I'd like to read two verses with you tonight. One is found in Jeremiah chapter eight. Jeremiah chapter eight. Reading at verse twenty. Jeremiah eight twenty. The harvest has passed. Summer is ended. And we are not saved. Another verse in Revelation chapter three, please. And this also is verse twenty. Revelation three twenty. Behold, I stand at the door knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he was me. When I was asked to speak at this meeting tonight, this verse that I read first came to me. I can't recall whenever I preached on it, I know in earlier days, probably forty years ago, I probably did. But I don't know of a time since, but it seemed to be the message that God would have me speak to you tonight. The harvest has passed. The summer has ended and we're not safe. So I read that verse tonight, I thought of three seasons. The harvest in the fall. And then comes the spring, which is not mentioned here, and then the summer. And in this verse, I saw three class of people to be in this meeting tonight. the old folks who have reached the harvest time, their lives are ripened, time when the grain is going to be gathered in, and they don't know when they're going to leave this scene, probably sooner than they expect. And I thought of the spring, and that includes the children and the young folks, probably those up to twenty who haven't experienced so much of life, They're living in the world and everything looks so bright. They never think of dying because they expect older people to die. They never think of eternity because they're so enjoying the present with sports and school and play and have little time to think about serious things. And then I thought of those who are in the summer time of life. Perhaps they're getting ready to be married or they have been married. Some of them have their children around them. And they're so busy working to buy a house, a home for their children and their family. It takes much of their time. And in this day of pleasure, some of them are buying boats. And on Saturday afternoon, they're taking the family away. They have a good time over the weekend. And all they think of is enjoying life. enjoying the things of this life, but they think little about eternity. They don't expect to die. But you know, beloved friends, the Bible says it is appointed unto men once to die. We only leave this world once, and that means physical death there. But after this, the judgment. We're responsible creatures. We have to meet God. The children don't think so much of dying. A little girl, if I remember the story right, came to her mother and said, Mother, how old do I have to be to die? And the wise mother gave us a long piece of string. And the cemetery was just across the road. She said, I'll tell you, you take this string and go and measure those graves. And she measured one big long grave to tie a knot in when you measure one. Died a knot. Another one not quite so long, and then another one even shorter, and finally just the little one. Oh, she said, Mommy, they're all sizes out there. And the wise mother said, yes, children die. We all die at different ages. Death never bothered me as a child so much. Thank God I was saved at eleven. But I'll tell you something that troubled me as a boy, far more than death. I had a father and mother who were saved. A father and mother loved the Lord Jesus Christ. And they found out they were sinners and they trusted Him. And they knew that when they died, they were going to be with Him. And I heard about the Lord coming. And I knew if the Lord came, that Father would go and Mother would go, and I would be left behind. In later years, my brother often said that some nights he woke up and would try to listen to see if they were still breathing, and maybe crawl on his hands and knees to the bedroom to get to listen. And if he heard my dad snoring, he felt better and went back to bed. He knew the Lord hadn't come yet. And there was still hope. Yes, boys and girls brought up in the Sunday school who listen to the Word of God, they know more about these things than some others. And they know that they must be saved if they're going to be ready to go to heaven, to meet the Lord, to be with Him. And they do get concerned often when they're young. And it's a good thing because I want to tell you most people are saved when they're young. And it's a wonderful thing to be saved when you're young. You have a life to live, and if you live for Christ, you'll have somebody with you. And you'll have a reward in heaven if you serve Christ. But if you squander and waste your life, until the end, you're missing in that. Oh, thank God you're not too old to be saved. No one is too sinful to be saved. God has made great provision for us. We can be, but we must first of all realize that we must be saved. Some people don't know that. They don't realize that when Adam sinned, this creation fell. They don't realize that we're all a part of a fallen creation. This creation is not what it was when God created it. Some people can see great beauty in it. Well, thank God they can. There's still some beauty there. But when I look at a rose, I see a thorn. And I know that wasn't there when God created it. Look at a cactus filled with thorn. Look at the beautiful crops growing and weeds coming up. And then I go somewhere out in the field, I see thorns and thistles. And those things weren't out there when God created this earth. Why are they there? Because of sin. And then man goes out to work to plow the field. to reap the harvest and you see the sweat running down his face. And that's what the Bible told Adam. He said of the sweat of thy face shall the ground bring forth. Most people don't know that's the quotation in the Bible. It is. The sweat of thy face shall the earth. Why do people sweat? Because they're sinners. Why do they die? Because they're sinners. Why is this world filled with thorns and troubles and sorrows? Because it's a sinful world. It's a lost world. And when we're born, we're born to die. And we