Address—Bill Prost
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When I looked at the card.
That detailed this particular meeting, It was simply referred to as an address.
I thought, Oh my, that means that it's not specifically for young people or anyone group of persons.
There ought to be something that everyone can understand.
I appreciated Brother Bob Tony's comments last night when he talked about having to.
Speak to a group there in Portugal.
And he didn't know Spanish, and so he had to keep it simple.
Just as a matter of interest, Bob possibly forgets the time when he left me in Portugal to fend for myself and I didn't know Spanish or Portuguese.
Anyway, we got along. The point is we want to try and keep it simple this afternoon and I'd like to talk a little bit about buying and selling.
In spiritual things.
Even the younger children here are familiar with buying and selling.
It doesn't take very long, does it, before we learn the value of money?
We learn what it can buy. We learn what it can do.
But in spiritual things there is also.
Such a thing as buying and selling.
I'd like to talk first about the gospel for a few minutes, and I'd like to turn to a few scriptures in that respect.
The first one in Isaiah chapter 55.
Isaiah 55.
A well known verse that is often used in a gospel message.
Isaiah 55 and verse one.
Oh everyone that thirsteth come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money.
Come ye buy and eat.
Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Now turn over to the New Testament to Matthew 25.
Where again we find the gospel referred to in a picture.
And the word by is used again Matthew 25.
Will not read the whole story because I'm going to assume a general familiarity with this story about the 10 virgins. But you will remember that five were wise and five were foolish.
And the five had oil in their lamps, the Five wise Virgins.
But the five foolish ones had lamps, Wicks in their lamps and everything, but no oil. And when there was a problem.
The foolish one said to the wise Give us some oil. But what did the wise have to say to them?
Notice verse 9, Matthew 25 and verse 9.
But the wise answered saying not so.
Lest there be not enough for us and you, but go ye rather to them that sell and buy.
For yourselves.
One more verse in this same book, Matthew 11.
Matthew 11.
And verse 12.
Somewhat of an unusual verse, but with minor variations. We find it elsewhere in the Gospels.
Matthew 11 and verse 25.
And from the days of John the Baptist until now.
The Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence.
And the violent take it by force.
All of these three verses have something in common, namely that they seem to imply that it takes some energy.
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And our putting forth some effort in order to have the things of God.
And in particular, we are speaking about the gospel.
Some of you children will perhaps laugh at this story, but the first time I went to India, more than 30 years ago now, I wanted to take a ride on a bus.
And it was an English style bus, one of those double Decker buses, and there was a little open platform at the back on which you climbed in order to get on the bus. And then of course eventually the conductor came along and asked for your ticket and if you could manage it, you could make your way up to the second story of that bus which.
Was a little bit out of the common stream and you could relax a little up on the second story of the bus.
I wanted to get on that bus and so I tried to get on.
And I suppose being raised in the what I would call.
I I don't want to be derogatory or anything, but having been raised in North America and used to.
People getting on the bus in an orderly way. I kind of waited my turn and tried to get on that bus in an orderly way and you can guess the result I didn't get on.
I didn't get on. There was just a mass of arms and legs all trying to get on that bus and eventually the bus started to move and and there I was left standing.
Well, I had to learn that if I wanted to get on that bus, I had to push, I had to shove, I had to be prepared to put forth some energy.
You may say, but I thought the gospel was free. I thought that everything had already been done. I thought that in his work on the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ had done everything so that there was nothing left for us to do.
Oh, I say to you, on the authority of the Word of God, to this afternoon that is blessedly true.
And if there is anyone here today that is not saved, oh, let me remind you on the authority of God's Word that there is nothing you can do to add to the work of Christ. Salvation is all of grace, it is all on God's side, and it was all a plan of God to provide a way whereby you and I could be brought into blessing through the work of Christ.
The blood of Jesus Christ.
His son cleanseth us from all sin.
Why then do we find the words by connected in Isaiah 55 and in Matthew 25 with salvation? And why does the Lord Jesus himself say that the Kingdom of heaven, which is not heaven itself, but rather the sphere of Christian profession on earth? Why does he say that it suffereth violence and the violent take it by force?
