Gospel—A. Hayhoe
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Just as I was erasing.
Me seeking from the.
Now there is no on that day.
The Sagar for me.
Thank you.
Sailors like me.
Shedding his blood for my rainbow.
Lived in Las Vegas for me.
Would you turn with me please, to I Corinthians?
Chapter 15.
One Corinthians chapter 15 and verse one.
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you.
Which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand?
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel.
Which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand. You know. This verse has been a great comfort to me on many occasions, For it has been my responsibility, as it is once again tonight, to stand and face a goodly number of those who are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. And it is my joy to call everyone of such.
One of the beloved brethren in Christ. For if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
If your sins have been blotted out by that precious blood which flowed from his wounded side, then my friend, you and I can shake hands as brethren in Christ. But having accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, as the gospel, anything further to say to you? Anything further to say to me, I say. This verse has been a great comfort to me. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel.
Yes, those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior delight.
To hear the gospel once again. Is this not true? Author, the hymn that we often sing. I love to tell a story for those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. And I love to hear the gospel. I'm not ashamed to admit. I love to tell it forth, too, the glad tidings of a God who loved us in spite of our guilt.
The glad tidings of a Savior who died to redeem us in spite of the enmity of our hearts. Oh, do you and I, who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, not find it our continual delight to share the gospel together? Moreover, brethren.
I declare unto you the gospel, but I don't believe that word applies to all who are present tonight.
I fear that there are those in this meeting who could not rise from that seat which you occupy and say.
The Lord Jesus Christ is my Savior. My sins have all been blotted out by His own Precious Blood. If such is not your confession, my friend, let me remind you at the beginning of this meeting that you are lost.
That under the eye of God, and according to the testimony of this book, you are guilty.
You are condemned. You are on your road to eternal hell. This is the language of God's own word, and it is my solemn responsibility to bring it before your soul once again tonight. I love to tell of the love of God, and perhaps it only is natural that I shrink from the faithful presenting of what the human heart really is.
00:05:10
In God's sight, even as the disciples shrank from the responsibility of rolling away the stone from the tomb of Lazarus.
They said, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead 4 days.
They didn't want that responsibility. They knew that the evidence would be very unpleasant. And yet, my friend, it is my responsibility tonight to remind you from the pages of God's Word, though you may be a clean and respected and honored citizen of this community in the sight of God if you have not yet been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, God's Word says.
There is no difference. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. God's word says, all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. And yet I delight to remind you, beloved friend, that in spite of that condition of your heart, and such was certainly so true of my own, in spite of this.
God.
Loves you this very moment. Will you turn with me please, to 1St John, the first Epistle of John.
And from that epistle we shall find a little text which I hope to speak on this evening.
First John Chapter 4.
Verse 16.
First John 4 verse 16.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love.
Glorious text.
3 Marvelous Words God is love. Oh, here we have a theme that it is not within my power to exhaust where all the time that remains to us at my disposal tonight.
God is love, beloved friend. What a text. I can look around this entire company tonight and say to each and every one of you.
Back here, including myself, by the grace of God, that he who knew all about you and knew all about me.
He whose I rested upon the sin stained pages of our lives, looked down upon us and wants us to know this wondrous, glorious, precious statement. God is love. And I want you to know, my friend, whoever you may be, no matter what your background may be, that this message is that which God longs to have your soul. Enjoy this evening.
God is love. Nor is this merely a text. I don't speak disparagingly as I say these words, I say. Nor is this merely a text telling us that God is love, for His love has been revealed in manifold ways.
Page after page, we turn in this precious book and see the heart of God in love revealed to man.
I believe most of us are aware of the fact that the very first mention of love in all God's Word is found in the 22nd chapter of Genesis, where we read this statement. Take now thy Son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest the Spirit of God, reserved the use of that word love, to be found on its first occasion in the word of God.
In connection with the love of that father toward his only begotten son Isaac, No mention made of the love that bound the heart of Adam and Eve as one. No mention made in the early stories of Genesis until we come to this account. And there we find that word love shines forth for its first time, the love of that father toward his only son whom he is about to lay.
Upon the altar of sacrifice. The second mention of love is found in the 24th chapter of Genesis.
