Gospel—J. Ryan
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.
Good evening all and welcome.
To another gospel meeting.
I wonder how many of us can recall the hymn that was first sung in this room this morning. What song was number one this morning? The first meeting this morning was.
Announced as a children's meeting, a Sunday school And what was the first hymn that we sang this morning?
I'd like to sing it again.
We turn to number 40.
This little song turns out to be the favorite hymn for many, many 1,000,000 millions of souls.
Have enjoyed this song. It's been translated into many languages.
Someone start #40 for us?
00:05:31
Before we proceed any further.
Shall we just take out a moment to ask our God for help?
We asked either when.
Well, excuse me just a moment if I ask you to look again at the little song we just sang. It's on the Backpage. It's not too hard to find number 40.
I'd like to just count the number of times it says Jesus loves me. How often did we express that little phrase? The first line of verse one, the first line of verse two and the first line of verse three and again verse four and once more verse five. That's five times that we use that expression. We we mouthed those words.
Jesus loves me. That's 5 verses. Then in the chorus it's repeated. 3 * 5 * 3 is what, 15?
So in the chorus we set it 15 times. In the verses we said it five more.
20 times.
Have you ever stopped to count how often we may make that expression? Some of us in this room?
I suspect there's some over 80 years of age that have sat in gospel meetings like this at least once a week. That's a little over 50 * a year. A couple of weeks off. Maybe we had the flu or a bug of some sort.
How often have you heard the gospel?
80 * 50.
Quite a few times.
Right, 8 * 50 is 400.
80 * 50 is 4000. How many times do we have to hear before we take it in?
Can we ask you all a question?
The little song said, and we repeated it with some frequency. Jesus loves me. Can I ask a question?
Of each and everyone, young and old.
Do you?
Love Jesus.
There's no question about his love.
There may be some question of our mind. How responsive am I? How responsive have you been?
Do we answer to that love? Do we respond to it as we ought?
Jesus loves me now, the hymn tells us.
That we know this, it's an item of information that's known to us, That's something that's come into our heads, into our minds, into our intellect, and we've acquired an understanding that Jesus loves me. This I know. How come we know that? By what means have we come to that understanding? Verse 2, excuse me, line 2, verse one is real early, early in this little hymn.
That we get the answer. Where do we find this information? How come we understand this to be sold?
The Bible tells me so.
The Bible tells me so.
Now, what's so significant about information acquired from the Bible if you go to the Public Library?
And have any subject at all on your mind, whatever it is, and decide to look up something?
When you get a book off the shelf, the first thing you need to do these days is look up the front piece.
And try to find the date. When was this book written? Was this book written?
50 years ago, probably obsolete. Maybe it isn't pertinent, Maybe it doesn't answer the question in terms of today's world.
What if it's 100 years old?
It's probably completely irrelevant, especially if it's on some technical subject, it doesn't come close to the mark.
00:10:06
How is it that this book?
Almost 2000 years since the last word in it was written.
How come that this book is to be relied on?
Unchanging thy word is settled, it says.
Forever.
Thy word is settled. No change.
That's because the author of this book is different from the authors of all the other books in the library.
Have you ever gone to a library? And at least in some of the major cities, I know one.
And go to the index and try to find a company of the Bible. Lots of libraries that don't have it anymore.
This book.
God's Word to you, to me.
It's to be relied on. Now where does it tell us in this book that Jesus loves me? I wish I had some of the 10 year olds here to try to get an answer to that. That question was asked once in a Sunday school class. Tell me, where does it say Jesus loves me?
Can you tell me the hymns writer says that the Bible says it, so where is it?
Well, one little boy, said John 316.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Well that wasn't the answer the teacher was looking for because that doesn't say Jesus in that verse, it says God.
And it refers to the sun, so that God must be the Father. But where does it say Jesus loves?
You and me.
Can we turn open our Bibles to John 15?
John 15 You know, in this little prayer meeting that was had a few minutes ago, there were a number of voices seeking the Lord's mercies on behalf of the children in our houses, the little ones.
Not just one.
