Hero or Coward — John Ridley

The Blind Man’s Testimony and the Fear of Men

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth, and he sat on the ground and made clay of the stickle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation sin.

He went his way therefore, and washed, and came to him, and was brought down a little lower to the fourteenth earth, and it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his place.

He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. And lower down again, they say unto the blind man, What sayest thou of him that he hath opened mine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.

The Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and received his place until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. They asked them, saying, Is this your son whom you say was born blind?

How then doth he now see? His parents answered them, and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind, but by what means he now seeeth we know not, for who hath opened his eyes? We know not.

He is of age. Ask him. He shall speak for himself. These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

Therefore said his parents, He is of age. Ask him. Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise. We know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not.

One thing I know. Whereas I was blind, now I see. I draw that expression, and see his precious words to our hearts to know. Amen. I told you at the beginning of this visit that I had preached many sermons in this church, and was thinking to bring you four that I have never preached.

Receiving a Hero’s Welcome in Heaven

I didn't intend to speak on this one, but as I was praying last week for counsel and wisdom and guidance, the Lord brought before me this thought. To receive a hero's welcome. You know something about that.

The great Russian man that went away into orbit, and returned and went to Moscow to receive a hero's welcome. What a welcome. A little later, Commander Shepard, returning from his last flight into France to return to Washington to receive a hero's welcome.

What a wonderful thing. I expect unforgettable to the Major and the Commander, whether it be in the Red Square at Moscow, or through the grand streets of Washington DC. A hero's welcome. It's possible to win it in heaven, you know.

You might never get it in Sydney, but there's every hope. If you'll answer the challenge tonight, you'll get it in heaven. A hero's welcome. Listen to these two verses, and then answer the question I'm going to ask.

John 12, verses 42 and 43. Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also, many believed on him. But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him. Next, they should be put out of the sin of God. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

My last question to you in this brief visit is, are you a hero or a coward in heaven's eyes? That's the only thing that matters. The shouts of the multitude, the confetti of the crowd doesn't count. It's in heaven's eyes.

Heroism, Cowardice, and the Cost of Courage

True heroism is registered. Real heroism is noticed. It was a packed train. I was pushed into the corner and in the most uncomfortable position. It was the peak hour of travel, and I was trying to read the evening newspaper.

Very interesting edition. It told the story of the first Victoria Cross run in World War II. Corporal Edmonton, who gave his life for his officer, had won the bridge de posthumously. And I was pushed up against the side of the train, holding my evening newspaper like this, and reading with deep interest that current story.

And suddenly I became conscious of a woman's head, leering over near mine. What was she after? Was she trying to kiss me? Thanks for the day she wasn't doing that. And what was she after? Was she trying to pickpocket and take something out of my pocket?

Wasn't much in the pocket to take out. What was that head doing, leering over near mine? Oh, her thought and reading. Common crime of trying to read her neighbor's newspaper. And having been guilty of the same crime myself, I didn't refuse to be a lady, but I pushed the paper out a little so she could breathe in the other direction while she read.

And she went on reading in comfort until she suddenly said, You'll excuse me while I'm still reading your newspaper, but you see I'm Corporal Edmonton's cousin. And oh, we're extremely proud of him. And then she introduced me to Corporal Edmonton, and to his father and mother and family and certain of relatives, and she was indeed extremely proud of him, no doubt.

He was a hero. He'd given his life for his officers, and he won the highest honor for valor that the Empire in those days could convey to any man to victory abroad. And most people appreciate heroism and despise challenge.

Never should I forget in a dreadful day, the most awful day I expect I went through, second to one other in World War I, when we were just burrowed into little shell holes and hit the trenches under the terrific bombardment.

A little fracture bearer. That's the corpse that jumped into my shell hole. Mr. Ridley said, Would you come across to that trench over there? Private X says he must go out. He can't stand it any longer, but he's not wounded, sir, and he's not wearing shell shock.

I can't take him out without an officer's word. And we waited and waited until there was a few moments' love in the dreadful bombardment, and then we dashed across and down into the trench. And I'd passed several men with white tracers ripping onto the earth for their only protection from the shells, and came up to this poor fellow sitting at the end of the trench, a big tall fellow trembling like an aspen leaf.

I said, What is it, lad? What's the matter? Oh, sir, he said, Let me go out. Let me go out. I can't stand it. It'll send me mad, sir. Oh, let me go out. I said, After a few moments walking with him, I'll take him out.

