Gospel—Jim Hyland
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O Christ, in thee my soul hath found and found in thee alone the peace, the joy I sought so long the bliss till now unknown. Now none but Christ can satisfy none other name. For me there's love and life and lasting joy. Lord Jesus found in thee. Hymn #19. If someone could please start it for us.
I'd like to begin this evening by reading a number of portions from the word of God. These portions were penned by divine inspiration through a number of instruments that God used over quite a span of man's history here on planet Earth. But I think as we read these portions together, we'll see.
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But though some of them were written centuries apart, yet they all have a common theme.
In connection with a certain aspect of the gospel and our precious Savior.
The Lord Jesus Christ like to begin in the 53rd chapter of the Book of Isaiah.
Isaiah Chapter 53.
And verse 6.
Oh, we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way.
And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity.
Of assault. And then in the 23rd Psalm. In fact, we'll take time to read the entire Psalm Psalm 23.
You'll notice the title of this Psalm. It's the Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
And I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever, and then in the 95th Psalm.
Psalm 95.
And verse 7.
For He is our God, and we are the people of his pasture.
And the sheep of his hand today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. And then a verse in the 100th Psalm.
Psalm 100 and.
Verse 3.
Know ye that the Lord he is God, It is he that hath made us.
And not we ourselves. We are the people. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. And then I want to go to the New Testament for three portions. The first one is in John's Gospel, chapter 10.
Johns Gospel chapter 10 and verse 11.
I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Hebrews, chapter 13.
Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 20.
Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do as well, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. One more portion now in first Peter Chapter 5.
And verse 4. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
These are, I suppose, to many or most in this room, very familiar portions of the word of God. But I think as we read these portions, as I say, written over quite a period of time in man's history and by a variety of different men, that God used to pen these words, we very quickly see a common theme. I suppose if we were to put a heading on this gospel meeting this evening, it would be the shepherd and the sheep.
But before we talk specifically about the Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thought it would be well to read this portion in Isaiah 53 that rings before us our condition naturally speaking.
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I would just say before I comment specifically on this verse that when we go through the word of God, it is really only a person.
Who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior who is referred to as a sheep of the Lord Jesus.
But we find here in Isaiah 53 it says all we like sheep.
Have gone astray. You know God uses various illustrations in his word from nature.
To bring out very vital points in connection with the gospel and the truth of God.
And I've been impressed to notice that those things that are vital in the word of God, when God uses an illustration from nature, it is often or usually an A illustration that is universal.
For instance, sheep, you know, you can go anywhere in the world, really, and speak of sheep and people know what you're talking about.
There are some things, some illustrations, that perhaps are very difficult.
To convey to others in different cultures when you talk about snow in Saint Vincent.
Where I was last weekend, It's a very difficult concept for people to understand. You talk about how cold it is.
But what they call cold and I call cold are two very different things.
But when I say God often uses universal creatures or things that will be understood around the world to bring out.
That which is so very vital, and it is vital tonight that we get a hold of the truth in our souls at the beginning of this meeting, that like sheep, we have all gone astray, as it says in the New Testament.
There is none good, No, not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Solomon said There's not a man on the earth that doeth good and sinneth not, and this is vital for us to understand.
If there's someone here tonight and you are not saved, you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
I want to impress upon you, on the authority of God's Word, that you are a Sinner.
And not only are you a Sinner, but you are lost. You are on your way to hell.
And in yourself, there is nothing you can do to get rid of your sin.
Not only are you a Sinner tonight, but you are a helpless Sinner. They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
You know, there's another familiar story in the word of God about a sheep that went astray.
A parable that the Lord Jesus told himself in Luke's Gospel. And it's interesting what sparked the telling of that story.
It says just before the Lord related that parable, then drew near all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
There were those in the days of the Lord Jesus who realized they had a need. They felt that need, and they came to the Lord Jesus to hear life giving words. And the Lord Jesus as a result told that story about the sheep that went astray, and how the shepherd an illustration of himself, how he went after it. And he found that sheep, and he brought it home, rejoicing. And what a story it is. And we may refer to that story again in our remarks.
On and on and off. But again, all we like sheep have gone astray.
That is all the whole human race. There is nobody excluded from that statement.
But then there's something else in that verse that brings it down and makes it very personal.
