Gospel—G.H. Hayhoe
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Return tonight to Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah chapter 55.
Oh, everyone thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat. Yeah, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfyeth not? Hearken diligently unto me.
And each ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness, incline your ear and come unto me. Hear, and your soul shall live.
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the surer mercies of David.
Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but wandereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and blood, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be LED forth with peace.
The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorns shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the Myrtle tree. And it shall be to the Lord, to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. I just also like to read a few verses.
In Acts chapter 13, Acts chapter 13 and verse.
Verse 36 For David, after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised again saw no corruption. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin, and by him all that believe are justified from all things.
From which he could not be justified by the law.
Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets, Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish. For I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. Well, Isaiah has often been called the gospel prophet, and how often we turn to this lovely prophet, and we find in the first chapter.
There's an invitation. Come now and let us.
Together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like Crimson, they shall be as wool. Then when we come to the 53rd chapter, another example, those well known words. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with His stripes we are healed. And then we come to this chapter.
And we see a glorious invitation.
A wonderful invitation to anyone who wishes to come so that his thirst might be satisfied. I was just thinking, friends, that when God created man, placed him on this earth, he gave him everything necessary for his happiness. He gave him everything in the garden that was good for him, everything possible that would make him happy as a creature here upon earth.
But what did man do? Why we know what he did.
He turned away from God. He sought contentment and happiness apart from what God had provided. He took of that tree that was forbidden, and in doing so he brought sorrow into this world. And I was thinking that there are two things that man has received through the fall. He has received a conscience, A conscience that tells him that he is guilty.
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For conscience is a plague to many people, because it tells.
Tells you that you're guilty, but conscience itself will never set you at liberty in the presence of a holy God. God only can remove sin from your conscience and make you satisfied to be in His presence because he has made you fit to be there. But I believe there's a second thing that man also received, and that is he found in himself.
Athirst, A longing for something that could not be satisfied.
By all the things around him, a thirst that could only be satisfied by the very one that he had sinned against. How wonderful that is. And that God allowed man to receive a conscience through the fall. And then he himself provided a way that his conscience could be purged of all guilt. That he could be perfectly clean in the presence of a holy God, and returning to his presence in even a better.
Enjoyment of the heart of.
God than before sin entered, and more than that, because of his sin, why He created, shall I say, a longing now that could not be satisfied by all the things that God had given to him in the garden. And then God himself undertakes to fill that heart in such a way that He fills it to overflowing. And dear friends, that's why I've read this little portion here tonight.
I believe as our brother reminds to.
Yesterday that there is a longing in every human heart, a longing that cannot be satisfied by all created things, can't be satisfied with all the reasonings of a man's mind. It can't be satisfied with human love, even though human love is a wonderful thing, A longing that can only be satisfied by the very One who made your heart and mine. And he invites you tonight because he can.
And he wants to satisfy that longing in your heart when the Lord Jesus was here upon earth.
He went up to Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, you know, the Jews had many feasts. They had 7 feasts through the year. The Feast of Tabernacles was the last. They had gone through, we might say, a cycle of religious observances. And time after time they had gathered to observe these feasts through the year, and they came to the last one. And it was the last day of the last feast, for there were eight days in the Feast of Tabernacles.
And on the very last day of the last feast, the Lord Jesus stood up and said, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. So, dear friends, not only cannot the things of this world satisfy, but you may be the most religious person, and religion can't satisfy. You may go on with all the outward forms and ceremonies of religion.
Boys and girls brought up in the meeting might come to every meeting but just become.
You come to the meeting doesn't mean that your soul has been saved, doesn't mean that you're ready to meet God. Those Jews went through strictly and religiously all those faiths, and they came, I say, to the last day of the last feast. And what did they need? They needed Jesus, they needed him. And friend tonight, you need him. Young people here tonight.
You need him, and if you haven't yet found him as you're safe.
You haven't found a satisfying portion, but his invitation to you tonight is this call ho everyone thirsteth.
