In this sermon, the speaker discusses the concept of facing judgment in a courtroom setting. He mentions a specific internet program called Sermon Index and talks about a young webmaster who will be moving to Victoria. The speaker emphasizes the importance of facing the ultimate judgment before the great white throne and how one should plead guilty as a sinner. He also touches on the perception of Jesus and the Holy Spirit as intangible beings and shares a story about a man named Lez who came to the Lord. The sermon concludes with a story about a young man in a courtroom during the revival times who insisted on pleading guilty, leading to a conversation with the judge about the exercise of judgment.

If your house was on fire, and you were rushing out, what would be the one thing you would grab onto? Well, this morning I could not get my car out of the driveway. In fact, I was out helping my granddaughter push her car further and further into a snowdrift. And I realized there was no way she was going to get her car out up the little hill that leaves our home. We live right next door to Laurie and Daryl, all. So if you know where they live, the little road, you know. Then I looked twice at that little hill, and I thought, I'm not even going to get my car up here. And I decided I needed to get to church quickly for Bible study. Sunday school. So I grabbed one thing. My tie. I can't believe it. It just shows I must be a pastor of a Baptist church, that's all I said. I forgot my jacket, or my blazer. I forgot my glasses. I did have my Bible in my pocket, so that was fine. But I got a tie. Folks, I don't always wear ties in public, it depends what church I'm in, but I wore a tie. So if you get offended that I'm in my pullover, you understand why. I know you won't. I didn't walk all the way from Mount Benson. I walked a good way, but then John came to pick me up, and I was very grateful for that. We had a wonderful time in Bible study this morning, I think. Next Saturday is potluck. And I don't know what you normally anticipate by your, I prefer to call it pot providence. I don't believe in luck. I do not know what you normally anticipate, and even like that I know there's going to be lots and lots of good food. But I was told a couple of weeks ago by Denzel that I was to MC next Saturday. So I asked him, what am I expected to do? What do you have? Do you have a program? He said, no, we leave that up to you. Well, is this the family church get together for Christmas? Is that what it really is? Okay, then I'm expecting you to come next week with items beside food. Maybe a little word of testimony, maybe a song to sing. I'm going to come with some humorous poetry. I write humorous poetry. I don't want to be the only one here with something humorous. I'd want to find all the people very somber. Good, good Baptist people. And I'm very embarrassed because I'm saying something funny. I expect you to come with some contributions next week. Okay, is that alright? Some of you are not so sure. If you want to hear my humorous poetry, you've got to come with something yourself. Admission will be by a piece of paper on which you've written your little contribution. No, I'm not being serious. But please come next Saturday. It should be a good evening. You'll also notice I've got a pair of borrowed spectacles for those verses of scripture. I'm going to come down and talk for a little bit. Is that easier? I prefer to do it that way. I told you the story some time ago of a young lady I was engaged to be married to. And I went home one weekend from university and she finished with me. She would not speak to me. And I was very distressed, obviously. We were engaged to be married. And the next day I went back to university and feeling very hurt. For the next several months I withdrew and could not understand why she switched me. To my amazement, she married another man six weeks after finishing with me. His marriage had broken up and his divorce had just come through and she married him straight away afterwards. Many years later, I found that she'd committed suicide. I went to visit her mother to offer my condolences. Her mother greeted me warmly, told me that the young woman who had died was not the Brenda that I had known. She had changed, become a very bitter woman. In fact, the cantata that some of you are singing with me, I had two years I conducted Eastern Christmas cantatas. We went to her town on one occasion to do the performance of the cantata. And so I went to the local church hall where we were going to hold the performance. And I found the name of the person who held the key so I went to the private home of this lady. And I asked her for the key for the hall. And she said to me, Do you know where this town is? I said, Oh yes, I used to court here. I used to engage to a young lady from here. She said, Who? And I told her who. And she said, Oh, you're so fortunate not to marry her. She's the most hated woman in the town. Which didn't cause me any pleasure. I was very sad to hear that. Then she committed suicide. I went to see her mother. And I asked her mother, Why had Brenda finished with me? And she said, Well, she heard that you were having an affair with a girl in university. Which is 100% absolutely untrue. I was totally faithful to her. But she believed the lie. Why did I start off by telling you that? I'm telling you that because I'm amazed how many