Gospel—N. Hiebert
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Can we begin our gospel meeting this evening by singing hymn #32 #32? What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. All precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know nothing but the blood of Jesus. We stand in thing #32.
What then? Wash away my sins and nothing but come on, you love.
No.
No.
All I find.
All my life.
Is so cold.
That makes me white as cold.
Without God blessed on the moon tonight.
Our blessed God and our loving Father, we thank Thee this night.
For the Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior.
And the savior of many in this room, but perhaps not the savior of some in this room.
And tonight, our God and Father, as we are assembled here, we cry to thee for help.
For any soul that still mostly not as Savior, we pray that they may realize that they're headed.
Down that broad Rd. which leads to destruction, we try to lead our fathers that thou will take thy word and presented to thy servants to present to this audience our Father. We just pray that thou will bless thy word. We committed to Thee in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. I did something this evening that I've never done before, a gospel meeting. I got some advice.
First of all, we got some advice in the room as we prayed together, as we besought the Lord to help. But then as I walked in this room, I checked with about five or six children and I asked them a simple question. I said, you know, sometimes as adults get up front here and we talk about the gospel and we don't know the condition of the soul. And so I asked these young children and young people whether in their opinion, there was somebody.
Their age sitting in these seats this evening.
Who still might be lost?
Got some good answers.
There were at least three that said yes, there are some that are still lost.
There was one who said wasn't sure, and the other one thought maybe all her friends were saved. All good answers, but it begs the question, you are sitting in these seats this evening and if you're lost, you are on a dangerous course. And so before we talk and take this precious book, the Bible, I want to sing a song suitable for these young children and the young people that I had the distinct pleasure of talking to.
And they were so honest and candid when I asked them the question. Let's think together. A song that we all know the children know #40 Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Just the two verses, verse one and two. Remain seated, please.
She does love me, this I know.
00:05:01
You are being never dreamed of closely.
You don't love me.
I'd like to turn and read about a very bad man. I want to read about the man who called himself the chief of sinners.
So we want to get that issue straight later. To start, there's a chief of sinners that came to this world. And so all the rest of us are not chief. We're not chief. We're sinners. I was a Sinner. I am a Sinner saved by grace. The Lord saved my soul many years ago, and I thank an aunt of mine for that, telling me the story of Daniel and the Lord Jesus Christ came into my heart. Well, I'd like to, with my Lord's help, read about maybe 5 or 6 short.
Portions in God's Word. Let's start to act.
Seven please. Acts, Chapter 7.
And we're going to read the last part of a little message that a man by the name of Steven gave to the Jews. But I think we can apply it to ourselves too. Let's read it. It's a little tough. No mincing of words here.
Acts 751 Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears.
You do. Ye do. Always resist the Holy Ghost as your Father did. So do ye.
Which of the prophets have not your Father's persecuted? And they have slain them, which showed before the coming of the justice, one of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers, who having received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. When they the Jews, heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly to heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and passed him out of the city, and stoned him.
And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet. His name was Thaw.
And they stoned the Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, saying, Lord lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Well, you know, I'm thankful to say that I can be in the United States or Canada and preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and so far have never had an experience such as this man had, an experience where they gnashed upon them with their teeth, where they were vehement against them. They were angry at this man who preached about the Lord Jesus Christ. I was so glad to be able to talk to these little girls or the young people and this young fellow, and they weren't angry at me. They weren't hostile.
They were kind to me and I appreciate that. But do you know something? If those that I was talking, that I was talking to this evening think that kindness will get you into heaven, you better think again. Or if there's anyone sitting in these seats this evening who still is not the Lord, I want you to think very carefully. You've probably been here for the meeting for the last two days. You've heard much from the Word of God, and I dare say that there may have been some things that you didn't understand.
00:10:00
I'm with you. I'm with you young people. I understand that. I don't understand everything, but I enjoyed it because it was a word of God. Steven told these people about the Lord Jesus Christ and they didn't want to hear about it. They didn't want to hear about it. You came here this evening.
