Two Sons

Luke chapter 15, verse 11, And he said, A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat.

And no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring hither the fatted calf and killeth, and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead, and is alive again.

He was lost and is found, and they began to be merry. Now if we had read the earlier part of this chapter, we would find that the Lord Jesus is really telling one parable in this 15th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. The first thing he brings before us is the sheep that was lost.

The second he brings before us the coin that was lost, and the third he brings before us the boy that was lost. I believe in the first one he brings before us the truth that man is lost, unable ever to find his way to God. He's absolutely lost.

In the second case, man is dead. In the piece of coin lying under the table, wherever it was, man is dead. And in the third case, with this young man, we have brought before us the fact that man is responsible.

He is a responsible creature under God. And I want to say tonight, my friends, that the one who stands here is a sinner saved by the grace of God. We're only saved by God's grace.

We can only stand here and preach this Gospel because we have found in Christ the only Savior that God has for sinners. And my friend, tonight I am conscious of this fact that there's some in this hall that are not saved. There's some in this audience, I am positive, that if death were to call them now as they sat in that chair, they would wake up in eternity, forever lost.

And I am sure as I stand here and speak that the enemy of your soul, the devil, is here to steal away from you, from your heart, from your conscience, the very message that we believe that God would send to you tonight. Here we have the story of this young man, this young prodigal. How many there are young prodigals today.

How many mothers and fathers, hearts are broken. Last Friday afternoon we attended a marriage in Smith Falls, Ontario. The young man, the bridegroom, has within the last four years, I suppose, been brought to Christ.

His young man, who was his best man at the ceremony, he also was saved within the last three or four years. And both those young men stood up in that room in front of the principal of their former, the former principal of their school, and their teachers, and they confessed Christ. And I thought as I sat there to the shame of the children of Christian parents who have been brought up under the truth of God, and who have become gospel hardened, and who have rejected Christ.

And I wonder tonight how many in this room are like that. You have heard the truth, and God's message, and God's truth. Instead of touching that conscience of yours, and that heart of yours, has resulted in hardening that heart.

And tonight you sit in this room without Christ. Oh may God tonight by his Holy Spirit speak to your soul and bring you to see your lost and your ruined condition. I would like to mention in connection with this story, three points.

First of all, man's ruin. And second, repentance. And third, God's remedy.

Oh how blessed, my friend, God's one and only remedy for sin. And that is the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The shedding of his precious blood and his glorious resurrection from among the dead, and his ascension back into the glory as a man.

Now first of all, man's ruin. Here we have this young man going down into the far country. And the Lord Jesus, oh I would have liked to have heard him tell this parable in Luke 15.

Who could ever tell this parable like the Lord could? Oh how the joy in his heart as he told the story of this young man. We've read tonight how he came to his Father. But notice first of all that in verse 13, he took his journey into a far country.

And that's exactly where every one of us in this room were, beloved. Every one of us, with that exception, we were in the far country, away from God. How blessed to read in the second chapter of Ephesians, verse 13, ye who were sometimes far off are brought nigh by the blood of Christ.

And so this young man is in the far country here in this 13th verse, and there he wasted his substance with riotous living. Now I like to think of this, what he wasted is the health and strength that he had given to him by God. Oh young man, young lady here, older man, older lady, what about that strength of yours that you're spending for not on this Christ-rejecting world, wasting your substance, your strength, your health, your money, and everything you have on this world that's coming under the judgment of God? This young man wasted his substance with riotous living.

I sat last Saturday afternoon at a table in a Christian father and mother's home beside a young man who has been brought up with the Word of God, read to him every day, I suppose, since he was a little boy. There he was, and he had been taking dope. And we said to this young man, you're trying to find something that you can't find outside of Christ.

Oh, how solemn. Here was a young man who was wasting his substance with riotous living, and he promised he would come to the gospel meeting Sunday night in Smith Falls, but the devil arranged to have his friends come to his house at seven o'clock to stop that young man coming to the gospel. I tell you, my friends, tonight there's a devil.

He's a real person, and he's here tonight to drive your soul to hell and to deceive you and to tell you, well, that's what he thinks. My friend, I stand here with the Word of God in my hand, and I warn you solemnly that to trifle with God, you'll lose your soul. He wasted his substance with riotous living.

