Folks, if you have your Bible with you, would you turn please to Paul's epistle to the church at Philippi, Philippians chapter 1. And as you're finding the place, I would just like to add to the words of welcome. I am delighted to see you. I want to thank you sincerely for joining with us for the evening service. I want to thank you personally for your prayers for the week of meetings in Port Hope. and also for your encouragements and prayers for the meetings of today and yesterday and, God willing, tomorrow. I certainly appreciate a praying congregation. I have one at home in Lisburn, and I feel it is so essential to my ministry to know that individuals would remember me as God's servant in prayer. I'm always thankful that before I venture on any work for the Lord that I do have individuals that are bringing me to the Lord. I was encouraged last Sunday in my own church, whenever the elders of Lisburn came to the pulpit, and they laid hands on me. That wasn't to throw me out of the pulpit, but they laid hands on me, and they prayed for me as they gathered in the pulpit, and they sent me forth from the church. And I believe that according to Acts 13, that the Holy Spirit has sent me forth to here to Canada to minister, and I have known help, and I have known blessing. And I want to publicly give thanks to the Lord for the liberty and the help and the power that He has given to me to minister the precious Word of God. I acknowledge that without Him, as we read in John 15, I can do nothing. But I'm glad the Lord does not leave us destitute to our own insufficiency, to our own inability. But thankfully, we're grateful that the Lord undertakes, and I'm glad that the Lord has blessed me, and I do believe that He has blessed His Word to our hearts. It's hard to believe that the 10 days or so that I've come here have almost gone. We are thinking of home, and we're thinking of our children. My wife and I have never been away from our children for 16 years, and our eldest boy is 16. My wife has been away for a few weeks. I've been away for a few weeks, but we have never been away. from our children. And while you miss many things in this world, you begin to yearn for them. And we have a little picture of our youngest boy on the mobile phone. And we happened to put it on last night for to set an alarm. See, I don't set my own phone because the boys are ringing me, knowing full well it's 3 o'clock in the morning. And they are phoning me so I don't put my mobile on, but they don't have my wife's mobile. We put the phone on last night, and the picture appeared, and we began to think of home. But we've had a blessed time, and we're thankful to the Lord that He has been with us. And we trust tonight, as we meet around the open pages of Holy Scripture, that we might know the nearer presence of the Lord. And James, we read, draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. to you. And that's what we seek to do, to draw near to the Lord. There's just one single verse of Scripture I want to leave with you. It's Philippians chapter 1, and it's the verse 21. And there we read in God's Word, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. This text of Scripture, and we'll be praying in a moment, but this text of Scripture was the verse that the Lord called me to full-time service. I was in the Martyrs' Memorial Easter Convention in 1988. I had just been released from the Mace prison in January of that year. I went along with I was going to say my wife, but she wasn't my wife then, for we were married a few months later. But June and I went along to the Martyrs Memorial Friday night young people's meeting, and I remember Dr. Brian Green, a Baptist pastor from London, was preaching on this text of Scripture, for to me to live is Christ." And I felt the challenge of that word in a powerful way, and it's been a long time publicly that I have wept the way I wept in that service. I remember holding my both hands over my face so that no one would see me crying. That's the way you are in prison. You would never want to appear to be soft, and Many times we don't give expression to emotions the way we ought to, and yet we're avoiding too much emotion, and we don't want crocodile tears. But the Lord broke me in that meeting, and as I was holding both hands over my face, I can tell you that tears came through my very fingers. I've never been as broken. And I were singing that hymn, where he may lead me, I will go. And it was those words, for I remember Calvary. for to me to live, for I remember Calvary." And when the appeal went forth, I raised my hand and I realized June did the same. There were about 30 young people who came forward to the front of the church that night. We kneeled at the front and we were prayed over by Dr. Paisley and Dr. Brian Green. We then were escorted into another room, and the amazing thing we were told now we must now seek the will of God for our lives. And there and then in that room, I knew that God had a plan for me. And the Lord opened up the door for service. I entered into the Whitefield College of the Bible, and the Lord called me to the ministry. And yet the Bible tells us that thy commandment is exceeding broad, for not only does this verse relate to the believer, but this verse is also a challenge in the gospel. And I want to look at this verse in the light. of not only the believer, but also those that are not saved in this gathering. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Let's just keep our Bibles open, our finger upon that text of Scripture, and we will ask help of God in the ministry of His precious Word. