Gospel—Bob Thonney
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Good evening.
Like to begin the meeting by reading 3 verses? You don't have to turn to it.
Just listen.
Being born again.
Not of corruptible seed.
But of incorruptible.
By the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.
But the word of the Lord endureth forever.
And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.
Let's sing #29 on our hymn sheets.
#29.
A ruler once came to Jesus by night.
A ruler once came to chase.
My husband called what I guess it was. It's more now that I am.
Nsnoise.
Let's turn to John chapter 3 in our Bibles.
And we'll read from verse one.
There was a man of the Pharisees.
Named Nicodemus.
A ruler of the Jews.
The same came to Jesus by night and said to him.
Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher. Come from God.
For no man can do these miracles, that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
00:05:24
The wind will oath where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof.
But canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth?
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
Now go down in your Bibles to verse 14.
And he says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
Even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have a eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Verses 1:00 to 8:00 that we read, we read about God's work in us. In verses 14 to 16, we read about God's work for us. And I want to speak about those two things. But first of all, we'll address what we read. First, the matter of being born again. Here the Lord Jesus is found.
In a scene at night, and this man, Nicodemus, a religious man, a man that seemed to be quite sincere, and he was a man of stature, he was a ruler among the Jews.
He comes to Jesus.
We don't know why he came at night. Maybe he was ashamed, He didn't want people to notice him coming to talk to Jesus. But the good thing is that he came, and that's what's so important, to come to grips with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here he is, and he starts out talking to the Lord, and he says something that's fairly nice.
No man can do these signs except God be with him.
Very good religious talk, Nicodemus. But the Lord Jesus and what he responds to him says in effect.
Nicodemus, all your religion has nothing to do about seeing about getting into the Kingdom of God.
If you want to even see the Kingdom of God, you.
Must be born again.
This was strange to Nicodemus.
What's he talking about?
Me a grown man, how can I be born? And he tried to reason about the natural way. The Lord is not talking about natural birth here. He's talking about spiritual birth. And so he says in verse five, notice, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit.
He cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
Two things, water and the Spirit. Did you notice when we read those verses at the beginning of the meeting, Peter the apostle says, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
You know this is a beautiful time of year.
Last weekend we were out in Seattle, some of us, and I am amazed at the display of flowers out there. Beautiful flowers this time of year.
How long do those flowers last?
Not very long.
And here in this room, there's a lot of youth in the flower of your youth.
Strength. Beauty. How long is that gonna last?
00:10:05
Not very long.
Sometimes you see pictures of people on their wedding day and then you see a picture 50 years later.
Quite a bit of difference.
Yeah, we don't last that long. Why? Because we're born into this world of corruptible seed.
I've known Gordon Sester sitting out there for.
I don't remember, probably at least 50 years. Would you say Gordon?
About 60. OK, quite a long time.
You are quite a bit different than when I first knew you, brother. And that's the way it is in this world. We are born of corruptible seed and so we don't last that long. You know, I like to say sometimes you remember how old Adam was when he died.
Remember Jonathan?
Pretty close. 930 years old.
Have you ever seen a man 930 years old today?
We have a hard time getting up to 100 after you make it. Whatever has happened to the human race.
Corruptible seed. We don't last that long, you know. Sin has a degenerating effect.
And you see those who live in drugs and alcohol.
And illicit sex they are prematurely.
Hurried to the grave.
Sin corrupts, it destroys. It kills.
That's what we're made of, incorrect, incorruptible seed. And so that is why it is necessary to be born again. And when the Lord Jesus says this to Nicodemus, he says.
By water and by the Spirit. The water is as we've already said. Peter tells us what it is, the word of God. It's a figure of speech. So God uses his precious word. It's not so important what I say about this message tonight. It's important that you listen to what God says. Sometimes what I say might help you understand it a little bit, and that's the value of preaching.
But it's not what I say that's important. What I what is important is the Word of God, the incorruptible, the living, the abiding Word of God. Oh, how precious it is. And it's wonderful to me to see sometimes that the Word penetrates the lost souls.
Several years ago when we were living in Bolivia, the Lord led me into contact with a man who was a mechanic, and I took my Toyota Jeep to him to get it tuned up once in a while or other repair work.
And one day after I had.
Gotten done with, uh, paying the bill. I said I paid my bill with you, but remember that we have an account to settle with God.
Oh, we're all pretty good people.