Verse 14, And when he had spent all, oh, how solemn, beloved. While we were in Bristol, England, last April, at the end of the meeting about seven o'clock, I suppose, an old man walked into the room and I could tell by looking at him he was drinking or had been drinking or he was a drinking man, and I figured that he was going to ask me for some money, and I spoke to him and he said, Sir, I don't want your money. Well, I started to tell him a story about a friend of ours, a brother now in Christ in the province of New Brunswick who had been just like him, and he said, Sir, I don't want to hear your story.

I don't want to hear any stories. I want God. I want God, he said.

My pocket is full of money, and I'm afraid I'm going to pass a bar room. I'm going to go in and spend all my money. Poor man.

Oh, slave of the devil. Are you here tonight? Captive of the devil, in his chains, tied up, bound up in your chains. Oh, that poor man.

He got down on his knees with another brother and myself, and there he was on his knees asking God not to save him but to help him. Well, he left the room. We don't know what happened to that man, but he was in chains, and you are in chains, and tonight the state of California is filled with men and women who are in chains of the devil, and they can't get away.

There is slaves, there's prisoners, and thank God tonight I can tell you of a Savior who has the power to snatch the chains and to free you and to bring you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And that Savior is my Savior. He's God's beloved Son, the risen and the glorified Christ, the man Christ Jesus, who has power to save from the devil and from the devil's chains and from the devil's power.

For Christ is an all-sufficient and a living Savior. How good to know a living Savior in Jesus. Well, this young man then, he spent all, came to the end of himself.

Well, my friend, tonight that's what's going to happen to you. You're going to come to the end of yourself. You're going to find you've spent all.

And then what happened? There arose, notice, a mighty famine on that land. God sends his famines, doesn't he? Yes, indeed he does, and many of us can thank God for the famines that came into our lives. Oh, there was a mighty famine that came into this young man's life.

And notice what it says, the end of the fourteenth verse, and he began, he began to be in want. Oh, what a solemn thing. Down he was going, down, down he was going, further down, for man's history is always downward.

Notice that. We're taught in the schools and colleges that we should build ourselves up, but the Bible doesn't say that. The Bible says man's history is down.

Down he goes, down, down, down. And he doesn't improve as the ages go on. Our brother, Mr. Martin, who has now been with the Lord for a long time, many times in Montreal, said these words.

Some people didn't like it, but at least it struck home to my conscience. He said a corpse never improves with the keeping. Well, that was a solemn statement, but a true statement.

Man is dead. He never improves. He goes down, down, down he goes, unless the grace of God lifts him up.

Oh, my friend, wouldn't it be wonderful if some man or woman, some boy or girl in this room said, that's me, he's talking about me now, I'm going down, my course is downward. Down he went. Notice what happens next in the sixteenth verse, in the fifteenth verse.

And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. Down he goes further. No doubt, this was a Jewish young man.

Here he is now with the swine. Down he goes, his course is downward. This is the history of all mankind.

History of down going down. Then in the sixteenth verse, and he would fain have filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. What a picture of the world.

What a picture of the world this is. You see the young man, I remember reading a story about a young man coming down the street. He was an alcoholic.

His health was ruined, his clothes were old, his hat was on the side of his head, and two businessmen met him. One of the businessmen said to his friend, please leave me alone with this young man. He said, this young man, I think I know him.

It was his own son. His friend left him, and he said to his boy, look, come on home. Come on home, I love you.

Your mother loves you. Come on home. Oh my friends, it's the history of so many young men today and young ladies in this world going down, down, down.

Here he is now. He fain would have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. Oh what a sad world this is.

What a sad, broken, sin-cursed, on the way to hell this world is in which you and I live tonight. The God and Prince of the great world system, the devil himself. What a solemn, solemn thing, my friends, to think of.

Here he is now at the end of himself, and in the 17th verse, notice, and when he came to himself. Oh how good it is to see a man or woman, young or old, come to themselves. What did he say? How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger.

Isn't that solemn? And I believe tonight in North America, there's tens of thousands of men and women and boys and girls and young people who are just perishing with hunger. I was talking to a little boy in the gospel tent this past summer, and I said to that little boy, does your father ever pray with you? He shook his head, no. Does your father give thanks for the food at the table? He shook his head, he said no.

Does your mother ever speak to you about Jesus? He said no. I said, why don't you ask your father and mother to come to the gospel tonight? He said, they told me they didn't want to come. They didn't want to come.

