Gospel—J. Hyland
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Let's begin the Gospel meeting this evening with hymn #7 on the gospel hymn sheet. God loved the world of sinners lost and ruined by the fall. Salvation fall at highest cost. He offers free to all. I'm going to suggest we stand up to sing this hymn number 7 and if someone will please start it.
Oh God, you're here.
And all right, my day, Joy of God's love.
We're going to connect six portions of the Word of God at the beginning the Gospel meeting this evening. The first one is in the book of Galatians.
Galatians chapter one.
Galatians chapter one.
I'm going to begin with the last three words of verse 3.
The last four words our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God, our and our Father, and then turn to Marks Gospel Marks Gospel, chapter 10.
Mark's Gospel chapter 10 and verse 45.
For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. First Timothy, Chapter 2.
First Timothy chapter 2.
00:05:03
And verse 5. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men.
The man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. I want to read another verse in the book of Galatians, this time in the second chapter.
Galatians, chapter 2.
Just the last part part of verse 20.
The Son of God, who loved me and gave himself.
For me, Titus, Chapter 2.
Titus chapter 2 and verse 13 looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing.
Of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. One more portion in the book of Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter 6.
So Ephesians chapter 5.
And justice the last part of verse 25.
Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Well, at the beginning of the Gospel Meeting this evening, we make no apologies from turning here and there in the Word of God. Because, as we've often said at the beginning of a meeting like this, it's the Word of God applied in the power of the Spirit that God is going to use tonight. If there's blessing in this room, oh, it's true as we go through the Word of God in the New Testament.
There is room for preaching and exposition and explanation of the Word of God, but it's not our ability to present the Word or to explain it tonight that blessing depends upon it is the Word in all its living power, the Word applied in the power of the Spirit. And I love at the beginning of a gospel meeting, to quote that verse in Peter. We're born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever.
And as we have turned from page to page and read these six different portions of God's Word, I trust that your hearts and ears have been open to take in what God has to say to you. This is a gospel meeting, and our particular burden tonight is for those that are lost. And yet, you know, for all of us, Isn't it refreshing to hear the sweet story of Jesus and his love time and time and time again?
I am always encouraged when I visit an elderly St. of God in their home, maybe in a nursing home, a care facility, even in the hospital, and all. They love to speak of the simple gospel story. They love to speak of the Lord Jesus. Maybe they've been saved for 70 or 80 years, but they love to speak of the Lord Jesus as their Savior. They love to speak of the blood of Christ. They love to speak of the hope that they have.
Of being with and like him there in the Father's house. I love that old hymn we sometimes sing. I love to tell the story for those who know it best, seem hungry and thirsty to hear it like the rest. And when in scenes of glory we sing the new, new song, we'll be the old, old story that I have loved so long and so for all of us tonight, as we hear the word of God and as we speak of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of sinners, I trust our hearts.
Will be encouraged and refreshed. If you're lost tonight, our prayer is that you will be saved. If you're saved tonight, our prayer is that your heart will be encouraged and refreshed as we go over these things, as we have done on so many previous occasions. And it's not my thought in reading these verses this evening to go over these verses word by word or line by line, or to even take up these verses in the order in which we have read them. But I was impressed this week in meditating.
On the person and work of Christ, I was impressed and struck with how many occasions it speaks of the Lord Jesus having given himself. And so I looked some of these up and these are the ones that I enjoyed in my own soul. The Lord Jesus giving himself. We speak first of all of God the Father giving the Son and all. How true that is. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Let's never forget.
00:10:20
And let's always remember that there was a great cost to God in giving his Son.
To send his only begotten into this world. I don't suppose any of us.
Even for eternity will fully enter in to what it meant to the heart of God to send His Son, the Lord Jesus into this world. As you go through the Old Testament in light of these New Testament scriptures, you find so many occasions where these precious truths are illustrated by type and shadow we find in connection with God sending the sun that beautiful picture of.
Jacob and and Joseph.
Of Israel sending Joseph to his brethren, and Joseph in obedience, responding and going even at great cost. We find another beautiful picture in Jesse sending David to the camp of Israel to see how the battle was going and take some provisions to his brothers. And then we find him going down and defeating the champion of the Philistines. What a picture it is of the Father sending the Son. What a picture it is of the Lord Jesus coming in obedience.
