Two hours

I'd like to read two verses together. The first is in John's Gospel. John's Gospel and chapter 12.

These are the words of our Lord Jesus. Now is my soul troubled, what shall I say? Father save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father glorify thy name.

Then there came a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Verse number 32, and 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.

Matthew please, chapter 27. And we're just going to break in to where I want the text. And verse number 21, the governor answered and said unto them, Whither to Twain will ye that I release unto you? And they said, Barabbas.

Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? We know the answer of the multitude and the answer of Pilate. I want to leave with you to close the meeting with what we have heard. What's on my mind is to speak of two hours.

Sometimes an hour covers more than just 60 minutes. We remember the Lord Jesus was on the cross for six hours. And yet he's summoning up as your hour, or my hour has come.

So we want to look at that hour for a moment in relation to Christ. Then I want to look at the 60 minutes we've been in this hall as an hour that's marked out. And I want you to think of the question of the hour.

With what we have heard already, I want to leave with you a tremendous, important, personal, powerful question. What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? In this hour, whether you say yes or no, audibly or silently, you have automatically, before the God of heaven, you have done something with the Lord Jesus. First of all, I want to think of the hour marked out in the calendar of God, the greatest hour in all human history.

In fact, the greatest hour in all eternity. Marked out, there were six hours under one hour that the Lord Jesus refers to here. And he says these words in John chapter 12, that for this cause came I unto this hour.

What hour was that? Number one, it was an hour appointed by God. What we are preaching in this hall tonight, and what you've heard for six weeks or so past, and what you've heard through the years, my friend, all the preaching that you've done, all surround and all find their central theme in the work of the cross, Calvary, the death of Christ, the precious blood that was shed. That's what's emphasized, that's what is the kernel of the gospel, the center, the circumference.

And that hour was an hour appointed. God had marked out before Adam sinned. Before ever sin entered into our world, and man brought this human family into devastation, and guilt, and danger, and condemnation.

God had marked out an hour when his son would hang on a cross, blessed be his name. Not only was it an hour of appointment, but it was an hour of abandonment. Something happened at Calvary.

We'll never understand it. All the preachers, the best of them, right from the Apostle Paul, right through the George Whitfield, and John Wesley, and C. H. Spurgeon, and all the rest, those mighty evangelists that saw thousands led to Christ, they could never plumb the depth, or never scale the height, or never measure the breadth of the abandonment that Christ suffered at dark Calvary. He cried those words, my God, my God, why didst thou forsake me? And when Christ hung on the cross, remarkable, marked out in the calendar of God, never to be forgotten throughout eternal ages, God's beloved son, not only did he fulfill the appointment when he came into the world and died on the cross, but he was abandoned, fulfilling Psalm 22 when he cried prophetically, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You ever stop and think? I'll tell you something tonight.

If you don't understand the gospel, and if you don't understand your need have been saved, you've never stopped at the cross. The cross was the greatest, I say it reverently, cautiously, carefully, the greatest blunder in the universe, if there's any other way to heaven. If there's any soul could enter through the pearl-hung gates by any other means, other than the precious, cleansing, efficacious, redeeming, reconciling blood, friend, the cross was a blunder.

But thank God, the greatest work in all God's vast universe was the work of the cross. By divine appointment, that hour was set out. It was an hour of abandonment when Christ was forsaken by God.

Someone said tonight in the meeting, I hear a voice maybe at the back say, why was he forsaken? Why did he have to suffer an abandonment? A holy one, God's son, eternal, beautiful, lovely, majestic, precious, sinless, spot, why did he? I'll tell you, was because our sin on him by God was led. He who himself had never sinned, for sinners sin was made. Oh, thank God for the one that was willing to fulfill the appointment, when the appointed time had come, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, made under the law to redeem those who were under the law.

And thank God, he fulfilled that prophetic statement, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Not only that, but in that hour, I want you to get a hold of it, he made an abundant salvation. I want to say, look, that boy here, don't know his name, right down to the back of the hall, and I don't know some of your faces, but I appreciate you coming and love you in Christ. My friend, when Christ was abandoned, fulfilling the divine appointment, he made an abundant sacrifice to meet your need.

There's not a soul, my friend, not a soul, not a soul, in dark despair in the depths of hell, will ever turn around and say to God, you didn't meet my need, you didn't supply for me, Christ didn't make a sacrifice on my behalf. Never, friend. Almighty, abundant sacrifice, so vast.

I'm a great one, of course, I can't help that, preach it all the time, the unlimited work of Christ. Blessed be his name. Enough in the death of Christ to meet every sinner of Adam's race.

