August 12, 2024 • 37 mins
Listen to the Gospel Audio from Ballyclare Gospel Drive-in. Speakers: Johnny Sherard & Wesley Martin.
Subject: "The Essential, Everlasting Gift for Everyone".
We proclaim the wonderful message that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”.
Visit the Gospel Message Audio Podcast (https://gospelmessage.co.uk) to listen to more Gospel Audio recordings.
If you would like to know more about us then visit the Ballyclare Gospel Hall Website (https://www.ballyclaregospelhall.org) for more information.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Now, just one or two readings, please, from the Word of God.
The first is found in the Gospel by Luke, the Gospel by Luke,
and in chapter number 10.
It's really just a phrase at the beginning of this verse that has been upon my mind.
And Luke, and in chapter number 10, and it's verse number 42.
(00:24):
Luke 10 and 42, the Savior is speaking and he says, But one thing is needful,
and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her.
That expression, one thing, is needful.
Then John 3, please, for a verse or two.
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John's Gospel, chapter 3, reading at verse 3.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom.
Of God. Verse number 7 again, marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again.
(01:06):
Verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And the last verse in the chapter to conclude the the reading.
Verse number 36, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
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He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
And we look to the Lord to bless this reading that we've taken from his precious word today.
If I was to ask you, what do you need in life in order to survive?
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I wonder what you would say. I'm amazed today in society, whether in work or
in conversation with friends or neighbors,
we've become a people and we have this mindset and way of thinking that we need
so many things in this life in order to survive.
And you hear people saying that, oh, I couldn't survive without my coffee.
(02:16):
And well, if they didn't get away on a holiday to the sun every year,
that the whole thing would just grind to a halt and many other things that you can think of.
People say they need these things to get through life and to survive.
But whenever you boil it all down, strip all of those luxuries back from life,
just come back to the basic building blocks. I'm thinking now,
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of course, of physical life.
You'll find that there are just four things that we need as human beings to
survive here as we live upon earth.
First thing that we need is food, food to energize our bodies and to give us
the energy that we need for the activities of our day.
Second thing we need is water. We need water, of course, for hydration and for
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all of the bodily bodily functions that we have.
And you'll know very well that thirdly, we need air to breathe.
You'll not go very long without oxygen in your blood.
And lastly, and that so many people sadly don't have in the world even now, shelter.
Somewhere to shelter from the harshness of the environment, from whether it's
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cold or inclement weather and wind and rain and so on.
And so So those really are the four basic things that we need to live down here upon earth.
Food, water, air and shelter.
But if I was to ask you the same question, not thinking now about life down
here, but thinking about the life that the Bible calls everlasting life.
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That's the life in eternity for those that are saved who go to dwell in heaven.
If I was to ask you, what do you think you need for that life?
I wonder what you would say today as you listen to the message being preached.
This verse that we read in Luke's Gospel, chapter 10, has been upon my mind
for much of the week that has passed.
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Of course, we're lifting it and applying it today in the Gospel.
Words of the Savior himself.
And as we think just for a moment or two at the commencement of our meeting
about what we need for the life up there in heaven at the end of the journey,
let these words come into your soul today from the Savior himself.
He says to you today, one thing, one thing.
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Is needful. Of course, we learn what that one thing is in John chapter 3.
Again, the Savior speaking to that man by the name of Nicodemus,
he says, Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
And so we're learning from the Savior himself that that one thing that's most
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needful, if ever we're going to be in heaven, it's this, dear friend,
you know it so well, and yet if you're not saved, you've never accepted it,
that if I'm ever going to be in heaven, I need to be born again.
I'm not fit to be there the way I am just now in my sins. I need my sins forgiven.
I need cleansed in the precious blood.
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And if ever I'm going to be in heaven, there's one thing that's needful,
and that's to be born again.
I want to think with you briefly just at the start of the meeting about this
one thing that's needful, the new birth or salvation that we preach in the gospel.
I want you to see, first of all, that this thing, this new birth,
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this salvation, firstly, it's essential.
The Savior said, you must, must be born again, essential for your destiny if
you're ever going to be in heaven.
Not only is it essential, but it's everlasting.
Down the chapter of John 3, we read these words, for God so loved the world
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that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have.
Everlasting life. The new birth, it's essential.
It's everlasting, dear friend. And lastly, and I thank God as I stand before
the audience today, not only is it essential, not only is it everlasting, but it's for everyone.
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It's for everyone today. He or she, old or young, that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life.
One thing is needful, essential, everlasting, and thank God it's for everyone.
Many things in life you can do without. We've thought about that already.
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Dear friend, can we get down to the business of making known the gospel in all
of its simplicity and we trust with clarity that this is one thing in life that you can't do without.
You could go through life, never get the top grades at school,
never get the big career, never make a million pounds.
You could go through life without any of the great achievements that so many are striving after.
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And if you had salvation, dear friend, if you had the new birth,
your fortune would be made.
You see, today, if you're gathered here and you know not the Savior,
you've never had your sins forgiven.
No matter the millions you had, the popularity, the great name amongst the business
world, whatever it might be that you're proud of and that you hold on to in
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life, dear friend, we wouldn't change places with you for all of it.
Because the big thing, the essential thing in life, the one thing that's needful
if you're ever going to be in God's heaven is this, you must.
Be born again. I know that's simple preaching, but we make no apology because
the Savior himself first preached it in John 3, all of those years ago.
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We're not here to tell you to come to the gospel hall, and we're so glad that you have come today.
You could spend a lifetime, dear friend, coming to gospel meetings,
and if you never got the new birth, a saving change, you would live and die
in your sins and land in hell. It's not about the place that you go.
It's not about the life that you live, you might live a life far more careful
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than many a Christian person would live.
An upright life and a kindly life, good to your neighbor, and all of that is
most commendable, dear friend.
But let this come to you again. The Savior is saying to you,
as he overviews your whole life, he says, one thing, one thing is needful.
