Gospel—Jim Hyland
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Let's start the meeting this evening with hymn #15 on the gospel hymn sheet Oh blessed gospel sound. Yet there is room. It tells to all around. Yet there is room the guilty may draw near. Though vile they need not fear with joy they now may hear. Yet there is room. Hymn #15. Let's stand up to sing this and if someone could please start it.
Let's ask God's help and blessing our God and Father how thankful we are this evening for the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank Thee that He came into this world, went to Calvary's cross, and there died shed His precious blood. We thank thee too, that He is risen and seated at Thy right hand, that Savior on high in the glory. And we thank thee for the glorious gospel and the fact that there is still room.
And that thou art still working by thy Spirit, as the gospel goes out around this sad, sin, sick world. Tonight, and now, as a gospel meeting has been scheduled for this room, our God and Father, our hearts are solemnized to think that there may be those who've heard it so many times and yet are still indifferent to thy claims, those who have heard it, and who have hardened their hearts, those who are rejecting or neglecting our God and Father, We pray that thou work mightily by thy Spirit.
Open ears to hear thy word. Open eyes to see beauty in Christ.
Touch the heart and conscience of any who are lost and in their sins. Oh our God, we pray.
That there might be much fruit for thy glory and for the eternal blessing of souls tonight. So we ask thy blessing. We ask thy help. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory. Amen.
Like to begin with a portion in the book of Hebrews, by way of introduction to what is on my heart this evening.
Hebrews, chapter 10.
Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 4.
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance. Again, I'm sorry, verse 3. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice, and offering, Thou wouldest not but a body hast thou prepared me.
We're going to, with the Lord's help, turn to a number of scriptures that bring before us the subject of preparation.
And we're going to see how God brings this subject before us in a number of ways. We're going to take it up a little later on in connection with our responsibility, in connection with being prepared for eternity. Because this evening we want to bring our souls into the very presence of God and into the very reality of what lies beyond this world. Because this life is not the end of the story.
And we could go from one scripture to another to show that when man passes out of this world, it is not all over.
You know, there was a time in the life of the Lord Jesus when he told a story of two men.
And that story was not a parable. Sometimes the Lord Jesus spoke in parables, but sometimes he told actual stories. Sometimes he cited current events, the Tower of Siloam falling, and other events. Sometimes he told actual stories about men and women, young people and boys and girls that lived here in this world. And there was an occasion when in Luke's Gospel, he told a story about two men, two actual men.
That lived here on planet Earth and they died because it is appointed unto man once to die.
And those two men died. They had lived under two very different circumstances here in this world.
But that's not really the point of the story. Yes, one was rich. One had all that his heart could desire as far as natural things, and one was poor. One had to beg for his bread, for his daily sustenance, that which could hold body and soul together. But you know, the point of the story really was that it didn't end with their death. You know, anybody that's writing a biography of someone, that story ends with the person's death. Because as we get an Ecclesiastes when one dies, as far as Earth is concerned, that's it. The story is over.
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But it's not over, really. And the Lord Jesus could go on and tell about those two men in the life beyond, because the life beyond is a reality. And those two men who had lived under very different circumstances in their lifetime on earth, they entered into two very different circumstances in the next World. One went to a place of blessing, the other went to a place of torment.
And so we want to bring ourselves tonight face to face with eternal issues. These things are real, and we're going to speak, as I say, on the subject of preparation. But I read this portion to begin with, because here we find the Lord Jesus referred to here, and it says a body has thou prepared me. If we were to read the context of these chapters here, we would find that there's a contrast made. God often teaches us in His word by contrast.
And we find a contrast made between the sacrifices in the Old Testament and the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on Calvary's cross. Because if we were to read these chapters, we would find that every priest stood daily offering, oftentimes the same sacrifices that could never take away sin. And it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins and those sacrifices that were offered from day-to-day and year to year.
