Gospel—B. Prost
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For a man of a young man.
He spinning up the drain pipe outside the Rotunda there and managed to get up and sat in a window and he heard the gospel of the grace of God. And you know, we got saved the first time he heard it at the age of 20. Well, he went on to use his life and his time for the Lord. And this is the one, this is one of the hymns he wrote. So I'd like to make that little story available for the young people here. If there's someone here, especially who's young, who says.
No gospel for me. I don't care to hear about those things. Oh, we hope that you'll listen tonight to the same gospel that saved George Frazier nearly 140 years ago #15 and let's stand and sing it, please.
The whole blessed Gospel sound the earth. There is room.
All around you.
There it run.
My.
Grown here through all, by the way.
There is.
Room.
Yes.
There is room.
All things are ready for you.
Your there is room.
Christ.
Everything.
I've done.
Yeah, there is room.
There is no fun place.
Oh savior, you will make your head there is room.
There is room.
Your celebration day from you will pass away.
The truth no one will say.
Here there is no.
Shall we just pray together?
I'd like to sing another hymn.
Wonderful to be able to sing these gospel hymns the very next 1 #16.
You know, as I read this hymn over before the meeting.
It brought tears to my eyes as I was reminded of the wonderful gospel heritage in the land in which you and I are right now.
I'm a Canadian by birth.
Things are much the same up there, but I was reminded of the rich heritage.
That this country has in terms of the gospel.
00:05:02
This hymn was written under very interesting circumstances, which I pass on to you, written by a relatively young man by the name of Philip Bliss, who was born in Pennsylvania and who was brought to know Christ at an early age and who used his life.
To preach the gospel. He wrote many hymns, and he didn't live to be that old. He was killed, he and his wife, in a train wreck when he was only about 38 years of age. But he wrote this hymn under very interesting circumstances. He spent a good many of his years in Chicago, and in 1869 or 1870, I forget which, there was a tremendous revival going on in the Chicago area.
And a young man by the name of Henry Morehouse requested permission to preach the gospel.
In a hall there that was under the jurisdiction of DL Moody.
And I'm told that for seven nights in succession he preached the gospel from the same verse, from John three and verse 16. And the writer of this hymn, Philip Bliss, as a young man in his early 30s, was there. And when he heard that gospel go forth night after night after night from the same verse, he was inspired to write this hymn dwelling on that wonderful word, whosoever.
As found in John 316. So let's sing together #16 And let's stand to and sing it.
Whatsoever he wrote, the sound send the blessed hiding all the world around, spread the joyfulness.
Wherever God is found.
Whosoever well may come.
Forever.
Will so ever will send the proclamation over?
Now there's a loving father called the Wonderful.
Whosoever welded.
Whosoever cometh was not delayed. Now the door is open. Enter while you may.
Of living.
Whosoever will send the proclamation over there and.
After the loving Father called the wonderful whosoever will make all.
Well, we're going to turn tonight to this precious book, the Word of God.
And we make no apology for turning to it, because it's the only book in the world that can tell me and you how to be saved. It's the only book in the world that gives us light in the middle of all the darkness around us. It's the only book in the world that, if I could say it this way, can make some sense out of everything that you see in the world around you today.
We're going to turn just to one part of the word of God, but it doesn't matter where we turn.
There is one person who is central in this whole book, the Lord Jesus Christ, and it reminds me of the early days of the Gospel, shortly after the Lord Jesus had died and gone back to heaven. How that there was a man, a man who held a very high position with the Queen of Ethiopia, who was going along in his chariot, drawn by horses no doubt.
And going back home and he was reading part of the Old Testament. And it tells us in the Bible how that the Spirit of God told a man by the name of Philip to go and make an acquaintance with that man. Go and join yourself to him.
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And Philip goes and he finds that this man, in fact, is reading part of the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. And you know what has always impressed me? That Philip didn't have to say, well, that's good, that's nice. But let's turn to this verse or that verse. No, it says he began at that same Scripture. And what preached unto him Jesus. Oh beloved friends, tonight, that's the one that we want to preach to you about tonight.
