Gospel—Paul House
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In tonight with him #4 on our hymn sheets. Christ is the Savior of sinners. Christ is the Savior for me. Long I was chained in sins darkness. Now by his grace I am free. So may we sing #4 together. But before we do, I just want to mention that what I say tonight is going to be from the word of God, the Bible.
And I don't want anyone to think that.
In any way, I'm better than you. I'm not.
And so as I sing this hymn tonight with you, I'm going to sing it as someone that is a Sinner.
But I've been saved. By the grace of God, may you be saved tonight. If you're not yet #4 please, someone started.
This is the same thing for me.
Now I can say I am part of him, happy and just in my dream.
Save by my blessed reading her, this is the Savior for me.
Say your standards.
Say your sinners like me.
Now there is no condemnation.
This is the savior for me.
Save your sinners.
Savior of sinners like me.
Saying is what for my grandson?
This is the savior for me.
Love, Crystal laughs. I'm changing glass with all blessings. So free I shall I tell them it's crazy?
This is a stay here for me.
Say God standards. Say there are standards like me.
You've never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.
Then you really Can't Sing the last part of this that we sang over four times. This is the Savior for me. But you know what? The Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior for you. He died on the cross. He shed His blood so that you could be saved from your sins. You might not know it yet, but He is the Savior for you. And tonight I would encourage you to listen.
As we go over some verses from God's word.
That tell us about the Lord Jesus Christ and His love for you. Shall we just pray and ask for His help?
Dear Lord Jesus, we need thy help tonight. Where weak.
And we're tired.
And we just pray that that will help us to take in the verses from Thy word, the Bible, that will do us good, not just in this life, but forever.
And Lord Jesus, let us know the hearts of each one. Perhaps there's one here tonight who doesn't know thee as their Savior. We pray that before they leave, they may be sure that Jesus is their Lord and Savior, that they will know where they're going when when they leave this world someday. And so we ask for thy help. We ask for thy blessing here.
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And we pray, Lord Jesus, that by thy Holy Spirit.
That might work in hearts tonight.
I'll bring salvation to any that are lost.
And now we just pray for those of us who are saved already, and how thankful we are, Lord Jesus, for Thy love, for picking us up and washing away our sins and making us sure of our heaven. And now we just would pray that what we hear we may pass on to others, but Thou give us opportunities to tell people the way.
Like people told us and we thank the our God for Thy goodness to us, we pray for help in thy most worthy and precious name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
I'd like to sing #42 as well, hymn #42 There's a lot of children here tonight.
And I'm going to tell you something, children. This was my favorite one when I went to Sunday school. Still is 42. Someone started, please.
That's validation through his blood.
Most of you know that I'm from Ontario.
And when we go on a trip.
We were away. We're on vacation this week. We like to pick a scripture that we have for our family readings, and so we've been reading through First Timothy. I'd like to read chapter one of First Timothy and verse 15.
First Timothy, chapter one. You can turn in your Bibles please.
To verse 15.
This is the Apostle Paul writing by the Holy Spirit of God to a man by the name of Timothy, First Timothy, chapter one, verse 15.
This is a faithful thing and worthy of all acceptation.
That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
I said at the beginning that I don't want anyone to think that I'm better than you in any way. I stand here tonight as a Sinner.
I have done some horrible things in my life.
I've been unkind to people, disobedient to my parents. I've cheated.
I've lied. I've stolen things.
But as a Sinner, I came to the Lord's justice, the Savior of sinners.
You know, maybe I could.
Take my place with the Apostle Paul, that I'm the chief. I take my place here tonight as the worst Sinner in this room.
But God and his goodness to my soul, who went to the cross of Calvary.
And he died for me. I accepted him as my savior, not because I'm good, but because I admitted that I wasn't. But I was bad and vile and a Sinner in his sight.
Have you ever done that?
I ask you before God, don't answer me. It's God that's important. Have you ever humbled yourself and admitted that you were a Sinner before God and as a Sinner you are unfit for His holy presence?
You know, I like to give this a little illustration.
I love my little boys that are sitting up here.
