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[0:00] In our service singing hymn number 1127, 1127. When Zion's son's great God appear in Zion's courts for praise and prayer, there in thy spirit deign to be as one with those who worship thee.

[0:30] Amen. in thou FAITH Thank you.

[1:54] Thank you.

[2:24] Thank you. Thank you.

[3:24] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[3:36] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[3:48] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[4:00] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[4:12] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[4:24] Thank you. we are often found as thy servant the psalmist when he said I mourn in my complaint and make a noise ah yet Lord how often hast thou heard us in our mourning and we pray that now thou wilt look upon us as we attempt to call upon thy name be pleased oh Lord to pour out upon us the spirit of grace and of supplication oh may our united cries ascend up before thee Lord do not leave us to utter an empty form of words but oh may we feel the indicting of thy Holy Spirit in our hearts may it come to pass as we sometimes sing the force of their united cries no power can long withstand oh then Lord hear us at this evening hour we meet once more in thy courts be pleased to meet with us oh didst thou not say to thine ancient people whereso'er I record my name

[5:52] I will come to thee and I will bless thee Lord we want thee to do the same to us we believe we can say thou hast recorded thy name here oh then come again in thy power Lord and command thy blessing upon us we have heard with our ears and our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days and thou art the same God unchangeable unchangeable eternally the same all the change is in us and Lord we are undeserving of thine notice we are undeserving of the least blessing and yet we would seek for every blessing for thou knowest dearest Lord the ground on which we come thou hast never yet blessed us for any good thou hast seen in us by nature when we think of our forefathers yea even the patriarchs of old

[7:12] Abraham Isaac and Jacob Lord our acceptance today is the same as theirs for they had no merit of their own to plead and neither have we but oh we would plead once more the infinite merits of Jesus thy dear son we would plead his name there is none other name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved we would plead his precious sin atoning blood we would plead his justifying righteousness Lord do not turn a deaf ear to our crying O make known the power of thy grace freely and sovereignly come to us where we are now and Lord we are carnal we are sold under sin we meet in thy court but O how dependent we are upon thee for every good desire we could not do a wish aspire if one good wish could purchase heaven and Lord we have much to mourn over we have much to be ashamed of and we would come and confess our sins before thee and thou knowest the coldness and the deadness of our hearts how often have we to confess with the poet it is of thee we little know and are still less in joy but Lord we would not have it so and we would come and plead the merits of thy dear son yet once more at this evening hour and ask thee to look upon us through him and bless us not because of what we have done but because of what he has done

[9:34] O Lord can it be that we shall plead the merits of Christ and thou turn a deaf ear to our cry O be that far from thee Lord be pleased O Lord to come among us here thy people have met together here for a good number of years and we can all look back on our public worship we can look back O Lord upon the number of years when we trust thou hast upheld us in the ministry of the gospel and yet we look back with shame of face over all of it well Lord our desire this evening is that thou will come and make one in our midst we want to see unmistakably thy hand we want to feel unmistakably thy power in our own souls at the close of the services of this day we want to see unmistakably upon the service the indelible mark of God the Holy Spirit

[11:01] Lord we want to be saved from all that is of the flesh from all that is mere sentiment O mercifully deliver us from it we read in thy word of those who have a form of godliness but they deny the power thereof we believe there are those today who have the form and it may be a good one but O Lord what is that without an experimental knowledge of the power of vital godliness in the soul we want thee O Lord to give us a feeling heart this evening we would echo with the poet we want to feel we want to know we want to see thee more we want sweet foretaste of thy love as we've had before another poet said that true religion is more than notion something must be known and felt and it is that precious something we want to know and feel for ourselves this evening

[12:26] Lord do not leave us to rest short of that which is real we know it is not the quantity of our religion but rather is it the nature of it the quality of it we would not despise the smallest thing of which thou art the author Lord be pleased to come this evening send out thy light and thy truth O bless thy word to us may there be a little dew upon the branch Lord do come and bless thy people I knowest whether there be any come this evening with a heart with a desire a heart opened longing to know thee O solemn Lord to stand before thee naked open and bare well

