Gospel—A. Hayhoe
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General Meetings. Wheaton, August 1974. Gothel by Albert Hayhoe.
We sing together. Hymn #37.
#37 the gospel of thy grace, My stubborn heart has won.
For God so loved the world he gave his only Son, That whosoever will believe shall everlasting life receive #37.
The gospel of thy grace.
My Sovereign.
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Prayers for hours, but I'll give it to you and make it proud of God and Umbrella.
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Like you to turn with me tonight, please, to the prophet Isaiah.
Chapter 55.
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Isaiah chapter 55, verse one.
Hold everyone that thirst come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat. Yeah, come by wine and milk, without money and without price.
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfied month?
Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself.
In flatness, verse 6.
Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found.
Call ye upon him while he is near, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will.
Abundantly harden.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
Or as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Beloved friend, I want to speak to you tonight about the heart and thoughts of the God whose Sunday you and I shall certainly meet. He looks down upon this poor, groaning, disappointed world, and he appeals in those words that sound so needful for our ears today.
Hold everyone that.
Thirst. You know that we are living in a thirsty age, a thirsty generation.
You and I know full well at all around us there are those who are spending their money.
For that which is not bread striving after that which cannot satisfy.
And I stand here with the joy and privilege, yet with the solemn challenge of telling you, my friend, that there is one who can quench that thirst. There is one who can satisfy that longing for time and for eternity.
Notice please this sixth verse. Seek ye the Lord.
Seek ye the Lord.
I wish to press this upon you. God's word declares the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. You and I seek for things because we don't know where they are, but not so with the Lord Jesus. He has come, beloved, to seek you, to seek me. He knew right where we were, He came right where we were.
But what happened? I turned my back. Am I the only one? I don't believe I am. I believe there are many here tonight who would say the same thing. You knew that he was seeking you. You knew that he had a message for you. And I say again, Almighty, only one that turned my back and went farther and farther down.
The broad Rd. that was leading me daily nearer to destruction. But he sought me, He played with me, He said to me in the language of this very verse, Seek ye the Lord.
Did I have far to seek?
Is there anyone here that would say that you had far to seek? All you and I had to do is just turn around and find there the outstretched arms of a seeking Savior who came to seek and to save that which was lost.
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I see as the Lord Jesus was here among men the picture of that poor sinful woman of the streets of the city, who came at the very feet of the Lord Jesus, and there wept out with tears of repentance the sorrow of her heart, and yet the love of her heart. And what did the Lord Jesus, that seeking Savior, say to that woman?
Thy sins be forgiven thee.
See Zacchaeus, if you will, a man who might feel that he had an excuse to turn away from the opportunity that was so near in hand. It was difficult for Zacchaeus to fulfill the desire of his heart, but no obstacle could hinder that man from being in the presence of the one whom he felt sure could satisfy the longing of his soul and the seeking Savior.
And the seeking Sinner met together beneath that Sycamore tree, and it was there from the lips of the Lord Jesus and to that very man, Zacchaeus, that the Lord Jesus said, the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
You and I know that again and again, through the pages of the Word of God, we find the seeking Savior and the seeking Sinner meet together. And every time it's pardoned.
And blessing, beloved friend, I say to you this moment, seek ye the Lord, while he may be found, Is there really an hour coming when he will no longer be found? He will no longer be.
Near there is indeed, my friend, and I feel it to be my responsibility to warn you solemnly that that hour, that moment, is very near at hand, when the seeking Savior will no longer be near at hand.
All that I have been burdened even before these meetings began, as I pictured to myself the fathers and the mothers with their sons and their daughters who would possibly be gathered together here.
And the challenge of those who would try to tell out the message of God's matchless love.
And I knew in my soul that the Savior who has so often looked down upon sin, just seen as this, would yearn far, far more than any of us could ever yearns. That everyone in this company, every boy and every girl, every one of you beloved young people, everyone in this company might know the eternal joy.
Of his home, his welcome, his love for all eternity.
Yet once more I face this challenge, and I look at this moment into the faces of those who are gathered here, and the challenge burdens my soul.
You know, quite a while ago I was standing outside a tent on the island of Saint Kitts and there was a man preaching there and he was putting everything he had into the message.
But he noticed, I guess from time to time, that there were those who were not paying very good attention.
