Gospel—N. Hiebert
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Would like to extend a warm welcome to everyone to the Gospel meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to introduce you to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm glad to also be able to say that there's many sitting in this room who know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
One of them is my wife, my son, my grandchildren, and there's many others. We begin this gospel meeting with hymn number.
#9 hymn #9.
Come every soul by sin oppressed. There is mercy with the Lord.
And He will surely give you rest by trusting in His word.
Only trust Him, only trust him. Only trust him now. He will save you.
He will save you. He will save you now.
Do we stand and sing #9?
Come every soul by sin.
Oppressor sex.
Oh.
Or.
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Like to sing a hymn off the back sheet and I would extend an invitation to any of the children to give out of him from the back seat. Anybody quickly #8 Thank you then #8 did you say a Backpage please? Thank you 47 back page. That's what I would have chosen too.
37 Let's remain seated when he cometh, when he cometh.
Here's why.
Bright.
He will have. He will have.
Been doing all the same one all the bright. She wants his love and his love like the sky.
The morning is white, brown warning.
Right.
Right.
On our way out here to the conference yesterday, the day before yesterday actually, we were coming or approaching the border, the US, Canadian border, and I'd recently been reading about Bibles being smuggled into another country.
And I don't know what it was, but I had some apprehension about doing that, about coming across, because I had a whole bunch of boxes full of literature. And so I think my wife and I both, there's something about it. We just felt kind of nervous. And so we prayed that the Lord would hasten us through the customs without any hold up, without anybody worrying too much about the boxes that we had in our trunk. And so we said, which line are we going to take? There's five lines that's starting back and forth. We'll take this one, the second one.
And it happened to be the longest line. A lot of agony in those 35 minutes as we waited. And I was looking ahead and I saw the officer and all I could see was his foot.
And I was going this way and I thought, oh, boy, we're going to have some fun with this fellow. So anyway, we're approaching the customs. And finally we got to the man. And here was a great big fellow dressed in an outfit, in a uniform and had a gun. And he says, so where are you young people going? Well, what a nice. Where are you young people going? And who's that little girl sitting beside you? Is that your daughter? I said, no, it's my granddaughter. What? We had a nice talk. Where are you going? Well, we're going to Bible, Bible Conference. Wonderful. I'm a Pentecostal who was brought up as a Pentecostal. I go to the little Wesleyan Church over here.
And he was starting to give me a little bit of a gospel. I'm not supposed to talk about that on the job. And he said, well, I'll tell you, have a good trip. We'll see you. We came through. We've been praying about it. We asked for a Christian. We actually asked for a Christian man in there and we got him. Well, isn't that wonderful? The Lord looks after things. And you're sitting in this room here this evening, and you may be here by invitation, but the Lord has directed this. And we trust that the message that we have to give will be of the Lord. Let's read together in the gospel of the Acts.
Acts Chapter 16.
Acts Chapter 16.
And let's read from verse 20, Acts 16 and 20, and brought them to the magistrate, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrate ran off their clothes.
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And commanded to beat them, And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison.
Charging the jailer to keep them safely, who having received such a charge.
Thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stalks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. And the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bands were loosened.
And the keeper of the prison awakening out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword.
And would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sir, what must I do to be safe?
I'd like to turn to a few verses and then we'll come back to this. But I'm particularly struck with the word sirs. You know, Sir speaks of a respectful address of an individual. And you know, as I've gotten older, I find people calling me Sir, and I wonder why, Why are they doing that? What's their, you know?
And you start to think about that and.
We see that in Scripture there are numerous references to serve, and let's just look at a few of them before we comment on this book that we've been reading in John chapter 4 and that chapter, I think we have about four references to that beautiful word, Sir, which I've come to appreciate says there first of all in John chapter 4 and verse 11.
There's this woman at the well saying, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with. This woman was talking to the Lord Jesus Christ when he was in this world. The Lord Jesus had asked him or her for a drink. And she says, Sir, thou hast nothing. Oh, my friend, tonight there may be those in this room who would make that phrase that Jesus is nothing. Well, I'll tell you, Jesus is my Savior. He saved me. He saved me.
