Revelation (Quality: Average, Quiet)

[0:00] We're going to look at the seventh chapter of the Revelations, and I want you to look together at verse 13 and verse 14.

[0:13] You know, we live in an age where there is not a lot of questions asked. But how good technology is and the computerized age that we live in, there isn't a lot of questions asked today, so there is not a lot of answers given.

[0:30] You can get your words on your computer, but beloved friends, there doesn't seem to be that inquiry concerning the most important thing in our lives tonight, and the most important thing in your life tonight, and my life is, where shall we spend eternity?

[0:54] That's what we're here for tonight. That's why I've stabbled 135 miles this morning, not just to have a service, not just to have a social gathering, but to speak of Jesus, that sinners deserving eternal punishment might be as brands plucked from the fife.

[1:19] And so the question is asked by this man that was later cast aside on the Isle of Patmos. He hadn't to preach, he had to write.

[1:32] Very similar, wasn't it, to John Bunyan when he spent twelve years in the prison. But he had to write. But he had one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are laid in white robes?

[1:47] And whence came they? And I said unto him, And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

[2:10] So we have a question tonight, and we have an answer. And if anyone asks you how many people are going to heaven at the end of this age, you must always refer them to the ninth verse of the seventh chapter of Revelations.

[2:28] And I said unto him, Realize that we are living in the latter days.

[3:06] The sketch it will say, well, it was mentioned in the Bible. People in the New Testament were speaking about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

[3:18] We will look nearer tonight, the second coming of Jesus Christ, than we have ever been. But did it concern you? I can speak just on a personal note.

[3:32] For many years, it didn't concern me. But I sat with your sat tonight. And I heard the truth being proclaimed. You might say, I had a very privileged upbringing.

[3:48] And many of you had a very privileged upbringing. Because you have sat under the sound of the truth. Many of you, from a child. It can be said, of many here tonight.

[4:01] And that from a child, thou hast known the Holy Scriptures. Isn't that true tonight?

[4:11] Isn't that true tonight? Of many of you here. I can identify myself with you tonight. Because from a child, I knew the Holy Scriptures.

[4:24] But it didn't mean anything to me for a long time. When I was a chapel, it wasn't that I missed any services. But you say, it was just keeping up appearances.

[4:40] And you say, that intervention has to take place. With some, it comes very strongly and very forcibly.

[4:53] And you have different evidences in the Bible. You have a soul of Tartus. A converted. And you might say, it was a sudden conversion. We love his friends.

[5:04] We don't know how long he's been kicking and fighting against God. The Lord Jesus said, it's hard for you to kick against the prince.

[5:14] He was in his thirties when the Lord intervened. But you know, it showed the same power to open the heart of Lydia as he did to bring the soul of Tartus to his name.

[5:29] You say, it's the effect on these people. That they're amongst this great multitude. They weren't born loving God. There's not one of us here that were born loving God.

[5:42] We were born in sin and shaped in iniquity. And the love of the world was our chief desire. But you say, this intervention came to Saul of Tartus as he was on his way to persecute the disciples of the Lord.

[6:03] I wonder if there's some of you here tonight and you're fighting against God and nobody knows about it.

[6:15] You say, you can put in an appearance or you can lose a part. But beloved friends, the Lord lurketh upon my heart and he lurketh upon your heart tonight.

[6:30] Friends, can you say tonight from your heart, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Because it's remarkable the third hymn that was chosen tonight by your deacon.

[6:49] It was a hymn that I might have brought with me for the last hymn tonight. Because that was on my heart in the 21st of John. Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than thee.

[7:04] What's your answer? What's my answer tonight? Let's come down to reality. We mentioned in prayer that we're not speaking about the business world tonight.

[7:19] We're not speaking about the political world tonight. I don't want to dwell too much on the world in general tonight. As Herb had stated his head, but I want to speak tonight of the eternal world that you and I are heading for.

[7:39] We're all at different ages tonight. Some of you are very young in years. Some of you are just beginning on life.

