Gospel—Jim Hyland
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Hymn #9. On the gospel hymn sheet come every soul by sin oppressed. There's mercy with the Lord and He will surely give you rest by trusting in His word. Hymn #9. If someone could please start it.
We saw five days of right and the first day of the world.
Nsnoise.
AUGLAU L.
BULKALAUL.
Let's ask God's help and blessing our blessed God and Father. We are so very thankful this evening for the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful for that mighty work of Calvary accomplished so long ago. We thank Thee for that precious blood that washes, cleanses from every stain of sin. We thank thee for a risen, glorified Savior tonight, a thy right hand.
And we are so very thankful, too, for the glorious gospel that has gone forth around this world for decades, for generations.
And we are thankful that tonight thou art still working by thy spirit, compelling sinners to come in that thy house may be filled. And we are so thankful for an opportunity here in this building to present the glad tidings once again. And we pray that Christ might be presented in all his loveliness and beauty. We pray that thou work by thy spirit, open the eyes of the spiritually blind open hearts.
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Impart divine Life. We pray that Thou draw to the Savior that no one might go out of this room lost and in their sins.
So we ask thy help and blessing tonight. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory.
Amen. We're going to take some time at the beginning of this meeting and read a number of portions of the word of God.
We won't comment on every expression that we read, but I suggest that these portions, and they may seem a little disjointed at first, but I suggest that they introduce to us the subject that I have on my heart this evening in seeking by the grace of God to present as simply as possible the glad story of Jesus and his love, the good news of salvation to lost sinners.
Like to begin in Exodus chapter 21.
Exodus chapter 21 and we'll begin reading at verse one.
Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
If thou buy in Hebrew servant 6 years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
If his master hath given him a wife, and she hath borne him sons or daughters.
The wife and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out by himself.
And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free.
Then his master shall bring him under the judges. He shall also bring him to the door.
Or unto the door post, And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever. And then I want to read in John's Gospel chapter 8.
John's Gospel chapter 8.
And verse.
32.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
And then dropped down to the 36th verse, if the sun therefore shall make you free.
Ye shall be free indeed. And then I want to go back to the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs, Chapter 5.
Proverbs chapter 5 and verse 22. His own iniquity shall take the wicked himself.
And he shall beholden with the cords of his sins.
And now just one more portion in Romans chapter 6.
Romans chapter 6.
Beginning at verse 20.
For when we were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death, but now being made free from sin.
And become servants to God, Ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
As I say, we're not going to comment on every expression here. We may not take it up completely in its context, but I would like to speak tonight a little bit about freedom and liberty because you know, we have a message tonight to present a message of freedom and liberty in the Declaration of Independence here in the United States. There is an expression, something thing, to the effect of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
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And I suppose men have men have been pursuing those three things since the beginning of time.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But there is no life, there is no liberty, and there is no happiness.
Really, without the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we began back here in the book of Exodus.
Because before we speak of liberty and connection with sins forgiven.
With knowing Christ as our Savior, I want to speak of one who would not go out free.
One typified in this story of the Hebrew servant because I believe back in the Old Testament.
We have many stories that bring before us, by figure, by type and shadow by picture, the Lord Jesus Christ and that work that he accomplished there on Calvary's cross for the glory of God and the blessing of man.
And I believe this is what we have in the Hebrew servant, because the time came for the Hebrew servant when he could go out free. But if he had received a wife and children in his time of servitude, he had to go out free alone. If he chose to go out free, he had to go by himself. But there was another option. He could choose to stay, and he was brought to the door.
And his ear was bored through with an awl. And it speaks so beautifully of the Lord Jesus.
Who would not go out free? The Lord Jesus came into this world as a man. He came in incarnation. He walked up and down the dusty streets of Palestine during his public ministry. He healed the sick. He cleansed the leper. He gave sight to the blind. He spoke the words that his father gave him to speak. Blessing was dispensed on every hand. But there came a moment when the hour of the cross was before him.
And he could say, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But, you know, it was not possible that there be glory brought to God.
Or the liberty given to mankind in the salvation of souls.
Apart from the Lord Jesus go to Calvary's cross and there give his life.
There, there, my sins. In his own body, on the tree there shed his precious blood. No, he would not go out free. And I suppose many of us in our mind's eye have often pictured the scene.
Where the Lord Jesus having agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Having prayed three times to his father, he rises and he goes forth to pilots judgment hall, and then a moment comes when he looks out from pilots judgment hall to Calvary. And I love those glorious words in John's gospel he bearing his cross went forth.