Is it any wonder that our jails are filled, penitentiaries are filled with young men and women because their fathers and mothers are ungodly, and God has been thrown out of their homes, and the Bible has been thrown into the ash can, and they've rejected the God of the Bible. And this is true of Canada and the United States by the tens of thousands of people. And tomorrow, the Lord's Day is no longer the Lord's Day.

It's a day of pleasure and amusement. Oh friends, the judgment of God is going to fall on this world. The judgment of God is going to fall on the U.S.A. and on Canada and on this world.

God's going to pour his judgment on this world, I tell you. What a solemn thing it is to live in this world without Christ, in your sins, lost and guilty. Well, notice what happens now in the 18th verse.

I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. Notice now, this young man found out he was lost. Have you found that out yet? Oh, you say, well, I'm an American.

I'm a Canadian. I'm respectable. I'm loved by everybody, the people of my neighborhood.

When they're in trouble, I help them. But my friend, without Christ, you're lost. Religion will never save you.

The province I come from is just filled with religion, filled all over the place with religion. It'll never save your soul. Baptism never save you.

And all the vows you may make and all the promises you may make on your knees to God and all your turnover in New Leaf will never save your soul. This young man had to come to that place of repentance. I have sinned.

Notice, I have sinned, he said in this 18th verse. Notice, against heaven and before thee. Notice.

Oh, have you taken that place yet? Have you ever been in the presence of God on your knees, young man, young lady, older person? Have you been on your knees yet in front of God and said, I have sinned? A careless world says, well, we're all in the same boat, you know. We're all sinners. It means nothing.

It means nothing, my friends. But when a sinner comes to that place where he says I, as if he was the only man in the world, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, do you think God will hear that prayer? We sometimes say that God is a prayer hearing and a prayer answering God. And that's the prayer that God is waiting to hear from your lips.

I, I have sinned. Have you prayed that yet? Have you said that prayer? Have you said, well, my mother sinned, my father sinned, we've all sinned? Or have you said, I have sinned? Here's the place. I believe a repentance.

What is repentance? Is it shedding a few crocodile tears and saying, well, I'm sorry until tomorrow and I'll do the same thing over again? No. Repentance is taking sides with God against yourself. That's what repentance is.

Taking sides with God against yourself. Have you done it, my friend? Is there a man tonight in this room? Is there a woman here tonight who's never done that yet? Taking sides with God against yourself. That's what this young man did.

Notice what he did next. Verse 19. And no more worthy to be called thy son, make me as one of thy hired servants.

And he, notice this, these blessed words, he arose and came to his father. But, isn't it wonderful to see that word but there? Oh, thank God for that word but. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

Yes, God is in a hurry to save souls. Isn't that wonderful? God is slow when it comes to judgment, full of mercy, compassion, long-suffering, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. When it comes to salvation, I say reverently, and I praise God for it, God is in a hurry to save poor sinners.

Isn't that wonderful? He ran to meet him. He didn't walk to meet him. He ran to meet him.

The young man didn't run to meet his father. The father ran to meet his boy. We can see that scene, can't we? We can picture the scene.

And it says, he fell on his neck and kissed him, or the other translation says, he covered him with kisses. There he was. He had been with the pigs.

He was dressed in filthy clothes. We can imagine what a man would be like who lived with the pigs for a while. There he was.

Where was he? In his father's arms. Oh, his father loved him. And my dear friend tonight, God loves you.

Isn't that wonderful? God loves you. You may say, well, you know what a bad man I was, wouldn't say that. My friends, listen.

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Christ died for the ungodly. Isn't that a wonderful verse? Thank God for that verse.

I'm glad that verse doesn't say Christ died for the godly, for that would leave me out. But when it says he died for the ungodly, it means me. My friends, what a wonderful Savior.

Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and he was buried, and he rose the third day according to the scriptures. We preach tonight a living Savior, a glorious Savior. And if our eyes could pierce the very heavens themselves, we would see seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, a glorified man with the marks of the nails in his hands and feet, and the spear mark in his side, which forever tell God and man, and the devil too, that Calvary's work is finished, that Christ gave himself for poor, lost, vile, guilty, hell-deserving sinners on the cross of Calvary.

