Gospel—R. Rule
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Shall we commence our meeting by singing together?
Hymn #25.
Life at best is very brief, like the falling of a leaf, like the binding of a sheaf.
Be in time, fleeting days.
Are telling fast that the die will soon be cast and the fatal line be passed.
Be in time #25.
Life at best, is very brief, like the falling of the way.
Morning All the shaping and high.
Cleaning days are going for the joy of also Bethel and the faith of the faithful life.
And then you'll longer wait.
So they find all the years and your God he dropped away the empire.
There are flower stones.
You'll find the other day passed away.
Oh, you'll have. I want to say good night.
Good night.
I.
AM.
Thank you on your way to your place. I am the Lord of the jewels.
And the heart is up to a.
Bhai.
I miss my distress way behind Sanjay Dutt, Volkswagen Night.
To destroy Jesus life.
He and I.
So I don't know how to do it.
00:05:02
From Aliens.
When a number of souls are gathered together like this.
And the opportunity is granted 1.
To tell forth the gospel.
It should indeed be a solemn occasion.
It's indeed a responsibility for the one that stands here before you.
And seeks to give out the message with the Lord's help.
And it's quite a responsibility, dear friend, to you too.
We're not going to be talking about trifling matters tonight. We're not going to be talking about trivial things.
We're going to be talking about the important question of your soul.
I had before me turning to the third chapter of Genesis tonight. That's very near the beginning of the word of God.
In the first chapter of Genesis.
We have God as a creator God. In the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth.
Is the way this book that we have opens.
In that first chapter we find man being brought into this scene.
In the second chapter it says that God breathed into Adam the breath of life and he became a living soul.
Our purpose tonight is to speak to you, dear friend, about your soul. You have a living soul.
An immortal soul.
And there's no question in this life is important.
As to that which concerns your soul.
Where are you going to spend eternity?
Have you ever resolved that question in the presence of God?
And according to the Word of God.
You have to spend eternity somewhere.
I asked a brother where a scripture was as we left the prayer meeting 1/2 an hour or so ago.
The Scripture.
It had slipped my mind. The location of it happens to be in the 25th of Matthew.
But in that scripture, in that chapter, it speaks of those that will go.
To a place spoken of as being cast into everlasting fire.
A place that was prepared for the devil and his angels.
We're going to read about the devil tonight and he's seeking companions.
He'd like to have you in that place of everlasting fire as one of his companions.
It was prepared for the devil and his angels, but because man sinned and because sin came in.
The word of God tells us that that will be the final destiny.
Of those that die without Christ. Oh dear friend, do you have Christ tonight? Is he your savior? If not, may he be before you walk out the door?
Because it's a solemn thing.
00:10:00
To trifle with the question of one's immortal soul.
This little hymn that we sang.
Encouraged us to be in time.
It said life is very brief, like the falling of a leaf.
Like the binding of a sheath doesn't take long for a leaf to fall.
And when I was a boy, I often worked in harvesting and saw many sheaves a week bound by a thrashing machine. And that didn't take very long either.
Sitting beside me this afternoon.
Was a young man, young lady, and I saw him hand her.
A little poem. I had been given one.
Must have been a year or so ago and I slipped it into my pocket. It just happened to still be in my pocket.
I'm going to read half of it. It's entitled Life's Clock.
The clock of life is wound, but once.
And no man has the power to tell just where the hands will stop.
At late or early hour to lose one's health.
Or pardon me, to lose one's wealth is sad indeed.
To lose one's health is more.
To lose one's soul is such a loss as no man can restore.
It's that soul of yours we want to speak to you about tonight, dear friend. The word of God says, watch a look profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul. Consider that that gives us a little idea of the value of your immortal soul, as God estimates it. And remember.
The clock of time.
You don't know when it's going to stop in your life.
And so I would encourage you to earnestly consider what we seek to bring before you from the word of God tonight.
And I would earnestly encourage you to trust in the Savior that we want to bring before you.
The Lord Jesus Christ Shall we turn to the third chapter of Genesis.
Now the serpent.
Was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman.
Yeah, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent.
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, gave also unto her husband with her, and he did he.
And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the garden.
The Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked. And I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree? Whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And the man said, the woman who now gave us to be with me. She gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done?
And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this.
Thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon my belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head. Thou shalt bruise his heel unto the woman, he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
00:15:24
Now to Adam, he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and us eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it.
Cursed is the ground for thy sake and sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
Thorns also and thistles shall bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it whatst thou taken?
For dost thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return? And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also, and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothe them. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand, and take all through the tree of life, and eat and live forever.
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So he drove out the man, and he placed at the East End of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.
While this is an interesting chapter.
But it's a sad story.
Because it brings before us.
A man's fall, the fall of man was mentioned.
In our reading meeting this afternoon, if I remember correctly.
We find it opening by referring to a serpent that was more subtle than any of the beasts of the field.
If we didn't have anything else as to this serpent, we might be very much in doubt as to who is referred to here.
But just as this is the third chapter from the beginning of the book, if we were to turn, and I'm going to ask you not to take the time tonight, if we were to turn to the third chapter from the end of the book, we'd find in detail who it is.
Says there it speaks about.
The.
The dragon. That old serpent.
Which is called the devil and Satan. And so the same person is given four names there, The dragon, the serpent, the old serpent. Because there we have what takes place about 6000 years after the What's recorded here in Genesis 3?
And then we have the devil and Satan referred to all the same persons.
I think that there's a different.
Thought in prominence where you have a different name. For example, Satan would speak of adversary, perhaps, where it's the dragon, its cruelty.
But we find here in our chapter as to the Serpent, it's his subtlety, his guile.
Friend this serpent here.
Is the enemy of your soul.
I wonder if you ever realized that you had one who is the enemy of your soul.
You still have to do with him, just as the Adam and Eve did here.
It says he was more subtle than any of the beasts of the field.
Yes, there's a wily foe. And as I said earlier, if he has his way, he will have you as his companion.
In eternity.
In that place of outer darkness.
And I want with the Lord's help.
To seek to warn you faithfully.
Of what a serious thing it is to listen to the serpent to be beguiled.
By that subtle one, lots of people today are listening to his.
Words, his subtlety and those that.
00:20:03
Are are going to wind up. They're on the downward Rd. that leads to destruction.
And you're no match for Satan. Adam and Eve were no match for him, and there's never been one person in this scene. There was any match for Satan.
Except the Lord Jesus Christ.
If we were to turn to the gospel, we'd find how he was one who overcame the wicked one.
We'd find in Luke's gospel how the Lord was tested.
And I may we may comment on it that little further as we get down in our chapter. But I tell you, you're no match for this one we're speaking about. And if he has his way, he'll take you down with him into that place that I hope you never go. You know, there are two destinies that we read of in this book, Heaven.
Thank God that many, I believe the majority in this room are headed for heaven for glory to be with the Lord Jesus. I hope you're in that number.
But this book also tells of another place it starts. The 1St letter is the same. It's only a four letter word. You know what it is, don't you hell?
Ah, friend, I hope that I hope you're not headed there, but you're headed One Direction or the other at this moment.
And Ohio, if you're headed on the downward Rd. May God turn you about tonight. May He give you to feel your need of a savior.
And that you might be among that number that's on the road to glory, to be with that savior.
In that bright and blessed scene where sin can never come.
Well.
We find this subtle one, the serpent.
He approaches the woman and said, Yeah, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
His very first words are just like the serpent half God said. He's been saying that ever since hath God said.
Well, the woman said, The tree we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Had said, Ye shall not eat of it, but if we were to turn over to the second chapter.
And the 5th and the.
16th verse It says, the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat freely, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Doesn't say anything there about not touching it. It's so easy to add the scripture.
Or take away from scripture. It's important that we avoid.
Doing either one, but just quietly take what God had said the moment that woman listened to the serpent.
The next thing she did was add to the word of God. Oh, if we get our ears opened.
And listen, in any measure to him, we're very apartment to get away.
From the simplicity of the Word of God.
Well, in the next verse it says, the serpent said unto the woman.
Ye shall not surely die, God had said. In the days thou eatest throughout, thou shalt surely die, Or the margin says, dying, thou shalt die.
The serpent says, Thou shalt not surely die.
Ah, that brings us another truth as to the serpent, as to Satan.
We won't take the time to turn to it, but in the 8th chapter of John, I believe it's the 44th verse. We find two things told us about the serpent.
First, he's a murderer from the beginning. And the other thing is, he's a liar.
