalm 107. It tells us there in that second or third verse what you should do and what would make your heart happy if you did do it. And it says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Psalm 107, verse two, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. And I remember a couple of years ago, a year and a half ago, Brother Eric Smith said, you know, he said I've had a good bringing up.
He said. I have had a good bringing up. I've been brought up out of the miry clay.
Turn to Psalm 40 and it tells us about that. Have you been brought up out of the miry clay yet? If you haven't, you're better. You better make it your business tonight to take Christ as your Savior and be brought up tonight out of the miry clay Here it says in Psalm 40, verse one. I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the mighty clay, and set my feet up on a rock and established my goings.
And he has put a new song in my mouth.
Even praised unto our God, many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the law. Are you trusting in Him? Have you been witnessing to anyone that they might trust in Him? Or tonight this poor soul, He was told by the Lord Jesus to go home.
To his friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and hath had compassion on thee. All that would make your wife happy tonight. That would make your husband happy tonight. Your brother, your sister, your father, your mother, if you just help. I took the Lord Jesus my savior last night. Or I took him as my savior tonight. Like 1 little lad over in Seattle WA he told me He said You know I took the Lord Jesus, my savior tonight. Ah, yes.
And I said, oh, how are you getting along? After a couple of years, I saw him again. I said just fine, just thought I'm still happy in the law. Yes, he was telling others. Another little girl, about 10-11 years ago, down in California, down in Fullerton, she took the Lord Jesus and her savior one night along with three other young people. And three of those four gone on nicely. One has gone back, but on Monday morning, she told her boyfriend and girlfriend as she's walking along.
Down the street to school, I took the Lord Jesus, my savior, last night and she said now I'm going to be baptized this week.
And Brother Barry here tonight, baptized in San Antonio, and she's been a credit to the assembly, a joy to her parents hot all tonight. Why don't you confess Christ to your loved ones if you take them as your savior? Oh yes, and the last verse that has turned to Psalm 66 and verse 11. Oh, a lovely thought. There in Psalm 66 and verse 11. Just come to the Lord Jesus. Believe on him with your heart, confess him with your mouth. Psalm 66.
And verse 16 I should say.
Come and hear all ye that fear the Lord and I will declare what he has done for my soul. Oh, make it known it's well worth telling a bra. Shut it from the housetop, so to speak. Let others know that you know the Lord Jesus or they want to understand you. They are probably make fun of you, and you have reports to bear. And so and so on. I know what it means. There was a first accept Christ in my home. But then I saw my mother get saved. And then my sister, then my two brothers and finally my father before I went home to glory. Yes.
And he can save your soul tonight, and he can give you joy and set you free and use you to speak to others that they might know him too, as they're safe. He wants to do that for you, and you'll do it right here and right now. Well, may we close with that precious hymn #12 just as I am. Just come as you are.
With chains and shackles, come as you are, and he's the one who can set you free and give you peace and give you joy, and give you that eternal life that he alone can give, that will give you eternal joy and peace in believing in his precious, finished work on Calgary #12.
Just as I am with all wanna play.
01:00:17
I can't.
The Sinners' Friend
Gospel—E. Wakefield
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Tends nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing.
Blood of Jesus, so precious as the flow. It makes me white as snow, no other found. I know nothing but the blood of Jesus #32.
Away my sins. I think that's the plan.
And all the oil.
Yes, I.
Yesterday and God's salvation, see, yields soul and body, heart and will to him who died for thee, the first and last verses 21.
We open our Bibles to Luke's Gospel chapter 23, verse 33.
Luke 23 verse 33.
When they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him.
And the manufacturers? One on the right hand, on the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and they parted his raiment and cast lots. And the people stood behold in and the rulers also with them to ride at him, saying, He saved others, let him save himself, if it be Christ the chosen of God.
And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou be.
The king of the Jews save thyself, and the superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews.
And one of the model factors which were hanged railed at him, saying, If thou be Christ.
Save thyself and us.
But the other answer rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God seeing art in the same condemnation?
And we indeed just lay, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man.
Have done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
It was about the 6th hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour, and the sun was darkened and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father.
Into thy hands I command my spirit, and having said thus.
He gave up the ghost now when the centurion saw what was done.
He glorified God, saying certainly this.
Was a righteous man.
If we were to turn to the other three gospels tonight, we would see that there were three crosses that stood at Calvary, and in the Gospel of John it says that Jesus was in the midst. The cross of Christ stirred in the midst, in the center of these two thieves, these two manufacturers, these two men who represent tonight, I believe, every man and woman in this world.
00:10:27
These two men stand as representatives of the whole human race tonight, and the cross of Christ has divided this world into two classes. And only two classes, my friends. Only two. The word of God doesn't tell us about a third class. Only two classes. Every man, every woman, every boy, and every girl in this room tonight stands on one side of the cross of Christ.
You can't get away from it. You can't dodge it. You can't stand on neutral ground. You stand on one side of the cross or the other On the left side, you stand with those on the way to hell. On the right side, you stand on those on the way to heaven. And there's no other way, no other section, no other crowd. Saved or lost tonight as you sit in that chair, you're saved or lost. Tonight. We'd like to bring before you seven things about this thief.
But before I do so, I like to bring you into the very presence of God. You know, my friend, you'll never get blessed. You'll never get saved. You'll never get right with God until you come into His presence, until you're brought face to face with eternal realities. First of all, you're a Sinner. You know, you're a Sinner. I was speaking to a young lady recently, and I said to her, do you believe you're a Sinner? And she said, I know I'm a Sinner, my friend, God says you are a Sinner.
He says there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That means you.
It means me.
And happy is a man or woman, happy as a boy or girl who has discovered on this side of eternity.
That they're a Sinner and happy, my friends, as a man or woman or boy or girl who finds out on this side of eternity that they're a lost Sinner. That they're a dead Sinner. That they're a hell bound Sinner unless they come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so tonight we like to bring you face to face with eternal realities. We sang in our hymn The Side for Christ today, and I wonder if I may use the title of this.
Gospel message as decision for Christ, Decision for Christ.
Everybody in this room tonight has either made their decision or has not made their decision. Everybody in this room tonight is either for Christ or against Christ. I speak plainly, my friends. I speak without fear of rebuke. Tonight they're either on the side of God or you're on the side of the devil. And there's no middle ground. There is no neutral stand.
Have a godly mother, a godly father, as we heard in the faithful message last night, our brother preached. You may have a godly home, but if you've never yet come to Christ, you're lost. Just as lost as the man in the jail. Just as lost as a man who's drunk. Just as a blasphemer. The most wicked man in this world. You're lost tonight. And the Lord Jesus said he that believeth not shall be down.
What a solemn thing, friends. We live in a wishy washy day. We live in a day when, sad to say, men who used to preach the faithful gospel are now putting on the soft pedal. They say we can't preach about hell because we won't be popular. And people don't like to hear about it. They like to hear about the love of God. They don't like to hear about hell or judgment. But I say tonight, my friends, that never in the word of God in the New Testament did anybody speak more of hell than the Lord Jesus himself.
He warned men to flee. He said, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Recently I was speaking to a person who said do you believe there's a hell?