We want to hold up to you, a person. It's not a matter of preaching anything that I think or some line of things that perhaps you might think is peculiar to this group that is gathered here. Oh no, beloved friends, what we want to talk about is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sometimes people say, oh, I don't want to hear about religion. I've had enough of religion. Have you said that in your heart? If you haven't said it out loud, is there someone here tonight who was talked like that and said I don't want to have any more religion? You may be surprised at what I'm going to say.
Because I agree with you, I don't want to hear anymore religion so-called tonight either.
And we're not here to talk religion to you, we're here to talk to you.
About a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And tonight I'm going to turn, if we will, with me, please.
To the fifth chapter of John's Gospel.
John's Gospel, chapter 5.
And here we find the Lord Jesus himself speaking.
Now if we only were to read part of this chapter and make no comment on it, you would bear a responsibility before God. You would bear a responsibility.
We're going to comment on it a little with God's help, but let's start reading. We won't start at the beginning of the chapter. We'll start reading from verse 19, John's Gospel chapter 5 and verse 19. Now this is the Lord Jesus then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do.
For what things soever he doeth.
These also do with the sun. Likewise, for the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself do, and he will show him greater things than these, that ye may marvel.
For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, Even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
Excuse me?
For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.
That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
He that honoreth, not the Son on earth, not the Father which hath sent him.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me.
Ha everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is past from death unto life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming into now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth.
They that have done good under the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil under the resurrection of damnation.
I can of my own self do nothing, as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me, and I know that the witness which He witnesseth of me is true.
00:15:05
He sent unto John, and he bear witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from men.
From man, but these things I say that you might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light, and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
But I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to finish.
The same works that I do bear witness of Maine, that the Father sent me, and the Father himself which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
And ye have not His word abiding in you for whom He hath sent him. Ye believe not search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life. And they are they which testify of Me. And you will not come to me, that you might have life.
I receive not honor from men, but I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
I am coming my father's name, and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.
How Can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor?
That cometh from God only.
Just stop there.
Now you may say as you sit there tonight.
That's quite a mouthful that you have read to us tonight and perhaps some of the things that we have read here tonight. You say I don't quite understand.
We're not going to go through this part of the Word of God verse by verse.
But there are three things, if I may suggest in this chapter, that I would like to bring before you in all solemn reality tonight, Three things that I believe the Lord Jesus is solemnly and clearly bringing before those to whom He spoke. And these words are recorded in the Word of God so that they are addressed to you and to me with all authority from God.
And the first thing my beloved friends, that comes through very loud and clear in this chapter is that the Lord Jesus is claiming definitely and clearly that he is the Son of God and as such that he is Co equal with God, He is God, and that God the Father has sent him into this world.
All the people of that day were rejecting the Lord Jesus. They didn't want to know who He was in that way. They were glad to take everything He could give. If he fed the hungry, that was nice. They were glad to take that. If he healed the sick, if he raised the dead, whatever He did in the way of goodness down here, old people were very, very glad to receive that.
But when it came to bringing before them where they stood before a holy God.
Oh, that was another matter.
Some years ago I used to visit in a men's hostel in downtown Toronto.
And we used to hold a gospel meeting like this. We used to go from room to room and visit with those men.
And it was such a treat to visit with some of them who were saved, many of them who came from the bottom rungs of society as far as it went.
But all, beloved friend, there is no respect of persons with God.
It's not a matter of whether you grow up on the respectable side of the track, so to speak, or whether you come from the other side of the tracks, As men would say, it doesn't make any difference because man only looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. And it was a treat to visit with some of those men who having little or nothing in this world, men in some cases whose minds had been ruined by drugs and alcohol and rough living. It was a treat to visit with them who had come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
But when we used to hold that gospel meeting, the home used to provide coffee and cookies and refreshments afterward.
And, you know, it was very significant that there were always far, far more people there.
To enjoy the refreshments than there were sitting in the gospel meeting, there were always far, far more people who crowded in to get the coffee and the cookies and the Donuts and the sandwiches and so on, than those who were coming to the gospel meeting.