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I trust you're getting something thing, of the absolute necessity of the new
birth if you're ever going to be in God's heaven.
Dear friend, this is a real thing. We're not here to preach theory.
We're not here to preach just about doctrine that we enjoy, and we do enjoy it.
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But we're here to preach about a real saving change that we have had,
that many in the cars here have had, and that you could have today day if you
would come and repent of your sins and put faith and trust in Christ.
A moment of saving change.
Can I just pause for a moment here in the glorious sunshine of an August afternoon
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as I look into the cars and around about here to the houses and those that pass by.
Can I challenge you amongst all of the things that you have in this life,
have you got this one thing that's needful?
If ever you're going to be in heaven, as I move on from this first point,
dear friend, you remember it's essential. Essential.
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No salvation without it. No heaven without being born again.
But the Savior reminded Nicodemus that not only was it essential,
but he told Nicodemus that it was an everlasting salvation that he needed and
that he could have. That thrills my soul.
I thank God every day that my salvation, it's not like the policies or the contracts of earth.
(10:21):
You'll know all about it, whether you're insuring your car or your home or your business.
And every year the time comes round again for renewal and the price goes up
every year and things are changed and you always feel like you're being diddled.
Well, dear friend, the moment you have salvation. The moment you get the new
birth, you'll have it forever.
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It's everlasting salvation. What a joy we sometimes sing. What can equal joy divine?
What can sweeter be than knowing that the soul is saved for a day, for a month, for a year?
Even if it was for our lifetime, that would be something. But dear friend,
the hymn says, knowing that our soul is saved for all eternity. eternity, what a joy.
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Do you have that joy today as you sit in your car? You'll know.
You'll not need to do a lot of soul searching to know whether or not you have
that everlasting salvation within your breast.
It's not, of course, and this is worth saying.
Everlasting life doesn't just simply mean that we live forever,
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because each and every one of us gathered here will live forever.
However, I'm solemnized even now as I'm standing to think that a hundred years
from now, we'll all be in eternity.
A thousand years from now, we'll all still...
In eternity, as far as your mind and as broad as your mind can go,
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we'll all still be in eternity, dear friend.
And the question I have for you is this, do you have everlasting life?
It's the one thing that's needful, the new birth, if ever you're going to be in heaven.
Of course, you'll know, and we're really preaching the basics of the gospel
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today, day, that in eternity, where we will all be forever, there are only two destinies.
The Savior himself spoke about a heaven bright and fair.
There are many mansions there, one of which thou mayest share if you'll come.
But he also spoke of an awful place of woe, of a hell where you must go if you die unsaved.
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But oh, dear friend, will you come today in all of your sinfulness,
in all of your simplicity, come to the Savior for salvation.
What about it? This one thing that's needful, it's essential, it's everlasting.
Do you have it today? Lastly.
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It's for everyone. Everyone gathered here, whether I can see you or not,
out as far as our voice travels today across the town of Ballyclare,
no matter the colour of your skin, the privilege of your upbringing,
your political ideologies, your place of gathering on a Sunday,
if you even gather anywhere at all,
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every single man and woman, boy or girl, old or young,
rich or poor, we can declare to
you from John 3 these glorious words for
God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life
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I used to listen to a man preaching the gospel and he often read from John 3
even more often preached from verse 16.
And when it came to that word, whosoever, he changed it around a wee bit for
us, those of us that were young, so that we could understand something of its import and importance.
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Whosoever just simply means dear friend. So whoever believes in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life. How can you have it?
As I sit down and hand the meeting over, How can you get it?
This one thing that's needful, essential, everlasting, and that's for everyone.
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How can you have it? That's the big thing. Might be for everyone,
but you need it, dear friend.
How can you get it now in the car where you sit, in the street where you walk,
in the house where you live?
How can you have it? Well, I'll tell you how you can have it.
You can have it because Christ has died in your place at Calvary upon the cross
2,000 years ago, paid in full everything thing that God demanded because of our sin.
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And I rejoice that payment God will not twice demand, first at Jesus' bleeding
hand and then again at mine.
Christ has done it all, dear friend. Again, we declare in the gospel,
it is finished. What a gospel.
Nothing has been left to do but to take with grateful gladness what the Savior did for you.
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I challenge you tonight, dear friend, end. Why are you not saved?
Why have you never had this new birth?
It's not for lack of gospel preaching, not for lack of privilege.
As we journey towards eternity, and it might be sooner than any one of us think.
You make sure you have this one thing above every other thing that's needful, the new birth.
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It's essential. It's everlasting.
Thank God it's for everyone and you could have it today. May God bless his word.
Now, can we turn again to the Bible, please? And reading in the Acts of the
Apostles and chapter 13, Acts chapter 13, if you please.
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If you don't have a Bible, we'll read for you clearly.
And the Apostle Paul is the preacher at a place called Antioch.
And verse number 26, he says to the audience, we're just breaking into his message,
Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God,
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to you is the word of this salvation sent.
For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not,
nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day,
they fulfilled them in condemning him.
And when they had found no cause of death in him, they desired Pilate that he should be slain.
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And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him or concerning him,
they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulchre.
But God raised him from the dead. Verse number 38.
Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
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unto you the forgiveness of sins.
And by him all that believe are justified, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Now, I want you to just think of one other verse already read,
but we love to read it again in John 3 and verse number 16.
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John 3, 16.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
That is all we'll read, and I trust that God will bless His Word with what we
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have already been listening to.
I want just to very simply pick up this phrase at the beginning of where we
read, and it's simply this, To you, to you is the Word of this salvation sent.
To you is the word of this salvation sent.
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I just want to say four things about it very, very simply in this phrase.
I want you to think about a message that is for you.
And we'll just mention that in a moment.
It's not for the man down the street. Of course, it will be for him.
But it's a personal message for each person that's onto the sound of our voice.
