Wonderful — Phil Clarkson

I'm glad Mr. Willie explained that Frank Wardenburg isn't here tonight on the platform, because you're to think he'd gotten sick today and gone downhill this afternoon. And you know, I complained to him.

And here, when the Lord—there's an old Indian proverb that says all sunshine makes the desert, so we need the rain. It's a joy to be here again tonight. I don't know whether Mrs. Gawley did a good job of my wife, or my wife did a good job of Mrs. Gawley, but we're here.

Isaiah's Prophecy of the Wonderful Christ

I'd like to have you turn to read a few verses about one that we've been singing. Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9. You know, it's a solemn responsibility for a man to address an audience, because if someone gives a bad address for 30 minutes, and you have 200 people in the crowd, you've wasted a half hour of 200 people's time, that amounts to about 100 hours.

And that's more than four days. And in the old days, that was a hanging offense. So I trust you're gracious, that part of the poem. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. Hardly need to turn to it, you know that.

You can quote it, can't you? For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and his name shall be called Wonderful.

Now, I know that some people say that his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, and I would go along with that, but let me tell you, friends, you put any good adjective after Wonderful concerning the Lord Jesus, and I'd go along with that, too.

Manoah and the Angel Whose Name Is Wonderful

He's not only a Wonderful Counselor, he's a Wonderful Friend, he's a Wonderful Savior, but I say he's just plain Wonderful, and his name shall be called Wonderful. Judges chapter 13. Judges chapter 13.

Instead of reading the whole story, you know the story about the parents of Samson and the birth of Samson, and an angel visited the parents of Samson before he was born. And we'll break in at verse 12 of Judges 13.

And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Of all that I have said unto the woman, let her beware, she may not eat of anything that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine, nor strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing.

All that I have commanded her, let her observe. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread, and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord.

For Manoah knew not that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass, we may do thee honor? And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus of my name, seeing it is wonderful?

Seeing it is secret, but seeing it is wonderful. So Manoah took a kid with the meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord. And the angel did wondrously. His name was not only wonderful, but he did a wonderful work.

He did wondrously. And Manoah and his wife looked on, for it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it and fell on their faces to the ground.

But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife than Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.

Jonathan's Wonderful Love for David

So we read that the one who visited, Manoah and his wife, his name was wonderful. But not only that, he did a wonderful work. And lastly, shall we read from 2 Samuel, chapter 1. 2 Samuel, chapter 1. David is mourning the death of Saul and Jonathan, and especially Jonathan.

And we'll break in at verse 25 of 2 Samuel, chapter 1. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle? O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thy high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant hast thou been unto me.

Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. Now we have in Isaiah, chapter 9, a wonderful work, a wonderful name. We have in Judges, a wonderful work.

And we have in 2 Samuel, chapter 1, wonderful love. Now, I thank God for scriptures like Isaiah 9 and 6, in days like these in which we live. Where man is seeking to lower the Lord to the level of man only.

Man is trying to humanize God, and he's trying to deify humanity. You know, they say he was only a good man. But then on the other hand, they say there's a little bit of God in all of us, and that's good.

So they're trying to humanize deity and to deify humanity. Wonderful, wonderful is his name. He was a babe of Bethlehem. He was a man of Galilee. But if he was only that, friends, he was a man that had sins of his own, for which he must die.

The Deity and Sinlessness of Christ

God places him far above man. He was man indeed. The God-man Christ Jesus. He was more than man. And he was different from God. He was God. I've heard people say, well, this was his humanity, as we read the scriptures.

And this was his deity. I don't believe that. I believe that Jesus Christ was one entity. The God-man Christ Jesus. There never was another one like him before, and never another one like him since. He's the only person of his kind.

Christ was not one in a million. He was not one in ten million. He had no peer or parallel. He stands alone. The Christ of God. And God calls his name Wonderful. You remember when Gabriel was sent from God to Mary, he said unto her, That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

The Son of God. He was different than any other person that was ever here upon earth. The holy, harmless, eternal Son of God, who did no sin, who could not sin. He could not sin. Could he have sinned?

