Gospel—Jim Hyland
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Meeting this evening with him #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 hymn #20. Let's stand to sing this, and if someone could please start it.
Oh my God.
I love you. I have you with me.
His password's gone. He was good.
Towards.
Him.
Today.
Evening, by reading a verse of Scripture that really introduces what I have on my heart and presenting the gospel of the grace of God.
It's found in John's Gospel, chapter 19.
John's Gospel chapter 19. Just the last couple of lines of verse 5.
And pilate Seth unto them.
Behold the man. These last three words particularly behold the man, because the exercise of our souls tonight in presenting the gospel is not to present theology or religion.
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Not to present Reformation, not to present sociology, not to talk about turning over a new leaf, but to present a man, and to present the man Christ Jesus. And the desire of God's heart. Tonight is that you would focus on his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And here we find the Lord Jesus at the end of his pathway, that pathway of dispensing blessing. And so many had observed the ways of the Lord Jesus.
In his pathway here, as his feet trod up and down the dusty streets of Palestine, as his hands had touched the leper, as he had given sight to the blind, as he had healed the sick, as he had spoken the very words that God the Father gave him to speak, those gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. Many had observed him, but here we find that one more time he's presented.
And I realized that he is presented here by Pilate, Pilate, a man who eventually yielded to the will of the people and delivered the Lord Jesus to be crucified. But think of these words as Pilot brings forth the Lord Jesus and he says, behold the man. And tonight if we could boil down the gospel message to 1 short statement, 1 short plea, perhaps this would be it.
Behold the man, because it's a person tonight that we have to present in the gospel. It's not something, it's someone that we have tonight. Because God man is the man at his right hand, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God would always have us to have our gaze and our thoughts and our hearts directed to him, whether it's those of us who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior.
As we have had our thoughts and our hearts directed to the person of Christ in these meetings, or whether it's tonight in the presentation of the gospel, once again it's Christ. It's the saviour of sinners if this is the one that God would always occupy us with. And I know today they talk about multitasking and they talk about all kinds of things in the technology that allows us to perform many tasks. But tonight I want to encourage our hearts at the beginning of this gospel meaning to focus.
To direct our attention to one person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I just want to say this at the beginning of this meeting because it burdens my heart.
You know, I have young people.
And I was a young person once, and when I was the age of you young people, we didn't have the technology that you have today.
But you know, it burdens my heart to realize that sometimes in a meeting like this, when we are seeking to present Christ and to direct our focus to that blessed man as the saviour of sinners, to realize that sometimes there are gadgets in your hand, gadgets that are taking your attention away from the message and from the word of God. I know sometimes young people text across the room.
Yes, they do.
I realize sometimes you're reading things on your gadgets that are distracting you from the message. But tonight I want to encourage you, just for a few minutes, to put those gadgets away, to put them in your pocket, to hook them back on your belt or wherever you keep them, and to give us your attention for a few moments. Or, shall I say, to give God your attention.
For a few moments, God is seeking to get your attention tonight.
And if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, to pay attention tonight may be the most vital and important thing you've ever done.
I didn't pay attention in school like I should have.
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It got me into trouble sometimes. Sometimes the teacher.
Realized that I wasn't paying attention by the far off glazed look in my eyes.
And sometimes the teacher would ask me a question directly that I couldn't answer because I wasn't paying attention.
Sometimes when the end of the week or the end of the term came, I couldn't answer the questions on the quiz or the exam because I hadn't focused in class.
Maybe they would have given me Ritalin in my day. I don't know. They have all kinds of things today and they everything is labeled ADS and all this kind of thing. But tonight, tonight, for just a few moments, I plead with you before God to behold the man.
Can't you just picture this scene, the Lord Jesus on trial?
The only perfect man that ever walked in this world, the one who was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. And he's presented to the crowd. He's presented to the world perhaps one last time before they take him out and crucify him. And Pilate says, behold the man, and God says to you tonight, behold the man.
But before we pass on and read some other scriptures.
I'd like to impress upon our souls, too, that there's one who's looking down into this room.
And one who is beholding each individual who is in this room, and not only so, but one who is looking into your very heart, one who knows your thoughts are far off.
You know, sometimes we like to sit on the back row, don't we? Because we feel that perhaps we won't be observed by the one up front.
You know, I never realized as a young person how much you can see from this vantage point.
You know you can see right into the back rows, but all I want to tell you something that's more solemn.
