Gospel—Jim Hyland
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
To begin the gospel meeting this evening with hymn #21 on the gospel hymn shape decide for Christ today and God's salvation. See yields soul and body, heart and will to him who died for thee. Him #21 is someone complete started.
Nsnoise.
Thou thou canst last rain.
The land of the world can build yogurt and the blondes and the plaques and the plunge.
Dial zero 532.
954.
30.
It's not how far it is and.
Right.
Please do it for him.
At the beginning of the gospel. The first one is in the 53rd chapter.
Isaiah Chapter 53.
And verse one.
Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord?
Revealed and then back in the 42nd chapter.
Chapter 42 verse 23.
Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? We're going to with the Lord's help this evening and presenting the gospel. Look at some expressions, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, that begin with the word who, and that necessarily raises a question. It's often been said that questions are good when it comes to the gospel.
Because questions bring it right down to the individual. Often when the gospel is presented, especially in a setting like this in North America, often the question is raised Well, what about those who've never heard it before? What about those who've never had the word of God in their own language? What about those who've never had missionaries sent to them? How about them? What is God going to do with them? But that is not the question tonight.
The question tonight is, what about you? And what about me? And I began with some verses that often I have read at the end of a Gospel meeting, but I began with them this evening. In fact, for him that we sang is often a hymn that is sung at the end of a Gospel meeting. Decide for Christ today relevant to the message that has just been presented, that Him is often given out as a final invitation to souls to come to the Savior.
00:05:32
Conclusion of a gospel meeting. But again I began this evening with that hymn because the seriousness of of the brevity of time and life is pressed upon my soul tonight. You know this, the clock is ticking. And I suppose that we can look at the clock this evening and think, well, in about 50 minutes or less this meeting is going to end. Yes, probably in 50 minutes or less, this meeting is going to end.
But you know, it may not end in the way that we think. It may not end with a.
Prayer and an Amen and getting up and shaking hands and speaking to one another and eventually going out the doors and getting into our vehicles and going to our place of lodging. This gospel may end long before 8:00 by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if this gospel meeting ends with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, which could be at any moment now.
It will be too late to sing. Decide for Christ.
Today it will be too late to open to Isaiah chapter 53 and say who hath believed our report. It will be too late to turn back to the 42nd chapter and we this further question.
Who among us will give ear to this? It will be too late. Yes, it will. And there are many, many scriptures that confirm what I am saying. When once the master of the house hath risen up and shut to the door, it tells us that they're going to come and they're going to begin to knock, and they're going to say, Lord, Lord, open unto us. But when the door of mercy and grace is closed, it is closed forever.
You know, it's very interesting. If we were to go back and read carefully the account of the flood in Genesis and the account of Noah going into the ark and God shutting the door, it is very significant that you never read of that door being opened again. You know, when the flood was over and it was time to come out on a cleansed earth, it says they removed the covering of the ark and they came out.
I believe what the Spirit of God is seeking to impress upon us in the fact that we never read of the door of the art being opened again.
Is that once the door of grace is closed and the judgment of this world begins to fall.
As sincere as people may be, and as much as they may desire to be saved.
It will never happen. It will be.
Forever too late.
I stuck in my pocket before meeting a little tracked card you can find over on the UH track rack at Bible Truth. This is a reprint of a track card that was printed some years ago by a brother who's now with the Lord. On one side it simply says heaven. On the other side it says hell.
And back when this track card was first print, these track cards were first printed in a little bigger format than they're printed now.
The brother who put this together was asked why or what was his exercise in having a card to hand out with these two words on it, heaven on one side and hell on the other. You know what his answer was? He said. This is a track card for North America where they already know the story.
Not interesting, and as I look into an audience like this, though I may not know all your names.
I suspect that everyone here knows the story. That is, you know something of the way of salvation. You've heard before, in one way or another, that you're a Sinner, but you have also heard before.
That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. You've heard about the cross. You've heard about the blood of Christ. You've heard invitations to come to the Savior. You've heard a verse like believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and Thou shalt be saved.
00:10:10
You've heard for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
You've heard, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You've heard faith cometh by hearing and hearing, by the word of God.
You know that salvation is repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. You know the story.
