I'd like to talk a little this morning on a very practical subject, the subject of our personal responsibility to the unconverted that are around us, the matter of personal soul winning, especially in view of the exhortations from First John and in view of the near coming of the Lord. I want you to turn with me, if you will, to Luke twenty-four. Be in much prayer, beloved, for the closing service tonight. Mr. Bush will be telling us in a few moments about the film and the program for tonight, but let us lay hold of God and be on the lookout for opportunities to speak to one another about spiritual things between now and tonight. My, wouldn't it be great to see the arm of the Lord revealed in a mighty way in our midst tonight. There are scores and scores of unconverted people coming and attending these films. I know of no Bible conference anywhere, and I go to a lot of them, that has the outreach, so far as the unconverted are concerned, as this one. All the Bible conferences are self-contained, as it were. Therefore, believers only. But here we have a very, very rare opportunity of getting our hooks or the God's hooks into these... into these dear unconverted people. So let's see, let's pray that there'll be a real business done tonight. Luke chapter twenty-four and verse forty-four. Just the last few verses here. Luke twenty-four, forty-four, and he, that is, Jesus said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you. That all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it beholds Christ to suffer, and arise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, and ye are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you. Say, there's that little preposition, isn't it? I hadn't noticed it, but here it is. Yesterday we talked about three prepositions in connection with the Holy Spirit. Do you remember what they were? What were they? With, in, and upon. Good. With, in, and upon. The Holy Spirit was with the people of God before Pentecost. He's in the people of God since Pentecost. But here's the third preposition of what we know, I'm afraid, all too little, upon. Well, where is it? Verse forty-nine, and behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with from on high. I read somewhere about a very unusual parade that was held in New York City a number of years ago. It was unusual by reason of the fact that that the whole parade consisted of just a very, very long procession of loaded automobiles. No, there weren't old cars either. They were ordinary, everyday cars. And the crowds gathered, and they lined the sidewalks, and they watched with great admiration. What was the parade? The cars that led the procession, dozens, dozens, and dozens of cars, were all loaded with rather a motley crowd of passengers, men, women, and kitties. And the crowd stood and watched in silence as these cars slowly rolled up the boulevard, loaded with their human brakes. Where were these people in these cars? Signatories from some foreign country? Oh, no, no, not at all. They were just ordinary common citizens of New York and its suburbs. Just ordinary people. Wealthy people, not at all. I say they were ordinary people. Men, women, children. Well, who were these people loaded in these cars? Every one of these persons had been rescued from death from burning buildings. Every one of them. You mean that old man sitting there in that car, yeah? He'd been brought down some fireman's ladder. That woman? Yes. She too had been rescued. Those kidneys? Yes. They'd been brought out of burning tenement buildings down ladders, or some had jumped into a net. Every single one in these cars had been rescued in some way. And the crowd stood and admired, and there was a pattern of clapping and so on, and a lot of comments. And then there was a break in the procession. And then there was another cavalcade of cars rolled along. This time they were loaded with men. No women, no titties, just men, men, men, men, men. Who are these? Well, of course, you've guessed it. They were the firemen. They were the rescuer. They brought up the rear. I tell you, friends, when that second crowd of cars came along, loaded with those men, the crowd went wild. They were the firemen who had risked their necks to go up those ladders, perhaps icy rungs, on cold, icy winter days, and had brought those folk down successfully to safety. The crowd, I say, burst into clapping and cheering as the firemen rolled by. It was a publicity stunt. It was fire prevention week. And they were trying to make folks conscious of the need of being careful with fire. You know, as I read that, I thought of this. This is the rescue season. The parade's coming by and by. Isn't it so? This is the rescue season. And there's a verse in Jude. that speaks about our responsibility of pulling them out of the fire. Do you remember that? Ye beloved, building up yourself on your most holy faith. By the way, it's not in. Don't misquote that. It's not building up one another in our most holy faith. It's building up one another on, on, on, on, on, on our most holy faith. The most holy faith foundation we're building up on that foundation. Well, I didn't intend to digress. But anyhow, the verse says this. It says that we're to pull them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. You