Gospel—J.N. Hyland
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Let's begin the Gospel meeting this evening with hymn #3 on the gospel hymn sheet. My hope on nothing less is built than Jesus and the blood He's built. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on his blessed name. Let's rise to sing this and if someone will please start it #3.
Oh my God.
My name is praying about the heart and.
All of it, right? All the time. It's all the airplane.
Underground near spring stains.
Let's ask God's help and blessing our blessed God and Father. Our hearts rejoice as we sing of the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, and we're thankful for each one in this room who truly knows the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. We thank thee for that firm foundation on which we rest. We would pause for a moment and echo in the language of Scripture. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift, but now we're solemnized to think that there may be someone in this room.
But perhaps even joined in the singing of this hymn and still is lost and on their way to hell.
Our God, we pray that as the gospel is presented tonight, that it might be clearly and simply from my word, in the power of the Spirit.
We pray that thou work mightily, that there might be much fruit for thy glory and for the eternal salvation of the lost. We pray for Thy word wherever it's going forth around this planet. But particularly in this room, we have a burden. We pray for much blessing. We pray, too, that the hearts of thine own might be refreshed and encouraged. As we hear again the sweet story of Jesus and his love. So we commit this time to Thee. We ask for blessing. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
We're going to start the Gospel Meeting this evening by reading a fair number of scriptures. In fact, there are 9 portions that we're going to turn to, and we may not have time to comment on all of these nine scriptures, and I think you'll see the common thread in these scriptures. But my burden is that as we begin the Gospel meeting, we would have the Word of God presented to us because this has often been said on an occasion like this while there is room for preaching and explanation of the word.
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Yet it is the Word in all its living power that is going to cause fruit and blessing tonight, because we are born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of God, that liveth and abideth forever.
And my burden is that at the beginning of the meeting while we're fresh and I have your attention.
That you would at least listen carefully and perhaps turn with me if you can in your Bible, to these Scriptures, and let the word of God speak for itself. Turn with me first of all to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians, chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 11.
Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh.
Who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands.
That at that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise.
Having no hope, no hope, and without God.
In the world. And then I want to read a verse in the book of Colossians, Colossians chapter one.
Colossians chapter one. I'm going to start part way into verse 23.
And be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven.
Where have I, Paul made a minister? First Timothy, Chapter One.
First, Timothy chapter one and verse one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
By the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.
Which is our hope, Romans chapter 8.
Romans chapter 8 and verse 24.
For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope.
For what a man seeth, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not?
Then do we, with patience, wait for it?
First Peter chapter one.
First Peter chapter one and verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a living, lively, or living hope.
By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible.
An undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you.
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed.
In the last time and then in Second Thessalonians.
2nd Thessalonians, Chapter 2.
Second chapter Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 16. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and Good Hope through grace.
Comfort your hearts, establish you in every good word and work.
Hebrews Chapter 13. I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter 6.
Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 18 that by that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation.
Who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.
And which entereth into that within the veil whether the Forerunner is forest entered.
Even Jesus made an High priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Just two more portions.
Titus, Chapter 2.
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Titus, chapter 2 and verse 13.
Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Last portion First John Chapter 3.
First John chapter 3 and verse 2. Beloved. Now are we the sons of God?
And it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him.
For we shall see him as he is, and every man that hath this hope in him.
Purifies himself even as he is pure. Well, I know this was a good many scriptures to read, but as I say, I trust that these scriptures will sink deep into our souls and I have it on my heart as these scriptures suggest.
In presenting the Gospel tonight to speak a little bit about hope, someone has said that hope is an indispensable quality of life.
You tell a person that all is hopeless and they'll curse the day they die.
There's a day they were born. There's nothing worse than a hopeless situation.
Wouldn't it be awful to be taken into the doctor's office to be told that after review your case is hopeless?
Isn't it awful to be told that financially you're in ruin and things are hopeless?