Most of you came because you wanted to be here. There are some young people maybe.
And some children who are here because mother and dad said you were to be here. That's good.
That's good. That's what my wife and I did with our five children. They had to be at meetings, the gospel meeting.
And I thank the Lord that each one of them accepted Jesus as Savior.
The only thing I could take the glory with me, my children.
But what are these children here? Your moms and dads are sitting here. Can they say, well I can take my children with me to heaven?
Stephen spoke to these people because they had rejected Jesus and they had murdered him.
They hung them to a cross of Calvary and he said to them, your stiff neck, you're uncircumcised in your heart and your ears and you do always resist the Holy Ghost, resist the Holy Ghost. And I wonder if there's someone in the room tonight that is still resisting the Lord Jesus Christ, having been told time and again about that good news of salvation and still resisting the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's move on. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on these stories because I told you I wanted to get to this man saw. Did you notice what we were reading? Who is the man that was responsible for it? Here was Saul, probably standing with his arms folded. And he was.
The chief, He was the boss. He was a well educated man. He was a man who knew all the law. He was a man that thought he was doing the right thing.
And he saw this man, and he heard his testimony.
He said he heard the testimony of Stephen when he said.
Lord lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Fell asleep.
Let's turn to the 9th chapter. We'll read a couple of verses there. We're going to talk about this man now.
This wasn't the end of the story. This wasn't the end of the story. This man was the bomb.
He did everything he could listen to this.
Acts 9 and one and Saul breathing, yet breathing out, threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.
Went into the high priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogue.
That if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women.
He might bring them bound unto Jerusalem, and as he journeyed, he came near Damascus.
And suddenly they are shined round about him, a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth.
And heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said on Jesus, on Jesus, whom thou persecute us, it is hard for thee to kick against the Prince.
Than he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
And the Lord said of him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. That sends it stop there for a bit.
Now here's that same man who was in charge of the stoning of Stephen.
And we find that he's still going full steam ahead. He was determined.
To remove the name of Jesus.
He thought that he could do it by murdering the people.
But what happened? He spread them around and the faithful ones continued to preach the gospel. And tonight there are people preaching the gospel in many places, many places of this great country in the United States and Canada. Isn't it wonderful that there are those who present the Lord Jesus Christ?
We've all had a wake up call in the last few months.
As we see some of the things that can happen even in this great nation of the United States.
And you, my friend, are vulnerable.
Because you children, if you're sitting here tonight, and young people, if you haven't accepted Jesus as your Savior.
Life at best is very brief.
You know, a number of years ago.
00:15:00
My little brother was 10 years of age. He was a sickly little boy.
And I was going out of town on a business trip. So I stopped at my folks home and saw this little fellow 10 years of age. He wasn't feeling very good at all. And I was trying to make him feel a little better and try to negotiate a sale. I wanted to buy his bicycle. And he said, well, he wanted so much. I said, well, I'll give you half that. He said, no, I want that price. And he stuck to his price. Well, you know, I didn't know that that would be the last time I would talk to him.
When I came back I heard he had been admitted to hospital and his poor fellow was lying there.
In that hospital, we're watching that monitor and his heart is slowing down. We tried to talk to him. My sister had come in a little before me. She told me that as she came in, she was crying.
And this little fellow said, don't cry, I'm going home. What do you suppose he meant? Was he going home to his familiar bedroom with his friends, with his mom and dad, with his family? Now he knew where he was coming.
It didn't take very long, and that little thaw runs to be with the Lord peacefully, happily knowing that his time of suffering was over.
However, forget that the Gray side, our dear beloved brother Archnet.
Was speaking and he said let's bring.
Around the throne of God in heaven will many children.
Children whose sins are all forgiven will heavenly handsome spring singing glory.
Glory, Glory to him, be to God, and.
Isn't that wonderful? I'm warning you, young people and children on the authority of God's Word that now is accepted time. It's the right time for you to accept Jesus as your Savior. Don't wait even till the end of this meeting. Jesus is coming. He's coming soon. And if he should come in the next 5 minutes and you're not saved, then you're lost. And if you're lost, you're going into an eternity.
