1968 Ernest Wakefield — E.A. Johnston

Dear friends, tonight I would ask those who tonight in this room may be unsaved, may be without Christ, I would ask you this solemn question. I would like tonight to bring you into the immediate presence of God, and I would like to ask you this solemn question before we start to speak on our subject, and that is this.

What a solemn thing, my friend. If you had passed out of this world today, I ask you where you would be now. What a solemn thing. Where would you be now, my friends? Never again would you have the opportunity of hearing the gospel.

Never would you have an opportunity of being saved, never. You would be in a lost eternity if you had left this world this afternoon unsaved. Therefore I believe we have no time to waste. We have no time, my friends, to do anything else but to warn you solemnly in the scriptures I wish to bring before you of the fact that you have to leave this world and I have to leave this world.

We cannot stay here. And as we stand to preach the gospel, the glorious gospel of Christ, we know that the powers of darkness will come to this room and try if they could to turn your attention away from the message which we trust is from God.

Human Sinfulness and the Need for Salvation

Now I'd like to bring just five scriptures before you tonight and a few others in passing, but the five principal ones, first of all, the fact that man needs salvation. Let us turn to the well-known verse in Romans 3, the well-known verse that's been quoted hundreds of times by the servants of God.

And yet how few, comparatively speaking, have found out the truth of this one verse in the Bible. O may God, by His Spirit, young man, young lady in this room, O I warn you solemnly that to leave this world without Christ you will spend eternity in that awful place that God has prepared for the devil and his angels, a place that's called in the Bible the lake of fire, a place that man calls hell, where the Lord Jesus solemnly warned man that he there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

So I pray tonight that every Christian in this audience will pray to God as we're speaking to pray to God, beloved brethren and sisters, that those who are unsaved in this room tonight may indeed hear the very voice of God speaking to their hearts.

Romans 3 and verse 23, this is a very simple verse. This is what God says. This is not what we say. This is what God says about every man and woman and boy and girl under heaven, past, present, and future.

Notice what He says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Many in this room, by the grace of God, have bowed their head and said, Amen, it's true, including by the matchless grace of God, the man on the platform tonight.

We have bowed the head and we've said God is true. We have sinned. I have sinned. And oh, I wonder if there's some boy tonight, some girl, some man or woman who's never yet been down on their knees in the presence of a holy, thrice holy God and looked up into the very heavens and said, I have sinned.

Now, we don't need any, we wouldn't have to go any further, except for this verse in connection with sin. God has said all. Now if God says all, He means exactly what He said. He doesn't mean all but you.

He doesn't mean all but the Canadians. He doesn't mean all but those in Toronto. He means all, under the heavens, every place, every continent, every corner of the world, all, A-L-L, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

What a sweeping statement. Nobody's left out. Every boy and girl, every man and woman, we confine ourselves to this audience tonight, all have sinned. God says it. God means exactly what He says. I wonder if there's here tonight, within the sound of my voice, somebody who doesn't believe this verse, they still believe that there's some good in them.

I'd like to briefly, some maybe would like to escape, turn to these scriptures, so I'll read these scriptures to you, in which God Himself, in different parts of the Bible, brings man's condition before Him.

Biblical Testimony About the Human Heart

In Genesis 6, which we have the writings of Moses, Genesis 6, verse 5, now this is what God says about you and about me, and about all men everywhere under the sun. This is what God says, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

What a statement, what a solemn thing to think, that man, including myself, each one of us, think of the awfulness of the human heart, what an awful thing this is. Now in Psalm 14, again God is speaking about poor, fallen, sinful man, which includes us all tonight in this room.

We all have sinned, and so God says in Psalm 14, verse 2, "...the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that would understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy, there is none that do us good, no not one.".

My friend, do you believe that? You believe this verse, no not one, ties in exactly with Romans 3, "...for all have sinned.". That's what God says. Now Jeremiah chapter 17, in the 9th verse, "...the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?

I the Lord search the heart, I try the reigns.". Just imagine, desperately wicked, young girl, young man, tonight is this your heart? Yes, my heart too. Desperately wicked, the natural heart, the heart that came into this world, that old life, that Adam life, desperately wicked, God says so, I believe what God says.

