A call never made, message never sent, delivery never made

I'd like to read with you first in the Acts, please, the Acts chapter 24. Acts 24 and verse number 24. And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife, Dusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning faith in Christ.

And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, Go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him, wherefore he sent for him the offner and communed with him.

But after two years, Portius Festus came into Felix's room, and Felix, willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound. Now back to Luke chapter 16, please. Luke chapter 16.

Luke chapter 16 and verse number 22. And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he left up his eyes, being in torment, since he and Abraham were far off.

And Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Son Lazarus said he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things.

But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. Beside all this, like there's a reversal of rules really at the end of verse number 25, and we'll talk about that later. Verse 26, and beside all this, in other words, if that isn't bad enough, beside all this, between us and you there's a great gulf fixed, so that they would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence.

Then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou would send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham said unto him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

And he said unto them, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Now, back in Genesis, please, chapter 37. Genesis, for a final reading, first book of your Bible, and verse 22, Genesis 37, verse number 22.

And Reuben said unto them, this is concerning Joseph, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him, that Reuben might rid him out of the hands to deliver him to his father again. That was very, very noble of Reuben, if you like, but unfortunately, that delivery was never made. Now, what I have before me really is maybe even simpler than it looks, but I want to just speak with you tonight about three things.

I want to talk about a call that was never made, a call that was never made. Here's a man that says, when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. That call was never made.

We'll come back to that, and I'll tell you why it was never made. Secondly, we read about a message that was never sent. Here's a man, and he's in hell, and he wants a message sent back to his brothers, if you can imagine.

Whatever they do, don't come here. It was a message that was never sent. The last that we read was a delivery that was never made.

There's a reason why that delivery was never made. Reuben, because of his sin in his father's house, had lost all effective influence in his family, and they just mocked at him. He said, well, cast him into this pit that I might deliver him to his father again.

That delivery was never made. So three things. I want to conclude by telling you about a delivery that was made.

But anyhow, these three. First of all, a call that never came, a message that was never sent, and a delivery that was never made. Acts 24 is a very solemn passage.

It is not that Paul had some delight in preaching judgment to this man Felix, but Paul knew what he needed to hear. I don't know what you need to hear in the meeting tonight, but I know this. You need to hear why you need to be saved, and you need to hear about the one who can save you.

But before the apostle Paul could tell this man, preach to him about a man in glory, he had to preach to him about a man in guilt. That's the man that had called for the preacher. I assure you, Drusilla didn't call for him.

It was likely the longest 15, 20, or 45 minutes, whatever it was, in her life. Well, while she sat there, this was old hat to her. And listen to Paul thunder into this man's soul.

Righteousness, temperance, judgment to come. You know she made up her mind? I'm coming ahead, but I'm going to go back. When he said, when I have a convenient season, I'll call for thee.

She made up her mind that call will never be made. It never was. I know men whose wives that were concerned, wanting to be saved, and they made sure that that was never going to happen.

And they went to any lengths to make sure that their wife or girlfriend, I'm thinking of a couple cases, were never to be saved. And they aren't. There's a doctor up in the area where I was working this summer, and he has cancer.

His brother's a doctor. His father was a doctor. I knew all three of them.

Every time I would talk to Bruce, if his wife saw my car come in that yard, she came out to the scene. She was determined with a husband dying of cancer that she would be a blockade to a message that he needed to hear. If it's different with you in the meeting tonight, if you have parents tonight, they'll be thrilled for you to be saved.

You thank God for that. Even if you were never to be saved, thank God that you've got that tonight. Lots don't.

And so Paul begins to preach to this man about righteousness. He wasn't a righteous man by any means. Felix had married three times, and now his wife, Drusilla here, was the daughter of Herod.

That is Agrippa I, who slew James. Pretty tough background, but not too hard to be saved. He could have been saved.