Into this world. And those are just a couple. Over and over again, these pictures are brought before us to touch our hearts, to speak to us so that we realize, at least in some little measure, what it must have meant to God to send his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. How many of us tonight have ever looked up and said, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift? Have you ever thanked God for sending his Son into this world?
Or when we speak of these things, does it really mean nothing to your heart? Does it really mean nothing to your heart and you kind of shuffle your feet? Oh, I was a boy and a young person in gospel meetings one time myself. And I know what it's like. You shuffle your feet a little bit, You look at the clock.
And you know, the clock moves much slower for the audience than the speaker. Sometimes for the speaker, time seems to fly by for the listener, especially if they're not interested how time seems to drag. But I want to tell you faithfully before God tonight. If you go out of this world without Christ, you will have plenty of time to think about these things where there will be no clock.
I is very solemn. You know, eternity is like a clock with no hands. You know there are at least two clocks in this room this evening, and those clocks, as slowly as they may seem to be moving to you, they are moving and the hands are slowly moving around.
And in the natural course of things, 8:00 will eventually come, and we'll close our Bibles and step down, and we'll go on our way to whatever activities you're looking forward to later this evening. But I say there will be a time.
When in eternity there will be no clock, and I say you will have plenty of time to remember a gospel meaning like this.
You know, I think it's remarkable to realize from the word of God that in eternity you will have a memory.
I've often quoted that verse that said the Lord Jesus speaking. He said the word which I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day. What does that mean for us tonight?
Have you ever heard John 316?
In case you haven't, I'm going to quote it now. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Perhaps that's the first time you've heard it, but for most in this room, you have heard that verse before. And not just once before, but many times. Maybe some of you boys and girls and young people learned that verse in Sunday school, and to this day you could stand up and quote that verse without a mistake.
But the reason I just quoted that verse is to illustrate my point, and that is that if you reject the message of that verse, if you reject the Lord Jesus Christ, and you pass out of this world lost and in your sins, the day will come when you will remember that verse in a lost eternity. But that verse will come to your memory not as to a point of refuge or salvation, but that verse will rise in judgment of you.
00:15:21
That verse will rise.
In your memory, to condemn you and to make you realize that you are there in a lost eternity because you rejected the message of that verse. The word which I have spoken the same will judge him in the last day, and I want to plead with you tonight in the presence of God. If you walk out of this gospel meeting tonight, and you go out lost and in your sins, and you go out into a lost eternity, you will have a very, very clear recollection and vivid memory.
Of this gospel meeting.
And these six portions of the Word of God that we have read together will come back to you in a coming day.
To condemn you.
And to make you realize.
That you are where you are.
Because of nobody's fault.
But yourself?
You know, there's nothing worse than having nobody to blame, is there? You know, we like to blame somebody.
Sometimes said, if I'm on a trip and I have my wife with me and we're driving, we're going through a city and trying to find our way to somebody'd house or to a meeting room and we missed the the exit. If my wife was reading the map, I'll say why weren't you watching the road signs? If she was watching the road signs, I said why don't you, why won't you following the map? We'd like to have somebody to blame. And when I'm alone and I get lost, it's pretty tough sometimes because I have nobody to blame but myself.
But all tonight it is so serious. It is serious. We are passionate about what we're Speaking of tonight from the word of God, because it is serious to pass out of this world knowing.
The word of God and knowing the way of salvation. And yet to realize that when you leave this world and you draw that final breath, it's all over. You know we missed the road sign. We missed the exit.
Last night we were coming home from dinner at a brother and sister's home and the driver missed the exit for our hotel. You know, it was no big deal. We went ahead and we swung around and took another exit and we got there. But we have maybe a 2 minute delay. 3 minute delay, something like that was no big deal. Nobody panicked.
But you know there's no U turns in eternity.
There's no more exits once we leave this world. When we exit this world, we exit, and the right exit or the wrong exit, there's no turning around.
Eternity is fixed at that point.
You know, there was an occasion when the Lord Jesus drew back the curtain and he told about two men, two men who lived in this world.
Two real men, you know. Sometimes the Lord spoke in parables.
But these were This wasn't a parable. These were two actual men.
