Children—D. Mollon
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I understand the children's ends are all in the back of this little book we had last night.
So if uh.
You have a choice, anybody? I have a choice, please.
Raise your hand and just give it out.
#41.
Around the throne of God in heaven.
Well, many children sing.
Children whose sins are all forgiven while heavenly anthem spring.
OK. So I'm going to start that for us.
A throne of God in heaven will many children sing till brothers sins are all for his will, and we have some strings saying all right glory.
Glory, glory.
Glory, glory.
To.
Anyone else?
44.
And one of the favorites back home as well. And we're 44, in our Sunday school into a tent where a gypsy boy lay.
How many?
Gypsy violence.
Nobody ever has sold it to me to that way.
Tell you all the hands without salvation. Salvation story.
00:05:38
Nobody.
How many young children were at the Gospel last night?
Let's raise your hand.
OK, remember what was spoken last night.
Or a step.
Yeah, that was a theme and one step between life and death really, wasn't it, eh? And you know, this little gypsy boy was like that too, wasn't he?
In that tent and he was going to go into eternity that day. One step. But you know how gracious the Lord is.
That they send those at least two people along and and directed them to that one tent. Doesn't say there was a mommy or daddy there, just a little boy.
And he was dying alone, and the Lord was so kind.
The Lord knew He was taking that final step that day, and He sent along someone to tell him a little story and give him a choice.
To believe it or not.
Well, we know the end of the story, right? He did believe that story.
And what a wonderful step he made later that day when he stepped into eternity. He stepped into the waiting arms of the Lord Jesus Christ welcoming him. And then he says, oh, before he gets there, he says, no, tell the rest. Go, tell the rest.
Let's sing a couple of more.
Someone else got a choice.
#40 All right, Jesus loves me. This I know, probably one of the most.
Often sung hymns of all known by everybody.
#40.
Two sons.
Yes.
Yes, unplugged me. Yeah, it's not for me, the Bible tells me.
So Jesus wants me to die and let's get through and why he will find your way. My sin lets us little child come in.
Yes, she is like one kid. Yes, it's a must make me. Yeah, it is my Swansea.
We love, Bible tells me so.
Ask the Lord Job before we sing another ring.
Well, we have time. We'll sing a few more at the end.
I was reminded last night of.
Up a little tract.
I enjoyed so much in the past I had sort of forgotten about it until.
John Villasalli mentioned it last night. Roger's deliverance.
Wasn't that a wonderful story?
Doesn't that remind you of the kind of God that we have? There was a young man, you know was going to dive into this pool.
And he's poised on the end of this diving platform and.
No matter how he dives the back flip or case might be, they always go into the water head first.
You know what would have happened, don't you?
If he never paused one moment, he looked across on the opposite wall because the light was from behind them and he saw the silhouette of himself.
And he said it looks like a man on the cross.
It looks like a man on a cross.
Who do you think did that?
Who do you think? And I was so faithful that this man who was about one little step from eternity.
Was going to plunge into it.
And was brought face to face.
With a message.
He saw in that silhouette.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
It touched his conscience.
That's what the Lord does. He just brings us to a point. He brings us to a situation where.
He wants us to stop a moment.
Reflect. Think.
For only a step from eternity.
And he brings us face to face with our mortality. That means we're all going to die. Every one of us here is going to going into eternity.
00:15:07
Every single person.
But it's where we're going to spend eternity. It's the big question. And Roger saw in that silhouette.
Something that stirred his heart.
And you know what he did? He backed away from the edge of that platform.
Not knowing he was backing away from death itself.
He wanted to think more of what he'd seen.
So down he goes.
And later he finds out that the pool was empty and he would have dove into a pool. His floor was like this.
Instant death.
And that's what our Lord is like.
Reminding us of the path that we're on.
Reminding us that we're only one step. And you know what? That's what's before me this morning is to is that one word eternity.
He turned there.
I'm going to ask you. I'll give you a choice between the number one and #500 How many times do you think the word eternity is used in Scripture?
Who like to guess, Maybe you know.
You'd like to guess? Go ahead.
50 Yeah, you think right? Because, after all, we're all going to eternity.
Well, you know what?
It's used only once.
Only once. Oh, eternal many times, but eternity only once. I check for concordances.
So if I'm mistaken, I'm going to blame the Concordance writer and David Martin.
Because.
The only reference I have is the only verse we're going to use this morning and we're going to speak about eternity, Isaiah 57.
