Gospel—R. Thonney
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Good evening.
Welcome to the Gospel meeting.
Like to start the meeting by quoting.
3 verses.
First in the first John chapter one and verse 5.
God is light.
Second one in first John 48, God is love.
Third one, First John, 4/16.
God is love.
We're going to sitting number six on a hymn sheet.
God in mercy sent his Son to a world by sin and done.
Jesus Christ was crucified to us for sinners. Jesus died.
All the glory of the grace shining in the Savior's face, telling sinners from above. God is light and God is love.
God in mercy sent him.
No more showering.
She's a * and there's a game begin by the Glory Sun.
Gods and bring me to life. Oh.
Always gives us now.
Grace, somebody may not say the 1St man.
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How wonderful that those two verses that we began the meeting with God is light.
What is light?
If you turn off all the lights in here, I wouldn't be able to tell who is in here.
I might be able to guess. It sounds like there's some people in here, but when you switch on the lights everything is clear. There's so many boys and girls on these front rows and back aways as well. Everything is clear. Nothing can be hidden in the light, but at the same time that God is light.
He knows every single thing about me. You know what? If you knew everything about me, you might not like me that way.
But you know what? God is not only light, His love, and He loves us not because of who we are, but because of who He is. We go to the prison in Lawrence County sometimes and I like to ask them in off times.
God loves us. Why? And one of the first answers I get is because we're his children. I said. Well, if you haven't accepted the Lord as your Savior, you're not his child.
But he loves you. Why? And they think again and they say, because we're as creatures. Well, that's true, we're as creatures. But I say the best answer I can give you, God bless you, because God is love. And the word for love there, if you study its meaning, it's a love of sacrifice.
It's a love that loves not because of what the object is, but because of the source of that love.
God is love.
You know, sometimes people talk about a loving God. I prefer simply to say God is love. And amazingly wonderful to know him that way.
And you know, God is so infinite in His being, so eternal, He never had a beginning, that it is hard for us in our minds to comprehend how great He really is. I can't imagine of a person who always existed, never had a beginning. Everything I know, everybody I know, has a beginning and an ending.
But here's a being that has no beginning and no ending. Besides that. You know what? God has never learned anything because He knows everything. Absolutely everything. And that's the amazing thing. Even though He knows everything about me, He loves me.
And to me, that is the most wonderful thing.
But you know God is so infinite, so grand, that he had to send his Son. God had a son. You know God exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the Lord Jesus is the Son of God. And so God determined to send his Son into this world, and the Lord Jesus came into this world.
He was born in the city of Bethlehem, and you know when his poor mother.
Imagine nine months pregnant going from Nazareth to Bethlehem. I don't know how many miles that must have been. That must have been a tough one for that dear lady.
At the end they went to an inn to see if there was a room for them.
Sorry, no room here. You can go out there where the animals are. Maybe you can find a place to lie down out there.
And that's where the Son of God came into this world. He was born.
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In a stable, his mother wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the Manger. But nobody seemed to understand the magnitude of the fact that the Son of God had come into this world.
The angels came down and for the first time they saw their creator. God is invisible to created eyes.
But here, for the first time, the angels were seeing their creator and they said, where are these people that have the word of God in their hands? They should know what's going on. Yeah, they had the Bible in their hands. They didn't understand.
Oh, how sad that is. And so the angels went out into the fields around Bethlehem, and there were some shepherds out there, and that was the first ones to hear the news. Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. So the Lord Jesus came into this world and was generally speaking.
Unknown. He grew up in Nazareth.
To me it is an interesting.
I we know that we have a record in Luke of the fact that.
I When he was 12 years old, the Lord Jesus was 12 years old. He went up to Jerusalem with his parents. Mary was his mother.
Joseph wasn't his real father. It was what we call his stepfather. Joseph was a Carpenter.
So the Lord Jesus turned out to be a Carpenter too. There's a lot of boys that just follow in the footsteps of their father. And the Lord Jesus turned out to be a Carpenter. Often thought I'd like to have a piece of furniture that Jesus made. Must have been made pretty well. Anyhow, that's what he was in this life. But at 30 years of age, one day he comes to where John the Baptist is baptizing.
