Gospel—A. Hayhoe
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Shall we open the gospel meeting tonight by singing #35?
#35 oh what a savior that he died for me.
From condemnation he hath made me free.
He that believeth on the Son says He hath everlasting life.
All my iniquities on him were laid.
All my indebtedness by him was paid.
All who believe on him, the Lord has said, have.
Everlasting life, could we rise and sing #35.
What the saga that he died for me?
Have made me pray.
I've been even on my son.
Forever lasting.
Oh heaven. Unbelievable.
My son.
And grow.
I'll never.
Mind.
My one go away and simple I believe.
His.
Word.
Warm eyes and message every.
Morning.
I'll never.
Life.
Everywhere.
I say.
No, Marilyn. Marilyn.
Ever knew?
Ever.
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God knows.
How everlasting.
Life.
My.
Relations.
Could we also sing hymn #4?
Hymn #4 Christ is the Savior of sinners. Christ is the Savior for me.
Long I was chained in sins darkness.
Now, by His grace, I am free. Oh, I hope we will all be able to sing these words and sing them truthfully.
Just remain seated please, while we sing #4.
Christ is the Savior of sinners.
Right in the Center for me.
Long I was named in Sinbar now.
My life is great, I am free.
Savior.
Save your sinners like me.
Shave and blunt on my.
Ransom.
This is on savior for me.
Now I can say I am.
Happy and adopted by free.
Save by my glass and reading.
Her message on Savour for me.
Savior.
John, stand by my wife, he received me.
Seeking from the.
Queen.
Mahler and Malta.
Leslie la Sega for me.
Savion.
Sinners like me.
Sharing his love for my.
Ransom.
This is a savior for me.
Like.
Me having his blood for my ransom.
Let's dance the singer for me.
Isn't that grand? This is the Savior for me. Just as personal as that, wouldn't it be precious if every one of us here could just repeat those words now, from the very bottom of our heart? This is the savior for me.
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Every boy and every girl, everyone of you, dear young people, as well as those who have passed that stage in life.
To be able to say this is the savior.
Me as we were gathered upstairs in prayer for this gospel meeting, we could hear the happy voices of the dear children out there on the lawn in that delightful sunshine, playing and enjoying the God-given health and sunshine. And we thought as we heard their happy voices.
That those voices.
Everyone of them.
Yours too, and mine too.
Will for all eternity.
Be engaged in singing the praises of this glorious Savior.
Or engaged in what the Lord Jesus Christ himself describes in this language, weeping.
And wailing and gnashing of teeth.
A gospel meeting is a very solemn occasion, for that is the destiny before you and me, before everyone in this company tonight.
Eternal glory, redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
For eternal darkness and torment.
With those strains of sin still upon your heart.
Could we open our Bibles tonight? First of all to the book of Isaiah?
The 5th chapter of Isaiah.
Perhaps the verses that I trust are laid on my heart tonight.
May seem a little unusual at first.
But that which I have before me is this.
That God loves you and God wants your company. He has a home up there and a welcome there for you and a welcome there for me.
But that welcome will only be enjoyed, and that home will only be your portions if if you are willing to bow to the conditions which God has established.
Many of us have homes of our own and we feel entitled to have something to say about who shall cross our threshold.
Sometimes we have to close the door to someone who might really want to enter in. We have a right to close that door, do we not? And a home that I'm Speaking of tonight is God's own eternal home of glory and joy and happiness.
And God has a right to establish.
That which will permit you the joy of crossing that threshold and being welcomed or finding that door closed forever.
Shall I state as simply as I can, the one condition that God has laid down? That one condition is this, that you, my dear friend, might give God the joy?
Of blotting out all your transgressions through the precious blood of Christ.
On that condition hinges. You are welcome into that home.
Or your forbidden from it? Have your sins been washed away in the precious blood of Christ? Have you entered this room tonight with that heart of yours?
Still stained with sin. Perhaps you don't like the sound of this language.
Perhaps you feel that you're not numbered among those who ought to be spoken to in such a way as this. We meet many folks like that.
All the very sound of that word Sinner causes them to rise up in indignation.
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You mean to suggest that I am in need of forgiveness? You mean to suggest that I am classed among those sinners which would be kept out of heaven and banished to eternal hell? Let's see what the word of God has to say. Isaiah 5 and I'd like to read verse 20.
Now verse 18, first of all.
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin, as it were with a cart rope.
