It is the verse 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, that is Nicodemus, who came by night to see this evening, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. In this text of Scripture, the Lord Jesus Christ comes to the very heart of the problem that confronts man and woman. The problem of this world is not a political problem. not an economic problem, not a social problem. The problem that confronts man is the age-long problem of sin. And sin has got to be dealt with if man are to be reconciled to their Maker and if they're going to live in peace, the one with the other. Now the churches of our day, apostate churches, that have departed from the Word of God, deny the reality and the mystery of the new birth. The Roman Catholic Church, with its system of idolatry, makes the new birth a matter of ritualistic mechanics. The few drops of water on the head of the child is supposed to do this mysterious work of regeneration according to the Roman Catholic Church. We turn from these falsehoods and follies and fables of degenerate and sinful man, and we turn tonight to the Word of the living God, the authority, the Word of the risen Christ. And my friend Jesus says to you, not to a helpless child that cannot understand, but to you, he says, ye must be born again. We had a visit from Mr. Jim Callaghan to this country. He was going to settle all the Irish problems and the Ulster problems. He breakfasted with Cardinal Conway and Bishop Philbin. He eulogized the rioters of the Bogside. He talked about the great self-discipline of the people that injured 800 of our police. And then he said to me across the table, he said, of course, we are all children of God. I said, Mr. Callan, he said, don't interrupt me. Socialist politicians don't like interrupting. But I want to say I'll interrupt any man who departs from the scriptures of truth. And I said, Mr. Callan, let me tell you, when you depart from the statements of Jesus Christ, then I will take issue with you. You're just a child of wrath, like anyone else, and like myself. until you are born again of the Spirit of God. Away with this nonsense that all men are children of God. Away with this doctrine that is contrary to the plain teachings of this book. You know what Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day? He said, You are of your father the devil. and the works of your Father ye will do." My friend, if you are trusting in the church, you will be lost. If you are trusting in baptism, you will be lost. If you are trusting in Protestantism, you will be lost. If you are trusting in Romanism, you will be lost. Salvation is not in a church. Salvation is not in a creed. Salvation is in Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ alone. Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby ye must be saved. The new birth is a reality. Hundreds of people in this great audience tonight can testify to the reality of the new birth. Once they walked in the paths of sin and indulged in the vain pleasures and follies of this sin-accursed world. Once they were tied and bound with the chains of their own lusts. But one day they met Jesus Christ, and Jesus set them free. And whom the Son makes free, they are free indeed. Let me ask you tonight, are you born again? Are you seeing? I'm not worried about your relationship to a church. I'm not worried about your relationship to Cyprus. But my friend, the thing that matters is your relationship to Jesus Christ. Then is the baptism and confirmation of your youth. Then as you're sitting where God's people sit, and you're standing where God's people stand, then are all things but a living faith in the living Christ. And if you have a living faith in a living Christ, then you will know without the shadow of a doubt that you're born again of a Spirit, and you're washed in the blood of the Lamb. Men stand on a common platform, the common platform of their sinnership. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And when you take your place as a lost, guilty, hell-deserving sinner, praise God, without priest, without sacrament, without any intervention of man, You can be saved and pardoned and forgiven by the matchless triumphant grace, sovereign grace, separating grace, saving grace of Almighty God. May this be true of everyone that hears the message. For Jesus' sake, amen. I want to handle this evening a subject that I have entitled, A Portrait That No Artist Could Paint. It is the portrait of the face of the Lord Jesus Christ in two particular attitude. Two verses of the book. The twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew. Then did they spit in his face. Then did they spit in his face. And the eleventh verse of the twentieth chapter of the book of the Revelation, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. The first takes us to the Sanhedrin, the government or parliament of Judea and Jewry. We stand there and watch the Christ of God and His mock trial before the high priests of the Jews with Caiaphas the high priest for that year presiding. Our text starts with the word, then. Mark it well. Then did they spit in his face. Two things took place just prior to this spitting in the face of Jesus. Jesus had given solemn testimony that He was the Son of God. From His own blessed lips, He had uttered this testimony, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of glory. Then did they spit on his face after he had given solemn and authoritative personal testimony to the fact that he was God's eternal Son incarnate in the flesh. Again, if you look at it, you will see that this spitting in the face of Jesus was prompted by the high priest himself. When the high priest heard the testimony of the Lord, he said, He has spoken blasphemy. What think ye? And they cried out, He is guilty of death. So it was the head religious leader that called upon his flock to reject the testimony of Jesus Christ. Established religion has always been the same. The