Gospel—J. Hyland
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See on the gospel hymn sheet. Behold the Savior at the door. He gently knocks, has knocked before, has waited long, is waiting. Still, you use no other friend, so I'll open the door. He'll enter in and Sup with you and you with him. Perhaps we could rise to sing this hymn #20 and if someone will please start it.
Begin this evening by connecting 3 portions of the Word of God. The first one is in Luke's Gospel chapter 3.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 3 and verse 21.
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Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was open, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son.
In thee I am well pleased. And then a portion in Acts Chapter 7.
Acts Chapter 7 and verse 55. This is Speaking of the Evangelist Stephen. But he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. And one more portion for now in Revelation chapter 19.
Revelation Chapter 19.
And verse 11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a White Horse. And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. And his eyes were as a flame of fire, And on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, And his name is called the Word.
Of God.
This evening in the presentation of the gospel.
It is my exercise and desire to speak from several scriptures that bring before us various openings. But we began with these scriptures that bring before us the open heavens because we want to this evening bring us right into the presence of God and into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a desire and an exercise tonight to preach Christ because it's Christ that souls need. We're not going to preach reformation tonight.
We're not going to tell people to try to do better. It's not sociology that we're going to speak about tonight. No, it's Christ. Because I say what this world needs is Christ. And the Apostle Paul summed it up when he said we preach Christ and Christ crucified. And every time in scripture that you have opened heavens, it's in some way to do with some aspect of the person and work of Christ. And we began in Luke's Gospel chapter 3.
Where we have the Lord Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry coming to John the Baptist, and there was a little remnant in Israel that were coming to John for the baptism of repentance. They had accepted John's preaching. Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
It's the gospel with the gospel of the Kingdom. Not really the gospel we're going to preach tonight. Tonight we're going to preach the gospel of the grace of God. But nevertheless you have these ones coming, and the Lord Jesus comes to John. Not that the Lord Jesus had any sins that he needed to confess or repent of. Far be the thought he was wholly harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. But he comes to John and identifies with this little company in Israel.
Who were confessing their sins and coming to John for baptism, and as he comes up out of the waters of baptism.
The heavens open, and all heaven gazes down, and God the Father gazes down at this blessed One here in this world, the one who had come in incarnation, the one who had taken upon him the form of a servant, and been made in the likeness of men, the one of whom it was spoken prophetically. A body hast thou prepared me? And here he was the Son of God here in this world.
The only perfect man that ever walked the face of this planet and all how heaven delighted.
While the Lord Jesus was here to gaze down on that blessed One, as the poet Calper said, there was finally an object in this world that might commend the place. But now it is gone. Jesus is with the Father will speak of that in a moment, but here heaven opens up and three very remarkable things are brought before us in this passage. First of all, we find the sun has become tangible. The Word was made flesh.
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And dwelt among us, we've handled of the word of life. Think of it. Here was the Son of God. Come in incarnation.
We find, too, that just for a moment, the Spirit of God becomes visible.
And descends upon him in the bodily form of a dove, so that there would be no mistake in the minds of those who looked on as his public ministry was about to begin, no mistake as to who this one was.
It's interesting that later on in this very book, as his public ministry began, he stood up in the synagogue one day and read in the very portion in the Old Testament that says the Spirit of God the Lord is upon me.
Free hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and so on, and his whole public ministry was won in the energy of the Spirit of God, because, you know, the Spirit of God is the energy in which God has always moved.
From Genesis chapter one, where the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep to the carrying out of the judgments of this world in a coming day, I say the Spirit of God is the energy in which God has always moved. And you know, if there's going to be blessing and souls saved in this building tonight, it's going to be because the Spirit of God is at work.
The sun has become tangible. For a moment. The Spirit of God becomes visible and the Father becomes audible as a voice declares from the open heavens. This is my beloved Son. Oh, this is the one that heaven delighted to look down and be occupied with. And this is the one we desire to present in the gospel tonight. But we turned from there to Acts Chapter 7, because the one that we're going to present tonight.
As the savior of sinners, is not here in this world the way he was.
When the heavens opened up at the waters of Jordan, no. We trace the path of the Lord Jesus.
As we sometimes sing a path uncheered by earthly smiles, that led only to the cross, and we trace that pathway, a pathway of dispensing blessing on every hand.
And a pathway that eventually led to the Garden of Gethsemane, wherein his agony he sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground, a pathway that led to them coming and taking him.
