Gospel—J. Hyland
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3rd chapter of John's Gospel.
John's Gospel chapter 3 and verse 16.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish.
But have everlasting life, You know, I am thankful tonight that we can turn to the word of God, that we can turn to a well known verse like this, that we can read it together and we can proclaim, as has often been proclaimed, that God so loved the world. We can proclaim that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I'm glad that we don't have to tonight turn to some obscure passage, some hidden passage in the Old Testament, wonderful as those Scriptures are, but we can turn.
To a well known verse like this. You know, I am impressed in working with children a little bit to find that even those who do not come, shall I say from a Christian environment, those who perhaps only hear the word of God once a year or twice a year or on some remote occasion even, they can quote a verse like this. And I suppose it's the best known gospel verse. It's a verse that most of us perhaps here learned long before we can ever remember. I don't ever remember learning this verse. It just seems like I always knew it. God so loved the world.
That he gave his only begotten son. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Oh, you know, this is the good news of the gospel. I'm thankful that I can stand here tonight and proclaim good news. Some time ago we were visiting in a home and I don't often get occasion to read a newspaper. But there was a newspaper lying on the table in the dining room of the home we were staying in. And I picked it up and I just read the headlines on the front page and I tossed it back on the table and I said to the man we were staying with.
I said there isn't one thing that's positive on the front of this newspaper. There isn't one bit of good news. Everything is violence and corruption and economic chaos and men recognizing that they don't know where to turn, that they're dealing with an interplay of economic and political forces with which they cannot deal. And yet, you know, it amazes me when we turn to a verse like this, when the gospel goes forth in whatever capacity, whether it's to an audience like this, whether it's to an individual.
Whether it's in a gospel tract in the printed page. And yet man hears it and he refuses it.
He'll shake his head at the newspaper and say there's nothing good. But you present a message of peace, a message of love, a message of joy. And they refuse it. And all I want to say at the outset of this meeting, I trust. I trust with all my heart as we look at this little at this verse and we're just going to skim it, We're just going to mention a few things from this verse. I trust with the Lord's help, but all I trust. There's no one who's going to go out that door tonight having heard the message of peace and love, having perhaps heard it last night, and perhaps having heard it many, many times before.
And you're going to go out, and you're going to reject it. You're going to refuse it. You know this verse, you've heard it. You've heard it now, and you've probably heard it before. But you know the Lord Jesus, when he was here, he said, he that rejected me and receiveth not my word, Hath one that judges him the same that judges that the word which I have spoken the same, shall judge him in the last day. And it will be a solemn thing if you reject the testimony of God's Word.
If you reject God's offer of salvation, if you reject the Savior of sinners tonight and you go out that door.
And you will end in a lost eternity. It will be a solemn thing to remember a verse like this.
Because a verse like this will rise in judgment of you. You will remember a verse because in the lake of fire it says it's a place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. And you will have a memory in hell. You'll have the memory of a gospel meeting like this. You'll have a memory of the memory of John 316 and perhaps other verses, but they will be no longer applicable to you as to a point of refuge. They will rise in judgment, and you will realize in that day.
That you had opportunity, you'll realize that God in his grace pleaded with your soul.
Tonight, the Spirit of God is striving with you if you're still in your sins. But I want to faithfully warn you tonight that God's word plainly declares my spirit will not always strive with men. You know I am challenged as I look into the faces of an audience like this because sometimes I have opportunity to speak to an audience where I feel that most are not saved, most in the audience are not saved, and perhaps most have never heard a clear gospel.
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And that is a tremendous, A tremendous responsibility as well as a blessed privilege. But you know, as I look into the faces of an audience like this, I feel that it's almost a greater challenge.
Because I look into the faces of those who have heard the word of God over and over and over again. And yet I wonder if there's someone here tonight, and you've heard it from your mother, your father. You've heard it at the meetings over and over and over again. And you become hardened. You listen to it. And, you know, before a meeting like this, two young people were heard to say at the back of the room, well, it's just another gospel meeting. Will probably be over around 8:00. It probably will be over around 8:00, but no gospel meeting.
Is just another gospel meeting. It is a thrill to our souls to present the savior of sinners. A thrill to our souls in some feeble way to present the love of God. And you are responsible for what you hear tonight. You are responsible. And as you go out that door, the question is, have you accepted God's offer? Are you saved? Are you on your way to heaven? Oh, I say it's a solemn thing to hear the word of God.
And the fact that we're here tonight is just a proof, just a confirmation of the love and the grace.
That's in the heart of God, the fact that he has allowed you to hear the gospel.
Once again, and oh, what a glorious verse we have before us tonight. It was a verse spoken by the Lord Jesus when he was here in this world. I suppose if you were to have a red letter edition of the Bible, you would find this penned in red in your Bible. The Lord Jesus spoke these words and he spoke them to a man named Nicodemus. And Nicodemus was one who was timid. He was shy. Perhaps He was afraid that if he came to the Lord in the open that he would suffer some reproach, that he would suffer in his business perhaps. But never mind that he came.