greatest enemies of the gospel is the religious establishments of the world. They oppose the person of Christ. How many ministers in the so-called Protestant pulpits of this city believe in the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus? How many of them? How many of them believe that He is what He claimed to be, God's eternal co-equal Son? How many of them Believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Oh, they will climb to the pulpit on an oath of ordination that says the Bible is the Word of God and Jesus is the Christ of God. And then having climbed into the pulpit by false pretenses, they will use the pulpit that they have gained. to destroy the very tenets and doctrines of the cross full of Christ. Them did they spit in His face. There are some things that are quite evident to us concerning this spitting in the face of Jesus. Here stands the lowly Nazarene upon His temple is the blood-sweat of Gethsemane, for it was there that he was apprehended and arrested. And being in an agony, the scripture says, he prayed more earnestly and swept, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. So the blood-sweat is upon his brow. His arms are chained He is bound with fetters. He stands there before his false accusers at the center of a religious establishment that had rejected him and opposed him and maligned him and slandered him and sneered at him. A religious establishment intent to let his blood flow in the streets of the Passover time. And he stands there in solemn loneliness and silence, and the priests rise from their seats, and the scribes rise from their benches, and led by the chief priests they walk past the Christ, and every man puts his spittle on the face of my Lord and my God. You know what that's a demonstration of? That, my friend, is a demonstration of the depths of sin. You don't need to go to the house of Elphim to realize the nature of sin. You don't need to go and explore the sewers of Sodom to find out how hideous and hellish sin is. You don't need to go and dig in the middens of this world's pollution to find out the obnoxiousness of sin. Here at the center of a religious establishment, here at the very center of the religion of Jewry, you have demonstrated the depths of man's sin to spit. into the face of the Son of God. Let me say something tonight. As Jesus Christ stands in trial in this gospel meeting, as He walks up and down these aisles, as He comes with kneel-pierced hand and knocking at your heart's door, you reject Him, friend. You say no to Him, friend. You turn your back upon Him, friend. And you, in reality, are spitting in the face of Jesus. How dark must the heart of a man be! How polluted must the nature of sin be! How terrible must be the depths of this accursed thing called sin that wracks lives and blights souls and damns them in hell! when it has the audacity and the shame to plant its filthy spittle on the face of Jesus. This is a demonstration of the depths of sin. But this, my friend, is a manifestation of the extent of the humiliation of the Lord of glory. Why must the Lord of glory be so insulted? Why must the Lord of glory be covered in ignominy and shame? Why must the Lord of glory become the pleasing of these leaders and be off scouring for their buffetings and for their rejections? Why? Because Jesus Christ was made sin for you. That's why. He took the sinner's place. He came to stand in my place. He came to carry my load. He came to bear my burden. He came to be the sin bearer and the substitute and the sacrifice for the sins of His people. and those that believe upon Him. And there He stands, and Paul writes the sentence, He was mere sin for us who knew no sin. And sin brings shame, and sin takes man down into the depths, and sin brings man down into the depths of shame. And Jesus is covered with shame, covered with spittles. Them did they spit in His face. My blessed Lord, I see the extent of His humiliation. But let me say something more. This spitting in the face of Jesus is not only a demonstration of the depths of sin, It's not only a manifestation of the extent of the humiliation of my Lord, but it is the revelation of the love of God's dear Son. One flash from the eye of Jesus and those that dared to spit upon Him would be an eternity. He didn't need to raise His voice. He didn't need to utter a word. Do you remember when they came to arrest Him in the garden? He said, I am! And they fell before the revelation of His glory. One glance from His eye and immediate judgment, devastating judgment, terrible judgment would have fallen upon them. But when they looked into His eye to spit upon His face, His eye was filled with love. There was no retaliation there. There was no enmity there. There was no wrath there. There was no judgment there. There was no righteous retribution there. Only love, love so amazing, so divine, that man can spit upon their Maker. And their Maker stands and endures it all. I wonder how many times in reality you have spat in the face of Jesus by your attitude. The man that rejects the deity of God's Son is spitting in his face. We have these modern philosophers, we have these modern theologians, and they come along and say Jesus was good, but he wasn't God. He couldn't have been even good if he hadn't been God, because he claimed to be God. And if a person claims to be something he's not, then he cannot be good. So their philosophy is one of folly. Jesus Christ is God, manifest in the flesh. That's who he is. And the man that rejects his deity, he may be a bishop. He may be a moderator. He may be president of the Methodist conference like Donald Sober. He may be a great and heralded religious divine like Leslie D. Weatherhead. But if he rejects the deity of Christ, he is spitting in the face of my law. Let me say something. This church stands for the deity of Jesus Christ unapologetically. And when a man comes along and says he's a Christian preacher and denies the deity of