Gospel—R. Thonney
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Like to quarter verse to begin with?
If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, or Jesus as Lord.
And believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead.
You will be saved.
Burden on my heart this evening is that I fear in our country that there are many who have a head knowledge about the Lord Jesus, who he was and what He's done but has never surrendered to Him.
As Lord.
Scripture tells us plainly He is Lord of all.
Another place, he says he is the Lord of the living and of the dead, so no one escapes him. So let's sing a hymn to start our meeting here, number 21.
Decide for Christ today.
Confess him as thy Lord proclaim to all the saviors worth. How faithful is his word. We'll sing the whole again.
They saw it for Christ today.
And God.
Inside for Christ today.
To all that savers.
I'll be holy since his word.
Bride and soul grace all the way. So I won't be right. So the one we can't believe, the one we can't stay alone, we can't stand.
Let's pray.
The God and Father, how wonderful.
That we can proclaim the wonderful message of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
But we are concerned, our God and Father, in our country where human rights are so insisted upon and people think that they don't have to submit fully to this glorious person, the Lord Jesus. Oh Lord, we pray that thy Spirit would convince tonight the importance of repentance from our ways.
And to own the.
Lord Jesus, as Lord of all we give thanks. Father, we can open Thy word and speak from it, and we ask thee for the direction of Thy Holy Spirit in doing so. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
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I'd like to go first of all to First Samuel chapter 17 to the well known story of David and Goliath. I think you kids will enjoy this, I must say.
I'm almost 80 years old now and I still enjoy reading the story of David and Goliath.
And I'm not going to read that much in chapter 17 just to mention what was going on in Israel at that time. My purpose is to read the first verses of chapter 18. The result that took place because there was an observer to David going down to meet the giant, it was Jonathan.
The King's son, the one who is in direct.
Lineage to take the throne of Israel.
Something happened in his heart.
He surrendered to David, and I'd just like to read first of all a little bit in chapter 17.
About the showdown that there was at this time in Israel, you know, they had.
Enemies that were called the Philistines. And in amongst these Philistines there were giants.
In notice in verse four it says there went out of the a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath.
Of Gav, whose height was 6 cubits in a span. I figured that out some time ago and I got to jotted down my Bible. That's almost 10 feet tall. It's pretty tall guy. He had a helmet of brass upon his head and he was armed with a coat of mail and the weight of the coat was 5000 shekels of brass. That's about 100.
56 lbs of this coat of mail that we put over him.
So that any arrows or Spears that were thrown at him wouldn't be able to penetrate. They would hit that coat of mail.
But 156 lbs that thing weighed. He had grieves of brass upon his legs and a target of brass behind his between his shoulders. The staff of his spear was like a weavers beam and his Spears head weighed 600 shekels of iron and one bearing a shield went before him. 600 shekels of iron is about 19 lbs. You imagine the head.
Of that sphere was 19 lbs. He threw that at you had probably not get completely over.
And probably do you in so this was quite a.
An enemy that they had to deal with.
And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are you come out to set your battle in array?
Am I not a Philistine? And ye, servants to Saul, choose you a man to come.
A man for you and let him come down to me if he be able to fight with me and to kill me.
Then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him?
Then shall ye be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine says, I defy the armies of Israel this day.
Give me a man that we may fight together when Saul lets the king of Israel.
And all Israel heard those words of the Philistines. They were dismayed and greatly afraid.
Pretty terrible situation they found themselves in. You know, Saul was a man that was head and shoulders above all the people in Israel and yet he didn't have any courage to take on this giant.
Verse 12 Now David was the son of that etherified of Bethlehem, Judah, whose name was Jesse. He had eight sons in the old, and the man went among men for an old man in the days.
Of Saul. The three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul.
To the battle in the names of the three sons that went to the battle where he lived, the first born.
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Next to him of in an Abbott and the third, Shama and David was the youngest.
The three eldest followed Saul well. David, since he was the youngest, was sent out into the fields to take care of the sheep of the family.
And there he was by himself. And now in the next verses, David is sent by his father to take some food down to his brothers. And when he gets there.
Verse 22. David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the arm, and came and saluted his brethren. And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion.
The Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words and David.
Heard them anyhow later on in the chapter, because we're not going to talk too much about this, but I just want to. I find it so thrilling to see how David was encouraged. He finally got talking to people. Why doesn't somebody take this man out? And nobody had confidence to be able to take him out. You know why?
Because they compared the giant to themselves.
And I can see why they were afraid.
But you know, David was different. David didn't think of that as a battle between David versus Goliath. To him, it was a matter of God versus Clath. And he got talking to the people and finally he comes up to being called right into the presence of Saul the king. And I'm surprised, but they were.
This was going on for 40 days and nobody came forth. And I think Saul was pretty desperate. And finally here comes David and David says I will go to fight. He said, no, you can't, you're a youth, you can't take him out. He says I was with my father's sheep in the desert.