That the Bible defines as HELL.
That's a reality.
That's the truth. That's the word of God. My dear young people, if you have not accepted Jesus as Savior, and if there's an older one here, you haven't accepted Jesus as Savior, do so now. Tell the Lord Jesus that you repent of your sins, that you're sorry for your sins, and that you want the precious blood of Jesus Christ to wash them away.
He was a man's soul who wanted to eradicate that message. He didn't want any gospel meeting. He didn't want anybody to speak about Jesus. He got letters from the religious people to go out and destroy.
The those in the way, that is, those that took on the name of Jesus, those who were called Christians. Later on, he wanted to wipe them off the map.
And you know, the devil is still trying to use people in this country and in our country to do the same thing and around the world.
He's not necessarily saying I don't want you to talk about Jesus, but I want you to talk about some replacement or some watered down version. I tell you there's only one version. It's the word of God. Christ. Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none that righteous. No, not one.
Evolve sin. We're lost in the road to hell and there's only one way. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
He got his letters, Saul got his letters and away he went on a rampage. He was going to carry out his threat to destroy all these people that were found of this way.
But do you know something? You and I may make some decisions.
And we find that these decisions get to be interrupted.
This man was stopped in his track.
And I'm so glad that he was gone. Now I'm asking that you too may be stopped.
00:20:00
You may not have that kind of an experience that we have to see that light coming down from heaven.
Brighter than the light.
Of the sun at noon, and to strike him down, and to hear a voice.
With his name is our brother Cecil or brother Jim was mentioning the other night. Saul. Saul. He knew his name and he knows your name. He knows whether you belong to him tonight or not.
You may have fooled your friend, this young lady that said to me, well, I think all of my friends are saved. I just want to say that I hope that starts.
I'm not going to take it for granted though.
Because sometimes we're very clever at covering up. Tell your story. You've probably heard this, but I'll tell it anyway. One day, four young lads in school decided to have a little holiday at the expense of their school time.
So they took their car and they went for a ride. I had lots of fun. Came back after lunch and went into the classroom and the teacher was very cordial, didn't seem to be upset that the boys had been away.
That's why he said. Well, boys, you know, you didn't really miss too much. You just had a short exam and we'll let you take this down.
You're a little different, but I'll give you an example.
You have to go in another room and I'll give you exam. You'll be able to do it very QuickTime. We'll see if you can pass all right.
We we should beat the teacher this time and the way they went into this little classroom and they teach us that one in one corner, one the other corner. And then the teacher said you got your piece of paper there and your pencil. Put your names on it, please. Now the question is.
And I missed something before they went in there. The boys did receive.
Flat tire. That's why they couldn't get school on time.
So anyway, when they got into that room, the teacher says and I want you to write on the paper which fire was flat, turn over your papers and leave the room.
They got.
It got taught. Now that's a human story. We can write it off as that. It's fun.
But to deny the Lord Jesus Christ and give the wrong answer to the very serious situation.
And if you say that you're a Christian and you're not?
You are going to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ if you don't confess them as Lord and Savior, and you're going to see Him as a drug.
You're going to see him as a judge. Do you like a judge?
With his long hair and his hammer and his stern look.
Knows everything about the law. No, You want to stay away from those people. I'll tell you how you can stay away from the Lord. Jesus is judged. Second decision.
Savior, to come unto me, all thee that labor, and a heavy lady, and I will give you rest.
The Bible tells us the wages of sin is, you know, it's death.
And I'm so glad that that verse doesn't end there. It says, but the gift of God is eternal life.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Saul was out to destroy the name of Jesus.
Saul was met with a test.
And he didn't have the answer.
But he had a question now. Wonderful. He had a question.
Lord Blanca.
Lord, who art thou?
And Jesus in thou purchases.