They simply atoned for that one sin, and then the Israelite had to bring another, and another, and another. But as we read later on, this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever, sat down on the right hand of God. But here we find it said of the Lord Jesus. A body hast thou prepared me? Isn't it wonderful that we can tonight in the gospel present the man Christ Jesus, the one who came from heaven?
The one who came from glory down into this world, and it says he was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. It was important, it was vital. It was essential that the Lord Jesus come in incarnation. And I've often said, if you look up the Word incarnation in any secular dictionary.
It will say something to this effect. Christ come in human form. The first time I saw that in a Webster's dictionary it rather startled me. And then I realized, what else could it be? No one else has ever come in this way. No one else ever chose to come. No one else was foreordained before the foundation of the world in this way. But you know the Lord Jesus coming as a man taking upon him human form, sin apart, it's true, but taking on him.
Human form, Oh, it was planned from a past eternity. It was number afterthought with God. But the moment came when he came into this world and the IT was said of the Lord Jesus in anticipation of his birth to Mary.
That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be begotten of the Holy Ghost. How careful the Spirit of God is to guard the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus. Unto us a child is born, that's his humanity. Unto us the Son is given. That's the eternity of his person. And so the Father sent the Son, and this is the one that we have to present tonight.
That's why we started with this portion concerning the Lord Jesus coming into this world as a man. And so the angels, as we mentioned in the Reading meeting this afternoon, the angels looked down in Bethlehem's Manger, and they saw the Lord of life and glory. They saw God come in human form, God manifest in the flesh. And there they went out to the shepherds and proclaimed that glorious news that the Lord Jesus had been born in Bethlehem's Manger.
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He grew up. His public ministry began as he came to John the Baptist and submitted to the waters of baptism. There in the river Jordan, the spirit of God descended upon him in the bodily form of a dove, lest there be any doubt in the minds of those that looked on as to who this person was, and a voice proclaimed, This is my beloved Son. Hear him. He was the anointed. 1.
The fulfillment of the Scripture He read himself in the synagogue. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
And the Lord Jesus walked up and down the dusty streets of Palestine as a man.
He was weary with his journey at Sycar's well as he talked with the woman who came there to draw water and found herself alone with the Lord Jesus. He was weary on another occasion and laid his head on a borrowed pillow in a borrowed boat as he caught a few moments sleep. During that storm before the disciples woke him, there were times when he resorted alone to the Mount of Olives.
In communion with God his Father, as we read particularly the Gospel of Mark, we find him going from one busy service to another. And in Marks Gospel, where he's presented as the perfect servant, you read forthwith and Anon and immediately, if they had no leisure time, so much to eat, the scripture says, because the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.
Because there was more to be accomplished in the incarnation of the sun and the Lord Jesus taking human form, than just good and blessing dispensed to the sick, to the lame, to those who had various maladies, There was more to be accomplished than just that perfect pathway of the Lord Jesus who pleased not Himself, who did always those things that pleased the Father. Who could say I came down from heaven.
Not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. Oh yes, there was much more to be accomplished than that.
Oh, there was the cross of Calvary. There was the fact that he came, and he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And this was before him all during his pathway he tried to tell the disciples on a number of occasions that he was going to go to Jerusalem, and there he was going to suffer. They didn't really get the message. It was after the fact that they realized the import of the words that he had so often spoken to him.
But this was before his soul, as it says prophetically of him. He was ready to die from his youth up. And the Lord Jesus, when that time came, he went to Jerusalem, and there he was taken and put on trial. There he was treated so cruelly.
There he was slapped, spit upon. They plucked the hairs of his cheek.
They scourge the Lord Jesus. They beat a crown of thorns into his blessed brow. They mock in mockery, bowed the knee and said, Hail king of the Jews. And then they took him outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem, and they nailed him to a Roman cross, and some sat down to watch him in his agony. Others passed by and shook their head. Many spoke in derision.
They gave him vinegar to drink.
But you know all the physical sufferings of Christ, as awful as they were.
And as good as it is for those of us who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior to read and go over those physical sufferings in our souls.
They never atoned for one sin. No again there was more to be accomplished in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus.