[13:30] Lord bless each seeking soul we read in thy word he will fulfill the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them to encourage those who seek thee Lord there is much to discourage in these days to this end we pray particularly for our younger friends present they live in an evil day they have the world around them and by nature the world will soon be inside Lord Jesus when upon earth thou didst pray for thy disciples not that they should be taken out of the world but that they should be saved from the evil Lord mercifully save our young friends here from the evil of this world take them in hand

[14:39] Lord implant thy fear in their heart oh what a preservative that will be then as they look upon evil shall they say so did not I because of the fear of the Lord oh let thy fear be in their heart a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death an unctuous light to all that's right and a bar to all that's wrong Lord put forth thine hand among the young people here and the little ones Lord there is a promise that after the father shall be the children make that good among thy people here and do grant that there might be raised up here in this place a seat to serve thee and a generation to call thee blessed and then

[15:47] Lord remember all my dear people that our aged friends those who according to the time of life they draw near the end of their journey remember them Lord may their last days be their best days whether they live or die may they feel they are thine and if they feel they are thine they will feel it is well sanctify thy will to all in affliction we often recall the words we sing poor and afflicted Lord are thine among the great unfit to shine but though the world may think it strange they would not with the world exchange dearest Lord sanctify abundantly sanctify thy will unto thy poor and afflicted family and who give them to feel

[16:59] Lord that all their times are in thy hand remember us each in the path wherein we walk thou hast promised tribulation in the world but in Christ thou hast promised peace Lord do hold us up there is much to cast down much to discourage and there are times thou knowest when we cry out because of the roughness of the way we read of thine ancient people their souls were much discouraged because of the roughness of the way but oh do save us each from rebellion the rebellious dwell in a droid land Lord who save us from a rebellious spirit we have a rebellious nature do crucify it do save us from murmuring against thee help us to join in sincerity with the poet what e'er thy sacred will ordains oh give me strength to bear and let me know my father reigns and trust his tender care thou dost never afflict too much thou dost never lay upon the shoulders of thy dear people more than their iniquities deserve and thou wilt never leave them in sorrow or trial or affliction yea lord eternity is near whether for young or old it cannot be much longer for what is our life it is even a vapor which appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away well lord prepare us for our end make us to know it and the measure of our days what it is that we may know how frail we are so teach us oh lord to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom to be with and bless all the gatherings together in thy name this evening wherever thy dear people meet lord meet with them and though we do look for another day when thou come forth in thy power and send out thy light and thy truth oh dearest lord bless thy

[20:27] Zion do not have horrors for thy name sake do not disgrace the throne of thy glory but though our iniquities testify against us do thou it for thy name sake arise and redeem us oh god and who send out thy light and thy truth this day and magnify thy great and holy name in the preaching of thy gospel and oh lord we live in perilous times we are told in the last days the perilous time shall arise oh dearest lord do thou keep us thou art lord god over all and we bless thee for it yea thou takest up the isles as a very little thing all the nations of the earth are but as a drop in thy sight oh dearest lord we would bless thee that thou dost reign well might one exclaim hallelujah for the lord god omnipotent reigneth could it please thee oh lord to put forth thine hand among the nations of the world scatter those that delight in war in wrath remember mercy we have often prayed lord for our old homeland and now we come to trust under the lawful authority of another land we are exhorted to pray for all in authority that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all honesty and godliness help us then lord so to do and do give us to realize that thou art god of the nations our lord thou art god alone may we by faith view thee in all the glory of thy perfections the glory of thine infinite majesty and power yea the lord liveth blessed be my rock now lord what wait we for our hope is in thee yet once more do we lift up our eyes unto thee and ask thee to be with us and help us to speak in thy name help us to preach as though we ne'er should preach again and preach as dying unto dying men help the people in hearing give unto them the ear to hear the heart to receive and understand and lord let some good come oh we do pray yea if it could be thy will for an outstanding token of thy favour and lord do not give us over to unbelief but help us to realise that we worship an infinite god be pleased then oh lord to make none an infinite power and bless thy word and magnify thy great name in mercy forgive our sins and wash us in thy precious blood accept our thanks for all thy goodness and mercy to us help us oh lord to offer unto thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise hear us in heaven thy dwelling place and when thou hearest forgive hear us we ask every mercy for christ's sake amen hymn number 987 987 oh what amazing words of grace are in the gospel found suited to every sinner's case who knows the joyful sound in him in or the of the him

[25:45] The End The End The End

[26:47] The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End But as if not the king's son that he's married now he'll come to life.

