Gospel—G.H. Hayhoe
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John's Gospel chapter 8 and verse 30. And as he spake these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him. If he continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed? And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And then the 36th verse.
If the sun therefore shall make you free.
He shall be free indeed.
I'd like to speak tonight on that little word so well known to us all, a little word KNOW, no, you know, we're living in a world that is so full of uncertainty. And not only this, but the information that we receive is so often untrue, inaccurate. What a wonderful thing it is to have a message from God, a message of assurance and certainty so that we don't have to go on through life.
Not knowing what life is all about. Not knowing where we came from and where we're going to.
There was one great man who said, I've spent all my life trying to find an answer to two questions, where I came from and where I'm going To think of the millions of dollars as people search through all the rocks and rubble of the earth to try and find out where they came from. And then all the religions with which the world abounds, people trying to find out where they're going to.
Dear friends, as God left us in total uncertainty about these things.
Has he not given us any message so that we would know where we came from and know where we're going to? Indeed, he has, Dear friends, He has not left us in uncertainty. Perhaps one of the wisest men that ever lived in this country, Mr. Einstein made this comment at the end of his life. He said I know less than one 100 to 1% about anything.
That's not very much, is it? Less than one 100th of 1% about anything?
Yet I suppose any of us would envy such a gigantic mind as that man had.
And yet now that was what he had to say. And yet I know there are children here in this room tonight.
Who have peace with God, who know where they came from, who know where they're going to have an anchor that keeps the soul and amid all the uncertainty and upheavals of life, as they can say, Christ is mine. There's the one whom perhaps some of us know down in Southern California, Marjorie Fiedler. And she went to the doctor, of course, she has often visited him with her affliction.
But recently, he said.
Marjorie, how is it you are always happy? You are always smiling? The poor girl can't talk very much because of her condition.
I bought in her difficulty to speak, she said. I have the Lord. Oh, dear friends, that's what I want you to have tonight. That's what you need. And it's the only thing that will give an anchor for your soul. It's the only thing that will give you peace in a world that's so full of unrest, so full of uncertainty. And people say on every hand, you don't know what you can believe.
But, dear friends, there is one who has given us a message.
And that is God himself has spoken, it says in the Bible here earth, for the Lord has spoken. And when the Lord Jesus was here, he said, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. Now this precious book, this message from God is going to abide. And at the great white throne those who die in their sins and stand before God.
Are going to have to meet God's message to man and be judged according to how they treated that message for it says the Lord Jesus said the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day and at that great white throne it says the books were open.
And another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books.
According to their works, you may say I don't care, I'm not interested.
But dear friends, that's only your loss if you say that perhaps when the beginning of the year comes, you get your tax papers. You can throw them in the basket and say I'm not interested in taxes, I don't care. But that's a very easy thing to throw them in the basket. But that's not the end of the matter, and you know it.
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You know very well that if you don't care about taxes, the government cares about them and you're responsible to them.
And God has placed you and I in this world. He breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And man is responsible to God, and you're responsible to God. And no matter how hard you may try or how much you say I don't care, you are going to have to answer to God another day. How wonderful it is though.
And that you can meet this Blessed 1 as your Savior, and then you'll know.
They'll never have to meet him as a judge. If you meet him as your savior, you won't have to meet him as your judge.
And that's why the gospel is presented here tonight. That's why God's message comes to man, because God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And so the Lord Jesus came into this world, the Son of God came down, sent by the Father in love down into this world. And he said, ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free, and you'll never be free.
Friend, until you know the truth, how often you have formed an opinion on something where you didn't have proper knowledge and then you found out you had to change because you didn't know all the facts. But when you take your stand upon this precious book.
Then you have the truth, and the truth sets you free because it's God's truth. And there's one thing that God can't do. The Bible tells us what it is. It says it's impossible for God to lie. Another verse says God that cannot lie promised eternal life before this world began. Oh, isn't it wonderful to have such?
Reliable authority to rest upon the Bible is the only reliable history in the world.
Sometimes when you read a history book in this country and you read a history book telling about the same thing in another country.
You find it's entirely different and yet it's history, but it's presented from a different slant altogether. And you wonder if it's the same event you're reading about. And that's the way man is. But when God gives the facts, he gives them perfectly. He gives them so that you and I will know just what we are in his presence and just what He is. And you know the word repentance and the Bible says God now command.