We have turned everyone to his own way. You know, it's perhaps easy to say all have sinned. It's perhaps easy to recognize that we're part of a race of people who have who sinned in our sinners and make mistakes and choose our own way and so on. But tonight we want to make the gospel very, very personal. And this is really my exercise in reading the verses that we did in connection.
With the shepherd and the sheep, because we're going to find that it brings it right down to the individual.
I'm no good at guesstimating how many are in a crowd, and I didn't ask anyone locally.
How many they expected here today, But we have a room full of people here today. But I want you to listen tonight to the voice of God as if you were the only one in the room. And not only have all we like sheep gone astray, but you have turned to your own way. It's very personal. God is speaking to you as an individual tonight, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life that is.
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It's wide enough for one person at a time to go through.
We must come to the Lord Jesus single file. We must come as individuals.
We don't come as families, we don't come as groups of people.
We must come individually, Timothy, as we read this afternoon.
He had a wonderful heritage. He had a God fearing grandmother. He had a godly mother. But the time came when Timothy had to make it his own. And as Paul reminded him later on that he from a child he had fully known the Holy Scriptures which were able to make him wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. The moment came in Timothy's life when he appropriated what he had heard.
From his grandmother and his mother, and from the apostle Paul, he appropriated it to himself as an individual. It was through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's the gospel. It's repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's to realize that we're sinners, but then to come and avail ourselves by faith of what God has for us, the wonderful blessings through the Lord Jesus Christ and the wonderful work of Calvary.
And to become the possessor of eternal divine life. The gift of God is eternal life.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so we come to the 23rd Psalm.
Penned by a man named David And who better depend? The 23rd Psalm? The Shepherd's Psalm, then David, who from practical experience was a shepherd.
It's very significant. I believe that as you go through the Old Testament.
And you read of different men who are pictures of the Lord Jesus by type and shadow.
That many of those men, when they're introduced to us, are introduced to us as shepherds. In fact, perhaps the most, the two most complete types, the two most beautiful pictures of the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament are Joseph and David. You know, some men are brought before us very briefly in various aspects of the person and work of Christ.
But with those two men, Joseph and David, there are pages and pages of the Word of God.
Taken up with their history and it just seems like every verse brings out something that applies to the person and work of Christ as it is brought before us in the New Testament.
But those two men are introduced to us as shepherds if we were to go back to Genesis.
We would find that when Joseph was sent by his father at 17 years of age.
To see how it was going with his brethren who were feeding the flock some distance away.
He was tending the sheep. He was a shepherd boy. We find that when David is introduced to us, brought finally, as the last of Jesse's sons, to stand before Samuel and to be anointed as the future king over Israel.
He was keeping those few sheep in the wilderness. How beautiful that the Scripture introduces them in this way.
Because they are pictures of the Lord Jesus as the Shepherd Moses himself before.
He was used to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness.
He was tending the sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro, when God.
It, uh, made himself known to him, and spoke to him in the in the burning Bush and Moses.
On many occasions is a picture to us of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we find in this Psalm penned by the Shepherd, we find that he brings before us these precious truths in connection with the Lord Jesus.
We read in the New Testament 3 portions in connection with the Shepherd.
And I'll just sum them up very briefly before we go on. We found in the 10th chapter of John.
We have the Lord Jesus Speaking of himself as the Shepherd. There He is the Good Shepherd.
And as the Good Shepherd he gives his life for the sheep we find in the 13th of Hebrews.
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Where we read he's the great Shepherd and there it's in connection, perhaps more particularly with his care for the sheep. And in the 5th chapter of First Peter, we have him introduced as the chief Shepherd looking on to a coming day of glory. And I would just say that that's the way we have it in three Psalms here in the in the area where we read. Because if we were to back up to the 22nd Psalm.
We really have presented to us the Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd, because in the 22nd Psalm we have the sufferings of Christ brought before us not only his physical sufferings, but those atoning sufferings in those hours of darkness denoted when the Psalm opens. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And in that Psalm it just seems that he covers every aspect.
Of the sufferings of Christ. And you can read it. It's very beautiful, precious and graphic language.
And at the end of the Psalm there are four very significant words. Lest we wonder who the Psalm is referring to, the psalmist ends by penning he hath done this.
Who has accomplished the work of redemption by going to the cross and giving his life?