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the Word of God in our mother tongue. And we bless thee for this text of scripture, which thou hast placed in thy holy word. And I ask, O God, now, as thy word has been read, as the text, O God, has been announced, that it will please the Lord to bless the preaching of his word. God, grant that thou wouldst give unto me, thy servant, the help that I need now in the ministry of thy word. Grant to me, Father, cleanness of hand, pureness of heart, the infilling of the Holy Spirit of God with wisdom and power. And heavenly Father, I ask Thee now that Thou wouldst prepare hearts, speak to both saved and unsaved alike, and God grant that Thou will bring sinners to repentance and glorify Thy Son. Hear prayer now, and Father, anoint me with Thy Spirit to preach Thy holy word and glorify Thy Son. for we ask these things in Jesus' precious and worthy name. Amen. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. You see, death for the child of God is not a tragedy. It is a victory. Paul the Apostle speaks of being with Christ, which is very much, very far better. Bad English, I know, but good Greek. Greek, whenever you consider the use of the comparatives in the original language, Paul says being with Christ is very much, very far better. For the Bible says, to die for the believer is gain. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. D. L. Moody lived a wonderful life of consecration and service to God. His life was one of triumph, one of victory. However, his death was equally as glorious as his life. A few hours before D.L. Moody entered into glory itself, the homeland of the believer, he caught a glimpse of the glory that was awaiting him. And awakening from his sleep, he began to say, I quote, "'Earth recedes. Heaven opens before me. If this is death, it is glorious. There is no valley here. God is calling me, and I must go. This is my triumph. This is my coronation. It is glorious." Very few in this world can die with confidence like that. Very few can stir death in the face and say, it is glorious. And Aide Scotsman, lay dying one time, and his friends gathered around his bed, and they said to him, well, what do you think of death now? And that man had this to say. He said, it matters little whether I live or I die, because if I live, Christ will be with me. But if I die, I will be with Christ, for to me to live is Christ, to die is gain. Most people fear death. Some individuals have coined various phrases to take the edge and the reality out of the termination of human life. Some have called it the cool, enfolding death. But I'll say this to you, unless you are a believer, Unless you are saved by the grace of God, there is nothing cool and there's nothing enfolding about death for the sinner. And I have been called as a minister to many deathbeds. I have been called out in the middle of the night to go and rush to the hospital of someone who has lived their lives without God and without Christ. And I've had the family plead with me, Reverend Martin, would you speak to my mother? Would you speak to my father? Would you speak to my grandmother? And I have gone to that bedside and pleaded as best as I could for individuals to come to Christ. And when I watched them, when the nurse came in and took their hand and said, it's very near, and then within a few seconds, the nurse just set the hand down, and she said, I'm sorry. The person's gone, and there was nothing cool in folding about that person's death. I have looked into their face, and I have seen the horror of a lost eternity written over their soul. And while I cannot for sure say what a person's last end is, I am not always sure, but there are individuals, and my mind has taken a photograph of the way they looked. as they headed out into eternity, and I have stood with the family in silence, and I've realized how final death is, and that there's not another opportunity to speak to that person and see that person come to Christ. We had a young man in our own congregation a number of years ago, a young man who was I suppose for most of his life, unwell. He was only 21 years of age. He had cystic fibrosis, so that certainly would have limited his lifespan. Whenever he was in getting treatment, as he did there in the city hospital Belfast, they discovered there was a tumor in his thigh. They immediately operated and removed the tumor. And they said, now, Gary, you may not be able to walk. Surprisingly, despite most of the thigh muscle being taken away, Gary Dunlop was able to walk, and doctors says, we don't understand this. And in a sense, the family were encouraged, but the scans revealed that there were secondary tumors right throughout his body. And that young man in the city hospital. As I visited there with the family, the family said, would you go in and would you sit by the bedside of Gary and ask him, is everything okay? Is it well with your soul? And I sat beside him in the bed. He could hardly smile. And I says, Gary, I want to ask you simply, is there anything that you would like to talk with me about? he looked at me, and he says, Reverend Martin, no, for it is well with my soul. And I know that when I die, which is very soon, that I will be in heaven. And for a half hour—I mean this—for a half an hour, Gary and myself talked about what it would be like for him now to pass into the immediate presence of the Lord. And before he passed away, Gary gathered some of the young people out of our church and out of our denomination down to the city hospital, some of his friends, And he spoke to them all, and he told them to get right with God. And for those who were not saved, or those that were saved, he told them to give their lives fully to the Lord