Gospel—Bill Prost
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Well, we'd like to welcome everyone to the Gospel meeting tonight. Most of you here have been here for at least the greater part, if not all of the day. But there may be some here who have come in having been invited specifically to this meeting. And to you, we issue a most hearty welcome. We're thankful you have come.
We'd like to start out by singing a hymn, and it's a very serious hymn that we're going to sing.
#25 #25 life at best is very brief.
Like the falling of a leaf, like the binding of a sheath. Be in time.
A few days ago I was driving my car in the Greater Toronto Area, and those from the area will know very well that there is a radio station there, CFRB, that gives a traffic report on a regular basis, three or four times an hour. And it's sometimes good to listen to, to know what's going on and how to avoid areas where there are accidents and so on.
But in the course of listening for a traffic report, they mentioned something that went right to my heart and most of you will know what I am referring to because as most in Ontario know, and in Quebec, there was an actress over here from Great Britain.
Who sustained what might normally be called a freak accident while skiing. And it wasn't as if she was going down a hill at 30 miles an hour or anything. She was on what they call a Bunny hill.
That normally shouldn't pose any threats, but she fell, struck her head, thought she was all right, and as we all know, pretty much she ended up losing her life.
And I can still remember the comments that were made by the moderators on CFRB.
Here she was just going about the activities of daily living, doing the things that not only she but normal people would do, and now she's dead.
And others were there saying, well, yes, it's no greater tragedy than anybody else. It just happens that she's a celebrity and everybody knows about it. Beloved friend, tonight we want to tell you that your life is precious in the eyes of God. Tonight. You may not be a celebrity, you may not be well known, but God looks down on you and your life is just as precious as someone who's wealthy or famous or of a high position in this world.
But we're reminded, aren't we, of the brevity of life #25 and I'm going to ask, please, if we can stand up and sing it.
Life at first is very brief.
Of life in the heart.
In time.
And your pride itself is?
The Father's Day today in the beauty of the beauty passed away. Oh, you have no one to stay away.
From the spirit that you consider no longer.
Your pride began to land.
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In.
Hindi.
Fulton eyes they were they are they are always what gains the floods are flooded in the flood beginning of the sun.
'S heart and everyone's and everyone's, and there's no pain in the lightning, and the lightning falls.
And you're going to call me?
In time.
Enterprise Department.
And thank you so much, can you find me a lot of your time to enjoy it? And I'm all over the Rd.
In 5019, distance to the light on the way to go.
And it starts quietly in the heart.
And you're crying without you.
Let's look to the Lord in prayer and ask for His help.
I'd like to sing together another hymn.
This time we'll remain seated #3232.
A very familiar hymn, one that I suppose many of us here learnt to sing in Sunday School.
We used to teach it to the neighborhood children in a craft class we had in our home. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Again, let's remain seated #32.
What can wash away?
From God makes me wisdom. I don't know.
Lord, my Father has been my place. Nothing like the thought of you.
O graciousness of all, God makes me wine. I'm so.
No one in my title must be like the love artist.
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I'm so thankful to hear how many sung that last hymn with real feeling. And I know you did, as I looked out across your faces and I wasn't looking at any particular one, but I could see that many, many, many in this room, perhaps the vast majority, were singing those words.
With truth and reality in their hearts. This is all my hope and peace.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And tonight we are not going to present to you anything new from God's Word. Yes, I trust it will be fresh, but it's the same gospel that you have perhaps heard many times before.
But maybe you haven't. Maybe you haven't heard the gospel before.
Maybe you don't know the truth of what we mean by the gospel.
And with the Lord's help, we would like to make it clear tonight.
I'd like to turn to two verses, at least initially in God's Word.
That bring before us that word gospel, the first one to be found in Second Corinthians chapter 4.
2nd Corinthians chapter 4. If you have a Bible in front of you, you may turn to it. If not, just listen.
We aren't going to read a lot.
2nd Corinthians 4.
Verse 3.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid.
To them that are lost.
In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.
Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, or as it could be read, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake.
Now turn, please, to one more verse in Acts chapter 20.
Acts Chapter 20.
Here in Second Corinthians we have the gospel of the glory of Christ.
In Acts 20 we have a little different expression.
This is the Apostle Paul speaking.
And just by way of background, back in his day he was on his way up to Jerusalem and many had told him with the word of the Lord that there was trouble ahead for him up there.
