Ernest Wakefield 1973 Wheaton

General Meeting, Sweden, August 1973. Gospel by Brother Wakefield. Anchor hold in the storms of life, when the clouds unfold their wings astrife, when the strong tides lift and the cables strain, will your anchor drift or firm remain? Number 11.

32. And I'll read the 13th verse. I wish to especially mention part of the verse.

The 13th verse of Jeremiah chapter 17. Oh Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. I'll read the part I have specially before me again.

And they that depart in the earth. I'd like to bring before you tonight a few scriptures in which we find the word written. And my friends, I'd like to say tonight that we live in the very closing days of the day of God's grace to this poor world.

In fact, we would not be surprised if at any moment we heard that voice of the Lord Jesus Christ calling us out of this world to be forever with himself in the glory. And my friend, you, without Christ, will be left behind for eternal judgment with no second chance. Now here we have in the United States of America the giving up of God, just as we have in Canada to the north.

God has been given up. And in many homes there is no prayer, there is no Bible reading, there is no giving thanks for the food at the table. God has been given up.

And I'd like to say to the young people tonight that are here, are you giving God up? What a solemn thing it is that man is turned away from the God of the Bible and he's turned to confusion and to darkness. And the hosts of hell tonight are rising up to challenge this great continent of America in connection with turning to the devil and to Satan and to hell. And my friend tonight, I want to ask you, is your name written in this earth? Is that all the hope you have in this earth? I heard a story recently about a man who was very, very wealthy, very successful, a very famous businessman.

He was on his deathbed and his family gathered around him. And his youngest son watched his father breathe in his last. And he had before him this thought that after my father leaves this world, most of his wealth will be mine.

And his father looked at his family and said, I die as a fool. I die as a fool. And his young son said, father, don't talk that way.

You know, this town where we live, you're looked upon as a very successful businessman. You've got all kinds of money and everybody in the town honors you. And he said, I die as a fool.

And I go to meet God with empty hands. I go to meet God with empty hands. My friend tonight, are you going to meet God as a fool? Are you going to leave this poor world with your name written in this earth? All you have is down here under the heavens.

All you're left, all you have to leave behind and leave it all here and go into eternity and stand in the presence of God in your sins. My friend tonight, I pray God, you will hear more than the preacher's voice. But you may hear tonight the very voice of God as that voice again speaks to your soul and says to you eternity.

And you have to stand before God either in your sins and perish or be in Christ and in the glory for eternity. My friend, you can't stay here. You've got to leave this world.

God says here, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth with absolutely nothing but this world. And I want to say, my friend, tonight that in this country in which we are tonight, and again, I say in the North country in Canada, man is turned away from God and we find confusion and misery and all kinds of corruption and evil just as it was in the days of Noah. Man has left God out.

Maybe there's a young man tonight and you have pushed God out of your life. You have turned away from God and somebody tonight has brought you to this meeting. My friend, tonight it is my privilege to present to you the gospel, but I would arouse you first as to your need of a savior, for you'll never get saved until you find out that you're lost and you're going down into darkness and you're going to hell.

My friend, I know it's not popular to talk this way. I know that men don't like to hear these things, but our Lord Jesus Christ and all the Bible and all the speakers in the word of God, God's precious word, the Lord Jesus, more than all the others, warn men about hell and judgment and damnation, how solemn that is. And you and I are but a heartbeat from eternity, a heartbeat from God, just a heartbeat and you're gone, my friend.

Young man, you tonight in your health and strength, I ask you not to depend upon that health and strength of yours, for God may say tonight, thy soul shall be required of thee, whose names are written in the earth. Now may we turn to the tenth chapter of the gospel by Luke and read the twentieth verse, the nineteenth verse. Verses 19 and 20 of Luke's gospel, chapter 10.

Here the Lord Jesus is speaking to his disciples and he says, Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this, rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Now just hold that place and let's look at Philippians, Philippians chapter four for a verse, Philippians chapter four and verse three.