[7:51] Some of us are in middle life. Some of us are older still. But beloved friends, we're all on a journey tonight. And that journey began in our case and your case of when the Lord brought you into the world.

[8:10] That was a miraculous event, wasn't it? I love that word tonight, when it pleads God. When it pleads God, who brought you into the world at that appointed time.

[8:25] We've sung it many times, do we believe it? Parents, a native place and time, all appointed, were by Him. When it pleads God.

[8:38] Well, let's go a little step further tonight. I want you to be able to say this tonight. When it pleads God, who called me by His grace.

[8:48] We still believe in an effectual call. We still believe it is God's work and not man's.

[8:59] But that shouldn't leave us with our arms folded. That was the problem with the Laodicean church. She was neither hot nor cold.

[9:12] She was like the five foolish virgins. They were all asleep, even the wise ones. And you know, we can get into such a comfortable state on this earth, within the church, that we can become lukewarm in the things of God.

[9:32] What a dreadful thing, although the Lord did not finally let the church of Laodicea go. I will spew the earth of my mouth.

[9:44] In other words, if you leave a bottle of water in the sun and you try to drink that bottle of water when it's been out in the blazing heat, you can't drink it.

[9:54] You'll spew it out of your mouth. That's what God said. He said, I have somewhat against thee. And that was another church.

[10:05] They had forgotten the time of their first love. But the Laodicean church was neither hot nor gold. But they were lukewarm. They were quite happy to gather together for a service, but they were lukewarm.

[10:22] There was no life. There was no fruit. Beloved friends, we've got to come back to the church of the Lord Jesus. Seven times in the revelations these words were spoken.

[10:36] He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. God is speaking unto you that and I. He's speaking unto me.

[10:47] Remember the word. Judgment must be done, has be done. Not a crossroad in the public house. Not in the nightclub.

[10:59] My beloved friends, the judgment of the Lord begins with His people. Why? Why would the judgment of God begin with those who are attending the house of God?

[11:14] Listen to Jesus. Don't listen to me. He should be more tolerable. Now think of this tonight. Think of the high approach we all have here tonight.

[11:25] We have the word of God. We have the preaching of the gospel. We have the promise where two or three are gathered together in my name. There will I be in the midst so we have the promise of the Holy Spirit of God.

[11:41] Jesus said He should be more tolerable in the days for Sodom and Gomorrah than those who have heard the word of God. What a woeful pronunciation was on the cities of Bethesda.

[11:56] Worm to thee, Chorazin. Worm to thee, Bethesda. For if the mighty works had been done in them that had been done in you, they would have repentance.

[12:09] You know, believers' baptism is for believers. If you're an unbeliever tonight, faith and repentance is your priority.

[12:20] But if you are a believer and you have turned away from following of the Lord, then, beloved friends, why ask yourself the question?

[12:36] Faith in the Lord Jesus, repentance towards God. Now, this is vital. The greatest minister that ever walked the earth was John the Baptist.

[12:49] I don't like to hear people speak about people in a bygone age being the prince of preachers. The prince of preachers was Christ. Wasn't one of our ministers or any other minister.

[13:03] But the greatest minister that ever walked the earth apart from Christ was John the Baptist. The Lord Jesus said amongst those that are born of women, there have never appeared a greater than John the Baptist.

[13:18] What was his text? What was his message? Week by week, month by month, repent. For the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[13:30] What is the message tonight? Repent. There's been books written about repentance. There's been old times of things about how you can't or how you can't repent.

[13:44] The Lord Jesus said, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. My friends, we've got to come back to the word of God. We've got to come back to the word of the living God.

[13:57] If we do not speak according to this word, then it may not be not who's in this pulpit, there's no truth in them. Beloved friends, let's be honest tonight.

[14:08] When Christ came down to this earth, he was baptized of a single man. And he came about of the water and the heavens themselves opened. The Lord, his father, said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

[14:25] Hear ye him. Jesus said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at home. Now all these people in our text tonight, they have been brought to repentance, they've been brought to the fountain, they've been washed in the fountain.

