Nicholson, Boyd: Because He Lives 04 ~ Genesis 19:

Genesis chapter nineteen. Now we shall look into the New Testament for a verse or two. Nineteen, beginning to read at verse seventeen. But go to the Hebrews and chapter two. Hebrews chapter two. I suppose it needs no special gift of either the seer or the prophet to recognize that men and women, both young and old, in the day in which we live, seem to be in full flight from reality. Multitudes are seeking to escape the hard facts of life, sordid circumstances in which they may find themselves, the bitter disappointments, the sorrows and griefs, the heartaches, the unanswered questions, the dark forebodings of international problems, the economic uncertainty, and the personal burdens and heartaches of men and women. All these things drive men and women to escape from these hard realities. Some try to escape by artificial means, alcohol, drug addiction. Some try to escape by pleasure, immersing themselves in pleasure or sports, or even giving themselves over to licentious living, if by any means for but an hour they can escape the hard realities of daily living. Some try to escape by travel, and they think that by getting on a jet they can travel to some other place where there will be no problems. They believe the travel posters, and so they fly. Of course, they won't be the first. The great David said, oh, that I had wings like a dove, I would flee away and be at rest. But there's one profound problem with that statement. It's not really true. I was traveling once to the West, and as most believers, I suppose, do from time to time, they seek the Lord's guidance about the details of life, and I usually like to ask the Lord to, when I'm traveling, to sit me beside someone I can have a little talk to about the Lord, knowing that there are lots of folks who are in real need. I had selected a seat on the aisle. I was boarded early, and therefore the seat beside me was empty. But the people were crowding on, and I was looking with interest at the different folks coming down the aisle to guess who might be my traveling companion for about four hours to the west. There was a gap, and then on came a young lady. She made her way down the aisle towards me, and she was, shall we say, quite a sight. She had a bottle blonde afro haircut about eighteen inches wide. Her eyes were the current shade of brilliant blue. She had two about uh two inch radius earrings dangling from her ears. She was painted up according to the current style of her culture, and she was walking down the aisle looking every inch the revolutionary. It seemed to me all she needed was the machine gun to complete the picture. As I watched her come down the aisle, lo and behold, she stopped where I was sitting, checked a boarding pass, and that was it for four hours. She climbed over my knees, got into the seat beside me, and I whispered a silent prayer to the Lord that I may have the exceeding great wisdom to know when to speak and when not to speak. I decided I was going to leave it to the Lord to open the conversation. It didn't take, uh, the Lord very long to do that. As a matter of fact, before we even got moving at all, the young lady had been looking me up and down with my square haircut and square blue suit, and I could sense her sizing me up, and suddenly she said to me, where are you going, mister? Well, I said, I'm going to Vancouver. I said, uh, and where are you going? She says, I'm going to Vancouver too. There was a pause, but those blue bead eyes hadn't left me yet. She says, then what's your business, mister? Well, I said, I happen to be a preacher of the gospel, a minister of the word of God. She leaned back as though I had given her a fair slap. She said, you're kidding. I said, no, I'm not kidding. Maybe I didn't look like one. And again, she said, you're kidding. No, I said, I'm not. I'm a preacher of the gospel, a minister of the word of God. I was almost afraid to ask her what her business was, but I felt it was the obvious question that should follow. And with great trembling, I said to her, and what is your business? She says, I'm a barmaid in Toronto. It kind of fit. I said, what are you going to Vancouver for, a holiday? No. Vancouver is the furthest place I can get to on this continent with the money that I have. And she says, I'm just running away. My best friend just committed suicide, and I just have to get away from it all. I said, have you ever been to Vancouver? No, she says, I haven't. Well, I said, I've been there many times. I said, when you get to Vancouver, you'll find there's a problem there. Oh, she said, what is that? I said, when you get there, you'll find that you are there, and that's where your problem is. Your problem is not in Toronto. Your problem is not in Vancouver, but the basic principle of life is this: wherever you go, you go. And that's where the problems are. You may change your geography, but you can't change the problems by traveling four thousand miles. But oh, how many, for sh- she is but a representative of multitudes who are crossing and recrossing the land by thumb or car or plane or something, if only they can get away from something, escape from reality. Some, of course, seek escape from responsibility, and so the divorce courts are filled, and the children's welfare offices are filled with