But what about the 2 words on this track card? Heaven. Hell. If the Lord Jesus were to come before this meeting is over, have you believed the report? You know the story? Have you believed it? And have you taken heed for the time to come? There is a time to come in the reading meeting this afternoon for those of us who were here.
It was meant it's mentioned in one of those verses about the present sufferings. That's the present time. There's a present time, but there's a time to come as well, A time when we're going to leave this world. Are you prepared for that time? Who hath believed our report and who hath hearkened for the time to come? I trust that as we go on and we look at some further scriptures.
That these two questions will burn into your soul if you don't know.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
As your Savior, and if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, or tonight we beseech you at the beginning of this gospel meeting to look to the cross. Realize that the Lord Jesus there on Calvary's cross gave his life so that you could be saved, so that you wouldn't have to go to hell, so that you could be sure.
That your sins were forgiven and that you were on your way to heaven. Perhaps before we read some further scriptures, I'll ask this further question. What does Calvary mean to you?
What does the cross of Christ mean to you? What value does it have to your soul?
On more than one occasion I've had opportunity to stand at the base of the.
Eiffel Tower on more than one opportunity. I've had opportunity to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. My wife and I recently were in Paris and we met with another couple and their daughter and at about 11:00 at night we went up the tower.
You know, every time I go up that the Eiffel Tower or stand at its base, I think.
Of the engineer who engineered, designed, and engineered the building of the Eiffel Tower, His name was Gustav Eiffel. He was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That tower was built there, on the banks of the Seine, for two reasons. One was to mark the 100th year anniversary of the French Revolution. The French Revolution.
Was in 1789881789 I believe, and the tower was erected in 1889, a hundred years later.
But it was also built in conjunction with the World's Fair that was held in Paris at that time. But I was interested in a recent survey of monuments, historic monuments around the world.
And a society that conducts these kinds of surveys and studies conducted a study to come up with what the most valuable monument.
In the world is today.
They had several criteria to calculate the value, the California, the dollar value of these sites.
And the Eiffel Tower became in first.
The value that is placed on the Eiffel Tower by that society and has been published for all the world to see is 546 billion.
Dollars.
You know, to me, it's just a hunk of metal. It's beautiful when it's lit up at night, but it's just a hunk of iron. But that is the value that this world places on the Eiffel Tower.
00:15:14
It is the most It is the most paid monument visited monument. It is the most visited paid monument.
In the world.
I can believe it. I've been there in the middle of the night, and there's lineups paying big money to go up to the top and view the city of Paris at night. But we're not talking about some monument that this world might place value on.
If they were tonight, this same society were to go to Calvary and view Calvary tonight.
To stand at Golgotha outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem.
I dare say they would place very little, if any value, humanly speaking.
On a place like that. But all I know, there's just so many here in this room tonight who thrill as we speak of the Lord Jesus Christ and the work of Calvary, and we place infinite value by the grace of God.
On Calvary's cross.
And so, with this in mind, let's go first of all to the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs, chapter 30.
Proverbs chapter 30 and verse four. Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? Who hath found the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is his son's name? And what? What is his name? And what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?
And then back in the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 5.
Exodus chapter 5 and verse 2. And Pharaoh said who is the Lord that I should obey him?
That I should obey his voice to let Israel go, I know not, the Lord neither.
Will I let Israel go? And one more verse for now in Luke's Gospel chapter 19.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 19 and verse 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich, and he sought to see Jesus.
Who he was.
We find here, back in the book of Proverbs in connection with the prophecy of Agar. Agar raises a question here, a question which I don't think he ever answered.
Who is he, And who is this person? Who is the person that created all this? Who is the Sustainer of the universe? Who is he? And what is his son's name? If thou canst tell, I don't think he ever really understood the answer to this. I realized that Isaiah later on gives us at least part of the answer. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
He also gives us there in Isaiah the name Emmanuel. We have it.
Summed up in the book of Matthew, in connection with the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. How wonderful that tonight we don't have to stay puzzled over the question In Proverbs chapter 30. We read it as a starting point perhaps, but we don't have to stay there. We can go further in the word of God and we can have confirmation as to who He is.
