Gospel—Bruce Christensen
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Are you here tonight?
Perhaps some are responding to an invitation given to attend a gospel meeting.
And.
We have a wonderful message to proclaim.
And that wonderful message is connected with a wonderful savior.
And a wonderful work that he accomplished on the cross of Calvary.
Might we open our gospel meeting this night by singing hymn number six? God in mercy sent his Son to a world by sin undone. Jesus Christ was crucified.
Twas for sinners Jesus died.
We'll just read the refrain and then we'll sing.
The second verse, oh the glory of the grace.
Shining in the Savior's face, telling sinners from above, God is light and God is love. Will perhaps sing the second verse and the refrain Some brother would please, please raise the tune.
Sin and die, Lord shall pray.
Jesus Christ.
And in my glory times, by the gods, to bring the light.
All night glory of God and pray.
I was struck in the meetings this afternoon.
With the constant reference of.
Time.
Flying by.
I am a few months shy.
Of becoming an octogenarian.
Or celebrating my 80th birthday.
And it just seems that time has flown by.
We sometimes sing a hymn. Time is passing swiftly by.
And.
We'll look at the passage of time tonight, and I also have on my heart to speak.
On this blessed book.
That I hold in my hand tonight.
In the 8th chapter of Amos.
We have described if we just turn to that minor prophet Amos chapter 8. I'd like to read a verse there.
One of the minor prophets. Hosea, Joel. Amos.
Chapter 8.
And we're going to read.
Part of verse 11.
And I believe this describes a scene that we have in existence today.
In the prayer meeting this morning, it was mentioned that there was great dearth and a famine in Kenya and thousands of cattle were dying.
People were dying of starvation.
But we have another famine, a worldwide famine, I believe, that described in this 11Th verse of Amos chapter 8.
We'll read, for from the middle of verse 11 Says I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
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Not a famine, a bread or thirst for water.
But.
Hearing the words of the Lord.
I've copied down and please forgive me for.
Doing this, I get those senior moments from time to time and so I need a little reinforcement.
But I would like to read two pieces of poetry that are very striking.
And I've penned these words in the flyleaf of my Bible.
It says Word of God within thy covers. What exhaustless treasure lies?
Revelation of the Father by the Son who came to die.
Depths there are that no, no sounding. Or perhaps that word sounding is a little unfamiliar to some of the younger ones there and I was just reminded the other day.
When we came into.
Saint Louis.
That it's on a mighty river, the Mississippi River.
And there was an American author.
By the name of Samuel Clemens. Sometimes he's referred to as Mark Twain.
And if in your younger days you read that book, Mark Twain, you would have read that he was on a boat and it was his duty to hold out a stick and to put that stick in the water to measure how deep that water was if the water was not deep enough.
The boat could not sail there, so it was important to have one there.
That would measure the depth of that water.
Well, we're not talking about shallow water here. We're talking about a depth of water. It says depths there are that know no sounding. I believe the deepest spot in the Pacific Ocean is the Marianas Trench off the Philippines, nearly 7 miles in depth. But we're not even talking about that. We're talking about depths that no, no sounding.
It says fathomless beyond compare.
Rich, the mine of wealth, their treasure.
All I need to know is there there's another very striking piece of poetry that I've copied down to and these were words that were penned by a well known British poet.
Familiar to some Ward Byron and they're very challenging words.
And yet.
We see that there was a response at the end of his life that did not correspond to the words that he penned. It says within this awful volume lies not awful in the sense that we use that word. This means full of awe or full of wonder. The mystery of mysteries, O happiest day of human race.
To whom our God has given grace to hear, to read, to fear.
To pray, to lift the latch and find the way. But better had they ne'er or never been born? Who read to doubt, who read to scorn?
Sadly to say, Lord Byron's last words were.
Shall I sue for mercy? Come, come, no weakness.
Let's be a man to the last.
What's AdWords?
He penned those words full of meaning.
