Gospel—D. Nicolet
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Let's open our hem sheets to him #12.
Hymn #12.
Just as I am.
Don't know how you've come into this room tonight, God knows.
I could.
Make a pretty good guess in many cases.
Many of you have come in here as I have, by the grace of God, knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior sins washed away in His precious blood.
But I don't know if all of you are in that condition.
And but this hymn tells the truth, just as I am. Whatever condition you're in tonight, right now, here you are, as fit as you need to be to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. You are in the only condition you need to be in tonight if you do not know him a Sinner.
To receive the Lord Jesus, to receive eternal life, just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. Let's sing the 1St, the 3rd, and the 5th verse of hymn #12.
Just as I am.
Your personal savior.
It's time to put aside all pretensions and thoughts.
Feelings that you have and recognize that those 3 words, poor, wretched, blind are God's estimation of your condition as lost in sin before him tonight. And if you'll recognize that.
Simply accept that that is a true representation, a true characterization of your condition before God as a Sinner.
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Then cite richest healing are yours. This afternoon our brother Ruhl spoke about the eyes. There was one in the word of God who was born blind.
He had to do with the Lord Jesus. He didn't know much about him.
In fact, he couldn't even tell some who were asking who he was, But he knew one thing.
Whereas I was blind, now I see.
That's the site tonight. We trust and pray every soul in this room who can understand what's being said.
Will leave with.
Now I see.
Let's pray our God.
I have two verses to begin with tonight.
That are on my heart.
Both very well known.
The first in the Gospel of John.
The.
10th chapter.
John, Chapter 10.
And I'm going to read the 1St 3 verses of verse seven and then part of verse 10.
Then said Jesus.
I am.
That they might have life.
And that they might have it more abundantly.
Now I'd like to turn to the Old Testament, to the book of Nehemiah.
Chapter One.
No, I'm sorry. It's Chapter 2.
Nehemiah, chapter 2.
And verse 10.
When Sanballat the Horror Night and Tobiah the Servant the Ammonite.
Heard of it? It grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man.
To seek the welfare.
Of the children of Israel.
It grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare.
Of the children of Israel. You know, this afternoon we had some very, very wonderful ministry.
Practically practical ministry on Ephesians of the armor.
And there was a comment about the evil day.
I would suggest to your heart tonight, dear friend, that at least in the context of our gospel meeting, the evil day is the day in which there are those who, or I should say particularly that enemy who is grieved that one is seeking your eternal welfare.
That is, to me, the best description I can think of of an evil day. One is here tonight, an enemy of your soul.
Who is grieved that there has come into this world?
God manifest in the flesh the eternal Son of God.
That blessed one whoever dwelt in past eternity in the bosom of the Father.
Laid aside, hid that Glory was born a babe in Bethlehem's Manger.
Perfect man, very God. And with one specific object, I say reverently to his heart, And that is your welfare, you sitting here tonight?
He has come with your welfare on his heart. He has come that you might have life.
And that you might have it more abundantly, The very thing that this world tonight so desperately seeks for knowing it can't have it.
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Knowing it can't prolong it in a madding rush to either seek to prolong it a few years or to forget that it's going to end so quickly.
In a rush of indescribable.
Attempts at finding pleasure.
Into that world that very well is aware that there's no such thing as life that goes on.
There's one come to give a gift of the very thing that men most desperately seek and apart from faith in God, can never have.
And it's for you tonight, dear friend. He's come, the Lord Jesus Christ has come, that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.
But what I have, especially on my heart.
Is that there is one who is grieved.
And doing everything he can tonight to see to it that either.
That seed of the gospel which could sprout into eternal life if there's faith, a work of the Spirit of God, in your heart by faith.
That that seed could spring into eternal life, will do everything he can to ****** that seed away. Or perhaps, and I have to say, I have this very much on my heart tonight.
That there may be sitting in this room.
Young people who have heard this message, and they have heard it proclaimed far more clearly.
And far more eloquently than you'll hear it proclaimed tonight.
And yet are sitting there with no movement in your heart at all.
