Address—Dn. Spence
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General Meetings, Des Moines, May 1983. Gospel by Dan Spence.
Begin the meeting tonight by singing #8.
#8
Shall we gather at His coming when the dead in Christ arise? Shall we hear the Savior summons to God's home beyond disguise? Yes, we'll gather at His coming, his glorious His glorious coming. Gather with His Saints at His coming if washed in the Savior's blood, #8.
Shall we gather?
Praise the Lord, you got home. We don't know what's going on.
Hello, Victoria. Euphoria, Euphoria.
Economy here is what is the land of the sun?
Smile our heads together in prayer.
Our blessed God and our.
First of all, I'd like to just say a little word to those of you in the audience tonight who are Christians.
00:05:04
One of the.
Most blessed times. I think that many of you miss. All of you sisters and some of you brothers miss.
It's a little time that we spend right before the Gospel Meeting on our knees in a side room for prayer for this meeting tonight.
And I would say that in all of the years that I have gone to these meetings, these prayer meetings.
For the gospel at a conference, I have never experienced prayer like I have heard the last two nights.
And I would like to ask each one of you who are Christians in the audience tonight to continue to pray for the Lord's blessing on this meeting tonight. It is our very firm conviction that even though the Gospel was preached so clearly last night, that there are still those in the audience who are not saved.
It is difficult for me to believe that anybody could walk out of this room last night.
Knowing that they were lost.
It is hard for me to understand how anyone could sleep a wink last night after hearing the Gospel Meeting that we heard.
But we feel that there are yet those in this room who are still lost. And so I want to ask for your prayers for those who are lost, that tonight they might simply yield their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the burdens of the prayer meeting tonight seemed to be at the time is exceedingly short, and that is what is on my heart tonight.
Perhaps to carry along the burden that was expressed last night in the meeting.
As well as to present Christ as the Savior of sinners. The subject that I have before me is just two words.
For three the last days I'm going to first of all talk about some scriptures that we'll read together that have those words in them, or words to that effect.
And then I'm going to talk about the last day, the last day, perhaps, of your life if you're without Christ.
And then I want to talk a little bit about the most important last day that has ever been experienced, the most important last day. And then finally, I'd just like to talk a little bit about the last day of grace, when the door for salvation will finally be shut.
So first of all, I'd like you to turn together with me to the New Testament.
To the Book of Two Timothy.
Second Timothy, chapter 3 and verse one.
This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. Four men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy without natural affection, truthbreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce despisers of those that are good traitors, heady, high minded lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.
From such turn away.
In the last days it says perilous times shall come. That means dangerous times.
Now it is the firm conviction of almost every Christian that I have ever met that we are living in the last times.
The last days, you know the last days, precede what we'll call the last day of opportunity for salvation. The day when the door will finally be shut. There will be a final day, and it is a firm conviction of those who know the word well that we are living in the last days. The moments of time are ticking away. The days are passing by.
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And there may only be a few moments, a few days.
Left We don't know.
But this verse tells us a characteristic of the last days. It says in the last days dangerous or perilous times shall come.
The present day we are living, we're living in a day of tremendous knowledge.
Man has never had knowledge like he has today, but it is knowledge without the fear of God, and it has brought men into a dangerous position.
Man has tremendous power. At his fingertips, he has power.
To erase nations from the face of the Earth at the push of a button.
He has such power at his fingertips that even men today who do not believe the Bible are talking about the end of the world.
We're living in perilous times.
You know, all across the northern part of the United States, in many states anyway, there are.
Missiles hiding in silos. Those missiles can be launched if the conditions are right. Many of them carry several bombs, each one capable of erasing a city from the face of the earth.
The nation of Russia has a bomb that is in excess of 100 megatons of TNT. They do not know exactly what effect this would have upon the world if all of this power were unleashed in a few days of time. They do not know exactly what kind of effect it would have. It's possible that it could have a chain reaction that would go around the world, they say.
That might bring an end to civilization.
Down in the state of Arizona, there's a little town called Cottonwood. Perhaps some of you have been in Cottonwood, AZ.