Yet he didn't act upon that himself.
And it reminds me of another story that I read recently of.
Benjamin Franklin, known to many of the school children here.
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He was a good friend of George Whitfield, an evangelist who came to the United States from England.
And.
Many of Whitfield's sermons were printed by Benjamin Franklin, who was a printer.
And on one occasion.
Franklin, who was a very curious man.
Wanted to calculate how many people.
Could be heard in the open air when Whitfield preached. So when thousands of people were assembled, he went around the perimeter of the crowd. He estimated how many, how many people came under the sound of the preaching, of the good news of God and his grace.
He came up with a number and it was an impressive number.
But nowhere do we read that Benjamin Franklin accepted that message.
How sad.
Well.
We read in John's gospel of a man who was not proud.
To come to the Lord Jesus.
He may not have come in the daylight, we read of Nicodemus. He came to the Lord Jesus by night, but the happy thing was that he came to the Lord Jesus. Young one, boy or girl, have you ever reached the stage?
In your life.
Where you want to confess the Lord Jesus.
To your mother or your father, to a brother or sister. Don't let Satan hinder you from doing that. Come boldly before him.
Driving through Ohio the other day, I saw a place name, and that place name was Wilberforce. Well, to most of us it will maybe have very little meaning. But as a student and teacher of history, that name is quite important because there was a minister and the British government by the name of William Wilberforce.
And he became convicted in the soul. He realized that he needed a savior. And he was very troubled. But his reasoning was.
Oh, I I can't come to a preacher's house during the day. I'll have to come by night. So we heard of.
A preacher and a little village in England called Olney, and that preacher happened to be John Newton.
Author of Amazing Grace and so.
There's a knock.
On Newton's door after night.
Here is a Minister of Parliament, William Wilberforce.
He was known to John Newton.
What can I do for you, John?
Rather William.
He said. I'm anxious about my soul.
And thankfully, John Newton was able to point.
William Wilberforce to the Lord Jesus to a saving knowledge.
Of the Lord Jesus.
Thinking of another incident and our brother John Kemp is probably familiar with this story too.
Many years ago.
There was a missionary that went out to India and he was sent out by a mission society called the Basel Mission in Switzerland.
His name was Samuel Hebeck.
Samuel Hebeck was a very interesting individual.
His primary language was German.
And he was going out to minister.
Through the British troops that were stationed in India.
And someone later on calculated the number of.
English words that he was eventually able to master and would probably represent about 25% of our language capacity.
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Yet Hebich was very effective. But Hebich was also unique.
And he had a way with souls that the Lord used greatly.
There was one incident that was mentioned. There was.
One officer and at this time during the summer in India gets very, very hot and usually.
Many of the soldiers would go to their tents for an hour in the middle of the day to escape from the heat. And Hebeck knew that the men were not on duty, so he would usually pick this time to visit those in their tents. And there was one officer that said, I'm going to have nothing to do with this man, Hebich.
I don't want anything to do with his message.
And.
This is the way it was for a while.
Several days later, while he's resting in his tent, he seized the flap of his tent opened.
And in came Helich. He was speechless.
He wanted to say get out, but he didn't have the power to do so.
And I'm going to read a verse in Genesis chapter one.
That was presented to this officer.
Hebich looked at this officer.
He pointed to a shelf next to the officers cot.
And he said, get the book.
Well, somebody came into our house and said get the book. What book would we bring?
A few days ago on the Choice Gleanings calendar, there was a story of a lady that wanted to impress a new preacher when the preacher came for a visit.
And the woman said to her daughter.
Go get the book, the one I love so much, the one I read so much.
The little girl came back with a Sears and Roebuck Cadillac.
That wasn't what she expected.
But if we were asked to get the book, what would be our response?
I have many books in my house. My wife has said if we had a hurricane on our street.
Ours would probably be the only house standing because they probably have 2000 books home.
But I have many copies of the word of God.
And I value those.
