Gospel—Tim Roach
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I'd like to welcome everyone to the Gospel Meeting this evening. I think we'd like to start with Hymn #16 on our sheets.
Whosoever heareth, shout, shout the sound, send the blessed tidings, all the world around spread the joyful news wherever man is found, whosoever will may come, #16.
Dallas Cowboys and the last deciding.
Radisson Drive.
Nsnoise.
Let's start in Acts chapter 16.
And my subject tonight is about the heathen. Can the heathen be saved?
And how do we ask the question, how can a heathen be saved if he has never heard the gospel?
We can sometimes think of with our minds what we think God should do, but we cannot control what God and his sovereignty can do.
So I was in Africa one day in Malawi. I was at the refugee camp.
There are 400 men there between the ages of 18 and 30.
And as I went in there, half of them were from Ethiopia, half of them, half of them from Somalia. An Ethiopian man came up and took me by one arm. He tried to lead me over to his side of the camp. The Somalian came over at the same time and took me by the other arm and tried to pull me over to his side of the camp. And I had to negotiate with them. And I told the Ethiopian man.
I would come to him in a little while. And so I went with the Somali first, the heathen Somali, and I went to his group of people in his clan, but they rejected the Gospel. And so I went over to speak with The Ethiopians. Well, the Ethiopian man, he guided me into the depths of a big dark building. And after just speaking with the Somalis, I didn't want to go in that big dark building. And I went in there, I he said, oh, it's OK, no problem. And so I said, OK, I'll go in. And there were over 100 men in there and they were praying and they were singing hims. And after they finished praying and singing.
They asked me to speak to them and while I was speaking to them, the heathen were outside the Somalis. They were throwing stones at the tin roof, making a lot of noise and disturbing the gospel, and as I was ready to leave that room afterwards.
The Ethiopian said you can't go out there. Those people are dangerous.
I've been asked to take this Gospel meeting tonight, and we know that most of you, if not all of you, have heard the gospel before.
But yet some of you are still rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord.
You may be think that you are saved, but yet you have not given up your sin.
Of selfishness, and you continue to walk in a life of sin.
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You're like the poet who said I'd listen to the gospel many thousand times, though held in very high regard, meant little more than rhymes. And so I asked What will it take for you to be saved? What will it take for you to be saved?
We're not gonna hold anything back tonight.
We're not going to circumvent your sin with some feel good.
Message. But we will look at your sin and your rebellion and your need of salvation and the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
There are only two types of sinners in this room tonight.
We have self-righteous sinners.
And we have repentant sinners. I hope we have some repentance sinners tonight, but my message for you is both is the same in Acts 16 verse 31.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. There is no other message.
You've heard it before. You are a Sinner and God is holy.
And you are separated from God because of your sin.
Son of God came into this world and he became a man so that he could die on the cross just because of your sins, because of your sins that separates you from God.
And the only way for you to be saved is to believe on this man who is the Son of God.
This man is Jesus Christ who came into the world to save sinners. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures.
Without the death, without the shed blood of the Lord Jesus, without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you could not be saved.
If you don't repent, Bible says you will perish.
If you don't believe you are condemned already, and condemned means that you are on your way to hell.
A lost eternity in hell and condemned means that the wrath of God abides on you.
I beg with you tonight, Please don't put off your need of salvation tonight. Escape the wrath of God while there's still room in heaven for you.
The door is still open. Come before that door is closed, before it is too late. Behold now God says, Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Come unto me, all ye who labor, and you'll burden under your sin.
The Lord Jesus has come and I will give you rest. Rest from your sin. Do you want to have rest and peace, or do you want to continue on in life, always worried about eternity? What if God really is true? What if this is true and I am a Sinner and I am going to hell? You can have rest and peace tonight. Let's go to Luke, chapter 18.
Hello, I want to tell the story here about the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee was self-righteous, the publican was repentant. And so here we have a self-righteous Sinner and we have a repentant Sinner.
Luke 18 and verse 9. And Lord Jesus is it's about the Lord Jesus as he spoke this parable unto certain, which trusted in themselves that they were righteous.
And despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the 1A Pharisee, and the other Republican, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God I thank thee that I am not, as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even is this publican. I fast twice in the week I give tithes of all that I possess, And the publicans, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, But he smote upon his breast, then saying, God be merciful.
