Gospel—Bob Thonney
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Everybody.
Let's start our meeting tonight with #32 what can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can I shall weigh my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of sea.
4953.
9698 96964 on my thighs and that might be nothing but all of a sudden.
All of the grass droughts and sunflowers.
And make me wine that's not all the snow. No, no, no, no, no.
Let's sing another song #23.
Behold, behold the Lamb of God on the cross for us. He shed his precious blood on the cross.
Maybe we could stand and sing #23.
Nsnoise.
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Nsnoise.
Let's turn to Acts chapter 10.
Gonna read a message that the apostle Peter gave in the home of a man called Cornelius.
Acts chapter 10 and verse 36.
The word which God sent unto the children of Israel.
Preaching peace by Jesus Christ, He.
Is Lord of all that word I say ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached.
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.
Who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil?
For God was with him, and we are witnesses of these all things which He did, both in the land of the Jews.
And in Jerusalem.
Whom they slew.
And hanged on a tree.
Him God raised up from the dead and showed him openly.
Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us.
Who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead?
And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is He.
Which was ordained of God to be the judge?
Of the quick or the living and dead to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive.
Remission of sins. That's the message that Peter preached.
In the home of Cornelius, it's the same message that we preach today.
It's a message about Jesus in verse 2636 it says Jesus Christ He is Lord of all. Just to talk a little bit about who he is because it's so important to be clear about who Jesus is. Jesus is a name that means.
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Jehovah the Savior.
Stop and think what that means. Jehovah is the name of God.
From the Old Testament.
Is that man that walked through this world, the God of the Old Testament, the same person? Yes, the same person. He is the one who spoke the whole universe into existence by the word of his power. You know, I love to study the universe and to think about the vastness of it all. It's just beyond our conception.
Some years ago I was speaking out.
In Burbank, CA to some young people and I made a comment that our Galaxy in which we live, it's called the Milky Way Galaxy, has approximately 100 billion stars.
You know, a young man came up to me afterwards and he said, you know, it's closer to 200 billion stars in our Galaxy alone. You know, the numbers just keep going up.
And then in a book that my children gave me because they know I enjoy the universe.
It said in one of the recent books that they calculate now that there are at least 250 billion.
More galaxies, more or less the same size as the Milky Way Galaxy in which we live. Now we're talking about a person who spoke it all into existence. That's the power of this person, Jehovah God, the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah the Savior. This is the one who came into this world.
It's interesting. I'm sure you've heard how he came into this world.
He was born in a way that nobody else has ever been born.
In Genesis chapter three, he is called the seed of the woman. You know that everybody in here has born, been born not of a seed of any woman, but the seed of a man. But here is a man, a man who was born of the seed of a woman because he had no human father. God was his father. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God.
And so the Lord Jesus, to be able to rescue us, to be our Savior.
Necessarily had to die. You know God cannot die.
God is immortal, and so to be able to die, he had to become a man. And the Lord Jesus took on humanity in his person in the in through the Virgin Mary. And the Lord Jesus here in this world was God the Savior, Jehovah the Savior. The next title is Christ.
And Christ means the anointed one. It's the same.
Word basically as Messiah, you know, in the Old Testament times.
When they were going to anoint a new king, a prophet would come along with a horn of oil.
And when he got to the designated person, he would pour the oil on the head of that person. That was the anointing to show that this was the person that was terrain. So that's what.
Christ means it means the anointed one, and it speaks here 2 verses later.
In verse 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, somebody has talked about it today already that when the Lord Jesus came to John the Baptist.
To be baptized, the Lord, John the Baptist protested. He says I have need to be baptized of thee, and you come to me.
Because he knew who he was. He knew he was the sinless, holy, spotless Son of God.
But Jesus said, let it be thus for now, for it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. So John the Baptist baptized him, and in that way Jesus identified himself with repentance. Sinners.
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There were a bunch of Pharisees and scribes there too at the baptism, watching what was going on.
He did not identify with those people. He identified with the people that were repentant through being baptized and so the Lord Jesus when he came up out of the water.
