The sermon transcript emphasizes the importance of turning to Jesus and accepting him as one's savior. It highlights the miracles and works of Jesus, such as healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and raising the dead. The speaker urges non-believers to take time for the Lord Jesus and recognize the value of their own souls. The sermon encourages individuals to confess their sins and fears to Jesus, who offers forgiveness and blessings. It also emphasizes the need for preachers who prioritize Christ and the teachings of the Bible.

Blessed Lord Jesus, we are not worthy of approaching Thee to find pardon for our transgressions, assurance in our doubt, but Thou art love itself, and Thy compassion still calls out to us, come unto me. Therefore we come, precious Son of God, just as we are, stained by our sins, weighted by our woes, but trusting Thy limitless love and Thy cross-earned compassion which can save to the uttermost. What a marvelous, merciful deliverer Thou art, and what immeasurable agony, depthless grief, crushing soul sorrow, Thou didst endure for us. When to atone for our sins, Thou didst give Thyself as our substitute into the darkest of all deaths. Send us Thy Holy Spirit, therefore, to teach us how to confide in Thee with true, acceptable faith and prayer. Make this nation a contrite people who plead penitently before Thee. Abide with us, compassionate Savior, for the day of this world is far spent and we need Thy constant companionship. Hear us, then help us, and hold us in the hollow of Thy hand according to Thy rich, blood-sealed promises. Recently scientists searching in a cave between Jerusalem and Bethlehem made a startling discovery. They came across a place where early Christians had laid their dead to rest, and on burial urns they found, clearly and unmistakably, that name which is above every other name, Christ. This is the earliest mention of the Savior outside the Bible, and it dates from only about 35 years after our Lord's death. We wonder what those blasphemous enemies of the gospel, including some present-day preachers, will say who, against history, against reason, against common sense, deny that Jesus Christ ever lived. Even more, these scientists brought to light a written record of what they believe is an account of the crucifixion itself, perhaps written by an eyewitness of Calvary. What will unbelieving, Bible-ridiculing college professors here and abroad say when this cave yields historical information that completely discredits their claim that the crucifixion is a myth and the cross a cruel fairy tale? Now those who love the Lord Jesus, of course, need no such discoveries in ancient caves to confirm their faith. They say, with St. Paul, I know whom I have believed, and they rest their trust not on men's words but on God's and on the Holy Spirit's testimony in their hearts. Therefore, these ancient burial urns are no direct testimony to our faith in line with what Scripture says. Yet, bearing the Lord's name, they have a personal meaning and a message for all who are Christ's. They should understand that these early believers buried in that cave looked earnestly to the Son of God, and in the hour of death, when all human hopes collapse and the soul trembles on the brink of eternity, they found courage in Christ, fortitude in their faith, and radiant victory in their Redeemer. Those burial inscriptions were written in a perilous age, immediately before that shocking siege and capture of Jerusalem, which in its terrifying cruelty overshadows even many of the last war's atrocities. In the uncertainties of our age, too, men and women all over the world should turn, as those first-century Judean Christians did, to God's Son. As the brightness of his glorious gospel dispelled the darkness of that early tomb, so today, with nineteen centuries to prove his power and love, all of us should turn to Jesus for refuge and shelter, for the resurrection and the life eternal. Therefore, our appeal today asks all of you, particularly those to whom these days have brought heavy burden, tell it to Jesus. Bring all your pains and problems to the Savior. Follow the course suggested by our text, Saint Matthew chapter 14, verse 12, His disciples went and told Jesus. Our scripture deals with the death of John the Baptist. Christ himself said that no human being was greater than John, and must we not trace much of that preeminence to the fact that he had a godly father, a priest at the Jerusalem temple, and a prayer-filled mother? Parents, if you want your children to be blessed as John the Baptist was, take them to Christ, instruct them in Christ, keep them with Christ. John, called by God as a messenger to go before the Savior, brings a challenge not only to our homes but also to our churches. He was the model minister, and the New Testament bears him record that he worked not for money, since he spurned soft, expensive clothing in favor of cheap, coarse camel hair. He preached not for public favor, for no prophet of God has had the courage to denounce sin more unsparingly than he. He served his God not for personal comfort, for he lived in the burning heat and the crackling dryness of the desert, and he ate not roasts and steaks and chops, but locusts, grasshoppers, and wild honey. He testified not for personal publicity, but pointing to Jesus, his voice in the wilderness called out, he must increase, but I must decrease. God give us preachers today who will not push Christ aside, belittle him, contradict him, as they stress their personal anti-scriptural opinions, which have no room for him who warns, without me ye can do nothing. If our churches are to meet the emergencies of this crisis, and if the churches do not, who will? We need 20th