Gospel—Al Cantrell
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Maybe we could turn first of all to some verses in the Gospel of John, uh, very familiar verses. The gospel needs to be simple that everyone can understand from the smallest to the oldest. And I would like to begin in the third chapter. This is a chapter where the Lord Jesus is speaking to, uh, Nicodemus. And we're not gonna read the whole chapter, just a, a section of it here.
Uh, beginning at the 14th verse. And as Moses lifted up the serpent and the wilderness, Even so must the Son of man be lifted up. And he says in another place, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me. And so the Lord Jesus is inviting you this evening to come to him. He has his arms open wide, coming to me all either a weak and heavy laden and I'll give you rest and he wants each of you.
Whether you're a little one, whether you're an older one.
Whoever you are, He wants you because He died on the cross for you. It says about the rich young ruler, the Lord Jesus, looking upon Him, loved Him, and He loves you. He's manifested that love to you upon that cross when He died there for your sins. So won't you listen to the Word once you believe on Him and accept Him as your own Savior this night?
Let's go ahead and read in here that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already.
Because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation that lighters that come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Now if we can drop down to the 36th verse.
He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life.
But the wrath of God abideth on him.
While these are so familiar verses, especially this John 316, and it's probably the most well known verse in all the world.
For years I never knew whether my my father, my own father, whether he knew the Lord Jesus as his Savior or not. He had heard the preachers. Matter of fact, Billy Sunday had come to him one time when he was sick and visited him. Many of you probably have heard of Billy Sunday, a great evangelist of bygone years.
But Dad never made an open confession to me or to anyone else I know of. And when he was dying, upon his deathbed, uh, Jimmy Killcup went to visit him. And Jimmy asked him, what are, what are you placing your trust in for eternity? Because your time is just about up down here. What's gonna happen to you?
What's going to happen to you? What verse do you think my father quoted to him?
John 316 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And you know, it's just that simple. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all you have to have deceiving. Reach out with that hand of faith, however weak it is, and the Almighty Son of God will take take hold of that hand of faith.
And draw you to himself.
And so this is a wonderful verse. God loved the world.
Every the whole, every mankind, all of mankind, God loved and He manifested that love in giving His both only begotten Son. It says the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. He sent Him to be your Savior and my Savior. He sent Him knowing well that men would reject Him.
And the first, uh, chapter John that says that he came onto his own.
And his own received them, not his own. Jewish people didn't receive them. They sat away with him. We'll not have him. We'll not have the man to rule over us. Crucify him, Crucify him, they cried out.
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But then the next verse says, but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And you know this goes out to you here this evening in this room. The message goes out.
To as many as received Him, have you received the Son of God as your Savior? As you sat there in your seat, do you know Him as your Savior?
Have you made a transaction with the Son of God?
To them gave he the authority, the power authority to become the sons of God. Even to them that believe on his name, it's just believing on his name, trusting him. Now let's turn back to that third chapter.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
There's a lot in this world that God can condemn and he and he is gonna condemn it in the coming day. But you know, this is a day of grace. This is a day when God is reaching out to mankind, reaching out with salvation for everyone that will hear and believe.
In love, he sent his son into this world, didn't send him to condemn it. There's going to come a day like that, songs that we just sung, that every knee is gonna bow to him, every knee is gonna bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so in this day and age, you have the privilege of bowing the knee yourself. But in the coming day, it's gonna be a forest valve.
Every knee shall bow.
But that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned.
If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not in condemnation.
You've been turned from darkness, and the light you've been given turn from death unto life, and that's what the Son of God has come to give you, and that's life. The Lord says in this very gospel, he said I've come to give them life.
And that more abundantly.
It's a wonderful life that he gives. It's a life just like his own because he is at eternal life from the Father.
And God wants you to have that same life that the Lord Jesus has.
But he that believeth not is condemned already. And so there's two classes, you might say, in this room.
You're either in that first class, not condemned because you trust the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
Or you're in the second class that has not believed, and you're in you is you are condemned. He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And then we have in that last verse, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
And so God is for you. He manifested it at the cross, when the Lord Jesus gave up his life there on Calvary's cross for you, suffered there for you while you were sinners.