[27:42] But when he died in heaven for me and before him.

[27:59] Thank you.

[28:29] Thank you.

[28:59] And a collection will be taken for the Holland home. I'll direct your attention once again to the Epistle to the Romans, the first chapter, the 15th and the 16th verses.

[29:22] First, the Epistle of Paul to Romans, the first chapter, the 15th and 16th verses.

[29:33] When we read of the gifts and the graces of these giants of old, as I mentioned this morning, we have no desire to put ourselves at their side.

[30:24] And yet, dear friends, it's a wonderful thing. You know we worship the same God. I've often thought, I have recently, this last few days, as I look at the sky, the moon, the sun and the stars.

[30:45] It's the same sky I've been looking at over in England for many years. And it's the same God over all.

[30:55] And you know, dear friends, it's the same God over all who rules and reigns today, as did in the days of the Apostle.

[31:07] Very wonderful. Very wonderful. Although we feel so unable to compare ourselves with those giants of old, yet their hope of eternity was precisely the same as ours.

[31:26] You see, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were never blessed for any good the Lord saw in them by nature.

[31:39] They were fallen sinners as you and me. I make these remarks because I do not wish to give the impression in announcing this text that I have any desire to set myself at the side of the Apostle Paul.

[31:58] God forbid. God forbid. And what is more, we know that the language of the Apostle Paul, as recorded in Holy Writ, is indeed the language of the Holy Spirit of God.

[32:19] God forbid. And yet how wonderful it is in some measure to feel going on in one's heart a little of the same that they did. Take just for a moment, if I may digress here, the experience of the psalmist.

[32:37] How many of God's dear people have read the Psalms and have blessed God they've been left on record. And I dare say some of you people get sorely tried about your prayers, but do you know what real prayer is?

[32:53] I know you can read some very beautiful prayers in various forms of services. I do not despise them. But real prayer is the burden of a sigh, the upward glancing of an eye, when none but God is near.

[33:13] Real prayer is the desire in man, going out to God in accordance with his will, through the merits of Christ, and with thankfulness for mercies.

[33:26] And I believe in this day, in the year 1960, we pray to the same God as our forefathers did.

[33:38] So here the apostle, he presents himself as it were to the Romans. He said, well, as much as is in me, or such as I am, and he felt doubtless his own poverty.

[33:59] Very wonderful to remember that when speaking about sinners, the apostle said, of whom I am chief. And I do believe that that is a living experience.

[34:13] I believe all God's dear people at some time or another are brought to that place where they feel themselves to be the chiefest of sinners.

[34:23] sinners. So the apostle here, in presenting himself to the Romans, he says, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, unto everyone that believeth, my dear friends, see for a moment the power of God's salvation that had already been made known in the apostle Paul.

[35:07] And his was a wonderful conversion. I've often thought, well, Paul, I'm not surprised that you were ready to go and preach it anywhere. because he was something like the blind man whose sight had been restored.

[35:25] I love that man. There was one thing he clung to and nobody on earth could move him from it. He said, there's one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see.

[35:41] And no man dare dispute it with him. Well, the apostle Paul knew something of that. You will recall in reading of his conversion how he was going down to Damascus, there to persecute the church of Christ.

[36:02] And the power of God came upon him, or rather, the power of God met him, struck him blind.

[36:14] And after three days his eyes were opened. You will recall what took place. See there the almighty power of God in the apostle.

[36:27] And when he arrived at Damascus, we read that he disputed with the Jews. The apostle Paul there he was preaching out of the warmth and the depth of his own heart.

[36:42] In some measure I hope I may be enabled to. I know the Lord can use whomsoever he will. But oh dear friends, how empty it must be to have a minister who knows nothing of salvation in his own soul.

[37:02] Who can only preach it in the letter of it. I always feel I'm on good ground when I can bring before you things I've felt, things I've handled.

[37:16] When I can say now look friends, I've tasted this myself and I know it to be good. When I can say look friends, I know the power of this in my own soul.

[37:29] For I once was blind but now I see. Well now, to return to the words where I left off this morning, as much as in me is I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

[37:54] We've mentioned this morning a little of the nature of the true gospel ministry. The Lord sends his servants, the Spirit sends the man and gives him the word to speak and that in itself produces a readiness.