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It's for you. something more about it. It's about you.
It's about you. You see, the wonderful thing of the gospel and of the scriptures
is this, that God knows all about you.
I don't know exactly who's here this afternoon, and I don't know all about you,
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but God knows everything about you, all about your life, all about your thoughts.
And so, it's for you.
It's about you. It's to you. It's about you.
And more than that, this salvation is for you. That's the point.
It's for you individually.
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We've already had it emphasized. It's for everyone. And the message of the gospel
and salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ is for every person that can hear my voice.
And indeed, why I read John 3, 16, it's for the whole world.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
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And here you can slip in, that whosoever, anyone, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Lastly, let me just think not only to you, about you, for you,
but at the end of the day, indeed at the end of the meeting, it's up to you.
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It's up to you. God never saved anyone yet against their will.
And every person, when you hear the gospel, you have a choice to make.
You either believe or not. Our brother quoted the verse and read the verse, John 3, 36.
He, you see, it's the individual. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
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And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
And so, let me think about this message.
You know, so many people, and they hear the gospel being preached on an occasion
like this, whether in the car park or in the open air, or somebody calls at
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their door, and they say,
it's not for me, the gospel's not for me.
Well, nothing could be further from the truth. I remember preaching the gospel
a few years ago in the Far East, seven and a half thousand miles from here, Malaysia.
And a lady was brought to the gospel meeting, and she'd never heard the message before.
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I would say most people here have heard it before. She'd never heard it before.
And she listened as the gospel was preached, and she went down the stairs from
the meeting and into the street, and she said to her friend, it's not for me.
What she really meant was this, yes, I don't want it. I don't want it.
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But the truth is this, the message is personal.
Paul was speaking here to all that were under the sound of his voice in a Jewish
synagogue, but it was for every individual to you.
And so here's a personal message.
It's got your name on it, and it's from heaven for your soul. You know, there was a.
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A judge in the book of Judges, and he went to visit a man one day,
and he says, I have a message from God for you.
That's it, my friend. It's for you. It applies to you. It's pertinent.
That word simply means it's relevant. Some people say, that's nothing to do with me.
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You know, often you get some literature through the door, some advertising,
and you look at it. no, it's not for me. I'm not interested.
Well, you see, this is relevant. This is vital. It's vital that you hear the
message, and it's vital that you trust the man that the message is all about
if you're ever going to be in heaven.
You see, we've heard already, one thing needful, one thing needful.
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You know, if you were going to do many things on earth, join a club or a gym or some of those things.
There'll be a whole list of things that you would have to attend to first and questions to answer.
But my friend, the truth is this. There's just one thing.
One thing. Are you saved or are you not? It's a pressing message.
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Maybe you'll say, as you've said so many times before as you've attended meetings
here and in the hall and elsewhere, some other time, I know I've heard that message.
My inbox, my spiritual inbox is full of messages like that. And I've not done anything.
There's no hurry. There's plenty of time.
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Well, you know, I tell you this, and I often say it.
And sometimes it's proven to be absolutely right. There could be someone at
their last gospel meeting.
You could be hearing the message for the very last time.
You know, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming. And if he comes today,
there'll be no more gospel preaching.
Death is coming. And if he takes you away, there's no hope.
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Maybe there's someone here and you've been hearing the voice of God in recent
times. And he's speaking to you.
Remember this. This, the Bible says, and God says, my spirit shall not always strive with man.
Now's your opportunity. A message this afternoon.
One thing needful. It's the salvation of your soul and it's for you.
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But you see, this message that we're preaching, it's all about you.
It's all about you. And I'll just bring to bear some very basic fundamental matters. waters.
You see, it's about your soul. It's about your soul.
This message is not so much about your body.
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Why, that's important, and God puts great value on the body,
but it's not about your body, because one day you and I will leave the body.
You see, that's what it means to die. Some people think death is a great mystery,
and what really happens?
Well, what really happens is that the person leaves the body.
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Our body is, in the Bible, it's likened to a tent, a house of clay,
something that is only temporary.
You know, a tent is made to be put up and taken down, and that's just like the human body.
The little tent one day will be taken down, and the soul will leave it. You see, the soul is you.
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When I was conceived in the womb, I was a soul that would never,
ever cease to be. Isn't that amazing?
Never, ever cease to be. And it searches my heart by times. We've heard it already.
When a thousand years have come and gone, we'll all be somewhere.
Tell me, where will you be? You'll certainly not be in Ballyclare at the car
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park, at the gospel hall. You'll be in eternity.
There's only two places on the other side.
There's heaven and there's hell. It's all about you. It's about you,
my friend. Tell me this. Have you thought about your soul?
The Lord Jesus Christ was very interested in the souls of those to whom he preached.
And one day he said, what shall it profit a man or a woman, a boy or a girl?
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If he shall gain the whole world, lose his own soul.
You say, what does it mean to lose my soul? soul. It means that you live your
life and you never attend to the one thing that is needful. You're never saved.
You die in your sins and you arrive in hell, heaven or hell for eternity.
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Where will you be? It's not only about your soul, but it's about your sin.
See, I do believe that why so many people are not interested in the gospel is
that it It puts the finger of God upon the problem.
And maybe you're here today and you have a multiplicity of problems and difficulties
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and issues in life, but it all comes down to one single thing.
It's S-I-N, sin. We're all sinners.
That's the simple truth. Our brother has emphasized he's been preaching simply.
That's the basic truth. truth, and if we miss it, we miss the message,
and it's simply this, everyone's a sinner.
There is no difference, Paul says to the Romans, there is no difference for
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all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
On the day I was born, I was born a sinner, and so were you.
With a sinful nature that leads me only to sin, that soul needs to be saved.
That soul needs to to be cleansed. Those sins need to be forgiven.
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And if they never are, this side of eternity, you will perish forever. It's about your sin.
Tell me, have you ever acknowledged that you are a sinner? So many people,
so many people, they don't want to face their sin.