And you know there are. There is a very hopeless state in this world, naturally speaking, and not only in this world, but man, left to himself, is ruined to the point of hopelessness. Not an awful word, hopelessness.
And that's why I began where we read in Ephesians chapter 2, because here he tells us.
That there was a time when we were without hope, and I trust there's nobody in this room this evening.
Who falls into the category of being without hope? Because if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you rejoiced with me as we read the following scriptures as we read from the word of God of our hope.
The hope we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. But oh, tonight we want to begin on a very, very solemn note.
We want to bring us right into the presence of God tonight and realize first of all that in our sinful natural condition, as born into this world, as part of Adam's fallen race, as part of sinful humanity, we are without hope if there isn't something else brought in by God. And you know we only have to go back to the Old Testament and find that God in testing man for 4000 years.
Had to declare at the end of it all that there was number, hope, and we come over to the book of Romans, and the verdict and the sentence are handed down.
There is none good, No, not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Solomon, the wisest man, perhaps, whoever traversed the earth apart from the person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Had to declare there is not a man on the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Sounds pretty hopeless, doesn't it? And not only is man a Sinner.
But he's hopeless in the sense that he can do nothing in himself to better his position.
Before God, it tells us again in Romans that all our righteousnesses.
Are as filthy rags, in other words, all the best things that we can do.
Are only a pile of filthy old rags in the sight of God.
No, something must be brought in, and that's where the gospel comes in.
And that's why I read in the book of Colossians. Because there we have the hope of the gospel. You know, wonderful that we don't have to end the story after 15 minutes by simply telling an audience that they're sinners, ruined through and through, and that there's nothing they can do to get rid of their sins in themselves. What a hopeless situation that would be. But no, there is hope tonight. There's the hope of the gospel. There's the glorious gospel to present.
The good news that Christ Jesus came into the world.
To save sinners. The good news Let the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us.
From all sin. Isn't that good news tonight? Isn't that tremendous news?
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In a wonderful story, the best news that has ever been presented.
To mankind. And yet, sad to say, people don't want to hear it. I don't know how many invitations were handed out locally during the lunch hour earlier today, But you know, as I look into the faces of this audience, I realize that very few of those invitations were responded to. Maybe you did come in tonight because of an invitation, but very few of those invitations were responded to. Why?
Because people don't want to hear the good news of salvation.
They don't want to be told that they're sinners and that there is a remedy for sin.
Through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross, in that remarkable, people will line up to buy the Daily News. People will switch the channel to watch the horrific events that are going on around this globe today. And they'll shake their heads and they'll walk away and they'll say, where are things going and what hope do we have. But when you try to present the good news of the gospel.
Are they willing to listen to that? No. Why? Because man has to put himself down to get saved and exalt Christ.
Man wants to think he's an enlightened society and that things are getting better and better.
Right here in the mountains of North Carolina some years ago, my wife and I had opportunity to visit a couple.
It was just after the Gulf War and this lady told us, she said. She was an older lady, she and her husband.
And as we sat in their home, she said, You know, I believe that this world is now on a course.
After this war, that's going to lead to better and better things. Just think of the past few years. Did the Gulf War solve all the world's problems? Has it led to better and better things? No. We see, if we're honest with ourselves, the deterioration of things on every hand, the breakdown in every level of government and society, and sin more open and rampant than it ever was. Not just.
Sin practice today, it's always been practiced.
But sin is preached and glorified today. But oh, there is hope, the hope of the gospel. And who does the gospel present? It presents the one that we read of in Timothy, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our hope. I'm not here to preach Reformation tonight. I'm not here to preach sociology tonight. I'm not here to preach the betterment of society. You can't turn over a new leaf when the leaf is dead. We're dead in trespasses and sins.
Know what man needs is a new life, and that life is available in Christ.
Because the rest of the verse I quoted earlier, the wages of sin is death, goes on to tell us. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Do you have that hope tonight? Where are your hopes? What are your goals? What are your dreams? Are they only connected with this sad, sin, sick world? If they're only connected with this sad, sin sick world, oh what a shaky hope that is at best.