To pilots judgment hall.
And all we know so well, as we often read in the Gospels, of those things that man did to the Lord Jesus Christ.
As the Lord Jesus stood there and gave them one breath after another.
They use that breath to curse him. They took their hands and they smoked.
The Blessed Lord Jesus.
They scourged him.
Spit in his face.
They didn't just pluck the hairs of his beard, they plucked the hairs of his cheek. You know, that's the tenderest part of the face. When my children were little, they could pull on my beard, on my chin as hard as they could, and it was fine. But the minute they pulled on the cheek, all the tears come to the eyes. They plucked the hairs of his cheek.
They put a crown of thorns on his blessed head.
They mocked him. They said. Hail King of the Jews.
Did they really believe he was the king of the Jews? Indeed they did not. They said we have.
No king but Caesar.
They eventually took him out.
Outside of the walls of Jerusalem, that holy city.
That had deteriorated to such a point that it had religion without Christ.
They took him outside to Golgotha, the place of a skull.
Why was it the place of a skull? This was the height of man's intellect. The height of man's reasoning took the very Son of God nailed him to a Roman gibbet.
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And there he hung as a spectacle for men and angels.
There they reviled him. Others sat down and watched him suffer. Some passed on their way.
And then there came a moment.
Yes, there did. There came a moment when God said that's enough.
And at high noon he darkened the sun.
And the Lord Jesus bore my sins in his own body.
On the tree, the end of those hours of darkness, He cried. It is finished. He bowed his blessed head. He gave up the ghost. A soldier with a spear pierced his side.
And forthwith came throughout blood and water.
Loving hands removed him from that cross.
Put him in a tomb as it had been prophesied.
And Christ died, He was buried. But thank God the story doesn't end there. He rose again the 3rd day according to the scripture. Because if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain, ye are still in your sins, but he was raised again for our justification.
And after he had remained on earth.
Long enough to give ample testimony to his own that he had bodily risen from the dead.
A moment came when his feet left the Mount of Olives. The cloud received him out of their sight, and they saw him no more. And that brings us to the portion we read in Acts Chapter 7, because here we find Stephen the evangelist has just preached the gospel.
And he looks up at the end of it as they're about to stone him to death. And he says, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God, Oh, what a glorious vision Steven had there.
And tonight, if you could just get one glimpse of the Man in the glory. I love that gospel hymn. It's probably my favorite. There is a savior on high in the glory.
A savior who suffered on Calvary's tree. A savior as willing to save now as ever.
His arm is almighty, his love great and free. It's the Savior of sinners at the right hand of God that we want to present to you tonight. Steven was ready to meet that one. He could say, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
I wonder tonight if you knew for sure that you were about to pass into eternity. Could you say that? Could you look up my faith into the open heavens and see the Lord Jesus there, and say Lord Jesus receive my spirit? Was there any hesitation on the part of Stephen? No. He knew he was ready to meet the Lord. He knew he was ready to go absent from the body.
And present with the Lord. But oh, tonight, what about you? As we seek, by the grace of God to present the Savior of sinners? Is he your savior? Have you had a glimpse of that man by faith? Have your eyes been turned to that one? Look unto me, and be saved all the ends of the earth.
Have you looked to the Lord Jesus Christ? Is he your savior? Because we pass on from Acts Chapter 7 to Revelation chapter 19 and once again we find the heavens open.
And it is so solemn because the heavens here are opened not to present the Savior, but to present the judge. Oh, it's the same person. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is described later on in this chapter as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And He comes, whose right it is to reign and who's right it is to execute judgment in this world. And the heavens open here.
And he comes forth in judgment.
Are you going to meet the Lord Jesus as a savior or as a judge?
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Meet him you must you must have to do with God.
And what are you holding on to this evening that would keep you from coming to the Lord Jesus?
Because we've heard in these meetings about the things that are temporal. And maybe you think, well, if I receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior this evening, I'm going to lose out in some way in this world and I'll have to give up my goals and my aspirations.
In July of 1992, I think it was the 21St of July 1992.
There was a very famous race car driver by the name of Rich Vogeler.
He had more wins to his name than, I believe, any other race car driver to date.
And he got on in his car on the 21St day of July 1992.
In Indianapolis.
To participate in one more race.
He little realized as he strapped himself into his car that it would be his final race.
On the last lap he was far ahead of the other cars.