Than my eye resting upon you from this podium tonight. And that's the eye of God. Because you may put your BlackBerry in your smartphone away. And you may look at me. You may steer me in the face for the next 40 minutes. And you may seem like you're listening. But I can only observe what's on the outside. But there's one who sees. And there's one who has been watching you from the day that you were born.
One who knows every act you've ever done, one who knows every thought you've ever thought. One who knows every word you've ever spoken. And one who knows whether your sins have been taken care of by the work of Christ and the shed blood, or whether you sit here with those dark blots of sin still on your heart.
Yes, he knows, you know, sometimes as children.
We're surprised at how much our parents know.
You know, I've often said that mothers have an uncanny insight that borders on genius.
Fathers know a lot, too. I remember as a young boy, I suppose like all children or most children at least I had a sweet tooth. But you know, when I was growing up, money and candy was very limited in our house. In fact, my father used to give us a nickel to go to the candy store, and in those days you could buy a small chocolate bar or a small bag of chips. Sometimes he'd give us a dime, but he really thought that was squanderous to give a child a dime.
To go and buy candy.
But I remember one time in the grocery store.
When I thought no one was looking.
I reached out and took something that didn't belong to me.
And I slipped it in my jacket pocket and I took it home. You know, I thought it was some kind of chocolate or sweet. But when, you know, you know, when I got it home to the solitude of my bedroom and opened it up and took a bite, I almost gagged. It was a block of Philadelphia cream cheese.
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And so I quickly slipped it back in my jacket pocket, and when I thought nobody was looking, I quietly left the house by the back door and wound my way down to the backfield where there was a pile of rocks.
And I looked this way and that, and I lifted a rock and I slipped that block of cream cheese under that rock.
And with a bad conscience. Yes, with a bad conscience. I slip back to the house. I went to my room. Because, you know, when there's something really weighing on your conscience, you really don't want to speak to anyone. And you know, if you come in front of mom or dad, they're going to realize that something is wrong. My mother knew when I was quiet, there was something wrong, something on my conscience.
You know, I wasn't very long in my room till my father knocked on the door.
And when he opened that door.
You know what he had in his hand? He had a block of Philadelphia cream cheese with the end open.
And one bite taken out of it. I don't know how he saw me, but he observed. Must have been watching from the window as I wound my way back through the field and hid that cream cheese.
As if I didn't learn my lesson not long after I was in a convenience store.
And I slipped a coffee crisp chocolate bar in my pocket. I was going to make sure I got the right thing this time. I didn't get out to the car till my father was questioning what was in my pocket. You know, I'm glad for that because it taught me a great lesson that not only.
Does the eye of someone in this world see things we don't want them to see? But the eye of God rests upon us, and He sees those things that we never get caught for.
Yes, he does, and He knows our hearts. And tonight, if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, there's someone who's beholding you. Or maybe you think you can slip down behind the other young people and the people in the row in front of you. Or you're sitting somewhere behind the post and nobody sees you. And that may be true, But remember, you do not escape from the all seeing eye of God. The eyes of the Lord are in every place.
Beholding the evil and the good, and we are all sinners. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is not a man on the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
But the wonderful story tonight is that we can present to you the man Christ Jesus, and in the language of Scripture here we can say, behold the man.
Let's turn over or turn back a few pages to the first chapter of John's Gospel.
John's Gospel chapter one and verse 14.
And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Just notice further down in the chapter in the 29th verse, the next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away.
The Sin of the World, verse 36 and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith Behold the Lamb of God. I want to read one other verse and it's in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 12.
Matthew's Gospel, chapter 12 and verse 18. Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgement to the Gentiles. Well, I read these verses because again we have God directing our focus to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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You know, there were those like John and others who were privileged to behold the person of the Lord Jesus as he walked here in this world Must have been wonderful, wasn't it? John said. Later on we have seen with our eyes and our hands of handled of the word of life. These ones had the privilege of walking with the Lord Jesus, beholding the glory of the Lord Jesus.
Those moral glories that were exhibited in His life, as we said earlier, in every movement, in every breath, in every word that He spoke, and not only that, but sometimes they saw beyond those moral glories. There were little flashes of His glory that came out like on the Mount of Transfiguration, when James and Peter and John were there with the Lord Jesus, and He was transfigured.
Among them.
Before them we find too that in the garden when they came to take him, a little flash of glory came out, and those that were there that had come to take him fell backwards to the ground. But what a privilege it must have been. Think of those boys and girls that came to the Lord Jesus on one occasion. And the older ones, the disciples, tried to drive them away. Isn't that what we are? Who are older are like sometimes we don't always have time for the boys and girls.