And if you go out on the Main Street of Cottonwood, AZ and you look to the West, up there in the mountain.
About 7 or 8000 feet you can see a ghost town. The name of that ghost town is Jerome, AZ.
Now Jerome, Arizona, was once once a flourishing town. There was a silver mine there that was run by a company called the Dodge Company.
And they mined silver out of the mountain, and they had big cases of dynamite.
Loaded away. Some of them were actually buried in the ground and when the silver vein ran out, men left. They left the city, They left the mine just as it was. Everyone forgot about the dynamite that was buried and many years later there was a steam shovel that was brought in there to excavate the pit.
In the steam shovel ran into one of these cases of dynamite and it set off a chain reaction within the mine, and the steam shovel was blown over on the city of Jerome in pieces.
That's what man is afraid of today. He's afraid of that kind of thing happening with all of the power.
That he has at his fingertip.
A destructive force that is heretofore unknown, capable of melting the elements.
And doing away with civilization. But as we read these verses, we find that the Bible has already spoken of a time that would be dangerous. And the reason that is it is dangerous. We found in those verses that we read verses 2-3 and four and five.
The reason is that men.
Has degenerated.
Morally and spiritually, he's gotten further away from God.
And as we read those verses over, perhaps those of you in the audience recognized some of those characteristics. Perhaps some of you said, oh, that sounds like the neighborhood that I live in. That sounds like the school that I go to. That sounds like the place that I work.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves.
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Sound like today?
Covetous boasters.
Proud blasphemers, Disobedient to parents. Does that sound like today?
All my friends, during the past 20 or 30 years, we've seen a tremendous degeneration until the very verses that we read tonight.
Are very apparent in the civilization that we live in today. We are living in the last days, we are living in the last moments of the last days and that is why there has been such a burden in the adjoining room.
Because we realize that the time is ticking away, that somebody is going to be left behind unless they turn to Christ. There's a burden on the part of parents for their children. There's a burden on the part of loved ones for their families, for their neighbors, for their friends.
All my friends, I used to be afraid. I used to be afraid of those who were older. I used to think that they were hard to get to know. I used to think, think that they were critical. But I have never in all of my life heard prayers like I heard tonight poured out on the behalf of you who are in the audience, lost and in your sins.
There's a love for your soul and you know, my beloved friend.
On the other side of glory, where the Lord Jesus Christ is at this very moment, He loves you with an infinite, unchanging love. He has done everything possible to keep you from going to a lost eternity. He does not want you to to reject the gospel. Tonight we're living in the last days. I'd like to. I'd like to.
Just look at some of the other characteristics of the last days. Let's turn over to the book of Genesis.
Chapter 6.
Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth.
And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And he repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth.
Both men and beasts, and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Verse 11 The earth also was corrupt before God.
And the earth was filled with violence.
Chapter 7 and verse one.
And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou in all thy house into the ark. For thee have I seen righteous before me and this generation.
Now let's turn together to the New Testament, to the Gospel of Luke, Luke, Chapter 17.
And verse 26.
Luke 17 and verse 26.
And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.
They did eat. They drank, They married wives. They were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered.
Into the Ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Now we notice some of the characteristics of Noah's day.
There were two things that were characteristic of that day. One was corruption and the other was violence. They go together.
There was evil that was going on continuously in the world of that day.
You know, it was interesting to me to read about someone who had done a study of high school students.
And they estimated that high school students, this is students who are not Christians.
Sin on the average of once every 29 seconds.
They sin on the average of once every 29 seconds.
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And any of us who are older know that college is worse.
And society is worse than that.
Man is approaching, if not there already.
Doing only evil continually.
There is no thought of God in the minds of men, the voice of Noah, the preacher of righteousness when unheard, when unheeded.
Noah continued to build. He continued to call, but no one heard his voice.
Until the day that God called him into the ark, Noah went in and the door was shut. God shut the door.
But here in the Gospel of Luke, we notice those things that don't seem so bad.
They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage. Notice it says, then until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. In other words, life continued as usual until the moment that that the door was shut. There was No 5 minute buzzer. There was no earthquake that warned them.
