The Lord is Coming

General Meetings, Des Moines, May 1973, The Gospel of our Brother Wakefield. Mike, we sing together number 10. There is a Savior on high in the glory, a Savior who suffered on Calvary's tree.

The Savior is willing to save now as ever. His arm is almighty, His love great and free. Some brothers start it, please.

When the Savior at His coming, will you be among the number? Will you His praises sing? The first and last shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto 10. Took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five were foolish.

They that were foolish took their lamps, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom.

Go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.

But the wise answered, Say not so, lest it be not enough for us and you. But go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came.

And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

In the fourteenth chapter of John's Gospel, the first three verses, Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. 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 if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there, ye may be also. And then in 1 Thessalonians chapter four, in the sixteenth verse, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Then we, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Just one more passage please, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, in the third verse.

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. On Saturday evening, our brother preached to us, I believe in a very solemn way, the need of, and last night our brother spoke to us on the precious blood of Christ. Tonight I wish to speak on the coming again of the Lord Jesus.

And I've noticed, beloved brethren, you know the Lord Jesus, that we've had brought before us in the meetings and in the hymns we sang, and in the prayers today, the coming of Christ. And we believe, dear friends, that that event may take place tonight. Before this meeting ever closes, we may have seen the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I suppose there are some in this room tonight that are not saved. Some young people who say, well, I'm young and I'm strong, why should I worry? I may not die for another 50 years, but the Lord may. First of all, that coming in the air, himself, Jesus said, and receive you unto my hands, ye may be also.

My friends, that has never been as near as it is at this very moment, never before in the history of the Church has that event been as near as it is at this very meeting of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, God tells us how that event, O the one who was nailed to Calvary's cross, the one whom we read who died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, who was buried and was raised, that blessed one is the one who is coming in the air to give that shout. And the dead in the graves will be emptied and together with we who are alive shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

And my friends, what a solemn day it will be for this great nation when God takes out of this world and you, my unsaved friend, will be left behind to face eternal judgment under the judgment of God. Because you've rejected the grace of God, because you've rejected God's love and God's beloved Son. And I want to warn you, my friends, as this meeting opens, that I know as I stand here, I believe that the devil himself would come right to this room and he would seek by his power to take away the seed of the Word of God from your heart.

And I just pray that during this next half hour together that you may be deeply concerned about your soul, young man, young lady, boys and girls, men and women who are yet in your sins without God and without Christ and without hope in this world, that you will be deeply concerned under the power of the Holy Spirit that you may not trifle with your soul. Oh, friends, think of it. Take away hope from a man and he has nothing left.

He just drops. And I want to tell you, if you leave this world without Christ, you will be in a place where the word hope will never be heard. Where never again you will ever smile.

Where never again you will ever laugh. Never again will you enjoy pleasure. But under the wrath of God you will spend eternity.

Now I know this is not popular. I know that men like to hear what they call a social gospel. Everybody is eventually going to get to heaven.

But that's not what the book says. And we dare not preach what the book doesn't say. The book tells us, the Word of God tells us that man is a sinner born that way.

Born with his back turned against God. And with his face turned towards hell. And going down the broad road to destruction.

And we stand here tonight by the grace of God. A poor sinner saved by the grace of God. Washed from our many sins by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We stand here, I say, by the grace of God. And tell you tonight of a Savior's love. That God loves you.

Oh, what a message. God so loved the world. We've often said in preaching the gospel, I would have loved to have heard the Lord Jesus say those marvelous words.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting, eternal life. My dear friend, tonight you can be saved. You haven't got to go to hell.

God loves you. Often we've said these blessed words that God has blocked the road to hell with the cross of Christ. And if a man goes to hell he must leap over the cross.

For God has blocked the road to hell with the cross of Christ. God loves you. God loves you.

The God who made this world loves you. And He sent His Son to be a Savior. Now let's look at the 25th chapter of Matthew just a few moments.

And see here, these solemn words, these are the very words that came out of the mouth of the Son of God. How blessed we can stand here tonight and read to you, and you can read the very words that came out of that blessed mouth of God manifest in the flesh. Oh, how blessed! Yet, how solemn! He tells us here about these ten virgins.

And I believe it's a good subject to preach in the United States and in Canada. Because there are millions of people tonight in this country and in the country to the north who say, well, we believe this, we believe this, we believe that Jesus died on the cross, you know, of course we're not heathens, we believe this. But we don't just take it seriously like you do.

We don't believe and always be reading the Bible and praying. We just like to coast along and enjoy ourselves, but we believe this. My friends, there's multitudes who believe it in their heads.