And they think it's a dreadful thing to be told that they're a sinner.
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Well, my friend, it's the kindest thing that we could do, is to tell you there
is a problem and you have that problem.
And we have come this afternoon not only to tell you about the problem,
but we have come to tell you about the answer.
And it's this salvation that we have come to preach.
I just have to mention, it's about your sentence. It's about your sentence.
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You know, Paul in Romans, he said, the wages of sin is death.
That's not execution here on earth.
The wages of sin is death. That death is eternal death.
It's eternal separation Separation of the soul from God.
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You know, the ultimate destiny of a person who dies in their sins,
I have to say it clearly and plainly, but tenderly and softly,
is not only hell, but the lake of fire.
You know, when we come to the end of the Bible, we really get the end of the story.
And we learn in the book of Revelation that there is a book.
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It's called the book of life, the Lamb's book of life. faith.
Is your name written there?
Have you a moment in life, a day when you trusted Christ?
The Holy Spirit entered, you were born of God, you were born again.
You know, when I was born, my name was entered in the register of births,
birth certificate to prove it. Well, you know.
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The day that I was born again as a boy in my ninth year, eight years old,
when I trusted Christ, I was born again and my name was written in heaven.
That's what the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
Well, let me tell you, if your name is not in that book and you die in your
sins, hell will be your doom and eventually the lake of fire.
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Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
The message is to you the message is
about you the message is for you i want
to tell you this let me bring in john 3 16 you say it's a very dark message
it's very sober and sad and solemn and so it is but i want to give you the good
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news for god so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The extent of the message, the extent of God's love, here's what it says, for God so loved.
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You know, the Lord Jesus on this occasion, He's speaking to a Jewish rabbi called Nicodemus,
and Nicodemus that night got an awful shock, because he wouldn't have been shocked
at all if he had said, for God so loved the Jewish people that he gave his only begotten son.
That would not have been, that would not have startled him at all.
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But you know the terrific and wonderful, amazing thing is this.
The savior of the world, he said, God so loved the world, the whole world, not a soul.
More than 8 billion, they tell me, living on earth today.
Sinners, lost and ruined by the fall. Some of them, my friend,
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are most unlovable, and yet God loves them.
But I tell you better than that, whoever you are in the car park, God loves you.
God loves you, and He reaches down, and He longs to bless you.
You know, some people, they think and they get the impression from the preaching
of the gospel that God delights to drop souls into eternal fire.
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Nothing could be further from the truth.
You know what God delights to do? He delights to save souls.
He delights that when your name is written in the book of life,
nothing delights the heart of the Savior, the Lord Jesus, more than a sinner
coming and trusting. Will you give joy?
Will you give pleasure to God today by putting your trust in the Lord Jesus?
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The extent of God's love.
This verse reminds me of the expense of God's love. Here's what it says,
God so loved the world that he gave, he gave his only begotten Son.
You say, how and when and where did he give him? Well, you know,
he gave him not just to be the babe in the manger in Bethlehem.
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He gave him to be the man nailed upon the cross at Calvary.
When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
And before Adam ever sinned in Eden's garden, there was a Savior on heaven's throne.
And God planned it so that His Son, the Lord Jesus, would leave His side and
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come down and be born of the Virgin Mary,
would grow up a sinless, spotless holy man and die at last upon the cross.
You know, I love the words of Peter. His own self, the Lord Jesus,
bore our sins in His own body on the tree.
Peter says again in 1 Peter 3.18, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
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the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
And on that cross, are you listening?
The sinless Savior bore the sentence for the sinful soul.
You know, that's what I discovered as a little boy that night on the 23rd of January 1967.
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I discovered something I'd never discovered before. I call it the greatest discovery in my life.
When the Lord Jesus died on the cross for a world of sinners, He died for me.
He took my place and died for me. He died that I might not perish,
but have everlasting life and be in heaven.
And my friend, He died in order that it could be true of you as well.
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In order that by trusting in Christ. You can have your sins forgiven and your
soul saved and be bound for heaven.
What about the embrace of God's love?
Whosoever believeth in him, that's embracing it. That's reaching out and taking it.
You know, some people think if Christ died for all, then all are saved.
No, everyone, everyone must put their trust in him, must put their trust in him.
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Whosoever believeth or puts their trust in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
Let me ask you, do you have everlasting life? Are you saved?
Just come into my mind right now about a lady dying a number of years ago,
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and they were watching over her bed in the hospital, and a young girl,
my own daughter, was staying the night.
And the lady said, read to me. And so she did. And then she read John 3, 16.
And the lady was able to quote it word for word. She read it out.
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Came to the last few words. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
She's days away from death. You know what she said?
I'm sure I have it. Tell me, are you sure you have it?
Are you sure you have Christ as your Savior? this message is for you you say
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I know people who say they're saved and they're not listen my friend don't worry
about them God will deal with them,
in a just fashion but I want to tell you this you need to be sure you can be sure.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved it's for you it's about
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you it's to you it's up to you,
what are you going to do You know, there are people, here I do believe,
and if your mother could trust Christ for you this afternoon, you'd be saved already.
But you have to do it for yourself.
Simply put your trust on the one that died on the cross. He that believeth on
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the Son hath everlasting life.
That's a personal choice.
He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
in him. There's a permanent consequence.
If you trust him, you'll have life forever, the life of God in your very soul.
If you fail to trust him, in other words, you refuse him, it'll be wrath forever.
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You'll perish in hell and the lake of fire. I close the meeting.
To you is the word of this salvation sent. What will you do with Jesus?
What shall the answer be? shall we pray.
Our Father, we come to thee just now at the close of our gospel meeting.
We thank thee for these precious moments around thy word, for this sunny afternoon,
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the opportunity to proclaim the gospel.
Thou dost know exactly who has listened and who has heard, and we pray that
the message might have reached a heart or two.
