Gospel—A. Hayhoe
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General Meetings, Toronto, April 1963. Gospel Saturday PM.
Come, tis Jesus, gently calling, ye with care and toil, oppressed with your guilt, however appalling. Come, and I will give you rest for your sin. He once has suffered. On the cross the work was done, and the word by God now uttered to each weary soul is come. So we rise and sing #2.
Gently.
Calling.
The full price.
Where the.
Falling.
My will get you.
All your sin, he wants my son.
Forward grammar, Lord my God, now.
We also sing hymn #17.
#17 Have you any room for Jesus, He who bore the load of sin as he knocks and asks admission?
Sinner, will you let him in room for Jesus, Lord of glory, hasten now His word. Obey. Swing the hearts door widely open. Bid him enter while you may we rise again for #17.
You and me room for days on.
I'd like you to turn with me tonight, please. First of all to a text in the prophet Jeremiah.
The 23rd chapter of the prophet Jeremiah.
And the 28th verse.
Jeremiah chapter 23, verse 28.
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream, and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.
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He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.
My beloved friend, the responsibility that is mine tonight is a very solemn and a very real one.
And there is a day coming when I shall give an account to God for the words that I speak in your presence. Tonight. I hold in my hands the precious, living, eternal word of God. Whether each and everyone here accepts this book to be the word of God, I know not. But nevertheless I hold it up before you, and I tell you with absolute conviction this book is.
The Word of God.
It does not merely contain the word of God. It is the word of God. From the opening words of Genesis to the closing words of the Book of Revelation. God has put this book in your hands and in mine, because there is a burning desire, I say it reverently.
In the heart of God himself, that you and I might receive a blessing, that you and I might be the partakers of his own heart and home. And there are those of us here who rejoice tonight in a portion that is beyond our power, to make known to you. But we do want to open this precious living book and proclaim to you that which God has to say.
I have been much burdened since the statement was made in the meeting yesterday morning concerning the solemn responsibility of anyone who seeks to preach the Gospel.
The comment was made concerning the 11Th chapter of the Gospel of John.
There we find the Lord Jesus standing at the grave of Lazarus. He and he alone had power to give light to the one who was in that grave, who had been dead 4 days. He and he alone, my friend, has power to pardon you, to give you that life which you need. But he said to those who stood by roll away.
The stone.
I don't think I had given too much thought to that expression before.
Except as he is giving to those who are about, some share in that which he was about to do.
But the comment was made that that's a very solemn responsibility.
There, hidden beneath that stone, was a body that they were afraid by that time would be stinking. That was their language. By this time he stinketh, for he had been dead 4 days. There was an objection raised to the rolling away of that stone because of that which it might reveal. That is the responsibility of one who picks up the word of God and seeks to make known the gospel of God's grace.
All the charms of God's love will have no appeal to your heart or to the heart of any other, unless in the presence of God you realize.
Your loss and ruined and guilty condition in the sight of God, Oh my God, grant that that stone, whatever it may be, may be rolled away from your heart this night. That stone, it may be a stone of unbelief.
It may be a stone of respectability or high esteem, with which the true condition of your heart has been hidden from the eyes of those around about you. Perhaps has even been hidden from your own heart. Perhaps, my beloved friend, until this evening, you have never yet been in the presence of God to find out what God has to say, not concerning the record that your neighbors might write of your life.
But concerning the record that his own books in the glory have recorded of your life, when Samuel stood before that son of Jesse alive, he was told, look not upon his countenance, nor the height of his stature. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth poor man, looketh upon the outward appearance that the Lord locusts upon the heart.
The Lord looketh upon the.
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Heart, my beloved friend. He has not only looked upon the heart of man, but he has solemnly and faithfully recorded in his word that which he has seen there. You and I had better not shrink from what God has to say about the natural heart. Let's turn to the Book of Psalms.
The 14th Psalm.
And the second verse.
Psalm 14 verse 2 The Lord looked down.
From heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God, they are all gone aside, they are all together, become filthy. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one.
This came from the pen of David, it's true, but written by inspiration of God. A good many centuries had already rolled by in the history of man when David wrote these words. Are they true or are they not, my friend? It's a solemn thing to deny these words.
Would you stand up with God's holy living word in your hand and say that the inspiration of God made an error here? God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside. They are all together, become filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one.
Certainly this is not the conclusion that you and I would arrive at if we looked around at the conduct of our fellow men.
