In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the importance of understanding and properly spreading the gospel. They emphasize the need for people to hear the bad news about their condition in relation to God's commands before they can truly appreciate the good news. The speaker also discusses the responsibility of every individual, Christian or not, to follow the commandments. They caution against treating Jesus as a mere problem solver and emphasize the importance of having the right message and method when sharing the gospel. The sermon references 2 Timothy 2 as a guide for Christian workers and emphasizes the need to prioritize truth over statistics.

This is the choice crowd. The Monday night crowd is the best. They're the choice crowd. I trust that our time together will encourage our hearts mutually. My heart will be encouraged by you, and I trust that our gathering together will encourage your heart to do that great work that the Lord called us to do. Let's just bow to him in a word of prayer now, before we look at the book. Our Father, we would come tonight as men and women who have no strength in ourselves, but Thou art the God of all grace, and our confidence is in that grace and Thine ability to supply our needs. We pray for Thy church tonight, Lord, the world over. We're weak and need Thee, and we pray that Thou would forgive us in our fumble, feeble efforts to do Thy will. Forgive us for our feebleness, and visit us with Thy power by Thy Spirit. Bless Thy servants tonight in every nook and corner of the globe. May they see Jesus, and may they labor for Thy glory as well as for the good of man. Be with us tonight, Lord, as we fellowship together. May we hear from heaven by Thy Spirit. I think we'll have a little review tonight, Pastor. We've been looking at that verse in 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 4, and we've been considering our trust, our trust, the gospel, and we've already spent one section together on the gospel, the good news, and spent a great deal of time on the fact that bad news presupposes the good news, and there are certain facts, namely our condition in God's character and man's destination, and these facts need to be pressed on men before they'll ever be anxious, willing, or desiring to receive the good news. They must hear the bad news. They must hear what they are in relationship to what God commands them to be. Therefore, we talked about the commandments. The commandments is every man's responsibility, Christian or not Christian. We can say to the world, this is what God demands and commands of you. That's the knife of Moses that we talked about. That's the knife that Paul said was the schoolmaster to bring him to Christ. That's the instrument that showed Paul in Romans 7, 7 that he had a covetous heart, and he had not known sin until he reached that tenth commandment. Then the second time we gathered, we talked about our task. If our trust is the gospel, we see that even so we're to speak. Speak it. Spread it. And if we have no desire to spread the gospel tonight, that's symptoms of some bad cause. I don't know what the cause may be, and you may not pursue it very diligently, but if you have been a recipient of the good news and there's no desire in your heart to be obedient to that clear-cut command, I would say that that's symptoms of possibly you've never received the gospel in a saving way. Possibly you've never closed with Christ as he's offered in a saving way. Our task is to make it known. And then we talked last night about our motive to carry out that task. And we mentioned two. We didn't get to the last one. First of all, we talked about how we're to carry out that task, our motive. What should motivate me? If my trust is the gospel, every Christian's trust is the gospel, if my task is to speak it and spread it by life and by lip, then what motivates me? And we mentioned two things and sought desperately to put them in order, which we believe is the scriptural order. First, God's command. Secondly, man's need and compassion on man. And then, if our task is to speak by life and by lip the gospel, we must know something about this message. And we pointed out last night that the message was not only trust, but the message was to turn as well as to trust. I hope you read the Westminster Confession of Faith on repentance. Repentance. Repentance. And we pointed out that the root sin, why men need to repent, is because they have a root sin, a root problem. And that root problem is, I will. That's why they break every commandment, every sin you've ever committed, every sin that I have committed. I've committed because there's an awful principle of sin in me and in you that says, I will. And until that's touched by the Holy Ghost, brought us to the place where we bow and are anxious about the will of God. We may make crooked steps in seeking to do that will, but it certainly is the desire of our heart to do it. Whether we stumble and fall and fail, it's still the root desire of our heart to do the will of God. The message is trust as well as turn. We pointed out that it must reach the whole man. If men would savingly close with Christ as is offered in the gospel, it must reach the whole man. It must reach his intellect because that's what he thinks with, his emotions because that's what he feels with. It must reach his conscience because that's what he discerns with. And it must reach his will, and that's