Only What Can Be Done for Jesus Will Last — Ian Paisley

The Lord’s Return and the Call to Watchfulness

We shall now open God's Word of the Gospel of Luke. We're reading some verses tonight from Luke's Gospel, chapter 12, and the reading begins at verse 32. The Gospel of Luke, at the chapter 12, commencing at verse 32.

We'll read to verse 53 from verse 32, Luke's Gospel, chapter 12. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have and give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not.

Where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning, and be ye yourselves like unto men that wait for the Lord when he shall return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.

Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch and find him so, blessed are those servants.

And this know that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom the Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?

Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But, and if that servant shall say in his heart, My Lord, alayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men's servants and maid's servants, and to eat and to drink and to be drunken, the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

And that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.

For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required. And to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask them more. I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I if it be already kindled?

But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straightened till it be accomplished? Suppose ye that I came, or am come to give peace on the earth, I tell you nay, but rather division. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

The father shall be divided against the son, the son against the father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

We look to the Lord to bless to our hearts tonight this public reading from his infallible word. Amen. As a denomination we owe a tremendous debt to the Lord for the ministry of the Reverend John Hannah.

I know as mission board members we have deeply appreciated the opportunity and the great privilege that we have had of working with the Lord's servant and his wife for many, many years now. He has been a real source of inspiration.

His ministry has been a great encouragement amongst many of us. And I know that the work in Spain has been enriched through his leadership over these last number of years. We are delighted that the Reverend Hannah is with us tonight and is going to come now and bring greetings on behalf of the congregations in Spain.

It is a great joy and a privilege to be here this evening on this very special occasion as we recognize the ministry of our good brother, Jorge Ruiz. I want first of all to bring you fraternal greetings from our congregations in Spain.

First of all, from the Reverend Lyle Boyd in Corticos Nuevos, as well as our own congregation in Alcorcon. As I have just said, this I believe is a very, very important occasion, not only for the work of God in Spain, but concerning even the very history of our missionary work.

And I think it would be appropriate here for me to express our gratitude, that is us in Spain, to express our deep gratitude to the Presbytery, the Ulster Presbytery here, the Mission Board, and also the Missionary Council of our church.

We have been very conscious of their help, the encouragement that we have received from them down through the years. I was just thinking today something of our history. We're about to cross over the line of, I think, about 60 years in the history of our denomination.

And I was thinking how back there 60 years ago, how the Lord gave a very important promise to our denomination. And it was, though your beginnings be small, yet your latter end shall greatly increase.

And, of course, we have seen that take place before our very eyes right across this province. And then as the work started to move abroad, over to the American continent, over to the mainland, and then into Europe and to other parts of the world.

Over 30 years ago, the Presbytery of our church sent Dorana and me to Madrid to learn the language. When I look back at that time, I realize just how green we were, still wet behind the ears of us here around Balimoney.

And the Lord certainly had many lessons to teach us in those first two or three years as we set ourselves to learn the language. But, you know, I've been thinking about these 33 years that we've been there, and I think that promise is also very appropriate to us.

Not to the same degree, of course, when we think about the numbers, but certainly in the spiritual sense. Our beginnings were small, yet our latter end is certainly increasing. We were there about 10 years when the Lord called Lyle and Heather to come and to work along with us.

After they learned the language in Madrid, they made their way down to Beas de Segura and have been laboring for the Lord there all of these years. But what has really thrilled my heart is to see what the Lord has done from amongst our own ranks out there.

I think one of the secrets of the growth of our church here has been the fact how almost every single congregation, in a sense, has reproduced itself. And I think that under God we certainly owe a very great debt to the work here in Marks Memorial, and very specially to Dr. Paisley.

Every one of us who are in the ministry, in one way or another, we owe a lot under God to the ministry of this man. I remember when he came out for the first time to Madrid. We were only there about three years, and he came out, I think, on four or five different occasions.