I haven't done that much good. Bad. I said well, you can talk to yourself, but you can't talk for me. I'm not that good. Well, I I'm not really that good either, he said.
And it's true, if you really come down to it, you and I don't have a chance to measure up to God's standards. Don't have a chance. Anyhow, I left him a New Testament, and another time I met him at the shop. He says that book you gave me, I can't understand it. Why don't you come over to my house and explain it to me sometimes? So we made an appointment to go over to his place.
Can still remember that evening we sat down and we started with John's gospel chapter one. We got down to verse four and I read that verse. In him was life and the life was the light of men. That beautiful verse, all monosyllable simple words. In him was life.
00:15:11
And the life was the light of men.
And I said to him, Alfonso, what is light?
And he looked at me the longest time and he didn't answer me. He didn't say anything. But it seems to me in that moment the light entered his soul. You know what he said to me sometime later when I went into the shop again? He said, you know that book you gave me? I can understand it now. Now it makes sense.
The light came on and that's what's so important, you young people.
Listen, I don't say you're going to understand everything I say tonight, but listen.
Because it's through the word of God that God imparts life.
And the Spirit of God is the one who takes the Word of God and pushes it home to your soul. Oh, the wonder of it. When God works, it's not my work. I only talk about it.
It's God who by His Spirit is here, present and working in your soul and mine. I don't know how you stand before God. I see young people sometimes sitting in meetings, sometimes even older folks.
And it seems like they're zoned out.
They don't know what we're talking about.
Is that you?
Is it all Greek to you? And brethren are talking the word of God. I say let your ears be open even though you don't understand very much. I remember growing up in meetings like this and I must say not much of it made too much sense to me when I was younger. Little by little I started picking up on different things and in the course of time God used His precious word.
To bring me to new birth, to a new life in Christ. Oh, it's wonderful when it happens. So the Lord Jesus says in verse six, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
This flesh.
This life that I was born with is a life contaminated by sin.
I can fix it up, but it's still flesh. Just fixed up flesh. That's what people do all over the place in religious circles. Fix it up, improve it.
That won't work. You need something completely new. Completely new.
You know, we're in Iowa and I know that here in Iowa they grow a lot of hogs.
Supposing we go out into the countryside, we're not going to go into these big buildings, they have to grow hogs. We're going to go out into the field and they're rooting around in the mud is an animal. And ask any child, what kind of an animal is that anyhow? Would that be a sheep? And they always say no. What kind of an animal would that be?
A pig. How do you know it's a pig? Because that's what pigs like. They like to root around in the mud. And so it is.
Let's grab a hold of that pig out there and let's drag him out and let's bring him inside and wash him down. And besides washing them down and getting them good and clean, we're going to tie them to this railing up here so he doesn't go back out into the mud.
Boy, that pig is nice and clean, isn't he?
But he's just a pig. As soon as he gets loose, he's gonna go right back out where the mud is and start rooting again. Why? Because he hasn't been changed inside. He's still the same. And so there's people that come into meetings like ours and they think they're being religious, they're being really nice. They're they're very courteous to everybody and they say the right things.
00:20:01
Maybe the children learn the verses, but they have never let the word of God into your heart and soul. You've never been born again.
It's just the same as that pig.
I'm gonna put a little.
Example. This is impossible, naturally speaking, but let's do an operation on that pig.
Let's put them out and let's operate. And we're going to put into that pig the nature of a sheep and.
Sheep doesn't like mud. When a sheep is not careful, sometimes they might fall into the mud. But if you watch him in the mud, they're going to be pretty uncomfortable animals. That's just not the nature of of sheep.
So we're gonna put this sheep nature into the pig.
And now let's wake him up.
Now we let him loose. Where is he gonna go?
Out into the mud again.
Not if he lives his sheep life that he has in him. He's not going to go that direction any longer. Is somebody prohibiting him from doing going out there? No, nobody's prohibiting him. He's just living the nature of the new life that he has now.
And that's what happens to believers in the Lord Jesus, and not that there's a bunch of rules and regulations how you have to live the Christian life.
No, I have a life now that wants to please God, that delights to do his commandments.
That's the life that I've been given when I was born into God's family.
Oh, it's a wonderful thing. It's not a matter of trying to do better, of turning over a new leaf. That's not it at all. When you are born again and this is God's work in you, it says in the light to turn back to the first chapter, which also tells about this new birth.