And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel with Clement also, with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life. Now here's a different writing, my friends. Here is a book in heaven, the book of life, the book that God keeps.

And by the grace of God, many in this room tonight can look up into the very face of the Lord Jesus and say, My name is written in heaven. What a wonderful thing to be able to say. And my unsaved friend, lost soul, tonight if you're here, you can leave this hall tonight at a quarter to nine with the absolute certainty by the word of God that your name is written down in the book of life.

A little while ago, a few years ago, a famous American, a former president was on his deathbed. And the story I read and heard was this, that a servant of God went to visit him and he said to this man, Tell me once again how I can know I am ready to leave this world. Well, this man took his Bible and he read many verses from the word of God that pointed the way of salvation.

When he was finished, he bowed his head and they had a word, a prayer together. And then this man said, Thank you. I'm ready.

Oh, my friends, how wonderful to be ready to meet this, to leave this world. What a wonderful thing it is to be ready when you go to bed at night and lay your head upon your pillow to say, I'm ready to go. I'm ready to meet God.

I want to ask you tonight, as I point you to Christ, how can we know these truths? Is it possible for every man and woman, every boy and girl, every young man, every young woman tonight to know on the very authority of the word of God that we can leave this world and immediately go into the glory with the Lord Jesus Christ? Will you please turn with me to a few scriptures? First of all, in the first chapter of John's gospel, in verse 12, here we might say, After the first step to heaven, you know, which is to find out you're a sinner. And I know that every boy in this room and every girl, I know that every man and woman, including myself, we all know that we have sinned. Now, there are different kinds of sinners, we know.

There are some in the gutter. There are some respectable citizens. There are some who believe this and believe that.

Some are what we call respectable, good living people. But nevertheless, if you sin once, you're a sinner. If I murder a man, I'm a murderer.

I may be able to say I only murdered once in all my life, but I'm a murderer just the same. And if you sin once in all your life, you are a sinner. And you never can get into heaven unless that one sin is forgiven.

And I trust, my friends, that as I stand here on this platform and make that statement that's found in the word of God, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, that there is no difference, that you will believe what God says tonight. Recently, I was talking to an old gentleman who tried to tell me that he had never sinned in all his life. My friend, you'll pardon this expression.

What a liar he was. What an awful liar that man was. And I said, my friend, your argument is not with me.

Your argument is with God. For God says you are a sinner, and you say I'm not a sinner. So you better get this straightened out with the Lord.

My friend, tonight, if there's anybody in this room that says, but I'm not a sinner, then I say reverently, you are calling God a liar. For God says you are a sinner, and you know you're a sinner. Now notice this verse in John 1 verse 12, "...to as many as received him.

To them gave he power to become the sons of God, or the children of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, or the will of man, but of God." Now notice, my friend, I want to point out, these are the very words of God. To as many as received him. It doesn't say to as many as received baptism.

It doesn't say to as many as received church membership. It doesn't say to as many as live a good life, but it says to as many as received him. Now we know who this person is.

It's the Lord Jesus Christ, that blessed Savior who came into this world. My friend, the creator of this universe, the maker of heaven and earth, has been in this world as a man. God has been here, and he is tonight seeking for poor sinners who need him as a Savior.

Are you closing your ears to that God who tonight searches for you, who calls out from his broken heart, where art thou, where art thou, O sinner? Where are you hiding tonight? Well, here is the message, the glorious message. To as many as received him. That is a person, not religion, but a real, living person.

To as many as received him. To them gave he the power to become the children of God. Think of it, to become a child of God by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered and bled and died on the cross of Calvary.

Now I know there are many Christians in this room tonight who know this old gospel story up by heart. And you know we have the same old message that goes forth week after week and year after year, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day, and he ascended back to the right hand of God. And tonight there is a man in the heavens, a real man in the glory, that bears in his body the marks of his passion.