must die. We might as well face it. We're not going to be here forever. The older generation that we knew is gone. And it won't be long if some others of us are gone. And it won't be too long until everyone here is gone. The Lord be not come. And if he comes, some of us will go before our time and be very happy because we're going to be spared some of the things that lie ahead. Beloved friends, we must realize that we have been born in sin. And we're so bad by nature, God says they that are in the flesh cannot please him. Most people think if they live right and do good, they'll go to heaven. God says there's none good. God says there's none that lives right from his sight. God says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No, my friends, our condition is hopeless as far as we're concerned. We can't add one inch to our stature. We can't add one span to our life. Someday we must die and meet God. We have to give an account of himself, each of us to himself, of himself to God. So we must be saved. We have to have a salvation. You know, one of the strange things is that men think that when they die here there's something better beyond. Why does man die because he's a failure? Because he's sinned. The wages of sin is death. Is God going to give us something better because we failed here? Because we didn't live as He wanted us to live here? Is He going to give us something better over there? No. We don't deserve something better over there. The only reason why we have a hope for something better over there is because God, in His love, has provided a salvation whereby He can give us something better over there, something we do not deserve. It's all on the ground of God's grace, God's unmerited favor. Yes, we must be saved if we're going to be ready to go over there. And this salvation brings the new hope of heaven. And I'm glad I have that hope of heaven. But it's only found in one person, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Thessalonians says he is our hope. And if we do not have him as our hope, we don't have hope. There's no hope for a sinner outside of Christ. And why are we not saved? Is it God's fault? No. If God treated us as He did the angels, He would never have provided a Savior for us. Before man sinned, angels sinned, but we never read of a Savior for angels. They're doomed. There's no hope for them. If you thought God would do that to man, you'd think you'd be terrible. But those holy angels that sinned, led by Satan and others, they're fallen and they're doomed. And God never provided a Savior. But, beloved friends, the wonderful grace is that when man sinned and failed, man of a lower creation, God had pity on him. And God says, I'm going to save man. God says, I love that world down there. You know, this world seems to have a special attraction for God. Because when he... remade it, he put a garden there. And then he made man to keep the garden for him. And then when man was made, he came down and talked to man. And then when man sinned, he tried to hide from God, but it was God who came out in grace that Adam were our cops. Oh yes, God has a great interest in men. And he's provided a salvation whereby he's going to give us something better over there than we ever had here. He's going to give us the joys of heaven instead of the styles of earth in which we are born here. And God has this salvation for us, but man won't listen. That's why he doesn't understand it. If you ask man if he's going to go to heaven, he said, well, what will take you to heaven? He said, I think if you do this, and I think if you do that. He's got his own thoughts, and he never asks God what he wants, what he demands. It doesn't matter what I think you'll take me to heaven or what you think you'll take me to heaven. Remember, we have sinned against God, and we must have a salvation that satisfies God. That's why most people don't know they're going to heaven. They've never found a salvation that satisfies the God against whom we've sinned. Oh, they've got one they think they're all right. They hope they're going to get to heaven. It pleases them. But what good is it if it doesn't please God? And my friends, we're wonderfully favored people today. God has provided for us a salvation that will take us to heaven. Do you know when he told those children of Israel to kill that lamb and put the blood on the door of their houses? Do you know what he said? When I see the blood, I'll pass over you. That salvation satisfied God. That blood was for God. God says, I can't save you unless there's blood on the door, because that was a picture of the salvation He was going to provide for us. And first of all, God must be satisfied with this salvation. God must be satisfied with this Savior. And that's why people are all confused today. They're trying to save themselves. And God says you can't. Salvation is not of yourself. They're trying to do good. God says there's none good. trying to work their way to heaven. God says it's not of work. And then people wonder why they don't know they're saved. The reason is they don't have God's salvation. And God's salvation is in a person. He gave a picture of it over there in the Old Testament. God gave many pictures. All those people who want to be saved had to bring a lamb and had to be killed and the blood had to be shed. That was a picture of the cross. where Jesus was going to die for sinners. And then God gave another picture. He said, Abraham, take your son, your only son Isaac, and go and offer him on one of the mountains I'll tell you about. And Abraham took his son, his only son, he went up to Mount Moriah to offer him up. And Isaac said, Father, here's the fire in the wood, where's the lamb? He said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb. God will provide himself a lamb. Abraham probably didn't fully understand it that day, but he was doing the very thing. He was picturing the very thing that God was going to have to do when he provided a Savior that would satisfy him himself. And as Abraham