If there is that thirst in your heart, if you say there's something lacking in my life, there's something that I feel is not just right in my life, friend, it's the Lord Jesus Christ you need. It's not to turn to religion. It's not to try your own efforts. It's not to make a new fling into the pleasures of this world. It's not to try what the world so many young people are trying today, drugs and entertainment and even going.
According to evil spirits, anything at all to try and find something to satisfy that inner longing. But here it says he hold everyone that thirsteth, Come ye to the waters, who has that water of life? O the Lord Jesus said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He met a poor Sinner.
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In the 4th chapter of John and she was trying a life of sin.
To find satisfaction for her lusts. And the Lord Jesus met her at the side of the well. And he said, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. For the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And that is the Lord Jesus can put the well inside.
Yes, he can come, right?
Into your heart and fill your heart, because He himself dwells there when you are saved.
Have you come to those living waters? I'm sure you've tried many things for satisfaction. Have you come to the living waters? One of the last invitations in the Bible is whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.
Well, it says here too. And he that hath no money, you know you have to pay for almost anything in this world. You know very well how it costs for anything that is considered worthwhile. One time a newspaper offered a definition for money, a reward rather for a definition for money. Could anybody give a good definition of money?
Well, they received various definitions, but this is the one that.
They gave the reward to someone gave this definition for money. Money is a universal passport to every place but heaven and a purchaser of everything but happiness. How true it is, dear friend. You can get almost anywhere in this world if you have money. Yes, you can unlock almost any place and get in if you have enough money.
And yet it doesn't buy happiness. Some of the most wealthy people.
People have jumped over the bridge and committed suicide. Money didn't bring them happiness. It's a universal passport to everything but happiness and universal.
And it's a passport to every place but heaven. Oh yes, dear friend, you can only get into heaven by the precious blood of Christ. There is no other way. So money is not required for this wonderful gift that God gives. And yet it says, come me, buy and eat. Why does it use the word buy? Well, I would suggest that there are two reasons.
Some people are hindered from coming to Christ.
Christ because they love their sin so well and just like a man won't part with money as they won't part with their sins, they want a life of sin. They love them so well that they'd rather go on in their sins than have Christ Oh what a terrible decision, but there are many like it. There are many that are making that decision Oh friend, I plead with you. If there's something in your life that's hindering you from coming to Christ, if there's something that the.
Is holding up to your soul and say you can't part with that. That's part of your life. Oh, I plead with you not to put such a high value on it. In the day of judgment you will have to answer to God for that sin. In the day of judgment, you will have to answer to Him for allowing that thing to hinder you from receiving God's great salvation.
But then there's also another reason, and that is salvation is costly, very costly, but the price was paid by another. Sometimes people say, oh, the salvation that you preach is too easy. I cannot believe that salvation is as easy as you say it is. Oh, friend, the price was tremendous. The price was more than you or I could pay. Who could pay the price?
The Lord Jesus and He has paid it, and He paid it in full on Calvary's cross. He paid the debt. As the little hymn says. There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could undo the door of heaven and let us in. Yes, there was One who could pay the price, and He has paid it. He has paid it that you and I might be saved. He was. He has paid it so that you.
Might have salvation full and free, and so it says by, but without money and without price.
When someone gives you a gift, perhaps the gift costs that person a great deal. You don't say the gift is not valuable. You say thank you and that's all you can do. My friend, God wants you to come as a bankrupt Sinner, and He just wants you to say thank you. He just wants you to receive it. There is no price to pay. Oh, you say, I feel I must do something. Supposing that you saw something very valuable in the store window and the price is marked.
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$1.00.
Perhaps the value of it is much more than a dollar, and you go in and pay the dollar and get it. You tell your friends, I surely got a bargain, but you can't say it was a gift. You paid something for it. And if you and I can pay anything for salvation, it's not a gift. But the Bible says the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is.
The gift of God. Salvation is a gift. And just like when someone gives you a birthday present, you take it and you say thank you, the Lord Jesus is offering to you tonight the forgiveness of your sins. He's offering to you a home in heaven. And what he wants you to do is look up into his blessed face and say, thank you, Lord Jesus, for paying the debt for me. He's paid the debt, He's paid the price.
And he says, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Yes, those things that men find pleasure in, those things that provide nourishment for us.