And every once in a while, he'd stop and say, what did I say? And he'd make them repeat the last sentence. He was so in earnest that that message that he was delivering would not be lost upon those who heard it, that he'd point right at them and say, what did I say? And he'd wait until they gave back the message that he was delivering. Now, my friend, this is a very, very solemn moment for every one of us.
As our brother felt and expressed last night at the beginning of the meeting, he was going to be responsible before God for the words that he uttered here last night. And I am going to be responsible too. And you are going to be responsible for having sat here to hear a message which I trust I can say is not my own, but the message of him who here in the Old Testament.
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Pleads with his people that they might receive from him that which he had to offer.
Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found.
Oh, as I stand here and see a Bible in everyone's hands and know that you have heard this message so often, I wonder, my friend, do you and I realize.
What a solemn, solemn responsibility is being recorded in God's books in a day by day record of your life. This morning our brother spoke to us of a simple parable of the straw, if you wish, by which.
Water is drawn up into the the mouth of a thirsty man. He spoke of that conduit which brought the water from afar off to a thirsty city. City.
You know if he spoke.
I thought of a conduit.
A water pipe that began in a teeming, thirsty city of Hong Kong.
And that conduit, that water pipe was built from that city away back through the distant hills for miles in order that water might be brought to the people of that ever thirsty city, Hong Kong.
Day by day.
That pipe was constructed farther and farther into the hills in the distance. And do you know one day a strange thing happened. Maybe you'll find it hard to believe, but some of the workmen that were at the Hong Kong end of that pipe saw to their astonishment.
A man crawl out from the opening of that pipe. He blinked his eyes.
And looked about him. His clothes were torn, he was bruised and bleeding. He got up on his feet with a look of thrilling delight. He was in a free land at last.
And he'd only gotten on his feet. And another one crawled out, and another one man. Women, children, young people. They told me how many. And I have forgotten the numbers.
If you suffer from claustrophobia, you'd better not try to picture this.
That they had gotten in at a far end of that pipe. I'm telling you the truth. And have crawled and squirmed those miles through that water pipe, yet empty in order to come out in Hong Kong. Why have they done it? Did they not have enough to eat where they came from? Yes, they did. But they came from a land where the very existence of God was denied.
Where this precious book was unknown, Where the name of Jesus was never heard.
And beloved, I'm going to go a step farther. My dear wife and I stood beside one of those men who had escaped. We found him in a hospital on the island of Hailing Chao. Our beloved brother, Robert Pilkington was with us and stood by that bedside as that dear man who had just undergone surgery to try to remedy the ravages of leprosy from his hands and from his feet.
And he told us, and Robert translated.
That in that place, for the first time in all his life, he'd seen a Bible. The first time in all his life he'd even heard the name of Jesus. And with those bad digits, uplifted hands, he told us with gladness that he had found out that he was a Sinner in the sight of God, and that God loved him, that God's beloved Son, the Lord Jesus.
Have died for him.
And he had accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior. He held up those disfigured hands and rejoice.
And I'm going to meet him in the glory. And now, my friend, you sit here with a Bible in your lap, with all liberty, hearing though you heard it often before, that there is a God who knows all about you, but who loves you in spite of it all.
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Does that offend you? Am I talking about someone else? No, my friend. I'm talking about you and about myself.
It amazes me to say it, and I say it with gladness.
The God who knew all about me, the God whose eye rested upon the record of my guilt, loved me. Loved me enough to send his own beloved son.
The Lord Jesus to take that guilt upon Himself, to bear the strokes of judgment that I deserve, to shed His precious blood for me. And I thank God for those who pressed upon me from the days of my earliest memory.
That the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from.
All sin.
I'm sure there is no harm in repetition. Let me emphasize the importance of that verse in a way that perhaps the children will understand. I hope they will. I was addressing a group of children one time from that very verse.
And we read it together. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. We came to that word us. And I asked the children present, was it proper English to say us when I'm standing all alone by myself? They said, no, Sir, you'd have to say I or me.
But us means more than one. Well, I said, I'm all alone up here and I want to read this book as God wrote it. Now, I don't do this very often. I had never done it before. But I pointed to a boy I remember on the front row who had been listening with such a happy look on his face. I said, my boy, do you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior? And he jumped to his feet in a moment. He said, yes, Sir, I do.
Let's ask ourselves now if that question were addressed to you.
And God could look into your very heart. Could you rise to your feet and say, yes Sir, I do?
