Gospel—A. Hayhoe
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Turn with me, please, to the Gospel of Matthew.
Seven chapter of Matthew's Gospel.
The 13th verse, Matthew 7 verse 13.
Enter ye in at the straight gate, or wide is the gate, and broad is the way that lead us to destruction. And many there be which go in their *** because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto light.
And few there be that find it.
What solemn, solemn verses? These are words which came from the lips of none other.
Then the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't say that we actually find the gospel message contained in these verses.
But I believe certainly that the Spirit of God can apply the message of these two verses.
To your heart, my dear friend, and mine, in order that you and I may realize.
That God presents to us here two ways, 2 rows, with the solemn, solemn reminder that at this very moment you and I are on either one or the other of these two roads.
Either the narrow Rd. which leads to life or the broad Rd. which leads to destruction. Is there anything more important than the answer to that question in your soul, my friend? Which Rd. are you traveling at this very moment?
Why? Perhaps already you have begun to take stock of yourself, and you have considered the fact that you have an untarnished reputation and that all your friends and neighbors would certainly speak very highly and very well if you.
My dear friend, we're not going to consider tonight what any of your neighbors.
What any of your loved ones might have to say about you, we hold in our hands tonight, and you and yours the word of God and the Lord. Jesus said. The word that I have spoken the same shall judge you in the last day. You aren't. You and I are not going to be judged according to the estimation of our neighbors, or according to our own estimation of things you and I have placed in our hands the word of God.
And this is a most faithful book. I know that it's very popular to read and enjoy the 14th of John, the 23rd Psalm, and comforting passages such as those. But my friend, let me tell you that this is a faithful book written by a faithful God. And when you read this book, and when I read this book, I find the finger of a faithful God pointing deep down into my heart.
And telling me exactly what he sees there. Would you want it to be otherwise? Would you want God to withhold from you what He has seen in your heart? Would you want God to withhold from you his record of your life and His eyes until the day when you stand before him too late? Find that that record of yours, in spite of what you may think.
Is 1 big stain of sin, my dear friend. I thank God for His faithfulness in recording in this book that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I thank God for His faithfulness in telling me that all things are naked and open under the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
That verse is enough to make any soul tremble, unless you are under the shelter of the precious blood of Christ. You may never have trembled before, my friend, but would to God that you would tremble this night under the conviction of guilt and sin before the eye of God, rather than tremble in that day when it will be too late, I say again, we find presented here two ways.
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A broad Rd. There's something significant about that word broad.
It has the gutter side, if you wish, that side from which you and your respectability and religion would shrink, oh, you would have nothing to do.
With those of such character as you may have seen here and there, Oh no, no, you're not on the same Rd. as they. But pause and think, my friend, this is a very broad Rd. It has its disgraceful and defiled side, and it has its clean and respectable and religious side, but it leads to destruction. It leads downward, my friend, and the warnings of God's word, the warnings from the heart and lips of the Lord Jesus.
Are addressed to each and everyone who at this moment is on the Broad Rd. that leads to destruction. I was on that Broad Rd. I was brought up in a Christian home. I was brought up with a brave father and mother. But I was on the Broad Rd. that led to destruction. And I stand here tonight and thank God with all my heart for his sovereign, wondrous grace.
That arrested me from the Broad Rd. that was leading me to destruction, brought me to my knees before the God against whom I had sinned, and caused me by grace to take shelter under the precious blood of Christ. Caused me to accept as my Savior none other than the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Is he your Savior, my friend? If your answer is not yes, thank God.
Then I tell you, in spite of what you may have thought when you entered this room, you are on the Prop Rd. that leads to destruction. You may be on the clean side. You may be on the honorable and the respected side. But, my friend, that road on which you now are traveling leads to destruction.
And that road, my dear friend, is paved with everything that the devil can invent in order to make you feel comfortable.