Man everywhere to repent. You know what the word repentance means? Why it means a change of mind. That's simply what the word means, a change of mind. And naturally we have wrong thoughts about ourselves. And that is the natural heart thinks he's not too bad, that he's not half as bad as God says he is, that he's a little better than many of his neighbors.
A natural heart will always have some kind of self righteousness of its own.
But what happens when we get into the presence of God? Our thoughts are changed. We realize that the great Physician, the one who knows all about our condition, has told us just what we are. And so I say that repentance is a change of mind. And what gives the change of mind? I might think I was perfectly well and in good health. And I go to the doctor. He examines me. He discovers the condition I didn't know anything about.
And he tells me how serious it is.
My mind is changed at once. I thought I was in good health, I tell my friends. Well, I thought I was in good health, but the doctor tells me I have a serious condition. And yet you believe the doctor. He sometimes makes mistakes. But the great physician is looking you and I over tonight, and he tells us in the third chapter of Romans just exactly what he knows about our condition. Not what he thinks about it, but what he knows about it, because he knows just exactly what.
We are in the light of his holy presence and he describes us from head to foot and he says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And so we know the truth. We know what our condition is, but we don't like the doctor to tell us that, you know, but it's it's not so bad if the doctor says, but I have AI have a medicine and this medicine will make you well again in a week.
Why, you say? I'm greatly relieved. Well, dear friends, we not only don't know our own true condition before God.
But you don't know how wonderful a remedy is that God has provided. Man has wrong thoughts about himself, and he has wrong thoughts about God.
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But when he believes the gospel, his mind is completely changed. He finds out that God describes his condition. But wonder of wonders, God loves us. God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So it tells us here in this 36th verse, If the sun therefore shall make you.
You free, He shall be free Indeed, it isn't just some thoughts and ideas that we have, but we know the truth and we know the person. If the Son therefore shall make you free, it's a person who can set you free. And the Lord Jesus came into this world a save sinners. We often sing in little hymn.
Long I was chained in sins darkness.
Now, by His grace, I am free. Who is it that can set us free? Can a man set himself free? No. You decided that you were going to give up sinning and you were going to have perfect Peace of Mind from now on. You might have the finest kind of intentions, but you know very well, now that you find yourself doing things you don't want to do, you find also that you have.
That you have a.
Capacity to sin and you can't stop the things that you want to stop. You need someone to set you free. And the Lord Jesus is the one and the only one who can set you free. Well, that's what we want to announce in the glad tidings of the Gospel tonight.
Let's turn to a verse that tells us about our condition in Romans Chapter 7.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. The 18th verse. For I know that in me that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for the will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good?
I find not here. We find that God speaks about the law. We know that the law is spiritual.
I call your attention to that little word no, because God gave his holy law.
Yet He tells us in the third chapter of Romans, By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Why did God give the law? Well, it tells us also in the third of Romans, by the law is the of sin.
Supposing my face were dirty here tonight and I wouldn't believe you when you told me it was dirty.
And so you said. Well, here, Gordon, here's a mirror. Look at yourself and you'll see.
Well, what does the mirror do? Make my face all of a sudden perfectly clean? No, all the mirror does is show what it really is, and it shows it to me. Now God knew what man's condition was. He looked at him and told him just exactly what his condition was. He says in the 17th of Jeremiah, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can not I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the.
He looks underneath the skin. He looks underneath all the pretense and sham that we put on and how we like to make other people think we're better than we are. He looks underneath it all. And what has he got to say about us? He says our hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. And what did the law do?
Just what that nice mirror did. The better the mirror, the more it showed up the dirt. And God's law was wholly just and good. God's law was spiritual, but I'm carnal. And by the law is the knowledge of sin. It showed what we were. It showed that we couldn't live up to God's requirements because when God gave that law in Mount Sinai.
Before Moses came down with the tables of stone, with God's law, written by the finger of God.
I say, before he came down into the camp, the people were breaking the first commandment, and yet before Moses went up they had said all that the Lord has spoken, we will do and be obedient. They promised they'd do it, but before He came down from the mount they had broken the first commandment.
All, dear friends, you and I are lawbreakers. We're sinners. We're guilty before God.
And you say, but I think I can do better if I really tried. But here it says in the 18th verse, for I know there's that little word again. K&OWI know that in me that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. That is, man's premise is entirely wrong. He says that he's not as bad as God says he is, and that he really can improve.