And we said to them, it's not a question of what I believe, it's a question of what God says. God says there's a hell. God says there's judgment coming. God says that man will be under that judgment for eternity without Christ. Who am I? Who are you? Who my friend is infidel or the atheist or the modernistic preacher? Today I just stand up and say there's no hell when God says solemnly says.
00:15:14
There is a hell when the Lord Jesus solemnly preached that there was a hell.
Who are we for worms of the dust, sinners saved by the grace of God to stop peddle the gospel, my friends, their salvation tonight for you we heard last night that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I say again to the cross of Christ has divided this world into two classes to make you stand on one side of the cross or the other. Tonight you stand on the right side of the wrong side. The cross is divided this world.
The cross is divided homes. The cross is divided offices. The cross is divided loved ones.
The Cross, the cross of Christ, has separated this world and two.
Great camps, Heaven bound or hell bound? On the side of God or on the side of the devil. My friends, it's not popular, but it's true. The Lord Jesus said you cannot serve 2 masters. He said nothing about a third. Why? Because there's not three. There's only two.
All my friends, are you saved tonight. Let me earnestly ask you, Let me solemnly bring you into the presence of God now.
Let me ask you, as we've often asked, and I'm sure the Christians in this room will bear with us, You've heard these things before. It's the old story. We've heard it hundreds of times. When the preacher opens his Bible in Montreal, we've heard the story hundreds of times. It's nothing new. It's the old story.
Ever knew. Let me solemnly ask you tonight if you were a corpse.
Now, if your body was cold and still and silent tonight, now. Right now.
In the Undertaker's parlor, if the flowers decked your casket, if the funeral notice was in the paper, I ask you, in God's name, where would your soul be now? Now it'll be too late, my friends, too late to make a decision for Christ. Then you must make your decision in time.
You must make your decision in this Christ rejecting world. You must make your decision in the world.
Crucified the Son of God. You must make your decision now, not in the future eternity.
There is no second chance. There is no purgatory. My friends, I speak solemnly for God tonight I say there is no second chance. The Lord Jesus said, If you believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. And where I am there ye cannot come. Who said it? Christ said it. Christ said it, my friend. He cannot come. What a solemn thing. These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the Son of God.
The only man who never told a lie, ye cannot come if ye die in your sins. And if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. And where I am there ye cannot come, friends, It's solemn, isn't it? But it's true. Without Christ there's hell for every child of Adam's race, regardless of religion, creed, or color.
Without Christ, there is no salvation. Without Christ and his death on Calvary's cross, his resurrection, and his precious blood, there's absolutely no salvation for any child of Adams race. And so to make it simple as Christ or hell, my friends, you must decide for or against Christ seven points about this man who was condemned to death. First of all, he would just like you and me. He was a man.
Second, he was a Sinner in the 3rd place he'd come under the judgment of the Roman government, and he was condemned to death. And he is the only deathbed repentance mentioned in the word of God. He's the only man who, on his deathbed, which was a cross, turned to Christ and he received mercy. He was a Sinner, my friends. He was just like you and me. He was no better. He was no worse. He was a Sinner.
And he was nailed to a cross. And first of all, the first thing we notice.
00:20:00
About this man is in verse 40 and the 39th verse.
His companion railed on him. In the other gospels we find they both railed on Christ, is Mr. Darby's translation. I believe, says they both insulted him. Think of it. But something happened to this man. Something happened to the man on the right side of the cross. And I believe that the word of God brought light to his soul. I believe this man saw the light and he had the Scriptures. He only had two verses, but he had the word of God in these two verses.
The first verse with a very prayer of Jesus.
Father, forgive them.
For they know not what they do. The second verse was nailed over the cross. This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews, this robber. He saw one verse, he heard the other verse, and he believed them both. And the entrance of thy word give us light. And he found there was a man on the cross who could pray for his enemies. He himself no doubt, would desire to kill them all. All his tormentors, all those who dared to put him on the cross, He would like to get down and kill them all, 1 by 1.
But here was a man who was praying for his enemies. He was in the presence of God, my friends. He realized that he was in the presence of God. He was brought there in the presence of God. God allowed it the devil to insult the Lord. Jesus had him nailed between 2 Thieves, but the blessed Lord Jesus had his eye on that robber.
An unsaved friend. The Lord Jesus has his eye on you tonight, young man. Young lady, you heard last night of your mother's prayers and your Father's prayers. The Lord Jesus has his eye on you to bless you. He wants to save you. Isn't it wonderful? God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And so this man, first of all, in verse 40, he came into the fear of God. He said verse 40.
Dost not thou fear God? Friends, We live in a godless age. I don't suppose there's ever been an age like this age, A godless age. People tell me mockingly, is the old world turning over? It's the old world, The same old story. It's not true, my friends. I believe we live in the most ungodly age since God created man. Tonight is the most ungodly age, and there's No Fear of God.
Man, do not fear God. Men blasphemy God. Men mock God. Men laugh at God.
And recently in our papers we had a story of a man who was even written.
That the Lord Jesus planned his own crucifixion. What a solemn thing planned. His own crucifixion took advantage of the Scriptures in the Old Testament to make believe he was the Messiah. Well, man doesn't fear God. There's No Fear of God before their eyes. And my friend, tonight I want to ask you, do you fear God? Last night, if you're not saved, you went to bed. You shut your eyes. You slept through the night while you were sleeping.
Your heart was beating. If you're in that sleep, your heart has stopped beating. You would be an eternity now. Eternity. You would say there is a God. There is a God. The Bible was true. And I'm lost. I'm lost for eternity. Think of it. What a soul. This is solemn, isn't it? This man feared God, and the fear of God is the very beginning of wisdom. God says get wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This man was brought to this place. He said, Dost not thou?
Fear God, young man. Young lady, old man, old lady, I ask you, do you fear God tonight? Thus thou not, thou fear God. Well, that was the first thing he was brought into the presence of God. He feared God, and while he might, he was on his way to eternity. Death faced them all, my friends. Mental mock when they're when they're healthy. Men will mock. When the doctor says, oh, you're you're healthy, you're strong. Nothing wrong with your heart.
You're good for 20 more years then man can sneer and mock at God. But, my friends, when death stares you in the face and you hear the solemn verdict. 3 months to live. Three months of the very most to live, you're face to face with eternal realities.
The Word of God says it's appointed under Man wants to die after death. The judgment. What a solemn thing. So this man feared God.
00:25:05
In the second place, in the end of the 40th verse, he says, See, thou art in the same condemnation.
And we indeed, justly. The next thing he did was he owned that he deserved this punishment. He deserved it. He took the place of one who deserved this punishment. In other words, he owned. He was a Sinner. He only deserved this judgment. My friends, tonight, have you ever found out you're a Sinner? I don't ask you. Is your neighbor a Sinner? I don't ask you if your boss, your school teacher, your principal, your doctor, your dentist. I ask you, have you found out?
On your knees before God that you are a Sinner. That you are vile, that you are a Sinner. You were born that way.
Man goes astray, says God from the womb, his turn He's born with his back turned against God and he starts for hell, Full speed, full speed.