Was as if God couldn't hold back any longer. The heavens came open.
And the Spirit of God came down in the form of a dove, and lighted on him.
And a voice out of heaven said, Thou art my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
The Lord Jesus is the anointed one. He was anointed by God and his the baptism of John. But notice there's another title here in verse.
2636 He is Lord of all.
Now we don't maybe use that word Lord too much in today's world. Maybe we use the word landlord and it means somebody who has authority over a particular piece of property.
But when in the word Lord is used, it's somebody that has authority. That's the use of the word Lord in England. I think they still have the House of Lords there.
Uh, elected to a position in the House of Lords like in this country. I think it would relate to what we have in the Senate. But the Lord is the one who has authority. And notice he begins by saying that this message was given to the children of Israel, but it says he is Lord of all. Doesn't mean matter who you are.
There's some Mexicans in this room, there's some Bolivians and there's some Americans and maybe some Canadians.
Doesn't matter who you are, He is Lord of all.
You know what really impresses me in the world, and especially in this country, the United States of America, what is destroying, really destroying this country is that people do not want to submit to the lordship of anybody.
God is the author of government, human government, and very, uh, necessarily we need to recognize that human government often fails in the way they handle authority.
But still God is the author of authority. Human government is subject to failure. But I want to say about this authority, the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of all.
He will never make a mistake and you are not mistaken by submitting to His authority in your life. You know what sin is. Sin is rebellion to God.
In an alternate reading of first John chapter 3, it says sin is lawlessness. In other words, it means that any way that God says that you ought to do, you basically say, and this is the principle that is in all of us because we all have a sin nature.
No, I'll do my own thing and don't you dare judge me. I have my rights.
To me it is sad, the destruction that we've had here in Ferguson these days. Why is that? People think they know better than the earthly authorities that God has set in this world?
I don't say that the earthly authorities haven't made mistakes.
But to say that they know better and to go and burn down buildings and burn cars?
Is not of God. That is rebellion, and it's rampant in the heart of man. Don't you and me say that we're any different. This heart of ours is exactly the same.
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We like to think that we are a notch above those people that do those crazy things. No, don't you think of that in a moment? We are the same flesh and blood. That's what's our nature, rebellion to God. And that's why it's so important to get to know the Lord Jesus Christ, because he came to resolve that question of sin.
Notice how Peter continues here.
The word I say ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached.
Oh, God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.
And went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God.
Was with him, and we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
Anything that he did, was there any reason to reject it? Do people like being healed of their diseases? I've often thought that the Lord Jesus wouldn't you want a person that could go into a hospital and totally empty a hospital of all the sick people in there?
In fact, he could walk into the morgue and he could revive those that had died. He could bring him back to life. Wouldn't you kind of want a person like that? What did they do to this person?
It says here in verse 39 whom they flew and hanged on a tree. What an awful response to the Christ of God. He went about doing good. We don't want this man. Can you see the rebellion in their hearts? Yeah, we can see it in other people, but sometimes we can't see it in ourselves. If you have not resolved the sin question, it doesn't matter who you are.
You need to think about this. I was raised in a Christian home too. I was taught.
Good doctrine in meetings like we've been sitting in, but the time came when I had to repent of my sins. I had to realize I was no better than the worst criminal on on death row in the United States of America. No better. God says there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
I don't know. People tend to justify themselves.
Remember down in Peru one time we were having a Bible meeting and a man came in and said.
After the meeting was over, he said it was evident that he had been drinking.
He wasn't too out of it yet. He could still talk pretty sanely.
He says I want to get saved. Said, well, that's certainly good that you wanna get saved. I said, so you are a Sinner. Oh, no, no, I'm not a Sinner. I say you're not a Sinner.
Well, one time I beat my wife up, but I'm not a Sinner, you know, I don't know how people think they think that to be a Sinner you have to do something terrible.
And I'm afraid that even amongst those who are raised in Christian homes do not come to the conviction of their own sin before God. It says in Romans chapter 3 there is none good.