And here comes that was the lie of the devil, Ye shall not surely die.
The woman was listening to a liar.
And she heard a lie from his lips.
I believe, I don't believe anybody in this room.
If Satan were to say to you, if you are unsaved, thou shalt not surely die, you wouldn't believe him. You'd know it's a lie.
But he doesn't limit himself to one lie. I can tell you a lie.
That he's propagating today to men all through this world.
And maybe you're one of those that have been taken in by it. You know another lie very similar to Thou shalt not die.
He knows you wouldn't believe that today. You have too much witness, too much evidence of the fact.
00:25:02
The lie that Satan is pushing forward today as well, death ends at all.
Friend, it doesn't end at all.
Satan is just as much a liar when he says death ends at all as he was when he said to the woman.
Thou shalt not surely die.
Have you faced up to the fact that death doesn't end at all? Do you know what the Word of God says? It is appointed unto men once to die.
What follows and after death the judgment.
That's pretty solemn, isn't it? After death of judgment?
I don't think I'll ever forget what happened in my life some 2528 years ago.
I was near Mount Pocono, PA, and I talked to a young man about my old age, about his soul.
And as I got to talking to him, he opened up a little bit and told me a little of his life story.
And he said, you know, a few years ago, not long ago, my health was very poor.
And I got discouraged. I thought I'd end it all.
He said I went up.
To the top of the highest building in Newark, NJ, where he lived.
I think, he said. It was about 14 stories high and I knew my way around. I was able to get up on the very top of the building.
He said. I walked to the edge of that building.
And I looked down.
I was just about ready to leap off. But he said, you know, I never made the jump. I said, why not?
Oh, he said. I'll tell you, as far as this life goes, I wanted to end it all.
And I wasn't afraid to die.
But I was afraid of what followed death.
I was afraid of what followed death.
Oh, thank God he was afraid.
Are you afraid of what follows death?
If you are without the savior, you well may be my dear friend.
Word of God says after death the judgment.
Well, he said. I was afraid to jump. I was afraid of what followed death. And he came on down.
Well, I was thankful to have the opportunity to tell him of a savior.
You know.
Friend if that was the.
Summation of my story As far as I got, I wouldn't have. I wouldn't be able to be up here talking to you.
But thank God, thank God. It isn't the end of the story of God's grace. You know the next two words in that verse in Hebrews that I've been quoting to you. It is appointed unto men once to die, but after death, the judgment, you know the next two words. So Christ bring Christ in and everything changes. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.
Oh, what a change it makes when you bring Christ in.
I was asked to take a funeral on Monday afternoon of this week and I mentioned in talking to those that were in the funeral parlor looking at the.
The one that had been taken in death, there she was, laying in that coffin.
And I sought to speak faithfully of death and judgment. And I said, you know, friends, if the story stopped there, it would be a story of defeat.
Oh, but thank God, dear friends, the story that we get in this book, it isn't one when you bring Christ in. It's not a story of defeat. It's the story of victory.
I mentioned the fact that while many had been laid in their tombs, and many great men and mighty men.
That there was 1 tomb today, That's an empty tomb. Thank God, an empty tomb.
That blessed one, the Lord Jesus Christ, Yes.
He spent a little season in that place that was prepared, the tomb prepared by Joseph of Arimathea, the rich man.
He was in the tomb, but today his is an empty tube.
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There is a savior on high in the glory, a living, loving Savior.
One that died for you, One that died for me.
Have you ever opened your heart to receive Him as your savior?
Well.
I would bring before you again, dear friend.
The pointed unto men wants to die, and after death the judgment.
Oh, make sure that that isn't the end as far as you're concerned.
Make sure that you know the savior that died, that you might live.
Well, here in our chapter.
The servant tells a lie on the 4th verse.
And he infers one in the fifth verse. God does know that in the day that she eats thereof, then your eyes shall be opened.
Ye shall be as God's knowing, good and evil.
The inference that he makes there, and a pretty plain inference, is this.
I'll tell you why God told you not to eat of the Tree of Life. He knew if you did, you'd profit by it.
You will be as more like him, have a knowledge of good and evil.
And he doesn't want you to have the best portion. He's holding out on you a little bit.
He doesn't really love you. He doesn't want you to be his gods, knowing good and evil.
