Gospel—P. Glading
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General Meetings. Wheaton, August 1974. Gospel by Brother Gladding.
Amazing #7.
Hymn #7.
God loved the world of sinners lost.
And ruined by the fall.
Salvation full at highest cost. The office free to all.
All to his love, whose wondrous love, the love of God to me. It brought my Saviour from about to die on Calvary #7.
I'd like first of all to read part of the verse.
The 23rd chapter of Jeremiah.
Just unless you realize your friends and I'm under a very solemn responsibility standing here tonight and I feel it.
Jeremiah 23.
The middle of the verse.
And he that hath my word.
Let us speak my word faithfully.
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Says the Lord, is not my word like as a fire?
Lord and like a hammer that breakthrough the rock in pieces.
And I do feel, dear friends, tonight I'm under this solemn responsibility.
To speak the word of God faithfully, because God will hold me responsible if I do not.
I'd like to turn tonight to sevenfolds mentioned in Scripture 7 Fools.
The first one we look at is in Psalm.
14.
Psalm 14.
The fool has said in his heart.
No God.
They are corrupt.
They have done the abominable works. There is none to do with good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God.
They're all gone aside.
They're all together, become filthy. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one.
Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?
Some years ago.
In Mansfield, England, the dear brother whose name was Halfpenny, who is now with the Lord.
He and I went to the police station to ask for permission to preach on the street on the Market Square.
And the police very readily gave us permission.
He said you got the Market Square. We said yes, and we had thought of going there. He said, well, you better stand with your backs to the wall. He said you'll meet a rough crowd there, but we'll have three men out to take care of you if you need any help.
So he sent 3 policemen. They stood by while we preached with our backs to the wall to a rough crowd of people.
And after we were through, we distributed tracks for those standing by and a handed one to a man. He said, I don't believe in God. I don't believe there is a God. I said, well friend, now this is rather interesting or should be to you to know that your name is in the Bible.
My name in the Bible, I said, yes friend, it is. But you have the audacity to say with your lips, no God, there's no God.
There's a set here. The fool has sat in his heart.
That you're more.
Ready to?
Deny this wonderful truth, you express it with your lips.
I said, now will you read it with me? The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. So now I'm not calling you a fool. This is what God calls you. Your name is right here.
The demon is very embarrassed and should be too.
Well, just imagine. I trust there are no people here tonight who have had the audacity.
To suggest there is no God.
Just for a moment, when he turned the 19th Psalm.
Instead of the heavens, declare the glory of God.
And the prominent showeth is handiwork day after day after its speech, and night. And the night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words at the end of the world. In them have He set a Tabernacle for the Son. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the permanent showeth his handiwork.
Is there anybody here tonight who would dare to say there's no God in the face of a scripture like this? And the first chapter of Genesis, it says in the beginning God. In the beginning God. Yes, friends, there is a God.
Although many disbelieve it, it'll be a very solemn experience for them to meet the person whose existence they deny.
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Indeed it will. A soldier said the same to me one day. I don't leave. There's a God, said my friend. You gonna have an awful shock. You're going to meet the person whose existence you deny. You're going to stand before him, face him, and you'll be speechless.
And Solomon is to realize that those who deny that there is a God are going to meet him. Well, we must all give an account of ourselves to God. And there is a God, friends, and he's a God of love.
And He loves you, and He's proved that by sending His beloved Son down into this world to die for your sins on the cross of Calvary. What greater proof of His love could you have than this that He gave God, gave his beloved Son his only Son, and sent Him down here. He was sent to the Father. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
You see, you want to save your friends.
Do you know this blessed person as your Savior?
Personally.
Well, we're here on every hand today. There is no God.
Well, heaven did this world come about.
We read in Psalm 33 that he spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. He created the world by the breath of his mouth. Think of it. He spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. And in Joe we read. He hung up the earth upon nothing, and it hangs all right, doesn't.
