The cross in light of time and eternity

Turn with me, please, to the book of James, chapter 4, and verse number 14, whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. The question, for what is your life? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. A verse in the book of Isaiah, please, in chapter 57, center of our Bible, and verse number 15.

For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity. And a final reference that I want to look at is in 1st Corinthians, chapter 1. And 1st Corinthians, chapter 1, verse number 18, verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not without wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. That is all we'll read, and I trust with God's blessing.

Conversion is a wonderful thing. I always enjoy listening to conversions. It's something you don't have to pump up.

It comes itself very easily. And while I'll be telling my conversion tomorrow night in the will of God, yet I thank God that in 1957, January the 27th, I pass from death unto life. You know, there was a man said one time that there are many ways to Christ, but Christ is the only way to God.

And you wouldn't want to fit yourself in to the different conversions, but all who told their conversion tonight were very clear on the point of their appreciation of their believing upon or in the person of Christ alone. And that's what conversion is all about. It's that moment in life when we understand for the first time, even though a background of gospel might be in our background, when we come to the point as lost, guilty, hell-deserving sinners, when we look by faith to Christ and pass from death unto life.

It was a Dr. Chalmers, I was thinking when they're telling their conversion, a Dr. Chalmers in Scotland, a well-known preacher, a very powerful preacher, even before he was saved, he could preach. I mean, a preacher needs to be born again if he hasn't a moment when God saved him. And so dear Dr. Chalmers preached to a packed audience in his big church in Scotland.

He always preached about the law. And people sometimes cringed under his powerful unveiling of the Ten Commandments and how he broke them and how we had to live by them. That's all he had.

And people felt the weight of it. Some of them actually took a back seat from the front because of his dynamic preaching of the law. But then it happened to be that he got up one day, one Sabbath as he called it, and he read John chapter 3. And he's going down chapter 3 as he's reading behind the pulpit.

And as he comes down, three things comes to his mind as he's reading. Chalmers, when were you born again? And where were you born again? And how were you born again? And he went right down the chapter and of course he was frustrated in his soul. They went on for a little preach.

I don't think he went too long. But anyway, concluded the meeting and went home. And in his own little study, before his God, in honesty of heart, he cried to the living God to show him how he could be born again.

And God in his mercy, as he's reading the Bible, he come to Acts chapter 16. And that well-known text that has been used. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

And of course right there he could thank God he was born again by believing in Christ alone. Exclusively all in him. So the next Sabbath day he wondered, should I tell them? And shocked the audience.

Or should I just go on preaching? So he thought I'll go on preaching. And when he was preaching away there, a woman stood up in the audience and she shouted out, hallelujah the pastor's got saved. I tell you, salvation's real.

Salvation's for eternity. And my message tonight will be very brief. It's this.

I want to think of time. Then I want to think of eternity. And I want to try by God's help, by his gracious spirit, to raise in this audience the only answer to be right with God for eternity.

It's found in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, time. God gives us a little space called time.

And in that little space, whether it's 10 years, 20 years, 80 years, 100 years or thereby, my friend, it's very short. It's like a vapor that appears for a little season and then passes or vanishes away. How quickly we come to the end of life.

Boys and girls, men and women, it's a fleeting life. In fact, the Bible tells us it's like the swift ships that you see leave the harbor and out they go. And before you know, they're over the horizon.

They're gone. It's like a weaver shuttle that moves so rapidly when you look at the shuttle going back and forward in the loom. So is life.

So short. You know, people that are 80 and 90 and getting on in years, ask them the question about life. And I say, it's so short.

It's just like a passing vapor. It's just moving on. Life is like a passing vapor, like a fast receding day.

Oh, we're only here for a moment. And in that little period of time, God gives the wonderful opportunity that we might prepare for the great eternity. So we're here, creatures of time.

We're left here, my friend. You know the big thing? God leaves us here to prepare for the future. That's it all about, no matter what you gain in life.

Whether it's a Bill Gates with his billions. Is it 60 billion? I don't know. I've lost the record.

Whether my friend is some great hockey player, or some great footballer, or some great celebrity. They all come to a conclusion that to leave this life into eternity is solemn. To die without Christ.

