Gospel—J. Hyland
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I'd like to start this evening with him #14 Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Are you washed in the blood in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Hymn #14. Will someone please start it?
Are you watching? Maybe I can stay there when it's like, why you watching the world?
Here, and it's all men in the crazy life like you washed in the blood of the land.
Let us know why you are in the blood.
We have no right to come and get a rose. You like you and why there's no blood on the earth.
Where you're all here and it was a dangerous.
We ask God's help. We thank Thee, our loving God and Father for the Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank thee for that Savior who is there at thy right hand. We thank thee that there is one who has died and shed His precious blood.
To wash our sins away. And we think of this solemn question that we have sung together. Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? And we pray that if there's someone here tonight, and they have never availed themselves of the cleansing power of the precious blood of Jesus, that tonight they may be, they may turn to thee and to thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That their sins might be forgiven and washed away forever in that precious blood. We look to thee tonight for blessing. As we open Thy word, we think of each one here We know that thou just look down into the heart.
And thou knowest the need of each one in this audience. We pray that if there's someone here.
Who, having heard the story many times, is still on that broad Rd. that leads to destruction.
Still not washed in the blood of the lamb, we pray that tonight they might say yes to thine invitation to come to the Savior.
And receive the forgiveness of sins. And so we look to thee for help. We pray that there might be a real work of thy spirit in this room tonight.
As Thy Word is read that it might touch the heart and conscience of each one who is still in their sins, we pray too, that those of us who know Jesus as our Savior might be refreshed and encouraged. As we hear again the sweet story of Thy love and grace, we pray for Thy Word wherever it's going forth.
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We thank thee that tonight it's going forth in many places and by many means, and we pray that the seed sown.
Might bear fruit for thy glory and honor, and for the eternal blessing of souls. So we look to thee. We ask thy blessing.
And we ask it with Thanksgiving in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our precious Savior.
Amen. I'd like to begin this evening by reading two questions from God's Word.
The first one is found in job chapter 14.
Job chapter 14 and verse 10.
But man dieth, and waste of the way, yeah man giveth up the ghost.
And where is he? And then I'd like to read another question in the New Testament, Matthew 27.
Matthew 27 and verse 22 Pilate saith unto them.
What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called?
Christ. Well, I sometimes like to begin a gospel hour such as this.
By reading a question from God's Word, because I believe that God asks us many, many questions in His word.
And when God asks us a question, it makes it very, very personal. And that's the way I'd like us to see the gospel tonight. And as you sit in your seat this evening, if you don't know Jesus as your savior, if you have not been able to sing from your heart concerning the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus, I'd like you to realize this evening that the gospel is personal. God tonight is speaking to you. God loves you as an individual.
We're just specks in God's great creation, and yet God looks down into this hall tonight.
And he sees you as an individual. He knows your great need.
And oh, if you're lost and in your sins tonight, you do have a great need, A need that only the Lord Jesus can meet tonight. You can't do one thing to rid yourself of your sins tonight. There's nothing that I did to rid myself of my sins. I'm thankful that I can say on the authority of God's Word that I'm washed in the blood of the lamb tonight, but it's nothing that I did. It's a work of God. It's a work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on Calvary's cross.
And tonight he looks down and he sees you. He sees me. He loves you tonight if you're lost in your sins.
And he wants to meet your need. He wants to wash those sins away in his precious blood. God has provided, thank God a remedy for sin. Tonight there's a cure for the disease that affects everyone born into this world. Because every one of us are born as sinners. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death.
I don't think there's anyone would argue with that with me tonight on that point. We don't have to drive very far in our automobiles to find the effects of death and sin on every hand. You drive by a graveyard very frequently. You drive by a hospital very, very often. You perhaps often visit in a nursing home. You see the effects of sin and that which was brought in by man's disobedience. And we know the story well.
Adam was placed in that beautiful garden. Everything for his enjoyment and happiness was provided by God himself.
But God said there was one thing that Adam was not to do, and that was to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because God said.
In the day when thou eatest of it, thou shalt surely die.
God wasn't fooling, was he?
When God speaks, He speaks the truth and all. As God speaks to us tonight, let us realize that it's the truth that God is faithful. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. God is faithful. I don't know why you've come to this gospel meeting tonight. Perhaps you were invited by someone. Perhaps your parents brought you.
