Gospel—J. Hyland
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This evening with hymn #3 on the gospel hymn sheet, my hope on nothing less is built than Jesus and the blood he spilt. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on his blessed name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. I'm going to suggest that we stand up to sing this hymn hymn #3 and if someone could please start it.
My.
My soul.
Is my blessings day.
Oh, Christmas light rock, oyster.
And bother.
By reading 3 portions of the Word of God, we're going to read a portion from the life of the Lord Jesus. We're going to read an incident in the book of Genesis, and we're going to read a verse in the book of Proverbs.
I think as we read these, you'll see very easily the connection. Let's go first of all to Luke's Gospel, chapter 14.
I'm Sorry, Chapter 13. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 13.
And verse one.
There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans.
Whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things, I tell you, Nay, but accept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those 18 upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slew them.
Think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem, I tell you, Nay, but accept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And now I'd like to go back to the book of Genesis, Genesis Chapter 11.
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Genesis Chapter 11 and verse one.
And the whole earth was one language and of one speech. And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plane in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. And they said, one to another, go to let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and slime, had they for mortar. And they said, go to let us build us a city.
And a tower whose top may reach unto heaven. And let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is 1 And they have all one language. And this they begin to do, And now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do.
Go to let us go down and there confound their language.
That they may not understand one another speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth, and they left off to build the city. Therefore the name of it is called Babel, because the Lord did their confound the language of all the earth, and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. And now a verse in Proverbs, Chapter 18.
For 18 and verse 10.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and is safe. Well, you know, sometimes the Lord allows circumstances, perhaps in our lives personally or perhaps in the world around us, to bring before us perhaps a line of things in scripture that we know is there. But we've never really followed it out before. And I have been impressed in going through the word of God recently to notice.
How many times we have towers mentioned? And tonight we couldn't hope to go through the word of God in the time that is allotted to us for this gospel meeting and mention all the towers and their significance. Because these things in God's word are not idly recorded. They have significance. They have something to say to our consciences and to our hearts. They have a lesson that needs to be learned. God doesn't just record these things as interesting stories.
And historical facts. It's true, they are interesting stories and they are historical facts. But we're going to find tonight that with the Lord's help that they are much more than that. And I trust that the Spirit of God will help us to see just beyond the event itself, but to see the reason that it is recorded in God's word.
Towers have been very much the subject of conversation in the United States and around the world since September 11Th.
And there have been story after story of those who perished in that on that day, not only in the disaster in New York City, but at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. Stories of those who perished, stories of those who were saved, stories of those who were spared in one way or another. You know, I believe that God often allows catastrophes.
Catastrophes to the magnitude that we have experienced right here in North America to wake us up and to speak to us.
You know, I don't know since the 11Th of September how many other people have perished in various accidents and instances around the world. I suggest that if we were to draw up some statistics this evening, we would be astounded with how many people have died since that horrific incident in New York City on the 11Th of September. But, you know, God often allows circumstances and tragedies like that to speak to us.
And it's interesting where we began. Here in Luke's gospel, we have the Lord Jesus speaking to those many who thought they were pretty good, many who didn't realize their need. And I trust that every one of us in this room tonight realize that if we're lost and without Christ, we have a great need.
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But here we find that the Lord Jesus speaks to them, and he brings before them two instances what we might say were the current events of the day, that which no doubt was the topic of conversation. If you had gone from city to city in that day and from town to town and talked with people on the street corner, no doubt these two things that had happened were the subject of conversation. And tonight we want this to be more than.
Than just a rundown or a summary of current events.
We want to, by the grace of God, present the glorious gospel message concerning the Lord Jesus who came into this world to save sinners. But I was struck in coming to this chapter in Luke, Luke 13, and to realize that the Lord Jesus in speaking to those in his day.
He drew from the news of the day because, I say, the current events of the day are often allowed to speak to us. Sometimes they speak softly, sometimes they speak loudly. Now I would just say to qualify my remarks that we can become over occupied and overwhelmed by what is going on in this world, but you know, even as believers.