Yes, that's the God we have to bring. The poise, the night, friends, one who loves you.
In John 316 we have that glorious truth, most precious truth for God. Oh, there is a God then. Yes, for God so loved the world. He so loved the world.
Gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish.
But have everlasting life.
I read a story and it was supposed to be a true one.
Of an atheist who went in the field with a sword and he said, I'll prove to you there's no God, you watch me. And people did watch him. He went in the field with a sword. He's flashing his sword. And he said, God, if there is a God, I defy thee. Here. Now the Mortal Kombat, come down, fight me.
And there is silence.
It was a windy day and the wind carried a piece of paper to this man's feet.
And out of curiosity, he dropped his sword and picked it up.
There were three words on it. God is love, not a fighting God. God is love. And it was that that broke him down.
Yes, friends, God is a God of love and he loves you dear. Send a friend.
He sent his beloved son down here to die for you, for your sins, that you might be saved from your sins, because if you die and your sins, you know you'll be raised in your sins.
To stand before the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the great White Throne, to be judged for them. There'll be no escape, there'll be no arguing, there no reasoning with God. Now you'll be speechless and heaven and earth shall have passed away.
And you'll be there if you die in your sins in spite of the fact that heaven and earth shall have passed away. You will be there standing before the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, who has appointed to be the judge. You'll stand before him, speechless, condemned. Otherwise you wouldn't be there. Very. There is a proof that you have rejected Christ. Oh, dear friends, I trust you will never be there.
At that great white throne of judgment, you know we read in John 5/22, the Father judges no man.
But have committed all judgment unto the Son, and in verse 27, and have given him the Son authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. And between those two precious verses we have verse 24. And you all know what that is.
The one who's appointed to be the judge turns to the poor, lost, guilty Sinner and says, Verily, verily, I say unto you.
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He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that send Me half everlasting life, and shall not.
And shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life. Or the glorious statement. I know no better one really in the Word of God, than that the Lord Jesus Christ addressing the poor Sinner personally, Verily, verily, I say unto you. And that double oath of affirmation in John's gospel is mentioned, I believe, 25 times. Verily, verily.
So the Son of God speaking, I say unto you, And if there's one here tonight in his or her sins, that word is addressed to you with your dear friend. Thoroughly, thoroughly I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him, that send me half of a lasting life, and shall not come into judgment. What a glorious truth, What a grand assurance through simple faith in Christ, repentance and faith toward God and Christ.
And have the assures that you'll never come into judgment, never be punished for your sins. Why?
Because Christ has blotted them out with His own precious blood of Calvary. Many of us here tonight have that assurance in our hearts that we shall never come under the judgment of God for our sins because they have been atoned for by the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. Yes, many years ago.
And it still stands good before a holy God. Indeed it does. Well, here we have the 1St.
In the 14th Psalm we have the first fool, a set in his heart, no God.
Oh yes, I tell you again, my dear friends, there is a God, and he's a God of love. He's so loved the world.
Are you part of the world? Well, you must be one whom he loves them.
To say you do not belong to this world, you've got to get out of it somehow and say, well, I belong to some other sphere of being. I don't belong here at all. But you cannot say that. You cannot refuse the application of those fresh.
Words Well, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever the world, and whosoever.
That applies to everyone here. The world and whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Doesn't mean you may have it later, you know.
Is proud possession. The very moment you repent and turn to God and accept Christ as your Savior, you have everlasting life right away.
And how foolish of people to say he can be saved and lost. It's really making God a liar.
Of course, it wouldn't be everlasting life or eternal life if I had it one day and lost it the next. Indeed not. So here we have the first fool mentioned now, Luke 24 and verse 25.
But although I remind you that there is a God, and he's a God of love.
Let us not be deceived by the lie of Satan, who suggests that if God is a God of love, he'll never consign his creatures to hell. You know he must never look at God with one eye.