You know, I was telling you about that officer at the border. I was trembling a little bit.
But you know, I have a son who's a police officer in our city, and frequently at night I get a call, say, Dad, are you in bed yet? Well, no, not yet while I'm sitting in your driveway. So you go outside and you see the cruiser car with all those nasty lights and aerials and all those kinds. And then you see this big guy with his stuff and a gun, and I'm not afraid of him. Why? Why was I afraid of that officer? I didn't know him. And tonight, if you don't know, the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
You might well be afraid because the Lord Jesus Christ is over all. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. But you know, what a beautiful thing to know, to meet another person who is a Christian, someone that you might have feared. Sir, thou hast nothing. Verse 15.
Sir, give me to drink. Oh, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ had offered him something that she wanted. She wanted something to drink that would never.
Caused her to be thirsty again. She wanted that. You know, there are many in this world today that are thirsty and hungry.
To know what is ahead of us, to know what is coming because the signs of us around us.
Are such that men's hearts are failing them.
They want something and you know, tonight I can offer you the word of God, which is complete.
Which will answer the question to your problem if you don't know Jesus as Savior.
Sir, give me verse 19 that says, Sir, I perceive.
We'll stop there. I perceive friends here this evening. There may be many here that.
Say, well, yeah, there's something about it and I kind of like it. And then carry on the way they have been going.
I perceive that thou art a prophet. Why did she say that? Because Jesus told her everything that she had done. And I'm not going to read the account of the various things she had done. But He had it all tabulated, all the bad that she had done, and he, he explained it to her.
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Sir, I perceive, do you know that the Lord Jesus has recorded everything that you have ever done, that I have ever done, And I wouldn't want my life to be displayed on a screen behind me, but the Lord Jesus has recorded that. But I can tell you, my friend, that I know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, and I know that he has removed my sins as far as the east is from the West. He's buried it in the depths of the sea. It's removed forever.
In verse 49, the 4th chapter of John, we read the account of a nobleman.
Who said Sir, come down, Sir, come down. He had a little boy that was sick. He was desperate, as parents are when their children are sick. And you know, when you have 5 rambunctious children such as we had and suddenly they ain't rambunctious anymore, you get worried. Something is wrong. Seriously wrong.
Well, this man was concerned about his son, young children.
Over here, boys and girls, your mother and dad are praying for you right now. If you don't know Jesus as Savior, they're concerned about you, This nobleman said. Sir, come down. Moms and dads want you to be saved. They want you to accept Jesus as Savior. Are you going to sit here and listen to the gospel in the Sunday school and the gospel meetings time and time again and say, Oh well, mom and dad are old fashioned.
My friend, this book is not old fashioned. Just give you one example. I understand this is still the biggest seller in the world. The book, the Bible, the book and it tells us 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.
In chapter 5 and verse seven of John we read of a man who said, Sirs, I have no man. I'll add this to help me.
We'd like to help you. If you don't, if you don't know Jesus as Savior, if this is the first time you've heard it, we'd like to help you. We'd like to point you to the Scripture because if you haven't accepted Jesus, you are LOST, lost, lost. I had an old aunt.
Who loved the Lord Jesus Christ just a little lady. And she told her grandchildren in writing and in an audibly frequently she spoke the little German tongue and she used to tell them Zeit ride, be ready. What good advice could a grandmother, a mother give to say that? Be ready. Are you ready for the Lord Jesus Christ to come?
If you're not ready, you're going to be fearful like I was a little fearful of that customs officer.
But you know, the Lord Jesus Christ loves you. We have children coming to our Sunday school who hardly know what that word means. They hardly know who their father is or their mother. But some of them have come to know Jesus as Savior. They've experienced some love. And so if you don't know that love of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are missing out on something that is extremely important.
In the 12Th chapter of John verse 21, there were some men that.
Said Sirs, we would see Jesus. Would you like to see Jesus?
