Gospel—Jim Hyland
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I'd like to start the meeting this evening with hymn #4 on the gospel hymn sheet. Christ is the Savior of sinners. Christ is the Savior for me. Long I was chained in sin's darkness. Now, by His grace, I am free. Hymn #4. If someone could please start it.
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Let's ask God's help and blessing our blessed God and Father. We're so very thankful this evening for thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful for everyone in this room who can sing Savior of sinners like me, everyone who has come to know the Lord Jesus as their own personal Savior. But our hearts are burdened as we think of some in this room who may be still lost and on the broad Rd. that leads to destruction.
Our God, we pray that Thou to rest them in their course tonight, turn them around, bring them from darkness to light. We pray that there might be a work of repentance and faith, and that souls might be turned to the Savior. We only have no might of ourselves, but we thank thee for the privilege of preaching the gospel from the pages of this living book. We pray that it might have its effect in the power of the Spirit, and that souls might be saved for thy glory and for their eternal blessing.
So we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory. Amen.
Turn with me, please, first of all to the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs, Chapter 8.
Proverbs chapter 8 and verse 23.
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I was set up from everlasting from the beginning, wherever the earth was, and then notice verse 30.
Then I was by him as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. And then I want to turn to John's Gospel, chapter One.
John's Gospel chapter one and verse one in the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It's the same within the beginning with God. I have it on my heart this evening in these few moments that we have to present the glad tidings of the gospel, to very quickly turn to one and another Scripture and bring out eight essential elements or truths concerning the person and work of Christ. Because it is a person that we are going to present by the grace of God tonight.
We're not going to present theology tonight. We're not going to present philosophy. We're not going to present some ideas of of men. We want to go to the word of God, and we want to present the Savior of sinners that we were singing about because salvation and Christianity has to do with a person. And I'm thankful that we don't have to present theories tonight concerning the person and work of Christ.
But we can go to the word of God and on the authority of this living book that presents in one way or another to us, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can see these things from the living Word. And I want to just encourage you to open your ears tonight to God's word, because it's not my ability to present the gospel tonight that's going to save us all. Thank God it isn't, because that's a burden I wouldn't be able to carry up here at the podium or sit down with when these moments are over.
But it does depend on the living Word in all its power. We're born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever. It is the pages of this living book that God uses in the power of the Spirit to impart divine life to souls. And so that's why several times in Scripture we're told here, and your soul shall live. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Open your ears to the word of God tonight.
God is speaking and God is presenting His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and all. My prayer is that you would get one glimpse of that lovely man in the glory by faith, and that the Spirit of God would open your eyes to see beauty in him, to make you realize your condition. But God's great provision through his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus. And so we only have a few moments, but the first thing I want to present in reading these scriptures.
Is the eternity of his person we are presenting a person who existed, if I can use that expression, who was from a past eternity and the person that was sent by the Father. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. He did not just become the Son when he came into this world. He was God's eternal Son from a past eternity. He was God, manifest in the flesh, as we're going to notice in a moment.
I say that because it's very significant in the word of God that you never read of the Lord Jesus as the Son being born, as the Son he's always sent or given. I don't have any sons, and I could never send a son to help you because I don't have any sons. But God had a Son from a past eternity, and it says the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son. He had a son. He sent him, He gave him. And why did he give him? Why did He send him? Oh, he sent him to be the Savior. He sent him to go to Calvary's cross and to give his life to die there so that the gospel could go forth. The blood has been shed, as we're going to speak of in a few moments, and salvation is now offered. But again, I want to stress the eternity of his person, and that's why I read back in the book of Proverbs.
Because here it brings before us the eternity of the person of the Lord Jesus. If we were to go back and to read the context there, we would find that when the foundations of this world were laid, when everything was brought into order, the sun was there. And it says as we read, I was daily His delight. You know, sometimes when we read that verse we think of the Lord Jesus in His pathway here, and certainly He was the delight of the Father.
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As he walked here in this world and heaven, delighted to open up, and a voice declare, This is my beloved Son.
In whom I am well pleased, there was an object in this world when the Lord Jesus was here that commended the place.
And heaven opened up to behold, and be occupied with the one that God would always occupy us with.