forsaken children. There's many a wife left behind or huddled to because the partner does not want to bear responsibility, and they seek to flee from responsibility. There are a few, however, and they seek to escape from retribution for their sins. And so man is forever on the run, trying to escape. And we found that word, didn't we? We found it in Genesis, and it was the word of the angel sent by God to Lot, his wife, and his family sitting in there in Sodom and Gomorrah. And by the way, if you have any doubts about the stand of Anita Bryant, you read that chapter, and you will find out that the wickedness that she has condemned is an abomination to God, and it's recorded what God thinks of it, and he underscored that by destroying the cities of that wicked sin by fire and brimstone. Escape was the word of the angels to Lot and his family, escape for thy life. But they didn't all escape. Lot made it. His two daughters made it. His wife almost made it. But his sons and his sons-in-law were immersed in their depravity, and they made no attempt to escape. But what about you and me? Where do we fit into this? Well, this message comes to all of us in our day, that we too may escape from the retribution that is due to our sins. And so the question, or at least the, yes, the question is raised in Hebrews chapter two, How shall we escape? And I wonder if I speak to someone in the audience tonight, a young person or old, and you have been trying to escape. You've been trying to escape reality, perhaps in drugs, I do not know. Perhaps in alcohol, or an older person seeking to escape responsibility. But the greatest problem you have to face tonight is how you're going to escape the retribution of God against your sins. And how shall we escape, says God, if we neglect so great salvation? I want to think for a few minutes with you about the provision that God has made whereby we can escape. It's called in this verse, so great salvation. Well, what is salvation to begin with? When the Bible speaks of salvation, it refers to that work of God whereby men and women are saved from their sins. When the Lord Jesus was about to be born as an infant babe in Bethlehem, his name was sent from heaven by an angel, and this was the message given: Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now, primarily, that's what it means to be saved. This provision of God is that we might be saved from our sins. Well, what does that mean? Well, it means to be saved from the penalty of our sins, because sin carries with it a penalty. The wages of sin is death, not only physical death, but spiritual and eternal death. When the Bible speaks of death, it does not mean cessation of existence. That's what we mean by it, but the Bible means separation of existence, still conscious existence, but separated in some way or another. To be saved from our sins is to be saved from the penalty of our sins, but it is more than this. It is to be saved from the power of sin, for sin has dominion. If the penalty is death, then the power of sin is dominion over the lives of those it holds captive. When a person is saved, then the word of God says of these, sin shall not have dominion over you anymore. Those who are not saved must sin inevitably, but those who are saved do not need to sin inevitably because they have been delivered from the dominion of sin, and now they are bond slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. To be saved, then, means to be moved out from under the penalty of sin, to be delivered from its power, and ultimately to be taken out of the very presence and delivered from even the very effects of our sin. I love the gospel for that. This is not a message of high-flung theories, but this is a message that really meets men and women where they live. I was preaching in a city far from here. After the meeting, everyone left but one man about middle age, intense, agitated, fine looking, athletic, gray hair, little gray mustache, lean face. And when all had gone, he said to me, I must speak with you privately. We went into a little room and sat down, and to open the conversation, I put out my hand and said, my name is Boyd Nicholson. He turned round and he said, my name is Edwin Alonso Boyd. I said, not the Edwin Alonso Boyd. You remember? Canada's number one public enemy of twenty five years ago. He says the very same. Now that you know who I am, is there any hope for a man like me? He had served out three life sentences in prison, is out now on a lifetime parole, living under an assumed name in another city. I had preached from the text that night, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. I reminded him of the text, and I asked him the question, are you a sinner? He dropped his head. He said, I surely am. We sat down together, and I opened the Word of God. Very intelligent, intense thinking man. As I read a verse, he would not move on to another verse until he felt he understood the implications of that verse. And as we went through the gospel record from verse to verse, at last he stood up and said, I see there is something I must do. He turned round, got down on his knees, and he began to pray. And I shall never forget that prayer. Very simple. And he said this, O God, we have read in thy word that if I will believe the gospel and receive thy son to be my