There might be someone longing to be saved, and that they might trust the blessed
one who died on Calvary's cross.
We ask for thy blessing. sing. We look to thee for safety as we travel home.
In our Lord Jesus' worthy and precious name. Amen.
Now, just one or two readings, please, from the Word of God.
The first is found in the Gospel by Luke, the Gospel by Luke,
and in chapter number 10.
It's really just a phrase at the beginning of this verse that has been upon my mind.
And Luke, and in chapter number 10, and it's verse number 42.
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Luke 10 and 42, the Savior is speaking and he says, But one thing is needful,
and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her.
That expression, one thing, is needful.
Then John 3, please, for a verse or two.
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John's Gospel, chapter 3, reading at verse 3.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom.
Of God. Verse number 7 again, marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again.
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Verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And the last verse in the chapter to conclude the the reading.
Verse number 36, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
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He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
And we look to the Lord to bless this reading that we've taken from his precious word today.
If I was to ask you, what do you need in life in order to survive?
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I wonder what you would say. I'm amazed today in society, whether in work or
in conversation with friends or neighbors,
we've become a people and we have this mindset and way of thinking that we need
so many things in this life in order to survive.
And you hear people saying that, oh, I couldn't survive without my coffee.
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And well, if they didn't get away on a holiday to the sun every year,
that the whole thing would just grind to a halt and many other things that you can think of.
People say they need these things to get through life and to survive.
But whenever you boil it all down, strip all of those luxuries back from life,
just come back to the basic building blocks. I'm thinking now,
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of course, of physical life.
You'll find that there are just four things that we need as human beings to
survive here as we live upon earth.
First thing that we need is food, food to energize our bodies and to give us
the energy that we need for the activities of our day.
Second thing we need is water. We need water, of course, for hydration and for
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all of the bodily bodily functions that we have.
And you'll know very well that thirdly, we need air to breathe.
You'll not go very long without oxygen in your blood.
And lastly, and that so many people sadly don't have in the world even now, shelter.
Somewhere to shelter from the harshness of the environment, from whether it's
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cold or inclement weather and wind and rain and so on.
And so So those really are the four basic things that we need to live down here upon earth.
Food, water, air and shelter.
But if I was to ask you the same question, not thinking now about life down
here, but thinking about the life that the Bible calls everlasting life.
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That's the life in eternity for those that are saved who go to dwell in heaven.
If I was to ask you, what do you think you need for that life?
I wonder what you would say today as you listen to the message being preached.
This verse that we read in Luke's Gospel, chapter 10, has been upon my mind
for much of the week that has passed.
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Of course, we're lifting it and applying it today in the Gospel.
Words of the Savior himself.
And as we think just for a moment or two at the commencement of our meeting
about what we need for the life up there in heaven at the end of the journey,
let these words come into your soul today from the Savior himself.
He says to you today, one thing, one thing.
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Is needful. Of course, we learn what that one thing is in John chapter 3.
Again, the Savior speaking to that man by the name of Nicodemus,
he says, Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
And so we're learning from the Savior himself that that one thing that's most
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needful, if ever we're going to be in heaven, it's this, dear friend,
you know it so well, and yet if you're not saved, you've never accepted it,
that if I'm ever going to be in heaven, I need to be born again.
I'm not fit to be there the way I am just now in my sins. I need my sins forgiven.
I need cleansed in the precious blood.
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And if ever I'm going to be in heaven, there's one thing that's needful,
and that's to be born again.
I want to think with you briefly just at the start of the meeting about this
one thing that's needful, the new birth or salvation that we preach in the gospel.
I want you to see, first of all, that this thing, this new birth,
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this salvation, firstly, it's essential.
The Savior said, you must, must be born again, essential for your destiny if
you're ever going to be in heaven.
Not only is it essential, but it's everlasting.
Down the chapter of John 3, we read these words, for God so loved the world
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that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have.
Everlasting life. The new birth, it's essential.
It's everlasting, dear friend. And lastly, and I thank God as I stand before
the audience today, not only is it essential, not only is it everlasting, but it's for everyone.
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It's for everyone today. He or she, old or young, that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life.
One thing is needful, essential, everlasting, and thank God it's for everyone.
Many things in life you can do without. We've thought about that already.
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Dear friend, can we get down to the business of making known the gospel in all
of its simplicity and we trust with clarity that this is one thing in life that you can't do without.
You could go through life, never get the top grades at school,
never get the big career, never make a million pounds.
You could go through life without any of the great achievements that so many are striving after.
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And if you had salvation, dear friend, if you had the new birth,
your fortune would be made.
You see, today, if you're gathered here and you know not the Savior,
you've never had your sins forgiven.
No matter the millions you had, the popularity, the great name amongst the business
world, whatever it might be that you're proud of and that you hold on to in
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life, dear friend, we wouldn't change places with you for all of it.
Because the big thing, the essential thing in life, the one thing that's needful
if you're ever going to be in God's heaven is this, you must.
Be born again. I know that's simple preaching, but we make no apology because
the Savior himself first preached it in John 3, all of those years ago.
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We're not here to tell you to come to the gospel hall, and we're so glad that you have come today.
You could spend a lifetime, dear friend, coming to gospel meetings,
and if you never got the new birth, a saving change, you would live and die
in your sins and land in hell. It's not about the place that you go.
It's not about the life that you live, you might live a life far more careful
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than many a Christian person would live.
An upright life and a kindly life, good to your neighbor, and all of that is
most commendable, dear friend.
But let this come to you again. The Savior is saying to you,
as he overviews your whole life, he says, one thing, one thing is needful.
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I trust you're getting something thing, of the absolute necessity of the new
birth if you're ever going to be in God's heaven.
Dear friend, this is a real thing. We're not here to preach theory.
We're not here to preach just about doctrine that we enjoy, and we do enjoy it.
