Gospel—B. Prost
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But we'd like to welcome everyone to the gospel meeting tonight. The word gospel for those who.
Aren't familiar with it means good news, and it's good news that we have for you tonight and we'd like to welcome everyone who is here. Let's begin the meeting with hymn #19.
This might seem like a strange hymn to give out at a gospel meeting because it makes you sing as if you already knew the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. And I know as I look around this room that there are many here.
Who can gladly, happily do that? And if you Can't Sing this hymn in truth?
Just listen as we sing it, pay attention to the words, and when we turn to this precious book, in a little while you'll see why we can sing like this. Maybe we could stand and sing #19.
Oh Christ, and they my soul.
No, no.
I.
Will be nice. I stood to look great.
For my heart.
00:05:44
I'd like to sing another hymn, this one that I think all the children will enjoy.
It's #44 on the back of the hymn sheet. This was always a favorite in the Sunday school back home, and I believe still is into the tent where a gypsy boy lay. You know, we don't see gypsies very often in North America, but you can still see them in different parts of the world. And this is not to downplay.
Anyone who finds himself in that situation because God delights to bless, whether rich or poor, old or young. But this is a true story on which this hymn is based. Let's just remain seated and we'll sing #44.
Into the tent where a gypsy boy lay dying alone at the moon.
No, no.
Nobody.
Out there.
No.
It's hard for me to sing that hymn without choking up a little.
When I think of how that little gypsy boy accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior when he had heard for the first time for the first time, and it's hard for me to believe that there may be people in this favored land of the United States of America who haven't heard about the Lord Jesus.
00:10:07
But I was shocked some years ago when 2 little girls came to our local Sunday school, 8 years old. They were twin girls and when they were asked about the Lord Jesus Christ and did they know who the Lord Jesus Christ was, they said we've never heard of him before.
Amazing. Amazing and yet true. I heard it with my own ears. And so we're not ashamed tonight to take up this precious book, the Word of God.
And to do just what we read and what we sung in that hymn. Tell it again, tell it again.
I look around this room and I see for the most part, a company that knows the gospel. I see children and older ones too, who have heard the gospel many times.
But I ask you tonight, and there may be someone here who hasn't heard it before, but I ask you tonight, if you have heard the gospel of the grace of God before, what does it mean to you? What does the Lord Jesus Christ mean to you tonight?
I'd like to turn to the 19th chapter of Luke's Gospel please. 19th chapter of Luke's Gospel.
Here we are going to find.
Three people.
Three people.
And that word follow is used in connection with all three. All three.
That word follow not only following, but following the Lord Jesus.
Is used in connection with them.
And I believe there's a message here for each one of us. Let's start reading in Luke's Gospel, chapter 19.
Or I'm sorry, chapter 18, I beg your pardon, Chapter 18, Luke's Gospel, chapter 18 and verse 18.
And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
And Jesus said unto him, Why call us thou me good? None is good, save one, that is God.
Thou Norse, the commandments do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor thy father and thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing, Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God? For it is easier for a camel to go through a needles eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house.
Or parents, or brethren, or wife or children, for the Kingdom of God's sake.
Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time and in the world to come, life everlasting?
Then he took unto him the 12 and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished, For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated and spitted on. And they shall scourge him, and put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of those things, and this saying was hid from them.
Neither knew they the things which were spoken. And it came to pass that as He was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the wayside, begging, and hearing the multitude pass by. He asked what it meant. And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him that he should hold his peace. But he cried so much the more.
00:15:15
Thou, Son of David, have mercy on me.
And Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they sought, gave praise.
Unto God.
As I said a moment ago, here we find incidents in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ when he was here on earth and in connection with the rich young ruler, in connection with Peter and in connection with the blind man who was made to see. We find following the Lord Jesus mentioned in connection with each one. And I say to each one of you tonight.
That I want to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ and you cannot be neutral to that one here tonight.
You cannot pretend that he doesn't mean anything to you, because that one is the one that God has sent down into this world.