Oh, none other than the Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who gave his life for the sheep.
If we were to skip over to the 24th Psalm, we would find a future day of glory when the Lord Jesus is going to be owned in this world as the one who has every right to reign supreme.
Looking on to that day when he's going to be presented as the Chief Shepherd, but in between that we have the Lord Jesus here as the Great Shepherd. But notice how the Psalm opens.
It's he says The Lord is my shepherd. You know that word, Lord is perhaps good for us to consider.
And when I read this, I think of that thief on the cross you remember, and I'm sure we've all pictured this in our minds eye.
That scene at Calvary where the Lord Jesus hung on a Roman.
Suspended between heaven and earth as a spectacle for men and angels.
And as there were those who passed by and reviled him, others sat down and watched him in his suffering.
Some added to his suffering by giving him vinegar to drink and so on.
And there was a thief on each side of the Lord Jesus. I believe both initially reviled him.
But one of those thieves realized that the man hanging on that center cross.
Was different than they were. He realized who this person was.
And he eventually turned to the Lord Jesus, no doubt in his final moments of life before they broke his legs.
And he gave up his life. He died.
His life was taken from him.
And he said, Lord.
Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom, But he confessed.
Jesus as Lord, how important that is. Have you done that in your life?
Have you come to that point where you realize that you are not only a Sinner, but there is one who is Lord?
One that you need to confess. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.
And with the mouth confession is made. And so it says the Lord.
Is my shepherd. I want to stress this tonight how personal the gospel is.
And the Gospel tonight is not a theology. It's not simply a theory.
It's not a philosophy. The Gospel tonight is a person.
It's the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't want to just introduce you tonight to a set of doctrines.
As accurate and biblical as they may be, we want to bring you into the very presence of the Lord Jesus, the savior of sinners. The question is tonight, not so much do you know the gospel? Not so much. Do you know the way of salvation? That's important. But I think perhaps most, if not all here know the story. You've heard the gospel before. You know the way.
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But that's not the question tonight. The question is, do you know the person?
The Lord is my shepherd, how personal it really is.
You know, the story is told of a very famous actor years ago, who was in the habit on occasion of giving.
Recitations from the classics and large audiences would gather together to hear him recite various prose and poetry and pieces.
From the classical writings, and it was the habit of his life.
That at the end of reciting those classics, he would always conclude.
By quoting the 23rd Psalm and they say more often than not.
At the end of his recital there would be thunderous applause and a standing ovation.
But one night, as he was about to recite the 23rd Psalm to a large audience, a young man arose and he made a request of the actor. His request was that if the actor was willing, he would like on that occasion to recite the 23rd Psalm. The actor was a little bit taken aback at first, but he decided no harm done, he would allow this young man to come forward on the stage.
There was a hush over the audience as the young man began in a low voice.
He recited the six short verses and at the end of it, there was no thunderous applause.
There was no standing ovation.
And there were no dry eyes in the audience either.
The actor was astounded. He couldn't believe it.
And he said to the young man, I've had years of experience.
I've had training in elocution.
But I have never been able to bring an audience to tears with the 23rd Psalm.
What was your secret? Oh, the young man hung his head in humility. They said, Sir, you know the 23rd Psalm, but I know the Shepherd.
And that's just our prayer tonight that not only would you know this 23rd Psalm, but that you would know the Shepherd. I have no doubt there are boys and girls here who could stand up and recite the 23rd Psalm. You've learned it in Sunday school.
You've learned it at your parents kitchen table, but do you know the shepherd?
The one of whom it speaks, David knew the shepherd. He could say with utmost confidence.
The Lord is my shepherd. I'm going to tell another little story, and I realize there are slightly different versions of this story.
But I'll try to tell it as I have understood the story and you'll pardon it. Pardon if I don't get all the facts quite straight.
But again, the story is told.
Of a Sunday school teacher who had a Sunday school class in a very poor district in the inner city of one of the cities, I believe here in the United States of America many years ago.
And she had in her class some very young boys who didn't have much advantage in this world. Most of them came from very, very poor circumstances. Some of them had to beg for their bread. Some of them, during the winter months, went to bed hungry and cold.
But these young boys would come to Sunday school and this Sunday school teacher he loved.
These boys.