The race, as they would say, was in the bag.
The wind was assured.
And something went wrong.
And that car spun out of control.
And Rich Vogler was ushered into eternity just like that.
But that's not the most remarkable part of the story.
The officials of that race?
Discussed the matter.
And decided.
That had Rich Vogler concluded that race in the way that he had intended, he would have indeed won. And even though he was now lying dead, they gave the reward.
To rich, vulgar.
I read about that in the newspaper.
And as I read that account, I thought, how much was that purse worth to Rich Vogler at that .0?
Absolutely zero. It meant nothing to Rich Vogler, and to have his picture and his name splashed on the pages of the national press one last time meant nothing.
To that man he was. Beyond that he was in eternity.
Oh, don't let something in this life, some goals, some aspiration that you have in life, keep you from coming to the Lord Jesus. Because the things that you obtain and attain to here in this life, what are they going to mean when you leave, when you draw that final breath and you leave this life, what are those things going to mean?
They're going to mean absolutely 0. They're going to mean nothing. The only thing that will matter in that day is what you have done with God's beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
All my prayer, and I know the prayer of justice, so many in this room tonight, is that there will be nobody here.
Who in that day?
We'll look up into the open heavens and see the Lord Jesus coming forth.
In power and judgment.
Oh, tonight the way of blessing is open. Is salvation easy? Tonight it is easy.
It It's free. Oh, it wasn't easy for God. It wasn't easy for the Lord Jesus.
It cost God his Son. It cost the Lord Jesus his life. You know the gospel is free, but it's not cheap.
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It's not cheap.
But it is free tonight and it is so very, very simple.
Just a few days ago I was speaking.
In a Muslim school.
Two Christian ladies had invited us, myself and brother Garvin Seymour from Saint Vincent to speak in a Muslim school in the country of Trinidad.
Tremendous opportunity.
A little girl, seven years of age.
Came up to us.
And said how can I receive Jesus?
The emotion of it was so great I didn't think I could answer.
But we were so thankful that we could tell her how simple it was.
Made me think of a little story I read.
About a cake mix the Betty Crocker put on the market some time ago.
And the only instructions on this cake mix were add water and stir.
They couldn't sell it. They couldn't market it. And when they brought in their marketing team and they sat at the board table and discussed the matter, they realized what the problem was. It was too easy. People thought it was too simple. You know what they did? They changed the formula a little bit. So you had to add an egg and you had to take a couple of other steps.
And they put it back on the market and it's sold.
But you know, God hasn't changed the formula tonight. The gospel is still the same gospel.
That the evangelist Stephen preached. It's the same gospel that I heard when I was a boy sitting in meetings just like this. It's the same gospel that was preached at the last Bible conference. It's the same gospel that we preached in Trinidad as we had more invitations and opportunities than we could possibly avail ourselves of in the week that we were there.
I've been to Trinidad many times but.
Garvin and I spent a whole week there this time.
And we both came away.
Overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with the hunger and desire there was to hear the gospel. Overwhelmed with the need for gospel literature.
And particularly overwhelmed with the need for Bibles. You know what, the book room in Trinidad, there's a waiting list for Bibles. And here tonight we sit and there are Bibles, and some of us have them in our hand and some of us have them on the seat beside us, and some of us have them on the floor under our chair. And Bibles can be purchased at such a little cost. And I imagine if you went home after this conference and counted.
The number of Bibles in your home? You'd be very surprised.
You realize there's people in this world that put their name down on a waiting list?
Just so they can eventually get a copy of God's precious word.
As I look into the faces of this audience, I realize that probably most of us.
Have had a Bible of our own.
From the time we can remember.
But what have you done?
With its message.
What have you done with the person that it presents the Lord Jesus Christ?
The Savior of sinners.
Have you believed?
All the scriptures have been opened to you so many times.
You know, sometimes I have the privilege and opportunity.
And responsibility of looking into the faces of an audience where I feel that most.
Have never heard a clear gospel. It is a awesome, tremendous challenge.
To present the word of God clearly and simply to an audience like that.
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But you know something? I wonder if it isn't a greater challenge tonight.
To read and quote the word of God to those who have heard it so many, many times.
Those who have heard it so often.
That they have stopped their ears.
Then it just rolls off and they go on their way and it has no effect.
That's why I'm thankful for that verse that says that the word of God is as a hammer that breaketh the rock in twain. It's a sword, the sword of the spirit.
