We're turning in our Bibles to a familiar portion of God's Word, Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. Is it okay if I have that microphone turned down a wee bit? If I have a shout, I'll wake you all up. You wouldn't want to do that, sure you wouldn't. Luke chapter 15, please. I know it's a familiar portion of God's Word. You have three stories presented together. You have the story of the lost sheep. and the lost silver and the lost sun, if you want the alliteration for it. The lost sheep wasn't in the place where it should have been. That's the principle of all these stories. The lost coin, some believe it was the coin in the headband of a woman who was married and if she was guilty of adultery, one of those coins was taken out of the headband and she had to appear in public as someone who was an adulteress and if she would have lost one of those little coins she would have had to appear in public with a sense of guilt whenever there was nothing wrong. That's why she diligently searched for that coin because it represented purity and the coin was lost as you know and it wasn't in the place that it was intended to be. The sheep wasn't with the fold, the sheep wasn't under the shepherd's care, The coin wasn't either in the hand or in the purse or in the headband. And of course the son wasn't in the place where he should have been. And it's a picture, a different look each story. at the condition of mankind without Christ, without grace. Luke chapter 15 has to be one of those chapters that every evangelist resorts to on numerous occasions. I do not know how many times I have turned to Luke chapter 15. It has been, I believe, one of the most fruitful I preached from this chapter not so long ago, and I preached on the story of the prodigal son, which I'll do tonight. And whenever I preached on the story of the prodigal son, you would imagine it's a story for young people. This lady waited behind after the service, and she says, you know, I need to get right with God. You were talking about me. She was 70 years of age. We had the joy, and a massive castle, would you believe it, of pointing her to the Lord. The last I have heard, she's out at church, she's out at the prayer meetings, and she is being discipled by her Savior, led on following the Good Shepherd. And I trust the Lord will bless this word tonight. Now what I want to do tonight, I don't know if you have got a diamond ring. I don't know if you've got a diamond brooch or a diamond necklace. I don't know whether you've got a little piece of diamond on your glasses. I don't know. I've just got a cheap pair out of Specsavers that's come, buy one, get one free. This is a free pair that I'm wearing tonight. But if you take a real diamond, not a false diamond, you could do this little test tonight. if your husband's bought you and he says, that's a pure diamond. Well, you do a wee test tonight and you'll soon discover whether it's a real diamond or not. You just take that diamond ring and you just lift it up to the light. Here's good light here. Lift that diamond ring up to the light and you'll see it sparkle. It really will sparkle. And you'll see the light shine. And the way that a diamond is cut, it will reflect the light. And you will see that diamond, true diamond, not a piece of glass, not something bought in the market, but that true diamond, not something cosmetic, not something bought out of the shopping mall, but out of the jewelers, well cut. And you will soon see that that diamond sparkles under the light when you lift it up. Now, if you do something with that diamond, now watch, if I was to take that diamond and give it a little twist with my hand, it will sparkle in a different way because of the way it's cut. That's how you'll know. And if you were to turn it right round, not too much for the illustration I'm going to give, you will see it even shine in a different light. You had a minister here for many, many years, Dr. S.B. Cook, and he taught us in Bible college in a class called homiletics, the art of preaching. And he says, whenever you're studying the Bible, you have the diamond of truth. And there are occasions, and he was very cautious with his words, as you would know, very frugal with his words. There are times whenever you can take the diamond of God's truth and lift it up to the light of his countenance and just give it a little twist, and not wrench the Scripture, not make it to mean something that it ought not to mean, but just lift it up to the light and give it a little turn, and it will sparkle in a different light. Well, that's exactly what I want to do tonight with one of the most familiar stories in the Bible, the story of the prodigal son. That's what I want to do. With this story lifted up now into the light of God's countenance, and as the Lord allows me license and liberty just to give it a little twist. And I'm telling you, it will shine for you tonight in a very different light. Although it will be the same story, but you will see an angle of glory. that I believe the Lord would allow us to use tonight. I don't want to take time at the minute to read the entire chapter. You would appreciate that. But I do want to read a few verses from the Word of God so that