what he decides with. And then the other thing, and we stopped there just about, we pointed out that the one that we're to proclaim, we must proclaim him in all of his offices. And to savingly close with him, men have to receive him, not one of his offices. We're not saved by one of his offices. We're saved by receiving him. He that hath the Son hath life, not he that hath one of the offices of the Son hath life. And the offices in particular that we mentioned was prophet, priest, and king. A prophet or a priest who has sacrificed for me and presently intercedes for me. A prophet who guides and instructs me. And a king who rules and reigns over me. And so the world needs to know who Jesus is. And it's our job to not present him as some kind of a celestial bellboy. You just call on Jesus. This buddy-buddy Jesus stuff in our day is very repulsive to my spirit and I'm sure repulsive to the Holy Ghost. People are too familiar with the deity today. It took our grandfathers a half hour to address the deity. Not this buddy-buddy, he's the Lord. And we want to dwell on that aspect a little bit tonight. Two things our generation needs to know, and that is who Jesus is. He's the Lord. And the second thing they need to know is where he is. He's on a throne. He's not a celestial bellboy and we run over to the fellow in jail and not talk to him any one. And boy he wants Jesus to help him out of his problem. But he has no sense or evidence of any awakening or sin in his heart. He just wants out of trouble. Here's Mary and John and they're having a tremendous domestic problem. So they want this little celestial bellboy that they think can come at the snap of their finger or the whistle. Just come on Jesus, solve my little problem. And here's my friend in business, he's gone bankrupt because he stayed in bed too long. Or because of some other reason, maybe a legitimate reason. So he wants this celestial bellboy to come and solve his problems. Now I believe that Jesus comes to meet us in our need, whether it be physical or any other way. But I don't want to pan him off as a celestial bellboy. Our method then, we want to talk about tonight is, if our message and our trust is the gospel, and our task is to spread it, we must understand and be motivated properly. We must have the right message. We ought to think a bit about our method. Now on the premise that Jesus Christ is Lord, what do we do when we take Jesus Christ to the world the best we know how? Well first of all let me tell you what we don't do. The great error of our evangelical day is begging men to bargain with Jesus. Strike a bargain with him. I've been in meetings already where I went through excruciating pains. Where the fellow starts to try to get votes for Jesus. Just like he's getting votes for Jesus. And I've been tempted and I, maybe it was the Spirit prompting me, but I felt like after a while standing up and saying, wait a minute, you don't have to get votes for Jesus, he's already in office. He's in office right now. We're not drumming up votes for him. He's in office. And so I say tonight, we're not meant to bring men to bargain with Jesus Christ. We're to tell men to bow because he's the Lord. And the only safe place for any subject before his sovereign is at the feet of the Master, crying out for mercy. We want to look at a few texts tonight and show you that this is not something we've dreamed up. This is what happened in the New Testament. Crying out for mercy. I hear somebody say, well I want what's coming to me. All right. God will give you that. God will give anybody that desires what's coming to them, he'll give it to them. He'll please you. Frankly, I don't want what's coming to me. And therefore I've cried out many times, Lord have mercy. If you want what's coming to you, you just say, Lord give me what's coming to me. And he'll do it. And you'll wake up in hell. I don't want what's coming to me. I want mercy. He's the God of mercy. And we're meant, invite men, to bow at him because he's Lord. Will you turn in the book of Acts please, just a minute, as we pass through a few scriptures, on this one point. And that is who Jesus is. And if he is what the Bible says he is, and what we say he is, then we must be very particular about our methods on how we invite men to him. And I say again, not to bargain with the deity, but to bow. Would you look at Acts chapter 2, verse 36. This is the end of the first Christian sermon, or close to the end. And I think if we want to find out some idea of what these, how Peter preached this, read the sermon carefully, but I want to draw your attention to the end of the sermon. And that begins in verse 36, where he says, Therefore, therefore, somebody told me once, long ago, some good Bible teacher, when you see the word therefore in the, he's saying all these things he said about the Lord of glory. And now he says, Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made this same Jesus, whom you have crucified, Lord and Christ. You don't make him Lord, my friend. We don't tell, invite people to make him the Lord. God Almighty has made him Lord. God Almighty has made him Lord. And he is the Lord. You don't make him Lord. It makes no difference the way you say it. And one of it stems from a great problem. And the other is God. If you make him Lord, you're sovereign. And that's the difference between man-centeredness and man-centeredness. That's the crux of it. I'm not thinking