And it divides and pierces.
Oh, open your ears tonight to God's word.
And so we have Christ, presented as the heavens are opened, presented here in this world, the perfect man on his way to the cross, presented at the right hand of God, having accomplished the work of redemption.
And present it coming forth in judgment in a coming day, Because you know he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. But now let's turn back to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 4.
Hebrews Chapter 4.
And verse 13.
Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open.
Under the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
We've spoken about open heavens.
But here's another opening.
All things are naked and open under the eyes of him.
With whom we have to do.
When we read the portion in Revelation 19.
We read there that his eyes are as a flame of fire.
Penetrating.
And in reading this verse our exercise.
Is to bring us into the presence of God, with the eye of God resting on us.
And to realize that God's eye not only sees as to the outward appearance, but God's eye penetrates.
God sees into the very recesses of our heart, and we cannot hide one thing from him.
The Lord sees not as man sees, for man looketh on the outward appearance.
But the Lord looketh on the heart.
A brother who is involved.
In his business with several federal federal agencies.
Was telling me recently that there was a man in the United States of America here who was wanted by the FBI on a charge of espionage and from a satellite circling the earth.
They found him. This satellite zeroed in on his van.
The man was sitting in his van reading a newspaper.
And the satellite zeroed in on that newspaper.
And not only did it zero in on that newspaper, but there was a notation.
On the corner of the page that he was reading.
A notation made by a ballpoint pen.
And that satellite zeroed in on that notation.
And that notation alerted the FBI that this man was headed for Tijuana, Mexico. That's where they picked him up and arrested him. And I thought if a satellite man made satellite circling, the earth could pick up on a man and what he was reading.
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Pinpoint this man who was, I believe, in Texas at that time.
Oh, think of the eye of God resting on you tonight. You cannot hide.
I don't know how many people here have ever been interviewed by the FBI. It's not an experience you ever want to covet.
To be sat down in a semi dark room.
With four FBI agents.
Whose eyes seem to penetrate right through you.
And a bomb squad agent and a chief of police and a local Sergeant.
You've got to be forthright. It's a tape recorder in the middle of the table, and they fire questions at you so fast that by the time 2 hours is over you don't know hardly what you've said.
My lawyer told me, he said it's a good thing. You think fast. There's a lot of innocent people in jail.
I happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It was on the 11Th of April, which was a Monday.
It was half an hour after the FBI had got a bomb scare call on Capitol Hill.
And as they told me, we're concerned.
About attacks going on simultaneously in different parts of the country.
They brought me back from Nashville to Western Kentucky. I was under complete surveillance.
I pulled out of the driveway of the home I was staying in that morning and the phone rang. Mr. Highland, we know you're just left the place you're staying. I stopped for gas. The phone rang. Mr. Highland, why have you stopped? Is there a problem?
They kept me under complete surveillance. In fact, there was a tracer on my van.
And after it was all over.
If I learned anything from that experience, it was this.
That you need to be forthright and upright in your personal life because you never know when it's going to be made public. My name was splashed across the press in the Midwest.
Fact, When I finally got to where my interview was, the place was teeming with media.
And yet the eye of God looks down tonight, and you might tell me certain things.
And you may even shake my hand at the door after this meeting and tell me that you're a Christian.
And I have to say, the Lord knoweth them that are his, but you can't fool him.
Just like we can't hide since 9:11.
From the authorities you cannot hide from God.
Don't do it.
Be upright with God tonight.
Confess that you are a Sinner.
Receive the Lord Jesus.
As your savior.
It's something between you and God.
When my license plate number was taken down by a citizen of Benton, KY in the Walmart parking lot that morning.
And the police were called because of an empty suitcase, although they didn't know it was empty at the time, a suitcase that was sitting near my van.
The police immediately punched my license plate number into their computer.
And my van came up as being owned.
By a man from a Middle Eastern country.
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Who had a long criminal record.
When they further checked through my birth date and my social insurance number.
I came up as an Arab terrorist wanted by the FBI.
It was mistaken identity.
It was mistaken identity, but tonight I want to impress upon our souls.
That God looks down and there's no mistaken identity.
He looks down. He knows your name.
He knows your family background.
He saw you being formed before you were born.
He knows the condition of your heart.
All things are naked and open under the eyes of him.
With whom we have to do.
Do you realize that when you leave this room tonight, the eye of God is going to still rest upon you? Or you might squirm in your chair tonight and you might be watching the clock?