I suggest two reasons for that, which I believe we need to be reminded of.
First of all, God would remind us that if salvation is free.
It is not cheap.
It is not cheap.
It cost God the death of his beloved Son. It costs God literally everything he had in order to provide salvation for you and for me. How many parents here have gone to a store with their children? I know I have, and some of us are old enough to have gone to stores with our grandchildren.
And those children have bought things.
And they enjoyed very much the privilege of buying them.
But little did they realize how much that item actually cost. Little did they realize, perhaps, the energy and effort, the work that went into providing that money, which did not ultimately come from their efforts, but rather from parents or grandparents or others.
But when we think of what God has given, when we think of the gift that he gave, we sung that him this morning. Behold what wondrous love and grace when we were wretched and undone to save a rude, helpless race, the Father gave his only son.
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Salvation is indeed a free gift, but God would remind us of the cost.
But I believe there's another reason here that brings it more, shall I say, home to your soul and mine.
Our late brother Armstead Barry, whom some here will remember. He's been with the Lord for about 35 years now, but some of us remember him well and he made a statement one time. He said don't make the gospel too easy.
He said, when Paul and Silas said to the Philippian jailer, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
He was or they were, speaking to a man that was trembling, a man who had no question of his being a Sinner, a man who trembled as he realized his awful condition in the sight of a holy God. A man who was ready to hear those words of comfort and assurance. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. But, he said, don't make the gospel too easy, because repentance is necessary.
Brother Dawn Rule, who has left now, made a statement in the Reading meeting and I would re echo it.
That man in his natural state is not merely A Sinner. He is a lost Sinner. And a lost Sinner needs not only to recognize that he has sinned before a holy God, but he needs to recognize that if he really believes what God has said.
Then there needs to be repentance.
What is the result of that? Oh, when there is a belief in what God has said, then there is a desire to reach out for salvation. Why? And this is central to the message I trust the Lord has laid in my heart this afternoon. Why does the Sinner ultimately come to Christ? Because he feels his need.
Because he feels.
His need. And so everyone here, and I know this, represents by far the greater majority of those here. This afternoon, when you and I by grace, came to Christ as our Savior, when you and I came and asked the Lord Jesus to wash away our sins, on what basis did we come? It was on the basis that we could do nothing to help ourselves, and we felt our need.
The Lord Jesus gives voice to that feeling here when he says in Matthew 11.
The Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force, and we are going to transpose that verse over a little bit in a few minutes. But for now, in speaking about the gospel, let us emphasize the fact that what the Lord Jesus said in that day is just as true today. A Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence.
What does that mean?
Well, there can be various ways in which we can interpret that, but I see it this way that when the Lord Jesus appeared in this world and gave witness by the miracles he did and by the things he said as to who he was, immediately Satan was there to try and withstand.
Everything that that Blessed One did and said there was violence and there is violence today.
Those that were here at the meetings on Friday.
Heard a story of how some of our dear brethren, and we know only a very few of them who are truly saved, but we know some of the brethren in India and in other places in the world.
They're suffering violence. They're suffering violence. The enemy is doing everything possible to try and dissuade people from coming to Christ. He's putting before them the fact that if you come to Christ, this is the price that has to be paid.
And it is a very real thing.
I say to your heart and mind this afternoon, Do we realize that we have to pay that price over here in one way or another? Maybe we don't have someone coming to our door in the middle of the night and kicking the door open. Maybe we don't have people coming at us with sticks and stones, and we can be very thankful for that. We can be so thankful that we can sit here this afternoon in this room relaxed, having had a good meal together.
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Having socialized together, it did my heart good to see some of the children here playing before the meeting having a good time.
I say with all my heart, I hope that continues. But there is more and more a price to be paid. The Kingdom of heaven is suffering more and more violence.
And if you and I want to have Christ, there's going to be a price to be paid.
A man once said.
It costs too much.
To be a Christian.
I don't know what he was referring to.
But if he was referring to the gospel.
Then we could have told him, no, it does not cost too much to be a Christian. Salvation is free on your side. It's a matter of feeling your need and coming to repentance.
And let me say to each one here, and perhaps even to those who are truly saved.