No, not one.
Destruction and misery is, in their ways, the way of peace they have not known. That has been evident in what's happened in this city. This is the way of man in his rebellion towards God. Terrible where it leads to. So that's why it's so important to come to grips about this question. They slew him.
And hang them on a tree.
I want to tell you a little bit more about what happened to him when they hanged him on a tree. It was about 9:00 in the morning that day in Israel, in the city of Jerusalem, when they led a man out to die. In fact, they led three out to die. One was Jesus, the Lord of all, the Messiah.
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Jehovah, the Savior, that was the one, and his face.
He was crowned with thorns.
Spittle was running down his face.
And when they got him out to Golgoth, outside the city of Jerusalem, they stretched out.
Those hands that had been so many works of mercy.
And they nailed them to a cross, and they hung him between heaven and earth.
There for three hours he suffered from the hands of man in his rebellion to God.
Then God at 12 noon covered it with darkness, and for three hours, from 12 noon to three in the afternoon, nobody could see what was going on. The prophet Isaiah says it so clearly.
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. I am the guilty party.
But God took those sins that I had committed because He wants to forgive me my sins. Somebody has to pay the price. And God took those sins and light them on his own Son. And then he punished him. For three hours the waves and billows of God's judgment rolled over him, until at the end Jesus could cry with a loud voice. It is finished all the judgment that was against us as guilty sinners.
Jesus paid the price in full.
And then he bows his head and dies.
And a soldier came up to make sure that those three that were crucified were dead, and he breaks the legs of the first thief and the other thief that was crucified with him. Then he comes to Jesus.
And he sees that he's dead already. He takes his sphere and plunges it into the side.
Of Jesus and outflows blood and water.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Sin is a terrible thing in the eyes of God.
You know, we laugh about sins. Sometimes we joke about it, but sin is serious business with God.
Every single sin will receive, it's just punishment from the hand of God.
Jesus paid the price at the cross of Calvary and now.
You and I are to accept what Jesus has done for us by faith, trusting in Him. Like it says in the last verse we read, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive the remission of sins. That means the forgiveness of sins.
God is offering it to you tonight. You don't even have to ask God for forgiveness. He is offering it to you. All you have to do is accept what He is offering to you. Sometimes say if I had $100 bill and I came down and offered it to this brother.
You might say, well, that's sure a nice thing that He's offering me, but if you never put out your hand to take it, it will never be yours. You have to take it and I can't take it for you. And the same goes for forgiveness of sins. Do you want forgiveness of sins? You have to do it by an act of personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture says whosoever believeth in him shall receive.
The remission or the forgiveness of sins by His name?
God has a legal way of forgiving your sins because of what Jesus has done.
You know, sometimes I mentioned this and I think it is important to understand if we had a judge here in the city of Saint Louis.
That every time.
A criminal was brought before him. He would say, well, we're just going to forgive you. You can go now. Here's somebody brought before him that has committed murder. We're just going to forgive you. You can go now. What would you think of that, judge?
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That's not a good judge. Why not?
He does not make the law valid. He doesn't make it stick.
But when Jesus forgives our sins, when God Forgives our sins, it's because of what Jesus paid on the cross of Christ. On the cross of Calvary. He paid the price in full. The full penalty of guilt fell on him, and he paid it all on that cross. Wonderful, wonderful way that we can be forgiven.
Not only forgiven, but justified.
But notice one other thing here that we want to draw attention to.
Verse 42. He commanded us to preach unto the people.
And to the testify that it is he, Lord Jesus Christ.
Which was ordained of God to be the judge?
Of quick and dead quick is an old English word which means living.
And the dead. The Lord Jesus is ordained of God to be the judge of the living and the dead. In other words, there is no way you can escape Jesus.
You must meet Him personally, face to face. You will come to meet Jesus.
No way you can escape it. And we plead with you to think seriously through these issues because you are going to come to face the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember what we said earlier?
Every single sin that has ever been committed on planet earth will be judged by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank God, those sins that I have committed, Jesus took the punishment for him and now I can be forgiven, legally forgiven because of what Jesus did on the cross of the of Calvary.