With names, although we're only told one of their names, but they had names. They lived in this world.
They left this world. They both died.
But they died under very, very different circumstances.
One went out into eternity to lift up his eyes in torment.
The other went out into eternity to a place of blessing.
What the Lord Jesus was seeking to bring upon the conscience of the hearers in his day was the fact that when a person leaves this world, it's too late to make a decision.
One of those men realized he'd made the wrong choices in life.
And he wanted things rectified.
And he wanted something to ease his suffering.
Albeit only down to a drop of water.
But I want to tell you tonight, on the basis of what the Lord Jesus said in God's Word, that man never got his momentary relief.
He never got his drop of water and he never will. Do you realize that since the Lord told that story, that man has been in torment for over 2000 years more?
00:20:09
And do you realize that when another 2000 years pass?
He won't be anymore to the end of his torment than he was when the Lord Jesus told the story.
Or than he is right now.
That's why we have gospel meetings. That's why we open the word of God. And we seek to present from the pages of this blessed living book the Savior of sinners, the one who came into this world and gave himself at Calvary's cross.
You know, thousands of people.
A few hours ago were ushered into eternity.
In what we would call a natural disaster.
An earthquake 6.2 on the Richter scale in Indonesia.
The tally I heard this morning was 3000 and counting.
Solemn, isn't it? You know, an earthquake comes without warning.
A hurricane is predicted and many times people can get out of the way.
A volcano is boiling and they can give you some idea that it's going to erupt in the next while and people can get out of the way.
An earthquake is unpredictable as to when it's going to happen. Oh, I realize they can tell you that you're living on an earthquake fault and that this will happen at some point and that and so on. But an earthquake comes without warning. But you know, the judgment of God is not without warning.
You know, it's a principle with God that he never judges without doing two things. He always gives a warning and he always makes a way of escape. And we see that again, illustrated even in the Old Testament.
When God said that there was a flood coming on the world because of man's sin and the wickedness that sprang from his evil heart, God gave a warning. Noah preached righteousness, I suppose, for about 120 years.
And there was a way of escape through the Ark, albeit only eight souls went in and were spared from the judgment at that time.
When God looked down at Guilty Nineveh, he pronounced judgment, but again he gave a warning.
Noah entered into that city and cried. Yet 40 Days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Wasn't a very long message, was it? Do you know the whole city got saved? And that's something. It wouldn't it be something if we preach the gospel in Paula? And the whole city got saved, but the whole city got saved.
And there was a way of escape. The judgment did not fall at that time. But you know what's interesting? When you go over to the book of Nahum, another generation, about 120 years later, the judgment did fall. God wasn't fooling around.
And, you know, sometimes we talk about judgment coming on this world.
And it tells us that there are scoffers in the last day who come, and they say, where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep?
All things continue as they are, even until now. You know, when I hear people talk like that, I realize we're right there because those kind of people come, Scripture tells us, in the last days.
But is God fooling? No. He's appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. But you know, the wonderful thing is we can turn from Speaking of judgment.
We can turn from Speaking of the consequences of sin, and we can speak tonight of the Savior of sinners who gave himself at Calvary Cross.
You know, the Lord Jesus couldn't just reach down and save us. No, He had to come down.
And he could say, I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. Where did that will lead him? Oh, it led him to Calvary Cross, he could say of the work of Calvary I have a baptism wherewith to be baptized. And how am I straightened until it be accomplished. He came for one purpose. He came to glorify God and to give himself a Calvary's cross. And these verses that we have read together.
Over and over and over again have spoken of the Lord Jesus giving Himself. You know, we often speak of the gifts of God and the gifts of Scripture, and there are many gifts that we could enumerate, but the greatest gift that was ever given to man.
00:25:19
Was the Lord Jesus giving himself at Calvary's cross? Had the Lord Jesus not lay down his life at the cross, there would be no salvation, there would be no blessing for mankind. At the cross we have the display.
Of the heart of God, like it had never been displayed before.
We have the display of the heart of the Lord Jesus like never before.
The boys and girls sometimes sing that well known hymn. Jesus loves me. This I know for the Bible tells me so. Then they sing Jesus Loves me, He who Died Heaven's gate to open wide.
Wonderful that we can speak tonight of the one who gave himself in love.