Happy and well entertained along the Broad Rd. It may be that it's very, very seldom that your conscience ever troubles you about what lies at the end of the road you are now traveling. But I only cried to God that by the power of the Spirit you this night may look to the end of the road upon which you are traveling. You know, my dear friend, that from time to time you have been called upon.
To stand and witness.
A loved one or a neighbor laid away. You've heard what has been said and said far too often. He was a good man. He was kind and thoughtful to all his neighbors. He was truthful and upright in his feelings. He was faithful and beloved by all who knew him. So we're sure he's at rest. Oh, my friend, I trample when I hear such language. If the day should come when anyone stands.
And looks at that which may remain mortal of me. I hope they'll say that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord. Oh my dear friend, there is no salvation, there is no hope of glory apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. And the work accomplished for you and me, even across of Calvary. I know that it's not a popular message. I was astonished. I suppose I ought not to have been.
But I was astonished to read recently.
Apparently a poll was taken as to the subjects that were most popular and most unwanted in present day sermons. And the most popular sermons. I have forgotten they had something to do with getting along in this world and how to get answers to our prayers. And the most unwanted, the most unpopular, the very bottom of the list.
Where sermons concerning life and death, judgment, heaven and hell, Those things were at the bottom of the list. The most unwanted things, my dear friend. How strange. How strange. Would you like to go to a physician who absolutely refused to study or to have anything to do with those diseases which frighten mankind today? Would you go to one who decided that he would just restrict himself?
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To advice concerning diet and fresh air and exercise. And that would have nothing whatever to do with those diseases which you and I know afflict mankind today. Are we going to close our eyes to them because we don't like the sound of their names? Are we going to close our eyes to them because of the pain and tears they bring?
You know they're here, and you would be very happy to find someone who could give you an honest remedy for such a condition, my friend. This book faithfully, faithfully, solemnly, and repeatedly warns us that we are lost and on our road to a lost eternity, apart from the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. And here we find two ways presented.
A broad Rd. that leads to destruction and the narrow Rd. that leads to life. I say, on which Rd. are you at this moment? Are you sure, my dear young boy? Are you sure, my dear young girl, Are you sure that you this very evening are on the road that leads to heaven, home, and eternal glory? Thank God, I am sure about it.
I am confident, more confident of that than those things which concern the passing scene in which I live. My confidence is based upon this book, upon the statements of God and upon the value of the finished work of Christ.
When I was in my teens, I remember visiting a young fellow in the hospital in Ottawa. He had been there since he was but a boy, and he was at that time 35 years of age, terribly distorted and twisted, never never able to walk. And I said to him, I better not repeat his name. I said to him, where do you expect to go when you leave this hospital?
Well, he said. I'm almost, but not quite sure.
That I'm going to be in heaven.
He was a dear young Jew, almost but not quite sure that I'm going to be in heaven. Well, we open the word of God, and we read John 524. It's a favorite verse of mine. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Either heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me.
Half everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life. I said, I'm trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, and what the word of God says about the value of that work. Are you? He said, yes. And I said, And where are you going? Well, he said, I'm almost but not quite sure.
But I'm going to be in heaven all, I said. You, me, You're almost but not quite sure that God tells the truth. I could see a little pained look come across his face. So I went away and left him. I went back a couple of weeks later, and with great difficulty he could turn his head to see who was coming in. And he smiled brightly. And I said, tell me, where do you expect to go when you leave this hospital?
He said. I'm sure that I'm going home to heaven. I called on him again just recently.
Just recently. He is now about 65 years of age. Still. This time he was stretched out on his back in a wheelchair outdoors, and there were two or three others around him. My wife and children were with me and I said, would you like to have us sing a little hymn? Knowing that he was a Jew, I wondered what his response would be. He said, yes, I'd love to have you sing that hymn. Tell me the.
Old old story.
Of Jesus.
His love. We sang it, my friend. Does it mean anything to you? The old old story of Jesus and his love, My dear boy. What does the name of Jesus mean to you? Is it something you'd sooner father and mother would not speak about so often? Is it something you don't like to hear and you're just waiting till you're grown up a little older and get a getaway from all that?