I think I told it in Eulenics, but I was very touched with it when Peter Ramsey told me a while back, he visited that penitentiary, one of the worst in the states, where the son of Sam is there for life. He had 90 minutes with him. Yeah, he's called the son of Hope now.

A man like that, whose hands are stained with human blood, he was a Jew, schizophrenic, behind for life. He's suicidal in his thinking. He's depressed and despondent.

He's walking around the courtyard, and as he's walking around the courtyard, he's thinking of even committing suicide, when there's a black man walking around the other side of the courtyard, and they're going to meet. And as they're about to meet, the son of Sam was going to engage in defense. The black man said, no, sir, I want to give you this present, a Bible.

The penitentiary, far from any thought of the gospel ever reaching in our thinking, is a man who can give the son of Sam a Bible. I can tell you, you can look it up on the YouTube if you want, and verify it. And son of Sam's sitting, reading and reading and reading.

Nothing like the book, the word of God, eternal, my friend, life-giving, life-transforming. Thank God for the absolute authority and authenticity and infallibility of this great book. And as he's reading it, it dawned upon the son of Sam that even he was thought of in the death of Christ.

I cried when I saw it, and I'm not sentimental, I don't think. I like to have a little bit of sentiment. And you see him turning the page and speaking to others about their soul.

Someone said to him like well, maybe with good behavior, the way you're doing now for a few years, maybe they'll let you out of here. No, he said, I don't want to be out of here. I deserve every bit and more.

I'm here to testify that God could save a wretch like me. Such is the, and I stopped and I thought, oh, I thought, I thought, I thought of those in Stout, Cedar Falls, Iowa, Nova Scotia, those that I've got to know, brought up in the Christian home, the beans of the gospel, constantly they're hearing it in Sunday school, the Bibles, the texts on the walls, they were praying father and praying mother, and they leave it all for the depths of hell. Oh, the tragedy of it.

Oh, the tragedy of it. I told them that my uncle, 74, used to sing out of Christ without a Savior when he was milking the cows. Strong and robust.

Went to all the meetings, heard the best of preachers. Went in for making money, made his millions. He's now 74, lying on his deathbed.

My sister and I went in to see him on a trip I had to Ireland. I went in to see my uncle, my favorite uncle. He had a mask on his face, hooked up to the intravenous.

I stood, I hardly knew what to say. My sister Ruth, my older sister, she said to uncle, do you hear me? And he pulled the mask off. She said, do you ever think of getting saved? Uncle, sends a shiver up my back even now.

He says, he started to cry and he started to tremble. He says, I can't get it. I can't get it.

I've missed it. He's thinking of 74 years when he could have got saved. Left it too late.

The next day he was gone into eternity. Oh, to be without a Savior. With no hope, no refuge now.

Can it be, oh careless sinner? One without the Savior dares to die. My friend, could I appeal to you as a friend to friend? I might never preach to you again. Might never look into your countenance and we love you.

Might never tell you as plain as we can. Turn, my friend, tonight to the Savior and find everlasting life and refuge. The appointment he fulfilled, the abandonment he experienced, the abundance of salvation he provided.

When he cried, it is finished. Blessed be his name. What triumphant, what? Oh, sometimes I stop a moment and say, Albert, you're only touching the fringe of the fringe of the fringe of the mighty triumph of three words.

One word in Greek and I'm not a Greek scholar. One word, finished. What did he mean? Religion can't save you.

Baptism can't save you. The sacrament can't save you. Brought up in a Christian home will not save you.

My friend, every effort you can make is futile. Only one work will save your soul. It's the work of the cross and in Calvary, he made an abundant sacrifice and he finished the work that God gave him to do.

I want to say this before I move off from that. When I look at the cross, look at the work, that hour, those six hours when he hung upon a cross, crowned with thorns upon a tree. Thank God he fulfilled the appointment.

He came willingly to die. He was abandoned by God in order that we might be saved bearing our sins. He made an abundant sacrifice and he had an accomplishment made when he cried, it is finished.

But friend, listen, I want to tell you this. The hour of acceptance. There's a mystery of the cross that I can never analyze.

If you can, you can tell me afterwards. The Father only, glorious claim. The Son can comprehend.

We preach it. Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died for our sins.

Christ made forgiveness through his death. But friend, we can't plumb the depths of the wonder of Calvary when God accepted fully, totally and eternally that work of the cross in paying humankind's sin. He made what? Propitiation.

It's a big word. I'll make it easy for you. I'll use another word.