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Perhaps you have come tonight because the other young people are here, but whatever, for whatever reason you have come tonight, I know one thing.
That God has allowed you to come tonight so that you'll have one more opportunity to be saved. That's the proof of the love that's in his heart. Oh, I wish I could tell you tonight how much God loves you. But oh, may tonight the love of God so melt your heart that you'll turn to the Savior. Because this is a solemn question where we began here. And I say God often raises very solemn and searching questions in His word. In fact, I believe it's interesting and significant.
That the first words addressed to man after he sinned in the garden were in the form of a question. God walked in the garden in the cool of the day. Adam had failed to recognize his responsibility towards God by reaching out and taking that which he was forbidden to eat of. And God walks, and he calls to Adam, and he says, Adam, where art thou? Oh, I trust that that question will burn into your soul tonight. If you don't know Jesus as your savior, where art thou?
Are you still in your sins tonight? The Lord Jesus is seeking for you. God is desiring your blessing tonight.
He says where art thou? He wanted to bring Adam to himself. Adam had separated himself by sin.
But oh God was desirous of Adam's blessing. And Adam of God did bless Adam on that occasion. It's true he had to bring in judgment because of Adam's sin and death passed upon all men. For that all have sinned by one man's disobedience, sin entered, and death by sin. But oh God in his grace on that very occasion provided a covering for Adam. God is providing a remedy tonight. He's providing salvation.
The blood of Jesus is still able to cleanse from every sin. The garments of salvation are available to those who come with all their need, like the prodigal son. Own that need. Own that. Guilt and all he's ready to forgive and to bless. But here's a solemn question, man. Dia and wasteth away. Yeah, men giveth up the ghost and where is he?
I want to speak for a moment to those of us who are younger in this room tonight. To the boys and to the girls and to the young people that are here, those who have heard the gospel so many times and two young people were heard to say just before a gospel meeting like this, well, it's just another gospel meeting. It will probably end around 8:00. It probably will end around 8:00. But no gospel meeting is just another gospel meeting.
It is God's grace and love reaching out to you. It is a thrill to our souls to be able to speak.
Of God's provision through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
But you have come to this Gospel meeting like you have come to many before.
But I wonder, I wonder, as you sit here tonight, and as we have God's word before us.
If you knew with certainty that this was your last gospel meeting, that this was your last opportunity to be saved, I wonder if it would make a difference tonight. I wonder if you would be so concerned about the person beside you. I wonder if you would listen a little more intently tonight. If you knew that you were going to go out of this building around 8:00 and that it would be your last opportunity that never again would you sit in a gospel meeting. Let me tell you about a young man.
First cousin of my wife's, He lived in a place called Lark Harbor, Newfoundland and Lark Harbor Newfoundland is a very beautiful setting. You look behind you and there are the mountains. You look in front of you and there's the sea. You look down the hill and there's that beautiful little village at the foot of the hill by the sea and the water rolls in. The clouds blow across the sky. It is a beautiful setting and for many years there has been a gospel tent pitched.
In Lark Harbor, Newfoundland, than these souls in that area have heard over the years of the love of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. But there was a young man there some years ago. His name was Bud Byrne, and Bud Byrne had come several times to the Gospel meetings, but he was indifferent to his soul's need. He felt he was young, he felt the vitality of youth. He felt he had a lot of time and he wanted to do some living.
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And he knew that if he got saved, there would be a reproach connected with it in a small community like that.
Because I'm sure he looked at those who had been saved and those who were rejoicing in Christ, and he had seen what they had suffered in that small, close knit community. But one night Bud Byrne came to the gospel tent. He listened with somewhat of an indifferent attitude to the gospel and someone spoke faithfully to him at the door and they said, Bud, what about your soul? He said, I have lots of time, I'm going to live a little before I get saved.
A couple of days later, he and his friend got into a Dory and they rode out into the Humber arm. And as you look out over that community, you see the Humber arm in the mouth of the Atlantic.
He got into that, they got into their Dory, they rode out some ways to do some cod jigging and as can sometimes happen on the coast, a storm came up very quickly.
Several weeks later they found Bud Byrne's body. They never did find the body of his friend.
There was a young man who had lots of time, a young man who thought he had a lot of opportunity.
And at that funeral, the man that took that funeral, it broke my heart.
He spoke of Brother Bud. He spoke of how Bud was in heaven.
Oh, let's not be deceived.
