Gospel—Dave Mearns
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So I was looking over this hem sheet.
Trying to select the hymn that we should sing tonight, I realize, you know, we could spend the hour and we could sing this whole sheet and we would have the gospel presented in such a clear way.
I don't think that's what the brethren had in mind, so we're not going to do that. But I would like to open by singing hymn #25, hymn #25.
It's a solemn hymn.
Life at best is very brief.
I like the falling of a leaf.
Just before.
My wife and I came here halfway through the week. The brother called me and asked if I would hold forth the word of life on Saturday night.
And.
I went for a walk in the driveway.
That night.
The moon was shining. It was dark.
And I knew that because of the circumstances that.
We've been found in the last while that there probably wasn't going to be.
A canvassing in the neighborhood and a whole group of people in here that were invited to the gospel.
I kind of took that for granted and I think as I look around the room that that is likely the case.
And as I pondered that, I kind of looked up and thought, Father.
What would you have me to say?
And I considered, you know, when I was younger.
And I, you know, I came in in just as we came in first here. The first thing that I saw was a group of young people on the outside of the door just chatting and having a good time. And I recall back to when I was a young person, the assembly that I was brought up in, in Montreal, the large assembly, it was give or take somewhere around 50 young people on any given.
Birthday that we would have, there would be that many signatures on a birthday card and yet as I reflect on that company now.
I think there are five that are gathered.
And there's probably 15.
That there's no evidence whatsoever.
That they know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. No evidence whatsoever.
So here tonight, we're not going to preach the gospel.
As if there's a company here that has never heard it before. Because as I view, particularly you young people.
Most of you would know the gospel every bit as well as I do.
And yet I can't help but think.
That there is somebody here tonight.
And you know not my Savior, the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
What a solemn thing to be brought up.
In a Christian home.
To be brought up with the influence of the assembly.
And to be without Christ.
All we trust tonight as we open this precious book, the Word of God.
We speak from these blessed pages that your heart would be touched tonight.
And that you, whatever age you are, just speaking to a brother, you say you couldn't figure out how. How come he didn't come to the Lord when he was really young? He came when he was 11.
We trust that you would come to know the Lord Jesus tonight as your Savior, so let's open by seeing him #25 if somebody could please start that for us.
#25.
My fat *** is very brave. Like the falling falling by the mind in the world.
That's a lot of things.
About all.
In the arms of the flowers.
Let me send you on your way to make fire.
And your pride of anything else to do without anything.
In the morning, morning and the morning.
And you're right.
As I was walking down the driveway and considering.
What was before me? I walked over to where we have a burn pile.
Where we burn brush and I noticed a glint in what was no longer a brush pile, but a pile of ashes, and kicking away at the ashes, there was a hinge.
From a door that I had thrown on a wooden door, I'd throw that on the brush pile and it all burned up.
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And that was the only thing that was left.
Was this metal hinge?
And I'm just wondering tonight.
If this was the last day of your life.
Would there be any gold, there be any metal, anything shining? Or would it all be ashes?
You know, it's such a solemn thing to have just sung that hymn. Life at best is very brief. You know, while we sang it, 800 people were ushered into eternity, 800 people.
Say, oh, well, that's a statistic.
Yeah, maybe. But if the Lord should leave us here, everyone of us will become a statistic. Turn with me, please, to Isaiah chapter 42.
Isaiah chapter 42. We're going to read a few preliminary scriptures before I look at the subject that's before me, Isaiah chapter 42.
Isaiah chapter 42. In the first phrase of that first verse, behold.
My servant.
Behold.
My servant.
Now the Lord Jesus, he walked this pathway down here as one that served. Have you seen that blessed one, our Lord Jesus as the one who is the perfect servant? You know we could put that those 3 words, Behold my servant over the Gospel of Mark as we go through that gospel and see the Lord's pathway is the perfect servant. Turn with me now please to Matthew's Gospel Chapter 7.
Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 7.
Matthew 7.
And verse 13.