Christians believe lies about themselves, about God, about other Christians. I'm often called in as a pastor to arbitrate between people at conflict. And so often, I discover that the conflict is over the misunderstanding of something that was said or something that was done. And they assume, they suppose things that really are a lie. Because the numbers are down today, I'm not going to follow the theme I've been following over the recent weeks. I'll gather that again next week. I'm just going to take a little interlude to speak to you about the word supposing. Supposing. What is it that you suppose to be true? That maybe is not true. I found one of the saddest reflections of most Christian people, not just Christian people, but most people in society today, is that we've become a people who do not really think. We've become so used to what we see in the television, we accept everything that we hear in television or what we read in newspapers. And I find that very few people today really are people who think. Used to be in the olden days, when I say that as though I'm 68, I can talk about olden days, can't I? But before that. It used to be before the advent of TV, that in the evenings, people used to sit at home and talk. Discussing. This is what Christians, lay people used to sit and discuss the deeper things of the word of God. I was brought up in a country where lay people had vast Christian libraries. And my library was gleaned from second hand Christian bookshops where people who had died, their widows, would give their library to the bookshop. And I'm not talking about pastors, I'm talking about laity. Because they would be used to sitting and discussing and thinking and talking and arguing. I make the comment, and please understand me, this isn't meant in a nasty way at all. But when I came to Canada in 1975, one of the first things that struck me when I came to Canada after a short while was that the young people in my home, in my Christian youth work, knew more of the Bible than some of the church leaders I came across in Canada. I do not say that lightly, I mean that. I had young men in their 20s and young women who would spend hours arguing, we like to use the word discussing, things in the Bible. And it saddens me when I find people who do not think for themselves. Who do not get into the word of God. Who do not study for themselves. Who come to conclusions and opinions that really they've gleaned from hearing somebody else. Whether it's a book they've read or a TV program they've watched. And they swallow it as though that is the truth, that is what everybody believes. Without ever thinking through something themselves. One of the things that comments are often made to me, I travel a lot, and I teach a lot. That is what I love doing, is teaching. I'll often get this comment maybe, where do you get that from? Well, it's in the Bible. I've never seen it. That kind of comment. And it saddens me. I want to speak this morning about supposing. What are the things you suppose? I want to show the tragedy of just supposing things without really finding out if that is true. In the book of Acts, I find, for example, in Paul, a couple of things about him. He was in the town of Lystra in chapter 4 of the book of Acts. And I read that when the people rose up against him, they stoned him and cast him out of the city, supposing he was dead. And I can imagine them saying, that's ended that man. We'll hear no more of this gospel nonsense. We'll hear no more about this Jesus rising from the dead. The truth was, of course, that Paul was very much alive. He was bruised and hurt. He recovered and he went straight back into the city and started to preach again the gospel. You cannot put to death the gospel. I read of Paul and Silas in the prison in Philippia. The Philippian jailer. And that night, God broke into the prison. You know, it's wonderful. Men are always trying to break out of prisons. God always breaks into prisons, you know? Prisons that bind us, the fears that we have. God breaks into those. And God broke into that prison and an earthquake came and the walls fell down. And the Philippian jailer feared for his life for he supposed that they'd escaped. And his supposition would have led him to take his own sword and kill himself for he knew that the authorities would put him to death if he'd allowed the prisoners to escape. He was that near to death. The reality was, that Paul and Silas were still there, the reality was that that day salvation was to come to this household. If he'd acted on his supposition he would have died. Whereas the reality is that God had broken in and wanted that man and his household to come to faith. In Acts chapter 2, we read of that glorious outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the 120 as they were endued with power from on high that they might be witnesses for Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit came upon them and they came out and they spoke in other tongues and people from all nations heard them including of course the Aramaic tongue which was the local tongue. They spoke in many languages. And the people supposed they were drunk. The reality was that they were seeing a demonstration of the glorious power and might of God bringing a wonderful news of the gospel empowering his servants to be witnesses. That was the glorious truth but they supposed they were drunk. How tragic it is