If he went there, that if he tried to preach the gospel in Jerusalem, it was going to mean imprisonment and I'll treatment and generally a lot of difficulty for him. Here is his reaction in verse 24.
But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy.
And the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus.
To testify the gospel of the grace God.
On the one hand, the gospel of the glory of Christ, and on the other hand the gospel of the grace of God.
The word gospel simply means good news, and it is good news that we have to tell you tonight.
These two expressions though, I would suggest in God's Word.
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Bring before us.
Complimentary, but at the same time slightly different aspects.
Of the Gospel.
The gospel of the glory of Christ brings before us certain things.
The gospel of the grace of God brings before us certain things, and with God's help we would like to present those things.
For you tonight.
But before we do, we want to emphasize what it said there in Two Corinthians 4.
It says there and we read it together. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake. Beloved friends, tonight I have had the opportunity and privilege of traveling a bit in this world. I have had the opportunity to speak about the things of Christ and the gospel of the grace of God in many different places.
I thank the Lord for the opportunity and I can't help but remember various times when it has been, shall I say, thrown up to me that you Christians are all a bunch and I won't repeat everything that was said, but some things were said.
Along these lines, you Christians are a bunch of hypocrites and you don't live out what you profess to preach. And you Christians are all divided up into different groups and denominations. And how do I know which one to listen to? And I know a Christian that did this or that or the other thing.
And I have had to bow my head and admit that that was true.
Beloved friends, tonight we are not here to preach ourselves. Yes, we bow our heads in humility and shame as we think of the testimony that Christians have sometimes borne to this world and the things that have been done and said under the name of Christ.
In some cases have been very, very humbling. But Oh my friend tonight.
We want you to listen to the Word of God for what it is in reality.
God's Word, and we want you to listen to the message tonight, not as if it came from my lips or anyone else in this room, but rather from God Himself and His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why is that all? Because in a coming day you will not have to answer to me.
You will not have to give account to me for what you have done with God's offer of mercy. You will not have to tell me why you did not accept Christ as Savior. But God's Word tells us that every one of us.
She'll give account of himself to God.
And that brings me to the first point that I want to make, and that is tonight there is a God. And not only is there a God.
But there is a God to whom you and I are held accountable.
Is that a very solemn thing?
It is, isn't it?
A God to whom you and I are accountable.
It's very solemn, isn't it, when it says there in Romans?
For everyone of us shall give account of himself to God. There is a God.
A story is etched in my mind that I did not hear first hand, but it was related to me by a very reliable source and I pass it on to you because it emphasizes the solemnity of what we're dealing with. There was a man who was perhaps younger than I, but not that much, perhaps 40s or 50s.
And he was handed a gospel tract. He looked at it.
Looked at it for a moment and then turned to the one who had handed it to him and said something like this. He said Sir.
A month ago I would have thrown that gospel tract in the trash can or else handed it right back to you because, he said I was raised as an atheist.
What is an atheist? An atheist is one who says I don't believe there is a God.
What a serious thing it is. But there are those in this world who, not understanding what they see around them, say there is no God.
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And this man proceeded to say, I was raised an atheist, my father was an atheist, my grandfather was an atheist, and I never knew or believed anything else.
But he said, just two weeks ago today, my father died.
And he said it was a most solemn thing because we were sitting around his bed, and there he was, lying there on the bed, having, as we thought, lost consciousness, so that we were merely waiting until he took his last breath. Everything had been looked after. His affairs were in order. His death was not unexpected because he was an older man.
But he said all of a sudden my father sat up on that deathbed and with eyes.
Full of terror, he said in a very strong voice. A voice laced with terror. There is a God, there is a hell, and I'm going to it.
And he fell back on the bed and was gone.
All the men said I can't get that image out of my mind. My father who had been so strong, so firm.
All his life, and yet those were his last words.
All my friends tonight I would react to those words. There is a God.
And according to this precious book, the same book that tells us there is a heaven, there is an awful place called hell.
But to go on to what we were talking about, about the gospel of the glory of Christ.
If there is a God to whom you and I are responsible.
Why does it talk about the gospel of the glory of Christ? Why does it talk in other places in the Word of God, in Romans one, for example, which we won't take time to turn to, that the gospel of God concerns his Son Jesus Christ. Oh, because I say to you tonight that God has his purposes concerning his beloved Son.