Those are the things men live for. How many people there are at this time of the year who thought more of entertainment and pleasure than of their precious souls?
Oh friend, God can give you something better than all that this world has to offer, without money and without price.
Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfies not all? How many people are spending their money for that which doesn't satisfy? Yes, how? What high prices they will pay and then only be disappointed? Yes, the prices of entertainment in this world continue to go up.
As someone said to me, why it seems that?
Business isn't as good in so many lines, but anything that has to do with pleasure, it seems that there's always a demand. Men are looking for pleasure. They're searching for something to satisfy.
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfyeth? Not all people work so hard to have a good time. They work so hard to have a good time. How many there are? There's there's a beautiful home out in the Saint Lawrence River in the east, and there's that beautiful home. And sometimes people who tour through that area take it out in boats and they're shown this beautiful home.
A very wealthy American built that home, and it was just surpassing in its grandeur. He loved his wife very much, and he intended to enjoy this home in her company.
By just about the time it was finished, she died and there is that home. It's still empty. He didn't enjoy it because the one he intended to enjoy it with was taken from him. Old friend, that's just an example of so many in this world. If you live for the things of time, they pass away, they don't satisfy. Disappointments come. Perhaps there's been a disappointment in your life.
And you wonder why? Why did God take?
Away from me, the thing that would have brought happiness. Oh friend, he often does those things to make you realize you're in need of him. If you read carefully in the 33rd chapter of Job, it tells us there that sometimes God has to speak loudly and lay a man on a sick bed, cause him to get so sick that it says his bones that were not seen stick out and then.
Why does he allow this? It says, Lo, all these things worketh God, oftentimes with man to keep back his soul from the pit, that to be enlightened with the light of the living. And perhaps that man who built that beautiful home in the Saint Lawrence on one of those islands and never occupied it to enjoy it.
Perhaps God spoke to his heart through that sorrow. Maybe when he couldn't.
Enjoy that earthly home. He felt his need of a heavenly home, a place where there will be no disappointment. And perhaps he'll thank God in eternity that God had spoken so loudly if that brought him to Christ. I've often told of a dear man whom I met down in Kentucky, sitting in a wheelchair with a broken back.
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When I met him, he'd only been in the wheelchair for a year, but he sat there, I believe for 19 years in the wheelchair with a broken back. But I remember well the time I went to see him and his face was bright. His face was shining. And this is what he said to me. God had to break my back to save my soul. Yes, dear friends, God has to speak pretty loudly sometimes.
Before we'll turn to him, sometimes he has to take away the things that we think are worthwhile so that we'll feel our need of him. Why are you living for these things that pass away? They don't satisfy if you. I know a young man who worked for a very wealthy man.
Who had his ambition to become a millionaire?
And this person who spoke to him said, well, when you become a millionaire, what will you do then? Do you know what his answer was? I'll be the most miserable person in the world. That was his own confession. I'll be the most miserable person in the world. Why? Because he had obtained what he wanted, and he knew it wouldn't satisfy him.
The only pleasure in this world is in trying to attain something.
A teacher that was addressing A graduating class in school said to the students, never set your goal as something that you can attain to because if you ever attain to it, you won't be happy. The only pleasure is in seeking after it all. What an admission, friends, what an admission. It's not that way in the things of God.
To find Christ, to know Him as your Savior.
To have a home above is what really satisfies. And I'm sorry for you if you haven't found Christ, because I'll say this to you, if you haven't yet found out. The world will disappoint you. You're going to find it out later.
Every person in the world has either found out that it's a disappointing thing, or he's going to find it out someday.
There's only One who can satisfy, and he invites you to come. He says, Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto me. Yes, just open your ear and listen to the call of the Savior. What does He say? Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. What an invitation.
From the Savior of sinners. Are you heavy laden tonight? Do your sins trouble you? Jesus invites you. He wants you just the way you are. You don't have to clean up to come to Him. You don't have to make yourself better. He wants you just as you are in your sins, and that's the way He'll receive you. He came to save sinners.
It says here, and your soul shall live.
That is, have you got an ear to listen to the voice of God? God says that we're dead in trespasses and sins, but hearing His voice gives life.