Could we say this? He in effect challenged the goodness and the love of God.
But oh, I'm thankful to be able to tell you this afternoon, dear friend, that God has answered that challenge.
He answered it at Calvary's cross.
God wasn't holding anything back on Adam and Eve, and he's holding nothing back on you.
He's given the greatest gift.
That was ever given. John 316 says that 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 there is God's gift, dear friend. There never was a gift like that.
God so loved the world that he gave. What did he give his only begotten son?
That whosoever believeth on him should not perish does the word of God say after death the judgment. It does indeed, but that verse in John 316 says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Ah, that isn't death. It's life. Eternal life.
Our brother brought before us last night that those words, those four precious words in John. First John, God is love. And it was a Calvary that God proved his love. I often think, you know, it's been said that in Genesis we have the seed plot of the Bible and we have a little picture, I believe, of the love of God right in this book in Genesis in types.
In the 22nd of Genesis. That won't take long to turn to, so let's turn to that Genesis 22.
It came to pass after these things that God did to tempt Abraham.
And he said unto him, Abraham he said, Behold, here I am.
And he said, Take now thy son.
Thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest.
And get thee into the land of Moriah, and offering therefore a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell you of.
Oh my, what a test that must have been for that father's heart. There are some mothers and fathers here.
You can enter in a measure of what that would have been for Abraham. Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest. I believe that's the first place in the word of God where you have reference to love.
Abraham, I think, speaks to us of God the Father. The time was coming when he had to take his son, his only son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And send him down here. Offer him up.
It says in verse in verse.
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Nine they came to the place that God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there.
And laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him upon the altar.
Upon the wood, and Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
Can you imagine what was going on in the heart of Abraham at that moment? His son bound on the altar, the knife in hand, and he expected to use that knife. Thank God there was a voice at that moment.
Says the Angel, Lord called him out of heaven, And said, Abraham, Abraham, he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do I anything unto him.
For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and behold, or rather, and looked and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns.
And Abraham went and offered, and went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
Oh, how wonderful, he was spared using that knife. But you know, dear friend.
When the moment came for God to offer up his Son.
And we have that anticipated in this chapter 2 because it says.
In verse 7, the middle of verse.
Or rather, the first of the verse Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and he said, Father.
My father and he said here my my son, And he said, behold the fire in the woods. But where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
Remarkable Abraham's answer, Abraham said. My son, God shall provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.
Oh dear friend, that's exactly what God has done. He's provided himself a lamb for burnt offering. It was his own son.
When John the Baptist saw him coming one day, he said.
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Yes, the Lord Jesus was God's lamb, the perfect sinless victim. And God so loved you and me, that he sent that blessed One down from Glory's highest height, the one who was ever the darling of his bosom. And he sent him to Calvary's cross.
A lamb for a bird offering and also a sin offering.
Although the higher aspect is mentioned here, yes.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
Oh dear friend, that blessed one we are Speaking of, he died for you.
And if you spend eternity with the devil and his angels.
It's because you haven't opened your heart to receive that blessed Savior that died for you, that you might live.
Our brother brought me forth last night the importance how we needed a substitute.
And thank God the Lord Jesus Christ is the Sinner substitute, the one who took his place.
Who went down into death in order that the Sinner might have his sins forgiven.
And might enter into life, life eternal. Well, going back to our chapter on the 3rd of Genesis.
As we mentioned in verse 5.
Satan, the serpent, inferred that God was holding something back.
But always I've already sought to bring out. God has given.
That which was nearest and dearest to his heart, the greatest gift that's ever been given. What have you done with his gift to you, my friend?
What have you done with the Lord Jesus? Have you opened your heart to receive that blessed one?
Oh, if if the serpent here challenged the love of God, thank God. As we said, God has answered that challenge in the gift of his own son.
Well, it says in verse 6, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes and the tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit there oven to eat and gave also under her husband he to eat.
Rather interesting here, the similarity as to what brought before us in connection with a woman. There are three things.
She saw it was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and something a tree desired to make one wise.
00:40:03
Well, we had before someone quoted it today in the Reading meetings, adverse in the First Epistle of John, where it tells us all of us in the world, all of us of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but it's of the world. Well, we find the first instance, I believe, of those three things right here, lust of the flesh, that which was good for food.
And then it says.
That it was.
