The concept of being "not far from the kingdom of God" by examining the encounter between Jesus and a scribe in Mark 12. It highlights that while the scribe demonstrated intellectual understanding of God's law and religious practice, he had not yet fully entered the kingdom. The message emphasizes that intellectual assent, decent living, and religious observance are insufficient for salvation; true entry into the kingdom requires a personal, transformative experience of being "born again" through faith in Jesus Christ. The sermon concludes by urging listeners to move beyond mere proximity to the kingdom and to fully commit their lives to Christ.
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There are any big notes between the boys and girls. You know, I didn't realize we were going to have a lot of boys and girls here tonight. I thought you were all going to be in there and I was going in there to speak to you. So, if you don't mind what I'll do is I'll speak to you for ten minutes and the big folk can go to sleep. And then when I finish speaking to you and I think the big folk will behave themselves, When I finish speaking to you, then I'll expect you to behave while I speak to that. Will that be all right? I've got something in my pocket. By the way, by the way, I think boys are better than girls.
Well, listen, we'll prove it. We'll prove it. It's no good putting your thumbs up at the beginning. I'm going to ask a few questions. And if you know the answer, you put your hand up. You don't shout out. If you shout out, if a girl shouts out, they mostly do. The boys will get a point. But if a boy shouts out, the girls will get a point. But if you put your hand up and you've got the answer right, there's a point for yourself. And we'll see who's best. Do you know it's the best I've got? Oh, really I ought to have had a proper pain, but as I said, I didn't know, you see.
By the way, what have I got in the hand? Oh, you're shouting. Do you know it's a good job? I'm not your school teacher. I dust your trousers. Oh, what have I got here? Yes, I've got a pain. I want to say three little things about that pen. And the things I want to say about the pen, do you know what I could say about every boy and girl here tonight? The first thing I want to say about it is that this pen was made for a P.
It was made for a P. Oh, I must do it this way. Yes. No, it wasn't made for a preacher. No. It's a matter of fact. Don't tell anyone that the preacher stole it from the office. It wasn't made for a preacher, but it was made for a... Yes. Right. It was made for a purpose. I don't know who the first person was who invented a pen. I think it might have been Mr.
Stevenson. I'm not sure. I only know this, that when a pen was made, it was made for a purpose. And you know, boys and girls, have you ever looked in the mirror in the morning and looked at yourself? And when you've got over the plate, you've said, Do you know I was made for a purpose? I was made for a purpose. And do you know why boys and girls and men and women were made? The Bible says, This people have I made that I might show you for, that they might show for my praise.
We were made that we might enjoy God. And that God might enjoy us. That's why we were made. But you know, that pen was made for a purpose. But before it could be fulfilled a purpose, it had to be P with a P. It gets harder all the time. P with a P. P. Yes. Perfect. Well, when it was made for a purpose, but what's the second one?
Then it had to be P with a P. Yes. Perfect. Do you know that's a good, good reply. It's not right, but it's a good one. P with a P. Yes. Prepared? No, not prepared, I say. Listen, yes? No? Shall I give you a hint? No, I won't. I tell you what I'll do. I'll wake up all those big folks and see who can get the answer among them. Yes, sir?
It was not paid with a price. It was... First, first, first. No wonder the boys and girls don't behave themselves. I say, it was made for a purpose that it was purchased with a price Before this pen could be used, someone had to go and buy it.
What good would a pen be on a shop shelf? What good would it be tucked away in a box? We have to go and purchase it. And you know, boys and girls, we were made for a purpose. But Jesus came. And on Calvary's cross, he died. and he paid the price that we might be his. Ah, made for a purpose. Purchased with a price.
But a C, not P, C by a P. T by a P. Think about the pen now. It had to be made. It had to be bought, purchased, but now it has to be. Have you never looked at your pen at school who I used to? I used to look at my pen and I'd say to myself, I wish that Johnny Pen could answer the questions for me. But it was no good it couldn't.
It had to be. Are you watching? Right. By your teachers clever. Oh, I said. Do you know? It had to be. controlled by a person. Do you know, boys and girls, when the Lord Jesus made us, gave us, and then went to hell with his cross and died for him, he not only died, but after he died, he rose from the dead.
And my Bible says that he's willing to come into our hearts and control us day by day. Let's see if we've got it all right now. Remember? No shouting, sir. I say, let's get the first one right. First of all, a pen had to be made for a purpose. It had to be... Price could...