But, I say, is it not faithfulness on the part of God to reveal to us so faithfully and so clearly, so unmistakably, the true condition of our hearts, long before the day when you and I must stand before him?
Someday, my beloved friend, you and I are going to stand in the very presence of him.
Who inspired the writing of these solemn words? Then I say it is loving faithfulness in his heart that caused these words to be included in this book. It's loving faithfulness on his part that brought you here, my dear friend, to hear once more, as I have no doubt you have heard before, what God has to say as to the condition of every human heart.
In his sight every human heart here in the time of David God looked down from heaven, and this was what he must needs record concerning the heart of man turn over again to the prophet Jeremiah.
The 17th chapter of Jeremiah.
And the ninth verse.
The heart The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart.
I, the Lord, search the heart. Have you ever bowed before this true statement? Have you ever owned it to be the exact condition of your heart? Perhaps not in the eyes of those who love you dearly.
Perhaps not in the eyes of your neighbors, who might be quick to speak kind words about you, but my friend in the eyes of him before whom you must someday stand, the 4th chapter of Hebrews and the 13th verse solemnly tells us.
All things are naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do that is a solemn statement, a solemn thing you hear versus read here and there from the word of God.
And perhaps you pay little heed to them. Perhaps you treat them as you treated some of those things that were imparted to you at school.
The names of history and the dates when they were born and died and some of the events in their lives. I think we all had to memorize these things. Most of them have slipped from my memory already, but they were not of any great concern to me. But when I opened this book.
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When I read what God has to say about the human heart, what concern is it of mine?
That verse tells me all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom?
We have to do. My dear boy, my dear young girl, young man, young lady, whoever you may be, I know not. But this I know that someday you will stand before him who wrote this volume. Someday you will stand before him who in solemn faithfulness has proclaimed repeatedly throughout the pages of scriptures.
The lost their ruined. The guilty condition of the heart of every man of Adam's race. My heart, beloved, I point right here. The faithful finger of God has pointed down to this heart of mine. I am included in these verses in God's Word brought up as I was, and I thank God for it under the restriction of a God fearing Father and mother by publicly thank God for it. But I know this.
That the statements of God's Word concerning the ruin and the guilt and the deceitful wickedness of the human heart.
Was certainly true of mine, certainly true of mine.
And if the day had come in my life before I knew the Lord as my savior, when I had stepped out of this world into His presence, I would have been lost. Lost forever. Lost forever. I'm going to pause to tell you something here I will remember. On the way home from meeting one evening, I came to the corner of Sunnyside and Fairburn Ave. in Ottawa. There was an electric wire hanging down in the middle of the street.
With the curiosity of a small boy, I stepped up and went to reach for that wire.
And I heard our most dreadful shout from behind me. A fireman was standing there. There's a fire station right on the corner.
And he, with a shout, called me back, and then stood there trembling. Oh, my boy, he said. I was supposed to see that no one touched that wire. It has just come down. They've gone to shut off the power. If you had touched that wire, you would have been killed in a moment.
My mother was with me.
We walked the rest of the way home in silence when I got home.
Mother, said Albert. If you would touch that wire, where would you be now?
I didn't answer. I hung my head. My dear boy, with a praying father and mother, Are you the same as I was?
Did you know that they were speaking the truth when they read this book? Did you know the gospel was just the very need of your soul as you listen to it? And yet, time and again, you've heard the gospel of God's grace. You knew it was the truth. You went home lost. You went home without Christ. I stand here tonight, the trophy of the long-suffering, matchless grace of God.
Why ever he would look upon a harp like mine is beyond my understanding that your heart, my heart and the sight of God are dust as they are. Here described the third chapter of Romans. Let's turn to it.
The third chapter of Romans.
The description is most solemn beginning at verse 10, but we'll read just a summary of that condition as described in the last few words of verse 22.
There is no difference for all have sinned.
And come short of the glory of God.
We have seen 2 witnesses in the Old Testament and here we find this one in the New.
And, you know, we could turn to so many others in which God's so faithfully, so repeatedly.
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Tell man in love tells man of the ruined and the guilty condition of his heart in God's sight. That, I believe, is what man does not like to hear. The rolling away of the stone reveals the true condition of man's heart. It may be that your condition, as that of many another, has been well hidden.
Well covered. And if I were to ask among your nearest acquaintances.