Had that concern, quite a few of the voices raised to pray, to plead that our God would be merciful for the children in our houses. So I'd really like to talk to the children. Is there anyone here of the age of three or four old enough to take it in that Jesus loves you?
John 15 verse 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I, and the speaker is by name.
Jesus, he says.
John 15 verse nine. So have I loved you.
There it is in plain English, in our own native language.
Now.
When God repeats himself.
He's not stuttering, he's not stammering, he's not indefinite or speculating as to what he has said, so he has to repeat it to be sure he got it right the first time. No, he's just being emphatic.
Emphatic. He wants us to know without any doubt as to what He has said. Verse 9 So have I loved you. Now read verse 12, the end of the verse, the last four words.
I have loved you.
That's Jesus speaking.
I have loved you. What is your answer to that?
Can you say?
Jesus, I love you.
Now.
I wonder if we can find any reason why Jesus loves us.
You know, we read something about the state, what we are when we came into this world.
In Romans 3, let's turn to it briefly. Romans chapter 3, we have a little description of what we are.
This is what we are by birth. And you know if the parents that are present will excuse me for justice a moment.
00:15:05
That I might speak to the children.
And express an apology to the little ones, the young folks, the children here.
We brought you into this world.
And we brought you into a world of sin.
We ourselves, your fathers and mothers, were sinners in our sins.
And you've inherited something from us.
Sin, sin.
So here we are.
All of us, young and old.
Tainted with the same brush.
Sin. Romans 3 describes our state as sinners in this world.
Verse 10 as it is written.
That affirms authenticity, that establishes.
Honesty and the source. It is God's own truth. It is written There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way.
Had a little burst from Isaiah 53. He's been quoted here in this room in the last couple of days. All gone astray, everyone turned into his own way.
They all are together become unprofitable. There was none that doeth good. No, not one.
Do I maybe have a 5 year old girl here?
That says that the little girls are made of sugar and spice and I haven't done anything wrong.
What does God have to say about me?
Verse 12 Again, the last expression in the verse, There is none that doeth good, no.
Not one.
Well, that's perhaps enough to establish.
The state of us, each young and old.
The physically attractive, the others not so attractive physically.
The mentally bright and the others not so mentally sharp perhaps.
The young, the old, the ones with substance, some wealth in their bank accounts and others with relatively little.
All in the same mold, all in the same state. Now why should Jesus love anybody so described?
Can you find a reasonable excuse?
Why Jesus should love me?
It doesn't seem too reasonable actually.
Well, you can understand it if there was some particularly attractive people in this world.
And the Lord could approach such and say I love you, you're a doll, you are most attractive to my eye, and I love you. But oh, the fellow next door.
He's a little blunt. He's a crusty sort of person. He doesn't behave himself too well for that person. No. No love for that person. Is that the way it says it in the book? No.
Jesus loves everyone.
That's really quite remarkable if you think about it.
We could understand the love of God shown out to lovely persons.
But that God should love the unlovely.
That's news, and that's where we are. God who loves the unlovely.
Jesus.
Loves me.
Jesus loves you. What is your response to that?
Now we've had a little bit in the last couple of days.
Something really kind of brought to our attention more forcibly this afternoon.
And I hope most of you, I suspect most of you, were here.
We had a little discussion as to who this man Jesus is.
00:20:04
You know if he was a person of no particular worth.
No particular reputation a man of.
No particular position in this world.
And he comes and shows some affection to us. Well, we can take it or leave it. So what? But who is he? Who is this man?
We had some definition of it today.
This afternoon our attention was called to the first chapter of John's Gospel. Just a few pages over, and we look at John one again.
And I hope that the youngest can follow this.
And won't read the whole chapter. Much of it was read this afternoon. But who is this man?
Whose name is Jesus?
Go to the encyclopedias, you can get quite a bit of material about the history of the man called Jesus. But who is he?
You might say that sounds kind of strange, shouldn't I say? Who was he?
Well, he was.
And it says Christ died. That's another one of his names. Christ died for our sins.
According to the scriptures and he was buried and he rose again.
And he's gone up to heaven. He lives.
We have a savior.
Who lives? He's alive.