That one is the one who went into death, as we read here. That one is the one who rose from the dead and who is now risen and seated at God's right hand. And all of God's purposes are centered in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sad to say, today we hear his blessed name used in profanity, in slang. We hear it used in every way but the reverence that it should have.
Tonight, with God's help, I would like to bring each one of us into the presence of God and to make you realize, first of all, who that Blessed One, the Lord Jesus Christ is, and secondly, your need of Him.
Let's consider this first man here, the rich young ruler.
He comes to the Lord Jesus with what seems to be an honest question, and I believe it was an honest question. Well, good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Oh, he knew deep down in his soul that there was more to life.
Than what he could see around.
And may I suggest to each one here tonight that if you are honest with yourself.
You realize the truth of this precious book that tells you that man was made for eternity.
And not for time. You know that your existence does not end when you may leave this world in death. Oh, there are many people today that are trying to persuade themselves of that. Many people today that would love to think that when we are put into a grave, if such is the case, that that is the end of all things.
This precious book tells us very clearly.
It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Do we need to turn to that verse in Hebrews Chapter 9? No, we don't need to turn to it. You know the truth of those words, as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
You and I were made not merely for time, but for eternity, and here we find this young man coming to the Lord Jesus.
With an honest question, do you have that question tonight? Many people today are asking what the meaning of existence is.
I can still remember the stir that occurred in the office building where I worked when I came in one morning and found that someone had thrown out the question, Why are we here? Why are we here? I remember saying to one of them that you and I can offer all kinds of opinions as to that, but there is only one place where we can find the answer, and that is in the Word of God. We had it brought before us this afternoon.
That this precious book is a gift from God. But it's more than that, beloved friends, it's addressed.
With all authority from God to you and to me, do we receive it as such? I trust so. I trust so. But here this rich young ruler comes to the Lord Jesus with his question. And you know, the Lord's answer might seem to be somewhat abrupt. He says, why call us thou me good? There is none good but one that is God. Oh, I believe this rich young ruler was looking at the Lord Jesus.
00:20:24
Merely as a man. And he said to himself, there is a man who has got it together. There is a man who seems to be able to do what I've been trying to do, and I can't seem to do it. And I want to know what his secret is. And the Lord Jesus. And that reminds him rather abruptly that if he were addressing him only as a man, he was missing the point. Here was one who was not only man, and he was man just as much a man.
As every man in this room without sin, but he was also the Son of God.
Oh, that that fact would sink down into your soul. I can still remember when I was in grade 8 and the teacher stood up and said who was the greatest man that ever lived?
And you know what the answer was? The answer was Christ.
But I remember thinking to myself, young as I was, he was more than a man, he was God.
Well, the Lord Jesus continues to take up the question. He says, well, you know the commandments.
Because this man was a good Jew. He knew what he was supposed to do. Excuse me.
He knew what he was supposed to do in the Lord. Jesus says, what does the law say? You know what it says? And he recites some of the commandments. And this young man says, I've done all those things right from when I was young.
And there may well be someone here tonight who can say that. As I said before, I'm looking into the faces of those, for the most part, who have been brought up in good homes.
Many of them Christian homes. But maybe you haven't either. Maybe you haven't either.
But here was a young man who had been brought up in a good home, who knew what to do.
And he says, I've done all those things from my youth up, but oh, here we find the Lord Jesus putting his finger on the very thing.
The very thing that this young man needed tonight, my friend, with the help of God, we want to put our finger on the very thing that you need. You know this young man wanted something to do.
And God often takes us up on the ground of the way we come to Him.
He says, all right, if you really want to know what to do, you lack one thing, and we read it here.
He said go and sell everything that you have and come and as it says there at the end of verse 22.
So all that thou hast and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.
And come follow me.
He gave him the essence of the law, because in another place, you know, when the Lord Jesus was asked about the law.
There were many different commandments in the law, but it boiled down to two things.
Loving God, as you'll remember, with all thy strength and with all thy mind, and so on, and loving your neighbor as yourself.
And the Lord Jesus brought this rich young ruler to the point where he had to decide whether he was able to carry that out.