We can have confirmation as to who God is and who his Son is, the Lord Jesus Christ, because this is the one that tonight we have to present in the gospel. There is no other way of salvation tonight.
Salvation tonight is not by something. It's through a person. Oh yes, it's faith. It's faith in God, in the Lord Jesus Christ, Oh yes, Sir, it's believing on the on the Lord Jesus and so on. But it's a person tonight that we have to present. It's not philosophy, it's not sociology, It's not even theology. It's Christ. We preach Christ and Christ crucified because there's none other name under heaven.
00:20:11
Given among men, whereby we must be saved, what does the person of Christ mean to you?
What does his name mean to you? Is it as ointment poured forth in your soul? Is it something that is precious to you?
Or is it just another name? You know, if we were to go out on the streets of Mayfield, or over to Paducah, or perhaps back in our hometown or city from which we've come, and we were to speak the name of Jesus reverently, all we would find very quickly.
It is still the song of the drunkard. It's still the despised name. It's still on the lips of the cursor. But oh, tonight the name of Jesus is precious to my soul. Is it precious to yours Tonight? What is his son's name? Oh, I'd like to tell you his son's name is Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. And God made sure that when the Lord Jesus was hanging on Calvary's cross.
His name was there, you know. They came to Pilate, who had written his name in Hebrew and Greek and Latin for all to read as they passed by, for others to gaze on as they sat down and watched the Lord Jesus in his suffering.
And they came to Pilate, and they wanted him to alter it slightly. But he said, this is who he was. You know, God was in control. God was giving testimony as his son sunder. And God caused Pilate an ungodly man who had bowed to the will of the people. God caused Pilate to say, what I have written, I have written, you know, Pilate couldn't change that if he wanted to.
Because God was in full control, and there was his name as the Lord, Jesus hung as a spectacle.
For men and for angels.
But isn't it very solemn to turn back to the account of Pharaoh?
When Moses and Aaron went in to stand before Pharaoh and give testimony, and to plead with Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go from their ******* and slavery in Egypt, Pharaoh in all his audacity, he might as well have shaken his fists to God. He said, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? Who is the Lord? And maybe you're saying that tonight, who's the Lord that I should obey him? I just want to live my own life, never mind those kinds of things.
Pharaoh came to a solemn end, didn't he? Drowned in the Red Sea.
I recently traveled up and down part of the coast of the Red Sea, right there, somewhere within a few miles of where that event took place. It's a very solemn thing to stand on the Sinai Bank of the Red Sea and look back toward Egypt and realize that somewhere, one way or the other, just a few miles, this where Farrell, who had the audacity to lift his voice against God, was drowned.
And to realize that someday Pharaoh is going to be raised.
To stand at the Great White throne judgment and he will have nothing to say in that day. Every mouth is going to be stopped in that day.
You know the Egyptians back in ancient history they spent.
Much of their life preparing for the afterlife, the Pharaohs built the pyramids. They amassed their treasures.
Feral Khufu, who reigned in Egypt from about 2589 to 2566 BC. He masterminded the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza.
Many years later, they found his vote buried beside that pyramid.
Why was that boat buried beside his pyramid?
That vote was buried there to help him in the next life, to help him travel. The very boat he had traveled up and down the Nile River buried with him so that supposedly it would help him travel to bliss in the afterlife. And those pyramids, monuments to the Pharaohs, the burying places of the Pharaohs, they spent their whole life. They were sincere. They went to great expense.
00:25:15
But they were sincerely wrong.
It's a solemn thing to walk through the mummy rooms of the Cairo Museum.
And to see some of the mummies of the Pharaohs and nobility of Egypt.
Some of them 4500 years old. The fingernails, the eyelashes.
And there they are.
But you wonder where they are for eternity. Their bodies are there. I remember the last time I stood in the mummy room. I just stood there for a moment I thought, wouldn't it be interesting if the Lord came right now to see if any of these mummies would rise from these glass cases?
And to realize that if those who do not rise at that time will indeed rise at a later date to stand before God as their judge.
Who is the Lord that I should obey him? You know there are solemn warnings in the New Testament concerning those who obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know God is commanding you to be saved tonight.
God now commandeth men everywhere to repent. It's an invitation, yes, and we often present it that way.
