Gospel—A. Coleman
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.
We open our gospel meeting tonight by singing hymn #11 #11 on our Gospel Hymn sheet. Will your anchor hold in the storms of life? When the clouds unfold their wings of strife, When the strong tides lift in the cable strain? Will your anchor drift or per remain? We have an anchor that keeps us all.
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll fast into the rock.
Which cannot move firm indeed in the Savior's love. Somebody starting to Him, please.
While.
I'm falling now. We're done demonstrating whatever it is and you're in the car. I.
Uh, on the rising day, you can never.
Hear.
On your own, devils of death.
We have nicely.
Nsnoise.
Turn first of all to Hebrews chapter 6.
Hebrews, chapter 6.
Verse 18.
That by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. I love that He cannot lie a wonderful God.
We must have strong consolation who have pled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor for the soul both sure and steadfast, which entereth into that within the veil whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus.
00:05:11
Made in the High Priest.
Forever After the Order of Melchizedek, Matthew Gospel, chapter 3.
N.
Matthew's Gospel chapter 3 and the latter part of verse 7.
Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
And then one other verse in, umm, uh, Luke's Gospel, chapter 23.
Luke's Gospel chapter 23 and verse 34 then said, Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Dear ones, tonight I have in my heart tonight to take up, uh, Deuteronomy 19, the Cities of Refuge.
And this is a tremendous gospel portion, tremendous. And I just, I've been, I've been sort of going over it for the last few weeks and just like to share some things in this chapter.
You know.
A chapter such as this and the story of the, umm, cities of refuge. I believe that when we look at it, uh, I like, I like to look at it this way, is that God had two things in mind when he recorded this and, and, and Deuteronomy 19. He had instructions for the children of Israel when they were going to come in to the promised land.
And so he he showed them that they were supposed to have these cities of refuge. But he also had something else in mind when he recorded this. And that very thing is happening tonight. He was looking ahead to when the gospel would go forth to whosoever will now wonderful. What a wonderful God. And you know.
Whe. When you look at the cities of refuge, I see this one thing.
That God is giving man every opportunity to be saved, every single opportunity to be saved. And so it is that tonight, here you are in this gospel meeting, He's giving you another opportunity to be saved. If you're not safe tonight, another opportunity. And we and we trust that you will.
As this person Matthew chapter 3 says.
Flee from the wrath to come, because there is coming wrath upon this world.
And I don't have to go into all the events that have happened in this last few months because we know that this world is in awful shape right now. And I believe this world is right for the judgment of God. But first of all, the Lord Jesus is coming and coming to take His own, to be with him. And what a wonderful, wonderful moment is just before us to hear the shout that is going to take us out of this scene and into His very presence forever.
I'm looking forward to that.
Over a moment just before us, he's coming. He's coming as as sure as the dawn. And we're going to see him. We're going to see that Blessed One who hung up on Calvary's cross for our sins. To think that that Blessed One who hung upon Calvary's cross 2000 years ago, we're going to see him soon.
That face was that that was once so marred, more than any man who hung upon Calvary's cross and who could cry out, My God, my God.
Why hast thou forsaken me? It was an account of his sins. It was an account of my sins that he was there.
Being the sin bearer for me, yes, he did that for me. Why did he do that for me? Because he loved me. And it's the same for you dear friend. Tonight he went to Calvary's cross in obedience to the Father because he loved you and and and and I trust that tonight you'll be able to say the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And so I like these these these portions of scripture here.
00:10:11
If you, if we would just turn over, we'll just digress for a minute and you turn over the page and we'll find another one here. Similar that God had instructions to the children of Israel, but he also had something else in mind, the gospel going forth.
And so we come to 3-4 verses. It is in the 10th verse it says, when thou comest nigh into a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. Well, what is happening? The gospel today is going forth to whosoever will the proclamation of peace to this world.
By the blood of his cross, the proclamation of peace. Think of it when you come now into the city to fight against it and proclaim peace to it.
You know God is not going to bring judgment upon this world until the church is taken home.
And then there's going to be judgment.
I wonder, I wonder, is there one here tonight that are still in their sins?
And would you?
Dare to walk out of this room tonight still a lost Sinner. God has given you every opportunity to be to be saved, and He wants you to be saved.