In A lion and a bear came and I, and they took a lamb out of the flock, and I went after him in.
When the lion rose up against me, he says I caught him by the beard and killed him.
Necessarily that means it was a African lion because I don't think any other lions have beards.
Imagine the courage of this young boy. But he had learned to trust the Lord.
His confidence was in the Lord. And so finally Saul says OK.
I'm going to clothe you with my armor. And he puts off his armor on you. Imagine Saul was a big man and it didn't fit very well. And so finally David said I can't use this. And he leaves it in the heap. And he goes on. And what does he choose? I think this is so beautiful. In verse 40, he says he took his staff in his hand and chose him five smooth stones out of the brick.
Put them in a shepherd's bag which he had even a script, and his sling was in his hand and he drew near.
To the Philistine.
He used what he knew how to use.
Sling and stones, you know, in Bolivia.
From the High Alta Plano, many of the brethren have large flocks of sheep and I'm amazed at how accurate they get with their stones and their swings.
Sometimes it's a sister that's out there taking care of those sheep and they see a sheep getting way off to one side and they take a stone and they fling it out there right beyond that shape. And that sheep knows immediately that they're getting too far away and they run right back. They're very accurate. And so David must have been pretty accurate too, but his, his confidence was not in his own accuracy. But notice verse 41.
Time came on and drew near unto David, and the man that bear the shield went before him.
And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth in a Ruddy and of a fair countenance. And the Philistines said unto David, Am I a dog, that you come to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistines said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh into the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field.
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And you can imagine, here's this huge giant of a guy.
And he sees this boy. He was a youth that says, I don't know how old he must have been, maybe 1718 years old.
And here he comes to meet the giant, and I think Goliath felt insulted.
Come on, you got to send me somebody my size to fight with me. This my dog that you're sending him?
Anyhow.
It's beautiful, but David says to the Philistine. Verse 2045. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield. But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
This day will the Lord deliver thee into.
Mine hand, and I will smite thee, and take thy head from thee, and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day, and to the fowls of the air, to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
You know David had been.
Anointed as the next king already and I think he was talking here as the king.
Already, but it's interesting and it says verse 48 when it came to pass, when the Philistine arose.
And came and drew nigh to meet David. David hasted and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. I thought it was me, brother, and I'd kind of stay back aways and take my shots, but not David.
Oh, the confidence in the Lord. And to me that is a challenge. I say young people, older ones too. Have you really trusted him? Have you really surrendered to the Lord Jesus?
And that's what it was with David. He had his confidence in God completely. And it's beautiful. Verse 49, David put his hand in his bag, took fence a stone and slang it and smote the Philistine in his forehead. And the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell upon his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and smoked the Philistine and slew him.
There is no sword in the hand of David.
Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
What a mighty victory that day because of David's simple faith in God. And let me tell you, if you'd only realize by surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ, you can do mighty things like David did. But I like I say, brother, and I fear that there are those who have never.
Surrendered to the Lord Jesus, you know he's called into.
Saul's presence afterwards.
And verse 56, the king said, Inquire.
Thou whose son the stripling is. He was called a stripling. I suppose he didn't have a whole lot of clothes on, but it says, and as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul.
With the head of the Philistine in his hand. Can you imagine? Here's David with the head of the Philistine in one hand, and with the sword of the Philistine. We know that he took the sword to because later on it was something he used. And so he came into the presence of Saul, that stripling, that youth.
What a victory.
There was somebody in the presence of Saul.
That was witnessing it. Now I want to get to the first verses of chapter 18. It was Jonathan Sauls son came to pass when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
Saul took him that day and would let him.
Go no more home to his father's house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul.
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And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, that kingly, princely robe.
And gave it to David and his garments, even to his sword.
And to his bow, and to his girl.
David didn't say, Hey, Jonathan, you have to give me everything. No, not a word of it.
But it was David's love, that one, Jonathan's heart. And that is the way it is tonight, my friend. Young people, older ones too. It's not being moved with fear. That's proper, to be moved with fear, because judgment is coming on this world.
But what we want you to see is the love of Christ. And I want to talk about this because.
There was somebody else that went down into the valley, the valley of death.
And it was the very Son of God, God's eternal Son, the creator of the universe, the one who spake everything into existence. And I can't grasp the magnitude of the person of the Lord Jesus.
And how he created all things by the word of his power. He spake, and it was done.
I love to talk about the.
The universe.
The Milky Way Galaxy that we are situated in.
They say. Now the last figures I've gotten is that there are approximately 300 billion stars in our Galaxy alone.
And one of the books I have on the universe says there are at least 250 billion more galaxies.
The other day I saw another article on the Internet that said.
Their figure because of some of the telescopes they have out in space now that it's closer to 3 trillion more galaxies in the universe. Here's the person that spake it all into existence and he came into this world to seek and to save the last.