He'll be no help to us when we go over the top tomorrow. Take him out. And as the little fracture bearer led this man out past these other men with their white tracers and grim-tight lips, I could read what they were saying.

We could all do that kind of thing if we wanted to. We had an officer with great despise in the tower. I want to tell you tonight, dear friend, I've far more consideration and esteem for that poor nerve-broken soldier than I have for the people of this text tonight.

At least he's on the uniform. At least he stood up for the time to the awful bombardment. And then he snerved for that. These rulers wouldn't do anything about it. They were convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ of God and the Savior of the world.

But they would not confess it. They would not own him. They would not offer him. They passed and cried coldly on the other side. After Jesus, Peter, they were believers. They were. They were believers with a butt, didn't you?

And I want to speak about those scarier butts tonight, wherein men and women and boys and girls say, I'm a believer. And they do not confess it. They do not confess the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not acknowledge the Son of God.

They do not commend the Christ of the cross of Calvary. There's the butt, the barrier of the fear of man. It's part of the past. Many believed on him, but they did not confess it because of the Pharisees.

Who were the Pharisees? The Pharisees just formed a strong political, ecclesiastical sect in Jerusalem, so strong, so influential, that they could put the fear of death into any man. Oh, the Buddha said one to the other, it's no use.

You know it, we confess him. Then we'll be censured. We'll be condemned. We'll be criticized. We'll be cast out. We might even be crucified. Or not. We'll say nothing of that. But it looks as though he is the Messiah.

Yeah, I think he is. But we won't confess. Ah, the fear of man. Freeness of spirit. But do so to seek faith in the Lord. Seek trust in the Lord. Now be safe. Although someone said perhaps in the congregation they were rulers, weren't they, Mr. Riffey?

That's right, that's what the scripture said. They were rulers. Yes, I thought so. Just like some of these big people that haven't the commoner garden habits of the working man. People of more humble strata in race would have the honest habit to confess the Lord, don't you think?

Be sure of that. He was only a poor blind beggar and his people were as poor as he was. And they sent him out on the street to beg. There, with his great affliction, born blind, he sought to pay to the coins of the parting people.

And then came Jesus. All that was different when Jesus came. And we remember how he sat into the dust and worked up with his holy sickle and with the dust of earth, that remarkable cultus, and put it on the eyes of the blind man and told him to go and walk.

And he came and see, and he passed his thrills. He's come out of darkness into light and you could almost feel the joy of the man. Ah, go on, Luther. Ah, no. You were never born blind. You were never born blind.

Oh, I was. He said, you can ask my mother and father. I was born blind. All right. All right. Sorry, parents. Soon the Pharisees had brought the parents to the front. They said, is this your son? He was born blind?

What does he now see? Luther said, he does run all right. Yes, we know. We know he was born blind. But by what means he now sees, we cannot tell. He's blind. Ask him. He can speak for himself. Ah, but parents, he has spoken for himself.

He's told them what he thinks of Jesus. He's a prophet. Now it's time for you to speak. They had heard tells that if anyone could confess that Jesus was the Christ, they would be put out of the synagogue.

Peter’s Denial and the Acid Test of Confession

Sorry, parents. Poor people were just as powerful as the rulers. They were coming to Jesus, even after following the Lord for three years, perhaps a little more. And when that last betrayal night came, and it was warm, and you turned to the fire, and the flick of a girl would let him in at the door, only a maid, called out in her rocket voice, This fellow was also the Jesus of Nazareth.

Peter said, Never! I know him not. He denied it. With all his big muscles, with all his self-confidence, and the thirst and impersonality, he did not confess him. It's always the acid test in the Christian life, friends.

I don't mind whether it's in India, where it costs a man sometimes his life to confess him, where it often costs him his family, where it costs him a hundred percent more than people in this private land, or whether it's here in Australia.

It's always the acid test to confess him, to own him. Let me introduce you to a man who lived in the middle of the last century. He was a wealthy man. He lived greatly in the world. He profited of society, cards, dancing, racing, hunting.

A Worldly Life Confronted by the Call of Christ

Those things made up his life. Frequently he'd heard the knock of the pierced hand. Frequently he'd heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and rest. But he didn't come. And he took it off, and Christ kept it until that night when he was forty-five years of age, playing cards with some of his worldly friends.