To me, a Sinner, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
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Well, the Pharisee, he was self-righteous, he was full of pride, he was full of himself. He did not care about God. He thought he was good enough the way he was before and holy God, and he looked good to himself.
And he did not want anybody else to tell him what to do.
I was at a hobby class we had for some inner city children.
And as a chill afterwards, after the children were standing in line to get some pizza, one boy turned around and he punched his brother in the chest. I grabbed the two boys before their war could escalate. And the first boy? He fell to the ground kicking and screaming and saying, you can't tell me what to do, you're not my father.
That boy, he wanted to make his own choices.
And he did not want to be told.
What to do?
There is a young man.
He was raised in a Christian home.
He professed to be saved.
He was gathered to the Lord's name.
He even preached the gospel.
Took the Sunday school.
One day, the young man apostatized.
The pasta size means he turned away from God. He didn't want to believe in God anymore because if he believed in God, he couldn't follow his own choices and go his own way.
That young man, his choice was to live a gay lifestyle as a homosexual.
And he had a relationship with another man, and for many years they were together.
They adopted two young children.
Now they're probably in their 10/12/14 years old, the children.
A week or two ago, this young man posted a status on his Facebook page.
Four days to go.
The next day, it said three days to go.
People started asking him three days till what?
He said Three days until I marry my beloved.
This young man's sister.
Posted on the Facebook.
She said.
God's standard for marriage is one man and one woman.
He wrote back and he said.
The laws of Canada are not as stringent as God's law.
His mother wrote.
The Post and she said. But it's God's law.
Hey, young man.
Wanted to make his own choices and go his own way as a self-righteous Sinner.
It wasn't long that many other people joined that conversation on Facebook and they started to blasphemy God. They started to blasphemy the sister and they started to blasphemy the mother for what they had said and giving God his place in our lives.
I felt sorry.
For my brother's mother.
And his sister.
Young men doing that which is right in their own eyes. Maybe you're you're a young woman. Maybe you have some other sin in your life that you choose to do on your own. And you may think you are right in your own eyes and life may be going on OK for you, and you think everything is OK and you believe that you do not need to think about God right now. You want to make your own choices in life.
Some of you can't wait.
Till I stop talking so you can get on with life because you have your life planned out with no thought of God.
You attempt to make a good show to deceive your mom or your dad or the assembly.
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But you're a good show. Your good show is going to backfire on you because Satan is using you and he has you right where he wants you. Satan. He will destroy you with self righteousness. You have your own self-righteous concept of what is right, what is wrong, and you want to influence other young people to go your way.
And you overlook the word of God.
And you iniquitize the plain teaching of Scripture by twisting its meaning so that you can legitimize what you do and still try to feel good about yourself.
Let me tell you, it's not about feeling good about yourself.
You need to know God. How good is God?
How good is the Lord Jesus? The Lord Jesus is holy. He is just. He is righteous. He is innocent. He is without sin. He could not sin.
But yes, the Holy Lamb of God was made sin for me. There were three hours of darkness when the Lord Jesus hung upon the cross, when my sin was taken and put on Jesus Christ, the Holy Lamb of God.
And he suffered there.
For three hours he suffered the wrath of an holy God against sin. You need to see yourself as a self-righteous Sinner and you need to become a repentant Sinner.
Let's go to Acts chapter 26.
Stop.
Acts chapter 26 and verse 18. And this is my desire for all sinners here tonight. I've been sent to preach the gospel. I've been I've been asked in verse 18 to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light. That, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith.
That is in me all this verse. It explains what I want for you tonight. I want for you to be rescued from the power of Satan. I want you to. I want you to receive the forgiveness of sins and to be sanctified by faith. I want for you to be saved. We had that verse about sanctification in the reading meeting to be set apart for God. And I want for you to be sanctified by faith tonight. I want for you to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. And not only to come to the knowledge of the truth, but to walk in the truth because there is no greater joy.
And when we see somebody, a young person, understanding the truth of God and walking in it and being faithful, even though others around them don't care about following the way of God.
Maybe you are saved?
Or maybe you think?
You are saved and you don't want me to get in your face tonight and challenge you about your life and where it is headed. Where it is headed? Well, that's what I am doing. That's exactly what I'm doing. I'm getting in your face tonight and I want to know where is your life headed?
Maybe you're headed away from the Lord's table.
And you don't want to be pressured to do or to follow the way of Jesus.