He was with us the day we opened our present church building, and we had the privilege of having with us to hear him preach the Word of God. I had the awesome task that day of translating for him, and it was an awesome task.

There was one stage he was getting so much celebrity that he just took off, and I was trying to come in to translate, and he was just pushing me to the side, and he was just preaching on. And then when he preached on for about three or four minutes, he stood aside, right, go ahead, he says, tell them now.

And of course, I had to try to sum up what he had said in those five minutes. But I certainly rejoice to think of how the Lord has used our brother and the tremendous encouragement that he has been to us down through these years.

And of course, also the Reverend Michael Veen, what a great encouragement our brother has been to us. George McConnell is another man we have to mention who has stood with us. And of course, all of our congregations, all of our people here have stood firmly with us during all of this time.

But as I say, one of the characteristics of our church is how our church has reproduced itself here in Ulster and in different parts of the world. And of course, it is seeing how God, through the minister of the Word, raises up men within our denomination to serve within that denomination.

And that to me has been the real encouragement. We have had to fight many battles. We have had many, many discouragements. But the encouragement has been to see how the Lord has put his hand upon men like Angel and Jorge that we have here with us tonight.

I remember very well the first night that Angel came into our evening gospel service. And he started to attend the service. After about a year, he was gloriously converted to Christ. And within a few months, he was studying in our Grace Bible College.

And then, of course, completed his studies here in the Theological Hall in Northern Ireland. And our brother was ordained to the ministry by the presbytery of our church. But that wasn't the case with our brother, Jordy.

About eight years ago, we made contact with Jordy and his wife. And in the will of the Lord, a work opened up in the north of Spain. And it's amazing just to see how the Lord leads. Because our brother had a son, his oldest son, that he called Rodrigo.

And the reason he called him Rodrigo is because that is a very common name from the Castilian part, which is the actual part where he's now laboring. And even back then, the Lord had laid on his heart this vision to go into this particular area, this particular part of Spain.

And just as we made contact, the Lord opened up a door, an opportunity, under the work in Alcorcon, to commence a mission work in that particular area. Our brother and his wife prayed about it, felt it was the will of the Lord, and they had been serving the Lord there for the last eight years.

This year, earlier, we had a number of our men, our people who came out with us on that joyful occasion when we opened a new building for the preaching of the gospel in Miranda de Ebro. Now, our brother was ordained five years ago under the session of the Alcorcon Church with the participation of members from the Ulster Presbytery.

And, of course, it has always been the burden of my heart when you get to my time of day and you realize that the writing is on the wall as far as the future is concerned. And there is that longing and that burden to see the link, the bond between Spain and Ulster firmly established.

And that's why we have really prayed and really pressed in this particular way that these men that the Lord raised up, free of the ministry of those that this church sent out, would then also recognize that, take these men under the wing to encourage them in the future, and be an encouragement to them as the church has been to us in the years that we have been serving the Lord there.

So, in many senses, what we're witnessing here tonight is the logical outcome, the follow-on of what the Lord has been doing from the day that Rana and I were sent out to serve the Lord there in Spain.

I don't want to take up any more time, but in closing, I really do want to stress how much that we have valued and appreciated your prayers on our behalf, and also for the sacrificial ways many times that you have given in order to support financially the work there in Spain.

We do not take that for granted. We owe you a great debt in the Lord, and we want to acknowledge that tonight. And, therefore, I think we have to say tonight, in the words of Thessalonians, that the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.

And I think that's what we need to stress, especially tonight. It's so easy on a night like this, you know, to get your eyes on men or on a man or on individuals, but this is the one thing that we need to really remember.

It's the Lord who has done great things, not only here in Ulster, but He's been doing great things there in Spain as well. And tonight we want to give the Lord all the honor and all the glory, and we believe that there is greater things yet to be done, and hopefully we'll have other opportunities, other occasions like this, when we'll be able to gather together and worship our God for the great things that the Lord has done for us.

