Gospel—ET Leger
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Have been asked to give a short gospel meeting. So before we start, let's just ask the Lord for his help. Father, this afternoon we're thankful for a chance to again to be able to preach the good tidings of the gospel. You pray that the Lord Jesus can be glorified this afternoon and that if any soul here does not know him as Savior, they may turn from darkness to light and accept this free gift of salvation. In the name of Jesus you pray, Amen. I'd like to start off with a verse in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 13.
It's a question that Jesus asks his disciples and it's a question that each one of us have to answer for ourselves here today in 2016, Matthew chapter 16 and verse 13 seeking of Jesus, he asked his disciples saying, whom do men, who do men say that I, the Son of Man AM? And they said some say that were John the Baptist, some Elias and others Jeremias or one of the prophets.
I will just stop there for a second because if you go around here in Scranton, PA or in your hometown and you ask people who is Jesus?
Who is the Son of Man? They might have different answers. Some people will say Jesus was a Goodman, he was a prophet.
He was an Angel, some will say, some said he was a mystical creature created not really real. But here Jesus is asking a specific question to his disciples and people in those days had different ideas of who he was. And even today the same questions even more answers could be given. But in verse 15 he gets more specific. He Speaking of Jesus said unto them, But whom say ye that I am so today?
Who is Jesus Christ for you this weekend? We spent a whole weekend opening the word of God. We've heard about Jesus. We've heard about salvation. We've heard we had a gospel meeting last night. We had a remembrance meeting this morning. We had this whole weekend. We could summarize it. We've been talking about Jesus. And yet my burden tonight is this is that there's someone in this room that could be hearing this conference after conference, year after year, and yet in your own heart.
Jesus is no more than just something maybe your parents have taught you about, or something that you believe in just enough to get your parents off your back, or something that you just believe in theory, but there's never been a reality.
In your heart, you know, there was plenty of kids sitting on the front row this morning and I'm sure how we asked the question who wants to go to heaven? Who likes Jesus? Every single one of them to put their hands up.
And if you ask that question in a room like this, who, who, who is Jesus your friend, is Jesus your savior? Everyone would put their hands up. But as John said last night, we can only read faces. We don't know the heart. And tonight, this afternoon, I want to implore any everyone of you, where do you stand on that question? Who is Jesus Christ for you? Well, right off the bat, I will say Jesus Christ is my personal see if your I know that Jesus Christ died for my sins. And can you say that even the children.
Hey, do you have a love for Jesus? Do you care about him? You might not be able to express it or give a meeting on it, but you do you love just in your heart. That's a good indication that you're on the right path that you have a love for the Savior. Well, we reversed in the book of Acts chapter 4 and verse 12, the name of Jesus is taken in vain a lot. Maybe some of you are at school. You hear that name blasphemed. You hear that with when people speak on the street, they blasphemy this name. But I'll tell you right now, this is a.
Full name. The name of Jesus is a man that will be glorified for our eternity, even though if man right now despise it, I ridicule it and have it in low esteem. God holds that name in great esteem, and we'll see this in verse 12. Neither is there salvation in the other, for there is no other name. Therefore there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be safe. This is the name which we can be saved. But saved from what?
Every one of us have to come to a realization that we need a Savior as was said in the previous gospel meeting, that our righteousness is like filthy rags. God sees us in our sins as being something that is.
Repulsion, something that is not good. I have a water bottle here with water in it if I take a little bit of poison.
A little bit of poison and I put it inside. Would you want to drink it? You'd say no, of course not. It's poisonous. It's it's bad for me. I can't have that. The same with God. If you have any sin inside of you, if you've done any, if you'd have had a bad thought, a bad action, if you've looked with lust, if you've had anger in your heart, the Bible says you are a Sinner. And if you are a Sinner, it says the soul that sins will die. You are condemned. You are like that contaminated water bottle. You are no good.
But the good news is that God didn't just leave us in our sins. He sent his Son and 2000 years ago.
Approximately, Jesus came to earth, and he came to earth, and he gave a way for man. He gave away for man to believe.
00:05:05
Show them a new way of life, how to love your neighbor, how to be reconciled to him. And we see that in John Chapter 11 verse 25, how Jesus is trying to get people to realize they have to believe in him. John 11 and verse 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet he shall live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Believeth thou this? We start off the meeting with a question. Who do you say that I am? And here's another question for you this afternoon.