Jesus Christ. I conducted his funeral service, and listen to me. In that funeral service was his elder brother, and just shortly after that service, his brother Simon came and trusted the Lord. And I say this, I was there when Gary Dunlop spoke about going to heaven. He did not fear death, but I've also been beside the bedside of those in their dying breath would not take Christ as their Savior. cool, enfolding death. Others have called it the fine serenity of death, as though some peace would settle over the sinner, that they would enter right into eternity with such a peace that it's called the fine serenity of death. There's nothing fine or serene about the death of a man, woman, young person. who die without Christ and God and hope in this world. They die with the horror and the terror and the realization that they are lost with the guilt of sin, meeting a holy God, and the reality of hell set before them. And that's what the king of terrors is, as Job spoke about. It is that moment when they realize Hell is real. Death and judgment have come, and death is final. Yet how different it is for the Christian, for the believer. Death is gain. That's what the apostle Paul says. Death is a benefit. Death is profitable. Death is a victory. It brings eternal joy, and it holds no fear for the child of God. I went to visit, and you have one hymn belonging to Noel Grant, The Evangelist, in your hymn book. And through a little booklet, that Noel Grant pen called Let Him In, I was brought to know the Savior. And I thank the Lord for Noel Grant. Noel Grant was very ill just recently, and then he passed away. I attended his funeral service. I went down to Dundonnel Hospital, I think it was, and I visited with Noel Grant. And I come into the ward, and he was a frail, old man, and he was just flesh and bone. And as I drew alongside, along with my wife, to his bedside, I said these words, It's not looking too good, is it? And he raised himself off the bed and off the pillow with a smile of joy on his face, and he says, Oh, Tom, brother Tom, it's getting better. I've never heard that said in my life. It's getting better. It was well with his soul. The ancient Christians persecuted for their faith. They had to flee underground. They hid beneath the ground among the catacombs, the tombs of the dead. And whenever they were there for lengthy periods, some of their loved ones' elderly passed away, and they would have gathered round the loved one's body, and they would have began to sing in a gentle voice, Good night, beloved. sleep and take your rest. Lay down your head upon the Saviour's breast. Queen Victoria on her deathbed called for the hymn, Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. To die is gain. Now I ask you, For I may never meet you again this side of eternity. Our paths may never cross. Who knows when the next time I will be here, or you will see me again, or I will see you. But now in the presence of God, I'm asking you, how will you meet death? How will you do in the swelling of Jordan? when death's river rolls its waves at your feet. Tell me, is it well with your soul? Will you die well or in the horrors of guilt and lostness? I say this, a wonderful life, a wonderful great life is a wonderful thing, but infinitely greater is a death in the Lord. how will you die? Because my friend, there is an afterlife. There is more beyond what this world has A town in Spain, I cannot pronounce the name by the way, I have it in front of me, but I have struggled. I've asked our Spanish missionaries when I was over in Spain this year how to pronounce this, and they told me and I still couldn't do it. But in a town in Spain, and you can look at the internet and see it, or you can go to Spain right now and view this statue, but in a town in Spain where Christopher Columbus died in 1506, there stands a monument commemorating the great discoverer's feats. Perhaps the most striking feature of that memorial is that there's a huge lion on its back paws, with its front paws outstretched, and one paw is tearing away one of the Latin words that for centuries was the motto of Spain, The words in English, no more beyond. Spain believed for hundreds of years there was no civilization beyond the boundary and the borders nationally of Spain until Christopher Columbus discovered other worlds, other civilizations, and so their motto was, no more beyond. To commemorate the great discoverer, they have the lion tearing away the Latin word ne plus ultra. I'm going to say ulster there because that's where I'm from. Ne plus ultra, which means no more beyond, tearing away the word ne, no, leaving the words plus ultra, more beyond. And you know something? There is more beyond for us all this evening. both saved and unsaved alike. There's more beyond, and with this thought in mind, let me first of all speak to those of you who are saved. There is more beyond. There is far more beyond for us, for death is gain for the believer. And why is it gain for the believer? Well, let me tell you why. Death is gain for the child of God because of the person to whom it takes us. Think of that. Death takes the believer into the immediate presence of the Lord, absent from the body, present at home. with the Lord." What a wonderful thing that is! Paul said, For to me to live is Christ, that is, I have His abiding presence with me. To die is gain, I will secure. His actual presence, and one day, child of God, you will see the King in all of His beauty. You will gaze upon the face of your Savior, the One who died for you, who shed His blood for you, the One who bears the marks upon His body of the cross, and the agonies and sorrows of Calvary upon His hands, His