we don't reason with people. We don't show people the scriptures. We don't use apologetics. We use all the means that God puts in our hands. But ever with this in view, that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that man I'm witnessing to, that he bowed his feet and cried out for mercy. Let's look at Acts chapter 5. I told you last night that 92 times the word Lord is used. I'll let you do that on your spare time. Acts chapter 5, verse 29. I think this is the second. No, this is more than the second. The second sermon is back there a little ways. But this is another time when Peter, then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, verse 29, We, the God of our fathers, he told them about their free will, what it did to them. Free will drove them and led them to crucify the Lord of glory. That's somebody that rules. I don't know anything about a prince. He rules and reigns. And a Savior. Notice the order, my dear. Notice the order. He's Lord. Let's turn to Nathanael. When Nathanael met the Savior. Turn to John chapter 1. I think it's interesting to note what these men recognized. You see what I'm trying to get at? And what I hope I'm getting through is this. That this little Jesus that people are hustling off today, we ought to raise up our voices in holy horror. And this little Jesus, when he stands outside, that's man-centered evangelism. I speak to you tonight of one who is the Lord of glory. And slays them. All he does is look sweet in many ways. But he arrests men. And sometimes I get the idea that the sinner is a great big Atlas fella. You know, that fella holds the ball up in the air. And here's this little wee Jesus. I say, oh, wait a minute, brother. You got that thing backwards. I got a big Jesus and a little wee sinner. And I say to that sinner, my friend, you better bow because he's the Lord. You better bow because he's the Lord. Let's see Nathanael a minute. Chapter 1 of John, verse 47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and he said to him, Behold an Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathanael said to him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before Philip called thee, Well, now it's under the fig tree I saw thee. I love this. Nathanael wasn't looking for him as much as Jesus was. You know, it's a wonderful thing. I used to say in my testimony, I found the Lord. Well, that's true. He was never lost, but I found him anyhow. He wasn't lost. I was the one that was lost, you see. But a long time after I read that wonderful text in the little epistle of John, and I found out what it was all about, I learned a great truth, that I love him because he first loved me. This is what you see here. He said, I saw you under the fig tree. Nathanael answered and said unto him, Rabbi, Rabbi, Master, Thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel. Thou art the King. That's recognition. What did Thomas say? We won't turn to it in John 20. Did he say, Jesus is my personal Savior? Oh, he was that all right. But he says, My Lord. What did the dying thief say in Luke 23? What did the dying thief say? Lord, remember me. Lord, remember me. Let's look at St. Paul. Oh, I could just go on all night. St. Paul chapter 9 of Acts. On texts like this. I see another fellow here. He wasn't looking for Jesus. He was locking up Christians. Killing Christians. Doing everything he could against the Lord of Glory. He wasn't looking for Jesus. He was even persecuting those who named his name. But I see a mighty, sovereign, saving Savior. And a man that's bent. And the bent of his life and the bent of his heart. And the desire of his heart is to do death's fight to the name of Christ. And I see him on his way to Damascus by this text. And I see him struck down. And when he's struck down, I see, I read here about that voice. It says, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he answered and said, Who art thou? What class? Who art thou, Lord? Jesus said. And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. But I want you to see verse 6. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what would thou have me to do? What would thou have me to do? Here's a man who was blind. Spiritually. Only God can give sight to the blind. Only God can give sight to the blind. Would you notice that he wanted to know what he could do? Let me ask you a question. Have you, have you ever said this with holy sincerity? Eh? Oh, I know a lot of you have. I wish I'd think all of you have. I wish I'd believe all of you that said, Lord, what would you have me to do? I'll tell you. It'll be more than sitting in a pew Sunday by Sunday. He'll answer you with something else beside that. He'll give you something to do if you mean business. But the point I want to make is he was Lord. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 5. Saul didn't trust Jesus as his personal Savior, and then at some convenient time, like a little fire escape from hell, didn't want to go to hell, so he trusted Jesus as his personal Savior. And then some convenient time, when it was convenient to Paul to make him Lord. No, my dear, that's not there. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 5. Paul, what'd you do after that? What'd you tell people about Jesus? Did you kind of huff him off as a fire insurance policy? Listen to this, verse 5. This is what he preached. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus. Do you think I'm straightening this point? Do you think I can overemphasize his Lordship? I'd like to cry this to the world tonight. He's the Lord. He's the Lord. And I say he's not subject to vote or veto. He's the Lord. I wish our churches, Sunday by Sunday, would know this great truth. I'm not talking about liberal churches. I wish our evangelical churches knew this truth, that Jesus Christ is the Lord. I want to tell you something else, my friend. Turn to Romans chapter 14. I want to tell you tonight that he's your Lord. Romans chapter 14, verse 9. For to this end, Christ both died and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the living and the dead, or the dead and the living. And I want to say tonight, from behind this pulpit, if you're lost tonight, he's your Lord. Because he's the Lord of the living, and he's the Lord of the dead. And he's the Lord, whether you believe it or not, it makes no difference. Right now. Right now. He's the Lord. Right now. Of the living and of the dead. I wish we knew it tonight. I wish we believed it. I wish this generation of evangelicals, so-called, believed that Jesus Christ was the Lord. You say, why do I bring that in at this point? I say it would change our methods. It would change our methods. And I hope that this will make some contribution to changing your methods. I know that as God, I believe, by the Spirit, showed me this, it changed my methods. Changed my methods. Our problem today, and this is a good, I don't have to tell you here, in almost any church I get, I'm sure that any speaker that gets around and visits many churches and talks to many pastors, and in his own church, by observation, has a great problem with about half of our people. We don't know if they're saved or lost. Now, I don't mean we're meant to know, necessarily, because there's that area where no man can go. There's that area where no man can go. But I tell you, they ought to know. They ought to know. We want to talk about another aspect of this tomorrow night when we deal, we want to talk about the other part of this little verse where Paul said, it dried my heart. What was it that dried his heart? We've noticed his task. We know the trust. But what was it that dried his heart? We'll save it for tomorrow night. Listen, turn to Colossians with me. You say, I don't know what's the reason for all this problem in the church. I don't know why a man would ever ask me to his church to speak to his young people and tell me their life didn't change, but they're saved. I don't know how an evangelical man meant to be taught, a Bible school man would ever make a statement like that. I don't know. Will you come and speak to my young people? They're saved, but their life just never changed. Oh, my dear. Listen, I don't know all the reasons, but I believe tonight I know one of the reasons why we have this whole host of people in no man's land. They're not serving the Lord. They're miserable in the service of God. The dear pastors have to fight them and twist them at every turn of the hand to do something, and then they do it half-heartedly. They've never said, Lord, what would you have me to do? They're spectators, wonderful spectators of the program, a lot of nice people, the kind of people you wouldn't mind spending an evening with, congenial, wonderful, sweet. They've never said what St. Paul did. I just want to submit one reason. There's probably many. I want to submit one reason. Will you look at Colossians 2, verse 6? Paul's exhorting people, and he said, As ye have therefore received Jesus as your personal Savior. Huh? As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord. They got off to a right start. That's what he said. They got off to a right start. They got off to a right start. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. That's the exhortation. But he wasn't trying to get unsafe people. He had a fire insurance policy to walk the Christian way. He was talking to people who had come to know Christ Jesus and received Christ Jesus the Lord. If you study John chapter 1, and I'm not going to do it tonight, if you study John chapter 1, you'll find some great hints about methods. If you study our Lord's dealings with people, you'll find some hints about methods. You know what most people would like us to do when we talk about personal evangelism and carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth? They'd like us to give them ten rules that are foolproof. That's what everybody would like. They'd like you to give them ten rules or five rules or three rules that are foolproof. My dear, there's no ten rules to this holy work. There's some principles, but there's no ten rules. Look at Jesus as he meets Nicodemus, a religious man, a moral man, obviously, an upright man. The holy eyes of Jesus looks on him and says, Nicodemus, you must be born again. John chapter 3. But he didn't tell the woman in John chapter 4 that, did he? Oh, she had to be born again. There's no doubt about that. But he didn't tell her that. He talked with that woman. He brought her face to face with her sin. He reminded her that she had about five or six husbands, and she was livid without the benefit of clergy with the sixth. Out of wedlock, he put her finger right on it. She found out who he was. Only the Lord knew that. Only God can go there. Only God can put his finger in that area. That's why we ought to pray. If only God can do the work, it ought to drive us to pray. Not drive us