00:10:04
Where that same son Isaac, having been received back again from the dead in a figure, takes to himself a bride, Rebecca and she became his wife and he loved her.
Oh, I'm sure that you and I can see a way back there in the Old Testament.
A wonderful foreshadowing of the love of the heart of God toward His beloved and only Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And the love of that one who went into death and rose again from the dead, his love toward those whom he now delights to embrace as his own, his chosen, redeemed and blood bought, fried as my soul was one day enjoying the tracing of this word through this glorious book. I became a little impatient. I thought, surely after the long years of Israel's sad history of failure.
And departure from God. The mention of God's love will fade from the pages.
Of the Old Testament and I couldn't wait to read it through. I thought, I'm going to start at Malachi and I'm going to read back and see how far back I have to read before I find mention of God's love to his erring and unfaithful people. And I turn to that last book in the Old Testament and began to read The Burden of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord.
I must admit that a tear stay in that verse when I read it for the first time. There at the end of 4000 years, almost of man's failing history, we read the last message by the last prophet to that forgetful and failing people. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Oh it is my joy tonight to proclaim that glorious and wondrous reality.
God.
Is love. How then, has his love been revealed, been made known to us?
I can think of no more wondrous verse than John 316.
Shall we turn to John 3 verse 16?
And read bare the glorious display of the loving heart of God to man.
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 believe that almost everyone here could recite this glorious verse from memory. I think that very little children probably learned this verse as the first one they ever committed, the memory 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. I don't know when I first heard this verse. More than likely, although it's beyond the reach of my memory, more than likely I heard it first from my dear father or my dear mother, for this book was precious to them both. The story of God's wondrous love was dear to both their hearts and, from my earliest memory, this verse.
Was often heard around our home or God Southern loved the world.
And I knew that it meant me. I knew that God loved me.
And yet I hang my head in shame to own that there were no response in this cold heart of mine other than a rejection of God and of his love, and of the wondrous offer of pardon that God was offering to me in the days of my early childhood. I stand here a trophy of the grace of God, and as I speak tonight, of that matchless love I own, that it was sovereign grace alone.
Never broke down my rebellious heart to sense the sweetness of that love.
And to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as my Savior.
00:15:01
What a marvelous verse this is. You and I in Christian lands such as these perhaps fail to realize what an amazing testimony to the love of God we have in this verse.
I remember our brother Willis telling us that years ago in China, his father, John L Willis, whom some of us remember quite well, was walking along the streets of Shanghai in China.
And he noticed ahead of him on the street an old man.
Who had been a missionary in China for many years. Brother Willis knew him well, so he hastened his footsteps to catch up with his dear old man. For he knew that he would hear from him something concerning the preciousness of Christ, That as he drew near, he noticed that the old man was talking to himself aloud. It was a habit of this old man. So Brother Willis just remained a step behind and listened to what the old man was saying, and this is what he was saying.
For God so loved the world. And then He'd shake his dear old head and start over again. For God so loved the world, and he'd shake his head and start over again. And brother Willis said he followed him for the distance of a city block. And the old man never got any farther in the verse than quoting these first few words. For God so loved the world. And then He'd shake his head and begin again.
He had been telling the story of God's love for many years in China, and it still filled him with astonishment to think that God would love such a world as he had seen in Shanghai. I don't point the finger at Shanghai. Do we need to go very far from home before we see that which makes us astonished as we read this verse? The violence and corruption that abounds everywhere today makes us read this verse with astonishment.
Where this verse is found month in Genesis where man's history begins?
But this verse is found in John's Gospel after 4000 years of the sin stained history of man has passed by. God makes known this wondrous fact that he so loved this world. I remember an account in the messages of love some time ago.
About a little girl who lived long ago in Germany. Printing had just been invented and was in his very primitive stages. And this little girl's father had a print shop. And one day, as she was wandering curiously through his print shop, she found a scrap of paper on which were written a few German words. She picked it up and hid it in her dress, went to her room and made out.
Those words. And they filled her heart with such a joy and a happiness and a peace that it just made a different girl out of her. And a few days later her mother remarked. My dear, you seem to have had a very happy and changed disposition for several days. But is the secret of this change? And the little girl said, Well, mother, I must show you what I found in Daddy's print shop. And she pulled out of her hiding place.