He came. And I wonder what is holding you back tonight. Oh, come like Nicodemus. Nicodemus came and they came. And as a result, he heard these glorious words that God so loved the world. You know, the little words of scripture are sometimes important, or I should say they're always important. And yet sometimes we pass over them rather quickly. And I like the little word. So when we think of God the Creator, the one who inhabiteth eternity, and yet he loves this world.
He so loves this world. I like that little word. So it brings before us the intensity, something of the measure of his love. And oh, tonight I wish you could just see something of the love of God or he only realized how much God loves you tonight. You know, if people in Bloomington and this area just realized that God was for them, that God wanted their blessing, that God loved them, this room would be packed. They'd be out in the street. They wouldn't be able to get in.
But all man doesn't realize the love that's in the heart of God. And I wish tonight I could tell you the love that's in the heart of God. But, you know, the word of God itself says that it passeth understanding, It passeth knowledge. Never mind telling. You know, Dwight L Moody preached in the city of Chicago for many, many years. And one time he was in England and he was holding a series of gospel meetings. And after the gospel, one night a young man approached him, introduced himself, and he said to Mr. Moody, if I ever come to America, I want to preach for you.
Well, travel wasn't what it is today and Mr. Moody didn't give it much thought and he went on back to Chicago. But he wasn't home very long until one night after a meeting in the city of Chicago, this young man approached him and he said, Mr. Moody, here I am and I want to preach for you. Well, Mr. Moody didn't know this man very well and he was a little concerned about letting him take his place, but he had to be away for a week and so he told the young man that he could preach in his stead.
While he was gone and when he came back, he said to his wife, he said, how did the young man do that? I left to preach in my place all she said. He doesn't preach like you do. Well Mr. Moody was a little upset to think that he had let this man stand in for him and he didn't preach the way he did. And he said to his wife, he said, what do you mean he doesn't preach like I do? All she said he doesn't scold the people. He tells the people that God loves them. And Mr. Moody went that night to hear Henry Morehouse.
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For I believe it was the 7th night in a row speak on John 316. And he told the people that God loved them. And Mr. Moody never preached the same again. He didn't scold the people. He told them that God loved them. And I say that's the good news of the gospel, that God loves each one of us. He loves the Sinner. He wants our blessing. He so loved the world. Oh, I say again, I wish tonight I could tell you how much God loves you. How much?
He loves you. His love is infinite. He has proved His love in such a marvelous way. His love, He couldn't have proved it in any greater a way. And this verse declares to us how He proved that love He sent his Son, the Lord Jesus.
To die. You know we have heard during these meetings how it's only the Lord Jesus that can satisfy our hearts. How that I think we heard last night. How the thirsting soul can come. How the craving heart can come and find refreshment and blessing and salvation and peace in that blessed one of whom this verse speaks, the Lord Jesus Christ and all. I want to echo that tonight because it's only the one that made us that can satisfy our hearts only God can satisfy.
The human heart. There was a woman in the 4th of John and she came from day-to-day to that well at Saikar and she drew that water and she had to come back the next day and draw again that water. That only satisfied her thirst for a little time. And I'm sure she came from year to year that she had to go deeper and deeper to enjoy that water that only satisfied her for a little time. That's the way of the transgressor. That's the way with sin. It satisfies for a little time and scripture is honest and says that there's pleasures in sin for a season.
But it's only for a season. It's only for a moment, but all the one we have to present tonight, The Lord Jesus can fill and satisfy our hearts now in this life and for all eternity. Egerton Young was a missionary in the on the West Coast, and as he went to British Columbia to preach to the Indians there years and years ago before British Columbia was settled, you can imagine the trepidation with which he faced those violent Indians.
And he stood up before 250 to 300 of those Indians, and you can imagine the pounding of his heart as he stood up himself. All he had was the word of God. And there were those Indian savage men present to hear the word of God and what this this missionary had to say. And so he turned to this verse. He read it. He read it again, And for four hours he spoke on this verse. And he told of the love of God. He told of the glories of Christ.
He told of the remedy for sin, and you can imagine as he sat down, how he must have felt.
As he wondered how that message was going to be received, and from the audience rose one of their principal chiefs, he came up to the front and all eyes were fixed upon that man to see what his reaction would be. And he said, you know, he said, I have been searching for a long time for something to satisfy, he said, I see the goodness of God all around. I see the goodness of God in giving us rain, in giving us sunshine, in giving us food.