stretched, as Isaac stretched out on that wood, as Abraham bound him, and he lifted up the knife to slay his son, God says, don't do it, Abraham. Don't do it. I know you fear me, don't do it. And what a salvation that was for Isaac. He got off that altar, and then God said, behold, as the ram caught in the thicket, he looked over there and there was a ram, and now he goes and gets the ram, and he puts it on the very altar where Isaac was, where Isaac should have been sacrificed. And he binds the ram there, and he lifts his knife, And this time it comes down. The ram had to die. Oh, God gave us a two-fold picture there, what he was going to do. But he didn't carry it through. He spared Abraham that sorrow. But the ram caught in the thicket as Isaac looked at. He said, why, I should have been there. But that ram has taken my place. And God didn't spare him from that wrath. He died for me. And beloved, that little ram becomes a picture. of what happened when God sent His only begotten Son to be our Savior. He had to go to that cross to suffer and bleed and die. Our sins had to be laid upon Him. And when He was on that cross, there was nothing to spare Him. He cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I know the answer to that question of you. It was to spare me, to save me. It was to save you. Last Sunday night, I was at Buffalo, Wyoming. I'd been there for twelve days, having meetings morning and night at times. This was the last night. Man had been coming there and he'd been brought up very religiously, but he didn't have Christ. He'd been sending meetings and he seemed somewhat anxious about how he could be sure. I was talking to him in another room and as I was talking to him, trying to show him how God loved him and what a Savior he provided when he sent Christ. His daughter, Mary's daughter, came in and she said, I am troubled about these sins after you're saved. Well, I said, if you don't mind, I'd like you to listen while I explain to your father how he can get rid of his sins. And then I'll tell you about the sins after you're saved. And so she sat there listening. And we read in Isaiah all we like sheep have gone astray and have turned everyone his own way. And I said, you know, even when I was a boy, I knew I'd gone astray. And I knew I'd taken my own way and I knew there was a great load of sin on me. I knew that every time I disobeyed my father and mother, that was a sin. Because God said, children, obey your parents. And everything was adding sin. And I had a big load. And then how the Lord hath laid on him, how when Christ came, and he died to save us. God had to lay all our sins on him. And I explained to them how the man showed me that verse and how God had laid on him all my sins. And then we looked at that verse together and we were talking about it that the Lord hath made on him. That God loved us even before we were born, nineteen hundred years ago, and he sent Jesus to die. And he laid all those sins on him so that he might suffer and bleed and pay the debt. And I said, we've got to believe God. God has provided this salvation, but we must believe it. And we must see that God has laid them all on him. I said, can we be sure about it? The Lord has laid on it. And this girl said, yes, she says, that's sure. She says so. Oh, she says, a big load has been lifted from me. I feel fifty pounds lighter. She evidently saw that her syndrome laid upon Jesus. He wasn't quite so sure of salvation he thought he was. And finally the old man said, yes, he could believe God too. Well, I said, that Savior who died is waiting for you to open your heart and said, Lord, I believe that you paid my debt and I'll trust you. I'll receive you. He said, when are you going to do that? He said, I want to do it now. I want to take Jesus now as my Savior. Yes. My friend, he's able to save unto the othermost. But what's the matter with the old folks here tonight that they're not saved? Probably the biggest reason is because they don't want to be saved. And what about these others, these middle-aged ones who haven't thought too much about it? They don't want to be saved. What about the boys and girls? Why aren't they saved? They don't want to be saved. Oh, I trust that some of you have said, well, I said that. There's one exception. I want to be. I hope there's some older folks, of course, than here tonight. When I said there are none of the older folks who want to be saved, they said, you're wrong, preacher. You're wrong. There's one here tonight who wants to be saved. And when I said those middle-aged folks, they don't want to be saved, I hope there was a young father, mother, or someone else In that bracket, you know, from twenty to fifty somewhere that said, well, you're wrong. Here's one that wants to be saved. Or maybe some boy or girl, when I said they don't want to be, said, yes, there is one. I'd like to be saved tonight. How could I be saved? Beloved, if you have a desire to be saved, you prove what's in my second verse here, that the Lord's knocking at your heart. that that Savior who died at Calvary and bears a nail prince is here tonight. You say, where can I find him? You can find him right here. You say, do I have to see him? No. He's a man sitting in heaven, but he's an invisible Savior. And you know what? He's promised that if we go and preach the gospel, he'll be there. And I believe that Savior's here tonight. You can't see him. And I believe that wounded hand is knocking at some boy or girl's heart tonight. Some of those that have reached the summertime of life or others who've reached the harvest. And Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door of night. He said, how can I be sure? Well, it says so. James Boswell, a preacher now in Canada, We were preaching together in North Carolina some time ago, or Georgia it was. And he said he adopted a little Jewish boy to his home. And this boy grew to be thirteen or fourteen, and he'd heard the gospel, but he hadn't trusted Christ yet. He said one morning he came down and said, well, Dad, he