And he says to John the Baptist, I want to be baptized. But John the Baptist realized that Jesus didn't have any sins. John's baptism was a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. John says, no, no, please, I need to be baptized by you and you coming to me.
Jesus said let it be for the time being.
Thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. And so John baptized him. Why did he baptize him? Why did the Lord Jesus want to be baptized? You know, baptism is a way of identifying yourself. And so the Lord Jesus at that baptism of John saw two people, two groups of people there one side where.
The religious.
People of the world, of the Jewish world, they throbbly thought, we're just fine. We don't really need to be baptized. We're fine like we are.
On the other side were all these sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors and sinners, and they recognize their sin, and they were baptized.
Which of these two groups?
Did Jesus identify with you know, it was it wasn't with these religious hypocrites, it was with these that were sinners and repented of their sins and that's why Jesus was baptized this in that way identified himself with those that had repented. But you know the story of his life at the end of.
30 years he started into his public ministry.
And after 3 1/2 years of healing people, you know, you think you'd like to have a person around that could heal all the diseases there were. I look at some of these huge hospitals as I drive around the country. The Lord Jesus could go into that hospital and empty that hospital of all the sick people. Wouldn't you kind of like to have a person like that?
They did not want him.
They said away with this man. Give us Barabbas a robber and a thief and a murderer. That's the man we want, not Jesus.
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And they took Jesus outside the city of Jerusalem, they took nails, and they hammered it through his hands and his feet, and they lifted that cross up there. And I think when that car cross fell into its hole, it must have jolted him because he says in the Psalms, all my bones are out of joint. Imagine a bone out of joint, how much pain it causes.
There the Lord Jesus was hung from.
9:00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon. For six hours he suffered there. For the first three hours, people passed in front of him, insulting him and spitting on him.
They said if he's the Son of God, let God deliver him.
Did God deliver him?
No, why not? Didn't God love his son? Yes, he loved him, but you know what? He loved you and me as well. And there was no other way for us to be saved that then the Lord Jesus go to the cross and die as a sacrifice for our sins. So in those six hours that he was hanging on the cross, the second three hours.
Were hours.
Of darkness. From 12 noon to 3:00 in the afternoon, everything was dark.
And nobody could see the awfulness of what took place in those three hours of darkness.
Isaiah, the prophet says He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Oh, we, like sheep are gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way.
The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Think of it. In those three hours, God laid on Jesus the iniquity of my sins. And in those three hours God punished Jesus. The full weight of divine judgment fell on the Lord Jesus in those three hours.
And for three hours you look at the record in the Bible.
There is no sound from that center cross silence as he suffered those waves and billows of God's judgment. If God was going to forgive you your sins, my friend, somebody had to pay the price for them. And it was Jesus in those three hours that paid the price in full. God's holy character had to be vindicated fully, and it was.
With the Lord, Jesus suffered in those three hours.
Only at the end of those three hours, there's a cry that comes out. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why did God forsake his Son? Because he was.
Bearing our sins in his own body on the tree. How awful, how awful, how terrible. We'll never understand the awfulness of what the Lord Jesus suffered on that Christ.
But before he died, he said it is finished and he bowed his head and died.
You know, the work of redemption was completely finished. And then a soldier took the spear and pierced it into his side, and out of his side comes blood and water. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, there is no forgiveness of sins. And I want to read a couple verses that to me.
Really speak to my heart first of all in Acts chapter 10.
Acts Chapter 10.
And here Peter is preaching to.
A Gentile.
Commander of the Roman army, verse 36 says the word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ.
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He is Lord of all the Lord Jesus because of his work on the cross.
As the position now being Lord of all.
And I think it is such a challenge to those of us who profess to know him. Is he really Lord in your life?
When it comes down to His desires for your life, you put your own desires in front of His desires.
Let me tell you, we live in a culture that glorifies.
Satisfying yourself. Do what you like, you have the right to it.
Is that right? I say when you sin against God, you forfeit your rights. You and I no longer have rights. There is one who has all the rights, the one who is Lord of all. Look at another verse in chapter 2 of Philippians.
Philippians, Chapter 2.
The end of verse five. Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself.
And became obedient unto death.
Even the death of the cross. Wherefore God has highly also highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ.
Is Lord.
To the glory of God the Father, because of what the Lord Jesus has done.
He is Lord of all.