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But God tells us that in me that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I don't think that if the doctor discovered a condition that was serious that you would very likely argue with him if you have any kind of confidence in the doctor.
You wouldn't start arguing with him, you would be asking him what he could do to help the condition. And you know, when God shows us what we are, isn't it strange that we start to argue with God and start to tell him that we're not quite as bad as he says we really are, and that we do have some kind of self-righteous robes? And as Job said, my heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.
Were something like the Corinthians, and it says they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. Well, we compare ourselves among ourselves. We measure ourselves by ourselves.
Like, there was a place where they wanted to hire a policeman and the requirement was the policeman had to be 6 feet tall. And so Can you imagine a few people here, a few men, and one is 5 foot 11 and the other is 5 foot nine and the other is 5 foot six, and they're arguing who's got the best chance to get the job. Well, you'd say.
None of you have got any chance at all. Don't you know the requirement is 6 feet?
Well, but this man says I'm 5 inches taller than that guy. He's only 5 foot 6 and I'm 5 foot 11. Don't you think I got a better chance? But the requirement is 6 feet. He's one inch short. And all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. They were measuring themselves by themselves, but God's standard was that we have come short of the holiness that God requires and some of us.
Little boy and he wanted to be a policeman and he had a novel idea all of his own. He just measured off 6 feet like this, you know, and then he took a string and measured it and he was rejoicing that he was 6 feet tall because he was measuring by six of his own feet. And that's what some people do. They're just as stupid as that boy. They measure themselves by themselves. They they accept the standard of their own that they have made and dear friends, God's not going to change the.
Because we would like him to. Here is this passage as clear and plain as God can make it. And that the law is spiritual. God's requirement is holy, just, and good. And you say, well, I want to do better. But have you come to the point, my friend, where you have said, I know that I'm sold under sin. I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing?
Someone has said that the first step in blessing for the Sinner is unqualified self condemnation. Have you ever condemned yourself? Have you ever taken your true place in repentance before God and said, well what God says about me is true?
I am a Sinner in His holy sight. Well, it's a very blessed thing when you do that, because God has provided the remedy. He has a remedy and there's no uncertainty. The doctor might say, well, we'll try this and it may have probably heard those words from a doctor. We'll try this and it may help you. But God doesn't talk like that. Turn over to the first Epistle of John.
And the third chapter.
First Epistle of John and the third chapter and the fifth verse. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin.
Notice these words. He know that He was manifested to take away our sins.
And another verse says the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. Well, why did the Lord Jesus come into this world? He came to save sinners. He came to accomplish a work of redemption that would glorify God, that would settle the question of sin. He was manifested, that is, he came into this world. What for?
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To take.
Away our sins? Have your sins been taken away? Can you say he came to save me and I have accepted him as my savior? I know I can sing the little song that says you asked me why I'm happy and I'll just tell you why because my sins are gone. Can you say that he has taken away your sins?
Well, that was the purpose for which he came. Did he do the work that he came to do? Yes, on Calvary's cross he was lifted up, and it says in the 53rd of Isaiah, The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Who was it that took up the question of our sins and settled it? It was God himself.
Who took my sins and placed them on my substitute? God required a payment for sin.
Hebrews 2 Says every transgression and disobedience receives a just recompense of reward.
God must punish sin. He never passes over sin. But what has he done to settle the question of my sins? Why He took them, and he placed them upon the Lord Jesus, and then he brought down upon him the judgment, and that my sins deserved.
As it says in that same 53rd of Isaiah, thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. Another verse says who? His own self, they're our sins. It is own body on the tree. Oh, isn't it good to know that when God tells us how bad we are in his holy sight, and that then he like the great physician says, but I've taken.
The whole question I have a remedy for sin, the Lord Jesus.
Did the work and at the end of those three hours of darkness, he cried out those blessed, wonderful words. It is finished. There's nothing left. You hear people say, well, I'm trying to be a Christian. Dear friends, there's no use trying to be a Christian because until you receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you're still dead in your sins. But when you accept him.
You're immediately born into the family of God.
And you can say in the authority of God's Word, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. Oh, how grand it is to know how that the question of sin has been settled. The Lord Jesus bore those sins upon the cross for all those who trust in Him and will trust in Him as their Savior. Have you done it?
You say, well, I know I'm a Sinner.