You remember the story in the Bible where the Lord Jesus stood by the grave of Lazarus. There was a man in that grave that had been dead for days.
And the Lord Jesus said Lazarus, come forth.
And the dead man came out, he asked the Lord Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And tonight, if you're still dead in sin, if you will hear the voice of the Son of God, your soul shall live. Your soul shall live. He'll give you new life. That's what you need. That's what I received. And it says.
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent Me hath everlasting life. Yes, he will give you new life here, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. I love that expression. I will make an everlasting covenant with you.
We don't have to ask God to give us the assurance. He's already given it to us in His Word.
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And it says I will make an everlasting covenant with you.
I enjoy that expression because if I thought that when I received salvation it depended on me to keep it, why, I'd be afraid that I might lose it tomorrow. I've often said when I meet people who say, well, if you don't live the way you should, you can lose salvation. I say, if I believed like you, I would never be happy.
I would always be afraid that I might do something that would lose.
My salvation but all how wonderful that when the Lord Jesus saves you, He makes an everlasting covenant with you. An everlasting covenant our brother brought before us last night those lovely words in John 10. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one.
One time a father wanted to illustrate this to his boy.
And so.
He put 1/4 in his hand, mixed his hand and he said to his boy, now if you can get that $0.25 out of my hand, you can have it.
And saw the boy set to work to try and get that $0.25 out of his father's hand.
He worked pretty hard, you know, he got one finger up and then when he went to get the second finger up, the other one snapped down. And he tried for quite a little while and he said, oh, Daddy, I can't get it. So his father put his other hand over like this and he said, well, try again. Well, he said, if I couldn't get it out of one hand, I'll never get it out of two.
And, dear friend, that's the security of the believer. That's the security of the believer.
The Lord Jesus says no one can pluck them out of my hand, and then he said no one can pluck them out of my Father's hand. And he said I am my father are one.
He wants to make an everlasting covenant with you. There's a lovely little portion in the 8th chapter of Romans that I have very much enjoyed, and this is what it says. It says, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things that come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature.
Shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Our Lord.
You know, there's something quite remarkable about that passage. Did you ever notice that it begins in the singular and it ends in the plural? It says, I am persuaded that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God. And I like to say this to those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus but are not persuaded about the fact that they can never be lost. I like to say to them like this.
Well, I'm persuaded that nothing can separate me from his love.
But I'm glad that the verse ends and it doesn't say that, that no one can separate me, but it says no one can separate us. I'm persuaded of it. But it's true of you, whether you're persuaded of it or not. If you have Jesus as your Savior, he wants to make an everlasting covenant with you.
If you doubt His Word, if you're under the shelter of His blood, you're secure, because nothing could make you more secure than the finished work of Christ. Oh, how wonderful the assurances of God's Word. Some people worry that they haven't got enough faith.
But I say this for some who are young, perhaps some brought up in the meetings, and you say, well, sometimes I wonder if I've got enough faith. Dear friend, never get occupied with how much faith you have. The question is of whether your faith is in the right person. That's the important thing.
I'll use a little illustration supposing I had a check for $100.
And I have very, very strong confidence that that check is good. I haven't got a doubt in my mind that that check is good and that I'm going to get $100 when I take it to the bank. And I take it to the bank with all the confidence in the world and present it to the teller. And he says, well, I'm sorry, I can't cash it for you. Oh, I say, I was so sure that check was good, I didn't even have a doubt.
Well, he said. You put a lot of confidence in the wrong man.
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My dear friend, my faith was great, but it was in the wrong person. Well, I have another check in my pocket and I pull it out almost trembling and I say well and what about this one? I always said sure. He doesn't even look up the account. He hands me the $100.00 with no question.
The first person I had a great deal of faith in, but he wasn't worthy of my confidence. The second one I had just enough faith to present the check and I got the whole amount. Dear friend, don't get occupied with the amount of your faith. The Lord Jesus said if we had a faith like the green mustard seed, we could remove mountains. And many of us who are saved tonight and who are rejoicing in God's salvation.