Unless there has been a thorough plowing up of your conscience in the sight of God. Unless there has been a thorough realization of yourself as a lost, guilty Sinner before God.
In one sense.
The work in your soul will continue to be somewhat of a shallow work, and sometimes, even as believers, God has to put you and me through experiences to make us realize the depths of sin to which we can go.
The capabilities of our own hearts. The things we could do if God didn't keep us. And then we learn not to trust ourselves any longer.
The violent Take it by force. If you're not saved, you're going to have to be persuaded. You're going to have to be prepared to swim against the stream. You're going to have to be prepared to step in there and take hold of what God is offering you.
Occasionally I have been in a position where.
I have seen people wanting to have something that was free.
Where there was a limited supply.
And it was sometimes amusing, sometimes downright distressing, to watch it happen to, to see those who were desperately poor trying to get their hands on something.
That they really needed.
And yet I had to realize that no matter.
What happened there?
There was always going to be a shortfall.
There were always going to be people left over who couldn't get any, and their strenuous efforts to get some of it were remarkable.
It's true in this country too, isn't it?
There used to be a man up in our neck of the woods in Ontario, Canada.
And he was a millionaire.
And he used to amuse himself by going down to stay in the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto, which is right downtown on Front St.
And just for fun.
From perhaps the third or fourth story up, he would start dropping money out of the window. This was during the Depression, when money was scarce and he didn't much care. In those days, we had one and $2.00 bills and $5 bills and $10 bills, and he would just casually let it drop out the window. And of course, as you can imagine, the wind would take it this way and that way, and pretty soon a crowd would gather down below trying to decide where the money was going to hit.
And you can well imagine the result. People grabbed for dollar, bills got ripped, fights broke out, all kinds of things. And he would sit up there laughing his head off at this whole scenario until he got tired of it. And then he would close the window until he wanted to do it again the next day. And again a crowd would gather.
And to him, it was just hilarious to see how people would grab, grab, grab for those things.
But some of them didn't grab just because it was a matter of wanting to have more money. Some of them were in real need and they wanted it.
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You know, God uses that analogy for you and me.
Let's transpose that verse. Now over to you and me as believers.
Someone has said that we will never go after the things of Christ or the truth of God until we feel our need of it.
Most of you know that. Excuse me.
Some of us were up at Morningstar Camp.
Back.
Two weeks ago.
And during that time, there were one or two people, maybe more, who got the flu.
Wasn't a big deal, but they got the flu and on one occasion I remember one of those individuals being offered something to eat.
Don't you want something to eat?
And their answer was number I don't feel like something to eat.
Those of us that were feeling well and had healthy appetites.
Of course, from our standpoint.
That delightful odor of Tony and Becky's cooking.
You just headed right to the dining room tent there. That's where you went. And as soon as that bell rang, there was a net rung. There wasn't a problem.
But some people didn't want anything to eat. Why not? Oh, their constitution, Their whole being was sick and they didn't feel like eating.
Other times.
People had had other things to eat.
And although there was a strict rule about having food in teepees and tents and so on, and I think for the most part that rule was observed. People had other things to eat, and sometimes they didn't want any food because they'd eaten somewhere else.
Do both of those situations ring a bell with us as Christians?
How many times, speaking to the boys and girls here today, have you wanted a snack or something? About half an hour or an hour before supper. I don't know if this still goes on today, but it surely did when I was a boy. And your mom or your dad says no, no, no, no. It's too close to supper. You'll spoil your supper. I don't want you to have a snack right now.
Does that still go on today?
I think it probably does. They don't want you to eat a candy bar or a piece of an ice cream bar or something like that just before supper, because then you won't want your meat and potatoes.
But do we do that as Christians sometimes?
Do we snack on things that aren't really good for us? And I'm not suggesting that ice cream isn't good for you, I enjoy it myself. But the point is there is a proper way of eating and there's a wrong way of eating.
And sometimes in spiritual things, there are two things wrong with us. Either we have eaten too much of something somewhere else, and then we have no appetite for the things of God. Or maybe spiritually we're sick and we don't feel like eating.
But other times.
There is a hunger there.