So get the book.
The officer goes to the shelf. He gets the book.
He bec says to him, hoping to Genesis 1.
Verse one and the first part of verse two and it reads like this.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form and void.
And darkness was upon the face of the deep.
Close the book.
Ebik walks out.
The next day around the same time.
The tent flap opens.
He becomes in get the book.
He gets the book.
Open to Genesis one verse one.
The first part of verse 2.
He reads it again.
Close the book.
Hebich leaves.
Two days later.
Hebrick again comes into that officer's tent.
Get the book, he gets the book.
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He said read Genesis One and verse 3.
And God said.
Let there being light.
And there was light.
In the meantime.
God was working in this man's soul.
After those first few days.
This officer.
Read further in the Word of God.
And what did he see in reading that word of the God? He was in darkness.
He needed light and he was pointed to one.
Who is the light of the world?
So what a wonderful story that is of one accepting Christ as Savior.
I think also.
Of others that are mentioned.
That were a little hesitant in coming to the Lord Jesus, but the Lord Jesus.
Had his arms open, ready to bless.
Yeah, let us look now at the.
Just going to refer to a couple of notes here if you.
Forgive me for a moment.
Let's look at a couple versus.
That we have in the Word of God concerning the Scriptures. Let's turn to Psalm 119.
We have many verses in this Psalm referring. Almost each verse refers.
To the word of God.
Psalm 119105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.
And a light unto my path.
Let's especially look at verse 130.
The entrance of thy words giveth light, it giveth understanding to the simple.
The entrance of thy words giveth light.
It's the Word of God that gives assurance.
We think of that verse in First Timothy chapter one and verse 15. This is a faithful saying.
And worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus.
Came into the world to save sinners.
It's the Word of God that gives assurance.
What do we have described in the Word of God?
I believe first of all, we see.
Man's condition unfolds. It lost, separated, far from God.
A heart that is at enmity to him.
But we also see God's heart revealed in the gift of His well beloved Son.
We are talking today about the love of God, the love of the Lord Jesus, and we're thankful for that well known verse, John's Gospel chapter 3 and verse 16. For God so loved the world, the people in it, not necessarily the physical world.
That he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him.
Should not perish, but have everlasting life. What a wonderful verse. That verse has been used for the salvation of many. We were also referring to the Lord's tender ministrations to His own, and we think of that verse that is recorded in John's Gospel Chapter 11.
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When?
He was in that home in Bethany where Mary and Martha had lived.
As well as Lazarus, and Lazarus had died and.
We read those words. Jesus wept.
We also see those in attendance making a very profound statement. Behold how he loved him.
Have you realized how much the Lord Jesus?
Loved you.
How much God loves you.
We sometimes sing that hymn. God loved the world of sinner's loss.
And ruined by the fall.
And so there was a provision.
For our need there was a provision for our sin because.
As it says in the book of Romans, for all have sinned.
And have come short of the glory of God.
Well.
We would present to you this evening a Savior, one who has died for you, one who has given himself on the cross of Calvary.
I was thinking too of some statements that were made today concerning.
The brevity of this life.
Our brother Wally mentioned a sign that he saw.
On Route 50 coming to the conference.
A while ago I was driving down the highway and there was another sign.
It says time is short.
Time is short.
We sometimes sing a hymn. One of the lines goes like this.
Thou wouldst be saved, why not tonight? Thou wouldst be saved, why not tonight?
And if you have put off accepting the Lord Jesus, we would urge you with the greatest urgency to accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Let's just turn to that portion.
That was read in Second Corinthians chapter 6.
Chapter 5 rather.
We read verse 11 knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, and then we read about the love of Christ constraining us. And so I believe that everyone that stands up to read or preach God's wondrous.
Offer of salvation as a responsibility.
First of all, a word of warning. We know that God is a God of light.
As well as a God of love. So I believe these two aspects.
Must be presented and so we have that second object there to objective.