Well, I said, my boy, would you then please come up here with me and let us read this verse together. And he did. And we stood there side by side and read that precious verse. As God has written it, The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth. And I looked down at that lad, and he looked up at me, and we read that precious word together.
Cleanser us from all sin.
I think we both enjoyed it equally.
It's ever precious to my soul that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's beloved Son, is that which has cleansed this heart of mine from every stain of sin. Seek ye the Lord while He is near.
While he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.
When you stop to think of it, if someone had the full record of my life, with all the stains of sin and guilt that I recorded there, would I not want to be on the other side of the world from that man? I wouldn't want to meet him.
I'd say there's a man that knows all about me, every stain of sin in my life, he knows he's got it all written down. I don't ever want to meet him. I want to stay a long way from him. And there's many a Sinner that feels that way. They want to keep at a distance from the one who knows all about the sin stained record of their life. But the Lord Jesus pleads with you.
And bites you to be found at his feet. What for? In order that he might remind you of the record that he has kept. You know, in the affairs of this world, folks can try to keep back the record of their guilt.
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They do. They try to keep back the record of their guilt. I remember years ago.
And you know, this was quite a while ago, the Bell Telephone Company had an open house where we lived and invited anyone to come and see how their operations were carried out.
And in the course of going through the plant, they had what was a very, very strange contraption known as a tape recorder. I'd never seen one in my life before. And they invited us to speak into this microphone and then hear our voices back again. It was a new experience to me. I don't remember what I said into it, but I remember my astonishment of hearing those words come back exactly as I had uttered them.
If you make a slip, it comes back. If you say something you wish you hadn't, it comes back. And my friend, I will remember that when I first heard my voice coming back on a tape recorder.
It.
It sounded fascinating, but then I suddenly thought, is it really true?
That everything I've ever said, he has heard it, he has recorded it. I can't erase it. I can't hold it back from him. He doesn't ask it from me. He has the record, all of it. And beloved friend, he looks at that record, he stretches out his arms and he says, I love you. I love you and Ioffer you a part and an eternal pardon.
And that pardon cost him the light blood of his own dear son. Verse seven. Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Now this surely couldn't be referring to anyone here, could it?
The wicked, the unrighteous.
Does this apply to anyone here my friend? You may try to avoid it. You may think this points the finger at someone that you know. But I'll tell you who is described in this verse. I am and you are. God's word says there is no difference, for all have sinned. God's word says all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him.
With whom we have to do, And you and thy had better not turn away from that description which we find in God's Word, for He writes it with a full record before him. Every act, every word. And what about the thoughts?
Surely not the thoughts. Did you notice this seventh verse? The unrighteous man, His thoughts.
Does God keep record of those?
Does God hold us responsible for those beloved friends? This is solemn. God decreed in the days of Noah, every imagination of the thought of man's heart was only evil continually.
Your thoughts? My thoughts? Would a holy God be entitled to brand them as wicked, envious, proud, selfish?
He knows it all, and here we find the invitation. He will have mercy upon him and to our God, for He will pardon. Look at your Bible. Did I read that correctly? He will abundantly pardon. Isn't that delightful, dear friend? He who knows all about you and me?
He who has so faithfully described the record of your life and of mine, stretches out his arms and invites and pleads with you and me to come near in order that we might receive from him.
Abundant.
Pardon. This is my joy. This is my portion, beloved.
I, by God's matchless mercy and grace, I have been abundantly pardoned. And if that book were to be open tonight, where my unworthy name is written down and the eye of God looked at those pages, do you know what would be found recorded there? Those pages would be found as quite as snow.
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The stains of guilt that were there, and they were many, are gone.
For the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from.
All sin. I repeat it again, and with gladness. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
Pardon, mercy has been known in the courts of this land, we're aware of it. But here the invitation is extended in a pleading, seeking manner.
That the one who comes might receive.
Abundant pardons. That's the heart of God to you and to me, beloved. And I know that in this company tonight there are those who sit here rejoicing together with me, that your sins as well as mine are pardoned by him who delights the pardon abundantly.
In fact, I make this distinction without fear of being contradicted that everyone in this company.
From that corner to that corner, everyone in this company is either lost and guilty and in your sins.
And on the downward Rd. to hell or else. And there is only one other alternative.
Your pardon. Forgiven. Saved.
And on the way home to glory, to meet, and to thank the Savior who loved you and who died for you.