often times when God moves we hinder God by supposing in the Welsh Revival a great outpouring of God's Spirit in my land a hundred years ago. Many people, many ministers opposed it. Many rose up. Many people who preached all their lives about God and holiness and righteousness when they saw God moving and transforming lives they opposed it. Praise God many supported. Can you imagine in a courtroom I saw this just last week on the internet I watch a internet program called Sermon Index. Any of you are internet people? I've got my web page on you can get a lot of my teaching on the web but there's a far better web page than mine it's called Sermon Index oneword.com It's produced by a young man and the webmaster is 28 years of age. He's coming to live in Victoria very shortly. It's one of the finest web pages. You can listen to sermons of some of the greatest preachers of the last century. You can listen to them on there. And one of the men is known in Edwin Orr is known as the authority on revival. He's a Baptist man. He's known as the great authority on revival. And he tells this story. There was a courtroom in Wales and a young man was brought into the dock. This was during the revival times. And the young man comes and the judge says to him how do you plead? And he said I'm guilty sir. I'm guilty. And his lawyer threw his arms up because he'd been trying to get this young man to say he's not guilty and plead the case and he threw his arms up and basically walked out. The young man insisted on pleading guilty. So the judge put his gavel down where it appears he leaned to the desk he said no young man I want to talk to you. There is a judgement that I can exercise over you as a judge. I have an authority to do so. But there is a far greater judgement that we will one day all face. And he preached to him in his courtroom about facing the great judge at the great white throne. He said how do you plead? And the young man said I'm guilty sir. I'm a sinner. I'm guilty. And the judge led him to faith in Christ. You couldn't do that in the courts today. And when he wept and confessed his faith in Christ the jury twelve righteous men broke out into song of praise. That happened in Wales in 1904. Great moves of God. It becomes an awful thing when we suppose that when we see God move we immediately say to the devil you need to be very very careful. But the worst suppositions we can have are those where we have suppositions about Jesus that are untrue. Let me give you some illustrations from his life. Some of these suppositions. In Luke's Gospel chapter 3 I read these words. And Jesus being it was supposed the son of Joseph. There's a genealogy of Jesus there. It's human genealogy. It was supposed you look it up in Luke. See if I can find it with my glasses on. Do these glasses suit me? Do I look academic or anemic or whatever it is. Luke chapter 3 Luke chapter 3 23 When he began his ministry Jesus himself was about 30 years of age being as was supposed the son of Joseph. There are many people today who look at Jesus and see in him a great man who walked upon the earth. A great prophet. Islam calls Jesus a great prophet second only to Mohammed. The woman of Samaria when she met him at the well she called him a prophet. Are you a prophet? How do you see Jesus today? Do you see him as a great prophet? Do you see him as a great man? That is what they suppose him to be. A great man. The son of Joseph. The reality is he is the son of God. He is far greater than the greatest of all men. Or he was the greatest of all men. He is far greater than that too. He is the son of God. So our understanding of our Christian walk will be determined by how we see Jesus. If we see him as a great role model a great man that will govern our thinking our walk. But we need to see beyond that to realize not only is he that where our supposition leads us but he is also the son of God. And as such he has great authority. When he says to us such things for example as love one another we don't have an option. A great man can tell you to love one another. And you will obey because you honor the great man. But when the son of God speaks you have no option. Your Christian walk is going to be determined by how you view Jesus. Do you view him as a great man or do you view him as the son of God? These people viewed him it was supposed the son of Joseph. They saw him and defined him in his human terms. In Luke chapter 2 another supposition concerning Jesus. He is 12 years of age and his parents take him to the feast in Jerusalem. And as they were returning this is in Luke chapter 2 verse 43 as they were returning after spending the full number of days the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem but his parents were unaware of it. They supposed him to be in the caravan. Can you imagine it? The first night they journeyed in the caravan a lot of people together. Joseph would have been with the camels and the other men. Mary would have been with the women and the small children. But now Jesus is of age. Whereas every previous time they'd gone out on a journey it was natural that he would have been with Mary his mother. Now he's a man. He's of Jewish age to be called a man. He's 14. So now is the time he has the privilege of going with a man. So Mary is not surprised that he's not with her for she assumes he's with Joseph. Joseph is not surprised he's not with him because he supposes