Isn't it blessed? How wonderful. Is it any wonder that this gospel, this word, means God's good news, God's gospel, God's good news to man? The 21st verse, And the Son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, I notice, and in thy sight. Oh, he made a little, he changed his prayer here.

He said in the first place, and before thee, but now he says, in thy sight. Ah, he was conscious now in his father's arms that his father knew all about him. And my dear friend tonight, God knows all about you.

He knows every thought you've ever had, every sin you've ever committed, he knows the whole thing. You don't have to tell him, he knows all about it. But I want to tell you, he loves you just the same.

He's a pardoning God, a God of grace, a God of mercy, a God of patience, a God who loves the sinner. He's for man. He's for man.

You know, the devil has succeeded in telling people that God is against man, that God is waiting to put man into hell, but that's not true. God loves man. God is for the sinner.

God longs to bring the sinner into blessing, but the sinner must come to him. He must come and own before that God that he sinned. Is that hard to do? Is that hard to do? You know you're a sinner.

There are people who say they never sinned, but they tell a lie. For the God of the Bible says, there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We can't throw stones, my friends, at each other.

We're all in the same boat when it comes to sin. The whole world, the whole world, my friends, Adam fell and we all fell with him. And we're all guilty sinners, save those who are Christians, have been cleansed from their sins in the precious blood of Christ, born again from above.

Not the old life patched up. God doesn't change this old nature, this old life, that old Adam. No, God gives a new life.

He's a giving God. He's a giving God. Two weeks ago, tomorrow night in Ottawa, a young man came after the gospel, French, Canadian, Roman, Catholic he was, and we talked for half an hour.

He said, I don't think that God can forgive me. I don't think he can forgive me. He said, I remember once I prayed, and God answered my prayers, and I wasn't very thankful, and I believe, he said, I've sinned, and I don't believe that God will ever forgive me.

Well, we turned to this blessed book, and we assured him on the authority of the Bible, the word of God, that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. And at last we turned to John 1, to as many as received him, and we said, young man, will you receive tonight the Lord Jesus Christ? He said, I will. And then it was very touching.

Poor young man, he didn't know how to pray. He went over in the corner, and I prayed for him. And then he prayed something like this.

He said, oh, forgive me. Forgive me my past. Forgive me my present.

And forgive me my future. Oh, dear friends, it's hard for us to understand. We will be brought up and heard these glorious truths.

Here was a young man in darkness. Oh, the spiritual darkness that man is in. But I believe that prayer went to the very heart of God.

God loved that young man. And the brother who brought him said to me at 10 o'clock when I called him, he said, the young man said, oh, thank you for bringing me. He said at least three or four times going home.

He said, thank you for bringing me. Thank you for bringing me. And the sad thing is this, my friends, that the children of Christian parents reject that God and reject that Savior.

At the Montreal conference, our brother Albert Hale was preaching the gospel. And down from the room came a young lady, the daughter of one of our leading brethren in Montreal. And she said, Mr. Hale, tonight I want to receive Christ.

I want to receive Christ tonight. Her father was astonished. He said, I thought she was saved.

And I remember she was in my Sunday school class. I thought she was saved. And you know, there's multitudes come to our conferences.

And we think they're saved. We meet them out in the lobby. And we say, well, they must be saved.

They came to the conference. My friends, coming to a Bible conference will not save your soul. You must come to Christ.

You must have personal contact with the Son of God. Have you had personal contact with the Son of God yet? Have you touched Christ? Does Christ live in your heart? Have you received Jesus as your personal Savior? Well, this young man, notice now, he says, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But somebody has beautifully said, he never said the rest of his prayer, make me as one of thy hired servants.

Because, this brother said, those words were smothered under his father's kisses. He couldn't say them. The father's kisses smothered his words.

God's not looking for hired servants. He's looking for men and women who will become his children by birth, by faith in Christ. And so, beloved friends, notice what happened in the twenty-second verse.

And here we bring, first of all, ruin, man's ruin, man's repentance, and now God's remedy. Oh, beloved friends, God's remedy. You know, they're looking today for a cure for cancer.

I suppose if some doctor could find out something, some cure for cancer, that one drop of medicine would forever cure that person from cancer, forever, as long as they lived, that doctor could say, I asked for my figure. I want a billion dollars. He'd get it.

He'd get it. But I want to tell you something. God has found a cure for the sin disease.