You know, as we look around in the world today.
There are many that have purposes and plans, aren't there? There are individuals like you and me, and perhaps our plans and purposes count for a lot in our own lives, but they don't mean too much, perhaps in the larger sphere of this world. But there are those who are in positions of authority, positions of power, who have plans and purposes that they think they can carry out, and they are desperately trying to do so with whatever means are at their disposal.
Some of those plans, I freely acknowledge, have peaceful ends. Some of those plans have as their ultimate end destruction and warfare.
And all of this is going on in a tremendous mixture in this world that literally defies man's ability to cope with it.
Beloved friends, I tell you tonight, on the authority of God's Word, God has His purposes and plans concerning His beloved Son, and God is going to see that same Lord Jesus Christ that was hung on Calvary's cross, honored and glorified His head over all things.
Is God going to be frustrated in that? Is man going to be able to do something to change that?
Is man going to be able to engineer an interplay of forces, either economic or military?
That are going to make it possible, impossible for God to carry that out. Absolutely not. Oh, my friend, Tonight, all the purposes and plans of man, whatever he is trying to do, will only end up accomplishing God's purposes. And that's why the apostle Paul calls attention to those Corinthians. They were something like you and me in the Western world. They were wealthy. Shall I say it? They were rather proud.
They were educated. They took pride in who they were and what they were.
But Paul levels them right down to the ground by pointing out that all of man's wisdom.
Never got man any nearer to God. And I say to you tonight, if you've come with an idea that you have something from your own natural heart that you think will carry you somewhere in the spiritual realm, forget about it.
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God has His purposes, but the wonderful thing is He wants you to share in it. Isn't that wonderful?
As it said in that verse in 2nd Corinthians 4, there is one who is trying to prevent your seeing the gospel of the glory of Christ. He doesn't want you to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. And the Word of God calls him the God of this world. Who is the God of this world? Do I need to tell you? I think you know who the Scripture is referring to. The Word of God calls Satan.
The devil, the God of this world and the Prince of this world, because he's the God of this world, if we could say it.
In the religious realm, and he's the Prince of this world in the political realm.
But it is noticeable that the Word of God never calls him that.
Until this world rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, my friends, tonight we are not preaching to you something popular. We are not preaching to you one whose name is honored in this world. Oh yes, men may outwardly honor the Lord Jesus. And perhaps on a weekend like this, they do.
We had a tradesman in our house doing some work on Thursday and as he went to leave, and I know him fairly well because we have had him do work for us before, I handed him a gospel tract and I said his name is Bill too, the same as mine. I said, Bill here is a gospel track to read. It's not pushing any cult or denomination, but it's a true story. He kind of grinned. He said, well, he said, yeah. He said, maybe, maybe I, maybe I should read that. He said, and yeah, I'll be going to church on Sunday, too. He said, guess that'd be good for me too, wouldn't it?
Oh my friend.
Let's not fool ourselves. The God of this world is here to persuade you that yes.
If you go to church on Easter Sunday, so-called, somehow it'll count with God. Or if you go to church sometime around Christmas and pay lip service to the Lord Jesus, somehow that's going to work. Oh my friends, tonight.
We are preaching to you a rejected Christ, but we are preaching to you, the only one who can save you. And that's why Satan is so desperately against the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ. He doesn't want it to shine into you. And so he blinds men's minds. How does he blind them?
He's got plenty of tricks. As someone has said, it can be as little as a trinket in the window of a store.
And that will do for some people.
But if that isn't enough, he can up the ante as we would use the expression in this world. He can up the stakes.
A week ago today.
Another brother in Christ in this room, and myself.
Beretta Detention Center for young people down in the United States.
And we were asking some of those boys there.
What they would do and what it would be like to win the lottery, the Mega lottery in that particular state at that time had a jackpot of $65 million.
Boggles the mind for most of us, doesn't it? All the wonderful things they could do with it. And I said to those boys, boys, would that make you happy? And some of them said, Oh yes, yes it would.
But then another one or two were honest enough to say yes, but I guess it wouldn't last too long. I guess it wouldn't make us happy too long.
He understood, He understood. But Satan knows how to up the ante. He can give you more. And when he tempted that one who couldn't be tempted by sin, the Lord Jesus Christ, he offered him all the kingdoms of this world.