Unless he comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, my friends, the only Savior that God has for sinners, he'll perish. Surely he'll perish.
Or it's a solemn thing, isn't it? It's a very solemn thing to stand here and tell you this. But you know, my friends, the devil is so clever, He's so clever that he even has men in the standing up in pulpits stand up in platforms saying the Bible is not the word of God. You don't have to believe it. You don't need to be born again. They're saying it's old fashioned stuff. We don't believe it. In this enlightened, modern 20th century of brain power where everybody's educated. We don't need that, says the devil.
Tonight I bring you back to divine realities, eternal realities, face to face with God, face to face with God's truth, face to face with eternity, face to face with heaven or hell. I bring you these solemn realities. You have to stand in the presence of God, my friends. Do you fear God? Have you yet found you're a Sinner? Do you say I deserve this justly? I deserve to have the justice of God.
In his wrath poured upon me.
What's the next thing he says?
Where we verse 41 for we receive the due reward of our deeds. What a wonderful confession we receive. And I'm sure that every Christian in this room tonight who knows anything about the Bible, anything about the grace of God, will say I deserve to go to hell. Friends, by the grace of God the preacher says it I deserve to go to hell, but thank God, the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.
Bore my sins in his own body on the tree.
He received from God's hand the judgment that I deserved. The punishment of God poured down upon Christ. Blow after blow struck the Savior. My sins were laid on his sacred head. The curse by my Lord was born. He loves you, my friends, He loves you. Oh, isn't it wonderful that God loves you? And we said before we say it again in that wonderful verse that Jesus said, John 316.
I like to think of it as if the Lord Jesus and I say this reverently, as if he said I can't tell about God, so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Those are the words of the Son of God, my friends. Wonderful words. The Son of God said them, My Savior, the Lord Jesus says them he again he said, he that believeth on him is not condemned.
But he that believeth not all. Sinner, friend, are you here tonight? He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation. The light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. What a solemn thing.
The next thing he says.
In the end of the 41St.
First verse. But this man has done nothing amiss. What a wonderful revelation. What a wonderful thing. He spoke well of Christ all. He condemned himself. And that's what repentance is. Repentance, you know, is not crying and weeping and falling down your knees and crying and weeping and just crying and crying and crying. No, my friends, that may be a remorse, but repentance before God has taken sighs with God against yourself. This man did that.
00:30:03
He condemned himself and he spoke well of Christ. This man had done nothing amiss. Isn't it wonderful He spoke well of Christ. Have you ever spoken well of Christ? Do you ever speak well of Christ in this world? Oh, young gospel preachers, tonight we appeal you, dear young brothers who are growing up. Some may get 20, some may get 25, some may get 30. If, if the Lord doesn't come soon, the older brethren are going to disappear into glory.
You're going to be left here. And your responsibility, young brothers, is to preach the gospel of the grace of God, not remove the landmarks as we heard yesterday. Not turn away from the Bible, not say, Oh well, that was all right in the 19th century, but not today. My dear young brothers, stand faithful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord preach the gospel, that there's a Savior on high in the glory, a dear loving Savior.
Thor's friends be few.
How few they are, my friends. Many are called, said Jesus, but few are chosen. The Mass, my friends, tonight I believe the large crowd, are on the broad road to destruction. Every one of us who are saved tonight are saved by the grace of God. We have nothing to boast in, nothing to glory in, save a Savior slain on the cross of Calvary, whose precious blood cleanses from all sin. He spoke well of Christ.
Or as we read these words, he spoke well of Christ. I ask you young men, what about you? Have you ever spoken well of Christ? I know young men. They follow the athletes of this world. They speak well in the great baseball players, the great hockey players, the great prize fighters. But I ask you tonight, young man, did you ever speak well of Christ? This man did. He cleared the whole life of the Son of God. How did he know?
I believe he only met the Lord Jesus that day. He probably never saw him before.
And yet he clears his whole life. This man hath done nothing amiss.
All my friends, isn't it wonderful in the word of God that the Apostle Paul, Peter, and John all say he hath done no sin? He knew no sin. A 3-4 cord is not easily broken. God testifies three times by three of his apostles that this man had done nothing amiss. And here's this robber on the cross, and he speaks well of Christ, this man.
Had done nothing amiss to do to say these words, my friends. He had to take issue against the Pharisees, the great leaders of religion of that day, the scribes and the Pharisees. If we had asked those sneer and hypocrites below the cross what do you think of this man in the center cross? They would have said he's an imposter. We don't believe in him at all. He cast out demons by bells above the Prince of demons. But here's a robber on the cross, he says. This man hath done nothing amiss.
He spoke well of Christ. And tonight, my friends, I say this for the benefit of those who were young Christians. We must speak out faithfully against the religious world. We must speak out about the scribes and Pharisees of of this country and the country of the north, the modernistic preachers who are the Pharisees of 19165 the Pharisees who deny the word of God. You and I as Christians must speak out against these men who speak.
Blasphemous things against our Lord Jesus Christ in the Word of God.
It's time, as a young Christian said to me in Montreal two weeks ago.
It's time we walk up and took issues with these blasphemers who dare to deny the word of God.
The Pharisees in 1965 are the modernist preachers, the modernistic preachers who say the Bible's not true, as a dear brother told me today, one of them told him when he asked him, and it was a young man. This is years ago, you see. I asked him about the new birth. He put his hand on his shoulders and said, never mind that stuff, you don't need to be born again. I say these modernistic creatures are the Pharisees of the 20th century.
But this robber he said. This man hath done nothing unless he spoke well of Jesus. Or will you speak well of Jesus tonight? He loves you. Oh, what love he had. Just imagine he himself said, greater loveth no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friends. And then I like to think of him saying, I'll prove a greater love. I'll die from my enemies. I'll give my life for those who hate me, for those who reject me, for those who despise me.
00:35:06
He gave his life for his enemies. He loves you, my friends. Let me say again and again, God has blocked the road to hell by the cross of Christ.
Will you go to hell? You must pass the cross. Oh, my friends. The cross. The glorious cross. There's no place like the cross where Jesus died. Where he suffered and bled and gave his life for sinners. He's the sinners, friend. You know, you might commit some crime. You wouldn't want the police to know. You wouldn't want your father to know. You wouldn't want your mother to know. Who would you tell? Who would you tell? Only one. Who is it? The sinner's friend. The friend of sinners. Jesus.
The sinner's friend. Your mother may say I'm ashamed of you. Your father made his own you. But Jesus puts out his arms has come. I love you no matter what. You've done all your sins like great mountains all around you. I love you just the same. I died for you. I prove my love. I'm the sinners friend. All sinners friend. Think of it. The sinner's friend. Are you a Sinner tonight? Jesus is your friend. He loves you. He wants to save you. He wants to take your sins away. He can wash them all away in this precious blood. He died for you, my friends. He loves you.
What a savior Jesus is. Oh, what love, what grace is his?
The next thing we find in this verse is.
The 42nd verse And he said unto Jesus, Lord, isn't that wonderful? He calls Jesus his Lord. God says in Romans 10 and 9 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's what God says. Jesus is Lord, who is Jesus? The despise Nazarene.