May I ask you, friend, young and old, I ask you now, in which of those two positions do you stand under the eye of God?
Lost or saved, guilty or pardoned in your sins, or forgiven eternal.
On the road to hell or on the road to glory, it matters much more to my Lord Jesus Christ than it matters to me. He stood looking upon the city of Jerusalem, and the tears ran down his cheeks as he wept over that city.
Longed that he might be able to bring blessing to the very city that was about to spit in his face and crucify him.
And beloved, he looks upon this company tonight, and here is where I feel the challenge of it. He looks upon you with a concern, with a care, with a love that this poor heart of mine I know can never, never express. But I want you to see through these failing words of mine that there is a God whom you will meet, and He loves you.
There is a Savior who will be on that throne in a coming day, and you will meet.
Tonight he offers you an abundant pardon and you'll remember forever and ever and ever if you refuse it. Yes you will. In the darkness, the remorse of a lost eternity, there will be 10s of thousands of souls who lived in Christian land who will remember forever.
That they were offered a pardon, and an abundant pardon at that.
And they refused it, in fact. In fact, you know right now as we meet here.
That there are many, so many, who are already in a lost eternity and have taken with them the memory of sitting with an open Bible in their hand, listening to the gospel, and went out of the door once too often. Lost and guilty still.
Turn please to First Peter chapter one.
First Peter chapter one.
Verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Which according to his abundant mercy.
Hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fate of not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God.
Through faith under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
Oh I love these words.
The very man who wrote these words was one day at the feet of the Lord Jesus, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man. Oh Lord, does that sound like the language of Peter? It was indeed, you know it was. Has it ever been your language? Have you ever fallen at the feet of the Lord Jesus to own yourself sinful?
We dare not point the finger at someone else. We know very well that when God's word says there is no difference, it means me, it means you, It points to Peter, it points to Paul, it points to the very ones who penned these words. And it thrills my soul to see Peter at the feet of the Lord Jesus saying I am a Sinner. He says more than that.
I am a sinful man, oh Lord. And now Peter takes up the pen and by divine inspiration record these words for our confidence and joy. Bless it. Be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't this wonderful that He looks right up to the very God whom you and I once dreaded?
There never was a time with me when I denied or doubted the existence of God.
Nor even doubted the reality that I must someday meet Him. I knew it, and it made me tremble. And no argument by anyone ever, ever cause the faintest doubt to enter my mind. This book was the living word of God.
And that I was going to meet Sunday, the one who had put such words in my hands. I knew it, and it made me tremble. That, beloved friend, what do I find as I open it now? Bless it, be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that delightful? Isn't this delightful? The very one who you and I feared. The very one at whom we wish to stand at a distance.
Is now the very one who's loving wondrous heart is revealed that God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his.
Abundant mercy.
What he offered you and me was an abundant pardon, for we were verily guilty. And now in all our need, he offers.
Abundant mercy. Oh, I'll tell you this, that in preaching the Gospel, I find it hard to restrict myself to the forgiveness of sins and the certainty of heaven when the deadly journey here is over.
I feel it most necessary that we stress that that all beloved He picked me up and redeemed my soul well over 40 years ago.
And I look back over those 40 years to publicly declare that he's been far more than one who forgave all my sins, far more than one who promises me a home up there when the time here is ended. He has been everything that ever he promised and beyond my thoughts and expectations.
That abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope. All beloved, day by day. There is that sure.
And certain hope within the soul of those who know the Lord Jesus as Savior.
That we have even now a living, loving Savior, and we have before us an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. As we look around today, you and I know full well what we see. I know in spite of all the problems in this land, I don't think you'd really choose to go somewhere else and face the conditions there.
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I feel, dear fellow believer, that you and I have much to thank God for, and we can well lay our head on our pillow at night and thank Him again and again. But all the blessed hope that is ours of knowing that when our time here has ended, dearly beloved, we're going home to be with the One who loved us and died to redeem us, to share for all eternity in that inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled.
Not away. And all this because of the abundant mercy in the heart of God.
Oh, when I looked this night upon any who do not yet know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, and I compare your destiny, your future with that which God's word describes, my heart aches for you.
What is the future, What is the destiny? What is the hope, if you prefer, of the unbelievers, of the one who goes out into eternity without Christ?
The Lord Jesus describes it, and you can't accuse me of exaggerating weeping.
Wailing. Gnashing of teeth.
Outer darkness.