He went forth for you. He went forth for me. He went forth so that we could have life and liberty and happiness.
He was like that Hebrew servant. He would not go out free, the Hebrew servant said. I love my master.
My wife and my children, You know the Lord Jesus, his first motive in going to the cross.
Was love for his God, his Father. It was to glorify God as to the question of sin. But there was another motive.
Love for you and for me. I'm thankful that I can stand tonight with the apostle Paul.
And I can echo those glorious words, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
You know, I love to put myself in that verse. I love to quote it like this.
The Son of God who loved Jim and gave himself for Jim. It is so personal.
I trust that everyone could stand with Paul tonight and to put their name in that verse with confidence to say that he loved you and gave himself for you all. The first part is true of every soul in this room.
Every soul in this world, the Lord Jesus loves you, God loves you.
There was a young man came to the Lord Jesus one time and I loved the words. They're very unique to the, uh word of God. Jesus beholding him, loved him. Oh the Lord Jesus loved that man. Sad to say, if we were to read that story together, we find that that young man left the presence of the Lord Jesus very sad and as far as we know, never never received the blessing or came into the enjoyment of that love that the Lord Jesus.
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Had for him. And so we find the Lord Jesus would not go out free.
No, he went to Calvary's cross and all, just to think of it after he was treated so I'll by man.
A time came when God said that's enough.
And this world was shrouded in darkness for three hours.
And God laid my sins on the Lord Jesus. He bore my sins in those hours of darkness.
At the end of it he could cry, My God, my God, why St. thou forsaken me?
Before he lay down his life, he could say it is finished.
And the Lord Jesus in a way that no other ever could or has.
Lay down his life, he said of his life. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
And he did indeed take it again. They took him down, and they laid him in that tomb. But a moment came when God raised him from the dead.
A moment came when he was quickened by the Spirit. A moment came when he himself.
Took his own life back.
And after he had remained on earth long enough to give complete and ample testimony to his own.
That he had bodily risen from the dead, his feet left the mount of olives.
And he went back to the Father. And I love that glorious hymn we sometimes sing on an occasion like this.
There is a savior on high in the glory, a Savior who suffered on Calvary's tree.
A savior is willing to save. Now as ever, his arm is almighty.
His love great and free.
We read in John's Gospel these two expressions in connection with freedom.
First of all, the Lord Jesus said, Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. You know, I am thankful that tonight we can open this book and we have no doubt that it is the truth of God. You know, there are many lies propagated in this world, and some of us have been to countries where false religions are practiced from day-to-day. And you know, when you visit those countries you realize very, very quickly.
That there's no life, liberty and happiness. Really. I've just returned from a Muslim country. It is absolute *******. You know, I've been in Egypt on a number of occasions during the what they call the holy month of Ramadan and the ******* that that brings. They can't. They're not supposed to eat and drink from sun up to sundown. There are certain things that they are not supposed to do.
A brother was telling me one year that he had got on the bus to go to work one morning.
And he sat down beside a Muslim lady and she asked him to move.
Because she had taken a vow for the month of Ramadan that she wasn't to touch a man.
And she was afraid that with the jostling of the Bush, he might bump her. She would bump him, and she would have to add an extra day.
To her, to the month of Ramadan as penance, absolute *******.
I'm in Guyana, South America, on a regular basis. In the major centers in Guyana, there's a Hindu temple. Just about everywhere you look, you go into the interior and there is heathen religion practice, and you feel the power of darkness and all the ******* that is connected with it. But tonight we have that which liberates. We have the truth of God, and it's the truth that sets us free. But there's something more than that.
Because a few verses down we read you shall know the sun. If you know the sun, you shall be free. Indeed, the truth sets us free. But it's the truth as it is in Jesus. Because what we have tonight to present is not just theology. It's not philosophy, it's not sociology. It's not a set of rules and regulations. It's a person. Christianity has to do with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's why the Lord Jesus added something when he spoke of the Son. You'll be free indeed.
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You want freedom. You want true liberty.
Oh, it's only found in coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior because as we read in Proverbs, we are held with the cords of our sin you know, we had today in the meetings.
Something of the thought of sin being lawlessness and sin is really doing our own will in independence of God.
And man thinks that's freedom. Man thinks that's liberty. But you know, the way of the transgressor is hard.
