Gospel—Don Bilisoly
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Let's begin our meeting tonight by singing hymn #2.
Verse 4.
Come, for Angel hosts are musing, or they sight so strangely sad God beseeching man, refusing to be made forever glad from the world and its delusion. Now our voices rise as one, while we shout God's invitation. Heaven itself re echoes come.
Some brother want to start that force.
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Dear Ones, this hymn certainly expresses the great truth of the gospel, and that is that the work is finished and the invitation is to come.
And the Lord Jesus said, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden.
And I will give you rest.
So the invitation still goes forth this late in history.
We all feel assured that the Lord's coming is very near at hand.
And yet he still is inviting sinners to come.
And I have a strange feeling that we have some sinners in the room tonight. Thank God for those who know Christ as their Savior, who are recognized now as the Saints of God.
But we don't want to presume. And if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, be honest.
And recognize that you need to settle that question tonight. And now let's pray.
Our blessed God and Father, we thank Thee for the gospel of Thy grace.
How our hearts are touched as we think of that love that reached out to us.
Individually, those of us who know he is our savior, we can look back and.
Remember the darkness we were in when we were without hope and without God in the world. What a miserable condition it was. And we do thank thee for the deliverance thou hast brought about through thy beloved Son, through his finished work, through his precious shed blood. And we thank thee that thou hast set our feet upon that heavenly Rd. We now can rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And our God and Father, we look up to Thee independence this evening as we're about to open Thy precious Word. Together we know that Thy Word is living and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword. It's thy precious Word that will Pierce to the heart, to the conscience, and expose the Sinner and their guilt that there might be a work.
Of blessing. And we do think of each one here tonight. We wouldn't presume.
That all are the Saints of God.
But we fear for those who are blending in.
And perhaps convincing.
Most that they.
Our believers but thou knowest their hearts, We pray that thy word may be as an arrow of conviction. We count upon need to work in this way and so independence we look to thee, and we'd give thee our thanks. And the worthy and precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Turned with me to the book of Romans.
Romans chapter one, verse one.
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised before by his prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.
And declared to be the Son of God, with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
By whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience.
To the faith among all nations for his name, among whom ye also are the called of Jesus Christ, and to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be Saints, Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I first I thank my God through Jesus Christ, for you all, that your faith is spoken of through the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my Spirit in the gospel of His Son.
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Now I just want to sketch a little bit through Romans, because the book of Romans is so much the doctrine of the gospel presented to us. And we see that the first mention is that Paul was separated and what a servant he was of Jesus Christ and called to be an apostle and separated unto the gospel of God.
Well, you might say that brings us right to the source.
God is the source.
We've got to go right back to the Source, whether it's creation, whether it's redemption, whatever the case is, we have to go back to the Source. There's no way that you can understand anything unless you go to the source in the beginning. God, if we if we went no further than that, it shows man's responsibility. And I press on you tonight, dear ones.
Whether it be young or old.
That you and I, we have to do with God, each one of us. That is a very solemn thing to consider, especially if we have been living to please ourselves, and if we have been careless and indifferent about his claims upon us. He's bought the world. He's got possession. He has rights. By Creator and by Redeemer, are you acknowledging His rights?
We read here in one of the verses for obedience to the fate among all nations for his namesake. It wasn't just to a certain select people like Israel, but it was to all nations for the obedience of faith. God wants us to be submissive to His word. He wants us to recognize what our need is and.
This has to do with all eternity. Oh dear ones, here tonight. Don't look at the faulty speaker. Consider what God's word has to say about you and your eternal destiny.
Now thank God that most here I can say with confidence have settled that question and now with Joy you can anticipate what's ahead and we can enjoy meetings of this sort.
Otherwise, for myself, I know back in the 40s and even in the 30s, I had no use for these things and I dreaded the thought of having to do with God. I wanted to keep it out of my mind and I believe that this is generally the way with most, and I have noticed, and you have too, how people will do all that they can to preoccupy their minds.