No. I've heard some people say he could have sinned. He didn't, but could have. No, he could not have sinned. Because if he could have sinned, it meant he had an evil nature like I have. Because this is where sin comes from.

And if Jesus Christ could have sinned, he must have had an evil nature. But he did not have that. He was born like us, but sin apart. He was born in the likeness of sinful flesh, but not in sinful flesh.

If Jesus Christ could have sinned, that meant that he was not impeccable. He was peccable. And that's blasphemous, isn't it, to say that he was peccable. Because if Jesus Christ could have sinned when he was here upon earth, he could sin today in heaven.

Because he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. But he was a holy, harmless Son of God. Oh, I hear someone say, yes, but how would we know what kind of a Savior he was if he couldn't have sinned and didn't sin?

I'll tell you, friends, what kind of a Savior he is. He's a Savior way above sin. You don't have to worry about that. When I used to work in the State Capitol Building in Des Moines, there's a fellow who came in the office one day.

I used to be Executive Secretary of the State Mining Department, and a fellow came into my office one day, and I believe he's a Christian. But he said, Phil, he said, I don't think the Lord sinned, but I think he could have sinned.

He could have sinned. You know what this man's name was? O. B. Divine was his name. O. B. Divine. And a fellow with a name like that was telling me that Christ wasn't divine. I almost called him B. O. Divine before he left, but I didn't.

But Jesus Christ could not have sinned. He was either the Almighty God above it all, or he was a man that had sins of his own for which he must die. And we knew that. We know that is an impossibility.

But he's wonderful. God calls him wonderful. What do you call him? Isn't he wonderful? Look back over your past life, friends. Look back over your past life. See the many ways in which God has led you and blessed you.

Above millions. And what do you say about him? I say he's wonderful. The other day I was speaking to someone and they were saying, Phil, they said, I didn't know whether the Lord wanted me to go this way or that way, and I asked the Lord to shut the door if he didn't want me to go that way.

And I said, you know, I pray the same way. And that's the reason my nose is so flat once in a while. Ask the Lord to shut the door and he shuts it and shuts it in a hurry. But he's wonderful the way he guides and the way he leads and the way he blesses.

Christ the Wonderful Creator

You know, he's wonderful in that he's the creator. He's a wonderful creator. I want to read from the Amplified. It's a little different. In whom we have redemption through his blood, which means the forgiveness of sin.

Now, he is the exact likeness of the unseen God, the visible representation of the invisible. He is the firstborn of all creation. For it was in him that all things were created in heaven and in earth, things seen and unseen were the thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities.

All things were created and exist through him by his service, intervention, and in him and for him. Now, he was the creator. Of course, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit always worked in perfect unison and coordination.

But he's great because of what he's done in creation. It's wonderful. If we could get a little grasp of the size of this universe, that this one who's called wonderful is created. I'll tell you, friends, it makes you feel smaller than a pinhead.

You know, the earth that we think is so tremendous, it's only 8 ,000 miles in diameter. The sun is 865 ,000 miles in diameter. And I thought that was big until I learned about Betelgeuse, a star that is 215 million miles in diameter.

And I thought that was big until I found out about Antares, and the star Antares is 400 million miles in diameter. And I thought that was big until I found out about the star Alpha Hercules. It is 2 ,400 ,000 ,000 miles in diameter.

Or you take the distance between the earth and the sun and multiply it by 25 times, and you'll have an idea of the size of Alpha Hercules. I went down to the planetarium on the shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago one day, and I talked to the man in the planetarium.

And I said, now, would you tell me that Alpha Hercules is the biggest star in the universe? Oh, no, he said, I wouldn't do that. I said, why not? Well, he said, the larger our telescopes, the bigger stars we find.

So I wouldn't say that Alpha Hercules is the biggest star in the universe. If we realize the size of this universe, and to think this is the work of his hands, this is just the work of his hands. Now, if it costs us one cent to ride a thousand miles, and boy, that's cheap travel, isn't it?

One cent to ride a thousand miles, it would only cost us 25 cents to go around the world, wouldn't it? 25 cents. To get to the moon would cost us $2 .38. To get to the sun would cost us $930. But a trip to the nearest star would cost us $260 ,000 ,000.