to fatalism. Drive us to the ordained means that God Almighty has ordained to accomplish the end. Don't despise the means. Become a fatalist. This is wicked, not scriptural, from the pit. Old John Calvin said, It's just as important to assert the true validity of the secondary agent as it is to assert the ultimate validity of the final cause. Want me to put that in our language? That was Calvin's language. That's what he meant. He said, The means is just as important as the cause and the end. Any man that despises the means that God has ordained is bound for trouble. The God who ordained the end has ordained the means to the end. I believe the God who ordained the end ordained that Jesus Christ, his Son, will have a bride. Eh? Do you think he will have a bride? Do you think he'll have a church? Do you think it'll be a complete church? If I didn't believe that, I'd throw in a towel. Bible, Christianity and all. And I'd run. And say, Come what may. Eat, drink and be merry. For tomorrow I might die. I'd quit. If I had confidence in sinners turning to Christ, if I didn't have confidence in God arresting sinners, I'd quit. I'd never witness and pass out another tract. I sent out about 200 a month, and I've been doing it for 10 years. I'd never give out another tract if I thought it was dependent on a sinner and his great ability to turn to God. You may not agree with me from the pulpit, but if we got on our knees, we'd agree. Because you and I pray the same prayer. If I got down on my knees with that mother whose wayward son is out tonight, she'd say, Oh God, save John. Save John. Oh Lord, if you don't save him. If I got down beside that fellow whose brother's lost and sinned tonight, she'd say, Oh Lord, save Tom. If I got down beside that young girl whose father's lost and unsaved, she'd say, Oh, save my daddy. The only difference between a lot of us is I believe that when I stand up. Most people, when they get up, they forget what they prayed. That's the difference. Believe it when you stand up, will you? It'll affect your motives. It'll affect your methods. And it will have somewhat to do with your message. I believe that Jesus Christ will have a church tonight. And I don't believe that He just came to make salvation possible. I believe He came to save somebody. Eh? That encourages my heart tonight. That drives me on. That He came to save somebody. Luke 19.10 says, The Son of Man has come to seek and to save. Doesn't say He came to make salvation possible. Possibly some big sinner, if He feels like it. That is convenient. If He might just, if you please, pretty please, take Jesus. The Lord of this book came from glory. And He had a mission. And He had a mission. Not by accident. He had a mission. He came to save some people. All the sheep. Everyone. Read John chapter 10, verse 26. It says, You don't hear me when I meet somebody that don't hear. I keep on witnessing to them, but I always think of this verse. Now this will encourage you when you witness. This will stop you from being discouraged. Listen to this. He's talking about in that great picture, the sheep and the shepherd. And this is what He said. But ye believe not. Why don't they believe, Jesus? Why don't they believe? Because you're not my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them. And what do they do, Lord? Bargain with you? No, they follow me. What do you do for them, blessed Lord? I give unto them eternal life. Who do you give eternal life? My sheep. What do the sheep do? They follow me. And what do I do? I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them up. Why? Why, Lord? Because my Father which gave them me, He gave them to me. He said, Jesus, I want you to have a bride. And He gave these. He gave all these. All who believe. Everyone who believes. He gave them to me. My Father gave me these. My Father is greater than all. And He gave me a bride. He gave me a church. They follow me. You want to know if you're a sheep tonight? Are you following Him? Are you a sheep tonight? Did you believe Him? All the sheep believe. And they follow. And He does something for them. I'm talking about our methods. And I believe a little of this will have something to do with your methods. You believe this, Pastor? Eh? You think it'll affect your methods? I believe it will too. I know it has affected mine. Because I say, Lord. There's old John. He hates you. He's a slave to alcohol. He's a slave to drink. There's Mary. There's Tom. Oh Lord. Arrest him. Save him. Bring him to thyself. You say, how does it work? Well, I'll tell you. May I beg your indulgence just to share a few personal experiences? There's a real estate man in our town. A leading broker in our town. I talked to that man for ten years. Ten years! He was in a big ecclesiastical morgue. Singing in the choir. I started to talk to him. First thing he learned was a lot of the language from me. Wasn't saved. Oh, I could have given him that fuller brush treatment long since. I could have got him to say the verses after me and say yes and no. And I could have patted him on the back and said he was saved. But I don't give anybody assurance. I don't have more than enough for myself. The Holy Ghost's got to give them assurance. If he doesn't give them to them, they've got the wrong kind. So that's not my business. My business is to tell him to repent, to turn to the Savior, to fall to the seat, and to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord of all. Ten years I witnessed to him. I even, it got to the place, we had a big deal together. We got to the place where he used to bring his Bible with him when we would go on a trip. Now I could have run around over the country telling him about how I led him to the Lord and that he's now bringing his Bible along and somebody could have wrote a track about me winning that Father's Cup. They wanted to, but he wasn't saved. God brought him to a place where he cried out for mercy. Do you know what happens to everybody that gets to that place where they cry out for mercy? God shows mercy. It's just that simple. You ever cry out for mercy? He shows mercy because he's a God of mercy. One of your good gracious went to school with a girl's family that God guided me into. Her brother, this family of a fellow was in law school. And his father was a lawyer. We were in a big deal together, building about 100 houses for the government. He's been our attorney for 18 years. When I first got to know him, he was well headed on the way to be an alcoholic. He was starting to drink excessively. Those social little sips had become a slave to him. So he wanted me to give his son a job one year in the summer while he was in law school. I said, I'll be glad to do it. So I gave him a job. He didn't get much work done. I usually had to hide him to keep him out of the way to keep other people back. But he was a real nice fellow. I gave him a job. He had heard that I was pretty sane in business. But when it came down to religion, I had a few bricks left in a full load. He had heard all kinds of things about me. Boy, this fellow is a bug on religion. Just don't start to talk to him about religion. So I remember the first night. He's an aggressive character. The first night on the job, after we had closed up shop, he was anxious to engage me in my favorite subjects. And it wasn't hard. And I didn't fight him. And we talked for about an hour. And he went away with a kind of a pity that I hadn't studied Darwin and a few other things. And he was sure that if I'd had a concentrated course of Darwin and so on, that I'd have been straightened out. And I said to him, let me ask you, have you ever read a book on apologetics? A good book on Christian evidence? The evidence? Oh, no, he never did. I said, well, I might pity you just the same as you pity me. I said, I'll let you have a couple. You'll read them. Oh, yeah. I gave him the books about Christmastime. And I gave him a lot of tracts, too. The fact is, he still has one that he used to have beside the bed to set the whiskey glass on to keep it from staining the table. I think that's about as far as the tracts got. But about Christmastime, his wife was tired of moving these books out of the way. And then my doorbell rang. And I'd been crying out to the Lord for this young fellow, crying out to God for him. Doorbell rang. Here he is with my books. And I'm all thrilled. I thought, boy, he probably got saved. He'd come down to talk about it. Yeah. He got saved, all right. I said, all eager, you know. I said, well, did you read the books? He says, no, really, I haven't had time. I said, and Katie, she's just tired of moving these books around the house. And I thought I'd better bring them back, pierced in the heart. But you see, that doesn't come under the head of my business to save people. I'm supposed to tell them how to get saved. So I kind of braced up. The next summer came by, and he wanted a job again. I said, yeah, I'd like you to come to work. I said, but not out on a job this time. I think I'll put you in the office. And I'm very busy, and I've got to do some speaking. I'd like you to make me a book report on a couple books. I said, while you're answering the phone, I'll let you read these books, and I'll pay you $50 a week. But I want you to give me, I want you to recap for me, and put this in a condensed form so I can get it. I'm busy. So I come in, and he's propped up, smoking cigarettes with his feet up on my desk, and I didn't even put my own feet on my desk. And so I bore along, and a couple more days, a couple more weeks went by, and finally I saw a Bible there. And he was checking what this fellow said, whether it was really in the Bible or not. It just took time. So, well, let me shorten it. God got a hold of his heart, and he saved that young lawyer, and he saved his brother. Wow. He's done a lot of work in that household. The Lord is glory. But I'd never cheapen the message by trying to get him to bargain with somebody. I was trying to get him to bow to somebody. I say to you tonight, he's the Lord. And I say to you tonight, he's your Lord. And I say that the method we should use is to tell the world that he's every sinner. Let me tell you one other one. Young Catholic fellow in law school. I love law students. Law students and Jews and Catholics. These lost Protestants, I just kind of have to leave them to the Lord. And I say, Lord, send somebody else to them. No, I'm not serious about that. And know so little. They want to argue and fight. A young law student came into my office not too long ago. And it was obvious by his name, that I had guessed by his name and his nationality, that he was a young Roman Catholic. And I guessed right. He came here on a business deal. He was telling me how wonderful law school was and what he was going to do. And then he started to tell me he saw some cows. I got a couple cows. I have a few cows sitting