Enter Ye in at the straight gate.
For why does the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat, because Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Now, Isana, one of us here that was born into this scene.
Under the narrow way. Ah, one of us, everyone of us was born on the broad Rd. that leads to destruction. Every single one of us. Yes, it's a blessed thing to be brought up in a Christian home. It's a wonderful thing to be brought up with the influences and the protection of the assembly. What we've been born.
The broad road, and it leads as we, as we rehear, it leads to destruction. Now turn with me to the book of Jeremiah.
The Book of Jeremiah, chapter 17.
Jeremiah, chapter 17.
And we read this in verse 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? A trust will be able to elaborate a little on that tonight. The deceitfulness of my heart and the deceitfulness of your heart. Now turn with me over to Luke's gospel. Luke's gospel, chapter 18.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 18.
I would like to read this portion which is a very well known portion.
Without comment.
And perhaps refer to it later. Luke's Gospel chapter 18 and verse 10.
Two men.
Went up into the temple to pray.
The 1A Pharisee, the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee. I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possessed.
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And the publicans, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breasts, saying, God be merciful.
To me, a Sinner.
Now turn over with me to 1St Thessalonians.
First Thessalonians.
Chapter One.
Just a phrase at the end of verse 9 concerning the Thessalonians.
And how it says that they turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. They turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. You know, we just read from Luke's Gospel chapter 18. If we were to turn back two chapters, we would read there. It says no man can serve 2 masters.
No man can serve 2 masters.
As I look around this audience here tonight, everyone of us is serving a master. Who are you serving tonight? Maybe it's not evident who you're serving, but who are you serving tonight? These Thessalonian Saints, they turn to God from idols to serve the living and the true God.
I would like to look this evening. I've been impressed with the many that we find in the scripture that the Lord refers to Him as his servant, and there are many, but there's a much fewer number.
Where the Lord says about them that they are my servants.
And I would like to look at some of them tonight, those who the Lord says they are my servant. And just at the outset, you know, there's a day coming. Every one of us here in this room is going to stand before the Lord Jesus.
And I know it doesn't exactly, it's not going to exactly happen this way, but for illustration, when your number is called and you stand before the Lord Jesus, is he going to look at you and say my servant, or is he going to say, depart from me for I never knew you?
Depart from me, for I never knew you. What a solemn thing, those beautiful.
Words that we read in First Thessalonians, one about those Saints, how they turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. I had occasion at the airport.
To interesting We've all been in airports and there's a it's fascinating to look at the cross section of people. I was sitting at the gate and and there was.
Scads of people there. There was. There was. Men there in suits, there was.
There was young people that were dressed rather shabbily.
There was there was mothers with babies.
There was a there was a girl, she had green hair.
She had shorts that were probably this high, probably 10 inches, not dressed modestly. There was men with turbans, there was men with skull caps, a whole cross section of people and.
I hadn't checked in. I'd already had my boarding pass, so you don't have to check in. So I went up to the up to the gate and I said to the, I said to the lady there. I said, so how are you this fine sunshiny day?
As steaming rain out, she looked at me and she says you live in a cave.
I'm not trying to be funny, this is the way it happened so.
I went back to my seat after I showed her my passport and it tweaked my interest because.
I had just finished reading about one of the caves of scripture and when she said that it made me think I wonder how many caves there are in scripture.
And it just, it just enthralled me to sit there in my seat and to go through all these, these various scriptures with these various caves. There's a vast number of them.
And as I'm going through this and I'm enjoying it so much, I look up and the place is empty. And I realized I'd been enjoying it so much I'd oblivious to what was being announced. And sure enough, it's the very last call. And I got up and I went to the gate and the lady saw me and she says, Oh yes, it's the man that lives in The Cave.
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Anyway, I, I, I got onto the, I got onto the plane and it's packed with people and I went my way down to the back of the plane. There's only one seat left and it's right beside green hair and the girl with shorts and I.
