Gospel—Jim Hyland
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I'd like to begin the Gospel meeting this evening with hymn #20 on the gospel hymn sheet. Behold, the Savior at the door. He gently knocks, has knocked before, has waited long, is waiting. Still, you use no other friend, so I'll open the door. He'll enter in and Sup with you and you with him. Hymn #20, if someone could please start it.
Turn with me, first of all to a portion in Luke's Gospel chapter 13.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 13 and verse 24.
Strive to enter in at the straight gate for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
When once the master of the house is risen up, and has shut to the door, and ye begin, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us, and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you're not quencher, And then I want to read a portion in Second Thessalonians.
2nd Thessalonians, Chapter 2.
2nd Thessalonians chapter 2, and I'm going to begin about the middle of verse 10.
Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
And for this 'cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie.
And one more verse for now in James Chapter 5.
James, chapter 5 and verse 8.
Be also patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord doth nigh.
I read these portions at the beginning of our Gospel meeting this evening because I have it on my heart to speak a little bit of the Lord's coming in keeping with the meetings that we've had and that which is ahead for the believer and that wonderful day of glory. But I want to impress upon our souls tonight in this meeting that the coming of the Lord Jesus, the second coming of Christ, is going to mean different things for different people.
And I believe it's very serious to consider because this room is really divided into two classes of people.
We can boil it down this evening to those who are saved by the grace of God and those who are lost in their sins, those who are on their way to heaven and those who are on their way to hell. There is no neutral ground when we open the word of God and preach the gospel according to the truth that is brought before us in this book and the gospel. While it is good news, it is a very, very solemn message that we have to present tonight.
And let's realize that when we open this book, we're not dealing with speculations, we're not dealing with philosophy, we're not dealing with theories, We're dealing with realities. Michael Faraday reputed to be the father of modern electronics. He was a brilliant man. But you know, Michael Faraday lay on his deathbed and a man came to see him. A friend came to see him.
And he said, Michael, he said, what are your speculations for eternity? He said, Speculations. I have no speculations for eternity. I'm resting on truth. I'm resting on the fact that I'm on my way to heaven. I'm resting on the word of God. And so tonight we're not going to speculate on what's ahead. We had brought before us last night that story of the rich man and Lazarus where the Lord Jesus told a story about two people.
And if you notice carefully there in Luke 16, it's not a parable.
One of the little keys. This is just a a little note. In studying the word of God in parables, the people involved are never named. If there's a name given in the in the story, it's not a parable, that's just a little key. And so we know that it's not a parable because there was not just a rich man, but there was a man by the name of Lazarus when the Lord named names. It was an actual story and it was a story about two men who actually lived here.
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In this world, and they lived here in this world under very different circumstances.
But the real point of the story is that they left this world under two very different circumstances and entered the next World under two very different circumstances. When the Lord told stories about people, he didn't have to end with their death. If we were writing a biography about somebody, we would have to end with their death. Like the Book of Ecclesiastes, it ends with things here in this world. And Solomon said the dead know nothing.
What was he talking about? He was talking about the fact that as far as this world goes, life is over.
That's it. But it doesn't mean they know nothing as far as eternity because the story the Lord told.
Showed beyond the shadow of a doubt that those two men who left this world, they both knew a lot 1 went to a place of torment and the other to a place of blessing. Because when we leave this world, it's finalized. Our destiny is finalized. If the Lord Jesus were to come before, this meeting is over, and it well may happen, because as we read, the coming of the Lord draws nigh, and I don't want to wait till later on in this meeting to impress that upon us.
There may be a moment during this meeting when this podium is empty and most chairs are empty.
These are realities. These are not theories. These are not speculations. The coming of the Lord draw nigh. It's getting near. I can't tell you exactly when it's going to be, but I know it's going to be very soon. And so we find here where we read that when once the master of the house rises up and shuts the door, that door is shut and shut forever.
And what I want to impress upon our souls tonight is that the coming of the Lord.
For the unbeliever, for those who are still lost in their sins, is going to mean.
That the opportunities to be saved are over. There's no second chance after the Lord comes.
You know the enemy would like to whisper in our ears. Oh, just put it off.
Just wait a while. But it tells us in the book of Hebrews, how shall we escape if we neglect?
So great salvation. Not interesting. You might not be an out and out rejecter tonight.