Would you like to see Jesus? We're going to talk more about that. Jesus is the author.
And the finisher and his axe and everything he did is recorded in this. I shouldn't say everything he did, but much is recorded in this book. And this book tells us exactly the whys, the wherefore, and how you can be saved.
In Matthew chapter 13 and verse 27, we find that there were.
Weeds that were growing up among the wheat, And somebody said to the farmer, Sir, didst thou not so good seed?
Moms and dads have tried to sow the good seed in the hearts of the children.
Children, do you know Jesus as your savior? If you don't know Jesus as your savior, you're in great danger.
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You are lost.
And nothing can save you but the Lord Jesus Christ. It tells us about Him. I am the way, I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me there is no other way.
I've had people say to me, Oh yeah, well, you have your way, I have mine. Hey, there's only one way, my friend.
It's a way of the Word of God. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
In Matthew.
Chapter 21 and verse 30, we read of a young man who was given some instructions and he said I go, Sir, and that tells us he went not. Have you tried to deceive your family? Have you told those of your friends who are Christians that I'll go and you don't do it?
Then you are a liar. Strong terms, but the Father of all lies is the devil. And if you don't go, if you don't come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you should die in your sins. You have no further opportunity.
And you'll go down to that awful place that the scripture that defines as hell.
A place where God is not a terrible place.
Fire, brimstone, blackness of darkness forever, all kinds of descriptions of that awful place.
Let's go back to Acts 16.
In chapter 31, I mean Acts chapter 16, verse 31, we've read the account.
Of the reaction of some people when they heard these men speak about Jesus.
Now why do you know? Why do you need Jesus? What's the problem?
In Genesis we read that there was a beautiful garden that God created.
And in that garden he put his creation, Adam and Eve, and he said you can enjoy this garden.
You can enjoy everything in this garden, Ohio. The one thing, stay away from that one tree. He described the tree. They knew which one it was. Stay away from it.
He's out walking. I think Adam may have been there too. He must have been.
And she looked at the tree. It looked so good. And no doubt it was this time of year you see some beautiful trees with apples, you see vines with beautiful grapes and so on. And they're good. They're delicious. She saw that tree. What about all the hundreds of other trees that were in the other part of the garden? She didn't pay any attention to them. She saw that. And then there was a voice that spoke to her, and it was the devil. It was Satan. He was speaking to her. And he said, has God told you that you shouldn't eat of this tree?
And she said, well, he's told us not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden.
Well, that wasn't really what God said. He said I don't want you that tree. Oh, but the tree looks so good. And Satan said, well, you know, if you want to eat from this tree, you're going to be very wise because God is holding something back.
And finally she was persuaded to take of the fruit, whatever it was to eat of it, and pass along to her husband. And that was the fall of the garden. You may say, what's the big deal eating fruit? I'll tell you what the big deal is. It's not the fruit. It's the disobedience to God.
Man sinned. Prior to that God was able to walk in the garden with his creation in the cool of the day.
That came to an abrupt halt and God had to toss them out of the Garden of Eden.
They could never return again. Is that the end of the story?
No, no, no. God's plan was much greater than that. God had a plan for man.
Sin and Eden In the Garden of Eden, man was banished. God's plan continued. It can never be changed. God had a plan, so he created some beautiful buildings. Man sinned. He created some beautiful music, the largest choirs that have ever been assembled and beautiful orchestras. I love music.
He created all these things. Man still did not change. He still wanted to disobey God.
God tried every way possible for his creation to come.
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Then God, about 2000 years ago, sent his Son Jesus Christ.
From heaven and he was born as a baby in a Manger. He was rejected as a baby in the Manger.
There was number room for him. Nobody wanted him. Nobody wanted that baby.
Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that all of us love babies. My youngest baby is 29 years of age. I can remember when he was born. Could I have rejected him, said I don't want, I haven't got room for him. This is enough. I got four children. No, of course not. Of course not. Jesus came into this world and he was rejected because the devil was still saying, don't accept that man. He was saying to others, kill him.