I sat down and I thought, this is my portion. I didn't know where to look. I didn't know what to say. It was an uncomfortable situation from me. Anyway, I sat there and.
The.
I asked. I thought, well, I better enter it into a conversation. And I asked the girl where she was going. Well, she was on her way. She was on her way to Las Vegas. Never been there before. I thought, wow, what a sad thing, you're 19 years old.
And so I thought, well, you know, I'm going to ask her what she does. Ask her, what do you, what do you do for a living? Well, actually, I serve, I serve in a drinking establishment and I, I enjoy it because I get the best tips at about two, 3-4 in the morning. And that's where I work. And I thought, wow, what a, what a hard life for someone to start at. And then she flipped it to me and she said, So what do you do for a living? I said, well.
Actually I serve too.
Oh, tweeter interest, she said so. So where do you serve? I said. Well, actually.
I serve someone who is the most marvelous employer that anybody could find in this world and that tweaked their interest, they said and who is that? I said his name is Jesus Christ. And you know, she got this far off long look in her eye.
And she looked at me and she said, oh, I bet he is. As we entered into conversation, I realized here's someone that was brought up.
In Christian influences.
And here her life was a wreck.
You know as as we approach this subject as to who every one of us here serves.
Who do you serve tonight?
No Joshua could say choosy this day whom he will serve, but As for me in my house we will serve the Lord.
Who are you serving tonight?
This poor girl was brought up in circumstances. Then she realized what I was saying.
That I was serving someone that was much different than her.
Oh, I plead with you, young person, as you sit there in your chair and nobody knows that you're serving the enemy of our souls.
You know, we just read a verse. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And you sit there in your chair, having been brought up in a Christian home, and you say, well, I'm not that bad. I'm not like the girl with green hair. I'm not on that kind of a rote. But you know, we read about the Broad Rd. didn't we?
And I'll say tonight that every one of us have been brought up, have been born into that position. We're on the Broad Rd.
And the Broad Rd. has two sides to it. The Broad Rd. has two sides to it. It's got a filthy, dirty side, but it also has a very clean side. And you can be thankful in your soul that you have been brought up in circumstances that are such that you're on the clean side of the Broad Rd. but it's still the Broad Rd. that leads to destruction.
What a sad thing tonight.
To sit here in this room.
Having listened all day to what we've had before us from Hebrews 13.
And you sit there in your chair, and you're lost and in your sins.
You know, it's, it's just an amazing thing for me to try to understand.
And yet there you sit. I don't know who you are, I don't know where you are, but you're sitting there lost and in your sins. And we've just read that scripture. Behold, my servant. Oh, that you would see beauty in that blessed One, our Lord Jesus.
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Let's turn now, if you could, with me.
To the first one that I would like to look at.
It's in Genesis chapter 26.
What's intrigued me about this subject is that each one of these ones that the Lord calls my servant, there are features.
That we see in God our Father and we see in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I believe that's why.
The Lord refers to them as my servant, so here we find in Genesis chapter 26.
And, umm.
We pick up on verse 24.
The Lord appeared unto him in the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not, for I am with thee, and I will bless thee.
And I will multiply.
He's referring here. He's talking here.
About Isaac.
And he says here.
I will bless thee and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. My servant Abraham's sake. You know, you wonder when Isaac heard that name, just what it was. But we know you know the feature. We had it read to us this morning. Let's turn over to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8.
Where we read.
Romans, chapter 8.
And verse 32.
He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Now I love that expression and I love looking at Abraham, and we don't have the time. I won't do it for her to go to that 22nd chapter, beautiful chapter, where the Lord says to Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son eyes thy whom thou love us. And we know the story well, don't we? He takes Isaac, and there he takes them and he puts them on the altar.
And we know that he doesn't have to slay his son. But what a beautiful picture.
That we have there of how it's only the picture of God the Father didn't spare his Son. Isn't that an amazing thing for us to consider of God the Father not sparing the Lord Jesus, but the Lord Jesus being taken and nailed on a cross for you and for me?