And every knee is going to bow, and every tongue will confess him. Lord. I really think that that has been a problem in the Christian testimony in the United States of America is that we don't know what it means to own Him as Lord. That word is a word that recognizes His.
Supreme authority.
God has given him that place, and every tongue will confess him Lord. Even the demons of hell are going to have to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and they're going to do it in a decent way because it's to the glory of God the Father.
Oh, how important to recognize him as Lord. You children, you young people, recognize him as Lord the one you surrender everything to you. He is the one who has authority. You know, it scares me.
Being in meetings like this, so glad to see all you children here and young people too. But it it scares me when I think of some of those that have sat in meetings like this. I know.
Maybe 4:00 I could think of right off hand that used to break bread at the Lord's table and today they say they are atheists, they don't believe in a God. How can that happen?
It's because they've never come to the point of recognizing Jesus as Lord. I think I've told this story before, but I don't remember if everybody here might have heard it.
When we lived in Bolivia.
We arrived there in 1975 and we decided to build a house right next door to the meeting room in Montero, Bolivia, and I contracted a brother to do the building and one of the young men that was subcontracted.
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Professed to be a believer too. He was breaking bread and he used to go with us on trips to visit some of the other meetings in the.
Amazon base in lowland area.
After we got our house done, why, he moved on to some other work, evidently, and I lost track of him. And one day I found him in a marketplace and I was so surprised to see him. And he says, yeah, yeah, I'll be back to meeting, I'll be back to meeting. He thought it was just meeting. I was worried about, really wasn't that at all. But anyhow, I lost track of him again.
If you would go with us to moan terrible Libya, they.
Have motorcycle taxis there. Instead of getting in a taxi, you can get on the back of a motorcycle and they'll take you where you want to go.
Well, these men that were motorcycle taxiists started appearing dead on the side of a road, one place and another, and nobody knew who was doing that until one day there was a man picked up on the side of the road. He'd been shot in the head, but evidently the bullet went through around the side of his skull and.
They took him into the hospital and he recovered and he told who it was that did it.
It was this man that helped to build our house, with whom we broke bread in Montero, Bolivia.
And he confessed it was a military government at that time, but he confessed to having killed at least 12. I forget if it was even more. Maybe people that way he would.
He would take them out in the country and tell them to stop and he would put a bullet in their head and then take off with their motorcycle and sell it somewhere.
But he not only didn't seem repentant, but he said.
Said, though, when I get out, I'm going to do a lot worse than that.
No sign of repentance.
One day, as they do in military government, they took him out into the countryside to supposedly an investigation as to where he might have sold some of those motorcycles.
But it really was with another purpose in mind and they kind of.
Didn't keep close track of them and all of a sudden here he is running towards this jungle and trying to get away and they said stop and he didn't stop. Boom boom boom.
And that was his, their way of taking care of that situation.
But when I heard it.
It shook me to the core. It shook me to the core. Is it possible that I broke bread at the Lord's Table with a person that is now burning in Hellfire? Yes, that's what happened. Is it possible that some of these people in here today are here, but they have never really surrendered to the Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ, that one who went to the cross to pay the ultimate price of redemption for our sins?
And yet you say I want to have my own way. I'm going to do things my way.
Yeah, I'll believe in Jesus so that I can go to heaven at the end. You never have surrendered to His.
Lordship.
Another verse I want to read you is in Romans chapter 14.
And verse 9.
For to this end.
Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be.
Lord both of the dead and living. The Lord Jesus is Lord both of the dead and living. I don't know where you are in your soul. I can't see your heart.
But there is a God of light who is looking right down at you and knows exactly everything you're thinking.
Knows if you're holding back something from the Lord Jesus. He is Lord of all. But here it says He is the Lord of the dead and of the living.
That man that got killed?
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He's going to have to give an account to Jesus.
And he's going to.
Stand before him, he's going to be raised from the dead. Who knows where his body is right now?
Decomposed body, but he's going to stand before Jesus and give an account, and he's going to be.
Cast into the lake of fire, there's no one. There's no way you can escape him. You must meet Jesus. He wants to be your Savior now.
I plead with you to surrender to him.
What I say doesn't have much account, but what God says is something that you cannot avoid. You will meet with Jesus face to face. You will give an account to him. You will confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord.
How important that you do it here and now.