[14:44] These are they that have come out of great tribulation. It wasn't the tribulation that saved them. The whole world is under tribulation. My friends, another word for tribulation is pressure.

[14:59] The whole world is under pressure. There's never been as much pressure. The problem is, with so much pressure today, we don't set any time to see the Lord.

[15:11] How many times have you said, I haven't time to do this? I haven't time to go to the preaching service. I haven't time to go to the prayer meeting.

[15:24] My friends, they are not valid in the courts of heaven. You might have a cast iron excuse for abstinence in yourself from the house of God. It isn't valid in heaven.

[15:36] God has given you a measure of health and strength tonight. God has brought you to the house of God. It's not for, it's for divine purpose. Beloved friends, we come back to this.

[15:48] The end of all things is at hand. It might be the last time that I ever preached the gospel. I don't know. It might be the last time you sit under the sound of the gospel.

[16:01] I don't know. Paul didn't know from one day to the next what lay before him. He didn't have any foreknowledge. He said, I am barren for Jerusalem, not knowing what shall befall me there.

[16:16] He didn't know what would befall him. I don't know what will befall me on the morning. I don't know, friends. I don't know what you don't know. Now this was a wonderful test.

[16:28] It wasn't an arrogant statement. But none of these things move me. Why? Neither count I my life here unto myself that I might finish my course with joy.

[16:43] Now, beloved friends, tonight, listen to this testimony. And the ministry that I have received of the Lord Jesus. If we haven't received our ministry from Christ, we've no right to preach the gospel.

[16:58] If we have not received that commission from heaven to go into the world and preach the gospel to all preachers, we shouldn't be here tonight. There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

[17:12] Jeremiah, it was a weak man. He said, Lord, I cannot go. I am a child. God said, thou shalt go to all that I send. Moses was a man of slow speech.

[17:25] He said, if you have made man's mouth, hath not I, now go, and I will be with thy mouth. And that's how we have to preach the gospel. Beloved friends, we have to go in the strength of the Lord.

[17:38] We happen to preach our own experience. Oh yes, each minister, each believer has an experience. It isn't that that takes you to heaven. You will have an experience if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus.

[17:52] It isn't negative, it is very positive. When it pleased God who called me by his grace and revealed his son in me, then friends, he did not confer with flesh, and but he went in the strength of God.

[18:09] You know, I don't want to compare natural things to spiritual tonight. But you take someone that is in the selling field, if that man is negative, he'll never sell anything.

[18:23] He'll never sell anything. He has to believe in that product that he is presenting. My beloved friends, we have to believe what we are preaching tonight is right and is positive.

[18:39] The word of the Lord. You see, we're concerned sinners. You and I tonight, we are on the journey.

[18:50] And friends, at the end of life's journey, there is heaven and there is hell. No one spoke more of heaven and hell but Christ.

[19:01] You think about the parable of the rich man. You think about Lazarus at the end of his life. He didn't even have a funeral. He was carried into heaven. Abraham's bosom is figurative language of heaven.

[19:16] He was carried into heaven. What about the rich man? What about the man who probably heard the gospel thousands of times? He's termished. And he begins to call on Abraham.

[19:30] The minister come recently and he took his shirt, mate. He said, the greatest prayer meeting tonight is in hell and there's no hope for them.

[19:43] He begins to call on his father, Abraham. And call on God. Oh, send someone back to the earth and tell them about this real place that I am in.

[19:53] just weeping and gnashing of teeth. The torment at night and day. But he said, but they have the servants of God.

[20:05] They have the ministers of God. If they don't believe them, you know, if it came on the news tonight that someone had risen from the dead, it would be a seven-day wonder. Of course it would.

[20:17] Within seven days it would be forgotten about. He said, they have Moses and the prophets. They have the ministers of the gospel. If they don't believe them, how would they believe if we sent one back from the dead?

[20:31] Reading our text tonight, friends, they must have believed, you see. They must have believed in Christ. They must have been to the fountain. They must have been washed in the fountain.