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But we're here to preach about a real saving change that we have had,
that many in the cars here have had, and that you could have today day if you
would come and repent of your sins and put faith and trust in Christ.
A moment of saving change.
Can I just pause for a moment here in the glorious sunshine of an August afternoon
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as I look into the cars and around about here to the houses and those that pass by.
Can I challenge you amongst all of the things that you have in this life,
have you got this one thing that's needful?
If ever you're going to be in heaven, as I move on from this first point,
dear friend, you remember it's essential. Essential.
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No salvation without it. No heaven without being born again.
But the Savior reminded Nicodemus that not only was it essential,
but he told Nicodemus that it was an everlasting salvation that he needed and
that he could have. That thrills my soul.
I thank God every day that my salvation, it's not like the policies or the contracts of earth.
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You'll know all about it, whether you're insuring your car or your home or your business.
And every year the time comes round again for renewal and the price goes up
every year and things are changed and you always feel like you're being diddled.
Well, dear friend, the moment you have salvation. The moment you get the new
birth, you'll have it forever.
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It's everlasting salvation. What a joy we sometimes sing. What can equal joy divine?
What can sweeter be than knowing that the soul is saved for a day, for a month, for a year?
Even if it was for our lifetime, that would be something. But dear friend,
the hymn says, knowing that our soul is saved for all eternity. eternity, what a joy.
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Do you have that joy today as you sit in your car? You'll know.
You'll not need to do a lot of soul searching to know whether or not you have
that everlasting salvation within your breast.
It's not, of course, and this is worth saying.
Everlasting life doesn't just simply mean that we live forever,
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because each and every one of us gathered here will live forever.
However, I'm solemnized even now as I'm standing to think that a hundred years
from now, we'll all be in eternity.
A thousand years from now, we'll all still...
In eternity, as far as your mind and as broad as your mind can go,
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we'll all still be in eternity, dear friend.
And the question I have for you is this, do you have everlasting life?
It's the one thing that's needful, the new birth, if ever you're going to be in heaven.
Of course, you'll know, and we're really preaching the basics of the gospel
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today, day, that in eternity, where we will all be forever, there are only two destinies.
The Savior himself spoke about a heaven bright and fair.
There are many mansions there, one of which thou mayest share if you'll come.
But he also spoke of an awful place of woe, of a hell where you must go if you die unsaved.
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But oh, dear friend, will you come today in all of your sinfulness,
in all of your simplicity, come to the Savior for salvation.
What about it? This one thing that's needful, it's essential, it's everlasting.
Do you have it today? Lastly.
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It's for everyone. Everyone gathered here, whether I can see you or not,
out as far as our voice travels today across the town of Ballyclare,
no matter the colour of your skin, the privilege of your upbringing,
your political ideologies, your place of gathering on a Sunday,
if you even gather anywhere at all,
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every single man and woman, boy or girl, old or young,
rich or poor, we can declare to
you from John 3 these glorious words for
God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life
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I used to listen to a man preaching the gospel and he often read from John 3
even more often preached from verse 16.
And when it came to that word, whosoever, he changed it around a wee bit for
us, those of us that were young, so that we could understand something of its import and importance.
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Whosoever just simply means dear friend. So whoever believes in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life. How can you have it?
As I sit down and hand the meeting over, How can you get it?
This one thing that's needful, essential, everlasting, and that's for everyone.
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How can you have it? That's the big thing. Might be for everyone,
but you need it, dear friend.
How can you get it now in the car where you sit, in the street where you walk,
in the house where you live?
How can you have it? Well, I'll tell you how you can have it.
You can have it because Christ has died in your place at Calvary upon the cross
2,000 years ago, paid in full everything thing that God demanded because of our sin.
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And I rejoice that payment God will not twice demand, first at Jesus' bleeding
hand and then again at mine.
Christ has done it all, dear friend. Again, we declare in the gospel,
it is finished. What a gospel.
Nothing has been left to do but to take with grateful gladness what the Savior did for you.
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I challenge you tonight, dear friend, end. Why are you not saved?
Why have you never had this new birth?
It's not for lack of gospel preaching, not for lack of privilege.
As we journey towards eternity, and it might be sooner than any one of us think.
You make sure you have this one thing above every other thing that's needful, the new birth.
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It's essential. It's everlasting.
Thank God it's for everyone and you could have it today. May God bless his word.
Now, can we turn again to the Bible, please? And reading in the Acts of the
Apostles and chapter 13, Acts chapter 13, if you please.
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If you don't have a Bible, we'll read for you clearly.
And the Apostle Paul is the preacher at a place called Antioch.
And verse number 26, he says to the audience, we're just breaking into his message,
Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God,
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to you is the word of this salvation sent.
For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not,
nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day,
they fulfilled them in condemning him.
And when they had found no cause of death in him, they desired Pilate that he should be slain.
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And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him or concerning him,
they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulchre.
But God raised him from the dead. Verse number 38.
Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
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unto you the forgiveness of sins.
And by him all that believe are justified, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Now, I want you to just think of one other verse already read,
but we love to read it again in John 3 and verse number 16.
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John 3, 16.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
That is all we'll read, and I trust that God will bless His Word with what we
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have already been listening to.
I want just to very simply pick up this phrase at the beginning of where we
read, and it's simply this, To you, to you is the Word of this salvation sent.
To you is the word of this salvation sent.
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I just want to say four things about it very, very simply in this phrase.
I want you to think about a message that is for you.
And we'll just mention that in a moment.
It's not for the man down the street. Of course, it will be for him.
But it's a personal message for each person that's onto the sound of our voice.
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It's for you. something more about it. It's about you.
It's about you. You see, the wonderful thing of the gospel and of the scriptures
is this, that God knows all about you.
I don't know exactly who's here this afternoon, and I don't know all about you,
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but God knows everything about you, all about your life, all about your thoughts.
And so, it's for you.
It's about you. It's to you. It's about you.
And more than that, this salvation is for you. That's the point.