Very good. You are a bit like me, though. I used to put my hand up and hope teacher didn't ask me. I say, it had to be made for a purpose, but it had to be. purchased with a price. And then it had to be controlled by a person. And that's just what the Lord Jesus wants to do for us. By the way, did you keep score the teacher in the front row? Did you keep score? What were you doing writing there then?
Oh, you were taking the notes. Oh, I see. Oh, I see. Now, well, I think, I think the girls were best. But only this week. Only this week. Thank you. Now, please. Do you know, I think it might be well if you were to take the boys and girls out now, sir, because what I prepared to say is not, you know, they'll be fidgeting and I couldn't blame them.
I'd fidget. Would that be? That's right. Would you mind? We'll dismiss the children's meeting and march out good and smart and everyone's looking at you. watching you as you go out. Thank you. That's right. Front row to start. All back row to start. All that's right. In their day and generation. I've been much important prayer today concerning this evening. And I felt that I would like just to share with you, if I may, for a few moments for the mind. The tremendous story that's contained in the Gospel of Mark.
I wonder if you'll permit me just to read a verse or two from the Gospel according to Mark. And maybe there's someone here this evening of whom these words could also be said. The Gospel according to Mark, if we may please, and chapter twelve. The twelfth chapter of the Gospel according to Mark. verse twenty eight and one of the scribes came and having heard them reasoning together perceiving that he had answered them well asked him which is the first commandment of all and jesus answered him the first of all the commandments is here oh israel the lord our god is one lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.
This is the first commandment, and the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbors thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, master, thou hast said the truth. For there is one God, and there is none other but he. And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. May the Lord just add his blessing to this story that I'm sure you've heard preached from a legion of tongues. The little praise I would like to share with you tonight is the praise that will challenge the hearts of every one of us if we'll take a moment or two to think about it.
Thou art not far from the kingdom. May I paint in the background. You will remember that the Lord Jesus has told a tremendous parable. He's told the parable of a man who planted a vineyard. who sent servants to care for those vines. And when the season came that he would expect fruit from the vines, he sent down to that vineyard a servant to collect what was his, rightfully his. But you remember that the Scripture says that they took that servant and they beat him.
And they cast stones at him. And when the owner of the vineyard heard what had happened, he sends another servant down. And when they see this servant come, they not only beat, they not only cast stones at him, but they wound him in the head and they kill him. And the master sends the third time another servant down. And when they see this sermon, oh, I say they take him, and they do the same to him. But having, and I think this is a wonderful expression, having, said the Lord Jesus, as he tells the parable, having one son is well-beloved, he said, I'll send you down to the vineyard to claim what was rightfully his, he sent his beloved son.
And when they saw him, they said, this is the heir. Let us slay him, and the possession will be ours. The inheritance will be ours. And they took the blessed son of the father, and they slew him and cast him out of the vineyard. the Lord Jesus using the parable was using it to those Pharisees and scribes those leaders of the religious life of that nation and they had no doubt whatsoever of whom he was speaking they knew that he was speaking about them I say later in that same glorious Bible we read the account of the first Christian martyr When Stephen stood before the Sanhedrin Council, stood on trial for his life, and he looked at them, and he said to them, And which of the prophets did you not persecute?
Which of the prophets did you not persecute? Just as that owner of the vineyard sent servant after servant after servant, and they stoned them and beat them and slew them and cast them out. So you have done this with my servants. You have done this with those messengers that I have sent right through the ears. And Stephen says, which of the prophets did you not persecute? Now you all understand, and I can well understand, that those Jewish folk were cut to the quick. They had to do something about it.
It would be noised abroad in the city that Jesus had put these leaders of the Jewish faith. He had put them into a position where they couldn't find an answer. And so they come to the Lord with what the Bible says is hard questions. They said, we'll get it. Why, we won't divide his ranks completely, but we'll divide them. And so the first one comes and looks at the Lord and says, Lord, I've got a question for you. It's the matter of the tribute money. Is it lawful to render tribute to Caesar or not?
They said, Bye. If he says it's not lawful, we'll go to the Romans and say, here's a man who's telling those Jews they mustn't pay their taxes. And if he says it's lawful, we'll go to the Jews and we'll say, he's a quivering, that's what he is, a quivering. He's telling us that we ought to pay for those that have conquered us. If we don't do nothing, we'll divide his ranks. But the Lord looked at them. Oh, what a savior. What a savior. He looked at them and said, show me the tribute money.