Then just the Lord Jesus suffering at the hand of man. The Lord Jesus said, The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? There was a cup that was pressed to his lips by the Father, that cup of judgment against sin, that which he bore in those hours of darkness, when he bore my sins in his own body on the tree. Could you come up here tonight and stand with me?
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And could we say together He bore our sins in his own body on the tree, Can you say Jesus died for me? If you can, then from your heart, then I have every assurance that you're saved and on your way to heaven. But this Gospel meeting is particularly a burden to our souls because we fear that there may be those in this audience tonight who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
You know, it is a very solemn thing to stand in a position like this and seek, with the Lord's help, to present clearly and simply from the word of God, the gospel message.
Quite often I have opportunity to face a crowd where I feel that perhaps most have never heard a simple gospel message, and where perhaps most are not the Lords.
But I believe it's an even greater challenge and exercise to face an audience like this, where there are those who have heard it so many, many times and those who perhaps have hardened their heart a number of times, But all tonight, as great an exercise as it may be, we're thankful. That blessing tonight doesn't depend on our ability to present the word of God, but it does depend on the word of God in all its power.
It depends on the work of the Spirit of God we're thankful that it is. It depends on the heart of God, whose desire is for blessing, and that the word of God is the sword of the Spirit, and that the word of God is like a hammer that breaks the rock in twain. And if there's someone here tonight. And as we speak of the precious things of Christ, as we speak of the sufferings of Christ, as we speak of the work of Calvary.
And it doesn't mean that much to you, Oh, tonight would, that your ears would be opened by the Spirit of God to take in the precious word of God in all its living power. And the prayer of so many tonight is that you will, before this hour is finished, come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, that one who indeed came as a man, you know, after the Lord Jesus.
Had borne the judgment of God in those three hours of darkness. He cried with a loud voice and said, it is finished. Then he cried again, and said, Father into thy hand. I commend my spirit important to realize that the Lord Jesus lay down his life in a way that no other ever did or could. He gave up his life, he said. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my father.
They came along and because that Sabbath was on high day and they wanted to keep certain rites and ceremonies and traditions.
They break the legs of one thief on one side of the Lord Jesus. They break the legs of the other malefactor on the other side of the Lord Jesus, to hasten their demise, to hasten their death, so they could remove those bodies from the cross, the crosses. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs, but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came there out.
Blood and water. And I am thankful tonight that we can proclaim on the authority of God's word that the blood of Jesus Christ his son, cleanseth us from all sin. I remember reading a little incident in the life of John Wesley, that evangelist who traveled up and down the roads of of Britain so long ago to proclaim the Gospel. And one night he was returning from a gospel meeting and he was going through a dark wooded area.
And he was accosted by a bandit, and that bandit robbed him of the little money and things that he had with him. He didn't have a great deal, but what he did have of any value was stripped from his person. And as the bandit was leaving, John Wesley called after him and said, I have something else for you. You can imagine the thief's surprise that this man that he had just robbed of the few little possessions he had on him would call after him.
And say I have something else for you. I don't suppose he'd ever had an offer like that. Well, he stopped in his tracks. He turned around, and John Wesley said, remember this as you go your way. The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. The bandit went on his way in. The years passed, and John Wesley one night was preaching to a large crowd.
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And after the Gospel meeting a man approached him, and he said, Mr. Wesley, I know you don't Remember Me, and I know that you don't know who I am. But he said, I am the bandit that accosted you at such and such a place. And he gave the place some years ago. And I am the bandit that as I left you, you told me you had something else to give me, and you quoted me the verse of scripture.
Concerning the blood of Christ. And he said, I am here tonight to tell you that as I went my way, the spirit of God hammered those words into my soul until I bowed the knee and came to know the saving power of the blood of Jesus. And I am here to tell you that I make an honest living as a businessman today. And more than that, I know my sins are forgiven and I'm on my way to heaven. Oh what a wonderful story the gospel is, What wonderful power there is in the gospel.
And so a body hast thou prepared me? But now I'd like to go on and read two further scriptures in connection with preparation.
