The crucified, conquering, coming Christ

Wonderful to be able to sing that last verse. Hope some will join tonight that never could join before. Thanks for coming.

The meetings are continuing. We feel our weakness but we'll give it this fifth week. Five is the number of grace and so we're going to give it a week of grace that God might come in in his mercy and reach lost souls for eternity.

Boys and girls too are upon our hearts. We're not too young to get saved and some who are older and some who are burdening our hearts. Thanks for coming tonight and I would like to read familiar scriptures.

The first is found in 1st Corinthians and chapter 1. 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse number 23. Maybe verse 22. For the Greeks, for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom.

But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness but unto us which are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Back to John's gospel please for two readings. John chapter 10 please.

I will read verse number 10 likewise. The thief cometh not but for the stealing to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and they might have it more abundantly.

Drop down to verse 18. No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power.

I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again.

This commandment have I received from my father. There was a division therefore again among the Jews of these sayings. Chapter 14 for a well-known text.

Verse 2. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and I will come again and receive you unto myself.

That where I am, there you may be also. And whether I go you know and the way you know and so forth. That will be sufficient and I trust God will help us to preach very familiar texts that have been preached and re-preached and re-preached.

But the message is always the same. It's always concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. And what I want to try to draw your attention to at the beginning of this meeting briefly is this.

We want to present to you a crucified Christ. Very definitely we see that in 1 Corinthians. We preach Christ and Him crucified.

Secondly, we want to preach about a conquering Christ. That before He ever was on that cross or laid in a tomb, He prophesied Himself concerning His resurrection. He said, I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it again.

This commandment have I received from my Father. The one that we preached tonight, it was a foregone conclusion. Even though He suffered tremendously beyond human comprehension.

Infinite sufferings, yet He knew that He had power to lay down His life. He had power to take it again. This commandment have I received from my Father.

And the third one is this. In an audience like this, down this side, down the center, down this side here, we believe we have the coming of Christ. And we believe that's very near.

We should preach it more. I heard it as a boy growing up in Sunday school. I heard it in Gospel meetings.

I heard it in ministry. The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who was crucified.

The One that conquered the grave. And the One that's crowned in God's presence. He's coming again.

Jesus is coming again. I want to look at the crucified Christ. We preach unto Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.

But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. So opposite to the wisdom of men. If I brought in religious people here tonight and they were allowed to take this platform, they would tell you their human wisdom about getting to heaven.

And they would present to you a code of rules. Or they would maybe ask you to be baptized. Or they would bring you to the sacrament.

Or they would do a number of things of ritual. They would get you to be working and working and working. Whether my friend, it's a Buddha background or a Muslim background, doesn't matter friend.

They would all try to give you the idea of human wisdom. Getting to heaven in their own philosophy. Their own ideas or ideals.

And yet friend, this in one sweeping statement completely annihilates man's human wisdom. We preach Christ and Him crucified. They tell me that's a big cathedral somewhere where they used to do that.

And the cathedral, when you went in through the front door, across the big doorway, these words, we preach Christ and Him crucified. Through the passage of time. The wintry winds and the storms and the wind and so forth.

Finally, when you went to that door, they tell me all you would see is, we preach Christ. And then finally, through the passage of time, as it wore on, all you would see is, up there was we preach. That's where we are today.

Religiously, we preach. They've left out the Christ and they've left out the crucified as the only answer to man's sin. The Bible so clearly tells us, the only way to heaven, I know we'll preach it and preach it for another five nights.

Boys and girls, get it into your mind. Let it sink deep in your soul. May the Holy Spirit, in kindness, take the language of Holy Scripture, embed it deep in your mind and heart.

The only way to heaven is through a crucified Christ. And thank God, yonder at Darkel Gotha, I want to touch just a couple of things. What He did in Darkel Gotha, on the hill, lone and gray, outside the walls of Jerusalem, Christ accomplished redemption.

See, we're all slaves of sin. We're all bound by Satan's captive chains. We're all held in bondage.

That's why you can go to sleep. That's why you'll go home tonight and off you go to sleep and nothing registered. And the devil has a good laugh and says, well, I got that boy again.

And I got that girl again. And they're off to sleep. And after beneath the beams of the greatest message, not our preaching as far as mine goes, forget it.

But we're under the greatest, most marvelous, magnificent, unparalleled person in God's vast universe. Christ and Him crucified. When I look at Calvary, on above that cross, this is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

Jesus, Jehovah the Savior of Nazareth, telling us of His despicable place that He was brought up for almost 30 years. The King of the Jews, that's what He's going to be one day. Listen, friend, He is Jehovah the Savior.

On Calvary, He paid the price of redemption. He laid down a price that we might be redeemed, not with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. Friend, tonight, stop a moment.

Think of a crucified Christ. Happened 2,000 years ago. It's just at my elbow tonight, that Christ had died.

Wondrous, thy humiliation, to accomplish our salvation. Thousand, thousand praises be, Lord, of glory unto Thee. On the cross, hanging between two thieves, the Creator of the universe, who gave the very breath that you breathe into your body, who holds the vast universes in space.