Isaiah 57 and the verse 15.
It says this, For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and Holy place with Him also, that is, of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. I'll repeat the first part again. For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabits us. Eternity was named His holy.
I dwell in the high end holy place.
I dwell in the high and only place.
I want to tell you a couple of stories this morning about eternity.
Stories I collect, I tend to be a person that you know, when I see things, I clip them out, you know, and I stick them in my.
Little package and later on I usually find the use for them.
And.
Most stories you tell in a group like this, of course the older people have heard these stories anyway. You get them saying Oh yes, I remember.
Rogers Deliverance. Yes, yes, we all know that tract.
So maybe we got a story this morning that most people here haven't heard. I don't know. We're going to go to two far away countries for these stories. The first one is the country of Australia.
In the country of Australia, there's a city called Sydney.
And in that city, there's a Town Center.
And in that Town Center, there's a copper plaque.
And on that copper plank, there's one word.
Know what it is?
Eternity.
Eternity downtown Sydney, Been there for many years.
You like to know why it's there?
People, you know, some people do remarkable things and people recognize that, right?
The last clipping I have in my file. This came from last month out of Toronto. Paper really.
It's about.
They found a woman. Scientists have found a woman in California who's got nearly what they think 100% memory.
00:20:00
100% memory. She's so unique they've actually coined a new word to describe her.
If I'm not mistaken, it's.
She's hyper by Mystic Hyper by Mystic. Harper New philanthropists say that.
From the word thymesis which is a Greek word meaning memory and hyper meaning super above normal.
This is Easter Sunday.
One of the things, for example, they tested her on, she went back to 1980 and she told.
What occurred on every Easter Sunday since 1980? She knew where she was. She knew what she had for dinner. She knew what her friends were. She knew what the weather was like. She has 100% memory.
Wouldn't that be nice for test timing?
But you know, she's not really pleased with it because she says I live it every day over and over in my mind.
There's nobody else in the world I know of who's got that kind of memory.
The article didn't say that she.
Has memorized scripture. She's only known by the Word, by the letters AJ.
And it didn't say that she has memorized Scripture, but it would be wonderful, wouldn't it? I think she could memorize Scripture. I know a man who actually memorized the told these War and peace.
1000 page book. I forget how many words are in there. He's memorized all of it. You can ask him what's on page.
472 fourth line, third word and he'll tell you amazing.
But what a waste of time.
But he could memorize Scripture because there might come a time, you know, when we can't read. I was talking to a brother, Friedel Ferry, a little while back, and he said I can't read anymore.
Somebody could, but he is so thankful he had committed so many memories, so many verses to memory. And my brother had mentioned yesterday, but.
Enjoying the Lord's presence because the Lord could bring back things to his memory.
Back to our story.
I can tell you that this word, which is a memorial to a man from Sydney, Sydney.
That this man was known for much as a matter of fact.
You know, he was he was the child of a also plainly he was a drunk. His father was a drunk, an alcoholic and his mother was a woman in the street and he was born in that little city. He grew up with a very small man, 5 foot three just.
Skin and bones.
And he?
He knew the hardships of life for his first 12 years. It was survival only.
He never had a home like you and I have. He never had loving parents.
He managed to survive by eating the garbage tins.
And he was abused.
And he wasn't loved.
And when he was 12, his parents kicked him out and he went to the homeless place for two years. Aged 14, he went to work in the coal mines.
But by then he had learned everything that was bad and he got into stealing and things like that, and they.
Put them in jail and let them out and put them in jail again. You know the story, don't you? How it goes.
Until the war broke out and he joined the war, joined the forces and went off to France and became a stretcher bearer in the war.
And then the Germans bombed France and he was injured, lost an eye.
Later on he got out of the war, went back home and he was shell shocked. He was injured and he was poisoned with mustard gas.
Back home, he fell back into the same things again that he had been into before he went.
Favoring when his own business, he was a watchdog for illegal gambling joints.
That was his business.
1930s came. Great Depression struck Australia as it did North America. Poverty was everywhere and he was starving. And one day.
He went into a little mission.
00:25:01
Because there was a light lunch given.
They went into the mission.
And as the food filled his belly, the words of God filled his mind and his heart.
And he left that mission hall and he went across the street to a park where there's a big tree.
And under that tree fell to his knees.
And tears poured from his eyes.
He had never gone to school.
He had never learned to read.