But it's a command as well, because so much does God love you tonight that he's commanding you to be saved. Any of us who have children, if we see our children heading for something the edge of a Cliff or something hot that they're going to touch that we know.
Is going to have serious consequences. Do we just invite them to come back and stay away? No, We command them. We're in earnest. We may even reach out and grab them and pull them back. And God is commanding you tonight to be saved, if you're not already. And he's commanding you. Not in a harsh way. Usually we think of commands in a harsh way, but he's commanding you in a way.
That is in love because he does not want you to go to a lost eternity.
And God realizes that you are on the brink.
Of passing out of this world and going to hell.
Forever.
It's serious tonight. It is very, very serious. We're passionate about what we present from the word of God in regard to the gospel because these things are real. You might scoff at them tonight, but these things are real.
Farrell scoffed at it.
With God, fooling God wasn't fooling for one moment.
But you know to me it's so beautiful to turn from that. Who is the Lord that I should obey him?
To turn to the 19th chapter of the book of Luke to a well known story.
The story of Zacchaeus. And you know, as far as we read, Zacchaeus only had one opportunity to meet the Lord Jesus.
I wonder if you were to recount back in your memory as far as you can think and you were able to do to count. I wonder how many opportunities you'd come up with as far as your opportunity to be saved, opportunities to be at gospel meetings like this.
Opportunities when someone gave you a tractor a gospel invitation. Opportunities when, as a child, you sat, perhaps at the table, and your father or mother opened the word of God and read it to you.
But the Lord entered and passed through Jericho, and we never read that he passed through Jericho again.
And Zacchaeus realized he had an opportunity, and there were hindrances, because, you know, whenever we want to come to the Lord.
There's always going to be hindrances because there's an enemy that doesn't want you to come to the Lord Jesus tonight.
There's an enemy who wants to keep your soul from coming to Christ to drag you down to hell. And that enemy's name is Satan. But Satan is not your friend tonight. Satan doesn't love you tonight.
00:30:03
Satan is a destroyer, and so there's always opposition.
As sure as I stood up tonight and opened this book, there's opposition.
But Zacchaeus wasn't going to let the opposition stop him.
You know, there were perhaps three things that could have hindered Zacchaeus from coming to the Lord. There was his possessions. He was rich.
There was the people, there was a big crowd and there was his profession. He was a publican or a tax collector.
Three things.
His possessions, the people, and his profession. He let none of it stop him. Zacchaeus was in earnest, and would to God that we were in earnest tonight.
His desire was to see Jesus who he.
Was, Farrell said. Who is the Lord?
Zacchaeus wanted to find out.
Do you wanna find out tonight? You know, it didn't take Zacchaeus long to find out because the Lord knew the sincerity of the heart of Zacchaeus. And maybe you say tonight, there's a lot of things I don't understand about the gospel and a lot of things I don't understand about the Lord Jesus. You know, there was a man in the 9th chapter of John like that. He had his eyes opened. He was blind from birth, and the Lord opened his eyes.
And there were a lot of people who came along and said, who is this man that opened your eyes?
Tell us about them. Do you understand anything about them? He didn't know much. Finally an exasperation, he said. I don't know who he is, but one thing I know, I was blind. And now I see.
That was enough for the blind man. One thing he knew about the Lord Jesus, he could open the eyes of the blind. But I dare say he found out a lot more about the Lord Jesus after that. And if you just come tonight realizing that the Lord Jesus is the savior of sinners, you'll find out a lot of things about him after you get saved.
Zacchaeus He wanted to see Jesus who he was.
He didn't know much about them, but he found out a lot more.
After he was introduced, and one thing he found out on this occasion was the Lord Jesus wanted Zacchaeus to. Not only did Zacchaeus want to see the Lord, but the Lord wanted an interview with Zacchaeus. And not only did the Lord want an interview with Zacchaeus, he wanted to abide with Zacchaeus at his house. He wanted fellowship and communion with Zacchaeus.
You know there's another man in the Gospels who desired to see Jesus as well.
His name was Herod, King Herod, and it says that he desired for a long time to see Jesus that some miracle might be showed him.
Completely different motive. Wanted to see the same person, but for a completely different reason. You know, Herod did see Jesus, but he never, as far as we read, saw a miracle performed in His presence.