And when you talk to those who have gone on in sin all their life, do you find they're really happy? Do they feel like they really have freedom and liberty? Oh no, because we're held with the cords of our sin. It's illustrated back in the Old Testament with the children of Israel when they were in the land of Egypt, they were slaves. They were in ******* under Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
Pharaoh in the Old Testament is a picture to us of Satan and of the ******* that he holds souls under.
Without Christ, In fact, he's a picture. Pharaoh's a picture of Satan seeking to keep souls from coming under the liberty of redemption and deliverance.
Pharaoh did not want to let the people go, but God looked down at the ******* of the of the Israelites and he said he was going to deliver them. But if he was going to deliver them, it had to be in a way that made them realize two things, their guilt and his provision for them. And that's what we need to realize tonight, first of all, our guilt. Because we're born into this world in sin, you know, we're not just sinners by practice.
Sometimes we say one sin will keep us out of heaven, but you know, it's even more than that.
We're born into this world with a sinful nature, and that will keep us out of heaven whether we commit one sin or not.
Of course we've committed many sins, but God cannot have sin in His presence and so we're born in sin. And of course there's nobody in this room, I don't think. Who would have the audacity to say they never sinned, although a friend of mine one time had a man knock on his door as they were having breakfast. A friend of mine was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this man was poorly dressed and said he was hungry and he needed something to eat.
Well, my friend invited him into the breakfast table, gave him something to eat, and spoke to him a little bit about the Lord Jesus. But.
As they were speaking, this man said, Oh, I've never sinned, I've just made mistakes.
Well, my friend watched, and as he began to eat and to take part in the meal, he took his napkin and everything he touched. He rubbed. He rubbed the handle of the knife. He rubbed the handle of the cup. Everything he touched, he rubbed. My friend got a little suspicious. He slipped out and called the police. This man had escaped from prison. He had indeed sinned. He had gone against society. He had sinned against God. It wasn't long till the police were at his at my friend's door and arrested the man.
And took him back to prison, but never sinned, just made mistakes. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Solomon said there's not a man on the earth that doeth good and sinneth not we had in the meeting today all our righteousnesses, all the best things we can do are just a bundle of filthy rags as we present them to God. And so we're held with the cords of our sins.
We're in. You're in *******. You really don't have liberty tonight.
If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior.
You know, I believe that the one thing man wants, perhaps more than anything else, is liberty.
That's what he really craves. It was brought home to my soul some years ago.
I had the opportunity to go with another brother in Christ to visit and speak in a large prison facility outside the city of Boston, MA. And we had opportunity to visit in several pads as they called them in the medium security part of that prison. And after we visited from pad to pad and talked to the men personally and left some literature they had scheduled for us.
An opportunity to present the gospel in the Chapel of that prison.
And before the Gospel meeting, I went into the Chapel and I sat down at the back of the room with some gospel hymn sheets.
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To hand to the men as they filed in and I listened to their conversation.
As we waited for the gospel meeting to start and invariably their conversation had to do.
With their parole date, their release date, the day they were going to get their liberty back, and it kind of surprised me because if you had come to that prison with us, you would have thought it was pretty nice. It was a pretty nice prison. In fact. The different pads had several cells off them that opened onto a common room. It was a hot, humid July day in Boston and the rooms were fully air conditioned. In that room there was ping pong and shuffleboard and other activities. Along one side were coffee makers and microwaves and snack bar. It opened.
Courtyard where there was tennis and basketball and volleyball. Very, very nice. I visited in prisons in other countries that aren't quite that like that. But in spite of all the comforts and niceties that the prison facility could provide for them, they lack the one thing they wanted the most. They lacked liberty. They lacked freedom. And you know, as we stood up to give the gospel that night.
We sought to impress upon those men that in a lost eternity there is no liberty and there is no release date. You know, I wonder if one of the worst things about entering a lost eternity will be just that there will be no hope in hell.
When we go back, if we were to go to the 16th chapter of Luke, we would find that the Lord Jesus there pulled the curtain aside.
In telling the story of the lives of two men and those two men, the rich man and Lazarus, they both died.
If you and I had been telling that story, we would have had to end with that.
Carried to their grave and that's it. Like Solomon said, one thing happens to them all.
But the Lord didn't stop there. No, as I say, He pulled the curtain aside and He showed that when man draws that last breath, it is not over, but it is determined where they are going to spend eternity.
The rich man who had left God out of his life, He went to a place of torment.
And it's very significant, I believe that when he lifted up his eyes being in torment.
He never asked to be released from the confines of that place.
