Episode Transcript
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I would like to read some scriptures with you from the Bible.
And our first passage is in Acts, in chapter number 4.
I want to read four scriptures, and there's a theme that runs through the four verses.
Acts chapter 4 and verse number 12 says, Concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, it says,
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And then 1 Timothy chapter number 1 and verse number 15 says,
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am chief.
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And then Hebrews chapter 2 and verse number 3 says.
And then lastly, in 2 Corinthians chapter 6,
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and verse number 2 says,
Now we trust that God will bless to us the public reading of the Scriptures.
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As I thought about the meeting this afternoon and the time of year it is when
boys and girls get off for school holidays,
I thought to myself, it would be a great time for some of these young people to get saved.
And I was nearly going to ask the question, would there be one here tonight?
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And you have made a promise to yourself that this is the summer when you will get saved.
And then my mind began to think, well, I don't have the authority to ask people
that question because we're not told our promise tomorrow.
In fact, the Bible makes it clear that the opportunity to get saved is now.
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And that's why 2 Corinthians chapter 5 was impressed upon my heart for this meeting.
It says, behold, now is the accepted time.
Behold now is the day of salvation.
Just the other night in our home, we were reading the scriptures together and
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trying to explain the scriptures to the little family and the need of salvation.
And my little son just turned three years of age.
And after we had explained the need of God's salvation, salvation,
that we're all sinners bound for eternity, that sin is going to keep us out of heaven.
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At three years of age, he said, at the end, he said, he says,
I'll maybe just get saved tomorrow.
Imagine, three years of age, I'll get saved tomorrow.
I wonder as we come to Ballyclare, is there somebody here tonight?
And that's what you've said for years.
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Maybe in summers past, you can think of times when you said,
it'll be this summer that I'll get it.
Or it'll be this year when I will know my sins forgiven.
And here you are at the start of the summer 2024, and you're still saying,
I'll get saved tomorrow.
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You know, dear friend, that's the greatest device that the devil has invented.
The devil has many notions that he places in people's minds.
He often tells people that if they try their best and they go to their church
that they'll get to heaven.
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And he tells people that if they give to charity, they'll get it to heaven.
But the greatest, dear friend, device that the devil has used,
the greatest lie that he tells people is that if you just wait till tomorrow,
because many people know that religion can't save them.
And many people know that their charitable works can never get them to heaven.
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But many people haven't wakened up to the fact that they could lose their soul
if they just put off salvation to tomorrow.
And so for a few minutes, I want to think about God's salvation.
I want to consider, I want to think first of all about the need for salvation.
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And then I want to consider the news of salvation. And then,
dear friend, I want you to look with me about the now of salvation.
And then in Hebrews chapter 2, I want you to think about the neglecting of salvation.
You see, our biggest need in life is to be saved.
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That's what Peter preached on the day of Pentecost.
And he stood before a religious people. And he said, men and women,
he said, you need to be saved.
You must be saved. That's what the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus that night when
Nicodemus came with an interest as to who the Lord was.
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He said, Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. And you might say tonight, why do we need salvation?
Well, why does anybody need to be saved? Why does a person who's drowning and
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they've maybe taken out swimming and they've taken a cramp in their leg and they're going down,
they realize that they're perishing and they cry for help. Why do they need
to be saved, dear friend?
It's because they're in danger, and they can't save themselves.
Why does somebody who's in a burning building, and they can't get out,
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why do they need to be saved?
It's because, dear friend, if they're left there, they'll be in danger of death.
And every single one out of Christ without a Savior is in danger.
Every day you live, dear friend, every time you place your head upon the pillow at night,
you've lived another day on the
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road to eternal fire out of Christ without
a saviour in danger every time
you wake up in the morning you embark
upon another day's journey on the broad road that's leading to destruction and
so dear friend we need to be saved because you're in grave danger so many people
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in our world are just going on careless.
They've hardly a thought about it. They've hardly a thought about the eternal
world that lies in front of them. They're focused on their business.
They're focused on having a good time. They're all taken up with the news and the politics.
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But they forget that we're bound for eternity.
And eternity dear friend is the
big thing that's why God says when God
says something dear friend with a behold he wants
us to listen with interest but when God says something with a double behold
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he really wants us to sit up and listen and there are certain things in the
bible Bible that God wants us to take real consideration to.
John chapter 1, the Lord Jesus, or John the Baptist.
God speaks through John the Baptist and he says twice over, behold the Lamb of God.
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And then in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, he says twice over.
He says now is the accepted time.
Behold now is the accepted time.
Behold, now is the day of salvation.
You say, to come here and tell me that I'm in danger isn't good news.
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It's not, but it's true. You see, not all news is good news.
But dear friend, I haven't come here just to tell you that you're in danger.
I have come here to tell you the good news of the gospel, that you can be saved.
From the danger that you're in. You can be saved from the consequences of your sin, which is death.
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You say, how is that possible?
Well, dear friend, there's a good news story, which Paul writes about in 1 Timothy.
And having considered his condition as a sinner, his heart is filled with joy
when he thinks that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
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I was thinking, dear friend, of a good news story that was announced way back
when sin entered into the world.
Just when sin entered that very first day, and the devil, he laughed at God,
and he thought to himself, now I have the victory.
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And he said to himself, I've just destroyed everything that God has made.
And at that point when the devil thought he had the victory,
God spoke to the devil and he said, No, he says you have the defeat because
he says the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head.
And in that promise that God gave to the devil, he was announcing the virgin
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birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head.
He was pointing forward to a day outside a city wall when the one born of the
Virgin would suffer for our sins and would provide,
dear friend, a way of salvation, a way to heaven for guilty sinners.
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You see, that good news story is proclaimed from Genesis to Revelation.