And he said, for a long time I have not believed in the ritual and the religion that is practiced here. He said, I knew that there must be something more than the beat of a drum and the ritual of our medicine man. And he said, thank God I finally heard a message of peace and a message that satisfies my heart. Do you want satisfaction tonight? Do you want blessing? Do you want to have peace? Those of us who know, the Lord Jesus is our savior this evening as we sit here.
How is it that we have the peace of God in our hearts? How can we sit here in a world of confusion, a world that is ripe for the judgment of God, A world that we know is on a course that is going to lead to that judgment being poured out after the believer is gone? How can we sit here with that peace? Oh, it's to know that blessed one and to know that there's something far better awaiting us. I'm glad that I can lift my eyes above the sad horizons of this world.
And know that I have a home above and I'm going to spend all eternity.
With the Lord Jesus, well, God so loved the world that he gave, He gave. That's the heart of God. He wants to give, He wants to bless. And what did he give? He gave his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on Calvary's cross. You know, in the Old Testament there are many beautiful pictures types, if you like, of the Father sending the Son. We find, for instance, that Israel sends Joseph out of the veil of Hebron to his brethren.
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We find that Jesse sends David to the camp of his brethren. But you know, I wonder.
I wonder if Israel on that occasion had had any idea any inclination of what was going to happen to Joseph when he sent him to see if it was well with his brethren. I wonder if he would have sent him so readily from his presence.
I wonder if Jesse, when he sent David to the Camp of Israel, to see his brethren. I wonder if he knew.
If he had known that David was going to go down into the valley and meet Goliath, if he would have been so eager to send David on that occasion? I don't think so. I don't think if if Joseph, if Joseph father had really, really known that he wasn't going to see his son for years and years and years and the way he would be treated, I don't think he would have sent him. And yet those illustrations in the Old Testament think he would have sent him and yet.
Those illustrations in the Old Testament, They're just pale reflections of one who knowing, knowing how this world would treat his Son, he sent him to die on Calvary's cross, the Lord Jesus as the Willing. 1. Knowing that this world would spit in his blessed face, knowing that he would come unto his own and his own would receive him. Not knowing that to accomplish the Father's will, he would go to Calgary's cross. He would there be the sin bearer. He would dare die, shed his precious blood.
Knowing that he comes in love and obedience to the Father, I wonder if Joseph would have been so willing on that occasion and would have said here, am I and gone so willingly if he knew how his brethren were going to treat him at the other end of the journey? But all I say where the Old Testament type falls short, it just magnifies what we have here in the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father sending the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Recently we were visiting in the city of St. Thomas ON and I had never visited in St. Thomas ON And when I visit an area I've never been, I like to know what that city is, noted for, what it's as they say, what its claim to fame is. And so I asked the folks we were staying, staying with. I said, what is St. Thomas ON noted for. Well, they said we'll show you when we're out for a drive. And so they took us for a drive and they took us past a square in Saint Thomas.
And in the center of that square was a large life-size statue of an elephant. It was a huge elephant. And I marveled that I hadn't been in a city before where there had been a statue of an elephant in the center square. And I marveled and I said there must be something in connection with this elephant. Well, there was an interesting story that touched our hearts. Many, many years ago, the Barnum and Bailey Circus had come through St. Thomas ON.
And in those days, they traveled by train. The equipment and the animals were transported in that way.
And they pulled into the freight yard at St. Thomas ON and they were busy unloading the equipment and the animals. And amongst the animals that were being unloaded was this large elephant named Jumbo, almost 7 tons. She weighed the biggest elephant ever on record. And as they were unloading her, along with her was her baby calf. And if you've seen an elephant at the zoo, you know that even a baby elephant is quite a size.
And if they decide to be stubborn, there's not much anybody can do about it. Well, this baby calf decided to be a little bit stubborn. It decided that it wanted to stand right on one of the railroad tracks. Well, it wouldn't have been so bad, but there was a train coming down that very track.
And that train was heading into the city of Saint Thomas at quite a speed, and they tried in vain to move that baby elephant, but it wouldn't move. And finally the mother elephant, Jumbo. She sensed the danger. She knew what was wrong and what did she do? She went down that track.
And she stood on that track.
And that train roared into the station.
And you can imagine the impact as an oncoming train collides with A7 ton elephant and that mother elephant died and her baby was saved. That story touched my heart because it's just the little picture of the love of the Lord Jesus who willingly went to Calvary's cross. He allowed men to stretch him on that cross, he allowed men to nail him there, the one of whom he held their breath.
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Their breath was in his hands, and yet he allowed his creature to take him and nail him on the cross. He allowed them to spit in his blessed face to strike him with their hands, And those that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads and saying he saved others himself he cannot save. Oh, how true that was, because if he had come down from the cross, if he had saved himself, he even said himself, he could have called 12 legions of angels.