Can you take the second step and say, well, I know He came to put away my sins. Oh, thank God for everyone in this room who can say, well, I know that too. He came to put away my sins and I know He finished the work that God gave him to do. I know that He has a risen Savior because it says in First Corinthians chapter 15, Christ died for our sins. He was buried and He rose again the third day.
To the Scripture, because I must tell you this, that if your sins weren't laid upon the Lord Jesus, they're still on you and you're going to have to bear them in a lost eternity. Because if, if Jesus wasn't punished for your sins, then you must be punished for them. Oh, how terrible to have to meet God in your sins. There are only two ways to die.
Either die in the Lord, and the Bible says blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.
Or you die in your sins, and the Lord Jesus said that if you die in your sins where I am, you cannot come, you can't be in the Father's house, you can't enter heaven with your sins still upon you. It says of heaven, there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defile us, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book.
Life so you can't enter heaven with your sins upon you. Not even one, not even one lie. One lie would shut you out. But he was manifested to take away our sins. And again, I want you to notice that little word. KNOW it says, and ye know that he was manifested. Do you know that? Do you believe it? Can you say yes, I know that the Son of God loved me.
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And gave himself for me.
Now if you turn over to the fifth chapter of first John, there's something else here in the ninth verse. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. And this is the witness of God, which He has testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar.
Because he believeth not the record that God gave his son.
And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Notice this 13th verse. We have this little word, No. Here again these things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that she may know that she have eternal life, and that she may believe on the name.
Son of God, now you know there are some people and they will admit the first two things.
They'll say, yes, I know I'm a Sinner and I know the Lord Jesus came to put away sin, but I wouldn't like to say for sure that I'm saved. I wouldn't like to say for sure that I have eternal life. You know, I don't like to be so presumptuous. I don't like to be so sure.
Well, dear friends, it's not presumption to believe God. If you told me something after this meeting and I said I'm not so presumptuous as to believe you, wouldn't you be kind of insulted? And you would say, why don't you say what you really mean? You don't believe what I say? And dear friends, when you say that it's presumptuous to say you know you have everlasting life.
You're practically saying it's presumption to take God at his word.
It's not presumption to believe God. It's only what we should do. It's only what we should do. He that hath believed his testimony has set to his seal that God is true. I remember many years ago there was a brother preaching the gospel and he told about talking to a young man and this man said, oh, but I just can't believe it.
And his brother said that you can't believe who.
He said I just can't believe it. He said you can't believe. Who always said I hadn't thought of it that way. Well, that's the way it is, friend. If you say you can't believe, you're really saying you can't believe God. And God charged you with something very solemn here. He says he that believeth not God hath made him a liar. God tells you if you don't believe.
What he says about his son.
And about God's way of salvation, that in reality, you're making God a liar. You're practically saying that you can't take God at his word. And yet hundreds of times in your life you have taken some fellow man at his word. You have said, I know it, and you said Joel Smith or somebody told me, and you had enough confidence in your fellow man to believe that it was the truth because you relied on that man's word.
And yet, can it be that you're afraid to take God at his word and say, I know I have eternal life. I know I'm saved, all you say, but I don't always feel saved? Well, dear friends, it's not a question of your feelings. Supposing you own a piece of property and someone comes along and says, I don't believe that you own that piece of property at all. I don't believe that it's yours.
You're only talking that way. Would you start and tell them about your feelings? Would you say, well, you know, I just feel so happy about that piece of property. I'm sure it's mine because I felt so happy about it for a whole month. I'm sure it must be mine. You wouldn't think of talking that way, You would say to him, well.
I've got the papers and I could show them to you. And more than that, it's registered in the titles office. And so if you want to check it, it's it's you can find out. Well, your friends, God has given us his word like the the title leads to the property and then he's told us more. He says rejoice because your names are written in heaven. So there's the registry office and God speaks in this way in the 12Th of.
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He said the Church of the first born, which are written in heaven. Some people talk about having their name on the church roll, but that's not enough to fit you for heaven. But if it's written in heaven, that's something to rejoice about. That's something to be happy about.
And so if there is anyone here and you are perplexed with doubts, I tell you, don't look in for feelings. Feelings change.
You never think of that about the piece of property. Why should you think about it when you have God's own word to assure you that you're a Sinner, that Christ came to save sinners, to put away sin? And then you have his word saying these things. Have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that she may know that she have eternal life?
And then God has done more than that. It tells us here, He that believeth hath the witness.