[20:44] I was reading our chapter in the Corinthians. It tells us about the great catalogue of sinners that could never enter heaven. And then, he clarifies it, I'm searching for some of you.

[20:59] You know, this black castle of their sinners, neither murderers, nor fornicators, nor idolaters, nor drunkards, nor effeminate, nor abusers of mankind shall ever enter the kingdom of God.

[21:11] I'm searching for some of you. What about that? Can you see tonight the difference? You know, we sing these hymns at times so glibly.

[21:23] Ye souls redeemed by Jesus' blood, salvation seem pursued. Exalt the sovereign grace of God for such for some of you.

[21:35] Where did the Lord find you? Where did he find me? My dearly friends, every one of us tonight, if we've been born again of the Spirit of God, we are brown and splot from the fire.

[21:49] Brown and splot from the fire. But these are they that came out of great tribulation and they have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.

[22:02] You see, they're given a new dress. They're given something they can't present before God. They're given a robe and it's called the wedding garment. Oh friends, to have the wedding garment on.

[22:15] It doesn't matter then how old you are. It doesn't matter if you're only 15 or 20 or 30. It doesn't matter. If you've got that wedding garment on tonight, friends, you've got your passport to heaven.

[22:29] You've got your passport to heaven tonight. Have you got your passport to heaven? If that day should come, if Jesus should return tonight, and he may do, he may do.

[22:46] What is your response tonight? Is it that word at the end of the Bible? Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Sorry, no, I just want it to come yet.

[22:58] No, I'm having too good a time down here for that. You know, we read in the Hebrews about the pleasures of sin for a season. And friends, you can write that over your life tonight, whether you are young, old, or middle, you matter what age you are, it's only for a season.

[23:20] You know, I was speaking with our beloved sister today, and I'm convinced of this. Materialism has paralyzed the church. You say, tonight, we don't see the signs.

[23:34] It is the materialism that we're embedded in. We're all involved with it. We're all involved with it. My friends, tonight, there is a picture of the whole church of God, and that church is shortly going to be presented in heaven to the Father.

[23:54] every sinner that was loved with an elected love will be presented. Oh, don't sit back tonight with arms folded. Don't say, tonight, well, whatever will be, will be.

[24:06] Don't say, tonight, well, my father's a godly man, my mother's a godly man, my grandfather's not hereditary. it's not hereditary.

[24:19] We come back to the word of God tonight, and it's a solemn word to preach from Jacob, of my love. You wouldn't have taken Jacob on at any cost.

[24:30] If you'd have been interviewing Jacob and Esau, you would have never given the job to Jacob, my friend. He was a twister. He was a supporter.

[24:42] The world would say he couldn't lie straight in bed. Esau was a more honourable man. Jacob have I loved. Can you tell me why God loved Jacob?

[24:55] Can you tell me tonight why God said unto that man when he left his home that night, and behold, I am with you, and I will be with you and keep in all places with us wherever you go.

[25:08] Ah, friends, if old Jacob was here tonight, he'd be able to sing that end. Thou shall see my glory soon. Because Jacob denied him in heaven because God set his eternal love upon him.

[25:23] But you would have never given Jacob a position in this life. My friend, he didn't only twist his father, he twisted everybody. But he got paid back, didn't he?

[25:35] You see him down at his Uncle Laban's for twenty years. He served all those years, seven for Rachel and seven for Liz. Then he's on his way back and he remembers what he done to his brother.

[25:52] But friends, you see the craftiness of the man, and he was in the text tonight, he put everyone before him, he sent presents before to his brother, and he's back, he doesn't want to see his brother.

[26:03] But you see, friends, God had gone before him. You read in the prophecy of Isaiah, fear not, thou worm Esau, no, fear not, thou worm Jacob.

[26:20] I have redeemed thee, thou art mine. You know, there's a personal relationship between God and his children.

[26:32] Rather remarkable this, I don't know who it was, but last week someone sent me a sermon through the post, I don't often get a sermon through the post, but this was a sermon, and it was preached about 1860 or 1870, and the text was, but I have graven them on the palms of my hand, and their walls are continually before me, and it was a remarkable sermon.