But the Lord Jesus had lots of time for the boys and girls. And think of the wonderful privilege of being taken up in the arms of the Lord Jesus, having those arms of love put about them, hearing his words whispered in their ears, others that came and sat down and listened to him as he expounded wonderful truth through illustrations and stories and parables.
Wonderful privilege, and John says.
We beheld his glory as of the only begotten full of grace and truth, and John the Baptist was able to announce the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Is there anyone else that we can direct you to tonight? No, there's only one, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world because we want to stress.
That it is only through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ that salvation is offered tonight. The Lord Jesus came in incarnation. He came in human form. It was prophesied. A body. Hast Thou prepared me? He came bodily into this world. He walked through it in perfection. But that didn't save my soul.
How could the Lord Jesus on occasion say to certain individuals thy sins be forgiven thee? Oh, because the Lord Jesus knew that he was going to the cross as that great sacrifice. He knew that he was going there as the Lamb of God. And that is the only way the Lord Jesus could forgive sins while he was here it was.
In anticipation.
Of that work. And there is only one way that tonight the salvation and the forgiveness of sins can be offered to lost sinners. And that is because the work has been accomplished.
Behold the Lamb of God.
We began the Gospel meeting last night with that hymn, didn't we? Behold, behold the Lamb of God on the cross.
On the cross?
You know, we were together, many of us this morning in this room to remember the Lord Jesus and the breaking of bread.
To look back to Calvary, lest we ever forget that mighty sacrifice. And so often when we're together, on an occasion like that, we sing that glorious hymn.
On Calvary we've adoring, stood, and gazed on that wondrous cross where the holy spotless Lamb of God was slain in His love for us. And I know there are just so many here whose hearts thrill as we present the Lamb of God. Your heart's thrilled as we think of that mighty work of Calvary that satisfied God as to the question of sin that has made it possible for the gospel.
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Salvation to be preached. But all tonight our souls are burdened for you, if you are still in your sins, if you are still lost tonight.
Behold the Lamb of God. And then we have him presented in another way in the Scripture we read in Matthew 12. Here again, it's God directing us to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And here he says, Behold my servant.
The Lord Jesus said he came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. It tells us that he took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death.
Even the death of the cross. And you know, as a result of that work, God has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, and will speak of that in a few moments.
But I'd like to turn back to Luke's gospel now. We had it before us this morning, but I'd like to turn back to the 23rd chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
We had in the children's meeting this morning.
Our gays and our thoughts directed to that center cross where the Lord Jesus hung, where he suffered in agony, and where he was made sin in those hours of darkness.
But let me read in Luke 23 and verse 35 and the people stood beholding. I'm going to stop there. The people stood beholding. I know we've pictured this in our mind's eye time and time again. The Lord Jesus having been on trial, he's now taken and LED out from pilots judgement hall to Calvary.
To Golgotha. To the place of a skull.
You ever wonder why it's called the place of a skull?
You know, a skull is an empty head, isn't it? I.
And you know that's as high as man's intellect took him.
You know, it was the intellects of the day and those in places of responsibility and position and authority that clamored for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Man's intellect caused him to take God's beloved Son outside the city walls of Jerusalem, that holy city that had deteriorated to such a point that it had religion without Christ. Because there's still plenty of religion without Christ in this world today. But they took him out and they crucified him at the place of a skull.
And there were many who observed him there.
There were the women who loved him, and they stood afar off, and they observed him, and you can imagine what must have gone through their souls as they saw the Lord Jesus, his mother, amongst them his earthly mother. You can just imagine what must have gone through the souls of those women as they saw the Lord Jesus suffered there. There were others who sat down and watched him in his agony.
There were others who passed by and reviled him.
There were those who, if we were to read on here, said he saved others himself. He cannot, he could, cannot save. There were those who said, if thou be the Christ, come down from the cross, save thyself, and us so many that mocked him and derided him in one way or another. We learned this morning about those thieves. And, you know, initially both of those thieves took the same position.
In deriding the Lord Jesus and mocking him. Thank God.
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One had a change of heart and a work in his soul.
That caused him to own Jesus as Lord before he was ushered into eternity.
But oh, tonight, let's go to the cross for a moment. Let's behold the Lamb of God.
On the cross. On the cross.
To just stop for a few moments and in our minds I picture that scene. How hard is your heart tonight as you observe the spot, the Son of God hanging there in that deep, deep agony?