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My heart trembles for you. There is no sweeter name on earth than the name of Jesus, the name that will resound with Thanksgiving throughout those courts of glory forever. This unworthy voice of mine is going to join in those songs of praise. Will yours be there if your voice, if your voice is not going to join in those songs of the redeemed in glory, My friend, there is no.
Alternative but the end of the broad road. And what did the Savior say about that?
Weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Did the Lord Jesus exaggerate? I don't like to say that, but I ask you, was he exaggerating you? No, he was not. The awful realities of eternal torment cannot be exaggerated. The Lord Jesus speaks of them in terms of eternal fire, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.
I find it strange to have to speak this way. I find it strange for the gospel to me as the grandest story on earth.
The gospel is the unfolding of God's heart of boundless love, and I love to tell it forth. And it seems strange to have to stand and warn and warn and warn again as to the solemn consequences of rejecting Christ. Could you picture a man in the penitentiary with life imprisonment at hard labor before him? Someone turns the key in the cell, opens the door, and holds in his hand of paper.
Pardon an absolute pardon. The man is free.
He can come out and start anew with a bank account of $100,000 to his credit. Could you picture the man who opens the door and presents the pardon standing there and having to point out to that poor individual the wonderful difference between liberty and being locked behind the bars for the rest of his day? We have to plead with that man and point out to him the restrictions and the laborers that he was under.
A bit of it. That man would be delighted to see that pardon and to accept it too. Thy find it surprising. I find it strange. And yet my heart was the same.
That the gospel has to be presented with solemn, solemn words of warning. God loves you, and it cost him the gift of his Son. It cost him the anguish of Calvary, in order that you might so much as hear that one word come, and having accomplished redemption, having finished the work.
He now presents to you as a gift the forgiveness of all your sins.
And the assurance of a home and the glory turn to the third chapter of John's Gospel, please.
John Chapter 3, verse 18.
In the 7th of Matthew we saw two ways.
And the end of those two ways. Here in the third chapter of John, we find two classes of people.
The 18th verse he that believeth on him is.
Not condemned. But he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. There are two classes here, those who are not condemned, and those who are condemned already condemned already. This is not theology, my friend.
These are facts that the Lord Jesus presented when he was here. And if the Lord Jesus were here looking over this company, he would need ask no questions. He would look from one to the other and he would know as he looked at you whether condemned already.
Was written after your name or not condemned? Which is it, my dear friend? Does it matter? Indeed it does. It's a solemn question. It's a solemn state to be in condemned already.
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And why? Because of an ungodly, wicked, sinful life doesn't say so here. It says because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Close your heart, my dear friend, against the only one who can save you.
Close your heart and refuse to accept as your savior the one who was nailed to the cross of Calvary and love for you. God says condemned already condemned already. I was visiting a dear old lady on a hillside, the island of Saint Vincent. A number of others here know that dear old sister Rebecca Milliken, and she was so filled with peace and happiness and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus that I said to her, Would you, Would you mind telling me?
How you learned in all the Lord Jesus as your savior? Well, she said, Brother, it was in 1900 and five that a man by the name of EB Hart was down here on this island and he was preaching the gospel 1 evening in the Market Square and he was preaching from John 3 verse 18. And he told everyone who heard his voice last night.
That in the sight of God they were either not condemned or condemned already. And she said, brother, he used an illustration that would not leave me. He told you heard the story he told of a Prairie fire which was sweeping uncontrolled across the dry prairies. And in the path of that fire there was a little home containing father and mother and children. And you know that if nothing was done, they would be consumed by the flames.
The only thing to do was to step outside their little home and in view of the on rushing fire, the light, the grass, the dried grass at their feet, and to allow that fire to sweep onward across the Prairie. They did so. They lit up a good wide stretch, and as the fire burned farther down the plains, they stepped onto the ground that had already been touched by the fire that had already been burned over.
And he pictured them standing there as the fire approached them and stopped.