feet, and His side, the marks upon His brow. One day you will see Christ, for Paul speaks of being with Christ, which is far better. A Baptist pastor from Northern Ireland was going through a very serious operation, and as he was about to be wheeled into the operating theater, one of the nurses pushing the trolley said, I hope you realize how serious this operation is, for once you go in there, There is no guarantee when we put you asleep that you will come out of that operation. And the pastor says, oh, if that's the case, would you do me a favor? And she said, I will, what is it? And he said, would you take a pen right now and write on one of my eyelids the word, and on the other eyelid write the word Christ, so that when they put me under the needle and I don't come out of it, you will know when you look at me that I am with Christ. And if you want, you can change the wording and take the word far and write it on this right eyelid and take the word better and write it on the left eyelid and you will know that for me it's far better. because I am with Christ." Now, how are you going to die, my friend? You see, for the believer, death is gain. The hymn writer Fanny Crosby gave us something in the region of 6,000 spiritual songs and poems, many of which have been put to music. However, she was blinded by an illness at age six weeks. However, Miss Crosby never became bitter against the Lord. And one time a sympathetic clergyman, minister or pastor, came up to her and remarked, I think it's a great pity that the master did not give you your sight when he showered so many other gifts upon you. And Miss Crosby replied very quickly, do you know that if at birth I'd been able to make one petition to my Lord, it would have been that I should have been born blind, unquote. And why, asked the clergyman, would you have made that petition? And she says, well, the first face that I will ever see will be the face of my Savior who loved me and gave Himself for me." One of Miss Crosby's hymns, I'm not sure if it's in your hymn book or not, it may be, was so personal to her that she never shared that hymn with any individual for a long time. When she was discouraged when she was downcast, whenever she felt herself to be under pressure and could hardly even serve the Lord, she would have repeated that hymn to herself by way of encouragement, and one day Whenever she was at the Bible conference in Northfield, Massachusetts, Miss Crosby was asked by the evangelist D.L. Moody to stand up in the auditorium and give a personal word of testimony, and she hesitated for a moment. Then as she rose to her feet, she said, there is one hymn I have written. which I have never published. I call it my soul's poem. Sometimes when I'm troubled, I repeat it to myself, for it brings comfort to my heart. And then she recited it while many shed tears in the meeting. Someday the silver cord will break, and I no more as now shall sing. But oh, the joy when I shall wake, in the presence of the King, and I shall see him," she was blind, face to face, and sing the story saved by grace. I shall see him face to face and tell the story saved by grace. At age 95, Miss Crosby. passed into the immediate presence of her Lord. She has seen the King in all of His beauty. And death is gain for the believer because of the person to whom it takes us. Death is gain for the believer because of the place to which it brings us, heaven, the home of the blessed, Emmanuel's land, the land that is fairer than day, the land where Christ dwells, the place that has eternal rest, and one day your troubles, your sorrows, your anxieties will all be over because heaven is a place of rest and release in hell. They have no rest day or night in the maze prison after I got saved. We were locked up at half-past eight in the evening, right through to half-past eight in the morning. And I shared a cell with a few men until I got a single cell, and I was there alone. The lights went out at eleven o'clock, and I got onto my knees and began to pray. I prayed for hours. I rose from my knees and I stood under the moonlight outside my window. Sorry, it was inside but toward it. But outside my window I could see a Republican wing, and on that wing I watched, probably I hadn't watched to tell the time, I watched Republican prisoners, and Loyalists were the same, walking up and down in their cells. And in the morning I made inquiry as to why so many men in their cells, eight feet by thirteen, right through the darkness of the night to the morning, paced up and down like caged animals, until one officer said to me, who worked on Republican wings, some of those men that you see, the victims that they had done to death, At midnight they come up before them, and they have no rest, and they cannot sleep. And the faces of them that they have killed come up before them, and they have no rest but in heaven. For the child of God, there's eternal rest. We rest from our labors. We lay all of earth's cares and its sorrows and woes behind us. And listen, just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life Repay. Just to be there will be worth it all. No matter how hard it is upon me, no matter how difficult life becomes, no matter how poor spiritually the work of God is, I'm glad I have a home in heaven. I'm glad that I am saved and I'm not boasting in the flesh. I'm thankful to God that I have a home that was prepared for me at Calvary. One day I shall go to heaven itself, the land of the blessed, to be there, to be there. Oh, what must it be to be there? Now tell me, if you lay your head on the pillow tonight and pass away during the night, where would your soul be? Be honest, and