For the moment, God's allowed Satan to have them at his disposal. Beloved friend, tonight, is he doing that to someone here?
May I speak very solemnly for a moment.
For those who are sitting here that grew up in Christian homes and there are plenty of you and I'm glad you're here. I am so thankful you're here every time I see children and young people at a Bible conference like this.
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It rejoices my heart.
And I know that the majority of you children and young people here have grown up under the sound of this precious book.
Probably you have heard it read in your homes. You have been to meetings where you have heard it read and spoken about. You have been to gospel meetings.
Maybe you have a Bible of your own and you have read it yourself.
But I want to speak very solemnly to you.
Satan somehow brought something before you that has blinded your mind to the glory of Christ and ultimately to your need of a Savior. Because God wants you to share in that glory of Christ. He wants you to be part of it all. And He's made a way that you can be, even though, as God's Word solemnly tells us, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
I ask you, beloved young people and beloved children.
Have you accepted Christ as your Savior?
Let me tell you another sad story that some of you may have heard me tell before, but I'll tell it again.
I suppose this happened a good 30 years ago now in the city where I live in Hamilton, ON, and there is a Sunday school there that we still carry on. That has been going on ever since at least the 1920s and probably before that.
And another brother and I were out handing out invitations in the neighborhood trying to invite children to Sunday school.
Well, you don't always know every home where children are present, and so we sometimes knocked on doors where there were no children. But of course we have a Bible class and all are welcome.
So we knocked on this one door.
And no one came, but there was a voice inside that said, come in. The doors open. It's not locked.
So we walked in and there was an elderly man lying stretched out on the sofa. He didn't look very well.
I spoke to him briefly and said, Sir, I'm sorry to have disturbed you. I said I'm sorry, you're probably trying to rest, I said we were just handing out invitations to the Sunday school just across the Blvd.
Oh, he brightened up, he said.
I went to that Sunday school when I was a boy. I went to that Sunday school and I can remember a song that I learnt there.
And to my surprise, he started to sing.
What do you think he saw? He sung. It went like this.
Tell me the old, old story.
Of unseen things above, and so on, word for word, all the way through the first verse and then the course.
Oh, I was so overjoyed.
I said, Sir, how long ago did you learn that song?
Well, he said. Let's see, he said.
I was seven years old when I learned it and I'm 77 now, so I guess it was 70 years ago.
Oh, I was so thankful he remembered. He remembered.
But it almost breaks my heart to tell you what else happened.
And I said to him, I didn't know his name, never had seen him before. I said tell me.
Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior?
Not yet.
Not yet.
What could we say? We had a few more words with him. I said, Sir, I don't want to make any rash predictions, but allow me to say that you do not look very well. And he said, no, I'm not.
I said you're getting older.
Why not come to Christ today?
That was 30 years ago.
I never saw him again. I'm sure he's in eternity now.
I trust the accepted Christ, young people.
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The time is now.
I hope it's all right to tell another story.
Remember talking to a dear brother in Christ who has been with the Lord for many years.
His name is well known to many here. His name was Jack Wood from Smith Falls, Ontario and I remember well when he had open heart surgery.
And after he'd recovered reasonably well, I spoke to him and all he said to me, Bill, he said, whenever you preach the gospel, tell them to come to Christ when they're young. He said, when you're lying there in the hospital, having had your chest opened up and not knowing in some cases whether you're dead or alive, and your mind is all befuddled and you can't even think straight. Oh, he said, I shudder to think of having to try and settle where I would spend eternity.
At that point.
But you know, we read those verses in the book of Acts.
Let's turn back to them here. Acts Chapter 20.
We've been talking a little bit about the serious side of the gospel, and it is a very serious thing to reject Christ. It's a very serious thing for anyone to go out of those doors this evening.
And not have accepted Christ, having accepted Christ as Savior.
But what did we read there in the book of the Acts?
Oh, Paul could say.
He wasn't, shall I say, afraid. I don't mean he was entering into it lightly or that he was deliberately being foolhardy. But when it was a case of facing persecution for the sake of the gospel, he says none of these things move me.
Neither count on my life dear unto myself. Why, Oh, because He had before him the gospel.
Not only of the glory of Christ, but of the grace of God. Oh, that's a beautiful expression, the gospel of the grace of God.