That's how large this great universe is. Now, that isn't how large it is. We're just scratching the surface. We're just scratching the surface. Sir Harold Spencer Jones, who's a British astronomer, and I think probably known to Mr. Woolley.

You were friends, weren't you? Well, yeah. He tells us that our galaxy has millions and millions of stars that are traveling through space at speeds that's almost impossible for us to understand. And our galaxy, just our galaxy in which we live, is something like 600 quadrillion miles in diameter.

600 quadrillion miles. We made 650 miles the other day. We thought we were doing great. 600 quadrillion. And our galaxy is just the speck in the known universe. And astronomers speculate that there may be, there are probably as many as a million such galaxies as ours.

Now, if you want to get a little idea, simple arithmetic. Fellas, put on your thinking caps now. And I want you to give me the answer when I finish. You can use a pencil if you like. But you take 600 quadrillion times one billion.

Now, that's six with 26 zeros after it. You divide that by 18 ,000 miles an hour. That's about the speed that they go in outer space. Then divide that by 24 hours in the day. And then divide that by 365 days in the year.

How long would it take you to travel from one end of the universe to the other? How many days? Don't you have it? No, I don't either. I don't either. Yes, I do have. Here's how long it would take you.

It would take you three quintillion, 805 quadrillion, 175 trillion, 38 million, 38 billion, 51... What's a billion? Another billion or two, you know, figures like this. 51 million, 750 ,000, 380 years for a man to go from one end of the universe to the other.

Now, is man going to conquer the universe? You know, the first thing he's got to do is to live three quintillion years before he can even scratch the surface. Of the universe. And I want to tell you, friends, that anyone who can make something like that is wonderful.

He's absolutely wonderful. He's a great creator. But the thing that thrills my soul tonight, the great creator became my savior. And all God's fullness dwelleth in him. Oh, he's wonderful. Indeed, he is.

He is absolutely wonderful. But you know, Mr. Milligan can tell us about this. We think about the tremendous size of the universe. And that's wonderful. But think of the detail of God's creation. It's wonderful, too.

Not only the beauty in the color, but the aroma. Aren't flowers lovely? The odor that comes from these flowers. Wouldn't you like to walk down the corridor of a lily someday? Wouldn't that be wonderful?

So not only the greatness of his creation, but the minuteness, the beautiful color, the construction of what our Lord Jesus Christ has made. And you know the greatest thing he ever made? Do you have any idea what it is?

It's you. Oh, well, that's not hard to understand, is it? No, no, we say that. Well, of course, I agree with you, Mr. Clarkson. The greatest thing God ever made was man, with me, with us. Was it long ago?

Many years ago, Dr. Gallup said that he could prove God statistically. He said, you take the functions of the human body alone. The chance that all those functions of an individual would just happen is a statistical monstrosity.

Jesus' Wonderful Miracles

Impossible. He's wonderful. He's wonderful. And I think of Mary and Martha. When they came to their Lord one day with tears in their eyes, and they said, Lord, if you'd only been here, our brother had not died.

He goes to the grave and he says, Lazarus, come forth. And he came forth. And I think through their tears, Mary and Martha looked up into his lovely face. And they said, Lord, you're wonderful. I think one day the lady who only had one son to care for her, the lovely widow of Nain, and they're going out to the cemetery to bury him.

This son had died. And the Lord stopped the funeral procession. And he raised him from the dead. And I think that dear lady, that dear mother, through her tears, looked up into his face and said, Lord, you're wonderful.

And I think of the poor old blind beggar, blind from his birth. And he cries out for the Lord to have mercy on him. And the Lord opened his eyes. You know, that must have been a wonderful revelation, that blind man.

You know who the first one was he ever saw? His eyes were open. And the one who gave him his sight is the first person he saw. And I think he must have said to him, Lord, you're wonderful. You're wonderful.

You know, that title belongs to the Lord Jesus alone. You know that? Oh, I know. Long, long ago in the horse and buggy, when you took your girlfriend out for a ride and the moonlight was just right. And you looked into those lovely eyes of hers.

And I think maybe you said, honey, you're wonderful. I see some smiles come on the men's faces. I think that must have happened. But you know, that title belongs to him alone. It's his alone. You know, Philip means lover of horses.