They'd give such a glowing account of your good qualities. That's the kind of thing you so often hear at a funeral.
A recounting of their fine qualities, their good reputation.
Their thoughtfulness of others, as though they had the right and title to stand before God, allow God to open the book containing the record of their lives, and be invited to enter heaven as being pure and holy and spotless enough.
To be made welcome there not one stain of sin.
Will ever be allowed to defile those courts of eternal glory? What about you? Does that make you? Does that make me feel worthy and welcome there? Oh, if it were not for the glad tidings of God's wondrous grace, if it were not for the matchless way in which God has met us in our need, I would not dare to stand here. I bow my head as one who had no hope whatever.
Of a home and the glory.
But thank God we're able to turn in this precious book to that which not only reveals God as a God of light, but a God of matchless love. I long to tell you of that. My heart yearns to make known the matchless love of God. But I say once more, all the unfolding of the love of God's heart will never charm yours.
Unless you are willing to own your needs, shall we call, just briefly for four witnesses from the Word of God who are quite willing to tell us of their need?
If we were to turn to the book of Job, we'd find there a man who certainly stood.
Morally head and shoulders above all others of his day, but finally this man, Joel bound himself in the presence of God.
And what does Job say when he finds himself no longer in the presence of his three friends, but at last to his own blessing in the presence of God?
Job bowels his head and says Behold.
I am vile. I am vile. Such a man as joke, Yes. Why? Because he stood in the presence of God. We have called forth the witness of another Isaiah, one who also stood out among his fellow men as a devoted and faithful servant of God. But the day came when Isaiah found himself in God's presence.
And what was the language of his heart? Isaiah stands forth and says.
I am a man of unclean lips.
And then if we were to turn to the New Testament, we'd find a man named Peter. Everyone has read a good deal about Peter and they admire his zeal and his devotedness. But there came a day when Peter found himself in the presence of the Lord. And what did he do? Did he stand up and begin to commend himself? He fell down at Jesus knees and said, I am a sinful man.
Oh Lord.
You read of Paul, now beloved, devoted apostle of the Lord. He also bears witness to his own occasion in the presence of God with these words. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world of safe sinners. Of whom?
I am chief.
Solemn witnesses are they not my friend? Here stands Joe in the presence of God, and he says I am vile. Beside him stands Isaiah in the presence of God. He says I am a man of unclean lips. Can you claim any better?
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Beside him stands Peter. I am a sinful man, oh Lord, and last beside them stands.
Paul And he says, I am the chief of sinners. Will you stand with them tonight, my friend? Will you stand with them convicted in the presence of God, That that is your true condition and mine?
Asked by himself stands 1 lone man, described by the Lord Jesus in these words. This parable spake he and a certain which trusted in themselves.
That they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one of Pharisee and the other Republican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not.
Is that where you stand, my friend? Would you like to stand beside this Pharisee?
And say tonight in the presence of God I am not. It's a solemn thing to say. The Pharisee didn't seem to be afraid to say it. But I don't expect to see that poor Pharisee in eternity. The word of God says that the publican who owned his guilt went down to his house justified our friend. Here are 4 witnesses. I beseech you to take your stand with them. Here stands 1 Lone self-righteous Pharisee.
Are you of that stamp, my friend? Have you up until this evening, drawn yourself up among the citizens of Toronto, or wherever you may live, and said, I thank thee that I am not.
Perhaps you can look down on those in your community who have sinned in a deeper way than you.
But with God's record opening that day, my friend, are you going to claim?
That the statements of God about your heart were not true. Now to look at what God's word has to say.
About our God of love, who could meet those whose hearts were so guilty? Let's turn to the First Epistle of John.
First John Chapter 4.
Verse 10.
Here in his love, not that we love God.
But that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Isn't this a love that touches and delights the heart?
Here in his love, not that we love God. Bow your head, my friend, and all that's true. You and I know full well that we can look back upon the time in our lives when this was so true.
There was number no love in our hearts toward God, not only where our hearts as guilty as the Word has described them.
But at enmity against God, and when we were in that very condition.
Utterly uncalled for.
God loved us.
And as we heard portrayed last night so sweetly from John 316, that matchless, immeasurable love of God has been made known to man in a way that only God could reveal it herein is love not that we love God, but that he loves us. I know that strikes a sweet and charming note in the heart of many here tonight.
Just to be able to sit where you are and know that although you were lost, although you were guilty.