If he loved his neighbor as himself, he would have been glad to sell his goods and give to the poor, wouldn't he? If I loved you just as much as I loved myself, I would be glad to turn my wallet inside out and give it to you, wouldn't I? And if he really loved God as the law said he should, he would have been glad to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the Son of God.
But all this poor man, oh the Lord Jesus, had struck a nerve. He'd struck a point where this young man couldn't carry out what was required.
And he goes away very sorrowful.
And then what follows after seems to me very instructive, and I want each one of us to pay attention because it says in verse 24. And when Jesus saw that, he was very sorrowfully said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God? For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.
00:25:12
I'll try and explain this.
You know, and you don't see it so much in North America, but if you go to some of the older cities of Europe and the East, you can still find cities with walls and gates.
And very often in those huge gates that would be opened and closed, opened in the day and closed at night, there would be what was called a needle's eye. A small opening in the gate, fairly short, might be 4/4 and 1/2, maybe 5 feet high at the most. Very narrow, just big enough for a man to go through. Most men would probably have to stoop a little bit to get themselves through so that if one were going to pass in and out.
After hours it wouldn't be necessary to open the big gate and risk the danger of invasion or.
A group of men coming in are undesirables or something, but it could be controlled by going through that needle's eye.
But Can you imagine the time you would have getting a camel through that? It could be done with much pulling and pushing and shoving and huffing and puffing and so on, but it would be a problem.
And the Lord Jesus says, how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God? Does that mean as some have taken this, that it's wrong to have the things of this world? That's not the point. Does it mean that if you happen to be rich here tonight?
I've sometimes said to people.
When it comes to talking about riches in the Bible.
I am talking to an audience.
Who probably for the most part would say no, I am not rich.
But I tell everyone of you here tonight, and anyone here who has traveled a little in this world will bear out what I'm going to say.
Everyone in this room tonight is rich beyond the wildest dreams.
Of the vast majority of this world's population, and I'm talking about material riches.
Everyone of you that lives in the United States of America is rich beyond the wildest dreams of the vast majority of this world's population.
Is it standing in the way of your coming to Christ? Do we think that we are so self-sufficient in ourselves?
We don't need a savior.
They that heard it, said verse 26. Who then can be saved? Oh, this rich young ruler wanted to come to Christ in his own strength, by his own efforts.
The Lord Jesus said it's impossible.
Can you imagine that camel trying to get through that needle's eye if he had all the bags and things that they usually put on camels? I don't know whether anyone here has seen a loaded camel. I've seen one and I believe there are some here that have seen them. They can carry quite a bit and they, if they were to pile all those things on the back of that camel and try and get him to go through that needle's eye, know all that stuff would have to be taken off and then with a great deal of difficulty you might get the camel through.
I trust my brethren won't mind me mentioning this, but we had a prayer meeting before this gospel.
And there was real feeling in those prayers as some dear brothers, their voices almost breaking.
Confessed before the Lord how that there was so little blessing in the gospel in these favored lands, and they mentioned specifically the material riches and all the good things that we have. Is there anything wrong with that? Oh my, no. It's the gift of God, and I believe we can enjoy it from God. But oh, what a sad thing it is if it stands between you and coming to Christ. It stood between this rich young ruler and the Savior.
And there was number way that he could come in his own strength. He thought there was something he could do. But when it came right down to the crunch, as we say.
He couldn't give up his riches and he said there's something I want to do.
And there's no record that he ever did follow the Lord Jesus. Was he a lovely character?
I believe if we read the account in other places that we find that he was, we find that the Lord Jesus looked on him and loved him. Why? Oh, because here was one who was a lovely character. And I say to those who are sitting here tonight, you may be a lovely character. You may be one whom your neighbors look up to. You may lead an exemplary life. You may even have been brought up in a Christian home, Christian father and mother. And maybe as you attend meetings, maybe as you speak about the Lord Jesus.
00:30:24
Everyone thinks you're a Christian.