I'm not here to judge, nor can anyone else whether there is really life in your heart.
But, dear friends, dear young person, if there is no stirring at all in your heart to hear that the Creator of this universe took upon himself to become a man.
Came into this world and went to a cross, and there willingly offered his life the most horrible, ignominious death imaginable.
And he did that for you, if knowing that tonight, if having this book, this precious, divine, inspired word of God.
Which clearly proclaims that wonderful account and reality and truth, if hearing that and knowing that stirs nothing in your soul.
I don't care how many times you've said in a Gospel meeting how many verses from the Bible you know, how many young people's meetings you've attended or who your parents are.
You do well to be very concerned if knowing that the Lord of glory, the Creator of this universe.
Has given his life knowing all about you.
From past eternity, and was still willing, knowing everything about you, Every thought you'd ever think, everything you'd ever do.
And still from past eternity.
Came.
For you. And that stirs nothing in your soul. And you sit here absolutely cold, beloved young people, I beg you.
Find out before God why that is.
I recently heard.
And this account will open what we're going to look at in the first.
Chapter or so of the book of Nehemiah.
An account of a United States champion figure skater.
Who would be competing in the Olympics?
Perhaps we'll be competing in the Olympics. I don't know this individual's name.
But the account goes that this individual who had to, as I think we all could understand, spend quite some time training intensely for the kind of competition that they were going to face, was having a real difficulty getting up at 5:00 every morning to begin that training routine. And it was quite a concern, too, that figure skater's coach.
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That they were having difficulty at 5:00 rousing up and beginning their training.
And evidently this went on for some time until a coach found a remedy.
The remedy was that he placed by the Figure skaters bedroom clock. A photograph.
Of the Russian Olympic world figure skating champion.
And underneath that picture these words were written.
Comrade.
While you were sleeping, I was training.
Are you sleeping tonight?
Does the world put you to sleep? There is something far more valuable, infinitely more valuable at stake tonight than a gold medal and a few years of prestige in this world. What's at stake tonight is your never dying soul.
And while you're sleeping, nothing's stirring in your heart. No concern, no care.
For what God would have to say to you, someone I say, is very, very active.
And they're very, very grieved.
That tonight you're hearing, though it's spoken feebly, the truth of the word of God, that the Lord Jesus Christ loves you and died on the cross for you His blood has been shed, that blood so infinitely valuable before God.
That it can wash away every stain of sin. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Are you sleeping tonight? I want to tell you there's someone else, a very real individual, who isn't.
And I trust that the Spirit of God will wake you up.
Beloved young people.
To realize that we're talking.
Tonight about life and death issues.
You know.
Sometimes I go with my wife to a store.
Yet we go through the checkout line and there are all sorts of publications with big headlines. It's pretty difficult to even get through those lines without reading some of those headlines.
It's really been amazing to me the last.
Just a couple of months.
Names that though I don't really know much about them, I can remember hearing.
From the time I was in junior high and high school as those who were looked up to as entertainers of this world and they were very popular and they were what are called beautiful people.
And they were very well thought of, and they were very highly paid, and they lived a very, very evidently glamorous life. And those names were almost, it seems to me, household names as they are today. A different generation of names, perhaps, but they're out there. But what has struck me is the headlines of one of those names after another, talking about their last days as they die.
And in some cases, the horrible photographs of faces.
That are etched and creased with sorrow and agony. I don't know if those things are.
Accurate if those photographs are true, but I can assure you.
That it would take a person truly blind to take a look at that photograph and say the 80 or 90 years that they spent was worth it.
Don't be sleeping tonight.
Someone has come that you might have life.
And that you might have it more abundantly. He doesn't just want if I can apply it, and that's all I'm going to do by the help of God tonight, is make some simple applications.
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From a wonderful story in the word of God, but he's not only come to give you life, that is to so that you can say I'm so thankful I'm not going to go to a lost eternity. That's a wonderful thing to know.
But he wants to have you enjoy an abundant life, to realize the joys and the blessings that he has to give you. And may I say.
I want to be very careful how I say this.