What is grace? We use that word all the time. We use the word gracious all the time. But what does it mean in its essence and in the connection in which we are using the word? It means the favor, the goodness of God toward you and me that we did not deserve.
And you know that on the one hand, is a most wonderful thing.
Because, as we said earlier, all of us have to give account of ourselves to God.
And the word of God is plain in Romans 3 and verse 23. And the last part of verse 22 starts, for there is.
No, there is no difference.
For all have sinned and come short.
Of the glory of God. Yes my friend, the word of God levels us all out and says all have sinned and I don't think anyone in this room would argue with me.
But here's the the shall I say the serious thing. Not only have all sinned, all have come short of the glory of God. And you know and I know that in our natural hearts we don't like to face that. It's one thing to say I have sinned. It's another thing to say I am a lost Sinner. It's one thing to say I have done wrong. It's another thing to say that I am so far away from God that I am utterly helpless.
To do anything for myself.
Beloved friends, tonight, unless you are prepared to come to Christ as a lost, guilty Sinner.
Unless you realize that there's nothing you can do to help yourself, you will never.
Be saved.
Anyone here that has had any experience in rescue operations knows how difficult it is to try and save someone who doesn't feel the seriousness of the danger in which they are.
Anyone that has had any experience, I repeat, knows that in some cases you just have to keep your hands off until the situation gets more desperate and they are willing to admit that they need help. My friend tonight.
God has told us plainly in His Word where we stand as natural creatures before Him. Will you believe what God has to say?
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Earlier in Acts 20, here, in a verse that we did not read, Paul says in verse 21 of Acts 20, What was the burden of his message, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks?
Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord.
Jesus Christ.
Repentance.
All repentance is a word that I don't think we have to define. I think we understand it simply means feeling sorry before God for the course we have lived and the way we have acted. And I want to emphasize to you each one tonight, it's not a case of looking around you. It's not a case of comparing yourself with someone else. It is a case of getting into God's presence.
Have you ever been in the presence of God?
Have you ever seen the solemnity of what it means to realize where you are before a holy God?
Some of us have.
And there are many here in this room that are the Lords who would say yes. I had to realize what a serious Sinner I was because it's hard sometimes to believe that the fall of man has utterly ruined man in every possible way. And I don't need to multiply scriptures in God's Word to tell you that, but only to emphasize what God's estimate is. And I want you to think of this.
If there had been any other way that God could have saved your soul and mine.
Except by sending his beloved Son. I say it with all reverence. Don't you think God would have done it?
But God had to send his Son into this world, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And men would look on him as a great prophet, a wonderful teacher, one who laid out very good moral principles by which we can live.
And someone whose teachings we should look up to and Revere.
I have read the writings of various ones who esteemed this precious book.
In that way. And who would encourage people to read it? But they would encourage people to read the good books of many false religions too, thinking that we had to have a broad education and that the Lord Jesus Christ was only one of many to whom we should pay attention.
Oh my beloved friend, when God sent his son into this world, he would put his stamp of approval on him by saying.
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, and I am emphasized to you, according to Acts chapter 4 and verse 12, that neither is there salvation in any other.
For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Will you accept that?
We all remember quite a few years ago now, probably getting close to 25 years ago when I was on a visit to India.
And I was standing in line at a money changer there.
Waiting to get some money changed. And of course in order to change money in most places there you have to show your passport. So everyone in line was standing there with his or her passport and I noticed a man standing a little bit ahead of me.
And I noticed that he had a Swiss passport.
Well, as most here know, there is more than one language spoken in Switzerland. But not having anyone else in line with whom I could converse, and knowing a little German, I ventured to try some German out on him to see if that would work. And it did. He was fluent in German, so we carried on a bit of a conversation and he asked me why I was in India.
So I told him that I was there to visit some Christian friends and that I was there to preach the gospel. Well, he went on to say, I am here too for spiritual reasons. And he went on, And I am not particularly speaking against India, Please don't take it in that way. Nor am I here to throw stones at anyone else, but merely to bring out the solemn truth of God's Word. He said I am here for spiritual reasons too, because there is a guru here that I want to visit.
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And he said, and he went on and on to tell me all kinds of things.
Well, we talked a little bit and I told them very clearly that God had only one way to be saved, and I could see that that didn't go over very well.