savior, you will forgive all my sins and give me eternal life. O God, I now hold thee to thy promise." That was good, wasn't it? Amen. He stood up. He turned to me with a smile and took my hand in his. He said, now my record is clean. That's the savior we're talking about. The savior that has power, not only to pardon the sinner, but to deliver him from its dominion and bring them into the very kingdom of God and of his Christ, and make them ambassadors of the greatest message ever to be heralded on the face of the earth. You may not be a criminal, but maybe you are. But it matters not how far you may have wandered in sin, how far you have run away from your mother's God, how deep you've drunk on the cup of iniquity. The Bible declares without qualification that if you will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, he will forgive your sins. He will record, he will throw away the file, and there will be no record in all of God's universe that you ever committed a sin. So efficacious, so effective is the value of the death of God's lovely son that he will cleanse the sinner and make them as though they had never sinned at all. That is salvation. Would you like that? Why, there are millions longing for a new beginning. They're crying out, if only I could start over again. If only I could begin one more time. That's exactly what God is offering you. He's offering you a brand new beginning, and he's offering you to wipe out the past, and a beginning that will lead you into his presence in a coming day. That is salvation. But it's called not just salvation, it is called so great salvation. And that salvation is a great salvation because its source was in the heart of God. This message was not devised by some ancient prophets, priests, or popes. This was a message that began in the very heart of God before ever the world was. It was in his mind to bring into being creatures whom he foreknew would fall into sin, but creatures he determined in his wise and holy purposes to save from sin and bring them into heaven, to people heaven with a multitude of pardoned sinners, and every one of them bearing the image of his own beloved son. It's a great salvation because its source is in the heart of God. It's a great salvation because its subject is the Son of God. That's what the gospel is all about. It's not about rules and regulations to be strung around the soul in case of accident. It's not about some ancient creeds to be carried like a heavy burden, hoping that they'll see you through death into eternity. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ has nothing to do with incense and candles and s- and religious ceremonials. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has to do with a person, and a living person. A living savior who wants to enter into that heart of yours. He wants to draw near to you, to live with you, yay, to live in you by his spirit, and to be your friend and savior for time and eternity. The subject of the gospel is about God's son who came from heaven, who died abandoned on a lonely cross, not as a martyr, not as the leader of a new religion, but he died there for the sin of the world. And friend, that's why tonight there is a message that speaks of so great salvation. It's great because its source is in God. It's great because its subject is the Son of God, and it's great because of its sufficiency. It is called the Gospel of Christ. That tells me of its absolute sufficiency to meet every need of every sinner who will avail themselves of it. The atonement was no business act, says the poet, whereby the Savior did contract to suffer just so many pains, to put away so many stains. When our Savior died, such was the infinite value of his sacrifice that he died for the sin of the whole world. So says the Bible. So great salvation. That's the provision of God. But there's a problem, isn't there? Every one of us, born in sin, we need to escape the retribution those sins demand. How shall we escape? Well, I have news for you. You shall. Those of you who are not saved, who have never yet taken Christ as personal savior, have not believed the gospel, I have news for you. You shall escape if you have no sin in your life. I would not need, in an audience of this nature, to spend time proving that you're a sinner. But it's a strange thing. There are some people don't believe that they're bad enough to miss heaven. And that starts very young, and I see a lot of young folks here tonight, and thank you for coming. But don't think because you're young that you're not a sinner. At camp a few summers ago, there was a little fellow came about six years of age, his name was John. I remember him well. He was what you might call the center of attraction, or should I say the center of trouble, because we always knew where John was. There was never a problem finding John, because wherever there was trouble, we knew where John was, right in the middle of it. Unfortunately, he had been assigned to a cabin, uh, overseen by a very young and inexperienced counselor who was having great trouble with this little fellow. We pitied the little chap. He came from a broken home or no home at all. He didn't know the word discipline. In fact, he didn't even know what the word love meant. So we did our best to help little John, but he was an absolute, I wouldn't