His hands are marked with the nails, his feet are marked with the nails, and his side from whence that precious blood was shed, that side is for eternity, as are the hands and feet of Christ. They are marked forever. That tell God and man, and tell the devil and the demons, that Calvary's work is done.

My friend, tonight you can't do anything to save yourself. You can't make one move to save yourself, but God can save you. Our brother spoke last night in that message which we enjoyed about faith.

He pointed out it was God giving faith. And my friend, it reminded me of a story of an old Christian who one night after he finished giving out the gospel message, a man came to him and said in all sincerity, Oh sir, he said, I went to God. I could know that I was among the very elect.

And the old preacher said these words, he said, If you will receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior now, you are among the elect. I want to say tonight, my friend, to anybody in this room that's been deceived tonight, let me say this, whosoever will may come, the drunkard in the gutter, the man in the prison as he walks to the scaffold to be hanged for murder, if he'll only come to Christ, God will save him. The vilest, most wicked, most ungodly wretch in this world can tonight be saved.

And the most self-righteous, respectable citizen in North America can be saved exactly the same way as the drunkard, the same way as the convict. You've got to come God's way. And that is through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now in 1 John, I'd like to read a verse to you, the 1st epistle of John, in the 2nd chapter, in the 12th verse. Now I know this is addressed to believers, but nevertheless, it's the truth of God, just the same. And it can be your truth tonight.

Young man, tonight I want you to hear this verse. And young lady, I want you to hear this verse. 1 John, chapter 2, verse 12.

I write unto you children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. Just imagine, tonight. Oh, we were saying the other day out in Regina, if we were to go up to some of these men, you know, who've been to college for many years and have many degrees after their name, and say, my sins are forgiven.

They'd say, this man is crazy. This man is really off his top story. We don't believe in that.

You've got to do something. You've got to meet God and get your sins weighed and your good deeds weighed, and then God will determine whether you're going to heaven or not. That's not true.

That does not bear the approval of the Word of God. For I want to say this tonight, that every born-again Christian in this room will never, never, never be judged for his or her sins. There is absolutely no judgment, as far as the sin question is concerned, for any believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because on the cross of Calvary, our blessed Savior pays the price in full. And every one of our sins was judged by God already. There is no judgment for the Christian.

Our sins are forgiven. And in 1 John, chapter 1, verse 7, we read, "...the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin." How blessed. Oh, there's power tonight in that precious, precious blood of Christ.

That precious blood, my friends, is our very title into the very presence of God. We sang in our hymn, nothing but the blood of Jesus. A very unpopular subject in this world.

But nevertheless, by the grace of God, we who are Christians, we who know the Lord Jesus, we praise God for the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That precious blood will never lose its power until every child of God is saved to sin no more. Just imagine, that precious blood tonight.

Oh, dear young man, are you under the shelter of the blood of Christ tonight? Let me ask you tonight this question. Now, I know this is a question we always ask, because it used to be asked to me when I was on the way to hell. And this question really aroused my soul.

As the preachers asked this question, where would you be now if your body lay cold and silent in your casket? I hated that question. Oh, that question made me tremble in my seat. I want to ask you tonight, young man, young lady, old man, old lady, where would you be now for eternity if your body was cold and silent in your casket? You can't afford to be wrong.

You can't afford to take a chance. You know, life insurance men receive huge salaries. I understand they receive up to thirty and forty thousand dollars a year to try to impress man that they may die today and they need life insurance.

But when you tell a man he may die and go to hell, he laughs at you. And even the insurance men laugh at you when you say that, because they're not sincere. They're selling a bill of goods, my friend, but they're deceived by the devil.

I wonder tonight you got insurance for eternity. Are your sins forgiven? Are you right with God? Are you ready to meet God tonight if the Lord Jesus comes now? And I want to speak to you boys and girls who have Christian mothers and fathers. One night, one morning rather, I got off the train down at Fredericton Junction and a young man met me and was driving me to Fredericton.