No, God is a God of light. He's a holy God too. He's too holy to let sin into heaven. But he is a God of love, and we thank him for it tonight.
Now here in Luke 24.
And verse 25.
Then he said unto them, O fools.
And slow heart, to believe all the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ, who has suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
Oh, full, slower, Hard to believe. Is that the case with anyone here tonight?
Slow, hard to believe, to believe the Gospel, to believe the sad and solemn truth that you are lost, guilty, Sinner by nature.
And on the road to Hale, I slow to believe that. Oh, I trust you will hurry up and believe it. It's God's word. Here we find the Lord saying to these dear ones here.
Since certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found so and so. And he said under no fool down slow of heart to leave, All the prophets have spoken. You know, in Mark 16 and verse 16 it says He that believeth not.
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Channel being what damn, he that believeth not shall be damned.
That's a solemn statement, but these are the words of the Lord. And in John three, I'll just read it, 17 and 18.
These are very important verses for those who are slow to believe.
The third chapter of John's Gospel.
Says in verse.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. That's God's desire for the Sinner, that he might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned.
But he that believeth not is condemned already.
It gives the reason because he has not believed.
In the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Now there may be two classes in our company here tonight.
Believers and unbelievers.
Those who are ready to believe, and not slower to believe, but ready to believe, believe the record that God has given of themselves and the record that God have given of His beloved Son. Many have received that and believe that. But there may be others here tonight who are slower to believe. They have the doubts. What are you doubting for? Why do you doubt God's word? Because by doing that, you're making God a liar.
That's a rather strong statement, but it's true. If you disbelieve God's Word, you are making God alive.
Dare you do that?
He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed, is the one here tonight who is not yet believed.
One who is slow to believe. Notice what the Lord says here, old fools, slow of heart to believe.
What a solemn thing. To be slow to believe is wonderful truth of God's word. God speaks the truth, you know. There's something God cannot do and he cannot lie.
So therefore you should believe what he says. You should believe it right away, not while you get home, because you may not get home.
We've been reminded the day of the eminence of the Lord's return. The Lord may come before this meeting is over, and I trust He may. As far as I'm concerned. And many others. How many would have been left sitting on the chair, doomed, condemned, awaiting the execution of God's judgement upon them?
What a solemn thought it may be true.
Yes, if the Lord came right now, friend, how would it affect you? Would you be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, or would you be left behind for God's judgment? You'd realize there's a God then, all right? Indeed you would. And you've got to meet Him, friends, whether you believe it or not, everyone, we've got to face him. You can either face him tonight as a loving Savior.
Or in the coming day, you'll have to face him as a solemn judge.
Although he is a God of love.
Is the God of light is a just God and a savior? Yes, a just God and the savior.
Is a righteous God, a loving God, a forgiving God? What is your attitude to Him and to His Word?
Well the Lord says here, oh fools and slow of heart, to believe all of the prophets have spoken.
Old people say, well, I believe part of the Bible and not all of it. Well, are they not making God a liar? He's not the whole of his blessed book inspired.
Indeed, it is the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever will never pass away.
The earth and his works are going to be burned up. The word of God is forever settled in heaven.
Yes, friend, it is.
And in John 1248 we read these solemn words. The Lord says He that rejecteth me is the one, He, the knight who has rejected Christ. Have you Why he hasn't rejected you yet?
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But the time may come when he will, if you pursue that course of unbelief.
He that rejecteth me the Lord says in dwelt John 1248. He then rejected me, and receiveth not My words hath won the judge of him the word that I have spoken. The same shall judge him in the last day, this very book, this blessed, precious, immutable word of God.
Is the very word which is going to judge you in the last day, friend, if you die in your sins.
How solemn it is we read today of many dear Christians and other countries, while they give their lives almost to possess a Bible and be at liberty to read the Word of God.
Many thousands of their Christians are imprisoned today for the name of Christ. The Bible's taken from them, burned the children, snatched from them, and never see them again.