You may not be an out and out scoffer tonight, but maybe you're just putting it off. Maybe Satan is whispering in your ear. Just put it off. Just wait a while. There's lots of time. There's always tomorrow. Oh, we could stand here all night and tell stories from history of people who lost opportunities and people who lost opportunities to be saved, who had warnings from the very heart of God, from this very book, the Bible. And they didn't reject, they neglected.
When I have a more convenient season, I will call for thee, once said to the Apostle Paul after hearing that he needed to be saved. You know, scripture doesn't record that he ever had a more convenient season. He was a neglecter. He put it off, and I suggest that there perhaps will be as many or even more people in a lost eternity because they neglected, then rejected.
And this verse, these verses we read in Luke's show that the time now to enter in.
To enter in at the straight gate is now, and God doesn't promise us later. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.
God's time is always now.
Because when the master of the house, when the Lord rises up and shuts the door, it will never be opened again.
You can go back and search it out. We won't take time, but you remember the story of the flood, I.
And how when the time came, Noah and his family entered into the ark and God shut the door. And it's very interesting that you never read again of that door being open.
In fact, when they left the ark, it says they removed the covering of the ark and they came forth. Isn't that interesting?
Why is Scripture silent on the door ever being opened again? Because the Spirit of God wants to impress upon our souls tonight.
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That when the door of Salvation is closed, it will never be opened again.
I'm gonna tell a little story. I see some children here and I remember as a boy, a young boy sitting in a Sunday school at Rita Ferry in the summer, back up in Canada where I live. And in the summer we had Sunday school outside. We called it Sunday School Under the Trees, and that's exactly what it was. And there were some logs set up with some planks and the boys and girls, we would sit on these logs and we would sing some gospel songs and someone.
Would give us a message from the word of God. And I remember a man coming, a brother in Christ coming to visit that area.
And he gave us a message one Sunday afternoon and he told a very interesting story.
From his own experience as a boy and I never forgot it, he said. When he was a boy he had a kite and he loved to fly his kite and he would wait for a nice windy day when he could go out to the park and he could fly his kite. His name was Dawn and Don woke up one Saturday morning and there was no school. And he looked out the window and he could see the trees bending in the breeze and he thought, wow, perfect day to go to the park with the other boys.
And fly my kite. And so he hurriedly got dressed. He grabbed his kite, he grabbed some breakfast, and as he was on his way out the door, his mother said, Dawn, I'd like you to do something for me this morning. I have to go out. But I'm expecting a very important phone call, and I can't miss this phone call. It's very important. And I would like you to stay in and listen for the phone and take the message.
Well, Dawn was very disappointed, but he didn't have much choice. And so he set down his kite and the ball of string that was attached to it, and mother went off on her errand. And there he was, wondering what to do with himself, really wanting to be out with the other boys flying his kite but stuck in the house on a windy Saturday morning.
But as he told the story, he said he got thinking about that ball of string.
And the telephone that was sitting on the hall table. Now I know some of you boys and girls may find it a little hard to relate to this, but back in those days.
The phone was, say, instruments that sat on a table and it had a receiver across the top of it.
And it was a big bulky thing that you picked up when the phone rang and there was an earpiece and a mouthpiece. I know that's probably not what you see so much today.
But Don got thinking. I wonder how many times I can wrap that string around the base of the phone and the receiver before it rings. You know, as children, we don't always think ahead. I know I I didn't always, didn't always think of the consequences of my actions.
But he got so curious about it, he united the ball of string from the kite and he started in.
He started to wrap that string around the base of the phone and around the receiver.
And strand after strand after strand. And the ball of string kept getting smaller and smaller, and there were more strands of string around the phone. And you know what happened? All of a sudden the phone rang.
But Dawn realized he couldn't answer the phone in its present condition, and oh, he panicked. He started to unwind that string, and that string fell in a big heap at his feet, a big tangled heap of string. And the phone rang, and it rang, and it rang, and it rang, and the person on the other end was very patient. And finally he got that string all off the the phone, and he picked up the receiver.
And all he heard was a dial tone. The person on the other end had been patient, had allowed that phone to ring many, many times, but finally concluded that no one was going to answer the call.
And hung up. And I wonder how many times God has spoken to you.
How many times the word of God has rang in your ears? Are you answering? Are you listening? He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. But not only do we need to hear with our natural ears, but we need to respond. The caller thought nobody was going to respond.
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Don told us he got in trouble that day. There were some consequences, but you know, in the end it all worked out. But all I want to tell you if you're neglecting.