[38:16] Without it it can only be presumption and then the fruits and the effects of the preaching of the gospel. How clear is the word of God respecting the gospel ministry?

[38:33] The aged apostle said to Timothy preach the word. Dear friends, I have no authority from God to preach anything else before you here in this building.

[38:47] preach the word. You will remember how that Moses was exhorted to make the temple precisely in accordance with the pattern God showed him.

[39:06] And every minister of the gospel is exhorted like this. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.

[39:19] And then again we are warned about the words we use. We are told not to use words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.

[39:35] How wonderful it is, dear friends. I would like to emphasize if I may this particular point. We believe in our Bibles that we have the word of God.

[39:50] We believe in the verbal inspiration of the word of God. Allowing for the translation, taking the word of God from Genesis to Revelation, we have in the original tongue the literal, actual word spoken by God the Holy Spirit.

[40:19] Now that you know is very, very wonderful. I have often thought of the way and manner in which a lawyer or a doctor may take a volume from off the shelf in his library.

[40:38] He will consult that volume and say well no let us see what so and so says about it. And maybe in passing it on to others he will quote the exact words.

[40:54] How wonderful it is to have the exact words of God the Holy Spirit. yes and not only wonderful but it's solemn if we reject them.

[41:08] And when I think of these wonderful things and it is wonderful to think that the Lord has handed down to us our Bible as we have it I cannot help mentioning in passing how solemn it is to have such a wonderful treasure to have such a wonderful book and yet to be left outside the secrets of it.

[41:38] And we do read that the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant. Dear friends the apostle proved in his day and I believe I shall prove over here in my day the same effects of the preaching of the gospel.

[42:03] Some believe the things that are spoken and some believe them not. Now you know what of you?

[42:16] You know you will be found in the day of Jesus Christ you will be numbered amongst either the believers or the unbelievers. I mentioned on Friday evening of those solemn characters who were brought face to face with the power of God they saw the miracles which Christ wrought and yet they never knew him as God.

[42:47] Oh dear friends in the preaching of this gospel I must ask you this question what is the preaching of the gospel to you?

[42:59] Some believe the things which were spoken and some believe them not but as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed.

[43:12] Yes dear friends the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

[43:30] Well let us notice for a few minutes what the preaching of this gospel is. It's the preaching of the good news of salvation to poor perishing sinners.

[43:44] And oh what a great mercy it will be if the Lord brings together gathers together here from Sabbath to Sabbath a company of sensible sinners.

[44:01] All are sinners in God's sight but there are only a few who are sinners in your own sight. Now friends we head as little h sinners in clients Well let us notice for a few minutes what the preaching of this gospel is.

[44:45] It's the preaching of the good news of salvation to poor perishing sinners. And oh what a great mercy it will be if the Lord brings together, gathers together here from Sabbath to Sabbath a company of sensible sinners.

[45:08] All are sinners in God's sight, but there are only a few who are sinners in your own sight.

[45:20] Now friend before we go any further, you who call yourselves Christians, do you know yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God?

[45:33] Have you been brought before God to plead for mercy? Have you ever been brought where the poor publican was of old?

[45:46] He didn't come up to the front. He wouldn't stand like the fellas he did, pleased with himself. And so I thank thee, oh Lord, that I am so much better than other men.

[46:00] Now he stood behind. He smote upon his breast. He would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, crying, God, be merciful to me a sinner.

[46:24] I suppose some of our younger friends would think, I am not wishing them a very bright prospect if I wish them that.

[46:34] My dear friends, I would to God you all might be brought there. I do indeed. For the things of God are unspeakably solemn.

[46:45] For as I mentioned this morning, you're either going to spend eternity in heaven or in hell. I know what my prayers will be.

[46:58] I know what, to what end my ministry, I trust through God's help, will be directed. That you might be shown the way of salvation.

[47:10] And dear friends, the way of salvation is not the way which many so-called ministers in the professing world today will set before you.

[47:24] They'll set you to work. They'll tell you what to do. Ah, but my dear friends, when the Lord comes into your heart, well, your cry will not be come and hear what I've done for the Lord.

[47:44] Your cry will be come and hear what the Lord has done for me. We find the Jews in that place. The preaching of the gospel was a stumbling block to them.