So thank you very, very sincerely for your prayers. Please continue to pray on with us and for us that the Lord, amongst our ranks, will raise up men of the Calvary of Hansel and of Geordie to serve the Lord, as the Lord will open new doors and new opportunities to serve Him there and to spread the work of the Presbyterian witness throughout that needy land of Spain.

Thank you very much. I'd like to thank the Reverend Hannah for that word today. It's been a real blessing, a great inspiration to us, and I'm sure it has broadened your vision and also given to you a deeper sense of thanksgiving to the Lord for His goodness and for His mercy to the work in Spain.

I'd like, on behalf of the Mission Board, to extend to all of you a very warm and a very sincere welcome. We're delighted to have some friends with us from Balamony. A goodly number have come, and we appreciate the fact that you've taken the time to join with us.

Also, our dear brother, Dr. Theo Danson-Smith, we're delighted to see you, and I trust the Lord will bless you and encourage you as well. We're going to sing now our offering hymn. Dr. Paisley will make some announcements relevant to the martyrs here in just a few moments, but our offering will be for the work in Spain, and we deeply appreciate the session's readiness to give encouragement to the work that we are thinking about, especially tonight.

And the hymn is 513. The hymn numbered 513. That's fine. Well, we can sing another hymn. Number 510, we can sing that hymn. We can have a second offering, if that's okay. I'm not sure if we can work that out.

510, we'll let you sit for the first verse, and then we'll stand to sing the final verse. The Reverend Hannah, I believe, has quite rightly acknowledged the tremendous contribution to the Lord's work of our servant and our minister, Dr. Paisley.

I know that words would fail many of us if we were to try and to describe a ministry that God has used over many, many years, not only here in Ulster, but right throughout the world. And I've been very privileged on a number of occasions to have traveled with him to various mission fields.

And on those occasions that Mr. Hannah referred to in Spain, we were very happy to accompany him on that journey. We're just so delighted that he is with us tonight to bring to us a word of exhortation, particularly, of course, to our brother Gorgie.

But I know to all of us who are very happy to be in the meeting this Wednesday evening, Dr. Paisley. Thank you, my brother.

I have some very pleasant reminiscence of being in Spain. The first time I went to Spain, I was in very good company for Brother John Wiley was with me on my right hand, and I knew if there was a fight, he could fight well.

And then we had another little man, quite a strange man, who called himself the fighter. I refer to a brother by the name of Wharton, Harry Wharton. And many of you do remember Harry, put up your hand.

Nobody. Well, I remember him. And of course, if you had been with him for the time I was with him, you'd remember him for all eternity. He said, I am the prize fighter. And he said that we're going in not to fight the animals, but to fight the devil and all his works.

And my, what a time we had. Now, we couldn't, of course, in those days, get in. They didn't give out any passages. The land was closed, and Franco was the remaining dictator of Nazism and fascism. Preachers who were worth anything were all in prison.

And those that weren't in prison were duking from place to place to try and save themselves from the persecution. But I had a great longing in my heart to get the truth of the word of God into Spain. And I was told by everyone, it cannot be done.

And I said, who told you that? Oh, well, you know what Franco's like and so on and so on. I said, I do, but I know what God's like. God is a miracle working God. And I believe the saints in Spain need to be strengthened.

And I said, the best way we could do a work for God in Spain would be to get the Bibles in. See, the Bibles were all looked upon as papers to be burned. And the Christians couldn't read their Bibles or carry a Bible with them.

It was death to many who wanted to kneel their colors to the masthead for Jesus' sake. So I said to a friend of mine who was going to Spain for a holiday, I said, what are the entrances like? Could a man juke into Spain and get in without powers not recognizing him?

He says, Ian, the best way to you to go into Spain is to put on the biggest dog collar you have, the darkest suit you have, and your long preaching coat, and you'll go in as a holy father, and they'll kiss the ground to you.