But it's a veneer on the outside. You know, whether there is a reality in the inside. I can remember hearing a young person who had been brought up in a Christian home confess Christ. And it was a moving experience to hear him say with brokenness and tears and choking. I've played the game all these years. I pretended. But now it's real. Now it's real. Oh, what God would be. But I don't want to limit my remarks to those.
Who have been brought up in good homes. Reminds me of a girl that I once knew down at the detention home in Toronto. And I won't go into her past, but at the age of 13 she ran away from home and started running the streets. And I don't need to fill in the gaps for you. She was in and out of that detention home time and time again. And there seemed to be no power for her to get rid of the kind of lifestyle that she was occupied with.
He's a very good looking girl, very intelligent girl, and every time we used to go down there and visit, she would come to the time that we spent over the Word of God. She asked for a Bible, she got a Bible and she would pay attention and then she would disappear and then a few months later she'd be back in again. I remember asking one of the staff there what was going on and they told me that she just couldn't seem to behave herself. But then there came a day.
There came a day in her life when she accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior. There came a day in her life when she recognized that she couldn't possibly do it in her own strength. And it was a joy as my wife and I visited her in another facility sometime later on to sit down with her and open this precious book and talk about what her precious Savior. Oh, there's power as we sung together in that hymn. Now none but Christ can satisfy.
None other name for me.
But it says here in verse 27, the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. And how is it possible with God? Oh, we find the answer in verse 20. No, verse 31. The answer is in verse 31.
The 12 refers to the 12 disciples. We all know that the Lord Jesus had 12 disciples.
And here he begins to tell them, I believe the answer to their question.
How can anyone be saved if a Goodman like this can't be saved? A man who has an exemplary character, a man who could say, I have done all the right things from my youth up. I'm sure no one could point the finger at that young man. The disciples say, well, how can anybody be saved? Here's the answer. Here's the answer.
Verse 31 Then he took unto him the 12 and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished, for he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated and spitted on. And they shall scourge him, and put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again.
Oh, I'd like to bring each one here tonight back to Calvary's cross. Oh, you say that's an event that happened nearly 2000 years ago.
It's a fact of history.
The hymn expresses it well.
Center of two eternities which look with rapt, adoring eyes.
Onward and back to the old cross of Christ, for all his pain and death is our eternal gain.
There was only one way, I say to you tonight that it was possible for me to be saved. There was only one way in which it was possible for guilty, lost sinners to have eternal life. Is it a matter of anything that I can do? No, it's a matter of what Christ has done. Oh, how simple it is, and yet how difficult to grasp. And we find it was so here. What does it say in verse 34?
00:35:08
And they understood none of these things, and this saying was hid from them. Neither knew they the things which were spoken. Is it possible tonight that there are those here in this room who know that story so well and yet it means nothing to you? Reminds me of a story that is suggested by that hymn we sung about the Gypsy boy. Because many years ago in Germany, and I mean many years ago, long before there was a united Germany.
There was an artist by the name of Stenberg who lived in the city of Dusseldorf.
He was a very famous painter.
And one day he was commissioned to paint a picture of the crucifixion. Well, I'm not going to comment on the advisability or otherwise of that. Suffice it to say that he was asked to paint it. He had the picture nearly done. And for him it was merely an academic exercise, an artistic exercise to convey on that canvas the story of the cross.
While the picture was in production, he went out for a walk one day and he came upon a camp of gypsies.
And there he saw a gypsy girl, rather poorly dressed, but something about her dancing black eyes and her colorful dress attracted him. And she began to dance for him, expecting that he would, of course give her a little money, which he did. But then he thought, what a wonderful picture this would make. And so we said, stand there for a moment. And he started to sketch her, but she found it too difficult to stand in that pose for very long. So finally he made an agreement with her to come to his studio.
Where he would paint her Well, I have never had to sit while a painter painted me.
But it would be pretty boring for someone that was used to being active. And this gypsy girl found the time very, very difficult sitting in Stenberg's home. And naturally, her eyes roamed around his studio and riveted on that picture. That picture. She looked at it. Finally, she started to ask questions.
