Good evening. It's really good to see you here this evening. And we trust that if this is your first time, that you'll feel very much at home and you'll be blessed this evening. Our speaker tonight is, again, Mr. David Good, and we're very thankful for David helping us out during our vacancy. We were blessed this morning, and we just pray that the Lord will use him to bring his message to Abbots Cross just this evening again. And also, I'd like to welcome Muriel, his wife. It's lovely to have her in our congregation this evening also. Tuesday evening at half past seven, our Bible study and prayer meeting, and this week it will be taken by Mr. Tommy Anderson from the World Gospel Mission. Next Sunday, our speaker at 11 in the morning and six in the evening is the Reverend Rodney Orr. If that name is familiar, it's because that's our new minister. He's not starting next week, but he's just coming over for a flying visit. And he will take up the ministry, take up the reins at the beginning of June. So just to give everybody an opportunity to meet him afterwards, there will be supper after our evening service. Then today is the last day for receiving stuff for the Ukraine appeal. We'll be getting that off this week. Thank you very much for those of you who have contributed to that. And it will be sent out to Ukraine through Donald Fleming. Then for members, our annual general meeting takes place Thursday week, the 22nd of February at half past seven. So please put that in your diaries and plan to attend. These are all the announcements. I'm just going to ask Brian to come and pray now. Let's join together as we come in prayer. Bye. Good evening, everybody. It's really good to see you in church here tonight. I hope you've got your singing voice with you, because we have plenty of really good hymns to sing tonight that will really just get you going. And we're going to give thanks to God for what he has done for us. And the first one that we're going to sing is, oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day, day I will never forget whenever the Lord Jesus saved our souls. And that is something to be thankful for. So we're going to stand and sing. Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day. A day I will never forget. After I wandered in darkness away, Jesus, my Savior, I met. Oh, what a tender, compassionate friend. My sins were washed away, and my life was turned to hate. And the transaction so quickly was made, when as a sinner I paid the price. My sins were washed away, and my life was turned to gain. Heaven came down, and glory filled my soul. Now I will hope and will surely endure. And it's because of a wonderful thing, when I do cross I believe. Riches eternal, a blessing superb, from His precious hand I receive. The cross, His Saviour made me whole. My sins were washed away, And my life was turned to hay. Heavenly love and glory fill my soul. Okay, I'm gonna let you have a wee seat, because the next few after this one are ones that you just can't sing sitting down, so you'll need to have all your energy for them. But the next one that we're gonna sing, just keeping along the same theme, oh, what a happy day, happy day that fixed my choice on thee, my Savior, and my God. He changed our lives the day that he saved us, and it's something to really, really praise the Lord for. So let's join together as we sing. Happy day, oh, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away. He taught me how to watch and pray, and He rejoiced with me every day. Hallelujah. every day. I've been rejoicing every day. I've been in a happy day, oh, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away. Oh, what a day, just so fine, just for me. When He has washed my sins away He told me how to wash and pray And I'm rejoicing every day Hallelu-Yah, God be praised The next hymn that we're going to sing just at this time is Victory in Jesus and we will stand to sing this one. He came from glory, of His wonderful powering, to save a wretch like me. I heard about His glory, how precious was that glory, when I defended all my sins. He is Jesus, my Savior forever. Peace on earth and glory with His redeeming blood. We love Him, I do too, and all the world It's really not special. And shall find Jesus in them all, to be their victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever! Peace for me and glory with Him. ♪ He came down from heaven's high throne ♪ ♪ I heard a loud loud loud shout ♪ ♪ He has come for me in glory ♪ ♪ And I heard a loud loud loud scream so loud ♪ ♪ From beyond the crystal sea ♪ ♪ While I watched the angels sing ♪ Sweetest love. If you're able to, would you just remain standing? The next song that we're going to sing is the Lion of Judah. On the end of the age when we are due, we'll gather the nations before you, and the eyes of the whole world will be fixed on our everlasting life. The grace, and the mercy, and justice we raise up to God. Oh We'll go straight for the world, world in power. And we'll never look back, never look back. Thank you so much, you can take your seats. The last hymn that we're just going to sing at this time is Come Every Soul, Vice and Oppressed and you can remain seated. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave But surely He can do it, I trust Him in His Word. Oh, we trust in His Word. Christmas is to be sown. Hush now into the Christmas time. Let the children find their song. Only trust in God. Only trust in God. Only trust in God. As we watch her walk away. One day you'll be the Savior of the world. One day you can join this holy band and watch the glory go. Well good evening everyone. Thank you for coming and let me thank Billy for his words of welcome and it's a privilege to be back again in the pulpit of Abbots Cross Congregational Church. I know it says Christ Church Congregational But from the first time I was in here, and I'll tell you what date that was, but it was in the 1960s, and we were newlyweds then, it was always known as Abbots Cross. And that didn't even mean the Presbyterian Street across the road. Abbots Cross always meant this church, so it's a privilege to be with you again. I want to return with me again to the book of Genesis, the book of Genesis and chapter six. And we leave a lot of the chapter in chapter seven out, but really enough to give you the flavor of the gospel narrative. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh. Yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days. And also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw. that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the earth, for it repenteth me that I have made them. Small verse follows, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And we come further down the chapter then to third verse 13. And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood, room shalt thou make in the ark, and thou shalt pitch it within, and without with pitch. And then God instructed Noah about what would be in the ark, how it would be made. Verse 18, but with thee will I establish my covenant. and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons and thy wife and thy sons' wives with thee, and of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them with thee. Alive after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee, and it shall be food for thee and for them. Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded him, so did he. And the Lord said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Verse four, for yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights, and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from all the face of the earth. and Noah did according to all that the Lord commanded him. In the 600th year of Noah's life, In the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark." Verse 15, and they went in unto Noah into the ark. two and two of all flesh were in us the breath of life. And they that went in went in, male and female, of all flesh, as God had commended him, and the Lord shut him in. Verse 21. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl and of cattle and of beast and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle and the creeping things and the fowl of heaven, and they were destroyed from the earth. and Noah only remained alive and they that were with him in the ark, and the waters prevailed upon the earth 150 days. God will always bless the public reading of his own infallible, inerrant word. Now, we believe that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, but there are certain narratives of Scripture that have become the subject of the particular attack of the enemy of souls. One, of course, is the creation story. But we believe that from Genesis 1-1 to Revelation chapter 22 in the last verse, every word is inspired. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. And that word inspiration literally means God breathed. As God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life and he became a living soul, so holy men speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And of course, as proof of that, I could turn you to several scriptures. I'll just turn you to a few of them. One is in Matthew 24. Matthew 24, and this is what the Lord Jesus says. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into Ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Luke records that sermon of the Lord Jesus also in chapter 17. Then Peter, in both his first letter and second letter, refers to the days of Noah. And he said, the days of the coming of the Son of Man will be like that time. And then, of course, when we come into the book of Hebrews, and Noah takes his place in the gallery of faith, it says, by faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet. Rain had never fallen upon the earth. The dew came up and watered the ground. And Noah was warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear. prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. The very fact of Noah being a preacher of righteousness, even preaching of things that hadn't yet been seen, warned men that there was condemnation would follow the rejection of God's plan. Of course, the narrative begins in chapter 6. It says this, God saw. That's observation. The Bible tells us that the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. God sees into all our hearts. In Psalm 139, David writes that wonderful psalm. He said, thou hast beset me behind and before. And then he goes on to say, thou understandest my thoughts afar off. That means the Lord can look into our hearts. He can see all the thoughts that we were thinking. That's why the Lord Jesus, when he was here on earth, said, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. It's not just the words that we say and ostensibly the life that we may live, but God knows what's in our hearts. The Lord Jesus even said, if a man looks on a woman to lust after her, he has committed adultery in his heart. And God made his observation. What did God see? He saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. Is there any wonder that we can easily draw a parallel between the days that are spoken of in Genesis chapter six, which the Lord Jesus himself and the apostle Peter referred to, and the writer to the Hebrews summed it all up on Hebrews 11 and verse 7, we can see in our own day and generation those very things happening before us. Is it not wickedness when