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Oh, my friend, how easy it is to be taken up with things down here. Are those things important? Of course they are. Is food important? Indeed it is. But the Lord Jesus could say in this same gospel labor not for the meat which perisheth.
Oh, we have to eat, that's true. But this blessed One, the Lord Jesus Christ, came into this world and he did feed the hungry. He did give man those needs which answered to what sustains life down here. But oh, he spoke of those far more solemn realities of life and death and time and eternity and a responsibility before God.
My wife and her sister recently visited up in eastern Ontario in Canada, where they grew up, and they went to see the mansion of a man by the name of Harry McLean. He is dead now. He died some time back in the 50s, but he was rather an eccentric millionaire and he used to amuse himself, I'm told, on good authority by going to stay at the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto.
And just to see the crowd gather, he would stand up there in his hotel room, open the window and start tossing money out the window, start tossing $1.00 bills, $2.00 bills, $5 bills, even bigger denominations, just to see the huge crowd gather on the street below and jump up to see who could be first to get the bills. And you can imagine what happened. Dollar bills got ripped in half, fights got started, all kinds of things.
Happened down there and he would sit up there and laugh his head off at the.
What he considered to be these silly fools that would make such a spectacle for his entertainment.
You and I laugh at that.
But all, beloved friend, is it possible that the devil is doing that very thing with you tonight?
Is it possible that Satan is so-called in that same situation, tossing money out of the window just to see men and women and even boys and girls chase after all the things down here?
Is money valuable? Sure it is. Can it do a lot in this world? Indeed it can. But, oh, I venture to say that if someone had gone down on that same street in downtown Toronto and tried to preach the gospel of God's grace, would there have been a crowd of people there ready to hear it? I don't think so.
But all, my friend, tonight the responsibility is laid on us to present Christ to you, and we want to present the Lord Jesus Christ to you tonight, because I say on the authority of the word of God, you can't dodge the question.
The Lord Jesus very clearly says here, let's read one or two verses again, He says here.
Verse 20 For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. And then going down in the chapter, it says, verse 36. But I have greater witness than that of John.
For the works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent Me, and the Father himself which hath sent Me hath borne witness of me.
Verse 43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not.
Oh again, my friend, tonight you can't pretend that you can be neutral to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It tells us in the 17th chapter of Acts and verse 30 and the times of this ignorance God winked at or passed over, referring to the time before the Lord Jesus came into this world. But the verse goes on to say but now, but now.
You and I can't pretend that we live in the times of this ignorance that are referred to there.
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We can't pretend that we live in a time when we can say, I don't know, I don't understand, I don't know what God requires of me, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. No, my friend, God has sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and has shown very clearly that you and I, before God, are lost, lost in sin. Oh, you say, I don't like to hear that kind of a word. I don't know what it is to be lost.
It's an awful thing to be lost, isn't it? An awful thing to be lost?
And you are just as lost.
As if you were truly, physically and materially lost.
Sometimes people do get lost in the woods.
Remember reading a book written by a woman who settled in Canada back in 1832, back in the province of Ontario where I come from.
And she told stories of children who got lost in the woods. New children might not really understand what it means to be lost in the woods because I don't think that very many of us have really seen woods the way they were in the days when this country was not yet settled. But if you go to some of the areas where there are primitive forests and so on, and you were to Burrow into those forests even a very short distance.
You can become so turned around that you hardly know which way to go.
I remember a story that brought tears to my eyes of how.
The father went away from his log cabin to work in the in the field and the field was at some distance from the cabin, perhaps a mile away and.
At noon, the mother took the two small boys, who were five and seven years old, and said, How would you like to carry lunch out to your father?
So they were quite delighted to be given that responsibility and off they went with the lunch, carrying it there to go and.
Give it to their father.
And when?
The father came home at night. He grumbled to his wife for not sending him any lunch.
The wife of course, for her part and said and where are the boys? I thought they stayed with you. Where are they?
Oh, they stepped off the path only a short distance and gotten lost in the woods.
Well, it's a very, very sad story, the older boy.