The call of God tonight. If you're neglecting the word of God, you're not answering. The day may come, and it may be this very evening, and it may even be during this gospel meeting.
When, as it says, my spirit shall not always strive with man.
Oh, it's true. God is long-suffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But there is a day coming when the master of the house is going to rise up and shut the door.
And I think it's already been mentioned in these meetings about those 10 virgins in Matthew's Gospel and how when the cry went out, five went in and five were not ready.
And when the door was shut, that door too was never opened again. You know the message of the gospel tonight has come unto me. But if you reject that message tonight, you will hear these words in the coming day. Depart from me. Not solemn, it's come unto me tonight, tomorrow it may be depart from me. Because as I say, there will be no second chance.
And we read in second Thessalonians because here we have something very serious.
And what we have in Second Thessalonians applies, I think, to most.
In this room today who are not saved, because I realize that most, perhaps not all, but most here tonight have heard the gospel before.
And if you're not saved, you've neglected, or you've rejected time and time again.
And because, as it says, you have received not the love of the truth, You have heard the truth. You could perhaps tell me how to be saved, But because you've received not the love of the truth, because it hasn't come gone into your heart, because you're not saved, there's a day coming when Satan will be allowed to send you a strong delusion that you believe a lie. You say, How could that be? I have pondered this myself. You know, it's not the heathen that never heard the gospel.
That are going to be sent a strong delusion that they believe a lie. It's young people who sat in meetings like this.
You know, I think of you young people.
Sometimes we speak to the boys and girls, but I wonder if there's a young person here tonight who professes to be a Christian who passes amongst us as a believer, but there's no reality. I remember one time being in Trinidad. I've been in Trinidad many times, but this one time stands out in my mind.
And I had stayed in the home of a brother and sister a number of times, and they had a young person, young girl, by the name of Abigail. And on this particular occasion, Abigail was 16 years of age.
If you had asked me if Abigail was the Lord's, I would have said, well. I'm pretty sure she sits respectfully through the family, reading when we speak about the the things of Christ in the home. She's always there. She comes to the meetings, she sings the hymns. She shakes hands after and calls you brother so and so or sister so and so. But I remember one Sunday night, Abigail stood up after the gospel meeting in front of everyone else.
And said I have not been saved until tonight.
Is that interesting?
Passed. As a Christian, I would have said yes. I think her parents would have said yes too, but she was not. But thank God, whatever was quoted or read from the word of God that night, when does an arrow to her conscience into her heart? And there was a work of the spirit of God.
And she confessed Christ that night in front of everyone. And it made me realize that sometimes young people can pretend. You know, Judas was the great pretender.
It's always struck me that when you come to the upper room.
At the end of the Lord's ministry, and the disciples are gathered around the Lord Jesus for the last time before he goes to the cross.
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And the Lord tells the disciples that there is a betrayer amongst them. They all look at each other and say, is it I? Is it I? Is it I? I would have thought that after three years plus of those 12 men being thrust together in such close proximity during the Lord's public ministry that somebody would have suspected that maybe it was Judas. You know, Judas was so clever in his cover up that he never gave himself away.
I I've traveled with folks. Brother Hans has traveled with me. You travel with someone just for a few weeks. You get to know them pretty quick. The veneer comes off. The hypocrisy is gone. Those men traveled together for over three years and Judas never gave himself away. I trust there's no young person here today who's pretending to be a Christian.
And there's no reality like there was with Abigail. All be like Abigail Peters, come to know the Lord Jesus as your savior during the gospel meeting like this. But maybe there's someone here tonight and you've never really heard the gospel before. Oh, tonight the gospel is so simple. The word of God has made it so plain. The word gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture.
That he was buried and that he rose again the 3rd day according to the scripture.
The gospel is the good news that Christ Jesus came into the world.
He came into this world to go to Calvary's cross. And there at Calvary's cross, I can. I thank God that I can say before you all, He bore my sins in his own body on the tree. It's a thrill to my heart to confess him before you all again. I know the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.
The Apostle Paul could say the Son of God who loved me and gave him I can put my name in that verse. The Son of God who loved him and gave himself for Jim. That thrills my soul, and I trust it thrills yours. The Lord Jesus went to the cross. There he bore my sins. There he lay down his life. There he died for me, and there he shed his precious blood, of which blood we read.
The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Not just from sin, but from all sin. I am thankful that my sins are washed away.