You know, as we read these verses, we realize there are two, perhaps 2 great truths brought out in connection with the Lord Jesus giving himself the need and the motive. The need is like we read in Galatians one we were sinners.
I hope there's no one here who would have the audacity if they had opportunity to stand up and declare that they're not sinners.
And yet, you know, a friend of mine was telling me he had a man knocked at his door one morning as he and his wife sat down to breakfast.
And this man looked like a beggar, looked like a transient. And so they invited him in and gave him something to eat.
And gave him the gospel.
But you know, as this man sat at this brother's breakfast table, he said to my friend, he said, you know, I'm not a Sinner.
I've only made mistakes, but I'm not a Sinner.
But you know, the longer he sat at the table, the more my friend realized there was a problem.
Because everything he touched he wiped with his napkin and he was very, very careful about what he touched and what he wiped. My friend got a little suspicious and he slipped out of the room and called the police and found out that this man was wanted for several criminal offenses.
He'd made more than mistakes and he was indeed a Sinner. But you say, oh, I've never gone against society, I've never fled from the police, I've never been wanted for some crime.
By one man's disobedience, sin entered, and death by sin so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Do you realize that the first sin recorded in the word of God was the sin of disobedience, since, perhaps a little aside, but the first recorded sin in the Church of God in the Acts is a lie.
Two things we think little about.
Young people, when was the last time you were disobedient?
When was the last time you told a lie, Just a little lie, Because you know, you had to get through this, and if you didn't just fudge it a little bit, you're going to get into trouble. You really spared yourself something because you just changed the truth a little bit.
Serious in the sight of God.
One man's disobedience. How many acts of disobedience? One act by one man brought sin down on the whole human race. So serious Was it the sight of God. Don't think just because you're not a criminal.
You're not a Sinner tonight.
You are a Sinner. God says there is no difference. For all of sinned come short of the glory of God. Solomon the wisest man, whoever lived probably apart from the Lord. Jesus said there's not a man on the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. That's what God says.
But the Lord Jesus gave himself for our sins.
But there was more than just a need. There was a motive. The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, You know, I might see a need, and I might meet that need because I feel some obligation towards somebody or to my fellow man in general. But I might meet that need, not particularly out of love, but all the Lord Jesus.
00:30:10
He not only saw the need, but there was a motive, a motive of love. Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
Was a young man came to the Lord Jesus one time in the pathway of the Lord Jesus, And we never read that this young man received the blessing. But I love these words, it says. And Jesus beholding him, loved him. Do you realize as the Lord Jesus looks down in this room tonight, he loves you?
He loves you. And could you stand by the apostle Paul and say, the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me?
If you can't say that tonight, then I question whether you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior or not.
He gave himself.
You know, it's one thing for a person to give up their substance, but to give of themselves is quite another matter, isn't it?
You know, I might see my neighbor in need and I might be able to reach into my pocket and give him something to help him in that need, But isn't it quite another matter? If I go over to my neighbors and I say I see you have a need. And not only do I have the means to help you in this need, but I will walk you through it. I will be with you through this until this matter is settled and over. It's quite another thing, isn't it?
The Lord Jesus gave himself.
With a young man here in the United States went off to college.
It's a Christian knew the Lord Jesus as his savior, loved the Lord Jesus.
And as his first college year unfolded, he felt pressed in his soul.
To give himself on the foreign mission field.
He felt the call of God in a very direct way and finally.
He wrote to his widowed mother.
To ask for her blessing.
In answering the call that he felt so strongly from God.
The weeks passed and he didn't get a reply for some time.
But eventually the reply came.
And it was a reply that indeed gave his mother's blessing.
To go to the foreign mission field.
As he read it, he realized that the paper and the ink were stained were stained with tears.
And at the bottom she made this comment. I never knew until now what it must have meant to God to give his Son the Lord Jesus. And I never knew until now what it must have meant to the Lord Jesus to give himself as a sacrifice on Calvary's cross.
Does love like that touch your heart tonight? If love like that doesn't touch your heart tonight, I wonder what goes on within your heart.
Is your heart that heart that tonight we as we speak of these precious things, that throw the hearts of so many of us, yet you remain indifferent.
I'm going to repeat a story that I told some time ago, but I think it illustrates a point.