It's good to be intelligent bystanders as to what is going on in this world.
And here we find the Lord brings 2 instance instances before these ones. The first one was an instance of violence, the second was an accident. Aren't we reminded of those two things in the world in which we live, violence fills this world. You only have to read a corner of your newspaper to realize that violence is on the rise in every sphere of society. And I believe it's on the rise in North America because we're giving up the light of Christianity.
Here in North America, having been to some other parts of this world.
I've realized that what places of value on life is Christianity, and the light of Christianity has placed a value on life in the Western world beyond.
What you will find in any other, any other corner of the world, where something other than Christianity.
Is professed.
But as we give up the light of Christianity, as we set aside the word of God.
As we bring up a generation who know nothing about the Scriptures, nothing about God, nothing about his Son, the Lord Jesus, perhaps other than to hear his name cursed on the street, I believe we're going to see more violence and corruption.
Rise right here in North America. You know, we often quote that scripture in Second Timothy Perilous times. And yet, you know, perhaps up until now we really in this country haven't known physically at least.
What real perilous times are.
But if the Lord leaves us here, we might find out more and more what it is to experience real peril here in North America. And so the Lord Jesus brought this incident concerning, this concerning.
Pilot who had mingled the blood of these men with their sacrifices. And it's not my thoughts to go into the details of this incident.
But simply to point out what the Lord Jesus said to those who were listening to him.
And that is he said that those who were those who had had their blood mingled with those sacrifices, were no worse, no worse sinners, than those who were standing with an outward cloak of piety before the Lord Jesus on this occasion. And he said, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
You know, it's a solemn word. It's repeated twice here.
Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
You know, perhaps in the society in which we live, we don't really understand much about real repentance.
It's often been pointed out, and rightly so, that repentance literally is a change of mind. And it is to realize first of all that we are sinners, and to see through the eyes of God that not only are we sinners, but we're rotten through and through, and that there isn't even one spark of good within us. Isn't that contrary to what they teach you at school today? Isn't that contrary to what you hear in the world where there's this spark?
They tell us there's this spark of divinity within each one of us, and if it's fanned in the proper way and developed or placed in the proper environment, it's going to eventually flame up into something wonderful.
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That's contrary to the teaching of God's Word. God's Word says there is no difference and God's Word says there is none. Good. No, not one. And God's Word tells us all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Do you really believe that tonight? Is there someone here in this room and you're going on in your sins on that broad Rd. that leads to destruction?
And when the Word of God is opened on an occasion like this?
And whoever has the privilege and opportunity of presenting the Word, because it is a wonderful privilege to hold forth the word of life. But whoever has the privilege of opening the word and presenting the gospel brings before you the fact from the word of God that you are a Sinner. You close your ears to it. You say, well, I've done some wrong things, but I'm not so bad as all that.
Brother was telling me one time of a man who came to his home.
He was looking for something to eat and.
As he was given something to eat in that home.
The brother in whose home he was sitting sought to bring before him the gospel.
And when he spoke of sin, this man said, oh, I've never sinned this.
I wonder if there's anybody who would have the audacity tonight to stand up and say they've never sinned. This man said he'd never sinned. He just made mistakes.
He'd made one great mistake because the brother realized after talking to him for a while that while he as he kept wiping his cup and his knife and anything else he touched.
So he wouldn't leave fingerprints behind, This brother realized there was something more than met the eye and.
I think his wife went into the other room and called the police and they were only too glad to find out that this man who said he'd never sinned.
Would be picked up. And that's exactly what happened. He had escaped from prison.
He hadn't just made mistakes. He had sinned. And you say, well, I've never gone against society. I've never committed a crime that would warrant me being put behind prison bars. But, oh, tonight I want to tell you that sin is a serious thing. And that one act of disobedience was what drove Adam and Eve out of the presence of God. And one act of disobedience was what brought down sin and death upon the whole human race.