My little boys love to play outside. We live on a farm.
And they have rubber boots. We have carpet in our house.
I love my little boys to come in at supper time.
To enjoy company with them.
But if they came in with their rubber boots and wrecked our carpet?
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What would I say? Would I be thrilled that they had come and stamped all over the carpet with mud? And dear Sinner friend tonight, it's no different with God's home.
You can't come in with your sins.
It's holy in his presence.
And people say, well, I'm good enough.
Are you?
Before a holy God, one sin.
Will keep you from his presence. One piece of mud isn't welcome on our floor.
We do, let's not forget that. And so as sinners, God has said, how can I have a sinful person in my home?
God made a way. He sent his son here, and his son died and gave his life and shed his blood so that my sins could be washed away and I can go someday to heaven clean. Not because I'm good, but because he paid. He paid with his blood. He loved me enough to want me in his home that he died for me.
The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Dear friends, this is not my words. I read them from God's Word.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and am I ever glad He did?
Because I wouldn't have made it to heaven on my own.
I know it.
And down deep in your soul, you know it too, That if you're not washed.
In the blood of Jesus that your sins aren't gone and paid for by another.
You're not going to get there. We heard last night both the judgment of hell.
Where I live in Ontario, there are thousands of lakes.
Some of the people here know where I live. There's a river on behind me and a lake in front of me.
You know, last night the brother that spoke spoke about fire.
I'd like to add one more thought to that.
You know it's a lake of fire.
We know what it is to be refreshed in the summertime. It's 90°, the humidity is high.
Nothing like getting into the lake and cooling off. It's so refreshing. The water just goes all around you, covers you. You just feel so good.
But what about a lake of fire? You thought about that?
That's what Hal is like.
The Bible tells us that hell was made for the devil and his angels.
Not for people.
But if you say I'm good enough on my own and God's just going to have to overlook the mud on my boots.
And I'll get in my own way.
Then guess what? The word of God teaches us that people like that who will not admit that they have sinned.
That don't have their sins forgiven, they have to go to hell.
To be with Satan and his angels for all eternity. That is Solomon. And that's why we have a meeting like this to warn.
Everybody not to go to hell, don't you think?
That that expression in the world when somebody is mad at someone, they say go to hell.
Do they really think about it what they're saying? Can you imagine wishing somebody to go into a lake of fire for all eternity?
A dreadful thing.
You know, while we're on the subject of people swearing.
When I was in the university.
I went to school with people from all different religions from all over the world. In Canada, that's how it is, right? You go to university, there's people from every country you can imagine, but that brings people from all different religions.
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You invariably we'd have troubles.
And consistently the people from every religion that were in my my graduating class, they would swear by one name, the name of Jesus.
It didn't matter what religion they were, when they were angry, they swore by the name of Jesus.
Why? Because there's only one way to be forgiven for your sins, and that is by Jesus Christ. And that's what God loves. And the enemy of your soul, Satan hates. And that's why everybody uses the name of Jesus as a curse who hates him.
Tonight I would like to look at.
A story we had this morning in the book of Luke.
Before we talk about Luke Chapter 7.
Perhaps there was. There's some people here tonight and you weren't here this morning.
I want to explain about another meeting that we had in this room this morning.
This is a gospel meeting tonight, but this morning there was a group of Christians that were here and we had what we call the breaking of bread.
The scripture calls it the breaking of bread.
And there was a table in the middle of the room, and on the table was a plate, and on the plate was a loaf.
And on the table was a cup.
And in the cup was wine.
And we were here because when the Lord Jesus.
Just before he died on the cross nearly 2000 years ago.
He got his own all around him, his disciples, his followers.
And he said, I want you on a regular basis.
To Remember Me.
To think about how I died for you.
No, not nearly 2000 years have gone by.
And the group of Christians that were here this morning.
That loaf was broken and passed from one to another, and then the cup was passed from one to another.
And we remembered how the Lord Jesus died for us, how he suffered for us. And we thanked Him. We thanked him for suffering for us, for dying for us. You know why? Because we love Him.