Many years ago there was a evangelist by the name of Walston in England.
And he was holding some evangelical meetings in Sheffield.
And Sheffield, as we know, is noted for its steel production of fine steel.
And the first night he was there, as he prepared to retire to his room, he said to his host and his Hostess. How do you sleep in this place?
Because there was 24 hours a day, the constant noise of the hammers and the machinery.
That were used in the production of Sheffield Steel.
They said to him, you stay here long enough and you'll get used to it.
And I'm afraid there are people.
In North America, who have heard the gospel so many, many times that they're like the residents of Sheffield, England, so many years ago, they got use to those hammers.
00:35:06
Going day and night.
But you know, there was a sequel to that story.
Because one night.
The equipment failed and the hammer stopped. The whole town woke up.
You know there's a day coming when the hammer of God's Word will no longer sound.
In this world, as to the gospel of the grace of God, there'll be a lot of waking up.
There'll be young people who sat in gospel meetings like this who will realize what has happened.
And we read of it in one of the portions in Titus, The Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Is a very real event scheduled for this world and scheduled very soon.
It's real, you know, Men's schedule things. People schedule things. We schedule all the time. We're bound by schedules. We've all got our Blackberries and our laptops and our calendars, and we're bound by schedules.
But you know, our schedules get frustrated, don't they? But God's timetable, God's schedule always happens right on time.
4:00 On Thursday afternoon I boarded a United flight.
At the Ottawa airport.
I had every intention of flying to Chicago and catching a flight to Des Moines and getting into Des Moines about 9:45 on Thursday evening, and they told us when we checked in at the counter that we were on time.
And when we handed in our boarding passes to the agent as we got on the plane, there it was flight on time.
435 departure.
We got on the plane.
And 4 1/2 hours later they canceled the flight.
They kept telling us it will just be another 20 minutes, another half hour. Weather's bad in Chicago. They're not letting anybody in or out. Then they told us they opened one runway, but we were going to wait another while.
Then we heard the jet engine start up and everybody was encouraged. They told us to put our tray tables in the full upright position, restore our cabin baggage, turn our cell phones and our laptops off.
We got all positioned and the captain came on and said the company has decided to cancel this flight. We're shutting the engines down.
Frustrating.
We got off that plane, I went up back up to the United ticket counter and I rescheduled for the next day.
And the next day, Brother Ryan picked me up at 11:15 here in Des Moines.
I made it a few hours late, but I made it.
But you know, I thought of those who missed the Lord's coming, those who are not ready when the Lord Jesus comes. Is there going to be a second opportunity? No. You know, when I went back up to that ticket counter, the agent said I can get you to Chicago, no problem. But I can't guarantee you a seat from Chicago to Des Moines tomorrow. I said, Get Me Out of here. On the first flight. I knew there was an 8:00 flight to Chicago. I fly it more times than I care to remember.
I said you get me to Chicago and I said give me a print out of all the flights from Chicago to Des Moines tomorrow and I'll handle it from there.
He did that. There were, I believe, seven flights from Chicago to Des Moines.
I got into Chicago at 9:05, and at 10:05 I stepped on a flight for Des Moines. It was an empty seat.
But again, there will be no second chance.
If you miss the Lord's coming, there will be no rebooking. There will be no rescheduling.
When once the master of the house hath risen up and shut to the door, then they come and knock, and they say, Lord, Lord, open unto us.
The door of grace and mercy ever reopened. Never depart from me. I never knew you.
Comes from the other side of that closed door to ring in their ears for all eternity.
00:40:07
But the Lord Jesus gave himself.
He shared his precious blood. We have tonight to offer you a ticket and a passport to glory.
We're planning to take some young people.
Down to a conference in a third world country in a few months and we're making arrangements.
And I am trying to impress upon those young people that not only do we need to get tickets early, but if they do not have a valid passport, they need to lose no time in getting a valid passport.
It's too late to show up at the ticket counter the day of the flight.
And try to obtain a passport.
Do you have your passport to heaven secured tonight?
Are you trusting in the work of Christ?
Are you trusting in the blood of the Lord Jesus because it's the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, that cleanses from all sin?
You've heard me say this before, but when I travel, I have what I call a BTP checklist.