By one man's disobedience, sin entered, and death by sin so death passed upon all men.
For that all have sinned, and all to get into the presence of a holy God tonight, and to realize that you are a Sinner, and to see what you are through the eyes of a holy God, I believe, will bring you to repentance, a change of mind.
And to confess that sin.
Oh, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
And so he tells them here, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And then he goes on to speak, not so much of an act of violence now but he speaks of an accident.
The Tower of Siloam for some reason.
Falls down and 18 souls are ushered into eternity.
Seems like a small number, doesn't it, compared to what we've heard of in recent weeks.
But those who were listening to the Lord Jesus might have thought.
Well, God was speaking to them. They must have been great sinners for God to allow the Tower of Siloam to fall on them, and usher them into eternity. The Lord said, Nay, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
And tonight I want to impress upon our souls.
That we have not. You have not perished, yet many have perished here in North America.
In the last few months. But here you sit with opportunity to receive God's wonderful offer of salvation, God's escape from coming judgment, God's invitation to come to the Savior, and not just to escape from coming judgment, from coming wrath. That's true for those of us who know Christ were saved from wrath through him, But it's much, much more than that.
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It is to be saved for glory. There is a hymn we sometimes sing. Death and judgment are behind us.
But that's not the end of it. Grace and glory are before, and I know I look into the faces of those who thrill as we speak of that which is ahead for the child of God. But what about you tonight?
You weren't in the World Trade Center when it collapsed.
You weren't on any of those planes.
That blew up for one reason or another and crashed on the 11Th of September.
God has spared your life graciously.
So that this weekend you could come to these meetings.
So that this evening you could have from the heart of God.
Presented ever so feebly, but from the heart of God.
A message of hope, of salvation, of love, of peace, and of joy.
I was solemnized.
To hear a story just the other day.
Concerning 2 People, a man and a woman.
Both who escaped.
The awful, horrific catastrophe of the collapsing of the World Trade Center.
One of those one of those individuals, the man.
He had just started a new job that day and he had transferred from his office on one of those high up stories in the World Trade Center to another location in New York City.
Another woman was on the ground floor of that Trade Center when the first plane hit, and she too, escaped. But that's not the end of the story.
It's so solemn, I don't know if I can speak of it.
But both those individuals who escaped that day.
From certain death.
We're on that American Airlines flight.
That took off from New York City.
And crashed in Queens.
Shortly thereafter.
The lady had told her family.
That she was returning to the Dominican Republic to celebrate the fact.
That she had escaped and was still alive.
The other man, if I remember correctly, was going to take a vacation.
Why do we tell these things tonight? These are not just merely updates on what is taking place in the world around us, but I tell this tonight. Young person, boy, girl, older person, to solemnize our souls in the presence of God and to solemnize our souls as to the reality of eternity.
We must meet God. It is appointed unto debt man once to die, and after this the judgment, And therefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, it tells us in Second Corinthians.
We think we know about terror and I'm not minimizing anything.
But knowing the terror of the Lord.
We've seen the terror of man at his worst, perhaps, but what about when the judgments of this world are meted out by the Lord Jesus himself? Oh, if we were to go to Revelation tonight, we would find those who are left behind for judgment, and they look for escape from that which is poured out on this earth in the wrath of the Lamb. And it says that they hide themselves. They cry to hide themselves from the mountains and rocks, to fall on them and hide themselves.
From the wrath of the Lamb, in the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, are you going to be left behind for the judgment of God?
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I tell you, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
It was a solemn thing for pilot to mingle the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices.
It was a solemn thing when the Tower of Siloam fell and killed 18 souls.
But there is a judgment coming on this world that's far, far worse.
Than anything that this world has experienced. The judgment of a holy God, the day of the Lord. It's solemn. These things are real. We're not fooling tonight, and not only the judgments that are coming on this world, but even worse than that.
To stand at the Great White Throne before the Judge.
With heaven and earth fled away.
And to stand there speechless in your sins.