Now, he wasn't dumb. He was very smart. And some of your brother can help me if I'm wrong. Tell me if I'm wrong. I understand that he had the equivalent of a double PhD. He was an extremely clever man. You know what he did with his degrees and his qualifications? He threw them away. He said they're like dumb. He didn't have them because he suddenly won. Christ, it tells us here.
I am Jesus whom thou persecuted. It is hard for thee to kick against the prick.
Is that what you do?
Are you kicking against your traces and saying, well, I'm going to put it off, I'm going to wait?
I'm not ready yet.
I don't think it's necessary or I don't need that stuff. I hate that word.
00:25:04
1981.
When I still lived in Winnipeg.
We had a problem in our office.
We had a problem that was tough. We had to sit in, you know what a sit in it.
We had some lovely people come in the building and he wouldn't leave.
They wanted something, but she couldn't give them.
And the CEO of the organization that I was with and myself was sitting in my office and we were, we had the door shut and we were talking about the situation, about how we were going to handle it. It's getting close to lunchtime.
And the CEO said to me, well, Norm, he said, what are we going to do? He said before I answer, he said, well, why don't we go for lunch? When we come back, we'll deal with it.
And then he stopped and he said to me, Norm, what else can I do?
What else can I do? I will never forget that question and you'll find out true why. We went for lunch and our cars separate places, came back. I came back, I saw his car in the parking lot and I went into his office and he wasn't there. So I started looking for him in the building.
Couldn't find them. Ask several people if there was cars here, he must be here. And I went back to his office and what did I find? I saw him underneath his desk. I said, Ralph, what's wrong?
I put my hand on his pulse. Nothing.
I called for help. The doctors gave.
We gave them artificial or they gave them the.
Breathing, as most decline, resuscitate him.
That he died. The word got around in about 10 seconds and the building was clear.
Building us through this man was 48 years of age.
And he told me one day, if you want to have a revival meeting in this office, don't have it in my office.
He was a brilliant man. He was a man I had a deep respect for, but that's what he told me. I don't know whether he ever accepted Jesus or Savior.
But you know, he went into eternity December 23rd.
1981.
He passed the utility.
I will never forget that day as I saw him there and as I thought about this man.
Who might not have accepted Jesus as Savior to think that he was stealing the torment of a lost eternity?
I went to his funeral and I heard what that man said. I don't think this man was even a Christian.
And I heard him read John 14. Let not your heart, the troubles you believe in God, believe also me. And my father's heard so many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I'd go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself at where I am, there you may be also. And I thought, oh, what wonderful words, but how empty coming from the mouth of a man who didn't know Jesus as Savior, Speaking of a man who we had no evidence that he had accepted Jesus as Savior. Ralph is an eternity.
I wish I could stay or had some hope that he had gone. The glory.
But I'm afraid it was the other way around.
The Lord stopped Ralph from a course that he was pursuing with her father subsequently.
The Lord stopped Saul and the course that he was pursued. Thank you.
He said. Saul said, trembling.
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
What wilt thou have me to do?
You might just say, what am I going to do? What do I have to do?
First of all, you have to that you're a Sinner. You have to tell the Lord Jesus Christ I'm a Sinner, I'm a Sinner. I need to be saved. I need to have my fins washed away. I'm sorry for my sins. To bow the knee before the Lord Jesus, this man saw was on his face on the ground.
And you have to repent and acknowledge that you're a Sinner and then turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and He'll give you the answer. He got an answer. Rise going to the city, and I shall be told thee what thou must do. All the Lord is not going to leave you alone. He's not going to leave you alone. If you accept Him as your Savior, you can count on Him to lead you every step of the way.
Some of us have been saved a long time. Sometimes we don't follow.
00:30:01
The path.
That he set out for us, that's another subject. But we can do that. We could take the wrong path, but I'm talking about the path to salvation tonight. That's the decision you have to make. That's the path that you must take. Salt at that path. Let's read a little more about this man.
Now we're going a few years down the road, I believe it's a couple of years down the road and we'll go to the 16th chapter of Acts.
16th chapter of Acts Let's read from.
Let's read from the 16th verse.
