Gospel—Jim Hyland
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Most of us, if not all of us in this room sang in the very early days of our youth back in Sunday school that him is. I am so glad that our Father in Heaven tells of his love in the book he has given. We're just going to sing the first verse and the chorus.
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Now we're going to pray a moment and ask God's help our blessed God and Father. We're thankful for that great love that we have just been singing of. We thank thee for the Lord Jesus, the Savior of sinners. And now we're thankful for each one who has come to hear thy word. And we pray that Thou open our ears to listen. But more than this, we pray that each one.
Would leave here with hearts opened by thee to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. So we ask thy health and blessing. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I'm going to read to you tonight one verse of scripture, one verse that again, I suppose most of us have heard and even memorized from the very early days of our youth. It's a verse that is perhaps one of the best known verses in the word of God.
And a verse that is used, read and quoted over and over and over again on occasions like this, when the gospel is presented and that verse is found in God's Word, the Bible in John's Gospel, chapter 3.
And it's verse 16.
And this is what it says for God so loved the world.
That he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Before I comment on this verse, and it's very, very precious and simple message, I want to stress for a moment the fact that when we open God's word and read a verse like this, we can with certainty realize.
That it is the absolute truth if God has said it and recorded it in His words, the Bible. It is no exaggeration and it is impossible for God to lie, and it is vital. It is important tonight that if we do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, that we listen to this verse and that we accept the message of what God is saying to us, knowing that it is the truth.
You know, we all hear stories about GP s s leading us the wrong way, and we've heard stories of people who have gone down back roads and ended up in swamps. We've even heard stories in the news of people who have perished or almost perished because they got lost on a logging Rd. in the winter in some remote area of the country. So I'm gonna tell you another little story about AGPS, AGPS on my own Ford Escape.
Because.
Some time ago I was coming out of a small town near Buffalo, NY.
A town I visit quite often.
And I knew I was going home to Smith Falls, which is near Ottawa ON Canada. And I know the way very well. I do it more than once a year. But I thought, you know, I'll turn the GPS on. My wife wasn't with me. I was alone. And I thought, well, turn the GPS on and I'll know how long I have, how far it is and when the next gas station, gas station is or whatever.
And so I turned the GPS on.
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And I got to a tee in the road and the GPS told me to turn left. But I said that can't be right. I know this way and I gotta turn right. And so I did. And the GPS kept telling me make AU turn at the closest possible interval. Turn around. That GPS was steaming.
It was exasperated with me and I kept saying no and I was almost ready after 10 miles to turn the GPS off when I realized that the GPS was right and I was wrong.
You know, people may have some idea about how to get to heaven or how to better themselves before God, and there's a way that seems right unto a man. But Scripture says the end thereof are the ways of death.
I was going the wrong way, and I had. I went 20 miles out of my way, 10 miles down the road and 10 miles back. Thankfully, I realized what I was doing and I turned around. And if there's someone here tonight and you're not saved, you're on the Broad Rd. that leads to destruction, and you're trying to get to heaven by some way that you think is right. Oh, listen to the word of God. This is the truth.
Just like the GPS was the truth, so the word of God is. The difference is we can't always trust the GPS, but we can always trust the word of God. And this book tells us God so love the world we sang that old gospel hymn. I am so glad that our Father in Heaven tells of his love in the book he has given. You know that hymn was written many, many years ago.
By a man named Philip Bliss. I've had opportunity to visit his grave in Rome, Pennsylvania. But Philip Bliss wrote many, many hymns and we have a vast heritage of good, solid scriptural hymns as a result of Philip Bliss picking up his pen and writing those precious hymns. And this was one of them. But it's interesting why he wrote this to him one day in the city of Chicago. Philip Bliss attended.
A meeting for men. And at the beginning of the meeting they were singing over and over and over again, that little chorus, oh, how I love Jesus because he first loved me. And Philip Bliss says he joined in the singing of that chorus. He thought, you know, it's wonderful that God has put love in my heart for the Lord Jesus. But, you know, he got thinking during that meeting. There's something even more wonderful. And that is the fact that Jesus loves me.
And he went home and he wrote this hymn.
He was glad for the love of God and the love of the Lord Jesus.
And so God so loved the world. You know, there's an intensity to that, isn't there?
God so loved the world. But you know, a lot of people tell us.
That they love us and they don't always act it. We like someone who not is more than words. You know, people might say, well, I love you or I'm your friend, but time goes on and it shows that really that person doesn't love us like they say. But you know, God has not only told us in his word, the Bible, that he loves us, but He has proved that love beyond a shadow of a doubt.
By giving his Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
To die on Calvary's cross.