And the last thing I do before I leave my home is I check that list. Bible ticket, passport. Everything else I can do without or replace on the other end of the journey. But I feel I can't do without those three things. My Bible. My ticket, my passport. Tonight we have the word of God that tells us the way of salvation. This book, the Bible, it shows us, Timothy was told that the word of God, the Holy Scriptures are able to make the wise unto salvation.
Through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
The Lord Jesus, if I can speak reverently, is our passport to heaven.
He died on the cross to make the way possible. The blood of Christ, if again I can speak reverently, is our ticket to glory.
No good to show up at an Air Canada or United or any other ticket counter in any airport.
And not have a ticket for that flight.
You must secure a ticket, usually before check in time.
At the airport.
We plan things so well, don't we? We make sure we have everything in order. We make sure our travel documents are in order if we're going to travel to certain places or corners of the world, and we check and recheck things.
And sometimes, if they change my itinerary a few hours before I fly, I will even call the 800 number and make sure I've got the right itinerary in front of me so I don't get to the airport and find that I was booked on a flight that left three hours ago. We planned so well. We're so careful about preparations and activities in this life. But what about eternity? That's what we're talking about tonight. The Lord Jesus in giving himself.
Has made it possible that we can secure a happy and blessed eternity.
Are you on your way to heaven tonight? Do you know the Lord Jesus?
As your savior, can you say that he died for you? For me?
Can you put your name in that verse in Galatians? The Son of God who loved. I'll put my name in that verse. The Son of God who loved Jim and gave himself for Jim. I can say that with confidence.
Not being presumptuous, but basing it on the word of God.
He loved me. He gave himself for me. Can you put your name in that verse tonight?
I remember some years ago we were holding some gospel tent meetings in Truro, NS.
And it was a little girl who came to those tent meetings. I think she was five or six years of age.
Pretty young, and she knew the Lord Jesus as her savior.
And one morning to the morning Children's Bible hour, she brought a little friend, same age, 5-6 years of age.
00:45:02
That friend did not know the Lord Jesus as her savior, but she listened very attentively to the message that morning.
Which was presented by a brother very simply and clearly.
And when the Bible hour was over, she and her friend remained behind.
While all the other boys and girls filed out of the tent and went home.
They remain behind because this little girl who had come for the first time, wanted to make sure that she was saved and that her sins were taken care of.
And I believe in simple childlike faith. That morning she came to know the Lord Jesus as her savior.
But what really impressed me, and what really thrilled my soul, was as those two little girls, hand in hand, left the tent that morning.
And I was standing nearby. I heard the one who brought her friend say to the friend who had just been saved. Now you can say that Jesus belongs to you.
I thought that was very precious 25 year old girls able to grasp that precious truth. Can you say that Jesus belongs to you? Can you say tonight that you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior?
I want to tell a little story and I prayed much about this, I trust.
And I don't want to tell this story to be funny tonight.
But I want to tell a story that some of you have heard me tell of light. A story to encourage.
Parents or grandparents?
Or any here tonight who are praying for a loved one.
Maybe there's a parent here. You're praying for that young person on the back row. You're in earnest tonight for their soul. And you say, why doesn't the Lord come in and save them? I just don't understand. He promised thou in my house, but He just doesn't come in and save them.
I want to tell you a little story and I trust that it will encourage your heart in view of a verse in the book of Peter that says he's long-suffering to us, Word not willing that any should perish. You know, it doesn't say there he's long-suffering to the lost, although that is certainly true. He is long-suffering to the loss, but he's long-suffering to us word those of us who have family members that he's praying for. You know, I have a wife at home. She's praying for a father who's not saved.
One reason the Lord hasn't come is because he's long-suffering to my wife.
Knowing that she'd like to see her father saved before the door is closed.
But here's my story. I was coming out of Saint Vincent the last time, and I had a flight on Caribbean Star Airlines to Barbados.
And then when you get to Barbados, you have to recheck with Air Canada to fly up to Toronto and then a short hop to Ottawa.
I had a big old suitcase and it was my last trip for the season and so I took some things I'd left down there on some previous trips and I put them in this big suitcase and I checked it at the airport with Caribbean Star as far as Barbados.