he's with Mary. The reality is he's with neither. They left him in Jerusalem. Is it possible for you and me to journey from this church through the next week and leave Jesus here in our thinking in our actions in our deeds or we know in reality that if we're truly born again he goes with us. Is it possible that your experience of church is being here and thinking that you're a Christian because you're here and Jesus never entered in? You come into the fellowship of God's people and you sing his praises and you delight in his presence here but when you leave the church he stays here because you've never invited him to go with you in your life, in your heart. Oh there are many people in our churches. Less now than there used to be but our churches used to be full 30 years ago with many many women who never knew him personally. They came into his presence to worship. And they love coming to church because Jesus is there without ever realizing that he wants to be in them and dwell with them and journey with them. They supposed him to be present. The reality was they left him in the church. Let me go further. Mark chapter 6 verse 49 verse 47 says when it was evening and the boat with the disciples in was in the middle of the sea and he was alone upon the land seeing them straining at the oars for the wind was against them and about the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea and he intended to pass them by but when they saw him walking on the sea they supposed that he was a ghost and they were afraid. Can you imagine what it must have been like being at night time in a boat and you see this apparition somebody says hey guys there's a boat following us they peer into the darkness it's not a boat it looks like a man can't be a man walking on the water impossible and he goes to walk past them they couldn't have been going very quick in their boat could they and they were filled with fear for they supposed it to be a ghost when you think of Jesus when you think of him do you think of him as something ethereal something not touchable intangible the impossible figure is not really there it's the same attitude that many Christians have to the Holy Spirit we think of the Holy Spirit as it an influencer a moving instead of a reality of a person I tell stories so much I always say did I tell you forgive me if I told you this one before forgive me Lez came to the Lord did I tell you a story about Lez this man I led to the Lord wanted me to go to his home and answer questions for him Lez was in his late 40's he came to the Lord in my office in the church in Victoria he said Pastor Gareth he said I know so little about the Bible will you come to my home I've got so many questions the next day Anne and I went to his home and his wife Anne also invited some friends there were 14 of us in the room in the living room and they placed me on the lazy boy chair you know with the feet up I'm the guru I'm answering questions and Lez is on my right laying around the room and I'm answering these questions out of my superior intellect you know I say that facetiously knowing that I don't have all the answers and I put my feet up I'm answering Lez is asking me questions then he says tell me Pastor Gareth he said teach me how to pray now have I told you the story? no? ok good teach me how to pray so I said well Lez I said prayer is one of those things I said most Christians we have different views different opinions about what prayer is but I said basically simply prayer is dialogue with God talking to him and listening to him talk to us I looked at the 14 13 people there and I said tell me do you believe that Jesus is here? yes now I want you to understand my background I'm a school teacher this is not meant to be a theological issue this is simply something I'm doing the school master bit I'm demonstrating something I said do you believe Jesus is here? yes it's him I said where? I can't see him they said well he's the spirit I said oh you mean he's a ghost? no no they said he's the spirit so I said well that's the same difficulty God had 2000 years ago he wanted to show his love to mankind so he Jesus the word became incarnate that means he became flesh so that we could see him and touch him the disciples said we beheld him we beheld the glory of God we touched him we handled him he said to the people he that has seen me has seen the father he became flesh incarnate so that we could see God in him I said I don't think it would be wrong for us tonight I said to imagine Jesus here as an invisible man I'm doing a school master bit ok not a theological bit and I leaned back and I pulled a chair that was behind me a dinner dining room table chair I brought it back into the circle what I didn't realize until later and we all commented what I actually did when I did that was to close the circle I think there's significance in this I closed the circle and then I laughed I said did you see what I just did? I don't know that anything went through my mind but as I brought the chair in I kicked down the lazy boy chair and I'm sitting upright on the chair and I laughed and I said did you see what I just did? I said even my body language changes when I think that Jesus is present alright I said if the queen walked in through the door what would you all do? they said well we'd stand I said of course we'd show great respect whether you've got respect for the royalty now and the