[26:58] Oh, friends, you think of that relationship tonight, you know, the people of God, the teacher might be thinking tonight, well, I've stoke the Lord, but I've never had the blessing that I desire, and you might be saying tonight, but God has forsaken me.

[27:15] The Lord says, can a woman forget her second child? The most tender relationship in the world should be between a newborn babe, we have one in our gathering tonight, and the mother, can a woman forget her child?

[27:30] Yes, said the Lord, she might forget, but I will not forget thee. For you tonight, that are seen, you know, we think of these things tonight, those stable desires, those wishes, so weak, this is Jesus inspires and bids these to the things.

[27:51] You see, there's an invitation tonight, for those who are seeking God. Right at the end of the Bible tonight, the spirit and the bride say, come, and let him that is a thirst come.

[28:06] What are you seeking tonight? Do you not feel satisfied tonight, with what you have tried up to now? Maybe you've gone down one or two avenues, maybe you've gone down those avenues.

[28:19] Learning, pleasure, wealth, and faith, they all cry out it is nutty. But you see, we don't see it that way, we start to pursue them, don't we?

[28:29] We start to go down those avenues. What about the eternal world? What about heaven?

[28:42] What about the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ? Be sober and watch them to prayer. The end of all things is a time. We don't have like it is.

[28:53] We don't preach like it is. My beloved friends, we don't preach like we're living at the end of the age, as it was in the days of Noah. You see, friends, here tonight, we have the whole church of God.

[29:13] From the day that Adam fell in the garden of Eden to the time when the lost precious vessel of murder is gathered in. What's your prayer tonight?

[29:26] You might know some of your brothers or sisters, I know they're saying, I know the Lord has met with them. You may have witnessed their baptism. You may have sung at the poor side ashamed of Jesus.

[29:44] What is actually preventing that coming sinner tonight from going with the Lord what is preventing? There's something stopping you.

[29:57] There's something holding you back tonight. It isn't the Lord Jesus. Jesus has said to every believer tonight, do this in remembrance of me.

[30:10] What are we to do? We have to remember and we sit down and we remember the Lord's supper till he comes again. It's a beautiful hymn, you know, we may sing it many times and not realise what we are singing.

[30:26] His institutions would I pride. Do you pride? Take up the cross, have you done it? It's the shameless pies.

[30:38] You see, these are they that came out of great tribulation. Oh, there will be opposition. Oh, it will not be a pathway of roses, otherwise you'd have carpet slippers.

[30:51] You're not given carpet slippers. You are given shoes of iron and brass. And iron and brass never wear out. That's the reason we're given these shoes of iron and brass, because there's a pathway which summit is not long.

[31:07] Everyone happened to be in the wilderness for 40 and 50 years. Summit is a very short time, we're down to long. some are called by divine grace and in a short phase of time they're taken to the glory land.

[31:24] You're reading the end of John Bunyan's life and he just touched a wonderful throat in his head. He finally climbed the other side and entered into the celestial city.

[31:38] Are you looking forward to that? Are you looking forward to seeing the Lord Jesus? Do you know, recently I wonderful blessing, we don't get much opportunity to hear the gospel preach when we're preaching most weeks and that.

[31:54] But I was down in mid-Wales recently near Tembe and we went to the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist for the service and there was a minister preaching from Swansea and he reminded me that before his conversion I would imagine that he had been a rugby player, he was that type of guy and he had the beard and he had the physique for a rugby player but one thing he said in the evening service, he said I love my family, I love my church but he said I'm longing to see Christ.

[32:26] Are you? I'm longing to see Jesus. Oh, friends, what a testimony, that man was not 70 years of age, that man would be about 43 years of age, but he said he was longing to see Jesus.

[32:45] You know, I felt such a drawing to that man. I'd never met him before and I may never see him again. As I left that church that night, I shook his hand and I said, the Lord be with thee, to the end, and land you're safe above, a long eternity to spend in singing God's love.