Nobody recognized him.
They he was born.
His poor mother, after coming from Galilee, had to.
Find a spot in the stable to give birth to her first born son. Oh, what a story.
In the rapteman swaddling clothes and laid them in the Manger.
The angels came down, remember? Angels I don't think had ever seen the their creator before.
For the first time, the angelic hosts come down. They see their Creator.
Laying as a supposed helpless babe. It was anything but that in that Manger. And I'm sure they thought, where are these people? Don't they realize what's happened? That God has only begotten, Son has come into this world? And they went out and they found the shepherds in the field and they were the first ones to come and to see.
That little they while he was laying there in that Manger.
He was maintaining the whole universe with the word of his power.
It's something that I find difficult to grasp, but what it does to me is make me bow and recognize the grandeur of his person and recognize it's not me, it's him. And that's what we have to come to in our lives. To your young people, dear older ones too, to realize we live in a culture that makes everything of yourself stick up for yourself. Do it for yourself.
And I say.
That is rubbing you of something tremendously glorious.
To know the Lord Jesus Christ and to surrender to Him.
To bowed his feet. Well, we know the story that the Lord Jesus.
Grew up. First of all they went into Egypt, and then when they came back from Egypt they went to Galilee.
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And he was raised in the city of Nazareth, his.
Stepfather was a Carpenter.
And in Mark's gospel, the Lord Jesus is called the Carpenter as well, so he.
Was evidently a Carpenter by trade.
He learned to know what it was to grow up in this world.
But he was not a wealthy person when it came, he said to the point of show me a penny. He didn't have one in his own pocket to take out and show people. And when it came to riding into Jerusalem on a donkey to fulfill the scriptures, he didn't have his own donkey. He had to borrow 1.
And to me, it is a marvel you never have.
The Lord Jesus have much of anything in this world, but when it came to the needs of others, He was always able to supply the need when time with a group of 5000 men and besides women and children, he says.
To his disciples, give them to eat. I said, we don't have anything here. Well, there is a boy that has five little rolls and two fishes.
Give them to me and he blessed them and they ended up, after everybody had eaten and were filled, ended up with 12 large baskets leftover. That's our God. He's come to where we are.
And he has in his power to meet the need of everyone.
That comes in simple faith to him. For me, it is wonderful to think about. And then the time came after his public ministry that they couldn't stand him any longer. It was the religious people that feared that they were being replaced by this one who was the Messiah of Israel.
And so they take him.
And present him to the high priest. First the high priest.
Spit in his face. You imagine God manifest in flesh. Here comes this hyper Eastern spit square in his face. What was the reaction of the Lord Jesus at that moment? I just think of Him standing there.
And the spittle running down his face. No reaction. He did not come to condemn. He came to save. Oh, what a savior.
Savior Pilate, they took him to him. Next of all, he was the Roman governor, and without his consent they couldn't put anybody to death, Pilot, three times over, says. I find no fault in this man.
And then he condemns him to the most awful death of the cross. Let's go over to John's Gospel just.
For a brief few details.
Verse one of chapter 19, John's Gospel. Chapter 19, then Pilate.
Therefore took Jesus and scourged him.
I don't know if you've ever read anything about Roman scourging. I read a book one time about it and it said it was called The Living Death.
It was so awful that malefactors often died on the scourging post before they were even crucified, so they scourged him.
And then he says in verse three, verse says, Pilot therefore went forth again and said unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him. Verse two it says, They made a crown of thorns.
And they put it on his head. And you know, we have thorns that are not very bad. But in Bolivia, where we lived some years, we have thorns there that are maybe 3 inches long and they are as hard as nails.
One time somebody wanting to do me in saw that I went into with my Jeep to visit somebody and they sewed a bunch of thorns on the.
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Road because they knew I had to come back that way. Next morning my 4 tires were flat on the ground. That's how how strong those thorns were. They go right into the tire and I had to buy 4 new tires because they were all shot. But think of that on the head of the Lord Jesus and they took sticks and they whacked him over the head.
I'm thinking about this brother and these are some of his sufferings. These are not the worst of his sufferings, but they are some of them.
And then it says, verse 5, Jesus came forth wearing the crown of thorns in the purple robe. Pilot Seth unto them, Behold the man. When the chief priests therefore an officer saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said unto him, Take ye him, and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. Three times he says.
To the crowd I find no fault in him, and yet he proceeds to crucify the Lord Jesus, and so they take him outside the city of Jerusalem. Verse.
16 says, Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. He, burying his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him.
And to other with him on either side, one in Jesus in the midst.
There he was, hanging between heaven and earth, with nails through his hands and his feet.
From 9:00 in the morning till he died at 3:00 in the afternoon.
And we know the story from other gospels that are the first three hours. It was people who passed in front of him and mocked him and spit on him.