Put in the communistic schools, how would it affect us? I'll never forget a little incident in South Africa when I was in the British and Foreign Bible Society for a supply of Bibles for the troops.
A native came in in rags, barefooted. He had some coppers in each hand. He just dropped them down on the table and said Sir, to the manager of the Bible store. He said, Sir, I want a Bible, Sir, I want a Bible. I've heard there's a God I want to know more about.
Oh Sir, let me have a Bible. He threw the coppers on the counter and of course he didn't have enough coppers with. The difference was soon made-up and he was handed the Bible.
And he put it to his breast and hugged it and wept over. Oh, he said, thank God I have a Bible lost. I have God's word at last. And he haunted and wept over.
Went down the street crying, rejoicing. Is that how we value the word of God, friends?
If it were taken promise we'd value it more than, wouldn't we or?
Precious word that we have in our hands tonight. It could be taken promised yet I trust it may never be taken promised, but it could. We're not home yet. I hope we soon shall be though. But what is your attitude to the word of God here? There were those who were slow to believe the record. Are you going to be slow to believe the record that God had given of his beloved Son? You dear young people.
How do you stand before a holy God tonight? You've heard the Gospel hundreds of times, haven't you? Haven't you? What have you done about it?
Are you slow to believe it? Be careful, you may be slow a little too long.
Yes, the door of mercy may soon be shot, and it will in the day of grace will soon be gone, and He will, you know, and nor end of the out. The God in His mercy waited seven days more before the flood came. The perfect period of grace and patience on His part. And then when the seven days had expired, which seven days of grace, the flood came. And dear friends, the day of grace is just about to run out, I'm sure of it.
So beware, dear young people, do not think you have a long life before you, and you have plenty of time to think about eternal matters. You have not.
God says, behold, now is the accepted time. Behold now.
Not tomorrow, not at 8:00, not at 8:30. Rather is gone 8 now, not at 8:30. Well, we must get along. Now we turn to First Samuel.
26.
First Samuel 26.
And verse 21.
Then said Saul, I have sinned. Have you ever said that, dear young folks?
Have you ever acknowledged before a holy God that you're a Sinner, that you have sinned? Saul says I have sinned. Return my son David, for I will no more do the harm, because my soul is precious as thine eyes this day, the whole I have played the fool.
What a solemn statement for King Saul to say. I have played the full and friends and you.
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Christ, you've played the full. And what else did he say?
And have heard exceedingly. Not merely have erred, but erred exceedingly. I have played the fool. Think of it, the king to say that.
How long are you going to play the fool, dear Sinner friend?
Playing the folders.
Procrastination.
Yes, just putting it out and putting it out. Playing the fool. Think there's plenty of time I'll think about these things when I'm on my deathbed. You may never have one. You're not promised one.
You might pass into eternity the night. And where are you going, dear friends?
You dear sin of friends here tonight, where are you bound for at the end of the journey?
I'm sure you would say I hope to heaven, but hoping we'll never take you there. It'll never get anybody there. We need to know where we're going. And through grace, I know where I'm going at the end of the journey to be with Christ. But where are you going? Oh, friends, how it settled right now as to where you're going when you leave this scene, you've got to leave it.
Don't be mistaken about this. You have to leave it sometime. And if you leave it in your sins and we are most solemn thing for you, and if you leave it without Christ, it'll be a terrible thing for you. Or you say it's going to cost me quite a bit to be a Christian, that's why I'm holding back. I tell your friends it's going to cost you a lot more not to be one. Indeed it will. It'll cost you a lot more not to be a Christian than to be a Christian.
It will cost you an eternity in hell.
So here we got the solemn statement. I have played the full. Would you say that of yourself? Oh, you say no, of course I haven't played the fool. I've gone on lived an upright moral life. I haven't played the fool. I've gone to the gospel meeting and my name is on the church roll. I haven't played the pool, but you have. If you haven't accepted Christ, if you're procrastinated, keep putting it off and putting it off, you're playing the fool.
