Would you turn, please, to the little book of Jude. Little book just before the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. Verse eleven. The little book of Jude. Verse eleven. Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain. and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for a wart, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. These are spots in your feast of charity, when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are, without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Solemn business, isn't it? God saves his most harsh and scathing comments for people who profess to be religious, but really have no time for God. As we were reading those words in Genesis, I noticed that this man, Cain, the way of Cain, is marked by certain things. that is characteristic of many Christ's rejectors today. He had a poor appreciation of the holiness of God. He thought he could come any way he wanted to to God. I meet people like that all the time, you know. You knock on their door and try to talk to them about the Lord Jesus and they say, oh, excuse me, sir, you have your way, I have my way. And I have to tell them, excuse me, but that's not the answer. That's the problem. For Isaiah fifty-three says, We have all gone our own way. We've turned everyone to his own way. That's the problem that you have your way and I have my way. It's called here the way of Cain. It's Cain's way. a poor appreciation of the holiness of God. These men were under the curse of God. And they thought little of the curse of God. And people today think rather highly of themselves if you speak to them. I was traveling by plane from Toronto to Winnipeg. I'd been up half the night getting ready for these meetings. And I wanted to sleep. I sat down in the aisle seat. I always like room to kick my legs out. And the young woman came and sat down on the window side. And we hadn't left the runway and she began to talk. That was all very interesting, but I was tired and I wanted to sleep. And she began to tell me about herself. And she finally ran out of things to say. And she said, and what do you do? Well, that's a loaded question for a preacher, you see. And if I say I'm a preacher, suddenly they became very interested in the cloud formations. They don't say another thing to you till they land. But this woman said, when I told her I was a preacher, oh, she said, do you preach the gospel? I said, I sure do. What do you know about the gospel? Oh, she said, I believe in heaven and hell and all that. I said, you do. I'm glad to hear that. Are you going to be in heaven someday? She said, I hope so. I said, excuse me, ma'am. She said, I hope so. I said, ma'am, this is forever. When you step out of time into eternity, there's no reverse gear. You can't come back and change your mind. That's it, forever. You just hope so? By this time, we had several ears squeezing between the seats of the airline, trying to listen to this strange conversation. There was a man in the seat opposite. For about five minutes now, he'd been looking at the same advertising piece on his magazine. And he was kind of like this. And I said, surely you want something more than I hope so. Though she said, OK, I know what you want me to say. I know. I'm going to be in heaven. I said, I'm so glad to hear that. How do you know? She was getting in deeper, wasn't she? Well, she said, I go to church regularly. I said, well, that's good. And she said, I look after my infirm mother. I said, that's good. I try to be a good neighbor and a good citizen, pay my taxes. I said, oh, that's good. And she carried on, she was fairly impressed with herself, and when she got all done this big long list, and I told her that all these things were good, and they were good. I said, Ma'am, it might interest you to know that just last night I was speaking to a group of boys, and my text came from the words of the Lord Jesus, and my theme was, Why good people can't go to heaven? Oh, she said, You mean why bad people can't go to heaven? I said, that's not what the Bible says. The Lord Jesus said, it's not people that are well that need a doctor. It's people who are sick. And I didn't come to call good people. I came to call sinners to repentance. So if you think you're good enough for heaven, well, I'm afraid you won't pass the test. Because after all, God's standard of good is the Lord Jesus. And if you're going to make it to heaven by being good, you'll have to stand beside him and prove that you're as good as he is. Oh, she said, I know I'm not as good as he is. Well, the Lord Jesus said, I didn't come to call good people. I came to call sinners to repentance. She said, can you show me that in the Bible? I said, I sure can. I got out my Bible and we turned to the passage and I read it to it again. I had a lot of other verses I wanted to read but she was impatient. She just bowed her head right there and she began to pray. She said, Oh God, I've been very rude keeping you outside. I thought you would come in. I'm a sinner and I want you to save me from my sin. There are a lot of people you see and they feel that they have to justify themselves. Now that's a natural reaction. I had a man come to me, not a thousand miles from here, one day after I'd preached. And he said to me, you're going to have to do something about your preaching style. Every time you preach, you put me to sleep. Now, you know, as soon as he said