But you say I don't really believe that I have my own way. OK, I'm not here to force you to believe, but you need to understand what are the alternatives if you don't accept the Lord Jesus as your savior? Because either if you're living when Jesus comes or whether you die and are buried.
In either way, you must meet Jesus.
And I'd like to go briefly to those places in the Scripture that speak of the judgment of the living and the judgment of the dead, because no one is going to escape Jesus. Let's go to Matthew chapter 25.
Verse 31.
This is the judgment of the living when Jesus comes back again and he's coming back again.
There is going to be a judgment of all those who are living in this world.
At that time, notice verse 31 of chapter 25 of Matthew, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory. Son of Man is another title of the Lord Jesus Christ when He sits on the throne of judgment.
People will see a man sitting there. The same man that hung on that cross is the one that will be sitting there on the throne of glory. And the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with him. Then shall he sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations. Sometimes that word nations is called Gentiles.
If you're not a Jew, you're a Gentile.
All nations are included in this. All nations are going to be gathered before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you.
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From the foundation of the world. For I was in hunger, and he gave me meat. I was thirsty, and he gave me drink. I was a stranger, and he took me in naked, and he clothed me. I was sick and he visited me. I was in prison. He came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw thee we thee in hunger and fed thee? Or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in, or naked and clothed thee?
Or when saw with a sick and imprisoned, and came unto thee, Verse 40. And the king shall answer, and say to them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Verse 41.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed into.
Everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was in hunger, and ye gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in naked, and ye clothed me not sick and in prison, and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when shall we be in hunger, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison? It did not minister into the.
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily, I send to you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.
And these shall go away.
Into everlasting punishment that the righteous into life eternal. Here's the Lord Jesus on the throne of his glory when he returns.
You know, these are things that could easily take place in the next decade. We can't set dates here as to when things will happen, but things are happening in the world today that make us realize that we're getting close to the end times.
And the time will come when he will come back, and it says here with all his holy angels.
Don't you think that you can escape him because those angels?
Will root out those that offend and will bring him them to judgment.
There they stand, like a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
Puts the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left.
Those on the right hand are those that have heard the gospel of the Kingdom.
Just let me reflect here a minute if you have heard the gospel of the grace of God.
That we are preaching now that their salvation through the Lord Jesus thru His precious blood.
And definitely take a decision. No, not yet. I don't think so. I'm going my way and the Lord comes. You will not have another chance. Scripture is very clear about that. In Second Thessalonians chapter 2. You will be deceived in the coming days by Antichrist, who is a man probably alive in the world today.
It's incredible to think about it.
But.
If there's a person in this world and there are parts of this world that have never heard the gospel given clearly, and they will hear the gospel of the Kingdom after the church is gone.
They will respond. Some of them will respond. These are the sheep that will go into blessing on the earth in the millennial day under the reign of Christ.
But now the goats. What about the goats?
Lord Jesus said, Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
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Just start to think what's before you if you don't accept Jesus as your savior.
A place prepared not for man. You know God never prepared any place for a rebellious man, because he doesn't want anyone to perish. If you are not saved, God does not want you in that condition, He wants to save you.
But he prepared a place for the devil and his angels.
It's everlasting fire.
And I don't know how awful to I could explain it. Can you imagine ever lasting fire? You know, one time I got burnt when I was trying to start a car and I was pouring some gasoline into the carburetor that you used to have in times past and it backfired and.
Yes, I was pouring into the car.
Exploded and went on to my face, onto my hand and I'll never forget the intense pain, not so much of my burns on my face, but on my hand. Still have some scars there of those burns that I had on my hand. Couldn't stand it. It was too painful. My wife bought a brought a bucket of water and I put my hand in the bucket of water so we could go to the hospital and get a shot that was.
Help me with the pain, but think of it ever lasting fire.
Prepared for the devil and his angels. That's why God sent his Son so that you would not go there. He's blocked the road to hell with the cross of Christ. He doesn't want you to go one more step in that direction. He wants to save your soul tonight.