To keep it passed, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination, met up, met us, which brought her Master much good gain by soothe fame. The same followed Paul and us, and tried saying, These men are the servants of the Most High. God would show unto us the way of salvation. And this he did many days. But Paul being grieved now Saul had been changed to Paul he was a new man.
Paul, Paul being grieved, turned and said to the Spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ.
To come out of her. And he came out the same hour. And when her Master saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace, onto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrate, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city.
And teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them. And the magistrate went off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stock.
Stop there for a minute.
Now here we have a different man. We have a man by the name of Paul who said, what will thou have me to do? And if you were to read the rest of that story in Acts Chapter 9, you see that beautiful picture of a servant of God by the name of Anna Knife who was scared stiff of salt. God said, I want you to go to him. But Lord.
Lord, he's persecuting us, and I've heard that he got letters to take men and women and put them in prison.
The Lord told him to go anywhere.
But you know, the Lord said something about him, something very special, he prayeth.
Just before this meeting there were a lot of us praying. It was touched by the Prayers for Lost Center for you.
The young people have said there's somebody sitting in here that's not saved, praying for you.
What was Saul doing? He was praying. He wanted to know what the Lord wanted him to do. The Lord had a job for him.
Here he was, here he was. Didn't take very long before he started to preach, but the Lord had to teach him a few things, and here we find an incident where he was.
Using the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, here was the power of Satan that was coming upon these people.
And he withstood in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this happened to be a poor woman who was being used by men who made money off of her because she was a fortune teller.
He was a wicked woman.
Now there may be some in this room that are saying, well, I'm too wicked.
I've done things that I'm ashamed of. Some of the young people may say that.
I've done some real bad things.
I'm not going to.
Enunciate some of the things you know what you have done, but the Lord Jesus wants you to come just the way you are.
Come with all your sins to the Lord. His blood is sufficient to wash all your sins away. He did it for me many years ago. He did it for my wife. He did it for my five children and their wives and some of my grandchildren. Praise the Lord, Wish I could take the credit for it.
It's the Lord that does it, and he wants to save you and you and you over here.
00:35:02
And you?
It's a serious issue you have sad at a gospel meeting many times.
This is the last gospel meeting.
Of this conference.
This may be the last gospel meeting in this area.
I may not be here after this gospel meeting.
And as the Lord, that's because the Lord Jesus comes. There will be many gods. Some might still be sitting here if he should come in the next two minutes. You've got time right this morning. God's word says now is the accepted or the right time. Now is the day of salvation. Tell the Lord Jesus Christ that you're a lost, guilty Sinner and you want to be saved.
If you reject them, you'll remember for eternity.
Well, these men weren't very happy because their pockets weren't going to be filled with money. That's the desire and the thrust of what we find in the world today. One of my boys.
Is in the financial business.
One day he had lunch with a man who was extremely wealthy.
And he said to me, my son said to me the same day after this lunch, he said, you know, I, I'm not sure, but it almost seemed like he wanted to talk to me about the things of the Lord. He said he seems to act like a Christian, but I didn't ask him.
And he said.
Told me the next day, he said, I went by his house the next day and I saw a bunch of police cars in front of his home and the tape, put up the yellow tape and he said didn't know where it was. He got on his phone to the office of this man that he knew well and he says what's the matter with Joe?
He said Joel is gone.
Joel committed suicide.
Joel owes $50 million.
There is no security. Everything is God. It's gone. His wife and family left with a legacy of a man.
Who deceived everybody that he saw, even to the point of pretending to be a Christian. I want to let you know, dear young people and children are pretending to be a Christian is a very dangerous thing. This man found himself in a corner when he couldn't cover up anymore.
You got caught. These are not in the eternity right now. He's gone. I don't know whether he's the Lords or not, that's not for me to judge. But I do know that I have to warn you that if you reject the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, if that's your decision, you're heading down a broad Rd. that leads to destruction. Well, these.
These people were very upset with Saul and they took the lawn into their own hands.