We don't know all the things that went on.
But the devil was very busy.
Jesus came into this world.
Mother and Dad were there with him and his family.
And after about 30 years, he went to minister and to preach.
And to do miracles and do all those good things. Jesus was the only man that came into this world who was perfect.
He did not sin, He could not sin. He never can sin.
Jesus was that perfect, spotless, the Bible says. Lamb of God, he came into this world.
And what he preached, men tried to destroy him.
Finally, they took Jesus.
And they took him into the hall, the judgment hall, and they judged him there. They judged them there. You know, a judgment hall is a terrible thing. It's a terrible thing particular if you're guilty and you know something, each one in this room is guilty. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Everyone in this room, from the youngest to the oldest to send.
But you know, as I said at the start of this meeting, there are some here who are sinners saved by grace, because God's Word tells us.
That the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
The scriptures tell her, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
The scripture tells us also that for those who do not come, the word is going to be Depart from me. Ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you.
So accept you, repent, you shall all likewise perish. But God's word tells us, and the verse already quoted for God soul of the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Perish. That's a real word. But have everlasting life. But God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. That's the Lord Jesus, and for that.
Man took him.
And beat him about the face. Put a crown of thorns on his head. They spit in his face.
They laid him on a cross, they put nails through his hands and to his feet, and they set him up on the ground.
And there he hung between heaven and earth.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect one. We will not have this man to reign over us.
Crucify him, crucify him. Those were the words of man. And you, my friend, if you reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
As Savior tonight you are part of a gang that said crucify him, he said I wasn't there. It doesn't matter if you don't take sides against yourself with with the Lord Jesus Christ. You are one of those.
And when all was said and done, and Jesus hung on the cross, he could say, Father forgive them.
For they know not what they do.
They know not what they do. That's Jesus.
That's Jesus.
Jesus gave up his life, he said. It is finished, the work was all done and he died. They took him off the cross and they buried him.
In three days he rose from the dead.
On the authority of God's Word, Jesus, that perfect one, arose from the dead. He was seen of many.
There was one.
Who went to the graveside looking for Jesus and weeping? And she used the words, Sir, if you have borne him away, tell me where you have taken him, that I might go and get him.
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You know Jesus rose from the dead. He didn't need any help.
But you know, before Jesus went to the cross, he said let.
Not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my father's house there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That where I am, dear, you may be also.
Isn't that wonderful? That's the story of the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ loves you.
Very much. Let's go to this book that we haven't looked at very much. Here were these men.
That laid many stripes on their backs, on the backs of these men, Paul. And because they preached Christ, we're living in a wonderful land, United States of America and Canada, where I come from, we're still able to preach the gospel here. There's no danger of soldiers coming through that door and telling us to stop and using force to do that, as is happening in some countries in this world. You are blessed by living in this wonderful country where the gospel goes forth.
Where the President of the United States, a Christian and our Prime Minister.
Who loves the Lord Jesus Christ? What a wonderful blessing we have.
But you know, we could be living in a short time if we're left here under much different circumstances.
Are you going to sit in your chair there and say forget it, I don't believe it. You're going to fly in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here were these men, They put stripe after stripe on the backs of these two men because they had preached, because they had taken, they had dealt with a situation that came in their way which the men rejected because their money making schemes came to an end.
Man's desire today is to be wealthy, and there are many wealthy people. If you don't know Jesus as your savior, all the wealth that you have and everybody else has is not going to give you eternal life. Eternal life comes only through the Lord Jesus Christ. These men were upset about it and they beat these men. I'm not sure just why they would do that, because they couldn't get this back again.
And then they put them in prison and they said to the jailer, and I want you to put.
Their legs and their arms and stalks and it tells us.
Who, having received such a charge, thrust them? He didn't just gently put them in, he thrust them into the inner prison.
And made their feet fast in the stalks. Are you a prisoner of Satan?
Are you saying tonight, hey, I'm a bad person? You don't know how bad my life is.
I have done things that are terrible. You may say that in your mind tonight.