Two very different men with two very different desires.
They both saw Jesus, but what a difference.
Who he desired to see him who he was, is that the desire of your soul and mind tonight?
You know, everyone of us have a need. We're all sinners.
I want to keep that in mind now as we go on to some further scriptures back in Mark's Gospel chapter 2.
Mark's Gospel chapter 2 and I want to read just the last question.
Of verse 7, just the last half of the verse. Who can forgive sins?
But God only and then in Matthew's Gospel chapter 19.
00:35:00
Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 19.
And verse 25.
In the last part of the verse.
Who then can be saved And one more portion in Revelation chapter 6.
Revelation chapter 6 and verse 17. For the great day of his wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand?
Robert Strand wrote a book called Especially for Mothers and there's a very interesting account in that book of a little girl, an 8 year old girl named Tessa. Tessa had a brother by the name of Andrew.
And Andrew was very, very sick. He had a brain tumor.
And Tesla at 8 years of old age, didn't really enter into what was going on. All she knew was her brother was very sick, had something very serious, and that her parents were very, very concerned about it.
And one day she heard overheard a comment made by her mother to her father. And that comment went like something like went something like this.
It will take would take a miracle to cure Andrew, but we can't afford a miracle. That was all of the conversation 8 year old Tessa heard.
But the wheels of her mind began to work.
And she went to her room and she got down off the shelf a glass jar in which she was collecting small change.
And she undid the lid of that jar, and she pulled, pardon the change out onto her bed, and she counted it very carefully.
She counted it once.
She counted it twice.
She counted it three times to make sure she had the amount right. You'll smile at this, but it was very real to Tessa.
She had $1.11.
She carefully gathered that change up and put it back in the jar, secured the lid, and when she thought nobody was looking, she slipped out the back door, out to the sidewalk and down the street to a local pharmacy.
She went to the pharmacist counter.
She could see that the pharmacist behind the counter was engaged in conversation with another man.
And so she waited, very politely and as patiently as she could.
She kind of coughed, cleared her throat a little bit to see if she could get the pharmacist attention. That didn't work.
She shuffled her feet a little bit, and finally she tapped the jar on the counter. That did the trick. The pharmacist looked up, somewhat annoyed that his conversation had been interrupted, but.
He came to the counter and he asked her what she would like.
She said. Sir, if you please, I'd like to buy a miracle.
He never had a request like that. A request for all kinds of medications. But a miracle he thought he'd misunderstood. He said, excuse me. What? What did you want to buy? She said. I'd like to buy a miracle, and I have the money right here in this jar. Sir, how much do miracles cost?
So I'm not sure I can sell you a miracle that I have miracles for sale, she said. But Sir, you've got to. She said I have $1.11 in this job, Sir. If it's not enough, I'll get the rest. I'll do anything I can. I'll put it on my account. But Sir, my brother is very, very sick and they say that the only thing that will cure my brother now.
Is a miracle. And Sir, I need to buy a miracle and I need to buy it now.
The man who was Beha, the other man who was behind the counter, had been listening intently to this little girl's conversation, and when tears finally filled her eyes, it was too much for him, he came forward and he leaned over the counter and he said, what is the problem? She said. Sir, I don't know, but there's something wrong with my brother Andrew's head.
00:40:13
And I heard my parents talking and they said the only thing that would save my brother is a miracle. But they can't afford a miracle. In fact, as the story goes, they were going to have to give up their house to try to have some sort of pay for some sort of surgery for Andrew. They were going to move to a small apartment, give up much of their furnishings, and so on.
Tessa didn't know, but she was talking to doctor Carlton Armstrong.
A neurosurgeon from Chicago.
She said to him, Sir, she said I only have $1.11 here, but I I'm willing to do anything to try to get the rest if it's not quite enough. She had no concept of money.
He said it's plenty, he said. Come, come and take me to your home.
You see, that pharmacist and Dr. Armstrong were brothers. He was down from Chicago visiting his brother.
He left his brother at the pharmacy, somewhat to the annoyance of his brother.
And hand in hand, they went down the street.
To that home.
He introduced himself to the parents. He sat down with them and explained the nature of the surgery that would be needed for such a delicate opera and serious operation.
