Children—R. Reeves
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Thing a little bit, and if we're going to be able to sing the entire Backpage, we're going to have to get started right away.
It's my fault today to listen to you sing the entire Backpage. So let's begin with #40.
Jason loves me this I know Lord of now Rainbow.
Glamour.
Hey, well, far away, I said.
My father.
My father can't hurt my face.
Because I change my last name.
Yeah, I'll ring my brother. I don't help me.
Yeah.
He will Take Me Home on my.
Heavens.
Yeah, we are not being.
A round up round. I've got it and well then it'll and Frank.
My mother and Star all work everywhere.
One great man don't have.
00:05:03
So I can find.
My God with me and God.
I'm a girlfriend forever, thank you for me, for me. Boring.
One more and only one and.
I am afraid I am you.
One more and only one car inside the Crown.
I am feeling, I am ready. I are you.
Into the tent where I just see.
Out and thyroid.
Nurse my thumb break on. We carry their feet.
Nobody else will get.
I'll make my friends.
I'll make friends discovering all the time.
That I am sure that inside you for me.
I'll be as long as I am.
Sorry you made me fall asleep.
And stay on my children, on men.
Nobody.
Ever can't locate me for?
Till it falls.
Heart.
You're the best of me to love this way.
00:10:03
Somewhere, somewhere far in all right.
One leg of power is made in this world.
When he comes.
Back.
Hey, welcome.
To.
All of your.
Why ain't surprised? Come on for me.
Would you please open your Bibles to John's Gospel Chapter 3?
Just put your Bible on your lap.
Having it open to this wonderful chapter that we enjoyed so much last night.
How good it is to let the light from heaven.
Shine down and reflect.
Upon the pages of this wonderful chapter, into our hearts.
If I have something I want to show you.
Something here in my pocket.
I want to tell you a bit about this thing.
This is a red tag.
Which is to be found on many of the trees.
And waiting.
In fact, something new.
Has occurred here at Wheaton, something that has not been noticed before.
In the years that we have come.
But it's to be noticed that some of these fine Elm trees which.
Lie in the streets.
Some of those trees are.
Now carrying a red tag such as I hold in my hand.
Those trees also are stained with red.
00:15:01
They have a large red circle spray painted upon them.
And in the center of that large red circle is to be found this tag.
Well, I bought yesterday. That's very interesting.
This is not a new thing to me. I've seen this in my own town. Perhaps all of you boys and girls have seen similar things in your towns.
Where the trees have been painted with red marks.
Sometimes they put a number on those trees.
Do you know what that means?
Boys and girls, I'll tell you what that means.
It means that that tree must be cut down.
When I saw that yesterday afternoon.
I know that it would be my privilege to speak to you boys and girls this morning. I knew it at that time.
And so I thought, well now I surely would like to have one of those red tags from one of those trees.
So I approached one of the closest trees to our room where we were staying.
Close enough that I could read what was written on that tag and I'll read it to you.
It says removal of this tag prohibited city of Wheaton.
Well, that shook me up a little bit.
Because I had already heard yesterday.
By our dear brother Erisman, that we should obey the rules that had been established.
And so I began to think about that, well, how am I going to get the red tag to show you?
Well, I noticed it on the ground not too far from where I was standing.
Somehow one of these red tags had been removed.
And I do not know how.
But I felt it would not be amiss if I would just pick up that red tag and put it in my pocket. You'll notice that it is quite crumpled. It has been run over many times by perhaps cars, perhaps bicycles, perhaps has been stepped on too, and it shows it well. I felt at liberty then to bring the tag, since I had not removed it.
But now I want to read on in this tag.
It says test number and there's a blank. It says date and there's a blank. It says location and there's a blank.
Perhaps things had been written on there, but by one reason or another they are now gone.
The last thing which this tag says is this.
Diseased tree condemned.
Let me read those last three words again.
Diseased tree.
Condemned.
And so this little red tag finishes with that solemn word, that awful word.
Condemned. Condemned.
That tree which bore that tag must be cut down.
Those in this room who know more about diseases than I could tell you that these Elm trees have been infected by an incurable disease, at least incurable for practical purposes.