He's sitting in the heavens, waiting to take his people.
To himself.
So it is present tense. Who is Jesus?
Is referred to sometimes as Jesus of Nazareth. The text over the cross of Calvary said this is Jesus of Nazareth as his home city, more or less the city where he was raised, not the place where he was born, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Was that an accurate statement?
Yes.
Quite accurate, but it wasn't complete. And what didn't really tell the whole story? Jesus of Nazareth, that was right. The King of the Jews, that was correct, but it didn't cover the ground. John One, the first chapter of John's Gospel.
Seems to cover the ground. Now let's look a little as to why this man Jesus should be recognized by us, received by us, accepted by us, each and everyone. In the first verse we find one of his names, the Word.
Capital W and the word Word in the first verse of the chapter.
And in a simple way, I like to think that that means that he's so thoroughly described God.
That there's no other need for work. He was the full expression of the Godhead.
As we also noted this afternoon in First Timothy.
The word now go down to verse.
Seven, in the middle of the verse, the light. Notice it's the Word, not one of many words, but the Word and in connection with light in verse 7, the light, the whole world in darkness.
Impenetrable darkness.
In Satan's control.
And there is light to be found in Jesus. That's one of his names, the light.
Now go down, perhaps to.
Well, verse 29, the Lamb again singular.
Not one of many lambs, or a lot of lambs in the Mosaic economy. In the Old Testament we just read of one today or two. The morning and the evening. Lamb every day, year round, year after year, for centuries. 2 lambs a day. But here is.
The Lamb, singular, specific, none like him.
And his name is Jesus.
Down to verse 34. Some further identification as to who he is.
00:25:05
This is the Son of God.
Isn't that amazing?
A Lamb of God, the word delight, and he's also the Son of God.
You might put that slightly differently. This is God the Son.
Now, if God has been in this world, and the person of the Son, if God has walked the streets.
Of our cities, if God has been mistreated, the Son of God thrown out.
You know the Father, God the Father has a controversy with this world.
What have you done with Jesus? You say, Well, I wasn't there in 1900 odd years ago. I didn't drive the nails. Some Roman soldier did that. But what are you doing with him now?
What is your attitude toward him now?
God the Son in verse 34 and next.
In verse 41 it is once said to others, we have found the Messiah.
Messiahs. That's a Hebrew word that means.
The Christ the same as in the Greek Messiahs and Christ are synonymous 2 languages.
Meaning the one appointed by God and sent.
Set. We've had it quoted here several times today. The Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world. The Savior. Isn't that strange? Did this world need a savior? Do you need a savior? You can't save yourself.
And so you do need a savior, and his name is Jesus, and there is none other name under heaven. You know, if there were some alternatives, things wouldn't be quite so, so awkward if we could suggest to you that maybe there's two or three different ways to get to heaven.
There are many ways to get to hell. We're well acquainted with that.
That's the Broad Rd. that was referred to last night.
Broad Road and many there go in there after.
But there's one savior.
Jesus.
Christ our Lord.
Christ, God's man. The next verse 45 identifies this same person. All these names in one chapter. Here he is the end of verse 45, Jesus of Nazareth.
Now the man who was speaking was a man, Philip.
And the best of his knowledge at the time, he said something, and in the word of God.
He's accurately quoted. This is what he said. Jesus of Nazareth comma, the son of Joseph.
Now we also had a little information this afternoon. We were told that he was not the son of Joseph. He was conceived of the Holy Ghost. He was not the son of Joseph. He was the son of Mary, but not the son of Joseph.
That's what this book tells us, and we believe it. Well, Philip was misinformed. He was reporting as to what his understanding of things was, that Joseph was the Father. He was misinformed, but he was not incorrectly informed with respect to his identity as Jesus of Nazareth.
Another name.
At the end of verse 49.
Thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel. The King. What does that suggest? Authority. High place? Dominion. The King?
He has rule. Are you subject to that rule, or are you rebellious, refusing to submit to that rule?
This is who Jesus is, the King.
And at the last few words of the chapter, another title, another name for Jesus.
The Son of Man, you know, it impresses me this way.
