Gospel—David Mearns
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You know, dear friend, if you've just come in.
So the gospel meeting tonight.
I don't live here, I live about 3 hours away.
That was a young boy here in the city Of Montreal and I heard the gospel message and it changed my life and I can now stand here as a happy man.
Because my soul has been saved.
My sins have been washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, and I can stand here as a happy man, knowing I'm going to spend all eternity in the presence of the Lord Jesus. Are you able to say that tonight?
You know, I wonder if we could start our meeting tonight by singing a hymn.
On the little hem sheet that you are given if you came in the door.
And it's #11.
#11.
Will your anchor hold in the storms of life #11?
Oh, will your anchor hold in the storm of.
Rain.
And umm, God, I have left, I have been able to pray. I'm going to look at your mind and go on together. Lord Crown Reigns and 19.
Nsnoise.
Wow.
Umm.
Nsnoise.
00:05:29
Call.
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both shore and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil, dear friend, tonight.
While we sang that hymn, 800 people passed into eternity.
800 people.
150,000 people every day pass into eternity.
Someday, perhaps tonight.
You are going to be one of those statistics.
Do you have an anchor for your soul?
Do you have an anchor for your soul?
Let's ask the Lord for His help.
Turn with me please.
To the book of Luke.
Remember a number of years ago, before I was married, I took a boat trip with a number of young men.
We rented a sailboat, seven of us. One of the brothers is here tonight.
And we went from.
Fort Lauderdale, FL.
And our destination was the Bahamas.
As we are crossing the Gulf Stream.
You know, none of us had ever been at a site of land before we rented this boat ourselves.
And.
We got into bad weather.
Wasn't very wise of us to to rent this boat. It's a little bit scary when you're in a 40 foot boat and you're going up a wave like this and then you're going down the wave like this.
It was a little bit scary.
After 24 hours, we hadn't seen land. We finally did see an island and the wind calmed down some and we got close to that island and we cast our anchor out and we thought we had a bit of reprieve. And then the storm came up again and a ***** and there was perfectly horizontal rain.
And it dragged our anchor. Thankfully the wind was blowing out the sea instead of into the island.
So instead of us being dragged into the rocks that were on the island, we were dragged out to sea. But our anchor dragged. We've just been singing a hymn. Will your anchor hold?
Will your anchor hold? It's been impressive to me, a young man asked me. You know, we all get asked this question many times, perhaps in a day. How are you? And we answer, I'm fine. Maybe you've had that question asked you many times today. Maybe you've answered that way. Young man answered, asked me that question this past week. How are you doing? And I answered this way, my anchor holds.
Do you have an anchor for your soul?
Do you have an anchor for your soul?
I want to turn to Luke's Gospel Chapter 10. We're going to re. We're going to spend most of our time in Luke's gospel tonight, Luke's Gospel Chapter 10.
We're going to read 2 little portions here.
One in Luke's Gospel, chapter 10 and verse 38.
It says an account that passes. They went, He entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house, and she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus feet and heard his word. And Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Bitter therefore that she saved me.
I read this portion because it's interesting to me that this woman comes to the Lord Jesus with a question, and I'd like to ask two questions tonight. One is the same question that this woman asked. The other question I'll ask towards the end of the meeting. And this question that this woman asked, she asked of the Lord. She said, Lord, don't you care? Don't you care?
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Does God care?
We're sitting here in this room, You know, we spoke today, today a little bit about some of the scientific things that we find.
In the Word of God, that's not my line of things, but I'll tell you tonight.
That it takes an awful lot more faith.
To believe that you and I.
Evolved from some green scum.
10 million years ago, then it's us to believe that the heavens were framed.
By the word of God.
I'm thankful to believe God. What about you tonight? And does God care? Let's turn over. I said we're gonna spend our time in Luke's Costa. Let's turn to Mark's gospel for a moment. Chapter 4.
The previous book, another little incident.
Mark's Gospel, chapter 4.
And verse 36, it says that when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship, and they were also with him other little ships. And there grows a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in behind their part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him, and say unto a master, We perish. You know that's not exactly what it says. It's Master Carousel not that we perish. And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still. And the we the wind ceased.
And there was a great calm, here's the disciples of the Lord Jesus, and they're in the boat. And what is the question that they ask the Lord Jesus?
They said, Lord, don't you care? It's not that we're just going to perish. It's don't you care?
You know, perhaps this woman that we read of in Luke's gospel and also these disciples.
Perhaps they're not unique. Maybe that's a question in your mind. Does God care about me? Does God care about this world? Does God care about the details of my life?