And you're earning exceedingly. What happened to King Saul?
Let's turn over the 31St chapter and see what happened to him.
The 31St chapter of Sam, first Samuel.
Three and four and the battle went sore against Saul and The Archers hit him.
And he was sore wounded at The Archers. Then said Saul under his armor bearer to all thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me. But his armor bear would not prefer sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell upon it, committed suicide. Here's the king who played the fool.
Committed suicide. Oh, how solemn indeed it is.
And this all had a beginning. What was the beginning? The previous chapters, Simon said this all, stand thou still a while, that I may show thee the word of God.
And Saul did not obey the word of the Lord, He disobeyed.
And toward the end of his life, he said I've played the whole my very exceedingly, and he committed suicide.
I understand from the statistics of the thousand people are committing suicide every day in this world.
Think of it, 1000 people committing suicide every day. Where are they going?
They think they're going to end the trouble, do they not? I met a dear Christian sailor in Shanghai.
He was in the Navy many years and he'd been dabbling with sin, gone into everything that was bad.
And when his ship arrived in Gibraltar, he told us this story, Mr. Willis home in Shanghai. He said when we put into Gibraltar, I went on shore with the intent and purpose of taking my life and ending all my sorrows and troubles. He said I got so deeply into sin I didn't know how to get out. And I went on short to take my life. And I was walking down the street, he said, and I heard somebody singing. I didn't want to listen to that, He said. It seemed that if somebody was dragging me over there where the singing was.
He said I couldn't help myself, the fellows, I was being pulled over there where they were singing. He said it happened to be a little gospel hall, he said, and it seemed to me as if some strong power was drawing me in that gospel hall, but I didn't want to go in there. I want to end everything. But he said I had to go in. I was being drawn in and I sat on the back seat against the door so I can slip out quickly. But he said instead of going on shore to take my life, I came out of the gospel hall with eternal life.
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He said the preacher was preaching such a wonderful simple gospel. He said it really bound me over, floored me. He said I realized then I was on the verge of hell, no one to flee from coming judgment. I didn't want to go to hell, he said. And that was the means of my salvation being drawn in that little gospel hall. Listening to the preacher preach the simple gospel of God and his love through the person work of Christ and his shed blood at Calvary.
He turned out to be a very, very bright Christian. I used to go around with him giving out tracks in Shanghai. Well, here then we have the end of Saul here. What a terrible end now.
Second Samuel.
Chapter 3.
And verse 33, Second Samuel 333.
And the king lamented over Abner, and said, died Abner as a fool dire.
Died Abner as a full diet, he says their hands were not bound.
Nor thy feet put in the feathers. As a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou.
Dyed Aetna as a full diet. Are you going to die, dear friend? As a fool dies?
Your hands are not bound. Your feet are not in fetus. You're at liberty to come to Christ right now.
And he invites you to come. He says, Come under me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.
Come unto me, he says. And he says, Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord.
Yes, he invites you to come and to come now.
Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.
It's all now. Not tomorrow, not 5 minutes time, but now.
Oh dear friends, may the Lord stir you up the sense of your need of a savior if you have never been stirred up before.
Realize your need of him and realize you're lost and ruined and helpless condition.
And that by nature, you're really on the road to hell.
All friends.
Do not go to that door in your sins tonight. You can have them washed away in the precious blood of Christ. That's why Jesus Christ came down here.
Why do you think He came? He says in John 638 I came down from heaven. Do you believe that? Of course you do. So do I. He said I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. Well if it stopped there we wouldn't know what the will of the Father was. But in verse 40 it says and this and this is the will of him that sent me. The Lord says that everyone which seeth the sun and believeth on Him believeth on him.
They have everlasting life and shall not come into judgment. Yes, how very wonderful this is. The Lord Jesus Christ did not come down here to clean up politics. He didn't come down here and make this a better place to live in. And some people suppose some people like poor Mary, you know, who supposed him to be the gardener. Many people consider the Lord Jesus Christ came down here to be the gardener.