That Noah was right. There was number shower that warned them that it could rain.
Nothing. Just the voice of a man who said.
That destruction was coming in the form of rain. And so life went on as usual, without any warnings, except from this man of God until the day the door was shut, and then it was forever too late. You know, the flood did not come, The rain did not come for seven days, and although it does not say this, I can't help but think that as the ground gushed forth.
In volumes of water.
And as the skies opened up and burst in floods of rain, I cannot help but think that there were people who went and pounded on the Ark in repentance, cried to know it, to open the door. And there was nothing, no response. The door was shut. It was too late.
Will it be that way with you, my friend? Will it be too late? Will you be left behind?
Notice in verse 28 it says likewise also as it was in the days of lot. They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But the same day that lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
Now we're borrowing some of these verses, perhaps out of context, And yet they do have.
A meaning for us here tonight. In the day of Lot, there was unparalleled moral evil, and evil so bad that God could not stand it. Man had dropped to his lowest form of evil, a moral sickness that swept those two cities. There was no preparation for eternity. There was no thought of God before their eyes. There was no repentance.
And life went on as usual.
There was number warning of any kind. No earthquake, no lightning.
No sample flash of fire. Nothing. Life went on. It says they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. Just like today. Life is going on as usual.
And at the same time, unparalleled moral evil is sweeping this country.
An evil that was one time considered a crime and then upgraded to a mental illness.
And then to an oddity, and then to something that ought to be accepted in society.
And then something that should be sought after.
An evil that has in many cases.
Preceded the falling of judgment upon a civilization.
The evil of Sodom.
All my friends were living in the final days.
There is no doubt in anybody's mind who knows the Bible. We are living in the last days.
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And it is quite possible that tonight is the last night. It is possible that tomorrow the door will have been forever shut to heaven and you will have been left behind. You know, today's world so parallels the days of Noah and Lot. It's a combination of the two that is unparalleled moral evil that has swept.
Worldwide, you know that there are two voices that you cannot get out of your mind. One of them is your conscience and the other one is the word of God.
Your conscience tells you that you are wrong, that you are a Sinner, that you are guilty before God. The Word of God confirms it. And the Word of God points you on to a certain and dreadful judgment. A day in which you will stand before a thrice holy God can be judged for your sins. You know that's true. I was on the bus coming.
From Omaha, NE. And I felt that I hadn't been doing so well as far as giving out the gospel. And there were a lot of new people getting on the bus. And I just looked up and I said, Lord Jesus, give me an opportunity to speak to someone on this bus. And there was a young man who came in and he sat down beside me and I began to speak with him and he asked me where I was going and I said to a Bible conference.
And I said, Do you ever read the Bible?
He said no, I haven't read the Bible, but he said I know it's true.
I said, well, let's suppose that you were to die today. What would happen to you?
He said. I don't know, but he said I worry about it an awful lot. I worry about it takes a lot of my time. All my friends, his conscience spoke to him, and you have that conscience too that says don't go on any longer in your sins. You're in danger of Hellfire.
Well, these are some of the characteristics of the last days. Now I'd like to speak for a moment to you about what could be the last day of your life. Let's turn to that well known verse in the Gospel in the Book of Hebrews, Chapter 9, verse 27.
And as it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin unto salvation.
I'd like to talk to you a little bit tonight about the appointment with death if you're outside of Christ, if you're not one of the many.
In verse 28 that Christ has borne the sins of then you have an appointment with death.
A day that is coming, that will be your very last day.
Are you ready for that day notice? It says after this, the judgment we have that brought before us so much last night. Sometimes when I read this verse, I think of a little story, an incident that happened when I was in fifth grade.
We were in the 5th grade class and up in a little town called Madrid north of here.
And there was one of these storms that came up and these storms that come in so quickly.
The wind was blowing about 80 miles an hour and it was blowing cinders against the windows.
Of the school room and we were in a building that had been condemned for 13 years and the building seemed to sway and creak and we were all slightly nervous and suddenly there was a knock at the door.
Mrs. Anderson went through the door and suddenly stepped outside.