00:30:01
If someone comes to me and wants to introduce me to a man who is.
The Word, the light, the Lamb of God.
The Christ.
Jesus of Nazareth, the King.
Why he's so high above my station, so far in excess of my position in this world.
But I have no possibility of ever making any acquaintance of such a person.
How many of us?
I've had an audience with the Queen of England, for example. How many of us have been in the White House? What chance do we have of reaching a man in high station? Not much.
So.
We the chapter doesn't close, leaving us with that quandary, that doubt. We're introduced the end of verse 51 to the Son of Man.
A man, a real man, we've had that brought before us today.
God manifest in flesh. God made visible, expressed in flesh, so that he could be reached, so that he could be handled, so that eyes could see it and talk with him, communicate with him. He was physically here as a man and as a man.
Is reachable by us today.
He's knowable. We can.
Communicate. We can reach this man, the Son of Man, although he is high and lofty.
As all these titles seem to indicate, no, I missed two titles, at least in this chapter. We go back and pick them up please in the second verse.
The same.
This was also brought to our attention a little earlier, just an hour or two ago from the 102nd Psalm. One of His names is the same, you know, He just never changes. He is the eternal Son, the eternal God.
One of the hymns in our Black book expresses it rather nicely.
This, this hymn #129 verse two, this Savior is present tense. The mighty God, the God of heaven above the God of heaven, that's who he is. Next line revealed in flesh.
Comma.
He shed his blood.
Blessed proof of endless love. He proved his love.
One of his names, the same unchanging God from eternity.
The Everlasting One, the I am, the Holy One of God, the same unchanging.
And one more title, one more evidence, one more statement I should say as to who he is. Verse one, this was touched on earlier today. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. He had separate identity. And notice this last, the Word was God.
Jesus is God.
Now can you afford?
To think lightly of such and one as this can you afford.
To think lightly of him.
He loves you. He loves you with intensity, with every fiber of His being. He proved it when He went to that cross, when He died for your sins and for mine. Christ died for our sins.
He didn't die for his own.
He had none.
The only sins?
That he had at that cross were those that he assumed, those that were laid on him, not his own, if he had so few as one.
He would not be a competent savior if he had so few as one sin approaching that cross. It was required in the Old Testament, you may recall, of the sacrifices that were to be brought. The Israelites, who had a conscience about his sins, would come and bring a beast, perhaps a lamb most commonly.
00:35:05
An offering for sin.
And he presented to the priest, he lay his hand on the head of that little animal, and the priest would take it. The animal would be slain, and the blood poured out. But that animal was required under the law of Moses to be without blemish, without blemish, no fault. Now have you ever thought of what?
Fear might come into the minds of 1 The pious Israelite concerned about his sins, and he'd come to the priest to make that offering, to be relieved of all that guilty feelings that were on him to present a lamb. He knew it had to be a perfect lamb with no blemish.
Right, look at that beast and he'd say, well, it looks pretty good to me. And before I go to the priest, he might stop at one of his neighbors who was better acquainted with sheep.
Only my consultant neighbor and say is this is this animal really without blemish? The neighbor might say well.
From what little I know about sheep, I think that the sheep is a little heavy in his hips, or maybe his legs are too short for the body or too long for the body. No, a critical analysis would find something wrong with that beast.
Maybe the eyes are a little too close together. You're really not a perfect animal. So he go back to his flock and search out, try to call out, find one that may be more perfect this time. He might go to one who's in the business of raising sheep, one who is raised in the business of cultivating sheep, perhaps a PhD at the local university.
Who is well acquainted with what constitutes perfection in the Lamb? And he'd bring that beast to that person.
And you know.
The more careful you examine the thing, the more high-powered your microscope.
The more likely you are to find fault. There's something wrong with that animal. It's really tough to find perfection in this world.
So the Israelite who is the real conscience about his offering?
I don't know what really hesitate. Is this animal without blemish? It's required to be over and over again stated.
Must be without blemish, but here is God's land, the Lamb of God.
One of his title is in John One verse 29, The Lamb of God.
It would require perfection.
And.