Because if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
Are you miserable tonight, or do you have a hope beyond this life? You know, I think one of the most awful things about a lost eternity will be the fact that there's no hope. I remember this pressed upon my soul One time I had the privilege and opportunity of visiting and speaking in a large state penitentiary just outside of the city of Boston, MA.
It was a pretty nice facility. I've stayed in lots of hotels. I don't think we're quite as nice. It was a very nice facility. We were there on a hot sweltering July evening. The place was fully air conditioned. There were different, what they called pads with 12 cells, which meant 24 men opening onto a common room where there was a ping pong table, there were shuffleboard, there were all kinds of activities.
There was a place where they could get snacks and there was a microwave and a coffee maker along one side.
Glass doors opened out onto a courtyard where there was weight lifting and a basketball court and so on, and it just seemed that naturally speaking, these PR prisoners were provided with a lot of luxuries. We had opportunity to go to various pads and to give out some gospel material and speak personally to some of the inmates. And then there was a gospel meeting scheduled in the Chapel and I went in a little early to the Chapel and I sat at the back with some hymn books in my hand.
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To hand out to the men as they filed in for the gospel service, and as I sat there handing out the hymn books. I listened to the conversation of those men as they congregated before the gospel meeting. And almost invariably, their conversation was centered around when they were going to get out of that facility. Their parole was coming due, their release date was up, they served their sentence. They were going to have a retrial.
All kinds of reasons that gave them hope.
Let's say we're going to be released from that facility, and I pondered that because it seemed they had everything that they could desire, everything provided for in three square meals a day. But I realized that you take away from man the one thing that he wants most, and he's dissatisfied. And what is the one thing he wants most? His freedom nations have been built on the principle of freedom. Man desires his freedom more than anything else.
And give them everything else. But take away his freedom. And he lives in hope of the day that he's going to be released from the confines of whatever it might be. And when I stood up to address those men, it was so pressed upon my soul that I turned to Luke's Gospel. And I read the well known story of the rich man and Lazarus, told by the Lord Jesus himself, and how that rich man in hell lifted up his eyes.
And you know, it's interesting that that man did not ask to be released from the confines of hell.
I believe he realized that his destiny was fixed and that there was number hope of release from hell.
And rather than ask for release from the confines of that awful place, he simply asked that one drop of water be brought to him so that he could have momentary relief in his awful place of torment.
And confinement. And I think the most awful thing about hell is that there will be no hope of release.
Some years ago, the S4 submarine went down off the coast of Massachusetts, never to rise again, and many ships rushed to that spot and divers went down to see if they could help or rescue the crew that was stuck down in that watery prison. And one of those divers that went down put his helmet in the ear to the side of that submarine as he heard out tapped.
In Morris code.
Is there any hope? You can just imagine what it must have been going on inside that submarine and that message sent. Is there any hope?
But oh, tonight there is indeed hope. You don't have to go on in your sins. You don't have to go to a lost eternity, because the Lord Jesus God has provided the Lord Jesus that Savior of sinners.
And the Lord Jesus came down, down into this world. He went to Calvary's cross.
And there he died. There he shed his precious blood. There he rose again. And that's why I read in First Peter, where it speaks about a lively or a living hope.
Based on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Because while it's true, tonight we want distress in the gospel.
The death and the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus vital. It's the basis of it.
We want to stress it, but we want to stress too that he rose again the third day.
According to the scriptures, because if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain.
Ye are still in your sins, but thank God he was raised again for our justification.
And after the Lord Jesus came forth from the tomb, and that tomb was opened so there could be testimony.
The stone rolled away. There could be testimony, but after he came out, he remained on earth.
Long enough to give ample and complete witness to his own that he had bodily risen from the dead.
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Showing himself not only to his disciples, but to about 500 brethren at one time.
Saying to his own on another occasion, handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone.
As you see me have, And what a glorious truth that God has raised him from the dead.
And seated him at his own right hand. The work of Calvary is completed.