Whether you are headed away from the cross of Christ or you are headed away from the Lord's table, my concern for you is the same. I want Jesus Christ to be glorified in your life.
I want to stand in the gap and bridge the way for you to come to Jesus Christ.
And if you were in the process of apostasizing?
I'd love for you to come back.
To the Lord Jesus.
Don't turn away from him.
It's an empty life. Oh, you'll enjoy it while you're here. But that's only enjoyment you're going to get is while you're here on earth. You're not gonna enjoy eternity. You'll suffer forever in the lake of fire.
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You may be thinking about now.
Just get off my back and go preach the gospel to the heathen. You know, I tell people, they ask me what do you do? And I tell them, well, I often go to Africa and I preach the gospel and they say, yeah, they need it.
As if those people in Africa are more heathen than they are here in America. There are heathens here in America too, and you're with them every day at school or at work.
People hate the Lord Jesus.
You say goats preach to the heathen. Well, that's a good point. That's a good point because I have done that. I've been there. I've done that with the heathen. I've preached the gospel to the crowds of heathen as they stand around the Witch Doctor's platform.
I have been attacked by the crowds of heathen as I tried to hand out gospel calendars, and I've had to run into the safety of a shopkeeper that I knew in the market.
They've preached the gospel to the Somalis in Africa.
And I stood there while they tore up joyful news calendars and threw them in my face.
I've had to drive my car off the road and onto the grass.
To get around a big crowd of heathen Somalis standing in the middle of the road.
Not letting me pass, I pulled up next to their leader and he, and with the hatred and disdain in his voice, he poked his finger in through the window of my car into my face and he said to the rest of the crowd.
Christian.
I said yes, I am a Christian. I know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.
He died for me. He loves me and he loves you too. And he wants to save you.
That man hates Jesus, he said to me. Get out of here.
In the crowd of heathen parted like the Red Sea, and I was able to drive right down through the middle of them.
Another time I was sitting in the ground with a bunch of heathen men and they were threatening me because I dared to come into their space.
To share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let me tell you.
Talking to the heathen is exciting.
Do you wanna get a rush? Do you wanna have some excitement? Well, go and preach the gospel to the heathen.
Let's let's talk about the heathen and the gospel. Let's go to Romans chapter one.
Let me ask you a question. Can the heathen be saved without believing on the Lord Jesus?
Because it has been said that a heathen man who looks at creation and he acknowledges the Creator, that he can be saved without ever believing on the Lord Jesus.
I say, does this seem possible?
We're going to look and see what the Scriptures say. Now I'm not discounting the thought that if God uses the voice of creation.
Against the person.
To condemn a person, to make a person, to be without excuse that it cannot also be used towards salvation by faith in the person of God.
But I don't believe that God made dispensable souls that he could just cast into hell.
I believe everyone.
Everyone in this room is somehow responsible for your destiny.
If you have come to the age or a sense of accountability.
But still the question is there. Can a person be saved in this fashion if he is?
Without believing in Jesus if he can. If he can, he is not a part of the church. Because he has not believed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, He has not put his faith in the blood of Jesus Christ.
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Is it possible for a person to be saved and to go to heaven without being a part of the church?
I can't answer that question.
I can only show us what the Word of God says.
And I cannot limit God what he does in his sovereign.
But let's go to Romans chapter one.
And I see what God says in verse 20.
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, so that they are without excuse here this talking about the heathen, and they can see the creation of the world. It's clearly understood by them His eternal power and Godhead. So the heathen are without excuse.
The context of this verse is the wrath of God against sin, and this verse is telling us that the heathen have no excuse.
It is. It is not saying that you can simply be saved by having some understanding of a creator God. The verse is saying that the heathen rejected the creator God.
And so they are without excuse. Verse 20. Let's read verse 21. It explains it a little clearer. It says because that when they, the heathen knew God, the heathen glorified him not as God, neither were the heathen thankful.
But they became vain in their imaginations, and so the foolish heart of the heathen.
Was darkened.
They could see from creation the eternal power and the Godhead, but they rejected it, and when they knew it was God, they glorified him not as God.
And neither were they thankful, and therefore their hearts were darkened. Let's go to Chapter 3.
And in these verses here we understand that God cannot declare his righteousness without the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Sin cannot be propitiated or taken away.
Without faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Jesus Christ, God's Son.