that, there's a little voice inside that jumped up and said, you're not that bad, right? I mean, we immediately begin to justify ourselves, don't we? We have a little lawyer inside. And as soon as something said, this little lawyer comes forward, and he's He's going to defend us. Now you can try that with me and it might work. And you can tell me all about yourself and I might say, well, he seems like a really nice person. But you see, God doesn't look on the outside. God sees your heart. He knows the motives for the good things you've done. Like the little boy who was being touted as a hero. His friend had been skating on the ice and gone through the ice and was drowning. And this little boy had flat-eagled and worked his way across the ice and pulled his friend out. And everybody said he was a hero. But the little boy said, what else could I do? He was using my skate. And if you look into your heart, my friend, you'll see that the things you do that you say are very good may just have another motive for them. You want people to think well of you. You want somehow to buy off God. I was mentioning my friend John Biorley. He was raised in a church that told him that someday there'd be a big scale. Put your good deeds on one side, your bad deeds on the other, and see how things would work out, you see. People like that have gone the way of Cain because they have misunderstood how awful sin is. You know what my Bible tells me? That for one sin, God cast the angels out of heaven and cast them down to hell for one sin. How many good things had they done before they fell? All those good things in the courts of heaven and one sin. Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. For one sin, God cast Adam and Eve out of the garden. And God allowed man to dirty up his earth with sin, but he won't let that get into heaven. And what does the Bible tell us? That it is sin that must be dealt with. You can't buy God off with a few good things on this side and a few bad things on that side. You can't work your way to heaven. It is not of works lest any man should boast. There will never be a soul who will stand with God in heaven and say, well, God, we did a good job. You and I didn't we. God won't have it. If it's not all of grace, you won't make it. You just won't make it. When John was thinking about eternal matters, he went in to see his minister. The minister explained to him about the scales. John said, well, I just have one other question. What happens if the scales come out even? He hadn't heard that one before. He said, well, I suppose God will give you the benefit of the doubt. Can you imagine going out into eternity with heaven and hell at stake and hoping that God will give you the benefit of the doubt? I wouldn't live one minute in your shoes if you're hoping that God will give you the benefit of the doubt. People say, I like to think. Let someday when I stand before God, he'll say, oh, well, come on in anyway. I like to think that God wouldn't send anyone to hell. You may like to think it. Can you imagine coming to me and saying, do you have fire insurance on your home? And I say, well, I like to think that if my house burned down, all my neighbors would get together and take a little collection and say, now you just go on down and make arrangements with a builder and we'll pay for a new house. And I like to think that when my relatives heard about it, why they just rush down and say, here's my credit card, you just run down to the furniture store and buy whatever you like. Well, you may like to think like that, my friend, but I'll buy fire insurance. I'm not saying that salvation is fire insurance I'm just saying it's very faulty thinking if you like to think some things would you like to show me where it says that in the Bible my Bible says the soul that sin it shall die that's simple isn't it but my Bible also says that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's simple, isn't it? And whoso calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's simple, isn't it? That's how God gives it to us. Because he doesn't want anyone to make any mistakes about this wonderful message. We read about three men in Jude verse eleven. We read about the way of Cain. and the error of Balaam and the gainsaying of Korah. Cain thought he could come his way and still end up in God's favor. Now no one ever came to God without a lamb. There had to be a lamb. There had to be a substitute. Otherwise the wrath of God still abides on you. You remember the story of Abraham and his son Isaac as they went up the mountain of Moriah? And Isaac asked that question, where is the Lamb? And the question echoed down through the ages. Until at last John the baptizer could ably say, there he is. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Are you trying to satisfy God? Let me let you in on a secret. God is already satisfied, not with you, but with His Son, your substitute. And if you will be satisfied with Him, then God will save you and transform your life. My father invited me over to see a documentary back in the days when drugs were just becoming very public, illegal drugs. And it was going to be an interview at a major Eastern University of a young man who had kicked the drug habit. And it was a big deal in those days. He was sitting down on the dais and there was a panel of experts, a liberal minister. I don't know that he believed anything much. A psychologist, a medical doctor, and the moderator. And in the first segment of the interview they discussed how he got into drugs and what kind of drugs he took and how much so many hundred dollars a day thousand dollars a day habit how he got involved in the heavier drugs and so on now they said we're going to take a break and come back and we're going to ask him how did he get off drugs so they took the commercial break came back and they asked him his story well he said When I finally realized I was on the downward track, I was just about finished, I was ready to give up hope, I thought I'd commit suicide. But I chickened out. He said that didn't work. Then he said some friends of mine, they told me that I had to go to this therapist, and he talked me out of the problem. And so I went there, and well, that didn't work either. Some other friends, they told me how to go down to this methadone clinic and replace one drug with another drug. And he said, I did that for a while, but, well, I got back into drugs again and that didn't work. Somebody said, the only way to do it is cold turkey. And so I put myself into this psychiatric hospital and went through the business and that didn't work either. Then he said, someone introduced me to Jesus Christ. Well, you could have hit those men with a two-by-four, and it wouldn't have done anything worse than what it did. And he said, he's my savior now. And he saved me from my sin and from this terrible habit. They were so sorry that they had just taken that commercial break. They would have liked to have taken one right then and recovered a bit, but they'd already taken it. And so one of them said, well, surely there must be something more than that. Young man said, excuse me, sir, you have the questions. I have the answer. Well, that's it, my friend. You've got the problem. He's got the answer. You can go the way of Cain, if you like. A low view of sin. Oh, I think God will forgive me. He'll just overlook it. Listen, if ever he would have overlooked sin, he would have overlooked it that day at Calvary when the sin was on his son. But God spared not his own son. And if he spared not his own son, don't you think that you'll get away with it? If you trample underfoot the blood of Christ and say, it doesn't mean anything to me, don't expect God then to receive you into his heaven. Do you know why he doesn't receive you into heaven? because God gives you what you want. The children of Israel came to the edge of the promised land and they heard there were giants there and they said, oh God, why didn't you let us die in the desert? He said, you've got it. And they all died in the desert. God gives you what you want. If you don't want Christ, then you don't want heaven. There's one place worse than hell for a sinner and that's heaven. Imagine being locked up with a bunch of songs singing Christian forever and never being able to get out. You'd go mad. You have to have a new appetite for heaven. That's why the Bible says, you must be born again. If I took a fish and threw it into the air and said, fly, fish, fly, well, splat. Or take a bird and stick it under the water and teach it how to swim. Well, I can't do that, can I? Because it needs a new nature for a new environment. That's why the Lord Jesus never preached about heaven to sinners. He preached about hell. They understood that. But heaven, you'd have to love the Lord Jesus to want to go to heaven. Because that's what heaven is, being with Him. God gives you what you want. If you will go in the way of Cain, you know where that goes? Well, we read it over here in Genesis chapter four. And came, went out from the presence of the Lord. Can you imagine that? Do you know what it's like to be lost? Do you remember that as a little child? Maybe in a big crowd? At a mall or something or an exhibition? And you're following a pair of legs, right? Little kids don't see above the belt line, maybe above the knees. And you're going along following this pair of pants, and you stop to look at this. and then you caught up with the pants again right or the skirt and you carried on for a while and then after a little while for some reason you looked up and the head didn't match the body you've been following the wrong pair of legs hadn't you you thought you were all right and you felt secure and safe and all of a sudden you remember the dread she looked around and you were lost you see there are a lot of people And they're good intention people. And they're doing all their religious duty perhaps. And they think they're okay. Because they never look up. And they're lost. My Bible tells me what it means to be lost. Someday the very one who says to you today come. We'll say, if you won't have him, depart from me. I never knew you. Do you understand what that means? To go away from the presence of the Lord? It means to be sent away from the God who is everywhere. Depart from me. It means to be unknown by the God who knows everything. I never knew you. An eternal non-entity, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Why would you ever go in the way of Cain? Because the way of Cain is self-will. That's the great sin, you know. We all make our judgments about sin. I was sitting in a car. I was thinking about buying a used car. And I went around with a salesman to get the tires changed on it. And we had a few minutes to sit. So he asked me the question. And I told him. And as soon as I told him I was a preacher, you