Just like you read the history of Napoleon. But you believe that. It's in the history books.

But it means nothing to you. It means nothing to you or to me that a man named Napoleon lived here. That doesn't change our lives.

And my friends, to believe that a man named Jesus Christ lived in this world and died on the cross means nothing unless you receive Him personally into your very life and your very heart and Christ lives in here and you're saved by the grace of God, I say it means nothing. It's only world history. It'll never save your soul.

Here we have these ten virgins. The whole ten of them had lamps. We speak of profession.

They had their lamps, each one of the whole ten of them. There was nothing different between them. If you looked at these ten virgins as they marched along to the wedding, there was nothing different.

They all had their lamps. You say they're all the same. And so it is tonight with 200 million Americans or more.

And most of them have their lamps. Most of my friends have their lamps. Most of them say I'm a Christian.

Most of them say of course I have my own religion. But I'm a Christian too. They all have their lamps.

But you know there was a difference. And a great difference it was too. For the five wise virgins had oil in their lamps, with their vessels.

Oil in their vessels with their lamps. And this oil is the Holy Spirit of God, a divine person who tonight is in this world. For when the Son of God as a man went back to heaven, as a man with the nail prints in his hands and feet and the spear mark in his side, as he stepped over the portals of glory, the angels I believe bowed and worshipped as the man Christ Jesus went into the very presence of God.

And there tonight my friends is a man in the glory. Is that man your Savior? Well, he sent down the Holy Spirit of God, a person who is in this world tonight, some of us here. I suppose the vast majority tonight have that divine person dwelling in here.

And he has united us to Christ in the glory. And we're saved and on the way to glory by the grace of God. More than conquerors through him that loved us.

With a certain glorious future that will never end, not only with Christ, but like Christ for all eternity. My friends, you have a profession tonight. Have you got this oil? Have you been born again? Now I know it's not popular.

I know men today, these great men with their great education, say, oh what nonsense this is, born again. What do you mean born again? I mean what God means. We go by the Scriptures.

We don't go by man's ideas or man's thoughts or man's reasonings. But Jesus said to Nicodemus, the man of religion, he said, ye must be born from above. You must have a brand new life for this life that we have from Adam, from our father and mother, will never enter the kingdom of God unless we're born from above with a brand new life from God.

The very life of God put into the soul. Have you been born again? Boys and girls with Christian mothers and fathers, have you been born from above? Have you got this new life from God? If you haven't, you're numbered with these foolish virgins with an empty lamp and no oil. But I want you to notice here in our fifth verse that the bridegroom tarried.

The bridegroom tarried. And while he tarried, they all slumbered and slept. That is to say, the five wise and the five foolish virgins, they all fell asleep.

And isn't it true of you and me tonight, dear Christian believer in Christ, how often we fall asleep while the bridegroom tarries? But notice now what happened in the sixth verse. And at midnight there was a cry made, behold the bridegroom. Oh, but listen, my friends.

God presents Christ. Tonight, my friends, God presents Christ. There's no other gospel.

No other message. No other message but the old gospel of the cross. Jesus died for sinners, nailed to the cross of Calvary between two thieves, the Son of God in the hours of darkness bore my sins in His own body in the tree and received from God the judgment that I deserved.

He died for me. He suffered for my sins. He died just for the unjust to bring me to God, a poor sinner who deserves to go to eternal hell.

Jesus is my hope. He's my Lord, my Savior. Is He yours tonight, my friends? Do you love the Savior? People say, you know, we shouldn't be occupied with our love for Christ but rather His love for us.

And I amen that. But I want to ask you tonight, do you love the Savior? For to know the Savior is to love Him. You have to love Him.

Not only does He save the soul, my friend, not only does He take our sins away, but He captures the heart. He captures the heart so that forever you're spoiled for this world, for the Christian. You may be here tonight, backslider, I want to say you're not happy.

And God won't let you be happy in this world. You who know the Lord Jesus Christ, how often we have got away from the Lord and we have to pray and say, Lord, when we get away from Thee, please don't let us be happy. How sad to meet Christians who say, why, I'm a happy man.

I'm away from the Lord but I'm happy just the same. Let me say this. If you make that statement, either you're not a Christian at all or you're telling a lie.

You cannot be happy if you have tasted of the love of God, of the love of Christ. If you have seen by the grace of God that coming scene of glory, I say you can never be happy in this world again if you get away from the Lord. For God won't let you be happy.

How blessed, how glorious. Put the bridegroom, Terry, bananas the bridegroom. Behold the bridegroom.