He told Tessa to keep her dollar. Eleven said this won't cost you one cent.
Some time later, he performed that surgery.
And Andrew recovered and is living.
Tonight you and I have a very serious problem if we're not saved, a problem that we didn't develop after we were born in this world, a problem that we were born with, a sin problem. We were born into this world sinners.
And I'm sure.
If we could ask your parents if that's true, they tell you it didn't take very long.
For that to manifest or show itself.
I was in the delivery room with both of my girls and it didn't take very long for those little fists to be squeezed.
And some red face screams uttered from those tiny figures.
We brought them home from the hospital and it didn't take very long to for them for me to realize they had inherited a sin nature from their father.
But who can forgive sins? What a question tonight who can forgive sins?
But God? And aren't we thankful for the truth of that statement? You know, there's so many statements in the word of God that were made by unbelievers in derision.
Questions raised in mockery.
But questions that were true, statements that are true in themselves.
Who can forgive sins but God? But aren't we thankful that the Lord Jesus as God manifest in the flesh?
Came into this world. His name, as we said earlier, was Emmanuel, God with us.
God, come down.
In the person of the Son a body hast Thou prepared me? And he went to Calvary's cross, and I thank God to be able to say once again He bore my sins in his own body. On the tree he shed his precious blood. On Calvary's cross, of which we read The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanses us from all sin. Can it be any plainer than that?
Is the gospel complicated? Is the story of salvation difficult to understand?
It's so plain tonight that it says a wayfaring man, though a fool may not err therein. And if you go to a lost eternity tonight, not me, but God calls you a fool.
Yes he does, because God has provided everything and spelled it out clearly in His word so that there can be no mistake about it.
Who can forgive sins but God? But tonight I'm thankful that there are so many here who can say with the Apostle Paul, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness.
00:45:11
Of sins. Do you possess the forgiveness of sins?
If there was one word to be placed on your tombstone after you died, could it be this word forgiven? I can't think of a better word to be placed on a tombstone than forgiven.
Who then can be saved? They asked.
The way of salvation is open to all tonight.
The little girl was asked at the end of a gospel meeting, what does the word whosoever mean? Oh, she said, Sir, that means you and me and everybody else.
You know, the gospel tonight is all inclusive. Whatever I think of this, I still think of our boyhood activities. I grew up in a somewhat rural setting, just outside the town of Smith Falls and behind my parents, 2 acres on which we lived.
There were fields of the old uh Highland farm and there was a Creek down uh half a mile a mile or so mile and a half behind and some woods and so on. And you know in the summer we boys, neighborhood boys would get together and I had cousins that lived across the field and we'd get together and we'd get all the scrap lumber we could. I remember 1 summer. We even found the hood of an old car and we dragged it back into the woods and we built what we called a Fort.
And we would work for hours, Mother used to say. If she'd asked us to work that hard, we wouldn't have. But we would work for hours, pounding nails, sawing wood, lifting those heavy pieces of lumber up and getting it just right and building up a platform in the trees and and so on. And when it was all done, we would usually post a sign at the door of our Fort. It would read something like this.
No girls allowed.
Or it might read members only. Or it might read must know the password. And there were several of us who had worked on it that passed around, whispered around the password, and oh, nobody else wants to know what the password. And if there was a leak, there'd be a meeting held of the boys. As to him, we'd be grilled as to who had let the password out.
But you know, the gospel is not like that. The Father's house. Entrance to the Father's house is not like that. So they are over the Father. The door to the Father's house is all may come, whosoever will may come. Everyone is invited, everyone is welcome. It doesn't matter what your age is either. Tonight a little child of seven or even 3 or 4 May enter into heaven through Christ the open door.
The invitation is to everyone. God loves you tonight.
He's provided a way of salvation.
I hesitate to tell this, but just to punctuate my point, couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of attending the Denver conference.
John's Uncle Bobby picked me up at the airport and I arrived a day before a conference was to begin and he was gonna take me and drop me off at the Holiday Inn where I was to stay for the weekend.
And he was very concerned. Jim, I don't know, he said. You know, the brethren provide a room on the mornings of the conference with a buffet breakfast and, but I don't know what you're going to do.