Well, two days later I was in a little restaurant in that same town and lo and behold, there he was again. And he came over and once more of the conversation started up again and I can still remember his words. He said you are so arrogant, you are so self-centered. You think that you have the only way to be saved and you tell me that my way won't work and you tell me yours is the only way. Who do you think?
You are. Have you heard that before?
We're still. Is there someone here that takes that attitude? If you do, beloved friend, let me tell you in solemn terms. It is not a question of what I think and what someone else thinks, because what I think is worth no more than anybody else. And if God had allowed you and me to devise our own way of salvation, then your way would be just as good as anyone else's. And you would have every right to say you are arrogant to try and tell me that your way is better.
But all, my beloved friend, tonight we are speaking on the authority of God's precious word, and it is God's word that we are using tonight. It is addressed to you and me with all authority from God.
And tonight, my friend, God presents to you the Lord Jesus Christ.
That one who went to Calvary's cross and died for you.
Just think died for you.
Remember once speaking to a group of young people in another place and we were talking a little bit about that and I said, if there's is there anyone here that would be willing to die for someone else here in this room? Is there anyone here that would step forward? If someone here was going to die in one means or another and you knew that, would you step forward and take his or her place?
No.
Nobody was willing to do that. Now I freely acknowledge that there have been those in the history of this world.
Who have voluntarily and willingly given their lives for others. Yes, it has happened many, many times. But beloved friend, the Lord Jesus Christ didn't come into this world to give his life for his friends. He didn't give his life, as we might say it reverently, for his comrades in a battle. He didn't give his life for those whom He was attached to. He gave his life for those who nailed Him to a cross.
For those who said we will not have this man to reign over us. For those who said.
We don't want you in this world. And beloved friend, let me tell you without any question at all that if the Lord Jesus Christ were to come back to this world to night, if he came back to this world to day.
Man would find some way of getting rid of him again.
You know and I know that that is absolutely true. This world said we can handle a Barabbas, we can handle a thief, we can handle a murderer, we can handle one who is guilty of insurrection and all kinds of trouble. We can handle that.
But not the Lord Jesus Christ.
But tonight, we present to you that One who wants to be your savior.
And how does he take your sins away?
Let's turn over to 1St John chapter one for that well known verse, although we scarcely need to refer to it in view of what we sung in that second hymn. But let's read it together because it's so important. First John chapter one.
And verse 7.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light.
We have fellowship one with another.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
That's not very popular, is it?
Men have tried to modernize the gospel today. They've done away with words like that, tried to make it into a social gospel, tried to make it into that which is palatable to the natural heart of man. But all my friend, tonight I tell you in all solemnity on the authority of God's Word, that the devil is doing that because he wants to see you in a lost eternity. And God is only one way that sins can be forgiven, and that is through the precious.
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Blood of Christ, you and I might say, Why is that? Ah, because God tells us way back in the Old Testament and repeats it again in the New Testament. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.
God attaches value to the blood of Christ because first of all of who He is.
And secondly, because of what He has done and the whole precious truth that we want to bring before you tonight is that God is satisfied with the work of Christ.
God is satisfied.
Can you believe that God says he is satisfied? And how do we know that?
Because the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, the resurrection of Christ.
Was God's seal of approval on the work that he did on Calvary's cross. And so Christianity, if I can say it, can boast of an empty tomb. An empty tomb. Isn't that wonderful, An empty tomb.
Reminds me of a story that I was just sharing with someone, and others may have heard me tell it before, but it again concerns a man who was an atheist. And this happened many years ago, perhaps at least 50 or 60 years ago, maybe more. And he felt he ought to at least be a little bit educated and a little bit in the know, even if he didn't believe it. So he made a trip to Europe and eventually ended up in the land of Palestine. This was before.
There was such a thing as a sovereign state of Israel, and in the course of going around that land, he was taken to the place which is conventionally thought to be where the Lord was crucified. And he went to various and sundry places there that had to do with the Lord's life. And eventually he was taken to what is known as the Garden Tomb.
I've never been there, but I've spoken to others who have. Apparently it's not very big.
And it may not even be the actual tomb of the Lord Jesus, but that isn't what is important. If not, it's a pretty good, uh, shall we say, replica of it. And it's pretty close to the spot.
And as he was taken in there with a handful of others, this man couldn't restrain his mockery. And he said, why have you brought us in here? Why are you bringing? There's nothing to see in here. There's no, there's nothing in here. What's what's what's what's the point of all this?