And to look into the face of the one who tonight wants to be your savior.
And to have the books brought out and opened in the plenty of time to go over the records. No hurrying in that courtroom in that day. No case is dismissed because the courts are jammed.
No loopholes or typing errors.
But the books brought out and the records gone over, as we would say, everything there in black and white.
And then wonder of wonders even the book of life brought out.
To show that your name is not written there, lest there be any shadow of a doubt in your mind.
That your name should have been there. That book brought out in your name, not there.
And what happens to those whose names are not written in the book of life?
Something worse, Something far, far more serious.
Than anything that has or will have happened prior to that event.
Something far more final than anything that has happened prior to this.
To be taken.
And in the language of Scripture, bound hand and foot, and cast into outer darkness.
And the most solemn thing of all to be shut out eternally from a God of love, a place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth.
You know, whenever you take up a subject in the word of God, it's always good to go back to the first time something is mentioned.
And that's why I read the incident in Genesis Chapter 11. We've spoken of the Tower of Siloam.
We've spoken of the World Trade Center and those towers that came crashing down on that day.
But here we go back to the beginning, where we have the first mention in the word of God of a tower.
And I believe what we have here to generalize and to sum up this incident in the building of the Tower of Babel, is man in independence of God lifted up in all his pride. I don't know if you noticed, but since these scriptures were on my heart this evening, I noticed in coming down the hall to the Gospel Meeting outside this room.
Several paintings.
Of towers of various sorts. I have no doubt if we had a historian here we could go out in the hall and perhaps he could name those various towers.
It looks like most of them were our paintings depicting towers from ancient history.
Man has always been fascinated by towers, and here we find that after the flood, man travels and they're together and they come to the plain of Shinar. You know, this plain of Shinar is mentioned again in the first chapter of Daniel in connection again with Babylon.
And I don't pay particular attention to meanings of names in the scripture and their significance.
But it is interesting to notice that Shinar means holy cast off. Isn't it? A picture of the world we live in today. Restraint today.
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Is gone. It's a day when restraint is wholly cast off, and they have an expression in the world. If it feels good, do it. And men today are following the app, their appetites and their desires, with no one to put restraint or to tell them what to do. We have come, have we not? Almost to what we might say is an amoral society, no standard men fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and of the mind. And I don't.
Need to tell you about this and it's certainly not my intention to tonight.
You see it every day in stark reality when you go to school or to work, or even to stand in line at the grocery store.
And see.
What's there in the news racks? I don't suggest you read it.
This is a day.
Fully cast off.
That's what we find. The land of Shine artifies to us.
And they come to this plane, and they say, lest they be scattered, they ought to build a city and a tower.
Whose height would reach to heaven now? Again, the city often brings before us in Scripture Man going on in independence of God. The first mention of a city, if we were to back up in this same book, is in connection with Cain. I think we alluded to it this afternoon. He went out from the presence of the Lord and he built a city again. Isn't that what men are doing today? They've gone out from the presence of the Lord. They don't want God. They don't want the light of His word. They don't want prayer in the schools.
They don't want their young people to hear the Scriptures or the gospel.
Gone out from the presence of the Lord and aren't they building a city, isn't man lifted up in his pride. Boffin said. That when I was growing up in the city Of Montreal and our Centennial, Canadian Centennial rolled around in 1967, they had a great World's fair and exposition.
It was ironically entitled Man and His world. And if we were to follow through concerning Babel Babylon, this place of confusion, because that's what it became and that's what this world is without God. It's simply a place of confusion. No purpose. People without a purpose, People doing their own thing. Violence and corruption and rebellion against authority on the rise on every hand.
And later on Nebuchadnezzar looked around that great city, and with all the pride in his heart he said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built? But God came in, in His judgment, judgments, a very real thing. He has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. And so we find that they take up this task of building a city and a tower.
And what happened? It says the Lord came down.