Now let's look at Mark chapter 7, and here we find the Lord Jesus himself is speaking about man. I will only read part of this, "...awful outpouring of man's heart.". Just imagine my friend, Christ speaking in these verses, talks about you and me, the heart of man, man himself.

He says, "...for from within," notice, "...for from within out of the heart of man perceived evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders.". We don't have to read any more. The list is shocking, absolutely shows that man is a fallen creature, that in the Garden of Eden man fell, and he is a sinner tonight, a sinner.

He's lost and ruined and guilty, and he needs salvation. Man is a sinner. We could go on into the epistle of the Ephesians, and we could go on to the book of Revelation, but we'll stop here and go no further.

I'm sure that anybody in this room that's honest, any man or woman that's sincere before Almighty God will bow their head and say, God is true. I have sinned against God. Oh, I wonder, my friends, how solemn it is to think of this.

I wonder if there's somebody here, you've got a Christian mother and a Christian father, the Bible's read in your house every day in the week. You attend Sunday school. You can quote all the verses in the Gospels.

You can tell the way of salvation, but you've never yet received Christ, and you're here tonight ruined and lost and on your way to eternal darkness. What a solemn thing. And so man's a sinner. Man needs salvation.

Man is a lost sinner. He's a fallen sinner. He's a guilty sinner, and he's guilty before God. And God has your record, and God has my record, for God tells us he keeps books, and he has your record, my friend.

And so each one of us tonight, oh, in the presence of God, whose eye rests upon us, we must bow the head and say, I have sinned. Well now, if we have sinned, what can we do to save ourselves? Let God answer the question in our second verse in Ephesians chapter 2.

Salvation by Grace Through Faith

Let us see what God says about saving ourselves. Men think they can save themselves. They believe that there's some good in their heart that needs fanning, and religion may be able to fan their hearts and bring out of their heart something good, something that may enable them to save themselves.

God himself forever brushes this aside. In Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, for by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Now this excludes, I speak for those who are honest. Sad to say there are people who attend gospel meetings who are not honest, they're not sincere. They only come in, and they leave unsaved. But I'm speaking to any man in this room tonight, or woman, who before God is sincere, who is real.

I remember one night after a gospel meeting, meeting a gentleman standing outside. He was getting on to be 75 years of age, and as he stood there we went to him and said to him, Sir, are you a Christian?

And he said, I am not. And we asked him this question, Are you a sinner? And the old man said this, That I am. And we said to him, Would you like to be saved tonight? And he said, I would. And we asked him if he'd come and kneel down with us.

And we knelt down and prayed, and the old man received that night the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior. And we see that old gentleman sometimes, and after seven years he's still going on. I suppose now he's 82, but he's heaven bound.

And every time we see him, he seems to be happier. He has more joy. But he took his place before God as a sinner. He knew that nothing could save religion. People who saw him said, We thought you were a Christian.

He said, I am not. I am not. Oh, he was honest. He was honest before God. What a wonderful thing it is to meet a man or a woman who is honest before God, and who will say, Yes, I am a sinner. I am guilty.

I do confess I'm a sinner. Well, you can't save yourself. God says so. He says, Not of works, lest any man should boast. People say, Well, I'll try to keep the Ten Commandments. You know you can't. You know you don't dare to say you do, because there's only one man who ever walked this world who did, our precious Savior who we present, our Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless, blessed, holy, eternal Son of God.

But here it says, By grace are ye saved. Isn't that wonderful, to be saved by the grace of God? How many in this audience tonight could stand up here and say, By the grace of God I'm saved. By grace are ye saved.

Through faith. What does that mean, through faith? It means by taking God at His word, believing what God says about me, and then believing what God says about Christ. Oh, friends, if you do take those two beliefs, believe what God says about you, that you're a sinner, and believe what God says about Christ, He's a Savior, and it'll bring you together and you'll be saved for glory.

And so it says here, By grace are ye saved through faith. And that's not of yourselves. Man has no part in this salvation, absolutely nothing. The only contribution man has but his salvation is his or her sins.

There's nothing else. There's no other contribution. You can't lift a straw to helping your salvation. Man is a fallen, lost, guilty sinner on the way to eternal darkness. And he needs a Savior. And oh, we're going to find out in our next scripture in a moment or two about that blessed Savior.