Man Dieth and wasteth away. Yeah, men giveth up the ghost. And where is he?
I don't know what happened in those final moments of Bud Byrne's life.
But I know this.
That that night was his last night to hear the gospel.
And as far as I know, he rejected that faithful word. And oh, I look into the faces of those who have heard it so many times and those who perhaps feel that they will hear it again and again. But oh, I want to warn you, this may be your last opportunity. God may not speak to you again, because God has spoken to you many times, and God speaketh once, yeah, twice.
Thank God he speaks more than that, but he doesn't promise to speak more than twice. And yet man perceiveth it not. How many gospel meetings have you sat in? How many times have you heard the word of God read? How many times has someone pleaded with you to be saved and to come to the Lord Jesus Christ? I don't imagine many of us could count the number of times we have heard the gospel, not just in a setting like this, but some of us from the earliest days of our childhood.
Our fathers and our mothers opened the word of God. Perhaps our grandfathers or our grandmothers open the word of God and read to us. And we're faithful. Just like Timothy. He had a faithful mother and a faithful grandmother who brought the word of God before him. And perhaps you have had that. But I wonder. I wonder tonight if you're truly saved. Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? Man dieth and wasteth away. Yeah, men giveth up the ghost. And where is he?
Where would you be tonight if you were to close those eyes in death tonight? Or if the Lord Jesus was to come and give that shout and call every believer from this world? Where would you be tonight?
Sometimes up in Maine, when we speak to the boys and girls, we try to impress upon them.
The need of being saved not just while they're young, but being saved now.
And we try to impress upon them what it will mean when the Lord Jesus comes and calls the Christians to himself. And we try to tell them that if they're sitting in a meeting like this and listening to the man preaching the gospel, that if the Lord Jesus were to come, the preacher would be gone. The person beside them might be gone. The person that drove the van and brought them to that gospel meeting would be gone. And they would look around and see all those empty seats.
Of people who are gone and they would know what happened and they'd say, well that's what the man was telling us about.
That's why they came back summer after summer and told us about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Is there someone in this room?
And if the Lord Jesus were to come before 7:30?
You would look around, mother and father gone, the preacher gone.
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You would know what happened.
I've often said, but I find it a very solemn thing in reading of the life of Elijah when he was taken away to heaven in a whirlwind. Who was it that missed Elijah? It was the sons of the prophets. They were the ones that missed him. It wasn't what we, shall we say, the general public, but it was the sons of the prophets, and I think of the sons and daughters of praying parents and grandparents in this room tonight, because if the Lord Jesus were to come, you would look around.
And you would know what happened. You would miss mother and father. You would miss those that of your friends, those that you have enjoyed a happy time with this weekend. Oh, I beg of you, I beg of you tonight. If you don't know Jesus as your savior, maybe this question burn into your soul. And where is he? Where would you be tonight? Eternity is a reality. Man tries to tell himself that when he draws that final breath, he dies as a dog.
Because if man can tell himself that, then he has no responsibility to God. But you know, I believe that there really are no atheists in this world, because while man may put on a front and a bravado, he knows deep down in his soul that he must do with God. God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
I remember an incident that took place some years ago, but it's as fresh in my memory as if it just happened.
I stood by the bedside of a dear old Saint of God as she drew those final breaths.
Her journey here was ended. She was on in her 80s and she was looking forward to seeing her blessed Savior, whom she loved and had known for many years.
And I stood there as I saw that peace and calm sweep over her face. A few last breaths and a glad smile, and I knew she was home, and I was thankful that she was.
But as I stood there and looked into that face of peace, knowing that there was another St. of God safe home in the glory.
I remembered well a man in that hospital on that hospital floor just a few nights before.
And he had come to the end of his life. He was a fine, respected man in the town of Smiths Falls.
He was one who was charitable. He was one who was recognized as being helpful in the community and having contributed to the town of Smiths Falls. And he also had come to the end of his life. But he had come to the end of his life not knowing Christ. And oh, I'll never forget, as he drew those last final breaths, as he entered eternity and realized that there was something beyond this life.
The whales and the cries that rent that hospital floor I'll never forget.
What a difference. What would it be for you tonight? You know the Bible, which spans a period of time of about 4000 years. It only tells of 1 deathbed confession, and that's the thief on the cross. It tells of 1 so that none may despair because there have been those who have come in the 11Th hour. Thank God.