But you know.
This world can offer some pretty tantalizing things it can make.
Pleasures and all sorts of activities seem very, very wonderful, worth spending a lifetime striving to attain to enjoy.
You know, I say this by the grace of God, and I don't know much about it. I know I'm going to learn a lot more.
But it's nothing compared to what my blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
Has given me.
And what he wants to give to you.
Why don't you try him? I want to be careful.
That he's not lying when he says he wants you not only to have life, but abundant life.
He wants you to have what the world can't give as to life and as to joy.
And the only way you're going to get it is to believe that he means what he says.
Let's look in the first chapter of Nehemiah and Justice, consider some of these things.
I would like somehow if it be the.
With the help of the Spirit of God, and only by his.
Help that this blessed man.
And what he's done might touch your heart.
Really don't care if what I say, my words don't have any effect. They can't have any effect unless the spirit of God makes them good. But I trust that as we look into this precious word, there will be something that touches your heart.
The words of Nehemiah.
And Nehemiah was in a palace called Shushan verse 2.
Hanaini, one of my brethren came.
I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity concerning and concerning Jerusalem, and they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. So I want to stop there, and I want to say what I've said before, and I want to emphasize that I'm simply going to make some applications tonight.
And what has touched my heart is to think about the Lord Jesus.
Do you think that he?
Tonight is aware of the misery and the affliction and the reproach that's rampant in this world.
Do you think it means something to his heart to know that, as it says here?
That the walls, the wall of Jerusalem is broken down.
The gates thereof are burned with fire. Here's a place that he had, you might say, the Lord Jesus.
Has right to inhabit his king.
But the wall is broken down. There is no way to keep out.
The filth and the corruption and the defilement, the wall is broken down.
It's not in a fit and suitable condition for the king to reign and the gates are burned with fire. There's no way any longer to have a way to get blessing. The gates have been burned.
That's a pretty apartment description, It seems to me, at least morally, of souls in this world.
Who don't know the Lord Jesus as savior. No way to keep out the filth, the defilement, the enemies that abound that would seek to lead your soul not only to a lost eternity, but to destroy it in misery here in this world.
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No wall.
And no way for Blessing to come in. No gates. They're burned.
Well, what did Nehemiah feel? What do you think the Lord Jesus feels as he looks down into this world, perhaps into this room tonight, Into someone's heart, into this room tonight, stranger to him. You may be playing a role of being a believer. You may look like a believer. You may do all the right things that a believer does. Go to the right places. Be seen in the right places. Have a Bible on your lap.
And yet the Lord Jesus looks down into your heart, and the gate, The wall is broken down, and the gates are burned with fire, not a fit place for him to reign as Lord and as king. What do you think that makes him feel? Well, we'll see in a little measure here. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept.
And mourned and fasted and prayed. Do you think there's misery in the world tonight? You think people are going through deep trials and persecutions and sufferings? And I don't mean believers. I mean those who don't know Christ as Savior. And they're in agony and driven to extremes.
To seek to get out of that agony, the sorrow, the agony they feel. Do you think people feel that? What do you think their creator feels?
I fear to even use examples, but at one time when I used to teach.
A class.
In a high school.
We taught the students how to create pottery. Maybe some in here have done that. You get a ball of clay and put it on a wheel and after a little practice and dedication you can throw a very nice looking pot.
Beautiful vases. Cups take some skill, but it can be done and it's very interesting. It's kind of fun to do.
I know what it is to not only myself, but watch students who gain some level of skill doing that shape on a Potter's wheel or rather nice looking vessel that could be useful.
A picture.
And they spent some amount of time and they got this thing shaped and as they were finishing it, perhaps their arm bumped a little bit or something went wrong and the vessel was marred and it was no good anymore.
And I could see the disappointment many times and I felt it myself.
Of seeing something that you had created ruined. It's not only pottery, You all know what I'm talking about. Things that you've done, created, worked on, and it didn't work out the way you had planned. It was ruined somehow. And you know, the disappointment you felt.