We love him.
I love them.
And so tonight.
Yes, it's true, I'm a Sinner.
But the Lord Jesus died for me. I love him because of what he did for me.
And now it's my privilege to tell others. And so as we read a few few stories from God's Word, from the book of Luke.
I want you to think about.
As we contrast contrast to men.
In story after story, which man you are like? Are you like the man that took his place as a Sinner before Lord Jesus, who really loved him and who was pardoned, forgiven for his sins? Or were you like the other one that said says I'm good enough the way I am, I don't really have a need.
I'm OK, I'm going to take my chances. I'm going to wait.
You know, there's blessing for the person tonight who says, yes, I have sinned and I do want to go to heaven. I want to be with the Lord Jesus and have the favor of God for all eternity.
I want to have my sins forgiven tonight. May it be that there's someone here like that.
Luke Chapter 7.
Verse 36.
And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisees house and sat down to meet.
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And behold, a woman in the city which was a Sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
And when the Pharisee which had been in him saw it, he said.
Spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman. This is the touch of him, for she is a Sinner.
And Jesus answering, said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he said, Master, say on There was a certain creditor which had two debtors, the one owed 500 pence and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.
Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most?
Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most.
And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house. Thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman, since the time they came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
My head with oil, thou didst not annoyed, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. And they that sat at meet with him began to say within themselves, Who is this?
That forgive us sins also.
And he said to the woman, Thy faith has saved thee. Go in peace.
So we had this story this morning.
Because as sinners we were here, but as saved sinners.
Those that had taken the place of this Sinner lady.
And we're at the feet of the Lord Jesus and praise and worship.
You know, this man, Simon, is the first man that we're going to talk about tonight.
You know, I used to be like Simon. I used to think I was better. I was better.
You know, I was from a nice family.
We had a modest income.
I hadn't done anything really that wrong. I was pretty good.
I wasn't. I'd never really been terribly unkind or done anything really bad to put me in jail or anything like that. I'd never killed anyone.
I never really cheated that bad.
You know, that's kind of like Simon. He's like this Sinner lady.
Jesus.
Plowing her to show affection to him.
How is it with you tonight?
Do you love the Lord Jesus?
What does he mean to you?
When the Lord Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago.
Did he pay for your sins?
Have you asked the Lord Jesus to be your Savior?
Tonight, He's willing to be your savior.
Come to Him as a Sinner. Take your place like this, lady. She was a sinful lady. She knew it. She did something about it. She came. She came to the right person. She came to the Lord Jesus.
What did he say? Thy sins are forgiven. Isn't that a wonderful thing? Thy sins are forgiven. Boys and girls, tonight you can have your sins forgiven.
Maybe you're different than me, but I remember when I used to lay in bed and I remembered my sins and I couldn't get to sleep some nights because of my sins. Is that you tonight, boys? Be honest.
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Your sins.
You think about them, you worry about them.
You wonder.
I remember when I wasn't saved.
My dad used to always pray beside the bed at night.
I was so glad when I saw him kneeling beside the bed.
Because I knew that my dad was a Christian, and I knew that someday Jesus was going to take all the Christians out of this world. And I knew that because my dad was still there praying that the Lord Jesus hadn't come yet. So I still had time, but I put it off I delayed.
And you know, the longer I delayed, the more excuses the devil gave me to not get saved.
One excuse after another. And I heard many, many faithful gospel meanings. You know, I used to come to conferences, too.
I hear people say that I needed to get saved. Did I? No. How come?
Why aren't you saved? What is the excuse that you have?
You know what my excuse was? I didn't want to be up here. That's why the devil told me that someday if I got saved, I was going to have to be a gospel preacher like my grandpa. That's what he told me.
So I didn't get saved and I put it off and my sins bothered me night after night.
And you know what? The Lord Jesus wanted to pay for all my sins. He loved me so much that he died for me.
And here I am saying I don't want to get saved because I'm going to have to preach.
And you know, when I was a teenager and I'd come to the Lord Jesus.
You know what the devil told me? Don't ask for your place at the Lords Table because you're going to have to get up and preach like your grandfather.