Bound hand and foot.
A lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. Why did he speak this way? Because it's true, that's why. Because it's all true. And he doesn't want you to be there. Instead, he points to this glorious destiny, this wondrous inheritance. And between those destinies there stands the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Between the two their flows the precious blood of Christ. Between the two there stands the the abundant mercy of God. I know, for I was on the wrong side. Now, by God's matchless grace, by his abundant mercy, I am numbered among those redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as we get in this very chapter. Is this true of you, dear friend? Is it true of you?
Our own next door neighbor at home.
A man who worshiped the dollar bill. I'm afraid I must speak the truth.
He started a business not too many years ago and when he found he was not well, he offered his business for sale and the price tag was over $1,000,000 for that business he had for sale. And I saw him not long before he was taken, spoke to him about his soul, his destiny for the first time. He stood and listened till I was finished and then without a word he walked away. I never saw him again.
He's gone, He's gone into eternity, and it's a sad and dreadful experience to slip into the Funeral Home and look into the cold face of a neighbor. Like that beloved friend, I speak the truth. There are two destinies, and the abundant mercy of God has prepared for you and me.
A destiny that is described in the most wondrous and glowing language.
And the same God who describes the glory of that hope describes also the solemn and awful despair of those who go into eternity without Christ.
I'm going to say this.
Especially for the ears of those who are growing up in Christian homes.
I feel this to the depth of my soul.
At the most awful Wales that will ever echo through, those caverns of eternal torment will come from the lips of sons and daughters of Christian parents.
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I tremble to say it, for I picture myself.
As so easily numbered among them.
One day I was on my way home from a gospel meeting with my God fearing, praying mother. We came to the corner of Sunnyside and Fairburn Ave. in Ottawa.
And there was a wire hanging down right beside the sidewalk. I had passed that corner going to and from school every day, and I'd never seen the wire before. And with the curiosity of a small boy, I reached out to lay hold of it. And just then, with a shriek, someone pulled me back.
The fire station on that corner.
The fireman who pulled me back trembled and he said, my boy, there are 22,000 volts in that wire. It just came down and someones gone to turn off the current. And I was to stand here and see that no one touched it till the current was turned off. And he had turned his head for a moment and this boy came within an inch of touching that wire. You know, when I got home that night, neither mother nor I said a word the rest of the way home.
She said to me, Albert.
If you had touched that wire, where would you be now?
I'm sorry to tell you what I did.
I just hung my head and didn't answer.
I knew that I was lost, a lost son and a Christian home. I'd heard the gospel.
I've been in a Sunday school where my teacher and he's here tonight faithfully.
Lovingly, repeatedly plead with us to accept Christ, but I had not done so. It was not long after that, by God's grace, that I bowed these stubborn knees of mine, and I can say this night, the gospel of Thy grace, my stubborn heart as one. The abundant pardon is true, the abundant mercy it's true. My sins are gone, my soul is saved, and I'm on my way home to share.
The glorious hope that awaits those who are sheltered by the precious blood of Christ. Could we turn back, please?
To First Timothy.
Chapter One.
And we'll find a statement made by the chief of sinners, but the one who breathed out threatenings and slaughter against those who love the person in the name of the Lord Jesus. First Timothy 114 And the grace of our Lord was, please notice.
Exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. They'll love it when you hear the words of the chief of sinners. He looked back to that which he once was, and he said the grace of our Lord was abundant, or he adds to it.
Exceeding abundance.
Paul rejoiced in it, Peter rejoiced in it. Thank God I rejoice in it too. And the joy I taste this night is an eternal joy. Oh, my friend, do you understand something of what's going on in my soul as I stand here?
It means everything to me. I was lost. I was guilty. I was on the road to hell. But the abundant pardon, the abundant mercy, the abundant grace of God's own heart was directed toward me. He sought me. He found me. My stubborn knees were bowed. I told him I'm guilty. I'm lost.
And I want to be saved tonight. I want those sins blotted out. Now, does he hear a prayer like that? I recently asked a number of young folks, all of whom told me that they knew the Lord Jesus as Savior. I said, when you got down on your knees to settle this matter, did you say anything out loud? And you know, they looked a little surprised, as though I might perhaps insist that they had to say something out loud.
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And with some embarrassment, they all, one by one said no, I just said it in my heart. That's the way he wants you to say it. Beloved friend. I'm sure I didn't say a word out loud until after when I told those who cared for my soul, those who prayed for my soul.