A frightful pain caught him in the body. He collapsed at the card table. His son and a friend lifted him up and carried him up the staircase to his own room, placed him on his bed, sent for the doctor, called him the little servant maid to light the fire for Master.

For they lived in Scotland, as it was called. And as the little maid tried to light the fire, but it wouldn't burn because of the winter, as he tried to get it going, this man, in anguish of pain, thought now, what a forty-four years of following the devil down to me.

I'll soon be in hell. I must sit on my knees and plead for God's mercy before I die. I'll do it now. Oh, I won't. That girl seemed to worry all night, whispered she'd go out of the place. I can't do it in front of her.

Oh, I can't. Oh, I must. The pain is killing me. I must. No, she's... It only goes from the place I get out, and the pain increases. And suddenly, he tells us he rolled out of his bed and fell upon his knees and cried out, Oh, God, be merciful to me, it's enough.

And saved me, Jesus Christ. And down low north, one of the greatest of Scotland's evangelists was born again. Many, many years afterwards, Mr. North Quincey said, I believe that was my last opportunity.

I believe if I had refused to acknowledge Christ before that servant girl, I would have not had another opportunity. I can't say for sure. God is very merciful, for as far as I know my own heart, that was the Holy Spirit's last call.

Because I've got on my knees before the girl and acknowledged Christ. Because of the family. Because of the friends at business. Because of the girls at school. Because of the young heroes you've got to associate with.

Because of the world moves all around you. Fear of man. Wrong doing. How different to that great mass of heroes who march to the relief of luck now in the dreadful days of the Indian legionary. And there upon his monument, that grand testimony concerning Sir Henry Cullalot.

He feared man so little because he feared God so much. And his one testimony in the army was to Christ. All he feared God to be. That's old fashioned, isn't it? In his charge against the human race, said there's no fear of God before their eyes.

How true that is. David said he would be in the fear of the Lord all the day long. And if a man will not fear God, he'll fall into the snare of the fear of man. And though he's feared with a hero's welcome in the streets of Moscow or Washington or Sydney, he's still a model and a spiritual talent.

He will not confess Christ. There is no fear of God before his eyes. They that honor the Son honor the Father who hath sent him. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father who hath sent him.

The Dread of Losing the World’s Approval

Fear of man. That's why, as David preached, you know, they were believers. Yes, that's right. But believers were the best because of the dread of loss. They would not confess him. Oh, they might lose the synagogue.

Oh no, you can't lose the synagogue or what the synagogue symbolizes, you know. Oh no, look, look, they're throwing the blind man out of the synagogue now. He didn't do much confessing. He might lose the synagogue.

And isn't it the dread of loss that keeps many a man and woman away from Jesus Christ and from owning him as conqueror in passion? Watts, the great artist on one occasion, painted a picture of the back of a man.

Only the back. And underneath his great painting he put these words, Great Possession. And a friend came to see the picture and looked upon it, and Mr. Watts said, What do you think of that picture? It's only the back, you know.

But that's the rich young ruler. He turned his back on Jesus Christ and they say his back looked horrible. I meant it to look horrible. Can't be turning your back on Jesus Christ with a few false pieces of it.

That's what the artist thought. But the average man and woman think it's a tremendous thing to have to lose the synagogue, you know. Or, what the synagogue symbolizes, probably you've heard of that man who was earnestly entreating a friend to come to Christ.

And the friend was treating deeply, and the personal worker, young to his work, was urging him to an immediate decision in a fine manner. And then suddenly the friend said, No, no, look here. I'll tell you honestly, I'm afraid of what I'll have to give up if I honestly come through to be announced to.

I'm just afraid. And an older worker worked up heartily to be fanned upon that man, and he looked him in the eye and he said, Did you ever think, my friend, what you certainly will have to give up if you don't come to Christ and become a real Christian?

That's the other side of the picture, isn't it? That's the eternal side of the picture. Oh, I've heard the voice of the devil as many a man has, suggesting things in the soul. Listen to him, saying to you tonight, Don't you make a stand for Christ?

Why, it might mean you'll have to give up that piece of tin, that little inward lust, that emptiness where Satan, that propensity to drink, or to gambling, or to loose living, or to having a bit of a joke that's not so clean.

You'll have to give all that kind of thing up. Or you might have to give up that special thing that you want, that special friend who doesn't like this kind of business. You can't lose that special friend, for Christ's sake.