He's a wicked, wicked person, the devil. He'll keep you away from the Lord Jesus as your Savior, and then he'll keep you away from having affection for him.
You'll ruin your life if he can. Christ Jesus came into the world.
To save sinners, take your place as a lost, ruined, guilty Sinner, and that's the place of great blessing. Come to Him tonight. Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
I want to contrast this man Simon with someone in the 19th chapter that we've all heard about. Hopefully, if not listen carefully. Chapter 19, verse one.
Luke chapter 19 and verse one. And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.
And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich, and he sought to see Jesus, who he was, and could not for the press because he was little of stature.
And he ran before and climbed up into a Sycamore tree to see him.
For he was to pass that way.
Now a little background to help this story to sink in a little bit. This man Zacchaeus was hated not because he was rich, but how he got rich.
April the 30th in Canada we have to pay tax, right?
You know, I haven't met too many people that were really excited about paying income tax.
Or when we came back from PEI, we had to pay $46 to go over the bridge.
We all have to pay taxes.
But in those days, in Judea and Palestine, the Romans were in power.
And they had those who they gave contracts to, to gather taxes up for them.
And they were the publicans, the tax collectors.
And they were hated because often they would say, you owe this amount of money, and perhaps it was a little bit more than they really should have gotten. And the extra went right in here in their pockets. And this man, Zacchaeus, was rich.
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Can you imagine if you had to pay the Canadian Revenue Agency a certain amount and then somebody here came to your door and said this is how much you have to pay, but add another 1000 bucks for me while you're at it. You wouldn't really be very happy with that person or if they said add another 10,000 bucks.
You know, these people were rich, but they were hated and despised.
Verse five. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that he was gone. To be the guest with a man that is a Sinner.
You say? Yeah, Zacchaeus was a Sinner.
And if somebody came to you and said revenue or Revenue Canada $5000 and you owe me 2000 payout, you'd say that person was a Sinner. They're taking 2000 extra dollars from me like.
So all the people murmured, all of them. They said, hey, why is Jesus paying attention to a Sinner tonight? I say, I'm so glad he did because he saved me.
What about you? Have you taken your place as a Sinner?
Happy, never mind the person beside you, because God tells us that every one of us shall give account of ourselves to God. Not our friend, not our neighbor, not somebody we work with, but us, ourselves. We have to answer someday.
Verse 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation, come to this house, for as much as he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Grand Verse Grand verse The Son of Man is come to seek and to save.
That which was lost, that's me. I was lost and he came and he found me in my desperate need. Is there somebody here tonight who's lost in their sins? That's far from God?
You need him. Christ is the Savior of sinners. Christ is the Savior for me. Long I was chained in sin's darkness.
Now, by His grace, I am free.
So these are the first two men that I wanted to look at tonight, Simon, who thought he was better. I'm good enough.
I'm not a Sinner like that Lady.
But he was, and so are you tonight.
And then this man, Zacchaeus, he's hiding up in the tree as Jesus passes by.
And Jesus looks up and calls his name, and he goes to Zacchaeus's house and people say he's a Sinner. What are you going to his house for?
Because he's a Sinner, Jesus came to save sinners.
Tonight, our USA center, I am. It's grand to be a save center, to know that when we leave this world, we're going to heaven for sure on the authority of this book.
You say, well, how do you know about it? Well, you know, we have a few more verses to cover and Luke, but if you want to stay behind tonight, I'm very happy and there's many that are very happy to go through the questions that you have.
As to whether you're a Sinner or not and that Jesus came to save sinners.
You know, we're going to touch on just a few verses in this book tonight. There's many more.
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They're all God's word and they're all grand.
I'm going to Passover a couple of stories in God's Word. In the 15th chapter there's two more men.
This story is referred to often as the Prodigal Son.
Story of the prodigal son.
But there was another son. We thought he was better. We thought he was good.
The other his brother, was a Sinner, but not him. He'd never done anything wrong.
Who got the blessing? The prodigal.