It was provided the Lamb of God's own, providing the Son of his love.
The perfect.
Lamb of God, no spot, no blemish, no taint. He died for our sins.
And He is a Savior for sinners everywhere around the world, young and old.
Will you have him? He loves you, He wants you.
Do you love him?
So this savior.
Is Jesus that's his name?
That's only part of the story. He's much more than just the man Jesus of Nazareth.
He is God.
Isn't that tremendous to think that God who loved us would go to such lengths?
Now I'd like to just maybe touch on an illustration, return to the second chapter of the book of Ruth, and we'll just look at perhaps one verse.
And we get an illustration of how one lady laid hold of these things. One person.
Came in a blessing. She became a believer. Would you? Is there somebody here who is not a believer, who doesn't put your trust in the Lord Jesus? Haven't done it yet. Thinking about it, maybe you've heard there's a desirable thing to do, but you haven't done it. But here's an illustration of just how it's done.
Might be a help to somebody. Second chapter of Ruth, verse 14.
This is the story of a woman who was a of the tribe of the nation of Moab.
And she had no rights. She would not have Israel. She had no claims against the God of Israel.
She was a stranger and not to be admitted to the nation of Israel for 10 generations. And yet here she is. She presents herself in Israel a stranger with no rights and you without Christ, without God in this world tonight, sitting here, you have no claims against God either. You have no rights. You cannot press your claim on any ground of propriety and decency in yourself.
00:40:29
Just like this more by this woman. No claims. A stranger with no claims.
Verse 14.
And Boaz said unto her, Well, further, we might notice this. She was a young woman. Probably, you understand, she was probably a young woman and she was a widow. She had been married. They lost her husband at a young age, and she's coming to Israel.
As it says in another place in this book.
That she had come under the wings of the God of Israel to trust in Him. She had put her trust in the God of Israel. And what do you put your trust?
Any confidence in yourself?
Worthless.
Worth less, worth nothing, worse than nothing. Confidence in yourself will deceive you.
Give you to think that perhaps things might turn out all right in the end. self-confidence.
Is ruined.
Boaz said unto her at meal time.
Come thou, hit her.
Boise is described as the mighty man of wealth, and our Lord Jesus is certainly that mighty man of wealth. He had unlimited wealth. He was the God of the universe. There's everything at his command. Nothing escaped him. It was all his.
And he says, come, hit her, the Lord Jesus.
Is here tonight and he is inviting you come and those of us who know him, perhaps the larger number that are present, can we understand him to be saying?
I know you, I've known you for a long time. I love you and I understand you have some affection for me, but would you come a little closer?
Come a little closer. He wants our company. He doesn't want us to be distant, cold, unresponsive. The lover of our souls wants our affections.
And he says, Come, Heather, come near, like Joseph said to his brethren, Come near unto me, I pray you, what a pleading of the heart of Joseph. That's what Jesus is saying to us, all of us, everyone in this room, come near unto me, I pray here.
And so, oh, I said unto this woman, come, hit her and eat, eat. Take it in. What good does it do to look at a fancy meal on the table? Sit up at the table, pull up a chair, take a fork in your hand and look at it. Look at it for 4 minutes. Make it 10. Look at it for 20 minutes. Everybody else at the table is through with their meal. They've enjoyed it, and they're gone. And there you are, still sitting there looking at it.
Eat.
Take it in.
Nor says the entrance of thy word giveth light the entrance of it that has to come inside. Take it in. This woman she ate.
She was invited to come and to eat.
And to dip thy morsel, dip participate.
Participate. Come in.
And then there's a period after that word vinegar and the rest of the verse it says and.
She sat.
She was invited to come, she was invited to eat, and then invited to dip. And she didn't do either of the latter. Either eat or dip. The first thing she did was to sit.
She recognized the majesty, the August person in whose presence she was, and she didn't plunge. The first thing she did was to come down.
Come down. Give them on herself to acknowledge her own nothingness. She sacked. She didn't run around displaying whatever she may have had in the way of attributes or qualities. She sat. Have you sat in the presence of Jesus to acknowledge His high worth and your own nothingness? Give up on yourself to acknowledge that you are nothing but a Sinner.