Well, Stenberg, like most men of his.
Class, and I say this with all love and charity, was a man of few words. When he had his brush in his hand, he wanted to concentrate. And so he answered her questions with monosyllables until finally he said, listen, he said, I can't go on answering questions like this. I will tell you the whole story once and for all. And he told her the story of the cross. He knew it well.
And when he got finished that story, he looked and there was the girl, Pepita was her name, sitting there with tears swimming across her eyes. Tears which fiery gypsy pride wouldn't let fall because she wasn't used to tears.
Oh, she said, Sir, she said. I have never heard a story like that before. I have never heard a story like that before.
She said, Sir, I expect you have often thanked him.
Stenberg couldn't forget. I expect that you have often thanked him.
Is there anyone in here tonight in a position like Stenberg, who knew the story of the cross? And it was so commonplace to him that he could tell it without an emotion, without anything touching his heart? And yet a girl who sat there hearing it for the first time was moved to tears.
Well, the story goes on. They parted.
Time went on.
And some years later, a man came in the winter time to Stenberg's studio and knocked on the door.
Stenberg answered the door and the man said come. He said someone is dying and wants to see you.
So Stenberg put on his boots and his coat and so on, and walked through the snow along with this man.
Out into the forest. This was several 100 years ago.
And there he found in that poor gypsy encampment Pepita dying of TB. And as he spoke to her, she said, Sir, I wanted to see you. I wanted to see you and tell you that I am trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, that one whose picture you told me about so long ago. I'm trusting in him.
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What about you tonight? What about you tonight?
Where do you stand with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, Stenberg couldn't forget that he too was saved through that experience. He thought, How is it that this poor gypsy girl is leaving this world with joy and happiness written all over her face? Because she knows the Savior, and here I know the story, and I'm the one that told her.
And I don't know that.
What did he have to do? He had to get rid of all the baggage. He had to quit trusting in himself. He had to realize that there was only one way to come, and that is as a lost, guilty Sinner. My beloved friend, if you're going to come to Christ tonight, you have to come realizing that you can do nothing, absolutely nothing, to get eternal life. But it has all been done through what we have here, the work of Christ on the cross.
That Blessed One went there, suffered, died, shed his precious blood.
And I tell you tonight on the authority of the Word of God, that there is power in that blood to wash your sins away. I don't know who you are. I don't know what kind of life you have led. I don't know what kind of sins you have committed. But I tell you, on the authority of the Word of God, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. Could I put you in that verse? It says us, us could be any number. Could we put you in that verse tonight?
I can well remember speaking at that same detention home in Toronto, and some of us are old enough to remember when a man by the name of Adolf Eichmann was apprehended in South America and taken back to Israel for trial for war crimes under the Nazi regime. And it came out, as was well known, that he had been responsible for the murder of perhaps 6,000,000 Jews.
6 million people. Staggering, isn't it to think.
And I remember asking some of them sitting there, that detention home, I said, And there were boys and girls there. I said young people.
If Adolf Eichmann had come to Christ and repented.
And come to Christ, Do you think there would have been power in the blood of Christ to wash his sins away?
And I read that verse in one John one and seven, The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Most of those young people were in trouble with the law. They knew what it was to stand before a judge. They knew what it was to be condemned to some kind of punishment. But I said, here is one who has done far more than any of you ever can or will do, murdered 6 million people. Now I said, what about it?
They sat there for a moment, they looked at me, they looked at the verse. Finally one young man spoke up and he said, well, Sir.
It says all sin, and if it says all sin, then I guess even Adolf Eichmann could have been saved. I said thank you, that is true. The word of God is true. And friend, tonight you can come to Christ and be saved.
Notice this last incident in the chapter. What a contrast to the rich young ruler here. We have a blind man. Now, what kind of a life that blind man LED, we're not told. But physically, he was in difficulty. And you know, in some of those countries, they don't have the wherewithal to care for people like this the way they would be cared for in this country. You would not normally see a blind man sitting by the side of the road begging.