With any and everything but the things of God.
And the fact they have to do with God and they don't want to consider the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, dear ones, here, tonight, here in Romans, we have presented to us the very source of the gospel. It is God. God is the source. And then we see the theme of the gospel and that is the gospel.
Of his son in the middle of verse 9.
And then we notice over in.
It speaks about the gospel of Christ here.
In one of these verses later on.
16 Thank you.
Verse 16.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. That's the means He was the one sent in order to accomplish all to the glory of God.
And then we have.
The gospel of the grace of God there in Acts 20, that's the character of the gospel. It's all based on grace.
I was thinking as we had the last meeting there in the reading we were talking about.
These expressions that concern the word and Jude uses quite an expression, doesn't he? He talks about the faith once delivered to the Saints.
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That applies to everything that we believe the faith once delivered to the Saints.
And so the gospel is the gospel of the grace of God. Now that's the only gospel for you. There's nothing else that can be offered. And there's absolutely no thought of any second chance as far as that's concerned. Now, you know, we read in Revelation about the everlasting gospel, which indicates that God has had a testimony, A testimony that begins right in the Garden of Eden.
And speaking about.
Hold your place and let's take a quick notice of that in Genesis. I'm going to make a statement that might.
Shake you up and maybe it should.
When sin came into the world. And of course right here in Romans.
In Romans 512 it says by one man's sin entered the world and death by sin.
So when we get back here to Genesis chapter three, we see what happened in connection.
With sin.
We see how that sin come into the world. And so in verse 15 of chapter 3 of Genesis he says, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
The expression of.
Between.
Thee and the woman between thy seed and her seed. Oh, you know, dear ones, here this evening.
It seems to me that when we consider the seed of the woman, we are looking on to the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus, his entry into this world.
And those according to faith, you might say, are arranged under that family.
But here we have the seed of the serpent, you might say. Is that all under the arrangement of of Satan? What a solemn thing to consider. And what way are you going, dear ones, here tonight?
Are you the Children of faith?
The children of God by faith in Christ Jesus or what family are you attached to? And so it's a solemn thing to consider that. But here was an announcement of a glad tidings.
He would bruise his heel, but thou would bruise his head. That's fatal. That will be fatal to Satan. And that surely will come eventually, when that enemy of our souls will be put down forever. But anyway, when we get back here to Romans.
We see that here the apostle sets before us the gospel of the grace of God.
And dear ones here tonight, where do you stand this evening?
Are you saved? If you're not saved, you're lost. You're either in one condition or another. There's no middle ground. There's no neutrality.
You either know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior and you're saved, or else you are lost according to God's precious word. And it says the God of this world hath blinded the eyes that them that are lost. God wants the glorious gospel to shine unto them.
But I trust that we don't have in our company here any that would be labeled as children of disobedience.
You know in Ephesians 2 it talks about being among the children of disobedience, which indicates A resistance and a resistance to the grace of God. Is that your case? Have you resisted the grace of God, that the Spirit of God would not strive with you? I would not want to.
I would not want to put that on you. I trust that you're not in that condition. But we all were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, that that was our condition. But by the grace of God, I trust that you've been delivered out of that condition. Well, here we see that the apostle.
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Says in this first chapter.
He says in verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.
To the Jew 1St and also to the Greek.
What a marvelous work of grace that he would.
He would have the gospel go to the Jew 1St and the most guilty people on the face of this world because they crucified their Messiah.
But Paul?
Paul is confident here. He's not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
He knows the power and he knows that it works and you know it too.
If you've received the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you can attest to the power and the effect of it in your life.
It is indeed the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it.
We don't have to be ashamed of it. It is living and powerful. It's effective and it works, you know?
Several years ago there was a terrible storm in the Cabot Straits and we often cross the Cabot Straits.
And it so happened that there was a fishing vessel out there called the Enterprise, and it wasn't in the best shape. It was a wooden vessel.