But oh, tonight, my friends, if there's somebody here tonight that believes that religion can save them, keeping the Ten Commandments, living a good life, doing good works, paying your bills, trying to be a respectable Canadian or American, going around trying to do the best you can to please your friends and help your neighbors, God says, By grace are ye saved through faith.

And that's not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. What a wonderful gift to think that God himself tonight is offering man and woman a gift. And everybody understands it is a strange thing, my friends, that men who graduate from universities can't understand that verse.

They don't understand it. Oh, how it closes men out. From everything else but the grace of God, he can't understand it. He says, I have to do something. I got to work my way to heaven. I got to do something to win God's favor.

I have to do something to make amends for my sins. I got to do something to please what they call an angry God. But he says, Not of works, lest any man should boast. It's the gift of God. We don't pay for a gift.

We just take the gift and we give thanks to the giver. Oh, tonight, my friends, I ask you young people tonight, have you confessed Christ? Is the Lord Jesus your personal Savior? Do you know all about the Lord and yet you're lost?

Just imagine, you know all about it. It enters into your mind, into your brains, the scriptures, but never lower, never down into the heart. Never has it affected your life. Never, never has there been a change in your life.

And Jesus said, Ye must be born again. What a solemn thing to sit in this room and say, I've had no such an experience. I've never been born again. Oh, how solemn, my friends. You cannot save yourself.

God’s Love and the Gift of His Son

Now, the next scripture I want to turn to is John 3, 16. And here we find where God has done something for you and for me, for which we indeed praise and thank and bless Him, and we shall do so for all eternity's ages.

If man cannot save himself, if man needs salvation, if man cannot save himself, God Himself has done something about this. John 3, 16,. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

What a wonderful verse. Now, these words were spoken by our blessed Savior. Oh, how it thrills the soul, my friends. How would you, dear Christian friend, and how would I like to have stood there that day, that night, as Jesus faced Nicodemus and made this marvelous statement that God is used as a salvation, a conversion of millions of precious souls.

For God so loved the world. What kind of a world did God love? We've had the history. We've had God's record concerning this world. Imaginations, all was evil, continually evil. God looked down from heaven to see if He could find one man.

He couldn't find a man anywhere. They were all sinners. They're all gone away. They'd all turned their own way until the Lord Jesus came into this world, and the heavens opened upon that blessed one, and the Father said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Oh, friends, how solemn this is. This is the kind of a world that God loved, but the world went further than that. When this blessed man came into this world, and all the loveliness of this person, and all the beauties and perfections of his life, the world looked upon that man, Jew and Gentile, and they said, We will not have this man.

We don't want this man around us. Let us crucify this man. And the world was added to all the guilt, all its guilt. The world was added this crime that they murdered the Christ of God and cast him out, nailed him to the cross of Calvary, crowned his head with a crown of thorns, spit into his very face.

And I remind you tonight that this very day, Christendom has set aside the memorial day when Christ was nailed to the cross of Calvary. Oh, how solemn it is. Friends, we live in a world that is stained with the blood of Jesus Christ.

What a solemn thing. Isn't that solemn? We've passed through a world. Why we read of murders and robberies is any wonder. Can we marvel? Can we say, Isn't it awful that men will shoot each other down, kill each other, bomb the towns and bomb the cities?

Why the world has committed the crime of all crimes when they nailed the Son of God to the cross of Calvary. One poshest pilot three times over said, I find no fault in this man, and yet he scourged him.

Why? Because he hated Christ, because he turned his back on Christ. And God says the Jew and the Gentile are guilty of the death of Christ. And so God is going to judge this world. My friend, do not believe the modernist preachers of this 20th century who paint a lovely picture of the future, a golden age coming.

Don't believe it, my friends. Because God is going to judge this world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained, when he has given assurance unto all men that he hath raised him from the dead.

The Resurrection and the Finished Work of Christ

Jesus is no longer on the cross. Jesus is no longer in the tomb. Christ arose. Christ came out of his grave, and he ascended back as a man to the right hand of God. Oh, I want to ask you tonight, my friends, is that man your Savior?