Would never, never boast about our faith. We say it's exceedingly weak, but we know it's in the right.
Person we don't trust in ourselves, Doctor Heyman Reifert said. Why is a man an infidel? Because he believes in himself.
And why is a man a Christian? Because he believes in Christ and not in himself.
And dear friend, that's me. By the grace of God, I don't believe in myself. I don't believe in my works. I don't believe in my feelings. I don't believe in anything about myself. I'm just a poor Sinner and a poor daughter too. But all I know that there's one in whom I can trust. There's one in whom I believe. And I can say with the apostle Paul, I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed.
Unto him against that day, oh here, and your soul shall live. Listen to his loving voice. Don't look in to see how much faith you have. Look to Jesus, look to his glorious work finished on the cross of Calvary.
And God will bring you into the glorious fruits of salvation just by looking to Him.
So it says, I will make an everlasting covenant with you. Even the sure mercies of David. I like this, you know, because I often think when I read this about David's sin, was David worthy of those mercies? Oh no.
But God made a covenant, and the covenant depended on his faithfulness, not David. David failed, but God's word would stand, and God's word will always stand. That blessed, precious Savior settled a question of sin, that you and I might be saved. Then there's another thought in this fourth verse. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
That is.
He not only saves us, but we need, we need leadership, we need guidance as we go through this world. Oh, how blessed now that not only can we rejoice that our sins are forgiven, but we're brought to know that one who is the captain of our salvation, bringing many sons to glory, That one whom God says, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus is Lord.
And shall believe in thine heart.
That God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. We need someone to guide us through a world like this. There's so many by paths, there's so many snares and pitfalls. The one who saves you undertakes to lead you all the way. Yes, he undertakes and he is faithful. He'll bring us through. How far did the sheep carry the shepherd that he picked up?
The sheep that he picked up, how far did he carry it?
Carried it home, He carried it home. And as the Lord Jesus picks you up in His grace, I assure you He'll carry you home. The sure mercies of David, a leader and commander to the people.
Now the sixth verse.
Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. This is a warning. And what is the warning? Well, this is the day of grace.
God is offering you salvation tonight, but we can't assure you that He offered to you tomorrow. We can't assure you that He'll offer it to you. One hour from now. Two things may happen. Death may overtake you, or the Lord Jesus may come. And oh, I plead with you to turn to Him now, before it's too late. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.
Yes, he can be found tonight. He's near you.
He's as it were pulling at your at your coat sleeve and saying, won't you come? Do you feel him as it were pleading with you? Well, he says, my spirit shall not always strive with man.
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Sometimes people say, well, I don't like to be pushed, I don't like to be pushed, they say. But it always makes me think of a little incident my brother told me, he said when he was over in England one time.
He stepped off the train of the station to get some food that was being sold along the side by where the train came in. There were some vendors selling food there and he wasn't very acquainted with the operation of the trains. And he stepped off and went over to buy some food and without any warning he turned around and he saw the train starting to move.
But the guard was right there, he said.
And he said he caught a hold of my sleeve and he helped me onto the train. And with a little push, he said he put me right there. He said I was glad of that push. And dear friend, you will be glad of a push tonight. If you get onto the train for heaven, you'll be glad somebody pushed you. You'll be glad like one dear young boy said who came to a gospel meeting much against his wishes. He didn't want to go, but God.
His grace saved him, and after the meeting he said to the person who brought him, I'm glad you dragged me here. Oh dear friend, God wants to bless you. He wants to save you, but seek ye the Lord, while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. There's no easier time to be saved than tonight. Jesus is near.
He's right in this room. He's pleading with your soul. When this gospel meeting is over, there's going to be a lot of talk.
They're going to be a lot of plans being made to do this and the other thing this evening. And it's very easy to forget what you've heard in the gospel meeting. The Lord Jesus said that when the good seed is sung, the evil one comes and plucks away the seed out of a person's heart. And that's why the devil says, I'll just wait until you get home. Perhaps he'll pluck out the seed before you get home.
He's nearer to tonight. He's near right now.
Is there any more wonderful time to be saved than right while you sit in the gospel meeting just to look up to the Lord Jesus and say Lord Jesus is a Sinner? I take thee as my Savior and I do it right now.