In himself because when you accept the Lord as your Savior, you know the Holy Spirit of God comes to indwell the body of the believer and he's spoken of in this way. He's the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. I think most of us who've done business with property at all know what earnest money is that when you're going to buy a piece of.
And then the real estate agent will probably say, well, how much will you put down as earnest money? What is that earnest money? Well, that's the pledge that you're going to carry through the deal. And so he usually asks you for perhaps 10% or something, and you have to put down this earnest money. And that's the pledge that you're going to complete what you have begun.
Now God has given an earnest too. God has given an earnest, and I sometimes use this illustration.
Supposing you were going to buy a piece of property and it's worth $25,000 and the real estate agent says, and how much will you put down for earnest money? And you say, well, I'll put down $50,000. Fifty thousand. It's only a $25,000 piece of property. What do you mean? Well, I really want to get that property, so you give them $50,000.
And somebody says the next day, do you think that man's going to carry through the deal? Why is this carry through the deal?
He gave me far more than the property is worth. He'll never back out of that deal. Well, dear friends, what has God-given as the assurance that He's going to complete the work that he began? Where was I? A poor worthless Sinner. I wasn't worth 25,000 But what did God do? He gave the Holy Spirit of God as the earnest. He that believeth hath the witness in himself.
The Spirit of God comes to indwell the body of the believer. Does God want you to be sure?
Does he want you to be uncertain if the man only put down $500? Perhaps he might say, well, he might back out and let the $500 go, but certainly not if you put that much on it. And friend, God has given the witness, the earnest, the Holy Spirit of God. He wants you to know if there's anyone here that's uncertain. Could God have done any more to make you sure?
Could he have? Oh, you save it. Why do I have doubts? Well, that's just because the devil doesn't want you to be happy in your salvation. He doesn't want you to be a rejoicing, happy Christian. But he cannot rob you of salvation. If you have received Christ by them, you belong to him. And so I beseech of you not to think about your feelings. Think of what God has said. And so.
Doubts come. I'm always glad that the Bible doesn't say that we know that we're saved because we don't have any doubts, because that would disqualify quite a few Christians, because sometimes doubts come to real Christians. But isn't it grand that he doesn't say that? He just speaks about the worthiness of his beloved son, the fullness of his work, the testimony that he has given, and then he says.
All that we do is to believe. Oh, how grand it is that he has given.
Such assurance, these things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God.
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That she that she may know and that she have eternal life. Now let's turn back to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and the first verse. For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands.
Eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven.
The fifth verse. Now he that hath wrought us for the self, same thing is God, who also have given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body.
And to be present with the Lord. Well, here we find 2 expressions. Here we know in the first verse and in the sixth verse we are always confident.
Here we find something else that we can really have assurance about. Paul knew that the time was going to come when he was going to put off the earthly House of his Tabernacle. He talked about the body in which he lived as the earthly House of this Tabernacle. The real you is not what I can see. It's something a tenant inside that body.
Perhaps death may come and the body will be taken and laid away in the grave.
But the real you will not be there. But Paul said, when the earthly house is dissolved, when it's taken and laid away, isn't it lovely, He said, that we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
Did Paul think of death as a leap in the dark? You hear people say sometimes, well, we just don't know. Death is just a leap in the dark. Many years ago, Doctor Woolston went to see a man and speak to him about his soul. And he said to Doctor Wilson, he said, well, nobody knows. Death is just a leap in the dark.
And Doctor Wilson said. But wouldn't you like it to be a leap in the light?
Friends, it can be, it can be a leap in the light and I've known many, many dear Christians and to them it wasn't a leap in the dark at all. There was a leap into the light. They knew how that they were going to be with the Lord. But however I I want to say this, that the proper hope of the Christian is not death. And that's why when Paul speaks of it in the beginning of the chapter he talks about.
The earthly house being dissolved.
And then he carries us right on to the coming of the Lord, because he says we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
And that is the proper hope of the Christian we were saved are looking for the Lord to come at any moment and when he comes these bodies in which we now live will they'll be changed when they made a shot to the moon and they had to make that capsule and those men were put in there and food was put in and and all kinds of things to protect them against the elements to feed them to supply oxygen.
Because.
They had what the Bible calls terrestrial bodies. They had bodies suited to this earth and they couldn't live in. If they had stepped out of those space suits, you know very well they couldn't live because there wouldn't have been oxygen to sustain their bodies, the pressures wouldn't have been right, and so on.