But it only tells of 1 S that you, my friend, might not presume.
That you will have an opportunity in the 11Th hour, God's Word very faithfully declares.
Now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day.
Of salvation. And I read this other question in the New Testament.
And here is the blessed Lord Jesus. He had come in lowliness and grace.
He had walked through this world. He had come to show out the heart of his father. And what was the heart of his father?
It was a heart full of love and grace. It was a heart desiring the blessing.
Of mankind. You know when a gospel meeting is called like this.
If people in the city of Saint Louis just knew how much God loved them.
If they knew how much God desired their blessing when a gospel meeting like this is called.
Rooms wouldn't be able to contain the people that would want to hear. Why does man stay away? Why does he close the pages of this book? Why does he say I don't want to hear about the Lord Jesus? Because he thinks God is a God who delights in judgment because he doesn't enter into the heart of God. He has little conception of the blessing and the desire that's in the heart of God for mankind. Oh, just.
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Story of the Lord Jesus, his life as he walked through this world, as the man of sorrows, as he walked through this world. Desiring the blessing of those people, he could say that he desired to draw them to himself. How OFT would I have gathered thee? As a hen gathereth, or brood under her wing? And he would not. He wanted the blessing of those people that he had come to minister to.
And yet they wouldn't have him. It says He came unto his own, That is the Jewish nation, and his own received him not, but all to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God. He desires to make you his child this evening. He wants to draw you to himself. He wants to bless you. Sometimes when the gospel is presented, people think of what they will have to give up.
If they come to the Lord Jesus, there's only one thing you'll give up, and that's your sins.
Oh, do you want forgiveness of sins? Do you feel the burden of your sin tonight? Because you know, really, if you don't feel the burden of your sin tonight.
You're not going to receive the blessing that God has no the Lord, Jesus said himself.
They that are whole need not a physician, but they are they that are sick, he said. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. If you don't feel you're sick, you're not going to seek the advice of a doctor. But oh, when you realize that you are sick and you realize there's nothing you can do to cure your illness, then you seek the help of one who who is trained in that profession. Oh, tonight. Do you realize that you're a Sinner? Then drew near all the publicans and sinners.
To hear him. It wasn't those who felt they were self-sufficient. It wasn't those who thought they had something in themselves to merit favor before God. It was the publicans, It was the sinners. It was those that felt their need. Oh, I trust there's someone here tonight and you're going to feel your need, but you realize that you're you're helpless, that you're a Sinner, that there's nothing you can do to rid yourself of those sins.
And that you're going to turn to the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus walked through this world in lowliness and grace.
They wouldn't have him from the very beginning. There was no room for him in the inn. There was an occasion when they came, and they tried to cast him over the brow of a hill, but his hour was not come. They sought to get rid of him from the very beginning, and then the hour of Calvary approaches and he they are allowed to take him. They bring him to pilots judgment hall. They mocked the precious Savior.
They spit in his blessed face. They platted a crown of thorns on his blessed head.
They smote him with a Reed. Does that touch your heart? To think of the Sustainer of the universe? The one who, while he stood there and allowed those men to slap his face, he held their very breath in his hand. The one who ordered all the planets, the one by whom all things subsist.
And yet he allowed that very thing that had once come from his hand in creation and been pronounced very good was the very instrument that God allowed to meet out that kind of treatment to His beloved Son.
And pilsify him, as they say in their hearts. We will not have this man to reign over us.
A solemn question is raised, a question that I believe you need to answer tonight.
What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ?
This is the issue at stake tonight. You know the way of salvation. You've heard it many times.
You know that Christ is the Savior of sinners you've joined in the singing of that precious hymn. Christ is the Savior of sinners. Christ is the Savior for me. When you sing that hymn, do you sing it from your heart? Or is it just some words that you sing because they're there on the hymn sheet and because Mother and Father and everyone else in the room join in the singing of that hymn? But can you truly say that Christ is the Savior for me?
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Can you put your name in there? I said at the beginning of this meeting that the gospel is personal.
It's individual. It's for you tonight, you know, sometimes when the gospel is presented.
People think that that that's the right kind of message to take to the down and out, to take to a foreign land, to take to those who are in the darkness of heathendom. But oh, the gospel is for you tonight, You know, we like to measure ourselves by others. Perhaps you present the gospel to the man who is a good living man by the standards of this world and society.