Is that man your personal Savior? Are you resting your soul for eternity on that man and his finished work on the cross of Calvary? That's the only way to heaven. Baptism will never save your soul. You can join every organization under the heavens.

You can have your name and every role of honor, but without Christ you are lost tonight, lost and guilty and on the way to eternal damnation. Now, I know that the Christians in this room will pardon us speaking like this.

I know you all have heard this before, but I believe when we're asked to preach the gospel, we should preach the gospel. Maybe there's somebody in this room, and I'd like to mention a personal thing, and I trust you'll forgive me.

As a young man, I was brought to the gospel. Maybe you've been brought tonight into this room. Somebody's asked you. Maybe an invitation was placed in your door, and like me, you had no idea of how to be saved.

You just thought that eventually you would have to stand before God, and he would judge all your life, and he would take all your good deeds, and he'd weigh them up on a scale and take all your bad deeds and weigh them on a scale.

I believe that. I know there's Christians in this room might smile and say, this is a strange thing, but I believe that, and I tell you, friends in the city of Toronto tonight, there's multitudes of people who sincerely and honestly believe that God is going to judge them according to their bad works and their good works, and if by any hope they have a few good works, that he might have mercy on them and bring them to heaven.

I believe there's multitudes. I believe in the city of Montreal, there's hundreds of thousands of people who honestly, conscientiously believe with all their soul that's the way God is going to judge them.

My friends, perish the thought. What a solemn thing. God has sent his Son into this world, sent the man into this world, his own beloved eternal Son, the maker of heaven and earth. Oh, I think it indeed is a marvelous thing to think that the mighty Creator, with all power, himself became a man, one of his own, like one of his own creatures, sent apart and came down to this world and walked among men, walked among them, and told them that he loved them, told them that he loved them, and showed by his grace and his kindness and his good deeds and his mercy that his words were true, that he loved man, that he wanted to bless man.

But they gave him a cross, my friends, and they sent him back into heaven, sent him back into heaven with the nailed Prince on his hands and feet and sighed, how those mighty angels must have marveled, how the great Gabriel and Michael must have looked down in sorrow as they saw the Son of God hanging on that cross on this the day we call, the world calls Good Friday.

And there the Son of God, with his face covered with spit and his face bruised and broken, his hands nailed to a cross, with the crown of thorns on his blessed head, hanging between heaven and earth, God's beloved Son, cast out by man, his creatures, that he came down from heaven to tell, I love you.

And the Son of God would go from man to man, woman to woman, and say in their ear, God loves you, God loves you, I love you. And I lay down my life for my sheep, those who trust him. My friends, what a solemn thing to live here in the city of Toronto, to go to bed tonight unsaved, to go to bed tonight in your sins with only a heartbeat separating you from the presence of Almighty God and eternal damnation and judgment.

I know it's not popular, but it's in this book, my friends, Jesus preached it. He warned men to flee from judgment. He said, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And so it says here, for God so loved the world that he gave.

Isn't that wonderful? Can you think of anything more beautiful than to think that Jesus said these words? He gave. And oh, as he stood there, how his heart must have rejoiced. And yet, how his heart must have pained as he said those words.

He gave his only begotten son, his only begotten son, he gave him to this poor, wicked, hell-deserving world. He gave him. Oh, my friends, think of it. The eternal God looked down from heaven and saw that blessed man insulted by his creatures, and he did nothing.

He allowed them to treat him like that, allowed him to be dragged from the garden of Gethsemane into the presence of a high priest, and then brought the Pilate, brought the Herod, brought the Calvary, nailed to the cross.

God allowed it. Why? He loves this world. It doesn't mean creation here. It means you. It means me. It means you, my friends. Now, notice the rest of the verse. Whosoever. Isn't that a wonderful verse?

Isn't that a wonderful word? Whosoever means you and me. Whosoever, anybody, regardless of race, color, or creed. Whosoever believeth in him, not themselves, not their faith, not their religion, not their church, not their meeting.

Whosoever believeth in him. Who is that him? The only begotten Son of God, the Father, the Father's Beloved One, Heaven's Beloved One. Whosoever believeth in him. My friend, do you believe in him? I want to ask you young people, have you received Christ as your Savior?