I believe it was a man, I said. A woman at first, perhaps, but I believe it was a man. He loved these boys in his Sunday school class, and they knew it.
And he was teaching them one Sunday this verse the Lord.
Is my shepherd, and he wanted to impress upon their young hearts.
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The truth of knowing the Shepherd personally. And so he taught them these 5 words in this way.
He taught them to hold up their hand and as they recited these words.
To begin with their thumb and point to each finger like this, the Lord is my shepherd. And he said to them, If you know the Lord Jesus personally as your shepherd and savior, when you get to your fourth finger, grasp your fourth finger and hold it tight.
Well, the boys went home from Sunday school and a week passed and they came back. All except one young boy didn't show up, and he was one of the regulars, and the Sunday school teacher wondered about it. None of the other boys seemed to know why he wasn't there that particular week.
I think perhaps another week passed and he didn't show up again and so the Sunday school teacher decided.
That he would try to find where this boy lived and he would visit and see.
What the difficulty was.
After some searching and questioning, he climbed several flights of stairs up to the third floor of a very poor apartment house.
He knocked on the door and a mother, a lady, came to the door.
The Sunday School teacher introduced himself and the mother burst into tears.
But she invited the Sunday school teacher in and.
When she could get a hold of herself enough to explain what had happened, she explained to him.
That her little boy some days before, had been taken seriously ill Probably it was pneumonia and not being able to afford proper treatment or medication. He had died in that cold attic room on a bed of straw.
The Sunday school teacher sat there with the mother. Tears rolled down his face as well.
Then the mother said to the Sunday school teacher.
I'd like to ask you a quick explain something to you and ask you a question.
She said. When we found him lifeless on his bed, he was holding the fourth finger of his right hand so tight we could hardly pry it apart.
She said. Why was he doing that? She said in fact, during his final illness, during his final hours, he insisted on holding that finger and holding it tight.
Oh no. It was the Sunday school teacher's turn to rejoice and to be able to tell that mother about the Sunday school lesson and how he had sought to impress upon his young students the need for coming to know the shepherd personally.
And that if they knew the Lord Jesus as their shepherd and savior, they could grasp that fourth finger in confidence, knowing that they were ready to leave this world and to go into the next World.
To go to be with the Lord Jesus in that happy home in heaven and the Sunday School teacher's heart rejoiced.
And he was able to comfort that mother with those words.
But let me ask you a question this evening. There are some young children here tonight. Suppose you took Mary ill in the next day or two and you lay on your death bed.
Would you be able to grasp that fourth finger with confidence? Would you be able to leave behind such a testimony for those who mourned at your deathbed like that little boy in that cold attic room?
Oh, this is vital. These issues are important Tonight to be able to say the Lord is not a shepherd, but the Lord is my shepherd. In thought. I just want to go for a moment to the portion we read in the 95th Psalm, because there we read, we read that we are the sheep of His hand.
You know, when I read this I think of a little later on in the 10th chapter of John, for the Lord Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither can any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one, you know. I'm thankful that as a sheep of the Lord Jesus.
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I am held both with the hand of the Lord Jesus and the hand of God the Father.
I am indeed the sheep of his hand, and this gives me confidence. This gives me.
That security, knowing that I am in Christ, that I will never lose my salvation.
No man, even the devil himself, can pluck me out of the hand of the Lord Jesus.
Or the hand of the Father. I can't even pluck myself out of his hand.
I'm the sheep of his hand.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want again. I want to tell a little story. I know these stories are often told, but they help, perhaps, to illustrate what we seek to bring out from the precious pages of the word of God.
But the story is told of another little boy who went to Sunday school.
And as the Sunday school season progressed, the Sunday school teachers decided that at the end of the Sunday school season, they would have a little program and invite the parents of the children to come. And it would be an opportunity for the parents to see and hear what their children had learned during the season and an opportunity to give the gospel to the parents as well, and perhaps grandparents and other family members and friends.
And so the teachers worked very hard at getting the boys and girls to recite various portions of the word of God, to sing the gospel songs, and so on, in preparation for this particular night of this recital. And there was one very young boy, and the Sunday school teacher decided that she would get him to stand in front of the parents. And to quote this first verse of the 23rd Psalm, The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want.