Because if you are really the Lords.
And you really know Christ as your Savior.
And you really have that new life within you and the Spirit of God dwelling in you.
You can't help but be hungry. You have a new life. If I can say it calmly, that gets hungry the same way as your natural life gets hungry.
Let's turn to a couple more verses. Let's turn to the book of Proverbs, chapter 13.
Proverbs 13.
Verse 4.
Of those, excuse me.
Proverbs 13 verse four, The soul of the slugger desireth.
And hath nothing?
But the soul of the diligent shall be made fact.
Now over to the 23rd chapter, Proverbs 23.
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And verse 23.
By the truth.
And sell it not.
Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
It's one thing to buy.
In the sense of laying hold of the gospel saying I want that.
But it's another step now. The next step is to buy the truth.
Buy the truth.
Oh, the Lord says by the truth, and sell it not, And it says the soul of the diligent shall be made fact.
Many years ago, there was a man whom I never knew.
But I would like to have known him.
I'm looking forward to having a visit with him in coming glory.
James B Dunlop.
Man.
Who resided in Canada most of his life, although he was born in England.
And as a young man he had a desire to go into the British Army, which he did.
And so he went into the British Army and received a Commission and became a captain.
The Lord had his eye on Mr. Dunlop. James B Dunlop.
And he was saved in his early 20s.
And immediately he had a desire to follow the Lord and to get hold of the things of Christ.
During his time in the army, he got to know another young man who was exactly the same age.
And he was of the nobility in England.
Lord Alfred P Cecil or Cecil as they call him in England. Lord Cecil.
And together they were there in the British Army, and together they made the decision that they would go after the things of Christ instead of the things of this world.
And so the two of them at the age of 24.
Gave up their commissions in the British Army.
And said there is something far more important to go after in life, something far more important to lay hold of.
Then everything down here.
At that time, Britain occupied the position in the world as much the same as the United States does today. Their army and Navy kind of cruised around the world and was, in a general way, the world's policeman. They turned their back on it all and said we are going to have the things of Christ.
And it came home to James B Dunlop. As a young man, how do I get these things?
How do I get them?
And the Lord showed them this verse in Proverbs 13 and four.
The soul of the diligent shall be made fat all, he said. There's only one way to get these things, and that is diligence.
And he was a diligent man.
We're not here to exalt men this afternoon.
And as I say, I never knew Mr. Dunlop. He went to be with the Lord in 1928 and that's long before my time.
But his earnest prayer was, and I tell this story for the benefit because I said we'd have something for younger ones and something for older ones too. It was his earnest prayer that he wear out and not rust out.
At the age of 87.
In 1927 he wanted to go and visit his brethren down in the West Indies again, so he packed his bag and went down there by boat and visited around.
And the brethren there were very encouraged by his visit.
He came back home and spent his time encouraging assemblies in North America.
In late June.
In 1928, I believe.
He was ministering after the remembrance of the Lord in Toronto ON, and during the time he was ministering he had a crippling stroke that laid him flat on the floor.
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Brethren helped him to his feet. He was paralyzed, totally on one side, but his mind and his speech were clear.
They were ready to help him out of the meeting room, but he said no, he said. I'm not finished yet.
Sat down and finished his discourse.
Gave out the closing hymn and sang it most heartily, and only then, after the meeting was closed, did he allow himself to be taken home to bed.
He was supposed to speak to the Sunday school children that afternoon. When he realized he couldn't do it, he gave the message to another brother and said don't worry about me, I'll be all right. Just let me lie here for a bit. I've had these things before.
I'll be all right to preach the gospel this evening.
It became obvious as time went on that there wasn't going to be any preaching of the gospel by him that evening, so he gave the message to someone else. He said. Just give me a few more days and I'll be able to be at the all day meeting in Rideau Ferry on July the 1St.
That wasn't to be either. That was the day the Lord took him home.
He's buried there on the Scotch line, just outside of Perth.
Anyway, I don't tell that story to eulogize a man. I say that there is a challenge that I believe goes out to each one of us here. Are we willing to pay the cost of being diligent?
Are we willing to pay that cost?
In North America, here and I speak to my own heart, we have had a relatively easy life.