For we believe, beloved friends, that some 150 to 175 years ago that the Spirit of God restored to God's people this glorious truth that Jesus was coming again to take out of this world all His blood-bought people. Now we know tonight in Christendom it's generally believed that the Lord's coming back to judge this world. They talk about the last day, the end of the world, and so on.

But there are many Christians who have no idea that Jesus is coming again in the air to take out of this world every born-again Christian. You won't find a born-again Christian under heaven when that happens. What a solemn thing, oh friends.

What an awful thing to think of being left behind. Can you think of it? Left behind. I remember one night dreaming that the Lord came.

I saw Him come down into the air and give the shout. And I saw people, they lifted up and I was left on the ground. I was left behind.

Oh, I saw Him. What a terrible dream that was to be left behind. And there's boys and girls, young men, young women, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives who are going to be left behind.

Left behind to face judgment. No second chance. No getting down on your knees and crying to God to save you then.

Left behind. Left behind. Friend, the Lord may come tonight.

The Lord may come tonight. What good will your health be and your strength be if Jesus comes tonight and takes out of this room as opposed to when He came now? In one minute from now the shout was heard and suddenly you found the room empty. And you found yourself sitting in this seat.

These seats with two or three people. And all the rest were gone. Not out of the doors, not out of the windows, but suddenly gone.

Gone. You'll never see that mother again. You'll never see your father again.

You'll never see that boy of yours again if he goes. You'll never see that daughter of yours again. Left behind.

I can't think of anything more terrible, more awful, than to be left behind. Why? Because you rejected Christ. You rejected Christ.

God says, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? This is God's salvation. It's God's salvation. Friends, if the Queen sends to one of her subjects an invitation to appear at Buckingham Palace, I understand that that invitation is really a command.

When the Queen sends the invitation, it's really a command. You have to go. Because the Queen has ordered you to go.

Even though it's an invitation. And yet, my friends, the God of Heaven tonight has asked you to come to Christ. It's a command, my friends.

Are you going to turn down the offer of salvation? You can't buy it. You can't earn it. You can't work for it.

No, the word of God is very clear. By grace are ye saved through faith. And that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast. How about you, maybe, tonight, you come into this room, sent by God into this room, allowed to come into this room by God Himself, the God of grace, who say, well, you know, I keep the Ten Commandments.

You don't. You don't, my friends. There's never been a man ever lived in this world except the Lord Jesus Christ who kept the Ten Commandments.

And you know it's true. And the Ten Commandments, what do they do? They condemn you. They condemn you.

We've often said, speaking to the children, if a man needs a shave and looks into the mirror and says, well, I see I need a shave, the mirror won't shave him. And if a girl looks into the looking glass and sees there's dirt on her face, the looking glass will never wash her face. It has no power to wash her face.

She has to go elsewhere. And the Ten Commandments, just like that looking glass, say you're a sinner, you're a sinner. But the Ten Commandments only condemn you.

They have no power to save you. You have to go someplace else. And that's the Jesus.

Jesus. He's the Savior. He's the one who died on the cross.

He's the one who shed His precious blood. He's the one that man nailed to the cross, despised and rejected, the Son of God. You must take sides with that Savior.

And I want to say tonight, my friends, we live in a careless age where men are beaten around the bush and trying to deceive men all around us. I want to say this, and I say it without fear of contradiction, that tonight, every man in this room and every woman and every boy and every girl is either on the side of Christ or on the side of the devil. Now, I know that's not popular, but that's the truth.

Jesus said, a man cannot serve two masters. He didn't say three masters because there's not three, there's two. One is the Christ of God, the other is the devil.

Whose side are you on? Thank God by His grace, I'm on the Lord's side. Whose side are you on? Would you like to be on the Lord's side? Then you must take the despised Nazarene as your Savior. Oh, you won't get popular.

The world won't clap its hands and say, what a wonderful man he is. He's taken Christ. They'll laugh at you.

You know, the world can laugh you into hell, but they can't laugh you out. And I want to say tonight that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleansed us from all sin. And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man comes to the Father, but by me. He's the only way to God. The only way to heaven.

The way of the cross leads home. And so now we have the bridegroom presented. I want you to notice in the 8th verse, the foolers said unto the wise, give us your oil, for our lamps are going out or gone out.

The margin says going out, which I believe is right. But the wise answered, say not so, lest there be not enough for us and you. But go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. The bridegroom came. While they went to buy, the bridegroom came.

Now notice what it says. And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to be ready.

To be able to lay your head upon your pillow and go to sleep and say, thank God I'm ready. If my heart stops beating in the night, and I wake up, I'll be with the Lord. And if the Lord Jesus comes during the night, I'll be caught up out of my bed to meet the Lord in the air.