And where is the heart so hardened? And who is so vile as he?
Let's see if the Savior suffer. And Seth, it is nothing to me.
Is it nothing to you? All ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me from above, Hath he sent fire into my bones? And it hath prevailed against me. Because, you know, as we had this morning, there came a moment.
When God said that's enough.
And those who had beheld the Savior suffer.
Whether it was a momentary glance in passing by at that crossroads, or others who sat down there for a longer period of time, God said that's enough, and God shrouded the scene in darkness.
And the most important sufferings of Christ.
No eyes all.
I suggest that no eye penetrated that darkness.
That fell as the sun was shrouded at high noon, when the Lord Jesus bore my sins in his own body on the tree. Yes, he did. I delight to be able to stand with Peter and say He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. But what about you?
Have you availed yourself of those atoning sufferings? Because those are the most important sufferings of all.
I don't want to minimize in any way the physical sufferings of Christ. All those sufferings were awful, but I really wonder when it says his face was so marred more than any man, if really that isn't perhaps.
Applied more particularly to that time when the Lord Jesus was made the sin bearer, we cannot and will not for eternity enter into what he must have gone through.
As he borally bore the sins of those who trust him in those hours of darkness, how deep a sorrow who can tell that was for us endured, and none of the ransomed ever knew? How deep were the waters crossed, or who? How dark was the night the Lord passed through ere he found?
The sheep that was lost.
The people stood beholding.
And tonight, for a few moments, as it were, like those people we stand beholding, there were different reactions, weren't there, if we were to read the various accounts in the Gospels there, as we've said, there were different reactions as they observed the Lord Jesus there on the cross, and no doubt as we have spoken of the crucifixion.
And focused our attention on a crucified Christ for a few moments this evening. There are different reactions in this audience tonight.
What has your reaction been tonight?
Is your reaction to turn away and say, well, that's OK, but not for me? Or to say, well I'm not so bad, or just an indifference, or in the hardness of your heart. I don't know what the reaction of your heart is tonight, but I know the prayer of so many in this room is that the reaction of your heart is that it would be softened by the grace of God.
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And that there would be such a work of the Spirit of God.
That you would turn to that man on the cross.
And that you would be saved. We sometimes sing that hymn look, look, look and live.
Takes us back and thought, does it not, to the story of the brazen serpent in the Old Testament.
A story that I suppose most of us have heard from the very early days of our childhood. And you remember how the children of Israel, after they were in the wilderness, sin came in amongst them, and God sent fiery serpents amongst them. And those fiery deadly serpents bit many of the children of Israel, and they died. What a graphic picture of sin and its effects.
But you know, there was a remedy. Moses was told to take and make a serpent of brass, and to put that serpent of brass on a pole where all could see. And everyone who simply looked at that serpent of brass was healed from the bite of the serpent. And we're not left to guess what the application of that serpent on the pole is.
Because the New Testament tells us in John Three, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And when we say the serpent on the pole lifted up, is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up on Calvary's cross and made sin, that is not some fanciful interpretation or application. That is exactly.
What that represents, the Lord Jesus left us in no doubt.
But I say what made them whole was a look at the serpent of brass and what will make you whole tonight. What will take care of the sin? Question is to look to the Lord Jesus as the crucified one. It's true, He's a man in the glory, a Saviour who lives at God's right hand. But oh, tonight we need to look to the cross, to behold the Savior dying and to realize that he was there for you, if you will have him.
After he bore the judgment of God against sin in those hours of darkness, he cried with a loud voice.
He gave up the ghost. He laid down his life in a way that no other ever could or has.
And then?
And then they came to remove those bodies from the cross and to hasten the death of the malefactor on one side and the malefactor on the other, and they broke their legs.
But we read, when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs, but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
And we read in first John the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
What security do you have tonight for eternity?
What security do you have for eternity?
You know, they talk about job security, security for the future, They talk about investing our money wisely and all. There are all kinds of programs to give us a sense of security in this life.
But what about security in the next life?
King Rama the 7th was the last absolute monarch.
Of a country that was called Siam back in those days. It's called Thailand today.
But on November 26, 1925, he was crowned King of Siam.
History tells us that though he was a good and honest ruler, he was an unlikely candidate for any throne. He was a very retiring, reserved kind of man.
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And he was forced to abdicate on March the 2nd, 1935, just a few months short of reigning for 10 years.
He died in 1941, in March 30, 1941 in England under very comfortable circumstances.