And I laughed, and I told John Wiley, and John said, well, I am a father. He says, I so am I. So we both went in as fathers. Now, we had to do it with great dignity. So the other little man who was supposed to be the fighter, Harry Wharton, he went in as our servant, and he did the driving, and we did the criticizing.

And we went in, we got to the border, and we drove up to the border, and when they saw us, they crossed themselves. And I said, John, I never thought I'd see a fellow crossing himself for you. And we got in.

Of course, we couldn't then register at a hotel because you couldn't get a registration in a hotel except you had a passport, and we couldn't get a passport. So we had a fortnight in Spain. We parked the car under the—it wasn't a car, it was a truck.

We parked it under the larger tunnels and larger valleys that we found, and we lived here, there, and everywhere. And the only way we could get food was to buy fruit, so we were all eaters of fruit for that time.

We had with us over 200 copies of the Holy Scriptures, and we got every one of them given out. I have one picture that comes to me now. It was on Sunday morning, and we were passing along this wild mountainside in the north of Spain, and I saw a man a way up on the side of the mountain, and he was digging.

And I said, John, I'm going to climb that mountain. I'm going to bring out a Scripture to that man and give him a Bible. And John said to me, that man is far away. I said, I don't care how far he is, I'm going to reach him.

So I left. John wouldn't come. He said, I'm not going to walk all the way up there. Well, I said, I'll walk it. And I walked up, and after walking for, I suppose, half an hour to maybe an hour, I got to the man.

And I brought out the Bible and turned it up. I think it was John 3 and 16. And I opened it up, and I pointed it to him, and he grasped it, nearly pulled it out of my hand, and I put my finger across it.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And a lovely smile came over the man. And I explained as best I could to him that he could keep the Bible, and he should read it and enjoy it.

And on the hillside, he embraced me, and I prayed with him. And I left him. When I got down the mountain, almost an hour afterwards, I turned round to look, and the man was still, for he had been digging the hole with the Bible in his hand.

I'm going to meet that man in heaven, and I'm going to say, thank God. There's power in the word of God to snatch a man from the darkness of Nazism and to bring him into the glorious light of God. And from that day, I've always had an interest in Spain and what is happening there.

And great things are happening for the honor and the glory of the Savior's name. If you want to know other matters about the undercover exercises we did, when you get this man here in good form someday, he'll tell you some stories.

You'll not believe half of them, but I'll tell you something. They're all true. For God does miracles for those that trust him to do miracles. I have been struck recently in my study of the scriptures on the place that an evangelist has in the ministry of the church.

Some of us look upon evangelists as a special office, like the apostles and like others who had special duties to perform. But there's a difference when we come to the evangelist. For the evangelist is a man who has a gift.

He may be a minister. He may be a Sunday school teacher, or he may be in some other task. But he has to do the work of an evangelist. The evangelist's gift is beyond the office. It covers the whole life.

And I have been thinking a lot of the fact that we need evangelists. An evangelist is a person sold out on the one business to introduce people to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And we need to recover in our churches the wonderful opportunities that God gives for the humblest of his saints, the joy of being an evangelist.

And I enjoy being an evangelist. I remember going across to America once, and through the benefit of a dear brother, he said, Ian, you shouldn't travel on any other part of a plane, but in first class.

I said, Ian, may I do that? Do you pay the ticket? He says, I will. So the next time I went to America, I rang him up, and I said, I need a first class ticket. He said, it's ready for you. How much is it?

And he sent me a check right away. And I got into this first class of a beautiful plane to cross the Atlantic. And I said to myself, I shouldn't waste time here. I'll never see these people again. They'll never see me again.

But I could get the gospel to them. And I had printed, as I had done for many years before, a little personal testimony to how God saved me. And I said, I'll give one to every passenger. And every passenger that passed my seat in that plane, I said, I want to talk to you.

And I brought out this little leaflet, and I said, that's something I want you to read. And they were all very nice and said, yes, I will read it. And when I looked down the plane, all the people that I had contacted, they were all reading this testimony.