It's a grand thing to be ready. Maybe somebody says, but how can I be ready? How can I know I'm ready? Well, I could quote you many, many verses how you know you could be ready. But I'm going to tell you this, my friends, tonight.

There's a wonderful verse in Romans 10 and 9. I'd like to tell you a little story about that verse. Where God says, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. There was a boy came to the gospel tent down in Sackville, New Brunswick.

He had a mother who was a Christian who was at home praying for her boy. And after the meeting was over, we spoke to that young man and said, Are you saved? He said, No, sir, I'm not. Would you like to be saved now? He said, Yes, I would.

I'd like to be saved right now. Then I gave him that wonderful verse and I asked him first, Do you believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead? He said, I do. I said, Are you sure you believe that? He said, I believe that with all my heart.

I said, Do you believe that God raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead? He said, Yes, sir. I believe that with all my heart. Then I said to him, Let us read the first part of that verse.

If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, will you confess with your mouth, young man, the Lord Jesus? He said, Yes, sir. I will. I believe that Jesus is Lord.

Well, we said to him, Now, we're going to ask you to do something, if you will. Would you be willing to go to somebody else and tell them? And he walked across the tent to an older man and he said, Sir, I want to tell you something. Jesus is Lord and I believe that God has raised Him from the dead.

Now, the Bible says, Thou shalt be saved. All men may say, but I can't believe that. But I believe it because God says it.

Thou shalt. No question about it. No doubt God has spoken.

Thou shalt be saved. Thou shalt be saved. May God grant that that verse may go into the heart of some boy, some girl, some young man, some young woman in this room tonight.

May God give you the courage tonight to open your mouth and confess that Jesus is Lord. Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it? To think that the man who this world said is worthy of a cross, a criminal's cross, and nail them between two criminals. That's the kind of a world we live in tonight, that God is going to judge.

This world has murdered the Son of God. God allowed it. We know by His grace.

But this world's responsible. My friends, are you willing to say that that man, this world, crucified as Lord? God hath made that same Jesus whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ. Well, there's a test came now.

Notice what happened. They were ready. And notice the end of the tenth verse.

The door was shut. Isn't that a song? Oh, friend, may these words go into your heart and sink down into your heart, down into your conscience. The door, the door, the door was shut.

God's door tonight is wide open, up above there in the glory. Heaven's door is wide open, and God says, whosoever will may come and take the water of life freely. I think of that verse often preached in the gospel.

How the beloved John on the isle, separated from the world around in the isle called Patmos. As he gets near the end of the book of Revelation, we love to say these words again and again, beloved friends. I believe that God said, John, stop.

Stop writing. I want to give man his last invitation. And this is the last of these three days of happy meetings.

God's last invitation. Whosoever will may come and take the water of life freely. I believe it's worthy of God.

I believe it's worthy of the God of the Bible to give man his last invitation. My friend, this may be your last invitation, your last chance. Don't throw it away.

Don't listen to the devil. He's a liar, my friend. The Lord Jesus said, not only is he a liar, but he's the father of lies, and he's lied to you.

He's fooled you, young man. He's betrayed you, young lady. He's told you to be a Christian.

You have to go along with a long face, so unhappy, like an undertaker walking around crying and weeping. No more fun, no more joy. I tell you, the devil's a liar.

I want to say this tonight, my friend. The only people in this world that are really happy are God's children. The unsaved man is not really happy.

He may think he is, but he's not. He has to have something, some new toy, something to amuse him, something to interest him. He can't find happiness, put him into a room alone with nothing in the room, but a chair to sit on.

He'll be the most miserable man in creation. He has to have something to hold his attention. But the Christian in a room by himself can get down on his knees like they do in Russia in the dungeons and prisons, and they can praise God and they can sing with joy in their hearts of the Savior's love.

I want to tell you tonight again, the devil's a liar. Don't believe him. The Christian life is the happy life, and I live both lives, and I know what I'm talking about.

The Christian life is the happy life. To have Christ will make you happy. But to have the devil will land you in hell.

Oh, friends, there is a hell. The only man who never told a lie warned of that place. There shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Who said it? The only man who never told a lie, the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe what he said. I don't believe what the modernist preachers say.

I don't believe what the college professors say. I believe what Jesus said because He told the truth, and He warns man to flee. And I warn you tonight, my friends, there's salvation only in Christ.

There's no salvation at any religion, any church, any gospel meeting, any gospel hall. There's only salvation in one, and that's God's beloved, eternal Son, the Lord of Glory, died for poor sinners on the cross of Calvary. Now notice this 11th verse because it's very solemn.

