Gospel—Bill Prost
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Well, we'd like to welcome everyone to the Gospel meeting tonight.
Many faces here today I am very familiar with and know them well.
And some I don't. And whether you're a face that is well known to many of us here or whether you have come in tonight.
As the result of an invitation given to you.
We extend you a warm welcome because what we have before us tonight is God's good news, good for everyone.
Let's start by singing a hymn. Hymn #25 hymn #25. This is a very serious hymn.
This afternoon when Dawn Rule was speaking, he called our attention to what we were singing about and the fact that we were speaking, in that case sometimes directly to the Lord Jesus himself.
This hymn is also a very serious hymn because it brings before us the issues of life and death, of time and eternity.
Blessings and judgment.
And I would like each one here to think seriously about what we are going to sing together.
#25 life at best is very brief, like the falling of a leaf, like the binding of a sheep.
Some of us, some of us here, are old enough to remember a binder, and we saw them go through the wheat fields and how quickly that sheaf was bound when that binder was doing its job properly. Now we use combines, but the imagery is the same.
B In time, let's stand please and sing #25.
The Holy House of the day, like the White House.
3000 lbs. So I have to go to the bars soon. The power of the power and the rain of life in the heart of the heart of it is gone.
In.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
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Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.
I'm sorry for having you.
10-4, 001003.
Let's ask the Lords help together.
Before we open the word of God.
I wanna tell you a story.
And it perhaps explains a little why I'm a bit choked up, and why I had trouble singing the last two verses of that hymn.
But earlier this week.
I was over in North Carolina.
And they looked up a classmate of mine with whom I had gone to medical school together.
Quite a few years ago.
I know him well.
For some reason we hit it off.
Right away when we started university way back in 1962.
I don't quite know why we hit it off, because he was from a very wealthy home in Toronto, ON, and I was a farmer's boy.
But for some reason we hit it off.
And I well remember bringing him to a gospel meeting like this.
How long ago is that now? Almost 44 years ago.
And how he heard a faithful gospel preached.
By a man by the name of Ernie Wakefield.
And how I could see that the Lord was working with him.
But somehow the tug of things in this world pulled them in the other direction.
He was a good student. He did well.
Became a plastic surgeon. Practiced in Charlotte, NC for many years.
And from time to time we would see one another. I remember visiting him over 25 years ago.
I have seen him at occasional class reunions.
And every time we have been together.
The question of his sole salvation has come up.
And still he went on without Christ.
The last time I saw him was a little over three years ago.
And I asked him how he was.
Oh, he said to me, addressing him by my college nickname, Willie, he said. Willie, I'm in big trouble.
He said. I didn't tell you.
But less than a year ago, I had a brain hemorrhage.
And as you can see, I have practically recovered from it.
But it has destroyed the part of my brain that allows me to focus on something in a sequential way, and my career as a surgeon is finished.
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I can't remember exactly what I did, but at least in a measure I took him by the lapels and shook them.
And I said, Bill, that's his name too. I said, Bill, the Lord is speaking to you. He brought you to within inches of death and He has allowed you to be here. Yes, your career may be ruined, but God has still given you time to get saved.
Willie, I know, I know. I need to come.
But he still wasn't saved.
I knew his family well. He had one brother and one sister.
Three months after that encounter, I got a phone call from a mutual friend. Guess what happened?
Bill Laird's sister Kathy had a brain hemorrhage.
And she didn't make it.
Again I tried to get hold of them.
Couldn't reach him.
When I contacted him this time.
He said to me, Willie, guess what happened a year ago?
He said my brother had a brain hemorrhage too.
And he was gone within 24 hours.
This time, he responded a little better.
I didn't have a chance to go and see him because he lives on the other side of the state of North Carolina.
But we had several good chats over the phone and in the end he broke down on the phone and said, Willie, I know, I know. I've got to come.
Oh, beloved friend, where are you tonight with the Lord Jesus Christ? That man heard the gospel. How long ago?
Almost 45 years ago and he's still not safe.
Many here tonight have heard the Gospel many times.
Where do you stand with the Lord Jesus Christ?
Let's turn first of all, please, in the Word of God to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 4.
And verse 3.
2nd Corinthians 4 and verse 3.
But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light.
And read it in a little different way, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
Who is the image of God should shine unto them?
Oh, I am persuaded, and I hope I'm wrong, but I believe I'm right that there are those sitting right in this room tonight of whom this verse is true. God has blinded the minds, it says of them which believe not what God, The true God? No, the God of this world, the devil.