I'm not afraid tonight of one charge of sin being brought up against me because it's all been settled once and for all. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. I know I've said this before, but when my girls were growing up, they like to go out and play, especially on a Saturday, and didn't seem to matter if it was rainy or sunny or snowy or whatever.
They like to go outside and they like to get filthy dirty and they would come in at the end of the day and my wife would take those T-shirts and other clothing and we had, she would put them in the washing machine.
And she would put a generous amount of her favorite detergent, Tide or whatever you call it, and she would run the cycle and bring them out. And we had an expression in our house in those days. We called it clean dirt. In other words, the shirts were clean, the shorts were clean, but they the dirt, the grass, and the mud was so grounded that they were permanently stained and no amount of Tide or cheer or whatever it was.
No amount of running them through the washing machine was going to remove the stains. But all being washed in the blood of Jesus, every stain of sin is gone. Every stain of guilt is gone. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from. I want you to notice this precious word, all sin.
I can stand before you to tell you I'm redeemed. Not with corruptible things of silver and gold, not with something that changes in value.
But with the precious blood of Christ, you know the blood of Jesus is as precious tonight to the heart of God.
As when it was shared on Calvary's cross. When it says the precious blood of Christ, that's knows not so much our appreciation of it. I trust the blood of Christ as precious to our heart, every heart here. But I'm thankful that the value of the blood of Jesus does not depend on my estimation or value of it, but it does depend on God's estimation of it. And God says tonight it's precious and it's that which I say can wash away sins.
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We're redeemed by it and we have forgiveness through that blood.
And we could go through the word of God and see so many scriptures that bring before us the cleansing value and power of the blood of Jesus. We sometimes sing that question. Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Good question for every one of us to consider tonight, isn't it? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Because as we read the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
I know there are just so many here tonight who thrill as we have spoken of the second coming of Christ and what is going to follow for us in the coming days. Our hearts thrill, I trust. Our hearts leap as we think of the promise that we've had before us of the Lord Jesus who said I will come again and receive you unto myself. I trust we look up every day and long for that coming.
But again.
Tonight we want to impress upon us that if you are still in your sins.
When we speak of the second coming of Christ, it ought to be a fearful thing.
It ought to be a fearful thing. What would you think if you looked around in a few moments and every seat in this building was empty except yours? Wouldn't that be a serious thing? To realize that everyone was gone but you to realize that what you had heard time and time again was a reality?
Because there will be no one go at the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Who is not ready? Be also ready. We read. Be also ready. Are you ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Or do you fear are you fidgeting tonight and shuffling your feet and wondering when is this going to be over and you're watching the clock? And in a few minutes it'll be over and we can go on our way and we won't have to consider that. No doubt in a little while it will be over. But all these things are serious. These things are real. A young lady was asked at the door one time after a gospel meeting. What did you think of the gospel meeting tonight? She said. Well, at least the preacher was passionate about what he preached.
And we are passionate tonight because we don't want you to go to hell.
We don't want you to go to a lost eternity.
There was a man one time he worked in a glass factory. He was called the Stoker and his job was to keep the fires in the furnaces going for the for the formation of the glass and for the glass blowers.
And one day there was a preacher passing the glass factory, and the door was open. And he stood there watching the flames in the open door of the furnace, just inside the factory. And as he watched those flames, he uttered aloud What must hell be like? He didn't realize that the Stoker, though out of sight, was within earshot and heard those words.
And as the Stoker finished his shift and continued to feed the flames of that furnace, those words rang in his ears again and again and again. What must hell be like? And later that evening, when his shift was over, he didn't go to his home directly. He turned his feet to the house where he knew that preacher lived, and he knocked on that door. And you can imagine that preacher was very surprised to see the Stoker because.
This Stoker had a reputation in the community for being an ungodly man.
When he opened the door, the man said to the preacher. Oh, let me come in.
He said. I heard what you said earlier today and I don't want to go to hell.
I don't want to go to the flames of a lost eternity. And of course, that preacher gladly welcomed him into his home.
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They sat down together, and the preacher opened the word of God, and in the simplest manner presented Christ as the Savior of sinners.
And that the Spirit of God worked and opened this man's heart, and before he left that home that evening.