Afterward. Oh, friends, isn't that a solemn word? Wouldn't man pay a fortune to be able to blot that word out of the book? Wouldn't man all over the world love to be able to get rid of that word afterward? They don't want an afterward. But there's an afterward, my friends.

You've got to leave this world. You can't stay here. I believe it was John D. Rockefeller who said, if any doctor can cure me of my stomach trouble, I'll give him a million dollars immediately.

But they couldn't do it. He had to leave this world and leave behind him hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. It was no use.

You have to leave this world. Afterward, notice, came also the other virgins saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. These words, Lord, Lord, bring before us only profession, empty, no reality.

Lord, Lord, open to us. But the door was shut, my friends. You know, they came too late.

And I believe there'll be many, many people in the United States of America and Canada and the British Isles and other parts of the world who've heard the gospel hundreds of times who, when the Lord comes, they're going to come but too late. They're going to say, Lord, I believe now. I know it's true.

I know it's true. My mother's gone and my father's gone. I know it's true.

Won't you save me now? But notice the answer. He says, I know you not. I know you not.

Too late, my friends. Too late. This is the day.

This is the only day that God promises to save you. He says, behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

You know, the devil's words, tomorrow. When Moses asked Pharaoh, when he would like to have the frogs taken away, Pharaoh, the devil's man, said tomorrow because the devil always says tomorrow but God says today. This is the day.

The Lord Jesus said to the thief on the cross, as our brother mentioned, Lord's Day morning. Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. But I want to warn you, young man.

You're saying, maybe down in your heart, well, you know, I heard this. I heard this last week. Why, a year ago, I was at the Des Moines conference, you may say, and I sat in this very room and here I am tonight.

I'm saved. I'll come back a year from now and I'll get saved next year but God doesn't promise to save you next year. And God doesn't promise to save you tomorrow morning but He does promise to save you now.

If you want to come to Christ tonight, if you will receive the Lord Jesus and take your place before God as a lost, not only a sinner but a guilty sinner and a lost sinner, you can be saved tonight. Maybe there's a believer in this room who says, well, I hope my sins are forgiven. Oh, my friends, dear Christian if you're here tonight, maybe you've come into this room and you say, well, sir, I honestly and truly, like a lady told me the other day, we were visiting outside Philadelphia, she said, sir, but I believe that with all my heart and I do love Jesus.

I feel so unworthy. I'm so unworthy. I said, my dear friend, you're insulting the Savior.

You really are insulting the Savior. He's finished the work. He's paid the price.

He offers you life eternal. He offers you the forgiveness of sins and why do you say I'm so unworthy? Of course you are. But He's worthy and we're accepted not in ourselves.

We're accepted in the Beloved and every born-again Christian tonight stands in God's presence, accepted in Christ. Can we get a better place? Adam in the Garden of Eden, innocent before he fell, didn't have the place we have tonight, accepted in the Beloved, standing before God, dressed in Christ, in God's righteousness, forgiven, cleansed, saved. Oh, how blessed.

My friends, this conference is over. Once again, you've heard the gospel. There's a Savior tonight on high in the glory.

He's my Savior. He died for me, a poor sinner. I recommend to you God's Christ, the only Savior there is.

He doesn't want your money. He doesn't want your money. He owns everything.

He's too rich to sell His salvation. And you're too poor to buy His salvation. He offers you free, full salvation.

Will you receive Christ? Now, is there somebody in this room, just as I bow my head in prayer, will you tonight, my friends, receive Christ? Receive Christ. There's a man in the Maritimes who was a great drunkard. He was a terrible drunkard.

God saved his precious soul. And I was visiting with our brother here, a man who employed this man. And he said, do you gentlemen come from the gospel tent? And we said, yes, we do, sir.

He said, do you know a man named David McKay? And we said, we certainly do. He said, he was an awful drunkard, you know. My, he said, I used to pay him on Friday night, and I wouldn't see him until Thursday, the next week.

He was drunk, he said, for four or five days. But he got religion. And our brother here tonight said, no, he didn't serve.

No, he didn't. He said, well, I know something. He got something because he sure is a changed man.

And he said, he got Christ. And he said, and man, you're a respectable man of McAdam, well-dressed, going your own business here, but you are a sinner, and you need Christ. And you respectable people tonight in the United States and Des Moines here, respectable.

Pay your bills. Do the best you can. You're lost.

You're lost unless you have Christ. You need Christ. The man on the street that drunkard reeling down the street just say, that poor fellow, he needs a Savior.

But so do you. You're a sinner. And so am I. I'm a saved sinner.

May God bless His Word for the glory of His name.