And the resurrection is God's. Amen to the work of Calvary. If you want proof that God is satisfied with the work that was accomplished here in this world, I'll just look up my faith and see where the Lord Jesus is now.
Have you looked by faith to the Lord Jesus as the savior of sinners? Tonight there is a Savior on high in the glory, a Savior who suffered on Calvary's tree. A Savior is willing to save now as ever.
His arm is almighty, his love great and free.
Do you want riches in the next life? And I don't mean temporal riches, but do you want to enjoy now and forever the unsearchable riches of Christ?
Do you have this hope? You know, we read in Romans that were saved by hope. What does that mean?
Well, it means again that unless a person has hope, they just cast off all restraint.
We understand this. If you're sick, there's always hope that tomorrow you'll be better. You can grin and bear the pain today.
Because there's hope that tomorrow the medicine will kick in and you'll start to get better. If you're on a financial downslide in your business, you can get through today with the hope that things are going to start getting better tomorrow. If sales are slow, you get through today with the hope that the phones are going to ring tomorrow and so on. We're saved by hope. We live for hope, but we're talking of not about hope in this world, but we're talking about eternal hope and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't often get a chance to read a newspaper, but I was sitting in a cafe with Brother John Mark back in January in Nassau, Bahamas, and we had picked up a My Miami Herald on the way to breakfast. And I glanced over the headlines of the Miami Herald that morning and a headline caught my eye. The headline was something about getting rich, and that headline went on to say.
That a survey had been taken.
Of American freshmen.
Young people and they were asked a number of questions, but one of the questions was what do you desire more than anything else in life?
And 75 percent, 75% of the freshmen young people interviewed in the colleges of north of the United States of America said their hope and goal was to make it rich and be prosperous in this life.
And that's sad. What shall it profit a man?
If he gained the whole world and lose his own soul, you know Solomon in the Old Testament, he had it all.
You know, Israel reached its pinnacle in the Old Testament. Solomon had a throne of ivory with six steps.
Roundabout Speaking of the pinnacle of human glory. In fact, he was so rich that the silver was counted for nothing.
In Israel that day, that's how plentiful it was. And in the book of Ecclesiastes he makes this statement. He says he didn't withhold himself from any pleasure. But did it satisfy him? Not for one moment. I've crossed it all, he writes. Vanity and vexation of spirit. You know, I like to contrast him with the apostle Paul. In the New Testament, Solomon on the throne writes vanity and vexation of spirit. In other words, it's empty. It's nothing.
Doesn't satisfy. You know the Apostle Paul from a prison.
With nothing of this world's goods, he writes. These words rejoice in the Lord always.
And again I say rejoice. It was interesting in that article that one of the young men interviewed was quoted, and he had made it pretty successful. But he said he realized, to be quite honest, that materialism had not satisfied him. He said I have a nice, apt I have a fine car, I have all I can I want. But he said it has not satisfied.
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Oh, what is your hope based on? I've often told about Michael Faraday, reputed to be the father of modern electronics. And Michael Faraday was lying on his deathbed, and a friend came to comfort him on his deathbed. And this friend said to Michael, he said, what is your hope for eternity? What is your what are your speculations for the next life? Michael said speculations.
I'm not resting on speculations. I'm resting on certainties. I'm resting on the word of God.
And so we found that we read, we have a Good Hope, we have a Good Hope, and it is a Good Hope. And I know there are just so many in this room this evening that rejoice as we speak of the hope that we have in Christ, and we often delight to speak together of the hope of the Lord's coming.
The hope of the Lord's coming. What does that hope mean to your soul tonight?
You know there are many verses we can quote, but one verse comes to mind.
The coming of the Lord Draweth Nigh. I know there are just so many that thrill as we think of the nearness of the Lord's return. We love to look up and in our souls say Amen Even so Come Lord Jesus, I'm longing for that moment when I'll see my Savior's face. But I want to warn you in all faithfulness that the coming of the Lord Jesus is going to mean different things for different people.