Despised by this world, God says, I've exalted that man to the very highest heaven. He's Lord. I've made them both Lord and Christ. If you will confess with that mouth of yours, Jesus says, Lord, and believe in that heart of yours that God raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved on the authority of God himself. What higher authority can you get? Well, the robber turns to Christ and he says, Lord, what is he saying next?
He says, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
Well, that's the fifth point. He calls them Lord, the 6th point. He speaks about his Kingdom. What faith is this? Here's a man. Let us let us try to look back those 2000 years of the cross. See his hands? They're bleeding. They're nailed to a cross. His feet are torn by the nails and bleeding. There he hangs with a crown of thorns across his head. His face is covered with spit. His back is broken and bleeding.
By the Roman scourge there he is hanging a sight for God, and for angels, for men.
For the devil and for demons to look upon. And this man says, Remember Me.
When thou comest unto thy Kingdom, did this lowly, despise, hated man have a Kingdom, or the robber's eyes, Look beyond the cross, look beyond that wondrous cross and that glorious Savior hanging up on the cross. Or to sight my friends bleeding, and bruise, bleeding, bleeding, and bruise under the cruel tortures of those creatures whom we came to save. He left the heavens, as we heard last night, came down past the angels into this world, and here they were, spitting on them, beating them, taking their God-given strength, and punching them in the face.
And they bruised and broke his face. Oh, how solemn, how often told the story. I want to tell it again.
That one night I stood in the old Matte Royal arena in Montreal and I saw a man come out of the prize ring. I stood right beside him, 3 feet from him. His face was bruised and beaten. I'll never forget his face. His face was bruised and beaten, my friends, by the punches of his opponent. There he came, down the stairs. His face was broken and bleeding and I've often thought, am I precious savior? His face more marred than any man, beaten under the cruel tortures of his creatures he came to save.
All my friends.
Here was the robber saying, Lord, Remember Me, his friends, that if they'll be Christ, save thyself and us. But this man in faith says, knowing the salvation is personal. He says, Remember Me, that's me. Nobody else but me, Remember Me. When thou come us into thy Kingdom, hear the Savior and the Sinner were brought together. Here was the joy of a Savior's heart, and all his sorrow and his misery, his pain, his agony.
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Here it was the Savior's joy, the joy of Calvary, when this poor robber turned.
I like to think of it. How often said it before? Let me say it again, Mr. Modernist, What could you do for the Robert? What could you do, Mr. Modernist Preacher for the robber? Come, Mr. Pharisee, and tell us what you would do for the robber. What could you say? Go to church, Live a good life, Keep the 10 commandments. Do the best you can. Turn over a new leaf. Too late, my friends. This man neither the Savior. Jesus was the Savior.
Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. What does Christ say to this robber? What a challenge, my friends. What would he say to this robber, Sinner, Friend, isn't this wonderful news for you?
I remember when my sins bothered me. I remember when the gates of hell seemed to be opening up for me to enter in. I remember when the judgment of God seemed like a great mountain to crush me into hell. I remember hearing the story of Jesus and his love. Hearing the story of the love of Christ. The melting love of Christ is tall, out of the cross. All my friends, what would Jesus say to the Sinner, this robber, this thief, unfit for society?
Unfit for society, unfit for the Roman governor, unfit for the Pharisees and scribes, but fit for Jesus, fit for Christ, fit for heaven. Hear the Savior I love to think of as he turns and says, verily, I say unto thee, a personal Savior. He speaks to the robber, He says, I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise, because gods are giving God the man asked for the Kingdom. Christ says no. I'll give you something better than the Kingdom.
I'll give you myself my company in paradise, not in a future day for the Kingdom.
Hasn't come yet after 2000 years nearly have rolled by, Jesus said.
Today thou shalt be with me in paradise, a robber and a savior together.
A robber and the Son of God, My friends, what a wonderful thing this is.
A robber and Jesus together in paradise that very day.
Not tomorrow, not ten years hence, not after being punished in some other place, a third place for 10 or 20 or 30 years. No, my friends, this very day, this very day, thou shalt be with me in paradise. And I like to think of the robber as he hung upon that. For the 7th point, I believe, was this is the assurance this man had, the assurance he had. I like to think of the Pharisees. They would pass by and say to that. Robert, listen, Mr.
You're going into eternity. You've only got a little while to live. What about your soul? What about the hereafter? Where are you going to be? Hadn't you better give some money? Hadn't you better tell us where you're right. Where your loot is hidden so we can get your money and get you into heaven. I like to think of the robber looking down and smiling and saying, oh, my friend, the man in the center cross has given me assurance. The man in the center cross has told me that today I'll be with him in paradise, and I believe it. I know it's true, the man has assured me. The man of Calvary, the man of the center cross.
That assured me that today.
I'll be with him in paradise. Oh, isn't it wonderful, my friends, tonight. What about you? Where are you going? Are you on your way to heaven? Are your sins forgiven? Have you come under the cleansing power of the precious blood of Jesus Christ shed upon the cross of Calvary? Have you ever yet decided to receive him as your Savior? Is Christ live in your heart? Are you born again? I was speaking to a party the other day and they said, yes, I'm a Christian. And we said to them. And what kind of a Christian are you? Because remember.
Remember that nearly everybody says they're a Christian unless you're a Jew.
They all say they're Christians, I said. What kind of a Christian are you? Are you a born again Christian?
My friend, I ask you, are you a born again Christian? Have you been born again, born from above? Have you received that life from God? Well, they go on with our story, the Lord Jesus. After this wonderful revelation to this man, This man had this assurance. First of all, he had the fear of God. Second, he took his place before God as a Sinner. Third, he spoke well of Christ 4th He called Jesus Lord.
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50 spoke of the Kingdom.
60 had that assurance in his seventh He believed that he believed the message. He believed the words of Jesus. That settles it doesn't matter what the preacher says. It doesn't matter very much what the preacher says. If Jesus says it, oh, isn't it wonderful, My friends, think of the very words of Christ. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment.
But is passed from death unto life. Now we have these seven things about this robber.
Let me tell you, We have the love of Christ, the mighty love of Christ. He loves you. He gave himself for you. But I want to ask you now, maybe tonight there's somebody in this room that's coming off the street. Maybe you've never heard the gospel before or we who are Christians, we say, how is that possible? How is it possible? I want to tell you, my friends, there's multitudes of people right here in Detroit who've never heard the gospel. You say, is it possible? Yes, it's possible.
It's possible.
I remember, you'll pardon the personal reference, as a young man going to church every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, 52 * a year, twice to 104 times. I never heard the gospel. We heard sermons about politicians. We heard sermons about other great men. We heard how to live a good life. We heard surf flowery sermons about education and the value of getting money in the bank and being insured and all that, but never heard the gospel.
Never heard that by one simple look of faith to Christ, my sins would be gone for eternity. Praise God under the power of the blood of Jesus Christ the Lord, my friends. And like you can be saved. You can leave this hall and the authority of the word of God that your sins are gone forever.
Forever. Gone. Forever. Never to be brought back again. Never. Never. Never.