Yet, He's hanging on a cross. You know why? Because He was the only competent one that could deal with Albert Hull's sins and could deal with the world's sins. And when He was on that cross, I was on His mind.

And thank God, He paid the price of redemption. I didn't understand that. Not at all.

I sang about it in Sunday school. I read about it. I knew the verses.

In fact, I had Bibles. I don't know whether I have them with me or not. Bibles that was given for quoting Isaiah 53 and John 3 and different verses, Romans 3. It was as dark as midnight.

The devil had me bound. Sin held me by a strong cord. I didn't want it.

I wanted my sin. All we like sheep have gone astray. Turn everyone to his own way.

I wanted my own path, my own way, until God stepped in and at a grandmother's casket. That's what God had to bring me to. I don't know what He's going to bring you to.

Come to your senses about getting saved. I hope you don't have to go to a casket. But I had to go there.

Instead of going out with the boys, having a big night in the bar, having a big dance. I was in a little room in the city of Armagh, upstairs. A little bedroom with a dull light.

It always had black drapes in those days when anyone died. And my mother said to me, I didn't want to go in. My dear mother said, Albert, go in.

And I walked in and it's just like yesterday. There's the casket. There's the cold form.

I did something I'd never done since. I put my hand on her brow. Cold.

Across her chest was a Bible. And written in one of those verses underlined with red was the verse that God saved her through. No one else is there.

I'm alone. My companions have fled. The passing world has gone from me.

I'm looking into reality. Maybe God will have to bring you to reality. I don't know how.

It can be through the preaching of the Gospel. It can be through circumstances. And I said to myself right there, it was like a voice from heaven, Albert, if that was you in the casket, your soul would be in hell.

It was 27 days or a little more when God saved me on the roadside. Mr. Ramsey told out in Vancouver about a man and his wife. He was strong, muscular, healthy, athletic, plenty of money, everything going his way.

Lovely wife and a little child. And they were going down the road at night and somehow or other, whether he went to sleep, he hit one of those danger signs and there was a big hole beyond it and down his car plunged. And the man in the car come to his senses.

And he looked out and through his foggy eyes he saw his wife at the front holding a limp baby. He thought, well, I better get out. And he tried to get out and he couldn't.

His bones were fractured. He's walking out of the hall. This is later on.

I have to tell this part before we go back. Walking out of the hall, he looked at Mr. Ramsey and he said, Mr. Ramsey, are you saved? He said, I got saved the hard way. And then he told that story.

The car down, the wife in front, the limp baby, found the baby was dead. And he had to go to hospital. He lost his strength.

Lost his business. But I'll tell you what he did. He found the Christ crucified.

And I want to tell you a friend, there's a woman in Prince Edward Island, isn't that right? Violet. Violet has, what is it? Multiple sclerosis. Beautiful skater.

Wore the big skates, was great on the ice. Now she's lying in a hospital. Multiple sclerosis.

If you talk to Violet, do you know what she'll tell you? Amazing what she says. I've heard her say it to me. Albert, I thank God for multiple sclerosis.

It brought me to Christ. Oh my friend, anything, anything, we wouldn't want anything like that to happen to anyone. But friend, I'm only trying to point out, God tries to speak and work and alarm people to the fact they need Christ crucified.

They need to look to the man who paid the price of their redemption in drops of precious, cleansing, efficacious, redeeming, reconciling, justifying blood. Oh my friend, look to Christ tonight. Rest in the value of the atoning blood.

Thank God, 56 years ago, that's what happened. When did it happen to you? I believe in gospel meetings. Usually people slip back down memories lane and they go back to that day when they were in the darkness and when they were lost and when they couldn't find the way to God and they were struggling and finally they gave it all up and said, lost! When it dawned upon them, Christ took my place.

Christ died for me. His blood cleanses me. I am redeemed but not with silver.

I am bought but not with gold, but with a precious blood of Jesus, blood of worth unto. Boys and girls, what do you think of the Christ crucified? Sleep tonight, it just doesn't matter. Not only have we the crucified Christ, but we have the conquering Christ.

He said before he ever went to a cross, I'm glad such a Savior we have, all competence. He had all the ability in himself to deal with all the world's sins in six hours because he was God. I don't know whether you like that hymn or not, but I like it anyway.

That thou, my God, shouldst die for me. Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? And on that cross, he had all the company. He said, you know, I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it again.

This commandment have I received from my Father. And another person, he says, destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it again. Yes, he had to suffer.

Yes, he had to bleed. Yes, he had to know the awful lamentation, my God, my God, why didst thou forsake me? Yes, he had to experience the bruising and the crushing and the pain and the sorrow and the death, but thank God he had all competence to die and to conquer the grave. Blessed be his name.

Up from the grave he arose. I told it one night yonder. I was down actually in Florida.

We were down there once. Somebody told us don't miss the Holy Land experience. It's a little replica of Jerusalem.

And so we went there and we went in and I really was glad. I would go there again if I ever get to Florida. Wouldn't miss it.