To come and deliver him. But he wouldn't do it. He could not save himself, he had said, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. It abideth alone. Had he not gone to Calvary cross, and there become the sin bearer? Not just that which he suffered at the hands of cruel man, That which perhaps we enter into a little bit. But there's the sun is blocked out, and darkness covers the earth. And there he's the sin bearer. There he cries, It is finished. He hangs his blessed head. Why? In love for you and I.
So that the gospel could go forth to you and I so that the good news could be proclaimed.
He sheds His Precious Blood, of which the Scripture declares the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanse of us from all sin. I'm thankful that we can quote and read scriptures like John 316 and 1St, John One and Seven. And I'm thankful that we can count on them as being the truth, as part of the word of God. It's something that we can rest our souls on. You know when you go to school, there is so much that is not true, so much that is propagated and perhaps part of it is true. And you pick up a book, you know, you go to the library.
And you see two sections in that library. You see fiction and you see nonfiction. And if you go to the fiction section, you know that it's not true. But if you go to the nonfiction section.
Is it true? Well, perhaps you pick up a book and you read through it, and perhaps you give a cent to some of it. You say. Yes, some of it's true. But even though it may be labeled nonfiction, it may be something that you cannot count upon. But as we read the word of God, as we quote the word of God together.
We can count on it as being the inspired word of God, impossible for God to lie.
Oh, what are you resting on tonight? Are you resting on something that someone has told you, some some guidance that perhaps someone has given you, which is not based on the word of God? Sad to say, there are many in this world tonight, and they're misdirected. They have information and they've received it, and they're sincere in receiving it and trying to carry out that information that they have been given. But all sad to say, quite often, it's not based on the word of God quite often.
It's not that which will merit them favor with God, but all the remedy for sin tonight.
Is the Lord Jesus Christ the work He accomplished, the precious blood that He has shed?
Those who are older here tonight will forgive me, but I'm challenged when I see these children and young people. And I remember a story concerning a little girl who was very, very ill. She was so ill, in fact, that it was feared that she was going to die. And one night the doctor came along. It was some years ago when I guess doctors still made house calls. But the doctor came along one evening and he had in his bag a remedy for the sickness the little girl had.
And so he took the bottle of medicine out of his bag. He placed it on the dresser beside the bed, and he gave the mother very, very careful instructions on how to administer that medication. He went over the instructions two or three times until he was sure that she had it, and she was to administer this medicine during the night.
And off he went, having done what he could. The next morning he came, and he knocked on the door, and he expected to see a cheerful mother. He expected to be ushered into the room of one who was on the road to recovery. But to his dismay, the mother met him at the door, and she was sobbing, and she couldn't speak. She was sobbing so violently. But she motioned him to come in. She led him into the bedroom, and there to his further dismay.
That little girl that he thought should have been on the road to recovery. She was there and she was dead. She was gone, and he hung his head. He stood there for a few moments and finally he said, I'm sorry, he said, I thought that that medicine should have helped your daughter. I was sure that it was the remedy, the cure. And as he spoke, he lifted his eyes to the dresser and to his horror, he saw that not one drop of that medicine.
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Had left the bottle. That bottle was still just as sealed as when he had left it there the night before. And he said, oh, didn't I make it clear? Didn't I? Didn't you understand that you were to give the medicine to your daughter during the night? Well, finally the mother was able to speak and through her *** she said, you know when you left last night?
My neighbor came in and she told me that her daughter had had a similar illness and she had a bottle of medicine and she said it really helped her daughter. And so she said I gave that medicine to my daughter instead of the medicine that you prescribed. All that doctor that morning left that house with a heavy heart. He had done everything he could and I speak reverently. God has done everything possible. He has made the way of salvation so simple.
He has provided the remedy. It's there, and you know about it. If I were to start at the front here and go up and down these rows, I don't suppose there is anybody here in the audience tonight who could say, honestly, that they didn't know the way of salvation, that didn't have some idea as to how to be saved. Never heard of the blood of Christ. Perhaps there is someone here tonight like that, but I tend to doubt it. You've probably heard the message before.
You've heard of time and again, you can tell. If someone asks you the way of salvation, you can tell them.
But I wonder if you've made it your own. I wonder if you can say that Jesus has died for you. It's easy to say Jesus died for all. It's easy to say God loved the world and that we're all sinners. But all it's very personal. The gospel tonight is for you. For you as an individual, it's very, very personal.
I was touched one time some years ago. We were having some tent meetings in Nova Scotia, Canada. We were in the city of Truro and there was a little girl that came to those meetings, and I knew she was a Christian. She knew the Lord as her savior. And she came to those meetings morning and evening. And quite often her grandmother, who was also a Christian, came with her. Well, one morning she brought a little friend with her, and after the meeting that morning, that little friend stayed behind because she wanted to be saved. She wanted to know the Lord as her savior. And so she talked to someone, and I believe she was saved that morning.
Because as those two little girls went out, that tent door hand in hand.