A little slip of paper smoothed it out and read to her mother these words. For God so loved the world that he gave. That's all it said. The printing was not very good, and the father had thrown it aside to try again. And this little girl had found those words. For God so loved the world that he gave. Oh mother, she said. Isn't this wonderful? God is a God of love.
And God loved so much that he gave. I don't know what he gave, but he loved enough to give something. I don't know what it was, but it makes me happy to know that God loved this world enough to give. And so they decided they would ask Father if they could please see the rest of the verse. Oh, my friend, you've heard it. You've heard it. You've heard it again. And what does it mean to you? Picture that little girl and her mother.
As they discovered what it was that God gave for God so loved the world that he gave.
His only begotten Son. Oh, I say, That little text God is love is magnified to my soul as I read this marvelous statement. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
00:20:07
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life other the height and a depth. There is a breadth and a length to the love that is revealed in this verse.
That no human heart can comprehend and no human tongue can tell. The height of that love, my friend, is the very throne of God. All the poetry and the art and the music that has been dedicated to the theme of love, they all fade away into insignificance. When I think of the love that is revealed in this verse. The very throne of God is involved in this love, the very throne of him who is holy and righteous and true.
The throne of him who looks down at you and me and sees those stains of guilt that have blotted our lives. The very one who looks at those pages in which our faulty record is written. Look down from heaven's glory, beloved friend, down to this poor world of sin and tears and God loved. Was there ever a height to love like that? But God so loved the world that he gave His only.
Begotten son.
Was there ever a depth to love such as that which was revealed?
In the giving of his beloved Son to the shameful, awful death of the cross of Calvary. And was there ever a breadth revealed, such as we have here in this verse, that whosoever believeth in him, it takes us all in beloved friend, it takes you in, it takes me in. By matchless grace, have you ever made it your own? Have you ever rejoiced in the knowledge that God knowing all about you?
Love you personally enough to give his own son that you might be redeemed.
That you might be the possessor of everlasting life. Ah, was there ever a length to love such as is revealed in that marvelous statement, the possessor of everlasting life, The height of that love, the throne of God, the depth of that love, the cross of Calvary, the breadth of that law, whosoever will, and the length of that love the possession of.
Everlasting life.
God so loved the world that He gave beloved friend God is loved. He gave his Son. However, this is just the beginning of the story. God sent his Son. That's true. But the full love of God was not yet revealed. In ascending of his beloved Son into this world, God the One who sent him into this world to reveal that mighty heart of love.
Look down.
And saw the treatment that his beloved son received from the hands of men.
Have you ever pictured that as you read the account of the Lord Jesus we were reading recently in the 8th chapter of John?
Of that poor, sinful woman who was brought into the presence of the Lord and charged with a guilt that bore the penalty of stoning to death.
And there she was in the presence of the Lord with her accusers. They are ready to stone her to death, and the Lord Jesus stood in her defense. He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her one by one. Those accusers left in the Lord Jesus was left alone, but finished the chapter, and at the end of the chapter they take up stones to cast.
Not at a poor, sinful woman, but at the Lord Jesus Christ himself in that very chapter.
And who stood up in his defense? No one. Jesus hid himself.
I challenge you to read that without your heart being moved, Jesus sent of God in love to the world His hand had made.
With a heart overflowing with love to poor guilty men and women, he looks into the faces of those who have picked up stones to cast at him. He had power to hinder it, but the Scripture says Jesus hid himself.
Oh, I have been humbled and touched to read a statement like that. And I think of the eye of God who sent him looking down upon a scene like that, seeing his beloved Son who had so beautifully displayed that loving heart here on earth.
00:25:04
Hiding himself from those who would stone him to death.
Two chapters later they take up stones again to cast at him. I say God is love. He sent his beloved Son and he watched that pathway. He saw the rejection. He saw his beloved Son led to the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. God, who sent him in love, saw all this take place.
And yet, in long-suffering, God lingered that his heart of love.
Might be fully and perfectly revealed at last.
Shall we turn to Matthew's Gospel?
Matthew Chapter 27.
Matthew chapter 27 and verse 45.
Now from the 6th hour there was darkness over all the land unto the 9th hour, and about the 9th hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying Eli, Eli, Lamas Habakkuk. That is to say, my God, my God.
Why hast thou?
