It's good to hear the words of testimony. As we mentioned last night, the great American preacher, Dr. Reuben Archer Torrey, R.A. Torrey, he was a lawyer and he used to say it was great when he was able to bring on the witnesses in a court case and have the witnesses tell the story and tell it, as we would say today, like it is. And thank God for those who have witnessed tonight for the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, I don't know about you, but when I was at school, I wasn't really into English literature or certainly not into the works of William Shakespeare. But one quote I always remember from William Shakespeare was, to be or not to be, that is the question. And the great question of life, as we are here in the gospel mission, is this. To be a Christian or not to be a Christian, that is the question. That is the question that really matters, dear friend. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your own and personal Savior? Can you say, Thank God I am saved. I have been born again of the Holy Spirit. I have had my sins washed away through the precious blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Or would you have to say, sadly, I am not a Christian? Now, the sad thing about the society in which we live and the world in which we live today is that oftentimes people do not really know exactly what a Christian is. We are told, well, we were born into a Christian country. We're told we're born into a Christian home. Or they said we attend a Christian church. I was thinking about when people say we're born into a Christian country. I attended a meeting yesterday of the Christian Institute, a public meeting. And that organisation was telling us that in Great Britain, in one town, the council prohibited a fish and chip shop being opened beside a school because they said they were concerned of the number of children who are obese. And so they would not allow a fish and chip shop to be opened beside the school. But yet in another town, a sex shop was opened right beside a school. And it makes you wonder just what people are thinking about. So when we are told we are born into a Christian country, sometimes we wonder and we realize that oftentimes in these years in which we live, people refer to our country and refer to us living in the United Kingdom in a post-Christian era. And I think that is very, very true in many respects. Someone said their attend a Christian church was a great old Church of England bishop. He used to preach at the Keswick Convention. And he used to say, you know, if you ask anyone in England Are they a Christian? He says, they immediately tell you, I am C of E. In other words, that they belong to the Church of England. But he said, what they really mean is they attend Christmas and Easter. And that's about it. And so, it's no use saying, well, I am born in a Christian country or I attend a Christian church. As a Uyghur said one night in one of our meetings, he said, you could be born in the garage, but that doesn't make you a motor car. And we need to be saved. And we were reading there from the epistle to the Hebrews about the faith of some of God's chosen people. But there's a verse over there in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8, and it sums it all up like this. For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, and the following verse says, not of works, lest any man should boast. So when we are thinking tonight on to be a Christian or not to be a Christian, that is the question. We are reminded by the Apostle Paul that it is by grace we are saved. It is through faith It is not of ourselves. It is the free gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Now, in the Bible, from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, there are two lines. There is the line that teaches us of God's sovereignty, that salvation is by the grace of God. O, the love that sought me! O, the grace that brought me! O, the grace that brought me to the fold! Salvation is my grace. The Bible says, Salvation is of the Lord, and the preparation of the heart belongeth unto God. But running parallel with that line of teaching throughout the Word of God that salvation is by grace, the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith. And you have the line of God's sovereignty on one hand, and you have human responsibility on the other hand. Now, to go back again to school, You may remember that we are taught that parallel lines meet in infinity. If you were to stand on a railway track and stand between the lines, you would see those two lines. They're parallel lines. But if you were to look away toward the horizon, it would appear that those lines actually meet in infinity. We are finite. We cannot understand all things. But, thank God, in the infinite mind of God our Creator and our Savior, the lines of God's sovereignty and human responsibility meet. And it is our duty as a preacher to preach the Word of God. And when the Word of God emphasizes the sovereignty of God, we must emphasize it. And when the Word of God emphasizes the responsibility of man, we must emphasize that responsibility. For as I was reading that passage in Hebrews, it amazed me how the lines of God's sovereignty and human responsibility meet in the circumstances of these Bible characters. And they give a picture to you and to me tonight of what a Christian is. Now, the first person we read about was the man of God called Noah in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 7. And the Bible says, By fear, Noah, being 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 And I want you to notice that a Christian, men and women, is a person who escapes the inescapable. That is what the Bible teaches us here about Noah. A Christian escapes the inescapable. The Bible tells us in the book of Genesis, when God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, He saw that the imagination of their heart was only evil continually. And