you do remember the story. But if we could break in there at verse 11, and we'd only read a few verses down the chapter. Luke chapter 15, verse 11. Let us all hear the word of the Lord. And he said, a certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country. And there he wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hard servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father. and say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was a great, yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, "'I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, "'and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son.' "'But the father said to his servants, "'Bring forth the best robe and put it on him. "'Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet "'and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it "'and let us eat and be merry. "'For this my son was dead and is alive again. "'He was lost and is found and they began to be merry.'" Amen. We'll end our reading there at the verse 24, and the Lord will bless this brief but public reading from His own precious and infallible Word. Let's just buy briefly. Father in heaven, for the preaching of Thy Word, I ask now for the infilling of Thy Spirit. Father, hear and answer our prayer. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I don't know if you've ever lost anything precious in your life. I have to be careful what I say here because I was in a children's meeting one time and I was telling them the story of the lost coin or the lost silver. And I said to the boys and girls, have you ever lost anything? that is very precious to you. I was thinking of money. I was thinking of a cat or a dog or something like that. And the wee boy put his hand up and he says, yes, he says, I lost my granny. And of course, she had passed away. And that left me. Oh, I'm sorry to hear about that. Well, I was thinking of something smaller than that. But I don't know if you've ever lost anything precious. And maybe you have lost jewelry, money. My young fella, he renewed his passport, cost about 71 pounds, which father had to pay. And he says, I'll put that away for you, son, for safekeeping. And I cannot remember where I put it. And it's a senior moment that has lasted now. I have prayed about that. I've asked the Lord. I did even the search of my study today. We can't find it. And we need it. And I put it away for safekeeping, but for the life of me, can I remember what I've done with that? And I'm one of those individuals, if I lose anything, believe me, I will search and search and search until I find it. And I've been searching now for two weeks, and I still haven't found it. And I've started my search all over again. And I'm not sure if you've lost anything precious, but I remember one time, all my boys have a wandering spirit, you know. And whenever they were very, very young, from they were able to understand, I always taught them their name and their address and my phone number. I knew they would get lost. I knew it. You see, it's the mother's genes in them. And I knew they would go astray naturally. Wild as a March Hare. And I says, it's the Thompson strain in these youngsters that causes them to go astray. And sure enough, we were in Bow Street Mall in Lisburn, and the Dunn Stores was there at the back of the shop. They had the beds all out. The girl was tidying up a duvet on a single bed. There she was, fixing the pillowcase. A beautiful display of a single bed. Along comes my young fellow Samuel, and he sees us as a trampoline in the middle of Dunn's stores. And I was walking down the shop, and the shelves are that high. I could see him rising above those shelves, up and down. And with the gentle voice that I have, my wife always criticizes me. She says, when you want to talk to people in the shop, you shout through people. I would see someone, how are you? And I speak about 40 people to get to them. Could you not just go over to the person and say, how are you? But there he was, bouncing up and down, and I shouted as loud as I could, Oi! Get off that bed! And sure enough, off the bed, and I was coming down one aisle, I could see him going up the other, so I raced up to the other aisle, jumped out to grab him. He wasn't there. And I thought, what a wee rascal, he's gone back again. But he was quicker than I was. I'd forgotten I couldn't run as fast as I used to. He had gotten out of the shop, but I didn't know. So I began the search of the shop, Bow Street Mall, the Dunn stores, it's big enough. And then I searched and searched for about five or six minutes. I met my wife and she saw me, flustered. She says, what's wrong? I says, have you seen Samuel? Yes, I saw him on that bed and I heard you shouting to get him off it and I says, yeah, but he run past me and I can't find him. We searched for another 10 minutes in the shop and then, horror of horrors, if you ever get that feeling, it's awful. We've lost him. We've lost him. And then suddenly over the PA system in the Bow Street Mall, there came this announcement, would the parents of Samuel David Martin please come to security. And there we were going out of this shop thinking the whole place knows about us and I. And there at