She could have been saved. Instead of leaving that night and talking about the politics of the day, they could have talked about a man that saved them, the Lord Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

Before the call that he talks about could be made, there'd be another call that had to be made. And our brother Mike referred to that. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

That never happened. And as a result of that, this convenient time never happened. Do you know why? Because he just had it.

Regardless of who you are in the meeting tonight, the most convenient moment for you to be saved is this moment. A more convenient than that—well, that's the word used here—is already in the past. I'm likely preaching to some and preaching for some in this meeting tonight, and you should have been saved long ago.

Long ago. Don't wait till you're that old man that we were hearing about with the white hair that come up and talk about being saved for 50 years. Just for a few minutes, listen to an old man with white hair that's been saved 61 years.

I was at Walmart the night before I left, and I just got my mind going through the cashier, and what I bought was $9 in 1952. And she looked at it, she said, 1952, sir. Oh, she said, that was a great year.

She said, that was my birth year. I said, it's good for you. For me, it was 1957.

And immediately she thought, look, this guy has got to be older than me, and he's saying 57. I said, that was the year I was second birth. Oh.

Oh. Okay, she says, okay. Got me my chains out of there right away.

I was just a little too strong, too much for her. Wonderful thing to be saved. Let me ask you, do you have a birth year? Do you have that birth date? Do you have that time when you were born into God's family, saved, and now on the way to heaven? Paul preached not only righteousness, but temperance.

This man's life was totally out of control, totally out of control. There's something by the Spirit of God that was gnawing at his conscience that he needed to hear about Christ. He needed to hear from this man, Paul.

No matter what anybody said, he got past all that. He needed to hear this. And Paul, there's nobody that wanted to preach to him more about Christ and glory than Paul, because that's how Paul was saved on the Damascus road.

Paul would have been thrilled to preach to him, but if he couldn't take it on these first notes, he'd never make it on the next. It's all in business. Let me ask you tonight, I wonder if there'll ever be a call made by you that's worth calling.

I can go to side roads in Iowa, in Ireland, in Canada. I can take it right to the spot where my cell phone began to vibrate or ring. Pull over the side of the road, picked up the cell phone.

I thought, we've lost connection. We lost connection and through maybe a sob or something I'd hear, I just got saved. And then I'd say, oh, who's calling? Then tell me.

I'll tell you what rejoicing, what rejoicing. Do you understand? Nothing would thrill your parents more, your relatives more tonight in this meeting, our friends, than were they to hear from you a call that's worth being made. I just got saved.

Just trusting Christ, whether it's on a cell phone or going downstairs, whatever it might be. Let it be that happy moment when you pass from darkness into his marvelous light and trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior. Call that was never made.

So how is it with you? Are you telling me tonight that you will die and go to hell without this call being made? And remember a night that you sat in 2019 in the La Crosse conference gospel meeting on Saturday. I heard about that call, but for you it never happened. Do you know why? Because you didn't want it to happen.

Call that was never made. I want to think of a message that was never sent. Here is a message that was never sent.

Luke chapter 16. Think of this beggar. Here's a man that went from an existence, that's all you could call it, an existence to a life.

The rich man went to a life from a life to an existence. Which would you want to be part of? The beggar. It was just an existence day to day.

Whatever came off that table that was his and nothing more, nothing less. Although he didn't have a lifetime. You know what he had? A time in life when he had trusted Christ.

The old Puritans used to say the Lord knew because he knew what was in the book of life and his name was there. We don't know what his name was. Lazarus.

Don't know what the rich man's name was. It's not worth recording because he missed Christ. So I want to talk just for a minute about a message that was never sent.

It was intended for these brothers but it was never sent. They never got it but you have. You have.

So have I. Do you know why? Because we are the ones to whom this message was intended to reach. God doesn't send messages from hell. He sends them from heaven.

Both the son that he sent. So here's this man. First request is gone.

Drop of water. The coolest tongue. He says, I'm tremendous flame.

Why would he want his mouth maybe moistened because he had likely something more to say. Just comes to my mind. My brother Tim lost a pilot over the Atlantic.