Which, no doubt to you, is moving ever so slow.
But when you leave this room and you go back to where you're staying.
And perhaps in another day or so, you go back to where you live.
And you go back to work or to school.
The eye of God is still going to rest on you.
When I left Benton, KY.
I was well aware that it wasn't over.
Very disconcerting to stay in a brother's home and realize that the sheriff's car is sitting at the end of the driveway every night.
It's not fun to realize you're under surveillance, but, oh, tonight, we're not talking about surveillance by some authority in this world, the FBI or the CIA or Scotland Yard. No, we're talking about being under surveillance from the eye of God.
But you know, the great difference is.
That you're under surveillance from the eye of God because he loves you.
And he wants to arrest you in your course. And he wants to bring you from darkness into light. He wants to bring you to the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants you to go out of this room tonight, a saved soul.
One who's not afraid of the light, one who's not afraid of God.
You know, we often quote out of context that verse thou God.
Seest me, and we quote it in the sense of warning.
But you know, if you notice carefully there, those words were uttered by a lady named Hagar, and she was very thankful that God saw her plight. She was very thankful and God took care of her.
Tonight you can leave with the eye of God resting on you and thankful for it, knowing that the eye of God sees no stain of sin, that it's all been taken care of by the blood of Jesus.
And you can go out of here.
With a sense of the Lord's presence with you knowing that he is the savior, your savior. Let's turn to the Book of Acts. Now Acts 16.
Acts chapter 16 and verse 14.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us.
Whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized in her household, she sought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there, and she constrained us.
Here we have an opened heart.
You know, sometimes in making the gospel very simple, especially for the boys and girls.
We encourage them to open their heart to Jesus as a couple of little gospel choruses. We sing in that regard, and I like those gospel choruses, and I believe we need to be exercised in making the gospel very, very simple.
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But you know, tonight I'm not going to tell you to open your heart to Jesus. Our prayer is that there would be such a work of the Spirit of God that he.
Would open your heart.
We find with Lydia a lady that lived in a dark heathen city.
She heard the glorious gospel, and it was presented in such a way that the Spirit of God was able to take the message and use it in the opening of Lydia's heart.
Oh, would that. There would be many open hearts in this room tonight.
You know, I rarely ask someone if they're saved. I look to see if there's something in their life that indicates it. And if I see in a young person or a boy or a girl, because even a child is known by his doing or an older person, if I see some desire to please the Lord, then I'm pretty certain that person has had their heart opened.
And it's interesting here with Lydia, there are at least four things given to us.
To show fruit that the Lord had opened the heart of Lydia. One is that she worshipped God. Oh, it makes me think of the 10 lepers when they were cleansed in the days of the Lord Jesus. It tells us that only one returned to give thanks, and the Lord valued the response of that man's heart. And for those of us tonight who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, oh, there ought to be that worship and that praise too.
That he is worthy of when we think of what he has done for us, when we think of that mighty work of Calvary, when we think that we can echo with the Apostle Paul, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Oh, if that doesn't produce worship in your heart, I wonder what goes on within your heart. And I wonder if you really do belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. The first thing was that she worshiped God.
And then she attended under the things that were spoken by Paul.
I remember talking to a young man one time, and I had known this man for some time. This young man, and he had professed to know the Lord Jesus as his Savior, had professed to have been saved at some Gospel meetings that we had held in that area.
And after a couple of years of observing his life, I said to him, George.
If there is no desire in your heart to please the Lord Jesus.
Or to walk in obedience to His word, I question whether you are really saved or not.
And then we find that she was baptized.
There was public testimony she was now going to identify.
With the Lord Jesus and I have no doubt there was a price to pay.
In a dark, heathen city like that, and she was a woman of enterprise. She had a business. She no doubt had to support her family.
But despite the cost, she took a public stand in baptism.
And then she invited these ones into her home, because we know we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. And there was a desire to show to these ones Christian hospitality, which is so characteristic in the New Testament of Christianity, whose heart the Lord opened.
But now, at the end of this Gospel meeting, as we draw to a close, I want to once again bring to bear on our consciences and our hearts our responsibility and connection with the gospel.
Because in a few moments when we rise out of these seats and leave this room and go on our way.
We are going to be more responsible than we were when this Gospel meeting began 50 minutes ago.
If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, you are more responsible.
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Than you were when you entered.