And you know, the Bible doesn't use that designation for Satan until this world rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, Satan was active all through man's history, right from the beginning there in the Garden of Eden, when he persuaded our first parents that somehow God was holding something back, that somehow there was something good that God was holding back.
And that if they would disobey God.
They would be the winners, the gainers, rather than the losers.
And all through man's history, Satan's attempt has been to persuade man of that fact that God is holding something back.
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But, O beloved friends, when this world rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, when this world nailed the Son of God to Calvary's cross?
Then the word of God calls Satan the God of this world.
And the Prince of this world.
Why is he designated in those words? Because God sent his beloved Son into this world in order that there might be peace and blessing and love and grace and man said we don't want him.
Oh, there is probably no one in this room who, if I were to come to you and ask you point blank this question, would you like to have Satan as your master? There is probably no one in this room who would say yes, I would.
But you know when man rejects the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's only one other master, and that is the devil, so that he has become the Prince of this world, if we could say it this way, politically, and the God of this world religiously. And he wants to blind your minds to what?
To the Gospel of the glory of Christ.
What does that mean?
All that means, in simple terms, that God has before him.
The honor, the glory, the exaltation of His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Gospel of the glory of Christ simply means that God has before Him to place His beloved Son, the Man Christ Jesus in the highest place as head over everything in heaven and on earth. And He wants you.
And me to be associated with them.
Isn't that wonderful?
You know, men like to have other men as heroes.
I've always been interested in history.
And I have enjoyed learning American history. I happen to be a Canadian, but I've enjoyed learning American history. And I can well remember visiting Monticello in Virginia, there Thomas Jefferson's home.
Very, very impressive.
And in learning a little about that man, I became more and more impressed with his achievements. The man who, perhaps more than any other, was responsible for writing the Constitution of the United States. The man who had that wonderful vision of a nation from sea to sea.
When nothing had ever moved any faster than a horse, and when others were mocking and laughing and saying, how can we possibly have a nation thousands of miles across? How can we govern and administer and have trade in a nation that large?
Thomas Jefferson never even saw a train, but he had a vision. And because of his vision, at least in part, the United States exists as it does today.
But what made me sad was to learn that there was a group of people who were setting up Thomas Jefferson almost as a God. Oh, they wouldn't use those terms, but they were putting him forward as a hero to whom they would look back to, to whose achievements they would relate to, whose expertise and genius they would want to be connected, and in whose footsteps they wanted to follow. Old man wants a hero. And that has happened with many people down through the ages of this world.
Sometimes they have been, we might say, relatively good people, as the world would call them. Other times they have been men, men like Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler or people like that, who have led this world into war and caused untold problems and difficulties. But oh beloved friends, tonight God has, if we could use the term reverently, his man that he wants to place before you.
His beloved Son and God connects the word Gospel with the Lord Jesus Christ.
What does the word gospel mean? The word gospel means good news, good news.
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Has man been able to achieve anything in this world with all his workings and with all his ideas and plans? Oh, you and I know the answer very well. We give full credit to those who are trying to bring peace in this world.
But you and I know that it is not happening and I am not looking for peace in this world because the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, has been rejected and it will not be until He comes back and until He has His rightful place.
That this world will have peace.
An old friend of mine up in the city of Hamilton, ON where I come from.
Was in his 90s and he was always a good driver.
But when people get older up in our area and maybe down here too, they have to have their driver's licenses reviewed. And when they got to have too many of those older people to test them frequently, they decided they would get together, get them together and simply give them a good lecture on safe driving and the rules of the road and so on.
And this man who happened to be a preacher of the gospel, he was, you might say, retired, but he was somewhat well known.
Went to hear this lecture and the woman that was giving the lecture, knowing that he was in the audience, ventured to bring the word of God into the picture and she said referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, she said, you know the Lord Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount.
And if men would only follow the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount in their lives, and especially when they're driving, things would be a lot better. And what did she mean? Oh, she meant verses like blessed are the peacemakers and so on, those that would approach driving with the attitude and spirit of the Sermon on the Mount.
Well, the man I'm speaking about was not noted for his shyness and he put up his hand. He said, ma'am, he said, you will allow me please to make a comment or two. So she gave him permission and in front of that audience of people, he stood up and said, I want you all to know that you cannot hear and respond to the Sermon on the Mount until you have listened to and responded to.