They used to do transatlantic flights. Lost words out of the mouth of that Vietnam veteran. Don Lennon.

Great, big, strong, powerful man. Couldn't get neither boost pumps to get fuel efficiently to that plane and the engine stopped and now he's going into the mid-Atlantic. Last words.

My mouth is too dry to talk. Last words. His last words.

Notice he's taken up with his tongue. Why do you think that is? Well, we were just hearing that tonight. If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus.

That tongue has never done that. Is yours? Is yours? Do you ever think it will? A message that was never sent. But a message that has been received.

Not by the intended recipients, but we got it. Now, my phone's no likely different than yours with these so-called smart phones. I'm not sure how smart they are at times, but there's something a little frustrating when you text somebody and you don't hear back from them.

You think, what is this? I'm a bit of a, I'm a little quick on things and when I send, I'm waiting to hear back. I don't have a lot of love for these boys that do emails quarterly. I want to hear like, you know, in the next like two minutes maybe.

And I pick up the phone. I think, what's wrong with that guy? Then I see on my phone, message failure. Message failure.

You can't say that. You're going to tell me you never heard this? Message failure. God saw to it that though those brothers never received that message, people sitting tonight in the La Crosse Logan High School have received it.

What are you going to do about it? The Lord knew these brothers would be no different than their brother that was in hell. Like they do the same thing no matter who it came from. When God sends his message, he doesn't send it from a beggar.

He sends it from the best, his son. There's a man that does a lot of garage work for my boys for smaller vehicles in their cars. His wife's a teacher.

She's taught our grandchildren and Harold's relatively interested in flying, different things like that. So I stand in his garage a couple weeks ago. He says, you know something? I have a hard time, Murray really getting my head around.

I said, what's that? Well, he said, guys like Bernie Madoff, Jeffrey Epstein. He said, did you ever see the jets they fly in? I said, no, I know they had it because I know where Bernie Madoff used to fly out of. The airport he had his jets at on Long Island.

But for those guys to go out of all that luxury, all those homes, their private islands, with all whatever you want to call about, they're set. He's talking, not me. But for them to go from that to an eight by ten cell, Bernie Madoff will never get out.

They carried Jeffrey Epstein out dead. And he had to go to the same. He said, I'd want to take my life too.

I said, listen, Harold, only one thing I can think of worse is for Harold Eaton to land in hell. And remember a man by name of Murray McCandless that came in his garage and told him repeatedly, invited him to gospel, but he said, Harold, you need a savior. You need to be saved.

Never said a word. Just looked at me and his head dropped. And Harold's not saved.

A message that was never sent. Depends. It depends.

You may not have anyone tonight determined that you're not going to be saved like Drusilla. You may not have anyone trying to block the call. There's another thing that happens on cell phones.

Only twice with me. Are you doing this in the meeting tonight? I tried to text a lady to get her to come to gospel meetings here about three weeks ago. I didn't text her in a long time.

It didn't go. I said, message blocked. She can do it.

It's her option. She's put a block in there. The if and coming from 506-432-0270 is blocked.

We preach the gospel to people and that has happened. They have put mentally a block in so that when they sit in a gospel like you're sitting in, they're tuned out. It's not for them.

So they think. And the call is blocked. It's all in business.

You don't think God knows that? My friend, listen. I think of another man, young man. He did the same thing.

Only two people I know of. There could be other blocks on attempted texts that I may try to send or calls I may tend to make. And yeah, same thing.

But listen, friend, whatever you do, whatever you do, don't you block a call from heaven. And you make sure that the message hits home. Because as you sit here tonight in this meeting, well, it didn't reach these five brothers.

Like I say, it reached who God intended it to reach. You. As if you're the only one in this auditorium tonight that you might be saved, that you might know your sins forgiven and Christ is your savior.

Life is good. You're on cruise. You're going along just like that big airliner going to Hong Kong back earlier in the spring.