It says, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Yes, there's the same question to be settled. God sees us as sinners, vile sinners, lost sinners. He sees us guilty in his presence.
Not, I pray, I plead with you tonight to turn from your sins and come to Christ. Those sins will only drag you down into hell. Those sins will only work your eternal ruin. But I plead with you to turn from them right now and come to Christ. Come to him while it's still the day of his grace that the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Perhaps I hear someone say, well, I'm not.
Wicked person. I don't think I'm such a bad person.
But would you like your thoughts to be written up on the wall here for everybody to read? I wouldn't.
God says the thought of foolishness is sin.
God says every idle word that man shall speak, he shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. He says within, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adultery, fornication. He said these things come from within and defile the man. You may not have done them, but God couldn't take you to heaven with that sinful fallen nature that's having all those evil thoughts, even if you don't carry them out.
You need a new life, you need cleansing, and God can do both for you. He can give you a new life and He can cleanse you. That the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Isn't that lovely? Abundantly pardon.
Oh, there's an abundant salvation for you. God isn't.
Going to forgive you grudgingly. He isn't going to forgive you half heartedly. He's going to forgive you with an abundant pardon. I often think of that dear prodigal as he returned home. It says his father saw him a great way off and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Did you ever notice?
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The father fell on his neck and kissed him before he said a word.
As soon as his footsteps started for home and his father, looking down the road, saw him, he threw his arms around him, and he didn't make his confession until his father's arms were around him. And oh, dear friend, if you only knew how much God loved you, you wouldn't be afraid to confess to him your guilt. Why are we a little afraid sometimes to tell people about something wrong?
That we have done.
How we wonder if they have enough love to overlook it. We wonder if they have enough love to overlook it. But all friend, God not only has enough love to overlook it, He paid the price himself in the gift of His Son. God is holy and He can't overlook sin. He must punish sin. Every transgression and disobedience must receive a just recompense of reward.
But for those of us who were saved, we can say death and judgment are behind us.
I remember going to see a dear old brother named Brother Paul.
Back in Ottawa.
The last time I went to see him, his voice was very, very weak before the Lord took him home. And I can still remember as he looked up and said with such a weak voice, he said, Gordon, isn't it lovely to know the judgments behind you and not ahead of you?
Oh, friend, that's a wonderful thing. God didn't overlook my sin. He punished my sins. He punished them on the head of my substitute. Judgments passed for me, Jesus for it. And I can say like he did now, that judgment behind me, not ahead of me, but it's one place or the other. If judgment is not behind you, it's ahead of you, my friend. There is a hell. There is judgment to come.
Hell is a reality and if you die in your sins.
A holy God must put you there, but He doesn't want you to go there in order that you might be saved. He sent his Son. He loves you. Will you receive him tonight?
Well, perhaps you say, well, I have a lot of questions. There are many things in the Bible I don't understand. And what about the heathen?
And there's just so many things that are a puzzle to me in life. Well, here's the answer to it all.
My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my way.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth.
So are my thoughts higher than your thoughts?
Dear friend, if God couldn't think something that was beyond me, he wouldn't be God.
If God couldn't do something that I couldn't understand, He wouldn't be gone.
And I am satisfied to believe what I can understand of His wondrous love and of His great salvation.
I know that there are things that I don't understand, but I recognize that His thoughts are above mine, that His ways are above mine. And I beseech you not to go to hell just because there was something in the Bible you couldn't understand. I beseech you not to reject the pardon that God offers you just because you couldn't understand some point that's troubling you.
Maybe someday God will make it plain to us, but for now He makes 1.
Very plain, and that is we're sinners and we need a Savior, and God has provided A Savior. How simple it is. So God just speaks of it in this simple way that His thoughts are above our thoughts.
And then it speaks of God sending the rain and how this rain comes down and makes the seed grow. And so he says, my word is like that. He said just as the rain comes down and makes things grow in the earth, so God has sent down these showers of blessing. He has sent his word down to this world.