Uncalled for. He loved you. I love that thought.
The love of God to me, poor, unworthy Sinner, was a love utterly uncalled for.
Somehow man likes to claim that his heart is a seeking heart, and he longs to find out more about the heart of God. But the Word of God presents an utterly opposite picture. The Word of God presents to you and me tonight a love that flowed freely and uncalled for.
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From the heart of God to poor ruined, guilty man.
From the heart of God to me, Isn't that delightfully personal?
And he wants you to be able to rejoice in that wondrous love this night.
I trust I may be forgiven for mentioning the last little lesson that our dear age sister, Mrs. Hatherly, left with her loved one. She was just a little short of her 99th years and her family was gathered around about her and she called for, I believe, two pieces of string. Well, they thought, Surely her memory must be slipping rather badly.
But she asked again. She said two handkerchiefs would do well, if I have it correctly. They gave her two Kleenex tissues.
And she quietly tied the two together and then showed them to those who were gathered round.
And she touched the one and said, let this one represent God. Then let this one represent poor, guilty men and women. And the moth that brings us together is the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a testimony. There is a God whose very character is purity, holiness, and light. And here am I, poor, ruined, guilty, Sinner, with a heart so stained that there's no possibility of my being up there in the glory. But he loves me.
He has set his love upon me, utterly uncalled for. He set his love upon us.
Let's turn to Romans chapter 5.
Romans chapter 5 and verse 8.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
In first John Four we see a love uncalled for.
Here surely we will see a love, undeserved, undeserved. God commended his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Oh, may I stress that point. The natural heart of man reasons this way. Yes, I suppose there are things in my life which ought not to have been.
I suppose that without something done, there is very little likelihood of my being welcomed into heaven.
Therefore, what I ought to do is turn over a new leaf, make resolutions, try to live a cleaner, purer, more religious life, and it may be that God will look upon me with pity and with favor. Is that what we have here? God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
How utterly uncalled for, and how completely undeserved, was a wondrous love of God to man.
There is no illustration that can't possibly portray the mighty love of God, nor the cost to that love that you and I might partake of it. Here I stand this night by the grace of God, knowing something in my soul.
Of the reality of God's love. How can it be? How can it be?
The answer, beloved friend, is the cross of Calvary. Their God's beloved Son, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, bowed his holy, sinless, devoted head. While a load of my guilt in all its shame was laid upon him, I did not lay it there. The very God against whom I had sinned laid the guilt and burden of my sin.
All of it upon the head of his own beloved son, upon the cross of Calvary.
And there stroke after stroke of divine wrath fell upon the head of that sinless one. The sword that should have been my portion swept through the bosom of the Son of God in my room. Instead, I'm going to see that Savior someday. I'm going to see Him who loved me with a love that was stronger than death. And my friend I yearn with a prayerful longing that you may know that joy too.
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We used to sing a hymn on the street corner around Ottawa. When Jesus has found you, tell others a story that my loving Savior is your Savior too and pray that my Savior may lead them to glory and prayer will be answered. Was answered for you. There were those that prayed for my soul. I thank God for that. And my beloved friend, there are those who are praying fervently.
For your soulless might. Oh, I've seen the tears. I've heard the sorrows.
Of the fathers and the mothers whose sons and daughters have never yet accepted Christ, I wonder, are there some such here tonight? And I wonder also with an aching heart, are there some here?
Whose fathers and mothers?
Hope you're a Christian.
You've made some kind of confession. Somebody asked you one day if you were saved, and you said yes. And you've never said much more than that. And you've passed as a Christian, and you hope everyone will consider you a Christian. But, my dear friend, I want to ask you solemnly.
Is the person of Christ precious to your heart in your conversation with the other young people out here in the halls and outdoors?
Has the name of the Lord Jesus Christ come reverently and lovingly from your lips within the last two days as you gathered here?
You consider yourself a child of God. You consider yourself a Christian, and you hope everyone else will think so too. But the only confession that's ever come from your lips has been yes, when someone asked you if you knew the Lord as your Savior. Be honest, my friend. This matter is far too vital.
Far too eternal to be trifled with, have you in your heart accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? Have you, with your lips, confess that precious name to the saving of your soul? Have you? Just once, perhaps?
Oh, how delightful it would be to hear after this meeting one and another.
Joyfully, thankfully, confess that precious name as your savior.