royal family we'd probably all stand anyway and Paul he's not even British from a British background he'd stand out of courtesy but I said far greater than the queen is here the king of kings is here I said he's seated there I'm still teaching doing the little teacher bit I turned to the chair and I said Lord Jesus I want to thank you for being my saviour for dying on the cross for me thank you for coming into my life thank you for making me a child of God I just want to tell you today how much I love you I said Les, that's prayer why don't you talk to the Lord so Les looked at the chair and he said Lord Jesus two weeks ago I didn't know you at all but now I know you as my saviour and I'm just so thankful that you've come to my house this evening oh no no no that's wrong he said this isn't my house anymore this is your house now I never taught him that and then his wife talked to the chair then my wife then Jenna then Go and we got about half way around the room and I felt the hair on the back of my neck going up I had not planned this I had not initiated this but something I use the expression a pregnant presence was there something was being birthed in this room and we got half way around there's 14 people and every single person is weeping and the tears are running down off their chins nobody's wiping it away everybody's crying comes back the last guy was Gordon he talks to the chair I looked at him I said you all know what's happened don't you they said well look the Lord is here I said oh he's been here all the time that's not the miracle it hasn't that he's just come here to be the wonder of it all is that he's made his presence known I didn't plan that but God I mean I was doing a little demonstration that's all I was doing but God took it as an opportunity to make his presence known was it a ghost no it wasn't a ghost he was the eternal glorious son of God has made his presence known to us I probably haven't told you this story too when I was brand new Christian 17 years of age I had a friend called Roland Roland had been a Christian a number of years we were both 17 and I went to Roland's little church out in the village where he lived for a young people's meeting on a Saturday night another young people had gone and I had about half an hour before I needed to cycle home so Roland my mentor because he's my same age but he's a sound Christian he said get out of the little church in the village that's having an evangelistic crusade this weekend he said why don't we pray for them we went back into the back of his little church to the kitchen the kitchen was how big I don't know enough for the two of us to kneel that's about it and we both are on our knees facing one another and as I'm on my knees I'm a brand new Christian I sensed that somebody walked into the room and stood right in front of me I felt if I would reach out my hands I would touch his feet but I was afraid to do so because I felt if I did that he would leave and I felt it was Jesus now I say felt I didn't talk about that I mean obviously it was me imagining things you know you don't talk about those things to other people I never mentioned it but to me the feeling the sense was real now you must understand I'm a physicist a trained physicist so I'm a very practical thinker so it's not the sort of thing I talk about I was probably imagining that was in 1958 I married Roland who was my best man I went overseas and taught the British Forces came back to Wales many years later and in 1975 I was leading a large youth work in Wales part of which was in the YMCA of our town every Sunday night people came together and at 9 o'clock we went up there's all the churches young people from all the churches came together and we had this big get together it's called 8 o'clock club that's what it was called mostly young people but a lot of older people too I emigrated to Canada in 1975 and three years later in 78 I went back to Wales on holiday and on Sunday I attended the meeting at the YMCA now being led by some of the young men that had been in my youth work I don't remember what the program was at night but there something about prayer something about presence of God they were discussing something they had different musical groups who were coming sometimes a film something debate I don't know what it was that night but there was occasion for me to stand up and say Rob do you mind if I just tell you a little story he said sure I mean I'd still be the one they honour me there and so they want me to and Roland and I was sitting on the other side of the room there was well over 100 people present and Roland's an elder now in the church this is now 78 from 58 I said I remember when I was a brand new Christian I went to a little place in Abercambie Roland you probably won't remember this but you and I for one night went in the back of a little chapel to pray Roland shot up he said I know what you're going to say and you know what I'm going to say now don't you I said what what am I going to say he said the Lord came into the room didn't he I said you knew he said yes he said but you never told me and I wasn't going to tell you and we both knew now explain that I can't explain that I can't explain that but I know this he's not a ghost he's not a ghost he's real whether the incarnate Christ stood there that's not what I'm saying but he gave us the reality of his presence and these people saw him