Oh, my friend, he wasn't prepared for what he got.
Because the guide was a believer. That Garden Tomb is owned by the British and everyone who conducts tours there is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. I understand. And the guy drew himself up and in a good loud voice said, Sir, thank you so much for drawing attention to that. He said, you took the words right out of my mouth. He said you are right. There is nothing here. Christianity can show you an empty tomb.
O beloved friends, tonight the Lord Jesus Christ is risen.
In the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son tonight has power to wash away all your sins.
One last verse.
Turn to the 17th chapter of Acts.
Mm-hmm.
This is the most solemn thing.
Because the Apostle Paul here.
Speaking again to a very educated people, those.
Who were in the Greek city of Athens and if Rome was the political capital of that day?
Athens, we might say, was the cultural and intellectual capital of the world.
And here Paul addresses them in most solemn tones. And what does he say in verse 30 of Acts 17?
And the times of this ignorance God winked at or passed over.
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That is back before the Lord Jesus Christ came. God didn't hold man as responsible.
That's not your affair. It's not my business either.
God will deal with those before that time in a righteous way.
But now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.
Whereof you have given assurance unto all men, in that He had raised him from the dead. O beloved friends, tonight, if the resurrection of Christ is the seal of God's approval on His work on Calvary's cross.
And is the assurance of salvation for all who believe in him. The resurrection of Christ is also.
The absolute assurance that one day God will judge this world.
And who is going to be the judge? The very one who hung on Calvary's cross?
Will you admit with me, even from a human side, that is most fitting, that is most fitting?
I heard a story some time ago about a man in the United States who had committed a robbery.
And in the course of that robbery, he had stolen from an individual's private home. And eventually he was caught and brought to court. And the man from whom he had stolen was called as a witness. And after the judge had found the man guilty, there was plenty of evidence. He apparently turned to the one who had been robbed. And he said, Sir, what do you think this man's punishment ought to be?
Now the judge, of course, was not bound by what he might have said, but we understand from a human level, here was one who had been wrong. It was fitting that the judge say, what do you think ought to be his punishment?
You know what his punishment was on that occasion?
And the judge admitted that it was just and he allowed it and sentenced the man. He said the one who had been robbed was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I understand it he said I would like this man to attend the gospel meeting at our local assembly every week for the next 3 Lords days.
That was a good sentence. That was a good sentence. But the point is, my beloved friend, we don't want to introduce levity into this gospel meeting.
The one who tonight offers himself to you as your savior.
Will one day sit on the throne of His glory and be a judge.
There will be no mercy there. There will be no grace there. There will be no blood there.
There will be no offer of pardon there, only the books being opened and our time is gone.
Only the books being opened in your life reviewed and the awful sentence that will be the same for each one who has rejected Christ. Oh my friend.
This is a solemn meeting.
May I speak once again to those who have grown up in Christian homes.
Two things I would like to say before we close. First of all, after this meeting there is going to be some fun.
And I'm not that old that I can't remember how much fun it was to go out as young people and enjoy a good time together.
It's wonderful and I for one wish you a most happy time.
But if you're not saved.
Don't just go out and have a good time. Settle the question tonight. Settle the question right now. I can still remember a gospel meeting that I was at in Romania probably over 18 years ago where a young woman, about 18 years old came up after the gospel meeting sobbing her heart. And I didn't know much Romanian, but I could understand a little bit of what she was saying. And she said I want to be saved tonight. We got down on our knees and there she poured out her heart.
Again, I couldn't understand much of it, but she got up off her knees with a light in her eyes that wasn't there before. Christ had saved her. And tonight? If there's someone here that isn't saved?
Wait a few minutes and settle the matter tonight.
And if you are saved, maybe you have accepted Christ as your Savior.
Let re re remind, let me remind you of one thing. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. There's something wonderful, something that, if I could say it this way, settles the whole matter even more in your heart if you go to someone and confess Christ as Savior. Have you ever told someone, mom, dad, some other good friend that you've accepted Christ as your Savior? If you never have.
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Do so tonight.
Our time is gone, but I'd like to sing one verse of a hymn.
#21.
And we'll sing just the 1St and the last verses of #21.
Decide for Christ today will just remain seated 21.
Let's just close in prayer.