The tomorrow morning there'll be no buffet breakfast and so on, and I never said a word when I checked in. I opened my wallet and flashed a platinum card that I possessed simply because I travel so much.
So lady that was checking me and said, Mr. Highland, we're glad to have you here. Thank you for choosing Holiday Inn. And we'll give you a key to the concierge floor. It's on the top floor. You'll have to swipe it when you get on the elevator. We only let members up there. And uh, tomorrow morning the breakfast buffet starts at 6:00. And go up and use the business facilities through throughout your stay this weekend and there'll be a buffet breakfast every morning. Uh, you can avail yourself of. But remember, you'll need this special key. We just don't let anybody up there.
But that's not the end way if you get to heaven.
00:50:00
You know everybody who knows the Lord Jesus as their Savior. Everybody who accepts the invitation and is washed in the blood of Christ, has a key to the Father's house, has a path to the Father's house. You will be accepted. There are no questions because the work of Calvary has taken care of your sins.
Have you heeded the invitation? Some of the young fellows at the Denver conference that got wind of this asked if they I could take a guest. I told them I was sorry that I couldn't take a guess. But you know, tonight I can give an invitation to every person in this room.
Every person in this room.
I have the privilege the privilege of of extending.
From God himself, through the Lord Jesus Christ, an invitation to the Father's house, not just to have breakfast, not just to spend a weekend, I speak reverently, but to be there for all eternity. You know, when I get to the Father's house, I love these words, it says. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
But I read a solemn warning in the 6th chapter of Revelation.
And if we were to back up here, we would find that the scene is that the Lord Jesus has already come.
The door has been closed and there are those who have had opportunity.
And now they come, and what do they want? They want the mountains and the rocks to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb in the face of him that sits upon the throne.
And they can't find any refuge in that day, even in death, even in disaster.
You know, people go to great lengths to avoid disaster today. There's a day coming when they're going to go to great lengths to try to be part of a disaster.
It's not solemn to think about.
Why? If there, you know there's going to be a hurricane. As we've read recently, if you know a volcano is about to erupt, if you live on an earthquake fault, you take every precaution to try to avoid disaster. But there's going to be those in the coming day who will actually look for disaster and want to be part of the results.
Of it, and they're not gonna be able to find it.
Who shall stand?
You know, there's nobody going to escape judgment in that day.
Not you.
Not anybody who's had opportunity to receive God's offer of salvation.
This meeting is almost over. At the beginning of this meeting we read that question. Who hath believed our report? We read that question Who will give He, He, He here and hearken for the time to come. God has been very gracious in giving you 55 minutes since this meeting started.
I can hardly believe it.
I can hardly believe it.
I thought maybe the Lord Jesus really would come before this meeting was over and he may yet.
Have you believed the report?
You know the story. Heaven, Hell. I don't have to tell you again the story that lies in between these two words. You know it, but have you believed it? It is a true report, whether you believe it or not.
Does not discredit the report. The report is true. God's word stands this book.
Is that it abides forever.
It stands forever. The Word of our God shall stand forever.
Whether you believe it or not, it is the truth of God. And this book, this report that you have heard, will someday judge you. The word which I have spoken, the Lord Jesus said the same shall judge him in that day. What does that mean really? We've quoted a number of verses here this evening. I'm going to quote one of them again. One of the most familiar verses you've probably that's probably ever been heard in this world.
I'm gonna quote it again. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. You've heard that verse twice in this gospel hour, and if you refuse God's offer of salvation, that verse will ring in your ears again someday, but not presented to you as to salvation and a point of refuge.
00:55:26
But that verse will rise in judgment of you. The word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day. That verse will rise in judgment, because you will realize.
The thought verse was given as an invitation and a warning. You refused it, and that verse will condemn you, and you will go to a lost eternity. You will go to hell realizing beyond a shadow of a doubt that you had opportunity and you refused it, and you will be condemned in your own heart. But all tonight the gospel message is still going forth. Tonight, there's one last opportunity.
One last invitation, but I say again who?
Hath believed our report. Do you know the Lord Jesus as your savior?
Do you know Jesus who he is?
Let's pray our God and Father how thankful we are for these questions raised in Thy word so long ago.