He knew that he was never going to find out what hell was like. He knew he was on the the narrow way that leads unto life. He knew he was on his way to heaven. And oh, tonight you can leave this room on your way to heaven. You don't have to leave this room the same way you came in. I'm not talking about the physical doors that are in front of us here, but if you came into this room traveling the Broadway that leads to destruction, that leads to hell, you can leave it tonight on the narrow way that leads to life.
And it is as simple as bowing your head and your heart right in your seat and speaking to the Lord Jesus. You don't have to utter one word aloud. He knows what you say in your heart, and you can confess you're a Sinner and receive the Lord Jesus as your savior tonight. He's offering you the gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Oh, I plead with you not to reject.
For two reasons. One, the coming of the Lord draws nigh.
Two, we don't know how long we have to live in this world.
I had a great aunt. She lived to be about 90 some years of age.
She had come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as her savior at a very young age. I think she was in her early teens. She had known the Lord Jesus most of her life, but she was lying in a hospital bed in the town of Smiths Falls, where I live, and I stood by her bed. I had the privilege. Yes, it was a privilege. I had the privilege of standing by Aunt Bernice's bedside as she gently drew her last breath, and I knew she was absent from the body.
And present with the Lord. She'd been looking for the Lord to come, but the Lord chose to take her ahead.
Of the rest of us, But she gently smiled and drew those last breaths.
And I knew she was home. She was with Christ. But as I stood there, my heart was solemnized.
Because with vividly brought to my memory just a couple of nights before what had happened.
A few rooms down the hall, in that same hospital ward, there had been a man who had come to the end of his life here on earth too. He was a well respected man in the town of Smiths Falls, where I live. He was a charitable man. He was a businessman. He was a man that was looked up to.
But he had. He knew he was nearing the end, and I will never forget the wails that filled that hospital reward. As he came to the end, he wailed. He cried. He was in agony because I believe he realized that he faced eternity. But he wasn't ready. I can't judge, but it was awful, you know, the nurse that that attended the the deathbed of Voltaire, the French infidel, she was quoted as saying. Not for all the money in Europe would she attend the deathbed of another infidel. It was so awful.
So agonizing and all, I wanna again tell you tonight that there's opportunity. There's a chance. Now we don't know how long we have to live. We don't know when the Lord Jesus is coming again. This simple statement, the coming of the Lord Draweth nigh. I remember 3 young men who came to some gospel tent meetings that were being held in the town of Curling Newfoundland.
Several years ago. And these young men, they came, I suspect, as I watched them several nights in a row, more to disrupt and moth than to listen to the gospel message. And one night after the gospel meeting, they were standing around outside the gospel tent, they lit up their cigarettes, they were laughing and talking. And I went out and I put my arm on one of them and I said, young men, is it worse?
The risk?
Is it worth taking the chance and saying we'll have another opportunity to be saved tomorrow?
And put it off tonight. You know what they said to me? It shakes me to this moment to tell you what they said to me. They said we'll take that chance. We'll take that chance. You know, Man is a gambler by heart. He likes to take chances. Just watch a line up at the lottery counter when there's an increase in the jackpot. Man is a gambler but oh, don't gamble with your soul. Don't gamble.
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With time, because in eternity there's no time.
You know, sometimes we talk about spending eternity and it's that's OK because the Spirit of God in scripture puts things in a way that we can relate to within the the realm of time and distance and physical limitations.
But there is in a sense, we really can't spend eternity. We spend time.
But how can you spend something outside the realm of time? We've had it in these meetings before. Eternity is not millions and millions or even billions and billions and billions and billions and billions of years. That's not what eternity is. Eternity is completely outside the realm of time. And you know the man who lifted up his eyes in hell that we spoke of earlier?
You know, he was already in a lost eternity. He was already in a place of torment when the Lord Jesus told the story, and that story was told some 2000 years plus ago. And he's still there. And he'll be in the lake of fire, in the bottomless pit, forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and on and on and on and on. How solemn.
But you know, for those of us who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, isn't that wonderful? To think that the price has been paid for our entrance into heaven and that we are looking forward, anticipating the coming of the Lord Jesus, anticipating what is ahead after we leave this world. But why are how can it be? Because the Lord Jesus paid the price on Calvary's cross, if I can put it simply for our purposes tonight.
Without being irreverent, the Lord Jesus paid the ticket for us.
The other day I went to go for the meal and I was talking to someone and moving along quickly. And as I went down the hall I forgot that I needed a ticket. And the brother that was handing out the tickets get grabbed me by the arm and said you need this to get your meal. I couldn't go to that meal. I couldn't sit down at that meal without a meal ticket.