Well, she was sure she had it drilled into him, and that there would be no problem. And the night came for the recital, and there were quite a few adults that filled the room. And the boys and girls went through their routine. They sang the gospel choruses different of the boys and girls, recited portions of the word of God. And then it was the turn for this little boy to stand up and to recite Psalm 23, verse one.
He stood up in front of this crowd and he got, I suppose, what we would call stage fright.
He looked into this sea of adult faces and he almost couldn't speak.
But he managed to get himself together enough to say the Lord is my shepherd.
He hesitated. He could not come up with the rest of the verse.
He looked out again at the sea of faces and decided he'd start over again.
The Lord is my shepherd again. The rest of the verse wouldn't come.
Finally, in desperation, he said, the Lord is my shepherd. What more can I want?
And he sat down. And, you know, really He conveyed in the very simplest and yet most profound terms what this portion is really saying. The Lord is my shepherd.
What more could I want? You know, I have known the Lord Jesus by the grace of God as my savior and shepherd.
For about 50 years.
And all there's been times in my life when I've gone my own way.
I've wandered in the path.
I've chose those things that I ought not to have chose, but I'm thankful that as I look back, I can truly say.
The Lord is my shepherd. What more could I want? This is the positive side of Christianity.
Because I think sometimes when the gospel is presented, souls think of what they'll have to give up.
If they come to know the Lord Jesus, maybe their friends, maybe some vice, some pleasure.
Something, some aspect of life that they want to pursue. But you know, when I came to know the shepherd personally?
The only thing I gave up were my sins, and I'm glad they're gone as far as the East is from the West.
So far as he removed our transgressions from us, he's blotted my sins out as a thick cloud.
The Lord Jesus bore my sins in his own body on the tree. Thy sins and iniquities I will remember no more. They're gone and they're gone forever. And what I've gained.
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In giving up my sins and receiving the Lord Jesus as my Savior.
It's so much greater than you could ever imagine.
Oh, I wouldn't want to trade places tonight with anybody that isn't a Christian, because not only am I saved from hell, not only do I have heaven before me, the Father's house, in the coming day, but I have one who has provided for me and will continue to provide everything I need in this life.
That is everything I need in a spiritual way to satisfy my soul. Oh, He provides my temporal mercies and more too. But you know, we sang now none but Christ can satisfy, none other name for me, and there is none that can satisfy but the Lord Jesus. There's a lot of empty, aching hearts in the city of Saint Louis tonight. I have no doubt if we were to go through this hotel, we'd find there are many empty, aching hearts right here in this facility.
And perhaps there's an empty, aching heart here in this room tonight.
But I want to tell you, only Christ can satisfy another hymn writer. Put it this way, I tried the broken cisterns, Lord.
But all the waters failed in as they stooped to drink, I fled. They fled and mocked me as they wailed against us to him, very him that we sang at the beginning. Oh, tonight the Lord Jesus can satisfy. And we don't have time to go through these verses in the 23rd Psalm except to say that David, in his experience in the ups and downs of life as a believer, he experienced the care of the Shepherd.
And the care of a shepherd for a sheep in a natural way is a very individual thing.
I know nothing about the care of sheep. I'm a city boy, but my father, who cared for sheep and his youth, used to tell us.
How individual the care of sheep is that every sheep has an individual need.
That every sheep has.
Northeast needs that attention and that often the Shepherd has those names.
For the sheep as the Lord Jesus knows everyone of his own personally by name.
I remember one time when my girls were younger, we were visiting a farm where they had some sheep.
And there was a sheep in the pan, and on the other side of the pan and.
My girls pulled some grass and things along the side of the fence and we tried to encourage that sheep to come over and to eat that grass so we could pet that sheep and get a little closer to it. And no matter how we called or tried to entice that sheep to come.
Do you think that sheep would move? Not a chance. But all of a sudden the door opened in a building nearby and a young girl came out and she had a bucket with something in it for the sheep. And she came and she called the sheep and she called the sheep by name. The sheep's name was Dolly, I still remember. And she called something like this. Come, Dolly, get something to eat. There was an immediate response that she immediately came tearing across that paddock.
And nuzzled up to the shepherdess.
And got that? Those treats that the shepherd has had. Why? Because the sheep knew its name and knew the voice of the one who cared for it. And oh, how wonderful it is for the believer to belong to the Lord Jesus in that way, to be called by name. You'll never get lost in the crowd. There's a lot of people in this world feel lost in the crowd. Maybe sometimes in a large family, it's hard just to feel as an individual too.