[48:00] I thought today, too, if you can set men to work, set them to work out a problem, set before them some intricate matter, or maybe some outward form like we see in the high church and in the Roman Catholic church, well, men seem to be happy.

[48:21] But my dear friends, the very essence of the preaching of the gospel is this, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

[48:35] See the beauty of it. See the simplicity of it. I wonder whether there are any here this evening who are like Naaman of old.

[48:49] When he came to Elisha, he thought Elisha would come forth in some outward way or pomp, show or ceremony, and that he would call on the name of his God and rest to lay his hand upon Naaman the leper and thereby be clean.

[49:16] But what did Elisha say? Go watch him, Jordan, seven times, and thy flesh shall return to thee. And Naaman went away in a rage.

[49:28] And friends, had it not been for God's mercy, he would have gone away in a rage never to have returned. But the Lord had an instrument nearby, even one of Naaman's servants.

[49:45] And the servant, he spake unto Naaman a wise word. Had the prophet bid thee do some great thing, thou wouldest have done it.

[49:56] But no, he says, go walk in Jordan and be clean. And Naaman did. Oh, my dear friends, it seems to me to my mind to set forth the beauty of the Gospels.

[50:13] You know, in the days which we're noticing here, and in the days of the apostles, in the preaching of the Gospel, in preaching the Word, in the letter of it, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot perhaps today readily appreciate what the preaching of the Gospel was to the Orthodox Jews.

[50:44] that even today, if any of you have encountered the bitter enmity of an Orthodox Jew against the Gospel, you will know a little of what I mean.

[51:00] The Apostle Paul and the other Apostles preached Jesus Christ and him crucified. But Jesus Christ was a murderer to the Jews.

[51:14] The name of Jesus then and today to the Orthodox Jew is anathema. That is, accursed. And therefore, it was truly wonderful in that day that through the preaching of this crucified Nazarene, merely the son of a Nazarene carpenter, and that's what he was to the Jews, that through the preaching of that name, so that there should be both among the Jews and among the Gentiles those who should be brought to feel and experience the saving power of that name.

[52:02] And dear friends, we bless God that there is our hope for eternity today. the preaching of the cross was foolishness to the Jews, or rather, it was a stumbling block to the Jews, and it was foolishness to the Greeks.

[52:24] But unto those that were saved, it was the power of God unto salvation. So, as much as in me is, says the Apostle, I am ready to preach this Gospel, Christ is the beginning, Christ is the center of it, Christ is the end of it, for Christ is all and in all.

[52:54] I wonder, friends, whether you will be satisfied, as I hope in the future, in setting before you the testimony of God, Christ will be the grand object.

[53:08] I desire that he might be the center of all. I do hope the Lord will bring you to the house of God with that one desire to hear the word of his grace, to hear of the love of Christ of poor sinners.

[53:28] One man of old, exulting a young man, he said, let there be much of Christ in your ministry. Let Christ be all and in all.

[53:43] Good William Romain, on one occasion, he said, persons wonder why we are always preaching Christ. But he said, the truth is, we have nothing else to preach.

[53:55] a wonderful gospel which has Christ in it. And then again, we read of another venerable minister exhorting a young man to preach Christ.

[54:13] He said, I have. Well, he said, preach him again. But who can preach him? My mind goes to the word of one of our poets.

[54:26] Living tongues are dumb at best. We must die to speak of Christ. Oh, yet, dear friends, I would to God I may be enabled to set before you a little of this precious gospel.

[54:47] I hope you may know a little of what the power of the gospel is in your own soul. For as I mentioned this morning, it is not merely receiving the letter of the truth.

[55:05] It's feeling the life and the power of the gospel in our own heart. Let us take the beginning. A good beginning is all important.

[55:18] for except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. And except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

[55:33] I'll give you an illustration of a good beginning. You'll read in the word of God of that man who fell among thieves.

[55:44] and there were two who passed him by but there was one who came where he was.

[55:56] That's a right beginning, friends. And I'm going to be quite plain with you. I have heard some people speak about the time when they took up religion.

[56:10] If you can speak about a time when you took up religion, I'll tell you this, the time will come when you will put it down. But you bless God if you can look back upon a time when religion took up you.