It's for you individually.
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We've already had it emphasized. It's for everyone. And the message of the gospel
and salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ is for every person that can hear my voice.
And indeed, why I read John 3, 16, it's for the whole world.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
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And here you can slip in, that whosoever, anyone, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Lastly, let me just think not only to you, about you, for you,
but at the end of the day, indeed at the end of the meeting, it's up to you.
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It's up to you. God never saved anyone yet against their will.
And every person, when you hear the gospel, you have a choice to make.
You either believe or not. Our brother quoted the verse and read the verse, John 3, 36.
He, you see, it's the individual. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
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And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
And so, let me think about this message.
You know, so many people, and they hear the gospel being preached on an occasion
like this, whether in the car park or in the open air, or somebody calls at
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their door, and they say,
it's not for me, the gospel's not for me.
Well, nothing could be further from the truth. I remember preaching the gospel
a few years ago in the Far East, seven and a half thousand miles from here, Malaysia.
And a lady was brought to the gospel meeting, and she'd never heard the message before.
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I would say most people here have heard it before. She'd never heard it before.
And she listened as the gospel was preached, and she went down the stairs from
the meeting and into the street, and she said to her friend, it's not for me.
What she really meant was this, yes, I don't want it. I don't want it.
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But the truth is this, the message is personal.
Paul was speaking here to all that were under the sound of his voice in a Jewish
synagogue, but it was for every individual to you.
And so here's a personal message.
It's got your name on it, and it's from heaven for your soul. You know, there was a.
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A judge in the book of Judges, and he went to visit a man one day,
and he says, I have a message from God for you.
That's it, my friend. It's for you. It applies to you. It's pertinent.
That word simply means it's relevant. Some people say, that's nothing to do with me.
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You know, often you get some literature through the door, some advertising,
and you look at it. no, it's not for me. I'm not interested.
Well, you see, this is relevant. This is vital. It's vital that you hear the
message, and it's vital that you trust the man that the message is all about
if you're ever going to be in heaven.
You see, we've heard already, one thing needful, one thing needful.
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You know, if you were going to do many things on earth, join a club or a gym or some of those things.
There'll be a whole list of things that you would have to attend to first and questions to answer.
But my friend, the truth is this. There's just one thing.
One thing. Are you saved or are you not? It's a pressing message.
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Maybe you'll say, as you've said so many times before as you've attended meetings
here and in the hall and elsewhere, some other time, I know I've heard that message.
My inbox, my spiritual inbox is full of messages like that. And I've not done anything.
There's no hurry. There's plenty of time.
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Well, you know, I tell you this, and I often say it.
And sometimes it's proven to be absolutely right. There could be someone at
their last gospel meeting.
You could be hearing the message for the very last time.
You know, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming. And if he comes today,
there'll be no more gospel preaching.
Death is coming. And if he takes you away, there's no hope.
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Maybe there's someone here and you've been hearing the voice of God in recent
times. And he's speaking to you.
Remember this. This, the Bible says, and God says, my spirit shall not always strive with man.
Now's your opportunity. A message this afternoon.
One thing needful. It's the salvation of your soul and it's for you.
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But you see, this message that we're preaching, it's all about you.
It's all about you. And I'll just bring to bear some very basic fundamental matters. waters.
You see, it's about your soul. It's about your soul.
This message is not so much about your body.
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Why, that's important, and God puts great value on the body,
but it's not about your body, because one day you and I will leave the body.
You see, that's what it means to die. Some people think death is a great mystery,
and what really happens?
Well, what really happens is that the person leaves the body.
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Our body is, in the Bible, it's likened to a tent, a house of clay,
something that is only temporary.
You know, a tent is made to be put up and taken down, and that's just like the human body.
The little tent one day will be taken down, and the soul will leave it. You see, the soul is you.
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When I was conceived in the womb, I was a soul that would never,
ever cease to be. Isn't that amazing?
Never, ever cease to be. And it searches my heart by times. We've heard it already.
When a thousand years have come and gone, we'll all be somewhere.
Tell me, where will you be? You'll certainly not be in Ballyclare at the car
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park, at the gospel hall. You'll be in eternity.
There's only two places on the other side.
There's heaven and there's hell. It's all about you. It's about you,
my friend. Tell me this. Have you thought about your soul?
The Lord Jesus Christ was very interested in the souls of those to whom he preached.
And one day he said, what shall it profit a man or a woman, a boy or a girl?
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If he shall gain the whole world, lose his own soul.
You say, what does it mean to lose my soul? soul. It means that you live your
life and you never attend to the one thing that is needful. You're never saved.
You die in your sins and you arrive in hell, heaven or hell for eternity.
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Where will you be? It's not only about your soul, but it's about your sin.
See, I do believe that why so many people are not interested in the gospel is
that it It puts the finger of God upon the problem.
And maybe you're here today and you have a multiplicity of problems and difficulties
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and issues in life, but it all comes down to one single thing.
It's S-I-N, sin. We're all sinners.
That's the simple truth. Our brother has emphasized he's been preaching simply.
That's the basic truth. truth, and if we miss it, we miss the message,
and it's simply this, everyone's a sinner.
There is no difference, Paul says to the Romans, there is no difference for
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all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
On the day I was born, I was born a sinner, and so were you.
With a sinful nature that leads me only to sin, that soul needs to be saved.
That soul needs to to be cleansed. Those sins need to be forgiven.
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And if they never are, this side of eternity, you will perish forever. It's about your sin.
Tell me, have you ever acknowledged that you are a sinner? So many people,
so many people, they don't want to face their sin.
And they think it's a dreadful thing to be told that they're a sinner.
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Well, my friend, it's the kindest thing that we could do, is to tell you there
is a problem and you have that problem.
And we have come this afternoon not only to tell you about the problem,
but we have come to tell you about the answer.
And it's this salvation that we have come to preach.