Gallant boy that he was, he said to his younger brother. He said you sit here and don't you move and I'll go and get help.
And he never came back again, and they never found him. The younger boy was found the next day sleeping under a tree there in the forest. Lost. Oh, you say? What an awful story. What an awful thing to happen. And tonight you are just as surely lost as those boys were. I have seen people who were lost.
From a vantage point up high, I remember looking down at a small boy who was lost and it brought pain to my heart to see him running frantically, hit her and yawn, trying to find his way out of a crowd.
But all, my friend, to be lost in sin is an awful thing. For the Lord Jesus came down into this world in order that you might be saved. And we want to tell you tonight that if the Lord Jesus came to show you and I our lost condition in the sight of God, he also came in love.
Love is a wonderful thing, and you know I can't tell the love of God out tonight the way I'd like to.
I wish I could. I wish I had better words to tell it out. Which you know, love is something that can only be told in a limited way in words. And anyone here who has ever been truly in love will understand that. Anyone here who has ever been truly in love will understand that. There comes a point when words fail to express the emotions and feelings that are in your heart. And if that is true of human love, how much more of the love?
That God has for you and for me tonight. And so I'd like to quote that verse. In fact, we can turn back a page in our Bibles and read it.
John Three and verse 16.
For God so loved the world.
But he gave his only begotten Son, but whosoever believeth in him.
Should not perish, but have everlasting life. Oh, God sent his Son in love to reach out to you and to me.
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Are you going to ignore the love of God? You know it's one thing to reject truth.
I have heard people who didn't want to hear the truth about a certain subject, people who didn't want to know.
I don't want to tell a story that makes someone else.
Look in a less than proper light, but it reminds me of a true story of a man.
Who went to a foreign country and who was doing his very best to try and preach the gospel of the grace of God. But at the same time he was trying to be of help to the people there. And he knew that many people in that place got sick because they drank polluted water. And he tried to point out to some of them there, particularly to one of the chiefs of the area, the importance of drinking pure water, the importance of not allowing raw sewage and dirty water and everything to contaminate the stream.
From which they got their water, and in order to drive the point home, he produced a microscope. And of course, putting a drop of that dirty water under the microscope, it was very easy to demonstrate the small germs in there that were causing the problem. And he tried to point out to him that it was these germs that made the people sick, and that if they would only observe certain fundamental principles of hygiene, they could no doubt be free at least of a good deal of that illness.
Well, the Chief looked down the microscope and there they were. He couldn't deny it. Everything was clear and the connection was evident.
How much is that microscope? How much does it cost? Can I buy that microscope?
Well, the man thought, I guess, so maybe maybe this is a step in the right direction. Maybe, maybe he's going to show other people what I've tried to show him. And he, he's well enough and he can buy the microscope for the price that it costs and I can always get another one. So he named the price that the microscope cost and the chief very willingly bought it.
But then what was the horror of the man who had sold him the microscope to see the chief almost immediately go over?
To a pile of rocks nearby and smash the microscope to pieces.
Break it all up so that it was utterly useless. Why did he do that? He didn't want to know the truth. And you and I laugh at a story like that. We say, what a fool.
But lest we should take too much comfort in that, we better be careful because.
In the last century, a man by the name of Semmelweis in Austria was.
Practically driven out of the medical profession because he tried to make a similar connection between infection and germs. So our hearts are all the same. We sometimes don't want to believe the truth. But Oh my friend, if it's serious not to believe truth in a natural sense, oh, it's far more serious not to believe God's Word. And God has commanded himself and his beloved Son to us. Not only.
In revealing the truth about us, but also in love.
Romans 5 says But God commandeth his love toward us.
In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Oh, it's one thing to reject truth.
It's another thing to reject love.
I said there were three things in this chapter. The second thing that comes to mind.
Is that the Lord Jesus here in this chapter is the giver of life, The giver of life. And as I look around this room tonight, I know a good many of you here. Some of you I don't know. But one thing that I do not know for sure about everyone in this room is where you stand before God.
And there are only two groups of people in this world as far as God is concerned.