She was there what seemed like an awfully long time, and then she came back in and she said, Robert, would you come to the door? And Robert went to the door and he went out. Mrs. Anderson came back to the to her desk and she sat down and she just put her head in her hands for about 5 minutes.
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And then she looked up and she said something terrible has happened.
She said Robert's dad was out at the ballpark this morning and those big towers that they just put up with the lights on them were swaying.
In the wind and they were trying to tie them down when one of them fell and it.
Kent Roberts dad in the back of the head and she said they're taking him to the hospital in Boone.
But he's not expected to live. He's not expected to live. You know, we sat there for a moment, almost in fear. We knew Robert's dad. He had a candy store or grocery store at the back of the school. The kids visited him a lot. They knew him well. And now he was.
Happens after a person dies.
Mrs. Anderson said.
Well, she said. I don't think that you ought to be thinking about that now, she said. You're too young, you've got a lot of time before you don't worry about death, she said. It's something for older people to think about, not young people.
Many years went by, perhaps 20 years.
And I was out on the West Coast and I thought of Mrs. Anderson, and I thought, you know, she must be about 70. I wonder how she feels about that. And I wrote her a letter in which I reminded her of this story that I've just told. I said, Mrs. Anderson, you said that we were too young.
In 5th grade, to think about death and what happens after a person dies, I said. When should we begin to think about death?
You know, Mrs. Anderson, I got her address and sent it. The letter to her. Waited for a long time.
And finally I got back just a little newspaper that was rolled up and I opened it up and on the headlines of the newspaper it said local school teacher dies.
Mrs. Anderson was too late.
She was too late.
I shed some tears over that and finally I heard from her daughter who lived up in Michigan. Her daughter says, I don't know how Mrs. Anderson would have answered that question. She said I don't know what she would have said. And I wrote her back. An answer, the answer from the Scriptures after death, the judgment that has been over 10 years ago, and I've never.
Heard from her since.
You know, my friends, this is the word of God. It is appointed unto men once to die. But after this the judgment, solemn thing to think about, you know, in the schoolroom today, in the classrooms of the United States of America, there is something called death education. And the purpose of it is to desensitize a person as to death and what happens after death.
People, young people are given visits to the Mortuary. They are told that death is something very natural and that even if.
A situation gets bad enough, suicide is not such a bad way out.
Reminds me always of a young man whose name was Todd. I knew Todd well. Todd was a boy who had everything going for him. He grew up in a well to do family. He was smart. He was handsome. He was popular at school. He got good grades. In fact, in high school he never got anything less than an A straight A's all the way through.
Father was a doctor. His father was saved. And you know, somewhere along the line Todd got off course. And Todd went to school last fall. And, you know, I don't know what happened, but he got mixed up with the wrong crowd. And they were having a party last April and Todd went to that party. There was drinking, there was drugs.
And I don't really know the circumstances, but what I do know is that Todd, 19 years of age, straight A's, handsome, good looking.
Ran down the hallway as fast as he could go and went right out the window, which was seven stories up.
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I went to Todd's funeral.
And I heard his dad stand up at a podium like this.
And say I remember a day that Todd got saved. He was hanging onto a thread of hope.
You know, I sat there with many young people in the audience and I said there's a big question mark in my mind.
I'm not sure, and you know my friend and I'd like to speak especially to younger people tonight. There are many parents in the audience tonight who have a question mark in their minds.
If something were to happen to you.
They wouldn't know for sure. They would perhaps be hanging onto a thread of hope that they remembered one day when you got on your knees and accepted Christ. But there was very little fruit in your life. And there's parents that are worried. They're scared.
Because they feel that there might be some of their children that are going to spend eternity forever lost.
And I'm speaking to those of you who are younger tonight.
Are you saved? Are you on the way to heaven? Can you say Christ died for my sins?
All my friends, if you can't, you have an appointment with death and after that judgment.
Now I want to just turn for a few moments to the most important last day.
Of a man's life. Let's turn over to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22.
Now I'd like to remind you that the Jewish day began at 6:00 in the evening.