say monster, but you know what I mean. He was, shall we say, a little difficult. Anyway, one day I heard a commotion outside of my cabin. I went out to see there were the little group of boys, the council looking at the ground, thinking there had been an accident. I moved over to see the trouble. I said, what's wrong? Oh, he said, this is John. Oh yes. And here was John lying in a heap on the ground. I said, what's wrong with him? Oh, nothing's wrong with him, but we were going for a hike, and he doesn't want to go. Oh, I see. So I picked him up by the blue jeans and the shirt, and I stood him on his feet, and he collapsed like a bag of liver on the ground. So I picked him up again, and I threw him over my shoulder, and I made for the cabin. And he looked round at me, he said, uh, where are we going? I said, we're going to my cabin, in as angry a voice as I could muster. I wasn't really angry at him, but I wanted to teach him a lesson. We went to the cabin, and I popped him down on his two heels on the floor, and I said to him, why are you such a bad boy? He looked up to the ceiling, and he said, kind of religiously, I guess I must have the devil in my heart. Say, do you remember where that came from? I'm sure he didn't remember it, or maybe never learned it. Way back in the Garden of Eden. What did Adam say when God charged him? Adam said, it wasn't my fault, God, it was your fault. The woman thou gavest me. If you hadn't given me that woman, Lord. And then the Lord said to Eve, Eve, oh, she said, this Satan beguiled me, the serpent beguiled me, the devil made me do it. That's an old thing, isn't it? Well, anyway, little John lasted another night or two, and about two o'clock in the morning, a knock came to my cabin door. I pulled on my slacks and opened the door, and there he stood in his pajamas. I said, what's the trouble, John? He said, I want to get saved. I brought him in, sat him down in a piece of the holy furniture in that little cabin where many a child has come to Christ. I said, save John. I wanted him to understand what he was doing. I said, what do you want to be saved from? He says, I don't know. Well, I said, John, everybody has to be saved from something. If I fell in the lake and I called out, save me, you threw me a a rope and you pulled me out, what would you save me from? Oh, he said, I'd save you from drowning. I said, if my cabin was on fire and you put up a ladder and you pulled me out, what would you save me from? He said, I'd save you from burning. I said, what do you want to be saved from? He says, I don't know. Well, I thought I'd help him a little. I said, John, have you ever sinned in your life? He looked up to that spot on the ceiling again, with a kind of a holy rapture, he said, yes, I did once. Yes, we smile, but isn't that very human? And you know, the hardest job of the gospel preacher is not to preach the gospel, and that's tough enough, but the hardest job of the gospel preacher is to get the sinner to say, I have sinned. My friend, until you get to that place and recognize your sins deserve eternal death, and unless those sins are pardoned by the grace of God, you will go to hell and the lake of fire and perish forever. Hard words to say, not easy to listen to, but that's why God sent his son to such a death, to keep you from perishing. You shall escape if you have not sinned, but you know that you have sinned, so there's no escape there. Well, here's some more news for you. You shall escape if you will not die. If you can live on and on down here forever and never be called out to meet a holy God in judgment, then you shall escape the retribution of Almighty God against your sins. But you know, and I know, that people die. And this is always a solemn part of every gospel meeting. For as I look down on the faces of this company here, I suppose I can say after these many years in the Lord's work, I have buried somebody just about your age, young or old. Yes, death comes on with reckless footsteps to the Holland hut. Think you death will tarry knocking at the door is shut? My friend, death is a reality. And every time you open page two of your newspaper and you see the obituaries, there is a list of the men and women who have discovered the truth of the text, for we must needs die. Every time you see the funeral parlor down here in Blue Street or Young or wherever, it's a testimony to the fact that you are mortal, and you're going to die, and you're going to leave your toys, your things of dust, the things that fill your heart with pleasure now, you will leave them far behind. You will step out naked of everything but your sins to meet a holy God. Oh, you shall escape if there is no death, but there is death, so there's no escape there. Well, here's some more news for you. You shall escape if there is no judgment coming. Well, what does the Bible say about this? And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. You see, God is the great inevitable. We all must stand before God, either in grace, saved on earth, saved while we had life, stand before him in grace forgiven to dwell with him forever, or stand before him in judgment. God is the great inevitable. On a sundial in Britain, there are some very pithy words inscribed, and this is what they say. Tender teens, teachable twenties, thrilling thirties, fiery forties, forceful fifties, serious sixties, solid seventies, aching aching 80s, death, the sod, God. You cannot escape him. He's waiting for you at the end of the journey. And one of us will be next. And I wonder if you are ready to meet that God. For if you have rejected Christ, you have rejected your mother's God, teenager, how shall you escape if you neglect so great salvation? Yes, it is a great salvation, but there is the problem. How will you escape? Now, here is the possibility of this evening. You'll notice what the verse says. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? The word is not reject. For I suppose that some of you are here and you have been brought up in a Christian home, and you have enough of the fear of God about you that you would never stand up and say, I reject Jesus Christ as Lord of my life. You may not ever say that in words. Rather, some of you have been neglecting the matter of your soul's salvation for years. Some of you have been brought up to the Sunday school teacher's instruction. You've learned hymns and gospel texts from your mother's name. But all your knowledge of the things of God will not take you to heaven, friend. They will not. And if you continue to neglect the salvation you know about, how will you escape? And think you not that the knowledge of the Bible, or having Christian parents, or having had a godly Sunday school teacher, do not think that that will help you at the judgment. Rather, that will add to your responsibility. Years ago, in a place where I worked, I had occasion to visit one department, and as I was standing between a couple of machines, there was a fellow repairing one of them, and in the course of what he was doing, he let go a mouthful of oaths and curses and took the name of our blessed Savior in vain. I turned and rebuked him for his blasphemy and reminded him of the solemn solemnity of that sin. He kind of scorned with a bit of a laugh. He said, ha, I suppose you're one of them gospel hollers. Well, I suppose you could call me that because I said that's where I attend. Then he softened. Well, he says, you know, I used to go to the Sunday school of the little gospel hall on Queenston Street there in St. Catharines. I said, I hardly believe that, that a man raised in the Sunday school in the gospel hall could fill his mouth with blasphemy against the God of heaven. Oh, he says, I can prove that to you. I said, go ahead. Standing between the machines, he lifted his voice and he said, 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. John three sixteen. See, he says, I learned that in the gospel hall Sunday school, and Ruth Walker was my Sunday school teacher. I said to him, you know, it would be an awful thing for you, if you die a Christ rejecter, to be able to quote John three sixteen in a lost sinner's hell. And this is solemn business tonight. I call upon you, young people, particularly now, to consider well your eternal state. And some of you have been putting off the day of your salvation, assuming that there would be a choice moment, a golden opportunity. Young man, young woman, this is it. But you have been neglecting your salvation. What makes people neglect their salvation? Oh, they mean to be saved someday. They know it's right, but first they want to sow their wild oats or something. What is it that makes you want to neglect the soul salvation that is so urgent and has been provided at such a cost by God? Well, I suggest to you that people neglect their soul salvation because they have no sense of need. You feel you don't need it right now. We read in second Corinthians four and verse four this word, the God of this age has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine in unto them. The glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine in unto them. That's why you're not safe tonight. Why you keep neglecting it is because you have been anesthetized to the sense of your need. And so long as you do not feel you need a savior, then you will think it very easy to go to bed tonight and fall asleep. And I want to say this very solemnly. If I was in your position, out of Christ with no savior, knowing what I know now of this book, I tell you I would be afraid to go to sleep tonight, lest I would pass out of time into eternity before the morning light. Some people neglect their soul salvation because they feel no immediate need of it. Some neglect their soul salvation because they have no sense of urgency. Oh, someday, I really will be saved someday, someday. But listen to what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes, chapter nine and twelve: Man knoweth not also his time. As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as birds caught in a snare, so are the sons of men snared in a time of adversity when it falleth suddenly upon them. You see those two striking pictures of sudden death? A fish swimming silently in the water, suddenly taken in the net. No noise, silent, but taken in the net. And the other picture is the picture of the bird. The bird caught in the snare, and oh, with what squealing and what with what frantic beating of the wings it tries to escape. The fish so silently caught, the bird so noisily caught, that both are caught. And God brings two very forceful pictures to you. There are some people quietly going through