Or you'll think of what you'll have to give up. You'll have to give up the happy-go-way of life and the pleasures of the world. Don't you come to Christ. No. I am not confessing. Actually, I do believe I'm as good as the people that make a great show, and I don't like to be dangerous to cause people to defund.

I'm as good as the next man. I'm a believer, all right. But you don't confess him. Did you ever think of what you most certainly will give up in the world to come? I want to tell you, dear friend, as an old minister of Christ, and as one who has often dwelt on this, if you do not come right to Christ, open your heart and receive him, and stand up for him in open, humble, honest confession, you'll give up four of the most precious, priceless things in the world, and in the world to come.

The Loss of God’s Pardon and Peace

You will give up the pardons of God. All precious, priceless pardons. He came far from heaven's glory to perfect the pardons for sinners at the place called Calvary. He finished the work of a comb for sinners.

He was crucified, that we might be accepted in him without being put away by the crucifixion of the cross. And the word of God said beautifully and clearly, if you'll come, let the wicked prostrate his way unto the unrighteous man's throat, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy unto our God, and he will abundantly pardon.

Abundant pardon, you say. Abundant pardon. His way upon way of pardon. That's what it means, that's the way to receive, constantly washing your poor soul and sending abundantly pardon. You'll give it up.

And there is a sin which has no forgiveness, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come. And the way to get into the pathway of that dreadful, unpardonable sin is to sting your heart against honoring Jesus Christ.

You'll give up the Prince of God. Jesus went to that cross and shed his blood, and the lifeblood of the Christ, the God-man, to give you peace with God. He has my peace through the blood of this cross.

And when I come to Jesus with all my discord and all my defilement through the cleansing blood, I have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus whispers peace within you. But you'll give it up.

And then you'll fall into that country of which the word says, the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest. There shall be no peace. Let my God to the wicked. I don't know a more wicked thing in the world than to turn your back on Christ, to slight him, to deny him, because you deny the Father of the Son.

You give up the peace of God. You give up the presence of God in your soul. General Gordon's favorite text in the fourth chapter of John's first epistle, Whosoever will confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he is God.

That is if I will, from an honest heart, confess Jesus is the Son of God. God comes into my heart by His Holy Spirit. And dwells in me. I'm born again. Born from a vial as new Christ. But you'll give it up.

You don't want the new birth. You don't want to be numbered with the saints forever blessed. So you give up the presence of God. And I tell you, you'll give up a false dream. You'll give up the paradise of God.

The Loss of Paradise and Eternal Praise

Oh, that paradise. The paradise of God where there is the tree of life to the overcomer. That land of light and love. You'll give it up. That shall in no wise enter into it anything that's defilest and sinless defiles.

For whatsoever works a subomination, works his own passage through by the pride of his own deeds. Subomination to God. God makes us alive. Oh, yes, I treat you well. I may not be a confessor of Christ, but I'm not a liar.

I could turn you again to John's first epistle. I could read you from this book of absolute truth. Who is a liar? But he that denies Jesus is a liar. He's a liar. No, you'll give up paradise. You'll give up the praises of God's right hand forevermore.

You'll give up that love divine, all love's excellence. You'll give up the joy that is full of glory. You'll give it all up. Because you won't, Hattie, let you lose what the truth of God symbolizes. And when at last the cold, bleak winds of death begin to blow over you and the old house is beginning to break up and you feel your feet beginning to strive, that voice rings out of the eternal saying, And what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul, his lost soul?

Courageous Faith and the Praise of God

I don't think any man, be he professed Christian or be he a man of the world, has ever gained a hero's position. But he's been willing to give something up. I could give you so many illustrations Let me show you Lord Nelson on the quarter deck of his ship at the Battle of the Baltic.

When the sprinters are flying left and right and men are falling and it seems so terrific that the high charter singles to him to retire, to come out of it. And when Captain Foley said, The Admiral has signaled to retire, sir.

Retire, said Nelson. He put his laugh to his blind eye and looked through the blind eye and said, I really don't see that signal, Foley. I would like to be blind sometimes and only one eye keeps the signal for closer action flying.

He fought through the victories, but he risked to cost Marshall. He disobeyed his senior admiral. But he was a hero, you see. If you went to London, right in the desert of London, you would see Nelson dominating England's capital.

A hero. But he risked it the same that Daniel did when the writing was fixed and signed according to the law of the meet and Persian if there was any petition offered to any god or man for thirty days except for the king.