2 little girls, I suppose they were five years old, six at the most, and as they went out I heard the one who had brought her friends say.
Now you can say that Jesus died for you. That touched my heart. That's the gospel. Can you say that? Just ask your own heart that this evening. Can you say that Jesus died for you? Do you know him as your personal savior? Have you come, as it were, to the foot of the cross? Have you recognized that you're a Sinner? I trust tonight we all realize that we're sinners, That because of Adam's sin, because of his disobedience.
Many were made sinners, and that by one man's disobedience, sin entered and death by sin so death passed upon all men. For that all have sinned. I trust we recognize that tonight, because if you don't realize that tonight, if you don't realize your need, then you're not going to seek a remedy. As long as we feel well, we don't seek the advice of a doctor. The Lord Jesus said himself they that our whole need not a physician, he said. I came not to call a righteous, but sinners.
Array patents. I trust you realize tonight that you're a Sinner, that God looks down into your heart and he sees whether those stains of sin are still there. As we tell the children, sometimes he sees whether our hearts are still black with those stains of sin, or whether they're washed away in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how is it with you tonight? You can fool Mother, you can fool Father. You can fool the one who brought you to these gospel meetings.
But you cannot. You cannot fool God. All things are naked and open.
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Under the eyes of Him with whom we have to do God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son.
That whosoever, oh, I love that word, whosoever, as a little girl one time said, when she was asked the meaning of this word.
She said, Why whosoever means you and me and everyone else, and that's what it means, simply means you and me and everyone else. All God's desire tonight, His heart's desire tonight is for your blessing. He wants to save your soul. Whosoever will may come and take of the water of life freely. We had that verse last night whole everyone that thirsteth come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come, yeah, come buy wine and milk.
Without money and without price. Some time ago we came from a country where water is very, very precious. In fact, I watched the sister we were staying with do the dishes and I marveled that she could do so many dishes in so little water and still get them clean. Every drop of water is precious and so precious that when she finished doing those dishes, she took that dirty water and she watered her plants with it. And we were visiting some friends of ours, and while we were there, they had run out of water that day.
They count on every drop of water.
Fresh water coming from the sky. There had been a drought for several months before we got there. And if there's a drought for any length of time and the tanks run dry, they have to buy water. And we were visiting these folks and they had run out of water. And while we were there, the water truck pulled up to the backyard looked like a small version of an oil truck. The hose came out from the side, was placed in the cistern and the faucet turned and 1000 gallons of water.
Was placed in that cistern and when the operation was all finished.
Then there was a bill for $50.
1000 gallons of water may seem like a lot, but it's not much. When you use it for everything and when you're in a hot, humid climate, it doesn't last very long. And as I watch that operation, I was so thankful to recall to memory versus like, we've just quoted that the water of life is free. That God is offering something that will not just satisfy for a little time, but He's offering the water of life.
And there's no charge. But you know, there was a cost. There was a cost. You know, the children understand this when they are offered a gift.
There's no cost involved to you when you're offered a gift on your birthday or some other occasion.
All you have to do is reach out, accept it and say thank you.
But, you know, there was a cost connected with that gift. It cost mother or father or grandmother or grandfather something. Perhaps it was something that they knew you would like. Perhaps they went to great length or cost, put themselves out a little to secure that gift for you, and they're glad to give it to you. And there's no charge for that gift. But there is a cost, and there is. God is offering salvation tonight.
He's offering the gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, and it's free to you and I.
But all let's not forget the great cost. It cost him his Son. It costs the Lord Jesus his life and the shedding of his precious blood. We don't have to work for salvation. The work has been done. I was trying to illustrate this to some children one time and I didn't seem to be having much success. And so I reached into my pocket and I pulled out a couple of coins and I put a coin in each hand. And there was a little girl on this side of the room on the front row. And I said, would you like the coin in this hand?
Well, she wanted the coin. And so she came up and I held my fist clenched tight around that coin as she approached. And I made her work for it a little bit. And as she would open one finger and then be working on another, I would close the finger that she had already opened. And when I felt that she had earned that coin, I opened my hand and I gave it to her. She went and sat down and there was a boy on this side of the room and I said to him, would you like the coin in this hand? Well he immediately came up and to his surprise, as he approached me, I held out my hand.
For him to take the coin, well, he hesitated a moment. He thought he was going to have to work for it too. And then he took it. And I tried to tell the boys and girls that that is the difference between a gift and a prize or a reward. On the one hand, we have to work for a prize or a reward, but the gift of God tonight is free. And how would you feel? How would you feel if you gave one of your children a gift or someone you loved, A gift?