Couldn't write his name.
Nothing. He was at wits end corner.
And then he heard those words, and he went out and tears like the gypsy boy.
He was on his last leg.
And the Lord said Lord brought him right into that place, and gave him the word.
That he was loved.
That he was cared for. He never had a mummy like you have.
Or a daddy who loved them.
But he found that there was someone who loved him, and he went out.
Any tears flowed down.
And he accepted.
What God was offering eternity with him.
And he wanted to serve his Lord. What could he do, this little man who was himself alcoholic now?
Living on the streets, he was a vagrant. He had nothing. What could he do to serve his Lord?
For next 33 years, that man roamed the streets of Sydney.
Reverie went on the sidewalks and on the buildings.
And on the fences.
Walls.
He wrote one word.
Eternity.
Eternity.
Eternity.
They asked him later on how he could even write these. I don't know. I always could. I can't write my name, but I can write eternity.
He would use chalk, you see, It wasn't just graffiti. He would wash away. Didn't matter. He back again tomorrow, putting him back there again.
You know time will tell, eternity will tell. The fruit of his laborers.
How do we know?
The story doesn't for us, it ends right there, but Can you imagine someone scrolling on maybe one night?
You know, late from the bar and walking along and there's on the sidewalk he.
Someone.
Turning the corner and there on the side of the building, Eternity.
Some young people may be late at night and scaling the walls, trying to steal something just from sliding down over a word they recognize eternity.
How many would have stopped, I wonder?
He was known as Mr. Eternity.
That's what they call them.
He wanted to tell people what he had found in the simplest way possible, reminding people of eternity.
And he wanted to tell them more.
When he was age 57, the Lord gave him a wife.
Who could read? And she read the Scriptures to him. And the Lord gave them a wonderful memory. Probably not as good as that Lady in California, but he memorized diversities. And then he stood on the street corners and he preached the gospel the last years of his life. And when I was 18 years of age.
On July the 30th was my. That was when I was 18, but I was then.
1967.
That young man or that older man now entered into he.
He went on.
After serving his Lord.
He puts me to shame, you know that.
All that I have been given and.
And there he had nothing right, but he could pin the words eternity.
Wonderful story, isn't it?
00:30:03
Wonderful story.
He's been there since 67. Now I want to tell you another story. Time gets away real quickly. And this one, I want you to listen really carefully because.
You know there's something missing in this story. It sounds like a good story, and it is a good story.
Before I tell you this story, I want to tell you about rats.
And I want to tell you about rat poison.
If mom finds a rat in the basement.
Does an old family know it?
My wife tends to scream and anything that moves quickly, especially has a tail on it.
And she's not satisfied until that thing is head of the house, dead or alive, preferably dead.
Did you know that these rat poison to kill rats?
Did you know that over 90% of the things of the ingredients in rat poison is actually absolutely perfectly good for the rat? But 95%? They love it.
They'll get fat on it, they enjoy it, It's lovely. It's perfect food for ants.
It's the 5%.
That's where the poison is, the 5%, and that's a warning to us, you know, about stories and what people tell us that's not based upon Scripture. A lot of it is good, a lot of it makes sense. But be so careful because it's a little leaven that leavens the lump. It's a little poison.
In that food that he carries back to his family, that kills the rat.
Poison. So this story, I want you to see if you can identify something, something is missing in the story.
This story actually comes from a person I know of in Corner Brook, Mr. Sterling. He was a businessman, retired businessman, and he wrote this, one of my clippings. He wrote that one time he had the privilege of attending a seminar in London, England with many other dignitaries too, particularly one was Lord Thompson, a Fleet.
Very contrast to.
Arthur states the man we talked about, Mr. Eternity, Mr. Thompson, owned 268 publications as newspapers and things like that. Very wealthy man.
And also on that occasion, there was another man who was also well known. You won't recognize him, but some in the room will recognize the name. His name was Doctor.
Peel, Norman. Vincent Peale. You recognize him as the author of The Power of Positive Thinking.
Power of positive thinking. In other words, always think positively. It will come about that kind of thing.
Mr. Sterling said he was there along with all the others at this luncheon and Mr. Thompson turns to Doctor Peel and he says I'm an old man.
I'm about to die, can you tell me is there an afterlife?
An old room went silent.
They wanted to hear what this famous man who had motivated millions around the world with his positive thinking thing and many others after him.
Augmentino and many others like that.