the LGBT community nearly rules government policy? Is it not the days of Noah when children in school are being taught transgenderism? Question whether you're a boy or a girl. Let's make one thing clear. Transgenderism is an evil. male and female created God, them. Anything else is absolutely, fundamentally contradictory of God's perfect order. It's almost saying that the creator made a mistake. People don't know what they are. My dear friends, we're living in a day, as someone, we were married in the 1960s. And sometimes we look back, I was very young, and I tell people when we're 12, but you can ask me about that afterwards. But my wife and I often say when we watch the news, did we ever imagine that things would get to the state they're in now? We're in that day of which the scripture speaks, when they call good evil and evil good. Moral decline, right, left, and center. The institution of marriage undermined. Drink, drugs, violence. There's not a week goes past that there's not another vile murder committed. And some of them remain unsolved. The streets of Britain are no longer safe. And my dear friends, we have to think twice of where we'd go out on a dark night in our own land. but God saw it. You know, sometimes people say, why does God allow this and allow that? Let me make one thing fundamentally clear. In Ephesians 1.11, Paul reminds us that God in heaven is working out all things, that's everything, even the things which may not make sense to us as human beings, he is working out all things after the counsel of his own will. You see, my dear friends, the psalmist tells us that, he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, for he seeth that his day is coming. God is in control. He knows exactly what he is doing. And as God looked down, as God saw his observation, that the imagination, he said, even every imagination of man's heart was only evil continually. We have to remember, this is Genesis 6. Only four chapters earlier, in chapters one and two, God did his marvelous work of creation. And at each succeeding step of creation, the Bible tells us, and God saw that it was good. Adam was perfect then before Senn entered, so was Eve. I often think when God created Eve and brought her to Adam, and he said, this is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone, what a beautiful creature she must have been. Because everything was perfect. You know, people say, improve people's conditions. Give them better houses. Give them better jobs. Give them a better environment. and everything will be fine. Absolute nonsense. When I was brought up on the Shankill Road, it was a wee two-up-two-down house, no bathroom, an outside toilet. Now, you have the best of houses. Are the people better? It's worse. The road that I was brought up on, people were God-fearing. Even people who were not saved had a respect for the things of God. The churches were packed. you'd have had maybe 40 or 50 people unseated in every gospel meeting on a Sunday night. Now there's no time for it. Everything has improved socially, but morally and spiritually, we've gone in the opposite direction. And of course, Eden proves that. Everything was perfect. And yet, when temptation came, then Eve and Adam yielded. So the environment has nothing to do with it. It's good that people have better living conditions than they had, and there's a social security system to cushion those who fall in hard times, but it doesn't make people think of their eternal welfare. God saw observation. There's so much more we could say about that. But then there was a declaration, observation God saw, declaration God said. There were several things that God said in this narrative. I'm going to hone in on just three of them. First of all, in verse seven, he said, I will destroy man whom I have made from the face of the earth. My dear friends, part of the gospel is this, that those who reject God's salvation face eternal destruction. He said, I will destroy man whom I have made from the face of the earth. A few chapters after this, in chapter 19, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Why? because of everything that the LGBT community, in fact, I think it's LGBTQIA, they add some other immorality onto it almost every month. And God destroyed Sodom for that. I hear people saying, oh, they can't help it. My dear friend, it's a lifestyle sinful choice that is made by men and women of their own volition. Nobody is born like that. That's almost like saying that the Creator didn't get things right. Everything was perfect. And God said, I'm going to destroy man. And what was perfect just a few chapters before? What was an idyllic situation for man and woman to live in? Now, God is absolutely appalled If you like, there is divine consternation at what he sees the earth has come to. And I want to tell you tonight, the Bible tells it, and tells it clearly, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. You see, my dear friends, Paul said, as by one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin, And so death has passed upon all men. And it says, by the disobedience of one, many were made sinners, but by the righteousness of one shall many be made righteous. And that, of course, is Christ. God was always ahead of man's evil curve. So the first thing that God said was, I will destroy, there's eternal destruction. You know, if men and women realized that eternal damnation and hell faces them, they would forsake their sins surely. But they don't. And then God said a second thing. He said, the end has come. My dear friends, I know Dennis dealt with this on the rapture last week, and I spoke on the Lord's return on the last Sunday I was here in November, and I'm not going