For those who are washed in the blood of Jesus, it is going to mean to be transported from this planet of sin.
Into a sinless scene, the Father's house to be with and like the Lord Jesus for all eternity. But maybe there's someone here and you start to squirm a little bit when I talk about the Lord's coming. Because you've heard about it from the very early days of your childhood. And you start to look at the clock and say, I hope Mr. Highland will get run down in a little while and we can go on our way and have some fun. And we won't have to hear about these things if the Speaking of the truth of the Lord's coming bothers you tonight.
Oh, I want to warn you. For you, the Lord's coming will mean that the opportunities to be saved.
Are forever gone, forever gone, it says, when once the master of the house hath risen up and shut to the door.
Then they become, they come, and they begin to knock. And they say, Lord, Lord, open unto us.
Why do they say Lord, Lord? Because they're those who knew the name of the Lord. You know who they are.
Listen and listen well to who they are. They are the sons and daughters.
Of fathers and mothers who brought them to gospel meetings just like this. They are the young people.
Who sat at the dinner table and saw a Father open the Bible and read it to them every day? There are those who knew the name of the Lord, and they come, and they say, Lord, Lord, open unto us. Is the door of mercy ever opened again? No.
Not to let so much as one soul in there are some awful words.
Some solemn words that come from the other side of that closed and bolted door.
Depart from me. I never knew you.
You know to whom much is committed, the same shall much be required.
You know, you young people who have come to conferences like this many times. Much is required of you. I dare to say this on the authority of God's Word, but if you go into a lost eternity.
You will be some of those of whom the Lord said they will be beaten with many stripes.
It is so solemn, beaten with many stripes wide because you are more responsible, and you are going to be more responsible when you walk out of this door around 8:30 than you were when you walked in this door.
At 7:30.
Interesting that when Elijah was caught away to heaven in a whirlwind and in a chariot of fire, he's a picture of the coming of the Lord taking his people out.
And when he was caught away to heaven, who was it that missed Elijah? You know it wasn't the general populace in Israel that missed Elijah. It was the sons of the prophets.
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But you know what's so solemn too to realize?
That if you reject the Lord Jesus Christ, you too will be sent a strong delusion, that you'll believe a lie. I can hardly take it in. But so twisted will your mind become as a work of Satan that you will believe some lie and be convinced in your soul that what you heard in this gospel meeting.
Was not even the truth of God. But all again the solemn end will be.
That you will end up in the lake of fire with no hope.
But there's a Good Hope, you know. When I read this verse in Thessalonians about a Good Hope, I am reminded of a little segment from history. I remember studying about a man by the name of Bartholomew de Diaz. And Bartholomew Diaz in 1488 rounded the southern tip of the continent of Africa. The Europeans at that time were looking for a trade route to the east so that they could bring the silks and the spices.
And the TS and they could bring them to England and, uh, Europe, to add to the culture of what they felt was a growing, enlightened society. It was a great hope. And he Arkansas, he rounded the tip of Africa, finally the first European on record to do it, And he rounded it under such adverse circumstances that he aptly named it the Cape of Storms. But you know, when he returned to Portugal.
King John the Second, under whose auspices he had been sailing, decided that the name Cape of Storms.
Would not encourage further exploration. And so he renamed it the Cape of Good Hope. And if you look on a map to this day, it bears the name the Cape of Good Hope. But, you know, it probably was better names A Cape of Storms. Was it a Good Hope? Well, it did provide a trade route to India and the East for some time. But, you know, I don't think it was really the hope that the Europeans had had desired. It was the Cape of Storms. But when we talked about a Good Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the hope of his coming, That is exactly what we mean. It is a Good Hope beyond anything that you and I could ever anticipate. Or if you could just get one inkling of what is ahead for the believer, would you want to turn aside? You know by faith. Moses had that before his soul. He let for Sookie Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, esteeming the reproaches of Christ greater than the treasures.
Egypt and I have had the opportunity to be in Egypt and to learn something about the glorious nation.