Why? I heard it from those who have known the Savior before I was born, and it thrills my heart. I have had them shake the hand and say, thank God the Lord Jesus is my Savior and I'm not him. For 50 years and more. There's no greater joy, my dear friend, than the sweetness of that name to the soul. I say again, with a love uncalled for, with a love undeserved, made known to you in this precious book.
What does it mean to your heart? What does it mean? Let's turn over to John 316.
John 3 verse 16.
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.
Oh, I thought as I heard this verse brought out step by step last night. Here Surely is a Love Unlimited?
Love Unlimited? Why even language itself seems to be challenged here for God.
So love the world. You just can't get beyond that, can't you? Can you? I remember Brother Willis telling us of an experience his dear father had in Shanghai years ago. He was walking along the street and he spied not very far in front of him, a dear old missionary who had served the Lord in sign of her many years.
And old brother Willis knew him well, so he caught up intending to have a conversation with him.
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And as he drew near, he noticed the old man was talking aloud to himself.
The old man was walking along with his hands behind his back and brother Willis trailed him to see what he was talking about.
And this is what he said for God.
So loved the world.
And then he'd shake his head. He'd start over again, for God so loved the world.
And he'd shake his head, grown old, in the service of the Lord, and start over again. And brother Willis said he followed him for a whole block. And that's all the dear old man could say. He couldn't get beyond the wonder of it.
For God so loved the world. Oh, my dear friend and I look into your face tonight and realize in the little measure in which my soul has tasted it, the unlimited love of God to man.
I say this to you in solemn reality. You're going to meet the one who loved you so someday. Yes, you will. Yes, you will, my friend.
It's a solemn, solemn thing, Solemn enough to be at a gospel meeting, but more solemn still, the same face to face with him who loved you with a love uncalled for, a love undeserved, a Love Unlimited. And you heard about it too.
By God's tender grace, you were brought under the sound of the gospel, not once, not twice. But I believe you heard it many times. And I fear, oh I fear, there are those here whose hearts have been stealed against the pleadings of that love. But the hindrance may be Your heart knows and God's heart knows, but God so loves and cares for your soul, my friend, that he's brought you here tonight.
To plead once more face to face, that you might accept the grand and glorious offer made in this verse. 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.
It's one thing to hear these words from the lips of someone.
Who trusts he has a message from the Lord, but my friend I may.
Beg of you tonight to receive this as an invitation from his heart. From his heart all, if it comes from my let's forget that part. Receive it as an entreaty and invitation from his heart. Sometimes we put it this way. I trust it's not irreverent if instead of facing the one who stands here tonight, you stood face to face at this moment with the one who died on the cross to show the unlimited love of God.
That he stretched out those piercing hands before you and calling you by name, looked upon you and said, Will you give me the joy of forgiving all your sins and taking you with me to my home in the glory? What would your answer be to that, my friend? What would your answer be to him who loves you? He's listening for that answer, and I say this with solemn truth.
Your answer is being recorded. Your answer is being recorded.
Whether it's spoken aloud, or whether it's the answer in your inmost heart, it is being recorded.
And the day is coming when you meet with that answer, the record of your life will slowly and solemnly be unfolded in your very presence.
And the moment in your life's history will arrive when you attend this Gospel meeting.
When the word of God revealed the true condition of your heart in the sight of Him who loved you, when the love of his heart was made known to you, and when the offer of eternal forgiveness and the home and the glory was presented to you. And then, my friend, the answer of your heart read out before you from God's record. But will that answer be?
Oh, how I thank God tonight for the day that came in my life when the answer to his entreating love was I come.
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This afternoon we were told that sometimes conferences are occasions.
Very vital decisions and I bowed my head and silently said Amen to that, for it was at a three day conference in the City of Ottawa.
But my soul was redeemed by the grace of God. It was at our three day conference, I say, in the city of Ottawa. The meetings began with a poor lost Sinner attending those meetings, and they ended with yet another trophy of his grace, redeemed by the matchless grace of God. And it was at a conference here in the city of Toronto over 30 years ago that I first remembered the Savior who loved me.
And died for me in his death, as his word requested of Maine.
I thank God for such privileges. May it be an encouragement to those who labor so diligently at a time like this.
They are times of decision. You may not know much about it at the time, but some of us look back with deep Thanksgiving. Is that going to be the case with you? You look back to these meetings someday. Yes, you will. You'll have all eternity to look back upon these meetings. May I just digress from the gospel for a moment and plead with all that is within me to my dear fellow believers here tonight as I think of him.