century John the Baptist with his one central and repeated theme, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. John was murdered for his royalty to the Lord, the first New Testament preacher to pay for his faith with his life, but not the last. And note these factors in his murder. First of all, a godless mother, Herodias, whom he had courageously rebuked for her unholy relationship with Herod. It is bad enough, God knows, when an ordinary man or woman transgresses the divine law, but when those in position and authority overstep his bounds, it is infinitely worse, since their transgression encourages others to follow them. The second person in this tragedy is her daughter Salome. She used her charms to entice men. In our crisis days, when the nation must decide whether it will go forward with God or backward without him, women have a particularly important duty in upholding the good and clean things of life. If you Christian mothers and daughters fail us, one of the strongest props of purity, decency, and national blessings is gone. The third character in this drama of death is the ruthless ruler Herod. To satisfy the whims of a wanted woman, he committed murder. How the war has revealed widespread sin in the private lives of leaders, men who lived in sinful relations and practiced perversions, yet who sought to rule their fellow men. God preserve our officials from such immorality. The background in this tragedy is a birthday party, a riotous celebration in which liquor flowed freely. It was Herod's own birthday banquet, and the climax feature of the celebration was Salome's lewd dance before Herod. Today, likewise, the sensual dance is often the cause of many deep scarred sorrows. Yet when the church is worn against its dangers, they are branded as old-fashioned, narrow, and puritanical. Are we? Social experts, prison authorities, matrons of homes for fallen girls will tell you that the dance starts many women on their downward path. Salome's dance cost John the Baptist his life. When Herod, enchanted by her performance, offered her anything up to the half of his kingdom, she went to her mother for advice. Now, every parent has the sacred responsibility of leading a child aright on God-pleasing paths. But what a devil in the flesh that woman Herodias must have been when she maneuvered her own daughter into murder. Salome was told to take Herod at his word, and to demand of him not half of his kingdom, but that which was of far greater value to her avenged madwoman, John the Baptist's head. The king, royal wretch that he was, gave in, and that wilderness prophet was beheaded. Closed by this murder were the eyes that had looked lovingly toward Christ as the Son of God and the Redeemer of the race. Silenced the lips that had exalted Jesus as the atoning Lamb of God, deafened in death the ears that had heard the Savior's proclamation of the power and the pardon that he would bring to the whole race. Now, can you imagine the agony which gripped John's disciples when they heard of this horror? What could they do? Find another leader? Return defeated to their homes? Join a revolt against Herod? They knew that all this would be less than useless. Thank God they also knew of the one unfailing source of strength. Our text records, they went and told Jesus. Thank God they went to Christ, I say, because they thus showed our age the one source of true peace and blessing. Literally hundreds of millions in the face of the earth today have, as these disciples, seen their hopes crash and feel that all is wrong with the world. As the followers of John the Baptist were distressed over the loss of their leaders, so many of you are burdened by loss of health, loss of money, loss of work, loss of business, loss of good reputation, loss of friendship, loss of husband or wife, parents or children, loss of the joy and happiness that was once yours. What will you do? Listen to these new creeds which promise you a pot of gold, the new program for establishing peace in your family, the new proposals that offer health and wealth? Will you be comforted by statesman's pledges of full freedom from fear? Will you grit your teeth, square your shoulders, and rely only on yourself with no thoughts of the Almighty? Oh God keep you from that, and by His Spirit lead you to walk the way these bereaved men did who came and told Jesus. This is an appeal especially for those among you who are still outside the church, almost in the kingdom but not quite, as a woman who after listening to our broadcast writes in the words of scripture, almost thou persuadest me. At first even the disciples of John had been uncertain as to whether Jesus was the promised Christ. Some of them may have thought their own leader even greater than Jesus because the crowd screamed out to hear John. Many were baptized by him and even Herod was impressed with his straightforward messages. Now to convince them of the truth John sent them directly to Christ with the pointed question, aren't thou he that is to come or do we wait for another? So first of all I tell you who have not yet stood up publicly for our Lord, don't be influenced by what men say of Christ. Go to him directly in his own clear word. Too many in our age have condemned Jesus and his creed without giving the gospel a chance, but once men prayerfully consider the New Testament teachings they often recognize the divine truth as the glorious conversion of great men shows. That happened to John's disciples when they came and saw Jesus beheld the mighty works that he did before their eyes. Saw the sick healed, the blind given sight, the lepers cleansed, the hungry fed, the unclean purified, the dead resurrected to new life. They believe and when John died they came back to