And we look forward with joy of the day in that glorious place above. When we meet the robber. When we meet the robber. Oh, I've often thought of the robber as we walked that eternal St. of gold. And meet the robber and say, oh, my dear brother, Often I preached about you. Often I told sinners how you got saved. Tell me, my friend, tell me the story again.
Tell me the story of the cross, and the robber will stop, and his face will light up as he tells the story of the cross. And when he comes to the part where he said, Lord, Remember Me when thou cometh into thy Kingdom. And he says with joy in his face, eternal joy, You should have seen his face when he said those words. Truly I say unto you.
Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. I like to think of the robbers saying, oh brother, I'll never forget the look of joy in my masters face.
He said those words today. Thou shalt be with me in paradise. And then together I say, by the grace of God, together with the robber, we abound adoration and worship at the Savior's feet. For praise God, the robbers Savior is my savior too. The robber's Savior is my savior too. Is the Robber's Savior your savior too?
All tonight. God loves you. Dear young man. Young lady who has a Christian mother and father. This is solemn, I know As you leave this room tonight, the devil will try to rob this from you. I know he'll tell you. Don't believe it or just wait until tomorrow night. Tomorrow night Come back again. You have another chance. Why? Tomorrow is the Lords day. This is Saturday night. I might have joy and happiness. Forget about this question. That's what the devil will say. I want to solemnly warn you because I tell this story so solemn.
This young lady who went to the Gospel meeting many times under the urge and pleas and prayers of her mother, who prayed for her soul, and her father, who wept on his knees for their daughter, who rejected Christ. And she went and went and went again and again and again to the Gospel meeting. And she said no to Christ, No, no, I won't receive it one morning, she said. Mother, I had a strange dream last night.
And in my dream, it seems as if God himself spoke to my soul. God himself spoke to my soul. And he said, young lady, I want you to take your Bible. I want you to turn to the book of Ezekiel, Chapter 7, verses 8:00 and 9:00, and read those two verses. And then she said, my dream seemed to leave me and I went to sleep again. But again the voice said, Ezekiel, 7 verses 8:00 and 9:00.
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And again the third time, Ezekiel, 7 verses 8:00 and 9:00. And her mother said, My daughter, did you read the verses? She said, Mother, I'm afraid to read them. I'm afraid. Will you please read them to me? These are the verses from the word of God, Ezekiel, 7 verses 8:00 and 9:00. Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee and accomplish my anger upon thee, And I will judge thee according to thy ways.
Will recompense thee for all an abominations, and mine eyes shall not spare.
Neither will I have pity. I will recompense thee according to thy ways, and thy abominations that are in the midst of thee.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord that smite of the mother read these verses in fear and trembling. And she looked back to the bed to her daughter. And she was an eternity. She was an eternity. Oh, dear young man, with a Christian mother. Young lady with a Christian mother. I solemnly warn you that you are playing a losing game. You will lose your soul. What can this world give you?
6 feet of ground, A casket with a cover on it. And that cover will open when that voice of God calls you to meet him in the air. Meet him there, standing in space with the heavens and the earth fled away. You'll stand before the great white throne all tonight. Jesus raises his hands. There are the nail prints. There are the nail prints. Jesus is a savior. He loves you. He longs to save you. God waits. Heaven waits. Angel hosts are musing or this sight so strangely sad.
Beseeching man refusing to be made forever glad Young man's a knight. You're on the on the losing side. You're on the losing side of the cross. Oh, I say, Come bow your knees to the lowly Jesus. Accept them as your savior. And though I'm the authority of the word of God that you're saved for eternity, God loves you. Christ died for you. The blood of Christ has power to cleanse from all sins.
Will you say yes or will you say no? There is no neutrality as you leave that room tonight.
You are either on the side of Christ or the devil. You are either saved or lost. You either heaven bound or hell bound. There is no third place, my friend. Tonight will you receive Christ?
A Good Report thru Faith
Address—A. Hayhoe
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General Meetings Detroit, November 1965. Addressed by Albert Hayhoe.
All Lamb of God still keep us close to thy pierced side. Tis only there in safety and peace we can abide with foes and snares around us, and lusts and fears within the grace that sovereign found us alone can keep us clean #318.
I'm sure that there are many of us that feel.
That in a day when the authority of this precious book, the word of God.
When its authority is being doubted, and its inspiration is being ridiculed and marked at that, those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior ought to be all the more thankful for the light and the wisdom and the encouragement of the pages of the Word of God. And I wonder, dear young fellow believer, if you and I really find this to be so.
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As you and I read this precious book, do we find in its light or our pathway and food for our souls and wisdom, for those problems that confront us from day-to-day? Oh, there's something wrong with our heart if that's not what we find as we open and read this precious book. And the prayer of our heart this afternoon is that as we turn from passage to passage.
Then it may speak to each and everyone of our hearts and efforts. Some of its messages may stir a little in our hearts of that which might mean an exercise as to our ways, that you will accept that message as from this book and from the author of it, rather than from the one who stands here.
Will you turn with me, please, first of all to the Epistle to the Ephesians.
Chapter 2.
Ephesians, chapter 2 and the eighth verse.
For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
I know that we're living in an age when absolutely everything is supposed to be subjected.
To the reasoning mind of man. And if there's that which we cannot solve by reason.
Or by the logic that passes commonly among men, that we have no right to accept it with any measure of authority or value.
That our beloved friend, it is my joy to stand here this afternoon.
And tell you that that which is most real of all in my life is that which I possess and know and enjoy by faith alone. And I want to begin these remarks this afternoon by appealing to every one of the children and young people.
On the authority of this verse to ask you, have you?
Accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Have your eyes, by the grace of God, been open to realize that this very moment?
This very afternoon, under the eye of God, whether you are a child or one of the young people or a grown one.
Under the eye of God, you are either lost and guilty and on your road to eternal hell.
Or you are saved and redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, and on your Rd. homeward to the glory. And as these verses were read, I wonder if they spoke to your heart. Could you say in the language of this eighth verse?
By grace ye are ye saved. Oh, what joy it gives many of us this afternoon to be able to look up from the language of this person, say yes. Thank God that statement is true of me. There was a time.
And I remember it with sadness, but I know it to be so when although I was brought up in a Christian home.
Of praying God fearing parents that I could not read this verse and lift up my heart and say this transaction has taken place. I am saved. Thank God such is the case today. But I wasn't born that way. There came a time in my life.
When this important transaction took place, and I, as a lost Sinner, accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, all the appeals of reasoning could never, never have persuaded me that I was lost.
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But the authority of the Word of God upon my guilty soul. With God-given faith, my eyes were open to realize that I was lost. My eyes were open to realize that in spite of my guilty condition, God loved me. The Lord Jesus died for me, that my sins might be blotted out, and that he might have the joy of claiming and numbering me among His own redeemed ones.
All before we go any farther in the thought that is on my heart this afternoon.
I do want to appeal to everyone, for there's not a child present too young for this message.
Have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? Have you opened your lips too to confess him? Or the word of God says, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus?
And shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. What a wonderful thing it is that this matter can be settled once and for all.
So that if you or I were taken away as.
Young people are suddenly unexpectedly.
Without a moment's warning.
Those who are left behind will be able to say in the midst of their tears and of their sorrow.