While you're in at enmity with God, while you were his enemies, the Lord Jesus died there for you. And you can just be, you can be like that thief on the cross that was.
Crucified next to next to him on that other cross, the thing he said, Remember Me, Lord, when thou cometh into thy Kingdom.
And the Lord Jesus said today, shall thou be with me in paradise?
That thou shall call the Lord Jesus Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved.
And so there's a warning that we need to give. There's a message that we've we've read here, that of God's love to you. But this day of grace is going to end. One of these days. It's gonna come to a climax.
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And then all the believers that are know the Lord Jesus are going to be caught out of this world unto himself. And if you're not a believer this night, you'll be left, because the Lord could come this very evening.
He that will come, will come and not tarry.
And so the Lord Jesus could come and pray, take all the believers unto himself, and then the wrath of God is going to come upon this world. What a terrible wrath it will be. But you know God warns you ahead of time. Flee from the wrath to come. Where are you to flee to? To the blessed Savior.
So the one that gave his life for you, that you might not have to go into death, that you might not have to face judgment, He faced your judgment for you. He did everything on the cross for you.
You know, years ago, I think it was probably 1979.
Uh, we camped the last time at the, uh, Mount Saint Helens.
We camped down by Spirit Lake, which we encamped there many times. I swim across the lake before when at that time and you could look down and 30 feet of water and see the bottom and see face swimming around down there. Beautiful area, pristine forest, all growth hadn't been touched by by a man's hand as far as logging or anything right around that lake.
And we don't have it on the mountain side.
There was huckleberries on the mountainside that was big as your thumb. You can sit down at a Bush and pick.
And, you know, the following year, that mountain started to rumble.
It sent up a steam plume up in the air and then it had a couple more small eruptions.
And then, uh, the front of the north flank of the mountains started to expand. And these are things were warnings. They were warnings. God's giving you warning this evening. Judgment is coming.
And you know the Lord Jesus is going to be that judge that you're going to face. You face them this evening as a Savior inviting you to come unto him. But in the coming day, you'll be facing him as a judge.
There was a man that lived at the base of that mountain. His name was Harry Truman. Wasn't any relation to the president, very ungodly man. And he was in defiance of that mountain. He was going to stay there no matter what.
There was other people that were in the proximity of the mountain. I think there was 50, some people that were killed.
When the eruption happened.
And but there was warnings that had gone out before.
Warnings to stay away from that area. Harry Truman was told many times. You've got to get out of there, Harry. You're gonna be buried where you are. You're gonna be buried alive. But they didn't hearken.
He didn't hearken. He was stubborn. Are you stubborn this evening?
I knew a young man once that he was stubborn. He thought he had his own way to God.
But the Lord was long-suffering to him.
And eventually that young man was saved when he was 16 years old.
And so God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And he's long-suffering at this time. But you know when that when that mountain erupted?
The long-suffering and the warnings from the mountain was gone.
And one moment of time, Harry was buried under 300 feet of mud and ash.
There was people that were miles away in the line of the blast.
They saw the fire coming. They saw the dark cloud.
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But they never escaped. They couldn't outrun it.
There was people that were in vehicles, they couldn't out drive it.
And there's no way that you're gonna escape the judgment of God in the coming day. God's wrath upon this world, if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, He's the only way to escape judgment.
The Lord says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
And the 12Th of, uh, fourth of Acts, maybe we can turn the Acts chapter 4. There's a verse there I want to look at.
OK.
And uh, verse 12 Neither is there salvation than any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. There is no other name other than the name of Jesus.
He is the only savior.
Whatever men may say to you, there is no other savior but the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that God sent into this world to be the Savior.
No one else, only the Lord Jesus There is. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, and that's the only way of salvation.
Is through him.
And not through any other now.
We talked a little bit, uh, in the reading meetings about the seven churches and you might say they're prophetical.
And you know, the time, the prophetic clock will not start until we're taken out of the scene. I understand that. But there is moral prophecies that are given that shows the time that we're in. And we might turn to, uh, Timothy, second Timothy, and we'll see some characteristics of these moral conditions that would give us an indication.
Where we are in God's time frame that we're close to the Lord's coming, close to judgment that will come upon this world.
Umm, chapter three of Second Timothy and and uh.