Got in some terrible turbulence. I really never heard of this happening before. I usually I don't fly a lot commercial.

I have flown overseas and some whatever. But the pilot will come on and say, listen, we're going to hit some rough weather here. Please take your seats and cabin crew, please secure yourself.

And you hit some turbulence. This plane ran into some turbulence. It just wouldn't stop.

And finally, a petrified stewardess got on the address system and she said, is there a preacher on board? Please come to the front of the aircraft. The man was on that flight and he walked up and he said, this stewardess, he introduced himself. He said, what can I do? She said, just pray for us.

Just pray for us, sir. So he took the mike and he prayed for the safety of the flight. They made it through.

Wonder how many that night got down and thank God that somebody there prayed for them. Do you realize tonight all that have prayed for you? I think of some back our way. I'm thinking of a man right now.

He's likely worked 25, 30 years for our 25 years for our boys. Father is an overseer in the assembly. His wife got saved in gospel meetings we had a few years, number of years ago.

She's in the assembly. Randy's in his 50s and he's not saved. It's his mother that's in the hospital right now.

And he thinks the world of his mother. Everyone has said to me, you think this will speak to Randy? I said, I have no idea. I have no idea.

Randy lives two lives in two worlds. He came in here to the conference today. You think you'd be breaking bread with him tomorrow morning? Well, he'd be dressed like I am.

He'll smile. He can converse with you. Ask him if he's saved.

That's where it stops. Call has never been made. His mother said to me one day in the foyer of our hall, she said, if God has to take me to awaken my son, so be it.

That's a big statement. God hears that. Again, back where I was working this summer, what to do.

You know, men get pretty cocky. They show off when they're with others. When they're by themselves, it's a different story.

This young man was in the yard of his sister. His sister, older sister comes to the gospel meetings, saved lady. And he makes no profession at all of being saved.

Allison doesn't. Allison's a merchant, small trucking business. Life is good.

It's successful. And he's sitting in his big white Dodge doodly pickup, and he's got his white shades on, mirrored shades. And he looked at me, his cousin standing at the other window on the driver's side.

I'm on the passenger side, giving him an invitation, inviting him to meetings. He threw his arms so carelessly at the back of that seat. Now, this is a man in his 50s.

He said, I'm sorry, Mr. Preacher, but I just don't have time for God in my life just now. I said, listen, sir, God can change that so quickly. He says, maybe in the conversation, he drove out the driveway.

I went on to the next place I was visiting as on Tuesday, Thursday, two days later, he was rushed. He was a big man physically. He was rushed to the St. John hospital waiting for heart surgery.

His sister who's saved said to me, I didn't, I didn't want to break her heart. I didn't want to tell her the whole conversation I had with her brother. And I'm not telling you at all either.

I'm just telling you what he said. She said, the big boy is laying in a bed in the St. John hospital crying like a baby because he doesn't think he should be having this heart surgery at this age. There he is.

Yeah, he came through it. God was good to him. Still recovering in a relative's house.

Can't go back three hours up north where he lived. Gotta stay near the hospital. Gotta kind of monitor him.

You hear what he said? I don't have time for God in my life right now. I don't know how the trucking business is doing without him, but I know this. He didn't plan where he is right now.

That's where he is. Listen, my friend, whatever you do, let me tell you what delight is there in telling you about a call that never came or a message that was never sent or about a delivery that was never made. All the best intentions, Ruben.

It's not going to happen. Yeah, you're the firstborn. There was a day when you could have taken charge of a situation.

Like really, if he had been the man he should have been, Joseph should never have been in that pit. But he said, I'm going to deliver him to his father. And he had the best of intentions, but it didn't happen.

It was a delivery that was never made. You know what it reminds me of? Reminds me of that moment when the Lord Jesus healed that son, or rather raised him to life. He was dead.

I think those words are so sweet because I have seen it happen. Where it says he delivered him to his mother. A boy that she never had before.