Has there ever been love like that? You know, this book we hold in our hands? The Bible is the greatest love story that has ever been told in this world. People will go to the bookstores and they will buy love stories, and they will sit for hours and read those stories. And most of them are just fiction. They're made-up by the author.
But here's a love story, the truest and most precious blessed love story.
That man has ever been given, and yet you know people will read love stories from the drugstore, the bookstore.
And they'll be touched, even to tears. But how many really are willing to listen to the greatest love story that has ever been told? God so loved the world, but what did he do to prove that love that he gave his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? I don't have any sons.
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And so I suppose I can't really understand. And I suppose even those who have sons here can't really enter into what it must have meant to the heart of God to send his Son here into this world, knowing exactly what would take place.
God knew when He sent his Son the treatment he would receive by those to whom He was sent.
And God knew exactly what was going to happen.
When his son would go to Calvary's cross.
And there have his hands and feet nailed to a Roman gibbet, there to hang as a spectacle between heaven and earth, there to suffer in the way he did at the hands of man, but more than that.
There was a time in this world.
When at high noon, the sun was darkened and for three hours the Lord Jesus hanging on that cross.
In darkness that I don't believe any eye could penetrate there the Lord Jesus suffered for sin, and I am thrilled to be able to stand before you tonight and tell you that He bore my sins in his own body on the tree.
It is a thrill to my soul to be able to say that Jesus died for me.
And yet I wonder how many in this room can really say that? Could you come up here and stand with me and say with the Apostle Paul, the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me? I love to put my name in that verse, the Son of God, who loved him and gave himself for Jim, but God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
It's referred to in the Book of Corinthians as an unspeakable gift. It's a gift that surpasses every other gift that even God himself has ever given, because every other gift that God has given to man is based on that unspeakable gift of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe there's someone here in the room and you feel like nobody loves you.
I have opportunity on occasion to be down in the country of Trinidad. It's an island off the coast of Venezuela.
And my missionary friend Garvin Seymour and I, we have opportunity to go to the different schools, and with prearrangement we can often address the student body gathered together in a courtyard. Or we have opportunity to go from class to class, and with 15 or 20 minutes in each class, we can sing a gospel chorus, give a little gospel message, and leave a simple gospel track or Sunday school paper on each desk.
But I'll never forget one particular classroom we were speaking in in Port of Spain, Trinidad. We were speaking to, I think it was probably a grade three class.
And Mr. Seymour, who presents the gospel so lovingly and simply. He was speaking to the boys and girls that morning and he asked them to put up their hand and when questioned to tell him somebody that they knew for sure who loved them. And the boys and girls, many of them put up their hands. Some said mother, some said father, grandmother, different ones that they knew loved them.
But there was 1 little boy with his hand up and when he was questioned as to who it was that loved him, I will never forget with the saddest look I think I have ever seen on a child's face, he said. Nobody loves me. Not sad, not solemn. But you know the wonderful thing was we were able to tell the boys and girls that there is somebody that loves them, God loves them, the Lord Jesus loves them. There was a young man one time came to the Lord Jesus.
And it says Jesus beholding him, loved him. You know, the Lord Jesus looks down into this room this evening.
And he looks at each person as an individual. No one is lost in the crowd to the Lord Jesus.
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He knows your name, he knows your circumstances, He knows your family background.
And he loves you.
He loves you as an individual, just as he looked at that man. But sad to say, we never read that that young man ever got the blessing that the Lord Jesus had for him. And so God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. At this juncture, we're going to sing the first verse and chorus of another hymn. Jesus loves me This I know.
No.
I'm in, the Bible tells me.
You know, I have found that that is a universal hymn.
You can give it out in a nursing home, you can give it out at Sunday school, you can give it out at a young people's get together and it is always appreciated.
I was called to Nassau, Bahamas some time ago to take a funeral of a brother my own age. Name was Christopher Kelly. I had stayed in Christopher Kelly's home many times. We enjoyed happy fellowship together. But you know, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and not long after he passed away.
He had asked that if it was possible.
I would come and speak at his funeral because he knew there was going to be a large crowd there of people that had perhaps never sat in a gospel meeting or heard the simple story of salvation. And there was. There was a large crowd. But Christopher made a rather strange request before he passed away. At least his brother Tony, and I thought it was a strange request. He asked that at the end of the funeral service we sing.
Jesus loves me. I thought for a 58 year old man, that's a very interesting request. You know, I really believe this that the Lord laid out on his heart and I will never forget this large crowd of people, old and young. And I said at the end of the service it is the request of Christ. It was the request of Christopher before he passed away that we joined together in the singing of Jesus Loves Me.
I will never forget what happened.
Without so much as a hint of a suggestion, 250 people rose to their feet.