The blood cleanses us from all sin and Romans 3 verse 24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
The Heathen.
Must be redeemed with the blood of Christ, the precious blood of Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, not faith in the stars, but faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins.
That are passed through the forbearance of God to declare, I say at this time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
You must be justified.
By believing in Jesus.
There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It is only through the name of the Lord Jesus. Jesus said himself in John 14, verse six. He says I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. You cannot come to the Father through creation, You must come through Jesus Christ.
Having lived many years here in America and many years in Africa, it is incredible to me that there are so many ways, false ways, that are purported and proposed and practiced by man in his attempt to justify his way into heaven.
And it seems like everybody's dreaming up their own ways to try and get to God or to their idea of God. And Isaiah 53 tells us that all we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way.
Many people say, well, it doesn't matter what you believe. They say and and we'll all end up at the same place.
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And to a certain extent, that is true.
Because you can believe whatever you want, but if you do not believe in Jesus Christ crucified.
You will end up in the same place.
You can try and you can believe in Islam, or you can try humanism, or you can go your own way through creationism.
Or Hinduism or whatever ISM you want to try.
But you will all end up in the same place.
Hell. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. Hell was not prepared for you.
But if you do not believe in Jesus Christ crucified, you will die in your sins.
And you will be sent to a loss, eternity in hell. But tonight, tonight is your opportunity to avoid hell.
It's your opportunity.
You must admit that you are a Sinner, just like the publican who beat upon his chest. And he said, God be merciful to me, a Sinner.
I don't want you to think that you can come to God through creation, because today if you could come to the Father through the observance of creation.
Why did God need to send his only begotten Son into this world?
To die for our sins, so that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Let's go to Romans chapter 10.
We have a question.
How can the heathen believe?
If he has never heard the gospel.
If a heathen sees creation and he recognizes the Creator God, and God begins at work.
Towards salvation in his heart, I believe God will send him a messenger.
Just like the Ethiopian eunuch, he's God sent Philip to speak to that Ethiopian man. He was opening his scriptures. He didn't know.
I've read, I've read books about different cultures and they have different things in their culture. That when a person believes the missionary was sent and was able to present to them the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified. And so God will send a messenger to him so that God he can hear the gospel, so he can recognize that he is a Sinner and that he needs to be saved and he will believe on Jesus Christ.
As his Lord and savior.
This brings us to another question. Whose responsibility is it to go into the white fields of harvest and to give the gospel to the heathen and tell them about the Savior of sinners?
I look around this room and I see a lot of potential.
A lot of potential.
Is the Lord calling you to give the gospel to the heathen?
If you find yourself convicted.
About the heathen and about them having an opportunity to hear the gospel.
I think the solution is simple.
Pack your bags and come with me.
Let's go to Romans chapter 14 and verse chapter 10 and verse 14.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they the heathen? How shall the heathen believe in him whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
I'm not just making a cute statement when I say pack your bags and come with me.
Or with Jim.
Or with some other local outreach for the gospel.
I'm serious that if anybody who has been praying about spreading the gospel and if you want to preach the gospel to the heathen.
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Come and talk to me afterwards.
Let's go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4.
And this next point is important because the heathen in Africa or anyone else are not going to go to hell because they have never heard the gospel.
So he's and are going to go to hell because they have rejected God and they do not believe.
2nd Corinthians 4 verse 3.
If our ghost will be hid, it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
I think this verse applies to the heathen and can it can apply to you as well. But here's the point. Some people think that it's it is unfair that the heathen have never had a chance to believe because their eyes were blinded. But it's not like that. It's the other way around. They even have their eyes blinded because they do not believe.
Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2.
Stop.
In verse 11 to 13 Ephesians 2, I think these verses prove that today the heathen will be saved through Jesus Christ and in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 11.
Wherefore, remember that ye being in time past Gentiles or heathens in the flesh, verse 12, you were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Look at this verse.
The heathen were without Christ. They were aliens. They were strangers.
There without hope and there without God in this world.
But now God has made a way for them to be saved thru Jesus.
Without Jesus, there is no hope.
This verse tells us that the heathen, who are one time far off from God, are now made nigh by the blood of Christ. They are not reconciled to God through creation, but they are reconciled to God by the death of his son, the heathen of Somalia or Africa or America.
Can only be saved through the precious blood of Christ.
It's been interesting and it's been nice for us to talk about the heathen.