And I can hardly stand them. I can't ride them very well. And I had a brother-in-law whose name was Richard. You know, you've heard of Richard Lionheart, Stern. And he was anything but that. I met a lady one day at the Everson Gospel Chapel, north side of Chicago.

And her name was Betty Crocker. Yeah, it wasn't a Betty Crocker that you hear about all the time. But this was her name. Her name was Betty Crocker. I remember one time when I worked in that same Capitol building.

The Crown Prince of Denmark was going to come to see the governor. And he was a stately man. He was a handsome man. Great big fellow. And you know, 15 minutes before, the Crown Prince was to come in the west door of the Capitol.

You know, up the hill from downtown. You couldn't hear a typewriter clicking in the whole Capitol building. All the secretaries were gathered around the big rotunda outside of the governor's office in the Capitol building.

And you know, after waiting all that time, pretty soon the door opened and the entourage of the Crown Prince came in. And then the Crown Prince came in. And you could have heard a pin drop. But when he came into sight, you could hear all those secretaries, not all of them, but a good many of them say, Ah, isn't he wonderful?

Isn't he wonderful? And he was. I don't want to give away my age. My wife would object to it even though she's younger than I am. But one time I was in Washington, D .C. with Alfred Gibbs. And it was the time when the Queen, the King and Queen of England came to visit in this country.

Now, this is the lady who is now the Queen Mother. And she came to this country with her husband. And if you follow Alfred Gibbs, you got to put on your walking shoes, your running shoes and your jumping shoes.

I thought we might get some help going over the wall into Arlington Cemetery because they were going to come down that way. And he and I climbed over that wall fence and got right up on the road. And there was there was no one else, you know, within long, long distance of us.

No one else had the courage to go over the wall, I guess. But as we're standing there, along came the King and Queen. And, you know, Alfred Gibbs was a British subject and he gave a nice courtesy when they went by.

And the Queen acknowledged it. And I thought he was going to jump over the fence and take off for heaven. It thrilled him. As the people lined the streets down in Washington, D .C., to see the lovely Queen of England, they said, ah, isn't she wonderful?

And she wasn't a wonderful Scots lass. She was. But, friends, I want to tell you the most wonderful person ever walked upon this earth is the one who one day walked outside the city walls of Jerusalem to the place called Calvary.

And there died for me. And I look to Calvary tonight, friends, and I say he's wonderful. He's wonderful because he loved me enough to die for me. His name is wonderful. But I want to tell you, friends, he did a wonderful work, too.

Calvary, Salvation, and the Resurrection

Far surpasses the work that we read about of men in the scriptures. Jesus Christ is wonderful. And the angel of the Lord told Manon his wife that God was going to give them a deliverer of Israel. And they told him how he was going to be born.

Now, they didn't know who the angel was, so they said, what's your name? And they said, he said, it's wonderful. I think the one who spoke to them that day is the one whose name was mentioned in Isaiah 9 and 6.

His name shall be called Wonderful. And so Manon made an offering. And it says that the angel did wonderfully. We're not told exactly what he did. But the Bible says he did wondrously. And friends, you can't tell me exactly what transpired at Calvary in those dark hours when God was dealing with his son on account of your sins and mine.

But I want to tell you this, he did wondrously. He did wondrously. And I look back to Calvary. What's our part? What was the part of Manon his wife? They couldn't do anything but fall on their faces. That's all they did.

They fell upon their faces. And that's what you and I have done, have we not? We stand and we look as the Holy Son of God yields up his life. And we hear him say, it is finished. The work of salvation is wondrously done.

I want to tell you if anything else could be done for your salvation, God would have done it already. But there's not another thing that God can do for you to bring you to Jesus Christ, to bring you to himself.

His son has died for you. He's given his life for you. And all that's needed for your salvation has already been done. Fellas and girls tonight, I want to tell you, you can become a Christian tonight.

You can trust Jesus Christ as Savior tonight and know that everything that you need for your salvation has been done, except you're receiving him as your Savior and your Lord. But you know, there was more than that.