That's a dangerous thing, isn't it? You're not supposed to do that. If you see somebody doing something wrong, you're supposed to call the police.
But they took the law in their own hands.
And they beat the two men. Fallen son. One day back in Winnipeg, I was out on the street. There was a young fellow and a beautiful hot rod riding down the street, I should say, tearing up the street. So I stepped out and I suggested that I have a lot of young children as well as our neighbors. Slow down. Well, his response was not very becoming. I said, well, that's the way you want it. Take your license number because I'm, I'm concerned.
I phoned a policeman and I said to him, Sir, we have a young fellow on the street here and, and he's, he's, he's a danger to us. And he said, well, come on down and make a report. I said, well, you know, that's going to be that could be Kuwait, could be too late.
I said, you fellas got to come down here and see what he's doing. He said just a little bit, let me say something to you. The other day I got a call from a young fellow or from an irate parent saying that there's a, there's a young fellow on the schoolyard to the Corvette. He's he's doing power turds. He's tearing up the schoolyard and we want you to come over. And he said, my Sergeant said the same thing to him. Can I make a report?
And he said the fellow hung up the phone rather quickly and looked 5 minutes, 10 minutes later, he got another phone call.
Natalie says I've got a complaint to file. 3 big fellows came at me and broke every window in my car, my lights and everything.
00:40:02
He said, oh, what's the kind of car is that? He said a Corvette. He said, come in and make a report.
What's the point? What's the? What am I trying to say to you?
Trying to say to you this that the Lord Jesus Christ is not going to put you off. If you call him, he will answer.
Right away, there will be an answer right away.
There's no waiting, there's no mechanical message. His message is contained in this book.
This is his message. You can read it, it's simple. 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.
The God sent not as sons of the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved to him. Through him the world might might be safe.
He answers your question even before you ask it.
Let's read a little further here. Now these men have been put in prison and the jailer is just, he's very accommodating. He doesn't just take him gently and put him in a cell like you have to do today to be very careful. You don't handle them too roughly. It says, they doesn't say tossed them into the prison, cast them into a prison. And that wasn't enough with all his back bleeding from the whippings that he got. They put their feet in socks so there was no way that they could get.
Away from it and they put a guard.
So here was Paul. You say That's the Christian life.
I'm warning you that there are people today that start telling. You are telling me.
I wouldn't be acrypted.
Because there are a bunch of hypocrites.
I've had them say that to me. I said all of them. You're going to generalize? Well, maybe.
So I say, what's all one What about you? What about you?
That's your assessment of the situation, but the Word of God is the truth.
Believe the word of God. Don't worry about people, don't worry about men. Don't worry about your friends. Your friends that may be sitting beside you right now. They may be watching you to see if you're being moved at all by the gospel message.
And the devil may be holding you back and whispering in your ears. Put it aside. Listen to the Lord Jesus Christ. But here is our Paul and Silas. They're bleeding. They're Christians. They're bleeding. This is Christianity.
That isn't that isn't the whole story. Listen to what they were doing at midnight.
At midnight.
Paul and Silas prayed and sang praise. Praise God for whom all blessings, for they were singing praises. Can you imagine with their backs cleaning?
Have you ever had a pain at night? Seems pretty bad when it gets late midnight. Oh that painting is awful.
These fellows were not concerned about themselves. Oh, it hurt. Oh, it hurt very much.
But they were singing praises to God for what? To have been put in jail. They didn't know exactly why the Lord had allowed them to go to prison, but it tells us here the prisoners heard them.
My brother Chuck Hendricks told me one day. He says, Norm, I have one problem with your gospel message.
I thought, oh Bella.
Speak up, he said. Speak up.
These fellows didn't hold back and I don't want to hold back because these children that I talked to said there's somebody unsaved here.
And I don't know whether you're accepting Jesus right now, but if you are, I'm so thankful. We'll pray for you.
We pray for you. They sang hymns. I don't know whether I could be singing hymns if my back was bleeding after getting a flogging from those Roman whips that ripped the skin off your back.
They were singing and the prisoners heard them.