The first is in John's Gospel, chapter 14.
John's Gospel, chapter 14.
And verse one, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you. Before I comment on this portion, I'd like to read a portion also in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 25.
Matthew's Gospel, chapter 25 and verse 41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Here we have two places prepared. The first one is referred to by the Lord Jesus in John 14 as the Father's house. You know the Lord Jesus looked into the faces.
Of that little company of disciples who he had gathered around him on this occasion. It was the last time they would be gathered around him in this way before he went to the cross. And their hearts were troubled. They were afraid as they thought of the Lord Jesus going away. And you know there are many troubled hearts in this world tonight. It tells us that men's hearts are failing them for fear and looking for those things that are coming on the earth.
We hear every day of horrendous events taking place in this in this world wars and rumors of wars, people brutally killed and videotapes taken and splashed across YouTube and social media, and so on.
Not just plane crashes, but people purposely crashing planes into mountains and so on. Things that we never heard of before. Things are getting worse and worse in this world. This world is winding down for the judgment of God. The iniquity of this world is almost full.
And men's hearts are troubled. And even sometimes I talk to believers who really know the Lord Jesus, and they get their focus off eternity. They get their focus off Christ, and they become troubled too. But here the Lord Jesus said, let not your heart be troubled. How could he say such a thing? Well, he presents before them several things in these verses. One is he presents himself. You believe in God, believe also in me.
You know, if we were to boil down the simplicity of the gospel message tonight, we could perhaps boil it down to what Paul and Silas said to the Philippian jailer when he asked, in all sincerity on that jail, jail floor that night of the earthquake in Philippi. We could boil it down to this. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And so tonight, do you believe? You know, the devils believe in God, but they tremble.
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The devils know the reality of God.
But oh, tonight, do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you put your trust in him for salvation? And then he says I go to prepare a place for you.
You know, sometimes people read this and they picture the Lord Jesus up there this evening getting that place ready. And the reason he hasn't come for his own is because the place isn't quite ready.
But I don't believe that's the thought in this portion at all. The reason the Lord Jesus spoke of it in the future tense was because two things had not yet happened. One, the Lord Jesus had not yet gone to the cross and offered himself as that supreme sacrifice. The work of redemption had not yet been accomplished, nor had the Lord Jesus risen from the dead as a man and ascended.
Back to heaven. But I believe the Lord Jesus, the moment he entered heaven and sat down on the right hand of God with the marks of atonement in his hands and in his feet and in his side. At that moment the place was prepared, was prepared. On the cross he prepared the people for the place. But his entrance into heaven has prepared the place for the people. And so we might well question tonight if the place is prepared, why has the Lord Jesus not come?
God is long-suffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It's his desire that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. I don't know why you came to this gospel meeting tonight, but I suppose if we were to go up and down these rows and speak to each one of you as an individual, you would all have perhaps different reasons, secondary reasons why you're here tonight.
Maybe your parents brought you, maybe you were invited by someone else. Maybe you came to plead just to please someone and you said, well, it's only an hour out of my life and it'll be over and I can go on my way. But those are all simply secondary reasons. Because the reason you're here tonight is because God has brought you here to hear the gospel message because he loves you.
And desires you to be saved. He wants your eternal blessing, whatever second 'cause there may be for you being here in this gymnasium tonight at the Gospel Meeting. Remember this. You are here by the grace of God and by an appointment of God to hear about his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to have one more opportunity to come and be saved. That's why the Lord Jesus hasn't come yet.
There's still some work for the Spirit of God to do. There's still some gospel to be preached here in this world. And perhaps this is the last place that the good tidings of God's grace will go forth. Maybe someone will get saved here tonight, and you'll be the last one in the door of mercy, and the Lord Jesus will come and call his own.
The Father's house has been prepared, but there's something else that's been prepared. However, when the Lord Jesus spoke of hell being prepared, he made it very clear that hell was never prepared for man. Hell was never prepared for the Sinner. It was prepared for the devil and his angels. But we could go through the Scriptures and find that while God wants to send no one to hell, and while hell was prepared but not for man.