But I believe in the verse we read in Proverbs. It's more than that. When it says I was daily His delight, it was in a past eternity. The Lord Jesus as the Son was daily the delight of His Father, not just when He walked here on planet earth, not just when He glorified God here in this world, but He was daily the delight of His Father from a past eternity. And this is the one that God sent in the fullness of time.
The one who had never done one thing to displease his Father. The one who was the joy and delight of God the Father.
Is the very one that was sent into this world. Oh, I trust this grips our souls tonight, that we get ahold of this, that the father sends the son his well beloved, his only begotten son, as the parable of the husbandman says. I have one son I will send him. Perhaps they will reverence him. Well, we know the story so very well. Well in first, in the first chapter of John's Gospel here, I want to then read another verse. We've quoted part of it, but I want to read it because.
I want to stress the second point. Now again, we've stressed the Unseen from Scripture, the eternity of his person.
But notice verse 14 and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
And we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father.
Full of grace and truth, I want to stress his incarnation, because the Lord Jesus took on him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. The Lord Jesus came here. He took on himself the form of a servant. He was made in the likeness of man. He took into his to himself humanity. Sinless humanity is true, but humanity nevertheless.
You know, it's very interesting to look up some of these words in a secular dictionary and see what they have to say.
And one time I wondered what the secular dictionary would say as to the meaning of the word incarnation. And so I looked it up in Webster's dictionary, and at first it rather startled me. This is what Webster's dictionary says. And basically any other secular dictionary in more or less these words, incarnation, Christ, come in human form. As I say, it startled me at first, and then I thought, what else could it be?
There is no other person that ever was born into this world that it can be said they came in incarnation. There's only one who came in incarnation, and how careful the Spirit of God is to guard this precious truth. The eternity of His person and His incarnation or His manhood are are brought together in a verse we often quote in the book of Isaiah in connection with the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Prophesied and the names that he would take.
It says There unto us a child is born, unto us the son is given.
Now again you notice when it's the Son it's given that's the eternity of his person. That's the eternal sonship of the Lord Jesus stressed by the prophet. But it says unto us, a child is born, thus is incarnation. And how careful the Spirit of God is to guard those two precious truths. Yes, the Lord Jesus was born into this world. It says of that holy thing that is begotten of thee is.
Born of Thee is begotten of the Holy Ghost.
Not really conceived. In your King James Bible, the margin in Matthew's Gospel has a note that it's not conceived, it's begotten because the woman conceives, the man begets, and the Spirit of God is careful to guard this precious truth. The eternity of his person on one hand, and he's begotten of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary was the instrument that was used to bring the Lord Jesus into this world. He came. A man, a real man, walked up and down the dusty streets of Palestine.
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He dispensed good and blessing on every hand, spoke the words that his Father gave him to speak, and went to Calvary's cross, and gave his life there. And so we have the eternity of His person, the eternal Son, and his manhood. He came in incarnation. But now for the Third Point, let's go to first Peter.
First Peter, Chapter 2.
First Peter, chapter 2 and I want to read an expression just about the middle of verse 21.
Christ also suffered for us, verse 22, who did no sin. Neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that Judgeth righteously, Who his own self. There are sins in his own body on the tree.
So that we, being dead to sin, should live under righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed. I want to stress now for a few moments the sufferings of Christ, because at the end of his perfect pathway the Lord Jesus first of all was taken by wicked hands and brought before Pilate, and there he was scourged, and for hours he was taken from pilots judgment hall back and forth to the high priest. And he was ridiculed, He was mocked, he was whipped.
Spit upon they plucked the hairs of his cheek, the scourgers made deep furrows in his back, and so on. But then more than that, the moment came when they took the Lord Jesus, and they let him out to Calvary, to Golgotha. They let him out to Calvary's hill, and there they nailed him to a Croman cross. And there is a spectacle for men and angels. He hung as they mocked him, and reviled him, and passed by.
Some sat down and watched him in his suffering.
But there came a moment. There came a moment in the history of this world where God said that's enough.
And God darkened the scene at noon, and no one saw what took place for the next three hours.