Oh, said someone, there can't be more than Calvary. There can't be more than the Son of God giving his life. Oh, yes, there can be. Now, I don't think for a moment we can make too much of the cross. But I want to tell you, friends, we can make too little of the resurrection, because the angel didn't stay upon earth.

He ascended in the flame. He went back. He went back. And it tells us that the cross was not the end of the work of Jesus Christ, but he rose from the dead the third day, and he ascended in the flame.

I want to tell you that the message of the early disciples and the early apostles in the book of Acts is replete with the message of the resurrection. I think twelve times in the first five chapters of Acts is the resurrection mentioned.

And I want to tell you, if he did not rise from the dead, they could have faced Peter with it when he preached the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because those people were there. They were there when Christ rose from the dead.

And they preached the resurrection then, and they didn't challenge the resurrection. Oh, I know they tried to keep him in the grave. They said someone come and stole him away. But it was never, never really challenged, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Manoah's Offering and Assurance of Acceptance

What did Mononi's wife do? Well, they fell on their faces. But Mononi says, now we're going to die, because we have seen the Lord. We're going to die. These women, don't they slay you with their logic sometimes, men, huh?

And Mrs. Mononi said, look, Mononi, what are you worried about that for? If God has received the offering at our hands, he's going to receive us. If he hadn't received our offering, he wouldn't receive us.

If he set the fire upon our offering, he won't send the fire upon us. Great logic, isn't it? Great logic. And the thing about this logic is true. It's absolutely true. If God receives my offering, he's going to receive me.

And I've got news for you tonight, friend, if you never knew it before. God is completely satisfied with the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. He is a thrice holy God. And if God is satisfied, can't I be satisfied as well?

And all the people said, amen. I can be satisfied if God is satisfied. And he is completely satisfied with the work of his lovely son. Now to hurry on to the last mention of love that we read tonight.

Jonathan's Robe and the Believer's Righteousness

Thy love to me was wonderful, said David, passing the love of women. Passing the love of women. Now we read that the soul of Jonathan and the soul of David were knit together in love. And we also read that the soul of Jonathan was knit not only to the soul of David, but Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

He loved him as his own soul. And I suppose as David is thinking about the death of Jonathan, he's thinking of the times, the great times they had together. The great times that they had together. And I think possibly of all the times that he was thinking that they were together.

The time that was foremost in his mind was the time when he had, and he stands out above all others, the time that David was returning from the fight with Goliath, shepherd's clothes. The king wants to see him, but he's not dressed for the presence of the king.

He's not fit for the presence of the king. Look at him. He doesn't have a tux to put on. I think poor old David never knew what a tux was, even after he had all the clothes that he wanted. But he was not fit for the presence of the king in his shepherd's clothes.

Now if Jonathan would have said to him, David, I want you to go to the best clothier in Israel. And I understand that Israel has some pretty good clothiers. At least they do in this country, don't they?

But if he had told him to go to the best clothier in Israel and say, David, I want you to go and get the best, the costliest garment you can find. Get the best thing you have ever had. Don't mind the cost.

Just tell him to charge it to my account. That would have been wonderful, wouldn't it? But Jonathan didn't do that. What did he do? He said, he stripped himself. He stripped himself of his robe, of his garment, of his sword, of his bow, of his girdle.

And he said, now, David, put these on. Now you're fit for the presence of my father. Now you're fit for the presence of the king. And I hear another Jonathan say one day, you Phil Clarkson are not fit for the presence of my father.

You're not fit for the presence of the king. But you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. Why? That we, through his poverty, might be made rich.

That I might be fit for the presence of the king. What did he do? He stripped himself. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. But I want to tell you, friends, tonight that God has given him a name that's above every name.

That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Oh, what a great day that's going to be, hey? When we think of him stripping himself.

But friends, that's only part of the story. I love to think of the day when there's going to be 10 ,000 times 10 ,000 and thousands of thousands around the throne, not dressed in their own filthy garments, but dressed in the garments of Jesus Christ the Lord, singing unto him who loved us and loosed us from our sins, who gave us this robe of righteousness that made us fit for the presence of the king.

Oh, but someone says, when was he rich? He wasn't rich here, was he? He was born in a stable. He was cradled in a manger. The parents, when they brought their gifts and their sacrifices, offered doves.