God has no choice.
If man refuses his offer of mercy.
His offer of salvation.
Through the Lord Jesus Christ.
God has no choice.
But descend men and women to a lost eternity in hell.
It is a real place, make no mistake about it. I know there are many today who will not preach hell. When they preach. There are many who take the place of being in leadership, in Christian Christianity, so-called, and they will not. They do not even believe in hell. But it is a real place. It's not just a concept, it's a real place, a place prepared.
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There was a young man one time, and he came to a gospel meeting just like this, and the preacher sought by the grace of God to impress upon his audience the reality.
Of hell and a lost eternity. And after the meeting as the preacher was shaking hands.
At the door with those who had come, this young man came up to the preacher and he shook his hand and he said, you know, Sir, I don't believe there's a hell.
The preacher looked him straight in the eye and he said, Young man, you do believe in hell. Oh, no, he said. I don't believe there's a hell, the preacher repeated. Young man, you do believe there's a hell? No, he said. I definitely do not believe there's a hell. Young man, you believe there's a hell? The young man dropped his eyes, kind of hung his head, he said. Well, I wish there wasn't a hell he knew in his conscience.
He knew the reality of it. He tried to brush it aside and people will try to brush it aside and say, oh, it's not, it's not a it's not a reality. God is a God of love and he wouldn't send people to a place like that. But oh again, the word of God is so plain. The Lord Jesus himself, as he walked up and down the dusty streets of Palestine, he warned over and over and over again of a lost eternity.
We come over to the Book of Revelation and we find there too.
That there are those.
The dead in Christ, they're called, and they are raised to stand before God.
And they stand there. They stand at what is called the Great White Throne, Judgment.
And there they stand before the judge.
No arguments in that courtroom. No justification. No smart lawyers to get them off. No, there they stand before the Lord Jesus in their sins, and the books are open and the records are brought out. No typos in those records. No incomplete records. Nothing to cause the case to be thrown out of that courtroom.
Judgment. The sentence is handed down and they are bound hand and foot and cast into the lake of fire.
That place that was prepared for the devil and his angels. But oh, how wonderful tonight.
That God has made preparation for us so that we don't have to spend eternity in that awful place. In that regard, I'd like to go on now to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 22.
Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 22.
I'm going to begin reading at verse one. And Jesus answered, and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The Kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son. And he sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not come again. He sent forth other servants saying, Tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my ox and my fatlings are killed.
And all things are ready come unto the marriage, but they made light of it, and went their way, one to his farm, another to his merchandise.
And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. And when the king heard thereof, he was wroth. And he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, murderers, and burned their city. Then said he to his servants, The wedding is ready. But they which are bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage.
Well, here we find this parable, this parable about the king who made a marriage for his son. I mentioned earlier that sometimes the Lord Jesus told stories of real people who lived here in this world, but sometimes he spoke in parables for various reasons, and we're not going to get into that this evening. But a parable was not a fairy tale. A parable is an illustration that the Lord Jesus used.
To make a moral or spiritual point, to illustrate a moral or spiritual principle.
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And so he often spoke in parables, and here we have this parable about the king. He makes a marriage for his son, and he sends servants out to bid to the marriage. You'll notice here in Matthew's gospel its servants. When we have this same account in Luke's gospel, it's a servant, singular. And the servant, when he goes out, singular, he's to compel them to come in.
The servant's singular in Scripture is often a type of the Spirit of God, and it's the Spirit of God, and only the Spirit of God, that can compel sinners to come in. And so tonight, it's this work of the Spirit of God that's going to compel you to come to the Savior if you're still lost. When there was a prayer meeting before this meeting in a room down the hall, there was prayer that the Spirit of God would work tonight.
To draw souls to the Savior. We cannot save one soul.
But here, where it's the servants, it's those who know the Lord Jesus as their savior. Everyone in this room who's saved, we're servants of Christ, and our responsibility is to bid to the marriage. We are here to tell others how they can come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. Because you know there's a future day coming when there's going to be in heaven what is referred to as the marriage supper of the lamb.
And blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, You know we delight to be called.
To a marriage, especially when it's a marriage in the Lord and it's a happy thing. And there's evidence of real love and devotion between a young man and a young lady. Sometimes some who are not so young. But it's a wonderful thing to be called to a marriage and we rejoice. But oh, and work the Lord Jesus, God the Father is calling to the marriage of his Son, the Lord Jesus tonight. Are you listening to the invitation? You know we often cannot go to the weddings that we are invited to because of some circumstance or previous engagement.
And it's hard to write a reply that we can't come. We're going to miss out on what we know is a joyous occasion. But oh, tonight there is no need for you to miss out on the marriage supper of the Lamb. The invitation is going out. And those who were bidden to the marriage here, they had excuses, but they really had no good reason. Everything had been prepared for them.
You know, I suppose the youngest child here understands what it is to prepare.
You know, there was a lot of preparation, went into these meetings. It didn't just happen. There were those who for some months or weeks prepared, made arrangements, made arrangements with the caterers, made sure that the school was available, made sure that there was going to be janitorial service, made sure that the chairs were going to be set up last night, yesterday afternoon. I know there were those who came and set up the Bible book display at BT for BTP.
There were those who set up the sound system. There were those who were here early this morning making for sure everything was in order. There was a great deal of preparation, but, you know, we spend our whole lives preparing.
Any of us who have had families will understand this. We prepare our children when they are very little.
To go to school, we get them ready to go to school. They go to elementary school, and that is to prepare them for junior high. They go to junior high to prepare them for secondary school. That's to prepare them for a job, or to go on to a college or university or trade school or apprenticeship. They do that to prepare them for a job. Then you get a job when you're older and perhaps you start putting a little money aside, preparing for various things.
Maybe a young man puts some money aside because he says the day is coming when I want to take a wife and get married, and that's going to cost money. And after we're married, we start putting a little money aside for other things and eventually for retirement. We say, well, day is going to come when I won't have to work so hard or I can retire. We spend our whole lives preparing in one way or another. In fact, in connection with these meetings, all of us made some preparation.
Whether we have come from a distance or whether we're local, we didn't just jump in our cars or on a plane without making some preparation. Some of us bought plane tickets weeks before. Others made sure their car was serviced and the oil was changed because they knew they were going to drive a distance. We all packed a suitcase. Those of us who have come from a distance, there was preparation. This morning we got up either at the hotel or in some home we were staying in.
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And we made preparation. Perhaps we had a shower, got cleaned up. We put our clothes on. We had some breakfast. We watched the time so we'd be hearing good time. And so we understand what preparation is. And God has made preparation too. And everything has been prepared for the marriage. Supper of the lamb. It's all ready. And that's why those who do not come to know the Lord Jesus as their savior.
And those who stand before the Lord Jesus for the last time and are judged in their sins, they will have no excuse then. Oh, here in the parable they had lots of excuses. And people today have lots of excuses. Excuses why they can't come to a gospel meeting. I remember one time going around with Brother Garvin Seymour in Saint Vincent and we went around on a Lord's Day afternoon from house to house.
In the village of Dixon in Dixon Village, Saint Vincent and Garvin faithfully invited his neighbors and his fellow villagers to come to the Gospel Meeting.
I was astounded at the excuses that were offered. You wouldn't believe if I told you some of the excuses that were given. Thank God there were a few who did respond and come that evening. But you know there will be a day when no excuses are given because people will realize that those excuses were just excuses and they had no good reason. And it will be, but it will be too late. But everything has been prepared now.
The Lord Jesus has died on Calvary. The blood has been shed. He's a risen, glorified Savior. The invitation is going out in so many ways around planet Earth and in our feeble way here tonight. What excuse are you going to give God tonight? Are you going to rise off these seats in a few moments and go out of this room, still lost and in your sins?