In the United States of America, or in many other well to do nations of this world. But you can still see blind and crippled men and women too, and children begging by the sides of the roads in various countries. And here was a man who had to beg, sitting outside that city of Jericho. But oh, he hears that the Lord Jesus is passing by. What does he do?
Oh, he was not going to let anything stand in the way. Nothing would stand in the way. Why? Oh, because he felt his need. And more than that, he knew that the very one, the only one that could meet that need, was there at that moment, and he didn't know when he'd have another chance. And so he cries out as loudly as he could for the Lord Jesus to have mercy on him.
I have no doubt.
That it might not have been a very pretty sight to see this blind man crying out like that. He may not have been too well dressed, he may not have used the best language, he may have hollered so loudly that it was disturbing things.
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So that people said be quiet, hush up, you're making an awful racket.
Didn't stop him. He was in earnest, my friend tonight. Are you in earnest about your need?
It's a wonderful thing to see a soul that's in earnest.
I can well remember, you'll pardon a personal reference, but I well remember preaching the gospel in Romania.
Several years ago.
And I had to do it through a translator.
But I can well remember after that meeting, some of us were standing around and conversing together, and a young woman came up from the back of the room, perhaps in her early 20s. She had been invited to that meeting by a good friend of hers who was a Christian. And I can tell you she was in earnest. She was in earnest, came up to the room there sobbing, tears running down her face. I couldn't understand what she said because I don't know Romanian, but I didn't need to understand the expression on her face.
Said it all and they translated for us what she was saying. And she said, I want to come to the Lord Jesus Christ tonight. My friend invited me to this meeting and I didn't want to come, but I came just to please her and now I want to be saved. And right there in front of a whole lot of people, she knelt down, poured out her heart, and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. It wasn't necessary to do that. She wanted to do it. What is it that saves? Oh, it's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not the question of getting down and praying publicly or anything like that, so that we're not going to ask anything like that after the meeting, but it's a question of what passes in your heart between you and God and putting your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's Blind Bartimaeus, and he's not going to let anything stand in his way.
You know, if we really feel our need, that's what happens.
But if our need is not really felt, the devil and there is a devil.
He's real, he's here tonight and he's trying to persuade boys and girls and men and women that they're what that there's plenty of time.
That maybe something will happen. Your friends will laugh at you.
Then maybe you'll have to give up something.
And so on.
Are you going to let that stand in the way of eternal life? Is anything in this world worth the loss of your soul?
A poet has put it well, to lose my wealth is much, to lose my health is more. To lose my soul is such a loss as no man can restore. And it's an awful thing to go out of this world without Christ. And here we find a blind man that found the Lord Jesus.
And what does it say?
Verse 41. Verse 40. And Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought unto him, and when he was come near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? Did the Lord Jesus not know? Of course he knew, but he wanted to hear him say it.
Lord, that I may receive that my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight. Thy faith has saved thee, and what's the result? He follows Jesus.
He follows Jesus.
He didn't have to be asked to. He didn't have to be told to. There was an attraction of heart to that Blessed One.
I say that because there are so many who say I could never live a Christian life. I could never act like a Christian.
I well remember visiting in a maximum security prison in Bermuda.
And there was a young man there, relatively young anyway, by the name of Dill. Last name was Dill.
And he was in prison for a most awful crime.
Sad to say, I've heard since that time. I had never heard of such a thing happening before. I've heard it several times since. He and his wife had been at odds with one another and their marriage was breaking up. And when he realized that his wife was going to get custody of their two children and he only visiting rights, rather than allow that, in a passion of anger he murdered his two children. And for that awful act he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
00:50:19
I remember visiting that man and bringing Christ before him in some measure, and his response was I could never live the Christian life.
I remember taking my pen out of my pocket and holding it up like that and saying.
Do you think that I can keep that pen standing upright in my outstretched palm like that? He said. No, I don't think you can do it.
Well, I said there it is. Well, he said, OK, come on, let go. I said, well I didn't say I was going to let go, did I? He got the point.