The sermon from the cross.
You cannot carry out the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount until you have listened to the Sermon from the Cross.
Oh, my friend, we want to tell you that tonight because the Lord Jesus Christ.
Is going to be head over all things. God's Word tells us that God is going to see the exaltation and glory of His beloved Son.
Why does the Devil Devil want to blind you and me to his glory?
Because the gospel that is connected with that man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Is the only way that you can be brought into blessing? Oh, what an awful thing to be blinded.
Let's turn to another scripture, though, because it doesn't end there. You don't have to remain in that condition. Turn, please, to Acts chapter 20.
Acts Chapter 20.
And.
We'll read from verse 18. Now this concerns the Apostle Paul, and notice what he says here. We'll read from verse 18 to get the connection.
And when they, that is, the elders of the Ephesian assembly, were come to him, he said unto them.
Ye know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house. Now here's the verse.
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Testifying both to the Jews.
And also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then he talks about some difficulties that lay ahead of him. But then skip down to verse 24. He says, But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
All beloved people, whoever you are.
In 2nd Corinthians 4, it's the gospel of the glory of Christ, but here it's the gospel of the grace of God. Oh, what is grace? Grace is the favor of God that is extended to you and me when we don't deserve it.
Oh, has there ever been a message like that? The gospel of the grace of God? Think of it, could be heart of Man have invented a story like that? That when the creature, the ones who had been created, had dishonored their creator in every possible way and sinned against him for hundreds and thousands of years. The God who made this universe.
The God who made you and me would look down in love.
And God would send his son into this world to die.
In order that God could come out in love and in blessing to the very ones who had nailed His beloved Son to the cross. Oh, perhaps you say, I would not do that. I would not do such a thing. I couldn't ever do such an awful thing. Don't accuse me of something like that.
I suppose in everyone there is a sense of right and wrong and a sense of good and evil, because we have a conscience.
That too, God gave us.
But if you and I are tempted to think that somehow we are better than other people, if we are tempted to look at others who perhaps at least in an outward way have sinned more seriously and pat ourselves on the back, let us remember. And we don't need to turn to the verse that Romans chapter 3 and verse 22 and 23 say. There is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
What we get here in verse 11.
Is needful for every one of us. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
What is repentance?
Repentance means that I recognize that I am a guilty Sinner before God.
And that I realized that God as a holy God.
Cannot have me in my sins.
I suppose in one sense there's a degree of repentance that comes sometimes when we have done something for which the consequences were very serious. No doubt you haven't. I have to done things that we knew to be wrong, but we did them anyway. But then perhaps when we saw the consequences, we said I wish I hadn't done it. Many people have said that.
And I suppose we might apply the word repentance to that.
But you know, beloved friends, repentance before God is quite different.
Because repentance before God means getting to see things as.
God sees them. Repentance is the result of faith.
Let me illustrate it this way.
We'll suppose for purposes of discussion.
That's some boys suddenly opened that door and with a hood of laughter, yelled out. The building's on fire. The building's on fire.
I suppose many of us might not take it very seriously and we might say get out of here you fellas.
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But if Craig Buchanan were to stand up at the mic, as he has been.
Anywhere to say there's a fire in this building and I want everyone to proceed in an orderly way out these two doors as quickly as possible. I venture to say that everyone in this room would pay attention. Why? Because of the faith you would have in the one who gave the message. You would believe what was said and you would act on it.
Oh, beloved friends, what it really comes down to.
Do you believe what God has said, first of all about yourself and then about His beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ?
Sometimes it's not easy. Permit me to tell another story about another classmate of mine.
It's one of the enjoyable things about going to a class reunion once in a while. They have them every five years.
And it's always interesting to see who has gotten saved.
At the class reunion we had back about 12 or 13 years ago, I think it was in 1993.
There was a fellow in our class whom I venture to say was one of the biggest rascals is if I could use that term advisedly and he would have agreed with it. He had no use for God or for Christianity or anything.
He was a reasonable student too, but he lived a wildlife. I knew him well, was always out partying and enjoying himself and.
Drinking, carrying on with girls and all kinds of things. You know the lifestyle very well.
When I met him back in 1993, things were different.
His name was Lee Clark.
And it was very evident by his deportment and his manner that something had changed. And he came up to me with a big smile and said, Bill, guess what, I got saved.