Show me a penny. Now, most preachers tell us that the Lord said, show me a penny, because he didn't have one. Well, that might be true. That might be true. But I think it goes deeper than that, you know. do you remember at the gate of the house of god the money changers were found some of them actually got into the house of god and the lord turned them out but do you remember they were there and they were there for a purpose because the jewish rulers refused to accept roman money And the people who came to make their offerings in the house of God, they changed their Roman money into Jewish money.
Because the leaders of the Jewish faith said that it's wrong to have any Roman money at all. And Jesus said, show me a penny. and the leaders of the Jewish faith who told all their congregation that it was wrong to have Roman money, they put their hand in their pocket and they took one out straight away. You know, I can almost hear the Lord saying to them, but I can almost hear the Lord saying to them, yes, hypocrites. You tell everyone else that it's wrong to have Roman money and you've got it yourself.
Well, listen, that which belongs to Rome, you give to Rome. That which belongs to God, you give it to God. What do they say? His ranks weren't divided? It was the other way round. He stood out to head and shoulders above all others as the only one that had a pure argument. Then they came and it wasn't a matter of money, it was a matter of marriage. The Sadducees. Now I must confess, I rather detest puns on the Scripture because the Scripture is God's holy word.
But I did hear one person once say that these Sadducees were Sadducees because they didn't believe in the resurrection. I only know this, that anyone who doesn't believe in the resurrection is sad. There'll be sad in time, and there'll be sad in eternity. But these Sadducees came. They didn't believe in the resurrection, and they said, Oh, now, just a moment, just a moment. There was with us a man. He married it. Then he died. The Lord Moses said that if his brother was not married, he had to marry the widow that she might be raised.
Well, the brother died, and his brother married the widow. Then that brother died, and his brother married the widow. And that brother died, and his... Seven times over. in the resurrection who's going to be her husband oh i say we've got him now he can't answer this but what a savior we've got he just looked at them and said you do her not knowing the truth You don't know the mind and the truth of God.
Don't you realize that in the resurrection there's neither marriage nor given in marriage? Don't you know in that state everyone else will be lifted to a place of complete happiness, complete joy? I say. you're arguing about if there's life after death. Well, let me ask you something. You are Sadducees. You are religious leaders. When God spoke to your leader, Moses, out of the burning bush, what did he say? Didn't he say, I am the God of Abraham? And Isaac?
And Jacob? But just a moment, Abraham's been dead to hundreds of years. And Isaac's been dead to hundreds of years. And Jacob's been dead to hundreds of years. I am the God. Not I was the God. I am the God. God isn't the God of the dead. He's the God of the living. And if he's the God of the living, and he says... I am the God of Abraham, then there must be a resurrection. There must be a life after death. And the third one came.
And he said, oh, I've got a question, and it is a question. Which is the greatest of the commandments? Which is the greatest of the commandments? the Lord looked at him and the Lord said the greatest commandment is this the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul and with all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself and then looking at the man who'd asked him the question.
We come across this tremendous statement. Jesus looked at him and said, Thou art not far from the kingdom. Now I've got a number of things I want to share with you. I didn't want to take the text out of context. I don't want to say any more about the context as I'll keep you all here tonight and not say a word about the text. But I want to say a few things about the dead. I want to remind you, first of all, that they came to prove the Lord with hard questions. And I want to remind you that men and women have come to the Lord for many, many reasons.
There were some who came to him that they might be fed because they were hungry. There were some who came to him because they were curious. They heard all sorts of stories about him and they wanted to see whether it was true. There were some who came to the Lord Jesus that they might indeed find healing and they were healed. There were some who came that they might have a revelation of things to come. I know not why you have come to the service tonight. Maybe you came because someone pressed you to come.
Someone invited you to come. I don't know the reason you come. But I'm asking you this evening to go further than just coming to the service. I'm asking you, will you come to Christ? And there may be a hundred reasons why you come. But if you come to him, of this I am absolutely sure, that if you come to him, you will find the one that has the answer to the deepest questions of your life. The deepest question. This man came with his questions, trying to catch the Lord, trying to trick the Lord.