around my office. Not real ones, of course. And he saw these cows and he got engaged. He said, I come from the farm. I said, yeah, but I don't want to go back there. He said, oh, you can't have a new car. He said, I want to make a lot of money and have cars. He started to run down the farm. Real bad. And how his dad worked and his uncles worked and all this and that, it was terrible. And I thought I had to come to the defense of the farm a little bit. And I said, tell me, how many meals a day did you eat with your father when you was growing up? Three meals a day. I saw him all day long. I said, did you ever go to the field? Oh, yeah, we were together all the time. I said, how much is that worth? I said, would you like to tell me just about how much you think that's worth in dollars? And I started to press him home some of the advantages. A wonderful home life. I don't believe that's a nice point. Well, he kind of started to like me, and I took him to a hockey game. And then I thought it's time to drop a little seed. So I asked him if he ever heard of a great lawyer by the name of Simon Greenleaf, who wrote a wonderful book called The Testimony of the Evangelist. I tried six years to get his courses out of print. Simon Greenleaf was the dean of Harvard Law School. And he's also written books on the law of evidence, many of which are still used in our law schools, or at least remarks from his original book, He's an Authority. And I said, did you ever hear of Simon Greenleaf? We got to talking. And I told him about a book he wrote, The Testimony of the Evangelist. We started to talk. I took him out to eat. He asked me about the book. He read the book. First thing you know, he was at my house half the time. We opened up the Bible. I got a Catholic Bible for him. I let him read the Catholic Bible, and we read the Book of Acts together. He read the Catholic, and I read. First thing you know, the Lord got a hold of his heart and saved him. He had an awful battle at home. His wife was a devout, devout. He was not a devout Catholic. He was just a Catholic. She was devout. He went home, and I never knew this until a long time afterwards. He said, you know, Sally, Jesus isn't on the cross anymore. And they had a big crucifix. It looked like a church in his house. And they had the holy water right there in the house and all that business. So he said, Sally, I'm going to take Jesus off the cross. He said, I'll let you keep the cross, but I'm going to take Jesus off the cross. Oh, God saved him. But I didn't give him any full or brushed treatment. God saved him. I witnessed to it. I told him how to be saved. Great difference. I didn't give him assurance. The Holy Ghost gave him assurance. I remember one night he brought his wife. We had a Canadian Presbyterian preaching in our church. Really an Irish Presbyterian from Canada. That's the way I should say it. He was preaching in our church, and Mike and Sally came out to meet him. And that preacher felt constrained to invite men to fall at the feet of Jesus. And I saw Sally, that little nurse. She's not so little, but that nurse. That night, publicly acknowledged Jesus Christ. And they're living for the Lord today. They're living for the Lord today. I said a while ago, he's the Lord whether you believe it or not. I want to give you what I feel is a real text of scripture. In closing tonight, just a couple texts of scripture. What I think is a great passage of scripture. And if you call yourself a Christian worker, I would commend these to you. In relationship to our task of carrying the gospel. I would commend these passages of scripture to you. In our relationship to our methods in dealing with the souls of men. And I would beg you never to sacrifice truth on the altar of statistics. They're found in 2 Timothy chapter 2. Three verses. And there's great instruction. And I'm not going to go over all the instruction. I'm going to leave that to you. This is what it says about the servant of the Lord. The servant of the Lord must not strive. How many homes have I been in where I've seen mothers and fathers striving with their children? Striving with their children. How many times has it been brought to my attention some wife striving with her husband? Some husband striving with his wife. I know a case right now. A husband got saved. His wife's not a Christian. He's striving. And the very first thing out of the bat is don't strive with people. What are you supposed to do, Paul? Be gentle unto them. Be gentle unto all men. Have to teach. You've got to know something before you can teach it. And then there's another wonderful word. Patient with them, dear. I'm here tonight because somebody was patient with me. Do you know how long the man invited me to Sunday school before I ever went? One year. One year. Do you know how many times I lied to him? Fifty-two. Or more. Patient. He was patient with me. In meekness, instructing, read Pilgrim's Progress. Study how the evangelist, which I think was that old preacher, Mr. Guilford. Notice how the evangelist dealt with the seeking souls. That pilgrim who wanted eternal life, who said, Oh, study how Bunyan's evangelist faithfully dealt with that man. You'll learn something. You'll never give anybody the foreboding. You won't have so many Ishmaels. You'll have Isaacs because they'll be of God. Ishmaels. But when the Spirit of God gave birth to that child, it was an Isaac. But when they decided to help