And he offers that tonight to you free, free. He's a giving God. The Lord Jesus said to the woman in the fourth of John, if thou knewest God as a giving God, thou wouldst have asked of him that he would have given thee living water.

What a God. He loves you, my friends. He proved his love at the cross of Calvary.

Let us look at that cross. Let us see that hill that is called Calvary. Let us see that cross standing there.

Let us gaze upon that center cross. Let us see there the Son of God hanging there on that cross. Who put him there? Men put him there.

Men like you and me nail God's Son to Calvary's cross, having spit in his face, having crowned his head with a crown of thorns, having beaten his back, they nail God's Son to the cross of Calvary. See him there, beloved friends. They sat down and they watched him there.

Think a man enjoying. They enjoyed watching Jesus suffer. What a world.

Is it any wonder that our streets are not safe? Is it any wonder as we walk up and down the streets, we just wonder, will I get home safely? Will I be shot dead? Will I have a knife in my back? Our brother Mr. Hale often said these words, a world that crucified Christ will stop at nothing. How true. A world that crucified Christ will stop at nothing.

This world is guilty of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. But oh, beloved friends, I want to look at those last three hours of darkness, when the Son of God was in that darkness, alone with God the sin bearer. And there God himself placed on his beloved Son my sins.

And then he judged that blessed one, that substitute, for my sins. Thank God my sins are gone. And I speak reverently.

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed my transgressions from me. And my sins and iniquities will he remember no more forever. Isn't it wonderful? Wouldn't you like to have your sins forgiven? I remember a few months ago, a young man at the end of a gospel meeting came and said, Sir, tonight I can say my sins are forgiven.

My sins are forgiven. Are your sins forgiven? Here is one who can forgive sins. He has the power to forgive sins, the authority to forgive sins.

He's been appointed the judge of the future. And now he says himself when he was here, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath eternal life, and shall not come into judgment for condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Those are the very words of Christ.

You can lay your head on that verse tonight. You can rest your soul on that verse for eternity and say on the authority of the words of the Son of God, I am saved for glory. And so the father said to his servant, Bring forth the best robe.

Notice this young character. There he was. The best robe was for him.

Isn't that blessed that God has a robe of righteousness for us? What righteousness? His own righteousness. And every one of us tonight who are in Christ, we stand before God in Christ. What a standing.

Could we get a better place? Supposing Adam had never sinned. Supposing we were men and women in this world who had never sinned, we were innocent people. We would not have the position we have tonight.

We stand before God in Christ, accepted in the beloved. What a place. My friends, isn't that better than religion? Isn't that better than leaning on baptism or all kinds of vows and promises and law-keeping? To stand before God in Christ, accepted in the beloved.

Our sins washed away in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And so here he says, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him. And put a ring on his hand, telling of the wonderful love of God.

Sometimes we look, I'm sure we were men here, look at the ring on our wife's finger. There it is. And it tells of the promise of a love that we will love her as long as we live, till death does us part or until Jesus comes.

But oh, think of it, my friends, God puts a ring on our hand and says, I love you forever. I love you forever. And a man may break that vow, he may take that ring off his wife's hand, and he may throw it into the garbage can, and he may turn his back on his wife and leave her and desert her.

But that God of the Bible loves with an everlasting love. He'll never give us up. Beloved Christian, we have a God that will never give us up.

Oh, if you're backsliding tonight, if you're away from the Lord, return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. Thou art mine. He loves you still.

You may have changed, but he's still the same. He loves you, dear Christian, and he'll never give you up. This ring speaks of God's never-ending love.

What a love! I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee to me. What a love this is.

Are you discouraged, dear Christian? Have you failed? Oh, return tonight. He loves you. He loves you, my friends.

He loves you. Come back to the Lord tonight. The end of the twenty-second verse, and shoes on his feet.

A new standing. How good, no longer to be associated with this poor, lost world, but now a new standing in Christ before God, standing on redemption ground, redeemed by the blood of Christ. How blessed.

What a gospel. Oh, my friends, that blessed Savior asked on that cross of Calvary that solemn question, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Have you answered the question? Did you ever get down on your knees and answer the question and say, oh, God, I believe the Lord Jesus asked that question on that cross? There was no answer. But there's an answer tonight, beloved.

And we who are Christians can answer the question, he was forsaken by God, that we might never be forsaken. He bore the load of my sins. Blessed Savior, he paid the price I couldn't pay.