And not willing to say it out loud if you feel that you're too great a Sinner. Let me tell you something. This man that was beaten said he was the chief of sinners.
The last time I read the definition of chief, it meant the guy who was in charge where the buck stops.
That was Paul. He was the chief. You are no greater.
Sinner than Paul was.
They put them in the inside prison. They wanted to make sure they wouldn't get away. My friend, if you're bound by Satan, I can tell you that if you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, he will take all those bonds away.
And you can come to the Lord Jesus Christ in liberty. Does that mean that you'll have a perfect Rose Garden from then on? It's not what I'm talking about. But I'll tell you one thing. It's a wonderful thing to know Jesus as Savior and these anxious times in which we're living. And I'm sure I could go up and down these rows and ask different people whether that's true. They would say, yes, that is so. That is so well, Paul and Silas.
Did they feel sore for themselves when they were cast in prison?
I think if I had stripes on my back and I was bleeding and hurting.
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I'd be feeling sorry for myself at midnight of all times, you know, if something aches, it's the worst.
It's the worst ache at midnight, isn't it?
All these men, it tells us here, they prayed and sang praises unto God. Before this gospel meeting, there were about 25 or 30 men that were praying. They were praying for you, and for you, and for you, and for you and for you.
Because one brother in his prayer said, I know there are some.
That are going to be in this room that are not saved. You know, whether it's you, I don't know, but the Lord Jesus looks right down in your heart and he knows whether you're saved or not. That was the prayer tonight. These men were praying. I believe they were praying for the jailer. I believe they were praying for the prisoners because it tells us that the prisoners heard them singing. You wouldn't catch me singing at midnight with my back bleeding no much.
It doesn't matter how much I love singing. I don't think I'd want to be singing. Jesus loves me. This I know. No, I don't think so, these fellows saying.
It tells us the prisoners heard them and suddenly, suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's vans were loose.
Did Paul and Solace say wow, what happened? No, we don't hear that, not like me and said when I said to my wife, the Lord answered our prayers. That guy was a Christian.
But he doesn't know they realized it was the Lord's work. The Lord can save you tonight, my friend.
He can make you a new creation in Christ Jesus. Do you want to be saved?
Here's how you do it.
Tell the Lord Jesus Christ that you're a Sinner. My wife wrote something out for me that a missionary wrote one time.
Saved means is to know that the Lord Jesus Christ has put your sins away by His work at Calvary, has written your name in the book of life as one of His own children, and has given you eternal life which entitles you to a place in heaven. Have you got it, Sir? Have you got it? I know Ian has. Have you got it? Oh, I'm sure there'll be many hands raised if I said raise your hands. I don't want you to do it and raise your hands.
If you know Jesus as your savior, that is a guarantee. What a beautiful way of doing it.
I had something in my Bible case which I stuck in there sometime and it was an invitation.
A very fancy invitation, as you can see. Embossed, Beautiful color, lovely paper.
Expensive paper and it was inviting me to attend an income strategies for the uncertain times.
Well, you're sending the invitation to the wrong guy. But what caught my attention was at the bottom says paid for in part.
I threw it in the garbage and that caught my attention. I picked it out. I'll put that in my Bible case. That's kind of interesting. Paid for in part. My friend, the Lord Jesus Christ hasn't paid anything. In part, He's paid it in full. Paid in full, My sins are gone. Are your sins gone? Would you like to accept Jesus as Savior? Admit that you're a Sinner. See, Lord, I'm a Sinner. Let's carry on.
There was this earthquake, the doors were opened and everyone's bands were loosed, and the keeper of the prison waking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself. Supposing that the prisoners had been fled. You know what that would mean. If one prisoner got away, he is his life would have to be given in exchange for that escaped prisoner.
And you know God is the God of love.
He loves you very much.
But there's a time coming.
When there will be no more gospel meetings?
And the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come.
Now this is something that some people have a great deal of difficulty with.
Jesus said I will come again, but there's something interesting in the beginning of Acts.
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Where it tells us something that we should draw attention to.