And now comes the beautiful part. Suddenly something happened. Unusual.
Suddenly.
Verse 26 There was a great earthquake.
So that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened.
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Everyone's bands were loosed.
And the keepers of the prison are waking out of his sleep. For the keeper of the prisoner waking out of the sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
Wouldn't that be a sight to see these prisoners hear this singing and all of a sudden the prison starts to shake?
An earthquake.
Doesn't say anything about Paul and Silas, that they stopped singing because the flogging, the stalks, the big heavy doors, the guards.
Oh, God controlled that too.
And the earthquake, earthquake came from God, and these men were all released.
Oh, I would that each one in this room would be released from their sins.
I would that each one would come to know Jesus as Savior.
I know a lot of you people in here. I've heard from a lot of you people some wonderful things.
Talk to Justin over here.
Pleasure. Talk to so many young people. The pleasure. I talked to some young people after gospel meeting and I said, you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, and I hear some muffled comments that I can't make out.
So what do I conclude from that? There wasn't a clear yes.
There was a mumble.
Oh, will you please own that you're a Sinner to say yes, I'm a Sinner, Lord, I want you to save me now.
Well, the prison doors were opened and now suddenly those that were being punished.
We're sitting in the seat of power. They saw this prison keeper and he had his dagger or whatever weapon he carried and he was going to end his life. Why? Why would he want to do that?
Oh, he was charged with a responsibility. He was charged with a very serious responsibility, it says in the.
23rd Verse. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. Now that tailor had not kept them safely. If they had all run away, he would have had to pay with his with his life. His life was in jeopardy.
If you don't know Jesus as Savior, your life is in jeopardy.
Your life is in jeopardy. That, to me, is a very scary thought. Let me just describe what's scary.
We were sitting with some at the supper table and we were talking about skunks, and I want to tell you a little story about a skunk. I went to my mother-in-law's backyard to get a hole.
You know, whistling and get a hole open the the shed door and let her scream. I let her scream that you could have heard a long distance. There's a little fellow watching me.
He was a scum.
You think you got me?
I was too fast for him. Once I had my back turned, I was gone. I was scared. I didn't want to get sprayed. I was scared.
Well, that didn't you know that's scaring. This disappeared.
But you know, it's a scary thing to sit where you are. The year 2002, March 17, my anniversary. When I first started work in 1958, my anniversary.
And it's getting more scary all the time for those that are lost, and it's getting more water for the Christian because we're going low.
Those that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ in this room are going to be caught up one of these days. Very soon we're going to go home to be with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The keeper of the prison awakening verse 27 out of his sleep.
And seeing the prison doors open, he drew it a sort of would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled. But Paul cried out with a loud voice to thyself. No harm, we're all here.
Don't do yourself any harm by delaying.
He said. But I've been so bad, I've got so many problems on my back, I don't know what to do.
Tend to get drunk.
I run around all over the place. I do drugs.
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I swear at my parents.
I'm repeating things that my son told me that he hears from dear young people.
That are going through those experiences and older ones.
And sit with them on the curve of the street and listens to them.
So sad you have to do some awful things sometimes with these young people to sit on a step with them.
Why the devil's got him. Can't keep them though. That's the name of Jesus Christ. They'll have to flee.
Do you think that your sins are so bad that Jesus doesn't want you? Remember what I said at the start of this evening?
The chief of sinners Faith.
The chief of Senate was safe and you can come to You can be saved too.
Now did they say?
That was the end of it, they say. Well, bye.
That's where you and I as Christians sometimes make a mistake. We don't say anything.
This man was in earnest.
There was a respectful term there. What must I do to be saved? Oh, Paul, I'd use those words himself. Lord, what wilt all have me to do?
He had the answer very short. He didn't have to say much because this man knew he had a need. He knew that he was lost. He knew that he was going to get killed if the prisoners escaped.
Believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. I leave that with you too, but remember.
You have to first of all recognize that there is no hope in this world, that you're lost, headed for him.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. What happened after that?
Just let me skip over a few verses.