You know, I believe we'll turn to some scriptures that show that God cares, that God does care. Let's turn now to the book of Luke and chapter 19. We're going to look at a little portion here.
Luke chapter 19 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho, 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.
And could not for the press because he was a little of stature and he ran before.
And climbed up into a Sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up.
And saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house.
And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that he was gone to be a guest with a man that is a Sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord.
Half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day his salvation come to this house, for as much as he also is a son of Abraham. For the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Oh, I'm thankful for this little portion that we have in the book of Luke concerning Zacchaeus. We find that the Lord cared about Zacchaeus just as the Lord cares about you and me. And here we find that there was a desire in Zacchaeus's heart to see the Lord Jesus who he was. As we have here in verse three. He sought to see Jesus who He was. Is that a question in your mind?
As to who the Lord Jesus is.
You know, I think if you, you and I had any idea just exactly who that blessed man is and the desire he has for us and the care that he has for us.
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It would get our attention.
You know, sometimes we go through this world and we bump into people and we've got no idea who they are. Any interesting thing happen some time ago. You know, there's a lot of ladies here and you don't shop at a place called Lee Valley Tools, but some of the men do. There's a lot of Americans here. They wouldn't know much about Lee Valley Tools, but those of us who are Canadians, that's a place that you shop for tools.
So in my place of business I needed a certain router bit and I drove the hour and 15 minutes from my house to leave alley tools and I got there at 7:00 in the morning and got up and went to the door and.
The sign said opened at 8:00. So I went back to my back to my truck. It was winter time and I thought well I'll do a little paperwork. And I left the truck running and after a few minutes there's a knock on the window and I rolled down the window. There was a man there said can I help you? I said while I was here for a a rudder bit and.
Umm, I realize you don't open it until 8:00, so, uh, I'm just gonna wait until you open. He said, oh, come on in, we'll see if we can get for you. So I followed the man in and, uh, he kind of, I showed him what I wanted and he kind of knows around a little bit. And, uh, he got the rudder bit and then he went over to the, to the cash and he was trying to figure out the cash and he's obviously not, wasn't very familiar with the situation. I thought this is very nice for this clerk to go through all this process for me. And when it was all said and done, uh, we've made the transaction. I reached into my pocket and I pulled out a $20 bill and I gave it to him and I said, you know, umm, I'm really thankful for that. You did this for me. Just, uh, here's a $20 bill. And he looked at me, he said, umm.
My name is Norman Lee.
Uh, I probably don't need your $20 bill.
You know, I have no idea in whose presence I was the owner of this corporation who's got stores all the way across Canada.
Zacchaeus Here he sought to see Jesus, who he was.
No, this one, there's a reason why Zacchaeus wanted to see who this man was. There's a reason it says here in verse two, it says, behold, there was a man of Zacchaeus, which is the chief among the publicans and he was rich. And I'm going to tell you why I think I believe that he wanted to see Jesus because if we were to go back in Luke's Gospel.
Actually, let's do it.
Let's turn back in Luke's Gospel to umm.
Might have to get someone to help me here. Looking for the portion that takes up where, uh, Levi gives.
Gives a feast. Oh, here we are, Luke's Gospel chapter 5.
Whose Gospel chapter 5 and verse 27 it says after these things he went forth and saw a publican named Levi now.
If we were to turn to the other gospels, we would find that the other name for this man was Matthew. So this is Matthew.
The disciple and it says he saw a publican named Levi sitting at the receipt of custom. And he said unto him, Follow me.
And we read here in Luke's Gospel, we don't read it in Matthew's Gospel. He doesn't say that about himself, but it says here he left all rose up and followed him. Now that's remarkable to me and I'll tell you why, because the Republicans in the Bible times, they were hated by everybody. And the reason it's interesting because every time you read Republicans in the Word of God, it's usually in connection and it's usually associated with sinners and with harlots.
That was the life of a Republican, and what they did was as a publican.
They bought a franchise from the Roman government which gave them the privilege to be able to collect the taxes of the Jews.
So here they have this, this franchise. It's interesting because that's why when the Republicans come to John the Baptist, they they said, what are we supposed to do? And John the Baptist says to him, well, make sure that you don't collect more taxes than you're supposed to because that characterized them.
So here's Matthew. He's got this.
Umm, this franchise and you know, he's hated by the Romans because they just drew and he's hated by the Jews because he's, uh, he because he collects their taxes. It's interesting, isn't it, that that's The Who the Lord uses to pen the Lord Jesus as the rejected king. Who would know that better than someone like Matthew the publican? But anyway, here we find that.