I just have to mention, it's about your sentence. It's about your sentence.
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You know, Paul in Romans, he said, the wages of sin is death.
That's not execution here on earth.
The wages of sin is death. That death is eternal death.
It's eternal separation Separation of the soul from God.
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You know, the ultimate destiny of a person who dies in their sins,
I have to say it clearly and plainly, but tenderly and softly,
is not only hell, but the lake of fire.
You know, when we come to the end of the Bible, we really get the end of the story.
And we learn in the book of Revelation that there is a book.
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It's called the book of life, the Lamb's book of life. faith.
Is your name written there?
Have you a moment in life, a day when you trusted Christ?
The Holy Spirit entered, you were born of God, you were born again.
You know, when I was born, my name was entered in the register of births,
birth certificate to prove it. Well, you know.
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The day that I was born again as a boy in my ninth year, eight years old,
when I trusted Christ, I was born again and my name was written in heaven.
That's what the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
Well, let me tell you, if your name is not in that book and you die in your
sins, hell will be your doom and eventually the lake of fire.
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Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
The message is to you the message is
about you the message is for you i want
to tell you this let me bring in john 3 16 you say it's a very dark message
it's very sober and sad and solemn and so it is but i want to give you the good
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news for god so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The extent of the message, the extent of God's love, here's what it says, for God so loved.
(30:50):
You know, the Lord Jesus on this occasion, He's speaking to a Jewish rabbi called Nicodemus,
and Nicodemus that night got an awful shock, because he wouldn't have been shocked
at all if he had said, for God so loved the Jewish people that he gave his only begotten son.
That would not have been, that would not have startled him at all.
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But you know the terrific and wonderful, amazing thing is this.
The savior of the world, he said, God so loved the world, the whole world, not a soul.
More than 8 billion, they tell me, living on earth today.
Sinners, lost and ruined by the fall. Some of them, my friend,
(31:31):
are most unlovable, and yet God loves them.
But I tell you better than that, whoever you are in the car park, God loves you.
God loves you, and He reaches down, and He longs to bless you.
You know, some people, they think and they get the impression from the preaching
of the gospel that God delights to drop souls into eternal fire.
(31:55):
Nothing could be further from the truth.
You know what God delights to do? He delights to save souls.
He delights that when your name is written in the book of life,
nothing delights the heart of the Savior, the Lord Jesus, more than a sinner
coming and trusting. Will you give joy?
Will you give pleasure to God today by putting your trust in the Lord Jesus?
(32:19):
The extent of God's love.
This verse reminds me of the expense of God's love. Here's what it says,
God so loved the world that he gave, he gave his only begotten Son.
You say, how and when and where did he give him? Well, you know,
he gave him not just to be the babe in the manger in Bethlehem.
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He gave him to be the man nailed upon the cross at Calvary.
When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
And before Adam ever sinned in Eden's garden, there was a Savior on heaven's throne.
And God planned it so that His Son, the Lord Jesus, would leave His side and
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come down and be born of the Virgin Mary,
would grow up a sinless, spotless holy man and die at last upon the cross.
You know, I love the words of Peter. His own self, the Lord Jesus,
bore our sins in His own body on the tree.
Peter says again in 1 Peter 3.18, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
(33:33):
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
And on that cross, are you listening?
The sinless Savior bore the sentence for the sinful soul.
You know, that's what I discovered as a little boy that night on the 23rd of January 1967.
(33:54):
I discovered something I'd never discovered before. I call it the greatest discovery in my life.
When the Lord Jesus died on the cross for a world of sinners, He died for me.
He took my place and died for me. He died that I might not perish,
but have everlasting life and be in heaven.
And my friend, He died in order that it could be true of you as well.
(34:16):
In order that by trusting in Christ. You can have your sins forgiven and your
soul saved and be bound for heaven.
What about the embrace of God's love?
Whosoever believeth in him, that's embracing it. That's reaching out and taking it.
You know, some people think if Christ died for all, then all are saved.
No, everyone, everyone must put their trust in him, must put their trust in him.
(34:42):
Whosoever believeth or puts their trust in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
Let me ask you, do you have everlasting life? Are you saved?
Just come into my mind right now about a lady dying a number of years ago,
(35:03):
and they were watching over her bed in the hospital, and a young girl,
my own daughter, was staying the night.
And the lady said, read to me. And so she did. And then she read John 3, 16.
And the lady was able to quote it word for word. She read it out.
(35:23):
Came to the last few words. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
She's days away from death. You know what she said?
I'm sure I have it. Tell me, are you sure you have it?
Are you sure you have Christ as your Savior? this message is for you you say
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I know people who say they're saved and they're not listen my friend don't worry
about them God will deal with them,
in a just fashion but I want to tell you this you need to be sure you can be sure.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved it's for you it's about
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you it's to you it's up to you,
what are you going to do You know, there are people, here I do believe,
and if your mother could trust Christ for you this afternoon, you'd be saved already.
But you have to do it for yourself.
Simply put your trust on the one that died on the cross. He that believeth on
(36:28):
the Son hath everlasting life.
That's a personal choice.
He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
in him. There's a permanent consequence.
If you trust him, you'll have life forever, the life of God in your very soul.
If you fail to trust him, in other words, you refuse him, it'll be wrath forever.
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You'll perish in hell and the lake of fire. I close the meeting.
To you is the word of this salvation sent. What will you do with Jesus?
What shall the answer be? shall we pray.
Our Father, we come to thee just now at the close of our gospel meeting.
We thank thee for these precious moments around thy word, for this sunny afternoon,
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the opportunity to proclaim the gospel.
Thou dost know exactly who has listened and who has heard, and we pray that
the message might have reached a heart or two.
There might be someone longing to be saved, and that they might trust the blessed
one who died on Calvary's cross.
We ask for thy blessing. sing. We look to thee for safety as we travel home.
In our Lord Jesus' worthy and precious name. Amen.
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