It was announced in the press that the title of my message this evening was LSD. To those of an older generation, LSD stood for pounds, shillings and pence. But to modern youth, LSD is the name of a dangerous, death-inflicting and damning drug. The world, of course, has gone crazy, and escapism from the circumstances that surround modern youth is imperative to their living. And so modern youth and older folks, too, caught up in this heezy, crazy, sinning, licentious and adultery They go for what they call LSD trips, and they take this drug, and they go on a trip of fantasy. They forget about their circumstances. They forget about their environment. They forget about the battles that men and women have got to face as they face up legitimately to life's struggles, to life's sorrows, to life's temptations, and to life's hardship. There are thousands of young people who have fallen a prey to this drug addiction. What is the antidote to LSD? having a coffee party on a Sunday night, giving the youth as much of the pleasures of the world that they want on church premises after the Lord's day service. The only answer to every sin and to every pleasure of this world is the answer of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am sold out completely on this fact that Jesus Christ alone can meet the need of the human heart. And there's not a person in this meeting, I don't care what your addiction may be, what your pleasure may be, what your habit may be, what your circumstances may be, what your environment may be, what your past may be, Jesus Christ can completely satisfy you. I have been thinking on those letters LSD. And I find that the gospel antidote to LSD is LSD. And I want to take four of the LSDs of the gospel. The gospel, first of all, proclaims a long-suffering deity. That's the first one. A long-suffering deity. Turn with me to 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9. A longsuffering, do you think the Lord is not like concerning His promise? As a man hunched like this, what is longsuffering? Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. suffering deity. My dear sinner, in this meeting tonight, you are a living monument. You are a living testimony. You are an everyday testimony to the fact that God is long-suffering. He is long-suffering for He has restored you in sin's folly. There were sins that the devil wanted you to commit, but by the grace of God, sinner, although you are still in your sins, you did not commit them. God was good to you. There were things that you planned to do, and roads that you planned to travel, and paths that you planned to walk along, but God, in His great mercy, restrained you. in your sin. Do you remember the man that purposed to do sin in the Old Testament? And his testimony was this, God withheld me from sin. You say, Preacher, do you believe that God restrains unregenerate man in their sin? I do. I believe that that trunkard would have finished in a drunkard's crib. But God restrained them, preserved them with His feet, with His style. That is what God has been doing with you. He has been long-suffering to you. He has restrained you from doing sins, my friend, that would have darkened your soul with the blackness of hell's midnight forever. He has restrained you. in the path of sin's falling. Why? Because he's long-suffering. I'll tell you what else he has done. He has retained you in life, and he has preserved you to this day. We live in a world of accidents. We live in a world of sickness. We live in a world of tragedy. And you know yourself there are vacant seats in your family circle. You know yourself there are vacant places among the associates in business and in the particular environment in which you move. But you're in the meeting tonight, sinner, because God has retained you in time, that accident that you were in. You could have been cut off. That tragedy that overtook your friends, it could have overtaken you. That life-ending sickness that cut down your nearest and your dearest, it could have cut you down. But God was long-suffering. He was long-suffering. I want to say not only has God been long-suffering and restraining you in sin's folly, in retaining you in time and preserving your life, but he's long suffering in renewing another offer of the gospel to you. You know what's happening to you? You're hearing the gospel tonight another time. God's good to you, isn't He? Yes, last Sunday night, the Spirit of God spoke to you, young man. The Spirit of God, young woman, laid hold upon you. And you hardened your neck, didn't you? And you went out resisting, refusing, rejecting. But you're back tonight. And the Gospel is being renewed to you once again. Why? Because of His long-suffering. not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, renewing the offer of the gospel. And then, friend, God is long-suffering, for He's reframing from His swift and terrible judgment upon your soul. You don't deserve, my friend, to be where you are. It's only the mercy of God that keeps being merciful to you. The Bible says, Because there is wrath, beware, lest he take thee away with a stoke, then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. The