Believeth thou this is something that you believe in your heart. There's something that you have accepted as truth.
That Jesus Christ is your savior. Have you accepted the fact that you are a Sinner and that you need a savior? You know, I'm not in school anymore, but from talking to some of my employees and some of the courses that are being taught, there's, we're taught in a, in a pure realistic way of thinking how there's more than one way of God, the one way to God. There's different ways and you take, you climb that ladder, you climb that mountain and gauze on the top, No matter which way you go, you can still reach God.
But Jesus says I am the way, the truth, and the life. He claims exclusivity.
And if you're going to come to Jesus, it's not on your own terms. It's not by the way you want to do things.
It's by believing in the person of Jesus and who he is. Jesus said I am.
I am God, He was God, you have to believe that and you also believe his work. But what was his work? Well, Jesus Christ didn't just come and live as a good man. He didn't just leave a good life and go back to heaven. And as we discussed throughout this conference, he just came and he died on the cross. He there was put on a cross by men. But there, as we read also in the another gospel meetings and earlier on, we talked about 3 hours of darkness.
Where God punished His Son for our sins and how Jesus bore on himself all of our sins. He bore your sins.
He's absolutely interested in you today. Do does this affect you? Do you have any appreciation for what he did if you do so he wants you just to accept that gift. You know, it's a prayer of every parent here that their kid and accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. And I remember a time in my life when I was eight years old approximately, and then I knelt down in my laundry room beside the washing machine. I remember that. And I accepted the Lord's just Christ.
Maybe it was before about. That was a time I remember because I put a little mark on the washing machine to say that I had done it, so in case I forgot, I'd go back and take a look.
But I remember that I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and my Savior, and since then, the Lord Jesus Christ has filled my heart with love to share the gospel with people because we all need to hear about it. It's not a question, just people at a conference. You're here at a conference. Everyone here pretty much has been here all weekend. But the amazing thing is that we all have people in our neighborhoods that need to hear about Jesus, people in our schools, people in our workplace, and God has put us in different locations to be able to share that with different people.
But there is power in that name of Jesus. I remember a story that happened to me when I was in Malawi back in 2000.
2013, I was walking in a village with my translator and we're going to preach the gospel somewhere. And as we're walking there was a real loud music coming out of this bar and there was a witch doctor in Africa. They had witch doctors who had these little mat out front with a bunch of different herbs and bottles and curses that they can can buy or sell or I'm not quite sure how they work, but I know that there is some witchcraft and black magic in there. And I felt propelled again. My gospel track and my transfer said no, no, you don't want to talk to that guy. I said well.
The golfer too, so he's gonna get a golf track. So I walked right up to him and the left music was booming, booming, booming. I couldn't. I started talking to him and he said, what is this? He yelled at me over the music. I said it's a gospel talk about Jesus. And as soon as I said Jesus, the music stopped. The music completely stopped and I got the shares in the gospel. And then I moved on a few more feet and the music started up again. And his other friend was there. So I said, look, I'll give him a golf track. No, no, we really have to go now. I said no, no, we gotta go see him.
And so we go back and see him and he said, what is that? And I said, this is a golfer track about Jesus. And read again. The music stopped.
And I got to share the gospel with him. You know, those two men, I don't know if they're still alive today, but they heard the message of the gospel. They received the track. And there is power in that name. And it wasn't me necessarily saying it, but I believe that the Lord allowed it for these two men to hear about who Jesus was and what what he had done for them. Now what what they do with it is responsibility. Today. I'm just here to say that you need to be reconciled to God. This name of Jesus is something that you cannot just forget about. And this person, Jesus forget about, you need to acknowledge.
A savior. And whether you listen to me or listen to another person or whether you decide this is not for you, this is your responsibility.
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Your responsibility is to personally be reconciled with Jesus as your Savior.
So you asked the question maybe can I get saved tonight? Can I get saved? How do I get to know this Jesus? Well, I can say yes, tonight you can get saved. There is a hope for you, my friend, you. You need to accept in your heart that you are a Sinner and that you need a Savior and that there is salvation and no other name. Jesus Christ died, He rose from the dead. He shed his precious blood for you, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, and cleanses us from all sins, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but by God's grace, by his blood that was shed.