He received the judgment that I couldn't stand. It would have sent me into eternal hell. But he took my place.

He died for me. Isn't that blessed? He died for me. Oh, dear friends, we present tonight a Savior.

And then notice in the 23rd verse, and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it. Oh, the Father had the calf ready. He had fatted the calf up.

Why? Why, he had a boy in the far country. And he wanted that boy to come back. And oh, how lovely it is, he said, bring forth the fatted calf and kill it.

And let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.

And they began to be merry. Notice the 14th verse. The end of the 14th verse, and he began to be in want.

The end of the 25th verse, 24th verse, and they began to be merry. Notice now, he began to be in want. He was all alone.

He was all alone in the far country, deserted by his friends. My dear unsaved friend and my lost sinner, let me warn you, this world is going to desert you. You can't trust this world.

They'll turn their back on you when you lose your money. As long as you've got your money, you're welcome in the crowd. When your money goes, then your popularity goes too.

He began to be in want. But when he came to his Father, they began to be merry. You know, the want was ended.

The fact he was in want was ended by the Father's grace. But the joy never ended. The joy goes on for eternity.

There's no end to the joy, but there was end to the want. And they began to be merry. If we read on in the story, we'd find that the elder brother drew nigh to the house.

Notice, he drew, it's very solemn. He drew nigh to the house. But the young prodigal drew nigh to the Father.

And my friend, tonight, the gospel of the grace of God, if you will receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, the gospel of the grace of God, the finished work of Christ will bring you not only to the house, but to the Father's heart. The Father's heart. Oh, the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

And God loves you tonight, my friends. He offers you salvation without money, without price. God is too rich to sell the salvation, and you are far too poor to buy it.

So God gives salvation, full and free, without money and without price. The other night, we stood preaching the gospel in Smith Falls, and in the closing of the message, we said this. We said there are two onlookers tonight.

At the end of this message, we said there's two onlookers. There, on the left side, stands the devil, and he says to you, young man, young lady, if you'll follow me, I'll give you money, I'll give you fame, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you glory, I'll give you the pleasures of sin, and I'll drag you to hell with me." But, on the right side, stands the Son of God. Oh, beloved, see His lovely face, see His head crowned with many crowns, see His hand with the marks of the nails.

There He stands. He says, sinner friend, if you'll come to me, you may be laughed at, you may be mocked at, but I'll stand by you. I'll be with you forever.

My love will fill your soul with joy. I'll give you peace. I'll forgive you your sins.

I'll bring you into the very presence of God. And there, for eternity, you'll rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Tonight, my friends, the two same masters stand, the left hand, the right hand.

Which will you take? Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. Remember, dear friends, every one of us tonight, every man and woman in this room, every boy and girl, as you leave these seats and file out, you are a slave of Christ, a born slave of Christ, like the Apostle Paul. And I say I trust with respect, or you're a slave of the devil.

For Jesus said, a man cannot serve two masters. Why did he say that? Because there's not three, there's only two, Christ and the devil. Heaven or hell, which will it be for you? We have sometimes said God has blocked the road to hell with the cross of Christ.

My friend, are you going to pass the cross tonight? Are you going to once more say no to Jesus? This may be your last chance, your last opportunity. This may be God's last word to you. This may be God's last warning to you.

This may be God's last message. Oh, young man, young lady, you in the United States of America, this blessed country, where the gospel is preached, I believe, from coast to coast, and where there's tens of thousands or maybe millions of Bibles, and where there's hundreds of thousands of gospel tracts, are you going to harden your heart tonight? Are you going to reject Christ? For God asks this question, and I bring it to you before I pray. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, this excellent God? There's a great Savior.

There's a great God. There's a great salvation. What will you do with Jesus? Neutral you cannot be.

Someday your heart will be asking, what will he do with me? For your eyes are going to see Jesus someday, either as your Savior or as your judge. What will it be? Is there somebody in this audience tonight who right now will bow your head and say, Lord, I'm a sinner. I've sinned against God, but I believe on the cross of Calvary Jesus died for me, and I receive Christ now.

And 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, says God himself. Will you believe God tonight and leave this room saved and glory-bound? Or are you going to leave this room on the way to hell? Sinner friend, what shall it be? Christ is the Savior of sinners.