Well, maybe I could read the first part. Umm, first verse. Know this, that in the last days, perilous times shall come for men. Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedience to parents.
I'm thankful. Unholy, without natural affection, truthbreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce despisers of those that are good.
Traders heady, high minded lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Now this in a in one, uh, paragraph phrase here really tells of the time that we live in right now.
Lovers. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.
You think on Lord's Day, when we should be setting around the Lord's Day table, men and women should be setting down thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ?
Where are so many people? They're at football games, They're at music places.
They're at every place where there would be entertainment in this world, and there's a lot of that in this day and age. And when does it happen?
Many times upon the Lord's day.
And so they're lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. That's a characteristic of this day and age that we live in, more so than any other day, because in previous centuries, men had the word to earn their living. But now we're in a we're in a stage that we can enjoy pleasure because in this country, Canada and the US, there is.
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Money and abundance. It's easy to go out and earn a good living.
For men and women used to have to work from day sun up to sundown and so they can enjoy pleasures.
So I think it has a time frame, a prophetical time frame, a moral time frame that God is giving, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away.
Now down to the 13th verse. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.
Deceiving and being deceived.
And isn't that right, what we're having at this time?
We have conditions that I will not even speak about that exist nowadays and the open.
I'm not saying that they haven't been before, but now they're in the open and people accept them.
Sin being accepted.
God's gonna come down in judgment.
The moral time frame of this world is drawing to the end. The clock's almost to midnight.
So there's just like that mountain. It gave warning.
It gave time for people to escape.
Harry Truman willingly stayed there and was buried. Are you gonna be willingly stay in your sins and be buried in your sins under the judgment of God?
Let's turn to.
Romans, because we have some very plain verses in Romans.
Romans, the third chapter, probably first of all.
Romans chapter 3 and verse 23, another well known verse. It's nice to have well known versus brought before you.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All have sinned. There's not a righteous man in this room by his own merits. The only righteousness that we have is what the Lord Jesus Christ gives us, the righteousness of God, and that's because of His death there at the cross.
Our sins can only be forgiven through Him.
And John, it says the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses me from all sin. And so if you turn to Christ this evening, every one of your sins is going to be forgiven, covered by the precious blood of Christ. He's paid the price, the full price.
So won't you turn to Him and accept the gift that He wants to give to you, and that's eternal life?
Now let's turn to the 5th, 5th chapter, some more well known verses and I thoroughly enjoy reading them.
5th chapter.
And the six verse?
For when we were without strength.
And due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die.
Yet per venture, for a good man, someone even dared to die, but God commended his love towards us.
We didn't reach out to God. There's no one that reaches out to God. God reaches out to you because you and your natural state is helpless. You're helpless to reach out to God, so God reaches out to you. Dear center.
He reaches out to you because he loves you.
He loves you, He wants you to be with him forever in heaven, to be his companion for all eternity. And so he reaches out. He commends his love towards us.
When did he do it? When we were centers.
When we were sinners, while we were yet centers, Christ died for us 2000 years ago. More in 2000 now. The Lord Jesus died on that cross.
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2000 years, one sacrifice. God accepted them because he was that holy, spotless Lamb of God.
He was that one that God sent into this world, the only one that.
My sins could be laid upon, and your sins could be laid upon. And that he could die and suffer there. And God accepted his sacrifice for me.
For my sins as being a Sinner.
Much more than being now justified by his blood.
Justified by his blood.
We spoke about the blood just a moment ago. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sins.
That precious blood that flowed from his side.
That sphere that pierced the side?
And forthwith came out blood and water.
That very side that he told Thomas. Thrust your hand into my side, thrust your fingers into the wounds of my hand.
That very side that gave forth the blood to save.
The Lord Jesus gave, gave forth, gave it forth.
For if when we were enemies.
And you think of the apostle Paul.
At one time he was an enemy of God, wasn't he? He went from house to house searching out for Christians, those that were the Lords, and condemning them.
He was an enemy. But on the way to Damascus there was that bright light that shone down from heaven. That light in another place, it says, was above the brightness of the sun.
And the Lord and Paul was stopped in his tracks and he called out Lord.
He called out to the Lord Jesus. Lord, what wilt thou have me do?
Will you call out this evening to the Lord Jesus Christ? The apostle Paul said. I'm the chief of sinners.