and I are God's firemen. Ever think of that, Christian? You and I are God's fire department. You and I are God's men who are rescuers to pull men and women out of a certain fire and judgments of God. I say this is the rescue season. Brethren and sisters, the parade will be at the judgment seat of Christ. Now, in these verses that we've read this morning, we have three simple facts. First of all, we have the master, and secondly, we have the message, and finally, we have the messenger. We have the master, where? What we were reading, weren't we, in Luke twenty-four and verses forty-five to fifty, or forty-nine. We have the master, I suggest, in verses forty-five and forty-six. the great master who has done the great work. And then in verse forty-seven we have the message. Notice it, repentance and remission of sins. And in verses forty-eight and forty-nine stress is laid upon the messenger. All right, when you remember that simple outline, first of all we have the master. Verses forty-five and forty-six. Who is the master? Who is our commander in chief? His name is Jesus. What did he do? He suffered, according to the Scriptures. Verse forty-six. Thus it beholded Christ. I tell you, friends, there's energy in that verb. Behold Christ. It was necessary for Christ. Necessity was laid upon him by reason of the prophetic forecast. It beholded Christ. It was incumbent upon Christ. The what? The sufferer. and arise from the dead the third day. He is the Master. He is the one friend who has given effect to all the great redemptive purpose of God. Man was lost and alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in him. A great moral chasm yawned between a holy God and the unholy creature. and the sons of Adam were born outside of the gate of Eden. One of the saddest and most significant verses, I suppose, in the book of Genesis, is found at the closing part of chapter three. So the Lord drove out the man. He drove out the man. Isn't that what it says? He drove him out. God was inside, he was holy. Man was outside, he was unholy. And the angel or the cherry of him with a flashing flaming sword stood in between, saying, Don't you dare. You're out. You're lost. You're sinful. You're disobedient. God is inside. And man was alienated. And every child of Adam has been born outside that gate. He's been born an alien from God. And then God did something. And the movement of divine love, as we've been hearing, was on the part of God. The story of the gospel is not, my friends, the yearning on the part of man for restored and broken fellowship. It's not a case of Adam wandering up and down saying, Where art thou, O God, I've lost you. On the contrary, it was the living God that made that movement and came toward man and said, Where are you? I've lost you. But Adam said, I'm hiding behind this tree, Lord. I heard thy voice, and I was afraid, and I hid myself. Those words have found an echoing response in every heart here. Do you remember the time when the Gospel came home, in Holy Spirit power to you, and you became very uncomfortable? You just got... You just became so uncomfortable and embarrassed that you tried to smother it and drown it and avoid every contact with Christianity that you could. It had been while you were lying on that operating table and just before you breathed yourself away into unconsciousness that you could hear. Well, the language that applied would be the language of Adam. I heard thy voice and I was afraid. That accident. I heard thy voice, and I was afraid. That gospel preacher, I heard thy voice, and I was afraid. That gospel tract, I heard thy voice, and I was afraid. But oh, how good it is that God has moved into the situation, and God has done something for us. And in this is manifest the love of God, in that God sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And behold, Christ the sufferer, and rise again the third day. The platform has been laid. Redemption has been accomplished, and Christ, friends, the great worker on the cross, has now risen from the dead to give effect to His work in the heart of all who believe. He's the master, and He's able to save all the way through. Brethren, have we lost our faith in the gospel? Have we allowed the killing influences of the world and worldly philosophy to weaken our faith in the emancipating gospel of Jesus Christ? I challenge my own heart. Listen. There's power in the risen Christ this morning to make the most drunken thoughts in the state of California sober and deliver him from. There is enough power in the risen Christ to make the liar honest, to make the harlot pure, to make the cheat and the covetous extortioner in business, an upright and honest citizen. There's enough power in the risen Christ to deliver from that temper. To deliver, my friends, to deliver your heart from that knowing yet lust that is damning your heart. I say, friends, this. There's enough power in the risen Christ to save all the way through those that come unto God by him. He's the master of every situation. As I said last night, there was no disease, but what found in Christ is its master. There was no demon. no matter how malignant and obstinate that demon was, that bowed and obeyed when he spoke. There is no death but what yields up its