Forsaken me.
God is love, my beloved friend. Not only did he send his Son into this poor world that his heart of love might be made known to man, but God looked down upon his beloved Son and saw the rejection from those to whom that love was displayed. He saw his beloved Son with a crown of thorns upon his blessed head.
He saw his beloved son with a very garment stripped from him.
And a robe of mockery put upon him a Reed put in his right hand. And then the very servant smote him with the palms of their hands. They spit in his face. My friend, God is love. He sent his Son, and he looked down upon a world that did this to his beloved Son. And still the love of God pursues its glorious course.
Until this mighty moment.
The Lord Jesus.
Was put before the world of that day with the offer, Whom will ye that I release unto you, this man, or Barabbas? And they all with one voice cried not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
And this world has been suffering for that choice ever since. Nor can they point their finger back across the century.
For I believe you, and I know only too well, and only too sadly, that if the Lord Jesus were to return again today.
He would meet with exactly the same treatment. And I have wondered.
May I say this with all reverence, but I believe I say it in truth. I don't think they would put up with him for 33 years if he came again.
That's what this world in 1968 thinks of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I say God looked down upon that scene, and there his beloved Son hung upon the cross of Calvary. But we read that from the 6th hour there was darkness over all the land until the 9th hour. Oh, I want to pause here.
For if we have pictured him in the shame that he endured from the hands of men, we can picture him no longer. God has drawn a veil of darkness over this scene, and the angels who looked down and shouted with joy in the day of his birth looked down now, and what takes place is hidden from their eyes, hidden from our eyes, hidden from every eye. God himself forsook this blessed one.
During these three hours of darkness and we read in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, it pleased Jehovah to bruise him. If God's love was revealed in the giving the sending of his Son, much more has the love of God been revealed in the bruising of his Son in these three hours of darkness for my guilt.
00:30:16
All beloved friend, I want to dwell upon these three hours.
I want to remind you that during these three hours of darkness, those pages of guilt that were recorded against me, those stains of sin that I had augmented, were laid to the account of and upon the sinless head of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. God is loved, beloved friend. How else can we account for the fact that he took that awful, immeasurable weight and stain and burden of guilt, and laid it upon that sinless one who had been His delight from all eternity?
And then brought down the strokes of wrath and of judgment that ought to have fallen upon me.
That ought to have fallen upon you. These strokes fell upon the sinless head of my substitute, the Son of God, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Oh, as we think of these three hours of darkness, there shines out from that darkness that glorious text God is love.
During those hours.
The judgment that I deserved and ought to have borne for an unending eternity.
Was concentrated in all its awful vengeance upon the head of the Lord Jesus, and not mine only, but the sins of every one numbered among the redeemed, who will spend eternity in the glory. Oh beloved friend, I love to announce the glad tidings that God is love. I delight to point to the cross of Calvary and remind our hearts once more that the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God.
There upon the cross.
Bore in his own body our sins, and they are gone.
They are gone forever. When those three hours were ended, the Lord Jesus cried in triumph. It is finished and the mighty work was done. Do you believe it?
Friend, do you believe it It is finished. Do you believe it?
All how many of the religious systems of today that we see all around us.
Set those 3 words to one side and will not have them. I have mentioned this before but I believe it to be an apartment illustration of this very text.
When I was in my teens, I used to work in a factory in Ottawa.
Being very much of A junior, I had to remain there while everyone else went to their lunch hour. And there was one man there who remained also in his particular department, and he used to come over to where I worked to phone his wife every day at noon. His name was Mr. Wake.
And once in a while, our conversation would turn to this.
Glorious book. And one day he said to me, do you believe in sudden death, sudden glory? Well, I said, Mr. Wake, I certainly do for myself. For I know that the Lord Jesus has taken all my guilt upon himself, and that I will never have to give an account for those sins which would have cast me into hell forever. And he said, oh, I can't believe that. I can't believe that. Surely there must be for every one of us a period of purgation.
That was his language, a period of purgation after we leave this world.
Well, I say. I was a teenager and I didn't just know what to say.
But I did say this, Mr. Wake, when the Lord Jesus died upon the cross, he said it is finished. And that doesn't sound to me as though there was a period of purgation ahead for me. I believe the Lord Jesus meant that all my sins were gone and that all the judgment that I deserved was over forever. Mr. Wake, what did he mean when he said it is finished?