What a spectacle, there between heaven and earth on a cross, and there we know that the sun was blotted out, and there during three hours of darkness.
We read in Isaiah the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. There my load of sins was laid on the Lord Jesus, and every one of them was paid for. Oh, what a price was paid for my redemption, and what a price was paid for your redemption, and you sit there in your chair without Christ.
After all, God the Father has done.
For you.
You know, he looks at Abraham and he saw that beautiful obedience.
And he refers to Abraham. Abraham my servant.
But where do you stand tonight? Where do you stand as you sit there in your chair?
Do you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior or are you lost and in your sins? Oh what a what a horrible thing for me to think of.
The shows being given right now and this whole room being cleared completely out and you left there on your chair. What a solemn, solemn thing.
For us to consider, let's look at the next one. If we go down to turn to the book of Job, the Book of Job.
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Where we read another one where the Lord says is my servant.
Job chapter one.
We have this a number of times we have in the second chapter as well in verse 8, the Lord said to Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job? There's none like him in the earth, perfect in an upright man, one that feareth God and a steward evil, my servant Job. Well, let's turn over now to see the feature that we find and it's in.
It's in Second Thessalonians chapter 3.
2nd Thessalonians, Chapter 3.
2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse five we read the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ, or as the margin says, the patience of the Christ, the patience of.
The Christ you know if you were to turn over to the book of James.
The 5th chapter we would read there concerning Job, it says you have heard of the patience of Job and seeing the end of the Lord, that feature that Job had received the Lord Jesus has that feature and it's interesting because all these speeches that we see in all these when the Lord has them all, everyone of them and tonight.
The Lord has patiently waited for you until this moment.
You know, I got a call.
Just during this COVID period.
It's an interesting story.
It's from my next door neighbor several years ago. 12 years ago.
Our next door neighbor.
Who they built a house beside us. There's just a fence between us. They moved in. They were atheists. And gradually they we invited invited them to gospel suppers, invited them to gospel meetings. They came a number of times but had refused God's offer of salvation. And there was this one day that my wife went next door and she asked the lady, She said, you know, Betty, wouldn't you like to come to the Lord Jesus? And Betty said, yes, I would. And she came to the.
Jesus right then and there. Well, Fast forward 12 years, just a few months ago I get this call. Betty's last words to us were make sure my husband Don knows the way. Well dawn went on his way. He was not willing to accept the Lord Jesus. On he went to a point now where he's 89 years old and I get this call.
And it's from the caregiver.
And so I go next door and here's Dawn in bed and he's on oxygen. He's extremely weak.
And yet he's clear in his mind and he says, Dave.
I'm going to die and I'm not ready. I'm not ready.
Well.
We presented to him once again the gospel message that he knew.
And that's how he needed to ask God to forgive him of his sins. He had to realize he was a Sinner. Yes, he realized he was a Sinner. And right there in his back, he asked God to forgive him of all his sins.
Young person, The Lord took him the next day. The next day. This is not a story I read out of a book. This is my neighbor next door.
And how God had patiently waited for him all his life, and he had that opportunity right at the end, the day before he was taken to accept the Lord Jesus as his Savior. You know, I dare say not very many people have that kind of opportunity. And I dare say that that's probably not going to be the opportunity that you have, particularly if you have spurned.
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Message time and time and time again and yet.
The patience of Christ to patiently wait for you who are sitting there in your chair right now without Christ.
Where you can simply ask the Lord Jesus.
To wash your sins away.
In that precious blood that he shed on Calvary's cross.
Own Him as your Lord, own your need as a as a vile Sinner, and come to him the opportunity right now. You have absolutely nothing to lose, and you have everything to lose if you don't.
You know Dawn had this opportunity.
And he?
Took the opportunity right at the end of his life and came to Christ. Well, what about you tonight? Oh, you might say, well, I got my life ahead of me.
And you might even say, you know, I'm really not that bad.
And I think that's that's one of the things that is an issue with some of us who have been brought up in Christian homes and have been brought up in the assembly where we find ourselves on the clean side of the Broad Rd.