That disease?
Causes the tree eventually to die.
It also makes that tree a menace to the other trees around it, and so those trees are condemned to be cut down.
Hauled away and burned up.
Diseased tree condemned.
I would like to tell you, boys and girls today about that word condemned.
That is not a very nice word.
That is a very serious and solemn word.
If those trees could speak.
They would tell you that they are not happy to have that word.
Attached to them. Condemned.
Boys and girls, listen.
There's a girl in this room today.
Who has that word stamped upon her heart?
I wonder if you know what her name is?
And there's a boy in this room today who has that word stamped upon his heart, condemned.
Condemned.
You see that boy and that girl that I'm talking about?
00:20:00
Have never.
Put their trust in the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
Now you have your Bible open to John three. Please read with me verse 18. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already.
Condemned already.
Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Boys, listen.
You are condemned.
If you have not believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and there's nothing more that you have to do to be condemned, you've done enough already. It says you're condemned already. And girls, let me tell you this, that if you not believed on the Lord Jesus as your own personal Savior.
Written on your heart are those solemn words.
Condemned already? There's nothing more that you have to do.
You don't have to tell one more lie.
You don't have to say one more unkind word. You don't have to take something that doesn't belong to you just once more.
No, you're condemned already. You've already done enough.
You're already condemned.
And you're on your way to hell. You're on your way to a lost eternity.
Why? Because you have not believed on the name of the Son of God, and that's what the Lord Jesus said is condemned already.
All I want you to realize that that's an awful word.
To describe you.
Condemn and there's nothing waiting for you but the judgment of God because of your sins. Condemned.
Already.
It's my desire today.
That every boy and girl in this room.
Who has not yet put their trust in the Lord Jesus might be made to feel by the Spirit of God.
Their lost condition.
You know, my father and my mother were Christians. My father and my mother brought me to the meetings.
My father and my mother prayed for me. My father and my mother put a Bible, a nice new Bible, in my hands.
But you know, it was a long time.
Before that word condemned was taken off my heart.
Yes, I came to meetings like this and I was condemned because I was a Sinner in my sins.
And I was on my way to hell, even if my dad and mom were really Christians. All boys listen, girls, listen.
If you're here today without Christ, you're without hope, and you're condemned.
And your need to be saved. You need to have those sins forgiven. You need to be washed in the blood of Jesus, condemned all. May the Spirit of God burn these words into every heart in this room.
Who is not saved, condemned, already condemned because?
You have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Now I would like to speak about something else.
And I have something else in my pocket to show you after a while.
I would like to speak about another tree.
We've been speaking a little bit about these trees which have been infected by the awful disease of the Dutch Elm disease.
And I told you that that disease is like sin. It's incurable in the hearts of man.
But I would like to tell you about another tree, a wonderful tree, and we're going to call that tree the yielding tree. Some of us had the pleasure yesterday of being in the Bible reading where we heard about yielding. This it says in the word of God, let your yielding nest be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand yieldingness.
Giving up yieldiness.
Let's talk about the tree which yields. Please turn Windy to Genesis chapter one.
In this first chapter of Genesis, we're going to notice that God mentions four times.
The word tree.
We're going to notice that this is a yielding tree.
00:25:04
We're going to notice that there's blessing that comes from a tree that yields a tree that yields fruit. Genesis chapter one verse.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth forth grass, the earth healing seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit.
After his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so, And the earth brought forth grass and herb, yielding seed. After his kind and the tree, What kind of a tree? The yielding tree.
The tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind, and God saw that it was good.
Now notice near the end of that same chapter.
Verse 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed.
To you it shall be for me.
Four times in that chapter, God tells us about a tree which yields fruit.
It's as though God.
Just is in a hurry to tell us about a tree. He wants us to hear about a tree which yields fruit. And so four times in the first chapter of the Bible, God tells us about a tree.
All I believe, dear young people, dear children, dear older ones, I believe that God had an intense desire to tell us about Calvary even in the first chapter of the Bible. Now turn to the last chapter of the Bible.