Concerning the love of Christ.
There was another sign that impressed me recently traveling down the highway.
And again, this deals with the brevity of time.
I saw it a number of times on this trip.
Along the highway.
This might be your last text.
Well.
We know that.
Some of us text more than others. I'm a little slower at getting used to it than some of the younger ones.
But I know that this is a problem for drivers texting.
We know that drinking and driving don't go together Driving and texting.
Don't go together.
But.
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Looking at this.
Sign reminds me.
Of the finality of life. The finality of life.
We've talked about the brevity of life.
We have the finality of life as well.
A few months back in August, we had the privilege to tour around a little in the Maritimes and I had a little extra time to spend in Halifax, NS.
And someone had mentioned that in one of the cemeteries there.
There were the graves of at least 120 victims.
Of the Titanic.
And I think almost everyone here knows the story of that quote. Unsinkable ship that left Southampton, England.
And struck a life rather an iceberg. And hundreds of individuals perished on that night.
Did they think when they got on that ship that that would be their end? I don't think so.
Where many prepared for that end, I believe many were not. And while I was there.
I thought that I would copy down the epitaph of several individuals that were buried there in that cemetery.
And I'm going to read those epitaphs.
The first.
Is George Frederick Charles Talbot. He was from Southampton, England.
He lost his life in the sinking of the Titanic on April 15th, 1912.
He was 20 years of age.
And the lines penned under that were encouraged.
Encouraging.
It says I have anchored my soul.
In the haven of rest.
I'll sail the wide seas no more.
The Tempest.
May be gone or the wide, stormy deep.
In Jesus I'm safe evermore.
How encouraging. Here's one who was ushered into an eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The second was written on a stone for Ernest King.
He was from Clones. Ireland says he died on duty.
On April 15th, 1912.
And it said nothing.
In my hand I bring.
Simply to thy cross I cling.
How encouraging to see that there were those who had made provision.
For their eternal welfare.
Have you made provision for your eternal welfare?
There are many today making provisions for this and that, but the most important thing is.
Concerning your soul, you're never dying soul.
And we would urge you tonight to accept the Lord Jesus.
As your savior.
Want to just address a few words to the children tonight?
I was just looking at this hem sheet before the meeting.
I'm just reminded of how that God doesn't.
Make salvation a complicated thing.
We have that hem a little child of seven.
Or even 3 or 4.
May enter into heaven through Christ.
The open door.
Little child of seven or even 3 or 4.
Perhaps.
The most well known.
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Children's him is Jesus loves me.
Some time ago I hecked up a little book. I don't even remember where it was. It was in a Christian bookstore.
The title of that book was the story behind Jesus Loves Me.
And.
It chronicled the life of the dear sister and Lord that penned the lines of that hymn. Her name was Anna Warner.
Anna Warner and her sister had never married. They lived on a small island off.
The shore of West Point. West Point Military Academy in New York. They lived on a little island called Constitution Island.
And they both love the Savior very much, and they both had an interest for souls.
And.
When I read the book, it said there are certain days during the course of the year that you can go up to the West Point Military Academy and you can take a boat to that island.
And I decided this is something I'd really like to do and so I was able to take a boat.
Over to Constitution Island, I was able to get into the very room and see the very desk that Anna Warner sat at when she penned the lines of that hymn. Jesus Loves me This. I know what a thrilling thing it was.
I was thrilled by that. I've been in many lavish homes.
Didn't make an impression on me.
But just seeing that desk.
Where Anna Warner SAT.
Really thrilled my soul.
When you got up to the house, there was a series of Reed mats on the porch and the guide taking us through the house that every Saturday she would she and her sister would invite the cadets over from the West Point Academy and have Bible studies.
And so.
She had maybe 50 to 100 mats lined up on the porch and.
She laid them all out on the green grass so that the soldiers cadets didn't soil their uniforms.
And they had Bible studies for several years.
I understand when Anna Warner was called home to be with the Lord.