So we're going to be looking at the last 24 hours of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as we look at these 24 hours, there is no way that anybody could have ever accomplished what has been accomplished.
In those 24 hours.
Except the Son of God, no Angel, no man.
Could have ever been accomplished.
Could have ever accomplished what He accomplished. He was the Son of God, and he came down to die upon a cross. There was no accident that the final 24 hours of his life ended up in this way. He came here because He loved you. He came to die for you. It was His whole purpose in coming to die for your lost and guilty soul.
Now we're going to be just taking a brief look at a sketch of the 24 hours. We could spend hours we could spend days on it, 25 Old Testament scriptures or more.
Were fulfilled in that 24 hours. The probability of that in man's way of thinking is over one in one million. He could not have been just a man. He was the Son of God. Now notice in verse 14 of chapter 22. And when the hour was coming, he sat down, and the 12 apostles with him. And he said unto them with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
Here is what we might call the last Passover.
The Passover was the sacrifice of a lamb that spared the children of Israel from judgment and looked forward to a day when the true Passover lamb would come. He was there, he was there in their midst, and so he was going to die that very day, the following afternoon upon a cross, just when the Passover lamb was supposed to be killed.
He would die. The true Passover lamb was there, and so there was number need for something that looked forward to.
The Passover to the death of a lamb.
Now notice in verse 19 it says, And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave it unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you. Now he introduces them to the Lord's supper, a loaf of bread, a cup of wine, symbols of death.
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That would look back for hundreds.
Thousands of years, 2000 years, even to the very death of the Son of God. Now let's go on quickly in this chapter to verse.
42.
He prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.
Nevertheless not my will but thine be done. And there appeared an Angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. What was, my friends, the burden of his heart, the Lord Jesus Christ, as no one else could ever do, was looking into the depths of Calvary.
And the awful suffering that would be his by choice. That would be his because he loved you.
The Lord Jesus was looking into those hours of darkness and he knew to the very minute detail the depths of suffering that he would have to go. No man could ever do that, and that's why it says he was in an agony and prayed more earnestly.
All my friends, he faced that awful judgment that I deserved. He faced it willingly, lovingly, rather than have me go to a lost eternity.
He was going to stand there in my place, and he knew what it would cost. This morning we sat around and remembered the Lord, and in a sense we sought to look back to Calvary.
To feel, if we could, to think about what he had suffered for us, and oh, if you were like me, you felt so inadequate to think about that infinite hour of darkness and suffering that he had been through.
But he knew. He knew what he was going through. And yet he did it. And to this very moment, he can look back upon that hour and remember that suffering, my friends. He can remember it just as well as when it happened.
And he loves you even tonight.
Now, as we go on in the chapter, we find toward the end of the chapter, and we'll just skip over it, that his Jewish people condemned him to death.
They condemned him to death and then he was taken to.
A Roman court.
In the Roman court, which was usually a very good court, found him innocent of the crimes with which he was charged. Notice in verse 20.
2022.
And he that his pilot said unto them, the third time, Why?
What evil hath he done? I find no cause of death in him I will release.
Him therefore.
I will therefore chastise him and let him go. And they were instant, with loud voices requiring that he might be crucified.
And the voices of them of the chief priests prevailed.
Now let's go down to verse 33.
And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then said, Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and they parted his raiment and cast lots. Verse 39.
And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself, and us.
But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. And it was about the 6th hour, and there was darkness over all the earth.
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Until the 9th hour.
And the sun was darkened in the veil of the temple, was read in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father.
Into thy hands I commend my spirit, and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying Certainly this was a righteous man.
Almost 24 hours have elapsed in the reading of these passages. We started out in the evening and what was called the Jewish mourning, perhaps the beginning of the day, through the night, we find Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane in prayer. We find that he was betrayed. We find that he was denied. We find that he was taken, perhaps very early in the morning, to the Jewish court.
And then on to the Roman court and finally to the cross. My friends, at about 9:00 in the morning, Jesus was nailed to the cross. Hands. Nails were put through his hands and feet.