I can look around and see different families here and many families I know. I can see people from different states, different cities, even from in some cases, different countries. But God only sees two groups of people in this room, those who have a new life and those who are still lost.
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And tonight you need a new life. And the only way you can get that new life is through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Are you willing to come to the Lord Jesus Christ tonight? Notice what it says here again, we'll read a verse or two.
John, Chapter 5.
Verse 21.
For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, Even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
Verse 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and shall come not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.
Do you believe that, beloved friend? Has that gotten a grip on your soul tonight?
Do you know what it is to have everlasting life?
What is everlasting life? Oh, you know, we'll talk in a few moments about judgment.
And you and I were not made for time, but for eternity.
And those who go out of this world without Christ will exist for all eternity, but I am not going to say they will live for all eternity.
Because God does not call the existence in the lake of fire.
Life, no, what does he call it? He calls it death. He calls it death. And so tonight, beloved friend, why you sit in your seat in a measure of health and alive and reasonably well. God says in Ephesians chapter 2 and you who were dead in trespasses and sins, dead as far as God is concerned.
And if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're dead before God.
But it's a wonderful thing to have a new life.
I'm reminded of a story that I know quite well and I'm going to tell it here tonight because it touches my heart and it concerns a young man.
Who is a very young man.
Was sitting at a table with three other young men playing poker.
He was a professional poker player. He was smart enough to make his living at it and he could usually win the game. And they were sitting in this house playing poker.
Knock, knock, knock on the door.
Immediately they thought it was the police.
And so one of them went to the window to lookout to see who it was. Before he opened the door, he came back. He said it's not the police, it's only a little man with a book under his arm. We'll let him in. So they let him in.
And the man that came in.
Produce some gospel tracts from his pocket.
And he handed one to each of those young men at that poker table. That took courage. You know, I don't know if I would have had the courage to do that. But he handed them each a gospel tract. And one of those young men was so contemptuous of God's word and the one who was bringing it that he blew smoke in his face from the cigarette or the cigar that he was smoking.
And the evangelist who brought that gospel track was particularly taken up with that young man, and looking him square in the eye, he quoted John's Gospel chapter 6 and verse 47. He that believeth on me.
Half everlasting life.
And then he turned to go and justice. Before he went out the door, he turned around again.
And he looked straight at that young man again, and said, He that believeth on me ha everlasting life.
He went out the door.
Well, they resumed that poker game, but somehow things weren't the same and that one young man couldn't get those ringing words out of his ear. He that believeth on me.
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Hath everlasting life? What is he talking about? Me. Who's the me? This particular young man had been brought up as a Roman Catholic, and he said to himself as he walked home that night. But I believe in the Virgin Mary. I've prayed all my life, I've gone to church, I've taken the sacraments, I've done all those things.
He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
He couldn't sleep that night. He tossed and turned in his bed all night. Finally at 5:00 in the morning, he couldn't stand it any longer. He got out of bed and got dressed and he walked the five kilometers to the village where he had been the night before. He said where is people were already stirring by that early hour. He said where is that evangelist that was around this area here? Where is that man that had a Bible and that was handing out gospel tracts?
Where is he? Well, people had no trouble in telling him where he was. Yeah, he's there in that house over there. He's up in that house there. That's where he's staying.
So that young man with trembling hand went up to the door and knocked on the door.
To his great surprise, the same man who had given him the Gospel tract the night before appeared at the door at 6:00 that morning and with a smile on his face, said, come in. He said, I've been expecting you.
And he was saved that day, saved to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior.
O beloved friend, do you know that blessed Savior?
Some of you are probably guessing whom I'm talking about. The young man was Giovanni Granite of La Ropoli, Italy, whom some here know fairly well. He's now in his 60s. He's known the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior for over 40 years.
O beloved friend, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Do you know what it is to have that new life? Are you prepared to come to the Lord Jesus and get it? Or what are you going to do? Are you going to be like the one here in verse 40?
The ones I should say. Notice what the Lord Jesus says in verse 40 of chapter 5 of John.