to cover that ground, but I'm going to say this. Paul said, writing to the believers, now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. We might translate that better. Now is the consummation of our salvation nearer than when we believed. Did you ever see a time? I've never seen a time in my lifetime when all the end time scenes that are prophesied in the scriptures and made plain are all converging as never before. The moral sign, the Middle East sign. The Lord Jesus says, when those days come, man's hearts will fill them for fear. I know people trembled when they saw Biden's interview. And the man who is the leader of the free world, because that's what the American president de facto is, with his finger on the nuclear button, doesn't remember things. And he was stumbling as he tried to justify himself. And the alternative to him being in the White House is Donald Trump, who's been indicted for all kinds of misdemeanors. Does that not tell you things are in a mess? It used to be, I remember the days of Margaret Thatcher in Downing Street and Ronald Reagan in the White House, and somehow the world felt to be a safer place then. Not anymore. And all the strong men are on the wrong side. Xi Jinping in China. Kim Jong-un in North Korea, Vladimir Putin in Russia, the Muslim Ayatollahs in Iran, and so on. And the West is weak. Even Europe, the European Union, is a broken stick as far as standing by Ukraine is concerned. And even in America, the Senate and Congress are divided on whether they should help Ukraine. And they're the ones who spearhead NATO. The world is a dangerous place. And when Paul said that, I believe it was for this time. Mordecai said to Esther, in the time when the Jewish people were under threat of extermination, but that will never happen, because God has his hand on his ancient earthly people. And there are worse days to come for them, as Dennis pointed out last week, when the great tribulation comes. At that time, the church already will have been raptured and be with the Lord in glory. And I believe that we're in the end times. We're in the end times. I remember at one of the big COP climate conferences several years ago, I think John Major was the Prime Minister. That's how long ago it was. And he made a statement in a speech. He said, for mankind Time is running out. We could have told him that from the scripture. Time is running out. We sometimes sing, don't we, when the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more, and the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair, when the sea of the verse shall gather over on the other shore, and the roll is called up yonder. I'll be there. Let me ask you tonight, my dear friend, will you be there? Has there been a moment in your experience when you've come to God and repented of your sin and asked him to save you through the blood of the Lord Jesus shed in Calvary? because the Bible tells us neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. I love it when the kids at the five-day clubs, I love children, I had two of my own and have one grandchildren and we had neighbours who had a young girl and a young boy, and we became their adopted grandparents. So I love children, and I love it when the kids sing. One way God said to get to heaven, Jesus is the only way. I want to tell you, he's the only way to heaven. There's a way back to God from the dark paths of sin. There's a door that has opened and you may go in, At Calvary's cross is where you begin when you come as a sinner to Jesus. We've been singing about that in some of our hymns tonight. Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power and been washed in the blood of the Lamb? There's some who mock that. You're one of these blood and fire preachers, yes, unashamedly. It's only the blood of Christ shared in Calvary. that can atone for sin. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. The blood of the cross is my only salvation. I used to sing that in my days in the male choir. Nor silver nor gold hath obtained my redemption. It was the blood of my savior can only atone. And the end has come. Do you know what that means? It will be the end of the day of grace. This is what we call, and I'm not going into all the theology of it. It's beyond my remit tonight. But you see, this dispensation of grace, this day of grace, will end. As Dennis Pudich showed accurately last week, when the last brick is added to the building, then the church will be complete. The church, as you know, is brought before us as a building, all the bricks fitly framed together, built onto an holy temple of the Lord. It's also a body. The hands and the feet all play their part. Paul even says our uncomely parts, the parts we can't see, are more important than the things we can see. It's a body. It's a building, it's a body, but it's a bride. I love that hymn where it says, from heaven Christ came and sought her, that's the church, to be his holy bride. With his own blood he brought her, and for her life he died. But that day of grace, I believe, it's nearer than we believed. I wouldn't tell you to go home and think about what I'm telling you tonight, because I don't know if you'll be here tomorrow. I don't know if I'll be here tomorrow. We know that any of us can go through the veil of death, and we're all familiar with sudden deaths, but it could be that moment. There's a moment of us coming, and time shall be no more, and time to repent is gone. Dale Moody. On the night of the great fire that took place in Chicago, he was holding one of his great crusades. And he told the congregation to go home and think seriously about what he had preached. And many people, some who'd been at his crusade, perished in