the far end of the mile, heading out into the city in Lisbon, was a security man holding my little boy's hand. And that was many years ago. And I'll tell you this, when we got him back, he never left our side. Even though he's now 19 years of age, he still clings to us. He never leaves us. Must have been traumatized that his parents didn't come looking for him. Now listen, I lost my wife one time. You say, that's not a bad thing. If she's got your credit card, it's a terrible thing. But I did, I lost my wife. I was over in Eastbourne in England, down in the south of Ireland, on a Truth for Youth holiday. And we were in Littlewood store picking up some gifts for coming home for people that we knew at home. And as we were picking them up, my wife says that she needed to use the bathroom. So as usual, a queue for the ladies toilets, even in a shopping mall in the restaurant. And I waited. And like all men who love shopping, I started to browse around the shelves, bored to tears. And I waited and I looked and I couldn't see June. And I waited and waited. And all of a sudden, this is a true story, folks. Over the PS system came this announcement. Thomas Martin to customer service please. Thomas Martin, and I'm not joking, I felt so embarrassed. And I thought the whole shop, as if everybody was looking toward me. And I said these words into myself, what is she playing at? Calling my name, could you not search for me? So I goes over to customer service, this is a fact. And the lady said to me, yes sir. I says, you call for me? Who are you? I says, Thomas Martin. Oh, she says, no, Thomas Martin's the manager of the store. And we call for him. Oh, right. He comes back again, and there's my wife coming out of the toilets. And she says, what's wrong with you? He says, get out of here, I'll tell you what's wrong with me. He says, I thought I'd lost you. But you see, this is a chapter of lost things. And of course it highlights for us the great text that our Lord said himself, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. That's why there is a two-week gospel campaign here in Armagh Free Presbyterian Church. That's why there has been in the town of Drumore, the Brethren are having a gospel campaign. I think it lasted and may even be still going on for seven whole weeks. And I understand there are at least seven individuals that the Good Shepherd has found in that mission. Another man saved over in Crossgar in the mission there. Other individuals coming into meetings. And you know what I'm telling you is this, that the Lord has come to this little province, bad as it is, and He's seeking the lost. And that's what's happening in this mission. That's why they're going out to give invitations in this city. That's why they're having prayer meetings. That's why they're encouraging you. That's why our brother Paul said those words, people need the Lord. He's not just talking about the unsaved, you know. That's a message really to the converted. People need the Lord and they need you to take the gospel to them. For people need the Lord. And the Lord Jesus Christ has come to seek and to save that which is lost. And He has given us three tremendous illustrations, three tremendous stories in order to convey to us His love for lost souls, His desire to see men and women lost to God and to the enjoyment of their Maker, fallen in Adam, that they might come to Christ, trust the Savior, rest in His finished work. And what a story we have before us. It has to be The story of the prodigal son, the best story that you have ever read. In fact, Charles Dickens, who has written some tremendous books, said this of the story of the prodigal son, I quote, it is the best short story in the English language, unquote. And it has all the ingredients, hasn't it, to make it a good story. Let me tell you something, up until I went to Bible college, I never read a book Even in school, I never read a book. I might have read one single book before I left school because I was forced to read that book. Never read a book. But one thing I did know was this, it's not how a book starts or a story starts, it's how it ends. And the story of the prodigal son is one of the greatest stories you'll ever read. Why? Because it has a happy ending. Let me give the story in brief to you like this. A happy home is suddenly plunged into turmoil when a discontented, rebellious young boy, young man decides he will break away from parental authority and from the restraints of the home, and that he would seek a life for himself away from the family home, away from all the restraints of home. And I believe the mother was there, though she's not mentioned. And the reason I say that is because the man is the spiritual head of the home. He represents the one that speaks for the household as far as spiritual things are concerned. And the burden of spiritual responsibility lies upon the husband. That's why the man is mentioned. And of course his mother is there. I don't believe she's dead. She's there, and you can literally hear her voice through the Father. Both of them broken-hearted, as a son wants his freedom, wants to leave the parental home. Listen, I minister, pastor, and talk to individuals. I've had some family problems, even