I wasn't going to let go. And you know, you can't leave. You can't live the Christian life until you have the life. Is God going to give you a new life and then let you go? Of course you couldn't live the Christian life in your own strength any more than this rich young ruler could get saved in his own strength.
When God gives a new life, he doesn't just leave you to drift on your own. This blind man followed the Lord Jesus, and I believe the Lord kept him.
I say again tonight, where do you stand? Our time is just about gone. Where do you stand with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ? Turn back a few chapters for one more verse.
Chapter 12. Luke. Chapter 12.
That's the season of the year when men love to quote that verse.
Peace on earth and goodwill toward men. But what does it say here? Luke 12 and verse 52 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth, I tell you nay, but rather Division Four. From henceforth there shall be five in one house divided 3 against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother.
The mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
Why does the Lord make that kind of a remark? Does the Lord, if I could say it reverently, want to break up families and put relatives at odds with one another? Oh no. Oh no. But, beloved friend, when it comes to Christ, nothing can stand in the way. And if it's a matter of something holding you up, even your dearest relative, someone the closest to you?
Christ must come first.
No, the Lord says, I am not come to send peace on earth because as we go out of this room tonight.
There will be a division, whether we realize it or not, in this room. There will be a division which only God would be able to make between those who are saved and those who are lost. That's the division the Lord was talking about. And only God can look into your heart and know where you stand. But oh, if there is someone here tonight that isn't saved, oh, why not come to Christ tonight like this man, this blind man, he was blind.
And the Word of God tonight tells you.
That you are blind. Blind to what? Oh, it says in Second Corinthians chapter 4, the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Oh, if you and I realize we're blind, we'll come to Christ. Thank God I have come many years ago, and many here in this room have but one more comment before we close.
We've talked about the rich young ruler who didn't follow the Lord Jesus. We've talked about the blind man who gladly followed him and didn't have to be told to. But we find a remark here in verse 28 about Peter, and I'd just like to comment a bit on that for those here who are saved.
Verse 28 of our chapter Luke 18 Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all and followed thee.
Had they followed the Lord? Indeed they had. Had there been faithfulness on their part? In some measure, Indeed there had.
But notice the Lord's answer.
He says in verse 29 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children.
For the Kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time than in the world to come life everlasting. Oh, Peter says, Lord, we've followed you. We've done what you've talked about. And the Lord Jesus says, yes, Peter, yes, you have. And there's nobody that has given up anything for me but that he'll receive manifold more. God is no man's debtor and in the world to come life everlasting.
00:55:25
But then it seems to me the Lord Jesus in a very gentle way, turns Peter's thinking in the right direction. Because there is a danger for you and for me to be occupied with the fact that we have followed the Lord. And if there are those here who know Christ as Savior, and I know there are many, oh, is there a danger that sometimes like Peter we say, Lord, we have left everything and followed thee. I suppose in a small measure it was true, because Peter had given up his fishing business and everything connected with it.
And he had followed the Lord.
But all the Lord Jesus then proceeds.
In verse 31 to tell Peter those verses that we have already read.
He reminds him, as it were, Peter.
I know you've left a certain amount to follow me.
And you're going to get more than what you've given up. But Peter, you've got your mind on the wrong thing. Peter, you're, you're, you're occupied with the wrong thing. Peter, I want you to consider the price that I paid, the price that I paid.
So that you could have eternal life.
Oh, May God direct our thoughts to His beloved Son.
If you're not saved, God is directing your thoughts to His beloved Son.
In order that you might be saved if you are saved, oh, God is still directing your thoughts to His beloved Son, not to ourselves or to anything that we may have done, if by grace there has been any following of the Lord Jesus.
It pales by comparison when we think of the price that that one paid, that you and I might enjoy, might have eternal life. Well, our time is gone. Let's just sing one more hymn.
Decide for Christ today.
And God's salvation. See.
#21.
21 Decide for Christ today in God's salvation seat. Heal soul and body, heart and will to him who died for thee. Maybe we could stand again and sing this hymn #21.