Can you in a little measure, Can I, in a little measure tonight understand the heart of the Creator who looks down into this world tonight?
And sees what has happened to that which he created. Do you think it meant anything to him to walk through this world some 2000 years ago?
And find it a hot, dry, dusty, tiring wilderness.
And find it so in perfection, as a perfect man, to enter into it, and to feel what it was that the very thing that he had created.
Had been ruined.
Nehemiah wept and mourned.
And he prays.
And there's so much here. We're just going to notice this. Here's Nehemiah, Consider this. He's sitting in Shushan. He's got a very responsible position there. He's evidently carrying it out very faithfully.
Pleasing his master.
Look what he says.
In verse 6.
I pray before thee Now He's praying to God day and night, for the children of Israel, thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee. Both I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against the have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments which thou commandest thy servant Moses. Two things I'd like to say about that.
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Number one, if you want to tonight know what it is.
To enjoy.
The abundant life that the Lord Jesus has for you.
This is the spirit that you need to display before God. I have sinned. Not look at those people. Look at how bad the world is. Look at how bad things are getting. Look how hard it is to even live righteously in any way in this world. But I've sinned.
Who is imperfection? For he was absolutely perfect, sin apart and yet the Lord Jesus.
So.
Beautifully.
So perfectly.
Identifies himself with the condition.
Of man, man of sorrows. What a name.
For the Son of God who came.
Man of sorrows.
Acquainted with grief.
He knew what it was. He knew perfectly, far more deeply than you'll ever or I'll ever know. The awfulness of what sin is, the sorrow. It's wrecked.
The havoc.
And tonight.
Fully entering into it in a way that you and I could never enter into it.
He offers you eternal life.
We read.
God he hath.
God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.
Sin for us who knew no sin he entered in.
In sorrow.
In a way that you and I can't.
But I'd like to also say this tonight if you think if anyone is sitting here and thinks that there is something in their life so bad.
So sorrowful that no one could understand it. Let me assure you there is one tonight who fully understands, who fully has entered in to whatever it is that's gone on in your life.
That you feel, perhaps, is absolutely hopeless.
That can never be righted.
I tell you, there's one who fully enters into it and fully understands, and not only that.
Has done.
At the cross.
That which is necessary.
That you might know the peace of that sin, sins, whatever it is, forever washed away, forever out of God's sight hidden.
Well, Nehemiah prays a very wonderful prayer, and we will not.
Go into it further, but there is this one phrase I want to notice in verse 11.
For I was the King's cup bearer. That was Nehemiah's particular responsibility, was to bring joy to the king.
I love to think as I read that, to be reminded of the Lord Jesus speaking there in Proverbs 8. I was daily his delight.
Rejoicing always before him.
That's the one who knows all about your sin, understands it, has entered into it fully.
That one knew what it was, knows what it is to dwell in absolute perfect joy and fellowship in the bosom of the Father. That one the Father's delight. Well, what is Nehemiah going to do?
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Says that in chapter 2.
I took up wine, and gave it on to the king. Now I had not been before times sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, Where Why is thy countenance sad? Seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else.
But sorrow of heart.
I don't have any ability to begin to describe.
What it means to the heart of the Lord Jesus.
When he sees one.
Going on in sin.
But let it just burn itself into your soul. That whatever.
Sorrow.
Whatever sadness you see in this world, that's the result of sin, and you don't need to look very far to see it.
It causes an infinitely greater sorrow to the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He feels it.
And for those tonight who know him, who have by faith accepted him as.
Their personal savior who have believed the record.
Who have by faith seen.
This blessed One hanging on the cross.
There's something that we will forever, I suppose, for all eternity.
Be enjoying but I'm sure never understanding even in eternity. My God, My God, why?
Hast thou forsaken me?
Spoken by the only perfect, spotless man that ever walked the face of this earth.
Did he know what sorrow was?
In three hours.
When the lights that God had created in nature were turned off.
So that none might behold what transacted between a holy God.
And that perfect man hanging there on the cross, a sacrifice for sin.
But hear his words, though you will not understand them. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Hear those words.