The glorious Kingdom that it was at that time and under the Pharaohs. I didn't realize really, the import of that verse I just quoted.
Until I realized the glory of Egypt at that time. Egypt is a base Nation Today, but it was not a base nation at that time. And justice to view a few of those treasures in the Cairo Museum and other places, it stirs you. But Moses saw something far better by faith. And Moses is going to be in that scene of glory. Think of him on the mount of Transfiguration. Think of him in the coming day when all the redeemed are there with the Lord Jesus. Will he be sorry he gave up?
The treasures in Egypt? Oh, not for one moment. Oh, tonight I plead with you to come to Christ. If you don't know Christ, you don't have this Good Hope that so many of us have. But it's yours tonight. It's offered to you tonight.
And I read in the book of Hebrews because there we find it is not just hope IN the sense that we usually use the word hope.
But it is a sure and a steadfast hope, you know, every hope connected with this life and the natural man.
Is uncertainty at best? It is uncertainty at best.
There were many people hoped to be at this conference this weekend. They're not here. Things came up, sickness, circumstance beyond their control that hindered them from being at this conference. If you had talked to them a week or two ago, they would have told you, Oh yes, we have everything in place and we hope to see you at the conference. But they're not here. Even the children and young people understand what it is to have our hopes frustrated.
You hope to get something special for your birthday.
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And it just didn't happen. You hoped to go out with your friends or some activity that you were promised.
And it didn't happen for one reason or another. But when we talk about hope, Indiana Christ.
It's not uncertainty in any sense of the word. We often speak of the hope of the Lord's coming.
It's not uncertainty. We're looking for the Lord to come with certainty.
It's only hope IN the sense that we're not in the full reality of it yet. That's one reason I read again those verses in Romans 8. Because what a man hath, why does he yet hope for? You know, if someone promises you something special for your birthday, they may tell you that they're going to secure it. They may even tell you that they have secured it and that it's hidden away and waiting for the right moment. But you know, with all those promises and you're sure that that person is really.
Going to carry through yet? You're not in the full good of it yet. There's that hope. You live for hope the day when your birthday comes, and then finally the gift is brought out and it's presented to you. Now you have it. You're not hoping for it anymore. You have it. You're in possession of it.
And there are again there are so many here who are waiting for that moment when the Lord Jesus.
Is going to come. What a hope it is. It's a reality. These things are real.
We're passionate tonight about what we're preaching. We're in earnest tonight because these things are real.
It's life and death is not a joke. Life and eternity is not a joke.
Oh, things are made such light of today. Everything is a joke.
There's comedians on every hand, and joke books fill the shelves.
Of the bookstores. But these things are not a joke tonight. That's why we're not here to entertain you tonight.
We're here to plead for your soul. We're here to impress upon your conscience in your heart.
The reality of passing out of this world without Christ.
I'm going to tell you another little incident happened some years ago in the town of Smith Falls, where I live.
I had an aunt, an elderly aunt.
She had known the Lord for many, many years, probably 75 years. She had known the Lord.
She was looking for the Lord Jesus to come, but you know, the time came when the body broke down.
She was taken to the hospital and we knew she wasn't going to live very long.
But she was looking forward to seeing the Lord Jesus. If the Lord Jesus didn't come, she was looking forward.
To being absent from the body and present with the Lord through death.
And I'll never forget standing at her bedside as she gently drew those last few breaths.
A glad smile crossed over her face, and I knew that she was absent from the body and present with the Lord.
But you know, as I stood there, my mind went back 24 hours before to another incident just down the hall in that same hospital ward.
For an elderly man had come to the end of his journey down here, the journey of life.
And he knew it too. And he was a man. His name was Mr. Dolby. He was a man that had been for many years in the town of Smith Falls, a fine, upstanding citizen, I suppose he was what we would call a philanthropist. He was a benevolent man, very wealthy, had done well for himself in business, had used his money in a charitable way, had donated much to the town of Smiths Falls that the youth benefited from.
But you know, he came to the end of life and all those good things that he had done meant nothing.