You know, it's so important. And I say.
Scripture speaks of two things that are necessary for salvation. Let's just look at them in Acts chapter 20.
Acts Chapter 20.
And.
Verse.
21.
The apostle Paul is speaking here, and he says testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, two things that are very necessary. Repentance means to rethink things.
It comes from the Latin word pent and it means to think.
Repent means to rethink.
You've been thinking with yourself at the core of your thoughts.
Repent. Change your thinking. It has to be Jesus at the center of your thoughts, and that's so important. But repentance does not save.
Repentance does not save. Look at a verse in Luke chapter.
13.
Verse one.
There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Jesus answering, said unto them, Suppose ye that those these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I say unto you, Nay, but accept ye repent, Ye shall all likewise perish to be saved you have to repent.
Repent isn't what saves, but it's necessary.
For salvation.
Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. What saves is faith in Christ. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. So if you don't repent, you can't be saved. That's number one thing. And so I ask you if you are thinking, dear young people, dear children, dear older ones too, with yourself at the center of your thoughts.
Repent. Make Jesus the center of your thoughts, not yourself. I see that our American way of thinking has really been a damage to so many people.
Now look at.
Want to go to Matthew's Gospel chapter?
27 Here we have one who repented himself.
It wasn't a true repentance, but it was he repented himself. Chapter 27 and verse one.
When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death, and when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor.
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Then Judas, which had betrayed him when he saw that he was condemned.
That was, Jesus was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned, and that I betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, what is that to us, See thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went.
And hanged himself awful. Here is one of the apostles.
The 12 apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, who saw the Lord's miracles, who listened to his words.
For 3 1/2 years, I suppose that Judas Iscariot actually did miracles as well. He preached the gospel of the King of King of the Kingdom.
And here he is, I think at the end of his life. But he thought was important was money.
He says Lord has walked out of so many traps and I hang and I deliver him, and I come to an agreement with the Pharisees to deliver him up. And I know Jesus would just walk out of the trap and I'll have those thirty pieces of silver in my pocket and nobody will ever know.
Didn't turn out that way.
The Lord Jesus didn't walk out of the trap. He submitted himself and Judas, it says he repented himself. It wasn't a repentance from God, because a true repentance from God is a repentance that's followed by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he went and hung on himself. It's not enough to repent if Judas would have gone back to the Lord Jesus and recognized and confessed his terrible act of of, of betrayal.
With the Lord Jesus have forgiven him. I'm sure he would have.
But he didn't have that faith to do that.
And where is Judas Iscariot now? He went to his own place. He is burning in Hellfire. How awful to think about. Is there anybody here that has repented, truly repented? I plead with you.
Think about it, make Jesus Lord of your life, don't be so self-centered. You know what? It impresses me that so many people are so self-centered and yet.
They are not happy people.
That's not a happy person, that's self-centered.
Second person I want to show you is in the book of Acts chapter 8.
Here we have a person.
Who believed?
Scripture actually says he believed he was actually baptized, wasn't he said.
Let's see.
Acts Chapter 8.
And verse.
Five. Then Philip went down to the city of Samara, Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. The people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
Verse eight. There was great joy in that city, but there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that he himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.
To him they had regard because of that of long that of long time he had bewitched them with.
His sorceries when they believe Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Then Simon himself believed also, and when he was baptized he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
That interesting he believed he was baptized. Wasn't he saved?
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Let's see a little further down what it says.
Verse 14. When the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For as yet he has not fallen. He was not fallen upon them only. They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, then laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
And when Simon saw that through laying on in the hand Apostles hands, the Holy Ghost was given.
He offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands He may receive the Holy Ghost.
But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent, that's what Simon lacked is repentance therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee, For I perceive that thou art.
Gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me. None of these things which you have spoken come unto me. Think of that. He couldn't even pray for himself. He has somebody else to pray for him.
That shows the importance of repentance, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. It says he believed and was baptized, but he had never repented, was he said.
No evidence of his being saved for much as he believed and was baptized.
How solemn that is. Now let's go over to the 16th chapter, where we have a case of a person who.
Was repentant and believed, and we find that he was truly saved. Here we have the case of Paul and Silas being thrown into the prison. And they were beaten, and they were thrown into the prison, and their feet fast in the stocks. Verse 24.