Let's say, let him make speed and hasten his work, that we may see it, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it.
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine and menace strength to mingle strong drink. Chapter 6.
And verse.
In the year that King Isaiah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne.
High and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the Seraphim. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy.
Is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory, and the pulse of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I Then said I.
Woe is me.
Then said I.
Woe is me.
For I am undone.
Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Then flew one of the Seraphim's unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth, and said.
LO, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send?
And who will go for us then? Said I here am I send me. And he said go.
I believe there's a very solemn warning and a very wonderful message for us in these few verses.
First of all, we have read the message of the prophet Isaiah directed toward others. Can you not see this prophet with his God-given message pointing his finger of woe and accusation to right and left?
Well, on this hand, and woe on that hand, a God-given message it was.
A warning sent from Jehovah himself. And Isaiah faithfully delivers that word of warning to the right hand and to the left. But God had a lesson to teach his Servant. And we find in this 6th chapter that Isaiah, the man who had been pronouncing war and warning to others.
Finds himself.
In the presence of the Lord. Have you ever found yourself in the presence of the Lord? We heard last evening of a man who was found guilty of picking up sticks on the Sabbath day, and I greatly fear there may be those in this company who feel that your offenses are no more serious than perhaps that which was described last evening.
But as you read the third.
And the 4th verses of this chapter. And as you realize that the one who is described here.
Is the one, my beloved friend, who has watched every day that you have ever done, has heard every word that you have ever uttered, and has recorded every thought that has ever passed through your mind.
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For according to the 6th chapter of Genesis, man is responsible for the thoughts which he entertains. Every imagination of the thought of man's heart was only evil continually. God knew all about it and God recorded it as sin.
How far back do you have to go, my friend, in the pages of your memory before you're willing to bow your head and own that you are guilty?
Shall we start with your first conscious moments this morning?
The Lord's Day.
And shall we allow the Pen of God to record here on this wall that which he has seen and observed in your life, this day, the Lords Day?
Surrounded by every influence that would perhaps shelter you from that which is evil. Turn back the pages.
Turn them back, my friend, and allow the eye of God to rest upon those pages. Let me tell you this.
That page after page in the record of your life history is stained with sin in the sight of Him who is described here as holy, holy, holy.
Or there is this glorious alternative, and I claim it as my own, as page after page is turned back in the record of my life.
I claim the glorious promise of the Word of God, that the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
Twice we read in this very prophet Isaiah I even I am he that.
Blotted out by transgression for my own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Isaiah finds himself in the presence of him who is.
Holiness itself.
Oh, my dear young person, have you been in the presence of the Lord about the true condition of your heart in His sight? Perhaps you have been brought up in a Christian home, perhaps, like my own experience, for which I thank God, publicly brought up under the restraining hand of a father and the mother, both of whom, with singleness of heart, sought to restrain us.
From those things which would not be for his glory.
In spite of all that, in spite of the atmosphere of the home in which I was brought up.
I grew up with a heart stained with sin in the sight of this holy God whose eye was upon me. And I stand here tonight and say once more, with all my heart, I thank him that the stain is gone forever. It cost him the death of the cross of Calvary, that that stain might be taken away. But gone it is, and gone.
Forever. Is it possible to know this all? Thank God it is.
How strange that we should need to speak this way in a Christian land with Bibles on every hand.
And yet we've all met it from time to time.
I was speaking in California not too long ago and a lady came forward after the meeting and she said, now I am bewildered, She said. I have been to ever so many services and I have listened as carefully as I could to all the requirements that I felt were necessary in order to have some hope of forgiveness in heaven at the end.
And I have so far found myself quite incapable of fulfilling the requirements that were demanded. But tonight?
For the first time.
I have heard that there is nothing for me to do, but it has all been done for me.
By the Lord Jesus Christ. And she proclaimed herself bewildered. In a Christian, so-called Christian land, the news of a finished work and accomplished redemption, an eternal pardon through the blood of Christ was pronounced new and bewildering.
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Lest anyone think I'm pointing the finger at the United States, I'll mention this fact that I was standing outside Exeter Cathedral in England sometime back, and a very old lady came out the door, bent with age.
And I had in my pocket a little gospel booklet and I offered it to her with some comment which I have forgotten.
But she recognized what she considered to be a very strange accent. And she said, thank you, Sir. Where are you from?
Well, I said I'm from Canada, but I'm more interested in where I'm going than where I came from.
Where are you going? She said.