Verse 10 of chapter one. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven.
As he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? The same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven, so Jesus is coming again. The Word of God tells us that very clearly He's coming again, and if he should come in the next 5 minutes.
I'm going to be gone. I'm going to be out of here, as are many others. Will there be some in this room, boys, girls, men, women, young, old that are going to remain in a seat here?
What a tragedy that would be for those left behind. But those of us who know Jesus as Savior will go to me with him one time after a gospel meeting.
I was talking to a man who seemed to know something about Scripture. I wasn't so sure whether he knew a lot.
And he says, well, yeah, I guess so. I don't know. You can't really know for sure. Well, let's take the truth. The word of God tells us in first John Five. It tells us there that.
That.
Ye may know.
That ye may know. It's not difficult to understand.
You can know this today. On the authority of God's Word, He's coming.
Well, this man was at the wit's end. This jailer was in trouble and he was about to commit suicide. Is there any young person here or older one who has reached that point where they say what's the point in continuing? As I said earlier, I have a son who is a police officer. He went to the scene of a.
Of a suicide young girl, 21 years of age.
Said it's very hard, very hard to see that.
A young life thrust into a lost eternity.
Suicide is not the end.
It's not the end.
For those that commit suicide.
And they're not saved. Their mind has played tricks on them. They're sick or whatever it might be. Satan wants to capture them. He doesn't want them to accept Jesus. And it may be right now, this moment as we sit here in this room that the set Satan is whispering in your ears and say, don't pay any attention to that. Look what you've got, life ahead of you.
You don't know whether you have any life ahead of you. You may leave this room this evening.
And in 10 or 15 minutes may be gone.
I want to see my doctor.
But a week or two before we came out here, once a year, he wants to see me because I have a metal valve in my heart that he put in there.
11 years ago and once a year he wants to take a look at it to see how it's going. Well, he doesn't have to open me up to do this. He hasn't an echogram. And as I was lying on that stretcher and the technician was going all over my chest and listening to my heart and I could see a video monitor of my heart saying, oh, there's your see that valve. Oh, it's night. Oh, it's beautiful. It's just operating the way it should. I said, you probably say that to everybody that lies, you know, she said, if it doesn't look good, I don't say anything. I let the doctor do that.
Well, you know, something I can't see into your heart. I don't know whether it's good or not, but you made a statement that I wrote down somewhere and she said it's what's on the inside that's important. It's what's on the inside that's important.
Well, when I went out and I waited for the cardiologist to come and see me and get a big smile on his face, Hey, he said. Everything's looking fine. How are you feeling?
I said I feel great, he said. Good, he says. You're looking great, Everything's working well. The heart's beating OK. I don't want to see you for another year.
Well, that kind of makes you happy, doesn't it? But you know, that same doctor told me that he had a fellow in there, young fellow, good shape.
Very strong, healthy looking. I said you're looking great. 12 hours later he died. Why he was great. The doctor didn't know the real inside and I don't know the inside of you folks here.
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But the Lord Jesus does. He looks right into the heart, and he knows whether you're laden with sin. But he's also got a prescription for you. I got a prescription to keep my blood thinned.
I've got a prescription to keep my blood pressure down, my doctor told me one time after my surgery.
He said Norm, we've been able to do a lot of things, but we can't transplant personalities.
He says that's something you've got to control, and so some of us get excited when we do things.
And our blood pressure goes up.
So you eat medication to keep it under control. That's the way things happen. So anyway.
Life at best is very brief. It's like the falling of a leaf, like the binding of a sheep.
Be in time. Here was this man in acts who said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Why did he need to be saved? How did he know he was lost? Oh, he knew that his life was on the line. He knew that he was condemned. Those prisoners escaped.
But.
Paul shouted, louder than I could show, probably. And he says do thyself no harm. We're all here.
And then this question, beautiful question. Would you ask that question tonight?
Sir, what must I do to be saved? The answer was.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And my house is that hard to do?