He made a meeting place for our sins. He made a satisfaction for our sins. He made, if you don't know what it means, expiation for sin.

He made that which was acceptable to God. You know something? Albert Hull's sins was taking me to hell, but God had to be satisfied about them first. Oh yes.

And the day and the hour that Christ cried, it is finished, bowed his head upon his breast, dismissed his spirit. Father, into thy hand I commend my spirit. God's telling me I have accepted fully.

I raised him from the dead. Hallelujah. Christ arose.

I love the resurrection. I hope we never miss a gospel meeting without it. Yeah.

If I miss it, my wife tells me when I'm preaching the gospel. It's nothing like your wife, you know. They're allies.

And when I'm preaching, she says, you missed it tonight. Well, but I preach the death, burial, resurrection of Christ, and exalt that blessed man that God says, fairer than the fair, standing supreme, unrivaled, majestic, marvelous, wonderful, grand, great, good, what else? Everything. She'll always say, you had a good meeting tonight.

Yeah. Ah, my friend. Listen, we love you.

Sinner, stop a moment. Leave your petty thinking about yourself and your sin. It's only taking you down the broad road.

Stop a moment and ponder the hour marked out in the calendar of God as the greatest in all history and in all eternity. I'm waiting to step into heaven. I'll soon be there.

I'm 75. Yeah. I'm waiting to just give my little, and not be like what I'm doing now, but my little word of praise and worship as I look upon the man with the marks of Calvary.

Crown him with many crowns. The Lamb upon the throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem sounds, all music but its own.

Thank God. I'm going to see my uncle there, my aunt there, and my mother and my father. I'm wonderful.

We'll have a great time. I'm going to see all those that we have preached to. I'm going to see them.

Wonderful. Ah, forget it. No, no, no, no.

Just stop. Just give me the first, I don't know. I just want to gaze upon him.

And I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I'll probably say these exact words, Lord Jesus, I really love you. You can't say that. You know why you can't say it? Still in your sins.

Christ doesn't mean anything to you, just a figurehead, just my friend, a person of history. He doesn't mean everything to you. Let me get to my final 10 minutes.

That's the hour that's passed, never to be forgotten, marked out throughout eternal ages, looking back to the one that hung at Calvary, the thousands and millions. I was nearly going to say billions. Maybe somebody pulled me up.

Well, I think heaven will be filled. Isn't that right? Filled. And it'll be filled without you if you miss it.

And they're all going to sing one song. And they're going to exalt one person. And they're going to magnify the sinner's friend.

And throughout the corridors of eternity, into everlasting ages, we will forever praise and magnify. I think I could get saved tonight. He died, rose again.

What a Savior. If I die, I've told them, I want one hymn at my grave. I hope I'll go by the Lord's coming.

But if I don't, I've told them, sing it. And stand up and sing it. Man of sorrows, what a name.

And get to that verse I love, bearing shame, scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood. Sealed, my pardon, where's blood? And let it ring out. Don't be sobbing and crying.

Hallelujah. What a Savior. Isn't it wonderful you're saved? If you're not saved tonight, you're missing out.

You don't know what you're missing. I know of our ups and downs. It's not all the wind at your back.

And it's not all going up in the top of the hill. We have our valleys and our hills. But friend, thank God we heard, the Lord is my helper.

He's with us every step of the way. Best friend to have is Jesus. He's with you when you call.

He's near you when you fall. The best friend to have is Jesus. Now I want you to think of this hour.

It's almost over. You've only nine minutes left. I want you to think, these nine minutes left, mark them down.

They're the most urgent nine minutes that you'll ever sit under. In these nine minutes, priority. In these nine minutes, urgency.

In these nine minutes, opportunity. I'm going to use a word, and even though you can sometimes take it out of context, but I'm going to say, in these, well it's now eight minutes, decision. Your decision will not save you.

But if you don't decide to get saved, you'll never be saved. And I hope as we come to a conclusion, as you've thought about your sin that we've heard about, that's barring heaven from you. It's not the amount of sin.

We're born in sin. And God can't take one sin into heaven. That's why it took Christ's death to die for our sins, according to the Scriptures.

I told them the other night, never forget it, going into a little town of Yarmouth many years ago. Visiting around here and there. Went into Tim Hortons to have a coffee.

As I was sitting there, there was a man sitting corner to where I was sitting, and he says, good morning. I said, you're not from Canada, you must be from Ireland the way you're talking. He says, I am.

He said, you're from Ireland too. I said, yes. And I really put on my Irish broke.