God said, I will destroy man whom I have created. And so the judgment went out from God. And God said, I am going to destroy man from all the face of the earth. Because the only thoughts, the imagination of his heart, was to do evil continually. But the Bible says in Genesis chapter 6, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And here in Hebrews chapter 11, the Bible says, By faith Noah prepared an ark. So you have the grace of God and you have the faith of Noah. And when those two things come together, thank God, you see a picture of a Christian. You see a picture of a saved man, a man who escaped the inescapable wrath of Almighty God. Dear friend, the Bible reminds us that the wages of sin is death. The Bible says, The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The Bible says, For all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And the Scripture says, The wicked shall be turned into hell, and the nations that forget God. So the Bible says there is a coming day of wrath. God has put a rainbow in the sky after the shower of rain to remind us that never again will He destroy this world by a flood. But He tells us there in the epistles that one day He will destroy the world by fire. There is going to be a judgment, a fiery judgment to come. And men and women need to be ready. How can they escape the inescapable wrath of God. Because the Bible says, Because there is wrath, beware, lest he take thee away with his stroke, and a great ransom cannot deliver thee. We escaped the wrath of God, the judgment of God in a Christless eternity by grace and through faith. Noah escaped the inescapable. Noah found grace in the eyes of God. And by the grace of God, Noah was warned of God, of things not seen as yet. And by faith and with fear, godly fear, he prepared an ark. He saved his household. And in doing so, he condemned the ungodly world around him. And he became an heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Dear friend, in this Gospel mission, and in many other meetings and many other missions, you have been experiencing the grace of God. The Bible teaches us about the common grace of God. And you have known that the grace of God even a better measure and a fuller measure in being warned of God through the preaching of God's Word that you are a sinner, but that Christ died for sinners and that He is able to save sinners. So a Christian is a person who escapes the inescapable. Not because he is better than anyone else. Not because he goes to a particular church or has been baptized. but because he has experienced the grace of God and through faith he has trusted Christ. Then we read about Abraham. And the Bible tells us that by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for inheritance, he obeyed. And then in verse 17 of Hebrews it says, by faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. Verse 19, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. From whence also he received him in a figure. See, a Christian is one who escapes the inescapable. And he is one who believes the unbelievable. It had never been heard of that God could raise the dead. But Abraham, who was a pagan, heathen idolater, worshiping the sun and the moon and the stars, The godly Stephen, when he was being martyred and he preached the Word of God, he made a defense before the council, he said in the book of Acts, the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham. That is the grace of God. God spoke to Abraham. God said, Leave your father's house. Leave her of the Chaldees and go into a land that I will show you that you will afterward receive for an inheritance. That was the grace of God in Abraham's life. And thank God for the faith that Abraham exhibited. By faith, he obeyed God. And when he was tried, And God said to him, Abraham, rise up early, take your son, your only son Isaac, go to Mount Moriah and then offer him as a sacrifice on the altar. Abraham believed that should he offer his son, the one who was the heir of the promises, because God said, Abraham, I'm going to make of you a great nation. Abraham, your seed shall be as the sand of the seashore, as the stars of the heavens. And Abraham believed, therefore, if this son of mine, this son Isaac, who was given to me by God, if I slay him on the altar, God will raise him up. He believed the unbelievable and he received him in a figure. Because do you remember, as Abraham and Isaac made their way up the Mount Moriah, Isaac looked to his father and he said, Father, you've got the fire and we've got the wood, but where is the lamb? And by faith, Abraham said, My son, God shall provide himself a lamb. And when he laid his son upon the altar, and when he took the knife to slay his son, God spoke to him again. And he turned and he saw a ram caught in a thicket. Interestingly enough, the word thicket is the word thornbush. And it was caught by the head by the thorns. just picturing, symbolizing, pointing to one who would come, the Lamb of God, who would wear a crown of thorns, who would be God's perfect Lamb. Because when Abraham went up Mount Moriah, a Lamb was provided. But when God took His Son to the sea of mountain rage, to a hill crag called Calvary, There was no other Lamb. There was no other way. The Lord Jesus, He was the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. And Abraham and Isaac climbed that mountain. In the climax of that hour, as they stood there and then slew the Lamb and offered the Lamb as a sacrifice upon the altar, they could see the cross They look through, as one old preacher said, the telescope of faith. Just as we look back, they look forward to Calvary. So a Christian escapes the inescapable. He believes the unbelievable that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary, took upon Himself the sin of the world, dealt with it and rose again for our justification the third day according to the Scriptures. Why is the resurrection so much attacked in these days in which we live? Because men won't believe the Word of God. And then we read about Moses in verse 27. It says that Moses... 