He was hung there between heaven and earth, and he suffered intensely as a man suffered the death of Calvary's cross. And at 12:00 noon or thereabouts there was total darkness over all the land. Now Jesus was suffering as a sacrifice for sin. He was suffering in my place. He was suffering as a sin bearer.
As the bearer, as bearing the sins of many, and from 12:00 to 3:00.
Jesus suffered suffering that no man can ever assess.
Suffering that only he can understand, the Lord Jesus at the end of that time shouted.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, And shortly thereafter?
He yielded up his life. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
As we read today, shortly thereafter, perhaps before 4:00 in the afternoon.
A soldier came along and pierced his side, and it says forthwith came there out blood and water. And then before 6:00 Jesus was placed in the grave. He was placed in that tomb. And then before 3 days went by, Jesus arose from the dead. My friends, this is the most important last day that any man has ever lived.
More has been accomplished in this 24 hour period and especially in those hours upon the cross.
Than will ever be accomplished in any other way Jesus died.
And suffer there for you. Can you spurn such love as that, if you were to stand before the Cross, and you were to see that awful agony as he suffered there, as he looked down upon these people that had nailed him there, and said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. As you saw that love come down to those who even nailed him to the Cross. My friends, could you?
Could you spurn such gracious love? Could you turn aside? I want to turn your attention now totally to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to look at him there back.
Through the ages of time, and see him dying there in love for your soul. I want you to see him there, my friends, shedding his precious blood.
That your sins might be washed away and Ohio my friend if he stood.
Right before your soul tonight. And he said, Will you?
Accept me as your personal savior. What would you say? Can you reject such gracious love? Can you turn aside? Can you walk out the door? My friends? How can you do it? How can you do it in the face of a lost eternity, as we had last night? How can you do it in the face of such infinite love that Jesus?
Has shown to you.
00:50:01
You know, just a few weeks ago out in the meeting room in Buena Park, CA.
There were two rows of boys that had been brought into the meeting.
And these boys?
Were kind of new. They hadn't been out before.
They came from the apartments in the neighborhood and they didn't know how to behave and these two boys were sitting down there.
And I was speaking, and every once in a while the boys would get to talking and sometimes get out of their seat. And so I just addressed some of my remarks to the boys, but they just couldn't keep their mind on the meeting. And so we turned to that verse first, John one and verse 7.
The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
I saw it in a little measure to explain this to the boys that were sitting there, how that God kept a record of their lives and each day there was a new page, perhaps with a record of all their sins. And how now God was offering salvation and cleansing through the precious blood that was shed on Calvary's cross.
You know, still I could not seem to get the attention of these boys. And so I asked one of them. I said, would one of you boys like to come up and just repeat this verse with me?
So one of the boys put his hand up like that and I invited him up and he was quite delighted to be up front and he stood there beside me and I said, can you read this verse? And he said no, he was in maybe 3rd or 4th grade.
So I said, let me, let me repeat it to you, the blood of Jesus Christ.
His son cleanseth us from all sin.
I said, are you a Sinner? And he said no.
I said to him well.
Have you ever disobeyed your mother?
And he thought for a long time, he looked up and he said, I think I did just once. And I said that one time was a sin. That's what God calls a sin. That one time has made you a Sinner. Would you like to have that sin forgiven? He shook his head. You know, I said I want you to go back to your seat and think about this verse. The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sins.
He went back to his seat, and I said to him, I said, you know, if you accept Christ as your savior, if your sins are washed away in His precious blood, then that one sin that you committed, that disobedient act toward your mother, will be forever wiped away from the record. And not only that, maybe some of all of those sins that you don't even know about, maybe there's some others.
That you've done will be wiped away too, in its precious blood, I said. You can go out of this room tonight.
And you can go home and you say, mom, remember that one time that I disobeyed you? God has forgiven that sin. All my friends, I think of that little boy. I don't know whether he's saved or not. I really don't think he's saved yet. But, you know, I feel he's like us so much of the time. I think I did just once. Maybe we don't know the extent of the record of our guilt.
We don't know how big.
The price that Jesus had to pay. We don't know how grand, how great, his love.