The riots, he would be caught into the den of lions when Daniel knew that that writing was signed to him. He went to the open window towards Jerusalem and prayed three times a day at the open window towards Jerusalem as he did aforetime.

And they threw him into the den of lions. And God, to prove his power, shut the lion's mouth and delivered him. Oh, I don't wonder that the apostle Paul said that he was willing to suffer the loss of all things that he might win Christ.

He found in him. Oh, I'll have to give up something if I become a Christian. Isn't it a miserable, despicable attitude? I'll lose the synagogue. Well, would you sooner lose the synagogue than the Savior?

Would you sooner lose the past, the fleeting pleasures of life? Or lose the pleasure that God's right hand forever mourns? The dread of loss. The dread of loss. And then, of course, you come to the perverted values.

The perverted ambition. The false gain of value. Because they esteem the praise of men more than the praise of God. Because they'd like to have both. They'd like to have the praise of God as well as men.

But they swung out, swung out while their clothes fell in suits. And on one side they put the praise of men. And on the other side the praise of God. And then they wave them. Oh, no, they say, the praise of men, sir.

We want the praise of men. Heroes welcome in Jerusalem. A good standing amongst the Pharisees and the general public. We don't want to be ostracized. We don't want to be a pilgrim. And we won't want to follow the Nazarene.

The praise of men. That was the cause of our Lord's crucifixion. That brought our great Saviour to the cross. Once this pilot was, the scripture says, determined to let him go. Three times he said it.

I find no fault in him. I find no fault in him. I find no fault in him at all. Determined to let him go. And then they began to call out from the crowd, if you let this man go, you're not Caesar's friend.

You're not Caesar's friend. And pilot willed it. Lord saw in his study of the trial bed, pilot would stand for the dagger of fear. And he submitted him to be crucified. And he was crucified. But all spiritual cowards, for pilot, for Peter, and for many, many thousands and tens of thousands of spiritual cowards, he went up to the cross and he was not ashamed to endure the cross.

He despised the sight that he might pay the price of sin and lead many sons into glory. He was not ashamed to do it. Not ashamed to call us brethren. Not ashamed to die for us. People still love the praise of men more than the praise of bronze.

The Temporary Praise of Men

And when you come to lessen up the praise of men it's simply hot air. It's passing popularity. It doesn't last. Wellington came back from Waterloo and they were cheering him and giving him a hero's welcome and a castle.

It won Waterloo. Thirty years later, the mobs smashed the windows of his house. And there were little groups along the road waiting to kill the iron duke. Why? Because his politics didn't agree with the crown.

And the popularity of the consular of Waterloo had gone down to zero. Oh yes, the praise of men is just hot air. It doesn't last. That's why Sir Thomas More, when Henry VIII wanted him to agree to another divorce, said no.

Not like in God's day. Oh, said Henry VIII to Lady Alice More, you go and persuade your husband to agree to it. And Lady Alice More went into the prison where Thomas More was in danger of executing and she said, my dear, just agree with the king for this divorce and we'll have many happy days together.

He said, my dear, how many happy days do you think we will have should I agree to the king's wrong actions? Oh, she said, God willing, twenty years, perhaps. My dear, he said, you're not good at striking a bargain.

Twenty years! If you'd have said twenty thousand years, it might have been nearer the mark. But what a day compared to eternity! Oh, my dear. You're not good at striking a bargain. Thomas More, Sir Thomas More, went to the scaffold for truth's sake, for right's sake.

Oh, but other guys been dead so often in our campaigns down the years. I knew a certain woman that came out for Christ at one of our Baptist campaigns in the South West years ago and she asked for one thing, pray my husband in, Mr. Ridley.

Oh, pray my husband in. And we did pray and pleaded. And he came once or twice and then stayed away and then came for the last night of the lengthy mission, sat in the back seat and said, dear wife, let's hold him on to God so he knew the joy of Christ after 12 days a new creature.

And when I commenced to make the appeal, he did what so many people do, he got up and shut out the door. And she was in tears. No more mission meetings and he's gone, she said. And he wept there. And about midnight, my wife and I were retiring in our caravan at the back of the church and we heard a knock at the door and we opened the door and there's the husband.

Yes, how are you? Come in. Oh, I'm a cur. He said, I'm a cur. I'm a coward. There's been a great change in my wife's behavior and life since she took Christ. And I know I could have come out tonight, Mr. Ridley, but I'm a cur for it.