You know some years ago when the Passion movie was so popular, someone was telling me that they had gone to see the Passion moving it movie. And they were telling me how impressed they were with how the how they portrayed the sufferings of Christ. And I listened to this for a while and then I said, but you didn't see the most important part. And they looked at me and I said no one saw the most important part. The most important part was when he bore my sins in his own body on the tree.
God shrouded this world in darkness while he punished the Lord Jesus for my sins.
And I am thankful that I can stand before you this evening and confess him once again.
The Lord Jesus Christ is my Savior. I stand with Peter and I say He bore my sins in his own body on the tree.
I trust that everyone in this room can say that. Is it personal with you?
Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior? No. I've told this story before, but I will remember many years ago.
When we were having gospel tent meetings in the town of Truro, NS.
And there were two little girls that came to the Gospel meetings. One of them had come to the children's Bible hour many times.
And I knew that she though she was only five or six years of age, she understood what it was to know the Lord Jesus as their savior.
And one morning she brought a little friend along with her, and those girls listened well to the.
Gospel as it was presented simply to the boys and girls that morning. And after the meeting was over, this little girl who had come for the first time, she wanted to know the Lord Jesus as her savior. And so these two little girls, they stayed behind. And I believe that that little girl came to know Christ that day. But what touched my heart and what I never forgot, was that as those two little girls, five or six years of age, turned to go out of the gospel tent door, I heard the one who had brought her friends say to her friend.
Now you can say that Jesus died for you in that remarkable.
2 little girls I think about him. A little child of seven or even 3 or 4 can enter into heaven.
Through Christ the open door, for when the heart believeth on Christ the Son of God.
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Tis then the sole receiveth salvation through his blood. And so it's simple. But can you say that Christ suffered for you, that he bore your sins? Oh, I am so thankful that he bore my sins in his own body on the tree. And I am not afraid this evening of one charge of sin being brought up against me, because if God were to bring a charge of sin against me now as to my entrance into heaven, he would be unrighteous, and he would have to refuse his own dear Son.
Who accomplished that work in his sufferings on the cross on the tree? And that is impossible. That is the security in which I stand tonight. And that is the security that you can have right now to know the Lord Jesus, to know that your sins are gone, and that as far as the east is from the West, so far as he removed our transgressions from us, the sufferings of Christ. But let me just say this before we pass on.
Well, it is good for our souls to recount and to read the physical Sufferings of Christ.
And tomorrow morning, when we gather to remember the Lord Jesus and the breaking of bread here in this room, I trust that we will go over in our souls the suffering, the physical sufferings of Christ. We sing about them. We read portions of the Word of God that bring them out. We speak of them in worship and praise and Thanksgiving, but remember that all the physical sufferings of Christ never atoned for one sin.
It's good to go over them in our souls, but they never atone for one sin. It was those atoning sufferings that Peter speaks about here that taught toned for sin. And I am thankful that the Lord Jesus did not just suffer at the hand of wicked man, but that he suffered at the hand of God. The cup which my Father hath given me. Shall I not drink it? Those are the sufferings he had from his from from his Father from above? Has he sent fire into my bones, and it hath prevailed against me.
That was the judgment of God against sin placed on the Lord Jesus.
In those three hours of darkness. But there was more than this. Let's go on for the 4th .2 Romans, chapter 6.
Romans chapter 6 and verse 23 for the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I'd like to speak for a few moments, not just of the sufferings of Christ, but the death of Christ. Again I quote from Philippians. He took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Because as this verse tells us, the wages of sin is death.
And perhaps for a moment, we'll just stress the fact too, that everyone of us born into this world.
Are born in sin. Not only are we sinners by practice.
And any of us who've had children realize how quickly it becomes evident that we are sinners by practice. But why are we sinners by practice? Because we are sinners by nature. We are born with a fallen nature. When Adam sinned in the garden, when in disobedience, he took of the forbidden fruit and ate, it tells us by one man's disobedience, sin entered, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
Solomon said, there's not a man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. There is no difference, for all have sinned, and so the wages of sin is death. But I am thankful that I will never have to die for my sin, because the Lord Jesus died for me in the Old Testament. There had to be a sacrifice, there had to be the death of an innocent victim. If there was going to be atonement, if there was going to be blessing and the Lord, those sacrifices were just pale reflections.