with one of my own children. I understand what it means to have a rebellious child. And yes, I understand in greater detail how I must have broken my own father's. heart in the way that I behaved. I never understood that, by the way, and I never repented of it for years until it happened to me over the last year and a half. And one thing the Lord showed me was what I did to my own dad, but the Lord is good and the Lord is gracious. And what a sad day it must have been for that father as he saw his young boy pack whatever belongs he had and to take that little small fortune with him and head off till he was but a dot on the horizon to a strange and a far country which he never even told his father he was there because his father would have gone for him. I'm convinced of it. He would have found him. And furthermore, day after day, we know the story because with the way the father ran to meet him, he was looking every day, every day, praying his son would return home. I have spoken to parents, mothers, who have sat up all night weeping, pulling the curtains, turning the blinds, going out to the front door, moving out into the gate, they're looking for a car, light coming up the lane, they're hearing the roar of the engine coming into the driveway, 3, 4, even 5 o'clock in the morning, as a young person returns, they don't rest, they don't sleep, and of course they get the advice, and they say, just leave them with the Lord, forget about them, they'll be alright, they'll not! It breaks a parent's heart to see any child go astray. And I'm saying to you now, the prodigal, he's not thinking of the father. He's not thinking of home life. No, he's too busy having a good time. He's having a ball. If we could modernize it, he's now got the party spirit. He's the individual who sees now life is better without parental restraint. Life is better. And I believe it was a godly home. That's why he wanted away. If it was an ungodly home, everything would have been provided in the home for him. He could have had his mates round for all the parties. He could have had all his friends round for the drinking sessions. He could have had the gambling there in the barns. And the Father wouldn't permit those things. That's why the young man, for it says, he wasted his substance in what way of living? Riotous living! He wouldn't have gotten away with that in the home. That's why he had to leave. Of course, it was a godly home. And it was now destroyed because a young person, a young man had gotten away from that life, gotten away from that restraint, abandoned everything that he'd ever been taught and everything that was given to him by grace and God. And this young man had no thoughts of coming home, no thoughts of his soul, judgment, sin, death, hell, no thoughts of meeting a holy God. No, they were all literally put out of his mind. It was like an opium now. He was dulled in his senses to his need to get back to the Father's house, to the place where he ought to be, really to get back to God. But things turned sour, didn't they? All of a sudden there became a famine in the land, and his money was spent, and along with his money goes his cronies, because they weren't friends. That's all they are. Buried a man a few years ago, and his sister said to me, you know, there'll be a lot of his old cronies here. And she says, I mean that because all they are are drinking partners, and all they were are individuals who spent his money, and he had plenty of money. That's why he had those cronies. She couldn't even call them friends. And I'm saying to you that all those people fled, no one helped him. And to make matters worse, a famine came, and he was looking liberty, and he joined himself. It's interesting that our Lord uses the word join. Was he not looking freedom? Was he not looking to loose those moorings? Was he not looking liberty? But now he's joined. Sin does not lift a person up, sin lowers a person. And even if you're a believer and you get away from the Lord, sin will lower you. It will never lift you up. It will have every form of promise. And the devil is a liar and sin is deceitful. And the human heart will follow that way naturally. But I'm saying to you, it's grace that lifts a sinner up, but sin lowers a man and eventually sends that sinner down into hell if his sin's not forgiven. Penniless and hungry, he began to feed swine. And then thoughts of the father's house returned. Cut the story short. This young man arose and said, I will say unto my father, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against thee. It's a picture of the sinner returning to God who has fallen in Adam at a distance from the Lord, separated from God by their sin. And now in repentance and faith in Christ alone, they return in a broken spirit and a contrite heart to the Father. And the father's heart reaches out to the young boy, sees his pathetic form coming across the horizon, runs out to meet him. And in meeting him, he embraces him, kisses him, and we know the story. It was all living happily ever after. And we have to say the truth. Tragedy is written over the story. But what makes it a memorable story and a good story is that it has a happy ending. Now, this is where I want to take this diamond