And this is how we this is what he told him.
This is what he told him. This is the story. See if you can tell what's missing.
He said. I'm going to paraphrase it. That's the best I can.
He said if you could speak, he said to a baby in the womb.
And ask that baby if he'd like to be born.
He would probably say no.
I'm perfectly comfortable here.
I'm worn, I'm secure, I'm interrupt.
I don't want.
To leave this place. I don't want to die out of this place. In other words, to leave it to Passover.
But he says, you know what? When that little child is born, it's and wrapped in the mother's love, it feels the comfort, the peace, the joy.
And he realizes, oh, why was I afraid of?
00:35:02
True, isn't it?
And then?
That little boy grows up into a young man later on, maybe get married of children of his own and so forth, and then he surrounds himself with his family and then he grows older.
And is about to pass into eternity.
He says.
Does he really? Doctor Peel says to Mr. Thompson. Does he really die?
Or is he not simply born again?
Into a new sphere.
Will he not say on the other side?
What was I afraid of?
What was I afraid of?
Doctor Thompson.
Turn to Doctor Peel, he said.
He says you.
You've helped me with a question that's bothered me for many, many years.
Thank you, he says. Thank you, you've helped me today, he says. Do you think I'll make the other side? Dr. Peel says, Oh yes, you'll be fine. And shortly after that man crossed over into eternity, and not too long after that, Doctor Peel himself.
Went over.
Into eternity, believing that it was fine, that just as the baby was afraid is born. Into this life realizes. Huh.
It's wonderful. I shouldn't have been afraid that when we come to death and we crossover from death into eternity, we're going to say the same thing. What was I afraid of? It's beautiful. Aaron, do you know young people, how many books there are out there and about those who had near death experiences have gone down that pathway to the light and seen the flowers and have come back and said, don't worry, it's totally beautiful.
What's missing from the story?
Can you spot what's missing from that story?
I'll give you a clue back to our verse again. Go back to our verse and 57 of Isaiah and verse 15.
For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabits this eternity.
Whose name is holy?
Clint Yeah.
In that second story, unlike the first one.
There was number talk about who is it that lives there?
Who inhabits eternity? It's God himself who lives in eternity, whose name is holy.
Who says I dwell in the high and holy place? I dwell there.
And in that story that Doctor Peele told, he passed over that has that to say. It didn't matter that God was there and it didn't matter that you're still in your sins, that you're a Sinner that wasn't touched upon. You know what God says.
He is holy, and no sin can be in His presence.
That's what was missing.
Tell us what was missing. He wasn't told when Mr. Eternity Arthur stays heard that message that night. He heard a message that he was a Sinner. Oh, he didn't have to be told that. He knew he was. But he knew that there was a God who could forgive sins.
And that's what brought him to his knees. That's what brought the tears to his eyes. And when he rose up, he says, oh, I'm free. I'm washed in the blood of Christ. No, I want to tell everybody, but how do I do that? I'll tell them about eternity. Eternity in shock everywhere.
You feel sad about what? Mr. Thompson was told.
An old man who asked this well known man.
Is there an afterlife? And then they be told don't worry about it?
You're OK. It's just like being born again, crossing over. No thought as to who was there. God himself.
The Holy One, you could have no sin in this presence. And that's why when I told you faithful God was, remember Roger?
00:40:05
That moment, about to step into eternity, he was brought face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ.
About face to face with the fact that he wasn't ready and he was saved. After that, the gypsy boy in that tent dying alone, about to step into eternity. The Lord was faithful, brought these people along to tell him he made the decision. I'll receive the Lord Jesus Christ.
Arthur Stays brought face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ made the decision Yes, yes, I want to Not only am I going to be an eternity.
I want to be with the Lord Jesus Christ in eternity. It's just two places, right? The law going to eternity, but where?
While I spend eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ or not.
How sad it is Mr. Thompson was.
Was made to relax and feel that. Don't be afraid. Remember I told you about the poison 5%? Most of that story that Doctor Peel told, you know, was a legitimate story, don't you think?
Sounded pretty good, but oh, with a poison that it was OK. You'll get there just as you are. Don't worry about a thing. Whereas we're told that we are all sinners and we must be saved. We're only a step from eternity. And with that we'll close. I have no time to sing, so we just close the prayer and trust that each one here the Lord is faithful in bringing us that very plain that we might decide.
To be with that holy One, to Lord Jesus Christ.