prey to the hands of the master. Our Lord is superior to every situation. He's the master, friend. He's the master. He's the Lord. He's the Lord. Now, the messenger cannot be right unless we have right thoughts as to the master and the message. First of all, I must have a renewed confidence in my master and in the product that I'm trying to, I was going to say, trying to sell to others. The master. But then there's something else here. In verse forty-seven there's the message. What is the message anyhow? No use our going out to the unconverted unless we're straight on the master and straight on the message. Well, the message is in verse forty-seven. Repentance and remission of sin. should be preached in his name, not in the name of the church, but in his name among all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. All nations, friends. All nations. All nations. God hasn't made of any particular nation his favorites. He is no respecter of persons. And we here in the States or we here in Canada. have no corner on God or the gospel. All nations. God loves all men. In contrast to the restrictive ministry of Matthew ten, where the disciples were sent out to Israel only, and were forbidden even to go to the Samaritans, in contrast to that, now the gospel, the evangel, goes out to all nations. Good. Well, what's the message again? Verse forty-seven, repentance and remission of sin. Our brother Mr. Walden last night stressed the importance of repentance. and well that he did so. What is repentance? Well, first of all, what is it not? Repentance, beloved. Repentance is not mere penance. And secondly, repentance is not mere penitence. What is penance? The Roman Catholic translation, apart from this last one, the Confraternity translation, really mistranslates that. And it does a serious injury to the true meaning of the term repentance. It's not do penance. Repentance, friend, is not tenants. Tenance is doing something or producing something that will meet the requirements of God. Tenance, tenants is a bill. Tenance is a demand of the sinner, to do something, to produce something, to suffer something, in order to placate God, in order to meet His demands and pay Him off. That is not repentance. That does, that nullifies the value of the work of Christ, and it makes a mockery of faith. It's not penitent, nor is it mere penitent. Repentance is sorrow. Near sorrow, friends, that one has engaged in something that is wrong and has injured his fellow is not repentance. Now, don't misunderstand me. True repentance involves sorrow. It involves grief. It does, very definitely. But all of Esau's tears could never, friends, undo. the damage of his decision. What is repentance anyhow? The best definition of repentance that I know of is in Second Corinthians, seven and ten. We look at it. You have your Bible. Good. Second Corinthians, seven and ten. Second Corinthians, seven and ten. How important it is that we get our definition straight. Second Corinthians seven and ten, for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. But the sorrow of the world worketh death. Now what's he talking about? Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. You see that second word in verse ten, godly sorrow, godly sorrow, worketh repentance to salvation. What does that mean? Listen. I like Darby's version of this. And when it comes to accurate versions, friends, I know of nothing better than JND. Good thing to have. Very, very accurate. You know, friends, when a translator sits down to translate the scriptures, he's got to make his choice between what is euphonious English, good, smooth-flowing English, at the expense, perhaps, of... literal accuracy, or else he's got to take accuracy at the expense of good, lovely English. It seems to me you can't have both. Now, Darby is excellent translation, but sometimes awkward English. Awkward English. Let me give an example. In Romans eight, Darby translates, the earnest looking out of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. Now, that's poor English. Oh, it's not bad English, but it's certainly not good English. The earnest looking out of the creature, we'd never say that. The earnest looking out of the creature waited for the manifestation of the Son of God. But that's exactly what it says in the Greek. The earnest, longing, eager, looking out of the creature. But it's poor English. But I'd rather have a little bit awkward English and accuracy. Now, if you want a modern translation, get Williams or Weymouth or one of those. Well, be that as it may. Here's the way Darby reads that. Second Corinthians, seven and ten. For grief according to God works repentance to salvation, never to be regretted. Now, let me read that again. For grief according to God works repentance to salvation. You get the point. What is saving repentance? It's grief according to God. You know, my friends, today... Nearly all grief in connection with sin is on a horizontal level, and it's not on a vertical level. Men seem to be painfully unaware of the fact that all sin is primarily against God. It's an offense against deity. And as long as men make things right with their fellows, they've injured their fellows, and they make things right, that's repentance. My friends, listen, repentance is vertical, as