I can see the dear man to this day with a very, very heavy man. He stood there for some time then slowly shook his head and said it is finished and he turned and he walked out saying over and over again as he walked out. It is finished.
00:35:12
And the door closed. The last thing I heard him say is he went out. The door was it is finished.
He went home, he got out the mower to mow the lawn and he never finished mowing his lawn.
He ended up lying across his own doorstep in eternity. In eternity.
No period of purgation, my friend. I lost eternity forever, or the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ forever. Oh tell me my friend, which would it be with you? I look at these boys and girls who have been brought up as I was brought up in a Christian home with a God fearing praying father and mother.
And a God fearing, praying Sunday school teacher who is sitting here in this company tonight. But in spite of all this, that heart of mine that knew the story well and could sing the hymns and choruses and could recite the verses from this book, my heart was guilty before God and all I stand here and I thank God again for the day that came when these knees of mine at last were bowed. This stubborn heart of mine at last was broken.
And I owned my guilt in the sight of God. I received the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. But I stand here tonight, and I say by the grace of God.
God is love. He sent his Son. God is love. He bruised his Son even unto death in order that I might be redeemed.
Well, you know, when these three hours of darkness were ended.
And the light again shone upon that scene. If you had looked down there, you would have seen 2 struggling malefactors, but you would have seen the head of the Lord Jesus Christ hanging in death upon the cross. The mighty work of suffering for our guilt was ended, but you would have seen.
A Roman soldier slowly wending his way up that hillside with a spear in his hand.
My friend, I cannot point at these Roman soldier, for I see my heart reflected even in that wicked heart.
He took that spear and thrust it into the sight of my dead Savior. And from that side there flowed blood and water. And beloved friend, I tell you, God is love. He looked down upon that blood that flowed from the wounded side of his sudden death, and he put in your hands and mine tonight this glorious statement, the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanse us from all sin. Oh, I delight to exalt the precious blood of Christ.
In this religious world of today, we have modernists enough who will take the words saved and born again and all the rest of it, and put their own meanings into these words. But they cringe when you mention the blood of Christ. And I hope I'll never be guilty of preaching or pretending to preach the gospel without exalting the precious blood of Christ. Again I said, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son.
Cleanseth Us.
From all sin.
Trust on Friday afternoon two days ago.
It was my privilege and honor to take the funeral service of a dear old sister who was just a few weeks short of 97 years of age.
And entered into the presence of the Lord Jesus, and thereby her casket was this framed text.
Redeemed with a precious blood of Christ. This was not just some vague hope with those who were left behind. They knew well from the testimony of her long life that she not only rested and trusted with joy upon the value of the precious blood of Christ, but in her profession she delighted in a quiet manner to tell those who came to see her.
Of that same Precious Blood which meant so much to her.
And some of those that she had ministered to during her lifetime were there at the funeral, in honor of the one who had passed away 96, almost 97 years and to night, as I stand here before you, she miss Katie Hughes.
00:40:06
Is in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what will be the theme of her joyful song for all eternity?
Under him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.
Could we go a step farther, please, and turn to Romans Romans, chapter 4.
Verse 24. Romans 4 verse 24.
But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up.
Jesus, our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses.
And was raised again for our justification, therefore.
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Once again I say God is love. He sent his Son, God is loved. He bruised his Son. And again God is love. He raised him from the dead.
For our justification, the Savior who was sent from the bosom of God into this poor world.
Is no longer on the cross or in the tube. God in wondrous love has raised him from the dead.
For our justification.
And I've heard it said, and it sounds good to me, that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus was God's. Amen.
To the Lord's cry it is finished. I like that the Lord Jesus accomplished the mighty work of redemption upon the cross, and in John's Gospel the only place where he could rightly proclaim his own estimate of that finished work. The Son of God proclaims it is finished, and God may I say it reverently. God said Amen when he raised him from among the dead.
Perfectly and eternally satisfied with that glorious work of redemption.
And God in wondrous love has raised him from among the dead. And now this night, in the very presence of God at his right hand there sits the one who bears the scars forever of that which he endured here upon earth.