And it was said of him that foxes have holes, and he said it, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. He was not rich here upon earth, was he, friends? No, indeed.

When was he rich? In eternity past, he was rich. We could not begin to tell you how rich he was. Think of the sweet fellowship that God the Father and God the Son had in eternity past, before sin had ever come in to disrupt any, your sin and mine, I'm thinking of, any fellowship between God the Father and God the Son.

And he laid aside that glory, not his deity, but he laid aside his glory. He became the man of sorrows and acquitted with grief, and he died on a felon's cross. He was buried in a borrowed tomb. Yes, he stripped himself, not for David, but for you and for me.

When David looked back upon Jonathan, he said, Jonathan, thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. And I look back to the cross, and I say, the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me.

A Testimony of Conversion Through Christ's Death

I wonder if everyone here tonight has ever said that. He loved me and gave himself for me, and I'm going to trust him as my Lord and as my Savior. My wife and I just a few weeks ago got back from California, and it was a great, it was a great joy to be out there and to see people I hadn't seen for 30 years.

And there's one lady I wanted to see, and her name was Mrs. Brown, Mrs. William Brown. And there was a Portuguese man out there in Dublin Canyon near Oakland that became a Christian just before, not long before I'd gotten out there.

And he didn't have anything to give to the Lord but a barn. And so he gave the Lord this barn. And you know what he did? How could the Lord use a barn? But he whitewashed it all on the inside. And I've spoken to a hundred children that we crammed into that barn.

But the man that was responsible for bringing most of the children into the barn was William Brown. He worked for Dun Bradstreet, and his work took him beyond the San Francisco Bay area, sometimes down to Fresno, sometimes down to San Jose.

But if it was a meeting night, instead of staying away, Mr. Brown would come back. And I've seen him make five trips in a night up and down the canyon to bring boys and girls to the barn. And for the time that I was out there, some 10 or 12 boys and girls, and one Mr. Burt Pilkington, no relation to the Pilkingtons we know, trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

We went over to see Mr. Pilkington, too. This is aside. But he'd had a stroke, a severe stroke. He couldn't walk very far, just a few steps, even with a walker. But oh, what a joy it was to see that man who so many years ago trusted Jesus Christ.

But Mr. Brown kept making his trips, bringing boys and girls into the meetings. And there was a Mrs. Hague that said to Mr. Brown one day, she said, Mr. Brown, you know, my husband needs to be saved, and I think he's almost ready.

He's been drinking a little lately, but I think he's trying to get rid of the anxious thoughts he has about his soul. So Mr. Brown said, I'll come and see him. So coming home one night from way out in the valley, Mr. Brown was coming home to see Bob Hague, and he was in a serious automobile accident and was killed.

The next Sunday afternoon after he was buried, Mrs. Brown went over to see Bob Hague, and it was on Sunday afternoon. He was stretched out on the sofa, and he'd been drinking some, too. So Mrs. Brown came in, and she said, Bob, Rob, she said, I suppose you heard about Mr. Brown being killed.

And the tears started on Bob Hague's eyes. He said, yes, Mrs. Brown. He said, you know, Mr. Brown died for me. And he kept repeating that, he said, you know, Mr. Brown died for me. Well, she says, Bob, don't you forget this.

Jesus Christ died for you, and don't forget it. And she said, could you come over to my house tomorrow night, you and your wife, for dinner? This would be on Monday night. She said, come at six o 'clock.

And they were having some kind of a centennial there in Hayward, California. All the men were growing beers, and he had one, too. Five-thirty the next afternoon, evening, early evening, the doorbell rang, and Mrs. Brown said, I wonder who that is.

She opened the door, and there was Bob Hague and his wife. Thirty minutes early, clean-shaven, dressed, and looked very nice. Oh, she said, Bob, what happened to you? Oh, he said, Mrs. Brown, last night after you left, I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior.

And I found out not only did Mr. Brown die for me, but I found out that the Lord died for me. I just got that story a few weeks ago, and it thrilled my soul. It thrilled my soul that this man who'd given his life for so many boys and girls, take him to meetings, and whose life was taken when he came back to speak to Bob Hague, did not die in vain.