That's who got the blessing, the bad one. Why? Because he came to the Father and asked for forgiveness, that's why. That's all. He humbled himself. He came as a Sinner and he was forgiven and blessed.
You know this isn't complicated.
God made the way of salvation so simple that even a little child could understand that they were a Sinner, that his Son Jesus came and died on the cross. His blood was shed so that his blood could wash away the sins of any person who would ask to be forgiven. It's that simple.
But it's wonderful. You know, at the beginning we sang a little child of seven or even 3 or 4.
Even three or four.
It's not complicated. If it was, could a three-year old get saved?
But lots of three-year olds are going to be in glory because they said, Lord Jesus, please save me from my sins.
And the Lord did that.
In the 16th chapter, we won't talk about this story either, but there's two men in the 19th verse. There's a rich man, and then there's another man called Lazarus who was a poor man.
But the rich man, he had everything in this world.
Except.
Salvation from his sins.
He had everything that a person in this world would naturally want. He had great food, a great place to live. He had great clothes. He had everything that this world offers, except he didn't have a relationship with the Lord, with God. His sins weren't forgiven, and so in hell.
When he died, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment. We talked about that last night, what hell is like a little bit. I hope anyone that was here last night that heard that that isn't safe. Well, think about that. Think about your destiny, where you will end up if you don't come to the Lord Jesus.
Now I'm going to add a story now on our way here.
When we were driving along every few miles.
I would see, I shouldn't say every few, but quite a few times I saw at the side of the road across.
Sometimes there was just one, sometimes there was two, sometimes there was three, sometimes there was a whole bunch of them.
You know why they were there? Because somebody died at the side of the road there.
And their loved ones came, and they put perhaps a little bit of flowers and a cross to signify their death there. I want to tell you about another little cross near our house.
It's on the way to Ottawa if anyone knows.
Century Rd. When you're going in on the right hand side, there's this plexiglass box.
And beside it is a white cross, and in the box are flowers.
And whoever puts the flowers in changes them.
Now and again so that they're always fresh.
Why? Because they loved the person that died at the side of the road there.
Why is it across?
Why do people put crosses where somebody died at the side of the road? Have you ever thought about it?
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You know there was a cross 2000 years ago where a man by the name of Jesus died for me.
And that cross is so significant to so many people that it represents death of a loved one. I love Jesus for dying for me.
You know when a little boy or little girl or another relatives passes away in an accident, they put a cross there because they love that person.
Do you love the Lord Jesus for dying on the cross?
Do you?
You need to.
And if you recognize your sinfulness before God, you will love the Lord Jesus even more.
When you think of how he suffered for you.
And how he paid for everyone of your sins when he died on the cross and was punished by a holy God in those three hours of darkness.
You'll love.
This man, this rich man, had no love for God.
He left him out, you know. We were in Turo on Tuesday night.
We got there late, but I knew I was in the right place.
Because as I kneel down.
Beside the chair, my brother was praying and he's here tonight.
He's sitting on the front row here. He was praying and I knew from his prayer that I was in the right room.
He was praying as a saved Christian, someone that loved the Lord Jesus, who loved the people of God.
I was so glad to be at that little meeting.
Those who love the Lord Jesus.
But this rich man?
He didn't love the Lord Jesus.
He left him out of his life.
In Terrell, one of the brothers made a comment about.
People being very thankful for all the things that God has provided.
All the water we drink, the food we ate today, the ski hills we ski down.
The ranks we stayed on in the winter time, the oxygen we breathe, we're very thankful for all those things from a holy God.
But this man, he said, you know, thanks very much for the food and I'll take all the wealth and all the prosperity, but I don't want you. And is there somebody that's like that tonight that says, I'm very thankful for everything that God has given me, my health, my strength, my job, the country I live in, all the things that I have.
Thank you, but please stay away from me.
I don't want to have a relationship with you, God.
There's somebody like that here tonight and you're saying thanks for everything but no thanks to you. You know, the Lord Jesus and his love.
And it is mercy.
He picked up.
The poor man in this story.
This poor man that had nothing.
It tells us that he in verse 21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.