But, oh, how graciously the Lord dealt with him. He said, thou art not far from the kingdom. Now, if words mean anything, surely these words tell us that there are some people who are in the kingdom. You're not in it. You're not far from it. But you're not in it. But there are some people who are in it. Oh, please, there has been a time in their life when they have started. They've trusted the Lord. They still have much to learn. They have still much territory to gain. But praise God, they know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
They have met and trusted the man who died for them on Calvary's cross. They're in the kingdom. But this man was in the kingdom. Are you in the kingdom? Are you in the kingdom? But if words mean anything, they not only mean that there are some that are in the kingdom, it's possible to be in the kingdom, but there are some who are far from the kingdom. Some who are far from the kingdom. What do words like these you're not far mean? Does that not mean that some people are far from the kingdom? There are men and women maybe tonight in this very place, and you have to say you've never prayed, and you've never read your Bible, and you've never had any real concern about the name of the Lord, and you take it in vain so often.
You're far from the kingdom. But I don't believe that's the majority of folk here tonight, if there are any like that. But you haven't to be far from the kingdom. To be outside of it. It is possible to be so near and yet so far. So good and yet so bad. And this man wasn't far. He was honest. He was upright. He was well educated. He was the sort of person that you would can't get a joy to name him as your neighbor.
But he'd never had a will of purpose in his life. He'd never bowed before Christ who loved him and gave himself for him and said, Lord, you know that I need your forgiveness and your salvation. He'd got near the Lord, but not near enough. Now he had thought seriously. Have you thought seriously? If there was one thing that struck me as I was reading through this chapter today, preparing for this evening, if there was one thing that struck me it was this, that if ever a man thought and thought seriously, this man did.
There was no light thinking. He dared to look at the Lord and he dared to say to the Lord, Lord, There is one God and there is none other. Now you know there are not many people who talk like that. There's one God. I meet men and women who make their business their God. Men and women who make their home their God. Men and women who make their education their God. Listen, men and women who make their church their God. Yes, yes. They've never entered the kingdom. This man dared to say there's one God.
You know, he went back to the very beginning of divine truth. That tremendous sixth chapter, is it about the fourth verse of the book of Deuteronomy? When it lays down quite plainly for every one of us to know that there is one God and there is not else, Oh, please. Please. There are those in the world today who take that text in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, and they take its equivalent in the portion that we've read, and they say, well, there it is. Jesus couldn't be God.
There's one God. Please, I don't want to run a Hebrew lesson tonight. Do you understand? between you and me. I couldn't do it very far. I could only go so far with you. But I do know enough to know this, in the simplest of knowledge, that there are two Hebrew words for one. There is a Hebrew word which means just one. Yachid, just one. There is a Hebrew word which is in the plural, which is pronounced and quoted as one.
But you see, I look around this service tonight. I point at my friend here and I say, there's one person here. But I point at you and I say, there's one congregation here. There aren't more in one congregation than there is in one person, but it's both one. It's compound unity. One. And the word which is used, the Hebrew word which is used in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy is the word for compound unity.
if God wanted to emphasise that there was only one, that there wasn't the Spirit and there wasn't the Son, he would have used the Hebrew word indeed. But he never did. And this man knew it. He thought seriously. Friend, if heaven is real and hell is real, if life is real and death is real, Don't you think you and I ought to take time to think seriously? It doesn't matter. But he wasn't saying. He wasn't, thou art not far from the kingdom.
You can think seriously and not be in the kingdom. He lived decently. He not only fought seriously, he lived decently. He said, why that commandment, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind? It's real because it makes me go forth to love my neighbor as myself. I don't know about you, but I wish we were living in a day when men and women love their neighbor as themselves. I don't know about you.
But it seems to me as I open my newspaper, as I turn the knob of my wireless, that I listen to the television, it seems to me that we are living in a sex society. A sex society. Oh, that men and women lived decently. Men and women went out to love their neighbors themselves. while this man sought to live decently. He sought to love his neighbor as himself, but salvation is not of works, you see. He still wasn't in the kingdom.
Jesus said, thou art not far from it. I say he not only lived decently, he not only fought seriously, but he behaved religiously. He was astray. Here was a man who behaved religiously. When the house of God was open, he was there. When there was service to be done for the children of God, he sought to do it. He behaved religiously. But I've said so many times, and you've heard me say it, that you can be a member of the church, have your name on a wrist, You can have office in the church, look touch him by others, but that doesn't make you a Christian.
You know, we are living in a very peculiar day. In our modern vocabulary, we are always hearing people talk about being a born-again Christian. I hate the expression. A born again Christian? Are you suggesting you could be a Christian without being born again? That it's possible to be a Christian and not be born again? Listen, my friend, unless you are born again, you're not a Christian.