And then something better happened. The assistants on that plane, the people that were looking after the inner man of the passenger, two of them came down. And they said, Mr. Paisley, everybody wants this leaflet.

And will you give us a bundle of them, and we'll put them out for you. And so I had first-class workers doing work freely for nothing and giving out to all those businessmen and all. The word of God.

I was in the front seat of a plane one day, and there was a big businessman there. And we ended it with both of us weeping together. And that big businessman got out of darkness into light and from the power of sin and Satan unto God.

Evangelism and the Work of the Holy Spirit

Every one of us should be overcome with a passion for the souls of man. Now, if you would turn with me to this chapter, part of which has been read to us, the twelfth chapter of Luke's Gospel. You will find in this chapter what God is looking for.

And what is he looking for? He's not looking for a man who will take all the thought for his life. Look at verse 22 of chapter 12 of Luke's Gospel. Not the man that is tied up in this life. For Christ says that the life is more than meat and the body is more than raven.

Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, neither carry their end to the store or the barn, but God feedeth them. How much more are ye better than many fowls, many fowls. And then if you go down the chapter, fear not little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

If ever the church of Jesus Christ should be stirred up on the question of evangelization, it should be today. Fifty years ago, our churches were brought about because of evangelism. And they prosper as they are evangelistic.

And as the preacher has a desire for souls, as the elders have a desire for souls, as all the Sunday school teachers have a desire for souls. And if you read this twelfth chapter of Luke's Gospel, you'll find many very important things said and done.

And a call for obedience from the people of God. If we could get one person in this house tonight, on the altar for God, dedicated, having asked God's forgiveness for him being a silent Christian for far too long.

And if we could see one person baptized with the burden and passion from souls, then we would have the start of blessing with that person and with the church to which he belongs. No shortcuts can be made to get the power of evangelism into our souls.

This is a work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. We have to start where God starts with us. And where does God start with us? He starts with us in the place of love. He loves us. And if that heart's love of Christ can penetrate your heart and fill your mind and your soul, it will then skip over into the field where the sinners are.

And you'll get a love for the perishing souls of men. If you go home tonight and read this portion of scripture, you'll find it's a call away from the natural to the spiritual. It's a call away for the way the work of God is done today.

The lack of days ago worthiness of God's people today. And you'll come to a place where you'll see only one life. It will soon be past. Only what can be done for Jesus will last. I was struck when I was reading this portion of scripture of the fact that the Lord tells them that they are to get their loins girt.

And that stuck in my mind. Of course, the people in Palestine wore long clothes and long gowns, but you can't run well with a skirt about you. You have to get your legs and knees into the place of freedom.

And it's interesting to notice. There are two people mentioned in this chapter about guarding. The first one is you as a worker. You have to guard up the lions. You keep on the dress suit. And the suit for pleasure.

And the suit for your own comfort. And you'll get nowhere. But if you get up the lions of your mind, you will be prepared to get something for Christ. But it tells me this. That when Christ comes, he comes up.

Just read the portion. He himself, our God, our Lord, is not on holiday. Our Lord is more busy than he has ever been in the great work of the redemption of lost souls. Oh, to know what it is to be girt up, to be loosed for freedom.

And then down that chapter, we read of the burning and the shining lamps. There are not many burning and shining lights today. When I came to this city many, many years ago, there was a wee man that had been converted through W .P. Nicholson when he preached in the Presbyterian church down the road and had a great revival meeting.

So many people came one night to that church that the big pillars that separate the two doors were shifted six inches with the press of the crowd of men from the shipyard fighting to get in to the meeting.

Think of it. Think of it. People fighting to get in to the meeting. And there was one man there, the worst drunkard on the Ravenhill Road. He lived opposite us in our old church further down the road.

He was a villain, a wicked man, a drunkard, a sinner of the vilest of deeds. And he was pushed by the crowd up this stairway and into the front seat of the gallery. He hadn't been in church since he went to Sunday school.