Well, I said, lady, I'm on my way to heaven. And you know, those who was bowed with age, her head went lower still and she said, oh, I wish I could say that, but I am a Sinner. I wasn't that unusual. I am a Sinner. Oh, I was glad to hear her say that. Have you ever said that to anyone? Have you ever said that in the presence of God, my friend, I am a Sinner.
We sought to tell her.
Of the cleansing power of the precious blood of Christ. And although she had attended that cathedral from her girl, that she'd never heard it before. Never, never, never heard that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sins.
Now the fifth verse of Isaiah 6. Then said I.
Woe is me.
For I am undone.
No excuses, no pointing of the finger to the right hand or to the left, but with bowed head in the presence of a holy God, the prophet Isaiah says Woe is me, for I am undone.
Is there blessing for such and one of this? Oh indeed there is and there is blessing for you, my dear friend, Eternal blessing, blessing such as my poor heart can never tell forth for you this very night and from henceforth forever.
If you will say, as Isaiah said this day.
I am undone. To bow your head in the presence of a holy God, and own your guilty for Him will bring immediate pardon. Notice what happened the sixth verse. Then flew one of the seraphim. Isn't that glorious language? There's an eagerness, there's a haste here. There's something that must take place, and promptly.
Then flew out of the seraphim's unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.
A live cold.
Speaking, I have no doubt a sacrifice.
Offered and consumed.
And a blessing that results from it. And the only blessing that God has for you or for me this night is based upon the fact.
That the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, came down from those courts of glory, took my place, took the sinners place, and there bowed His head, while the waves and billows of God's wrath and judgment swept across His holy soul.
The sorrow of judgment that you and I deserve went into the very bosom of that One who was ever the delight of God's heart from eternity. Why would he do this?
In love to you, in love to me, so that you and I might hear the glad tidings of His matchless grace.
I see in this live coal a picture of a sacrifice offered and consumed upon the altar. And now the seventh verse He laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. All what definite language this is, and do we not find the most conclusive?
And definite language in the Word of God when it comes to the question of our position before Him. Are we left in any manner of doubt whatever? Oh, just to open this wonderful book and read the statements there concerning what God has done about the question of sin would leave none of us in any manner of doubt whatsoever.
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Just let me quote a little from the Word of God.
Be it known unto you, therefore, man and brethren, that through this man the Lord Jesus is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses.
God commandeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins personal, isn't it?
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red light Crimson, they shall be as wolf. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. Tell me, have I any right to look up from these and many more similar verses with doubts in my heart?
There could be, I suppose.
Adults suggested by the enemy himself that perhaps this might not somehow mean you.
I must admit that when I was a young fellow, those thoughts assailed me. The word whosoever is indeed a grand word. But somehow or other I did have a feeling that if only I could turn to a certain chapter and verse and find my own rather unusual name there, with the certainty that I was going to be in heaven.
That that would be grander still. That would just be the last touch of assurance that I needed, and then I'd never have a doubt again. Am I the only one that ever thought that?
Well, you know, one day someone showed me a letter.
Letter was mailed from a city which I had never visited in my life.
Written in a handwriting which I had never seen before.
I began to read it in the content of the letter had of no interest to me and I said, why have you given me this? Well, they said look at the signature and the signature was Albert Able. Who it is I don't know, but there must be someone else with the same unusual name that I have. And when I saw that letter with its signature, I thought now where would I be if I saw that name here within the covers of the word of God? Oh, I think it probably means.
The other one and not this one.
I'm glad that the word of God says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I can fall right there and lay my hand upon my heart and the other upon the word of God and say thank God for that verse. It means me. That settles everything.
Well, notice 3 little words here which I enjoy connecting. The one is the word whoa.
Whoa, says Isaiah. And he says it about himself.
Woe is me, for I am undone.
And then if you go down a little farther, the seventh verse, you'll find low this half touched, thy left sign iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
A glorious little word and a very wonderful statement of assurance to this dear servant of God. And then may I just mention what we find in verse 9. And he said, go.
Do you mind my mentioning that word, dear fellow believer?
I believe we ought to take this to heart.
The day came in your life and in modern we do thank God for us when our heads were bowed in his presence and we were willing to say with Isaiah, woe is me, for I am undone. We have no excuse to offer whatsoever. We were found guilty before God, and God in wondrous matchless grace turned at once and gave that certainty, that assurance of sins forgiven through the precious blood of Christ.