So there's no need for you to use that word a born again, Christian. Talk about being born again, if you will. Talk about being a Christian, if you will. But don't give some suggestion that people can be a Christian without being born again, because you can't. You can live decently, and you can live religiously. But this man did all that. And Jesus said, thou art not far from the kingdom. He wasn't in the kingdom. But not only was here a man who thought seriously, Here was a man who lived decently. Here was a man who behaved religiously. But here's a man who believed partially.
He looked into the face of the Lord Jesus and he said, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth. I mean, it's all right for you and me to talk about Jesus being Master. Oh, it's easy for us in this Bible Belt to talk about Jesus being a master. But he was talking about it in the midst of Jerusalem. He was talking about it in the midst of those that hated Christ and would nail into a cross. And he looked at him and he said, Your master, and you've spoken the truth.
Oh, how many folk over the course of years have I reasoned with concerning the claims of Jesus? And I found so many of them, except so much of what Christ said. You know, I meet the person who say, Oh, I believe in the Sermon on the Mount, Mr. Ford. I believe in the Sermon on the Mount. Oh, I believe in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Oh, yes, I do. Oh, I... My friend, you can believe partially and still be lost. not in the kingdom. Dare I say one other thing?
Dare I remind you that this man who fought seriously, this man who lived decently, this man who behaved religiously, this man who believed partially, was the man who, when we've sought all we've got to say, here was a man who was moved completely. Or how his heart was moved when he was faced with the appeal of Jesus. When he saw the Lord Jesus answer all the questions that they'd thrown at him and stand unstained in the midst of those that would put him to death.
Have you been moved by Jesus Christ? I've been in services where I've seen men weep. And I don't often see men weep. At least I often hear preachers talk about men weeping. But I've spent a great amount of my ministry among men. And I don't often see men weep, but I do sometimes. I've seen folk in services so moved they've had a job to stay in their seats. And still go out of the service. unrepentant without having trusted Jesus.
Bough are not far from the kingdom. Please, please, am I painting someone's portrait tonight? Am I saying something concerning you tonight? Are you like this man? So near the kingdom, like a ship that weathers the storm of the high seas, and as wrecked on the rocks as it enters the harbor. So near, and yet so far. Oh, my fellow traveler, to eternity.
We're not asking you tonight, will you go from this place and plunge into sin? We're asking you tonight, will you refrain from going from this place still outside of Christ? For there's not a man or a woman as honest and as righteous as they have thought to be, but still need the salvation of God. I thank God for a Savior who reached down and will rescue the virus and sinners.
Thank God he will. You know it's not my custom to stand in front of you and use illustrations of people that I've known who've come to know the Lord. If someone tells me that they've trusted Christ, I have a habit of saying, I'll see you in six months time. I'd like to see how it works out. But I look back now over forty-two years of serving Christ. I'm no longer a boy. As I look back over my life, I thank God for scores and scores and scores and scores of people who have entrusted Christ. Their life has been changed such that when you look at them, you don't think they're the same people.
That's the sort of salvation I believe in. A salvation that will change a man will change a woman. And the Lord looks at this man and he says, you're not far from the kingdom. You're not far. But being near is not good enough. No need for me to remind you, is that? No need for me to remind you there was a man who came so near Christ. His lips touched the lips of the Savior. He felt the very breath of the Christ upon his face. Then slip down to hell. The poet as well said, thirty pieces of silver burn on a traitor's brain.
Thirty pieces of silver all tis a hellish gain. I sinned and betrayed the guiltless he cries with abated breath, and casting it down before them he runs to a madman's death. So near! Oh, Judas, how near. No one was nearer than you. And yet not in the kingdom. We were talking the other evening about the last Jewish king. I reminded you that the Jews haven't had a king from that day to this, and won't have one until the blessed Christ of God, whose right it is to reign, will reign over them.
And I think of a gripper as he says, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Almost. But last, I open my Bible and I turn the page to the story of the rich young ruler. The scripture says Jesus looking on him loves him. But he went away, grieved. He went away, grieved. Oh, my fellow traveller to eternity, can I ask you tonight, with a pan?
You in the kingdom or not in the kingdom? Or you say, how is it possible for me to know that I'm in the kingdom? Well, let me refer you to the thing I said a moment ago. I reminded you that to be a Christian, you must be born again. To be in the kingdom, you must be born again. For Jesus looked at Mr. Nicodemus and said, Nicodemus, you must be born again. Unless you're born again, you'll not see.