I've learned long ago that when you get on those prop planes, if you see the crew running around with these ominous looking calculators before they shut the door, the plane is overweight and something or someone is going to have to get off. Everything goes by weight, especially on those short runways and those mountainous islands.
My problem was I was almost the 1St to check in for the flight, so my suitcase went on the bottom of the cart which meant it was last into the plane which meant it was the 1St off.
And so I got to Barbados, and sure enough, my bag didn't come.
I went to the Caribbean Star Service counter and explained the situation. I filled out a claim form and they told me that they would contact Air Canada who had never had or tagged the bag. And when I got to Ottawa to my final destination to hand in a copy of this claim form and explain the situation to them, I did with very little hope that I would ever see that bag again.
The bag, as I say, was checked on Caribbean Star. It was to come from Barbados on Air Canada.
00:50:02
A few days later, British W Indies Airways called me to say that they had a bag belonging to a James Highland and what should they do with it? How they got it, I have no idea. To this day I explained the situation and I said to the agent, give me your name and number and I too will call Air Canada, which I did.
I left for the Bahamas, and the night I got to the Bahamas, my wife called me to say that Air France had called that morning saying they had a vague belonging to a James Highland. What was the story?
I called Air Canada back and explained the situation. The man said, look, we'll follow this up, but I would suggest that because it's been 2 weeks now, you file a claim with Air Canada and start a process in case you don't ever see the bag again. I called Faye. She downloaded a claim form and emailed it to my laptop. That night we went over the claim form and she mailed it in. I said at that point I said, you know, Faye, I'm not going to make any more calls.
If the Lord wants me to have that bag back, he'll send it back, but I'm not going to worry about it now.
The morning I was leaving for Bermuda, I got out of the shower and Fay said You will never guess who called me this morning.
Northwest Airlines called to say they have your bag in Ottawa and they'll deliver it to Smith Falls, which is an hour from the airport by 3:00 this afternoon. And they did never flown northwest before.
The end of the story is that some weeks later I got a very apologetic letter from Air Canada saying after an extensive search for your bag, we are unable to find it and here is a check for $308 to reimburse you. And we smile. We laugh at a story like that. We think of the bureaucracy in the airlines and the confusion that there was, and I have no idea where that bag went. It could have ended up in Paris on Air France for all I know.
But I tell that story tonight to encourage parents.
Maybe you see circumstances in the lives of your children and young people that just seem hopeless. I gave up getting that bag back. It seemed hopeless. That bag seemed to be wandering the world and going here and there. But the Lord had his eye on that bag, and when the right moment came, he brought the bag back. And not only did he bring the bag back, but he brought some reimbursement as well.
You know, parents, the Lord has his eye on your young people. He has his eye on your children, and maybe he doesn't work as fast as you would like. You'd like to see that young person saved. And if that young person is here tonight, we want to impress upon you not to wait. The time is short and behold, now is the day of salvation. But I say to parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles who are praying for loved ones, don't give up on your loved ones.
Pray for them. The Lord has his eye on them, and he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.
I have young people. Sometimes I give up. But the Lord doesn't give up on our young people. He doesn't give up on our loved ones. His eye is on them.
We've come to the end, really, of this gospel meeting. We've read the word of God.
We have quoted scriptures and now all we can do is pray for blessing.
I'm thankful that blessing doesn't depend on our ability to present the Word tonight. But I am thankful too. That blessing depends on the heart of God and his desire, and the heart of the Lord Jesus and his desire, and the Word of God and the Spirit of God in all its power.
What can I say at the end of a Gospel meeting like this but to plead with you?
I'm going to pray in a moment or two.
And here is how simple it is to be saved tonight.
Right where you're seated and without uttering one word aloud, because God hears what you express in your heart.
You can be saved. You can speak to God tonight in your heart. You can speak to the Lord Jesus. And it doesn't take some special language or some special ability to express things, but simply from your heart to address the Lord Jesus tonight and to receive the gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
00:55:12
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I'm just going to quote the lines of a hymn we often sing. 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 and let him in, and he'll enter in and Sup with you and you with him. Perhaps we could sing a hymn in closing.
Thinking of that hymn #21, decide for Christ today.
And God's salvation, see, yields soul and body, heart and will to him who died for thee #21 if someone will please start it.
Our garden.