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And there is the one more little word that I would like to leave with you, dear fellow Christian.
First of all, woe, and then lo thine iniquitous, purged, and then the next one is go. Will you take it to heart? May God grant it, I shall take it to heart.
At school, at work, in the community where you live, Is there not this responsibility and privilege address to each and every one of us, which I hope we may remember with greater earnestness as we realize the door of mercy is soon to be closed?
Back to the book of Job.
The 40th chapter of Joel.
And the first verse.
Moreover, the Lord answered Jove, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He did reprove with God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord, and said, Behold, I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
The 42nd chapter also.
And the first verse Then Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholding from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Here I beseech thee, and I will speak. I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee.
By the hearing of the ear. But now my eyes seeth thee.
Wherefore I abhor myself and repent.
In Dust and Ashes.
It took a long time for job to reach this condition, but not last.
Job finds himself not in the presence of his neighbors or of his friend, but he finds himself in the presence of God and this man who had defended himself.
This God fearing old patriarch Joe finds himself at last in the presence of God and side by side with Isaiah, his head goes down and he says here in the 40th chapter of the fourth verse, behold, I am vile. That's a pretty strong word.
Job had nothing.
For he knew that nothing could be hidden from the eye of God.
We have been reminded already of Adam who sought to hide himself from the eye of God. And Adam has had many followers from that date of this. And I'm wondering, are there some in this company tonight who perhaps have entered at the invitation of a friend or of a neighbor?
And you wonder why that friend, why that neighbor is so concerned and has invited you so often and so earnestly.
To come and hear the gospel. You have the opinion they're trying to win a member for a new group of people or some such thing as this. No such thought at all, my friend. I want to tell you why that friend and why that neighbor has so often spoken to you of these matters, have invited you. And here you are in the gospel meeting tonight because we know on the authority of the word of God.
The kind and upright and honest and religious though you may be, if you know not the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
If your sins have not been washed in the precious blood of Christ.
Your soul is lost.
And you are on your road to eternal Hells.
Its solemn language, and I would not dare to utter it if I did not know it to be the truth of the Word of God opened before me. Here was a man that I doubt anyone here could measure up to, a man of whom God himself said that he was a perfect and an upright man, and one that feared God and eschewed evil.
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Chapter after chapter he proclaims his own righteousness, but at last Joe binds himself in the presence of God. Oh, my friend.
Bring you this night into the presence of God, whose eye is looking at this moment upon you and upon the unabridged.
And stained record of your life.
His eye looks upon that record. His eye looks upon you. And he loves you. Yes, he does. He loves you and he longs to bless you. He longs to see you. Pardon then forgiven.
He longs to see you numbered among those who are going to spend eternity in those courts of joy and glory, these waiting for one thing. He's waiting for that proud head of yours to bow down and for your heart and lips to say, I have sinned.
You haven't said it yet, have you?
All perhaps you've said in a church service, God be merciful to us poor miserable sinners. That's not what I mean. I mean, my friend, that not with language such as is so often uttered, but with the language of sincerity and truth, and in the presence of God, and with no excuses offered, you may take your place beside these two men whose testimony we have read tonight. Isaiah says I am undone.
Job says.
I am vile. Could we turn over to the New Testament and find their further testimony?
The Gospel of Luke.
And the 5th chapter.
I'm sure these witnesses have often been brought forward in the gospel before, but I believe they're presented to us in the Word of God for this very purpose. The 5th chapter of Lukes Gospel and I'm just going to read the eighth verse.
And in that verse you will find the name of a man who is highly honored and esteemed in Christendom. Today. You will find the name of a man who has often spoken out as a Prince of the Apostles.
And who is honored by millions in Christendom?
Simon Peter.
When Simon Peter saw it he fell down at Jesus knees saying.
Depart from me, for I am a sinful man. Oh Lord, down comes Peter. Isaiah head went down in the presence of the Lord. Job's head went down in the presence of the Lord, and now Peter.
Down he comes, down to the very knees of the Lord Jesus.
And with all his heart he says, I am a sinful man, Oh Lord.
Again, I ask you, has this taken place yet?
In your experience?
Have you owned yourself, lost and guilty and undone and sinful, without those excuses that you so often attached to your failures in the presence of the Lord? Have you owned it? Peter did, and I expect to meet Peter someday. Yes, and Isaiah and Job too. For I stand here and say by the matchless grace of God, that my head too, has bowed in the presence of God.