of truth. This is where I want to lift it up to the light of God's countenance and give it a little turn. This is where I want you to see this story in a different light. I am convinced in my heart our Lord could have told many stories about young men in Israel. And I want you to think tonight of some possible endings to the story of the prodigal son. Some endings that are not happy. Some endings that are not good. Some endings that might be the story of your life, because every day you live, your life is writing up a story. Every day there are pages filling up, there are chapters that are being ended, and new chapters that are beginning, and every day your life is a story, your life is a book. And God reads that story, and at the end of the age, when we meet the Lord, that story will be read. And I wonder, I just wonder, how will the story of your life end? Will it have a happy ending? I believe the Lord could have told this story differently. I believe that the Lord could have said of this young man, rather than being penitent in the far country, this young man could have prospered in the far country. That's the first thing. This young man could have prospered in the far country. I want you to learn something from this. The Lord could have told the story, I'm convinced, of young men and older men and women in Israel that were doing just that. They could have prospered in their sin. The worst thing ever could have happened to this young man was to prosper in the far country, to make more money, to gamble and win at gambling, to invest his money and get a massive return for people to borrow money off him in a form of usury, put great interest on it, and for a lifetime he could live off that interest, or even buy property at a very cut-down price, and then resell that property and make thousands more on it. And the worst thing could have happened to this young man. The Lord said, in the far country, rather than being penitent, he was prosperous. More money to gamble. more money to drink, more money to go with loose women, more money to live riotously and get all that he wanted in life to gratify the flesh. And the worst thing that happened to this young man is that he prospered in the far country. Now, this might sound cruel, but it's not. It's filled with compassion. If you are here tonight and you're not saved, you're the person we're talking about. And the worst thing that could ever happen to you is this, is that you could become successful in your sin. You could prosper in sinful living. And if so, you would have no thought of your soul, no consideration of God. You would have no concern about your sin. You would never think of heaven and how to get there through the finished work of the cross. You'd have no consideration or affection for God's dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, if you were to prosper in your sin. And the best thing that could ever happen to an individual is that their life turns sour. I prayed for this woman, and she's not saved yet, but I believe she will be. I prayed for this woman, and I'm praying with her now for some 27 years. And as I was praying for her, in fact it's 32 years now, I prayed a prayer about that woman. Because she enjoys her sin. She loves her drinking. She loves her bingo. She loves her cigarettes. She doesn't believe she's a sinner. She loves her nights out in the town. And I began to pray something for that woman. It was this, Lord I pray that that woman will become sick, sore and tired of the way she's living. and that you'll turn things sour in her life, that she might think about getting right with God, for at the minute she's just having a ball. I was in her house not so long ago, and I sat, and her husband was over in the corner, and the children who are now teenagers were in the kitchen. And she sat there, and she had a little glass of Buckfast wine, and she had her cigarette. My wife always knows when I'm there. She can smell the very smoke off my clothes. I have to hang my suit out on the line. And I mean that to get the wind blowing through it all night so that you don't think I'm smoking when I come into your presence. But she sat there and here's what she said. And she called me by my old name from the past time. And she said, there's got to be more to life than what I have. And in the house, everything went silent. You near think the children were looking round to their mum to see what was going on. I was the only one and my heart was saying, praise the Lord for that. And she said these words, she says, I am sick of the way that I'm living. Of course, that opened up the gospel. And I explained to her there was a better way and that Christ gives us life, meaning purpose, takes away the burden of our sin, cleanses us and gives us peace with God. But she's not saved yet, but I believe she will. I could tell you of another man who's now passed away. He was in Glenavon Social Club. I can give you his actual name, Morris Wilson. He was in Glenavon Social Club. He was a man that drank in my house with my father, went to the card schools. He was a man that whenever, in the 70s, they were giving some guns out to the UDR men, he was down at the bottom of the town, and I think he fired about four