I thought naturally he was a Christian. Why, his mother and father were breaking bread for many years and naturally we just take it for granted that all the children are saved too. And when I got in this young man's car, he said to me, what a wonderful thing it is to know the Lord.

And I said, well, when did you come to know the Lord? He said, oh, just a very little while ago. And I said, do you mean to tell me that when we preached in that hall at Smith Falls that you weren't saved? He said, I wasn't. I wasn't.

I had it all up here, he said. I knew all the answers. I could quote John 3.16 by heart, but I did not have Christ in here, only up here.

My dear young man tonight, young lady, are you like that young man? You've never been saved at all. You only know the gospel up here, but Christ does not dwell in here. I want to ask you, you've come to this conference and we thank God you've come and God has sent you here once again to tell you of this matchless love and His matchless grace.

Oh, how blessed to know the Savior of sinners. Now there's another verse I want to read to you in 1 John 5.13. Here's a wonderful verse, my friend. Maybe you've never heard this verse before.

Oh, you say, how ridiculous that is. But I never heard it before until the year 1930. We never heard these things before.

We were just brought up religious, but Christless. Respectable, but going to hell. But going to hell.

And I want to tell you tonight, United States of America is filled with men and women who are respectable citizens of the USA, but they're on the way to hell because they don't know Christ and they're lost in their trust in everything else but the person of Christ and the finished work of Christ. Listen to this verse now. This is what God says, not what we say, but what God said in this precious word, verse 13, 1 John 5. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.

Now notice, that ye may know that ye have eternal life. Just imagine. Tonight, my friend, we don't guess.

We don't say, I guess I got eternal life. The speaker here, by the grace of God, I don't hope I have eternal life. I know I have eternal life.

I know it because God says so. And what God says and what counts. What man says doesn't matter much to me because my thoughts are as good as your thoughts.

But when God speaks, how different. That ye may, K-N-O-W, that ye have eternal life. Maybe somebody in this room tonight will go out and say to their preacher, you know, I heard a wonderful verse in the Bible.

You may quote this verse and the preacher may say, but it doesn't mean that at all. Well, I want to say, if he tells you that, you better turn away from that man, because when God makes a statement, God means exactly what he says. Exactly.

That ye may know that ye have, present tense, this very night, eternal life. How blessed. Eternal life.

A life that will never end. The very life of God, planted in the soul. How blessed.

How glorious. One more verse in the 5th chapter of Romans. In the 5th chapter of Romans, in the first verse, Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Just imagine. Oh, my friends, how many homes in America tonight have never, never heard this verse. They don't even know it's in the Bible.

They never heard this verse because the preachers don't believe it. Many of them. Peace with God.

Just imagine, to be able to go to bed tonight and say, I got peace with God. I have peace with God. I didn't make that peace.

No, indeed I did not. But on the cross of Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ made peace by the blood of his cross. He made peace.

Can the devil disturb that peace? No. Can all the demons of hell rise up and disturb that peace? No. That peace is eternal peace.

Settled at the cross once and forever, he made peace by the blood of his cross. This is the word of God, my friends. Oh, believe it tonight.

Believe the word of God. Peace with God. The end of the fourth chapter of this very epistle to Romans tells us, in the middle of verse 24, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus, our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.

Not only do we preach tonight a crucified Savior, we preach a risen Savior, a glorified Savior, an exalted Savior at the right hand of God. Oh, friends, the glorious news is this, that manhood in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ has invaded the presence of God. Man has been to the moon.

Man has walked on the moon. Let me ask you this question. Has it made man a better man? Has it made the world a better place? Has it made the world a happier place? No.

A thousand times no. My friends, there's a man who went beyond the moon into the very presence of God, and that makes all the difference for eternity. There's a man in the glory of God, a living man, a living Savior is there, way above the moon, way above the moon.