Christ, I'll be there to give the lion his teeth. I'll be there. I've been there before when Mr. Soper came along. Of course, those were different days. The fines were very lenient in those days. I was fined five pounds. I've never paid a fine in my life and never will. The Unionist Party newspaper paid that fine for me. I have no apology, friend, to make for myself or the testimony of this church when Donald Stoper, who's supposed to be a Methodist minister, and claimed when he was ordained to believe in the deity of Christ, and he stood up on the fair hill in Bellarmine and said Christ was an illegitimate, and he couldn't even walk in the sea, all that Jesus could do was paddle in the shallows. When a man says that, I'll be on my feet to defend the deity of Jesus Christ. And every time I'm in court and they read out my record, it's getting longer, and they say, disorderly behavior in Palomino. I always say, hallelujah. If it's disorderly to stand up for the deity of Christ, I'll stand up for it. And if Donald Superman was an honest man, if he was honest, he would quit the ministry. No man has a right to call himself a Christian minister who swears to believe one thing in ordination and then spends his ministry attacking the very thing he swore to believe. I wonder if many of these Irish Presbyterian ministers believe the confession of faith that they have all signed. If they were honest, they would not sign it. and they wouldn't be in the ministry. Anything I have signed, friend, I believe with all my heart. I wouldn't sign it. I wouldn't put my pen to paper if I didn't believe it with all my heart. Let me tell you something else. The man who reels at the death of Christ is spitting in the Savior's face. You know, there's one doctrine that man hates, and it's the doctrine of the cross. Their approach of the cross has not ceased. That Jesus Christ took our place, that our sins were imputed to Him, and that on the cross He bore the wrath of God that was our Jew upon the Lamb was laid, who by the shedding of His blood for me the debt was paid. The gospel of bloodshedding. the gospel of definite atonement, the gospel that Jesus died to put away sin, and that he paid it all upon the cross. That gospel's reeled upon today. They say we're fundamentalists. They say we're right-wingers. And, of course, they call this church a Peasleyite church. I want to say, friend, tonight, Very definitely to you, you reject the death of Christ and you're spitting in His face. Let me say something else. The person that's faced with the claims of Jesus in this gospel service and knows by the working of the Spirit of God in his heart and life that God is tugging at his soul, that a hand greater than eternity has arrested Him, that a decision has got to be made, that Christ must be accepted and His word believed. And because of companions, because of a secret sin, because of some filthy lust, because of some abominable habit, because of something that no one else knows, that man says, no, and passes through those doors a Christ-rejecter. Then let me tell you, Christ-rejecter, you are spitting in the face of Jesus, the beautiful face, the tender face, the compassionate, all-loving face of Jesus. cover with the filthy spittles of the Christ-rejecter. But, friend, that is not the end. There is another view of the face of Jesus. And in the closing moments of this meeting, let me bring it to you. I saw a great white robe, and Him that sat in it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. John saw it. What a sight! No pimper could pimp it. The great judgment day, the last decisive day for humanity's millions. of all generations, and friend, it is certainly coming. The proof of it is the rising tide of scoffing concerning the second coming of Christ, because the Bible says, in the last day there shall come scoffers. And every man that scoffs at the doctrine of the last, grand, final judgment He's a living monument to the fact that the judgment is coming. Their scoffing was prophesied. There are some things about the Lord here. His majesty, he's on a throne. He's not coming now a savior. He's coming a sovereign. This whole world is heading for the final, last great day of God. God's going to wind it up, you know. The Judgment Day is nearer than ever before. The whole world, heading on as fast as the wheels of time, can carry the fast-moving charity of humanity's millions. Carrying them on to the Judgment The judgment, the judgment, it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment, His Majesty, He's on the throne. His purity is a great white throne. The thrones of this world are stained by sin. Some of them are stained with blatant injustice. Some of them are bespattered by cruel wars and fighting. Some of them are soiled by immoralities. But here is a great white throne. There will be perfect judgment there. There will be no going behind backs to square the jury or the judge on that great day. You'll get justice then, friend. Not a man ever left the throne of God that can point his finger at God and say, God, you weren't fair, because the Bible says every mouth shall be stopped at the judgment day of God. You're going to get justice, friend. You'll get it at the great white throne. Something else about this throne. It's a great throne, that's its supremacy. And him that sat upon him, there's his personality. But there's something else I want to emphasize, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. It was from the face of Jesus that they fled. He never opened his mouth to utter a word. He never said to earth that He had made it, and to the heavens that He had fashioned by His omnipotence. He didn't say, go away, I'm finished with you. No. It's from His face. Just to look at the face of the Judge is enough to roll up the heavens and to finish this with this old world. For I read, the element shall melt with fervent heat. at the great and terrible and notable day of the coming of our great