A Fallen Woman Saved

It may be raining outside, friends, but we got the Son of Righteousness in here with us tonight. And as we focus on evangelism, I wanted to take some more time to go over a story from the life of evangelist Rolf Barnard and how he dealt with sinners. I think it's important to look back at man that God has used in former times in regard to preaching the gospel.

And this particular message is really stern because a prostitute gets saved in one of his meetings. And I want to go ahead and read it to us and we can prepare our hearts as we continue on this evening. Let me go ahead and read this from his chapter in a book that I wrote on his life, God's Hitchhiker Evangelist, which is the biography on Rolf Barnard.

And let me go ahead and tell you this story in his words from a sermon extract of him now. God is not going to put up with the stuff we've been calling Christianity forever. We are headed for judgment like we have never dreamed of.

And our only way of escape is for Christians to start acting like Christ. Jesus came down here because God so loved the world. He didn't come down here to condemn the world.

But he came down here that the world through him might be saved. God, help us to be a little more like the Lord. I'll never forget a poor fallen woman in Canada.

I was up there preaching in a church where no one had been converted in nine years. They were mighty orthodox, mighty separated and mighty dead. I said to them, you ought to get acquainted with folks.

And they took me seriously. So we went out ringing doorbells up there and invited people to come hear me preach. It was 20 below zero.

And I was going around with a deacon from house to house. And we came to a wicked gate. I unlatched the gate, going up to the house and started to go in.

The deacon said, Brother Barnard, don't go in there. I said, why not? The deacon said, I don't want to say, but don't go in there. I said, why not? Oh, I couldn't tell you, but please don't go in there.

I said, I'm going. He said, it will ruin the meeting. I said, why? Well, preacher, that is the most notorious woman in this section of Canada.

Oh, if you went in there, it would be terrible. I said, I'm going. And I went and knocked on the door and a nice looking woman, not yet betrayed by her sinful life, came to the door and said, hello, big boy.

I said, howdy, I'm a preacher and I'm holding meetings down here at the church. I have come to invite you to come and hear me preach tonight. She began to laugh and I said, it's no joke.

She said, are you really a preacher? I said, yes. She said, I believe you are. I said, yes, I'm from the South and I'm preaching here.

Oh, she said, I heard about that fellow from the South and you're him. Oh, yes. She said, do you know who I am? I said, yes, I've been told that you're the most notorious woman in this section of Canada.

She said, I guess that's right. Do you mean you want me to come up to that church building tonight? Yes, I want you to come because I want to preach to you. She said, why? If I come up there, it would shock them to death.

Well, they need a good shock and I want you to promise me that you will come and I double dog dare you to come. I promise me you will. And bless God, she did.

I've never seen the Holy Spirit challenged when he didn't work. I preached that night and before we could get started singing, here she came. Just running down to the front and fell down there and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.

And after a while, she stood up, tears running down her cheeks, the glory of God on her countenance, and she witnessed a mighty good confession. The congregation was a singing people, so they began to quietly sing Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. They had an 80-year-old woman there and she was the mother of Israel of all that section, a fine woman. I wondered what that nice gang of church members were going to do.

There was that ex-prostitute standing there claiming that grace of God had done its work in her life, tears running down her cheeks. She just stood there while they were singing. Nobody moved.

I looked back and saw that mother of Israel pull her glasses up and wipe her eyes. Then pretty soon she pulled them off and took her handkerchief and wiped her eyes. Pretty soon, here she came down to the front of the church and put her arms around that ex-magdalena, kissed her on both cheeks, and loudly enough so the congregation could hear her, she said, Oh, welcome, sister.

Welcome, sister. Praise God. At the foot of the cross, objects of the mercy of God, the best and the worst woman in town in the same crowd, the difference, the mercy of God, which because his blessed son hung on a cross, he's able and willing to show mercy, God's sovereign mercy to the worst sinner that ever stayed out of hell a little while.

And when that woman did that, the people's hearts were broken and sinners all over the congregation began to cry out. And once again, we saw the glory and the wonder of that simple scripture. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.