Thank God I know where my boy is.
Thank God I know that my daughter was redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. Have you ever given to your father or your mother any reason to be able to speak that way about you? Have you told them that you have put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? If not, would this not be a fine time to see to it that that matter is taken care of? Remember?
God will be listening. God will be listening to what you say.
And yet it is a joy to be able to say, conscious of his eye resting upon us.
Conscious of his ear, listening to our confession, a joy to be able to say thank God, the Lord Jesus Christ is my own personal Savior. While we notice in this 9th, in the end of the eighth verse, that this faith by which you and I have put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is a sovereign and wondrous gift of God.
Our works had nothing whatsoever to do with it. And I know in spite of the words that have been just uttered in the gospel, that there are very, very many, and we believe we can say most this afternoon, who know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and your heart responds with joy. When you hear the gospel presented, your heart just wells up with Thanksgiving that you are numbered among those.
Whose guilty hearts have been cleansed by that precious blood, and whose mouth has been opened to confess his blessed name. You thank him again and again. I know you do, for that wondrous work accomplished, and for the gift of faith by which you now know the matter is settled, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is your Savior. But I believe that that is just a first step in something which is.
Most important and most vital to every one of us.
Who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. Suppose we turn please to the 11Th chapter of Hebrews.
Hebrews, Chapter 11.
And the first verse.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for.
The evidence of things not seen for by it, the elders obtained a good report.
Verse 13.
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These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
For they did say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
Now the 39th verse.
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
I believe we have in this chapter and in other similar passages of Scripture.
Our view of faith that is somewhat different from the transaction of faith by which you and I first learned to know our guilty condition and to know and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Here, I believe we find faith presented in a way that suggests.
A hidden motive, A governing control in the lives of those.
Of days gone by.
Verse two of Hebrews 11 By it the elders obtained a good report.
Those of our family who are present will recognize a verse that they've heard read at home pretty often.
You know, it's quite an order for us to do whatever is entrusted to us diligently and well and carefully, but with one object in mind, and that object ought to be to please the Lord Jesus.
And if in that which is put to our responsibility at school or at work, there are certain things to be done where they should be done thoroughly and carefully and well with what object in view only one object. And that ought to be to please the Lord Jesus and dear young people, if in the responsibilities put before you at school.
You do your work well and perhaps come home with a report that causes you some pleasure to show to your parents. I believe that this is a very, very good verse to remember at such a time. We do, perhaps naturally, like a good report from others. As we pass through this world, we like to have our study and our industry recognized in some way or another.
That, oh dearly beloved young people, let me stress, as I feel it laid on my heart this afternoon, the 2nd and the 39th verse of this 11Th chapter of Hebrews.
Here we find those who obtained a good report. I say again, we do like to bring home with us our good report. We like those favorable comments about how diligently we've done our work. But shall we turn from all such thoughts this afternoon and see before us God's own statement concerning a good report in His record, a good report in His sight?
And how was it obtained? A good report? Through faith.
Dear young people, such a report you and I are going to meet. Someday. We're going to see God's record, God's appraisal of our lives.
During the days of our youth, I know there are just so many things that occupy our time, our memory.
Whatever talent the Lord may have entrusted to us, we somehow naturally feel well now. I'm yet in the days of my youth, and it's only right and in order for me to take these faculties and to devote them to that which in later years I will be able to use. For while we might even persuade ourselves that in later years we're going to use them to the glory of God.
But my dear young fellow believer, have you any right? Have I any right to look ahead as to what I'm going to do for the Lord in the years that lie ahead? You and I only have this day and trusted to us.
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Someone has said of the beloved Apostle Paul that there were two days before him all through his Christian pathway.
One was today, just today, that one day entrusted to that dear servant of God in which to live for the glory of God, and the other one was that day. He frequently refers to it that day when Paul's record is going to be reviewed and the Lord's own appraisal of that record will be made known.
Oh, dearly beloved young people, with Hebrews 11 open before us this afternoon, can we not look up from its message and sit before God that there might be in each one of our lives who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, a more earnest and fervent and prayerful desire that this good report may be written down beneath your name?
Day by day.
Up there.
You know, dear young people, and I know that there is such a strong tendency in the heart of every one of us to look around and to have our plans and our careers governed by that which the world now considers to be worthwhile status symbols, as they call them. And we're considered to be in the eyes of those who have not faith, we're considered to be fools.
If we take that which God has entrusted to us and use it day by day, in view of that near coming hour when the book is going to be opened and your life is going to be reviewed, every detail of it.
What will be found written in that day?
I trust you. Pardon me if this is a special burden on my heart today.
I know there are some of you who are aware of the.
Tragedy that took the lives of two dear young people so very, very recently.
The dear young man involved 17 years of age.
Was visiting with his dear uncle.
A week ago, Lord's Day, this young man had been brought up in a home.
Where Father and mother were gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, where the word of God was read.
And prayer was offered fervently and daily for the heart and pathway of the young people in that home.
This young man said as he visited with his uncle a week ago, Lord's Day.
Uncle, next Sunday I'm going to come to the Gospel Meeting and I'm going to bring my girlfriend with me. She also was 17.
And that Lord's Day, there were two vacant tears in the Gospel meeting.
That young couple were lying side by side in the Funeral Home.
And it was my difficult experience to stand beside that double grave on Tuesday.
And looked down at the silence of those two caskets.
And as it were, to hear from that silence, a message that I feel ought to be directed very, very specially.
To the hearts of those who are young, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior.
You're going to be up there with him in the glory. Your life is going to be reviewed, according to his records.
And there will not be the opportunity for you to relive one hour or one day of your life.
As we turn to leave that cemetery, his dear saddened cousin came over and put his arm on my shoulder.
And he said all Cousin Albert.
If I had told him a week ago that it within seven days he'd be in eternity, I don't think he would have believed me.
A dear, beloved young people, as I look into your face this afternoon, I know with certainty that we're very, very soon going home. Yes, we are. Thank God for it. We are going home and in that day.
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Your life, my life is going to be reviewed and that which was done for the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in obedience to His word, is going to meet with His joyful reward.
How long are we going to be there? Forever and forever and forever. And we're going to look back, I have no doubt, from that eternal scene of unbroken joy to the little span of life that was entrusted to us here. And what are we going to think of it? Dear young fellow believer, as you and I look back from the glory upon the little span of life entrusted to us here.
And we joined together in the songs of the redeemed. What will the record reveal?
Look at these men of old who didn't have the wonderful blessings that you and I possess.
Who couldn't stand up, as you and I are privileged to do, and count our spiritual blessings without number? And yet we noticed in the 13th verse that although that which they possessed were mere far off promises, notice the language. Having seen them afar, we're persuaded of them and embraced them. Isn't that a good word? They step right up and put their arms around those promises.
And what was the effect? A great and profound effect.
Persuaded of them and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers.
And pilgrims on the earth. And we tell our children the Bible stories of these men and women of faith.
From the pages of the Old Testament, we consider Daniel a hero.
We considered Joseph a mighty man of faith, but when these same situations confront us?
And our children.
Do we as parents sat before?
Our children.