Revelation chapter 22.
First one.
And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, and in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was there the.
Tree of Life.
Which bore which bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Twice in the last chapter of the Bible we find a tree. It's a yielding tree.
It's as though God would say to us, let's never forget about the tree, the tree which yields fruit.
I would like to say something today about a tree.
A tree which was planted on Calvary's Hill.
A tree which bore fruit.
That tree was the cross upon which the Lord Jesus died.
Please turn to Matthew's Gospel chapter 27.
Where we find the Lord Jesus Christ on the tree.
It was a tree that spoke of yielding us, a tree that spoke of giving up.
It's a tree that speaks of life to me. It's a tree that speaks of life to you.
Matthew 27.
Found the man of Cyrene, Simon by name him they compelled to bear his cross.
Across a tree.
Oh friends, here's a tree.
Here's a tree which is the center of all God's thoughts.
From eternity past, here's a tree that marks the center of all the redeemed thoughts.
For all time to come, here's a wonderful tree. This is the cross. This is a tree which yields wonderful fruit.
Verse 34. They gave him vinegar to drink, fingled with gall, and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Prophet. They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
And sitting down, they watched him there.
You and I can watch him there this morning by faith. Let's allow our minds to go back to that moment when the Lord Jesus was hanging on that cross, his arms outstretched in love.
To you and me sitting down, they watched him there. Ah, let's take a look this morning at the Lord Jesus on that tree hanging there for you and me. Verse 37 they set up over his head this accusation written.
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This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.
Now, verse 42.
He saved others himself. He cannot save if he be the King of Israel. Let him now come down from the cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, Let him deliver him now if he will have him. For he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Now from the 6th hour there was darkness over all the land until the 9th hour.
Now notice.
Notice what happened on that tree.
That tree that speaks of yielding us. That tree of blessing.
In these dark hours, the Lord Jesus was bearing the sins of every believer during the course of all time.
About the 9th hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying Eli Eli Lamas of Acton I. That is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
What's the answer to that question?
The answer is sins.
Yes, the answer to that question is sins.
Why hast thou forsaken me?
Because of sin, my sin, and if you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you two can say because of my sins. During those dark hours Jesus suffered the penalty that our sins deserve in the Word of God. We find these words written in first Peter chapter 2, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree.
Yes, at Calvary there was a tree, a tree of healingness when the Lord Jesus suffered that you and I might be saved.
Some of them that stood there, verse 47 when they heard that, said This man calleth Relias, straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a Reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let me let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
Now notice.
What happens?
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. Ah, here's a tree.
A wonderful tree. A tree that means blessing and salvation to me.
A tree that means blessing and salvation to every boy and girl in this room. But let me tell you this.
Though that tree yields such wonderful fruit for us, yet it was a tree of judgment. It was a tree of condemnation for the Lord Jesus.
Our blessed substitute. Things were dark at that time.
The judgment came down in strong blows. When Jesus suffered that you and I might be saved, He yielded up the ghost. Behold, the veil of the temple was read and plain from the top to the bottom of the earth did quake, and the rocks rent. The graves were opened in many bodies of the Saints which slept, arose and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many now, when the century and they which were with Him watching Jesus.
Watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those things which were done, they feared greatly saying truly this.
Was the Son of God.
Truly, this was the Son of God. Jesus died for you.
Jesus died for you, Jesus died for me. Oh how we praise His blessed name.
For what he has done for us.
Now I would like to read in the 20th chapter John's Gospel.
And I would like to show you what I have in my pocket.
We're going to read now about believing Thomas.
Yes, we're going to read about believing Thomas.
And I look forward to that day when I shall meet him in heaven.
Will be a wonderful day.
When we can talk things over together.
Believing Thomas here was a man that was not there when Jesus first appeared to his disciples.
But he came later.
Notice in verse 24. But Thomas, one of the 12 called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. He was not with them. Now boys and girls, you weren't there at Calvary.
00:35:02
I was not there at Calvary.
But all I believe that something happened that day.
That has changed the whole course of my life.
Yes, something happened at Calvary.