That's horrible.
He wanted crumbs, feet, dogs licked his sores. You think oh that's disgusting and yes it was. But this is a picture of me. I'm saved of you, unsaved before God sores.
Sins, dirt, filth, crumbs. We may think we're rich.
People in this world may say you're doing well.
They did that. They said that to the rich man too, and he went to hell.
Lazarus had nothing in this world.
To the eye of faith, he had everything. He had God. He had a relationship with God, even though outwardly he was poor.
He had the blessing as a result.
If you turn over and your Bible, maybe not, but in my Bible it's the next page.
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It says.
Verse.
23.
The rich man lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus.
In his bosom, you know, in the Old Testament, the Jewish people look forward to being with Abraham.
And blessing as a result in eternity. That was the portion of Lazarus.
What will your portion be?
You say well.
Who are you to ask me that?
As a Sinner, I've already said I'm worse than you.
I ask you that.
What about your apportion?
In eternity.
Have you had your sins forgiven? Have you taken your place as a Sinner?
As somebody that deserves judgment.
Before a holy God and said I'm sorry, I want to be forgiven.
I want my sins to be paid for by the Lord Jesus by Son.
Now let's turn over to.
Chapter 18.
We'll read this story about two more men.
Verse 9.
And he spake this parable unto certain, which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.
Two men went up into the temple to pray. The 1A Pharisee and the other, a publican, were a tax collector.
Now the Pharisees prided themselves in being religious.
The Pharisee, the religious one, He stood and prayed thus with himself.
He prayed with himself.
Think about that.
God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I get ties of all that I possess.
And the publican standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a Sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
I said at the beginning what I say will be based on this book, the Bible.
I've had friends in the world, acquaintances, that have told me that the Bible is just too complicated to understand. They don't read it because it's just too difficult.
So we just read.
Six or seven or eight verses.
Was that complicated?
No, it wasn't complicated. We got the story, don't we? Two men go up into the temple to pray.
One is a religious man and he prays with himself. The prayer is here, it doesn't go to God. He says the right word, God, but it didn't go above his head. He told God how good he was.
What the other one? The publican, the tax collector that despised 1.
It says that he wouldn't lift up so much as his eyes onto heaven. He looked down and smote his breast. He says, God be merciful to me, the Sinner.
Me the Sinner. Is there a common thread to the stories that we've had tonight?
This is the 4th one of two men. God is giving us a contrast in His word.
So that we'll get it. God wants us to realize that there are those that say I'm good enough, I don't need to be saved.
I'm OK the way I am, but then there are those that say, you know what, I'm a Sinner.
And you know what? In each of these stories, there's blessing for the Sinner, and there's blessing for you tonight.
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If you'll take that place, that humble place before God.
It says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, and He will exalt you due season.
You know, there's a day coming when I'm going to be in heaven, not because I'm good, I'm a Sinner, I told you that. But I'm going to get to heaven because the Bible says so. Because I've been forgiven and God can righteously forgive me because Jesus paid for every last one of my sins when he died on the cross for me.
Can you say that, boys? Can you say that?
Tonight.
Or else anyone here?
That clock stopped. I'll watch this one now.
At the retirement home.
That I go to every week.
One of the saddest things for me.
Is to see people that are past the point.
Of being able to think.
And they're still alive, day after day after day.
It's a tragedy.
Tragedy.
You know, there's other people that come to our Bible class.
In their whole life, they've planned everything.
They planned where they were going to go to school, what occupation they were going to have.
They were going to plan. They planned who they were going to marry. They planned for their retirement, their career.
They planned everything.
And then they get to the retirement home.
And they're going to leave.
They're going to leave in a different way that they came. They're going to leave in a vehicle that takes them to the funeral parlor. They know that.
50 people a year leave that facility.
It's a big one.
But many of them come to the class and they own that they never planned to leave this world.
Are you like that? Have you planned to leave this world? Do you know with assurance that your sins are gone?
You can know on the authority of the word of God that your sins are gone.
Now chapter 23 for the last two.
Verse 33.