Who loved us with a love so utterly uncalled for, so utterly undeserved, so gloriously unlimited, and as we read in the 13th of John, so utterly unending to for having loved his own, which were in the world he loved them unto the end. A love unending. What a savior. You know what will keep your heart?
The enjoyment of that love. The enemy knows that.
The enemy of my soul and the enemy of yours knows that the happiest path on this earth is the path of him who walks in the sunshine, of that love so unlimited, so unending. Are there times in your pathway in mind when we get cast down about this or that, What will fill our souls with joy like the memory of that unending faithful love of his? What will fill your pathway, dear young believer, with the richest blessings of God?
And the happiness that he longs to have, you know, day by day.
You have more than one voice to listen to in answer to that question, but one stands out above all others. I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Eve listened to another voice and brought sorrow into her life. There are those here who have listened to other voices too. Has it brought you happiness, my friend? My dear unsaved friend, Has it brought you happiness? You know it has not.
I appeal to you in view of what the Word of God says concerning the condition of the natural heart of man.
Your heart, my heart. I appeal to you, and you are the love of God toward us. I'm called for undeserved, unlimited, unending, that you open your heart this very moment and receive that precious Savior as your own. There will be joy in the presence of the angels of God, and it may be your last opportunity.
One night at the close of a gospel meeting a good many years ago.
The one who had been telling out the message looked solemnly upon those who were present.
And he challenged them with these words. He said. Will you?
Will you, when you go home tonight, take a piece of paper and a pencil and write on that paper?
If I die tonight.
I will go to.
Now, he said, Fill that in solemnly under the eye of God.
And this, I understand, is what took place.
In one home, the father, the mother, the little boy and little girl went home from that meeting.
The father sat down and picked up the newspaper he had been urged to go by his.
Born again, praying white, the wife and the children got four pieces of paper and they began to write on them. At the top of the one was written the word mother. If I die tonight, I will go to heaven.
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And the little boy wrote down his name, and he wrote beneath it those same lovely words, For his heart had been cleansed in the precious blood of Christ. The little sister did the same thing.
And beneath her name was written the same glorious testimony. If I die tonight, I will go to heaven, another heart cleansed by the Savior's precious blood. And then they tried to interest their poor, indifferent daddy. They went to him with paper and pencil, and each showed him their little paper and said, Daddy, do you remember what the preacher said? Daddy, will you please write one for yourself? Leave me alone. I'm reading the paper.
And he went on, at least making a pretence to read the paper.
But he knew that there was reality in the heart of his dear wife and his dear children.
So finally they at least made a start for them and they wrote, Daddy, if I die tonight, I will go to. And the little boy brought it to his daddy, he said, Daddy, I've got this much done. Would you finish it, Daddy?
And his daddy in anger picked up the paper and the pencil. And they wrote, HELL. Hell, if I die tonight, I will go to hell. And he said, here, my boy, take it to your mother. And the poor boy looked at it. The tears began to roll down his cheeks. He took it to his mother, and the father picked up the paper again. But he couldn't read. In fact, he could scarcely see those words. The solemnity of what he had done burned in upon his soul. My friend, if you die tonight.
You will go to hell unless your heart has been cleansed in the precious blood of Christ.
Whether you reject such a testimony or not does not alter the facts. The Word of God proclaims it that I warn you with tender, solemn love.
Presently the man lowered his paper to see what was happening there. He saw his wife and his two children on their knees. They knew what was going on. He couldn't stand it any longer. He set the paper aside. He walked over and knelt down beside them. Yielded his guilty heart to the Savior, rose from his knees, rejoicing in the knowledge of sins. Forgiven.
And quickly erased that awful word and replaced it with the glorious word.
Heaven, everyone in the family sheltered by the precious Blood of Christ.
Is that the case in this company everyone of us sheltered and cleansed by the precious blood of Christ?
Oh, my God, grant that if there is someone here whose heart is still stained with sin in God's sight, and the precious Savior longs, that you might open your heart and receive him as your own. The God against whom you have sinned longs to wash away those transgressions through the precious blood of Christ. May God grant but as we close our eyes in prayer, that you, my beloved friend, may yield your guilty heart to the Savior's love.
And may confess him as your own savior and Lord this night.
Shall we pray?