That's a striking comment, because if we were to go back to the 6th of Genesis, before the flood came, before God judged with the flood, you find that it simply says, and God looked down. Interesting, isn't it? He looked down and he saw not only the outward rebellion and corruption and violence that filled the earth in Noah's day, but he looked into the very heart of man, and he saw that the imagination of man's heart was evil.
But here we find something else. He doesn't just look down here as man is lifted up in his pride, seeking to build this city in this great tower. He comes down to see the tower and he says, no, they're not going to continue. You know God is in control tonight.
Man goes on, He builds his great towers. He makes his plans.
He speaks of superpowers and those who are in control of situations in the earth.
God is in control. The wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain.
He's working all things after the council of his own will. He's behind everything. There's no surprises with God. Nothing takes him off guard. He knows all about it before he it happens and he allows it to accomplish his purposes, and it will be ultimately for his glory. Sometimes it's hard to understand that, but it will be ultimately to accomplish his purposes and for his glory.
And so he said, I'm not going to let them continue. And he came down and confounded the languages. And you know, we still use this expression today to Babble.
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Later on, it's referred to as Babylon. You ever hear someone say, well, that person just babbles on. It's a place of confusion.
But you know, I want to go now. We've spoken of some very solemn things, and I trust the spirit of God lays these things on your soul if you're not saved tonight. But you know, we read that verse in the book of Proverbs, In Proverbs, chapter 18. I'm just going to read it again.
Because this is the glorious side of it all. Proverbs 18 and verse 10. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and is safe. You know, I saw a statement written. I just forget where it was, whether it was in the newspaper or a gospel track. I'm not sure where it was. But it said this. It asked this question. Is any tower safe? Well, tonight we want to tell you about a tower that's safe.
The World Trade Center wasn't safe. It came tumbling down. The tower of Salome in the Lord's Day wasn't safe. It came tumbling down, but out. Tonight, the glorious side of the gospel is that there is a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, referred to in our verse as a strong tower.
I also read a solemn statement made by one of the architects or engineers that worked on the World Trade Center as it was being erected. He made this statement. He said these towers are so strong that they can withstand the impact of a 737, should never make statements like that. They said God couldn't think the Titanic and he sunk it.
They set a 737, couldn't bring down the World Trade Center, and we know what happened.
But all here's the only safety, here's the only sure refuge. And you know those of us who have fled by the grace of God to this strong tower, Those of us who are have found our salvation in the Lord Jesus, those who are washed by that precious blood.
Nothing can ever pluck us out of that tower, so to speak. We're there, and we're safe for all eternity. The devil himself can't bring that tower down. The devil himself can't root us away from the one who has saved us. Oh, what's security? People are looking for security tonight. Just go to any airport in this world and people are trying to have security.
There's lots of breaches in security, aren't there? We hear almost every day of some breach in security.
But here is the place of security with no breach. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, and if we were to go over to the New Testament we would read these glorious words. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
Have you found your refuge tonight in that strong tower?
I'm going to ask that question again.
May it burn into your soul. Have you found your refuge in that strong tower?
The Lord Jesus Christ.
Or are you struggling on with life and trying to find peace and safety and security?
In all the things that man has set up in society to try to attain those things Education, affluence, money.
Before this gospel meeting, I wanted to get a little exercise and.
So I took the elevator to the 12Th floor of this building, and I walked down those 12 floors, down the stairs. And then I turned around and I walked back up those 12 flights of stairs. And then I walked back down again. And for someone who's not in the best physical shape, it was a good little workout. But you know, as I walked, particularly up those stairs, I thought about three men that I read about recently.
Three men who had.
Everything.
As the world would say, to make them happy.
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Samuel Preston.
Louis Weatherford and John Newton, three young men who lived here in the United States many, many years ago. I say many years ago, and this story will bear it out.
One day they decided that they needed to go out and have some fun and go to New York City and, as they said, paint the town.
And so they boarded a train in their hometown for New York City.
And they arrived by train, and in the hustle and bustle of Central Station, they found a cab and instructed the driver to take them to the Ambassador Hotel in New York City.