And in that verse, verse 11, it says, Then it shall be if they make an answer of peace. Have you made that answer?
Have you made that answer? Have you come as a guilty, lost Sinner?
You know his arms are outstretched to you. He's saying to you, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. A wonderful God outstretched to this world. Think of that as loving heart of mercy lingering over this world.
Giving you every chance to be saved, if it may be an answer of peace. And open unto thee have you opened to the Lord Jesus. He says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will stop with him, and he with me. He's a wonderful God.
I'm not sorry I ever became a Christian, a child of God, and I've been a child of God for over 55 years.
And he's been a wonderful God. How wonderful savior to me. How wonderful, wonderful savior.
And we want you to know this wonderful person.
You look after you, He'll care for you, He'll love you, He'll keep you, He'll bless you. All the blessings that he showers upon me every day of my life, I thank you for it, Wonderful God. And I say this, that, and I've said it before in the gospel meeting, you know, if you haven't accepted Christ as your Savior, you're missing something very wonderful.
If you don't know Christ, there's a void in your life. There is a void in your life, and oh that that void can be filled by the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the void that can be filled.
And all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. Oh you know in that wonderful the minute I came to Christ, I was brought into a family, the family of God. And here I am today in Addison, IL.
And I'm with a family. Beautiful, isn't it? I'm with a family.
My, when I came here this morning, there was quite a few. I was trying to bewildered. I didn't know a lot of them, you know, but we're all brothers and sisters in Christ. If we belong to the Lord Jesus, we've been brought into a family. Beautiful, isn't it? Let's go to our chapter.
A Chapter 19. Deuteronomy 19.
When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations, whose.
Land. The Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwelleth in their cities and in their houses.
Thou shalt separate three cities for the in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it.
And now look at these, this next phrase. This is beautiful. Thou shall prepare thee away. I'll repeat it again. Thou shalt prepare thee away. And divide the coast of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit unto 3 parts, that every Slayer may flee thither.
00:15:12
And this is the case of the Slayer, which shall flee thither.
That he may live whoso killeth his neighbor ignorantly, whom he hateth not in times past.
I was when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hear wood and his axe. Fetcher spoke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the hell, and lighteth upon his neighbor that he died. He shall flee unto one of those cities and live, lest the avenger of the blood pursue the Slayer while his heart is hot.
And overtake him. Now the next phrase I've undertined it, because the way is long. And slay him, whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in times past. Wherefore I command thee, say thou shalt separate three cities for thee, And if the Lord thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath given unto thy fathers, and give thee all.
And which he promised to give unto thy fathers, Thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them.
Which I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, and to walk ever in his ways.
Then shalt thou add three more cities besides these three, that innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and sow blood be upon thee.
But if a man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he died, and pleth unto one of these cities, then the elders of this city shall stand and fetch him, fit and deliver men into the hand of the injure of the avenger of blood, that he may die. Thy 9 shall not pity him, thou shalt put away.
The guilt of innocent blood from Israel.
That it may go well with thee. At the end of this gospel, I'm going to tell you about a man that went to the city of refuge.
Right here we find a man and his friend, and they've gone out into the wood to chop some wood.
I know what this is all about.
Because.
I used to have a mountain cabin in north shores of Vancouver and I used to go up there and cut wood for the winter and piled it up and I'll tell you what happened.
So this man and his friend, they're cutting down wood and he takes a big swing with his axe and he's coming down on this block of wood and.
The axe head comes off.
And it goes like this and it comes down and it hits his friend on the head.
And his friend?
Just keel silver.
And he dies right there.
And this man that had the axe head, he looked at his friend and he said.
This is terrible.
My friend, he died.
This is an awful calamity. This man, this man, my friend, is dead.
You know I was chopping wood.
And I did the same thing. I bought a brand new Axe O Sharp. It was great. The wood cutting was fine, but my thumb just went took that off. I know what it's all about. I was all alone, nobody in the mountain and blood was coming down. So I had to get going. But here's his friend Deb.
And he says, what am I gonna do?
What am I going to do? My friend is dead. And then he remembers Ah.
His friend. His other friend.
00:20:00
He might think that I killed that man.
He might think I did.
So what does he do? He does the only thing possible that he can do.
He flees to the city of Refuge.
And dear friends, tonight, if you're without Christ tonight.