And you will never sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven.
Unless you have that ticket, that ticket paid by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Some of you will appreciate this at least. But when I leave for the airport, which I do very often, I have a BTP checklist. You know most things if you forget, you can replace when you get to the other end or do without. But there's three things I want to make sure I have because I cannot replace them and I cannot do without them. My Bible.
My ticket and my passport. BTP Tonight we have the Bible to tell us the way of salvation. God has made it so plain that it says a wayfaring man, though a fool, may not err therein. Timothy was told that from a child he had known the Holy Scriptures which were able to make him wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
The Word of God. The Bible. The ticket.
The work of Calvary, the blood of Christ, the passport, the Lord Jesus himself, He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. We have Bibles in our hands tonight. But do you have your ticket and passport with you? Have you? Have you obtained it? You don't have to buy it. It's already been purchased. I didn't have to buy the the meal ticket.
To go into the meal, know all I had to do was receive it from the one who was offering it and say thank you and go and partake of the meal.
The Lord Jesus has secured our ticket and passport to heaven at great cost. You know that meal ticket that was handed to me as we went into each meal this, this weekend? That ticket was free to me, but I know someone had to pay for it. Those meals weren't cheap. Those meals had to be paid for. But thankfully we were able to go in and enjoy those meals because the price had already been paid and the price of redemption and salvation has already been paid.
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And it's being offered freely to whosoever will, whosoever will may come.
And take of the water of life freely.
But I'd like to go, and Justice read with very little comment what the Lord's coming is going to mean to those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. Let's go to 1St Thessalonians, Chapter 4.
A portion like this never grows old to my soul, and I trust it never grows old to your soul either.
I thrill every time I read of the second coming of Christ. I thrill every time I think of what it's going to be to be with and like the Lord Jesus in the Father's house. And here we have the Apostle Paul.
Writing by divine inspiration to these believers at the at Thessalonica who were a little bit confused, they didn't quite understand how all this was going to play out. It's true they had turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, but they weren't sure how it was all going to work out. And the Apostle Paul picks up the pen of inspiration, and by the spirit of God he writes these glorious words.
Verse 13 of chapter 4 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so also them also which sleep with sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For we this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them that are asleep.
I'll listen now to these glorious words. They throw my soul, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.
With the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
As believers in Christ, what comfort would we have apart from this glorious hope?
If we couldn't speak of the coming of Christ and the Father's house and all the glorious things that we've had in these meetings.
What comfort would we have if we had come together this weekend and we had discussed politics and the situations in this world and where it's all going? Would there have been any comfort in that? Not a bit. You know, I travel quite a bit, as most of you know. And because of my status with the airlines, you know, when you have these super elite diamond cards and whatever, it just means you spend too much in the time in the air and just hard work no matter how you look at it. But nevertheless, we're thankful for the perks that the airlines provide along the way.
Makes life a little easier sometimes. And I have the opportunity to be in the business lounges of the major airports in the parts of the world where I travel. And in those business lounges you are rubbing shoulders with the top echelon of the corporate and political world. And usually on one end of the lounge there's a large screen television with CNN on it, depending what country you're in. On the other end, there's another.
Flat screen, uh TE television screen. And it might have BBC or CBC or some other national uh uh news network. And 24 hours a day the news is being broadcast. And I watch people as they watch these newscasts and it's certainly not good news. But as they watch these newscasts and they realize that they are dealing with an interplay of economic, political and social forces that are beyond their control and it's not.
If the elastic's gonna be, uh, going to snap. But when? And as I watch them, I read their faces. If there's any proof that we're at the end and the Lord's coming is C is near, It's the fact of what I see in the faces of the upper echelon of this world. Men's hearts, failing them for fear and looking for those things that are coming on the earth. And I've even had them turn away and say to me, where is it all gonna end? How? What's going to happen?
How can it go on? Men recognize that things are winding down.
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That there's not good news. That there's really not going to be a major world turn around.
We are right at the end.
We're not looking for better days down here, but we are looking for that glorious time.
All to be gone in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, because as we had here, when the Lord Jesus comes forth and gives that shout.
Every believer, every Christian in this room is going to go.
And every St. of God who's died from Abel on down is going to be raised from the dead, and we with them are going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. What comfort this gives?
Our souls.