To make this world a better place to live in. That was not his object at all. He came down to do the will of his father and we have just been reading what the will of the father is.
And this is the will of the Father, He says of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I'll raise him up again at the last day. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ came first of all to do the will of His Father. And the will of His Father is that you should be saved, that you should be saved. Friends tonight.
Yes, he loves you. He proved it by going to the cross to die for your sins there, and we can never know what he suffered there.
Not only on the hands of wicked men, the physical sufferings.
But what is suffered under the hand of a holy God? We can never know. When God, a holy God, had to make His beloved Son sin for us, and then pour all that awful judgment upon His blessed, devoted head. Yes, He bore the awful judgment of a holy God against sin, and thanks be to that blessed One, He's borne my sins in His own body on the tree. What about yours, dear friends? Where are your sins tonight?
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Are they upon you?
Or have they been washed away in the precious blood of Christ?
If not, they're still upon you. Well, here we get these solemn words. Died Abner as a fool. Dyer, your hands are not bound. Your feet are not in fetters. No, you're at liberty to come to Christ, my friends, and you're at liberty to come now. And I do sincerely trust you will, because tomorrow may be too late. Boast not thyself of tomorrow. But thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. You may be an eternity tomorrow. I might be.
But where are we going? That's the important question. Eternities before everyone of us and you and I are going to spend it in one of two places. You either with the Lord Jesus Christ in the glory, blessed be his name. That's going to be my portion through wonders, grace that the other place is hell. Only two places. You cannot create a third place and say I'm on neutral ground. There's no such place before a holy God.
I've said it before, you've heard me say it. I'm sure there is a piece of neutral ground in Gibraltar and a quarter of a mile doesn't belong to the British, doesn't belong the Spaniards. So it's called neutral ground. But friend, you cannot stand upon that and say, oh, I'm neutral, I'm neutral. I'm not going to heaven, I'm not going to hell. You are going to one of those two places as the shores. You're sitting here tonight. And make no mistake about it, my dear friends, and let me tell you that God loves you. There is a God and he's a God of love.
As well as a holy God, you cannot look up and sin. Sin must be punished. And so my sins have been punished in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now God has forgiven me through what Christ has done, in whom we have redemption through His blood. Even the forgiveness of sins. What a precious statement, even the forgiveness of sins.
Now Proverbs 14.
Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 9.
Fools make a market sin. What a solemn statement this is. Fools make a mark at sin. Why a sin has brought all the misery in this world.
Death and suffering, tears, anguish, poverty. Everything is bad. It's been brought in by sin.
And fools make a mark of sin, and my precious Savior was made sin by God.
That I might be made what? Not sin, but the righteousness of God in him. Oh, thanks be to God for that wonderful, wonderful love.
Has manifested than the gift of His beloved Son.
Is the person he here who would come under this category?
Making a market sin. Are you a fool now? I'm not going to call you a fool.
But we just go by what God's word says. Fools make a mark of sin, and it's sin, I tell you, that's brought to death and sorrow in this world on every hand, all the suffering we see around us as a result of sin.
And fools make a mark of sin. That which took my precious Savior to Calvary. Yes it did. God made him Christ to be sin for me. He took my place on the cross of Calvary. It was my substitute.
He loved me so much that He's willing to die for me and wash my sins away in His precious blood. And yours too. If you have believed on him, that's your happy portion and position. So here we read Fools Make a Mark of Sin. Now, the 10th chapter.
You can't stay long on these because time is going.
10th chapter of Proverbs and verse 21. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die.
Fools die for want of wisdom.
Where they're going to get wisdom, it's found in the Word of God and we read in First Corinthians. Who of God is made unto us? Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Christ is the wisdom of God. If you want wisdom, you must receive Christ as your Savior.