Feeble foreshadows of what was really in the heart of God, when his Son would go to the altar and lay down his life for me again. I am thankful that I can make it so very personal. I can stand with the Apostle Paul tonight, and I can echo those glorious words and I love them. The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me and I delight to put my name in that verse. The Son of God who loved Jim and gave his life for Jim, if I were to invite you up here this evening.
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And ask you to stand shoulder to shoulder with me. Could you say that verse with me?
Could you put your name in that verse? Is he your savior? I heard about a young couple who had just gotten married.
And they set up home. And not long after they were married, a man came in to transact some business with them. And while they were in the while he was in the home, they were out of the room. And he was sitting there in the living room, just reading that text on the wall over and over again to himself, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And when they came back in the room, he said, no wonder you're happy. If you really believe that, and we really do believe it tonight, we rejoice to say the Son of God.
Who loved me and gave himself for me. And so again, how personal it is. And the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Our Lord God now is offering a gift based on the death of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And a gift is something you don't have to earn. You don't have to work for, you don't pay for we earn wages.
And the wages of sin is death. But in contrast to that, God is giving us a gift. Again, I'll repeat a little incident that drove this home to my own soul. I remember years ago we were having some children's gospel meetings in the state of Maine, and one evening there was a brother giving the gospel and he was trying to make this statement. The gift of God is eternal life, very simple to the boys and girls and young people that were present.
And stress on them what a gift really is. And so he used this illustration. He said, suppose I bring a bicycle up to the front of the room, a brand new bicycle, the best bicycle that money can buy. And I say to you boys and girls, now whoever comes up to get this bicycle is offered as a free gift. Anybody can come forward and this gift is for you. And so he said, suppose one of the boys comes forward and as he's coming forward, he thinks, wow.
This is a pretty nice gift. This is a pretty nice bicycle and it must have cost this man quite a bit. I'd like to really help him out. And so the boy reaches in his pocket and he finds he has one penny, one cent. And so as he approaches he says to the to the man. Listen, I appreciate this very much, but this is a very expensive bicycle and I'd like to help out the payment of it. I only have one penny, but here it's I I want to help out.
The preacher said if I took the penny, the bicycle would no longer be a gift. It would be a bargain, but it wouldn't be a gift. And so that is the way it is with the gift of God. It's not a bargain, it's a gift. It's not cheap, but it's free. You know, the gospel is free, but it's not cheap. It cost God the giving of his son. It costs the Lord Jesus his life. And so the gift of God is eternal life.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. But now for the fifth point, let's go to 1St John, Chapter one.
First John chapter one and justice, the last part of verse 7. Very familiar verse that I learned in the days of my youth.
In Sunday school class. You know, when I was growing up, A text with something you learned for your Sunday school teacher.
Not something you sent your friend across the room on your gadget, and I trust there's no one here.
Who's doing that tonight? I trust you listening to the text that we're reading from the word of God. This is, again, as I said earlier, the living word. And so he says here in the end of verse seven, First John 17, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanseth us from all sin. Again, I'll repeat something I said and add to it. In the Old Testament, God taught that blessing was based on the death of an innocent victim.
And then the shedding of blood of that victim. And so we want to stress when we preach the gospel, the necessity of the application of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because as we read here, it is the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son that cleanses from all sin. There is no substitute for the blood of Christ when it comes to the cleansing of sin. You know, sometimes in our home we have a favorite detergent that my wife uses.
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For doing the laundry or the dishes. But you know, sometimes she goes to the store and thankfully my wife is frugal and is careful with money. And sometimes she may see a brand that is a little cheaper or on sale and you buy that brand and you bring it home and maybe you're not quite as satisfied with it, but it does basically the same job. There's often substitutes for cleaners and detergents and so on, but there is no substitute.
For the blood of the Lord Jesus little boy went off to Sunday school one time And his mother had always told him, son, remember this. God sees everything. But he came home one day from Sunday school so very excited. And he said, mother, they told me in Sunday school today there's something God cannot see. Oh, his mother was very perturbed. She wondered if she really should have let her son go to that Sunday school.
She said. Now, son, remember, the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. Yes, mother, that's true. But there is one thing that God cannot see.