He says in one prophetic scripture in the Psalms, reproach has broken my heart. They said if he's the Son of God, let God deliver him.
Did God deliver him? No. Why didn't he deliver him? Because their only way that you and I could be saved is if he would die as a sacrifice for us.
Us. But that reproach broke his heart. That's not exactly the same as physical sufferings, but that's suffering too. But then he came to those three hours of darkness that we have the record of.
In Matthew, Mark and Luke and in those three hours.
Was when God took up the question of sin with His own beloved Son. Spotless, sinless victim hanging.
Refused by humankind on that cross God laid on him.
The iniquity of us all.
And then God took the rod of his punishment and punished the Lord Jesus for those sins that I've committed.
For three hours you can read through the gospels and find out there was number complaint voiced by the Lord Jesus on that center cross.
Was only at the end. We talked about it today that the Lord Jesus cried. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
God's holy character had to be vindicated, and it was by the Lord Jesus and those three hours of darkness.
He paid the price in full for our redemption. And then he bowed his head and gave up. The ghost gave up his life. He died.
And I'll go down to verse.
32 Then came the soldiers. This was after he had died.
And break the legs of the 1St and of the other which was crucified.
With Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was dead already, they break not his legs. One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood.
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And water, and he that saw it bare record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true that ye might believe.
For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken.
And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
The price of redemption. We were speaking about redemption today.
Was paid not with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.
There, from that dead body, the soldiers opened his side and flowed out blood and water. How terrible, how awful. That's what he paid for you and me. And now I say he's saying to you to come to him.
To confess him as your Lord and you.
Something else that you want to do with your life. You think you know better than to come to Jesus. I plead with you to think through it. When I think of the tremendous sacrifice that He made for me, I tell you, young people, older ones, children, my heart is broken in me and I had to bow and say, Lord Jesus.
You.
Our Lord of my life, it's not what I want in my life. The clothes I want to wear, the things that I want to do is what you want for me.
You know, we live in a culture and this is what scares me.
Where people want to have a good time.
I'm not saying to having a good time is always wrong, but I'm saying.
If you have not bowed to own Jesus.
As Lord, you're not saved.
And so that concerns me deeply. I say this, I think I've mentioned it before in gospel meetings. I know.
Of four or five young men.
Who used to break bread at the Lord's Table?
Who today professed to be atheists, They don't have any faith that there is a God at all. And that really concerns me. And as I look across this crowd here and I say, I can't see your hearts, I don't know. I'm not going to make a judgment call on it. But I want to call you to reflection.
Is Jesus Lord of your life?
The day is going to come when the Lord Jesus is going to come back from heaven to establish His Kingdom.
And those who have not owned him as Lord will have to bow.
Their knees and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Oh, what a day that's going to be. And you and I that are real believers are going to see that happen when he comes back. Oh, the glory of it. But they're going to be those who perhaps sat in gospel meetings like we're sitting tonight.
Who never have made a decision.
For Christ, how solemn it's going to be in that day.
When you meet with Jesus.
And have to confess that he, yes, is Lord, but it's too late for salvation.
So I just want to challenge you with all that's in me. Is Jesus Lord of your life, or is there something that's more important to you in life than that?
Young people, again, I say we're living in a culture that.
Emphasizing emphasizes having a good time and doing what you like, that you have the right and the title to do what you like in your life.
I say, given what Jesus has done for us.
In that wonderful redemption, I say I no longer have that right.
To say what I want to do. There's somebody that has all the rights for me and he is the one that shows me what I am to do. And so I challenge you. Are you going to bow to him? And the sooner you do it, the later I would like to see you do it. Not because of fear, although that is a valid motive.
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Moses, or I should say Noah, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.
But the greater motive is the love of Christ. Think of how he went to that cross. Think of how he suffered that judgment from the hand of God, so that you and I could be saved and brought into God's house forever.
Oh, that is something that wins my heart and I challenge you tonight to think it through. If you have any questions or doubts, I would be glad to talk to you after the meeting. And I'm sure there's others that could be a help to you as well. But I, I'm, I'm really concerned that there's a possibility that there are those who know that Jesus is Lord in their head, but they have never.
As Scripture says, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth.
Jesus as Lord, and believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved.
Have you done that? How important it is. Let's just pray to end our meeting. Gracious Father, thanks for thy precious word. We just do. Thank thee, our God and Father, for thy love and giving him to die for us. Lord Jesus, for suffering the judgment for our sins on that cross we bless thee. We praise thee and thank thee. Commend ourselves to thee for the rest of the evening if there's somebody.
That hasn't made it real in their own life. Oh our God and Father, we pray that they might be convicted and come in simple faith and bow and surrender. Just like Jonathan surrendered to David, that we would surrender to the Lord Jesus. We give thanks.
Commend ourselves in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.