Yeah, you can have reconciliation with God. You can have peace with God. You know, I do landscaping work and every time, umm, I pay well, the client pays the bill. I write on the bill paid in full and I find my name right, right and write the check number and send it paid. And I when I can, I try to tell the client, you know why I write paid in full. And they say why say well, you pay the bill. But also it reminds me that someone paid for my sin. You paid your bill here, but someone paid a great, great way greater bill 2000 years ago. He paid.
Completely for every sin that I did and I need to see if you're in so to you. And they say, well, that's very good. And they say, well, people in Africa need that. And I said, yeah, but people in North America need it just as much. And so that's one way I'm able to share the gospel of people and be reminded every time I write that hate in full, I'm reminded Jesus Christ paid it all. He paid everything. And all I can do is thank him and desire to preach the gospel and share it with others. I don't deserve him like Mephibosheth. I don't deserve to be able to to just to speak here.
I don't deserve to be saved, but by God's grace I am saved. We are saved through faith. That not of yourselves is a gift of God, not by works.
The city man should boast. Let's read one more verse in Romans chapter 10.
Romans chapter 10, verse 9. This is one way that you can get saved today. If you're wondering how to do it, there's no magic formula.
But one thing I would say is you first of all admit you're a Sinner and accept that you need a Savior. And here in Romans 10 verse nine, it says, if thou shalt confast with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt believe.
In my heart that God hath raised them from the dead. Thou shalt be saved, and my friend today on the authority of the word of God, if you accept.
This message URC but my worry is that there are maybe children here or young people that have heard this message so many times and say, you know what I'm just going to zone out. It's not really for me. My friend, you're making a mistake. A life would live with Jesus is the only life worth living a life worth living, living for Jesus is the only life that is has purpose and full meaning in it. And I really hope that every single one of you.
Acknowledge that your need of a savior and accept Him as your Lord and savior. If you know it's a scary thing to see that maybe people might be in this room.
And listen to the message time after time after time. And are almost saved. It's a contradiction. The word almost all in most doesn't make sense. Would you get a job where you almost got paid? Would you get on a plane that was almost safe? You wouldn't. Would you follow a map that was almost right? You wouldn't. Jesus says no death and no indefinite terms.
Either you believe in me or you don't. If you're on the fence, the devil owns that fence. You're not in Christ.
You either have to accept today who God is, who Jesus is, he is God and accept this message or you're not saved. To be almost saved is to be completely lost. And I'm going to read one more set of verses and warning before closing in Matthew Chapter 7 and these verses. Well, when we go to Africa, we in Malawi, you speak to people and 99% of people are safe. They say you say you're Christian. Yes, I'm a Christian, yes, I'm a Christian. Everyone you speak to is a Christian.
That can't be just because you say you're Christian doesn't mean you're a Christian. And Matthew 7, there's a very strict warning of what people that made a profession without actually having a reality, and we'll see that.
In Matthew Chapter 7 and verse 21, not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
But he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and thy name have cast out devils and thy name than many wonderful works? Then I'll profess unto them, I never knew you depart from me, ye that work iniquity. It's a warning. It's people that actually professed the name of Christ. You could profess the name of Christ with your mouth, but in your heart it'd be completely far from it.
Not really believing in your heart. And this is a warning that there is a judgment coming and God has appointed a day where He will judge the world.
For what they did to His Son the Lord Jesus.
What side do you stand on?
Is it a profession profession or is it a reality? God knows the heart. And so today I can just be a watchman on the wall just telling you that you need to be reconciled with God. And I hope that every single one of us in this room have made that decision. And if you are a Christian, share it with others. Don't just keep it to yourself. Make Christ known, make him glorified where he's put you last night, let's say commit in prayer. Father, this morn, this afternoon, we're thankful for the time to open up your word one last time and proclaim the glories of Jesus.
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Thank you for him. Thank you that he has done all things well. We pray earnestly that anyone in this room that might be on the fence, that might be unsure about where they stand before you, may not leave this room until they get that question settled.
Father, we have such a great future that awaits us. We pray that no one might be left behind to.
Face judgment that everyone of us may be safe in the arms of Jesus. And we thank you for this conference and ask your blessing for the rest of the day and the worthy name of our Savior, Jesus, our amazing Savior, Amen.