In verse 12 and 13, listen.
As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God.
Even to them that believe on his name.
Look at that verse. How do you receive him? What do you have to do to receive him?
Remember asking that to a young man that came to my house in Bolivia one time.
He was a student at the university. He was studying law.
And he said, I asked the brethren here what I have to do to be saved, and they say I have to repent. He says I don't understand, what do I have to do?
I said sit down, let's read.
John One, verse 12.
As many as received him to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. I said you're a law student. Come on, read that verse. Tell me, what does it say you have to do to be born into God's family?
He looked at it and he said believe on his name. I said you got it. You wanna pray, that's all right. But just know that it's not through praying that you're born into God's family. It's by believing in His name that you are born into God's family. God gives you the report from the Scriptures. The Word of God, Spirit of God takes it.
And applies it to you. And if you receive that message, God gives you a new life in Christ. Wonderful. That's what it means to be born again. And it's wonderful, you know, the transformation it makes in so many people's lives when they come to living faith in the Lord Jesus.
Some here have gone down to Oaxaca, Mexico.
For the conference at times, and there was a man that I got to know a number of years ago. He's with the Lord now, but in his unsaved life.
00:25:03
Zenovio Ruiz was his name was abandoned and he had killed 21 People.
It was so bad that the Mexican army was told to get him dead or alive.
Down there in those parts of southern Mexico, the people are very poor and so the hall where they were meeting, the brethren were meeting, it's made out of sticks stuck into the ground, held together by cross sticks.
And, uh, appropriate place the door and a roof on it so that people on the outside can listen to what's being said on the inside. Synovia was too afraid to go inside because there was a warrant out on him. And so he stood on the outside and he heard the gospel.
He knew he was guilty before God. There is no question in his mind.
And he heard that verse, the blood.
Of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses us from all sin.
Is that possible? When he had a chance, he asked one of the brothers, is that true? That verse, The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. The brother opened his Bible and said, here it is, listen to it. The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Synovial received the Lord as his Savior. The word got through.
And he was born into God's family.
You know what he did next? He went to turn himself into the authorities. He knew they were looking for him, so he turned himself in to the in that place. It was the Mexican army that was after him.
And they took him into custody for about two weeks.
And examined him and I can't figure it out.
But after two weeks examining him, they let him loose. They said this man is completely changed. We're not going to even prosecute him.
And he lived out the rest of his life in liberty. I'm amazed that some of the people that were killed, their relatives wouldn't come and try to finish him off in vengeance, but that didn't happen.
I got to know Synovial. I would never ever guess that he was that kind of a violent man that had done those kind of deeds because he got a new life, a completely new life, a life that is from God. He was born into God's family. And that's so important. If you're going to see the Kingdom of God, if you're going to enter it, you must be born again. There is no question about it.
You can sit in meetings like this, and it's great to sit in meetings like this, but if you don't have that living faith in the Lord Jesus, you are not born again. You are not ready to meet God. Oh, how important it is to listen to God's Word. You must be born again. Marvel not that I say unto thee, you must be born again.
But I want to go on down then to the verse 14, and it says here, here's another must As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Here is the work of God for us and this took place.
Many years before I was born again.
Many years before I was ever born the first time.
This took place.
About 2000 years ago.
When God sent his own Son here, it speaks of him as the Son of man. The Lord Jesus is the Son of God, but as God, he cannot die. And God sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. To be able to save us, He had to die.
00:30:09
He had to make a payment for our sins, and the wages of sin is death.
And so he became the son of man. A man can die.
And so that's what happened. The Lord Jesus came into this world, was born.
Of the Virgin Mary he in contrast with us.
Never sinned even once. In him was no sin. When the Angel announced to the Virgin Mary that she was to be the mother of the Son of God.
He said, That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
He was holy from birth. None of us are holy. We're all sinners from birth. We're born with a sin nature and it doesn't take long before we start sinning. And the older we get, the more sins we commit.
What are you gonna do about those sins?
God cannot Passover your sins.
I don't know how many times I've sinned in my life, but it's scary when you start calculating. Supposing you send 10 times a day, who knows how many times a sin? But in one year that's 3650 sins. 10 years, that's 36,500 sins.
Wow, that gets pretty heavy.
What about those sins God cannot allow righteously? He can't allow not even 1 white lie into heaven. It won't happen.