The whole Military Academy closed down.
And the cadets?
Led the funeral procession to the West Point Military Cemetery. She and her sister are the only civilians buried in that cemetery.
I said to myself, would this ever happen to day?
No, because as we open the meeting tonight we see that there is a famine.
For the word of God.
And I would urge each one of you to pick up the Word of God, to read it, and to believe what is written there. Let's also read a verse there in Second Corinthians chapter 5.
Maybe it's in First Corinthians chapter. I'm sorry, I'll read that again. The love of Christ constraineth us.
Another piece of poetry here says time passed does not thou canst not it recall time passing is employ the portion small time future may not ever be time present.
Is the only time for thee we read in One Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 2.
Behold now.
Is the accepted time.
Behold, now is a day of salvation.
One of the saddest verses I believe that I've come across.
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In the word of God is in the book of Jeremiah.
Says the harvest is past.
The summer is ended and we are not saved.
Many in this room may be farmers.
They know what a narrow window there is to get the crops in.
If they don't work hard enough or act.
Accordingly, in that narrow window, that crop would be lost.
Well, we know that God is giving opportunities to each one of us.
And we trust that we would close in.
On God's offer of salvation.
We read in the book of Acts, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? What does it mean to neglect it? It means to put it off, to not act on it. And so there are consequences. In the 17th chapter of Acts we see some that outwardly rejected the word of God.
Then there were those that put it off, but thankfully at the end of that chapter it talks about some.
That believed and received those words and so we trust it is with you tonight.
That you may each personally accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Someone asked Martin Luther once, why do you always use that expression? Personal Savior, He said, Because you have to personally make him your own. And so tonight you have to make the Lord Jesus your personal Savior.
And so we would just desire to speak well.
Of the Lord Jesus. Perhaps we can sing a hymn in closing.
#25.
Someone please raise the tune.
Like to say a few additional words before we close.
I believe in First Corinthians chapter 15 we have the gospel.
In a nutshell, we have the facts of the gospel presented.
Verse three of one Corinthians chapter 15 it says, For I delivered unto you, first of all.
Which I also received how that Christ died for our sins.
According to the scriptures and he was buried.
And that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
And we know that he ascended into heaven.
If we read further in First Corinthians chapter 15.
It says in verse 14 and of Christ be not risen. Then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain or empty. And so we can be thankful that the Lord Jesus came into the scene.
Not only did he come into the scene, but as we read in John's Gospel, that he laid down his life for the sheep and he rose again the third day. What a triumph, triumphant thing that was.
I've studied history for quite a while and I was somewhat dismayed some time ago to read a portion of what was called the Jefferson Bible. It was a compilation of scriptures that were written down by Thomas Jefferson.
He, I believe, was a deist. He perhaps believed that there might have been a God.
That place the.
Universe and operation.
But I believe that there was number personal faith in the Lord Jesus.
And he was very impressed with the moral teachings of the Lord Jesus. And so he compiled what he thought.
Was the essence of the Scripture and it's been called the Jefferson Bible.
And anything that involved the deity.
Of the Lord Jesus he left out.
And sadly.
Sorry to say.
That the last words of that Jefferson Bible.
Has the Lord Jesus?
Being placed in the grave and the stone rolls on top.
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No resurrection.
No hope.
Just a week or so ago I was reading the Last Will and Testament.
Of another founding father, Patrick Henry, known to students of human history or U.S. history as.
Delivering that famous give me liberty or give me death address there in Richmond, VA.
But it was very impressive to say or to read and.
The will that he left.
Upon his death.
He said I have nothing more important.
To give to my family.
Than my Christian faith.
Well, we know that there are many mothers and fathers. There are many grandparents in this room today.
Praying fervently for the salvation of your soul.
We just pray that you might come and accept the Lord Jesus as your own personal Savior. He loved you, He died for you, and we just would again urge you to accept the Lord Jesus as your own Savior.