I suppose he understood that his destiny was fixed. All he asked for was that someone, Lazarus, would bring him one drop of water to give him momentary relief. That's what he wanted. But he never got that drop of water. He you know, that's a true story. That's not a parable. That's a true story about two men who lived and died here on Earth and entered the next life under very different circumstances.
And do you realize that that man is over 2000 years since he asked for that drop of water? He never got it and he never will and he will never be released from a place of torment. There is no hope. Destiny is fixed when man leaves this world. If you draw your last breath tonight, it's over. You know, we sometimes talk about spending eternity. I just use the expression myself. I have no problem with that expression.
But you know, in a way you can't spend something that never ends. You can spend a bank account.
You can spend your allowance. You can spend your birthday money. But.
To spend eternity will mean that it will never, never, never end. For those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, oh, we're going to be with the Lord Jesus in the Father's house forever, it says. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. And, you know, it's very solemn to consider too tonight that there is a moment coming in the history of this world when there will be no more Gospel meetings.
Of the grace of God in the way that we are having tonight, There will be no more opportunity for those who have heard.
The Word of God.
To receive the Lord Jesus as their savior. Because when the Lord Jesus comes it tells us when once the master of the house has risen up and shut to the door, they're going to come and knock and say Lord open unto us. He's going to say, I never knew you. Tonight the messages come unto me. But there's a day when the message will be depart from me. What a contrast.
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What a solemn contrast. If you don't come tonight, if you don't receive the Lord Jesus as your savior, you're going to hear those awful words Depart from me to ring in your ears in a lost eternity. And make no mistake about it, there is no liberty and a lost eternity. In fact, in the parable of the king who made a marriage for his son, the Lord Jesus spoke of it this way. There was a man who came into that wedding.
And he came in without the provision of the king who had invited to the marriage.
And when the king came in and viewed his guests and saw there was a man without the wedding garment, the provision.
Of that which would make him fit for the King's presence and the presence of his son.
He had his servants take him, and it says they they they were told to bind him hand and foot. That's not liberty, is it divine? Someone, hand and foot he was to be bound hand and foot, and cast into outer darkness, where there would be weeping and gnashing of tea. No liberty and a lost eternity. And not only that, but it will be to be all alone. It will be outer darkness. It will be darkness.
So deep that it will not be penetrated, and not only so, but there will be no love and friendship.
Inhale. You know all love whether it's natural.
Or divine springs from God. God is the wellspring of love, and to be shut out from God for all eternity will mean that there will be no such thing as companionship.
No such thing as friendship. No such thing as interaction with one another.
And there will be no repentance in a lost eternity. We more chaise.
Remorse, Yes, but no Repentance in a lost eternity, because it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. Oh, it's serious. It's very solemn tonight. And so we read in the book of Romans.
These verses, and again, I don't want to get into what's here doctrinally, but just to simply point out again that we are either the servants of sin, we're slaves to sin, or we have come into the liberty of sins forgiven. And as it says in Corinthians, we've been made the righteousness of God in him. This is true liberty.
You know, it's wonderful when you go to other countries and see those who have been under the ******* of Islam or heathendom or Hinduism, whatever it might be, And to see when the light of the glorious gospel shines into their hearts, to see the joy of the liberty that they realize that they have. Because we are exhorted to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of *******. I know that's an exhortation in a different context.
But all tonight, we're not talking about *******. You know, sometimes people think, well, if I receive the Lord Jesus, if I accept the gospel, it's going to bring me into some kind of constriction. I'm going to be restricted in my what I do and where I go and my friends and the liberties that I have and so on.
If you only knew the liberty and the joy that there is in Christ tonight.
It is freedom, unlike freedom, that this world can experience.
You know, there have been so many who have given their lives for the liberty of humanity. Again, I have had the experience with my wife and others to stand at the men engage in Ipers France, and to their experience the little ceremony that's held every night.
To commemorate those who gave their lives in the two great wars for the liberty of of the Western world.
And it's a very stirring thing, you know, on the stone tablets and the.
There are 56,000 names engraved of those who were never found to bury in Flanders fields and then to take a drive around those graveyards in that area, and white crosses marking the graves of those who were buried there, sometimes as far as the eye can see, Thousands and thousands and thousands who gave their lives for liberty. But all tonight we're not talking about the liberty of nations who are under the suppression.
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Of other nations. We're not talking about liberty at the end of a war. Oregon, something like that.
Oh no. We're talking about the liberty there is in Christianity.
Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior tonight?
You know, again, it's illustrated in a little story that the children often sing about.