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The Lord Jesus says to this man, follow me. And it says He left all, and he rose up and followed him.
Now what that means was he dropped that franchise that he had like a hot potato and he went and followed the Lord Jesus.
And I believe it didn't make any sense to Zacchaeus, who was the chief among the the Republicans, how one of his under publicans would take this franchise with all this money that's to be made and drop it and go and follow this man, Jesus.
You know when Zacchaeus heard that, he says I've got to see who this man is and so on our portion it says here he sought to see Jesus, who he was in verse three and he could not for the press because he was little of stature.
So here's this man and he comes and it says, and when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and he saw him. You know, I've looked at that portion and I believe tonight we have a similar scenario. You're here in this room.
You're not here by accident. We think everything happens by chance. You've been invited into this room.
I have the sincere responsibility to portray as the most piece of God. I don't say that arrogantly. It's very humbling to take this precious book and to present the gospel of the grace of God tonight to you sitting there in your chair and you've been invited here.
And here we are and you're hearing these words just like Zacchaeus, he sought to see the Lord Jesus. In verse five it says when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and he saw him. And he said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down.
You know if any one of us is going to come to the Lord Jesus.
We have to come down. We have to recognize ourselves as a lost, guilty Sinner before God. That's not easy for us. That is not easy for us. If you've.
Received this invitation, the first verse that is that caught my eye here as I read this. This invitation is for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And then it goes on to say and says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. What a marvelous message to me who is a Sinner. And then it says Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the life.
What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And then it goes on, 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. What a message we have here. But what a plight for us to realize that we have at some time to face God.
As I said, 150,000 people a day.
Leave this world.
You're going to face God someday. Does God care? Does he care? Are you ready to meet God? How can we get ready to meet? Get ourselves ready to meet God? There's something I can do.
So that I can meet God so they accept me. You know, we have this concept that when we get to heaven, there's gonna be a scale and there's gonna be our good point put in the scale and there's gonna be our bad points put in the scale and, and they're gonna be weighed. And if our good points outweigh the the bad points.
We're gonna be in good shape, and if it's the other way around, uh, we're not gonna be in good shape at all. You know, 'cause the justice system in Canada.
Look at that in the courtroom.
If you lend yourself in court for doing some crime, so they look at all the good things you've done in your life and say, oh, you know that's going to cancel out this crime that you've done. No, it's not different with God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, you and me.
Every one of us has sinned.
We have all come short.
What do we do?
You know there's nothing we can do. And God knew that. And so God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus. God sent his Son the Lord Jesus.
I'd like to turn a few chapters over now in Luke's Gospel and we'll see what man did to the Son of God. Luke's Gospel, chapter 23.
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This takes place.
Some 2000 years ago verse 33 of chapter 23 and when they were come to the place which is called Calvary.
There they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
That's something taking the Son of God and crucifying him.
How would you like to be one of those soldiers that drove those nails into the hands of the Lord Jesus at the time that he died and he stood before God?
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and they parted his raiment and cast lots.
And the people should be holding and the rulers also with him derided him, saying he saved others.
Let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him the vinegar, and saying.
If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew.
This is the King of the Jews, and one of the malefactors which were hang railed on in saying, If thou be Christ saved thyself.
Enough. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God?
Seeing ours in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, Fairly I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise?
And it was about the 6th hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour.
And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in.
The myth, you know, we've read through that portion quickly, but what transpires here, you know?
It's not something we see done today.
Back then, when you saw someone carrying a cross, they weren't making preparation for the next day. It was the Roman form of execution. It was a horrible form of death. And this was what this world allotted to the Lord Jesus, my precious Savior. Think of God sending his Son down here.
So that he could save us and being treated in this way.
You know, if we were to turn to the Psalms, we would find some of the thoughts that went through the Lord Jesus.
As he was here at Calvary, you know, just prior to this, we find that that UMM pilot took the Lord Jesus and scourged him.
He took a Roman scourge and he whipped them.
No, we re read the thoughts of the Lord Jesus in the Psalms as he was scourged and we hear.
Him saying, the flowers they plowed upon my back, they made long their furrows.
You know, we see that cross being put on the ground, and Lord Jesus laid on that cross.
And they took those nails, and they drove it into his hands and into his feet. And we hear the Lord's thoughts in the songs, as he says, They pierced my hands and my feet.
And think, think of them taking that cross and raising it up with the Lord Jesus on it. And there's a hole there, and I drag it over to the hole and they drop it into the hole.
And we hear the Lord Jesus saying, oh, my bones are out of joint.
What a horrible death. But you know, friend.
They were things that were physical sufferings.