Oh, I think we can thank God for Christian homes, but you know, some of us didn't have the kind of Christian homes you have. Many of you, dear young people, have been brought up and you've been singly brought out and blessed by Almighty God himself with a father and mother who know the Bible and who pray for you.

I say what a solemn judgment is going to come, it's going to fall on the children of the gathered saints who say no to Christ, who say no to Christ, and I'm afraid there's among the number many who do, they say no to Christ.

They received it in their heads, but never their hearts, and we have this afternoon, the fruit of their lives proves that they rejected the Christ of God. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish.

The Eternal Consequences of Rejecting Christ

Is man going to perish? Mr. Modernist preacher, is man going to perish? Oh no, sir, no. We live in the 20th century of education and enlightenment, no such a thing. We've passed the old stage. That belonged in the 19th century, they tell us.

Jesus said, shall not perish. The only man who ever lived who never sinned and who never told a lie said, shall not perish. Oh, how solemn it is to perish, my friends. What does it mean to perish? It means to be closed away from God for all eternity, to be shut out of God's company, out of God's presence in eternal darkness, under the judgment of God forever.

No second chance, no purgatory, no such a thing as getting out of this place. A great gulf has been fixed. You'll never get out, my friends. Oh, it's a solemn thing. I pray tonight. I pray that there's one in this room that's not saved, that God himself will stamp on your soul eternity, that you'll never forget it, that the words will follow you as you go home tonight, as you go to your bedroom, to your bed, those words will haunt your soul.

Like the man I read about who heard the gospel preached on John 3 .16, he went to bed and he dreamt, and he saw that word in his dream, whosoever, there it was, it followed him into his room, followed him into his bed, into his sleep, into his dreams, and he saw whosoever, and he was awakened.

He was awakened by God, and he got down on his knees, and there in the quietness of his bedroom, he received Christ as his Savior. Oh, how solemn and how glorious it is to think that God would speak. And I pray, if there's a young person in this room tonight, careless, indifferent, putting off this question, taking a chance, gambling with the devil, gambling your soul over the lake of fire and brimstone, that tonight you may come face to face with God himself and solemnly realize that to die without Christ, you will perish, my friends, for eternal ages.

Just imagine, I can't think of anything more awful, more terrible, to die without Christ, to leave this world, and if the Lord Jesus comes and takes his people to heaven, you will be left behind. Oh, how solemn.

Is there somebody here tonight, is there somebody here tonight who's not saved? Oh, my friend, tonight I plead with you, now, in this very moment, in this solemn, solemn gospel hour, with the very eye of God resting on every one of us here, the very eye of God, that holy, holy eye of Almighty God, looking down into this room, looking into your very heart and saying, will you receive Jesus as your Savior?

What will you say? He died for you, my friend. If you will have him as your Savior, he died for you. He took that place on the cross of Calvary for me, a poor, hell-deserving sinner, and he bore my sins.

Isn't that glorious? He bore my guilt and he bore my judgment in those three hours of darkness. What does it mean, my friend, today? Oh, I ask you again, I remind you, the business offices, the banks were closed today, the stores were closed.

It is Good Friday, Good Friday to the world, Good Friday. Why do they call it Good Friday? Oh, the man that was crucified by this world, bowed his head in death, having cried from that cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Why did he forsake him? Have you found it out yet? Oh, there's many of us can smile, the smile of joy on our faces as we think of the times we knelt down in the presence of God, looked up into his blessed face and said, we know the answer.

We know why that holy man was forsaken by God, because he was bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, and he exhausted the wrath of God for our sins. The Lord Jesus bowed his head, he cried from the cross, it is finished, and thank God tonight we can preach about the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My friend, are you here tonight? You're trying to add to that finished work, it is finished, said Jesus, you can't add to a finished work, he finished it all on the cross of Calvary. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends, but the Son of God went to Calvary's cross, there he gave his life.

He laid down his life for his enemies. We sometimes sing, was ever loved, Lord, like thine? A greater love, the love of Christ. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever, put your name in that verse, whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

The Urgency of Responding to the Gospel

Now, if God has provided the salvation, if God has provided the Savior, you can be saved tonight. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and see what God says. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and the middle of the second verse.