know what he said? Oh, his little lawyer jumped up. His little lawyer said, I can't believe the things that people are doing today. Reminded me of something I heard one time, I thank the I am not as other men are, like this publican. I said, you're a churchgoer, are you? And he said, yes. I said, I wonder then, you've read the Bible. He said, well, yes, some. Then you probably know what the greatest sin is in the Bible. Well, he said, I think there are seven deadly sins, aren't there? I said, no, I'm talking about the Bible now. Oh, oh, well. He said, boy, I don't know what it is. Murder? No, not murder. There'll be murderers in heaven. Saved by God's grace. Paul's going to be there. Adultery? Oh, no, there'll be adulterers in heaven. Saved by God's grace, like the woman at the well and others. The poor woman caught in adultery. He said, I don't know what it is. I said, well, I'll tell you what it is. It's pride. It's the sin of pride. That was the first sin. I will ascend up. I will be as God. That was Satan's sin. And he tempted Adam and Eve with the same thing. You shall be as God. Be your own God. Be your own man. Be in charge. Don't submit your will to God. Go your own way. That's the way of Cain. Now you may choose any road you wish. But once you've chosen your road, my friend, you have no choice about the destination. And if you choose to go the way of Cain, you'll end up where Cain ended up, going out from the presence of the Lord. We read about the error of Balaam. We read concerning Balaam that he thought he could love the wages of unrighteousness, and still die the death of the righteous. As someone had said, that he could jump out of Jezebel's lap into Abraham's bosom. Can't do that. You can't live for your own sin and expect at the last minute to step into the presence of God. Now it is true, as we heard last night, that there was one thief on the cross that repented in the last moments of his life that none might despair, but only one that none might presume. Men say all the time, oh, I'll get saved on my deathbed. Remember the dying thief? And I say, well, which one? Don't count on it, my friend. You may not have a deathbed. And what about Korah? Well, he thought he could reject God's messenger without rejecting God. You see, if you say no tonight, you're not saying no to J.B. Nicholson. This isn't my message. I wouldn't have preached this. I would have preached some nice little sermon. This is the message of God. And if you turn your back on this message, you're not rejecting the preacher. You're rejecting... The Lord Jesus. So don't say tonight if you decide to reject this, I don't want it. It's not an it. This is Christ I'm presenting to you. It's not a religion, not a creed, a set of codes or ethics. This is a person. Salvation is in a person. I present to you my blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you may have him if you wish tonight. But if you're going to have Him, you'll have to come willingly, and you'll have to come God's way. You can't come Cain's way, your own way. You'll have to come God's way. And what does it say of them? They're trees without fruit. They're clouds without rain. Their wells without water, the stars without light. And so says the Word of God, that when you are without God, you're without hope. Well, I want to turn to another verse. I can't leave you like that. found in Hebrews chapter twelve. And verse eighteen describes the mountain Mount Sinai, where the law was. The people said to God, all that thou sayest unto us we will do. God said, Here are ten samples. And before Moses could get them to the bottom of the mountain, they'd already broken them. You're going to try and live by the Ten Commandments? I talked to a lot of people. They say they're living by the Ten Commandments. I said, could you refresh my memory? What are they again? They don't even know what they are. You're going to get to heaven that way? Oh, my friend, that's a desperate thing. Here's one. Let's try this one. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy mind, all thy soul, all thy strength, and him only shalt thou serve. You think you've done that one year in your life? One month, one week, one day, one hour. Didn't do too well on that, did we? Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. You hear the, you're heading for home and you hear the fire engine. It's coming near your neighborhood and you think, oh, I hope it's not my neighbor's house. Is that right? Look at a group photo you're in. You check everybody else first to see if their face looks funny or their eyes are closed. Is that right? Oh, we're selfish critters. We'll never get saved that way. We've come to Mount Zion. I know I'm so thankful. I'm not preaching the law tonight. I'm not preaching live a good life and do the Ten Commandments. But, verse twenty-two, you are coming to Mount Zion. and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus. That's who you've come to tonight. Maybe you didn't know that. Maybe you thought you were coming just to a meeting with a preacher and a bunch of Christians. Well, he's here tonight, and he's presenting his claims to you. And what is he called? The mediator, the go-between, between a holy God and sinful men, of the new covenant, to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better thing than that of Abel. Oh, God said, Cain, where's your brother? My brother. Am I my brother's keeper? I