There needs to be a purging of sin.
And how is that going to take place? The Lord Jesus came for that specific purpose.
And when at the end of his 33 1/2 years in this world?
They condemned him to death, the most awful death possible, the death of crucifixion. They beat him. Pilate declared his innocence again and again, and then sent him to scourge him.
They crowned him with thorns, they hit him in the face, then they led him outside the city of Jerusalem and they stretched out those arms and the Son of Man was lifted up.
You know here in verse 14 it speaks about Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, and the Lord Jesus says Even so must the Son of man be lifted up.
The figure here a serpent lifted up. Serpent is the animal that had a curse on it. Why is that a picture of Jesus? Why does he use that?
For my friend, this is the wonderful story of the gospel. God cannot Passover sin. Every sin must receive. It's just punishment from the hand of God.
No sin will go accepted. God is going to punish every single one.
If one little sin could get by, it would call into question God's holy character.
Won't happen. Can't happen.
Every sin must receive its punishment, but where? Where Jesus was hanging on that cross?
You know he is crucified about 9:00 in the morning. He died about 3:00 in the afternoon.
After three hours of men mistreating him and and hurling insults at him, God at 12 noon caused it to get dark.
For three hours of darkness, nobody could see what was taking place, but it was in those three hours.
That God laid on him the iniquity of us all.
One after another of my filthy sins. I wouldn't want you to unders know all about my sins, but God laid them on Jesus.
And God punished him.
The full judgment of a holy God fell in all its fury on the head.
00:35:05
Of His beloved son on the cross.
Macy's Amazing. Incredible.
But he exhausted divine judgment. He vindicated God.
About the whole question of sin, so that now when God comes out.
To forgive the guilty Sinner. He's not compromised.
In his character.
Preaching the gospel in prison, sometimes I like to say to the prisoners.
What would you think of a judge that every time a criminal is brought before him says?
We're just going to forgive you. We're just going to forgive you. What would you think of that kind of a judge? You know, at first, the imprisoners, they think it might be all right.
But as they think about it a little bit late, uh, more, they say, no, I don't think that would be very good.
He would be merciful, but he would not be just. If God Forgives the guilty Sinner, how can he be just? It's because of what Jesus did on that cross. He did the work for us and just as he died, he said it is finished. All the judgment of God that was against me as a guilty Sinner and that would have sunk me into hell forever.
Completely paid the price of my redemption. Thank God for it. Thank God for.
Oh, what a tremendous work he accomplished on that cross. Jesus died. The holy sinless Son of God died in place of the repentance Sinner. You will repent of your sins and come by simple faith to the Lord Jesus. God has a righteous way to forgive you all your sins.
You know this part of the work of Christ is so important.
I find so many people thinking.
Increasingly here in the United States, that at the judgment day God's going to put our good works on one side and our bad works on the other.
And if maybe all our good works weigh a little bit more than the bad works, then maybe he'll let me into heaven.
That is not true. That is false.
All the good works we can do does not wipe out any of the sins that we have committed.
Just let me use a little reasoning.
Supposing I'm a citizen of Pella, Iowa and I'm well known for doing a lot of good deeds here in this city.
One day.
I get really angry at somebody and I take a swing at him and I hit him so hard I kill him. Oh, here comes the police.
Sirs, Please wait a minute. You know, I'm known here in this town of doing a lot of good things. And I'm really sorry for what this that had happened, but I'll keep on doing a lot more good things. Do you think they're gonna let me go?
It won't happen. I'm going to prison.
For my deed. And you think God is less? Just doing good deeds does not wipe out any bad deeds. That just doesn't work. You're gonna be good for God. You have to be perfectly good, and that's only for a life on earth. And that's why the Lord Jesus said if you're going to see, if you're going to enter the Kingdom of God, you must be born.
Again. So the Lord Jesus died. He paid the price in full.
And then the third day after he was buried, the third day he rose again. Wonderful, wonderful story. Jesus is a living person of flesh and bones. He presented himself in the midst of his disciples that day He rose.
And he said, handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see me have. Yes, He is a real living person. You know, sometimes young people, sometimes even older people talk about Jesus. They kind of talk about somebody's way, way, way off in heaven. I don't really know if he has anything to do with me down here. And it seems like it's a distant relationship. That's not the way the Lord wants to be in your life. He is a real living man.
00:40:31
He wants you to talk to him.