24 rather, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. And the Bible says there in verse 27, By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." You see, the child of God, the Christian, escapes the inescapable. He believes the unbelievable and he sees the invisible. Moses, one day, out in the backside of the desert, he saw a sight, a bush that was burning but was not consumed. And there you have the grace of God appearing to Moses in the bush. God was there in the backside of the desert in that bush that was burning, that was not consumed. But Moses, the Bible says in Exodus, he turned aside to see that great sight. So you have the grace of God on one hand and you have the faith of Moses on the other hand. And Moses endured. He delivered the people. He went before Pharaoh. He led them through the time of the plagues. He led them in the night of the Passover under the blood. He led them through the Red Sea. He led them through the wilderness. He endured a seeing Him who is invisible. How do Christians endure in this world? And the Bible says, He that endureth to the end shall be saved. How do they endure? They endure by faith. They see Him who is invisible. By the night we were saved, we knelt by faith at the old rugged cross of Calvary. And we received the Lord Jesus as our Savior. And that is our Lord. And we endure as seeing Him who is invisible. And then finally, you will notice we read about verse 30 about the walls of Jericho. We are reading now about Joshua. It says, By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days. And I want you to notice the Christian escapes the inescapable, the wrath of God, and thank God for that. They believe the unbelievable, that the Lord Jesus died for them, that He dealt with their sins, that He rose again, that He ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high, and that He is coming back again in power and in great glory. They see the invisible, They put their trust in Christ day by day. They have faith in God. But you will notice they achieve the impossible. Jericho was a walled city. And when Joshua and the children of Israel came, God, by His grace, He told them, to compass the city about seven days. Just as God gave to Noah the plan for the ark and told him to prepare an ark. Just as God spoke to Abraham to offer up Isaac. Just as God spoke to Moses at the burning bush, God spoke to Joshua. Compass the city once every day. And then on the seventh day, seven times. And you can just imagine the jeering, the scoffing of the people of Jericho as they looked over the city's walls and they saw this army marching round and round. Oh, we are in Jericho. This is an impregnable city. And God says, Joshua, walk round it. every day and seven times on the seventh day. And then get the priests to blow the trumpets, give a shout and go forth. And the walls of Jericho fell down. And God's people took the city. God in grace told Joshua what to do. And by faith, Joshua led the children of Israel and the priests round and round and round the city of Jericho. And the more they went round the city of Jericho, the more they realized it will only be God who can give this city into our hands. We could never take it by ourselves. It is an impossibility. But they achieved the impossible. They won the victory by grace and by faith. And I often tell that to people when people come and say, you know, I would love to be a Christian, but I don't think I could keep it. No, you couldn't keep it. But by the grace of God and by faith, the Lord will keep you. Some people say, I don't think I could get the victory over the habits of a lifetime. I don't think I could break free from a habit that has chained me all my life. But dear friend, by faith and by the grace of God, you can achieve the impossible. That's why men and women are amazed oftentimes that men and women who are addicted, whether it be to drugs, or to drink or to anything else. And they've tried this program, that program and the other program to try and break free their addiction. But they hear the gospel and they hear about Jesus, who is mighty to save, who is the delivering one, who can set them free. And they kneel at a pew. And they ask the Lord Jesus to take away their sin, to come into their heart and life, to make them a child of God. And I have seen it in days gone by. And a drunkard can rise from his knees as sober as a judge and never touch another drop of drink by the grace of God and through faith. Dear friend, are you a Christian? Have you experienced the grace of God many, many times? You have heard the Word of God. You have been told a way of salvation. You have been told to put your faith and your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church cannot save. Your good works cannot save. We have read that in the Word of God tonight in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. Your good living cannot save. Your charitable giving cannot save. Your baptism, your confirmation, any other ceremony of man cannot save. But, thank God, Jesus saves. Somebody once said that that little word, grace, it speaks of God's riches at Christ's expense. That God in His grace gives us all the riches of glory in Christ and that Christ prayed for our sin at the cross of Calvary. And the little word faith means forsaking all I trust or I take Him as my own and personal Savior. Friend, if you do not know Christ, then tonight you can come and you can leave this meeting rejoicing that hell you will never see, that you will get the victory over sin and the world and the evil, by grace and through faith, that you will endure even to the end as seeing him by faith, who is invisible through his divine grace. Friend, will you come and put your trust and your faith in my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ? Reverend Saldo, I bring a meeting to a close.