We want you to please to the city of Refuge, and I want to tell you one thing right now, the city of Refuge is.
The city of Refuge is Christ. That's the only one.
That you can come to.
Acts 412. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven.
Given among men, whereby we must be saved.
And so this man goes to the city of Refuge.
His friend is hot on his tail.
We're gonna find out about that later.
But then it says here thou shalt prepare thee away. You know, this is the one, the wonderful part of this chapter. And I think that if I was there, and I can just imagine that that if I was there.
There's a signpost, and the signpost, what does it say? Refuge. It was clearly marked.
The way was the way was clear. I, I imagine it, well, I'm not going to say it was a blacktop Hwy. but you know, God wants it that way. He wants a real blacktop Hwy. whereby you can get to him.
He's so anxious for you to be saved that he has cleared the way and he showed near the way.
There it is, the Signpost says Refuge.
You're going down the highway.
And all of a sudden.
Auditor, you've we've all had it going down the freeway. Massive log jam. Detour. Yeah, detour. You know, I believe that sometimes God puts a detour into our lives. Why? Because sometimes we're going our own contrary way.
And that way is leading to hell.
Yeah, that's that's the way I was going when I was a young man. I was on that broad road to hell.
And God had to put roadblocks in my life.
So that I realized that I had to do with Him. I needed him as my savior. I found out that there was nothing in this world that can satisfy.
You know what says in Psalm? It says He satisfies the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul and fatness. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to be a child of God.
Exciting.
To know the Lord Jesus my Savior, my sins are all gone.
Washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, are your sins all gone?
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
There's nothing left for you to do, dear one. Tonight just come. It's all been done. All been done. You see, man's religion is always do, do, do. But God's religion is done, done, done. Everything's done. It is finished.
It is consumed. Done.
What a savior. Nothing left for you to do but come. And He wants you to come, and He's longing for you to come.
Year 1 tonight.
Thomas shall prepare the way.
And divide the coast of thy land.
And here is this man, he's fleeing to the city of refuge.
And then in verse six it says, lest the avenger of blood pursue the Slayer while his heart is hot and overtaken, because the way is long. Did you know, dear one, tonight, that there is a person, a real person?
00:25:03
Who is saying to you that appears not saved tonight is saying there's lots of time ways long don't worry about it.
Wait till next week, wait till tomorrow. There'll be another gospel meeting tomorrow. You can try it then.
No, no, friend, God says be old. Now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Remember now thy Creator.
In the days of thy youth, dear young boys and girls, sit beside your mother and father tonight.
Do you know Christ as your Savior as a commonest? As a Sinner?
He wants to save you. He could say to the children, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not for such as the Kingdom of heaven.
You have to come as a little child, like him as a little child.
This man receiveth sinners in Edith. What a savior.
He'll receive you him that cometh to me. I will in no wise.
Cast out is never turned aside. One who had come in faith to him, but a Savior.
Because the way is long and and and slay him because he was not worthy of death in as much as he hated him. Not in time past.
But you know you're one tonight at the cross, it says in Psalm 69. They that hated me are more than the hairs of my head to think.
That our blessed Lord Jesus, God's beloved Son, hung upon Calvary's cross, there on that cross, all for suck him, and fled. He was alone and he could cry out, my God.
My God, why hast thou forsaken me there? Dark hours and Calvary's cross, when He was made sin for us all to think of it. Think of the love that held Him there on that cross for you and for me. He did it all for me.
What a savior. Do you know this wonderful, wonderful savior? He's my savior. I trust he's yours if he's not.
You can come tonight.
Because the way is long.
Because the way is long.
I wonder how many more days we're going to have in this earth.
How many more?
How many more?
What a mess this world is. What a mess. What a mess.
Right for the judgment of God.
And so we say to you tonight, flee to the city of refuge, which is Christ.
The only way.
The way is clearly marked he could come.
You know, man was guilty of murder.
They murdered God's beloved Son.
They murdered him.
They put him up on the cross in hatred to God.
We will not have this man to reign over us.
And there are many that tonight.
Hate the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?
That name which is above every name, sweet His name. That name transcending every name on earth in heaven. What is the name of Jesus mean to you?
Does it mean savior to you? It is to me.
They put him up on the cross.
They murdered God's beloved Son.
But you know, I read that verse in Luke 23.