And he says, well, that's not for me. Take that kind of a message to the man who's drunk on the street.
And so you take the message to the man who's drunk on the street and he listens. And he says, well, he says, I'm not all that bad. I drink a little, then I hurt myself, but I don't hurt anyone else. What about the man who goes out and steals from others? And so you take the message to the thief and he says, well, everybody's dishonest. What about the men in behind prison buyers who's taken a life, who's killed someone? You see, we can always find someone who's worse than ourselves.
Someone that we feel is needs the gospel, but it says men measuring themselves by themselves are not wise. Don't measure yourself by someone else tonight because has been often said sin is the great leveler. I remember one time near St. John, NB, I had picked up a vanload of young people and we were going to the Gospel meeting that evening and as we were driving down the road.
There was a lady walking along the side of the road and it just seemed with one accord that those young people pointed to that Lady and they said she's bad, she needs to come to the Gospel meeting. I thought, isn't that the heart of man? We look at somebody else that we feel is worse off than we are, Someone else that we feel has tasted of sin, has participated in sin a little deeper than we have, but all we forget that all have sinned.
And come short of the glory of God, God is of two pure eyes than to behold iniquity, and cannot look upon sin. But oh, tonight Christ is the Savior of sinners. He's the one and the only one that can save you tonight. And what are you going to do with the Lord Jesus Christ? You heard about him last night. You've heard about him over and over and over again. How long, halti? Between two opinions?
Are you going to go out these doors again tonight and say, I'm going to put it off? Are you going to be like Bud Byrne and say, well, I'll have another opportunity? Oh, I say, you don't know if you have further opportunity. God's time is now. He doesn't promise you the future. You know, there is a solemn verse in James. It says what is your life? It is even as a vapor that appears for a little time.
And then vanish it away. I've sometimes illustrated it this way to the boys and girls.
When I was a young lad I used to like to go out on a nice cloudy day and lie on my back on the grass and watch those clouds as they drifted across the sky.
And sometimes, as I lay there in my imagination, I could pick out different shapes in those clouds. Perhaps one cloud looked like the head of a bear, another cloud looked like a horse, and so on. But you know, as you watch that cloud.
It wasn't very long till that cloud broke up, change shape, and passed on over the horizon. God says your lifes like that. It's like a vapor. It's like a cloud. It's there for a little time and then it vanishes away.
Just plug in the tea kettle and you'll know what a vapor is. As that water boils and you see that steam rise up, it rises up so far and then it vanishes into the air. God says your life is like that. That's why the decision for Christ is so important tonight. That's why God in his faithfulness has allowed you to come. And they had him here on trial in pilots judgment hall, but oh, they wouldn't have him. They chose a man who was a murderer.
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They chose a man who was a thief. They chose a man who was on trial for insurrection or sedition.
Which is rebellion against authority. That's what the world wanted, and that's what they have got.
Has there ever been a day when violence and corruption and rebellion against authority are as prevalent?
As the day in which we live. They rejected the Prince of peace. They rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we know the story. We've read it. We've gone over it many times. They take him from pilots judgment hall. His cruel trial is over. They lead him out to Calvary and there they they crucify him. There, nailed to a Roman jewettes lifted up between heaven and earth because the Lord Jesus had said.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of man be lifted up. And as you follow these chapters, and as you see not only what man heaped upon the Lord Jesus, as you see not only that which he suffered in connection with crucifixion, but you see how God dealt with His Son as to the sin question.
Does it touch your heart? If it doesn't touch your heart, I wonder tonight what goes on.
In a heart like that, who looks to Calvary, who sees the blessed Son of God with his arms stretched wide? Who sees the blood run down?
If that doesn't touch your heart, I don't know what goes on within a heart like that. And where is the heart so hardened? And who is so vile as he who seeth the Savior suffer and saith? It is nothing to me. No, there is a very solemn statement made in Lamentations One, and it's raised in the form of a question. Is it nothing to you? All ye that pass by, behold, and see if there be any sorrow.
Like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me as we pass by Calvary once again as we see the blessed Son of God suffer there.
As we see the mocking, as we see that sun wrapped in night and the Lord Jesus become the sin bearer. As we see that soldier after the Lord Jesus had given up his life come and with a spear Pierce his side.