I was surprised that the amount of courage it took to confess him.
Beloved, when I think of the abundant pardon, the abundant mercy, the exceeding abundant grace that has been bestowed upon me, a lost, hell bound Sinner, that I can stand here this night and tell you that the long-suffering of God has permitted you to hear once more the story of His matchless love and grace. He wants you. He wants you to know that pardon He wants to take away.
Sustained the burden, the guilt of your sins He suffered upon the cross of Calvary. He shed his precious blood. The work is done, beloved friend, it's done. It is finished. The Son of God has declared its soul. And with eagerness, with gladness, He offers to you.
Unstintingly, that which is abundant mercy.
Abundant grace long that you should possess that. We turn briefly back to John's Gospel.
John's Gospel, chapter 10.
Verse 10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal.
And to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more.
Abundantly.
Again, that which he delights to give, He gives with all the abundance of his Lord and loving heart more abundantly does not mean that I possess it in a measure now, but He's going to make it a greater measure.
It's just something that I didn't possess at all until He gave it to me. He has given to me that which I did not possess before.
A light that fits me now, by God's matchless grace, to dwell with Him in the courts of glory forever. I possess it, and He has given it to me abundantly. Yes, more abundantly. Oh, how He delights to give.
I want to present to you as we draw this meeting to a close tonight, a God whose heart overflows with love and tender pardons. But I warn you as I do so.
That if you spurn the offer of pardon.
If you reject the invitation to receive His mercy, His grace, the life that he offers, all my friends, the only alternative causes my soul to tremble as I think about it. For this same precious book, with all its pleadings of love describes in the clothing sad scene.
A company that stand before him. What does it say of them? I saw the dead.
What a sad contrast to this verse. I saw the dead.
Small and great stand before God. Are they dead or alive? Well, they're standing before God. They're about to receive their doom, but they're still called dead.
It's a solemn thing, my friend, when he offers you life and you refuse that offer. See the solemn language of Scripture? Those who are even spoken of as dead, though they are brought forth out of their graves and stand there before him in that day, the language of Scripture still describes them in that terrifying way. And then what do we read?
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Casts into the Lake of Fire.
Do you understand why we plead with you? Do you understand why we even hesitate to see this meeting come to a close?
It's an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. It's the home of my beloved Savior, to which he waits to welcome me. Or or and there is only the one other alternative.
Cast into, Cast into. Think of those words, the mocker who said there was no such place.
The blasphemer who used that word hell so lightly and carelessly.
In his day by day conversation.
The son, the daughter of Christian parents who knew all along that it was true, but intended someday.
To have it settled and to escape that place. And then shall I dare to introduce one more class, Those who stand in the pulpits of the land and tell us there is no such place, Are they going to be cast into all? My friends, my friend, this is a solemn moment. I plead with you, I beg of you, that before you leave this place.
You see to it that the abundant pardon, the abundant mercy, the abundant grace of God's own loving heart is yours, that you accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior and go out of this place with the joy of knowing on the authority of God's Word and by virtue of the precious blood of Christ that is wondrous, present and eternal heritage is yours.
Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ and on our way home to the glory. The other alternative? Don't tempt God, my friend. Don't tempt God. You're going to meet him someday.
Shall I just make one comment in closing? We read in I believe it's First Corinthians 8.
How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty.
Abounded, abounded under the riches of their liberality. God doesn't promise His people a smooth and prosperous journey homeward, but I'll tell you what He does promise. He promises along with those abundant things that are offered to the lost. He promises that those of us who know Him as our Savior.
And enjoy the wonder of His company along the homeward journey. Though we may experience affliction or poverty, we'll have an abundance of joy from His loving heart that will make it all worthwhile. Beloved, I've seen it. Again and again I've seen it.
In the depth of poverty and in mountains of affliction, I have seen the abundance of joy.
That shines from the face and from the testimony of those who know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
I certainly don't do this very often, and my brethren though, I don't.
But I don't intend to leave this hall tonight.
Until the rest of you folks are gone.
And if there is anyone?
Even though it be a child who wishes to leave this place.
Assured that those sins are gone, assured that you're going to be with Christ in glory instead of in the lake of fire. I'll be here to open this precious book again with you, to pray with you.
I don't want you.
To go to bed and close your eyes lost.
Because you may never hear the gospel again.