He washed their wounds, he cleaned them up, he gave them something to eat, and it was the beginning of a new life for this jailer.
He was saved. Now what was the message that Saul preached? We're running out of time. I'll just read them First Corinthians chapter 15. I believe this is the message that Saul or or Paul left.
First Corinthians chapter 15, where he says in verse one. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have heard, and wherein you stand, by which also you're saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed it in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that listen to this now Christ died for our sins, according to the Scripture.
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, and he was seen of Cephas 10 of the 12. Now turn to verse 51.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment.
In the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, where the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and ye shall be changed, we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
You know the Lord Jesus hasn't left anything for us to do.
He's done it all.
He's done it all. He's prepared a home for him. I've got a mansion up there that I'm going to be taking possession of very soon, together with all those who have.
Been redeemed with a precious blood, of course.
On the authority of God's Word, it tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back for those that are saved and not for those in this room, the older ones or the young people or children, some of whom are not saved yet. On the testimony of some young children before this meeting. If you're not saved, if that is true.
There's no place for you yet, but you can still come. Now I want to ask you children and young people, I'll tell you one more time. You can accept Jesus as your Savior right this moment. As our brother Cecil said last night, we're not going to ask you to come up front here, but I'm going to tell you one other thing. If there's someone here who still is not sure how they should be saved, don't you wait any longer. Speak to someone.
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Speak to someone.
But it's so simple. The Lord has not made it complicated.
We're at time, but I just want to tell you one little story about three years ago, a young band by the name of Michelle.
Started off from Ottawa, Canada, the capital of Canada, and he headed West looking for his fortune, although his dad was extremely wealthy. He had his pickup truck and he had his dog and he was traveling across the country and he got to my old home province of Manitoba. And when he got to Portage Prairie, his truck turned over and his dog ran away. And he had some slight injuries, but he couldn't drive his truck. And he was a man that was a young man that was well known.
Some of the Christians there are some of our, the brethren that I am familiar with heard about it and immediately went to him and they said, Michelle.
You got a home at our place.
Here's our pickup truck. Use as long as you need to while you're looking for your dog while you're getting your truck fixed.
Michelle appreciated that and he said, furthermore, we're having some some meetings tonight, some gospel meetings just on the outskirts of town. We'd be welcome to come. Michelle went. Michelle went, very intelligent young lad, well educated. He went and after the gospel reading, he said, I've never heard that before. I've never heard that before.
So these.
And then prayed with him and said, look, we're going to ask the Lord Jesus to help you find your dog.
The next day found his job, found his dog, got his truck repaired, and he got into his truck and kept on going. But before he left, these brothers handed him a little pamphlet, a little track on how to be safe. Michelle thanked him hardly, and away he went to British Columbia.
His intent was to go skiing in the mountains than he did. He was skiing one day few days later after leaving and get arriving there.
And he got into an avalanche and he didn't escape. He got caught.
And he couldn't find them. His mother and dad were terribly distressed. Terribly distressed. Their pictures appeared on the front page of the paper. The mother and father were the former Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the right honorable, their young son. They wept.
This tough man who put on a show who was a terribly immoral man, I dare say. I believe some say he would he.
He was more of an example of immorality than anybody of a leader that I have ever seen.
And he wept because they couldn't find this young boy.
But, you know, I don't know whether Michelle ever accepted Jesus as Savior. He got an opportunity.
Some faithful Christians spoke to him. What did they do First, they showed love. They showed love to them.
They provided the means of transportation.
They were kind to him. They gave him a place to sleep.
And then they gave them the message of the gospel.
My friend, we have given you the message of the Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ had to come into this world because it was sin. In the Garden of Eden, sin came in and man fell.
God could no longer have communion and walk in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve. They had sinned, sin had come in and they could not get together. This was a very serious thing. God had a plan.
And about 4000 years later, that plan was unfolding in the Lord Jesus Christ was born, a baby in the Manger.
The Lord Jesus Christ grew up. At about 30 years of age, he started to minister.
About himself.