We would be less than faithful tonight if we didn't turn to some further scriptures that bring before us our responsibility in connection with our reaction to the Gospel message. Let's turn to the Book of Amos in the Old Testament.
Amos, Chapter 4.
Amos, Chapter 4.
And I'm just going to read the last clause of verse 12.
Prepare to meet thy God.
Now it is true.
That salvation is not by works. It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us.
And as we were reminded today, there was a man came to the Lord Jesus and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And so on. And so there's that aspect of things. But tonight there is a preparation that we need to make for eternity, that we want to impress on our souls.
And that preparation is simply to come as sinners before the Lord Jesus confess that we are indeed sinners, but come to him and receive so great salvation, to receive salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. Because as we near the end of a gospel meeting, we realize that there are really three reactions to the gospel message tonight. There's no neutrality tonight.
You're going to react in one of three ways. You're either going to come as an acceptor like the Philippian jailer, and would to God that you would come and accept receive salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's just a matter of accepting God's gift through the Lord Jesus.
You may be a rejecter.
I trust that there's no one here tonight who's going to go out of this room as a rejector who says no to God and to the Lord Jesus. What a solemn thing to be a rejecter.
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But you know, there's something that is equally as solemn and that is a neglector.
How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? And I wonder if there won't be more in a lost eternity who are there because they're not where they were neglectors.
More than out and out rejecters, I believe that the work of the enemy is to whisper in the ears of people.
Not tonight. Oh, that's OK. Somewhere down the road. But not tonight. Not now. But you know, there's always an urgency with the gospel message. That's why we're passionate. When we preach the gospel, we seek to urge souls flee from the wrath to come. Behold, now is the accepted time. Come now, the Lord Jesus said, remember now, thy Creator in the days.
Of thy youth. It's vital, it's important. We can't promise that there's going to be a later on.
There's about 10 minutes left.
To what the schedule said on our schedule meeting schedule today to this Gospel meeting, about 10 minutes left. You notice your schedule is scheduled from 7:00 to 8:00 PM, and I am reminded of a story in this regard in connection with Prince Napoleon.
Prince Napoleon was the son of Napoleon the 3rd and he served.
In the British Army.
But he died on June the 1St, 1879 in southern Africa. He was leading his unit on a scouting mission and they had left camp and they were on this scouting mission. They were in Zulu territory.
And they got out to a certain place. And Napoleon, Prince Napoleon decided that this would be a good place.
For he and his men to take a little break and enjoy some of the refreshments that they had brought with them.
And so they sat down there in that clearing. But, you know, some of the men, some of Prince Napoleon's men, became restless. And they just had a feeling that they needed to move on, that the enemy was encroaching and that they were going to be ambushed. And so some of them encouraged their leader, Prince Napoleon. I think we should move on. We've been here long enough. We're in dangerous enemy territory.
And Prince, Napoleon said, just 10 more minutes, 10 more minutes. Let's finish enjoying our refreshments and relax for 10 more minutes and then we'll move on.
Sad to say, as history records, they didn't have 10 more minutes. The enemy was indeed surrounding them. They ambushed them without warning, and many were slain, including Prince Napoleon. They brought word to his mother. He was the only son of his mother, and they brought word to her of his death.
And the grief stricken mother, between her tears, said it was always a great folly of my son. He always wanted 10 more minutes, 10 more minutes before he went to bed, 10 more minutes before he got up, 10 more minutes before he did this, 10 more minutes before he did that.
But he waited 10 minutes too long. It's now 8 minutes to 8.
2 minutes have passed since we began to tell that little story.
What about you? You know we may not have 10 more minutes to prep to prepare for eternity. The Lord Jesus is coming. The coming of the Lord Draweth nigh it could be before we conclude this meeting and say Amen.
The clock is ticking. Eternity is closer than it's ever been. You are closer now.
To eternity than you've ever been before. Oh, I plead with you, Don't be like Prince Napoleon. Don't say 10 more minutes, I'm reminded.
Of some young men who came to some tent meetings that were being held in curling Newfoundland some years ago.