An example that would encourage them to walk a path of faith. Are we being governed by the same things that govern the hearts of others? And yet, knowing the Lord Jesus and knowing our happy future, we try to mingle the two together? Oh dearly beloved fathers and mothers, dearly beloved young people, May we look at the words before us here and realize that not only by wondrous grace?
Has there that transaction taken by which you and I know the Lord Jesus as our Savior?
But we now have that which I believe ought to have a very searching message for our hearts.
A day by day pathway that ought to be governed by the principle of faith. I remember my father mentioning that when he was a youngster, used to have great pleasure in mystifying his friends by taking. I don't know what it was. Perhaps a steel nail putting it on some substance such as a piece of cardboard.
And moving a magnet underneath in a way that the others couldn't see, and they would be mystified at the way in which he could control the movements of that nail in a way that had no outward evidence whatever. He used that before us as an illustration of that which should govern the child of God as we pass through this world as you and I meet with these situations from day-to-day.
At school.
The motives that govern the hearts of the dear young people at school. What are they? There ought not to be 1 motive in common with them and with you. The purpose and desire of your heart, and of mine ought to be that we would live to please the Lord Jesus, and that we would shun, even though we might be mocked and ridiculed for it, that which the world would consider to be so worthwhile.
And yet, which we know would not be looked back upon as something that was.
For the glory of God, there are the attractions of this world which, as we were reminded this morning, are looked upon with a certain degree of frowning by those who love the Lord. I'm not at the moment Speaking of such things. I'm Speaking of those things which are put before us in the days of our youth as being respectable and worthwhile goals for the talents which you possess.
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But are they really worthwhile goals? I often think of the children of Israel during the years of their captivity and ******* in Egypt.
Their occupation was to make bricks for feral, and those bricks were used for the building of treasure cities.
In the land of Egypt, where are those treasure cities today? They've long ago crumbled to dust.
And the children of Israel, how did they look upon that occupation of making bricks?
They looked upon it as a temporary ******* and they longed to be delivered from it. They longed for the day when they would be able to set foot toward the land that flowed with milk and honey. And now, dear fellow Believer, I believe there is a sense in which you and I are at this present time occupied about things which someday are going to fade away entirely, perhaps the daily occupation that you are engaged in.
Might of necessity be something which soon will fade away, but is your heart in it?
Is your heart in it? Are you striving to rise higher and higher and higher?
In that system of things, which soon is going to fall away entirely.
Oh dear fellow believer, once more I appeal to you.
In the strength of the Scripture we have before us here that our pathway.
Yours and mine might more and more be conformed to the pathway of him who with unswerving devotion, walk through this world in the footsteps of faith. I believe there's a sense of that in the language used by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2 verse 20, where he says the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.
Who loved me and gave himself for me. That's profound language. I would never dare to utter it, except I trust as a prayer.
The life which I now live in the flesh I live, says Paul by the faith of the Son of God.
We of course, turn from the thought that there ever was any transaction of faith needed in his life whereby.
He obtained salvation. There was number such thing. What then is the meaning of that statement? The faith?
Of the Son of God. I see this in it, that the footsteps of the Lord Jesus where everyone of them footsteps of faith.
Every hour of his sojourn here he was governed by that which the natural heart of man could not understand. He was governed by the will of him who had sent him, and the beloved devoted apostle Paul says such.
Is the desire of my heart. Such is the motive of my life. Are we willing even to utter those words as a prayer? Do we really want it to be so of us?
I suspect this, that if anyone of us were deserted from this day with a prayerful, earnest desire that that might be our pathway and our testimony, that we would find an increasing misunderstanding, We perhaps would find that even those who know the Lord Jesus might think our choice of their restrained one, because instead of that we could possess this.
That and the other, which young people, of course, consider to be so worthwhile.
I know I overhear the conversations, and I'm not that far removed from the days of my youth that I remember those things which we thought were just so worthwhile. And when I hear the discussions among the dear young people, I realize that it is just ever so natural to everyone of us to feel that we would like to possess this and we would like to possess that. We would like to be looked up to and honored on this account and on that.
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Than anyone who has the capability to go this way and that way.
And instead looks upward and says, I delight to do thy will. Such an one is rare indeed.
Dearly beloved young brothers and sisters, are you and I exercise before God that such might be the testimony of our lives.
A young man was one time in the days of his youth faced with these very problems, the same as I know you are faced with them.
And as he was passing through that exercise, he wrote these words.
They impressed me and I committed them to memory.
Part of the words were these.
The years rolled by there come to claim my heart Earths varied pleasures shall I take apart and grieve my Lord, or from his side depart? Who died for me?
I must decide.
What shall my answer be? The world allures and beckons harmlessly. The Savior Stoops and whispers lovingly.
I died for thee.
The choice is made. My heart must not divide. Part for the world and part for him who died henceforth. May I be found close to his side, who died for me.
Dear young believer, there's a transaction of faith and you know something of that and you thank God for it. There's also a pathway of faith.
And the prayer of my heart is that you and I may be found.
With purpose of heart before God, that from this day until the moment when we hear His voice.
That pathway of faith may be better known to us.
There's one other thought, too, in connection with this matter of faith. First of all, that transaction which you and I thank God for, and secondly, that pathway governed by the unseen motive of the will of Him who loved us.
And died to redeem us.
And the third we perhaps might find in the Epistle of Jude.
The first.
The third verse.
The third verse of the Epistle of Jude.
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write under you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend. For the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints, I believe we have here the word faith used in an entirely different sense. Here I believe we could look upon it as that wondrous.
Revelation of truth that has been given from the heart of God to his beloved people. And how do you and I esteem this wondrous treasure, this faith once delivered to the Saints?
Again, looking back on the days of my youth, I feel that the measure of my responsibility seemed to be well.
I know that brother so and so will contend for it. I know that brother so and so won't ever give it up. I know that they will contend for it and they will see to it that we are not deceived or turned aside in these matters as far as their ability lies within them.
But is there not a responsibility in this matter laid upon you also, my dear fellow believer, and upon me? Is this not something which ought to speak to the heart of each and every one of us? That there is laid upon you and me the charge from God himself earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints? You'll find that in this precious book.
Our brother Clem, Buchanan reminded us.
Something of that in Des Moines.
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The responsibility.
That each and everyone of us ought to feel laid upon us. They will pick up this precious living Word of God, and to read it every word of it, from the first Word of Genesis to the last word of the Book of Revelation. And I'm going to ask you not for any show of hands or of Bibles, but I'm going to ask you this afternoon if I did.
If I were to ask those who have read this book just once from cover to cover to please hold your Bible up, would you be able to do so?
Would you be able to do so? I don't believe we're equipped to contend for the faith. I don't believe we're equipped to meet the challenges of education today unless we have set to the responsibility of reading this most precious book. Now I believe that God, in his wondrous, matchless grace, is able to enhance.
Preserved many a newborn child of God who knew very little of its pages.
From the errors that abound on every hand, he loves his sheep and is well able to preserve his own.
But dear young people, brothers and sisters alike, with this wonderful book in our hands and with the time at our disposal, and we need make no excuses about such a statement as that we can find time to read this book and read it again and again.