And it wasn't in the best shape and.
They got into this terrible storm and so they began to send out a mayday as signal.
They were in serious.
Of sinking and.
There was 1 ship in the port of Basque harbor at that time. It was called the Patrick Morris. We had seen it before. It was a good sturdy ship. They used it a good deal for they used to take railway cars over and then they later used it for some trucking. It was a good sturdy ship, but it was the only one in port at that time and as I understand, they couldn't muster together more than a crew of about four people.
But they took that large ship out there.
With every good intent of rescuing.
The Enterprise.
But when they got there, for one thing, they could not. They could not do anything. The Enterprise had gone to pieces in the storm.
The only thing that they could do was the sad task of seeking to get the bodies out of the water.
But they made an error of judgment.
They opened their doors wrong and in short time they were swamped and they could not do anything. They lost control of the ship.
So the Patrick Morris went down with four crewmen.
Now they did everything that they could to try and rescue the others, but they could not even rescue themselves. So we see that they were helpless in that situation.
But the Apostle, as he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. The power is there to save you, and he is an always home savior. You know the Lord Jesus says, him or her that comes unto me, I will in no wise cast out. He will not reject anyone.
You know, in connection with this passage, there's another story that comes to mind. I don't know, maybe some of the older ones may have remembered this. It was back in the time of about the 50s.
And there were some children playing around in a vacant lot.
In a residential area. An old residential area.
And all of a sudden, one of these children, maybe they were about.
Five or six years old, suddenly they were missing.
And the other children thought maybe the earth had swallowed this boy up. They didn't know what had happened.
And so they rushed home and they got their parents and they come looking for him.
And you know, I almost hate to tell the rest of the story.
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But that boy had fallen into an old well that was very poorly covered.
And not only that, but the well begin to funnel down and it was.
Full of clay and moisture, but it was a dry well.
And there he was, down in that well they shouted, and they could hear that he was there.
He answered, And so there was a great panic. Then what to do to get him out? I can't remember all the details of the story, but it was a thing of great human interest and a thing that was.
Great concern to everybody. It was front page news you might say. This poor boy caught down in a well, well, they tried to lower ropes to him. He was was not able to hang on to anything. And so they finally determined that they would get a skilled person that they could lower down, upside down to try and get a hold on that boy.
And it almost gives you nightmares to consider the whole account.
But this fellow was very brave to be lowered down into that narrow, tight shaft.
And he was able to get down and to get a hold of the hand of this boy, but he was so greasy with mud he couldn't hang onto him. And not only that, but the little fella slipped even farther down into this shaft. Now they were really panicking, not really concerned, and I don't recall how long this went on, but this went on for.
Several hours it went into a day, maybe 2 days.
But the poor little fellow was getting weaker. They could tell that. So they rushed in equipment, they had some big rig drilling rigs, and they began to drill a hole right straight down adjoining this shaft.
And they were doing everything that they could. Very skilled and capable men.
But could they rescue this boy? Or could they not? And the boy kept slipping farther down into the shaft.
They finally got all the way down with this. They tunneled over into the other place, but as I remember the story, it was too late. His life was gone, they could not save his life, and all these workmen were downcast. They were ashamed that they couldn't do it.
Oh, how sad to think of a thing like this.
But the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. To everyone that believeth no apologies.
It works, Oh dear ones here tonight, I can assure you.
That if you come to the Lord Jesus now, as you are, He will not disappoint you. He will save you.
And he is indeed an all way home savior. He's able to keep you and he's able to save you to the uttermost. So we leave that with you.
There was another account of a young fellow that was lost in Newfoundland.
And they searched and they searched for him. And when they found him.
They said here he is and everyone raised a shout that he was.
Discovered again.
But anyway, let's sketch down through our chapter here.
In verse 17 he says for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. It's on the principle of faith as it is written, The just shall live by faith. That's a quotation from the Book of Havoc.