You say, how could he die under, live that long and die under very comfortable circumstances, being a deposed king and exiled from his own country while history tells us.
That he must have had some sense of what was coming because when he took the throne.
He took out unemployment insurance.
With two underwriters in Western Europe, a French and a British underwriter, and they were for substantial amounts of money, and he is recorded in history as the only king to insure himself against his own throne. But as a result he was able in exile to live very comfortably for a number of years.
Till the day of his death.
But what insurance do you have for eternity?
I'm not saying it's wrong to provide and lay up for the future here.
And for our loved ones and so on. That's not what I'm saying, but there's something that is far, far more important. Rama the 7th laid up and made plans in case he lost his throne.
And he lived comfortably.
What insurance he had for eternity, I have no idea.
But tonight, there's only one way to ensure your eternity with Christ.
And that is through the death and the shed blood.
Of the Lord Jesus and that mighty work of Calvary. You know, I was struck with a newspaper article recently that was speaking about.
The Black market for blood?
In Bulgaria.
It's quite a business in Bulgaria.
Because of the poor economic conditions of that country and corruption, there is very, very little blood in the blood banks of the hospitals of that country. But as this article explained, there are people who hang around these hospitals and health clinics.
Who are selling their own blood? It's illegal and if you get caught it's punishable by a fine of up to $1700 in the equivalent of US money.
But as this article said, it's very hard to really pin it down and to prosecute anyone. And people will go in and they will be refused surgery or treatment because there isn't their own type of blood in the blood bank.
And the minute they step out on the street, there's somebody there to negotiate with them. And people will pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars. And when they negotiate a deal, the person will go into the hospital or clinic. They will pose as a family member.
After verifying that they have the same kind of blood type as the person on this that needs the blood.
And they will get a certificate.
Are verifying that they have donated blood for a certain person come back out and sell that certificate for several $100. The problem is sometimes when that blood is tested, that blood is diseased or tainted and the person has spent hundreds of dollars for nothing but oh tonight the price has been paid, the blood of Jesus has been shed.
And thank God, I can stand here to tell you that I'm redeemed not with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ and something I speak so carefully and reverently. I trust something that can never be tainted, something that can never lose its value before God, because God says tonight that it's precious. It is as precious and valuable to the heart of God.
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As when it was shared on Calvary's cross, the price has been paid. The gospel is free. Salvation is free. But it's not cheap. It was secured at a great, a tremendous price. And now it's being offered to those who will come and accept it through God's great gift, the gift of the Lord Jesus, And that eternal life that's being offered. Turn with me to Mark's Gospel, Chapter 16.
Mark S Gospel, chapter 16 and verse 6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold, the place where they laid him, Luke's Gospel, chapter 24.
Luke 24 and verse 39. Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me. Have I read these verses, Because I want to stress for a few moments the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, Because if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain, and ye are still in your sins. But thank God tonight we can present one who was raised again for our justification.
And when the Lord Jesus came forth from the tomb, not only was an empty tomb presented to those who were early there on the resurrection morning, but the Lord Jesus remained on earth long enough to give ample and complete testimony to his own that he had bodily risen from the dead. Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones.
As you see me have because the one that we present tonight not only died and was buried, but it says he rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures and Christianity presents to us a living Christ. Yes, one who died. Salvation is based on the death and the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, but again there would be no salvation tonight.
If the Lord Jesus was still in the tomb, many boast of their tombs. The Muslims boast of their stone coffin. Other religions boast of this tomb and that tomb. And many will make long pilgrimages, often at great expense to themselves and great sacrifice to visit the tombs of those that they feel are their religious leaders or those that they worship. But oh, tonight we have a living Savior to present.
There is a Savior on high in the glory, a Savior who suffered on Calvary's tree, a Saviour as willing to save. Now as ever, His arm is almighty, His love great and free. Oh come now to Jesus, that dear loving Savior receive him this moment and peace shall be thine. And so He appeared on a number of occasions to various of His own, even as it says in another place.
To about 500 brethren at one time, what testimony that the Lord Jesus had bodily risen from the dead. But there's something else too. Let's go to the book of the Acts, Acts, Chapter One.
And notice in all of these scriptures that we are connecting tonight.
It is to behold the man. It's the man Christ Jesus. It's God's beloved Son that we seek to present.
Acts, chapter one and verse 9. And when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight, because not only did the Lord Jesus bodily rise from the dead, but the moment came.
When there were those who observed him, yes, they beheld the feet of the Lord Jesus.