Word of God says, He that being often reproved and hardened at this night shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. The immutable, unchangeable law of God says, The soul that sinneth, it shall die. But you're still in time. God has refrained from loosing upon you His swift and terrible judgment. The gospel, my friend, proclaims a long-suffering deity. God has been long-suffering. The Holy Spirit has striven with you when you were young. He striven with you when you were a young man or a young woman. He has striven with you in middle age, and some of you are old. And you're going down, and every day He's taking you nearer to death, to the coffin, to the Christless grave, to the Christless tomb, to the Christless throne, to the Christless hell. But He's been long-suffering. He will have mercy on you even tonight if you'll call upon His name. I'm glad God doesn't cut man off from their sin. I'm glad He's gracious. I'm glad he's loving. I'm glad he's kind. I'm glad that he lets a man go a very long way before he cuts him off in his wrath. The gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims a long-suffering deity. The gospel of Jesus Christ points to a loving Savior's death. That's the second thing in the gospel. The hand of the gospel is always pointing to the death of Jesus. Turn over with me to Isaiah chapter 53, and in that chapter we have a wonderful description of the death of Jesus Christ. Verse 10, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He had put him to grief. and thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seat, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." Three things about Christ's death, its origination, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Here is man fallen, lost, ruined, hell-bent, and hell-deserving. Sin must be punished. Death must overcome and overtake the lawbreaker. What's going to happen? There's a whole world of sinners to be damned, of fallen men like fallen angels. They're a way back into the presence of God, and then God steps in. And the Father makes His Son your substitute and my substitute. Your surety and my surety. Your sacrifice and my sacrifice. And it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. It was the will of God that He should wear the crown of thorns. It was the Father's will that He should be buffeted and spat upon. It was the Father's will that He should give us back to the smiter and his cheek to those that plucked off the hairs. It was the Father's will that He should hang stark naked on the cross. But my friend, I can describe the whipping, and the scourging, and the bleeding, and the crucifying, and the crowning, and the buffeting, and the battering of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's one thing I can't describe. The darkness! When Jesus Christ went out into the darkness and God put out the heaven's light and made the sun to withhold its shining, and when God bruised Jesus for me. I'll never be able to understand that. Jehovah drew his awful rod. O Christ, it fell on thee. Thou wast so stricken off by God, didst bear all ills for me. A victim, lad, thy blood was shed, now blessings draught for me." The origination of Christ's death had pleased the Lord to Bruton. Look at this, the propitiation of Christ's death. What did He propitiate? Our sins, when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin. Jesus Christ was made an offering for sin. I deserved eternal hell. Down in hell there are thirsty souls among the damned. Every damned soul is crying for a drop of water. Jesus Christ took the great cup of my hell in His hand, and He drunk it to the dregs, and He cried, I thirst! Why? Because He's enduring the pangs of hell for me. That's why. Jesus Christ cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, God forsaken of the cross? Hell is a place where men are eternally forsaken by God forever. Don't you see it, friend? With one tremendous draught, he drank for me damnation dry. That's what the cross means. That's its propitiation. But thank God it has a consummation. He shall see a seat. What does that mean? That means that he see of that drunkard and made him clean through his precious blood. That means that he see of that gambler, that he see of that sinner, that unclean person, that poor fallen woman of the street, that religious Pharisee and hypocrite. That person that thought that the church could take them to heaven and found out, like Nicodemus, that they needed to be born again. Jesus Christ, through the cross, seized His seat. Not yonder in heaven, but on the crystal sea of glass, before the everlasting throne, there is an innumerable company which no man can number. And everyone has a white robe, and everyone has a golden heart, and everyone is playing the sweetest celestial music that human fingers could bring from that heart that's strung with gold. What are they praising God for? Because Jesus died for them. That's what they're praising God for. He shall see a seed. He shall prolong his day. Thank God Jesus Christ is a living Christ. He died once. He lives forever. Sinner, I'm not asking