Mr. Walmsley and I were having meetings in Clemensville years ago. We just finished the message in the gospel and we got out and we noticed a string of cars right there on the side of the road. And there was an ambulance there and a fire engine.

And we rushed down. I remember a dear sister, she went down near to that sad happening. A truck had come down the hill and couldn't make the turn at the bottom.

And the brakes gave out on him. And he went right over into the ditch and into the water. He had a load of fish.

And the truck overturned and the fish went into the water. And the water started to rise. He was pinned with a steering column.

And his friend beside him tried to do something. They were pinned too. They couldn't seem to move.

And we all rushed down. I'll never forget it. We all rushed down.

A doctor come along. As the water come up and up and up. And the man's there wanting to get relieved and released.

He's crying for help. They got his friend out of the passenger side. There he is.

I'll never forget it. It's just like yesterday. That little girl looked at him and said to him, Are you ready for heaven? The man answered, I want to get home.

I want to see my wife. The doctor come along. I don't know.

It was a helpless situation. The water come up and over his head. And he was gone.

You want to feel the solemnity of that group. Death. Reaps its sheaves on every hand.

The old, the young, on sea and land. Eternity is drawing nigh. Eternity is drawing nigh.

We're here just creatures of time, bound for eternity. Everyone, whether it's an atheist or an agnostic or full of gnosticism or whatever philosophies they might have, friend. Richard Dawkins and all the rest that propagate all those things that is against God.

They all have to meet death. It's appointed on the man once to die after this, the judgment. And so friend, we are here tonight with one express burden in our heart and purpose.

That you might get to Christ to prepare for the great eternity. That when you step off the scenes of time, you're heading for heaven. I'm 77 years of age, almost middle age.

And if I, if I dropped dead here before Murray McCandless and he's fairly swift to foot before he could get up here, my soul would have taken his flight. I'd be looking at the Christ that died for me. See his hands and feet.

Worship him who died upon dark Golgotha for a sinner like me. Oh my friend, grand to be prepared. No wonder Amos said those remarkable words, prepare to meet thy God.

Oh Israel, we say that to you in the meeting tonight. Is there one or more than one in the meeting? And you come here with one deep burden and desire. I would like to be right with God.

I would like to be sure that when I come to death, I'm ready to go into heaven. Or if the Lord breaks the clouds and gives a shout, I'm ready to go to be with Christ. Or my friend, are you going to just go on in your sins? Eternity.

Oh dreadful thought for the, a child of Adam's race. Thou should sin, thy sins be brought to stand before the awful face from which the heavens and earth shall flee. The throne one of eternity.

That word eternity is only found once here. It's interpreted in other places with a different word. God has put eternity in the hearts of people.

They can't help it. They might try to cover it and then they try to escape from the reality of it. But they come to the end of life.

They pass out and they're gone into eternity. One man said, an atheist said, hell itself would be a refuge if it hid me from the throne of the almighty. And now he's acknowledging the almighty.

Now he's going out into eternity. We are moving out friend. We're moving from this little fragile tent that we live in and we're making our departure from time to eternity.

Are you ready? I want to conclude my remarks. Creatures of time. We are leaving in the will of God shortly.

This farming land of Iowa where it's seed time and harvest. I wonder will we meet all that's in this building again on the other side? That's the big question. I told about my little, I'll refer to it again, my little grandchild that was out looking after the children.

The mother had left them up with us. So it was winter time and we took them down in the little toboggans. And I went up to the top of the hill and they went down.

And I tried to keep an eye on them. But finally little Maggie went down. She's eight years of age and she went down and she went over a little hump.

She didn't realize it was there. The boy had went over it and she went up in the air and come right down on her back. And little Anna Mae, younger, standing there and she said, Grandpa, she can't breathe.

And I raced down, I don't know where I went down, whether I got down anyway. And I went down and I didn't know what to do. I looked at her and I lifted her up and I patted her back.

She went home. Sunday night she went to the Halifax gospel meeting. After the meeting, she went up to her bedroom.

She called for her mother. Mother gave her the Bible and scriptures, left her. And in that room, reading her Bible, God saved her.