Boy that she'd never had before. But Michael Christopherson was so concerned in those meetings in Heightsville how many years ago, I'm not sure. Michael was a nice boy.

I know it was a little rugged. He wanted to go home with me that night from the meeting, just sat in the car. I said, listen, Michael.

Well, he said, what should I do? I said, well, listen, here's what you could start with. And I could see Barbara's mother in through the window there standing at the kitchen. I said, why don't you go in and tell that mother of yours that you're not the good little boy she thinks she has.

You're just a wicked sinner and you deserve to be in hell. I said, don't tell her if you don't believe that. Just tell her a bit.

And then when you've done that, you go and tell God the same thing. Barbara told me after. He came in and he began to tell that.

And she says, I just want to say, no, you're not that bad. But then she said, yeah, I guess he is. Three days later, he got saved.

You know what she said? I've got a boy as good as he was, as pleased he was, I never had before. I had a neighbor. He used to tell me he was a service manager at Canadian Tire, one of our big automotive supply places over there.

He was my neighbor. And he used to go through my yard on Sunday morning from the golf course. I lived next to the golf course, never on it in my life.

Nothing against golfing, but Junior lived there. And I used to ask him what he was going through. Well, how was church this morning? And he'd keep walking.

He couldn't put his head up. Finally, one day at the garage, he said to me, you know, McCandless, he said, he would be a nice guy if it wasn't for your religion. It's just a minute now, just a minute.

I said, there's all kinds of religious people that live in this neighborhood, but I'm not one of them. Oh, he says, if there's anybody that is, it's you. No, no, no, no.

I said, Junior, I'm a Christian. And God has put me here for a reason. I am not your neighbor.

I've told all my neighbors this. I'm not your neighbor by chance. God has planted Shirley and I on one of, no, that was Piccadilly then, on Taverner Terrace for one reason.

Not because it's a good place to live. Well, come on, Christians. You're not besides your neighbor by chance.

God's got a purpose in you being there. And I said, I'm going to tell you something else. I could only imagine what kind of a wild character I would be if I wasn't saved.

I can only imagine it because I'd be far worse than that. If it wasn't for God's salvation, Junior, you wouldn't want to live next to me. I says, whatever you want to think of the best of me, it's only because I'm saved on my way to heaven.

Junior wasn't planning on that. Junior's younger than I am. He died last week.

Died last week. Gone. Wasn't planning on going that soon.

But he heard the gospel. He heard it. I called up his best friend who I, former policeman I've spoken to a lot in town.

Well, Murray says, you know, he wasn't that bad a guy. He says, I think he's gone to the best. I says, Bob, don't be silly.

I don't know if he's saved or not, but if he's not saved, he's not in heaven. Same as the pharmacist down the corner. My other neighbor said to me the other day, she said, oh, he's up there enjoying glory again.

His wife. I said, how do you know she's up there? Oh, she was a good lady. Oh, really? How do you know he's up there? Well, she says, you know him.

He was a nice man. He might've been that. Fellas.

I said, he might've been that. But you don't know that he's in heaven. And I don't know that he's in heaven.

But I can tell you this much. I know I'm going. Because the Bible tells me I'm going.

I said, one question. We both know these individuals. Did ever he tell you he's going to heaven? No, she said he didn't have to.

No, she didn't have to, but he'd want to. I'm thrilled to tell people I'm going to heaven. Can't meet enough of them.

All the time. Why not? Oh, yeah. No, no, no.

I meet them. Fella I'm working with right now, I know flies the same kind of airplane as I do. He says, we got to get together, Murray, you and I. He's a builder from Prince Edward Island.

He said, we got to get together and have some barren talk. That's the kind of plane I'm flying. I said to Shirley, that'll last about three minutes when it becomes Bible talk.

It's all over. Bible talk. What the Bible says tonight, God loves you.

What the Bible says tonight, he sent a message to you, not from hell, not from a beggar, but from heaven and from the best, his son. And here's what God says about him, that he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.