that fire. And D.L. Moody said this, never will I ever again tell my congregation to go home and give a thought. I will tell them that now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. Today, says the scripture, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. And God said, I'll destroy. He said, the end has come. Sinner, heed the warning voice. Make the Lord your final choice. Then all heaven will rejoice. Be in time. And God said another thing. He said, my spirit shall not always strive with man. That's a solemn truth. I remember when I was coming through Sam Carson's Bible school, He said this to us. He said, we have to be very careful at the end of our Gospel meetings, because it could be the last time that people will hear the Gospel. I feel the responsibility of that as a preacher of the Word tonight. I'm addressing people, and this could be the last gospel message you hear. This could be the last gospel message that it would be my privilege and responsibility to preach. And the scripture says, because there is wrath, beware, lest he take thee away with a stroke, and then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. I've sat in meetings, and I've preached in them, when it was obvious that God was speaking. And you could tell that there were people in that, unsaved people, of whom you could say, thou art not far from the kingdom. But they never came near into the kingdom. Do you remember that Agrippa told Paul, he said, Paul, and this is a king, and in front of that concourse where Paul had witnessed to him, he said, Paul, You're almost persuading me to be a Christian, but he, as the hymn writer said, almost cannot avail. Almost is but to fail. Sad, sad, that bitter wail. Almost, but lost. Felix trembled when Paul reasoned with him of righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come. He shook his shoes. Do you know what the Bible says about Felix? He had more perfect knowledge of that way because his wife was a Jewess, and no doubt she had told him that the promise in the Scriptures is for a Messiah to come, and Paul believes that Jesus Christ, who was crucified, that he's been raised again, and he was the Messiah. And Felix had more perfect knowledge of the gospel. It didn't make him trust the Lord. And Felix disappears from the script of record, unrepentant and unsaved. Sometimes the sparrow can strive. And I'm addressing some folk in this congregation, and we are glad you're with us tonight. And maybe there's times that you've gone home from a gospel campaign that you've attended, or a gospel meeting like this, and you felt inside, I want to be saved. The hymn writer sums up that experience. Sinner, how thy heart is troubled. God is coming very near. Do not hide thy deep emotion. Do not check that falling tear. Oh, be saved. "'Tis grace is free. "'Oh, be saved, he died for thee. "'Oh, be saved, he died for thee.'" Himrider has summed this up in a simple way. Oh, sinner, God's patience may weary you one day and leave thy sad soul in the blast. By willful resistance, you have drifted away over the deadline. at last. Some of you may say, I haven't preached like this before. I preach like this all the time. I'm told my, I'm reputed more to be a Bible teacher and preacher. But I've always asked the Lord that I would never lose the cutting edge of the evangelist. I love the gospel. It's truly the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation. And that's why we should never stop preaching the gospel. There are many evangelical churches, and since COVID, they've lost the plot. There's no longer a gospel meeting on the schedule of meetings. Abbots Cross has always been known as a place where the gospel has been preached. Pray that that might never cease. I pray that as one who is privileged to preach the word and have been doing it since I was 18 years of age, that's a few years ago, that I would never lose the cutting edge of the evangelist. There's nothing thrills the soul like seeing a soul come to Christ. And God said, there's destruction ahead. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Can you imagine someone wrote a book left behind when Jesus comes? There'll be those who know little of the gospel and they'll just wonder about this phenomenon that millions of people have disappeared. But there'll be those who will know. I should have been saved and have left behind. The horror of such an awakening is almost unimaginable. Then, observation God saw, declaration God said, salvation God supplied. God is not only the God of creation. He's the God of the new creation. He's the God of salvation. He's the God of our salvation. He's the one who prophetically said, look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved, for I am God and there is none else. God supplied salvation. I wondered that poor folk when I gave Brian the title for what I was going to speak on, and it was the greatness of grace. This is the first mention of grace in the Bible. Verse eight, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. You see, my dear friends, it's the grace of God that brings salvation, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world. We can only live soberly, righteously, and godly if we're saved and we have the power of the Spirit within us to live the holy lives that he demands day by day. Nor find grace. You see, the Lord Jesus was full of grace and truth. Yes, he told men the truth about what they were. Men marveled at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. And you see, here's the thing, God had a way that men could be saved. And he said, make me an ark of gopher wood. Noah made the Ark. Now we call it Noah's Ark, but that's not quite right. It was God's Ark. It was the Ark of God's provision. Noah was the instrument whom God charged. This is not my gospel I'm preaching. It's just my privilege to be the custodian of God's truth to men and women about their need of salvation. So here's the thing about the Ark. It was work, it was wrought on earth and built on earth, but it was designed in heaven. You got that? There's a lovely hymn and it goes like this. that drew salvation's plan. That's God in eternity past drawing the plan of salvation. Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. That's the grace of the Lord Jesus. Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary. What was that mighty gulf? Well, there's a holy God in heaven, and there are sinners here on earth. And that gulf is unbridgeable. And the Lord Jesus, by his death in Calvary, became the one mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ, the righteous. That's why there is only one way, God said, to get to heaven, and it's through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's an interesting thing. This might sound deep and theological, but it's not. God had told Noah to pitch the ark within and without with pitch. Now, sometimes individual words are full of meaning in Scripture, and this is one of them. That word that's translated pitch is kophar, which is the same word in Leviticus that is translated atonement. Isn't that an amazing truth? The Ark was all about God providing a way that man could be saved. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone. The atonement, is that what makes possible sinful man to be reconciled with the holy God? You see, the Bible tells me about the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, that God made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God and Him. Isn't that amazing? That's an absolutely stupendous truth, that God laid our sins on His sinless Son. and he who knew no sin bore our sins in his body on the tree. God who knew our sins led them on the head of Christ and believing we are free. We don't have to do anything. That doesn't mean that salvation is cheap by no means. It cost God the death of his only son, his sinless son, What a price! We often sing that hymn in our church, The Power of the Cross, written by one of the modern hymn writers, Stuart Hounend. This is the power of the cross. Christ was made sin for us, took the blame, bore the wrath, We stand forgiven at the cross. No wonder David, after his sin, in his psalm of repentance, he said, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. And the pitch of that ark reminds us that his atonement, Christ has for sin atonement made. What a wonderful savior. We are redeemed, the price is paid. What a wonderful Savior. You may wonder why I quote all these. I learned them as a boy, even before I was saved, and have never forgotten them because they contain pure gospel theology and truth. God supplied. We often sing that lovely hymn, don't we? God sent his Son. They called him Jesus. He came to love, heal, and forgive. He lived and died to buy my pardon. An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. That's a modern name too, but it's pure theology. So God saw observation, God said declaration, God supplied salvation. How did you connect with this salvation? The gospel message I've often said should answer two questions. Everybody in that congregation who hears the message should A, know that they need to be saved, and B, they should know how to be saved. We have told you that you need to be saved. If you don't know your need of salvation, you'll never be saved. Because sometimes the preaching of the gospel, Paul said, is to them that purlish foolishness. but unto us who are saved. It is the power of God. Well, there's an invitation. God summoned. God said, God saw, God said, God supplied, God summoned. I love it in this. The Lord said, come thou and all thy house into the ark. That's one of the loveliest words in the English language, just four letters, come. It's an invitational word. God has said come. The Lord Jesus so often said that, didn't he? Come ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Isaiah, who is known as the evangelical prophet, said, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. But he said, come! And so often, when I remember my days in the gospel, male choirs and quintets, and I was involved in so many of them over the years through the Christian Endeavor and through the male choir movement. But so often, there were pieces that always were urging people to come. Come to the Savior now. He gently calleth thee. In true repentance bow. Before him, bend a knee. He waiteth to bestow salvation, peace, and love. True joy on earth be here, lo, a home in heaven above. And then we sang it three times. Come, come, come. I turned for the final come of the Bible in my study this afternoon. And John, coming to the end of this revelation, because it may say in your Bible the revelation of St. John the Divine. It's not. The first verse makes it clear what it is. It's a revelation of Jesus Christ. And he says, the Spirit and the bride say come. Maybe you feel God speaking to you through the Spirit. And here, the Lord Jesus is the heavenly bridegroom. And the church is his bride. From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought her for her life. He died. And the last invitation at the very end of chapter 22 of Revelation is the spirit and the bride say come. Another piece that we sang in my male voice days was this. Will you not come? Will you not come? Why? Why will you die? Will you not come? Why? Why will you die? I want to tell you, we sang that hymn at the close of scores of gospel meetings and didn't see that many saved. I