And as God looks at his beloved Son this night and looks at you in this meeting room tonight, he wants you to know, my friend, that he loves you. He wants you to know that he delights to proclaim, still in his long-suffering grace, the pardon of forgiveness, the justification from every stain of sin that will blot.
Your record for all eternity.
And bar you from those courts of eternal glory.
If you do not come to Christ.
Long ago I had the joy of seeing a dear man except the Lord Jesus as his savior, and this was mentioned in the prayer meeting downstairs just a short time ago.
This dear man, I would guess to be approximately 50 years of age.
And after some deep exercise of heart, this man rose up from his knees, put his hand out, and happily proclaimed that he had received the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. And you know, as I took the hand of that dear man, I held it and I waited. I think he wondered what I was waiting for. And it never came across my soul before, as it did on that recent occasion.
I held his hand, I say, and waited. Do you know what I was waiting for, Strange?
But I believe this when the last soil is gathered in, I don't believe there will be one moment's delay.
I believe we'll go home at once, and I waited for the Lord to call us home. And when the Lord didn't come immediately, I said to myself, there must be someone else.
Are you going to be the one that's brought in just at the very end?
I know, I am sure my soul is deeply convinced of the fact that we are at the very moment when the door of grace is going to be closed and closed forever, and the wondrous tale of God's matchless law that you have heard over and over, beloved friend.
00:45:06
You will hear no more, forever and ever and ever. Oh, I can think of nothing more solemn.
Nothing more frightful to contemplate and to look this night.
Into the face of a boy or a girl, a man or a woman.
Who knows that what we have said tonight is the truth of God's word, but your soul is guilty before God.
You have not yet accepted the Lord Jesus as your savior, and to have that door closed in your face, beloved friend, God's word says that they will stand and knock and say, Lord, Lord, open to us. This is not my exaggerated opinion. This is the word of God. Do you know who will do this? Those who have heard the gospel, those who have been brought up in Christian homes?
This world around us will be as it was in the days of Noah. The word of God tells us they knew not until the flood came and took the mall away. In spite of Noah's preaching, they were taken totally by surprise. They didn't expect the flood, but it came. They knew not. And when the Lord comes and takes his redeemed home, do you know? I believe this world is going to be taken by surprise. They're going to say what happened? Where have all these people gone?
So silently, so suddenly, who is going to tell them?
I hope it won't be you.
I hope. I hope it won't be you. But it will be those who, like yourself, have sat under the sound of the gospel, and you knew it well, and you knew that the coming of the Lord was near at hand, and you intended someday to see to it that this matter was settled someday, but not.
Today, oh beloved friend, as you sit here listening to the gospel, there are thousands of souls who have been taken suddenly and without a moment's warning into eternity. And they are already aware of the sad and awful fact.
That they are lost forever.
I trust you may not be among that number. God is love. He sent his Son to display that love to this poor, groaning world. God is love. He bruised his Son. He poured forth upon him the judgment that you and I deserve. God is love. He raised him from among the dead. And shall we turn yet to another scripture in the book of the Acts?
I'm well aware of the fact that these scriptures are not new to anyone here.
Perhaps even the connection of these scriptures is not new to anyone but all beloved friend.
Who can say that the story of God's love is not sweet to the soul, no matter how many times the same verses may be read again and again?
Acts 4.
Pardon me Acts, Chapter 2, Acts, Chapter 2.
Verse 36.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which he now see and hear.
I believe we have here yet another, if you wish, a fourth evidence of that glorious text. God is love, having sent His Son, having punished his son for our transgressions.
Having raised him from among the dead, God looked down upon this world who had spit in the face of that Son of his love? God looked down upon a world still groaning under the guilt that was written to their account. And God sent down his Holy Spirit in order that men of every kindred under heaven might hear the glad tidings of his matchless grace. And, my friend, the message from God's word to your soul tonight.
Is not the message of some visitor from Canada the message to your soul tonight, beloved friend?
I trust I can say it with authority and truth. The message is a message from the heart of God.
With the authority of the Word of God. And I trust and pray with the power of the Spirit of God. For God loves you so that he has gone to every length possible that he might show that love to you, that your heart may be opened this very night to have those stains of guilt blotted out forever. What about the one who is sitting beside you on this side and on that side?