It's not hard to do, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and all the things that we've traced from the Garden of Eden to the cross, to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and to the reality of Jesus coming in the glory to take with him all those that are saved. Would you believe that?
You know, I've spoken to some of my grandchildren, all of them.
Some of them have no problem with that. Children understand it so much better than older ones.
Somewhere in my Bible I have something. I don't know whether I can locate it, which is here it is.
I think I used that just recently.
Where someone asked a Scottish preacher, ***** asked 253 Christian friends at what age they were converted. Here's what he discovered. Under twenty 138. Between 20 and 3085. Between 30 and 4022. We're getting into your age bracket. Between 40 and 54. Between 50 and 63.
Between 60 and 71 / 70 zero. Where do you fall in this? Why is that so that?
Tell you something of a brother-in-law 82 years of age.
He's a professional football player. He was an Olympic swimmer. He married my sister. He's 20 years older than my sister. He's now 82. He was not the Lord's. He didn't want to hear anything about the Lord. He was saved recently.
Was it like this man who said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? No, he's still worried. He's still worried. He's such a little Christian. But you know, in having accepted Jesus as Savior has nothing to do with the amount he understands. And to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is a simple thing to put your trust in the one who died on Calvary's cross.
I accept that the Lord is the one that does the primary accepting. He accepted Him.
Read something interesting.
Man by the name of Vincenzo Riccardi.
His mummified body in Southampton, NY, was found dead for 13 months.
But his television was still on, and his body was propped up in a chair in front of it. The television was his only companion, and though it had much to tell him, it did not care where he lived, whether he lived or died. Ricardi's story raises many unsettling questions. How can a human being vanish for over a year and not be missed by anyone? Where was his family? What about his relatives? Why was the power still on in his house? Whatever the answers are to these and other questions.
00:50:08
One thing is clear, Riccardi was a lonely individual whose life can be summed up in one word, alienation. You see, Ricardi was blind, so he never really watched television. He needed this virtual reality to feed his need for real companionship.
Can you believe that this is factual? It's recorded. There's documentation that this has actually happened.
13 months, nobody knew he had gone.
There are men, women.
And children dying today in some other lands.
Where they're hardly missed.
That doesn't happen in this country, or does it? I just read something. Can that really happen? You know something, You know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Whether you're incapacitated, no matter what it is, blind or whatever the case may be, you have a companion, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Will come into your heart and he will be your friend. He'll be your Savior. He'll be your Lord, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus.
And believe in my heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved.
They said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and this man that tells us he took these men.
Into his house he bathed their wounds. He looked after them.
He was saved.
For all eternity I'm going to meet that man in heaven. I have one other clipping here. I just want to read a very little bit of this.
It tells us here of a very wealthy woman, head of a multi billion dollar real estate and hotel empire will spend eternity. Listen, this is taken from the Toronto Sun.
It says here we'll spend eternity in a $1.4 million suburban.
With a magnificent view alongside her husband.
Nonsense. Nonsense. No grave, no matter how secure.
No mausoleum, no matter how firmly made, will contain that body for eternity. There will come a time when that body will be raised, and if that body, that person, died in their sins, they will be cast into a lost eternity. Each one in this room still has an opportunity to accept Jesus as Savior. It's not too late yet, but it could be.
If you put it off.
We're going to close this meeting.
And I think the volume of the talking is going to go up immediately and you may forget some of these things.
Please don't leave this room if you're not saved. If you're not saved, why don't you speak to one of us? We'd love to point out some scriptures to you. We can't force you to be saved. There's nothing we can do except turn you to the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't save anybody.
But the Lord Jesus can, and He will.
But he's not going to force you. You're not a robot. You can decide against it tonight, but don't do that. Decide for Christ.
I can't persuade you, I can only read the word of God to you, and the word of God can save you. In closing, let's sing #12 #12.
Just as I am.
Have you come, Sir? Have you come, Sir? I say that respectfully.
If you haven't come, please pay attention to what the Word of God says.
Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sentence be a scarlet.
They shall be as white as snow. Let's pray.