He ascended in all the majesty of this person as God the Son. He ascended up into the very glory of God, and man is in the glory of God. That man is my hope for eternity.

He's my Savior. He died for sinners, and if he died for sinners, thank God he died for me. Well, beloved friends, tonight, wouldn't you like to have your name written down in heaven? Wouldn't you like to be able to leave this room tonight in this poor, sad world? We read the stories in different papers and publications and Christian booklets that tell of the decline of the human race.

We read about devil worship. Tens of thousands of people are turning to the devil. Buildings are being constructed on the west coast and in the east coast, buildings in which men and women will go in and worship Satan.

Think of it, worship Satan. Well, we'd be surprised, except the Word of God tells us that's going to happen. Just imagine, the Word of God, the most up-to-date book in all the world, the only book in the world that can tell you the future.

Men can tell you about the past, they can tell you about the present, but they can't tell you about the future unless they add these words. That's what we think. But when God speaks, we don't think anymore, we know.

And God assures us of the future. We've often said, if we went to Washington, had an audience with Mr. Nixon in his cabinet and said, gentlemen, we've come to tell you the future of this world, they'd say, get this man out, he's crazy. He's just gone crazy.

But my friends, tonight, we who know the Word of God and who know the Lord Jesus Christ by God's grace, we know the future of this world, we know it. We know the future of this world because God has told us so in his Word. Now, those who were written in heaven, what a wonderful thing it is that our poor names are written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.

How blessed. You know, if the United States government or the Canadian government put out a publication and told us that unless our names are written and registered in Ottawa or Washington and within a certain number of days, we'd be exported, put out of this country altogether, just sent away someplace on an island to live, I'm sure that every sane American and every sane Canadian would immediately find out for sure that their names are written down in their respective countries. But I want to tell you tonight, if your name's not written down in heaven, now you're going to hell.

You're going to hell. Would you like to know for sure your name is written down in heaven? Would you like to be able to say, I don't think it anymore, I know my name is written down in heaven. Then I say to you, come to God, own yourself to be a sinner in his presence and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.

And you will know on the authority of Holy Scripture, the very Word of God, that you're right with God. You can't go to hell because you belong to Christ and you belong to glory. What a marvelous thing to know these things, my friends.

What happiness and joy in this poor, dark, lost, awful world of which Satan is its god and prince. This great world system that's going down to hell. My friend, are you saved tonight? Are you right with God? Are you on the Lord's side? If you're not, you're on the devil's side, for there's only two masters in the Word of God.

No use compromising, no use trying to tickle the ears of people by saying, well, you know, if you're not saved, maybe you're not exactly lost, but you're certainly not in a good state. My friend, you're either saved or lost now. You're either heaven-bound or hell-bound now.

You're either right with God or wrong with God now. Young man, are you right with God tonight? Young lady, are you right with God tonight? Are you on the Lord's side? Are you right with God tonight? Now, before I turn to my last scripture, I want to read a verse in the 10th chapter of Romans. The 10th chapter of Romans, I want to read just a few verses, but principally the 9th verse.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, I know there's many young Christians, and I suppose older Christians too, that say, well, I believe this.

I believe that Christ died for me. I believe in the blood of Christ. I believe in the word of God.

I believe that Jesus died for me. I believe he rose again the third day, but I haven't got this assurance. Why? Well, one of the reasons why is you've never confessed the Lord.

You've never gone to your mother and your father and said, Mother, I believe that Jesus Christ, whom this world crucified, is the Lord. I believe that this world that nailed the Son of God to Calvary's cross is the Lord of glory. I confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and I believe in my heart that God has raised him from the dead.

And the rest of the verse says, Thou shalt be saved. Definite, my friends. No ifs and no buts in the word of God.

Absolutely definite. This is if the Son of God himself walked into this room, showed you his nailed, pierced hands and feet inside, looked into your very eyes and said, If you believe in me, you've got eternal life. Would you believe his word? If you really knew it was Christ, if you really knew it was the Lord Jesus himself, would you believe his word? Or would you say, Well, I'm sorry, I just can't believe that.