For the fire had already consumed the ground on which they stood. Then he pointed to that company, and said, On which ground are you standing? That which shall yet taste the judgment and wrath of God, or that which already has felt it in the person of him who hung up on the cross? And she said, That man pointed all around, and said, on which ground are you standing? He said. I went home.
That I couldn't forget it. The next day I was standing in the middle of the stream washing the clothes, and every time I'd bring the clothes up and down, I could hear that voice saying, On which ground are you standing? So she said. Right there in the middle of the stream, I sat down my bundle of clothes and I bowed my guilty head and I accepted the Lord Jesus as my savior 56 years ago.
And the dear soul is happily peacefully rejoicing.
In that which is her portion in Christ? Oh, my friend, I say to you, on which ground are you standing?
On which ground are you standing? The wrath and judgment of God is yet to fall upon this poor sin stained guilty world. But, my friend, I fear it not, for I'm standing on ground which has already tasted the wrath of God.
Lord Jesus Christ bowed his sinless head under the load and weight and burden of my shameful sins upon the cross of Calvary. He has borne the judgment of God for me. And now these glorious words are mine to enjoy.
He that believeth on him is not condemned. That's true about me. I say it with Thanksgiving.
I ask, is it true about you? Have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior? Is he your own, my friend, two classes, those who have accepted the Lord Jesus and those who have not yet done so. He that believeth not is condemned already. Turnover also to the 18th chapter of the same book.
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And the very last verse.
Then cried they all again saying not this man but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber again. We find the division between two companies, two sides here.
This man.
Barabbas and we hear the side choice that is made.
With one consent we hear them say not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Oh, you say? Why present me with this picture? It happened long before I was born. I don't know that I need to concern myself with that which happened here, I say. Indeed you do, my friend. Indeed you do. Your eyes are going to see the one who stood before Pilot that day.
You're going to stand before him two in a day that's coming. Are you ready for that day, solemn thing. Are you ready for that day, my friend, when you shall stand before the one who here stood before the multitude? And they were given the choice. Not this man, but Barabbas, was their answer.
You know, as I sat last night and listened to our brother Gladding, tell out the message and warn and warn solemnly and warn lovingly.
Of that which lies ahead if you do not know Christ as your Savior. I felt touched in my spirit as I thought of those who could listen to such a message as that and turn and leave the meeting room without price. And, you know a friend, a strange thought came to me.
I love to see great greats behind as our brother Gliding was speaking and I thought, you know, it would be a very, very, very solemn thing.
If anyone of this company were to be brought before those drapes, I don't want to dramatize this. But you knew that one step behind those drapes would usher you into the presence of God. Into the presence of God, my dear friend, would it concern you? Would there be a dread of fear, a shrinking back in you, as you knew that you were but one step from the very presence of the God who knows all about you?
You say you're not responsible for what took place here. My dear friend you are.
And so am I. My voice was heard among those who rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, for that very sin was written down against my name, a rejector of the Lord Jesus Christ. But for the sovereign grace of the God who loved me is the day coming when just as truly and more so, as what we have just said, just as truly and morsel will you step into the presence of him who is being presented to you tonight.
As Savior, you will be my friend. You will be ushered into His presence and in that day, in that day, you will stand before him. The records will be open and there will be found recorded as written about you. The fact that you attended this gospel meeting tonight. The fact that you heard the loving invitation of God's matchless grace.
The warning notes too that he has directed to you tonight.
The answer of your heart. Remember our brother Aiken speaking up at Gordon Bay about?
30 years ago and he was telling us of a certain meeting out in the West Coast.
Where there was written over the inside of the exit door, these words Have you rejected him again? Have you rejected him again? Solemn words, solemn words, is being recorded. And here we find that there were those who, when they were presented with the Lord Jesus Christ and Barabbas the robber, they made their choice.
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Not this man, but.
Barabbas at Sunday school this afternoon. Something of this was presented to the dear children.