But all tonight, if you come to know the Lord Jesus as your savior, you will be an individual in the flock of the Lord Jesus. You'll never get lost in the crowd and you'll become, as we read in the 100th Psalm, the sheep of his pasture, in the 95th Psalm, where the sheep of his hand, that's the security that we have in Christ. But then in the 100th Psalm, where the sheep of his pasture, that's the satisfaction and the provision that He makes for us all the way home.
We referred earlier to the parable of the lost sheep in Luke's Gospel. And you remember when the shepherd went out to find the sheep? Not only did he find search till he found it, but he took that sheep so tenderly and lovingly.
And laid it on his shoulders the place of strength. And he carried that sheep till it was safe home with the other sheep.
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He never let it go. That sheep never got off the shoulders of the shepherd again. All that sheep might have struggled, it might have got a foot or two loose, and I've done that in my experience as a sheep of the Lord Jesus.
But I've never got off his shoulder. Thank God he's carrying me and he's gonna carry me safe home.
To the Father's house. But I want to stress something else for a moment, because we read of the Chief of the Good Shepherd, The Great Shepherd in Hebrews chapter 13, and there we find that He brings in.
The blood, Oh no gospel is complete without stressing the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
O thou great all, gracious shepherd, shedding for us thy life's blood.
Oh, tonight, it's the blood of Jesus. It's that one who went to the cross as the Good Shepherd, and he laid down his life for the sheep. And then after his he had laid down his life in a way that no other has ever done or ever could do.
As a divine person, he could say no of his life. No man taketh it from me. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father, and when he had yielded up his life.
Commended his spirit to his father, and given up the ghost. A soldier with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. What glorious words those are Forthwith immediately Anon God was in a hurry to bless, and forthwith came throughout blood and water, and the separation of the blood from the body was the proof of death.
And we read of the blood of the Lord Jesus. We read that it is through that blood we have the forgiveness of sins.
We're redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. It tells us that the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us.
From all sin are you washed in the blood of the Lamb tonight?
That's a great question, isn't it? Are you washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus?
Do you know the cleansing value of that blood?
One time there was a preacher and he was seeking to stress to his audience.
The need for the cleansing power of the blood of Christ and to appropriate it as individuals.
And there was a young man in the audience and he stood up and he said to the preacher, I don't understand.
How can blood cleanse sin? How can blood wash away sins?
There was a glass of water on the podium, and the preacher after a moment, thought he raised that glass.
And he said to the young man, I too will ask you, I will ask a question. How can water quench thirst?
The young man said. I don't know, but I know it does. Just so said the preacher. I cannot tell you how blood cleanses sin, but I know it does. And there are just so many here in this room tonight who can attest to the fact that the blood of Jesus does cleanse sin. That our sins are gone and they're gone forever, washed away, never to be brought up again. I'm not afraid of one charge of sin being brought up against me.
But you know, there's something else, another vital element of the gospel that we want to stress as well.
Paul summed it up when he wrote to the Corinthians. He spoke of the gospel as the fact that Christ died.
He was buried and he rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures.
And we read of that in the book of Peter where the Lord Jesus sat, one who rose from the dead. Or I guess it was in Hebrews, that great shepherd of the sheep that came from the dead and the Lord Jesus in a coming day of glory as a living savior.
Oh, how vital this is to understand the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Because if the if Christ be not raised, your faith is in vain and ye are still in your sins. But thank God he was raised again for our justification. I'm going to repeat something that was told to me today that I thought was very, very interesting in connection with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
If we were to travel to the land of Israel tonight, which I have never had opportunity to do, but this brother who was speaking with me today has had opportunity to do on more than one occasion, we would stand at what is referred to, I believe, as the Garden Tomb.
00:50:12
We know that the Lord Jesus was taken down by loving hands.
Nicodemus and Joseph of Armathia, and was placed in a new tomb, as had been prophesied that he would be.
But you know that tomb is empty tonight.
There are words written over that tomb. He is not here. He is risen. Come see the place where the Lord lay.
And this brother was telling me that archaeologists.
Have been very impressed.
In excavating other tombs in the Land of Israel.