You would believe it, wouldn't you? Well, this book is as sure as if Christ was standing here tonight. This is absolutely sure. As I read this book to you, thou shalt be saved.

This is if the Lord Jesus Christ was standing right in this room and talking to you personally. Have you ever confessed the Lord? You ever confess the Lord as your Savior? Why not tonight? Tell your mother, tell your father, tell your girlfriend or your boyfriend, say, Jesus is my Lord. I confess him as my Lord, and I believe that God has raised him from the dead.

And you will have the joy bells ringing in your heart. Boys and girls, will you do that tonight? Now our last scripture is in the 20th chapter of Revelation. Now we've considered those whose names are written in the earth.

What a hopeless place to have your name written, your name written in the earth. In the second place, we have men and women, boys and girls, saved by the grace of God, whose names are written in heaven, in the book of life. How blessed.

Now we have in our last scripture and the 15th verse of Revelation chapter 20, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. How solemn. This is the same God who says whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

And I want to say tonight, my friends, because there are those who preach, sad to say, and those who teach that there is no hell. I remember one night, a gentleman came to me after a gospel meeting and said, sir, I heard you tonight talking about hell and I'm a Christian, he said, but you know, I'm sort of a funny fellow. I believe that, you know, there won't be any hell.

I said, my man, he was an older man, considerably than I am. I said, my dear man, you're putting your thoughts up against God's thoughts and God's word. He said, you know what I believe? I believe that when we get into eternity, we're going to find the devil there himself.

And God's going to turn to all creation and say, hell is empty. The devil's here and all his angels. Think of it.

A man saying that. Just imagine a man changing the word of God. And I say tonight, North America is filled with men and women who are denying the word of God.

So when we meet a man with a Bible now, we have to be very careful how we speak to him because he may have denied the very God of the Bible. But here it says, whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. That's what God says.

I didn't say that. I didn't say that. That's what God says.

And moreover, friends, if we read the earlier part of this chapter, we'd find that great white throne judgment where all the dead from Cain's day down are going to stand before God. But the fifth chapter of John assures us that that God is the Lord Jesus Christ, another evidence of the deity of Christ. Yes, indeed, my friends, God is, and I speak with reverence, God is not careless when it comes to the deity of Christ.

Stand before God. And the Lord Jesus said, the father judge yet no man, but a committed all judgment under the son, that all men should honor the son, even as they honor the father, he that honoreth not the son. And if there is in this room tonight, a Jehovah witness, my friend, I want you to hear this.

Whosoever honoreth not the son, honoreth not the father who sent him. You cannot honor Jehovah and dishonor the Lord Jesus Christ. For that blessed savior is God.

And this morning, I suppose 400 at least in this room, bowed their heads and worshiped the son of God. If he wasn't God, we're idolaters. Praise God he is.

We bow our heads before the son of God and we worship him as God. He's God, the son, God, the creator, the God who loved us, the same blessed God. How wonderful.

And he's going to judge here in this chapter before God. And there on that great white throne will sit the man, Christ Jesus. And as man stands in that great audience held by space, no great machines to hold them up in the air, you know, they'll stand before God in space, suspended by the very power of almighty God in space.

And there on that throne to their amazement, they'll see the man with the holes in his hands. And they'll see that precious savior move his lips that the night say, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. They'll hear those lips say, depart from me into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

My friends, every man and woman who lands in that lake of fire will have to say, I'm here because I chose to be here. I wanted to be here. I chose this kind of company and here I am where I chose to be.

But every one of us who are in the glory land will have to say, I'm here by the grace of God. I'm here because God won my heart. I'm here because the matchless love of God drew me out of the very power of the devil into the very arms of Jesus.

And I'm here tonight. I'm here today in this glorious day of glory by the matchless grace of God through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross of Calvary. My friend, our time is nearly up.