It's interesting to see how the spirit of God would employ that little quotation. It's just a short, very short quotation, but it's actually the first place in the Old Testament that you have the mention of the word faith.
And so but we have faith indicated, of course. In fact you get to chapter 4 of Romans, and it goes into considerable detail about Abraham. How he was justified on the principle of faith, says he believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. So the principle goes way back, even early as we see, and it was the principle upon which really the Old Testament Saints were justified. But now here we have the doctrine of it.
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Set forth in the Spirit of God uses this little quotation from the book of Habakkuk at least three times in the Scripture, and I don't doubt that on each occasion there is a little different slant put upon.
This passage from the book of Habakkuk.
The righteousness of God is revealed on this principle of faith.
What a solemn thing to consider the righteousness of God.
What a solemn thing. But then you have the other side of the picture.
And that is the wrath of God. Verse 18 is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Hold the truth in unrighteousness.
Because that which may be known of God is manifested in them, for God has showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power. And Godhead. I believe that should read Divinity.
So that they are without excuse. Now, as you read on, you'll certainly see why the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness.
Amazing, isn't it? The word of God is timely. The word of God is always up to date because it speaks to the heart of man. It manifests the condition of man and it says his face answers to face and water. So does the heart of man to man. The heart of man has been no different since the time of the fall, and man's ruin condition has prevailed all the way through.
And even though we may be in a more enlightened time, and education has increased and knowledge has increased.
Still, has man changed in his behavior? Well, you know the answer to that.
In fact, it seems where there's greater advantage and greater privilege, there's a worse condition of things. The wrath of God is revealed. And I believe we have encompassed in these remarks through the end of this first chapter, everything that's going on in the world today. What a state of things.
But God lets us know that he has always been. He has always had a testimony.
But what occurred that brought this terrible state of idolatry that led into such a breakdown in every way?
Simply, they did not want to retain God in their thoughts. This is after the flood. This happened even in that most privileged family line of Shim.
And so we see here that they turn to idolatry. Oh, it may not have been a rapid change, but they change verse 23, the glory of the incorruptible God, into an image made like corruptible man.
Scripture talks about the beauty of a man.
But then it got worse to birds, and it gets worse to four footed beasts, it gets worse. And the creeping things. That's why it says wherefore God gave them over.
Oh, what a solemn indictment this is, dear ones here this evening. And if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, you're classed with this state of things. And so we see how man lowers these thoughts of God.
Back in about 1977, I remember seeing an article where.
The Buddhists.
Were very grieved over the disastrous Year of the Snake. They were hoping that 1978, the Year of the Horse, would be more prosperous.
Well, that's the whole state and attitude of man when he goes apart from God.
As Christians, we ought to be extremely careful and sensitive about anything that in any way would change the image of God.
That would misrepresent him in a way other than God's precious word.
But I like verse 20 because it tells me that God has had a standing testimony in creation. There is enough, I believe in creation to witness to God's eternal power and divinity. Amazing, isn't it? Living in a land of Bibles, we may not consider that as much as we should.
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I like Psalm 19. We had that read to us the other day. Turned to Psalm 19 for a minute, please.
Holding your place.
Psalm 19 verse one The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork.
Day unto day utter a speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a Tabernacle for the Son, which, as a bridegroom cometh out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strongman to run a race. His going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit to the ends of it.
And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. Here you have a nice nice description.
Of the heavens, and they declare the glory of God.
It's a standing testimony.
Do you ever go out on a very clear night? You have to get away from the city, from the lights of the city. We appreciate that up where we are, because when we do have a nice clear night, how beautiful it is to look up into the sky and see those stars, They say that actually you can only see about 5000 of them from anyone place in the earth.
On a good clear night. But beautiful, aren't they? And if it's really clear, and this is so much appreciated, you can see what we call the Milky Way, which is a part of our Galaxy. And they say that the Milky Way is made-up of what is the 200 million stars.
