Gospel—Doug Buchanan
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Could we open our meeting this afternoon with hymn number six Nahim she?
God in mercy sent his Son to a world by sin undone.
Jesus Christ was crucified. It was for sinners. Jesus died. Does everybody have a hymn sheet? Join us in.
Number six.
God and mercy and his Son.
To the world, by sin and dumb, Jesus Christ was crucified.
Was for sin, there's Jesus died.
All the glory.
And God is love.
Sin and death no more shall reign.
Jesus.
Died and lives again.
See him go supremely light.
Grace.
Shining in the sacred space.
The only sins?
Lord of all, it's Jesus now.
Everything to hear my spine.
Oh, glory on the grace shining.
The Savior's face.
Telling sinners.
From the Lord.
Once will rain every.
Time that last spill.
Jesus Christ is Lord alone.
On the floor, agreed on the grace.
Shining.
In the Savior's face.
Telling us.
All of us.
To introduce our subject matter as open our Bibles to Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 5.
I'm going to read about 3 portions here first before comment.
Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5.
And verse 8.
Blessed are the pure in heart.
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For they shall see God.
Now turn to 2nd Corinthians.
Chapter 4 and verse 3.
If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.
And ourselves, your servants, for Jesus sake, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And then one more verse in the Book of Revelation.
Chapter 22. A last chapter of the Bible.
Verse 3.
And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads.
It's a wonderful thing to think that we human beings can see God.
No God.
Face to face relationship.
You know God, our Creator, God who made us, made us purposefully as human beings to be that special people with whom he wanted to form relationship.
He made other beings too, angels.
To do things that angels are called to, but they're not called to be in the relationship that you and I are called to be, like family members.
He made the lower creation and other animals too.
And it's true that a dog.
When it's happy and when it has a relationship with this master can enter into it and it will wag its tail.
When he knows his master's happy and it will put his tail between his legs. When it's shamed and know something is wrong.
And it has those kind of feelings, too.
And how much more we as human beings?
We don't have a tail to put between our legs, but we show our shame.
In different ways too.
You know, on my way here.
Yesterday I stopped and had a gospel meeting. It was a very different gospel meeting than this one.
The gospel meeting where I don't think I know the names of a single one of the persons there. I might, if I scratch my head for a while, be able to come up with one or two. Now I look out on you, and I know many of you by name, and most all of you by at least family.
It's a great privilege to be in a place like this where you have family relationships and you know.
And we're on Thanksgiving weekend here today. This is the close of Thanksgiving.
Weekend. I'm very thankful that in this country there's a special weekend that is dedicated to giving thanks.
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Now that.
Takes for granted something.
That relates us to this gospel meeting.
To whom do we give thanks?
Where is the thanks owed?
Who gave us what we have here?
Or who didn't give us what we don't have.
For some good reason.
It's our God.
It's our God that wants a relationship with us.
And this gospel meeting is about.
Relationship with God.
Our God.
Wants you and me to be in a happy relationship with him.
And he did everything possible.
So that we could enjoy that.
Not just on one weekend of the year, but every weekend, every day of the year.
He wants.
You to be near him And how can we be near him?
Except it be for the Lord Jesus Christ who came down into this world to take our place on the cross and bear the judgment that we deserved, to put those sins away and to remove them so completely that we can come back to our Creator God.
In a good conscience, with no shame.
And no impediment to joy or peace.
I want everyone in this room this afternoon to be able to go out of these doors enjoying that relationship with your God.
That's the purpose of gospel meetings. It isn't to gather somebody to us and to become a part of the meeting that we go to. It's better than that.
It's to get you back to God.
For Christ also hath suffered for sins, the just, for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
That's the gospel.
Now, I told you that on the way here.
We had a gospel meeting.
As a few less than here approximately the same number, a few less.
And I want to tell you a little bit a story about this gospel meeting.
You know it was Thanksgiving weekend.
This gospel meeting was in a prison.
Everyone of those men there were at a distance from their family.
Some of them had wives and children's off.
One of them was telling me he didn't know where his father was, he hadn't seen him years, he didn't know if he still existed or not.
What a thing on Thanksgiving weekend.
And so some stories were told there.
Different things about Thanksgiving.
Weekend and I want to relate to you one story that I heard.
A man.
Who had a Christian mother?
Who had a praying grandmother too.
On a Thanksgiving weekend.