And yes, we maybe tamper on the filthy side of the broad road now and again, but we're living our lives on the clean side. And the result of that is we we don't feel the need.
Because it's the clean side of the Broad Rd. But as we read earlier, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. If we're to turn, let's let's turn to it. And it's in Isaiah the the 1St chapter. Just a picture of what our hearts are like.
And it's a true picture of every one of our hearts.
Isaiah, chapter one.
Verse 5.
Why should he be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. The whole heart faint from the sole of the foot, even unto the head. There is no soundness in it. Bruises, putrefying sores. They have not been clothed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Oh, what a what? A picture of what your heart is, and what my heart is. And sometimes that's difficult for us to see when we find ourselves on the clean side of.
But if you don't realize and you don't own that that is indeed just what your heart is like, you know who you're like. You're like that Pharisee that we read about in Luke's gospel who pointed the finger over the public and said, I thank God I'm not like him.
Is that what you're saying tonight, that you're really not that bad?
You're not like the girl with green hair, you know?
When I was a young person, we used to go to this drug rehabilitation farm. There was a brother in Montreal that used to take us there. He was an evangelist. His name was Roland Blinner has it. And he took us to this farm which was had about 30 people on it that were drug addicts. And it was a tough, tough.
Time to to look at their lives. I remember going there. I was 16. It was the first time I opened my mouth.
We arrived there and Brother Leonard has it said to me. He said, Dave, how about you just share what the Lord has done for you? So you know I was terrified, never opened my mouth before, but there shared the gospel with these addicts and as I talked to the man that ran the place, it was an eye opener to me to realize the wretchedness of the human heart.
Because he told me, he said, Dave, this is a man who was saved through.
Some of you have probably read The Cross and the Switchblade. The man that wrote it was Dave Wilkerson. He was saved through this man. He said to me. He said Dave.
I was saved when I was in jail, said, oh, he was an addict himself. And he said, you know, when you're an addict, you get to the point where you're so incredibly desperate that you'll do almost anything. And he said, you know, I went and asked, I was desperate for drugs. And I went to my mother and I asked her if she had any money. And she all she had was $5 and she wouldn't give it to me. So I took out her knife and I killed her on the spot for the $5.
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And he said to me said, you know, Dave, I wasn't brought up a murderer. That's not what I was. But I soon learned what my heart was and there was in jail. And that's where I came to Christ. You know, you're sitting there in your chair, you're saying, you know, I'm not like that. I'm certainly not a murderer. And I don't have green hair. And I I'm not, I'm not living that kind of a lifestyle. But you're on the clean side of the Broad Rd.
And your heart is absolutely no different, no different whatsoever. That's what my heart is. And if you're saying tonight that your heart is not like that, if you're saying in your heart tonight.
That there are things that you wouldn't commit. You know, it's absolutely not true. You're just like that Pharisee. You're just exactly like that Pharisee who says, oh, I thank God. I'm not like other men. I thank God.
That I'm not like that publican. Oh, tonight our hearts are desperately wicked. Absolutely, desperately wicked. Who cannot?
And the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. I stand before, you know, a happy man, a happy man. Just a few weeks ago, Melissa was up visiting with us, and I took her to the airport in Montreal.
And I decided that while I was there in Montreal, I'd drive over to my old high school, which I did. Hadn't been there for while I was there some time ago, but it was.
40 years since I 50 years actually since I attended and I sat there in the in the parking lot.
As I sat there, I just thanked the Lord as I considered.
All the different ways that my life could have gone, Mary sat there and thank God for the preservatives of his matchless grace in my life and for reaching down and picking me up. One whose heart was desperately wicked. Desperately wicked just like what we've been reading, just like the Pharisee. And I'm afraid I was like the Pharisee for many years. And I could look around and I could thank God too that I wasn't like.
Other men I was saved even.