don't try and rely on a profession. that you've had decades ago, and there's been no fruit ever since. Don't rely on an empty profession. And if you lack assurance, and you're not sure, and you say, well, I profess, but I've no assurance, it's time you had assurance. It's too late on your deathbed. And I have tried to talk to people as the doctors and nurses are working with them, and then they're pumping in the morphine, and the mind is gone. It's too late to seek any kind of assurance that it's well with your soul. Where do you stand with God? I'm asking you now. is it well with your soul? Death is gain because not only of the place to which it brings us and the person to whom it takes us, but death is gain because of the people to whom it unites us. It unites us with all the redeemed of the Lord, and it is the family in heaven It is a home calling and the homecoming, and just as much as I desire in my heart to be back home with my children, well, heaven in that measure, in that degree to a greater degree, is a homecoming. And we're looking forward to it. I trust you are. I trust you're not so earthly-minded that you're not thinking of heaven. I trust that you've thought about that land today to which the Lord will take you. And we will be united with the saints. We'll not labor the point. Sufficient it is to say death for the child of God is game. Now let me come in closing to speak to those who are not saved in this gathering. What does death hold for you? you die without Christ and without God and without hope in this world. It is only the individual that can say, for to me to live is Christ. That is, they've repented of their sin, and they have trusted in Christ alone for salvation. the individual who was separated from their sin, being sorry for their sin, and having that sin taken away by the finished work of the cross, and they're resting completely, entirely on that finished work for salvation. They're not trusting in themselves. They're not resting in the sacrament. They're not looking to the church. Rather, they're resting in Christ. And I wonder, what is your hope for heaven? It's only the individual who can say, for to me to live is Christ, who can say to die is gain. And for some individuals, they say this, for to me to live is money. That's all they live for. I have a very close friend, and she said to me one day, if I could only win the lottery, I would be far happier, and basically heaven would come to me. And she said these words, if I win the lottery, I'm going to give you 100,000 pounds sterling. And I said to that girl, I don't want it. You'd say, what a fool, take it. I said, I don't want it. Oh, she says, you'll take it all right. And I says, I'm telling you, I'll not take it. And if you win the lottery, I'll not take it. And she says, if I could win the lottery, I know life would be a bed of roses. I know that would be the purpose of living, to have money, and then more money. We only have to think, and maybe I'm out of my depth here, of an individual in England, a footballer, not content with enough money, but he needs more money. And when you reach the first million, and I'm not far away from that myself. When you reach the first million, you'll be looking for the second. And when you reach the second, you wouldn't want to dwindle it away, sure you wouldn't. Better to have another million to waste it and keep the two. That's how people are. For to me, to live is money. That's all they live for, getting money. When they get money, they hoard it. They don't spend it and they want more money. For to me, to live is work. You say, what's wrong with that? Well, if it excludes the matter of your soul's salvation, that's what's wrong with that. Doing outreach in Lisbon, I knocked the door of a certain house and a man came to the door, a young man in his thirties, and he says, we're from Lisbon Free Presbyterian Church and we're here doing some outreach and we just want to ask some people some questions. Tell me, do you go to church? And he says, no, I don't go to church. I says, well, do you ever think of God or your soul's salvation? And he says, I never. In fact, man, I'm glad you've come. Come on into my house a moment. And the two of us stepped into his living room, and he says, look on that settee or the couch or the chair. Look at that little boy lying there, seven years of age. And he said these words to me, I'll never forget them. He says, I go to work in the morning at seven. I kiss that child, good morning. I come back in the evening, he's sleeping on the chair, and I kiss him goodnight, and I never see my little boy. And he says, all I do is work, work, work, and I can't get out of it. And for seven years, I don't know my little boy. And men, only you have come to my door, to where I am. I would neither think about God nor about my soul. And I wonder, is that you? For to me to live is work, money, family, material possessions, sport, pleasure, having a good time, young person. Or is it for me to live is Christ? You might think you can live without Christ and even do it, but you cannot. Now listen to me. You cannot die without Christ. Voltaire, the French infidel. who spent his entire life ridiculing God and Christianity and living his life in sinful pleasure, he took a stroke and he lay slowly dying for two long months. He was tormented with such agonies of soul that he began to spew out verbal blasphemies and cursing against God and his fellow man that even his fellow infidels had to vacate the room. He was heard at the end to cry, I am abandoned by God. I shall go to hell. His nurse declared in these words, I quote, Not for all the wealth of Europe would I ever see another