And the next thing he'd come over and sat beside me. Never forget it. And we had a good old chat.

The best of it was this. It'll do with a Scotsman here. A Scotsman came in with his wife and family, and he called them over to introduce them.

And he was heading back to Buckingham. His name was Mackenzie. Shipbuilding.

And he was going to see his friends and his family connections. And I said, you know, I can tell you about the Mackenzie. There was a boat purchased yonder in Scotland in Buckingham.

It was in Buckingham. And it was called the MGM. And that was for Mackenzie, Grace, and Maria.

Herb Harris got that boat. Never changed the MGM. He kept MGM.

Missionary Gospel Messenger. Ah, wonderful. And as we were talking there, an Irishman said to me after a while, he said, why don't you come round to the house and meet my wife.

Have a cup of tea. I said, sure. I went round and had a good chat with them.

And I went back a number of times. I took my Bible and I read Scriptures to them. I even got down and prayed with them.

None of them saved. I don't think the man ever got saved that I know of. I left them.

She was a Canadian. Ah, maybe 12 years elapsed. I was heading back to Yarmouth.

My wife, May, said to me, call with the Irishman. Don't forget him. I headed in, and when I was heading in there, he was out washing his car.

See it yesterday. It was like yesterday. As he was washing his car, he said, oh, he said, Albert, great to see you.

I said, just thought I would give you a call. He said, I would ask you in, but he says I can't. And the big tears come to his eyes.

He said, will you go to see my wife? She's dying with cancer in the hospital in Yarmouth. Yeah. I said, I certainly will.

And just before I left and got into my car, he says, I think you'll be glad to see her. She'll have something to tell you. Never forget it.

Walked up those stairways into a little private hospital room. A nurse behind me. She had a mask on, intravenous, 75 pound, guessing, at least just about that, 75 to 80 pounds in the bed.

She was, her eyes were closed. And I was going to go out, and the nurse tapped me. She said, no, she'd be glad to see you.

Just give her a tap. It's just like yesterday. Put my hand out, tapped her in the shoulder.

She opened her little eyes. She pulled off the mask. Oh, she said, am I ever glad to see you? She said, I'm not going to make it, Albert.

Not going to make it. But I'm going to heaven. Thanks for coming and telling us the gospel.

Then she said, do you mind if I sing? She started to sing. I could hardly sing with tears. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.

Oh, what a full taste of rapture divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of blood. Born of his spirit, voiced in his blood.

This is my story. This is my song, telling of Jesus all the day long. The next day, that dear woman went home to see her Savior.

Settled. I wonder will you have an hour? I wonder this hour. Come on now, come on.

Fist up to it. We love you. God loves you.

He died. He's passed. He's gone to glory.

He's calling. He's begging. He's beseeching.

He's longing. And my message is this. What will you do? Not with a preacher.

Forget about the preacher. What will you do with Jesus? Conclusion. Two ways before you lie.

You a choice must make. One upward to the sky. One downward to the lake.

It all depends what you do with Christ. If Pilate could speak to Albert Hull, that's impossible. And I would say to him, tell me Pilate, what would you tell this audience? I think I could hear him come with all the might and all the venom that he could get.

Tell them to get it settled now. Don't wait. As I did.

May God bless. May God save. Shall we pray? Father we bow in thy presence.

In the name of our Lord Jesus. We realize we can't save. But we thank thee for the privilege of uniting together the two of us tonight with thy people to preach the gospel.

We bless thee we're in harmony with this great message. We thank you for this great book that unfolds to us. That hour that Christ suffered on dark Golgotha and paid the price to open up the gates, the floodgates of love and mercy, to bring sinners into everlasting life, forgiveness of sins.

We bless thee for his death. Christ died for the ungodly. We thank thee for his resurrection.

He lives. Thank God. It proves conclusively the acceptability of the sacrifice.

And so Lord, those that trust in him will never be put to shame. Grant Lord that this hour that slipped by so quickly, we're going to leave, go several ways, soon to go to our bedrooms for sleep and so forth after the hymn sing that they're going to have. What if Christ come tonight? What if it was their last night Lord? You know, I don't know.

Father have mercy and grant that something will be done for eternity in these hearts, in these minds, in these souls. Do not put it off like the story we heard from our brother. Oh God, no greater tragedy to die without Christ.

Christ uttered those words, where I am thither you cannot come. Lord answer prayer. Thank you for thy people.

Thank you for all who have come. We appreciate their coming tonight, Lord. We love them.

God loves them more. Come in and save, we pray, as we sing the closing hymn in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.