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And you had gone to a great deal of trouble to secure that gift and they refused it. They said no thank you. How would you feel? How would your mother or father feel if they came in on your birthday with a gift and they gave it to you and you said, I don't want it. Oh, they feel pretty bad. I know it's something you like, and I've gone to some trouble to get it for you, but I'm glad to give it to you. And you say no thank you. We say how hard hearted. We shake our heads in disbelief.
But you know, I fear, but there are boys and girls and there are young people and there are men and women tonight. And they hear the glorious gospel. They hear of that gift being offered to them, as it were. It's offered once again. And they go out. And they say not tonight. They refuse. They put it off. They neglect, they reject. Oh, think of the heart of God if you go out that door tonight.
And you refuse, or you say I'm going to put it off till a better time until another night.
Oh, think of the heart of God. He's offering you so much. He's gone to such lengths, Shall I say I speak reverently to offer us salvation? Or are you going to refuse his offer?
I think our brother mentioned last night that sometimes when the gospel is presented, there is the excuse of what we will lose and what we will have to give up if we come to the Savior.
You know, I want to tell you tonight that there's only one thing we lose by coming to the Savior.
And that's our sins. That's our sins. All the precious blood of Christ tonight is able to cleanse from every stain of sin, from all sin able to wash those sins away. Oh, do you want to lose your sins tonight? And do you want to gain joy and peace and happiness? Do you want to have the assurance that death and judgment are behind you, That the lake of fire is no longer your portion, but you're on your way to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus? And not only that, do you want a friend that sticketh closer than a brother?
You want one that can take will take care of you while we're left in this world. Do you want one who can give you joy?
Oh, that's the savior we're Speaking of tonight. Oh, what a savior. And he's a savior on high in the glory tonight. And as it were, he's bending low to night to hear someone in this room say yes to his offer of salvation, to accept, to reach out in faith.
When a gift is presented, what do you do? You accept it and you say thank you.
Have you ever done that? Have you ever accepted God's gift? Have you ever accepted the Lord Jesus Christ? And have you ever thanked him? God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him? Oh, it's so simple. There was a man in Acts 16 and he was in earnest. He was afraid for his life, and he came into Paul and Silas, and he said, What must I do to be saved? And what was the answer? Was it some long answer? Some long?
Lecture or Sermon?
Was it something difficult that he had to do? Did he have to straighten out his life? Did he have to turn over a new leaf? Oh no. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved whosoever, will, whosoever believeth in him in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, the gospel is so simple. There was a man named Naaman in the Old Testament, and he was asked to do something simple.
In order to be cleansed from his leprosy. And that was to wash in the River Jordan. And he turned away in a rage and his servants came to him and they said, if the Prophet had asked you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? And people will do great things. I was struck in reading through the history of the church and the last 2000 years to see how man would do anything to get rid of his sins. He'd listen to anybody that would tell him he had to take long pilgrimages he had to give to the church.
He had to do penance and this type of thing. Oh, man was glad to listen to that. But they said to them, and if he'd asked you to do some hard thing, would you not have done it? And I'm sure Naman had to recognize that he would. And they said to him all, he's only asked you to do something simple and thank God, name and turn. And he washed seven times in the river Jordan. And he received cleansing. What was the message to name and go and wash. And the message tonight is wash wash in the precious blood.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the only remedy, the only cure.
For sin whosoever believeth in him, should not perish. I, like the definite language here, should not perish. You know, there are those tonight who when they hear a verse like this, they will say that it is presumptuous to think that we can know before we reach the portal of glory, that our sins are gone, that we can know for sure, that we will receive entrance there when we leave this world. And I would say, too, that it is presumption.
00:40:28
Except for one thing. The word of God is very plain. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and I give unto them eternal life.
And they shall never perish, should not perish. Some time ago I was thinking about this word perish.
And I wondered what the dictionary had to say as to the definition of parish. And so the dictionary in the home we were staying was Funk and Wagnalls standard desk dictionary. And so I picked it up and I looked up the word perish and this is what it said to pass out of existence. I read it again. I closed the dictionary. I opened the dictionary again to be sure I had read it right. And this is what it said to pass out.
Of existence. And I thought how deceived man is if he thinks that the word perish in the scriptural sense means to pass out of existence. Oh how sorely deceived and mistaken he is, because we never find it in that sense in the word of God. You know, if man could can tell himself and justify himself that when he leaves this world, when he draws that final breath, it's all over, that he dies like a dog if he can somehow convince himself of that.
Then he recognizes that he has no responsibility to his maker. And yet, you know, I wonder if people.
Who will in bravado speak like that? I wonder if deep down they really believe something like that. I had this driven home to me some years ago, a dear old aunt of mine.
Was on her deathbed. She had known the Lord for many, many years. She was well on in her 80s. She was looking for the Lord to come, But she knew the time was short. She knew she was going to leave this world. And I stood by that bed as she drew those final breaths and a smile passed across her lips. And I knew she was safe home, absent from the body and present with the Lord. But you know, as I stood there by that bed in the hospital in Smiths Falls.