We don't know what's before us in heaven. Oftentimes we just have such a small view of our guilt that we don't even feel guilty before God.
My friends, one sin, one disobedient act, will take you to a lost eternity. But the blood of Jesus Christ will wipe all sin away, even the ones that you do not know about the blood of Jesus Christ, the blood that he shed on Calvary's Christ.
Has that cleansing power, and it's just as powerful tonight.
As it was last night, as it was the day it was shed, it's able to wash.
Your sins away.
Now I'd like to talk just for a few moments from First Corinthians chapter 15.
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And verse 52.
We're going to talk about the end.
Of the Day of Grace.
Sorry, First Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 51.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. That is all believers in a moment in a twinkling of an eye at the last trump For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption in this mortal.
Shall I put on immortality? Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
The Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead. He went back to heaven, and the angels proclaimed the message that this same Jesus would so come. In like manner as you have seen him go, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back, and when he comes, there's going to be a trumpet blast, there's going to be a shout and all believers will depart. There is no warning as we had earlier in the meeting.
There's no warning, my friends. It's going to happen suddenly and all believers are going to be gone. I had a dream just a few weeks ago and I don't put much.
Credence in dreams. But this dream scared me and I'm going to tell you what it was. I was in the Buena Park meeting room, in my dream, in the backroom, and I was fixing something that needed to be fixed and everyone else was out in the main room.
And all of the noise was going on. Children were laughing and sometimes crying and.
And I could hear adults talking, and all of a sudden it got quiet, just like that. I ran out in the room in my dream and there was nobody there. Nobody.
You know, I've had so many bad dreams in my life that I've just got a little practice of waking up like that when the when I have a bad dream. So I just woke up and I was so thankful. I was so thankful that it was just a dream. But you know, my friends, for those of you who who leave this room tonight and the meeting is almost over for those of you who leave in your sins if the Lord Jesus comes tonight.
It could be that this room will get suddenly quiet.
You'll walk out in this room, perhaps from the hall, and look, and it will be empty. And you may do like I did and try to wake up, and you can't wake up. You may rush out in the hall, down in the basement, out in the car, out to a telephone booth, and there will be nothing but silence. The day of grace will be forever over.
The door will be shut. There will be no second chance. You will be lost. The lake of fire will be before you, the Great White Throne judgment.
All my friends, Jesus loves you. He wants you to be saved. He wants you to be saved. Right now. Right now, as the meeting comes to a close. In just a moment, we're going to sing another hymn together. Before we do, I want to tell you a little story about a young lady who lived in California.
This young lady.
Was about 17 years old and she was a senior in high school and the teacher asked that everyone in the classroom would please.
Write a theme and the title of this theme was to be.
The last week of my life and how would I spend it? This young lady was a Christian and so here's how she wrote it, she said.
Day number one, I would go and visit my loved ones. Those that have really been kind to me. I'd spend the whole day with them. I valued their friendship very much. Day #2, I would go alone in the woods.
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I would spend time with my Lord and my Savior. I would sit there in the woods alone, meditating on those scriptures that have been so wonderful to me and have brought me peace in my soul.
Day #3 I would prepare my will and I would visit my mother.
She said. My mother has.
So much to me.
My mother brought me to Christ, told me about the Lord when I was very young, and I want to spend a day with my mother. Day #5, she said. I'd visit those who've been of spiritual encouragement to me. Day number six, I'd go visit all of the shut insurance and those who weren't able to get out to the meetings.
And day #7, she said I'd go to church, I'd take my Bible, and I'd spend the day in prayer, she said. I know that I'd be ready to depart at the end of that day. And she said I just want to walk out in the open and just go and depart and be with the one who died for me on Calvary's cross.
That theme was written in 1963.
March 15th.
One week later, this young lady was traveling to Palm Springs, CA with her friends and there was a car that crossed over the center line at a very high rate of speed.
And this young lady went into eternity saved.
Her parents were absolutely thrilled when they got this theme that she had written how I would spend the last week of my life.
All my friends, this may be the end of the last week of your life.
And Jesus wants to save you.