God and Savior. I'm going to ask you a question now, sinner. How are you going to stand before the face of the God that makes the heavens and the earth flee away? Yes, you'll be there, friend. You'll be there to answer to your attitude in spitting into the face of Jesus. I wonder why you reject the Lord. You know what some of you are saying? Well, I've rejected him, Mr. Paisley, because I love the world too much. When you stand at that great judgment bar and you look in his face, my friend, how will you feel when you say, I love the world too much to love Jesus? Some of you are saying, there's a sin in my life I wouldn't give up, so I'm rejecting Christ. There's a companionship whose cords I will not sever, I am rejecting Jesus Christ. Rejecting Christ for some fool thing that will damn your soul, for your cups, for your dancing, for your pleasuring, for the lusts of the flesh, for the vain glory of this old conceited age. Yes, some of you go to hell because you can't face the laugh of ungodly companions who would laugh you to scorn if you testified you were born of the Spirit of God. But from that face that was spit upon the heavens and the earth shall flee away. I dreamt that the great judgment morning had dawned and the trumpet had blown. I thought that the lost ones had gathered for judgment around the white throne. From the throne went a bright shining angel and stood in the land and the sea. swear with His hand raised to heaven that time was no longer to be. As the moral man stood at the judgment, he pleaded how good he had been. But self-righteous rags had no merit. Christ's blood alone make sinners clean, and all who put off religion and say they'll be saved by and by. No time now to think of religion. At last they had found time to die. The gambler was there, and the drunkard, and the man who had sold them the drink, The people that gave them the license to gather in hell, they did sink. All chapel and church-going people who never had been to the cross, but trusted in forms and religion, now saw they were hopelessly lost. They said, We have entered. We have drunk in thy presence. and thou hast stopped in our streets." The judge said, Depart, all ye cursed, ye never have been born again. And oh, what a weeping and wailing when lost ones heard of their fate. They cried to the rocks and the mountains, They cried, but their prayers were too late. God forbid that that should be the eternal confusion of your soul. May the grace of God prevent it, for the Lord's great name's sake. Let's bow our heads. As our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, We're perfectly still and quiet in God's presence. I want to have a word of prayer. Father, there are unsaved in this meeting who know not Christ. Bring them to the Savior. They have been guilty of spitting in the face of Jesus. We too were guilty of this crime of crimes, this masterpiece of iniquity, until thou didst turn us by thy grace, and thou didst lead us to believe in Jesus. We remember our own waywardness and our own sins, and we go down into the valley to take the hands of sinners to bring them to the cross. O God, bring souls to Jesus tonight. Now as our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, there's three classes of people in this meeting. There are those in this meeting who are saved by the grace of God. Thank God for every Christian that's in the room. You once spat on the face of Jesus. You once rejected Him. You once sat in the sinner's seat. and in the scorner's chair. But the grace of God reached you, and you're saved. And praise God you're rejoicing in God's salvation. All right? If you're a Christian, would you thank God that He has saved you? And then would you do something? Would you pray for those that are not saved, that the Lord would save them tonight? But you pray for them. They need your prayer. Now, as the people of God are praying, I want to say a word to the ungodly, the unsaved, the sinners in the meeting. I don't need to go and tap you on the shoulder and say, you're not a Christian. You know you're not a Christian. You know you're not saved. You know you're a Christ rejecter, don't you? You know that you need to be saved, don't you? Well, friend, the Bible says, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That simple, isn't it? Whosoever, it means you, it takes you in, shall call on the name of the Lord. You can do that from where you sit, can't you? You can call on the Lord's name. Shall be saved. You can be saved tonight. Ah, there's people in the meeting and they're backsliders. They once knew and loved the Savior. They're ruined for the world. They haven't been happy, although they've gone back to their pleasures and their habits. Let me tell you, there's no divorce with God, dear backslider. God's married to the backslider. He loves you still. He'll restore you if you can't. If you call upon Him wherever you are in this congregation, He'll hear your prayer. He'll wash you afresh in the Savior's blood. He'll restore you to the joy of God's salvation. Now as the people of God are praying, and the stewards are watching for souls as those that must give account, and as every hand is bowed and every eye is closed, I'm making a simple appeal. If there's a man or woman, a boy or girl, in the service, a backslider or a sinner, and you want to come to Jesus Christ, you're prepared to call upon Him. Right now, would you lift your hand quietly above your head, and we'll acknowledge it as a token you're going to come. Will you lift it now? Anywhere in the meeting, just let me see. That's right, just slip it right above your head so that I can see. Anywhere in the meeting, just let me see it now. As every head is bowed and every eye is closed, and we're perfectly still, I'm looking to this gallery over here on my left hand. Is there anyone in this gallery who wants to come to Christ tonight? Would you lift your hand and let me see? Just do it now. Yes, friend, just do it now.