00:50:03
And I watched those young men during the Gospel meeting, and it was very evident that they had not really come to listen, but just to make fun and to disturb those who did want to listen.
And after the Gospel meeting, I saw them in a circle outside the tent and they had lit up their cigarettes and they were laughing and talking. And I went out to them and I said, young man, I've got a question for you. I said, is it worth taking the gamble, taking the risk and saying tomorrow there'll be another opportunity to be saved and we'll put it off tonight.
You know what they told me? I tremble to tell you what they told me. They said we'll take that risk. We'll take that gamble. Oh, don't take that gamble tonight. Man is a gambler at heart. He likes to take chances. The lottery lines are full when the jackpot is high. But don't take chances. Don't gamble on your soul this night. Your soul may be required of you. Like the rich farmer the Lord told about.
I want to just say in closing, we won't turn to it, but in Hebrews Chapter 11, it speaks of Noah there and it says that Noah prepared an ark to the saving of his household. I just want to encourage parents at the end of this gospel meeting. I have no doubt there are parents and perhaps grandparents too here tonight and you're praying for your children and grandchildren. You know that they've never made a clear confession of faith.
You fear that they are not saved and ready to go When the Lord Jesus comes and you're praying and you're praying earnestly, be encouraged by what it says about Noah. He prepared an art to the saving of his house. You know, Noah preached for 120 or so years. I suppose it tells us he preached righteousness for about 120 years while the ark was preparing. It's a long time, wasn't it? I don't think any of us in this room are going to have the privilege of preaching the gospel for 120 years like Noah.
You know, he only had seven converts. By today's standards, that's not very good. If he was so-called pastor or minister of some church, they would have removed him long ago. Somebody that preached that long and only had seven converts because only eight were saved. But you know, God honored it. God honored the preaching and the faithfulness of that man who prepared an art by faith.
At the instructions of God.
And he not only was saved himself from the judgment that fell at that time, but his whole house went in with him. God honored that. And parents, keep praying for your children and young people or other family members that you're praying for. God honors those prayers. And remember, he's long-suffering not just to the lost, but he's long-suffering to us. Word. I can't help it. I know I've said this many times, but I can't help repeating.
My wife prayed for years for the salvation of her father. Years and years and years, and she claimed that verse. He's long-suffering to us. Word. He was long-suffering to my wife and my father-in-law. Near the end of his life, as he lay on what seemed was going to be his deathbed, he came to know the Lord Jesus as his savior. The Lord pulled him back from the brink of eternity and gave him another few years.
To be a testimony in the community in which he lived. He's with the Lord now.
But God was not just long-suffering to my father-in-law, Gerald Byrne, but he was long-suffering to my wife, knowing that she was praying for her father and she wanted to see him saved before he died. He's long-suffering to you. If you're praying for a loved one, yes, he's long-suffering to the one you're praying for, but he's long-suffering to you and he will honor. I believe that your faith and those prayers, you know there's a man brought to the Lord Jesus one time.
And the Lord healed him, not so much on the faith of the man, but the faith of the men that brought him, when he saw their faith, those that brought him.
He healed the man. Oh, don't give up praying for a loved one. It's God's will that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Everything's prepared tonight. All things are ready. Come as we sang. Oh, won't you come tonight? I'm going to pray now. And if there's someone here and you don't know the Lord Jesus as your savior, it's this simple. Just speak to him in your heart. He hears even if you don't say one word aloud. Just speak to him in your heart.
00:55:11
Confess that you're a Sinner, but tell him that you want to come and receive His wonderful offer of salvation. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It'll be a subtle transaction, and you will be on that on your way to that wonderful place that has been prepared for those who know him. The Father's house, Oh, come tonight. God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
Let's pray our God and Father, how solemn it is to come to the end of this Gospel meeting.
To realize that perhaps there are those who are still not saved after one hour.
Our God, we pray that they might not rise out of these chairs until they come to know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. Work mightily by thy spirit tonight. We do pray. Bless thy word here, and wherever it's going forth we ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.