So they had terrestrial bodies. But you know, when the Lord comes, God solves that whole situation, not through a number of scientists working for years. This is what he says, and we shall be changed, caught up in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
Isn't it very wonderful to know that when the Lord comes, that that moment?
Our bodies will be fashioned to Christ, glorious body, and will be caught up and we'll go up with Him. We won't need any capsule or something to go up him. No, to your friends, we'll be like Christ. We'll have bodies of glory fashioned like unto his glorious body. I always marvel at the simple way the Bible speaks. It says there are bodies terrestrial and there are bodies.
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Celestial and it says we shall be changed.
Oh, how wonderful to know such a God. And so we know we have assurance, but he said death may come. We don't look for death, we look for the Lord to come. But if he does, if he doesn't come in our lifetime and we should have to pass through death, then he said we are confident, I say.
And willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Yes, you don't know when this may come. Dear little nephew of ours was called suddenly without I expect a moments warning to leave this world and be immediately in the presence of God. But he knew the Lord as his Savior, and so there was his lifeless body left behind. But he's absent from the body.
And present with the Lord if it had been you, some of you boys and girls, if it had been you.
Would your parents be able to say, well, he knew the Lord, he's absent from the body and present with the Lord. Have you ever told anyone that you're saved? I remember we had a boy back at home in our Sunday school and he was out to the Sunday school, out to the gospel meeting Sunday night just like this. And he went home and that night there was a fire in their home and he was burned to death.
And we got the news at 6:00 in the morning.
Frank had been burned to death, but what made me so sad was I didn't know whether he was saved. He never had confessed the Lord. He came to the Sunday school. He came to the gospel. I hope he was, but wouldn't have been nice if he had told us, if he had said to his Sunday school teacher, I have accepted the Lord Jesus as my Savior.
How glad we would have been to say Frank.
Is with the Lord. I wonder about you. Have you ever confessed the Lord? If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That boy that I speak of, his name was Phillip. He had confessed the Lord. Have you? And so his dear parents, although they mourn over him, they know that he's with the Lord.
How about you?
Are you sure that you have taken him as your Savior? Have you confessed him? Don't go to bed tonight without confessing him, you say. Well, I have him in my heart, I'm sure. Well, then confess him. Tell your friends, tell your father, tell your mother. I've taken the Lord Jesus as my Savior. So it tells us here that death for the believer is not an uncertainty. We are confident, I say, and willing.
Rather.
To be absent from the body and present with the Lord. He didn't say, well, I'm afraid to die. No, he said, I'm confident. And if the Lord comes, he knew that he had a building of God and house not made with hands. Or Are you ready? Do you know Christ is your Savior?
Take him tonight. If you don't, now is the time. What have you got to lose by receiving Him? Well, you lose your sins. Isn't it good to get rid of your sins? And what do you gain? Oh, salvation, pardon, eternal life, a home in heaven, all this for you in receiving Christ.
Let's turn over to another passage in Romans chapter 8 and.
Verse 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our We know not what we should pray for, as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.
To them who are the called according to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren.
The reason I read this 26th verse is because there's something that it says here we know not.
Now, that is there are many times in our lives that situations arise and we don't know just how we should pray. But that doesn't mean that we don't know we're saved.
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As someone said, never allow the things you don't know to spoil the things you do know.
And there are many things in life that I don't know. If you asked me about many things that happened, I'd have to say, well, I don't know why the Lord allowed that to happen. There are many things that we just don't fully understand in life. There's a verse in the in the book of Job that says, why dost thou strive against him? For he giveth not account of any of his matters.
You know, God doesn't always have to tell us why he does things. We'll find out another day.
So sometimes we don't know what we should pray for, but that doesn't mean that we don't know that all things work together for good. This is another one of the things that we know as believers. We don't know what we should pray for, but we do know that the Spirit makes intercession for us. We do know that all things work together for good to those that love God.
Now that is when we have received Christ as our Savior.
And then he is the captain of our salvation, is bringing us home to glory. Does he know what he's doing? Does he make any mistakes? Sometimes you I ask people for directions and sometimes the directions aren't always just accurate and it's a little hard to find the way, but.
It's not that way when God undertakes to bring us home to glory.