And that includes me too.
I'm not preaching at you. I'm preaching right back here.
I remember when I was in university back in the 1960s, one of our professors who loved to teach, but he was about 75 at the time.
And I guess he found her class somewhat of a bunch of rascals, and I have to admit that we were.
We wanted to learn, but we were Rascal.
And one day he'd had it, as we say, up to here with some of us.
And he said, ah, he said, you young people, he said.
You've had the good life.
Life has just been a bowl of cherries for you. I'll never forget his words because he was a good professor and a good lecturer, he said. You never had to live through a war. You never had to live through a depression.
You don't know what life is all about, and I hope you never have to learn the way I did.
But I wish you'd straighten up a little bit.
I never forgot those words. It sobered some of us up. It made us realize that there was a dimension of life that we hadn't experienced.
And I say to your heart and mind sometimes, as we grow up in these favoured lands, we get the idea that everything is free. We get the idea.
From a sense of entitlement that it's all there for us and that all we have to do is take it.
Well, I'm thankful for everything we have, and I don't make any apology for it because God says through Paul and first Timothy 6 that he giveth us all things richly to enjoy.
But I do say that there is something far beyond that that is worth reaching out for. And it's not merely a matter of head knowledge. When JB Dunlop spoke of being diligent, when he was exercised by that verse, when the Lord says by the truth and sell it not, it is not merely getting into books so that I can spout it word for word. That is not the thought.
Oh no. It is to have Christ. It is to have all that he is.
Someone has said that true Christianity is not adherence to a set of truths, no matter how scriptural they are.
True Christianity is not worshipping in a certain place. No matter.
How much it might be according to the word of God.
True, Christianity is not professing a certain set of doctrines, no matter how right they may be. It is all of that. But it is more it is that new life which Christ has given you and me expressing itself.
Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week in our everyday lives. And that means the diligence to have Christ before us.
Let's turn to Luke chapter 14 for something that I have often preached on before, but I'd like to, if I may, put a little different twist on it this afternoon. Luke 14.
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Now in this chapter we find that God puts things in their proper order.
First of all, beginning with verse 15, we have the story of the Great Supper. And you know the story as well as I how that there was a man who put on a great supper and how that he invited many who, when they were told it was ready, began to make all kinds of excuses. And you and I think those excuses look pretty ridiculous. And I don't pretend to understand the Eastern mind, but I know enough about it to know that.
These men were not making excuses. It was simply a polite way of saying no.
It was a polite way of saying no, because in the Far East you don't say no, you say it in another way. But anybody that understands the language of the East knows very well what you're saying. And so when the master here became very angry, it was because he knew that these men were saying in a very polite way.
I am not interested.
And the Great Supper brings before us the gospel. The great Supper was free. And as a result of those men making excuses, oh thank God, the servants went out into the highways and hedges and compelled poor, lame, blind, halt, beggars in a sense to come and be and be seated at that great Supper. And it was free. And thank God, the grace of God has provided everything for you and me to be saved.
But then we find the Lord Jesus saying in verse 25, and that's what we wish to dwell on this afternoon.
Luke 14 and 25.
And there went great multitudes after him, That's typical. Many will go after Christ for that which he gave. And he turned and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren.
And sister Jay, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
All salvation is free, but discipleship has a cost attached to it.
Oh, you see, but why does it have to be that way? Why cannot we simply have discipleship in the same way as we have salvation?
Why on the one hand does God provide salvation free through the work of Christ, and on the other hand make discipleship have a cost and sometimes a heavy cost attached to it?
Ah, there is more than one reason.
One reason is that you and I, and God knows this, we value that which costs us something.
It's one thing to have salvation free through the work of Christ, but even in that we've seen that there's a necessity for energy to take hold of that.
But we find after we have taken hold of it that it is the grace of God that even provided the energy to do so. It's the grace of God that even provided the energy to do so. Oh, that overflows our hearts when we think that not only has God provided the way for me to be saved, but he even provided the faith to lay hold of it and the energy to realize might need.
The energy to realize that I needed to be saved.
But now?
Is it any different when you and I?
Lay hold of the truth.