said, I woke up this morning. And I was thinking of that verse in the Bible where Jesus said, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man will open the door, I'll come in. He said, You know, I jumped out of bed and I got down on my knees. I said, Lord, I'm opening the door of my heart for you today, today, this morning, and I want you to come in. I'll let you come in. His father said, well, he said, how do you know you're saved? He told me what you did. How do you know? Well, he said, I just have Jesus' word for it. He said, if I open the door, he'd come in and I believe him. And he's not going to lie about it. You say, is salvation just that simple? Yes. Someone drew a picture of the Christ knocking at the door. And someone criticized that that's a foolish picture that There's no doorknob there. There's no way to get in. And we went back to him and he said, well, the lock's on the inside. And the Lord Jesus knocks at a door and the latch is on the inside. And he can't come in until the sinner says, Lord, I want you. I'll open my heart to you, Lord Jesus. I want you to come in. I know you died for sinners. And I know you bear those marks in your hands and feet. And I want you to come in. My friend, if you let him in and trust him as your Savior, yes, even yield your life to him, you can have a friend that will be with you all through life. And he'll come some of these days to take you to be with him. And he says he'll never leave you nor forsake you. Wouldn't you like that kind of a friend? One that can go through life, one that can go through death, one that can take you right into glory. He said, I am the way to the Father, and he'll take you all away. He's God's salvation. God sent him to die for sinners. He bears those nail prints in his hands and feet inside. He's knocking at some door. Behold, he says, I stand at the door and knock. Can you hear him? Do you believe he's knocking at your heart's door? Listen. He says, if any man, open the door. That means boy or girl in the springtime. That means man or woman living in the summertime. That means old man or woman's got to the harvest time of life. Jesus said, behold, I stand at the door knocked. If any man will open the door, I will come in. Will you open it right now? and say even in a silent under breath Lord Jesus come to my heart oh come to my heart Lord Jesus there's room in my heart for thee you'll come to my heart Lord Jesus come there's room in my heart for thee the Bible says whosoever believeth in him shall never perish we ask you to believe in a person who died for our sins and was buried and rose again. And God says whosoever believeth in him shall never perish. Do you have faith enough to say God in his word that Christ died for our sins? Christ was buried? Christ rose again? Christ knocks at your heart's door? He's waiting for you and he says if you'll open it, I will come in. Will you take Christ tonight? Oh, come to my heart, Lord Jesus. There is room in my heart for thee. Oh, come to my heart, Lord Jesus, come. There is room in my heart for thee. And God grant that you will take Christ tonight. If you have taken him and would like to tell us that you have, we'd be glad to have you do it. Maybe you've taken the Lord Jesus in order to hold anyone. Wouldn't it be nice for some of you folks that really have and want to confess in public who would just come down and tell us that you have trust in him and will? Just as I am without one plea, But that thy blood was shed for me, And that thou bidst me Come to thee, O land, of God I come. I come. Our Father, we thank thee for thy love that sent thy son down from heaven, to pay the debt of sin, that he shed his blood cleans it away that he said it's finished and then he rose from the dead and went back to heaven where thou hast given us seat and where thou hast accepted this finished work and exalted him to be a prince and a savior Lord Jesus we remember thou hast told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel and thou would be with us we believe thou art here tonight we believe there is some heart that thou hast been knocking at. We trust that it will open tonight if it has not already. We pray, Lord, that we may see souls saved here tonight. Nothing's too hard for thee. We pray that the choir of heaven will be singing over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety-nine just persons that need no repentance. And so, our Father, we commit the preaching of thy word to thee, We pray that the Holy Spirit will convict and enlighten and save that Christ will be implanted in hearts here tonight. And if any should leave this meeting not saved, we trust that might have the experience of that boy who got out of bed, who heard the knocking at his heart's door, and said, Lord Jesus, I'll open my heart, trust you. We thank you, Lord, for the simplicity of this great salvation. Thou hast done it all, and when we receive thee, we get all the credit. We pray that we may be so grateful that we'll give our lives to thee, that we might have the privilege of walking this earth with our hand in thine. And Lord, may we feel the pressure of that hand of love, guiding us, leading us, keeping us, showing us thy way. We ask thy blessing, O Lord. Father, we commit each soul to thee, thou didst give thy son, and thou art God, our Savior. We pray that he will be glorified tonight in the salvation of precious souls, not only here, but throughout the world. We ask the Lord that thou crown this conference with thy blessings, and thy children who will be leaving will go with a new vision of thy son and all his wonderful redemptive work, his glorification. And know him better as the one who has all power. And we're looking forward to the day when we shall all be gathered around him to sing unto the land that has been slain. We give thee praise forever. Receive our thanks and our worship in his worthy name, Lord Jesus Christ. If we can help anyone after the meeting, don't hurry away. We'd like to see you trusting Christ. Thank you.