We had this this morning of how the Lord Jesus died on the cross and we were so thankful and we praised him.
From full hearts verse 33. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. That's Jesus and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and they parted his raiment and cast lots, and the people stood beholding, and the rulers also with them derided him, saying He saved others.
Let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou be the King of the Jews, save thyself. And the superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews.
And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
And if you compare Matthew's Gospel, the account of the Lord Jesus dying on the cross, and the account in Mark's Gospel, you'll find that both of the malefactors said terrible things to the Lord Jesus when they were on the cross on either side of Jesus, they were dying for their sins.
One of them, verse 40 The other answering her, rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
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And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee.
Today shall they'll be with me in paradise. And it was about the 6th hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried, with a loud voice he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
Now when the centurion saw it was done, he glorified God, saying, certainly this was a righteous man.
We have just a couple of minutes left.
But this is the last two that I want to speak about.
I love this story.
What could those men do?
Nothing.
They were there, hanging on a cross.
They knew why they were there. They were crooks.
They were guilty. They were thieves.
You know.
Each one of us.
We're no different.
I said at the beginning I was the worst.
But if we're honest, everyone of us is come ashore. All have sinned and come short.
Of the glory of God.
Were represented in those two thieves that were being punished for their sins.
By the Roman government.
Both of them said terrible things to Jesus. Why did they do that? Why do people swear with his name when they get angry?
When they're from China, Malaysia, Japan, it doesn't matter where they're from. Why do they say the name of Jesus when they're mad?
The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Jesus says, and the devil knows it, and that's why he encourages people from all over the world when they're mad to swear by the name of Jesus.
The blessed name of Jesus. These two men they cast that says in Matthew the same in his teeth.
That implies to me that they said horrible things to Jesus.
There was me and somebody said something like that to me. Would I be very disposed toward them? Would you?
The other answering viewed him saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. He owned he was a Sinner. He was on the cross dying because he was a thief. He admitted it to the Son of God. And so the Lord Jesus says, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Is there somebody here tonight and you're willing to tell God that you've sinned?
If you are, and you ask for the Lord Jesus to forgive you from your sins, and you ask Him to be your Savior, tonight He will be that. He will save your soul and you will know for that forever and ever you will be safe in heaven.
Why? Because if you ask for forgiveness, then Jesus will pay for your sins.
Verse 44.
There was a darkness over all the earth, you know in English.
I'm not an English major.
But it says there was a darkness.
Why? Why the app?
Why doesn't it just say there was darkness? There was no other darkness like this that had ever happened or will happen when Jesus was punished for my sins. Think about the millions and millions of people that have been paid. Their sins have been paid for. Jesus was punished so much on the cross as the millions and millions and millions and millions of sins were paid for.
You know what he said on the cross? My God, My God, Why asked thou forsaken me?
God had to turn his back from his Son while he was punished for my sins.
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There was that darkness. It was so terrible.
And God has not forgotten that his Son.
Died on the cross.
We had it last night about judgment hanging over this world. That's another part of the gospel. We don't have any time left, but I would ask you tonight.
If you have never accepted the Lord Jesus as your Savior, do it now. Don't wait. Don't let Satan give you any excuse or reason why you shouldn't get saved now. Now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
Christ is the Savior of sinners.
And I'll just read that verse in First Timothy, chapter one, verse 15.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am Chief Spray.
Dear God and Father, how thankful we are for the Lord Jesus. We're thankful that thou did send him into this world. He became a man and he lived here so perfectly. My word tells us. And then we think of how we've read a little bit about the cross and how people like us took him. Thy Son, thy perfect son.
Thy well beloved son, and hung him on a cross to die.
We think of how he did die for sinners and that now anyone who wants to have their sins forgiven.
Can accept him as their savior to believe that when he died on the cross.
He died for them. His precious blood was shed to wash away their sins.
And we just pray if there's somebody here tonight who has recognized their need as a Sinner that wants to have their sins forgiven, the Lord Jesus, they may turn to thee as the Savior of sinners and cry for mercy. We pray this in the blessed name of Jesus Christ, Amen.