And it said this Father forgive him, for they know not what they do.
Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
00:30:04
The Manslayer.
Was changed.
To manslaughter.
What does a man do then? Please to the city of Refuge.
To be saved.
Have you flown? Have you gone there yet?
In the end of this chapter we have some very solemn verses and I'm going to read them.
But if any man hate his neighbor, verse 11 and lie and wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he died, and flee unto one of these cities, then the elders of that city shall send infection fence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.
Thine eye shall not pity him. Thou shalt put away.
The guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee. You know, dear one, tonight you go out of this room a lost, guilty Sinner.
Without being saved, you'll have no one to blame but yourself.
And there will be no pity at all for you.
In a lost eternity, no pity at all, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
And you'll have the thought.
Of being in a gospel meeting such as this.
And hearing the gospel and having the opportunity.
Of accepting Christ as your Savior and go out of that room.
Still a lost Sinner and go into a lost eternity.
But a solemn thing.
They shall look upon me whom they pierced.
God wants to give you every opportunity to be saved.
Every opportunity if Torrey don't mind.
I was invited to North Carolina.
In May and I had an interesting situation. Bert says well you can stay at our place. But he says I got a friend of mine down the street. He says I want to want you to stay with him.
And so I I stayed with Ted. Is it Ted?
I slept there overnight and I had my meals at at Brother Bert's house and my we had a nice time. But I found this man to be 86 years old and, uh, friendly, very kind.
His wife at Poway. He was living in a lovely home.
And the accommodation was very nice in the bedroom. I slept there.
And he was a Jew.
He was a Jew.
And what I found out is that God had given this man.
Numerous opportunities to hear the gospel. Every opportunity to hear the gospel.
His, I think, was his brother-in-law or something like that. A relative of his had given them the gospel. Bird had given them the gospel. A friend of his had given them the gospel.
And then the Lord sends this poor fellow along. And So what was I to do? And I, you know, I asked the Lord and Lord to help me. I need to get give this man something and being easy. Was that you? I thought, well, there's only one scripture. And so I, I started reading Isaiah 53.
And then I said to Dad, I said, Ted, who is he talking about?
Who is he talking about? The Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't know. He didn't realize.
Oh, think of it.
I say it again, as it was with Ted, he had given every opportunity to be saved.
00:35:00
And I say again, you'll have nobody to blame but yourself.
If you go out of this world a lost soul.
And you know what the portion will be for you.
If you leave this world without Christ.
Turn with me to Revelation. We'll go back to this chapter again.
Revelation chapter 20.
And this will be your portion, and I believe in faithfulness of the Lord.
I need to bring this out tonight because.
Of judgment that God doesn't want to bring in the judgment, and here it is.
Verse 11 and I saw a great white throne.
And him that sat on it, who's that going to be? The Lord Jesus?
From whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.
Think of it standing in place before the Lord Jesus Christ.
How many that have said, when I see, am I going to tell him no, you're not, You're going to be speechless?
To think of that Blessed One in all his glory.
And you'll laughed about the knee till the Lord Jesus Christ, He says, every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
If you haven't bowed your knee to him, you will bow in the coming day at this great white throne of judgment.
And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire. That will be your portion.
That's the dark side of the gospel, but in faithfulness we feel we need to do it.
There was a man.
By the name of Abner.
And ever killed a man?
You'll find it recorded in uh uh, Second Samuel chapter 3.
He had killed Joab's brother, uh, brother Hashiel.
And Abner was.
Going somewhere?
Abner was going to Hebron.
Hebron was a city of refuge.
You know this is a very solemn portion if we were to read it.
Yeah, let's read it.
Second Samuel, chapter 3.
Now to realize now he has already killed a man.
I heard it explained this way the other day. It was interesting. They were walking along. Asia was behind him.
And Abner was in front, had his sword done like this.
And as Yale kept following them.
And Abner didn't like it. And so you know what he did?
Witherspoon.
And hit him. Get on.
Under the fifth rib.
Dead instant.
And Job was hot on his tail.
And he was going to Hebron.
And you know the enemy of your soul tonight is hot on your tail, and he doesn't want you to accept Christ tonight.
He said I want you to just wait another day, another hour.
Another moment.
No, dear friend, God's time is down.
Procrastination. Put it off.