[56:27] The Lord will never put you down, only in heaven. The Lord will never forsake the work of his own hands. I might hear if I had time just briefly refer to the different categories of hearers in the parable of the shower.

[56:49] You know there were so there were the wayside hearers. The word as we say went in one ear and out of the other. Then there were the stony ground hearers.

[57:03] They bore fruit but it didn't last. the soil was too shallow, too stony. And when the sun arose, being no depth, there was no root.

[57:19] It was all on the surface. Then there was another time. There was a thorny ground hearers. There was more depth of earth there and it began to take root.

[57:35] And everything seemed to be set fair for a good harvest. But alas, there were thorns and briars. The cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, friends, multitudes today are getting carried up with it.

[57:55] And what happens? All those cares come and choke the word. But that is the good word. And that good word falls into good ground.

[58:09] For may God make you good ground hearers. And if the word falls into good ground, there will be a bringing forth fruit, whether it be fifty, sixty, or a hundredfold, to return then the preaching of the gospel.

[58:39] It said, sir, in the preaching of the gospel, Christ will be the center of it. And if the Lord be pleased to keep you in a healthy state in your own soul, so you will seek that the power of God's word, the power of it, in the life of it, and in the application of it, might be sealed home to your poor soul.

[59:09] It's a great mercy, friends, to come to the house of God with a case which only God can meet. It is indeed one ought to get back again to the beginning.

[59:25] Do you know what grace is? Grace is that firm and friendly hand put forth by God to save his own. Like the one to whom I have already referred, he came where he was.

[59:45] Dear friends, if it hadn't been for the power of God in my life, I shouldn't be where I am now. I am firmly persuaded of this, that although some people may be muddled, as we say in their own minds, as far as the letter of the truth is concerned, there is one thing of which they are perfectly sure, and that is that it was God in the first place who quickened them into divine life.

[60:24] And therefore, dear friends, I would commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified, in preaching the gospel, we preach the eternal love of God to sinners.

[60:52] The Lord has never loved any of us for any good he's seen in us. One of our free grace hymn writers, Daniel Herbert, in another hymn, he answered a number of questions of the Arminians.

[61:14] And this is what he said, if God did not love me before Adam's fall, how comes it about that he loved me at all?

[61:27] And who can answer that question? you can take a Bible, dear friends, from Genesis to Revelation, there you will see how Jehovah God manifested his eternal love to those whom he foreknew and chose a foreign Christ.

[61:53] There never has been any afterthought with God. all God's dear people, they were chosen of old, of old approved, in Christ eternally loved.

[62:11] Some will say, well I can't believe that doctrine, my dear friends. It doesn't matter whether you can believe it or not, it's the truth, it's the truth.

[62:24] And if the Lord has brought you into the light of his gospel, it is because of his eternal love to your soul. Yea, we read, he loved the people.

[62:38] Did he not appear unto Jeremiah and say, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.

[62:53] And had it not been for the eternal love of God to poor sinners, then he would never have sent his son to lay down his life for them. Dear friends, let us never forget where God, where Jehovah God sees man fallen in Adam.

[63:16] And if any of you feel in your heart any objection to that doctrine of God's electing love and mercy, then let me tell you this, that as Almighty God sent each and every one of us dead in trespass, and in sins, as we shall fall over end.

[63:42] And I feel like Jehovah has been by anyone of us that not he paid and not his money. But I said I will have mercy. But for whom I will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

[64:03] And therefore as the Lord saw mankind dead in trespass sins, he made a way of escape. Such was his love to poor sinners that he sent his only begotten son to lay down his life for them.

[64:21] And dear friends, in the gospel, do we not see the love of a precious Christ, the love of Jesus, leaving that glory in heaven above, condescending to be, to take our nature into union with his glorious person, and in that nature to suffer, to bleed and to die, hear the words of Jesus himself, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

[65:08] And you know, dear friends, as the gospel is brought to you, I know what you'll want to feel, you'll want to know that Jesus Christ was your substitute, you'll want to see Jesus Christ suffering in your room instead, you'll want to see and feel in your own heart the love of God in sending Jesus to lay down his life for your sins, and oh what a precious, blessed gospel that is.