And this composes this particular Galaxy that we're a part of.
But they claim that of all these galaxies, there's about 800 million of them. And I think it was maybe in January of just 1996, they claimed to have discovered about 1500 more galaxies out there. Do you think they found the end of it? Marvelous, isn't it, to consider that?
And justice, think of that standing testimony that exists.
Sam Martin gave me what is considered to be an authentic.
Letter written by.
A Russian.
During the heyday of communism.
And this young fellow from childhood was taught that there was no God. He had that ingrained and he was taught that. And now here he is out on the battlefield, and there's a great chance that they won't make it.
And it was a very starry night and as he.
Wrote out in this letter, he got to looking up in the sky. They were waiting for the call to go into the battle, and he got to looking up into the sky. And as he looked up there and studied it, he became more and more awed by the specter of all those stars and the beauty of it.
And he said there has got to be a God behind this, and in his letter that he pens to God.
He owns and acknowledges that there had to be a God in it, and he seeks to address this God that he never do, never had opportunity to.
He talks to him as one that he believed that he could trust, and he even expressed some hope that perhaps he would see him maybe soon. And they found this letter on the dead body of the soldier.
Now you know Scripture says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You know the work of Christ is so vast, it is so effective that if there is the calling upon God in true faith, he'll save a soul. It isn't that we need to understand about the work of Christ, although it is an amazing thing how many times we get the word being justified.
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In the New Testament, God wants us to know that we're justified freely by His grace. It springs from His grace and it says for it is God that justifies we're right back to the source again and it says He was raised again for our justification. There's the found the foundation of it and it says that we're justified by his blood. One of the few places in Scripture where it if we believe that Jesus died and rose again and.
And.
I can't remember exactly how that's expressed, but there's two places that seem to link faith up with the work, whereas many, many, there's many, many places that link faith with the person. What I'm saying is this, that if you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you get all the benefit of his precious work, all the benefit for all eternity. And so God is so ready to save. If there's a spark of faith there, how much faith does it take?
Well, the woman came and touched the hem of his garment, and that was sufficient. That was a little bit of faith, but she did it in great fear. And the Lord, the Lord wanted her to come forward. And so he said, who would touch me? Everybody was thronging to him.
But he knew, and she come cringing. But she learned very quickly the grace that was there.
And all beloved ones here, dear ones here tonight Scripture says poor but grace, are ye saved, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast so it's marvelous to see how God is justifying us. And right there in Romans it says, therefore being justified by faith, there's the principle of our justification. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And there's other places, too. There's only one place.
In the New Testament, where it talks about being justified.
By works. And that's only before men. I hope we understand that James brings out that line of things he does not. He does not question faith, but he says, let's see a proof of it and we will see a proof. We will see evidence. If you have received the Lord Jesus as your savior, if you really, truly come to him and received him as your own Savior, we'll see the evidence of it. The scripture says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath.
Before ordained that we should walk in them. There will be fruit. God will see to it that there will be fruit. But when we don't see any evidence of reality, boys and girls, then we raise a great, great question if you're real.
And perhaps an older one here.
And you know, these things are worrisome when we consider how that people can fit in so cleverly.
That's one thing about the parable of the five wise and the five foolish virgins that.
I thought about, and that is that there is no thought whatsoever that there was any outward distinction in the five wise and the five foolish. They all looked alike, and we can easily misjudge.
Someone that has been kept from a lot of sin and wickedness.
They may have some nice natural qualities about them, their appearance, and all may be rather convincing that are they a Christian? They appear to be. But God knows the heart. You cannot deceive and hide things from him.
But going back to this Psalm 19, I want to emphasize this point and that is that God has a standing testimony so that they are without excuse. But we have far more than the testimony of creation. We have the testimony of redemption, which we can preach to you now.