That has brought joy and blessing to me and can bring joy and blessing to everyone in this room.
Thomas wasn't there at first. Verse 25 it says. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord.
But he said, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails.
And put my finger into the print of the nails.
Thrust my hand into his side. I will not believe.
Doesn't sound like believing Thomas, does it, he says. I won't believe.
I will not believe.
Is there any boy in this room today that would make a statement like that and say I will not believe?
Is there any girl in this morning, this room, this morning that would say to me I will not believe?
Oh, I trust there is no one in this room today that will say words like that.
Well, Thomas says. If I could just see his hands, if I could just see those holes there, those print marks, then I'll believe.
Well, today I would like to show you something.
That I obtained.
A few months ago.
I saw it advertised.
And I've sent away for it and I thought it would be interesting just to have.
Here is a nail.
This is a nail.
It's a large nail.
Those that sent me this nail sent a little piece of paper with it, and this is what the paper said.
It said in 1939 they were doing some digging in the land of Palestine.
And they found some nails there.
That dated back.
To the time of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus.
And so somebody made a mold of one of those nails.
So that he might make copies of it, so that others might see those nails. And I have in my hand a copy.
Of a nail, just like they used when they crucified the Lord Jesus.
Oh, that's a big nail. It's as big a round as my finger. It looks to me like it's almost a foot long.
Boys and girls, would you want a nail like that driven in your hands? Would you want a nail like that driven in your feet?
The Lord Jesus allowed them to nail his hands.
And his feet to that cross to that tree so that he might yield fruit for you and me. You know, there's one thing that impressed me when I received this nail in the mail.
It's this.
I didn't think it was so big.
Did you think that too? That's the one thing that impressed me when I opened the little box that carried his nail.
I said I never realized it was that big.
And I tell you, dear friends, today, that the sufferings of Christ were so large, so intense, so great.
That we never have realized a small fraction of it, the sufferings during those hours of darkness when that blessed Savior hung on the cross, that He might save your soul and mine. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried and He rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures.
All think today about the sufferings of Jesus, the Lord Jesus hanging on that cross, nailed there because of his love to you and his love to me. Now notice what it says about believing Thomas. And after eight days, verse 26 again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, peace be unto you. Then said he to Thomas, reach hit her thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach, hit her thy hand, and thrust it into my side.
And be not faithless, but believing.
Then Thomas answered, and said unto him.
My Lord.
My God.
00:40:01
Oh, it's my desire today that from the hearts of each boy in this room. From the heart of each girl in this room.
It's the longing of my soul that by faith your heart might go up to the Lord Jesus, and in those words of believing Thomas, you might say, My Lord my God, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus.
And shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. I want to say just one more thing about the blessed hands of the Lord Jesus.
Those hands still bear the marks of those nails.
Sometimes you boys and girls get scratches and cuts and they heal up, don't they? They heal up and in a few days you can no longer see them.
Oh, it's a great, great.
And wondrous mystery to my soul, to think that those marks.
Those marks of the nails.
Are still to be found in the blessed hands of the Lord Jesus, and that's the hand that's reaching out to you today and saying, saying, follow me. Oh, won't you be mine.
Would you permit me to say this?
That the nail marks in the hands of the Lord Jesus.
Are heavens.
Eternal object Lesson Heaven's eternal object Lesson. And while those eternal ages roll, and all the redeemed of God are gathered around the Lord Jesus.
One look at the hands of the Lord Jesus, one view of those nail marks will be enough to set us to singing and praising His blessed name for an eternity yet to come.
Before we pray, I would like to say that.
The Sunday school papers will be passed out at the door.
But.
Perhaps there are boys and girls in this room that.
Would like to have this nail in their hand just to feel it, just to see how big it is, just to get a hold of it.
And so after we pray.
I'm going to ask the boys and girls who would like to feel this nail.
To line up right here by this microphone, line up behind me and we're going to pass this nail right down the line. You'll pass it from one to the other and you can hold it in your hand. You can feel it, you can see it, and may you always remember.
That the Lord Jesus loves you very much, and that he died for you, and that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all.