Pleasant to the eyes, little lust of the eyes in evidence, and then something that would make one wise who's speaking to us of the pride of our hearts, the pride of life. Well, it says that she.
Took of the fruit thereof, she was disobedient.
And says she gave unto her husband.
With her and heated east now because the man is looked at as the head.
In Romans 5 we have just the man brought before us, it says as by one man sin entered into the world.
Here's where it answered. Right here, as by one man, sin entered into the world.
And death by sin. So death passed upon all men for that all of sinned.
Yes, that's where death entered into the world through sin, and it was by one man, and we have that recorded right here in our chapter.
Well, what was the result? The eyes of both of them were open, and they knew that they were naked.
Yes, I believe that when Adam and Eve sinned, I believe the.
They had a conscience.
The serpent had said.
That in the day thou eat thereof ye shall be as God's knowing good and evil.
He didn't tell them that you won't have any power to do good and that you will have no power to avoid.
Refrain or is too evil? Oh no, he didn't tell him that.
He didn't tell him the results either. He lied about the results.
It says their eyes were opened. They knew that they were naked.
Now, where you have reference to being naked in the word of God, often it's a figure of being naked in a spiritual sense. For example, in the third chapter of Revelation. I'm going to ask you to save time, not to turn to it, but I will. I'll just hurriedly refer to a clause or two. There we find the church at Laodicea. God says to them.
Thou knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked.
He's not speaking in a physical sense, but morally, spiritually.
He says, I counsel thee to buy, and one of the things that he says is costly, to buy white raiment, that thou mightest be clothed.
White speaks of purity. White raiment would be that raiment that which would.
Fit one for God's presence.
Well, it says they knew that they were naked.
And they sold pig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
Those fig leaves, when they were done, were the result of their own doing, their own hands and friend. This book makes it very clear that you can't fit yourself for God's presence by your own works.
The word of God says in the book of Isaiah says all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
God couldn't have you in His presence in filthy rags. All our righteousnesses, the best that the natural man can produce for God, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. In that chapter it says I am become as an unclean thing.
Ah, dear friend.
Don't try to fit yourselves for God's presence.
If you acknowledge that you're a Sinner.
Don't think by turning over a new leaf and doing the best you can that that will fit you for the presence of God. It won't.
What happened? They made these fig leaves, as we said, the production of their own hands, something they worked out for themselves.
Says they heard the voice, verse 8. The voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the garden.
00:45:02
The 10th verse tells us why they hid themselves.
In the 10th verse we fight Adam saying I heard thy voice in the garden. I was afraid.
Because I was naked and I hid myself. Didn't he have the fig leaves?
Ah, as we said, that's the work of his own hand. Those fig leaves meant nothing.
Far as God is concerned, you can't dress yourself up for God's presence.
And they realized that when they got into His presence, when the Lord came down the cool of the day, we find them hiding among the trees of the garden.
They were afraid. Oh, you know, it's a wonderful thing when you find a soul that gets afraid.
I wish you were afraid tonight, my friend. I wish you had that feeling in your heart. Oh, I'm afraid to die. I'm afraid to meet God. I'm not prepared to meet him. How thankful we would be if your conscience might be stirred up to own. Yes, I'm a Sinner lost and undone. And I'm afraid because you know when when the first step in blessing is for one to feel their need. To feel our need. And where you find a soul that feels is need.
Oh, how quickly the Lord is ready to step in and bring before that one.
That savior who can meet that need? Well, they said. I was afraid.
And hid themselves.
And at that, right at that juncture, when the Lord God called unto Adam, notice those words in the ninth verse. A very important question, only three words.
He said. Where? Ourselves?
It speaks of Adam's condition, his position. Before God, a distance had come in. He was hiding. Now a distance. Sin brings the distance between man and God. In the New Testament, we have another thought added to distance, the Lord told Speaking of Trees. It makes me think of one who climbed the tree, a seeking soul.
In the 19th of Luke we read about him Zacchaeus.
The Lord told him the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.
Now what does that word lost, add to what we've been Speaking of as to their sin? Bringing in a distance. Man is not only the distance from God because of his sin, but he can't find his own way back. He's lost.
But just as Adam, just as God, came down into that garden, we find God seeking now.