hear something came. It's your brother's blood speaking. God hears things we don't hear, you know. He hears our thoughts right now. I wish that preacher had shut up so I can go home. He can hear you say that. And God said, I hear something. Abel's blood is crying out for vengeance. But this blood. Oh, listen. This blood speaks peace to our souls. Yes, you deserve eternal death. But Jesus died for you. The blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth us. from all sin. That's the message of the gospel. And as I quote that verse, I think of a lovely old story. I'm going to leave my Bible open. As soon as I close my Bible, people turn their brains off. There was a renowned preacher in the city of London, England, but he didn't know the Lord as his Savior. A very eloquent man. new Bible verses, but he didn't know the God of the Bible. And one stormy night, there was a knock, a frantic knock at his door. And when he went to the door, here was a little street urchin, a ragamuffin standing dripping in the rain. Oh, she said, please, minister, can you get my mother in? Oh, listen, it's a stormy night and I can't take anyone in here in my house. No, she said, into heaven. Can you get my mother in? She's dying. Well, he didn't know what to do, but he went and got his umbrella in his hat and his little New Testament, and he headed out into the storm. And she took him down one street in another into little back lanes and finally up into a little Garrett apartment. And there lying on rags, an emaciated figure. A woman who had given herself in the street for money. And she was dying. And the man knelt down beside her. The little girl pleaded, Oh, minister, get my mother in. Well, he said, if you live a good life, you know, you're pretty sure of getting into heaven. Oh, she shook her head. I've lived a wicked life, she said. That won't get me in. Have you been baptized, he said? No. Summing through his Bible, he came to this verse. And he read it, at first haltingly, the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleansed us from all sin. Does it really say that, she said. And he read it again. And soon they both had tears streaming down their face, and that night both the woman of the street and the self-righteous minister both got in. Because the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleansed us from all sin. You can go the way of Cain, if you wish. Or you can trust in the blood that speaks better things than that of Abel. How does Paul tell us we're to come? Listen carefully now. Right where you sit, you could come to Christ and have your sins forgiven and be ready for heaven. Repentance towards God. and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Repentance towards God means that I'm going to change my mind now, and I'm not going to try and justify myself to God. I'm not going to argue with him. I'm going to agree with him that I really am the sinner that Jesus died to save. And I'm going to agree with God about the problem. My sin. and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to agree with God about the answer. Christ plus nothing, trusting Him alone, and I turn from my sin to God's Son and accept Him as the substitute who died for my sin and wants to save me. Now you could do that right where you are. I believe you've already heard enough tonight from the word of God to trust the Savior and be saved. If there's something you don't understand, oh please, you be sure and ask someone who knows the Lord Jesus tonight before you go. Please don't leave this place without the assurance that you're ready to meet God and you're ready for heaven. You can have him tonight. He's waiting to receive you. Now shall we pray? Our Father, in the quietness of these moments, we pray that thou would impress us with the reality of eternity. How busy we become. Too busy for God. Too busy for Christ. But none of us will be too busy to die. We thank thee that the gospel message is not just preparation for dying. It is new life in Christ. And we pray for those in the audience. It may be the first time they've heard the message. It may be the thousandth time. But oh how they need the Lord Jesus, we feel sorry for them. They're missing out on everything. Miserable in this life. The pleasures of this life, just a sham, a mirage. Satisfied for a day and hungry again tomorrow. Oh God, we pray that thy spirit will convict them of their sin and show them that we all are sinners before thee. And we need a Savior. And the Lord Jesus is that Savior. And he'll take them tonight if they'll come as is in their sin and receive him. Take thy word now and use it as thou wilt. And we'll be careful to give thee the glory. We come to thee in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. I'd like to ask as we close that the Christians will be sensitive to the working of the Spirit of God tonight. And if you feel compelled to speak a word in season, please be careful and understand that this is the work of God, not our work. And be in an attitude of prayer as the Spirit of God works among us tonight. Thank you very much. thinking and considering the offer that God has made to you through His Son, Lord Jesus Christ. And as we sing this last hymn, continue to reflect on what has been said this evening and think of these words as well as we sing number two hundred and twenty-six just as I am. Number two hundred and twenty-six. Would you stand, please? Thank you.