Because when we talk about the heathen.
We we somehow feel.
OK with ourselves, because it doesn't become personal to you.
But your sin and your unbelief must become personal to you, because your sin and your unbelief is dragging you down to a lost eternity in hell. It is not just the heathen that need to be saved. You need to be saved. And tonight is the moment. Tonight is your opportunity to be saved. Don't let it pass. Don't go out these doors tonight without accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
There may be some here tonight and you are tired of your sin.
You're tired of pretending to be saved. You're tired of running away from God.
And you're tired of going your own way and making your own choices to take you further and further from God. And you are ready to come to God the Father.
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Through the death of Jesus Christ.
And you ask the question, what then must I do to be saved?
Let's go back to where we began tonight in Acts Chapter 16.
And in this chapter in this story.
The Apostle Paul and Silas were out preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified and people were getting saved.
And some other people were getting angry. And some of those people arrested Paul and Silas, and they whipped him. They would beat them.
And they gave him over to the jailer, And the jailer thrust them into the inner prison and put them into stocks and bound their hands and their feet. And there they were in prison. And while they were there, in prison.
They were singing hymns and praying to God through the night.
Later that night there was an earthquake.
And the doors of the prison were thrown open and the chains fell off the prisoners.
And the jailer woke up.
And he was afraid. He was afraid because he knew that if any of the prisoners escaped, the Romans were going to come and they were going to kill him. And he didn't want to face that kind of a death. And so he took out his sword, and he was ready to commit suicide and to kill himself.
At that moment Paul and Silas they cried out to the jailer and said Sir, do thyself no harm, we are all here.
The jailer, he had heard, I'm sure he heard them singing praises to God.
And he knew that he was a Sinner.
And he knew that he needed to have a change in his life, and he knew that only Jesus Christ.
Could bring that change to happen.
But he didn't know how to be saved until he comes in, and he's trembling. He's trembling in fear because he didn't want to go to hell. He wanted to have his sins taken away. And he comes in trembling before Paul and Silas. And he says, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
You must admit that you are a Sinner.
Without hope and without God in this world.
Because you are lost in your sins and you need to pray like the publican prayed.
God be merciful to me. A Sinner? Can you say that? Can you admit that you are a Sinner? Can you admit that you deserve to go to hell, That you're on the road to a lost eternity?
God be merciful to me, a Sinner.
Believe that Jesus took all the punishment that you deserve.
Believe that he died because of your sin, and he shed his blood, and he was buried, and believed that on the third day he rose again.
Today.
Believe that Jesus Christ is now raised up into heaven. He's there tonight. There's a man in heaven.
And he's waiting for you. He's gone there and the place has been prepared for you.
He's waiting for you. What are you waiting for?
Accept the Lord Jesus tonight. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ verse 31. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Come to Jesus right now.
Turn away from yourself righteous sin.
And become a repentant Sinner.
When you believe.
God saves you.
And when God saves you.
He takes away your sin.
And when He takes away your sin, He gives you eternal life.
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The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, And that's the gift the Lord Jesus wants to give you tonight.
When God gives you eternal life.
God cannot call you a Sinner anymore.
It's wonderful. You cannot be called a Sinner from now on because you have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ is washed every sin away, whether it's been the past or the present or the future. God who knew them 2000 years ago, God put them on Jesus Christ and Jesus was punished for your sins and so Jesus is washed away.
Every sin, your sin is gone. You will never, your sin will never be held against you forever.
You are holy and without blame before God because your sin is gone. Now you are free to go and worship the Lord. You are free to have fellowship with God. You are free to serve Him, and you are free to honor him in all you do.
This is the blessing.
And the value of being redeemed by the Precious Blood of Christ.
Let's see hymn #34.
Precious precious blood of Jesus.
Shed on Calvary.
Let's sing the 1St 3 verses of #34.
Precious. Precious.
You have an opportunity right now to come to the Lord Jesus.
If you recognize that you are a Sinner.
And you need to be saved.
I want you to come tonight.
I'll be around here for a little while. Afterwards you can come and speak to me.
And I can pray with you.
To help you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, as we sing the last verse I want you to.
Read it. Precious Precious Blood of Jesus Ever offered free. Oh, believe it or receive it. Tis for thee. I want you to believe it. I want you to receive it tonight as we stand and sing verse 4.
Precious, precious life.