[65:44] I wish I could preach it, but I want to be clear in speaking of it, for I would not leave you where the Jews were, who sought to work out a righteousness of their own, nor rather I'd point to Christ's redeeming blood, and say, behold, the way to God.

[66:14] For did he not say, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me?

[66:28] See, here then, the love of Christ in laying down his life for his people, and who can speak of what he endured, as he has been set before you on the pole of the gospel, dear friends, has it ever warmed your heart?

[66:52] Has he, has it ever attracted your heart to him? And have you sometimes felt in your own heart that well or not where you can join with good William Gatsby and say, all that may so could love and praise him more, his beauty's trace, his majesty adore, live near his heart, upon his bosom lean, obey his voice, and all his will esteem, and feeling a little soul, of his love shed abroad in your soul by the Holy Ghost, has it ever lifted you up above?

[67:41] Everything this earth can give, you know, one of our poets said, had I a glance of thee, O God, kingdoms and men would vanish soon, vanish as though I saw them not, as a dim candle, dies at noon, dear friends, what can a poor sinner compare, with the saving knowledge of Christ, when the Lord is pleased to apply the gospel in its saving power, where we can sin, with a measure of joy and happiness, that unsay and claim him to be ours.

[68:30] We can say, yes, now he's mine, with all his grace and power, I am known, and shall be thine, when time shall be no more.

[68:43] We can look at all the pomp, the vanities of this earth, and you know, dear friends, there's nothing like the love of God shed abroad in your soul, to show you what vanities we are frequently found indulging in on this earth.

[69:06] you know, we read this, ye cannot serve God and mammon.

[69:19] I don't want to go too far ahead, but in the preaching of the gospel, you know, there is the practical side, God and if you know anything of the love of Christ shed abroad in your soul, there will be those who will be able to see it in your walk.

[69:43] And in passing here, friends, and do bear with me, particularly with our younger friends, there is the world around us and we have to do with it.

[69:57] And I know myself what it has been for the world to plague me. Or one might say, do you know what it is for the world to plague you?

[70:11] Yes, friends, I do. In my early days, I used to be very, very fond of sport. And although the Lord has given me grace to leave it, to turn aside from it, yet you know there is the old weakness still in the soul.

[70:35] I've known what it has been in England, where there's been perhaps a game of football or a game of cricket. I don't go by, I turn from it.

[70:47] Why, you say? Why, because my old nature is just what it always was. And what it always will be, and I feel that in my old nature will jump out, as it were, and cling off to those things.

[71:07] It's one long conflict, the flesh warring against the spirit. And so to our younger friends, I hope the Lord will preserve you when you're in the world and have to do with it.

[71:26] For you will find this, you will never be able to serve God and mammon. Balan wanted to die the death of the righteous, but he had no desire to live the life of the righteous, for he died fighting against God's people.

[71:45] people. We read of some in the word of God that men took note of them, that they had been with Jesus.

[71:58] The men ever take notice of you and come to the conclusion that you're different. If you're a child of God they will. They may gaze and admire, and yet they'll hate the change, because one of our poets says this, Satan's agents cannot love the Savior's choice.

[72:27] Jesus said, marvel not if the world hate you, for ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

[72:39] Now only the Lord can keep you and me, whilst we're in the world and have to do with it, there is the spirit of fatalism which is contrary to the gospel, whereby one may say, well, if we are eternally loved in Christ, then it must be well, we can never fall away.

[73:07] Friends, that is true. true, that is blessedly true, but it is not all. If you know anything of the eternal love of God in your soul, you'll want to follow him more closely.

[73:28] And the more you're enabled by faith to rest in the eternal, unchangeable decrees of God, the more will you seek for a diligence to walk in his ways.

[73:43] Yes, in preaching the gospel, there is a preaching the precept. I'm only being very general because it's a vast subject, great.

[73:56] But dear friends, the power of the gospel in your life will make you a good walker. And we have in the word of God those blessed precepts set before us by Christ himself.

[74:13] Did he not speak to those who love him? Did he not say, if he loved me, keep my commandments? Come, take up the cross and follow me.

[74:28] Not that ye might have life, but because ye have it. Not as a servant, but as a son. And oh, how sweet it has been in the pathway of many of God's dear people, down through the ages, to willingly, gladly, take up a cross and walk with a crucified saviour.