I think that's the highlight actually. That was our highlight. It's nice to see the sunshine.

Ah, nice to see the sand. Nice to see the waves. Nice to see the boats.

But just to see a replica of the cross and the tomb. But that doesn't do something for you. You were there, weren't you? Absolutely.

And as we were there, the man opened the Bible and he spoke to us. I would take it. I don't want to count ears, as Murray said, or feet.

I want to count heads. I would say at the least 500 to 750. The man spoke so clearly of the glorious resurrection, the stone rolled away, the empty tomb, the fragrance of the tomb, the power of the Christ, that all power rested in himself to come out of the grave.

And as he finished, they must have had it all planned, all these little things around the crowd to their lapels. And I wonder where it was coming from. Up from the grave.

I'm sorry, I was going to sing it there. And they just got at it. Up from the grave he arose.

Vainly they watch his bed. Jesus my Savior. Vainly they see the dead.

Jesus my Lord. Up from the grave he arose. With a mighty triumph over his foes.

He arose a victor from the dark domain. Lives forever with his saints to reign. Hallelujah.

I said to my wife, we're almost in heaven. Oh, my friend. Thank God for the conquering Christ.

Not only to deal competently with my sin, which he did once for all by his sacrifice, but he conquered the grave. He's the coming Christ. I don't know whether this is my last preach.

I wonder if I'm going to shake a boy's hand here or a girl's hand for the last time. Now, you don't believe that. I know that.

I know that. But it could be. And I'm not trying to scare, but I'm telling you, it could be.

I'm waiting for the Lord. The one I love. The one that died for me.

I want to go back to my wife and family. I'm looking forward to it. She's heading home tonight in the will of God.

And I hope to be there as soon as possible. The homing instinct is here. Can't help it.

But friend, I might never reach Nova Scotia. I'll never enter the door of the house. I could be caught up one moment here in this dark world of sin.

This weary veil where tears will ever flow. The next, caught up to meet him in the air with but a moment between here and there. Will it be the last handshake? Young Shad Kimber and his brother were working in the big, they were cleaning up the big shed that they had all their stuff in.

The father had different meals in it and so forth. That's where he kept for the turkeys. And they were to do some cleaning up.

And Dad said, I'll be there at five o'clock. So boys, ready, have everything done up. And the two boys there, they worked hard and they got it all cleaned up and everything ready.

I'm waiting for Dad at five. Five o'clock. Dad's usually in town, isn't he? Oh, he's just probably delayed so maybe he's got a puncture.

Come to 5.30. One said to him, it's strange, isn't it? Dad hasn't come yet. The young Shad looked at him and said, do you think the Lord may have come? And then he said, we'll wait another little while. I think it was about an hour that we waited.

It was like eternity. Two little fellas, maybe 10 or 12. Finally, one said to the other, if the Lord has come, we'll lift.

And the one said to the other, why don't you phone up the house and see if there's an answer? And they hesitated and they hesitated and they wondered who would dial. And in their little innocent minds, like in their disturbance, one of them went to the phone and slowly lifted the phone. Hello? What are you phoning for? It's okay.

Everything's okay. I know Dad will be along shortly. What if it did really happen? Every one of you would be shedding tears and weeping.

There wouldn't be enough Kleenex. You'd go around seat to seat, you would see Bibles, hymn books. And I would tell you something, you'll hug each other.

And you'll probably cry on each other's shoulder. You know what you'll say? What a fool! I heard about Christ. I knew about Him.

I had a Bible. I sang it in the hymn book. I heard my dad's cries and my mother's tears.

I was in Sunday school. I'd text on the wall. I'd been rocked to sleep with Christ ringing in my ears.

And here I am, the door is shut, heaven's closed. I'm outside, oh God! You would, my friend, be awakened. Too late.

Knock when the door is shut. Call and no answer. Right to the back of this hall as I sit down.

What would happen if He'd come tonight, down the side? Young man, older one in the meeting, don't hesitate to come to Christ. Down the body of the hall, if it was my last preach and I was going home in the morning, I would preach, come now! Don't hesitate. Don't wait.

Down the side. This could be your last opportunity. May God grant tonight, please, in God's name, I'd like to be more tender.

I would like to weep as I'm preaching it. When you go home tonight and your mother, if you're spared and He hasn't come, it'd be no harm to check the bedroom. In fact, it'd be no harm, you mother, if your child is not saved, give them one little more hug and say, He hasn't come yet.

Time you got saved. The crucified Christ, we preach Him. Thank God for the conquering Christ.

He's all power. And thank God for the coming Christ. I'm glad I'm ready.

I'll close with this, an old verse of a hymn. I can almost hear His footfall on the threshold of the door. My heart, my heart is yearning to be with Him evermore.

You know one consolation I have about the coming of Christ? I'd not have time to say goodbye. No. If that was so, I couldn't stand it.

God's so kind that we're going to twinkling in Adam and Eve. We'll not have time to turn around and say, son, trust Christ now. No.

It happens so quick. May God bless His word as the meeting continues. Bring you to Christ tonight.

Trust Him and you'll be saved.