life with great plans for the future, not knowing that just ahead is the instrument that will ensure they have no future for their plans. And the other, the bird soaring into the blue with great aspirations, caught in the snare. And the Lord says, man is just like that, taken in a time of adversity when suddenly it falleth upon them. It is always a solemn responsibility of the gospel preacher to raise the warning voice. And I suppose, though I will not do it, I suppose I could spend a great deal of time relating to you incidents of which I am personally aware of, of men and women, both young and old, who sat in gospel meetings just like this, and as far as we know, they made no decision for Christ, and before the week was over, they were ushered out into eternity. I have known them personally and by name, and I wonder as I look at this company, just who it will that will be next. And I wonder if you are ready to meet God. How shall you escape if you neglect so great salvation? Some people neglect salvation not only because they have no sense of need, no sense of urgency, but because they have no sense of appreciation of their own personal danger. Proverbs twenty and one says, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. And they have no sense of the promised delight that God has for those who trust him. My friend, if only for one moment you could catch a sight of the blessings of being saved. Oh, the wonderful benefits of being in Christ. Pardon from all your sin. Peace of mind for the problems of the present. Peace of conscience for the sins of the past, peace of soul for the great eternity that lies before us all. Heaven, an inheritance, and the greatest of all blessings, the supreme joy of the human soul, the person of Christ to know and to love, to be your friend and companion all your life through and into eternity. One night the phone rang in our home about eleven thirty. I answered the phone, and it was a very agitated lady's voice that met my ear. She says, I have made about twenty phone calls tonight, and someone has given me your number. I am desperately in need of help. No one has been able to help me, and I am making this call as the very last one before I commit suicide. Can you give me just one reason why I should still keep on living? If you cannot give me one reason, I'm going to hang up the phone and take my own life. Crying to the Lord for a little wisdom. I said, have you have you a Bible in the house? She says, I do. Then bring it to the phone. And so I began to read with her from the scriptures. The longest phone call I ever had in my life, I think it lasted two and a half hours. At last, when she got her problems down, and that dear soul had problems I couldn't tell you about. I just couldn't hardly blame her for her thinking. When she got her problems down to where at least she could look at them, I said to her, you know, what you need is a friend. Someone wiser and stronger than you have, than you are. Someone who will love you and act in your interests and be able to meet those needs right where they are. And she almost wailed into the phone, I know, I know, but where can I ever find such a friend? I turned to Revelation 3 and twenty and asked her to do the same. I read these lovely words. Jesus said, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man, if any woman hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me. There was a moment or two of silence, and then, to my surprise, she began to pray right on the phone. She says, oh Lord, I need you. Please come into my heart and save me now. I didn't quite know what to say for a moment, and then she said, you know, mister, I think you must have really come in. The room is beginning to look brighter already. That dear girl had not slept for three months, one night's sleep. She was taking drugs to stay awake, drinking coffee, sitting up in a chair all night so she wouldn't sleep because she was haunted by frightening nightmares. She had two little children, and she was abandoned. I said, you go to bed, but before you do, you go down and ask the Lord to give you a good night's sleep and just crawl into bed. My wife and I will pray for you now, and we'll come down to see you in the morning. We went to see her in the morning about nine thirty, and a very bedraggled looking soul opened the door, thin and emaciated. When I introduced who we were, she burst out in a smile. Oh, she said, come in till I tell you what happened. She says, I got down on my knees like you told me and asked the Lord to give me a good night's sleep. She says, I went to bed, and for the first time that I can remember, I slept like a baby till six o'clock in the morning. She says, when I woke, my heart was so full of joy, I just had to tell somebody. She says, I went into the room and woke up my little girl, and I said, honey, you have a new mommy this morning. She didn't need religion. What she needed was a friend, a person who could move in on her life, and this is what you need, and the reason that you neglect your salvation is because you don't appreciate this glorious person, the Son of God in all his loveliness. Oh, he is so wonderful to know, and you're running away from him, but he wants to bless you, and if you will open your heart just as simply as that, he will enter in and save you tonight.