Remember, Son, God even sees in our hearts. The Lord looks on, The man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Yes, Mother. But there is one thing that God cannot see, Son. What did they tell you at Sunday school? God cannot see. Oh, Mother, it's my sins. When they're washed in the blood of Christ, these blotted them out, they're gone. They're gone forever. As far as the East is from the West, so far as He removed our transgressions from us. I'm glad it doesn't say as far as the north is from the South.
You know you can measure the distance between the North Pole and the South Pole, but you can't measure the distance between East and West.
That is absolutely impossible. And again my sins are gone. And as far as the East is from the West, they are blotted out as a thick cloud. The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. I grew up under the preaching of a man named Ernie Wakefield. Some of his grandchildren and great grandchildren are here today, and he always used to tell us when preaching the gospel, preach Christ and make much of the blood, because again, it is the only remedy for sin.
But now I'd like to go to 1St Corinthians chapter 15.
First Corinthians chapter 15.
And verse 3.
For I delivered unto you, first of all that which also I received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.
And that he was buried and that he rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures. I want to stress the resurrection of the Lord Jesus because it is vital. Without it there is no blessing for mankind. If Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain and you are still in your sins. But thank God we can say he was raised again for our justification. And these are facts. Remember what we said at the beginning of the meeting? These are not theories or opinions.
These are facts. The Lord Jesus not only died on the cross, but a moment came when the stone God rolled the stone away from the tomb.
And the Lord Jesus came out. The stone was rolled away, not for the Lord Jesus to come out, but so there could be testimony given that he is not here. He is risen. Come see the place where the Lord lay. And the Lord Jesus remained on earth long enough after his resurrection to give ample and complete testimony to his own that he had bodily risen from the dead. He didn't just rise in spirit, as some have taught down through the ages.
No, he said. Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone, as ye see me have. He even appeared to about 500 brethren. At one time. Some years ago, there were two missionaries working in one of the busy cities of India, propagating the gospel, and one day they were on one of those busy streets in that city, and they were startled by a large procession coming down the street.
And they made requests as to what was going on, because there were many who seemed to be rejoicing as this procession moved along. And they were told that supposedly a bone of Buddha had been found and it was being carried in a box down the street. And the followers of Buddha were rejoicing that this bone of Buddha had been found. Well, the missionaries watched this, and when they retired to their quarters and talked over the matter.
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They were struck with that, and as they said, the contrast in Christianity, because they concluded that if a bone of the Lord Jesus were ever found, it would not cause great rejoicing amongst the Christians. It would cause great sorrow, because it would be the proof that the Lord Jesus hadn't risen from the dead. But thank God, a bone of the Lord Jesus will never be found on planet earth, because as we've just quoted, handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone.
As you see me have and the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Is a truth that we need to tenaciously hold onto. Again, I say it is a vital part of Christianity. In fact, it is that which sets Christianity apart from, shall I say, all the other so-called religions that are propagated in the world. We can go to the tomb of Muhammad. Confucius is in the grave. Buddha is dead. All the other religious leaders that have risen up in this world, they're dead. The Lord Jesus died too.
He has a tomb, but the difference with him is it's an empty tomb. We present a living savior. There is a savior on high in the glory, and in that regard, I want to go to our seventh point, and to do that we'll go back to Luke 24.
Luke, chapter 24 and verse 50. And he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them.
And it came to pass, while he blessed them, that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven.
This is the ascension of Christ. You know, this evening we're presenting Christ. Yes, we're looking back to the cross, the foundation of everything, Because if the Lord had not died, suffered, died and bled on Calvary's cross, there'd be no gospel, no blessing. But also, we're stressing, first of all, His resurrection but his ascension, because it's Christ in glory. It's a risen, ascended Savior that we present.
And so again, the hymn writer put it, and it's one of my favorite hymns. There is a savior on high in the glory, not here on planet Earth, not walking here in loneliness and grace the way he was when he was here as a man. But there is a savior on high in the glory, a savior who suffered on Calvary's tree, a savior as willing to save. Now as ever, his arm is almighty, his love great and free.
Oh, come now to Jesus.
That dear loving Savior, receive him this moment, and peace shall be thine.
You know, at the end of a gospel meeting, one time there was a lady leaving and someone asked her what she thought of the gospel. It was their first time at a gospel meeting.