Oh, the heart is a horrific thing and it can't be trusted. You know, it's a good it's a very good thing for us to get up in the morning and say preserve me. O God indeed do I put my trust. If you're sitting there and you're tampering with.
With the grace of God in your life as a young person, I don't know where you are because you're sitting there and you're well hidden because your life does not manifest.
The Dirty side of the Broad Rd. but it's still the broad rote.
Oh, that you would recognize your need of a Savior, and you would recognize the patience of the Lord Jesus in waiting for you tonight so that you could have this opportunity one more time to receive his offer of salvation. Let's turn to another one now if we could turn over to.
I'd like to turn to one in Isaiah.
The book of Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 22.
Isaiah chapter 22.
Verse 20 We read about this man Eliachim.
And it shall come to pass in that day that I will call my servant.
A lion, my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah. And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah. I would just like to look for a moment at.
This man and the comments that I make now.
For you who are lost, it's not going to be to you.
But it's going to be for you.
Because there are those here who are fathers.
Quite a number of us, and one of the responsibilities of a Father is to bring the gospel before our children.
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And I I so appreciate we find a feature, you know, God speaks once, yeah, twice. And God and man perceives it not. But for those of us who are fathers and there's young fathers here and.
He was the young father. Yes, you're bringing up your children, but.
It's sometimes hard to realize that you're actually the one that's in training because.
There are those here who are fathers in the assembly, and I'm so thankful that for those who are an influence of my own life that were fathers to my own soul, that brought the gospel to me. And that's one of the responsibilities of a father is to bring the gospel to our children.
And I would just encourage you to do that. You know, the apostle, he writes to the Corinthians, he says you only got lots of teachers, but you don't have many fathers. And that's one of the responsibilities of a father is to bring the gospel.
To our children and to our young people in a manner for them to be able to realize that, not just to take for granted that because they've been brought, they're being brought up in a Christian home, that they've accepted the Lord Jesus, even if their life doesn't manifest anything that's otherwise. Because in my own in my own life, I've seen so many who have been brought up with the privileges of Christianity have turned away and.
They're not real at all. Oh, Eliacan was here, and he manifested those spirits that that characteristic of a father.
And the Lord Jesus, at least God, calls him. He says he's my servant.
I would just encourage those who are fathers and for you who sit there in your chair and listen to your Father, listen to your Father, give the gospel to others, but you've never received it yourself.
What a solemn, solemn thing.
Let's turn over now to the Book of Numbers.
The Book of Numbers.
Numbers, Chapter 12.
And we read this about Moses.
In verse 7, the Lord speaking, he says My servant.
Moses.
So what characteristic do we see of Moses that is a characteristic of the Lord? If you go back a few verses, we read in verse three. Now the man Moses was very meek.
Above all the men that were upon the face of the earth, the man Moses was very make of all the men which were upon the face of the earth. We had a scripture read to us. I'd like to turn to it again. It's in Matthew's Gospel Chapter 11.
Matthew 11 Scripture that we know very well, and to use it in the application of the Gospel, it's beautiful.
In verse 28 we read, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek.
And lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
You know, as I visited with that girl on the plane and she recognized.
But the one that she served was a hard, hard taskmaster, and the one that I served was a wonderful, wonderful master. She knew that, too.
O the Lord Jesus says tonight as he says here, he says to you that are sitting there in your chair, he says, Come unto me, be willing to come.
Choose you this day, whom you will serve.
Going to serve, continue to serve, that one who is the enemy of our souls.
The one who is a hard taskmaster, and the one of the end of the road, as we stand before the Lord Jesus. And he says, depart from me, for I never knew you. Oh, what a solemn, solemn thing.
To sit here tonight.
You know, if I could, if I could reach out and grab you by the lapels and make you believe, I would. But I can't. I can't. And God is knocking on your heart's door tonight and he's saying, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
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There's many more I don't think we'll read anymore.
We have a little time left, but I'm not going to go through there's there's a number of others, There's Elijah, there's there's Hezekiah, there's Nebuchadnezzar, there's David and Lord Jesus, God the Father, he calls them, he says they're my servant. There's many and they all have a characteristic.