I say, does it not touch your heart? Why did he die? Why did he allow man to treat him like that? Why did he become the sin bearer? Because he loved you. He loved me. He desires your blessing tonight. Think of the cost. Think of what he paid. Can you say tonight that Jesus has died for you? You know, in the Civil War as you well know, Abraham Lincoln.
Was president of the United States of America, and it was felt that being President of the United States, he should not go to war, although he desired to serve his country in that way.
And so there was a substitute sent for Abraham Lincoln, and that substitute went in his place, and he did not die during conflict. He returned to his home after the war in Stroudsburg, PA, and he died a natural death some years later. But in Stroudsburg, PA, there is a monument erected to that man with these words on it. J Summerfield staples a substitute.
For Abraham Lincoln, can you say that tonight about the Lord Jesus Christ?
Can you say that he has borne your sins in his own body on the tree? Can you say that Jesus has died for you? You'll allow another illustration for the sake of those of us who are younger.
The Great Lakes as you know are large bodies of water and there are many ocean going vessels that.
Traverse those lakes. In fact, vessels can come down the Saint Lawrence River.
Into Lake Ontario and then on through and some years ago there was a ship named the Swallow.
And it was a cargo ship that carried tar between Detroit, MI and Buffalo, NY And there was a pilot on that ship. His name was John Maynard. And they were making their regular run from Buffalo, NY, from Detroit, MI to Buffalo when a fire broke out on that ship. And you can imagine the concern on a shipload of tar when fire would break out and everything was done and every man available was put on the job to see if they could extinguish that fire.
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Before it was out of control, but you know the fire was beyond them.
And as they realized this, the crew and the passengers went to the front of the ship, because as that ship moved forward through the water, it seemed to keep the smoke and the heat towards the back of the ship. And everyone was at the front of that ship except one man, the pilot John Maynard. And he fell faithfully held on to his post at the wheel, and the captain called back to him. He said, John.
How far are we from Buffalo, NY? He said about 45 minutes.
Some time later, the captain called back again. He said. How far are we from Buffalo, NY?
He said, I think about 10-15 minutes, he said. Can you hang on?
He said, by the grace of God, I'll hang on. Those were the last words that John Maynard ever spoke.
Because at that moment, the flames were swirling about him. The smoke was choking him.
But he knew that the safety and the salvation of those passengers from that fire depended.
On his faithfulness to hold on to that wheel and to guide that ship for justice, another few moments.
When they reached Buffalo, John Maynard had given his life. He had died.
And if you were to go to the city of Buffalo, to a large graveyard, you would see a large gravestone erected in the memory of John Maynard. With these words on the stone to John Maynard, the pilot of the Swallow, from the grateful passengers, he died for us.
Oh, what a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus. Can you say tonight that he died for you?
What are you going to do with Jesus tonight? He has not only been mocked in Pilate's Judgment Hall.
But He has been crucified. He has died. He has shed His precious blood. Oh, think of the price that he paid. Think of the price that God has paid in giving his Son the Son he loved, allowing men to treat him in that way, and then pouring that judgment on the head of his blessed Son. My sins and yours, if you'll have them tonight.
Think of what he suffered there. Think of the great price. Are you going to turn away and reject again tonight?
You know, when the gospel is presented, there are really three ways that the gospel is received.
You see that very clearly in the book of the Acts because, you know, the Apostle Paul was one, I suppose, of the most faithful gospel preachers that ever lived in this world. He never missed an opportunity to speak to souls of their need of Christ. He never missed an opportunity to speak of the glories and the beauties of the Lord Jesus.
And I think of three men that the apostle Paul spoke to on three different occasions, and how they received the word in three different ways. There was a man. His name was Felix.
Well, we'll speak of Agrippa first. There was a man named Agrippa. He was a king.
And Paul was very faithful with Agrippa in bringing before him his need. And what did Agrippa say at the end of it all? He said, almost. Thou persuade us me to be a Christian. In other words, he said, I'm almost ready to come to the Lord Jesus. But he said I don't want it. He rejected. Oh, I trust there's nobody in this hall tonight who's going to go out of here a rejecter because the Lord Jesus.
Said he that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my word hath one that judgeth him.
The word which I have spoken the same shall judge him. In the last day we have read this question, What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? And you know, if you reject the Lord Jesus in a lost eternity, alone, and with your memory you will recall a scripture like this. You will recall a scripture such as John 316. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him.
Shall not perish, but have everlasting life. The word which I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day.
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But as you recall, words like that that were given, as in loving entreaties, from the heart of God.