Once again, the gospel message has gone forth in a conference meeting. A brother told me in a certain city, there's six and 700 and 800 and 900 people come to our conferences. But he said, as far as I know, nobody ever gets saved.

How does he know? How does he know? My friends, we don't count our converts. Let God count them. But I want to say tonight, if you want to be saved tonight, if you want to receive the Lord Jesus and have that devil, he whispers into your ear, young man, if you receive Christ, young lady, you'll wreck your life.

You'll lose your friends. You'll lose your job. You'll lose all your buddies.

I want to say, if you don't receive them, you will lose your soul. And Jesus said, what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? In Vancouver recently, I picked up a gospel tract written apparently by a preacher of the gospel who said something like this, as far as my memory goes. He said, a Christian farmer wrote a letter to me and he said, there was a young man who worked with me on my farm.

I tried desperately to lead him to Christ without success. Every time he said I would speak of the love of God, he'd start to curse and to swear. I didn't like to dismiss him because I thought maybe I could win him to the Savior.

He was a very hard worker, but he hated Christ. And he said, you know, one day, desperately he said, I thought maybe I'd turn on my radio. It just might be that somebody might hear the gospel.

And he said, sure enough, there was a message came over. And the minute this young man heard about Jesus, he started to curse and to swear and to blaspheme. And he said, he stamped out of the house and he slammed the door shut.

And he said, I walked outside to the barn after him to plead with that young man. And he said, I found him dead on the barn floor. He dropped dead on the barn floor.

Young man, I'm not trying to frighten you. Young lady, I'm not trying to frighten you. But I'm saying this, it's a dangerous thing to play with your soul.

It's a dangerous thing to turn away from the God of the Bible, to darkness and infidelity and atheism and sin and the devil and slavery. When Jesus tonight stands ready to receive you tonight, you may be the biggest sinner in the United States of America. You may be the finest man in Chicago, but you need the Savior.

You need Christ. Will you take Christ tonight? Will you come by the grace of God as I did by the matchless grace of God? In April 1930, praise God, I bowed down at the bedside and I owned to God I deserve to go to hell. And I said, I received the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.

I want to tell you this, my friends, not to boast, but I always feared death. I remember passing down the streets in the old days when I was a boy and seeing the crepes on the door and I crossed the street. I was so afraid of death.

But when I received the Lord Jesus, now this may be hard to believe. I was a young man, 24 years of age. You'll pardon this personal reference.

I only do what I hope to help somebody. As a young man of 24, full of what I thought of strength and health, I wanted to die. Just imagine, I wanted to die.

Why? You say, why do you want to die? I wanted to see that lovely man who suffered and bled and died for my sins on the cross of Calvary and whose matchless grace and love followed me for nine years. Just imagine, from the time I heard the gospel, for nine years the grace of God followed me and praise God he won my heart and to him be all the praise. Dear sinner friend, I recommend to you my Savior.

What a wonderful friend he is. How kind, how loving, how patient, how wonderful he is. He changes our lives.

He changes our hell to heaven. He changes our sorrow to joy. He changes our cursings to blessings.

He turns our hatred to love and he fills the soul with eternal joy so we can honestly and truthfully say, to his heaven belong my Redeemer to know. May God bless his word. Oh dear friend, as you leave this hall let me ask you, please as you get into your bed tonight, don't go to sleep young man.

You may wake up in a Christless eternity. Don't go to sleep young girl tonight unsaved, lost in your sins. I plead with you.

I plead with you. You've got to face eternity. You've got to face Almighty God.

Oh are you saved tonight or are you lost? Are you under the shelter of the blood of Christ or are you still in your sins? May God stir your heart. May God give you no rest and no sleep. May God's grace follow you through the streets of Chicago until you fall upon your knees and say, Lord Jesus, save my precious soul.

And the Savior says, him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanse of us from all sin.