And ye will not come to me that she might have life to me. Those are some of the saddest words in the whole Bible. Ye will not come to me that she might have life. Oh my friend, tonight God is not going to force salvation on you. God is not going as we say in this world. And I speak reverently to ram it down your throat.
No, God has created you and me as responsible beings.
And he says these solemn words. Ye will not come to me that she might.
Have life. And when I think of the heart of love that beat in the Lord Jesus Christ, when I think of the love of God the Father in sending Him into this world, oh, what a solemn thing it is to reject love, because God's love goes out to you tonight. I don't know the circumstances of all of you here in this room. Many of you, I know, have grown up in good homes.
Many of you, dear children here know what it is to have grown up with this precious book read perhaps on a daily basis. Maybe you have a Bible of your own. Many of you have grown up with love and care and everything that a child could probably want. But there may be someone here tonight who is known very little of love. And sometimes it's very hard to understand a God of love when we have received very little love in our lives down here.
I remember years ago when I used to spend time in the detention home in Toronto, ON Canada and how difficult it was sometimes to reach some of those dear young offenders because they had known so little love in their lives. How difficult it was to tell them about the love of God when perhaps they came from single parent homes and mothers and fathers who cared very little for them, and perhaps they got nothing but Hard Knocks most of their lives.
And here they had landed in prison at the wrong end of the law, and in some cases had been treated a little roughly by the legal system. And sometimes they were in no mood to hear about someone who loved them. But oh, beloved friend, tonight, it's a wonderful thing to be able to tell you tonight just what we told them. And that is that there is a God who loves you. I think of one young man particularly.
00:45:07
Really touched my heart because.
He was in and out of that detention home, as we would say, like a yo-yo, in and out, in and out. No sooner would he be released than he'd get into some trouble again.
You know, the Lord had his eye on that young man and he was a fellow that got around by hitchhiking like a lot of young fellows used to do and still do. And one night he was hitchhiking in a part of Ontario, Canada. And when he got picked up, no sooner had he gotten in the car than the driver of the car started in on him with the gospel. And the young man was upset. He was incensed that this man would have the nerve, as he said to us, to pick him up like that and hold him captive in the car.
Because he needed a ride and then used the opportunity to preach at him. And he got out of that car as fast as he could. He got where he was going and he said, boy, that uh-huh, I don't want that to happen again.
One week later, he was 500 miles away in the same province of Ontario.
Hitchhiking again. Again got picked up in the car. Totally different part of the province, totally different area, totally different driver. No sooner did he get into the car and once again, same message, same thing all over again.
And he was even angrier, he said twice in a row. Oh dear.
And he got out of that car as quick as he could.
But then.
About six days later, the police caught up with him for some misdemeanor that he'd been guilty of several years before, and he thought they'd forgotten about it, thought he'd gotten away with it, and somehow they caught up with him and he found himself in the detention home.
And lo and behold, exactly.
On the next day, for the third time, exactly a week apart.
Somebody picked up this precious book and started telling him the same thing.
I wasn't there on that particular occasion, but I heard about it and that young man, he said on the occasion, oh, he said.
I wonder if God is trying to say something to me. So this is more than coincidence that a week apart, three times in a row, someone tells me the very same thing.
All my friends, I enjoy that story because that boy got saved.
God gave him three chances. What about you here tonight? I don't like to point the finger like this because it bothers some people, but sometimes it's necessary. Where do you stand? You may not have another week. You may not have another two weeks because what else is in this chapter? The third thing is that the Lord Jesus is the one who is going to execute judgment.
Oh, judgment is a difficult thing, isn't it? Nobody likes to be on the receiving end of judgment. Nobody likes to be.
Where they know that they are guilty. And yet, my friend, tonight, that's where you stand.
That's where you stand tonight.
Guilty before God if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
And notice what it says in this chapter. Again, notice verse 22. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment under the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
Verse 26. For as the Father hath life in himself.
So hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment also.
Because he is the Son of Man.
Think about it for a moment.
Does that not make sense to you, even in a natural way, if the Lord Jesus Christ has come into this world?
And satisfied God as to the claims of God's holy nature about sin.