But I appreciate the way this is put, because it speaks of the sun like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. And that's the way indeed, the Lord Jesus will come first. He will come as the bridegroom to take his own, to be with him in glory, and then he will come forth.
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From his circuit, so to speak, in verse 6. And nothing it says is hid from the heat thereof.
Now, dear ones here the Lord Jesus came to die. He came to be a savior.
He did not come to judge.
He didn't want to destroy men's life, but rather to save them, and so he still stands as a savior. But we've had a good deal in our meetings together about the fact that he will come as a judge, and it is a very solemn thing to fall into the hands of the living God. How shall we escape? It says, if we neglect so great salvation? He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed in that without remedy. Those are very solemn words to consider, but he would rather save you.
Oh God, doesn't want anyone to perish.
He would have all men come to repentance, all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.
It was so costly for him to provide salvation and he wants you to veil yourself of it.
He doesn't want you to hold back. And the work of Christ is sufficient for all. It's unto all. It's wide open. That's what we have in Romans chapter 3. But it's only unto those that believe. It's available to all, but it's only upon those that believe. How about you? Are you in the class of those that have believed the gospel? Have you been obedient and received Christ as your savior?
Taken your place first of all as a lost and guilty Sinner, and then receive Christ as your Savior. Well, like Mr. Darby says, there's a method to the Psalms and here we have the standing testimony of creation. But then we have the Word of God introduced in verse 7-8 and nine, and we have in Romans chapter three, chapter 2 also.
It says what advantage hath the Jew much in every way, for under them were committed the oracles of God.
But is there anyone in the room here this evening that does not have a Bible in their hands? You have the word of God in your hands. All these things increase responsibility. Oh dear ones, here tonight. I trust you know the Lord Jesus as your savior. And if you have God's word and you know him as your savior and you read God's word, you'll say indeed verse 10 more to be desired, Are they than gold? Yeah, than much fine gold. Sweeter also.
Than honey and the honeycomb. It exceeds nature, God's precious word. And God wants objection to His word. Well, we see the question of the Messiah brought in in verse 20 the distress of the treatment against him. 21 We see God's answer. But 22 Psalm 22 brings out the fact that he had to die.
Mr. John Wilson in Denver some years ago. He used to enjoy riding the train, and he used that opportunity once in a while to speak to souls and he had a great fondness for Jewish people.
And sure as anything, a Jewish person was assigned to the seat next to him.
Happened to be a rabbi, and so Mr. Wilson.
Cleverly began to.
Search him out with a few questions.
And so he came to Psalm 22.
And Mr. Wilson said to this distinguished looking older man, this rabbi, he said.
Whose words are those in Psalm 22?
Well, as Rabbi said, it's a Psalm of David, he said. Of course it's David's words.
Mr. Wilson just said this, he said. Well, Sir, will you tell me when David's hands and feet were pierced?
See.
You read that in Psalm 22 They pierced my hands and my feet. Verse 16.
There was number answer to that. Oh how God desires the blessing of that people. How he desires the blessing of you here tonight.
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They they are set aside now nationally, and then there is no difference. It says God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all. So God's mercy now is reaching out to you and I of this Gentile world. And he wants you to come. And that's the grand invitation of the gospel. Whosoever will may come now, we'll go on. Our time is up. But look at chapter 2 of Romans.
And.
God gives warning of judgment.
In other words, here in chapter one you have this terrible condition described that has come into the world, and this came in early. This came in after Noah's day and as a result of the dividing of the nations.
And.
Chapter 2 seems to be.
The rising up of the philosophers, the moralizers, that questioned all of this terrible excess and extreme, but they were doing the same things. Verse one therefore, thou inexcusable old man, whosoever thou art the judges, for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest doest the same thing. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
And thinkest thou this old man that judges them, which do such things and do us the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God. That's so much in people's hearts. People are continually comparing themselves with others. I well know I did it myself, and yet doing these same things.
Verse four Or despises thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. Oh dear ones, here what would God do? What means might he use to lead you to repentance? He may use various circumstances in your life.