She said, Well, the creature is passionate about what he believes, and we are passionate tonight. These are real things. Because if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, you are on your way to a lost eternity. You are on your way to what scripture very plainly calls hell, the lake of fire, the lake that that burns with fire and brimstone, a place where a great gulf is fixed and there is, it's eternal. There is no getting out.
Of that condition, there is no leaving that place. Once you leave this world, it's all over. And so we're going to complete the Gospel meeting by turning to one more scripture and stressing our eight point. Again, it's vital in connection with the Gospel Revelation, chapter 22.
Revelation chapter 22 and I just want to read the first expression of verse 7.
Behold, I come quickly. This is the first of three times. You have this in the last on the last page of God's Word. And I want to stress for the moments that are left, the fact that there is an event going to take place very, very soon, and it's called the coming, Second coming of Christ. Sometimes those of us who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior referred to it as the rapture, and it is an event that is going to change things forever.
Because when the Lord Jesus comes.
And he's coming soon. I can't tell you when it is, but I do know we're just on the threshold. We're almost there. We've got to be. Behold, I come quickly in, James. It tells us the coming of the Lord draws nigh. And when the Lord comes, everyone who has died in faith, in the grave is going to be raised. And everyone that is alive, As Paul said, we which are alive and remain, are going to be caught up together with them in the cloud.
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To meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. And I know there are just hundreds in this room that thrill as we speak.
Of the second coming of Christ. But I want to make this very solemn and serious at the end of this meeting.
When that event takes place, it is going to close what we call the door or opportunity of grace, when once the master of the house has risen up and shut to the door, it will never be opened again. There were 10 virgins who came, the Lord told the story, and five were wise and they went in to the wedding. Five were foolish, they didn't. They weren't prepared, and when they came too late, the door was closed.
And the words from the other side of that door were echoed in their ears. Depart from me. I never knew you How Solomon, how serious. You know, it's very interesting too, with the ark in Noah's day, that the door was open and the creatures went in because they obeyed God's command better than the humans, not interesting. And God brought them to Noah, and they went in two by two and seven by 7.
Eight souls went in and the door was shut. God shut the door. And you know, it's very significant that you never read of that door being opened again. They did not come out by the door. Scripture tells us that when they came out, they removed the covering of the ark to come out on dry ground. Why is the spirit of God careful not to mention that door ever being open again? Because I believe he wants to stress on our souls tonight.
That when the door of God's mercy and invitation to come to the Savior is closed, it will never be opened again. How serious it is to be lost in your sins when either you draw your last breath or the Lord Jesus comes, This meeting is over. You know we're going to get off these seats in a few moments in the normal course of things. But while I pray, suppose the Lord Jesus came right at the end of this gospel meeting.
And I was praying. And you opened your eyes and looked around. What would you see?
Every other seat empty, just a smattering of folks here and there that weren't saved and ready. Oh, how solemn. And let me say at the end of this meeting to those who have heard the gospel many times to boys and girls and young people, and maybe some of you who are not so young, if you are lost and in your sins and you're not saved when the Lord comes, you will initially know what happened. You know, when Elijah was caught away to heaven.
In a whirlwind, a chariot of fire. It wasn't the general populace in Israel that missed him. It was the sons of the prophets. And I believe when the Lord comes, it will be the sons and daughters of those who had Christian parents and grandparents and were brought to meetings like this, who will look around and realize what has happened. The sad thing is, very quickly Satan will send a strong delusion that you'll believe a lie, but all how solemn to be left behind.
And so I trust us. We have very quickly and feebly presented the person and work of Christ that there is no one who will rise up out of these seats. Don't wait till you go home or to your hotel, or to the young people's activity. Tonight I plead with you, Don't wait another moment. I'm going to pray. It's this simple. Just talk to God. Talk to the Lord Jesus. In your heart, He hears. If you don't say one word aloud, come as a repentance center. Put your faith in the Lord Jesus.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Let's pray our God and Father.
Were solemnized at the end of this meeting to realize that maybe there's someone here who's still lost. Our God and Father, work by thy spirit and their conscience and their heart. Draw them to the Savior. We pray there might be a real work before we leave this building. We ask for blessing. May Christ be real and precious to our souls. Every one of us. We ask by blessing on my word, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.