Later on, in the second Epistle of Thessalon to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul calls it a Good Hope. I like that now. Wonderful that we have a Good Hope. There's a lot of hope in this world, but it's false hope, and it's hope that never comes to fruition. But we have a Good Hope every time I read that expression, Good Hope, I think of something we learned in social studies when I was a boy in school.
Concerning the exploration of the Europeans who were trying to find a trade route to to India and the Far East, to bring the spices and the silks and the commodities of the Far East to England and Europe, to add to the niceties of European and British culture. And I remember learning about a man by the name of Bartholomew Diaz and as history tells us in 1488, Bartholomew Diaz.
Was the first European on record to round the southern tip of Africa.
But he rounded it under such adverse circumstances that he aptly named it.
The Cape of Storms. But when he returned to Portugal and reported to King John, two under whose auspices he had sailed.
King John decided that the name Cape of Storms was not a name that would encourage further exploration.
And so he renamed it the Cape of Good Hope, which name it bears to this very day.
And yet it was, I believe, nine years later, until another European attempted to round the Cape. His name was Vasco da Gama, and Vasco da Gama did indeed round the Cape and find a trade route to the east. And for many years that route brought the silks and the spices and the other niceties that added to the culture of and comfort of the Europeans. That wasn't really the Good Hope they expected. I really wonder.
But all when we speak of the Lord's coming is a Good Hope. That's exactly what it is.
I don't suppose any of us who know Christ as our Savior tonight really realize what is ahead.
Really understand or get a full grasp of what is ahead. But I'll have to think that this moment is so near at hand when we're going to hear that shout and be safe home. And I want to end this meeting by reading the end of the book. The end of Revelation. The last chapter, The 22nd chapter of Revelation. I think this is so thrilling. Revelation chapter 22.
And verse 20.
He which testifieth these things sayeth surely. I come quickly. Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
If we were to back up in this chapter, we would find that this is the third time on the last page of God's Word that we have these words, that he's coming quickly 3 confirmations before he closes the book. Lest we missed it the first time in verse seven, he gives it to us again in verse 12.
Lest we missed it the second time in verse 12 before he closes the book.
He says again. Surely I come quickly. Do you realize these are the last recorded words of the Lord Jesus in scripture?
The last recorded words of the Lord Jesus in Scripture are the confirmation that he had made so long ago in the upper room to his disciples. I will come again and receive you unto myself the last recorded words of the Lord Jesus. Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so. Come Lord Jesus. These are the last recorded words of the people of God in Scripture.
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The last recorded words are a response from the heart. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Is that the response from your heart tonight? If you don't know Christ, it's not the response. If you know Christ, I trust it is the sincere and genuine response of your heart.
Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus, and he closes the book. Well, not quite the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Be with you all. If I can sum it up in another way, surely I come quickly. That's the last promise of scripture.
Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus. That's the last prayer of Scripture.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. That's the last provision of Scripture.
In this precious, these precious verses, we have the last promise, the last prayer, and the last provision. Because I just want to say to the hearts of those of us who know Christ, if the Lord Jesus leaves us here another few moments, another few days, His grace is sufficient for whatever we face when we leave this room. Because maybe there's someone here and you say, oh, it's been so wonderful to be here, to have this little Oasis away from the world and the cares of and burdens of school or work.
But we've got to go back to all those things, and maybe your heart is burdened as you think of what you're going to face tomorrow.
Or this week, if the Lord leaves us here. But I want to tell you, if he leaves us here, there's this last provision of Scripture, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Is it all we need? My grace is sufficient for thee. Do we need more grace? He giveth more grace. Is it just to a select few of all we received Of his fullness and grace upon grace? What a resource we have. But oh, again, I want to impress upon our souls the Lord Jesus is coming. Yes, indeed he is. If you're not saved tonight, well, I pray you can just bow your head and talk to the Lord Jesus.
As I said earlier, it's as simple as this. Just confessing that you're a Sinner, receiving his gift of eternal life, receiving that salvation that he is offering to you, being washed in the blood of Jesus and knowing that you're on your way to heaven. It's as simple and easy as that. It's not complicated, but I beg of you, don't get out of your seat tonight until you're saved.
And for those of us who are saved, let's go home with a fresh appreciation.
Of the truth of the coming of the Lord Jesus, that it might have a practical, purifying effect on our lives.
And may we look up every day and long to be with him there in the Father's house.
And may the response of your heart and mind be Amen even. So Come, Lord Jesus, let's pray.