00:45:26
You know a child of seven or even three or four can do it, but where you sit?
And those of us who may have known the Lord Jesus for years, can we do it again? Take our right place. We had no claims.
We belong at his feet, come down, down, give up on ourselves to acknowledge that we're nothing and took the Apostle Paul a few years to get to that. In one case, he said I'm the least of the apostles. That sounded sort of self renouncing.
At least of the apostles. But some folks may well have thought that's kind of pretentious. He's claiming pretty nice company. So he comes along a little later and he says I'm less than the least of All Saints.
That's more like it, isn't it? Less than the least.
Are we willing to take that kind of a place?
There's favor, there's blessing for anyone who will take that place.
Now that's not the end of the apostles history. Apostle Paul went a step further and he said.
I be nothing.
In the light of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ my Lord, well, I can't pretend anything.
I be nothing. That's where we belong.
And that's not just an occasional or a one time event on the day we receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior, that's a lifetime position.
To take the bottom place, and that's what.
Ruth did. Here she sat.
Unpretentious. Undemanding.
Willing that he should have his place.
She sat. And now notice what Boaz did. This is what Jesus has done for those of us who know Him as our Savior.
He reached her parched corner. Can you imagine the Lord of glory, the God of the universe, extending himself to reach something to you?
He's extended himself to that extent to reach to you. Isn't that grand? Oh, it should make the heart burst, The Lord of glory.
Has reached and is still reaching. He's seeking our hearts.
He's reaching all the way across that table. We don't know how wide the table was.
Whether he had to stretch himself 3 feet or 13, I don't know, but he reached far enough to reach Ruth the Moabite, his damsel. And he's reaching for you. He wants your heart. He reached her parched corn. Parched corn, That suggests.
The harvested grain in the summertime and they can't eat it all. They have to put some in storage and at least in the old days they used to hang it up in the sun and dry it. Maybe put it into ovens to get it roasted to some extent to get removed the moisture from the grain so that it could be preserved and would last over the winter and be available through the winter months and into the spring before the next harvest.
Parched corn.
Our Lord Jesus.
He went through the furnace, he went through the fire, that intense heat.
And those three hours of darkness on that cross, when he bore our sins.
And I can appreciate that you can appreciate that when we do.
Our hearts just naturally go out to him. This is the man.
That took my sins on his shoulders, on his head.
He bore them.
There, and he wants us to know it. He reached her parched corn.
00:50:01
And then toward the end of the verse, this woman responded she did eat.
She didn't eat. She took it in. She understood it. She received it.
She did eat and was sufficed and left, the new translation says.
She was sufficed and reserved some.
She had all she could handle and more. Oh our God is generous.
He will pour it out beyond our capacities to take it in, so that something leftover to share with others go down a couple of verses and.
Verse 18 And when she went to her mother-in-law that evening, and she gave at the end of the verse, she gave to her mother-in-law that which she had reserved after, she was surprised. She had all she could take him, and she had something leftover.
And now young people.
Children.
Your fathers and mothers that brought you here.
We've received something so grand, so great, so liberal, so majestic.
We've taken it in and it has made our hearts bubble.
And now we're here to tell you about it, and we have something of it leftover for you. Our God is liberal.
He's given of us. He's given to us sufficient to meet our every need. And there's something there for you.
Come unto me, the Lord Jesus says, Come, don't sit there unresponsive with your ears plugged up. Oh, I know it says in the Proverbs, the here and here and the seeing eye. The Lord hath made even both of them.
No, if I could, I would go up and down the aisles with a can opener and open up your ears and make your hair. Can't do that.
But God can.
It's our prayer that he would.
That you would be willing to sit and receive what he offers free at no cost to you, great cost to himself.
Come unto me, the Lord Jesus says, Come.
Hit her and eat.
And we just close with singing of a little song #42 Perhaps the Lord will open up the hearts.
Of someone of the little ones.
Maybe two or three of the little ones, or a dozen. Everyone of an age-old enough to take it in.
Number 42. Someone would start that one little verse for us, please.