Leaving this planet, leaving this world from the Mount of Olives.
And the cloud received him out of their sight, and they saw him no more. But there was testimony not only to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus bodily, but the bodily ascension of the Lord Jesus as well. Because as we just quoted from that hymn, Christianity presents to us Christ where he is now, because not only the resurrection, but the ascension and the glorification of Christ.
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Our gods. Amen to the work of Calvary.
We want proof tonight that God is satisfied with the work of His beloved Son. All we have to do is look up by faith into the open heavens and see where the Lord Jesus is now at the right hand of God. And I realize tonight that we don't look up and see Him with the natural eye, but there are so many here in this room who look up and see Him with the eye of faith.
Whom not having seen we love, though now we see him not yet believing, He rejoice with joy, unspeakable and full of of glory. We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. How do we see him? Crowned with glory and honor. We see him by the eye of faith. And oh, tonight, if you will, by the eye with the eye of faith, look up into the open heavens.
God will direct your gaze to His man and where he is now, and God will give your soul testimony that he is satisfied with the work of His Son, and that the work of his Son is able and sufficient tonight to save you from your sins and make you fit for heaven. Let's go to Revelation chapter One.
Revelation chapter One and verse 7. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.
Even so, Amen. This is a most solemn verse. You know the last glimpse this world got of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Was hanging on a Roman cross, crowned with a crown of thorns, suffering in his agony, and the last glimpse they got of him was as loving hands. Took him down from that cross after those hours of darkness, and laid him in that tomb, and that stone was rolled over the door.
Only his own, as far as we read, saw him in resurrection.
But the next World glimpse this world gets of the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord Jesus coming in power and glory and judgment not as the lowly man of grace.
Not riding into Jerusalem on the cult of a donkey.
Not hanging on a cross of shame crowned with a crown of thorns, but heaven is going to open up to reveal him coming on a White Horse.
Crowned with many crowns in power and judgment.
What a solemn time it's going to be for this world.
Yes, as we had last night, he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness. It wasn't the 21St of May.
But no doubt it's going to take place as sure as we're sitting here tonight.
It is going to take place.
And where are you going to be in that day of judgment?
If you refuse the Lord Jesus as your savior.
You're going to see him someday as your judge?
Either you will pass into eternity before the Lord Jesus comes to call his Saints away.
And you will be raised to stand to see him at the Great White Throne.
Or you will be alive to see him when heaven opens up.
And he comes forth, and all the kindreds of the earth wail because of him.
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You know, for those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus prayed in the end of John 17 And he said, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.
Oh, I thrilled to think of that moment. And maybe it's going to be tonight.
Well, I'm going to hear a shout and with all the redeemed from every age, I'm going to be called away.
To look into the face of my blessed Savior, and to behold his glory, and to behold it for all eternity.
Oh, what a day it's going to be. What a thrill to my soul and to so many here. But what about you tonight? Are you going to behold his glory in that way? Are you? Are you going to behold it in connection with the Lord Jesus executing righteous judgment here in this world?
You know if you're going, if you see him in that day as your judge.
You're going to see me there too.
Not a solemn thing.
I'm going to come back with the Lord Jesus when he comes in judgment.
You know, I watched the events in Egypt weeks ago unfold.
And it was a very solemn thing to my soul every time I saw pictures of what was unfolding. You know why?
Because of the number of times over the years I've been in Egypt.
I think if you were to calculate if I was to calculate it, I've spent about 12 weeks of my life in Egypt over 5 or 6 visits.
And every time I saw a picture of what was going on, the.
I knew exactly where it was happening. I had stood there on that bridge in that square on that street corner.
It was a solemn thing for me to see those events unfold, and thus human sorrow and.
All that went on, but you know what I thought of the.
When I when Christ comes back to reign in judgment, to execute judgment, I'm going to come with them and I'm going to see events unfold in this world.
And those that perhaps I've looked into the faces of on occasions like this.
And I'm going to see it through the eyes of the Lord Jesus.
And I am going to accept it as righteous judgment.
Solemn, solemn to think about.
But oh, I plead with you tonight at the end of this gospel meeting. Judgment is imminent, but salvation is being offered free to all. And I want to read one more verse in closing.
It's an Acts Chapter 7.
I'm not going to comment on this verse, but I want to leave it with you. We began with Behold the man, I want to end with this.
Acts Chapter 7, verse 56.
And he said, and said, Behold, I see heavens open, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God, let's pray.