[33:08] God, now these are the things that I'm speaking of tonight. Friends, I have the same opposition that you have. I have the powerful world, the flesh, and the devil.

[33:23] If not the devil will attack me as soon as I leave tonight, I know he will. But, friends, what is all this that we might become followers of the meek and lowly Jesus?

[33:36] you see, there's something better than the world is offering you and I tonight. The Lord is not offering this salvation, friends.

[33:48] He gives it. But now their desire of better comes, friends. The world is offering you all the delights of this world. All this will I give you if you'll only bow down and worship me.

[34:02] You get to the entertainment, you get to the sports world today. I feel beloved friends, it's almost idolatry. Look, all these grounds, the place of worship.

[34:16] And beloved friends, but for the grace of God, we'd still be going, wouldn't we? On search with some of you. You know, sometimes it must nauseate the Lord as well.

[34:32] You get people that say, well, I couldn't do that, and I couldn't do that, tons of doing this. They're never losing their own heart. They don't know what lies within their own heart.

[34:44] The thought of foolishness is sin. We've all sinned today enough to take us to hell forever. All of us in this gathering here tonight, we've sinned today in thought, word, and deed.

[34:58] people don't realize it. People don't realize it. These are they that came out of great tribulation, and they have washed their clothes in the blood of the Lamb.

[35:12] They're follyless. They don't need any candles in heaven. There's no noise in heaven. It's day all the time. You know, these are the words that describe glory tonight.

[35:27] I have not seen, nor that entered into the heart of any man, the things that God hath prepared before.

[35:38] For all those that love his appearing. We come back to that text I've spoken on Tuesday at the funeral in Alfred. And to all those that love his appearing.

[35:51] Do you love his appearing tonight? Would you like to go and preach another hour? right, lad, when I say amen, you know, there was a time in my life when the word that I used to long for was amen.

[36:06] Why? Why was that? Why? Why was it? Because I was brought up under the gospel. I heard the preaching of the gospel. Because I was dead in Vespas and incense.

[36:22] and I loved the world and all its delights. And the amen was the best word that I could ever hear to help.

[36:34] You have it quickened. And we are quickened or we are dead in case for some incense. You know, it's a wonderful hymn is this.

[36:46] I came to Jesus as I was. Weary and worn and sad. Have you come like that? Have you come like that?

[36:59] You know, there's a man in the congregation down at Soma's Fort when I was down there and I noticed a man was weeping. You don't see a lot of weeping today in the congregations do you?

[37:13] You don't see many wet eyes today. And I said to the pastor's wife, he died about two years ago, the pastor. I said, that man was weeping this morning and he was weeping tonight.

[37:28] And he looked like he's a bit of a rough type of man really. And she said, he's been in a far country. Been in a far country.

[37:40] Oh, I said, I wondered whether he'd been a prodigal. She said, he's like the prodigal. She said, he was gloriously converted many years ago.

[37:51] He's gone in a far country. He's lived all over the world. He's lived on both. He's been everywhere. He's been in a little village just outside Saunders, but in mid Wales.

[38:02] God's brought him back. He's weeping. How many of us here tonight are weeping? He's weeping, friends.

[38:12] Why is he weeping? Because he's been in a far country. I wonder how many of us here tonight are still in that far country. You remember the parable of the prodigal.

[38:27] Give me all that I have and I when he went. And he spent his living and he went in a far country. You see, God brings his prodigals back.

[38:39] And I believe this man has been brought back. Oh, they had to go after that man. But he was weeping under the gospel.

[38:51] How many weep today under the gospel? How many of you have weeped under the gospel? I hope the full gospel has been preached. I hope it's not half the gospel.

[39:03] I hope I'm preaching everything tonight. The Lord has given me to preach for you. Because one day I shall have to give an account. Oh, I have preached the gospel.

[39:15] And you will have to give an account. You have heard the gospel. You know, we read in the Prophecy of Ezekiel about the minister being a watchman.