I recalled vividly, a man down the hall.
Who just a few nights before had come to the end, and he knew too that his time for this world was was done.
A respected man in the town of Smiths Falls. If he walked down the front St. of Smith's Falls, people would point him out as one who cared for the community. A local businessman, One who contributed to charity. A fine, respected man.
And yet. And yet, he came to the end. And I'll never forget the whales that pierced those hospital corridors.
As he took those last breaths, as he realized, even though perhaps, perhaps he had turned aside all the pleas that he had heard concerning salvation, and I'm sure he had heard many, he had put them aside. And perhaps he didn't even believe in a God. I don't know. But when it came to the end, he realized downbeat that it wasn't all over. God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And I thought, what a contrast, One who knew the Lord.
And she passes from this world into the courts of glory with the blessed Savior that she longed to see, and she rejoices with her last breath. And 1:00 and 1:00 as he passed into the lost eternity, into that awful lake of fire called hell, and all the remorse. But how would it be with you tonight?
But if you were to leave this world tonight, what if you were to die? Or if the Lord Jesus were to come and the door of grace be forever closed? No, I was solemnized to notice that when Elijah was taken to heaven in a whirlwind, who was it that missed Elijah?
It wasn't, shall I say, the general public. It was the sons of the prophets.
And as I look into the faces of boys and girls and young people.
With Christian parents, With Christian grandparents. Those who are no doubt praying for your priceless, never dying soul.
00:45:01
If the Lord Jesus were to come tonight, where would you be? Would you look around?
Would you know what has taken place?
You would know this world will go on for a time, indifferent, but all you will know.
What has taken place and how solemn, how solemn to have the words of the gospel?
Ring in your ears, but no more apply to you. You know, I wasn't satisfied with that definition of perish. And so when I got home, we have a large Webster's dictionary. And I knew that that Noah Webster had turned to the Lord in later years and was a true child of God. And I wondered what Webster's dictionary had to say. And so I looked up the word perish, and this is what it said.
To die.
Spiritually.
All how awful to be separated from God for all eternity. You know people speak of friendship in hell, but there will be no friendship.
Because it will be to be separated from that one from whom all love flows, whether it's divine or natural.
There will be no friendship. You can't have friendship without hell. Oh, you'll be alone in hell.
With your memory, they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. They'll be outer darkness. It's solemn. I said the gospel was good news, but I would be very unfaithful tonight, and I will be held accountable before God as to what was said in this meeting tonight. And I would be very, very unfaithful if I did not warn you that if you go on in your sins, you will leave this world someday. But it will be to lift up your eyes like that man in the 16th of Luke being in hell, being in torment.
To realize that there is something beyond this world, but oh God.
He doesn't want to send you to that place. He wants to draw you tonight to the Savior. He wants to bless you. He wants heaven to be your portion.
Or you're going to go out tonight and put it off and put it off. This word of God says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? The boys and girls know what it is to neglect something to come home from school and to put off their homework. When mother says you better get out that homework and you say, well, it's not very much.
I want to play with my friends for a while and then at supper she asks you, did you do that homework? And you say no, you put it off and after a while it's time for bed and mother says it's time for bed. Do you have that homework done? And oh, you've neglected. You put it off and mother says it's too late, you've got to go to bed, and perhaps there's a penalty the next day if the teacher finds out that you didn't do your homework but things work out, perhaps you have to stay in and do it at lunch time, but then it's forgotten.
But all those who put off their souls, salvation. Those who perish, will lift up their eyes in hell with the realization I've lost my soul. To lose one's health, wealth is something. To lose one's health is more. To lose one's soul is such a loss that no man can restore. You know, I think one of the most awful things about hell is this, that there's no hope.
There's no hope.
Know if you're sick, you're in pain, or you're in a bad situation. You can always get through today with the hope that things will be better tomorrow, and you can get through the hour knowing that perhaps the pain will be relieved a little farther down the road. But oh, in hell, there's no hope. I have watched this clock for two days and it hasn't moved.
Time, as far as that clock is concerned, has stood still.
But time is rushing on. But I want to say this in hell.
How solemn. It's like that clock. No time. Time never passes. Because those who enter the confines of the lake of fire.
Are there for as long as those of us who know that Christ is our Savior are with that precious one in glory forever and ever and ever. Oh, I plead with you tonight, God pleads with you tonight. His Spirit is striving with you.
Don't put it off, Satan whispers in your ear. Put it off. But Satan is not your friend.
Satan wants to drag you to a lost eternity, but God wants to save your soul. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. He's offering you eternal life. We have spoken from one verse of scripture tonight in a very feeble manner. We have just skimmed the surface, but if you accept the message of this verse tonight, it will be for your eternal blessing and salvation.