Calling to Adam, Adam, where I fell. Oh, dear friend, I'm thankful to be able to tell you if you have any sense that you're lost, that you're naked as it were before God speaking morally, I'm thankful to be able to tell you that the Lord Jesus is seeking you tonight. We were reminded that this afternoon of that lovely verse, our brother quoted it from Matthew 11. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Are you laboring in any measure under the burden of your sin and guilt?
I said earlier, I hope you have a sense of your lost condition, a sense that you're a Sinner, that you're undone, that you need a savior. Well, if you have any sense of that in your soul, dear friend, if you'll own your need. The Lord Jesus says you come to me, come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We mentioned Zacchaeus.
You know, once in a while or every at times, we find souls. They're brought to feel their need, and then they become seeking souls.
Zacchaeus was a short man and in that chapter we find there was a great throng around the Lord Jesus.
And Zacchaeus says he sought to see Jesus who he was.
But because he was so short of stature, he knew he couldn't see him in the crowd.
And he climbed a tree. Here we have. I had him among the trees, hiding.
All I'd like to see you like Zacchaeus. He was up in the tree seeking.
Are you a seeking soul tonight, friend?
If you are I like to think, in that chapter we find 2 seekers. Zacchaeus was seeking to see Jesus. Ah, but Jesus was seeking Zacchaeus and when he came along he looked up and he called him down. I don't have time to finish the story, but those two seeking ones, the seeking soul and the seeking Savior, they got together and Zacchaeus learned what it was to be saved.
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The Lord told him, This day is salvation. Come to thy house, friend, Would you like to be saved?
Thank God, that same one that saved Zacchaeus, the same one that saved my soul, the same one that saved the souls of many in this room tonight. He'll save your soul. If you'll just own your need and come to him as a savior. Will you receive that blessed one?
I ask you, before God answer that question that was put to Adam, Adam, God said to him, Where art thou?
Where are you, friends? Are you on the way?
To hell.
If you are, you better acknowledge it before God.
Make a turnabout tonight.
Where art thou? Where are you, dear friend?
Answer that presence will you Further on in this chapter we have God asking another question.
He said to the woman, What is this that thou hast done? What have you done?
Old friend, what have you done?
Our brother mentioned last night that this one sin of disobedience here.
Would shut a soul out of heaven.
One sin kept Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, and one sin would keep your soul out of heaven.
Without a savior, what have you done? Would you like it if we had a white?
Black If we had a blackboard here and some white chalk, would you like to have everything you've done written up on that blackboard? I certainly wouldn't. And you wouldn't either, friend. You know you're a Sinner. You know you've sinned.
Even the thought of foolishness is sin. The word of God says, Oh friend, you need a savior.
You need a savior.
But thank God he's provided a savior.
Yes. Don't forget those questions. Where art thou? What hast thou done?
You're at a distance from God if you're not saved, and you've sinned against God. And God cannot have sin in his presence.
And so you need a savior.
Well, I can't take time as the prize to see how the time has been going by will.
Will have to.
Skip over a few of these verses and comment very briefly.
But.
We find here that God spoke.
To the man? And asked him, Hast thou eaten of the tree? Where have I commanded thee, that thou shouldst not eat? And the man Said the woman whom thou gave us to be with me?
She gave me the tree and I did eat. Oh yes, Adam would pass it off, more or less. Make it partly God's fault.
The woman that you gave me, she gave me the tree and I did eat halfway, put it up. Blame on to God. You'll find lots of people today who will put the blame on God of their being a Sinner. They say why did God make man that way? And other similar questions that in effect are just tossing the blame onto God. Friend, that won't do any good When the time comes you stand before the Great White Throne. No, it'll be that kind of an approach will do no good. Let's be honest. Let's face up to our guilt, our sin and guilt.
And take advantage of the Savior that God has provided.
We brought thought to bring before you about how Adam and Eve it says they hid themselves.
You can't hide from God.
We do find in Revelation 6 where many triaths because they have some sense of the seriousness of having to do with God in the 6th of Revelation. I'm just going to read about one verse there speaking about hiding.
It says there at the end of that that the kings of the earth, the great men and the rich men, the chief captains, the mighty men, and every bond men, and every freeman.
Hid themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains. Why?
They said under the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.
For great is the day of his wrath, And who shall be able to stand?
Oh, now they realize something of the solemnity of the day of wrath.