I took a funeral some time ago. Elama Casket was resting the open Bible.
And I said to the daughter who was standing the other side, I said Jesse.
May I pick up this Bible? Is this your mother's Bible? She said. Yes, it is.
And I opened it and I looked in the front and there written down that blank page was finished and the date finished and the date finished and the date down the page. I said, Jesse, does this mean what I think it does? Does this mean your mother's recording of the date when she finished the Book of Revelation and started over again? She said yes, brother, when mother came to the end of the Book of Revelation, she wrote the date down and started.
Over again. Have you any complaint about that? I don't have any complaints. How would your Bible look? How would my Bible look? Oh dearly beloved young people, here we see looking us in the face this solemn challenge earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints. Will you turn back, please, to the Book of Proverbs?
The 22nd chapter of Proverbs and the 28th verse.
Remove not the ancient landmark.
Which thy fathers have set.
Remove Mots, the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. You've noticed that verse before. Have you ever read it on your knees? I don't know whether you approve of making any markings in your Bible or not, but if you do, I suggest this would be a good verse to mark and to read and on which to meditate. Remove not.
The ancient landmark which thy fathers have set those of us who are not as young as we once were and remember. And we thank God for the memory of those whose voices we heard in meetings such as these, And their voices are with us no longer They've gone. But while they were here, they ministered the truth of God faithfully. They stood by the ancient landmark.
And beloved, there is a grievous danger that we in this day.
When values are so turned topsy turvy that we are much inclined to feel that these ancient landmarks are not at all up to date, and neither they are in the terminology of this day in which we're living, this 20th century, this space age.
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This age when men are free to think for themselves, these ancient landmarks, what are they worth? Oh beloved, I hope you'll feel like standing up right now and saying they're worth everything to my soul. Are they really? Are they really?
Are they really? Could you turn with me, please, to a verse in Corinthians?
2nd Corinthians 11.
And verse 3.
But I fear.
Lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The simplicity that is in Christ Simplicity is not very highly esteemed in this day in which we live. It's terribly out of date. We want that which is new. We want that which can be discussed in terms of reason and logic and philosophy. No, my friend, those ancient landmarks, The faith once delivered to the Saints, the simplicity that is in Christ, is that sufficient for your soul and for mine?
Oh, my heart is stirred within me as I see the dear young people and our own among them growing up to be faced with the challenges that I know abound on every hand today.
These challenges are real, very, very, very real to them. And there is only one source of strength and wisdom for you, my dear young fellow believer, and that is in the light and the wisdom of the Word of God, and not in the pattern that you see all around you. I know that as your soul is confronted with the reasoning challenges of men and those philosophies which nowadays have such fancy names.
That you're considered very, very out of date if you don't know how to discuss such things on a level with others. If all you know is the simplicity that is in Christ, thank God for it. Word to God, there were more who were content with the joy of the simplicity that is in Christ. Satan's temptation to Eve was that her wisdom might be increased, and he hid from her the consequences of that search after more wisdom.
You and I have in this precious book, as we read in the second chapter of Colossians, where in our head all the treasures, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Can you turn from those studies which you necessarily find yourself involved in at school? Can you turn from those studies and open up this precious book and find that that faith and the simplicity that is in Christ?
Fills your heart with that same joy that you knew in time past? Or is there creeping into your soul that danger, that these things which spring from the reasoning minds of men, have begun to hinder you from the enjoyment of the simplicity that is in Christ? And when you meet your fellow believers, do you find it to be your delight?
To speak together of these precious, immovable ancient landmarks, you'll find yourself enjoying together the wonderful reality of the faith once entrusted to the Saints. Do you find a common conversation in these precious things spoken of? Here is the simplicity that is in Christ.
Oh, May God preserve us from these dangers. May this challenge be felt afresh in the heart of every one of us beloved.
Earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints. The enemy knows that his time is short.
The enemy knows that we're going home very, very soon, and the enemy is working overtime, trying to bring in, in the most subtle means possible, that which will rob our souls in these last few footsteps of our pilgrimage here. Oh, May God grant by His wondrous grace that you, my dear young brother, and dear young sister, may be numbered among those.
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Who will have the purpose of heart to kneel down with these verses open before you?
And seek before God that they might be true in your life. Does that absolve those of us who are parents?
And who are perhaps not faced with quite the same problems as our own young people.
What about that verse which we read?
Remove not the ancient landmark which.
Thy fathers have set. How does that sound to us as we read it? What landmarks are we setting before our children? Of course, I know that their landmarks are to be found within the covers of this precious book. Nevertheless, there is a responsibility laid upon every one of us who is a father or a mother.
That the landmarks which our children remember as characteristic of their youth and of the home they shared with us, may be landmarks. That will be a shelter and a blessing and an encouragement to them. Perhaps they don't show much sign of appreciating it now.
I can't say that I appreciated it very deeply when I was a boy. Some of those landmarks were not to my liking.
That they were not moved just because I didn't like them. And I stand here publicly this afternoon, and I thank God with all my heart for a father and a mother who stood with him in it.
An established landmarks which were found in this book Landmarks of God-given wisdom, all those landmarks are being attacked today.
And it causes me sorrow to see some of the dear young people brought up to hear the truth of God from the pages of this book. Moving the landmarks just ever so little, a broader and easier, a more popular pathway. Oh, dearly beloved young people, our time is up, but may we bear in mind this fact that we are going to meet the one who put these precious words within the covers of this book.
And who loves your soul and loves to see you have a happy pathway?
And a full reward.
Has that pathway begun yet? Have you, with God-given faith, accepted the Lord Jesus as your savior, and confessed him?
Are you daily seeking from him?
All that is needed in order to walk that pathway of faith through this world. And are you and I willing to pick up this precious book and to pray God earnestly, that we may be numbered among those who will be found earnestly contending for the faith we have been reminded.
In previous occasions of those faithful men in the 8th chapter of Ezra.
Through whom there was entrusted by weight and by measure certain gold and silver treasures which they were responsible to carry with them back to Jerusalem. And they were reminded at that time that when they reached the end of the journey in the chambers of the House of the Lord, they were going to find waiting for them a written record of everything entrusted to them.
By weight and by measure.
It's a solemn thought for me.
Or as I think of that which has been entrusted to me personally from the days of my youth.
It's a solemn exercise indeed, but to everyone of us.
There is entrusted the responsibilities brought before us in these passages, and May God grant that every one of us shall feel them earnestly, soberly, and in the fear of the Lord. That in that day, dear young believers, when you stand in His presence and hear his words of welcome, and the books are open, and the record of your life is reviewed.
Will there be found there that you were numbered among those who walked through this?
Pathway Step by step in faith, and that you were numbered among those who stood by those ancient landmarks. Let one go this way, and the other go that way. There is a God-given landmark, and there you stand, waiting for the moment when you call you home. Will He approve in that day? Yes, he will. You may not have much other approval now, but his.
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But it's worth it. It's worth it. Dear fellow young believer, May God grant that these words will be.
And encouragement and an exercise to to all our hearts for the glory of God.
The Whole Armour of God
Christ Precious to Peter
Galatians 3:18-