They were told of the Lord Jesus Christ who was nailed by cruel man to the cross of Calvary.
They were told of the two thieves, one on this side and 1:00 on that, and how when the soldiers came and broke the legs of this man and of that man, that one of them went into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's there now. The other went down into the darkness of eternal hell, and he's there now. It happened 1900 years ago.
But he's there now, and every voice that was lifted up in his awful statement is an eternity right now. Not this man, but Barabbas. You have never said such words as those. Perhaps not, but you know, my friend, that if your heart has not yet been opened.
To receive and to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, that you have indeed steeled and barred your heart against the only one who can save your soul. On which side are you in this matter, my friend? Can you truthfully say I stand on the side of the Lord Jesus Christ?
We sing in Sunday school one door and only one and get its guides. Aren't two inside?
And outside, on which side are you? A brother was one time telling that little chorus to a group of children. And there was an innocentive boy in the front row. And after having sung the chorus, he pointed to the boy, and he said, on which side of that door would you like to be when the boy stood up? And he said on the outside he was rather a big boy too. Well, the brother who was speaking just didn't know quite what to do. So he pointed to another lad whose name was Phillip. He said, Phillip, on which side would you like to be?
Philip got to his feet, and he was a little bewildered. He looked over at this big boy who walked to know better than he did.
And he thought he said, I would like to be on the side that Jesus is on.
Wasn't that a wise and say faster? He thought This big boy ought to know, but he wanted to be sure. And he said, I want to be on the side that Jesus is on. The door is going to be closed, my friend. The piercing hand of my beloved Savior is holding that door open. But soon it's going to be closed. And are you in simple, childish language? Are you going to be on the side that Jesus is on? What a tumult on the other side of that door?
The boys and girls who heard the gospel, the boys and girls who have seen their fathers and mothers prayerful tears, and they on the outside. Oh, my friend, I warn you solemnly, I believe with all it is within me that the most awful whales that will rend the caverns of eternal darkness will come from the lips of the sons and daughters of Christian praying parents.
Are there some here tonight who have, up until this point, been on the wrong side of this question? And you know it in your heart. You know it with all kinds of bravado. You snap your fingers and turn away from such questions. I've seen it, I've met it. And it's made my heart ache. My heart doesn't ache like the heart of my blessed Savior. You'll mock him once too often. There were two boys that went to a gospel meeting one evening.
I shouldn't call them boys. They were young men, and the gospel was presented solemnly and faithfully, and many warnings were given from this precious book. And when those two young men left the little meeting room and started down the street, one of them was very troubled about what he'd heard. He turned to his friend, and he said.
You know.
What that man said tonight was true, I know.
I know that I have to do something about it. And the other one turned on him with that bravado, my friend, that frightens me when I see it. He turned, and he mocked his friend's concern. He laughed about the exercise and interest that the preacher had shown. He said, I'll tell you what we'll do. Step into this Tavern, a place that he'd often been in before he stepped up to the bar and he said in the presence of his friend. He said to the barkeeper, Give me a glass of the wrath of God. Imagine that.
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Give me a glass of the wrath of God. Even that wicked barkeeper just stepped back when he heard the young man say that didn't know what to do, and there was a silence in the place. But he poured him out of glass and what he'd often had before, and handed it to him. And the young man drank the glass, set it down, and dropped dead at his friend's feet. In the presence of God, my friend, in the presence of God, you've never gone that far.
But I have seen it, my friend, among the sons and daughters of praying parents. I have seen it among those with whom I have tried to plead about the Lord Jesus Christ.
An indifferent bravado that will someday be gone, my friend, when you stand before him.
All that arrogance will be gone. You will tremble, my friend, as that book is open, that the page on which the record of your life has been kept, and the eye of the Lord Jesus meets your eye. And you will remember. You will remember what you heard about him. You will see the nail Prince in his hand. And remember, this is the man of whom my mother spoke. This is the man whom my father loved.
And it's too late now for me.