Some know about?
These dear ones in a place called Isle of Mort in Newfoundland.
And here Sheila learned from the doctor that their young boy had muscular dystrophy. Brian was his name.
And what a shock that was to Sheila to learn that. But they had been going on in different to the claims of God, and God used that jolt in her life to shake her up, that she turned to the Lord.
And now, after several years, her husband Greg, watching all of this thing, seeing this evident work of grace in the heart of his wife and such a true devoted companion with chaste conversation coupled with fear, moved his heart and Ryan's faith too, because Ryan, even though he was deteriorating in this condition.
Trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. Just a young fellow. Just a young boy. Trusted the Lord.
So this was more than Greg could handle. And the Lord graciously used all the witness and testimony of this to melt grapes heart. And he turned to the Lord Jesus as his savior. And now he takes a Bible with him to the boats in the Great Lakes and he wants the men to see it. He keeps it where it is prominent. Lovely to see that he's taken a stand for the Lord like that. And how about Ryan? Well, his grandmother was shedding a few tears because they knew.
They know that he doesn't have too much longer. He's getting worse and he's getting more deteriorated.
But Ryan said to his grandmother, he says Grandma Nan, they call him there. He says, Nan, I don't want you to shed tears at my funeral because he said I'm going to be with the Lord Jesus.
So.
They knew not. But it was the goodness of God that brought all this about. And I'll tell you that it's a story in itself to talk about a fellow by the name of essential. Have you ever heard of anybody called essential? He changed his name. His real name was Lamentation.
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You can tell he wasn't appreciated and.
And poor lamentation. He lives in Nigeria.
He was depicted on one by his stepbrothers and so finally the real critical thing happened and that was that the father moved these sons to kill a neighbor that they resented over some land disagreement.
And they put the blame on poor lamentation.
He couldn't do anything to get out of it.
They imprisoned him. He was stuck in prison for seven years. We were hearing some of this. He was so bitter and so angry.
That he consulted. He consulted native doctors. Which doctors?
To curse these brothers, to put a death curse upon them.
Well, it didn't work.
And then his wife, who stayed true to him all this time, he says I'm going to poison myself. You get poisoned. Shoot. No, I will not do it. I will not do it.
Well, finally.
Poor lamentation had no other way to turn but.
And the Lord saved his soul.
And he came to know the Lord Jesus as his own precious savior.
All the bitterness was removed toward his brothers and he decided that.
That wasn't the name to carry. So he he decided that he was essential to the Lord. The Lord saved him, got him out of prison. And so essential is a real soul winner. He loves to hand out tracks and he's going on very happily now in Nigeria in the assembly. Marvelous. The grace of God. It took a lot though, to crack that shell because he was a very wicked man.
He lived a very wicked life, but his dear wife stayed by him. But anyway the Lord had to put a lot of heavy pressure upon him.
But just like it says.
The goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance, That's what it took. He didn't know anything about the goodness of God, but he knows now that's what it was. And dear ones, here tonight the Lord stands so ready, there's no problem on his part. He wants to save you. He wants to bring you into great joy and happiness.
He wants to bring you into the circle of fellowship, not to be equaled anywhere in the world, this poor world, You know, they want companionship. They want kindred ship. But oh, what a miserable state of things that it is and how wonderful it is to be a part of the family of God. And he's waiting, and he wants you to come now. And so the Lord Jesus invites you to come. Shall we pray?
Blessed God and Father, we do thank Thee for thy grace.
That waited patiently.
For those of us who know this, the Lord Jesus as savior.
But we know that the long-suffering of God is salvation.
And now it's still waiting. But thy precious word warns us that, behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. We pray that there's no one here that may put off or carelessly neglect so great salvation.
We do pray that if there's any boy or girl or older one here tonight, that thou would work by thy spirit in their heart, in their conscience, we would ask it all in the name and for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.