00:50:31
Quite likely, as you think of the one who sits here and there, you know very well that he or she is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Perhaps you are here especially invited, especially coaxed and brought to this meeting by a friend whom you consider to have some queer religious notions. But let me tell you that the friend who invited you, who coaxed you, who brought you here, knows that the destiny of the soul that is not redeemed with the blood of Christ is an eternal destiny, a weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth. And that friend cares for your soul enough.
To bring you here tonight, to hear the gospel. To hear that God loves you, To hear that the gate of glory is open wide to night and that the loving heart of God pleads with you once more. To receive from His hand the gift of the eternal forgiveness.
Of every stain of sin the gift of everlasting life.
What a sad evidence it is of our rebellious heart that any of us should ever say no to such an offer as this. I feel we might even dare to say that. As yet a further testimony of the wondrous love of God is this glorious book we hold in our hand. Is it not true?
Ah, we are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, not with corruptible seed, but with the word of God that liveth and abideth forever. Oh, I thank God for this book.
I thank God that I can open its pages and see, shining from every page, the wondrous, mighty, matchless love of God. And there's a day coming, and I'm going to stand in the presence of Him who loved me enough to redeem my soul with His own precious Blood. I'm going to praise Him forever for that love. I'm going to praise Him for all eternity for that precious blood that blotted out those many stains of guilt.
More stains than I could remember or number.
He knew the mall, and he blotted the mall away forever.
Oh, our time is up, beloved friend, But I feel as the meeting ends that there are those in this company.
Who are lost at a solemn word, but it's a word that fell often from the lips of Jesus Christ.
Lest he said to the men who were steeped in religion, lust wherever he went, he reminded men and women, the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. And I say once again, your reputation may be of the finest, the cleanest, the most enviable wherever you live, but unless you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, unless you are redeemed with His precious blood, you're lost.
I don't want you to put that head of yours on your pillow tonight. Lost.
Would you accept Christ as your Savior tonight? And if you do so, beloved friend, will you confess him as your savior? Some time ago I was reading, I can't recall where. It was an old, old book, and I came across the copy of a confession that was found scratched on the wall of a dungeon that had been dismantled.
There in that dungeon for many years.
Had been imprisoned, a man who was only known as Brother Martin. That was the name signed to this confession.
And they are alone in that cell. This dear man wrote out his confession.
I have cherished it. I wish I could remember it, But instead I wrote it out that day a long time ago.
The date at the top of the confession was 1776.
A long time ago.
These are the words that this man, Brother Martin, had inscribed on the wall of his dungeon.
Merciful God, I know that I cannot be saved otherwise than through the guiltless suffering and death of thy well beloved Son, Holy Jesus. All my salvation lies in Thy hands.
00:55:17
Thou canst not turn away the hands of thy love from me, for thou hast created and hast redeemed me.
Thou hast written my name in great mercy, with an iron spear, and with inextinguishable marks on my side, thy hands and thy feet.
Although I cannot confess these things with my mouth.
Today I confess them with my pen and with my heart.
There was a man behind the walls of a dungeon. No human ear to hear his confession, but he inscribed that confession on the wall of his dunton, to be discovered many years later.
Beloved friend, here you are at the very closing moments of the day of God's matchless grace.
God loves you. He has revealed that love in ways that my poor tongue can never tell.
And he wants you this night to confess the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. My dear boy, my dear girl, if you have never confessed the Lord Jesus, will you do so tonight? You don't have to scratch it on the wall of a dungeon. Thank God for that.
But you can turn to your father, your mother.
I would love to hear it from your lips too, but God wants to hear it. Tell him. Tell him.
May I just quote one more verse in closing a verse from the Song of Solomon in the first chapter? And I don't think I need to call it a digression.
It says there in that chapter.
We will remember.
Thy love isn't that precious. We will remember thy love.
Could I think of love like that?
And such a verse have no claim upon my heart.
I said I considered it an honor.
To speak at the service of that beloved sister who was taken home into the presence of the Lord Jesus.
For 83 years.
She remembered the Lord Jesus in his death.
For 83 years.
She had responded.
To that precious little text we will remember thy love.
Now she's gone into his presence to rejoice in that love in a way that the rest of us envy. But in the meantime, beloved, you and I can rejoice in that love and thank him for that love. And we can remember that love too. Shall we pray?