Oh, Lee, I said, that's wonderful news. That's wonderful news, he says. Bill, get to think that I heard the gospel when I was a teenager, and he said I wouldn't listen.
He said a man came to a fair that I was at and he was handing out gospel tracts and trying to speak to people about the Lord. And he accosted me along with three friends as teenagers and tried to get us to read a gospel tract and tried to tell us about the Lord Jesus. And I just laughed at him and walked away. But he said the Lord thank him was not done with me yet.
I said Lee, tell me how it happened.
Well, he said. We got married, my wife and I, and neither of us were saved.
But eventually we were persuaded to go to another gospel meeting. This happened to be in the province of Quebec in Canada. And he said, again, we heard the Gospel and he said both of us realized that we needed to get saved.
Well, I said, did you get saved that night?
He said yes, but it wasn't easy.
He said I would hold.
And I knew I had to accept Christ as my Savior.
So I stood there in my bedroom, he said. My wife was off somewhere else and I was all alone. And as I stood there in my bedroom, I said looking up, Lord Jesus, I accept you as my savior. I want to be saved.
And he said when I opened my eyes, I knew very well I wasn't saved.
And something, said Lee.
Neil Dow.
Kneel down.
He said I didn't want to kneel down.
And you said finally.
I thought, well, maybe I can kneel down on one knee.
So I kneel down on one knee.
The other one up.
And again I said the same words, Lord Jesus.
I accept you as my savior because I want to be saved.
And he said, still I knew very well I wasn't saved.
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And something seemed to say Lee.
Put the other knee down.
And he said to me with tears in his eyes, he said, Bill, you have no idea the struggle to get that other knee down.
I tried and I tried and I tried for 5 minutes and it wouldn't go down. And you said finally I had to take that other knee in both my hands and I forced it onto the floor.
And I looked up and I said, Lord Jesus, I want to be saved, and I accept you as my savior.
He said Bill that time when I got up from my niece.
I knew I was saved.
What does that tell us? It tells us that repentance is not simply a recognition that I have done wrong. It's not simply a recognition that I need a Savior. It is a recognition that I come into God's presence not merely as a Sinner, but as a lost, guilty, bankrupt center.
Oh, what was wrong? Why wouldn't that knee go down? Why was it such a struggle to get that second knee down? Oh, there was pride there that said, you've still got some good in you. You're not that bad. You don't need to humble yourself quite so much in order to be saved. But you know, beloved friends, if you and I could do even one little bit towards saving ourselves, than the Lord Jesus Christ didn't need to die.
He didn't need to shed his precious blood. He didn't need to go to Calvary's cross and suffer in those three hours of darkness if you and I could do anything to save ourselves.
But thank God, the blood of Jesus Christ.
Cleanseth us from all sin.
Wouldn't you like to know that?
Cleanse us from all sin.
I hope I don't tell too many stories.
When I was over in India this last time.
I heard a story that really touched my heart.
There are some young men over there who love to preach the gospel.
And unlike North America, there is not always total freedom there to preach.
They are going out in some cases to primitive villages where Satan has a very strong hold on those people.
They went to one village, a very primitive village. They'd never heard the gospel before.
And the leading man in that village, I suppose you would call him, in conventional terms, the witch doctor.
Said if you fellows are not out of here in 10 minutes.
Well, you'll see what'll happen.
And it was no idle threat.
So they left, but not without much prayer that somehow, some way, the Lord would open the way for blessing.
Wasn't too long after that, maybe a week or two, when that same witch doctor came and sought out those men. I don't know how he knew where to find them, but if I may say it, over in India, if you want to find out something, there are ways. You can find out just about anything by talking to the right people. And he found out where these men were that had come to preach the gospel, and he went to them. Why?
All because he felt a need.
He went to them and as I understand it, he said something like this, he said.
I am in sin right up to here.
I don't know what to do about it because nothing that I have to offer these people can do anything for a burden of sin. All I do is take their money and go through the motions of this that you know all about. But I know and you know that it doesn't give any lasting peace. Is the message that you came to present any good for someone who's in sin right up to here?
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Oh, those who are believers here can only imagine the response.
How they immediately took out the word of God and said, yes, by the grace of God, we have the answer. That's what we came to tell you. This is the message that we had for you. And if you are in sin right up to here, you are the kind that Jesus came to save.
Needless to say, that man was brightly saved. It didn't matter that his sin was right up to here.
The precious blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. He went back to that village of save man and you can imagine the impact it made when he came back.
A believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. O beloved friends, that man heard the gospel for the first time, and he believed it. Now, I don't know everyone here in this room. It's entirely possible that someone is here tonight who has never heard, at least clearly the gospel of the grace of God presented before. But as I look around at the faces here, I know I am looking at those who, for the most part.
Have heard the gospel many times and I want to ask you in the middle and in the solemnity of a gospel meeting, what have you done with the Lord Jesus Christ?
Have you believed the gospel of the grace of God? Are your sins washed away through the blood of Christ?
Because if not.
Like that witch doctor, you too are in sin right up to here. Oh, you may say, don't accuse me of anything like that. I have never been connected with any of that sort of thing. Quite possibly not. But God's word says as faith answereth to face in water, so the heart of man to man, and your heart, my heart, the heart of anyone in this world, no matter how wicked.
Have in the seeds of it all of the sins that have ever been committed. All you may say, I don't believe that, but God's Word says that is true. But God has the remedy in the precious work of Christ that He did on Calvary's cross. And tonight we present to you the gospel of the grace of God. God is reaching out to you in love and grace because He wants you.
To come.
Will you come tonight?
Many, many years ago.
There was a man who got saved.
And a good friend of his who was a Christian visited him after he had gotten saved. And the man on his deathbed made some remarks something like this. He said, why didn't you tell me more about the Lord Jesus Christ before?
And his Christian friend was very surprised. He said, I beg your pardon? He said, many times I brought Christ before you. Many times I talked to you about the need to be saved. How can you say that I didn't bring Christ before you?
All the man on his death bed said yes you did. Yes, you did speak to me about Christ. Yes, you did tell me about my need.
But he said You never grabbed me by the collar and shook me and told me that if I didn't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, I was headed for a lost eternity.
When I read that, I had to bow my head.
Because, as I may say, that's not natural to me.
I don't find it easy to do that sort of thing.
The closest I ever came to it was with that doctor friend of mine that I told you about at the beginning of the meeting. But, beloved friend, tonight, if that's what you need, if that's what it takes, consider yourself grabbed by the collar. Consider yourself shaken. Because I wish we could do it tonight. Only God can do that. We know. Because it's God that saves, not we.
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But Oh my friend, if you're not saved, where are you headed? Turn to another verse that's very, very solemn. Romans chapter 2.
We've mentioned the gospel of the glory of Christ. We've mentioned the gospel of the grace of God. But notice here in Romans chapter 2 and we're going to read a verse and then skip over the next few verses that are in brackets and then read another verse, Romans 2 and verse 11.
Excuse me?
For there is no respect of persons with God.
For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law.
And as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law.
Now skip down to verse 16.
In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men.
By Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
All you may say this is rather.
A strange thing to put together.
You may say to lose to use the language of English. This is an oxymoron. Two things that don't fit together.
The word Gospel which means good news and God judging the secrets of men.
O my friend, why is the word gospel, which means good news?
Put down here in connection with God's having no respect of persons and judging the secrets of men.
I believe for this reason.
That God alone knows.
How awful the judgment for sin has to be.
And in love to your soul, God has told us the end.
Of those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't believe.
That it gave the Lord Jesus Christ any pleasure to talk about that awful place called hell.
But he spoke about hell far more than he spoke about.
And the word hell in the word of God.
Falls from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Far more than it is spoken about by anyone else.
Why is that?
All because the Lord Jesus Christ wants to warn you and me of the end of a life without Christ.
A brother mentioned in the meeting this afternoon how difficult it had been to stand up and preach a funeral.
When he knew full well that the one who lay there in the casket had died without Christ. Could you still preach the gospel? Yes, you could, and I'm sure it was preached.
But as far as the one in the casket was concerned, it was too late.
No, he faces judgment.
I talked to another man not too long ago whose father had died without Christ.
And he knew very well.
That he had gone into a lost eternity.
People say there can't be a hell.
How can a loving God?
Consigned men and women, boys and girls, to hell.
Our time is nearly gone and we don't have time to talk about it, but I would suggest that there are at least two reasons, and maybe three why there is a hell.
First and foremost, there is a hell.
Because of the devil and his angels.
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I remember well in a gospel meeting about 40 years ago speaking about hell.
As it's being created.
And I was thankful for the correction that came afterward because a brother came up to me, an older brother, and he said, Bill, I just want you to correct something. He said Scripture never talks about hell as being created. It was prepared.