well as horizontal. You get the point. Grief according to God. When I realize that my sin, my life has been an affront, it's been war with God. When I bow and surrender and in brokenness acknowledge my sin to God, that's repentance. Repentance, friends, is a realization where all is not right between my soul and God. See the point? Grief according to God works repentance to salvation, never to be repented. We didn't emphasize that. Men are not right with God. Men are away from God. Men are diseased. Repentance is when I realize that I have cancer. And I come to the doctor and I say, doctor, I have the disease. I'm unable to cope with it. I'll trust me. Repentance is acknowledging I have the disease. Faith is trusting the doctor. Repentance... And remission of sin should be preached in His name among all nations. All right, have we got it? First of all, the master. He died. His blood is efficacious to forgive sin. He's risen from the dead to give effect to His work. The master of every situation, the almighty Savior. And then the message that I have to preach and present to men, repent. I've got to present to them the claims of God so that they'll be repentant. And then I can say in His name, Your sins are forgiven. Now then, what about the messengers? Well, that's back in Luke twenty-four and verse forty-eight. And ye are witnesses of these things. Ye are witnesses of these things. What's a missionary? A missionary is a man who gets a vision for a far foreign field, who gets an outfit, who gets a commendation, buys a ticket, crosses a sea, or crosses a body of water, and begins to work. Is that a missionary? No. Missionary is a man with a mission. A missionary is a woman with a mission. A mission. A true mission. A job to do to present the claims of Jesus Christ to the folks that are all around me. I carry in my bag a little poem. Dear Christian, are you sighing because you cannot go to lands across the ocean the love of Christ to show? Just cast your eyes about you. There's more than you can do. Begin right with a heathen who live next door to you. To those who cross the ocean who serve the Savior there, we give our means with gladness and hold them up in prayer. But when you've prayed and given, don't think that you're through. Get started with a heathen who live next door to you. They may be lovely people. as good as they can be, yet never know the meaning of Christ, of Calvary. God means for you to tell them, for if you really knew, that's probably the reason they live next door to you. They may be open sinners. Don't hollowly pass by with righteous indignation. Why did the Savior die? If not for just such people, His grace will see you through. So tell them of the Savior, those folks next door to you. And every day you're meeting at home or on the street, Some souls that you may near again this side of heaven meet. Suppose no other Christian will pause their soul to woo. I'd say, and don't you think so, the job is up to you. That neighbor who stopped in today, that beggar at the door, the paper boy, insurance man, the people in the store, they're every one as precious, as worthwhile speaking to as those across the oceans. those folk next door to you. This life is so uncertain. The soul you meet today may be in hell tomorrow, and at the judgment day, that soul may say to Jesus, That Christian well I knew, she never told me of your love, and put the blame on you. And so do your fellow Christian. Don't waste God's precious time in wishing you could carry his word to some far climb, but start today and tell it to Gentile and to Jew, and don't neglect the heathen. who live next door to you. Friends, they're all around us. All around us. Lovely people, but they need Jesus. Fine people, but they don't know Christ. Have you witnessed him? Have you told them about your Savior? Have you witnessed him? Are you in the witnessing business? Ye are witnesses, said the Lord Jesus. I wonder at that he could have called an army of angels and commissioned them and given them the job, but he didn't. He said, stay back. And when Cornelius wanted to know the way of salvation, an angel came and told him to call for a preacher who was miles away, said Peter, he'll come and tell the words, whereby thou and all thy house may be saved. Why didn't the angel tell Cornelius? I don't know, but he didn't. He sent for a man, sent for a man. And he has put this treasure in earthen vessels. And if they don't hear it from your lips, they'll never hear it at all. You dear people... who work in the school, in the office, in the shop. You can reach those people that some of us preachers can never touch. We can't get near them. They say, ah, he's a minister. They're just out to feather their nest at the expense of the people. It's a racket. So what? We can't get near them because of their prejudices, but you can't. And that's why God placed you in that office, in that particular environment, to witness to those people. My dear friend Alvin Sauer of Buffalo, New York, Sonvia knew him. He was out in the morning, breaking a bread meeting, and came home in the afternoon a few Sundays ago, took a pain in his chest, thought he wouldn't go to the evening service, never miss. He stayed home that night and sitting in a chair. He's gone like