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In connection with this verse, William Conley turned the 8th chapter of Proverbs.
It begins in this way. We find here the Lord Jesus Christ is presented to us under the beautiful figure of wisdom.
Doth not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her voice?
She standeth in the top of high places, by the way, in the places of the past. She cried out at the gates at the end of the city, the coming into the doors. Now listen, this is Wisdom crying to you, dear friend. Under you, Oh man, I call you.
Oh man, I call this is wisdom calling you Christ, who is the wisdom of God.
He says unto you, O men I call, and my voice is to the sons of man, O ye simple.
Understand wisdom and he fools and he pulls be even understanding heart here for I will speak of excellent things and the opening my lips shall be right things and further down verse 33 here instruction and be wide.
And refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the post of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrong at his own soul. All they that hate me love death.
Just think of this, dear friends, wisdom crying unto you. Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. What is he calling you for? To repent. God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Now this minute, old friends, do not put it off. I plead with you not to put it off another moment.
You're not sure of the next minute God holds your breath in the hall of his hand. He went to withhold of his few seconds. You'll be gone into eternity.
So how slender your life is? And mine. Harry is spending it. What are you going to do with it? It's loaned to you.
I ain't going to be slow to believe what God has said. They're going to be like Saul, say I've played the fool and commit suicide. The end.
Many doing it now. They're deceiving themselves by thinking they're ending all their troubles. They're just beginning. They're going to eternity lost in their sins. Yes, they're terrible.
How solemn this is. Well here, this is a wonderful word. Doth not wisdom cry? Guess wisdom is crying tonight throughout this world. Come unto me, the Lord says, Come unto me, look unto me, and be saved all the ends of the earth.
Brian, God, and there's none else. Isaiah 4522.
How simple it is, how precious. Look unto me, the Lord says, Look unto me.
And be what? Disappointed now? And be saved all the ends of the earth? The invitation goes out to all the ends of the earth. And be saved all the ends of the earth. I am God. Yes, I am God, he says. And there is none else.
No, there's only one Savior, dear Sinner friend, and you need him. You need him now, and he's available now. He may not be tomorrow. Maybe too late. Yes, tomorrow could be too late.
For anyone of us here.
Well, here then. This is very solemn.
This.
Chapter Proverbs.
It says.
The fools die for want of wisdom.
Oh, you say, that's only natural. We've all got to die.
But let me tell you this, dear friends, We as Christians are not looking for death at all. We may never die because the scripture says they that are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.
So you and I may be alive when the Lord comes and will never die. We find in scripture there are two men singled out.
To go to heaven without dying.
You know who they were.
Enoch and Elijah, they went to heaven without dying, and there are two men destined to go alive.
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The beast and the false prophet, Yes, two gone ahead from their dying and two are going alive into hell.
Oh, friends, I trust you'll never go there. There's no need. You know, God has made every provision for your salvation, every provision for your eternal security and safety and blessing. And it's through His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and the officers to you tonight as a loving, precious Savior.
What are you going to do with Him? What thinking of Christ? What do you think about Him?
You know what? Pilate said. What shall I?
In other words, what shall I do with Jesus?
Yes, the solemn question came before Pilate. His wife says, Hath thou nothing to do with this just man? That's an impossibility. We've all got to have something to do with Jesus. We are at the meeting as a Savior or we meet him as a judge. He says, What shall I do then with Jesus? What shall I do with him? What did he do with him? Rejected him.
Scourge him, handed him over to be crucified, and he is still verily guilty.
And yet he had the audacity to say, bring me a bowl of water and I'll wash my hands. And now I'm innocent of the blood of this just person. What a lie. Never told a bigger lie in his life. He was guilty. The only one who was innocent there was the eternal Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the innocent one. Pilot was a guilty person, but he washed his hands in a bowl of water with water. Walsh away your guilt. Will it wash away your sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus will ever do that, my friends. And that precious blood has been shattered, Calvary, and it's ready and available to wash away your sins right now, if you'll have him, If you'll let him. But are you going to play the fool?