This building.
And you know, we read of judgment.
Some were beaten with few stripes and some were beaten with many.
The ones that were beaten with few stripes were those who did not know their Lords will.
But the ones that were beaten with many were those who knew it didn't do it.
Oh, I tremble to think of a soul in this room tonight who rejects Christ.
And enters a lost eternity to be beaten.
With many stripes.
And so we're going to turn to another scripture now, a scripture that I have no doubt.
The hymn writer had in mind when he wrote the hymn that we sang.
At the beginning of this meeting, turn with me to Revelation Chapter 3.
Revelation Chapter 3 and verse 20. 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 Sup with him and he with me.
Two things particularly I want to notice in applying this verse in the gospel.
One is that the Lord here is viewed on the outside.
Have you kept the Lord out?
Have you refused the Lord Jesus?
Behold, the Savior at the door He gently knocks, has knocked before.
Has waited long. Is waiting Still, you use no other friend, so we'll open the door.
He'll enter in and Sup with you and you with him. The other thing I want to notice is how individual it is.
If, behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man notice that.
It's personal tonight. It's you having to do with God.
It's you who must receive the Lord Jesus.
As your savior, you know it doesn't matter about your background.
It doesn't matter now about the past.
You know, one of the newspaper articles.
Was concluded with this statement. There are several federal agencies.
Looking into the records.
Of Mr. Highland.
But you know now it doesn't matter about the past. Let's deal for a moment with the present. You say I've really gone astray. I've sinned. I've done some things I'm ashamed of in my life.
But what about right now, The Lord Jesus is knocking.
Are you going to let them in tonight? If you don't, there will come a day.
When you will knock and you will not be allowed entry. When once the master of the house hath risen up and shut to the door, then it tells us they come, and they knock, and they say, Lord, Lord, open unto us, will the door be opened, The door of mercy and salvation be opened in that day? No, When it shut, it shut, and it shut forever.
But tonight.
The Lord Jesus is knocking. Are you going to receive him as your savior?
I want to tell one more little story in closing, and I want to tell this to impress.
Particularly on the hearts of those of us who know Christ as our Savior.
The solemnity of having concluded a gospel meeting and what our conduct and conversation should be.
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Subsequent to my Amen.
Many years ago there was a man lived in the village.
Of Dixon, St. Vincent.
His name was Mr. Boltzmann.
He lived across the street and down a few houses from the meeting room where gospel meetings and other services were conducted and still are conducted from week to week.
Mr. Boltzmann had no use for the Lord Jesus Christ. He had been invited time and time again to come to the Gospel meetings, but he had always refused.
But you know, every Sunday evening as the Gospel Meeting concluded.
And the congregation would pour out of that little gospel hall. He would sit at his window, and he would watch them.
And he would wonder why they stood around outside the meeting room for an hour and conversed together.
After time went on and he saw this week after week.
He concluded in his mind that they must be talking about him.
And curiosity got the better of him. But he was not going to go into that gospel hall.
But one Sunday evening.
As the Gospel Meeting.
Was being carried on in that building he went, and he hid himself in the tall Bush grass beside the steps of that meeting room.
He hid himself so no one could possibly see him, but so that he could hear.
The subject of the conversation of those people when they came out of that meeting.
And they did indeed pour out of that meeting at the conclusion of the Gospel service.
And they stood around those steps in that courtyard, as I have had the privilege of doing many times myself.
And they continued to talk about the precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and they would talk about what had been presented in the Gospel meeting. And they would talk about very one scripture after another. And this man was getting very restless. This was not what he wanted to hear.
And yet he was determined that he was not going to show himself, and he remained in that grass, hidden for well over an hour.
And when he finally came out, it was with tears streaming down his face. And he had come to know the Lord Jesus as his savior, not by what he heard in the Gospel meeting, but what he heard.
In conversation by believers after the gospel meeting.
And fellow believer, as surely as I pray and say Amen.
The enemy is going to be busy tonight in one way or another.
To distract from what has been said, and to pluck away the seed that has been sown, the word of God.
And let us be exercised that as we rise from these seats.
Our conversation and our conduct.
Would be that which commends the gospel, and there would be nothing that we say or do.
That could be used by the enemy to pluck away the seed that has been sown.
Or to detract from the work.
Spirit of God.
In the conscience and hearts of those who do not know.
The Lord Jesus Christ, Let's pray our God and Father.