My heart and lips have owned before him my lost and ruined and sinful and guilty condition in His sight.
And he knows it better. Far better.
Than I know it myself and I thank God with all my heart.
That there is as my present joy, the certainty that my sins, which were many, have all been blotted out by the precious blood of Christ. What about Peters taste testimony later on? If you were to turn to first Peter two, you would find that there he is addressing. We won't take time. He is addressing others and giving them that which the Lord has entrusted to him. And down through that chapter he says you and ye in verse after verse until he comes to the end of the chapter and then he says Christ Jesus.
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Who his own self bear.
Our sins in his own body on the tree. I love that.
Ah dear Peter, who was down here at Jesus knees owning his guilt, picks up his pen and writes Christ Jesus who his own self bear.
Our sins. Peter just loves to say mine too. And I say it again tonight. Yes, mine too. His own self bear our sins, his own body on the tree that we turn over to.
First Timothy, Chapter One.
First Timothy, Chapter One.
And verse 12.
Now we have the writing of the Apostle Paul.
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor and injurious.
But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was 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.
Isn't that a remarkable statement? We have seen Isaiah bow low before the Lord, and we have seen Job also bowed before the Lord. Peter has taken his place with the other two and now we have a proud a self-righteous religious.
Heresy. Will this man bow? Indeed he did bow.
Down he went on the road to Damascus. All the way down he went. And what does he say about himself?
I am the chief of sinners, the Apostle Paul. Yes, the Apostle Paul. Down comes his head too.
I there says I am undone.
Job says I am vile. Peter says I am a sinful man. Oh Lord, Paul says I am the chief of sinners. What do you think of that testimony? Are you willing, my friend, to take your stand along with these four men? Here they stand before US1 by one. In the presence of the Lord, their heads go down.
And they own their guilt.
They own their guilt and their words are recorded for you and me to read tonight, and I know that we're going to meet them in the glory.
What does Paul say concerning his certainty of this matter? The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That's what it took to redeem the chief of sinners. And by the matchless grace of God, I said that I too have been redeemed by him who redeemed the chief of sinners. There is a man whom I know very well.
I'm going to give you a little of this detail, for I feel the Lord allows these circumstances to exercise our hearts.
Our telephone rang one night in the wee hours of the morning.
My wife picked it up and answered it and a very faint voice was on the other end of the line and.
She said yes, Mr. Hay who is here, and then the phone went dead and she hung it up again. Well, that left us rather disturbed. Someone phoning to know if I was home and then hung up immediately.
A short time later, the phone rang again.
And my wife picked it up.
The question again, is Mr. Hayhold there?
And she promptly handed me the phone this time, and I heard an almost unintelligible voice.
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Ask me a question, I answered. I said yes, yes, who's speaking, please? And the phone went dead. And that's all we knew about it for the rest of the night.
The next day we got a phone call that explained it.
There was a businessman in our town and a very successful businessman who had, as you are to night, come to the gospel meeting. He had sat under the sound of the gospel. He had heard of what it meant to be saved and what it meant to be lost.
And he went out in that condition.
And he woke up that night with the horror that the Lord had come.
I shouldn't say that night because I believe if I remember correctly, it had happened three nights before and he'd been without sleep and without food for three days and three nights in agony. And this last night he finally felt sure the Lord had come.
I don't like to mention this part, but he said to his wife.
Would you phone and see if Mr. Hayhoe is still here?
Well, that was the first call, and apparently he wasn't content with my wife's testimony that I was there. He wanted to hear the voice.
And when I heard what was taking place in his soul, I went to see him.
And we knelt down together, and I never saw a man such a soul, such agony of soul. He began to tell me about the wasted years of his life. Then he said, time and again I've gone past the door of that meeting room when I knew the gospel was being preached. And I've gone my own way and lived in pleasure.
Now I know, in spite of all you tell me, that there's no hope for me.
Call that, I said, Sir, instead of driving past the door. If you had stopped your car, if you had come in, if you had mocked the preacher, if you had upset the whole meeting and driven everyone out on the street and done it time and again, do you think there'd be any hope for you then?
Oh no, he said, of course not. But I said, I know of someone who did just that and did it time and again, and the Lord saved his soul and we read.
Wonderful story of the love of God to Saul of Tarsus the chief of sinners and how he ends by saying Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief are with all his record God was able to bring blessing to the chief of sinners.
And I say would be Thanksgiving that that dear man now also is resting with a thankful heart.