And I have never heard. Jesus loves me, Son, the way it was sung on that occasion. And I believe it really had a solemnizing effect on those that were there, because evidently most, if not all of those that were there, though they may not have been believers in the Lord Jesus they had heard and sung. Jesus loves me at some point in their youth. What a message it gives.
Jesus loves me.
Your love tonight and the Lord Jesus loves you so much. Loved you so much.
That he was willing to come at God the Father's bidding and go to the cross.
And there die, and there shed his precious blood. Oh, I want to stress for a moment the blood of Jesus Christ, because it is the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, that cleanses from all sin. It is the blood of Jesus that washes sins away.
We raised 2 girls in our home and often after playing outdoors on a summer day, they would come in and those white T-shirts would be filthy dirty.
And my wife would take those T-shirts and other laundry and put it in the washer and then put a generous scoop of Tide or cheer or whatever you call it, her favorite detergent, run it through the cycle, bring it out and look at it. And we had what we called clean dirt. And what we really meant was the shirt was clean. It had gone through the cycle, but the dirt was so ground in grass stains, mud, whatever.
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That the stains wouldn't come out in spite of using perhaps what was recommended as the best detergent on the market.
But you know, as a person who is washed in the blood of Jesus, the blood of Jesus does not just cleanse from sin, it cleanses from all sin. I grew up singing that little gospel chorus. What can wash away our sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. There is no substitute tonight for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm thankful again that I'm redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ.
My sins are forgiven because of the precious blood of Christ. And after the Lord Jesus had died on the cross, laid down his life. I think we've all pictured it in our minds, eyes a soldier with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came there out blood and water. Oh, I say, there's nothing else, no substitute. My wife might have substituted her favorite detergent.
For something that was a little cheaper, maybe she went to the store and what she normally bought wasn't on sale and she substituted and it basically did the same job. But I want to stress there is no substitute for the blood of Christ, but it is available tonight to wash your sins away. But there's one other thing I want to stress too, and that is the resurrection, because it is what is unique to Christianity and it tells us if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain and ye are still in your sins.
You know, it's interesting in the four Gospels where you read the life and work of the Lord Jesus.
That in each gospel there are details, some added, some not there for various reasons.
But there is one thing that is stressed at the end of each gospel. It's not left out of any of the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And that is a chapter on the resurrection.
Because I say it is a vital part of Christianity what we're presenting tonight.
Is not a savior who's dead. It's a savior who's died, but it is not a savior who's dead.
I've had opportunity to go to other parts of the world where people bow down.
To idols where people pray to someone who's in the tomb. We have a tomb too, in Christianity. But over that tomb are those glorious words that were announced on the resurrection morning. He is not here. He is risen. Come see the place where the Lord lay. There's an old gospel hymn we sang when I was growing up. I love it. 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. And so God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, That whosoever that doesn't leave anybody else. That's you and me and everybody else. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God is offering to you another gift, the gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But we've come to the end of this meeting.
And I think at the end of a gospel meeting, sometimes people wonder, well, how can I really get saved?
The preacher has spoken about the Lord Jesus dying on the cross, his shed blood, his resurrection.
He's warned us that there's judgment in hell at the end of a Christ less life.
He's told us that the Lord Jesus is coming back and he is. At any moment, the Lord Jesus is going to return. The coming of the Lord draws nigh. But how do I get saved? How do I make it right? How do I apply it to myself? It's as simple as this. I'm going to pray to conclude this meeting. If you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you can talk to Him in your heart tonight, confessing that you're a Sinner. He hears whether you say one word aloud or not. He hears what you speak in your heart.
And you can speak to him in your heart, confessing that you're a Sinner, but that you want to receive that wonderful gift of salvation, that you want the Lord Jesus to be your personal Savior. And if you do, by simple faith tonight.
If you do, you can leave through these doors in front of Maine.
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A saved person, knowing that you're on your way to heaven, that if you were to die or the Lord Jesus were to come tonight, that you are safe and ready to go to heaven, and that you're sheltered on the under the blood of Christ. And let me tell you, I've known the Lord Jesus as my savior for just over 50 years. I wouldn't trade places with anyone that isn't a Christian. What he's given me as far as salvation, a home in heaven at the end of this life and all the wonderful things he's given me, the blessings and mercies for this life to enjoy now.
I said I wouldn't want to trade places with anyone that is a Christian. I just say at the end of this meeting there's a joy to my soul to be able to confess Christ again and to say I know the Lord Jesus Christ as my precious Savior. And our prayer is that you do too. Let's conclude with a word of prayer our God and Father. We thank Thee for the simplicity of this verse. God so loved the world that whosoever that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Our God and Father, we pray that no one will leave this room tonight unsaved, lost, and in their sins, but that each one might rise out of these chairs with the joy of knowing that they know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. So we ask thy blessing, and we're thankful for each one who's come. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.