The prophets foretold that a Saviour would come. The angels announced it at His birth.
The disciples, many years ago, they went into the land of Israel and then eventually
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out into the Gentile nations, carrying the good news of the gospel and telling
to men and women that they could be saved.
But ah, the one who came to save sinners, he announced it with freshness and with joy,
when he said, The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
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Imagine, dear friend, the heavenly one taking a journey, embarking upon a mission,
venturing out upon an exploit, dear friend, to save guilty sinners,
how would he do it? By his birth alone? No.
By a good sinless life alone? No. But dear friend, by dying upon a cross for guilty sinners.
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Have you ever wondered why the believers sing with joy about the blood of Christ?
Why we love to preach it? It's because, dear friend, that it was the blood of
Christ that was the price to save your precious soul.
O what can wash away my stain?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
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The hymn writer put it. What mighty sum paid all my debt. When charged with guilt I stood.
And hath my soul at freedom set. Tis Jesus' precious blood.
You see dear friend upon that cross he paid a price. He did not owe.
And in that price that he paid. God is satisfied. to save sinners from their sins.
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And yet sadly, so many people in our world are not satisfied with the death
of Christ. They don't think it's enough.
They think they have to add to it. They think they have to come alongside God's masterpiece.
And they have to add their own little bit to it. Imagine an artist coming and
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painting a masterpiece of a picture.
Or a sculptor sculpting a statue.
And then somebody comes along that really doesn't have an idea at all what they're
doing. And tries to add to it.
Dear friend, you don't need to add to the work of Christ because it's finished.
And there upon that cross, he died for sinners. But hallelujah,
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on the third day, God raised him from the dead.
And I remember clearly, as a lad of 16, I had plans about getting saved, but they didn't work.
And I remember thinking to myself, I'll just have to go to hell because I can't get saved.
And there in that dark hour, that dark moment, My mind was turned to the cross.
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And I thought If the Lord died for sinners And he died for me And God raised
him from the dead To show he was satisfied,
Then I don't need anything else That's enough for me too You see what happened,
God saved me And he can save you too You see that's the news,
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But dear friend what about the now You see it's what you do with that That which
Christ, it's what you do with the Savior of sinners today will determine your eternal destiny.
And I know that many people try to push it off, just push it down the road sometime.
I'll just push salvation to another time in my life.
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But dear friend, you're hearing the gospel now, and you will make a choice now.
You will go through that door, either saved or not, and if you go through the
door not saved you'll have made your choice to reject Christ.
And I know that some people think that there are wicked people in our world today, and there are.
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But people have the attitude that I am not like other men, and I don't flaunt
my sin before God, and I don't parade my sin up and down the streets,
and I don't wave my sin before God,
and I don't do all those things that people do. but you know what?
The greatest sin that you will ever
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commit and could ever commit is to
lay your head upon the pillow tonight not saved because dear friend you will
have rejected the saviour and the bible says it shall be more tolerable for
the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for you who have rejected the saviour.
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I wonder are you going to be like my little son, three years of age.
I'll get saved tomorrow. You know, I remember reading about an old preacher,
D.L. Moody, and he was having a series of meetings, and there was a young man coming, and D.L.
Moody spoke to him and impressed upon him his need to be saved.
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But he didn't want to get saved there and then because D.L.
Moody found out afterwards that the friends that he worked with were laughing
at those who were going to the meetings.
And the young man took sick. D.L. Moody went to visit him.
He spoke to him about salvation again, and he said, not now.
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The young man, he was expected to die, but he got up out of his,
he recovered again for a short while, and then after After a while,
he took sick again, and he, shortly after he died,
and he, Elmoudie, with a broken heart, he thought about the young man who said not now.
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He said he lived a Christless life.
He died a Christless death. He says we took his Christless body.
We wrapped it in a Christless shroud. We laid it in a Christless grave.
But you know what, dear friend?
Today he's in a Christless eternity.
And if you miss God's salvation, you'll be in a Christless eternity too.
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Behold, now is the accepted time.
Behold, now is the day of salvation. You see, the Bible says,
how shall we escape if we neglect it?
How do you neglect it? It's just going on day by day, knowing you need to be
saved and saying, I'll just leave it to tomorrow.
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If today were your final day upon earth and you leave the world,
dear friend, where will you be? In the great forever?
Maybe there's somebody here tonight saying, could you please tell me how I could be saved?
Well, I asked a man one day in Galway City.
I stopped him, a very well-dressed gentleman. I saw him coming down the street,
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and he was listening to a musician playing.
And as he walked by the musician, I stopped him. I said, Sir,
could you please tell me how I could get to heaven?
And he says, I can. I says, Go ahead.
He says, First of all, you need to be baptized, and then you need to believe
in Jesus, us and then you need to live a good life and a whole load of things.
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And I said, well, let me ask another question.
If I had five minutes to live, what would you tell me then?
He dropped his head and he says, well, I suppose the Bible says,
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
You know, dear friend, that's it. That's the Bible.
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Not trying or doing one's best, but believing on the Lord Jesus Christ,
the weary and sinful find rest.
Is there a soul here tonight under the sound of my voice?
You've gone long enough in your sins, willing to be saved this very day.
Well, I want to give you a verse. The Lord Jesus says, him that cometh to me,
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I will in no wise cast out so come to him.
And he will save you he will save you now shall we pray our father we bow in
thy presence we thank thee for the gospel,
we thank thee for thy beloved son and we pray for all gathered with us we look
to thee that thou would take us to our homes in safety,
and grant that the devil might not snatch away the good seed from our minds
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and our hearts we look to thee that thou would save precious souls as we offer
to thee thanks in the Lord Jesus' worthy name. Amen.