I said, come Brendan, you take Christ with me now and make your confession tomorrow before your workmates. I'll do that, he said. I'll do that. And we went to prayer and we prayed together and he accepted Christ.

And next day, he went down to his workmates and confessed himself a Christian. Born again. And the Father of the Lamb. That was a way back in the early thirties. And about three years ago, I met him, an aged man and I went out and dressed in a sweater with the same wife, Bill Fletcher.

But I was a coward, I was a cur. How dangerous it is for fear of man. The dread of loss. But the fall doesn't abandon you. Not for confession. I'd like to tell you a very true and tender and challenging story as I finish.

A Public Confession of Christ

A way under an island there was a great time of revival. It was the revival of 59. Multitudes were coming to Christ. In Limerick, there was a movement of the spirit that was mighty. Edward Singleton, High Parish of Limerick.

Quietly accepted Christ, he said it is, into his heart. But he reckoned in his own thinking I'll not make any display about it. I'm well known in Limerick society. And so while it was rumored that Edward Singleton, magnificent, handsome man, had come through for Christ, no one was quite sure about it.

And up from the south came Thomas Fletcher, a dear-eyed evangelist, and he knew Edward Singleton. He was to hold one meeting in the main theater of Limerick. And he wrote to Singleton and said, I'm coming to Limerick for one meeting.

Edward, I want you to come with me. Give me hospitality and come to the meeting. He got his answer back. Dear Tom, you can come and stay with pleasure, but I'm not going to your meeting. Dead promise, French, and I know why.

Edward Singleton is ashamed to phone openly he's on the Lord's side. As they were dining that night at the meeting, he phoned to him, to Edward Singleton, and he said, well Edward, you're not coming tonight, no, go on.

He said, I won't be there. Edward, he said, would you do one thing for me? Will you accompany me in your carriage to the green room just behind the stage? What for? What's the use of it? Tom, I'm not coming to the meeting.

I know, but just come with me to the green room behind the stage. Just see the crowd that's playing. You've got nothing on. All right, he said, but it's useless. I'm not going to your meeting. And when they got to the green room and Tom French sat down, he said, just before you go, Edward, have a look out and see what kind of a crowd I have tonight.

And Edward Singleton opened the door onto the stage and looked out and turned back, and he said, my Tom, you've got a magnificent crowd. The theater's almost packed to capacity. Oh, that's grand, that's grand.

He said, sit down a moment, Edward, sit down a moment, just before I go in at eight o 'clock, I want to have another glimpse out, and then you can go. And so they chatted for a minute or two. He said, well, time's up now, Edward.

You better have another glance out. And Edward Singleton opened the door and looked off into space, and French stepped up behind him, and he put one hand onto the open door and one hand onto the back of his coat, and he leaned over near his head and he said, Edward, that's a great crowd.

Oh, Tom, he said, that's limbering society we've got tonight. Are they trained, Edward? He said, trained, no man. Of course they're not, said Edward Singleton. They're out, he said, and tell them how to do things.

He put one hand onto the stove, and here is the high sheriff of Lindbergh staggering onto the front of the stove, and he stood still with the footlights glaring up on him, and the writer tells us that on one side of Edward Singleton there was like a roaring lion saying, Do not confess it!

On the other side was the angel of Jehovah saying, Whosoever will deny me before men, him will I deny before my Father in heaven. Singleton, after about five or ten seconds of silence, walked to the front and confessed Jesus Christ, and told him he'd been a secret believer and it'd been a shame to owe him, but he now acknowledged before the whole of Lindbergh that he was a sinner saved by grace and dependent upon the Lord Jesus and lived from that time as a confessed Christian minister.

Well, French put him on the spot, and in some sacred way, God puts it on the spot. He says, What will you do with Jesus? You? You cannot be. Someday, your heart will be asked, What would be true with me?

Paul's sign of that. All for a hero's welcome in heaven. And the voice of that welcoming Lord Jesus saying, Well done, good and faithful son. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord Jesus. May God bless you.

The Call to Confess Christ

We're going to bow before that great Savior, and tonight as we bow in prayer, I'm going to ask all that are many of us here that know the battle it is to confess Christ. I'm going to ask for those of you who would like to be prayed for, for strength and power to make that good confession tonight, to raise the hand up in prayer.