In the face of eternity. And I will never forget the whales and the shrieks.
That echo down that hospital corridor as he took those last breaths and entered eternity.
What a contrast.
One who had hope beyond this life. Hope, Indiana Christ, to gently draw her last breath knowing she was going home.
Another to come to the end of life in the very same town.
Probably about the very same age, but oh how different.
And I have never done it. But people who have talked or tended the beds of infidels and atheists as they lay dying, have said that they would never do it again. The nurse that attended the deathbed of Voltaire said not for all the gold in Europe would she ever again attend the deathbed of an atheist or an infidel. It was so awful.
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No hope, but our hope is sure and steadfast, which hope we have as an anchor.
Of the soul.
Just recently I saw a full page ad. I think it was in an in flight magazine and it was for a well known insurance company.
And it said replace uncertainties with guarantees.
Replace uncertainties with guarantees. Now granted you it was just a secular ad.
For a well known insurance company in the United States of America. But that headline, that caption caught my eye.
Replace uncertainties with guarantees life insurance.
Replacing uncertainties. Oh, maybe it does provide a little help for those who are left behind when one is deceased.
But it certainly is no guarantee as far as the next life is concerned.
No, the only guarantees for the next life are to be trusting in the work of Christ, to be washed in the blood of Jesus, to know the risen glorified Savior, and to have the hope before your soul of His soon return. I said earlier that to whom much is given of the same is much required, and I want to come back to that for a moment.
Because I am burdened. I am very burdened as I look into the faces of our own children and young people. You know, two young people were heard to say just before a gospel meeting like this, oh, it's just another gospel meeting.
It'll probably be over around 8:30. Yes, it probably will be over around 8:30. But no, Gospel meeting is just another Gospel meeting.
To whom much is given, the same of the same is much required.
I was struck in reading a story about a man.
A young man by the name of Jeff, and he was out for mischief one day, and he went up on the overpass of one of the interstates in the United States of America with a cement block in his hand.
And he just waited for a car approaching and he timed it very well.
And he dropped that cement block. And that cement block went right through the windshield of Vicky Prantel's car.
It not only damaged her car, but it tore up her face and she needed several major surgeries for any kind of facial restoration. I won't tell you the details. It was awful. Eyes, nose, teeth, the whole thing.
But you know, as Vicki lay on the hard tarmac waiting.
For the paramedics to arrive, she prayed.
That the Lord would give her grace to forgive the perpetrator of that crime.
I don't think I would have had the grace to do it, but Vicki is a sweet believer and that was her prayer, and her prayer was answered.
She sent a message to the judge in that courtroom, though she could not attend herself for medical reasons. She sent a message pleading that the judge would have mercy on this man, she said told the court she would not press charges.
And that she would pray for the salvation of this 20 year old man by the name of Jeff.
She prayed hard.
The judge was very lenient.
This young man got 90 days in boot camp, that's all. And he was set free.
And this young man made a public statement about how thankful he was and.
Listen to this How thankful he was that Dickey was a Christian.
And that she had pleaded for mercy for him.
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But, you know, neither Vicki nor anyone else knows to this day.
Whether Jeff has ever received the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior.
I think that is so solemn.
To have a Christian.
Plead for mercy for him in that way to have a Christian give him public testimony.
As to why she was doing it and telling him that she was praying for his salvation and he knowing the gospel and then to turn away and say he was thankful that he got off and didn't go to prison like he ought to have.
But not to make any confession of being a Christian himself.
You young people who have Christian parents, you ought to be very thankful for it.
It has spared you from many things. It has no doubt spared you from the raw side of the world. But you know it's not enough. It is not enough to have Christian parents. You know Timothy had a godly mother. He had a God fearing grandmother, but he was told.
That he needed to have faith in Christ Jesus himself, and that he had known the Holy Scriptures from a child, which were able to make him wise unto salvation through faith.
Which is in Christ Jesus.
Have you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? You don't inherit salvation from your parents. You're not going to go to heaven just because your parents.