infidel die." Now, how will death find you? Tell me, do you know Christ? Are you saved tonight? For there is more beyond. There's heaven for those that are saved. There's hell for those that are lost. And for the believer, it's gain. But for the unconverted man, woman, or young person, it's eternal loss of the soul in hell. The most important part of man is his soul. Housed in your body, dwelling, residing in that tabernacle of your flesh is your immortal soul. And the Bible speaks about the reality of the soul. It also speaks about the immortality of the soul. It also reminds us of the depravity of the soul, that soul of yours so precious, that soul of yours so valuable, that soul of yours so important, that soul of yours so immortal that will live the lifetime of God. It does not die like the body. It will never rot in mother earth. It will never suffer corruption or decay. That soul of yours will live the lifetime of God. And when the body's senses fail to feel anything on this earth, the soul goes on feeling either the joy or the bliss of heaven or the eternal torments or the miseries of an everlasting hell. When the body's eyes fail to see, the eye of the soul goes on seeing either the face of the lovely Lord Jesus their Savior or the flames of hell for all eternity. When the ears of the body fail to hear, and by the way, I am no medical expert, but I am told having visited many an individual's bedside who are in a coma, I am told that at some stage they may hear, even though they could never move a muscle, never utter a word, I am told by doctors and nurses and consultants at the bedside, there's a possibility this person can hear you. The last faculty medically I'm told to go is the hearing. Why is that? Why is that? Well, scripturally, I believe, here's the reason. Faith cometh by hearing. And God is merciful, taking away every faculty of man. The last one is the hearing, that even in their deathbed are. they might hear and be saved. But when the body ceases to hear, the ears of the soul go on hearing. They will either hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord, or else they will hear, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and for his angels. Oh, what a loss. You can never compensate. for the loss of your soul. The sinful pleasures of this life and all the wealth and fame and popularity that could ever be given to you could never compensate for the loss of your soul. Mark's Gospel. Chapter 8, 36 and 7. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? A prospecting party in the Klondike in their search for gold, they came upon a little miner's hut. Inside that hut were the two skeletons of men. who had been searching for gold. Upon the table was a huge quantity of gold that they had found. On a little piece of paper there was etched their search and their find in the gold. But what these men had forgotten was they had forgotten to prepare for the winter. that would settle upon the Klondike in their search for gold. They had neglected preparation for winter, and their folly was not in their pursuit of gold, but in their neglect of preparing for the winter that settled in upon them when they sat there and run out of food and starved themselves to death. And you know, man's folly is the same. He does not prepare. the winter storm of death and the judgment that follows death. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and if you come to Him and repent of your sin, He will save you, and He will take away your sin, as we were singing, and He will fit you for heaven. And listen to me, on the cross there's the great transferal. My sin was transferred to the body of God's dear Son, and along with the transferal of sin comes the transferring of my guilt, of my punishment, of my penalty, and the Lord Jesus stands as my substitute, and He bears the just punishment for my sin. And along with that transveral comes its punishment. He suffers, he bleeds, he dies as my substitute. And when I repent of my sin and come to him, I find that all my sins have been fully met on the body of God's dear Son. He's born that a curse load for me. And in believing, I have peace with God." Where do you stand with God? A great life is a wonderful thing, but infinitely greater is a death in Christ. Let me finish by saying this. You do not have to be old to die. You do not have to be sick to die, but you have to be ready to die. Prepare to meet God. Let's bow in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank Thee once again for the person of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for the one who has stood in the guilty sinner's stead. We praise Thee for the one who has suffered untold agony, sorrow, and pain at Calvary, and we rejoice our Father. He now stands in our midst tonight as the one who is able and willing to save. We bless Thee that all who repent and all who come to Him, He will save them. He will save them now. And we humbly beseech Thee, our Father, that our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the eternal Spirit, will bring conviction for sin and bestow the gifts of repentance unto God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, do Thy saving work. Do Thy sovereign work. Bring glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior for sinners, the only Savior for me. Part us now in thy fear and thy favor. Bless the continued fellowship afterward, and grant, O God, that in all our ways we will acknowledge thee, and we pray that thou will be pleased to direct our path. Bring sinners to the cross. Draw thy people to thyself. And Father, in answer now to prayer. Glorify Thy Son, we ask these things in Jesus' precious unworthy name.