I know all about it.
I grew up in a Christian home.
I put it off and put it off and put it off.
Until I was a young man.
The time to come to Christ is when you're young.
00:40:04
An Abner was going to.
Verse 27 And when Abner was turned to Hebrew, and Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, the blood of Ashiel his brother.
He was raised at the gate of Hebrew.
Do you have a bloody man? He was.
Later on, he was slain for his crimes, Abner being one of them.
And Joab was.
Coming up behind him.
And Abner comes to the gate.
And Joab says, just a minute, Abner, I want to talk to you.
Oh, just a minute.
And you know, that is the very thing that the God of this world, Satan, has sent to you tonight. If you're without Christ, he's saying just a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
What happened?
Abner probably took a hold of the doorknob or wherever the gate of that city.
And died right there.
He died right there.
Oh, you know dear one, tonight this brings tears to my eyes because he had an opportunity to get into the city of Refuge.
And he died right there in the gate. All he had to do was open the gate and walk in, and he was saved. Joab couldn't have touched him.
And you know a friend tonight.
All you have to do is to escape to the city of Refuge tonight, which is Christ. That's it.
Come to Christ tonight, the city of Refuge, and you be safe.
You know what the epitaph for for Abner was?
Dyed Abner as a fool.
Died. Abner is a fool. Died.
You'll have nobody to blame but yourself if you go out of this room tonight and into a lost eternity. I say, dear friend, you're a fool.
You're a fool.
Because God has given you every opportunity to be saved.
Are you sheltered under the precious blood of the Lord's Christ?
He says your hands were not tied a better. I better read that carefully now. Yeah. Verse 34 Thy hands were not bound, neither thy put a feet put in fetters. As a man falleth before wicked man, so fellest thou.
And all the people wept again over him.
What a solemn thing.
Have you ever been to a funeral where the man that, that, that was, that was uh, uh, that died?
Was not saved.
Solemn funeral.
Weeping.
My father-in-law was not saved.
My mother-in-law was a very godly woman. Thank God for her wonderful, wonderful mother-in-law. The best mother-in-law I could have had.
But he wasn't saved.
They died a month apart.
One general absolute rejoicing My mother's, my mother-in-law, my father-in-law weeping.
We never knew where he went.
But a solemn thing to go out of this world.
Without Christ.
No one to blame but yourself, he says. Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet were in fetters.
00:45:01
So that I never forced you to come.
But you know the Lord Jesus is pleading for you to come.
Yes, He is. He's pleading for you to come tonight. That's our loving Savior.
And so I asked this one thing tonight. Here it is. It's 7:50 and this meeting is just about over.
Have you fled from the wrath to come? Have you fled to the Lord Jesus Christ tonight? He's a wonderful Savior.
Anomaly Home, Saviour.
And he's going to take us home.
Pretty soon, maybe tonight. That's my constant prayer, you know, It's so precious since the home going of my wife.
It's more precious than it ever has been.
These cities of refuge mean something. I'd like to share them with you.
Quresh.
The Lord Jesus is wholly harmless and defiled. Teddish means holy Hebrews 726 Hebrew fellowship. We were brought into a fellowship. Our fellowship was with the Son.
In first John chapter one, Beazer Fortress.
He is my high tower, my fortress. Psalm 18 Two Raymond, Hi. He's given the highest place in glory.
Golan joy. We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Checking shoulders Luke chapter 15. He brings us on his shoulders. Rejoice. Oh, I love this. I love this one. Shechem. I want to just share this little thought with you.
The, uh, the mountain cabin that I was telling you about earlier, we, uh, uh, each of us, there was about 100 and some odd California, uh, cabins up there. And when the kids were small, we used to go up there and, uh, but I would have to carry the kids on my shoulders and, uh, pack sack and everything else. And so we named our cabin checking.
Shoulders.
Because when I got to the very door of my cabin, I could take off my pack sack and my son and everything else and, and I just.
He brings us home on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Oh, friends, tonight, do you know this wonderful God, this wonderful Savior? I say tonight, have you come to the city of Refuge, which is Christ? Let's sing. Umm, I think it's uh yeah #20 Behold, the Savior at the door. He gently knocks, has knocked before, has waited long.
Is waiting still.
You use no other friend, so I'll hymn #20.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
Shall we pray?