00:50:12
I would rather speak on one verse of scripture.
Then turn here and there and take up a lot of things and not have you remember the word of God. I would rather impress upon you one verse and have you go away and remember that and have that burn into your soul until you until you come and you accept the message of it. I say one verse of scripture is enough and I'm just going to tell one more little story in closing, but rather impressed me in this connection. In the second in the First World War, there was a line of men in the trench and they were fighting.
Man to man combat facing death, and one of those men were hit with a bullet.
He was wounded and saw a couple of his friends dropped down beside him, but they realized as they did so that his wound was probably fatal and so there was nothing they could do under heavy shelling. And they so they took a couple of their coats and they made him as comfortable as possible in the bottom of that trench, and they went back to their posts.
And pretty soon, the man closest to the man that was dying on the coat, he heard his friend call him and so he dropped down again beside him to see what he wanted. And he said, can you tell me the way to heaven? Strange, isn't it? When men will brush these things aside in peace time when they're healthy, when things are going well, they have no time for eternal issues, no time to think about God, no time to think about their souls welfare. While this man was in earnest, he wanted to know the way to heaven.
And you know all the things that men will tell you in peacetime or when they're well, all their ideas how to obtain favor with God. Those things just didn't seem to fit on the battlefield when they were under fire and facing death. And his friend had to shake his head. He said, I don't know the way to heaven, but he said I'll try to find out. He went back to his post and he asked the man beside him, can you tell me the way to heaven?
No, his friend said. I don't know the way to heaven, and it went down.
16 men on that line, and everyone of them had to shake their heads.
And say no, I do not know the way to heaven, Oh how sad men facing eternity and no idea as to how to get to heaven, how to be saved.
Well, this finally the question was asked to the 17th man, and with a glad smile he took a New Testament out of his pocket. He turned it to this verse, John 316. 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. He read it to the man beside him, But he wouldn't trust that he took out his pencil, and he circled it, And with his thumb on it he passed it to the next man. And that man with his thumb on it passed it down to the next man. And so down it went down that line of men, 17 men.
And finally the last man got that testament with the message, and he jumped down beside his friend. And he read him the verse. He read it over again. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And the man who was dying his eyes filled with tears as he drank in the life giving words. And with his final breath he said, Whosoever will, and he was gone.
Gone from the battlefield to the presence of the Lord. Why? Because he accepted.
The message of that verse he realized that that whosoever meant him and that whosoever tonight means you, the gospel hour is over. I wish I could save your soul tonight. I really wish I could save your soul tonight, but I can't do it.
You have heard the word of God. You are responsible. Oh, don't put it off. Don't delay. There is a door to my left here and a door to my right. And if I were to put a banner over this door heaven. And a banner over this door hell.
And if each one of us had to leave this room under the eye of a holy God, looking down into our hearts, a God to whom all things are naked and open.
Which door would you have to leave by tonight? Could you truly leave by that door that said heaven saved and on your way to heaven? Or would you have to leave under that banner lost and on your way to hell? It's a very, very searching thing. Oh, settle the question. Tonight we're going to pray.
If you have any doubts, if you have any questions, don't go home tonight. Until you speak to someone, don't put it off. There are many in this room who would just be so happy to speak.
00:55:14
Of the precious blood of Christ, which be so happy to speak to you of the way of salvation in our blessed Savior.
Oh, don't go home tonight without the assurance of your sins forgiven. And I'm just going to say one more thing to those of us who know the Lord as our Savior, I trust. But after an occasion like this, our hearts are solemnized.
And that there will be that with with each one of us.
That would become the gospel.
Because as surely as I pray and say Amen, Satan is going to be busy.
To ****** away that seed sown, and to interject every kind of thought and every kind of frivolity, so that souls will go on in different to the message that God has for them, and indifferent to their souls salvation. May there be a solemnity with each one of us, that we may not be used to pluck away that seed. We have spoken of solemn issues, eternal issues, the most important issues that are ever considered.
May we each be in an attitude of prayer for those who are lost. And I would just say again, if you're lost and in your sins tonight the word whosoever means you don't go home until you can say that Christ died for you. Shall we pray. We thank thee, our loving God and Father, for the good news of the gospel. We thank thee again for that unspeakable gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord Jesus that there is still a Savior on high in the glory.
We thank thee that thine arms are open wide tonight to receive poor, helpless sinners who will simply come to thee and accept thy gift of eternal life. We pray tonight for any in this room who are lost. Save their souls. We do pray, give them peace. Oh, may they not have rest until they have settled these most important questions, until they have settled where they will spend eternity.
Oh draw them by thy love, by thy grace.
May they realize their need, and may they come to thee. We ask thy blessing again on thy word, as it's gone forth in many places and by many means.
And we thank thee for it. We praise thee and thy precious, thy worthy name, Lord Jesus.
Amen.