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And they call on the rocks and the mountains to flow on them and to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb.
Actually, they were mistaken. This wasn't the day of his wrath yet, but they thought it was.
And it brings before us the solemnity of recognizing, of having to do with God in the day of his wrath.
But you know, dear friends, the mountains and rocks and nothing else could ever hide you from a holy God.
In the 20th chapter of this Book of Revelation, I'll tell you what it says. It tells there of a great white throne.
It says that I saw the dead, small and great stand before God.
And it says the books were opened. Yes, God has his records.
You know it's all about you. Every act of your life is recorded. The books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things were written in the books according to their works. It says in that portion in Revelation that the dead, small and great, stood before God. And it says that heaven and earth.
Let's see, I want to read it right. It says.
The earth and the heaven fled away.
If earth in heaven had fallen away, fled away, they couldn't hide under the rocks and the dens of the earth. Friend, you can't get away from God. You have to meet God here. It's Speaking of those who aren't ready. It says that whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Oh, dear friend.
Is your name in the Lamb's book of life?
Mine is.
As I said, many that are here have their name in the Lambs book of life. But how about you? It's so important.
Well, you won't be able to hide in that day. You'll have to stand before that great white throne.
And to hear judgment pronounced and be cast into that place of outer darkness.
The devil and his angels or the devil is already there. We read about that in an earlier chapter of Revelation, old friend, I warned him.
Be earnest about these things. Face up to the reality that death is before you, and if you're without Christ, the judgment is ahead. I plead with you out of love to your soul. Turn to that blessed savior tonight and receive him as your savior, that you might have your name written in the Lamb's book of life.
In this chapter, our time is practically up now, so I just want to say this.
In this chapter, the 15th verse that speaks of putting enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the woman seed.
He had no earthly father. He was born of the Virgin Mary, conceived of the Holy Ghost. He was indeed the woman's seed. And it says here the woman's seed. It shall bruise thy head. Thank God that's true. It shall bruise thy head. The woman's seed. Jesus Christ. We saw, we were reminded, our reading meeting this afternoon, that the head is the place of one's thought. Satan had his thoughts. He had his plans.
He was going to take man, all of them, down into death from judgment with himself.
Oh, but the Lord was the one who could alone who could interrupt his plans.
And by going into death, he died that he might have a redeemed company in glory.
Yes, he's the one who was bruised the serpent's head. He's the one who has triumphed over him.
It was at the cross that the Lord triumphed by weakness and defeat. We sometimes think he won the median crown.
Trot all his foes, and Satan was the greatest of his foes. Trot all his foes beneath his feet by being trodden down.
And now we can sing his be the victor's name who fought the fight alone.
Yes, he's a victor. So he said. He's a risen, living savior. We commend him to you tonight, dear friend. Will you have the Lord Jesus?
As your savior.
Well, I have to skip.
What God says is to the curses for lack of time, but I'll go down. I want to bring just two verses in closing here.
It says. It says that unto Adam also unto his wife, did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothe them. They tried to clothe themselves with fig leaves. And when God in the presence of God, they hid and said they knew that they were naked. But here God clothed them. What did he clothe them with? It says coats of skin. Why coats of skin? Well, you know, before you can make a coat out of the animal skins, you have to kill the animals. Death has to come in.
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And I believe the picture here is bringing before us the fact that before man could be clothed in garments of salvation. We read about them in Isaiah 2.
61St chapter verse 10 I believe speaks of garments of salvation.
Oh God can clothe the Sinner in garments of salvation now.
Because death his own son died on Calvary's cross to put away our sins.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin, the Word of God says.
And so now God can clothe a Sinner in garments of salvation.
Do you have on that kind of a garment, dear friend?
Someone mentioned in our prayer meeting before the Gospel about the prodigal Son and his return to the Father.
And you know, when that Father, when he said, Father, I have sinned against thee and against heaven, and have no more words than to be called thy son.
Why it says we find following that how the Father he fell on his neck and he had kissed him, and he told his servants to bring the best robe and put it on him the best robe. Our dear friend God, friend God wants you to be clothed in the best robe. He wants you to have Christ as your righteousness.
And if you trusted the Lord Jesus tonight, you will have him.
As covering as you'll be clothed in garments of salvation, you'll have on the best Rd.
The best that the father can prepare.