Are on their way to heaven. No, it just doesn't work that way. You know, sometimes in this world, we get to do things because of not necessarily who we are or even what we are, but who we know and who we're related to and who our parents are. And we get to do certain things because of it. But it isn't true about salvation. You're not going to get into heaven.
Just because you have saved parents, you're not going to get into heaven just because you know somebody who knows the Lord Jesus as your savior. No, you must put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you have this hope? It is a blessed hope, we read in Titus. Looking for that blessed hope or happy hope? Are you looking for that hope or you? Do you dread the Lord's coming?
And for those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, it tells us that as the children of God.
We have a hope that purifies us, that causes us to live as Christians here in this world.
Because, you know, sometimes at the end of a Gospel meeting, there might be somebody who says, well, I'd like to get saved.
But I know I could never live like a Christian. I could never be like a Christian. But when you get saved all, you're given everything you need. You're given all the tools, so to speak, to live like a Christian. And one of the wonderful tools you're given is the hope of the Lord's coming. And in the measure in which you have that before you, it has a practical, purifying effect on your life. You have the Spirit of God indwelling you. You have the divine life.
The very life of Christ. You have the word of God to guide and direct you.
Oh, don't stay away because you feel you could never live like a Christian. No. Come, because God is a giving God because he has something wonderful. He has salvation through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You have every expectation of walking out one of these doors in a few minutes.
But what if you draw the last breath? What if the Lord Jesus comes? You know, I've taken some hard funerals in my day. Some very hard funerals, but bar none. The hardest funeral I ever stood up to preach was the funeral of a 92 year old woman who hardened her heart to the very end of her life.
Her grandchildren, who were the Lords and who I grew up with and knew very well, asked me.
To say a few words at her funeral.
I talked to different ones that knew this lady before she passed away to see if there was any threat of hope, if there was anything that would give us some hope, that maybe there was a breakdown at the end and that there had been repentance in turning to Christ. The more I talked to people, the more I realized the person in the coffin was probably in a lost eternity. I say one of the most difficult things to do to stand up and not have any hope.
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To be able to give nobody hope, but I was able to bring us into the presence of God and to say that for the person in the coffin there was number hope.
But for those that were living, there was still hope and that we had opportunity to receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior.
And I'm not going to tell you tonight to wait till you get across the street or back to your room or after the thing to get saved. No, behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. And what I'm going to tell you at the end of this gospel meeting is that if you do not know Christ as your Savior, I plead with you, I beg you not to get up out of your seat before you receive Christ. You know, sometimes at the end of the Gospel meeting, I think people don't really know how to get saved. They hear they need to.
But this is how simple it is. All you have to do tonight is quietly in your heart, because God hears what you say in your heart without uttering one word aloud. But all you have to do in your heart tonight is speak to God, Repent. Tell him you're sorry for your sins. Receive the Lord Jesus. Tell him you want to be saved. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And if you from your heart.
Speak to Him in faith. Tonight before you leave your seat. I will guarantee you. I will guarantee you on the basis of God's Word. And this isn't like the idle guarantees of this world and the manufacturers of it. But I can guarantee you, on the basis of God's Word, that you will rise from your seat with the most wonderful, blessed hope in your soul, knowing the Lord Jesus as your Savior, knowing that you're on your way to heaven.
Do you want to have that wonderful hope tonight before you leave this room? Oh, I'm going to pray now. You pray in your heart. By faith receive the Lord Jesus Christ. He's bending low from heaven to hear you. Just breathe in your soul and receive him by faith. Oh come now to Jesus. That dear loving Savior receive him this moment and peace shall be thine. Let's pray our blessed God and Father.
Our souls are stirred at the end of this Gospel meeting, and we pray that no one will leave this room without being saved.
We pray that there might be a real work of Thy spirit and that thou continue to draw souls to Christ.
That there might be fruit and blessing for Thy glory and for their eternal salvation.
We ask blessing on thy word here and wherever it's proclaimed, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.