God out, we'll fix this up. Help you have a child by Hagar. They had one, but he was an Ishmael. Know what his name means? Wild man among men. Some of these people that have made a profession and live like hell. That's what they are in the church. They're wild people. It's not all. It says, In meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. If God, if God, if God will give them repentance to the end, that they may recover themselves out of the snare. Who are taken captive by him at his will. Which brings me to say a word to you tonight, if you're not born again. You are taken captive by the devil. You're in his clutches. You're in his claws. He's leading you around. You're not your own. You're a slave to Satan. I say to you tonight, dear sinner friend of mine, if you're not saved. May I tell you what the Bible says about you. You're blind, you're blind. And only God can give sight to the blind. Sinner friend, you're deaf, you can't hear. Only God can unstop deaf ears, but he can't. Sinner, you're dead tonight. But I got a God who raises the dead. You're a sinner tonight. Only God can forgive sin. When Jesus gave that first invitation to the gospel, he says, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. He says, You're tired and weary and heavy laden. Ye who are weak and weary and heavy laden, they had a yoke on them. That's all. Do you ever offer a yoke to a tired man? That's what Jesus did. He said, Ye who are weary and weak and heavy laden, come unto me and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me. You've had somebody else's yoke. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am weak and lowly. And ye shall find rest to your souls. First invitation, I believe, in the gospel. My friend, you're a sinner and only God can forgive sin. This world's a great prison house. This world's a great prison. Men are imprisoned. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, 3, If our gospel be hid, who's it hid to, Paul? Hid to them which are lost. Are they lost, Paul? The God of this world has blind... They're blind! Only God can give sight to the blind. If you're here on stage tonight, you're blind. Would you turn to Matthew with me, please? There's two more scriptures I want you to read. Matthew chapter 9. You're just like this fellow. Matthew chapter 9, verse 27. When Jesus had departed, thence two blind men followed him, crying, saying, Thou son of David... What did they say? Well, I'll strike a bargain with you! No, no, they said what you better say tonight. And if you say it, I'll assure you, I'll give you a promise from the Bible. What'd they say? Thou son of David, have mercy on me. My dear, I don't know another thing that a sinner lost and doomed and damned can say, but, O God, have mercy on me. That's what they said. When he was coming to the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? And they said unto him, Yea... What? Yea, Lord, I believe it. You want the promise that goes with this? Look over in verse 13. But go ye, learn what that meaneth. If you cry out for mercy, I read in this verse, I read in this verse, I will have mercy... Oh, may the Spirit from heaven burn that truth into your heart tonight, if you would want mercy. That's what he promises to give, mercy. But I say to you tonight, in closing, this one more scripture. You will bow to him. You will bow to him. Every man and woman in the confines of these walls tonight, everybody in Westchester, everybody in Pennsylvania, will bow to him. Say, is that in the Bible? Yes, it is. Philippians chapter 2, and I close with this text tonight. Philippians chapter 2, 9-11. Most of you know it, but I'm going to read it again. Wherefore, wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him. When you don't make him anything, God did that. And don't you ever think that God Almighty is going to offer Jesus again to this world of sinners to do with what they please? He did that once, but never again. God Almighty will never put his Son at the disposal of sinners to decide... He did that once, never again. Why? Why won't he ever let sinners do with him what they did before? He did that, and this is why. Because he's exalted him, and he's given him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee... That's you, brother. That's me. Every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth. And what are they going to say when they bow? And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. It's a matter of time. It's recognition or restitution. Do you believe that passage of Scripture tonight? If you do, it'll change your methods. You'll never huckster Jesus off again. You'll never invite people to bargain with him again. You'll beg them and plead them, put your arm around them and love them. But you will ask them to bow and have mercy on them. And then you can assure them that he never turned any way. I don't know anybody, never read of anybody, don't know anybody in the Bible that he ever turned away. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? That's how I got in. That's how I got here. I saw that door. It says, Sinners Only. I had one qualification. That was it. If it said anything else, I missed it. If it said you had to have this, I said, don't have it. Sinners. Bow. Bow. I'm glad one day that the Spirit made me sick and sad with sin and self. And I bowed and I said, mercy. And he had mercy. And I'm here tonight because he's merciful. Aren't you glad?