Chief of centers persecuted the Church.
For when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
You know, isn't it a wonderful thing we have the death and burial of the Lord Jesus?
That, you know, death couldn't hold the Lord Jesus. He rose from the dead. He rose victorious from the dead. And now he's at God's right hand, Soon to come back, soon to come back for me. Is he coming back for you? I asked that question. You know, time and opportunity goes by very, very swiftly, swiftly.
And so we need to seize upon the opportunity that we have and the saving you have an opportunity to accept the Lord Jesus.
To ask him into your heart and it all it takes is a very simple.
Yes, Lord Jesus, I want you to be my Savior. Just look to the Lord Jesus and He'll accept you. There's none that He's going to reject if they'll come to Him.
He that cometh on the knee I will no wise cast out.
So come to the Lord Jesus this evening. You have this opportunity. I can't say that tomorrow you will. The Scripture tells us today is the day of salvation, and so today is a day that you need.
To make your choice.
There is the long-suffering of God, but how long does that long-suffering last? So come a time when it comes to an end. It could come to the end this evening.
It could be this evening.
And where will you be? Where will you spend eternity? You know, when I was a a boy, we had a lot of big fir trees in our backyard.
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And I used to build tree houses in these fir trees, and I had one tree house that was about, oh, 30 feet up in this fur tree on some limbs.
And, uh, my friend Gary.
And his cousins came over and I told him I want to show you my new treehouse.
And so we all started climbing up the tree.
And, uh, we got up to the tree house and, uh, Tommy and Larry, Gary's cousins, they got over into the tree house. My friend Gary was a heavyset young lad and, uh, a little clumsy. Gary was a good kid. I loved him very much, but he just, he was a very clumsy little kid too. And, uh, Gary got up, uh, to where the tree house was and there was a little lamb that went across the tree and so.
He had to step over into the treehouse. He stepped on this limb with this only about that big around and Gary probably weighed 160 a 170 lbs At that time at 12 years old or so 11 or 12 and.
Needless to say, the limb gave way under his weight and he fell.
Now in 30 feet there was probably umm, I would I would wager.
I would say that he had, uh at least to go by at least a dozen branches.
Each one of those branches was an opportunity for him to reach out and stop his fall.
And I lo I, I looked and here goes Gary plummeting down.
Fast layer after layer of branches.
Got down to the last branches before the ground. There was two branches that there was actually 2 trees that was right together and there was two branches that was.
Uh, sticking out just like that. And they acted just like arms to catch Gary and rolled them off under the ground.
And he wasn't hurt.
Gary was a believer. He knew the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. And so if he had fallen the 30 feet and been killed, where would he have been? He would have been with his Savior in heaven, but he had those opportunities. How many opportunities have you let go, let pass by?
Are you gonna wait until that last range and say, well, I'll accept the Lord Jesus?
When I get to the last range.
It may not be there.
Today is a day of salvation, not tomorrow.
Maybe we can get our hymn books.
And maybe we can sing #5.
And truly the IT is a happy day when we trust the Lord Jesus as our Savior. We have then one that loves US1 That will be with us for all eternity.
Oh Happy Day of the fix my choice on thee, my Savior and my God. Well, may this glowing heart rejoice and tell its rapture all abroad. Happy day, Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away.
He taught me how to watch and pray and live rejoicing every day. Happy day. Happy day when Jesus washed my sins away and He can do that for you. This very night some brothers started Please.
Umm.
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757 95.
Yeah, umm, it's not a great.
Transaction.
I am my Lord and He is my.
He is going to Take Me Out and I fall alone.
Glad to come around but once he's by.
Hi, I've been to the end of the day. I'll have to ask you to see if I'll have to take a second.
Phone 07156 Dollar Way.
841 and brave and reap, Lord.
Sleeping every night.
Uh, I have a lot of kids on where you can't hold on a great time and I'm falling down.
John 524 Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word. And this evening you've heard the word of God, you've heard the Lord Jesus invite you to himself, and believeth on him that sent me.
God sent the Son, the Father sent the Son to be the Savior, He that believeth on him, that sent me half everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation that is passed from death unto life. Shall we pray our blessing that the message can still go forth, the gospel message?