walking on the water and they thought he was a ghost now ghosts we can get feelings wonderful weird feelings about ghosts we can get afraid of ghosts but the reality is the one who walked up on the water is the creator of the water the one who walked up on the water has authority and power over all things he is the man he is the one who holds this world in the palm of his hand tells me in scriptures God will bring all things to fullness and completion in Christ he is the ultimate reality he is not a ghost and when you trust in him you're trusting in one who is totally trustworthy not ethereal like a ghost let me go one further so this one who is the eternal son of God who became incarnate he's put up on a cross he's put to death he's buried in the tomb now there are some people who tell you that to Eldor he really wasn't because he was the son of God there are many Christians who believe this he didn't really die because the son of God can't die and that really only was like in a fate and so he rose up he wasn't raised from the dead but people have to believe that and yet the word of God tells me that he died buried my sins in his body he became flesh he bore all the pain of our sin and our sorrows he died but the women come on the first day of the week to anoint the body with all sorts of anointing materials and they find the tomb is open and the women leave except for one Mary Magdalene stands there and through her tears she sees one that she supposes to be the God and through her tears she says sir where have you laid him and Jesus says one word Mary and through her tears she sees who he really is master tears are a wonderful gift from God you know they may blur our vision sometimes but they are so essential to wash our eyes when you get something in your eyes a little bit of irritation tears are there to wash it away there's a song I used to love to sing when someone I guess I'm not going to sing it my voice is not anything like it should be he washed my eyes with tears that I might see the glory of himself revealed to me he showed me that my heart was full of sin he washed my eyes so that I could see these realities sometimes we go through sorrow sometimes we go through valleys and God takes us in order we might see something more of his glory but Mary through her tears saw that this was not the God my question to you is I bring these thoughts to a close my question to you is what is it that you suppose is Jesus beyond touch is he like that ghost that you can't really grasp onto or is he someone really that you can trust in day by day you know his presence in your life what is the reality is Jesus someone that you meet at church every Sunday but you have no real relationship with him during the week you leave him in the temple or Joseph Mary suppose he was with him but he wasn't is Jesus to you a great man and you base your life built upon his role model as a great man or is he the son of God who came and gave himself for you that he might redeem you and bring you into God how do you relate to him and finally is he but a gardener is he one that you turn to when you're in trouble so that you want him to weed out the thistles and the thorns he isn't a gardener he is the one who made the garden he is the one who made everything in the garden he is not here in order to deliver you and me from the thistles and thorns of life he has just conquered death and she thought that all he could do was pull weeds what is he to you so I leave with a question what is he to you who is he to you what is it you suppose about him is it supposition based on reality of the greatness of the king that we serve the one who conquered death rose from the dead walks on the water can carry us through troubled waters is he that and more all for Jesus all for Jesus is he everything to you he is to me let's pray father we thank you for Jesus we thank you lord that by your spirit you have drawn us to yourself you have opened our eyes that we might see the reality of one who came not to be the gardener to weed out the problems in our lives but came to be king of our lives one who has conquered death for us one who walks upon the troubled waters one who brings calm to troubled waters one who speaks peace into storms one who has all authority of God because he is seated at your right hand may we see him in his majesty in his glory may we live our lives based upon that revelation of who you are lord Jesus we thank you for your humanity upon earth we thank you for the role model you gave us as human beings but above that we thank you that you are the son of God the eternal one who has now entered into the presence of God seated at the right hand of God to be a high priest with a a sacrifice that is eternal with an offering that is eternal with a priesthood that is eternal we come to worship you this morning we adore you we offer our praise open our eyes to see you in all the glory of who you truly are help us not to live our lives in suppositions that are false but on a foundation that is real and solid and strong and eternal we ask you father in Jesus name amen amen is there a closing song we have? no? just a benediction? ok, go in peace may the lord go with you may he make his presence known to you do not leave him here he wants to walk with you day by day he wants his presence to be your encouragement may you live lives and bring glory to his name this week in Jesus name amen