or five shots to disperse the crowd. Of course, he wasn't officially on duty at the time, that was the problem. But what I will say is this, he went into Glenelg and Social Club, there he was drinking away with the rest and the place was packed. It was the days whenever they were smoking in those places and there was a haze, a constant haze of smoke and the beer was spilt over the mats and over the carpets and over the tables and the stench of that place and there they were and the band was playing live and he was in the midst of it all and all of a sudden everything seemed to go very dull. And as if he was not there, he began to look around. He could see everybody. He could see people in the corner, he would explain. He could see men with other women that ought not to be. He could see other men in the corner full drunk. Some had been sick. He could see broken glass. And he looked around the place and he could see the bar just a hive of activity as they were giving out more alcohol. And he said himself, he says, I saw the vanity of it all. Everything turned sour. He walked out of Glenavon Social Club. Nobody even saw him go. Went out into the cold night about 10 o'clock. Walked about three mile to the Avenue Road in Lurgan. He knocked upon this Christian's door. He got up out of his bed and he says, Morris, what is it? And he says, I need the Lord. I need to get saved. Come in, come in. That person had the joy of pointing him to Christ. And I pray that if you're here tonight, and you're anyway prospering in your sin, I pray life will turn sour for you, because it will be a different story our Lord would have told, because this young boy never would have come to the Father's house again. His father would never have heard of him if he had prospered in the far country. Do you see when you can take the story and give it a little twist, and we see it in a different light? I'm glad the Lord told the story that ended happily and not the story that ended in tragedy. this young man could have prospered. And the Lord could have give a warning, but there'd be no hope in that story. The Lord would have says, look, there's the truth. I'll give it a little turn for you. You'll see it now. There's another young man. I'm convinced there were young men who prospered in their sin in the Lord's day, and they had no thoughts about their soul and about getting right with God. And furthermore, could I say, that not only could this man have prospered in the far country, but do you ever think he could have perished in the far country? He could have died in the far country. What a story that would have been. A happy home broken up. Yes, it starts all like that. A son going away, a father looking every day, a mother crying, and the father waiting on the horizon, but there's no sign of his young boy. What a tragic story this would have been if this young man, this sinner, perished in the far country. And the far country is simply the place where the sinner is now, away from God. out of fellowship with the Lord, not right with God, separated from God by their sin, under condemnation, in a far country, as far from God as they can be, even though they're in God's house, they're still, by their nature and sin, far from God. And if you were to die in your sin, in the very act of sin... I know a man, a man I've prayed for for years, and I prayed, the Lord knows, with fervency and tears for this man. And he dropped dead in a public house. And they tell me that when he died, it was so sudden that he was dead before he hit the floor. That man meant something to me, by the way. He really meant something to me. He was a relation of mine. And I thought about it. Him taking the glass of beer and throwing the darts and having a laugh with his mates, but not right with God as far as I can tell. And by the way, we never know a person's last end, so we don't really know where a person is. We can only say if they die without Christ, then they'll be lost in hell. But we don't know a person's last moments. But I'm telling you this, a person cut off in their sin, there's no hope. for a person cut off in the act of sinning against God. There's a hope for a person who perhaps has moments afterward. I'm convinced of that. I work with two individuals very closely. Both of them were alcoholics. I took them to my heart as if they were my own children and they were men in their 30s, the most likable individuals you'll ever meet. And I mean this Under God and grace, I invested every energy and ounce of my time in the rescuing of those men. And I believed that I could succeed with those men. I believed in my heart that God could deal and change these men. But I realized ultimately the only person could help them was themselves, but they were not willing to give up the drink. In fact, one man lost his wife and four beautiful girls. I worked closely with him for six months solid, and believe me, it's not the type of ministry that I could do for the rest of my life. It's a rescue ministry with very little fruit. It takes a special kind of person to be involved in a ministry like that. I don't believe, what for one moment, that every evangelist and pastor and minister can do that type of work. It's a different type of work. And