You will remember those words, but you will realize that they are no longer applicable to you.
As to refuge and salvation, what a solemn thing to reject and to remember for all eternity that you had opportunity to come to Jesus. But there was another man. Felix, and Paul spoke to Felix. So faithful was Paul. Paul with Felix, that Felix trembled.
But what did he say? He said. When I have a more convenient season.
I will call for thee. He didn't reject, he neglected. He put it off. You know, the boys and girls here know what it is to put something off to neglect something. You come home from school and mother says, do you have any homework? And you say, well, yes, but it's just a little bit. I'll put it off till later. I want to go out with my friends. And so you go out with your friends and dinner time comes and mother calls you in and she says, did you get that homework done? And you say I'll do it right after dinner.
And after dinner, something comes up and you go to your room and you get involved in something else.
And after a while, mother comes up and says it's time for bed. Did you get your homework done?
And you say, oh, I've put it off, but I'll do it now. And mother says it's too late, you've got to go to bed. And maybe the next day there's a little problem. At school. I used to hope that the teacher wouldn't check the homework on occasions like that, but there's a little difficulty. You have to stay in a recess or lunch hour and get caught up. But, you know, in the long run, it's not a great, a great thing. It passes. But all for those who neglect the scripture is very, very clear.
It says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? I believe there are those in a lost eternity this evening that are there because they put it off and they put it off and they neglected. And then it was too late. Oh, don't neglect tonight. Don't put it off. No. There was another man that Paul spoke to in the 16th chapter of the Book of Acts. We sometimes refer to him as the Philippian jailer.
And you know, Paul didn't preach a very long sermon. Perhaps you feel I've talked too long tonight.
You know you don't get long sermons in the Bible. Paul and Silas gave him a very, very short gospel message.
He asked a question what must I do to be saved? And the answer was believe.
On the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. You know that man accepted that gospel message.
He received it. He rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. Do you want joy tonight in your soul? Do you want happiness in this life and in eternity? There's no happiness apart from the Lord Jesus. Come and accept the gospel message. Turn to him. What are you going to do with Jesus? What shall I do with then with Jesus, which is called Christ? I can't save you tonight. I wish I could. I wish I could save you, but only God can save you. But oh, I trust tonight.
That the spirit of God will work in your soul so that you realize your need and his love and provision for you. That you will answer this question in the in the affirmative. That you will take Jesus tonight as your savior. Oh, he wants to bless you. You know, people are looking for happiness. They're looking for joy in this world. Are they finding it? I'm afraid they're like the woman in the 4th of John. They have to come again and again to get that water that only satisfies for a little time.
And I've often thought of that woman too, as she came to that well, from week to week and year to year.
No doubt she had to go deeper and deeper to draw that water that only satisfied her thirst for the moment. That's the way it is with sin. There's pleasures in sin, but they're only for a season. And those who have delved into these things know that they try one thing and it satisfies for a little time, and then they have to try something else and something else and something else. They have to go deeper and deeper and deeper to get that which only satisfies for a little time.
But all that woman came to that well one afternoon. And who did she find there?
She found the one who could give her living water. And oh, there's one who says, Oh, everyone that thirsted, come ye to the waters, Yay, come, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. The Lord Jesus stood on that last day, that great day of the feast and pride. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Is there a thirsting in your soul tonight? If you don't know, Jesus, there is.
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There is a thirst that only the one that made us can satisfy. You'll never find satisfaction, true joy and satisfaction in this world.
But you will find it tonight in the Lord Jesus Christ. I beg you to come to him.
Say yes to his offer of salvation.
All think of how it will grieve the heart of God.
As you go out of this hall tonight and you say once again, I won't have him.
As you go out of this hall tonight, and once again you neglect, you put it off.
We spoke of the joy that comes to our souls as we receive Jesus as our Savior.
And many of us can well remember that joy that flooded our soul when we came.
But all the joy that will be in heaven tonight over 1 Sinner that repenteth.
Is joy far beyond earthly joy, joy beyond anything that man has ever experienced?
Because there's joy tonight in the presence of the angels of God over 1 Sinner that repenteth.
Are you going to cause joy to the heart of God tonight? Are you going to cause joy to the heart of the Lord Jesus tonight as you come in repentance, as you own your need and as you take Jesus as your Savior tonight?