[39:28] you know what a watchman said, I have sent you as a watchman to the house of Israel. He has to be clear of the blood of all men.

[39:39] If he didn't warn the wicked from their ways, the blood would be upon his head. The apostle Paul said, I have got to be clear of the blood of all men. But Timothy preached the word.

[39:53] I'm now ready to be offered. The time of my departure's hand, I have finished the course. What concerns me is this, you get many people in our own chapels now, and they've been going all their life, and you ask them about Christ, and they can't tell you.

[40:20] Well, they prefer to be Baptist, but they haven't followed the Lord Jesus Christ. They haven't gone forth in his strength. And yet, friends, they've always been there.

[40:34] Now we come back to those words, and there's no age barrier in this. In the last chapter of the minor prophets, then they that feared the Lord spake up one to another, what about, not the weather, about the inflation situation, no, about who won yesterday between England and Scotland, no, did work speaking like that.

[41:05] Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, what about, the Lord, about what Jesus has done for the never dying souls.

[41:18] You haven't got to be 70 to speak about that. You know the story of John Bunyan. We've read it probably many times. He heard three women speaking of Christ in the marketplace.

[41:32] He was riveted. It was a reality. Where do these people go? They're speaking about Jesus. Do you speak about Jesus?

[41:44] Was our conversation as we leave tonight? Was my conversation when I got home tonight? Who's been? Who's not been? Why haven't they come tonight? Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.

[42:00] God has a remembrance for them. And they shall be mine. now that day is coming when his jewels are going to be made up.

[42:13] How stands the gates my soul with thee? Is heaven thy credentials plea? Is Jesus blood mine only plea?

[42:24] Is he my great for unid heir? Friends, it won't be how many times we've preached the gospel. It won't be how many services we have taken. It will be Jesus.

[42:36] Into thy hands I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth. Then they shall be mine in that day.

[42:48] We will close to our Mars gone. It hasn't really gone, but we normally finish about this time. Then they shall return. Who shall return?

[43:02] These who have come out of great tribulation, who have been washed in the blood of the blood of the lamb. They shall return. Now, friends, let's be clear on this point tonight.

[43:16] Deservement is a gift from heaven. Criticism is from the devil. Did you know that? You are criticizing tonight, it isn't from the Lord. Deservement is from God.

[43:29] God, my old dear father had some wonderful quaint saints, but one of them was this. He said, the gospel has a true ring about it. Do you know what he means?

[43:41] The gospel has a true ring about it. They had some wonderful quaint saints. And I remember him speaking like that and beloved friends, it used to affect him to speak about Jesus.

[43:56] The last time before he died in 86 and I was preaching at Bradford on the Tuesday. All the way to Bradford he was speaking about Christ. He spoke to the people after the service that he wasn't on the same planet as them.

[44:11] He said, they don't understand me tonight. I said, Dad, you've won't put in heaven. Two days later, God took him to heaven. And he asked that question that we preached up this morning.

[44:23] What shall the end of all these things be? He said, no sooner spoke it than the words came back. Heaven, heaven, his finished course was finished.

[44:35] He said to me on the Wednesday night, what do you hope to preach upon Good Friday? I hope to be there, but we should have gone to a wedding on the Saturday in Harrogate. He said, I don't think we able to finish.

[44:53] He said, that'll do, that's a good text. Didn't realize, two days later, God called him home to glory. Now I remember speaking to the doctor who was with him in his final moment, about four days after.

[45:09] He was an Egyptian doctor, you know. And I said, I just like to thank you for all that you did for him while he was here on earth. He didn't see in that final moment.

[45:28] He didn't see a fearful face. Beloved friends, there's a reality in the things of God. May God bless you. May God bless you in the gospel.

[45:40] Oh, may we seek to preach Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever more. Amen. As the Lord may be pleased to help me, I direct your prayerful attention to the Song of Solomon chapter 2 verses 10 and the first part of verse 11.

[46:22] those who are in his wife the Lord what his son is going to the youth and a father in a other through together into his