And if you reject that Savior, it's in vain as far as you are concerned. That's why I read those verses in Acts chapter 13. It says, Beware lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets. Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish.
For I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
00:45:00
There was an infidel man said he didn't believe the Bible. He didn't believe in heaven, he didn't believe in hell.
But he died, and someone said after he died, well, he knows now.
He knows now.
Friend, he will know someday. You will know someday. But has God sent His word to you in vain? Does it come down in vain as far as you're concerned? Has that wonderful message of pardon been sent to you in vain? And you reject it and you refuse it? You'll remember someday in a lost eternity this very gospel meeting. If you reject the Savior, you'll remember the pleadings of God's Spirit with your soul.
I'm only a man who I'm trying to declare it to you. You may look at the instrument and say, well, he doesn't know that much. Dear friend, it's not important how much I know. I want you to listen to God's Word. I can't save you. I can't give you assurance. I can't give you eternal life, but God can. And I point you to him and to his beloved Son. I point you to that finished work.
Then there's something else brought in in this 12TH verse.
That I think is lovely. It says, For ye shall go out with joy and be LED forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
You know, I think of these, the mountains and the hills.
Sometimes when people would like to be saved now they have difficulties about the Bible and other people see difficulties in their path.
People will say, well, I'd like to be saved. How about you don't know what my life is like. You don't know the problems that would come if I confess Christ, Why, if I went home and told my husband or my wife that I'm saved, why it would break up our marriage. The lady said that one time if you went home and told your father and mother, you said, oh, I'd get all kinds of opposition. Yes, you see a lot of mountains in the way, don't you? You see a lot of.
You see a lot of difficulty.
Here's what it says. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing. Perhaps God will say that wife of yours. Perhaps God will save that husband of yours. Perhaps God will save that father or that mother of yours, and he just wants to save you first. And then when you go out, you'll find that that mountain will break forth into singing.
Some years ago I was coming across the down on the train, the Spokane, and a man sat beside me and he told me how God saved him. He told me how he resisted the pleadings of the Spirit of God for a long time, and at last God saved him. But he said my wife gave me an awful lot of opposition. She made it so hard for me. But now the mountains broke forth into singing.
His wife got saved. He's preaching the gospel himself.
And his wife is saved too. Dear friend, God is able to overcome those obstacles. You see in the way how many a person can say. When I got saved, I didn't know what was going to happen. I saw a lot of problems. But the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. All the things that you think could never work out, God can make them work out.
As I look back on my own life, I just marvel at the goodness of God. I marvel at how He's undertaken for me through so many problems. He's sufficient for every circumstance. Oh, just come to him and let him save your soul and he'll do the rest. He's the leader, He's a commander. Everything's under his control. And so don't let that difficulty stand in the way. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing and all.
Trees. The fields shall clap their hands.
And then again, instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead the briar shall come up the Myrtle tree.
Yes, you think of the thorns and the briars in the path. You think of how hard it's going to be. But God changes the thought of the thorns and briars into evergreens. Isn't this nice? He changes them into evergreens. That is, instead of them being a hindrance, why They brighten the dark days. How lovely it is in the winter time to go through the country and the law. You see all the leaves falling off so many trees.
To see those evergreens that keep their green all through the wintry blast. Oh, it's wonderful to know the Savior. I commend Him to you tonight.
00:50:03
To you boys and girls, it's a wonderful thing to be saved when you're young. It's a wonderful thing to receive the Lord Jesus.
Why not take him now as your Savior? Why not just bow your heart in his presence and just say, Lord Jesus, I'm a Sinner. I come to thee for pardon tonight and He'll save you. He'll do the rest.
He's done the work at Calvary and he'll do the rest and save your soul. And after some older one here tonight and you've got a lot of questions, you've got a lot of problems, why not come to the Lord Jesus? His name is wonderful counselor, Almighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. You'll find all you need in him. Won't you come to him tonight?
Or if you receive him, he'll save you. But if you reject him?
I must warn you solemnly, my friend, if you reject him, judgment is ahead. Judgment is ahead. Hell is a reality. Don't go out of this room without Christ. Now is your opportunity to receive Him this moment.
Shall be gone.