As they got out of that cab, here were three country boys.
In the heart of New York City, and they gazed with awe.
At that 29 story building, did I say this story happened long ago? Indeed it did.
They went inside and they had made reservations. They checked in.
They got on the elevator and they went to the top floor because when they had checked in, they said they wanted the best suite in the Ambassador Hotel in New York City, and they were informed that that would be on the 29th floor of that building. They got there and they found that it was indeed a luxurious suite.
They settled in and they got refreshed. And then they decided as evening approached that they would go out on the town. And that's exactly what they did. And in the wee hours of the morning they returned to that hotel. And in those days you didn't stick your key in your pocket and take it with you. When you left the hotel, you left it at the front desk, and when you returned to the hotel, you picked up your key.
When they came to the desk, they were informed that the elevator in their absence had malfunctioned and that they had two choices. They could either walk up the 29 flights of stairs to their suite, or the hotel would give them a suite room, at least on a lower floor. And the next day, when the elevator was repaired, they could go back.
To their suite on the 29th floor.
Those men were exhausted.
But they decided when they talked about it that it would be worth the climb to again enjoy the luxury that they knew awaited them at the top of that building. It would be worth the climb.
And so they told the man behind the desk, yes, they would make the climb, and they started out in the first few floors. It was kind of a lark, and they joked about it.
But you know, as they got a few floors up, they began to get weary and their escapades that evening only added.
To the fatigue that they felt, and the higher they got, the more fatigued they became. And one of the men decided he couldn't make it anymore, and he sat down on one of the landings. His friends let him rest a little while, and then they encouraged him to press on.
And so, floor by floor, slow, ever so slowly, they made it finally to the 25th, 29th floor.
They got to the door of their room and one of the men rummaged in his pocket for the key, turned to his friends and said one of you must have the room key.
His friends looked in their pockets. They shook their heads. They said. We thought you had the room key.
You can imagine their distress.
They had climbed almost to the point of dropping with exhaustion.
Those 29 flights of stairs defined that they were without the key. Why do I tell that? Just because it's an interesting story? No, I was solemnized when I read that story to realize there are many like those three young men in this world tonight who are so busy trying to climb and by one effort and another get along in this world, climb the ladder of success.
Climb the corporate ladder.
Many even trying to climb to heaven tonight, but they don't have the key.
What is the key? Oh, it's the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. How many are going on the on life, struggling up the mountain of life, struggling up the staircase of life, so to speak, without the key, without the Lord Jesus Christ, only to find at the end of it all that it's all in vain.
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Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
But here we find the name of the Lord is a strong tower. Oh let's go in our minds eye for a moment to Calvary's cross.
Where we see the Lord Jesus.
Having been on trial in the city of Jerusalem.
Taken outside those city walls. They've cried away with him, crucify him, They've led him outside those city walls. They've taken him to the place of a skull. You know why It was the place of a skull. That's as high as man's reason would take him.
What was the height of man's reason? What was the height of man's intelligence? It was to take the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe, the one who had come to be the Savior.
The one who had common blessings, and to take him to the place of a skull, to take him to go Gotham, to take him to Calvary, and to stretch out his hands, as he upheld all things by the word of his power, and to nail him there.
And to leave him to hang as a spectacle for men and angels.
To sit down and watch him in his agony.
To pass by and revile him.
And then when man had heaped on the Lord Jesus, all the abuse.
And all the reproach and all the ignominy that God would allow.
The sun was darkened at the brightest moment of the day.
And thank God he bore my sins in his own body on the tree.
Thank God he died for me, because at the end of it all he cried. It is finished. He bowed his blessed head. He dismissed his spirit, He could say of his life. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
And so many of us can rejoice tonight to echo with the Apostle Paul, the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. He gave himself at Calvary's cross.
Wicked hands never touched the body of the Lord Jesus. After that God made sure of it.
And Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who finally comes out boldly for Christ.