Are you, are you going to die as a fool without wisdom, the lack for want of wisdom? Well, wisdom is available in the person of Christ, he says. We told in First Corinthians that he is the wisdom of God. Christ is he is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, all those things were lacking in arsenal and regenerate days. We had nothing of that at all. But now Christ is made unto us these things.
Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. Oh, praise the Lord for redemption. Praise the Lord for wisdom. Wisdom deceived the truth of His precious word. Now when he turned to Luke 12 on time, it's just about gone. Luke 12.
Hmm.
This is about the rich farmer. We know the story. There isn't time to go through it now.
I'll read one verse or two quickly. Verse 16 You speak a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a rich man brought forth plentifully. He thought within himself, notice he thought within himself like poor name. And he said, I thought he thought wrong. He says, What shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, This will I do, I'll pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I be so all my fruits and my goods.
And I, it's all I I will say to my soul. So there was much goods later for many years. Take thine ease, take it easy.
Eat, drink and be merry. This is what the farmer said. Now the next verse we read what God said. What did God say to the farmer? The rich farmer? But God said unto him, thou.
This night.
My soul shall be required of thee. Oh, what a statement. What a solemn, searching statement.
I suppose the man went to bed with this on his mind.
And as the hours were passing slowly away as he's in bed.
The time came when he passed out of time into eternity as God said he would.
But in the morning the barns were there, the crops were there, the farm was there, the farmer was not. God sent thou for this night. Thy soul shall be required of thee. And it was. If God were to say that to you tonight, do you send a friend? Would you go to sleep and sleep peacefully?
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We can imagine this scene. I don't want to speculate, but we can imagine this poor farmer summoning his friends.
From a distant village to come around his bedside to try and cheer him up and stand and watch him, his life slowing slowly, ebbing away. At last, he draws his last breath. He's gone. And what do they do?
I suppose they would say, well, he said he was going to have a royal time, He's got lots of goods laid up for many years. He said he's going to eat, drink and be merry. But where is he now?
Yes, where is he now? In eternity? I fear lost. Oh, friend, if you want a person pass in eternity now where would you go? Oh, I do plead with you to have this settled before you leave this room as to where you're going.
And do any of these pictures we read in 97 they suit you? Do they apply to you?
Have you heard exceedingly in rejecting the gospel, despising the riches of God's grace?
Neglecting this great salvation. If you've done that, you've played the fool, friend. My trusty will not end in suicide.
That'll end you in hell if that's the way you go on. Yes it will.
Oh, this is too solemn to speak about. But these are reality's friends. We want you to face them. You never face them before. Face them now. This minute.
As to ask yourself now, in the presence of God, who knows your heart through and through, where shall I spend eternity? If God says thou fool this night, thy soul shall be required of thee, how would it affect you?
I'm afraid you wouldn't get much sleep, would you?
Well, if the Lord said that to many of us here tonight, we'd rejoice. We would rejoice. And now that we'd be absent, present, absent from the body and present with the Lord. That's what we're longing for. But what are you, dear friends, longing for a better time here on earth? You dear young people, looking forward to getting through all the examinations and getting on in the world and getting a big salary on a banking account and a nice home and a big car.
Is that what you have before you?
All those things, my dear young people, are worthless in comparison to things we've been looking at tonight.
Listen to that Blessed One who is the wisdom of God unto you. O men, I call my voices to the sons of men. He's calling you to come to Him while it's safe, while it's safe to come, and while it is time to come. Within 5 minutes, it could be too late to come.
And there I have to leave it. Friends, think about these seven pools. Just weigh them up. And are you going to die as a fool, Dyer? Your hands are not bound like Abner. Your feet are not in fetters. No, you're free. You're free to come to the Savior right now. And why not come? Why put it off another moment? Delay is dangerous. And delay my land during in an eternal hell.