Oh, my dear friend, I warn you, I warn you solemnly, Now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. We read not only of two ways in which men are traveling. We read not only of two classes of people. We read not only of two sides in the question concerning the Lord Jesus, that we read of two ways to die to my friend.
We read of those who die in their sins that we read of those who die in the Lord, those who die in the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that glorious? I was speaking to two dear sisters outside this meeting room just a while ago. I trust they'll pardon this reference, but they're rather far along the journey, and I can see their faces radiant with the joy of the Lord.
And they spoke about being near home and I said wouldn't you like to go back to about 16 and start over again?
Oh my, no, indeed. We're too near home to think of that, you know. That did me good to hear that. Still near home to think of that. And there are ever so many in this world who'd give their last dollar to start over again. They're afraid to get to the end of the journey because they don't know what lies beyond. But my dear brother and sister in Christ, you and I know what it means, according to this precious book.
To slip away into the presence of the one who loved us. I say we know it. We certainly don't know it in reality.
We've read it and I look this moment into the faces of those who are a lot further along the journey that I am and I have seen and you have seen the joy in their very faces as they speak of all, as they speak of the Saviors face.
And the home that he's prepared, Oh my dear friend, to go into his presence, redeemed by the freshest blood of Christ, is indeed a grand reality. But the Lord Jesus says in his very gospel, has turned back to it.
The 8th chapter and the 21St verse.
Then said Jesus unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins. Whether I go, he cannot come.
Die in your sins. Yes, my friend, the Lord Jesus spoke that way, and there are multitudes who die in their sins.
Clean, upright, respectable people, but they die in their sins. They have never yet accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal Savior. They do not know what it means to be cleansed from every stain of sin.
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By the precious blood of Christ never yet have made their own that most wonderful text, the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleans.
Us from all sin. Pardon, if I repeat a little illustration which perhaps may make it simple, and may cause you to question your heart as to whether this matter is true with you.
I was reading this verse before a company of children one time, first John one, and verse 7. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. I said to those children, may I stand here all by myself and speak about us.
Or will I have to say me Well, they said as long as I'm all alone, I'll have to speak about me well. But I said the Bible says us, and it takes more than one to make an us. And I saw a dear boy sitting there in the front row, and his face was beaming with happiness.
It was in Bermuda, and I pointed to the little boy. I don't do this very often, I said, My boy, do you know the Lord Jesus as your savior? He jumped quickly to his feet. He said, Yes Sir, I do. But I said, will you come up here?
And he came up and stood beside me, and we looked together on this precious book, and I put my arm around the little fellows shoulder, and I said, now let's read it together. The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses. We stop. They look down at him, and his dear little face looked up at me. And we said that word together us cleanse us from all sins.
My dear friend, I'm not going to ask you up here, but you know, in the depths of your heart, with the eye of God looking down upon you. Could you do that? Could you do that with God watching and listening? Could you say, together with this redeemed Sinner here, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us, you and me both? Oh, I rejoice to be in the company of gold.
Cleansed by that precious blood while we're here, that we're going to be together in the glory forever with my friend, here it is. Die in your sins. And that is not the end. There are two deaths, it's true, but there are two destinies, 2 destinies my friend, and they're solemnly and vividly portrayed in this book. I need not exaggerate, its told in solemn words.
The destiny of those who pass into eternity without Christ.
We read in the 16th of Luke of that man who passed into eternity.
And he cried for one drop of water, that his tongue might be cooled.
Being tormented in the flames of that place. Is there such a place?
Theologians of today would tell us no. The Lord Jesus would tell us yes. Be honest, my friend, is the Lord Jesus entered this place tonight. If the Lord Jesus stood here and held up his piercing hands to tell you the gospel, would He tell you of heaven and hell? Would he tell you of death and judgment? You know he would. You know he would I believe you, would tell you with far more tears than I have ever shed in a light time.
Because he loves your soul and the eternal destiny of your soul, my friend, depends upon this.