And that's the story of that donkey. You know, I grew up singing that hymn and that song in Sunday school. And I've noticed in Sunday school that that is often a favorite of the boys and girls. There once was a wild little donkey who had to be tied to a tree. Yes. He didn't have liberty, did he? No, He had to be tied to a tree. You know, it's interesting that in the Old Testament, there are two animals that we are that are likened to naturally speaking.
One is sheep, because sheep like to have their own way and all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. But there's another animal, and that's a donkey. And Job speaks of man being born as a wild ***** cold as a wild donkey because a donkey is stubborn. And so naturally speaking, we're stubborn and we want our own way. That's the natural man. And so that little donkey that we so often sing about.
And that we read about in the gospel, that little donkey had to be tied to a tree because of his nature. But you know, the Lord Jesus said to the disciples, go and release him and bring him to me. The Lord Jesus had need of that little donkey. And when that donkey was brought to the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus sat upon him under the influence of the Son of God, as we sing in the words of that song.
That donkey became quiet, obedient, and good. That was liberty, wasn't it?
You think, well, what's that really? Liberty with the Lord Jesus riding on him. That was liberty compared to being tied to that tree because of his wild, stubborn nature. To have the Lord Jesus riding upon him to be under the influence of the Lord, the Son of God. Oh, that was liberty. He went along right where he where he was supposed to go, bearing the Son of God on his back, but oh tonight to come under the blessing of the Son of God.
Oh, this is liberty. If you only could understand this, the joy, the happiness that you can have. This is freedom. As our verses in Romans says tells us. This is freedom, but now being made free from sin and become the servants of God. Like the donkey, he was freed from the being tied at that place where two ways met. He was free to carry the Son of God.
And ought to be free to serve the Lord Jesus.
You know, I wouldn't trade places with anybody that isn't a Christian. You know, sometimes people think when the gospel is presented, of what they have to give up.
When they get saved, the only thing I gave up were my sins, and I'm glad they're gone. As far as the East is from the West, so far as he removed our transgressions from us, the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin in whom we have redemption through His blood. Even the forgiveness of sins redeemed with the precious blood of Christ you know, to be redeemed as to be bought, back, to be set free. It's more than just being purchased. It's more than just being bought, brought, bought back. It's bought back to be set free.
You want to be redeemed tonight? It's the blood of Jesus. You want to be set free tonight? It's the blood of Jesus.
It's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Because the wages of sin is death.
Some of you earn wages. Some of the boys and girls, Maybe they do a little job around in the summer. Maybe you help Mom and Dad around the garden, around the house. You get a little little extra on your allowance. That's wages. You earn them. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, to receive that gift tonight, It's being offered. It's free. That's what makes a gift. It's free.
It's not. The gospel is free, but it's not cheap. It costs the Lord Jesus his life. He could not go out free, but now he's offering salvation free to all. He's offering freedom and liberty to those who will come, whosoever will may come and take of the water of life freely. I just say to those of us who know the Lord Jesus in closing to you know when Lazarus was raised from the dead.
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There was a special Commission given to those who stood by. I suppose it was the disciples, perhaps, or maybe other family members. They were to release him. They were to let him go from those grave clothes that bound him.
And maybe there's a soul in this room tonight who's struggling. They perhaps they say, yes, I believe the Lord Jesus died for me. I believe his blood cleanses from sin. But they're struggling with certain aspects of the gospel, things that they just aren't free from in their soul. They don't have complete freedom and liberty of soul. You know, we can help a person like that. There's a special responsibility, just as there was a responsibility to the disciples to release the donkey.
Just as there was this responsibility to those at the grave of Lazarus to unwind those grave clothes that were holding him.
So we have a responsibility, let's be sensitive to that after a Gospel meeting like this.
May our conduct be that which commends the Gospel as we close in prayer.
And may we be sensitive, if there are souls that are struggling, that we would be available to be a help to them in presenting simply the truth of God to them, so that they might come unto, And not just to be born again, but to come in to the joy of knowing what it is to have the Lord Jesus as their Savior, and to have that liberty and freedom that we have in the person of Christ.
Faced on his finished work, let's pray our God and Father. We are so very thankful again tonight.
For our precious Savior, we are thankful for that one who went to Calvary's cross, who said, I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free. Oh, we thank thee for that mighty work that was accomplished there. And now we thank thee that we have been able to turn to Thy living word, use it in blessing. We know it is Thy Word. We're born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever used by Word in power. Tonight we do pray that no one will go out of this room lost, and in their sins we ask it for Thy glory and for their eternal blessings.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Amen.