This man.
Knew the gospel.
He knew ought to give all the answers, or at least a good number of them.
Probably not as much as you little girls right there on your third row there.
But he could give a good number of the answers.
But he didn't think.
That was the way he wanted to live his life.
In a relationship with his God.
And so he put up his hands and said, God.
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Thus far.
I'm going to let you in my life and that's all.
And he proceeded to live his life without God.
The best he could.
The years went by. One marriage, two marriages, Both failed.
Other relationships also failed.
Things were getting bad financial.
Problems came into his life.
Including bankruptcy.
And who knows what else.
That have not been described.
Thanksgiving weekend rolled around.
Invite went out to the to the children, two boys.
No response, Not even a no thank you.
No word at all.
So this man calls up.
One family member.
Can I come over for Thanksgiving?
Sure.
The door was open.
This young man.
Enjoy this Thanksgiving with his family member.
Talked about a few old times.
I think it was probably the best Thanksgiving it had for a little while.
The next day, he proceeded to drive home.
All these thoughts flooded in.
About how he had left God out of his life.
Perhaps a little touch of love at that Thanksgiving meal had touched his heart.
And he began to thinking about his God.
And as he was driving along to turn to help pass the time, he turned the radio on and it happened to be there was a gospel preacher preaching on the message.
He started listening to the gospel again that he'd heard when he was a young person.
The Lord was speaking to him.
The difficulties of his life had broken him down.
He had learned the hard way that futility of finding life and joy without his God.
And like the father of the prodigal son, there was somebody waiting for him in heaven for the right moment to throw his arms around him.
And that young man began to cry.
And he couldn't control himself and he had to pull over to the side of the road.
And all he could say is God, whatever it takes.
Whatever it takes, here am I.
That's the fellowship. That's where our God wants to bring us.
Repentance toward God and faith.
In our Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed did.
Are the pure in heart.
For they shall see.
How is it with you, dear young people?
I know you go to meeting. I know you've come to this conference.
But personally, how is that relationship in your with your soul?
And God.
Are you really happy or are you just faking them?
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Isn't it wonderful to have a time to give thanks to God?
Well, we go on to 2nd Corinthians.
And we have the gospel mentioned there.
How is it that God could bring this man and welcome him as a Sinner in all his need?
And be so generous and kind.
It is a privilege to preach the gospel to those prisoners and.
And I want to encourage you young men and young ladies too. There are doors.
Open for the Gospel.
I get thanked over and over again every week.
For coming and sharing an hour together.
And they genuinely appreciate it. There's an open door. There are places.
There are places where there are souls hungry for the gospel. Our brother mentioned to us last night about making an effort to get out there. 9000 souls to be reached. That's a goal.
May you find one of them.
Just one of them right now.
I'm looking for one soul here tonight, this afternoon.
One soul that's tired.
One soul that doesn't know how to appreciate rightly what God has given us and to give thanks for it in fellowship with our God.
If our gospel is hid.
It's hid from them that are lost.
Let's go back to.
Book First book of the Bible, Tap Genesis. I want to read about the first two boys.
And how this separating process began with Cain.
This departure down this road that leads to darkness, that leads to a distance from God.
You see, we're a little bit like Cain and Abel in that, being brought up in a Christian family.
We're close to God.
He's near us. We hear about him from week to week and day-to-day.
And these two boys did, too.
But then they made their choices.
Genesis chapter 4.
Verse 3.
Came to pass.
And in process of time, it came to pass that Cain.
Brought of the fruit of the ground, and offering unto the Lord, and able he also brought of the first slings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.
And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fall fell.
And the Lord said unto Cain.
Why art thou, Roth are angry, and why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him, or over that it.
Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up.
Against Abel his brother, and slew him.
Just that much for now.
Both of these boys started from the same point God was near.
An established relationship was there.
It may not have been perfect because sin had already begun its work of degradation and separation.
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But.
They both drew near.
Let's say this was the first Thanksgiving Day.
And each one wanted to give bring a present and give thanks.
One brought of his own make works of his own making.
Fruit of he had labored for, and the other brought an animal that had been sacrificed. Picture of death.
God doesn't have to tell us why he accepts certain things and why he doesn't.
I understand why he didn't accept one thing and he didn't. He did accept one thing and he didn't accept another.