But those physical sufferings did nothing for atoning, for my sins, and for your sins.
That was done.
As we read here.
It was about the 6th hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour, and the sun was darkened and the veil rent into the midst. You know, if we were to turn to Mark's Gospel, and we were to turn to Matthew's gospel as the sun was blotted out.
It's withheld from us. It was withheld from anyone.
For being able to see what was done, what we can hear. And it's there we hear the Lord Jesus saying, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, dear friend? Tonight the Lord Jesus was forsaken of God so that you and I would never be forsaken. I'd like to turn to the Psalms for a moment. Psalm 22.
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The 22nd Psalm.
Because here, as I mentioned before, we have some of the thoughts of the Lord Jesus in the Psalms. Here's another one. In Psalm 22, we read these words. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
Now, dear friend.
I'm next going to read a quotation from the word of God that we hear more every day than any other quotation.
From the Word of God that we ever read, and it's this. Notice verse 2.
Oh my God.
You've probably heard it a million times.
Maybe some here have even flippantly used those words. Oh my God, how often do we hear that? How often do we hear that? And to me, it's such an incredible thing to look at this verse that is quoted so much.
Its representative of such a solemn time in the history of this world as the Lord Jesus was indeed forsaken of God as God.
Took my sins and laid them on the Lord Jesus and yours, if you'll believe on him, so that I can be free of my sin totally forevermore and spend eternity with the Lord Jesus.
What about the burden of your sins?
Isn't this an incredible quotation that we hear so often? Oh my God.
Friend tonight.
I said at the beginning I was gonna ask 2 questions.
The first one.
We heard the disciples asked the question. We heard Martha asked the question. Lord, don't you care? Don't you care?
Now my question is, dear friend, do you care?
Do you care?
Do I care?
Do you care? It's very evident that the Lord Jesus cares after all he has done to see him lay down his life through to turn to gossip. John's gospel after the Lord Jesus bowed his head in death and we had it this afternoon. That soldier, he takes that spear and he plunges it into the side of the Lord Jesus. And we read forthwith came there out blood and water and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Do you care?
You know, I'm thankful.
I'm thankful to stand here. As I said, happy man.
Because I realize the Lord Jesus cares for me.
And I came to that point where I realized in my life I needed to care too. And you know, here in this portion in Luke's gospel.
We read concerning Zacchaeus. We could turn back there for a moment.
In Luke's Gospel chapter 19.
It says about Zacchaeus in the sixth verse when the Lord Jesus said come down and says he made haste and he came down, he received them joyfully.
And in verse eight it says in Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold Lord.
You know, that's a marvelous part of the gospel where we read in the book of Romans, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth.
Jesus as Lord, and believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead.
Thou shalt be saved, Zacchaeus. Here he owned Jesus as Lord. And then we find in verse nine it says Jesus said unto him, this day is salvation, come to this house. For as much as he is the son of Abraham, I thought that's an interesting thing for him to say that why would he say the son of Abraham?
You know I'm going to take my place here.
I trust humbly, not arrogantly, beside Abraham.
Because we read about Abraham, it says he believed God.
For a return to Daniel.
And do the same thing. Take my place beside Daniel humbly, not arrogantly.
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But Daniel said I believe God.
Turn to Act 27.
Acts 27.
I'm gonna take my place beside the Apostle Paul, as many here in this room have.
Acts 27 and verse 25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God. Do you believe God tonight?
As I mentioned earlier, you're going to pass from this life into eternity.
Where are you going to go and on what do you face it?
If you don't base it on what we've had before us.
Tonight, on the Word of God, there is no hope for you.
There's nothing else to base it on. The only thing else for you to base it on is your own thoughts or the thoughts of man. I'm thankful to stand here and say I believe God. God has made the provision for me and I've accepted it. My sins are gone.
Can you say that tonight? No, God wants you to be able to say that. You can have full assurance tonight that you're on your road to heaven itself to be with the Lord Jesus. Why? Because of anything you've done? No, simply by believing God as he was the son of Abraham here. He believed God. Zacchaeus believed God.
So many we read in the word that believe God. Think of rehab in the Old Testament and how she could say that same thing. I believe God.
Think of the woman at the well.
What does she believe? She believed God tonight. What do you believe?
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. Just think, friend, he walked in those doors this evening. Perhaps no knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And here a full and free salvation is being offered to you, not by me, but by God Himself. And all you have to do is receive it. All you have to do is to recognize that you need a Savior.
Recognize your loss and in your sins, and recognize that the price has been paid already.
And just accept it all. We trust there's someone here tonight in your loss. That tonight you would be saved. Let's pray.