If you die without faith in Christ, this is where you are headed.
If you continue to live and the Lord comes and the door of salvation is shut for you because you've heard the message clearly.
And you've taken a decision not to believe God. You know what you're doing When you don't believe God, you're calling him a liar.
That's serious business.
Then this will be your end.
You will be one of the goats. And he says to them, Depart from me. He cursed into everlasting fire. It's not what God wanted for you.
It's what you chose yourself.
Somebody has said there are two kinds of people in this world.
Ones that say to God.
Your will be done.
And the ones that God will say to them, your will be done because they rejected what God wanted for them. He is not going to force you against your will. It's in your hands. And I plead with you tonight with all my heart. And there are many other believers here who would join with me in that plea. Please consider the salvation of your soul.
It's way too important to be putting it off. Don't put it off any longer. So this is the end for these that are living on the earth when Jesus comes. But he's the Lord not only of the living, His Lord of the dead as well. And I'd like to go to where we see the judgment, the final judgment of the dead.
In Revelation chapter 20.
I don't read these things to stare at you merely. I read these things so that you will realize that there is no other way to resolve this issue of sin in your life.
Revelation chapter 20.
These are things that will happen because they are written in God's infallible word. Revelation chapter 20 and verse 11. And I saw a great white throne, Him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven LED away, and there was found no place for them.
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And I saw the dead.
Small and great stand before God, and the books were opened and another book was opened.
Which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.
Mercy gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.
And they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Here is the judgment of the debt. The heavens and the earth are gone.
This world is not eternal, it is part of creation, and the day will come when heaven and earth will pass away with a great noise. Scripture tells us somebody said it's atomic explosion, everything is going to disappear.
And so here in space, John sees this great white throne and the one that's sitting on him, the same one that sat on the throne of his glory in Matthew 25.
The same one that hung on that cross.
2000 years ago, close to 2000 years ago, the same one is the one sitting on this throne.
Judgment is God's strange work. He doesn't like to judge. But if you refuse to do about the question of your sins with God, you will have to meet Jesus.
It's your choice. You chose that end. God doesn't want you to go there, He wants you to be saved. But it says the books were opened.
God keeps books, and I suppose there's a book written for every single human human person that's ever lived on planet earth. There's a book. God does not forget details.
He knows every single thing that's ever happened in your life. I would not want people to know some of the things that I have done in my life, but God knows them all.
And the books were opened, and the dead were judged out of those things that were written in the books according to their works. You know when you accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
The blood of Jesus Christ wipes all the guilt of those sins we have committed out.
They're no longer there against us. But if you do not accept what Jesus has done.
And you must answer to God for those sins that you have committed, and there is no way of escaping it.
Books were opened and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books.
According to their works, and the sea gave up the dead which were in them, which are in it.
You know, a lot of people today have their bodies burned when they die and they give instruction to throw their ashes over the out over the sea. Do you think that's going to be any difficulty with God to bring them back? Absolutely no difficulty. He's the one that spoke the universe into existence. He can call your ashes back and re re uh, resurrect you so that you will stand there.
Spirit, soul and body before God.
She gave up the dead which were in them, and death and hell are Hades delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works, and Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of fire. Lake of Fire is another word for Vienna, which is the word same word as hell.
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It's the most awful place. It's an enclosure. A lake is an enclosure, but not of water. The fire torment forever.
And ever, without any hope of ever being able to escape that place. That's why we're here to plead with you to not go any further that direction, to come in true repentance and faith to the Lord Jesus, to accept Him as your Savior, to receive the forgiveness of your sins, to know that you have eternal life, to know that you have a home in heaven. This is what God wants for you.
And we plead with you tonight to not leave this place until you are sure of your eternal destiny.
Meeting is going to end.
But if there's anybody that is sincerely wanting to get things clear in their soul, we will be here. You can come and ask for help. We'll be glad not only myself, but others too to help. If there's something that you are unclear about, please do come. Let's talk.