Created perhaps implies.
Planning and design with a view the blessing. But Hell was prepared. Why for the devil and his angels? Because.
With the Devil there is no salvation for those fallen angels, and Hell was prepared for the Devil and his angels.
There is a.
Because of the holiness of God, who cannot have sin in His presence.
What is hell?
Hell is simply the absence of all of the goodness of God.
Did you get up this morning and enjoy a sunny morning? God's goodness gave that to you. You won't have that in hell. Did you get up this morning and enjoy your breakfast?
You won't have the enjoyment of that in hell.
Did you enjoy a warm human relationship this morning? Maybe a hug or a kiss? I've gotten a number of hugs today and I enjoyed them, but there won't be any such thing in hell. Did you enjoy going out today and just having the happy feeling of being alive?
Did you enjoy a beautiful flower?
And I could go on and on with these things. There won't be any of that in hell. No, none of the goodness of God will be there. It will be the absence of everything, all the goodness of God, because those who end up in a lost eternity have chosen to go without God.
There's a hell because God is holy and cannot have sin in his presence.
And the third reason I would suggest is, and this to me is the most touching and yet the most solemn, There is a hell because of Calvin's cross. Oh, my friend, there's a hell because of Calvary's cross, because God's answer.
So the work of Christ on the cross must be the judgment of those who have rejected have turned to Revelation 10 for a solemn verse.
Revelation chapter 10.
No, I don't want to get into things that are difficult to understand and explain.
But notice here in verse one, and I saw another mighty Angel come down from heaven clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. That no doubt is the Lord Jesus Christ personified as a mighty Angel. And he had in his hand a little book open, a book of judgment, And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voices, when a lion roared.
And when he had cried, 7 thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
We're not going to try and explain this as to how everything fits into prophecy, but I suggest this thought.
Those seven thunders Thunder in Scripture always speaks of coming judgment.
And those seven thunders utter their voices.
And John hears them, and he's about to write them down.
And he's told to seal them up and write them not.
Others may have different thoughts as to this.
But I remember while asking an old brother some years ago now.
I said, what are the seven thunders and why could John not write them?
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And I submit his answer to you, especially to any here that are without Christ.
Because I thought his answer was a good one, he said. Those seven thunders.
Are God's answer to the seven cries of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. And the judgment of God in response to man's rejection of Christ is so awful that God did not write it down.
Whether you agree with that or not, my friend, I suggest the import of it needs to catch hold of your soul and mine.
There is a hell because of Calvary's cross.
Where do you stand with the Lord Jesus Christ? Our gospel hour is gone. Now we're going to sing part of a hymn.
But if there's anyone here tonight?
That isn't saved.
After the meeting, I know what's going to happen and I'm not finding fault. People are going to get up. Talking will begin.
People will begin to go in different directions. Young people will head off to a hymn sing. Various people will go in different directions, and it's easy to lose the solemnity of what we've been talking about. If you're not safe, don't do that. There are many here that would be glad to talk.
Over in Romania.
Last summer.
We had a gospel meeting there, a very short one.
And after that gospel meeting, there was a man and his wife who came up and said.
We want to be saved.
And what an experience it was to get together there out on a porch.
And quietly before the Lord.
To look to Him and to see those two accept Christ as their Savior and get up from their knees with the joy written on their faces.
That they knew that the question was settled.
Oh, would to God that we would see that here tonight.
Let's sing part of a hymn.
#8.
Shall we gather that is coming?
When the dead in Christ arise, shall we hear the Savior summons to God's home beyond the skies?
You know, so often in the past, way back in the 1800s, the river of death was often spoken of in that way and people spoke of crossing the river as if it were going into death was crossing a river.
The one Christian man, he thought that's that's not the way scripture presents it. The river I read about in Revelation chapter 21 is a river.
Of water of life clears crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And so he said, I'm going to write something better than that. And he wrote that him shall we gather at the river where bright Angel feet of trod with its crystal tide forever flowing from the throne of God. Yes, we'll gather at the river. Beautiful hymns.
But then someone got a hold of that him, and I'm glad they did. And they said we can improve on it even more because we don't have to wait to see that river of water of life. Yes, that'll flow out in millennial blessing. But the believer can look forward to the Lord's coming at any moment. And so he wrote this hymn. Shall we gather at his coming? Let's just remain seated versus 1:00 and 4:00.
Of #8.
01:00:50
Hello. Hello.