you to put your name on a dead creed tonight. I'm not asking you to sign a formula tonight. I'm not asking you to consent to a long list of doctrines that you don't understand. I want to introduce you to a living, blessed, life-giving friend, Jesus Christ. Oh, that you might meet Him. Oh, that you might know Him. Oh, that you might trust Him. Oh, that you might love Him. Oh, that you might keep company with Him. He breaks every fetter. He smashes every chain. He loosens from every habit. He sets man and woman free. And He can set you free tonight. His blood can make ten thousands clean. His blood aveals for me. Oh, that tonight you might know Him. That is the death of Christ. A loving Savior's death. But the gospel not only portrays a long-suffering deity and points to a loving Savior's death, but the gospel proposes a lost sinner's deliverance. Lost sinners can be delivered tonight. The sweetest, the shortest, The simplest verse in the Bible to me is Romans 10 on 13. What a verse it is. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. A lost sinner's deliverance. There are four things in that verse, Frank. There is the widest possible scope. Whosoever. The widest possible scope. Whosoever. That brings you in, Frank. You're sitting here tonight and you're saying, Preacher, I would get saved, but I couldn't keep it. You know who told you that? The devil. That's who told you. No man keeps salvation, but Jesus keeps all those committed to Him. That's the devil's lie, you know. He wants to take you to hell. Will you go to hell believing the devil's lie tonight? Whosoever you say, Preacher, it's not me. It's for my men. It's for my friends, but me, I could never keep it. God's saying tonight, whosoever, that's the widest possible scope, takes in everybody in this meeting. You say, preacher, do you believe that God could see of everybody in this meeting? I believe He could see of them in a thousand times more. It's the gospel I believe in. Let me tell you something else. In this verse, you not only have the widest possible scope, but you have the simplest possible act. Cause, the word in the original is cry. It's easy to cry. There's not a man or woman here, boy or girl, who can't cry. How do men conceive by the simplest possible act? It's not baptism, or the Lord's Supper, or the church you're praying, or Bible reading, or believing a set of doctrines. It's eyeing. That's how matters is by crying. The widest possible scope whosoever, deeps in everybody. The simplest possible act. Cry! In God's name, sinner, cry tonight and God will save you. That's all you've got to do. We have something else in this verse. We have the highest, the grandest possible name. What name is that? The name of the church? No, sir. The name of the preacher? No, sir. The name of doctrines? No, sir. The name of a well-established scriptural creed? No, sir. What is it? It's the name of Jesus. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Wonderful name of Jesus! I'm thinking of this moment of people that I have whispered that name to. I was preaching in a tent in a certain place. And one night when I made the appeal, I heard a great sob. It wasn't the sob of a child or the high-pitched sob of a woman. It was the deep, awful sob of a man in distress. And when I made the appeal, he stepped forward, made a little curtain in front of the tent, and I drew it aside. And he stepped in, and I shut him in. And when the others had gone, he just sat there sobbing. And he said, Mr. Paisley, I have committed a terrible sin. And he said, last week you preached in this tent. And he says, I've been in hell ever since. He says, I'm sobbing now, but I have sobbed since last Sunday behind the hedges of my farm. I have gone out and left my bed and I have laid down in the gutter and I have sobbed. He says, my God, I have wrecked myself, I have wrecked my family, I have wrecked my name. And he shook. like a sally rod shaken by the wind. He said, Mr. Paisley, is there hope for a villain like me, a criminal like me, a sinner like me? He said, I not only sin, but like David, I covered up my sin. And no one would know, but he said, you put your finger on it. I never knew the man, never saw him before. He said, you uncovered it. And my God, he says, it's awful. I said to that man, I said, there are certain things about your sin that are public. And public sins must be repented of publicly. Private sins should be repented of privately. He said, Mr. Paisley, I'll do all I can to put it right. But he said, even if I do that, that will not help me. I said, no, it will not. But I said, there's a name that will help you. It's the name of Jesus. You know what it did to that man? It soothed his sorrow. It healed his wounds. It drove away his tears. I was in a meeting in that district some time ago, and there was him and his wife and his family, and he was singing the songs of Zion with all his heart. He had put everything right. It was a hard battle, but he did it. And I said to him, how about it? He said to me, it's just Jesus who's done it. He's done it for me. The Lord Jesus' friend is whom you need to call on, the grandest possible name. And then there's something else, the greatest possible fight. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord might be sealed. Doesn't say that. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord can be sealed. Doesn't say that. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord probably will be sealed. No, sir. It says whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be sealed. And it's done. And it's done eternally. And I want to tell you, friend, God stakes His character upon His own Word. I'm going to heaven on the Word of Jesus Christ. God's character is at stake. Some of you people who believe in me, you would come forward, and if I said to you a thing, you would believe me. But, friend, I'm only a poor, faltering, sinning, imperfect human being. But listen, friend, you can trust the Word of God tonight. Oh, that you might trust Him. Oh, is there some man here torn with strife? Is there some heart that's sore? Is there some soul that's darkened? Is there somebody here with a burden? Jesus lifts the burden. Don't carry it anymore. Put it in the sepulcher like old John Bunyan's pilgrim, and you'll see it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. The greatest possible fact, you'll be saved. You say, preacher, what about tomorrow? You come back here next week, friend, and look up Romans 10 and 13, and it'll still be the same. You come back here in a fortnight and look it up, and it'll still be the same. Come back in 50 years, and it'll still be the same. Friend, turn up the Word of God when the heavens are no more, and the stars are forgotten, and the earth's planet is forgotten, and the Word of God stands forever. It'll still be the same. No change, Jehovah knows. I've often told this story. Tell it again. Tonight it's worth repeating of the man, of the little boy and his mother who came to Christ in Major Whittle's meeting. Major Whittle was a contemporary of D.L. Moody. And they came on the verse, John 6 and 37, him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast up. They went home, got up in the morning, little boy got his breakfast, went off whistling to school. Mommy started to do her work. And the devil came and said, You're not saved. So does doubt. And instead of the woman trusting in the Word, she started to doubt and fear and look in. She lost assurance. She didn't lose salvation. She lost assurance of salvation. When she came home, the little boy came home for his lunch. Mommy was weeping. She says, Johnny, I'm not saved. Johnny was a very wise little boy. He went to the cupboard, got the old Bible down, turned it to John 6 and 37. Then he started to laugh. He says, Mommy, it's still in the book. It's still in the book. Someone said to W.P. Nicholson, what have you got for salvation but a bit of paper with writing on it? Correct, says Nicholson, but it's God's writing that's on the bit of paper. God's writing. I've got God's writing for my salvation. That'll do me. It will do you and do every man that will come. One last word, friends. The gospel portrays life's sure destiny. What is life's sure destiny? I can tell you tonight. Every man and every woman in this meeting is on a trip of no return. You're taking a trip tonight. It's a trip of no return. Straight is the gate. Narrow is the way that leadeth unto life. Few there be that find it. Wide is the gate. Broad is the road. leads to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat. It is appointed unto man once to die. You're all dying, man and woman. I'm nearer to preaching my last sermon than ever I've been before. You're nearer to listening to your last sermon than ever you've been before. We're all dying, and we're all going to the judgment. Friend, if you died tonight and appeared at the judgment bar, how would it be with your soul? Now answer it honestly. Answer it honestly tonight. How would it be with your soul? Would it be a Christless soul? A Christless deathbed? A Christless shroud? A Christless coffin? A Christless judgment? And a Christless hell forever? Alas! Alas! Scores and scores of men and women in this very meeting tonight, and if death came and judgment came, their destiny would be hell, eternal hell, forevermore. I have one appeal to make to you tonight, friend. Don't listen to the devil's lies. Don't listen to the devil's arguments. But this night, come, get the gospel antidote for every ill, for every sickness. For every habit, take Jesus as your Savior and walk out of this meeting in the company of a friend that will never leave you, a friend that will be with you in time, with you in death, with you for all eternity. In God's name, sinner, be saved tonight. O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? My country, home of free and free, It is thy courts to see. My country, Lord, confess thy love, O great and powerful, ♪ Behold the star of our God above ♪ ♪ Our God of great endurance ♪ ♪ The star who holds so high the sky above ♪ ♪ The first and best of best ♪ ♪ In high or low or high or low or high or low or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low or high or low O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?