If the Lord Jesus Christ and love wants to be your Savior tonight, if he has suffered every indignity, every humiliation, everything that the wicked heart of man could do to him in this world, if he has borne the wrath of a holy God against sin on Calvary's cross.
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Is it not fitting that that one should sit on the throne of judgment?
Think you would agree that that is fitting? I think you would agree that that is most fitting. But oh, what an awful thing to stand before that one in judgment.
That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
I can well remember speaking to a woman who was an avowed Muslim about these things, and we had a very good discussion, a very good opportunity to present the gospel of the grace of God.
But she didn't want to honor the Son even as they honor the Father. She believed in God, but she didn't want to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
She said if God is truly God.
Excuse me?
And if he's all powerful, why can't he just wash my sins away?
By the word of his power, why does he have to send his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into this world?
How would you answer that question? How did we answer that question? Oh, beloved friend, we could only turn to this precious book and say that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. And tonight you do not have, if I can say it bluntly, the privilege of deciding how you were going to be saved. You do not have the privilege of deciding how you are going to be saved.
I can still remember once when I was in high school in my senior year.
And we had to make speeches. Everybody had to stand up in front of the class and make a speech.
Of a certain length or longer within certain limits, and you were marked on it. And some people didn't want to do that kind of thing. They didn't want to get up in front of their class and make a speech and take part in public speaking. And I can remember 1 fellow raising his hand and venturing to ask the teacher, said Sir Mr. Clark, are these speeches on the course of study?
Meaning, are these something that has been prescribed by the school board or the province of Ontario or something like that?
And I'll never forget Mr. Clarke's answer. He had been head of the English department at that time, probably for a good ten years. And he looked at him and he said, young man, using just about that tone of voice, he said, as head of the English department, I decide what is on the course of study here.
That was the end of the discussion.
Now there were those who no doubt could have overruled him in some cases had he gone too far. But beloved friend, if I can say it reverently and yet bluntly, God decides how you and I will be saved. And the wonderful thing is that God is willing to save it all, because He would have been just in every way in putting every one of us in hell for a lost eternity.
But God wants to save you tonight, and you and I do not have the option of saying.
I want to be saved my way. I don't want to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to become saved through the precious blood of Christ. No, God has only one way.
And that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Will you come to the Lord Jesus Christ tonight? Our time is nearly gone.
But what is at the end of a life without Christ?
You know that I'm sure just as well as I do the Lord Jesus Christ mentions that awful place called Hell more than anyone else in the word of God.
More than anyone else in the whole Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ mentioned that awful place, and he spoke much more about hell than he did about heaven.
Surprise. Oh the Lord Jesus knew as none other what an awful thing it would be.
To be cast into a lost eternity, you say? Why is there a hell? There's a hell for several reasons. There's a hell because of the holy nature of God.
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There's a hell because of the rebelliousness of your heart and mind. There's a hell because of the devil and his angels for whom it was prepared. And there is a hell because of Calvary's cross. Why? Because God will be vindicated in the end. No matter where you stand, God will be justified. Whether you come to Christ or whether you go out of this world lost, God will be justified. God will be honored.
In his beloved son.
And the Word of God tells us that every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Well, our time is gone, but again I say if there's anyone here tonight who isn't saved.
Settle the matter tonight and if you want to sit and talk.
If you want to chat with someone a little more about this, there are many here who would be glad to sit as long as you need in order to speak about these things because it's the most important issue that you will ever face.
So don't walk out the door, don't get caught up in all the conversation and things like that that normally go on after a meeting like this.
Get this important question settled tonight and come to the Lord Jesus. Let's sing another hymn.
Nothing less is built than Jesus.
And the blood he spilled, I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy lean on his blessed name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand. All of their ground is sinking sand. As we sing this hymn. Please don't sing it unless you really mean it. If you Can't Sing this hymn truthfully and from your heart, don't sing it unless you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. We Can't Sing this one sitting down either #3.
My hope, nothing less is broken.
Ascend, the blood is built. I dare not cross the.
Grave, my Holy Land.
Is last name.
400 30.