What will you do with Jesus, the Savior who died on the cross of Calvary? Have you answered that question yet? Have you, my dear friend? We read again in that same 16th of Luke, of the one who passed away and went into the presence of those who would comfort and hear him. We read in the 14th of John of the Father's house, in the presence of Him who loved us. We read of the beloved apostle Paul, who says, having a desire to depart than to be with Christ.
Which is far better. Oh, there's a joy and a reality to the destiny that awaits those of us who are sheltered by the precious blood of Christ. That destiny, my friend, I am going to know someday in all its wondrous reality. We seem to have a little thorough taste of it when we meet together with our dear brethren and enjoy sweet fellowship and enjoy this precious book. But the reality of it will soon be ours to know without a hindrance forever.
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Is that your destiny?
There are but two.
There are but two The one is to be with Christ, which is far better. The one is to join in the Song of the Redeemed.
Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Are you redeemed? If not, you cannot join in such a hymn. And the other, my friend.
Solemn but true weeping.
Wailing and gnashing of teeth. For how long? Forever. Forever. Forever.
It's all as long as God exists, as long as the notes of heaven resound hell.
The destiny of those who refuse to accept Christ as they're safe and that's all. What else?
What else can God do with one who refuses to accept?
That which it cost him so much to offer again, we heard in Sunday School this afternoon, and I I repeat what we heard. We heard of a young man, a very young man, who attended a meeting similar to this, heard the gospel and started for home under deep conviction of guilt. He knew that what he heard was true. He knew that he was lost.
And so, my friend, to you, I don't believe that you sit in this company tonight, unmoved by what the word of God would say to your heart. This young man went home deeply stirred by what he had heard, and he went to bed. He turned out his light, and he turned this way, and he turned that way, and God would give him no peace.
Lost kept ringing through his mind. He knew he was without Christ.
He knew his father had often fled with him. He turned on the light.
Midnight. He turned it off again and tried and tried and tried again. Finally he got out of bed. He got down on his knees. He knelt by his bed and he said, oh God, leave me alone and let me get to sleep.
Perhaps you've never gone that far, my friend, but I warn you solemnly that if you keep that heart of yours close this one night against the Lord Jesus, you may have the remorse of it forever. The young man went back to bed and went to sleep, went to sleep, woke up and went went about his work. A few days later he was carried home, carried home, fearfully injured, laid in his bed. His father and the doctor were called for.
The doctor arrived and examined the boy and shook his head and said to the poor father.
Your boy will be gone in a few hours. There's nothing can be done. The poor father knelt down by that boy and sobbing in tears. Finally, the boy opened his eyes and turned to father and said, what did the doctor say, my boy? The doctor says nothing can be done. You'll be gone in a few hours. But my boy, accept the Lord Jesus as your savior. No, it's not yet too late. He played with that boy. Finally the boy turned and said Father, I'm going to tell you something.
You remember that night I sat beside you in the meeting?
I went home father and I couldn't get to sleep.
And I woke up. Or rather, I got out of bed at 2:00 in the morning and told God to leave me alone and let me get to sleep. Father, it's too late. He closed his eyes and he was gone.
I, dear boy, my dear girl, my dear friend, under the sound of the gospel tonight if you never hear it again.
Let me tell you that there are two ways and your way tonight is the road that leads to glory or the road that leads to hell. There are two sides in this question. There are two classes of people, there are two deaths, and there are two eternal destinies. And all hinges, my dear friend.
Upon the question, what shall I do with Jesus, which is called Christ? Accept the Lord Jesus this very night, and if, if, my friend, you are not settled about this matter, do not hesitate to remain behind. We do not ask for an altar call or something of that kind, but our hearts are truly concerned about your soul's welfare. That I beg you, no matter who you may be.
00:50:25
Young or old, child or grown, do not leave this meeting room until the matter is settled. Come to any one of us here who knows the Lord as our Savior by grace and makes known the condition of your heart and will. Open this precious book, and you'll find that there's peace and pardon and salvation that a hole in the glory for you tonight.