You know what she said? She said, Mom, when I went down that slope and went down on my back and lost my breath, I said, Maggie, if you die, you'll be in hell. Where would you be? Oh, my friend, stop a moment. Is there an answer? Time and eternity.

Eternity's endless and timeless. It rolls on. We can't measure it.

It goes beyond human calculation. Try as you like, we can take any illustration. We often do that and try to illustrate eternity.

We're lost in absolute wonder at the immeasurable-ness of eternity. Unending, unceasing, timeless, endless, going on. Never to come back again.

Eternity. Is there an answer how I can prepare? You know, Paul, so often as he preached, you'd love to have heard him preach. I think one thing he did, he gloried in preaching the cross.

This is what he says. The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. Friend, tonight we would like to wave before you.

In time, in light of eternity, we'd like to raise up the cross. Jesus said himself, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This, he said, signifying by what death he should die.

On the cross, friend, is God's one answer for man's guilt, man's sin, man's lostness, man's depravity. My friend, the only answer. It's not in church or chapel.

It's not in Pope or king or preacher or priest. It's not in any person apart from Christ and Christ alone. Oh, that we could get that burning in to your heart tonight.

Christ is the only answer. The cross gives us a demonstration of God's immense infinite love toward guilty fallen men and women in time to prepare for eternity. Amazing, isn't it? On the cross, alone forsaken, where no pitying eye was found.

At a dark Calvary, friend, midst rending rocks and darkening skies, my Savior bows his head and dies. The cross, he took it into Corinth. And when he preached it in Corinth, those pagan people with a background, a list of sins that we would almost feel, almost afraid to mention.

And as he goes into Corinth, he raises the banner of the cross and he preached to him later. He says, you remember what I preached on to you? How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, buried, rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. That was the whole substance and kernel and center and circumference of the message he preached, friend.

The dynamic magnetic power of attraction to the cross for those that are lost. Not only that, it demonstrates the heart of God. If I want to know what's in God's heart, I breathe, you know, sometimes we're saying, God is love, I breathe it in the air around me.

God is love, I see it in the heavens above me. God is love, all nature doth agree. But the greatest proof of his love to me is Calvary, the cross.

And friend, listen, as we raise the banner of the cross up and think of the man who hung, we're not so much thinking now, don't get me wrong, we're not thinking of a piece of wood with a cross like this here. We're not thinking of something, my friend, of metal or of wood. We're thinking of the man who hung on the cross.

Blessed man of Calvary. Won my heart from me, died to set me free. Blessed man of Calvary.

I tell this over and over again. If you're tired, you can go to sleep on me, but it's alright, I don't think you will. From the Fiji Islands, there came a young man.

I met him when he was 25, 26 years of age. Brought up in the Fiji Islands with a pagan background. He showed us the pictures as he brought them out to us of his grandparents, grandfather, and even his father walking through a flame of fire for about 12 feet and coming out on sin.

Demonism. Darkest of the kind. Brought up in that.

Never heard anything about God or the gospel, but one thing he said to us in his conversion, when I lay out in the warm sand at night and looked up into the starry heavens, in my little mind at 5, 6, 7, 8 years of age, I used to think, who made all this? That's the only thought he ever had. He was a boxer. He got scared about demonism and the mysticism with it and all that was happening of people's lives that were taken.

He decided, as a boxer, he won enough money and landed in Australia. When he landed in Australia, he's walking down the street. Many ways to Christ.

Christ the only way to God. And as he's walking down the street, he bumps into a gentleman and they meet face to face. And the man says, where are you going? Robert Prasad by name.

That's the name they gave him. He said, I don't know, sir. Well, he said, would you like to come to a meeting? We're going to a meeting now in a little hall.

He said, what kind of meeting? He said, we'll speak about God. Going back to a boy in the sand, lying down. Who made all this? Striking his mind.

They took him to a meeting and as he was in that meeting, he listened to the gospel. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I think it was the sixth night, Sunday.

Up in his own little room that he had rented. He got down and bent at knees with this great old book, the Bible. And John three, he started to read right down.