He knows what he's doing. He never makes a mistake. The Bible says, As for God, his way is perfect. And isn't this lovely here? It says we know that all things work together for good. And you know many dear parents who have seen their child go through some sickness or some trouble.
Over and over again they have quoted this verse. We know that all things work together for good.
Some sorrow comes into their life. What a consolation to know that God is in control of everything, that nothing happens by chance, and we can say we love Him and He loves us and He knows what he's doing.
This gives us confidence for our Christian life. I'm speaking now to those that know the Lord, and I know that through my life, and many Christians I'm sure would be happy to say that's certainly true. I proved it over and over again. The Lord gives you confidence in Him. When the trouble comes, He just stands right beside you and you know that He's working out his own purpose, even perhaps while the tears.
Rundown your cheeks. And that's why, dear friends, I read the next verse.
Because notice what the next verse says. For whom he did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren.
The Lord knows when trials come in our lives, how it's often difficult to see how this could really work for good. And so I read the next verse to show that God has a purpose that He is working out in our lives. I've sometimes used this illustration. Perhaps it helps to bring home the point that I'm Speaking of. Did you ever start to read a storybook and you came to a very sad chapter in the story?
And oh, it's just you didn't see how it could possibly workout. Everything looks so dark and so sad. Perhaps the tears come into your eyes and you couldn't for bear any longer. What did you do? Well, I guess we've all done it. You'll look over to see how the story ended and when you know how the story ends.
And then you go back and you read the sad chapter with confidence, don't you? You've done it, haven't you? Solve I And is that what your life is like? And you say, well, I'm in a sad chapter. I don't see how this can ever work out for good.
God says, I'm going to tell you the end of the story. What is the end of life story for the Christian? We're going to be conformed to the image of his Son and he knew all about it beforehand. He was working out his own purposes. What a Savior. We have all friends. I commend them to you. He's a wonderful Savior to know. He knows about you now, and if you're not saved, He knows all about your sins. The Bible says he set our secret sins.
Light of his countenance. We can hide them from father and mother and friends, but not from God. But the God who knows all is the one who took up the question of sin, the one who settled it for his own glory. The one who wants to be your Savior. The one who wants you to know that you have eternal life. The one who wants you to know that heaven is your home and that you're going to be in that home another day. And he wants you to know that through life.
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He's working things out for good.
Oh, how wonderful that he gives us all these assurances. Oh, you say the world song full of so full of uncertainty. So it is. But the Christian life is full of certainty. The Christian life is all God's assurances. And when there's something that we don't know, like in that 26th verse, and then we trust God about it because the things that we do know can never spoil the wonderful things that we don't know can never spoil the wonderful things.
We do know they are just so wonderful. It fills our hearts with rejoicing. Well, I must turn to another passage before I close, and that's the second of Romans.
The second chapter of Romans.
And the second verse.
But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commits such things. And thinkest thou this old man, that judges them to do such things, and do us the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God, or despise us, thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God.
Leadeth thee to repentance.
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself wroth.
And against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds all friends, isn't it remarkable that God changes the word when He talks here about judgment? He doesn't use that beautiful characteristic word of null, but he does say we are sure, we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth.
You know, in the courts of the land, you may not always get justice.
Among your friends, you may sometimes be misjudged when you really were not at fault. Now these things happen constantly in life and that people make mistakes in the judgments they form. But God will make no mistake. He is going to execute righteous judgment about if you go on in your sins, remember.
You're despising the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering that wants to lead you to repentance.
Seeking to lead you tonight to the point where you'll take your place as a Sinner and receive Christ. Are you despising His goodness? He's kept you alive till this day in 1977. Are you going to despise His patience? Are you going to walk out of this room another time unsaved without Christ and say, I don't care? I say to your friend, you're really despising His goodness and His.
Forbearance and his long-suffering. He's left you here to this night that you might be saved. Why don't you accept the Lord Jesus? I say again, what have you got to lose by receiving him? Yes, you would lose something. Thank God for it. I lost my sins. They're gone in the blood of Christ. But I received all that God delights to bestow the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Will you have this blessed Savior tonight?
But you'll receive him and rest upon his word and have these assurances that God wants you to have and walk out of this room and say, thank God, I have Christ, I have peace with God. And then you can say, I, like Marjorie Feeder could say I have the Lord. Oh, it's wonderful, friends. It's not just a feeling, it's a person. Have you got him? He wants to be your Savior tonight.
Receive him this moment.
And peace shall be dying.