And he wants to talk to you. You read his word. Do you pray? That's the way we do it. Well, we talked about Nicodemus in chapter 3. We've talked about the work the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross. I'd like to go over to the next chapter now to read about a woman.
You know, it's interesting.
Both of these people the Lord Jesus met individually.
And you're all sitting there with your friends maybe.
But you know, you're going to have to deal with God on an individual basis.
You cannot come in on the shirt sleeves of somebody else. It won't happen. You've got to have dealings with God himself. And so in chapter 3 it's Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. But in chapter four we have a Samaritan woman.
And very interesting story this I'm going to read a few verses here from verse one. When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees.
Had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples.
He left Judea and departed again into Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria.
You wanted to go through scenario. Generally, I understand that the Jews went across, they're going from Judea to Galilee or vice versa, from Galilee to Judea. They would grow across the Jordan River and avoid Samaria because they were not legitimate Jews. And so Jesus had to go through Samaria. He had somebody in mind that he had to meet.
Is there somebody here tonight the Lord Jesus wants to meet? Have you a relationship with him, a personal relationship. The Lord wants that. Well, he goes and he says verse five, he cometh into a city of Samaria, which is called psycho near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey.
Sat thus on the well, and it was about the 6th hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink, for his disciples were gone away into the city to bind me. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him. How is it that thou, being a Jew, asked this drink of me, which I'm a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Here comes the religion problem again.
You're a Jew and we're Samaritans and we don't have any dealings. What is this that you are talking to me this way?
It's wonderful that the Lord Jesus how he responds. He doesn't really answer her question or objection. He says verse 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman said unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw within the wellest deep.
From whence then hast thou that living water art thou greater than our Father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Isn't this wonderful? Here is a poor woman.
00:45:03
A thirsty woman. You know, thirst is not something that we only feel in our bodies. Yes, we get thirsty, we look for a place to take a drink, but there is another part of our being, our souls, that thirst.
For satisfaction, so many people in the great United States of America, where we have so many things.
Our thirsty souls.
Their drinking of the wells of this, of the world's, uh, the world's wells, and they're not satisfied. Jesus said, whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water that springeth up to everlasting life. Wonderful.
She says, Sir.
Give me this water that I thirst not neither come hit her to draw.
Jesus saith unto her, Go call thy husband.
And come hit her.
To me, it is wonderful to see how the Lord Jesus deals with this poor woman.
And she says I have no husband.
That was kind of 1/2 truth.
And people like to say little statements that make them look decent when the truth is something terribly different. I don't know what the story of your life is. Sometimes even young people that come to meetings are involved with bad stuff out there.
I don't know if that's your case.
But here is this poor woman who thinks she's going to cover it up. And the Lord says in verse 18, thou hast or at the end of verse.
17 Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that says thou truly.
Poor, thirsty, unsatisfied woman.
5 husbands she had had and the one she had at the present time wasn't really her husband.
So to say I have no husband was kind of true, but kind of not true as well.
And all of a sudden she's in the presence of somebody who knows exactly every detail of her life. Let me tell you, young people, older ones too, Well, if you're going to deal with God, he knows everything about you. And if you try to cover up the messy stuff of your life, it won't work.
He knows about it all. He knows about it all.
I often say if I stood up here during this meeting and you're watching me and I have something behind my back hidden, and I say you're looking at me kind of suspiciously, what is he trying to hide? I only make myself that much more conspicuous trying to hide things in the light. You can't do it. You only make yourself conspicuous that you're trying to hide something and it won't work, especially when you're dealing with God who knows every detail of your life.
Poor woman, she didn't know what to say.
She said, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Well, that sounds like kind of nice thing to say, isn't it?
And then she goes off into the subject of worship in the Lord. Jesus talks about it too. But notice what happens a little bit further on.
Verse 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah's cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things.
Jesus saith unto her.
I that speak unto thee.
And he isn't that wonderful, the revelation he made, This poor sinful woman, this poor thirsty woman, I that speak into thee am he?
And she doesn't seem to respond. The disciples come and it says in verse 28, the woman then left her water pot.
00:50:09
She wasn't gonna need that water pot to satisfy her thirsty soul any longer. She had found somebody else that satisfied her. She went into her way into the city and said to the men, come see a man. That which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?
Then they went out of the city and came unto him.
Did he tell her everything she had ever done?