And in the holy solemn presence of God give that answer.
It was for me.
It was for me, for my sins.
That one who I say reverently, was the cup bearer bearing that wine before.
God daily his delight, as we said for three hours.
Drank every drop of the cup that he was given.
By a holy God and drained it empty, not one drop left.
It's gone.
Won't you have him tonight?
Well, Nehemiah makes a request to the king.
And he says in verse five of chapter 2 if it pleased the king.
And if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou would send me unto Judah.
Under the city of my father's sepulchres that I may build it.
Isn't that wonderful in a place that's characterized by death? He wants to come and build that there might be life.
Well.
That thou would send me Where is that in Isaiah, I think.
Better be careful. Maybe some brother will nod their head where it says Here am I send me.
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Those head nods are nice. Here am I. Send me, prophetic of the Lord Jesus who will go for us. Here am I. Send me.
You know, I can remember years ago, many, many years ago, when my parents thought it was time that I learned how to do some work. And they thought perhaps one of the ways I could learn was to become a paper boy.
And so I became a paper boy, and one of the jobs was to get up very, very early on Sunday morning.
And lug a bag of papers which were incredibly thick compared to any other morning. I had to get up and carry papers.
And I know that.
Old age plays tricks on us, but it seems to me that the winters in Iowa Falls, IA.
Were far more harsh when I was 10 than they are now. I can remember at about 4:30 in the morning on Sunday morning when I would hear my mom or dad come into the room and there I was, lying so very comfortable and warm underneath those covers, knowing what awaited me for the next couple or three hours.
And sometimes it really was pretty cold.
And it was pretty miserable.
Well, I want to be careful and I want to speak reverently.
Here am I. Send me. What do you think? He was leaving?
To come into a world that was anything I say reverently, but comfortable.
What do you think the Lord Jesus laid aside of the joy? May I say it this way carefully?
Of the joy.
May I say Comfort, Bliss, Divine, Infinite Bliss of the Father's House.
And knowing fully ahead of time exactly what awaited him.
Not only the hard wintery cold of man's heart, but the cruel death of a criminal's cross, and more than that, the forsaking. Perhaps, I say carefully, the worst of all, the forsaking of holy God.
And he left that.
He said, Here am I send me.
That's how much you're worth, dear friend.
That's what the value you have is to him, that he looked.
Forward and saw you and saw me lost in all of the misery and sin of our lives.
And he said I want to go.
Think of it.
Send me.
Doesn't that touch your heart?
Here am I send me.
To that place of death that I can build it. And how is he going to build it? On a foundation of his own life? Being laid down, his blood being shed. That's the foundation that was laid.
At the city where he could reign as king.
Could be built.
And then I came verse 9 to the governors beyond the river and gave them the King's letter.
The king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
I just want to say what strikes my heart as I read that verse.
That he came.
He was the word.
He didn't just bear the King's letters. He was the Word in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And so he came the full, perfect divine revelation of God.
But it says he came with Nehemiah anyway. He came with captains and horsemen.
Jesus.
My blessed Savior isn't going to force you against your will to get saved tonight.
But he comes with the authority of God as to who He is, His person, and His Word, and His work.
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He comes with the full authority of God, the captains, and the horsemen.
But he won't, I say reverently, Lift a finger to force you.
To accept him.
Now we come to.
What we read earlier.
When the horror night and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite heard of it.
It grieved them exceedingly.
That there was come a man.
There's come a man into this world. God has become a man.
And he's walked in this world as a man, and he's gone back to, he's laid down his life as a man and he's gone back to glory as a man. And there's a man, God and man, a man perfect in glory tonight.
For you, if you'll have him.
You know, I was thinking.
We won't turn to it. I think it's well enough known. If I just tell you, you'll remember that there was a time.
In the life of David.
When he and his men.
They had been chased out by Saul and were.
He was running away from Saul, trying to stay away from him, and he was given by another king a little.
City called Ziklag there. He and his wife and wives, families of his men, they all lived there in that little city. But he and his men were gone. And while they were gone, an enemy came and stole all of David's loved ones and his men's loved ones. The city was burned with fire. Does that sound familiar?