Let alone enter the kingdom. Have you been born again? Oh, you say, Mr. Preacher, it's a phrase that's used so often. How can I be born again? How can I be born again? This man tells me that, and another man tells me something else. How can I be born again? Well, let me say this to you. I have nothing to say to you. I wouldn't dare tell you how to be born again. I wouldn't dare. Well, I let the Bible do it.
I let the Bible do it. One John chapter five, verse one. one John chapter five verse one don't go from this place and say four and said I didn't one John five and one stood this as whosoever believer that Jesus is the Christ is born of God born again. Have you been?
You know what it means to believe, to believe, to trust your legacy. If at the end of a hard week you have been able after meeting your expenses to put aside a little money, you go down the road and you walk into the bank and you put it on the counter and you say, sir, I believe in the bank. Look after it for me. Have you ever come to Jesus Christ and said, Lord, here's my life? Take my life. At the church at Corinth it was said they gave first themselves to the Lord.
Have you ever come to him and said, Lord, I'm no sinner. Take my sin. Wash it away. I can't do anything with it. I've tried to give it up. I've tried to finish with it and it comes and tempts me again and again and again and again. Lord, I believe I'll trust my life to me. When eighteen months or so ago, I was on the bank in the hospital not expecting to come out. When the nurses came to me and told me they were going to jab me in my arm, they told me they were going to put things in the mouth and I had to swallow them, I didn't say, don't do it, don't do it.
I couldn't have even told you the name of the surgeon in whose hand or the doctor in whose hand I was. I was so past understanding anything that I knew this. that I believe in him. There it is. Put the drilling. Give me the pit. And I still take it. I've got a feeling every morning if you were to shake me, I'd rather. I only know this. I only know I believe.
Have you ever believed in God like that? Have you ever come to the heavenly position and said, Lord, if I am like I am and I remain like I am, I die in the sin and I'll perish? But the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanseth us from all sin. I come and I believe, whosoever believer, that Jesus What a day! Is the Christ. Is the anointed of God.
God's Savior. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ. Is born of God. What's on your verse again? hey what's on your destiny my Bible says that without Christ we're dead and trust us with consent but he gives us new life born again dare I dare I dare I tell you that old story I've told you before I know Do I?
I'm going to. You remember the story of the man that read the newspaper the same way as Mary does? Always start at the same place, births, deaths, and marriages. Reading it down. Oh, little boy. Oh, very nice. Oh, little girl. Well, not so bad. or at about time to, you know, the sort of remarks you make when you read it to him. Then suddenly Saul, we regret to announce the death of him. And there was his neck.
Suddenly he asked, and there was his address. But he wasn't there. As he went, bought another paper, and looked, there is what we regret to announce the death of suddenly at. Down to the newspaper office he went, and on the counter. Well, you can understand, aren't you? So would I. Eventually the assistant editor came out, full of apologies, said Sir. We're very sorry. We don't know how it's happened.
We were notified and we printed. But don't you worry, we'll put it right. What are you going to do? We'll put your name in the birth column tomorrow morning. And I want to say, my friend, I'm glad I've got a Savior who puts our name in the birth column. Born again. Yes, dead and trespasses and sin, but born again. Have you been born again? Thou art not far from the kingdom. I don't know. Maybe there's someone like that tonight.
Not far from the kingdom. Don't stay like that. Because if you're not far from it, you're not in it. And you're in danger. But tonight. Swing wide the door of your heart to the King of Kings. Bid him enter for wonderful peace he bring. He will shelter you under his outstretched wing. Swing wide the door of your heart to the King of Kings. Shall we close and close?
God and Father, we thank thee again for these little children that were with us tonight. God bless them. Give to their parents that love and compassion and skill and help that they need to raise them for thee. give to the leaders of the little group with which they are connected as a one-on group the help which comes alone from thee that they may be able to win them for the sake we thank thee for those of our friends that have been with us now please lord grant that it shall not be said of anyone thou art not far from the kingdom oh please god may not be said, they are carved on it.
But go on that each one of us may take that step and come into the kingdom of God for Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. We won't sing a hymn because there will be some of you parents anxious to pick up your children. I do thank you for being with us. And if there's anyone here tonight, and you care to talk with us about these things, we are your servants, so Christ said. Friend, don't go from this place until you're sure you're in the kingdom.