Read past verse 16, the great text that we've heard. And verse 17. Until he come to verse number 36.

He that believeth on the son hath everlasting life. And Robert Prasad understood right there. He said, I believe the son of God died for Robert Prasad.

God saved him. I love to hear him tell his testimony because sometimes those white teeth, I think it was strong looking. He would say the devils believe God and tremble.

He saw it and witnessed it away over there in the Fiji. You know something? He was in our house. Not long after that, we used to have sings in the house after the meeting and we're sitting there and I'm only saved a few years, two or three years at the time.

And as he's there and they're all coming into the house and they're going to play the piano and sing hymns and so forth. He looked at me, he could play the piano. Oh, couldn't he play the piano? Talented.

Amazingly. And he looked at me, he says, what's the best hymn Albert? What do you think's the best hymn? And it kind of struck me for a moment. I mean, there's a whole lot of hymns alike.

And then he went to Bruce, my brother. He said, what do you, what do you think? And he was a kind of a little, well, he says, well, I'm going to play the best one. That's not the hymn.

That's the piano. Oh, can I hear his voice? And we all joined in. Blessed man of Calvary that won my heart for me.

Died to set me free. Blessed man of Calvary. Wonderful man of Calvary.

Oh, my friend, our hearts were thrilled. Christ is the only answer. He died at Calvary.

He hung upon a cross of shame. God placed upon him the iniquity of us all. All our sins were laid on Jesus.

Jesus bore them on the tree. God, who knew them, laid them on him. I'm believing.

I go free. I could get saved tonight. He died for me.

My Lord, the King, wonderful Savior. What are you going to do with him tonight? Are you going to leave the hall just as you come in? Going on to eternity. The cross is God's one answer.

The man that hung yonder 2,000 years ago, he's not on a cross and he's not in a tomb. My friend, thank God he's alive forevermore and is the keys of death and hell. Thank God that the one we preach, he's a living Christ.

I was dealing with a man, New Lenox, if there's someone here will remember it. Went down and didn't visit around New Lenox. Went down into Chicago.

Down there to one of the big shopping malls. And I met a man called R.I.A.D. R-I-A-D. And as I was walking down with my God of Wonders giving them out.

And this man was over the desk. He was the owner of a little restaurant. And I thought that's a good chance to talk to him.

So I said, would you take one of these? Very interesting. I said, well, give it to you freely. He says, I'm a Muslim.

Well, I said, great to see you. I give him another handshake. Well, and we started to talk and then somebody come along for a pop or whatever.

And he said, don't go away. I want to talk to you. And I went back and talked to went back the whole week.

I went into the internet and I picked out a very excellent unfolding of Islam and Christianity. An excellent understanding of it. I still have it in my computer.

And under it was the Islam, what they believed. And then under it was Christianity. And I couldn't help but, I liked the dear fellow.

I've written to him. I said, Reihard, we've been talking here for a week. I want to ask you a question.

Where is Mohammed? He's dead. I said, what kind of a life did he live? Tell me. I'm looking at this here.

Is this true? I put it before him. In fact, I give him. Is this true about him? Now you tell me.

I'm only going by what somebody told me. Is this true about him? Well, he said it is. But he changed.

He's dead. Now he said, down this column of Christianity it says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And then on down it says, Christ died for our sins.

And then on down it says, and he was raised again the third day according to the Scriptures. Now I said, be honest. Tell me.

I'm leaving you now. Probably not see you again. Tell me.

Who would you want me to follow? A dead man? With that record behind him? Or this man? Who's alive forevermore? He said, you're sticking me. Yeah. Yeah, friend.

Thank God Christianity's real. It's genuine. It's true.

It is true, friend. You can rely upon it. We don't need to know a whole lot of philosophy or have a great bright intellect.

A child of six, seven, eight, or nine could bow to the claims of Christ and trust in the living Savior who once died. Now he's alive forevermore. The Word of God.

You know what my assurance is? This. This book. He that heareth my word believeth that God hath sent me half everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death unto life.

I have the word for it. Thank God that word's eternal, infallible. It'll never pass away.

May God bless his word with the testimony. Shall we pray?