And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed.
That interesting?
They didn't pray and sing right away. They must have been pretty sad for a while.
But at midnight they prayed and sang praises into God, and the prisoners heard them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, everyone's bands were loosed. The keeper of the prison awakening out of sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing.
The prisoners had been fled.
But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. And he called for a light and sprang. In came trembling evidence of true repentance. He had been beaten, those two apostles, and now he was trembling, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
They said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house, and they spake unto him.
The word of the Lord and to all that were in his house, and he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized he and all his straightway. So there's a case of one who repented and believed and he was truly saved. And so may it be so with each one here this evening.
Have you repented? Have you truly believed?
Have you confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord? Remember, He is Lord not only of the living, but of the dead.
Before we get to the end of our meeting here, we want to go over to the end of the Bible in chapter 20, where we have the Lord Jesus judging the dead. This is such an awfully solemn.
Portion because it shows that no one will ever escape meeting with Jesus. Whether you are living, when he comes again, whether you are dead, you will meet with Jesus face to face. There's no escaping of it.
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There's so many people who think that when they die, I'll have my body burned and the ashes cast out over the ocean. Nobody will ever find me again.
Well, that's the case if it were people that were looking for him. But when it is God who does the resurrection resurrecting, why they will not escape, They will be found. And notice what it says here in Revelation 21 and verse 11.
And I saw a great white throne, and him that side on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.
And there was found no place for them. This is the end of this present creation. Heaven and earth are going to pass away. And here in space is this great white throne. You know who's sitting on it? The Lord Jesus Christ, the one to whom every tongue will confess.
That Jesus Christ is Lord and the dead were raised and they stand before God.
And the books were open. Did you know that God keeps books? Every single person has a record of their life.
So many things in my life I'd forgotten about. Sometimes people come up to me and say, you remember that time when we were together? I totally forgotten it.
Yeah, that might be the case in our memories, but God has the record of it all. And so the books were opened and it says the dead were judged out of those things written in the books according to their works. Those things that are so shameful often think of ones like Hitler. When he stands before the Lord Jesus in that day, what is he going to say for the awful?
Slaughter of people that he committed and Hitler wasn't the worst male, I understand, killed at least 50 million of his own people, the Chinese people. What is he going to say? Stands there? It's going to be awful.
There is ultimate accounting for everything you do. You do not escape your accountability for what you do. And so here they are, says the sea gave up the dead which were in them, which were in it, and death and hades that really should be delivered up the dead which were in it, in them. And they were judged every man according to his works.
And death and hell were cast.
Into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. How awful. And I read this not to scare you merely, but to make you realize how serious the question of sin is. God takes it seriously. That's why Jesus suffered on that cross, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
But if you don't repent of your sins.
You're going to have to give an account to God for your own sins in that day of accounting. How awful that is.
Lake of fire forever.
Still remember?
The High Plains of Peru, preaching in the gospel in a town where there is no electricity.
Front of the room we had.
Table and there were 4 candles lit on that table so we could read the Bible.
And I have preached on this portion here and I said I would like to ask for a volunteer. Somebody would come up here and put their finger in the flame of that candle for just one minute. I have a watch here and I'll make sure it doesn't go over the minute.
And to my surprise, I had a volunteer.
And he came up and I said, now when I say put it in there, I want you to put it in there and keep it in there please, until I tell you the minutes up.
OK.
I said what happened? You didn't even last for a second, but it hurt. OK, yeah, it hurt. But think about it. The lake of fire where not only your finger, but your whole body will bathe in the flames of hell forever and ever and ever without any hope of ever getting out. Isn't that enough to move you to come to Jesus? That's why he came. That's why he sacrificed himself.
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So that you wouldn't go to that end. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And I plead with you tonight, if you're here, I can't see your heart, so I don't know who you are, where you are in this room. But I plead with you, if you're not real with God, get real tonight. Leave on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Repentance toward God, faith.
Toward our Lord Jesus Christ, how important those things are.
Let's just sing a hymn to close our meeting here.
On the front page.
Verse one.
Hymn #1 I mean.
Almost persuaded.
Almost persuade.
Now.
Persuaded.
For all of my history.
All you finish your time, some soul to say.
Oh, oh, persuade.
God come to the end.