Now this is what God says, and God is speaking here in this verse. Notice, every word, my friends, our soul hangs tonight. You unsaved, you're unsaved here. Our soul hangs in the balance. Eternal ages faces us.

This is what God says, behold now, right now, not tomorrow, the devil's day is tomorrow. We often said that Pharaoh, when he was asked, when he asked, Moses asked him, when will I remove the dead frogs?

He said, tomorrow. Why? Because he was on the devil's side, and the devil always says tomorrow, but God says now, N-O-W, behold now is the day of salvation. Behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation.

Tomorrow, this may be too late. At nine o 'clock tonight, it may be too late. And you may be a corpse in ten minutes. Your heart may stop beating tonight. You'll go into eternity, into eternity, eternity, my friends, God's eternity, never-ending.

You'll go into eternity, into the presence of God, into eternity. Oh, how solemn. Behold now is the accepted time. Jesus said to Nicodemus, make haste and come down. Why? There's no time to waste. Behold now is the day of salvation.

Now is God's accepted time. God offers you salvation. He offers you life. He offers you the forgiveness of sins. He offers you everlasting, eternal life. He offers you peace with God. He offers you a new life.

He offers you heaven above. He offers you the glory. He offers to make you an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Right now, come as you are, and all your sins, and all your guilt, just come and bow your head before this blessed Savior who loved you and gave himself for you.

The Great Salvation and the Final Appeal

Now our next and final question, our final verse, in Hebrews chapter 2. And here, my friends, is a solemn question, and I say this reverently tonight in the presence of many of our dear saints of God, here is a question that God himself can answer, and I say it reverently.

Hebrews chapter 2, in the first part of the third verse, how shall we escape? How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Now I'm sure tonight there's boys in this room, and I believe there's girls in this room that maybe on March 24, 25, and 26 last year in the City of Toronto, in this very gymnasium or in the auditorium, heard the servants of God preach, and you got away with it for 13 more months, and you're here tonight.

This may be your last chance. This may be your last offer, God's last offer. He says himself, my spirit shall not always strive with man. What a solemn thing. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, great salvation, a great Savior, a great God, a great work of, a great sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, great.

God says it's a great salvation. Dear sinner friends, dare you neglect it, dare you reject it for the devil, oh the devil stands and looks upon you and says, come with me. I will make you happy. I will give you the world.

I will give you all the joys of time. I will give you money and fame and business and leadership in the world and business. I will make you an athlete. I will make you a strong man. I will give you everything that you can see with your eyes.

But God says the things that are seen are temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal, my friend. And tonight, the devil offers you, as he offered the Lord Jesus, in a moment of time, he offered him the kingdoms of the world.

God tells us in Luke chapter 4, in a moment of time, he showed the Christ of God all the kingdoms of the world. How nice it is to take God the ages to the ages to show his kindness to us through Christ Jesus.

My friends, what more can we say? To say more, we believe, would not be right. We leave the message with you. How will you escape if you neglect so great salvation? Man is a sinner beyond doubt. God says so.

Man therefore needs salvation. Man cannot save himself. He can't do anything for his salvation. He must receive it as a gift from God. The Lord Jesus finished the work on Calvary's cross. He's a Savior, not a dead Savior, I speak reverently, but a risen Savior at the right hand of God, his own wounds in heaven declared.

The atoning work is done. The very hands of Christ tonight in the heavens above show that he has finished the work of redemption on the cross of Calvary. There's nothing more to do. Jesus lives, a living and a loving Savior, a precious Savior, my Savior.

Is he your Savior? Then my friends, God says now is the time to be saved. God has appointed a time for salvation. It's now, not tomorrow, not next week, not next year, but now. God's offer to you is salvation.

And last, how will you escape? If you put off this question, if you neglect this great question, may tonight God grant, oh, dear young boys who've got Christian mothers and fathers, don't be afraid tonight.

Won't you speak well of Christ? Won't you come and confess Christ? Won't you stand up and confess Christ? Don't be afraid. The devil, we often say, will roar and try to make you afraid. But God will fill your heart with gladness and joy that this world can never give.