Before I close, I want to repeat something that I realize some here have heard me tell before.
But I think it is very applicable to the gospel.
And to the fact that God has sent his Son, the Lord Jesus into this world as the Savior of sinners.
If you were to step out of my front door and walk two blocks down the street, you would come to the Rideau River.
And the Rideau River flows from Brockville up through Smiths Falls into the nation's capital, Ottawa.
It flows through the nation's capital and downtown. In downtown Ottawa, it dumps over the Rideau Falls into the Ottawa River.
And as you know, it gets very cold up where I come from and the ice freezes fairly thick in the winter time. In fact, so thick that they take out plows and they plow that portion of the Rideau Canal that goes through the City of Ottawa. It's reputed to be the longest skating rink in the world. I believe it's about 7 miles. They keep clear in the winter time and the ice freezes to be two or three feet thick. But you know in the spring when the rains come and the ice begins to melt.
Sometimes that the water backs up and it causes flooding because sometimes there will be two or three water, a feet of water.
On top of that ice. And so they will send out government workers in boats.
To place dynamite at strategic points to back off and then ignite that dynamite.
To blow up that ice so that the water will flow freely down the river and not 'cause flooding.
And some time ago, there was a man went out in a boat. He placed his dynamite where he was told to place it, and in his haste to get away from the spot, his boat tipped over. He knew he wouldn't survive very long in those frigid waters. You can imagine how cold two or three feet of water would be on top of two or three feet of ice. And so he knew his only chance was to get out of those waters rather quickly. And so.
He was able to scramble up on top of his capsized boat.
Well, it wouldn't have been so bad, but the water was moving towards the Rideau Falls.
And those who saw his plight on the shore knew that he wouldn't survive if he went over the falls in that way. And just before the Rideau Falls, there's a bridge goes over the Rideau Canal. So someone called the fire department. They rushed to the scene. They could see that man coming towards them as they stood on that bridge. And as he came towards them, they lowered a rope, expecting that man to grab that rope and be pulled to safety.
And to their horror.
As he passed under that rope, it seemed that he made no effort to reach up and.
Grab that rope and as he went over the falls, he was heard to say.
I'm frozen to the boat.
His hands, as he clung to that boat caked with ice, had become so frozen to that boat.
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That he was unable to lift up his hands and to grab that rope. And as that audience, those that were there, dispersed and turned away in sadness, some one was heard to say, oh, if they'd only lowered a man they could have saved.
Brethren, those who are lost friends.
That's the story of the Gospel to night.
God has sent a man into this world. There's nothing you can do tonight to rid yourself of one sin.
You are just as helpless as that man who was frozen to the boat.
But oh God, I speak reverently, has sent down a man into this world, just as they could have sent a man down on that rope and grabbed that man and saved him and been pulled to safety. So God has sent a man into this world, the Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has died on Calvary's cross and shed his precious blood. And God has done all he can for your blessing.
Are you going to refuse tonight the offer, that gift that he is offering, of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you going to refuse that gift? Oh, he sent His Son. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, and this was manifest, the love of God toward us in that he sent his Son that we might let into this world that we might live through Him.
God couldn't have done more, you know, We had that verse for memory this summer as we presented the gospel to the boys and girls up in Maine, and that was one of the gospel verses that we had them memorize. And I wondered what the word manifested meant. And so I looked it up in Webster's dictionary and I have enjoyed ever since the fact that the word manifested means to clearly show God has clearly shown.
His love beyond a shadow of a doubt, He's clearly shown his love in sending the son.
What are you going to do with him tonight? What will ye do then with Jesus?
Which is called Christ. Will you receive him tonight? Will you come to him? I'd like to close.
By singing hymn #21.
Decide for Christ today.
And God's salvation, sea yields soul and body, heart and will.
To him who died for thee, Christ alone can save break the power of sin.
Christ deathfully satisfied the heart that cleaves to him #21 Will someone start it to know Jesus as Savior? Because, you know, as we come to the end of a gospel meeting like this, and the solemnity of eternal issues have been before us, as surely as I pray and say Amen, the enemy is going to be busy to interject every kind of distraction and thought.
So that the seed is plucked away tonight, and to distract those who are perhaps exercised, as they're to their eternal salvation. And brethren, I just say this to my own soul. May there not be that which would be used by the enemy, but may there be a conduct and a solemnity with us after a gospel hour, so that if there are those who are exercised.