[74:58] I dare say some of you in your business life, and I've known what it has been, you've had the desire to lift up your head with the world, with worldly people.

[75:13] You don't like the finger of reproach. church. Maybe it's a stigma to come into this building, I do not know. I remember when only, when only a young man, I wanted to go and worship where there were about seven or eight people worshipping in a room.

[75:36] and before I went into the door, I looked round to make sure nobody saw me go in. I was ashamed of it, but in mercy, God met with me in that room, and I didn't mind who I saw when I came out.

[75:59] Which brings me to consider a little of the next point. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, my dear friends, I hope you may never be ashamed of it. Never be ashamed to profess Christ.

[76:15] What does the Lord Jesus himself say? Whoso confesseth me before men, him will I confess before my Father.

[76:27] But whoso denieth me, him will I deny before my Father. which is in heaven. How solemn when Christ as our judge shall come again in his power if we should hear those words you denied me on earth I deny you now.

[76:55] Depart from me all ye that work iniquity. we sometimes sing that hymn ashamed of Jesus that dear friend on whom my hopes of heaven depend ashamed of Jesus before the world God forbid the apostle said I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ although what I think he had in mind in particular was this he himself had known the power the gospel of Christ in his own soul he was something like an earthly physician he may recommend to your medicine and he may say well I'm not ashamed of this it cured so and so and it cured me and in the same way did the apostle bring the gospel the same old gospel the same old gospel or story as one put it of

[78:08] Jesus Christ and his loved sinners he says I'm not ashamed of it he in his own life had known the power of it and dear friends he in his own ministry knew the power of it for in his days there were those wrought upon powerfully and effectually by the Holy Spirit of God ashamed of a gospel which lays hold upon a devil possessed mad gathering and brings him to sit at the feet of Jesus clothed and in his right mind no friends I am not ashamed of that gospel I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation ashamed of that gospel which laid hold upon

[79:12] Mary Magdalene ashamed of that gospel which laid hold upon the thief who was crucified with the Lord Jesus oh my dear friends I hope we may prove in our midst a little of the power of that gospel working among us but first and foremost we are not ashamed of that gospel which has saved us now you can look back in your pathway some of you can look and remember where you were by nature may I just speak for a moment here respecting myself I do not marvel so much at the gospel which quickened me into divine life for I was always brought up under the sound of the truth but I do marvel today at that gospel which holds me up or as

[80:19] I have put it in other words I marvel at it not so much because of the sinner I was before I was called by grace but because of the devil I have been since you might say well but surely after having been quickened into divine life you never return or at least your sins thereafter are not the same as before friends they're worse they're worse sins against a holy God sins against his love and blood sins when you know better and how many of you have not been guilty of it those of you who fear God maybe when some lust has entered into your very soul when one of

[81:22] Satan's dance has come you've been like the mad mariner you've seen the rock and you struck it and oh what contrition of spirit you have felt afterward how solemn are those sins against light and knowledge sins when you know better well I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth there are some of you this evening who I believe are not ashamed of this gospel you've tasted the reality of it you've known a little of the power of it you have to say at this very moment what I am I am by God's grace and dear friends if ever you and

[82:25] I are kept and held up safely through to the end of our journey it will not be because of our own resolutions it will not be because of any self confidence but it will be by virtue of being kept by the power of God in the gospel through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last time I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ and it is very sweet dear friends when we can stand before others and tell others of what the Lord has done for us or what more sweet is there than for us to meet together and rehearse what

[83:26] God has done it brought the psalmist to this place where he said come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my soul I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation unto everyone that believe it so dear friends in this materialistic age in which we live today when there are still the Jews who seek for a sign there are still the Jews to whom the preaching of this gospel which we know is a stumbling block and foolishness unto the Greeks may we be found numbered amongst the poor to whom the gospel is preached that was the message you will remember which

[84:33] Jesus gave to John when he sent from prison he said go and tell John and together with other things he said that the poor have the gospel preached unto them let us sing together hymn number 53 53 this is the word of truth and love sent to the nations from above

[85:39] Jehovah here resolved to show what his almighty grace can do there to some dance do with fire like your què do The End The End

[87:06] The End The End The End

[88:36] The End The End May the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, the communion of the Holy Ghost be with us. Amen.

[89:55]  The End The End The End