He was an old, aged, drunkard and sinner. Mr. Nicholson preached a great message on salvation. What must I do to be saved? And at the end of an hour's preaching, he took out his large handkerchief from his top pocket and he wiped away the sweat.

And then he said, I'm not going to have any secrecy about my appeal. I'm going to ask anyone in this congregation that God has spoken to and you want to escape from the wrath to come, I want you to jump to your feet.

The first man to jump to his feet was the man in the front of the pew on the gallery. And he cried out, he said, Mr. Nicholson, if Christ will take me, I will take him. And he put his hand into his pockets and his pockets were overflowing with Boogie's documents.

He was a terrible gambler. And he spread them over the congregation like confetti from the gallery. And that man from that day not only was saved, but he became one of the greatest soul winners in this district and right over this city.

He had learned to sing when he was on the road to hell. Now he had learned to sing the songs of glory. And if you had lived in this road near to where he lived, it would be nothing in the morning when he got up to go to the yard, the shipyard at seven o 'clock to hear this man singing, Would you be free from your burden of sin, there's power in the blood.

One of the greatest soul winners that this city ever had. A poor, drunkard, a man who had given the best of his life to the devil. But thank God the best of his life only came when he was changed by the power of the gospel.

Restoring First Love and Spiritual Zeal

You know what we all need tonight? We need to have our first love to Christ restored. We need to have our first desire to know the Bible restored. We need to have in our hearts a desire to be like this chapter tells us we should be.

Warm, happy and rejoicing in the work of God. What simplicity is in this chapter. What wonderful wisdom is in this chapter. What a joy is open to the children of God in this very chapter. We read here about the great reward.

We read here that we are to be burning and shining lights. We read here that we should have no compromise with sin. We read here that we should have discernment of the times in which we live. We read here about the work of the Holy Spirit in the field of witnessing and soul winning.

We read here that our talents and our body and our whole man should be surrendered to Christ so that we might do the task that he wants us to do. We need to see that we have a burning and shining light.

We need to see we have plenty of oil in our vessels so that when the oil burns out we can keep the light still lit and burning with all the glory and baptism of the Spirit of God. I want just to say tonight to you we need to all go home and kneel at our bed and as we kneel say Lord this bed is an altar.

I'm on my knees oh chain me to the altar of God and give me a love for the souls of men. I was reading an old hymn book before I came out to this meeting and there was a hymn in it. There's no name to who wrote this hymn but its words are good.

Give me the wings of faith to rise within the veil and see the saints above how great their joys how bright their glories be. Once they were mourning here below and wet their couch with tears they wrestled hard as we do now with sins and doubts and fears.

I asked them whence their victory came they all with united breath ascribed their conquest to the Lamb their triumph to his death. They marked the footsteps that he trod his zeal inspired their breath and following their incarnate God they gained the promised rest.

Our glorious leader claims our praise for his own pattern given by the dark cloud of witnesses show the same bright path to heaven. I trust that God will stir our hearts and I trust that our brother here from Spion who is with us in this meeting and his loved ones may know the baptism of power from on high.

And I trust that all of us will return to our first love and realize that Christ wants us to shine for him that the glory may be his alone. I have had during the past four to five months a great time going round the large schools of England and ministering to them in the gospel.

I have been at Eton and I have been at the other great schools and strange to relate that this day two days from now on Friday of this week I will be in Trinity College Dublin in a joint meeting with two other universities one the famous University of Oxford and the other one of the Scottish largest universities.

I have had a great time in these last months visiting these schools. When I preached at Eton College the first young man who walked out was a fine young fellow about eighteen and he said Mr. Paisley I couldn't leave.

He said I'm a Christian and he told me the story of his conversion and he said you know there's five of us here and we're all working for the Lord. Oh may God set our hearts on fire and may our brother as he goes back with his loved ones to bring the gospel to Spain may his heart be filled with the love of God that passes knowledge and all understanding.