that. Alvin Sauer had a unique way of witnessing to people. You ever go around with him, Sonvia? You go into a store. going to a store with him. And he'd say to the clerk after he made his business, your name again is Jones. Oh, that's fine. Mr. Jones, I'd like you to meet my friend Mr. Bush here. You know, my friend Mr. Bush here had a very remarkable experience some years ago. Well, is that so? Yes, you know, his whole life was deemed as a result of that experience. Isn't that right, Mr. Bush? And then Mr. Bush has to go ahead. Now you take over. See? You take over. And you were on the spot. And if you were with him friends, then you would have to talk to this clerk and tell him what this great change was in your life, what happened to you anyway. He's introduced you. He's aroused this fellow's curiosity. He wants to hear what happened in your life. Now then you witness to him. And many, many opportunities he had to witness for the Lord Jesus like that. Oh, friends, I'm sure, I'm sure that many, many here could rise this morning and tell how they were led to Christ through some personal word that was spoken to them. Oh, it may be public preaching that brought the thing to a consummation. But as Mr. Walden said the other day, there are a whole lot of links in the chain. Absalom left no children. But do you know what Absalom left? Absalom left a pile of stones. That's on the Old Testament. Absolom had no son, but he built a great big heap of stones, a cairn and stone. And down in the valley of Jehoshaphat today, in the old Jordan city of Jerusalem, or just outside, there's what they call Absolom's pillar. They said that before the Jewish Arab War, when the Jews were on that side of the line, when the Orthodox Jews would go by, they'd spit at it and throw stones at it out of contempt for Absolom and his treachery toward his father, David. I don't know whether that's the heap of stones that Absolom left or not. But I know that the Old Testament says he left. He left a can of stones. Why? He said, I have no son to keep my memory, but to keep my name in memory. I'll leave this. And I know some Christians, and that's all they're leaving. I know some Christians, and they're leaving a heap of stones, and they're leaving a lot of dirt, and a lot of real estate, and a lot of property, and so on, and they've never won a soul for the Lord Jesus Christ. They have no children at all. They're going out childless, leaving no spiritual children. but leaving behind an Absalom's pillar. Away with these Absalom's pillars, brethren. Let's go in for spiritual children. Let's try to reach these young people. I've asked my friend, Mr. Earl Freese, if he'll come up here for the next five minutes, we've got five minutes. We'll be through in five minutes. All right. Come on up here, Mr. Freese. I want him to say a word to you before we conclude this morning's service. Mr. Freeze and his wife were students at, you may as well say, Toronto for three years, and many of you folks know our good brother, but he's done a work among young people. And down in Lubbock, Texas, wasn't it? Yes, sir. Or tell us about that work. Well, I think the folks would like to hear, Earl, about your work with young people there and just how you got along. Step up so we can hear, please. Well, God led me into teaching school after I graduated from Emmaus. And the reason why I became a school teacher was that I might reach young people for the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that didn't know Him, that they might know Him as their Savior, and also Christian young people in the public schools were faced with all kinds of questions and difficulties that I might help them and give them spiritual counsel and advice. I went to Lubbock, Texas when I first started teaching, and... In the first school, as I was telling Mr. Tateen the other day, we started what we call a morning watch, the early morning devotions. The first morning we had twenty-eight students out. Within two weeks we had to move out of the music room, which was a smaller room, into the auditorium, because we had over a hundred students. Every morning we gathered about thirty-five minutes before school started. had five minutes of singing choruses, five minutes of sentence prayers in the students themselves, and then a fifteen-minute message from the Word. This was every morning. The third year the attendance had risen in this particular school out of a student body of seven hundred and fifty to an average daily attendance of almost four hundred. There you go. And out of this group in school arose a Bible study among the keenest, the one of the most keen interests. And we had a Bible study class on Sunday afternoons. These kids were made up of the cream of the town. Their parents were the president of the bank, the head of the largest hospital in Lubbock. One was an oil company executive. Others were some of the biggest cotton farmers and cattle ranchers in West Texas. And when they came to me and asked me whether I would teach them in the Bible class, I was afraid because they were the country club set what their motive was. And I said, what do you want? Just a little social time? And I said, no. He said, we want to know something of God's Word. We've been recreated to death. And so I