David and his men come back and they see a destroyed city.
And everyone.
That they loved carried away captive. Well, the time comes when David finds that Egyptian in the field and.
You know the story well, he says. Canst thou bring me down to this company?
And the Egyptian does. And it's very interesting because David totally destroys that company of Amalekites and delivers all of his loved ones and his men's loved ones with this exception.
It says that all of the enemy that were holding those loved ones of David captive were destroyed, except for 400 young men who fled on Campbell camels and escaped 400 young men who fled on camels and escaped. They were Amalekites and they got away. Where are they?
I think they're here tonight.
400 Reasons Why You Don't Want to Come to Christ.
Why? You don't want to be delivered from your sin and to find what true, abundant life and joy and blessing is. And there's more than 400 reasons, but they're here tonight. Are you going to let those 400 young men Amalekites?
Keep you from the blessing and the joy.
That the Lord Jesus wants to give you in delivering you.
May God grant that it not be so.
I'm going to close, but I want to notice this before we do that the next verses are so precious in the view in the way that we have been looking at things.
And I won't take them up, other than to encourage your hearts.
If the Lord by his Spirit has made good anything that we have said tonight.
Read verses 11.
To the end of the chapter, in that same spirit, to see what it was, perhaps we'll mention this.
So I came verse 11 to Jerusalem and was there three days.
And he goes out at night.
By the gate of the valley.
Verse 13 Before the dragon well to the dung port.
Views the walls of Jerusalem.
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The Lord Jesus Christ.
I just say this strikes my heart as I read this The Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
Fully.
Met the power of Satan.
And fully answered the claims of God against wicked, filthy sin.
And he did it by going out through the Valley Gate. None ever went lower.
And my blessed Lord Jesus.
Even to the death of the cross.
There's one last thing I want to say.
Look at chapter.
4.
No, I'm sorry, chapter. It's still in Chapter 2.
And verse 19.
But when Sanballat the horonite.
And Tobiah the Servant, the Ammonite and Jesham the Arabian. Now we'll stop and I'm going to turn over now.
To chapter 4 and verse 7.
But it came to pass that when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites.
You know, we started out with two enemies, San Bella and Tobiah. Then we gained another one, Gisham the Arabian, and we get to Chapter 4 and we've got five of them.
Satan will add and do anything he can, and add and multiply.
The obstacles to keep you from coming into blessing. He is not going to give up.
This day in which we live is an evil day.
It's perilous times, and you may be feeling like sleeping, but I can assure you, if you'll allow me to go back to that illustration, your enemy isn't sleeping. He's multiplying obstacles to keep you from coming into blessing.
But I want to just close with this for the beloved young people.
Because it so much touches my heart, I wish I could class myself as a young person, but at least I can in this.
It says there in that second chapter, verse 19. When they heard of it, those three, they laughed us to scorn.
They lapped us to scorn.
You know, later you're going to find that they get an army and they're going to come and fight. There's all sorts of ways that these enemies.
Come against Nehemiah and those that are seeking to build that wall.
There's all sorts of things they do to try to stop that work, but it starts by their laughing.
Is laughing keeping you from taking a stand for Christ?
Does the mocking of this world keep you from saying I want Jesus?
Christ.
As my Savior and Lord.
You know, it's amazing to me. They're in AX. What happens when the church is formed? The spirit of God comes down. They mock them. I say that's they're drunken. That's seems to me the first thing that Satan does to stop blessing, to turn aside from blessing is to mock and to laugh. The Lord Jesus goes to that place where that little 12 year old girl lay dead.
And he says to her, Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise. But before he said that he told those who were reaping weep not, for she's not dead, she sleepeth.
And they laughed him to scorn.
If they could have, by their laughing, they would have kept that girl dead.
And if Satan can tonight by laughing.
He'll keep you dead.
May God help you.
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To have your eyes anointed to see.
I was blind, but now I see and I can assure you.
That that blind man who saw whatever else they were saying.
Nobody was going to get him to laugh.