They come, they come, and they take the body of the Lord Jesus and they lay it in a new tomb in accordance with the prophecy of the Old Testament.
And then, early on the resurrection morning, we find those who come to the Sepulchre, those whose hearts were so attracted to the Lord Jesus that they wanted to be close to him, even if it meant just being close to his dead body. And they come. But do they find a dead body in the tomb?
Oh, no. They find the stone rolled away. They find an empty tomb. And they hear these glorious words. Words that thrill our souls over and over and over again. I trust he is not here. He is risen. Come see the place where the Lord lay. He had been in the tomb. Indeed he had. He died and he was buried. But the Scripture doesn't end there.
It says he rose again the 3rd day according to the scripture, and he was raised again for our justification. Because if Christ be not raised, our faith is in vain, we're still in our sins, and he remained on earth long enough to give ample testimony to his own.
That he had bodily risen from the dead, He said, Handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone, as ye see me have. He appeared even to about 500 brethren at one time. And then the day came, when he led his disciples outside to Bethany, there on the Mount of Olives, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And as he lifted up his hands and blessed them, his feet left the mount of Olives.
And a cloud received him out of their sight. And the Lord Jesus tonight, the Savior that we're Speaking of, this strong tower that you can flee to tonight.
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He's a savior on high in the glory. He lives there at God's right hand. He loves you. He wants you. He died to redeem you only believe His word.
Oh, tonight it's repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We spoke of repentance earlier, but I'll just for a moment I want to beseech you to put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Is that difficult? Is that a long, complicated gospel message?
Most of what we have said here tonight, perhaps you won't remember, But remember this short gospel message preached in a prison so long ago. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Are you saved tonight? Do you know Christ as your Savior?
Are you washed in the blood of Jesus? You know there are three colors we hear so often about, especially at a time when patriotism rises through circumstances in the world.
And in this country you have no doubt heard this expression many, many times in the past few months. Red, white and blue.
You know, those are not just the colors of the American flag. They are colors of scripture. First of all red. I like the order in which we say those. It's it's, I think it's very interesting. Red, the blood of Christ. That's the basis sacrifice. We had that this morning in this afternoon in the reading meeting.
Cain brought a more, Abel brought a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Why? Because there was the shedding of blood and all through the Old Testament. From that point on God was teaching that the basis for blessing was the death of an innocent victim. There had to be the shedding of blood. When Israel was redeemed by the blood of the Passover lamb, that victim had to be slain. The blood had to be taken and put on the lentil and the two side posts. And God said, when I see the blood.
It was God's estimation, God's value of the thing. When I see the blood, I will Passover you.
And what's God's estimation tonight of the blood of Christ? Precious. We're redeemed with the precious. That's God's estimation of it. God says it's the precious blood of Christ. You get that in first Peter, one read. That's the basis, White. That's holiness. You want to have your sins gone tonight?
You want to be made the righteousness of God in him.
White often speaks to us in Scripture of purity of holiness. The basis is the blood.
But as a result of that, we're brought into a position where our sins are gone forever, and we're brought into a position before God in all the loveliness and beauty of Christ, and accepted in the beloved and blue. That's the end, isn't it? That's heaven. That's glory. Are you on your way to heaven tonight? You know the Lord Jesus is coming.
I'm really surprised he didn't come before this hour, concluded the.
The Lord Jesus is coming any moment.
Behold, I come quickly. The coming of the Lord draws nigh. I say I'm surprised. I thought the Lord might come between 7:00 and 8:00 this evening, but He hasn't come. Why? Because he's long-suffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come.
To repentance. He's giving you an opportunity tonight to repent. He's giving you an opportunity to come to the Savior. He's giving you an opportunity to run into that safe tower. The name of the Lord is a safe tower.
It's a strong tower and the righteous runneth into it and are safe. Are you safe tonight from coming judgment? Are you saved for glory? Are you looking for the Lord Jesus to come at any moment? Let's pray.
Our blessed God and Father.