That is a beautiful characteristic, but I think we've had enough and I'll just end with this story that perhaps some of you have read, have heard before.
My dad was a was a military man. He spent some time in the Navy and when my sister Janette, who is now 78.
She's she's Barbara and Spintage.
And grew up with bar brand. I was a younger one in the family.
But when my dad was in the Navy and my sister was just, was just.
Two-part of the.
This is this is in World War two-part of the.
Of the exercise that that he was involved with was doing nothing and he found himself parked on the Orkney Islands, just outside the Orkney Islands, just off of Scotland.
And they were there for several weeks, but while there was action going elsewhere, but they hadn't been called to action. And one of the things that he was called to do or that he did was he took a light boat into the into the islands and just out of boredom, went around looking to see what what he could find. And he found there a Christian, old Christian couple. And they the man was.
The man was cutting peat and storing it away because that's what that's what he burned.
In the winter time, this old man and this old lady and my dad helped him do that. And my dad happened to casually ask him. He says, do you have a, do you have a bomb shelter in the, in the village here? And the man said, well, yeah, we have two of them. We have two bomb shelters. And he said to my dad, would you like to see them? And so my dad said, yeah, So they, they went into the village and he said, well, there's two of them. There's there's one here. It's made of concrete.
And there's one that's made of feathers.
And I tweaked my dad's interest and they went down the stairs into this concrete long shelter. And the man turned to my dad and he said, you know this, we have this concrete one here, but I don't have much confidence in this one, but I have a lot of confidence in the one that it's made of feathers. And he took his little Bible out of his pocket and he turned to the to the 91St Psalm, if you could turn to that.
Psalm 91.
Psalm 91 and in verse 4.
He read to my dad. He shall cover me with his feathers and under his wings shalt thou trust his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. That really impressed my dad because when I heard it, it was on a Saturday morning in bed. We used to on Saturday mornings all pile into my folks bed. My mom would go off and make the breakfast and dad would tell us stories and we always wanted stories from the Navy. So he told us this one. It was great with great feeling.
Well, the time came when they left.
The Orkney Islands and while they are gone.
The Germans had heavily bombed the Orkney's.
And then there was my dad's portion to come back to the Orkney Islands, which he did, and he took a little lifeboat back in. He wondered what the plight was of the old gentleman.
And his wife and he made his way to the village and it was heavily devastated. But there was the one house and sitting on the porch was this older gentleman and his wife. And my dad went up to him and he and he greeted him and he said to my dad or my dad said to him, he said, So what happened when they started the bomb? He said, oh, we stayed.
Year, he said, you know, I trusted in the one in whom I serve. I trusted the one that I serve, and I took shelter in the bomb shelter of feathers. He said we stayed right here and everything else was devastated, but I thought, you know of that man and what the Lord now the one whom he served.
00:55:16
What a wonderful one. And as I look around this room, there are so many here tonight.
That serve just like the Thessalonians, the living and the true God. But tonight.
Who?
The user.
Who are you serving tonight? Do you serve my blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus?
The one who's died for me shed his precious blood.
That whom you serve or do you serve the enemy of our souls and your content to be on the clean side of the Broad Rd.
Oh, that you might see tonight that your heart is desperately wicked, desperately wicked. And you need the Savior. You need the Lord Jesus. Just like Don, our neighbor, the knee of the Lord Jesus. The Lord waited for him, and the Lord has now waited for you until this very night that you would see that you would receive the Lord Jesus. I wonder if we could.
End by singing hymn #21 hymn #21.
If someone could please start that decide for Christ today and God salvation see yields soul and body, heart and will to him who died for thee. Christ alone can save brick the power of sin. Christ doth fully satisfy the heart that cleaves to him #21 Could somebody please start that?
Oh, downstairs.
Really come out all your own sticking with me.
Run, run. Run. Run. Run.
Set a.
Right.
01:00:12
Now.