I worked intensely. When I got the phone call, I wasn't even allowed in the flat to identify the body. It was horrendous, the death that man had. And I had to do his funeral service. And I can tell you something. I was so disturbed for months afterwards I couldn't preach without weeping. I mean that. Couldn't preach. I felt my ministry was over. And vested the same time and energy in another young man. I can give you both names by the way. One young man in particular. What a terrible state. In and out of hospitals. We got him dried out. We got him through the system. He knew how to break the system, get out. Had a long story short friends. Had the phone call from his girlfriend. She held down a good job. How she stayed with him, I do not know. His girlfriend says, Thomas, we have nobody. And I want to tell you that Ryan has been found dead tonight in the street in Belfast. And I know that I've kept him in my home for years. I know that. And I could take no more. And I had to tell him to go. He was taken into a hostel. Very few places in Northern Ireland will deal with an alcoholic. Very few. Only one or two places only. But he was able to get into the hostel in Belfast. And of course he started to drink again. And that was his last drink. Well friends, I want to tell you something. I did that funeral service and there was not grieving or mourning, there was howling. I mean howling. Like I've never heard in my life. I went into that home when I mean this, there was howling like a dog. I met one of his relations and I said, it's terrible about Ryan. Here's what he said, he deserved it. Walked off with a tin of beer in his hand. Friends, only for the dignity of a Christian burial, I would have stopped that entire service and said, I want you all in here to show you, here's a man and this is what drink has done to him. And look at you, his brother and you family members, look at you. You learn nothing. from a man who has perished in the far country. And friends, I can show you a school photograph. And I do not know the last end of these people. I don't know if they called on the Lord, and I hope they're in heaven. I really mean that, because I do believe God is merciful. There'll be people in heaven we never thought would ever be there. That's the truth. There might be people who are not in heaven who we thought might be there, but the wonder of it all, by God's grace, I'll be there. But I'm telling you now, I show you a school photograph. I'm reminded of even past girlfriends. They've been taken out into eternity. My last friend to die, well, there's been many more, but in this way, my last friend to die was shot in Belfast a few years ago. I grew up with him. Both of us drank together, sadly. We lived wildly together. And he was in the same organization as I was. I ended up in jail, he didn't, but I'm telling you now that when he was killed, I couldn't help but think, he's perished in the far country. There was no happy ending there. What a different story this would have been if the Lord had have said, this young man prospered, and he did well, and he died a rich man, and he died with great success and material possessions, but he lost his soul. And here's another man, and he's died, he's perished in the far country. Could I say something else as I move on? And this will be my final point, for time has beaten me. But you know, he also could have presumed in the far country. Can you imagine the story being told? Come with me as I finish it. He not only could have prospered, he not only could have perished, but he could have presumed too much in the far country. Okay, he has thoughts of God. He has now thoughts of home. There's a famine, he's lost his money, but he might have stayed in the far country and says, well, things might turn around for me, you know. So I'll just stay here a little longer, and things might turn around. Those friends that owe me the money that I have given, they might come back and give me more money. That land that I sold, the man might come back and say, look, I see the state you're in, you were good to me selling that. Here's a wee house, you can have it, live in it, and here's some more money. He could have presumed that in the far country, he would be all right. and that he could return maybe to his father's house any time. There he is enjoying himself. Now he's in want. He begins to think, and this is what the story's about, he begins to think about the Lord. He begins to think about his soul. He begins to think about his sin and where he's going when he dies. And he begins to think, how do I get to heaven? And then he remembers through Christ and the finished work of the cross. But then he says, sure, I could go back to the father's house any time. Then suddenly he decides, years later, to return to the father's house. Now come with me in your mind, do you see this? He arrives. The farm is run down. You can see the weeds growing out of the chimney pot. The birds are flying over the roof. The fields are all overgrown. The very yard, you can't even find any clay at all. And then it just seems to be broken windows, and it just seems to be derelict, and there's nothing there, and the old frames are gone. And then he begins to look around, and