Christ to confide in him. My dear friends who are not yet with the church, what can I do or say that will induce you to be fair enough and to take time for the Lord Jesus for the sake of your own soul which he said is worth more than all the world and which he regarded is so inestimably precious that he the son of God shed his blood on the cross to save that soul for eternity. For that priceless pleasure you ought to be ready at least to go to Christ to see who he is, what he has done, and how much he offers you. Once you spend sacred hours with Jesus you too may come to the highest happiness earth can offer. The power of his Holy Spirit is as strong today as ever. Recently I received a letter from a man in Minneapolis who made some inquiries concerning the Christian faith. I answered and asked one of the pastors in the city to visit him. It turned out that he was a young professor at the University of Minnesota. The pastor found him without any religious background whatever. He had never been enrolled in a Sunday school, never attended church, never discussed the Christian religion with anyone, and had never been baptized. By the word of God which he had heard over this broadcast the Holy Spirit created in him the desire to know more about the Savior and following John's disciples he came and told Jesus. He arranged his work program so that he could attend every one of the 32 lessons of one hour each by which he, the university teacher, could be taught the gospel truth. With the pastor's guidance he went to Christ also in private study. As a chemist he read the Bible from the point of view of that science, investigating whether Christ was right when he spoke of the salt that had lost its savior, whether scripture was correct when it expressed the impossibility of removing red dyes through bleaching agents, and when he spent those long hours with Jesus he made a public testimony of his faith and he was baptized. He now tells us to use his experience as a public testimony to Christ's truth and an invitation to others to find the joy he now has with his savior. As that university professor and the disciples of John took hallowed time to meet Jesus, study his word, see his works, and then by the Spirit's guidance and blessing were induced to accept him, so my fellow redeemed give Christ a chance to be heard, felt, studied in your heart. Make time to read your Bible, set aside a few hours to meet a messenger of his truth, and remember we will gladly send one to visit you. Read sound Christian literature. We will consider it a privilege to send you some without money or charge of course. Attend a church where Christ reigns supreme in the sermons, the hymns, the prayers, and then as the holy comforter strengthens you to overcome hatreds, prejudices, ignorances, you can find in Christ your savior, your Lord, your God, and therefore the unfailing friend, the heavenly helper in every need to whom you can take and tell your pressing problems, your questions, your doubts, your weaknesses, and find the divine answer with its radiant comfort. Are you weighted down by the memories of searing sin? Tell it to Jesus. We regularly meet people who with tears in their eyes and agonies in their soul plead, will Christ forgive the terrible sins in my life? Oh, tell it to Jesus. Kneel in spirit before the Savior to confess all the wrongs in your soul, your mind, your heart, on your hands, your lips, and your conscience. Don't try to conceal or withhold anything from him, but bring it to him and have the blessed assurance the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. Are you laboring under crushing personal sorrows? Have you been sick for a long time? Do you dread an impending operation? Are you bowed down in grief over a recent bereavement? Has the grim reaper entered your home to take a loved one from the land of the living? Tell it to Jesus. He alone has the promise of victory over death, but he surely has the guarantee of a glorious resurrection and a reunion with those who died in the face. Whatever the sorrow may be that weighs your soul down, kneel before Christ. Tell him of your fears and your worries. Confess to him your sins and your sorrows, and as he pronounces the benediction that has been purchased by his blood on your life, and as you rise from your knees with his blessing, you will be able to face a world of sin and sorrow with the glorious assurance that you are his through death and into eternity. A friend once put this question to Stonewall Jackson. Suppose that these eyes that give you so much trouble should become blinded. Do you believe your faith would remain unclouded? Jackson answered, even such misfortune could not make me doubt the love of God. His friend went on. If beside your hopeless blindness you became bedridden, would you call yourself happy then? Calmly he replied, yes, I think I could. My faith in the Almighty's wisdom is absolute, and why should such accidents change it? Once more he was asked, if in addition to all this you had to receive grudging charity from those on whom you had no claim, what then? Slowly Jackson declared, if it was God's will, I think I could lie there content a hundred years. Jackson had that faith because he was a man of deep-rooted trust, and the constant prayer through which he regularly came and told Jesus, beseeching his guidance even when he put a stamp on a letter. Do you want that blessing of strength and spiritual power? Come to Christ, tell him your troubles, pray in his name, pray fervently, faithfully, forcefully, and as you bow before him, the Son of God, the Savior of your soul, the one hope of all humanity, he promises, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Come then and tell it to Jesus now. Amen.