No, just a particular area about her marriage lives.
That's all. But she felt that she was in the light and there was nothing she could hide from his.
I said he knew everything about her, and there's somebody that knows everything about you, all those things you've tried to hide from the brethren and from your parents and from anybody else.
You know what? He still loves you.
And he wants to clean up your act. He wants you to come into his family. He wants you to be born again so that you won't have that kind of a life that desires that messy stuff, so that you will have a life that wants to do his will. Oh, it's wonderful when a person truly is born again. I believe, truly believe that this woman was born again. The words got into her soul.
She realized who it was and she says to those men, men perhaps that she was ashamed to even look at because of her history in that city. She says to him, come see a man that told me everything I ever did. Wow.
That's saying a lot.
But that's what she felt. She felt she was in the light of his presence. And there is nothing.
That could be hid from his presence, from his eyes. Oh, the wonder of it, To know that God knows everything about us and at the same time loves us. You know, we're speaking about love today, and the love of God is love that loves not because of the object, but because of the source. God loves us not because of anything that he sees in us.
But because of who he is.
I'd like to ask the men in the prison sometimes, why does God love us?
The first answer I invariably get is because we're his children.
I say, well, if you're not a believer in Jesus, you're not one of his children, but he still does love you. Why do you think he loves you?
After a bit they'll say, well we're we're his creatures. OK, I can accept that he does love us. But I said I got a better answer. God loves us because God is love. It's not so much a question of what we are, it's a question of who he is. Wonderful to realize it. He loves me.
If you'd really know a lot about me, you might not like me very well.
Because of what you see that God's love is love that loves, because God is love. It's not a question of what I am, it's a question of who he is.
Oh, wonderful to understand that love.
But before we come to the end of our time here, I want to warn each one here too tonight that we are getting in this world's history down to a time when Jesus is going to come back to this world in person to judge in righteousness this world. And so if you do not accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
If you have the word of God blockaded, I see some people.
Listening very respectfully, but it's evident the way they're listening.
Their ears got the roadblocks up.
Remember a woman when I first came to Oak Park, IL to work at Bible Truth Publishers at that time who came in from the neighborhood. Very respectable lady.
00:55:02
But it was evident that that woman.
Was trying to avoid the issue. She I don't know that she ever let the word of God come into her soul.
Oh, yeah. She was very nice, very respectable, listened, very respectful. But after the meeting was over, she said, oh, that sister had a new pair of shoes on and that sister had a new hat on. It's evidence she didn't want to listen to the message of the gospel. That's why I say tonight, where are you, you that are not ready?
Are you still blocking the word of God out of your life?
Let the Word of God penetrate into your heart and soul. God means to bless you exceedingly. He wants to impart new life to dead souls, dead in trespasses and sins. But if you refuse to do with the Lord Jesus as Savior, you cannot avoid Him. You will meet Him too. It will, it might be.
At the.
Throne at the judgment of the nations, when the Lord Jesus establishes his Kingdom, and all those that have rejected the Lord Jesus are gathered before him.
And the judgment is made and those that have not accepted the message.
Are sent into everlasting punishment.
Prepared for the devil and his angels, God never prepared everlasting punishment for man. He didn't want anybody going there. And if you're on the way there, God doesn't want you to go. Not one step further. He wants you to be saved.
But if you refuse.
You will have as your company for all eternity the devil and his angels in everlasting punishment.
If you don't survive the Great Tribulation period to meet up with Jesus at the end, then you will meet Him at the Great White Throne Judgment where all the dead are going to be raised from all time, because every cemetery of earth is going to be completely emptied of its bones.
They're gonna be resurrected and and stand in space before a great white throne. On that throne sits the same one who wants to be your savior tonight.
And the books are opened. God keeps records.
I've forgotten so many of my own sins. God doesn't have the problem of being forgetful.
No, he has records and if you refuse him, the books will be opened and the record of your life is going to be read out and you will have to give an account to God and then that man on the throne will say cast him into everlasting fire. He doesn't want that. For you. Now is the day of salvation.
He wants to save you. And we, I say we, I mean every true believer in this room, plead with anybody here who's still not a believer in the Lord Jesus to not put it off any longer, to get it straight. God knows your life. There's nothing you can hide from him but to simply in true repentance, turn to the Lord Jesus as Savior.
And accept him by.
Be leaving in his name.