wonder whether those who were moved and felt, I need to get saved, I need to get right with God, I need to have Christ in my heart if I'm ever going to be in heaven. But you know, then cometh the devil and snatcheth away the seed. Sometimes I've seen people moved to tears in gospel readings, and you felt really they were about to step out and trust Christ as Savior, but they didn't. The late William Mullen did a mission in our church, and he told this story. There's a young man had been in the meetings every night, and he said, as I observed him, as you do observe from the pulpit, you can't maybe do it in detail, but there's a young man, and I felt this young man wants to trust the Lord. And he said, on that last Friday night of the mission, we sang that piece, I do believe, I will believe that Jesus died for me, that on the cross he shed his blood from sin to set me free. And he said, I nearly trembled in the pulpit. I looked down and I saw the young man free in these words, I do not believe. I will not believe. And he said, I shivered. This is the last night of the mission. I thought, surely tonight he will trust the Lord, but he didn't. He was gone before I got to the door to shake hands. And while I was greeting the folk leaving, there was a whole commotion. He jumped onto his motorcycle, flew up the street, and in a moment, he was in eternity. What a way to go into eternity saying, I don't believe, I won't believe. You can say, I do believe. I will believe that Jesus died for me, that on the cross he shed his blood from sin to set me free. And God invites you to come. It's his invitation. Come for all things are ready. And he says, to Noah come thou and all thy house into the ark. What was the ark? It was a place of safety from the storms of judgment that were about to ascend in a deluge on the earth. No wonder the scripture says, be not deceived. God is not mocked whatsoever a man soweth. that shall he also reap. He that sows to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. What have you been sowing all your life? Do you want to become a different farmer and sow the good seed of the scripture? Invitation, God summoned. And then, lastly and finally, condemnation, God shot. What it says in chapter 7, it says, they went in unto Noah, unto the ark, two and two of all flesh were in the breath of life, as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in. Do you know what that meant? Those who were in the ark were shut in. They were saved. Those outside were shut out. One of the pieces we sang in those choir days I've talked about quite a bit tonight was this. When the door once is shut, to entreat will be vain. It will never, no never, be opened again. There are people who've gone out of gospel meetings where they've been moved. They've been not far from the kingdom, but they've never put their trust in Christ. and maybe they've not been in another gospel service, or they've never had the opportunity. Sinner, heed the warning voice. Make the Lord your final choice. Then all heaven will rejoice. Be in time. A story is told of Voltaire, the notable French infidel and atheist, and he was on his deathbed. And he was in torment. His housekeeper was there in the house when he was dying. And she said, I never want to see it again. He was screaming. He said, I'm going to hell. I'm abandoned by God and man. What a way to go into eternity. My late father-in-law had suffered from Mal's bestosis. And my wife and I were in Kenya when They discovered that. We were visiting our daughter who was working with AIM in Kenya in those days. And when we got home, we were only home, the family came down and said, Dad has only a few weeks to live. He had been diagnosed with asbestosis. We went up to see him and Muri went up the next day. And he said, Muri, I want you to sit beside me here. He said, you and I are going to arrange my funeral. He said, Dad, no, God saved me more than 50 years ago for this moment. He says, and we're going to raise my funeral. And he chose the hens and who would speak. And then he said to her, now I feel happy that's done. And I know that you will ensure that's all carried out. And we made sure it was. And Muriel said, it was my dad. But she said, at that time, I cried after it, but at that time, I couldn't cry, because it was like a triumph. This is my exit from earth and my entrance to heaven. That's what we call the assurance of salvation. We sing about that in our hymn, don't we? Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! As I close tonight, can I ask you, tenderly, lovingly, It's a yours. Could you sing that hymn that was on the board tonight? Dear Savior, thou art mine. That's a biblical hymn. We read in the song to Solomon, my beloved is mine, and I am his. I want you tonight to heed the divine invitation. The Spirit and the Bride say come. May God bless His Word to all our hearts. It's been a privilege to be with you. God willing, if the Lord tarries and spurs us, we'll be with you on Tuesday nights in the month of April, maybe to say a farewell to you before your new pastor comes. We'll just sing our closing hymn. And then the silent rest is where you can just let it sink in. Okay. ♪ And if you take me ♪ ♪ And if you pull me over me ♪ Be in time. Be in time. Be in time. I don't know the name, but finally yesterday made me a man. There was one ascending day, and I nearly passed away. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave Brightly yesterday, be it done. Sing your means of glory, voices, make the Lord your final choice. Hail, all hail the glory, joyously enthroned. Oh, come, Lord, we sing to life, love, and Jesus, make it right. Oh, come, strive for answer, light, and be it done. Let's pray.