Upon the fact that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and that that wonderful statement included Him in all his need.
Are you willing my friend, this night? Are you willing to stand up here beside these 4 witnesses?
Joe, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, each of whom in turn, in the presence of God, own their guilt and receive the blessing. There's one more witness to be called.
And I hope you're not going to wait and take your stand beside him. We'll find about this last witness in the Gospel of Luke.
The 18th chapter of Luke.
And the eleven verse, perhaps the 10th verse.
Luke 18, verse 10.
Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one of Pharisee and the other Republican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.
God, I thank thee that I am not. That's pretty strong language, isn't it?
Imagine telling God.
Telling God I say I am not and God had the whole record naked and opened before him.
Do you not know, my friend, that the word of God says all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do in the face of that? Would you stand up here beside this proud man, and say, God, I thank thee that I am not?
Not as other men are extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Haven't we heard this kind of language? We've heard it very awesome. We've heard it far too often in this so-called Christian land. I hope that that is not the language of anyone in this company tonight. See the company you're in.
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Joe, Isaiah, Peter, Paul with one heart they bow in the presence of God, and they say, I am One man stands alone, and he says, God, I thank thee that I am not.
This proud Pharisee went down to his house as guilty as the moment he laughed. And my beloved friend, when you left your home tonight to come to the gospel meeting, you left it either guilty and on your road to eternal condemnation.
Or you left your home, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and on your way to glory. Now the time has come for you to return home.
And which is it going to be?
Which is it going to be if you came in here not knowing the Lord Jesus as your Savior? Must you go out the same way?
You know, just a week ago we were trying to tell us the glad tidings.
To a company gathered together in a little town Strong in the state of Maine.
And it was a dear boy sitting listening so eagerly on the front row. I would guess he was about 13 years of age.
And just as soon as that meeting was over, that dear boy did not wait one minute. He just came right forward with hand outstretched.
He said, Sir, I would like you to know that I have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.
A 13 year old boy. Have you ever done that? Have you ever done that? Come now, my dear boys, girls, young people.
When did your lips last open to confess with loving reverence the precious and wonderful name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, you say, I've never done that yet.
Would you do it tonight?
It causes joy in the presence of the angels of God. I speak to you lovingly. I speak to you with a prayer from the depths of my heart, that there may not be one boy, one girl, one youth, not one in this company.
That will go out into the night without the happy assurance in your heart.
That those sins which were many and which you unreservedly own, are staining your heart at this moment.
That they're all gone forever by the cleansing power of him who died upon Calvary Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know there is that eternal destiny that lies ahead.
I dare not exaggerate.
And I dare not withhold the truth.
Of that which you must face, my beloved friend, if you take your place alongside this Pharisee and refuse to bow your head in the presence of God.
If you refuse to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior to open your lips and confess Him, if you refuse, I say.
There is a destiny before you.
And I feel I ought to tell you this.
That God has told us in the most unmistakable language in Scripture.
At the last sight.
The last sight that everyone will see.
Before being cast into eternal darkness is a sight of the face of Jesus Christ.
To me, that's a solemn thought as I look into your face tonight. If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're going to stand before him. You're going to look into his face.
The last sight you'll ever have.
And from one last look into the face of him who sits upon that great white throne, it will be replaced by eternal darkness. Eternal darkness.
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With the memory of the face of Jesus Christ and the last voice ever heard.
Last voice ever heard the voice of Jesus Christ?
I am not exaggerating, my beloved friend, I am warning you in love to your soul, that God has prolonged the day of matchless, long-suffering grace until this very hour, in order that not one of this company might share that awful portion for eternity. For I believe with all my heart that the most fearful whales that will rend those caverns of eternal darkness.
Will come from the lips of those brought up in Christian homes. Think of it as you sit here tonight. There are those who sat as you are sitting, and they're gone now. And where have they gone? They've gone already into a lost eternity. Where are they? They're lost now, my friend, and lost forever.
And God in grace has lingered over you, has spared you, has brought you to here once more.
The pleadings of his love for God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting.
Could we just sing? The first stands up only.
Hymn number.
Some of the hymn sheets I believe have a misprint.
I'll try to quote this first standard, as I believe it should be almost persuaded now to believe.
Almost persuaded Christ to receive the next line should read. Seems now some soul to say, Go, spirit, go thy way.
Some more convenient day on the I'll call Could we rise and sing the first stanza only?
Oh no.