he sees a man coming toward him, and he says, excuse me, sir, the old man, the old man that lived here, where is he? Oh, he's died long ago. Did you not know he died with a broken heart? He had two sons, you know, one of them left. He never got over that loss. They say he took it to the grave. Well, there was another brother then. You said there was another son. Where's he? Well, no one really knows. He became very recluse and bitter. And it just seems he sold the property and moved on. Nobody knows where he is, and the property is just lying waste. Now friends, I know God can't die. But I'm giving you the illustration of opportunity. There he is in the far country, and if this young man had not have arisen and returned, that's most likely what would have happened. And furthermore, I'm saying to you tonight as I close this gospel message that you could presume too much. You could say to me, well, preacher, I don't have to get saved tonight. But I disagree. Oh, it's because you're preaching? No, because I don't care who's preaching. Behold, now is the accepted time, the Lord says. Now is the day of salvation. You need to get saved tonight. You will say, well, I presume on time tomorrow. We don't know what's going to happen to you when you go out through that door. We don't know if you'll make it home tonight. We're not sure if you'll see the morning. We're not even sure whether you will be able to come back tomorrow night. And you might say, well, I'm going to wait until such and such a night when this person's preaching, or I'm going to come on the final night, and then I'll get right with God. I'm telling you, You can't presume on that. Boast not thyself of tomorrow, thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. You need to get right with God tonight. My spirit will not always strive with man. I'm going to ask you a question as we close, and I'm going to show you how the Lord's working with you right now. Have you any trouble or concern about your soul? Have you given any consideration, even in this meeting, that you are a sinner? That you're not right with God, and if you were to die now, you know you wouldn't be in heaven, but you would be in hell. I'm telling you right now, the Reverend David Macmillan or Thomas Martin has not put that in your heart. The Holy Ghost has. And if you have any concern at all, at all, I'm telling you, that's how you know the Spirit's striving. That's how you know the Lord's working. And while the Lord's working in your heart, don't put it off. Don't wait to another time. Settle the matter tonight. Because I'm telling you, the story of your life isn't written up yet. It could have a happy ending, or it could have a tragic ending. It could be heaven for you, or hell. It could be saved with the Lord, or lost without Him. It could be glory! or despair. I don't know what the last chapter and what input in your life will be put into that book, but the last chapter is going to be written up whether you like it or not. I don't know if we were to take that book at the end of your life and begin to read. It might make for good reading at the start. It might make for bright and happy reading in the middle, but then we suddenly see what sin brings to a sinner's life, death. misery, pain, and woe. And we read the closing chapters of your life in the final chapter, and we discover you died without Christ, without God, and without hope in this world. Yet all the while, as we preached on Sunday evening, there was a cure, there was a remedy, there was a way back to God through the finished work of Christ, through the precious shed blood, through that one great sacrifice for sins forever. There was a way that you could be saved. There was a night when you could have gotten right with God, but you missed it. Your opportunity is gone. Well, this is your night to be saved. This is your moment. This is your opportunity. In this meeting house here in Armagh, in this mission, this is the mission for you. Now, don't miss the opportunity. Go away tonight knowing that it is well with your soul, that you're right with God, that you've repented of your sin, you've believed Christ died for you on the cross, you've received him into your heart as your own and personal Savior, and now, by his grace, you're in filled with his Spirit, and you're going to live the Christian life. What a happy ending that will be to the story of your life. May God make it so for his great namesake. Let's bow in prayer. Thank you very much for listening intently to the preaching. I appreciate that. Loving Father, in the Saviour's name, we pray for thy blessing. We ask, Lord, it will please thee to come on a rescue mission to seek and to save that which is lost. Lord, bring the prodigal home we beseech thee. We pray, Lord, that they may arise and go to their Heavenly Father and say, I've sinned. And may they confess that sin and look to the bleeding sacrifice of Calvary, look to the cross, the finished work, as their only hope for heaven. We pray, Lord, that thou will be pleased to draw sinners unto thyself, save them at the cross, bring them to Christ. And Father, set thy seal to the preaching of thy word. We ask these things, giving thanks in Jesus' precious name. Amen.