said, one of those conditions we'll have a Bible study. So we had about forty that we started with in that Bible study class. We taught them God's Word. And now I'm thankful to say some of these kids are becoming teachers so that they might also help other young people for Christ. There are some who are planning to be doctors and go out as medical missionaries, and there are others who are witnessing for Christ in their various places wherever they might be. I'd like to challenge you, young people, if you're considering a life of service for God, that you might consider being a schoolteacher in a public school so that you might reach these people who, for instance, I took a poll one time of all the kids who came the morning watch, and I found out that seventy-five percent, I believe it was, almost seventy-five percent of those kids hardly ever or never went to Sunday school or church. And yet we were reaching them every morning. They were coming out every morning, thirty-five minutes before school started, to have something from God who was, they're hungry, they want to have it, and they're waiting for someone to bring it in. Praise the Lord. I'm sure, wait a minute now, we're not through with you, Father. I'm sure that you can reach, fellas, and girls that we, some of us preachers, could never, never reach at all. And this just underlines the fact, friends, that they can be reached. Now, if they don't come into our conventional meetings, well, then what? Let them go to hell. Let them go. Oh, wait a minute. If we can't reach them through conventional means, we've got to reach them through unconventional means, but we've got to reach them. We've got to reach them. Wonderful material. Think of it. Four hundred. out thirty-five minutes every morning I thought it was once a week but it was daily was it daily imagine having an audience like that of that magnitude every morning for about thirty-five minutes to give them a fifteen minute message that's really wonderful that's really wonderful I think friends that we should be constantly seeking opportunities of reaching these young people, indoctrinating them in the great truths of the word, the foundation truths that they might go out and disseminate to others. Now maybe you have some questions you'd like to ask Brother Free before he steps down. What are your questions? Quickly. Some things you'd like to ask. Brethren or sisters? Well, I'm teaching now in California and I looked into that problem. And I was told that I couldn't have a Bible club or anything like that on the campus and be actively engaged in it as a school teacher. But if I wanted to form something off the campus, that I could do so. And so there just happened to be in the public school that I'm teaching in, junior high school, a little Baptist church that just started up. They built a new building, and the Lord led me in contact with the preacher and found out that he... It was a converted Catholic like myself. And so we had lots of things in common. And he was interested in reaching young people. And we decided that we'd have the Bible Club there. And so I've had a Bible Club down in Pomona where I teach for the past two years. And other questions? Oh, lots of ways. The best contact, the kids themselves. And I got the principal to allow me to put a notice in the bulletin that I would like to meet with kids concerning a devotional Bible study group. And he let me do that. And then I got in contact with some Christian kids that way, and then they spread the word out, and pretty soon we had a pretty good little group. Well, of course it varies. Excuse me, the question was, how large is the group in Pomona? It varies, and it's not quite as spectacular by any means as it was in Texas where we had an absolute open door for the gospel. But we've had as many, I guess, out to these meetings as maybe forty-five or fifty. And the average attendance is probably somewhere around twenty. I've been trying to get this fellow interested in coming back and helping us at Emmaus, but perhaps I better leave him here. Perhaps he's doing a better job. Any other questions? I might say this, but if any of you are interested in being a teacher in the public schools, there's a Christian Teachers Fellowship that will encourage you and give you a lot of ideas as how you can be a witness for Christ in the classroom. You're not limited, not even in California, as to what you can say. And I teach history in English, and I can work the situation around anytime I want to, where the kids will ask me a question. will be a leading question and will give me an opportunity to say what God says about subjects. You have every opportunity. Don't worry about these laws because as the kids ask you a question, you have every liberty and opportunity to give a professional answer. And as a Christian, you know what that would be. He's a missionary to California. Every Christian should be a missionary in his community. Now you may want to ask Mr. Freeze some questions privately. I'm sure you'd be very happy to answer them, but let us remember this. There are opportunities all around us. The thing is, I must be right before I can do right. And may I be right as the result of this conference and go out to testify the gospel of the grace of God.