It's plain to me, but even if you don't understand why, or even if these two boys didn't understand why one was accepted and the other was.
Basically all they had to do was change and repent and do it differently. Nothing hard about that.
But he refused.
This is the same story that I told you a little earlier that was told at prison.
Same story, just a little few different details, different.
What's the story of your life going to be?
You're starting out now. Maybe some of us here are farther along.
The story of our life.
But basically.
Two ways.
Two people, two ends.
Very simple.
I read this.
And I think about.
The Lord God looking down at these two boys.
I think he loved those boys, those boys. I have two boys. They're different.
But I love them both.
Our God is that way He loves.
Everybody.
He wants the good and blessing of everyone. He wants your blessing and mine.
And it must grieve him when he sees two boys like this, one envious of the other and refusing to change.
The sad thing is.
What Cain did was the beginning of a departure of a course.
If we would read on in the story, we'd see little later on, it says in the farther down in the chapter. In verse 16 it says and Cain went out.
From the presence of the Lord.
And dwelt in the land of Nod, in the east of Eden and so forth. And then it goes on and tells what he did.
And various.
Progress or digression, however you want to term it.
Of things that were developed to live.
Life without God.
That was his choice.
And I'm calling it to your attention.
So that you will make that mistake.
To choose to live your life without God.
There is no better life to live than what God, our Creator has planned for every one of you. You know, it is difficult in this in this world that we live in. There are a lot of choices and life is very complex. It wasn't, it isn't simple any longer like it was there. I envy some of our brethren down in the Dominican Republic for this reason because life is simple there.
And.
Basically, when you want to get married, all you have to do is go back and gather a few sticks together and build a house and and you can live off the land and, and there's much to be said for a simple life like that and to raise a family.
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Off in the woods.
Without all the detractions of the world around, there's something to be said of good for that. I believe the Millennium is going to be a little bit like that. But God hasn't given us that option right here in the United States where most of us live. And so we have to deal with these issues.
We're born near the city, we're born near civilization and we have to deal with these kind of things, but this principles are still the same.
God has a plan of blessing.
For you and me.
And it's through.
What the Lord Jesus Christ has done.
For us to come back and give thanks to God and to live our lives.
In fellowship with him.
Now let's turn over to.
Let's turn over to the book of Acts.
Chapter 9.
I want to read a little bit of history of the man who wrote these words in Second Corinthians that we read.
Concerning Saul.
Acts Chapter 9 and verse 3.
Speaking about Saul, it says, as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecute us, Thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecuted.
Hard for thee to kick against the ******. And he trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee.
What thou must do?
Here was a man very zealous in his religion.
But he did not know Jesus Christ, whom God had sent.
And the Lord Jesus was revealing himself to him in a very dramatic way.
If our gospel be hidden, it is hid from them that that are lost.
It was hid from Saul because he was blinded in his religion.
But God wanted to shine in his heart and bring that man into a relationship with him again.
And he did it.
And that's what the Gospel does.
And that's what the gospel did to this man that we spoke about in prison.
It took a lot to breakdown the barriers.
Once those things were broken down.
And there was a pliable heart and a willing heart, a submissiveness to receive from God.
From that moment on, everything was easy.
Is there someone here who is resisting?
Saying no to the Lord.
I'm not saying you're not coming to meeting. I'm not saying, are you?
Learning your memory verses I'm saying are you let keeping the Lord out of certain aspects of your life? Are you saying no to the Lord?
If so.
You're missing some of the blessing of relationship with your God.
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In essence.
You're saying I've got a better plan?
You must be pretty smart then, to have a better plan than God.
Saul here when that light shone.
And we heard those words.
First of all, he says, Who art thou, Lord?
You know, it's significant that he said Lord without knowing who he was speaking to.
Unqualified.
His faith or his obedience was no matter who you are, what do you have to say to me?
Now that's what it takes.
Usually we kind of reserve, well, it depends on what you're going to say and who's going to say it, whether I'll accept it or not.
That's not the obedience of faith.
Who art thou, Lord?
Then the Lord Jesus could reveal.
And what wilt thou have me to do?
And he was told. And from there on it was simple.
How much it takes sometimes to break us down, to bring us to the point.
That's why there's the need to preach what we call repentance.
Repentance is not really the gospel, but there needs to be that breaking down of my own will.
And repentance isn't just saying I'm sorry, but it's a complete judgment of self.
Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.
And the Lord showed him.
So now we'll turn over to Two Corinthians and read again those. Notice again those words that we read.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 4.
Verses three and four if our gospel be hid.
It is hid to them that are lost. I believe Paul had a real burden for souls from that day on that he was converted. That same week he was converted, he went into the into the temple and he preached that Jesus is the Son of God. He began early and no doubt there were many things he needed to learn, but the he established well who Jesus was.
And what an authority or what who he was in relationship to him. And so he wanted the gospel to be preached. It's hid from them that are lost.
In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.
And that's what's around us.
The blinding of the God of this world. The God of this world does not want human beings to see that light of who Jesus is.
And to enjoy that relationship.
Of seeing God.
And he'll do anything to keep he can to keep us from that.
There is an enemy.
Really, he's an enemy of Jesus Christ more than he's an enemy of you and me.
That's his number one target is Jesus Christ.
But we get caught up in it if we heed his ways.
Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
It was so precious to my soul this morning in the remembrance.
To come into the presence of God through the Lord Jesus, to remember him in his death, and to.
What a wonderful theme we had before us of The Who God is and knowing Him.
This is just a little foretaste of what heaven is going to be like.
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This is the relationship that God wants to bring you into. This is what my friend was missing all those years when?
He blocked God out of his life.
We preached not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.
He's Lord.
The Lord Jesus is the one who has breached the gap between God, and who extends his arms out to us and says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
That's rest of conscience, you know, as well as physical rest.
It's peace and rest in the presence of God.
Well.
I want to close.
But let's read those verses in Revelation chapter 22.
Verse four And they shall see his face.
And his name shall be in their foreheads.
I want to contrast this with go back to Matthews Gospel chapter 8.
And verse.
12.
Now verse. We'll begin with verse 11.
This is the Lord Jesus speaking. Matthew 811 And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and West, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven, but the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing.
Of teeth.
These are the two destinies.
These are the two ends of the path of Abel and Cain.
One is darkness and one is the presence of God.
And seeing his face.
The light.
It's interesting that I believe.
Every time in scripture where it speaks of weeping and gnashing of teeth, the subject matter is Christian profession.
In other words, it's those who heard the gospel or made a profession of the gospel but weren't genuine.
I find that so serious.
It isn't talking about the pagans that haven't heard the abundant testimony that that we have heard.
But it's Christian profession.
Every time that the Lord uses those words, weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Another place that says where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.
I I hope I'm not just using scare tactics here, young people and children.
No, this is just simple facts of reality that God has revealed to us. The two destinies that there are light and darkness. That's the one of the first things that God did when he made the creation was he separated light from darkness. And you can't mingle those two together. It's impossible for them to those two things to exist together.
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Their mutual, exclusive light and darkness can't happen together. There will be no darkness in heaven. There will be no light in hell.
There will be no company. I was speaking to the prisoners about this because sometimes we hear mockingly.
Said Oh well, if you go to hell, you'll have plenty of company in hell.
Shudder the thought.
There will be no company in hell.
In outer darkness, no fellowship.
It says misery loves company, you know, and it's when we're in misery that we need company.
But there will be no company.
In outer darkness.
There will be fellowship.
In the light.
Not a shadow.
Not a cloud between the face of God and His people.
Wonderful.
We allow clouds and we allow things here and from time to time to come in between to break our communion. It doesn't break our relationship, but it can break our fellowship with our God. He's still the same. He doesn't change when we allow those things to come into our lives and they break that communion. But we're still in the relationship if we've become sons and if we've accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior.
So Thanksgiving.
Is about being in the presence of God.
In fellowship with him.
With nothing between us but light.
Nothing to disturb.
Joy and peace and happy and the ability to give an expression to it.
Here on Lord's Day morning, sometimes we have these wonderful thoughts and we can express them. They're so wonderful.
And we're thankful sometimes to be able to say Amen at the end of a prayer or of a hymn that has been written in the Spirit and enjoy it. But many times they're not. We're not capable of expressing those things.
Well, perhaps some of those limitations will be set aside in the glory and will have new bodies. Well, I was just thinking about this as a gospel message for Thanksgiving weekend, and I hope if there's someone here who hasn't.
Given thanks for the unspeakable gift that today you would do it and begin your life.
In fellowship with your creator God that gave you everything to be thankful for.