Define that this tomb is very unique. Every other tomb that they have ever excavated has the bones of the person or persons who were buried in those tombs. But when this tomb was excavated, they didn't find any bones.
And they never will, because when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, he said to the disciples on one occasion, Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone, as ye see me, Have the Lord Jesus rose bodily from the dead.
And not only that, but after he had remained on earth long enough to give complete and ample testimony to his own, that he had indeed risen bodily from the dead, a moment came when his feet left the mount of olives, and the cloud received him out of their sight, and they saw him no more. And that man bodily went back to the Father to sit down as a glorified man at the right hand of God, and that is the Savior of sinners.
That is the shepherd that we've sought in some feeble measure to present to you tonight, the Lord Jesus Christ, the man in the glory, the man whose arms are open wide to receive you. His blood is sufficient to wash your sins away, and that is the man who's coming back in a future day.
First of all, on the cloud to call his own, to be with himself. I am ready, thank God, and I know there's just so many here who thrill. As we speak of the second coming of Christ. We look up, and with glad hearts we say Amen even. So come Lord Jesus.
But I would be less than faithful tonight if I didn't warn you that the Lord's coming will mean different things for different people.
For those of us who know the Lord Jesus, it will mean to be caught away, to meet the Lord in the air and be ever with the Lord.
For those who do not know the Lord Jesus, who cannot say the Lord is my shepherd, they will be left behind for judgment and to be cast into the lake of fire.
This is perhaps just an an application, but I thought of this when our brother Bill was speaking to us this afternoon about the sons of the prophets.
You know, when Elijah was caught away to heaven?
Who missed Elijah? You know it wasn't the general populace in in Israel. It was the sons of the prophets, as was pointed out to us. It was they that went out searching for him. They didn't. They missed him. And yet they didn't seem to know what happened.
And if the Lord Jesus comes tonight?
And you're sitting in these seats and you have had a godly praying mother and father, grandmother, grandfather, and you're left behind.
You, the sons and daughters of Christian parents, are gonna look around and you're gonna miss those of us who are raptured the moment the Lord Jesus comes. I think that is so very, very solemn.
Because when once the master of the house has risen up and shut to the door.
They're going to come and knock and they're going to say Lord, Lord, open unto us. Those who've made profession are going to come and they're going to want to enter in.
And words are going to come back to ring in their ears for all eternity. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.
Depart from me. I never knew you. How solemn. But tonight the invitation is still going forth even at the end of this gospel meeting. 55 minutes since this gospel meeting began. 55 minutes of God's grace to you, of the shepherd's longing to bless you and bring you to himself. Oh, don't put it off 1 second. One minute more. Come to the Lord Jesus tonight. Be able to go out and be able to say with confidence, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
00:55:13
We know it is the Father's house and that is the destiny of everyone who is a sheep.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ, we follow that blessed One now, and we are going to follow Him right into the Father's house.
To sit down with all the sheep from all eternity. What a wonderful time it's going to be.
Well, my heart aches, My soul burns to look into this audience at the end of this meeting and to think there might be someone here who's still choosing their own way, still refusing to come O the Lord Jesus is pleading tonight.
I say he desires your blessing and in closing I am going to read.
Words that are familiar to many of us, but perhaps they sum up.
What we've tried to present from the word of God this evening.
This has been my experience, and I trust it's your. It will be, if it hasn't been already. It will be your experience before we pray this evening. I was a wandering sheep. I did not love the fold. I did not love my shepherd's voice. I would not be controlled. I was a wayward child. I did not love my home. I did not love my father's voice. I love to fire to Rome.
The shepherd sought his sheep, the father sought his child.
He followed me, or Valen hill, or deserts, Waste and wild, he found me. He found me nigh to death, famished and faint and lone. He bound me with the chains of love. He saved the wandering one.
Jesus, my shepherd is thank God.
Jesus, my Shepherd, is twas he that loved my soul, Twas he that washed me in his blood.
Twas he that made me whole? Twas he that sought the lost that found the wandering sheep.
Twas he that brought me to the flock, Tis he that still doth keep no more a wandering sheep.
I love to be controlled. I love my tender shepherd's voice. I love the peaceful fold.
No more awayward child I seek. No more to roam. I love my Heavenly Father's voice. I love. I love His home.