And somebody shouted, John, were you not afraid while you were in the water all those hours? And a little astonishment passed over the girl's bed. She said, afraid? Why should I be afraid? My father promised to come back, and he's never yet broke his word. If I gave our brother Houghburn that little pamphlet from the insurance company, I am confident there would be a good little gospel appeal put at the end of that. And it is a definite promise for every child of God, our great Lord and our Saviour that died on countless cross. For our redemption, he said, I am going away. But now he said, if I go, I will come back. and receive you unto myself, but where I am, then he may be also. Our Lord, just like my little girl's father, has never yet broken his word, and he never will. And he has promised to come, and he will come. But Christian tonight, I want to ask you, especially you young people in the meeting, Are you waiting? Then are you looking for a disappearance? I am not giving you scriptures tonight for the sake of time. But when I turn over the pages of my Bible to Acts chapter one, I come to the last words of our Lord and Savior upon the earth before his going. said, hey, I want you to be my witnesses. Do you think it is possible for me to give you the earthly life story of our Lord Jesus? You know, the Gospel of Luke was written and we find that the Acts was a continuation. And they seem to tell us, and I perfectly agree with them, that you could not close the life story of Jesus Christ because he lives today. But I would like to try in about two minutes to give you the earthly life story of our Lord. He was born in a manger. At a young age he was taken into the land of Egypt, for safety's sake, he said. Later, as a young child, he was brought back into the land, and then there is a complete and an absolute silence concerning him until approximately thirty years of age. We find him ministering from Dan to Beersheba. After somewhere around three and a half years of ministering, we find he is taken and nailed on a Roman cross. buried in a borrowed tomb on the third day he raced triumphantly and then if we have our Easter and Whitson to go by about six weeks later he was caught up into the heavenlies and there in two minutes I have given you a complete picture of the life story of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ upon the earth with one exception that I deliberately avoided. From the age of a young child to that glorious time of stepping out into the ministry of thirty, it seems as if the curtain of silence had been put over his life. We have today the mythical Iron Curtain of Russia. We have today the mythical bamboo curtain of China. And we seem to have a curtain of silence concerning the life of our Lord, from childhood, young childhood, until approximately thirty years of age. But it seems as if God blew apart the curtain, and as the curtain blew apart, we got one tiny glimpse of our Lord at the age of twelve. And now at the age of twelve, he's disappointed his earthly parents, for they've been traveling on the journey and they've missed him. And coming back, we find they had occasion to rebuke him. Why do you treat us so as the effect of their lesson? and the reply of the Lord Jesus Christ was this, if not, don't you know that I must now be about my father's business? Please remember, especially young people in the meeting tonight, that at around the age of twelve to fourteen there's a kind of an adolescence in the East and they're beginning to mature earlier than in the Western Hemisphere. He is stepping out of childhood into youth. And I am certain that our Lord would not have spoken such to an earthly parent concerning an earthly parent. He was certainly not referring to Joseph, but he certainly said, I must now be above my heavenly Father's business. Have you ever paused and realized? that when I hear that statement from the Lord, I have the very first recorded words in Scripture of Him upon the earth. There is not one word recorded of a statement of His before that tremendous statement that I must now be about my Father's business. Then when I come to the book of Acts, chapter one and verse eight, I come to the last recorded words. Never after these words do we hear of a word from him spoken upon the earth. We certainly hear of him speaking from the heavenly, the Saul of Tarsus. But now the last recorded words that ever left his lips upon the earth to this present time was this. You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, St. Mary, and even unto the uttermost parts of the earth. The first recorded words of the Lord Jesus is that I must be about my father's business. What exactly is his father's business? This is the true and faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world, what for? To do his kind of business, to save sinners. His last recorded word, thou gese, it is no longer I that can walk from Dan to be a sheba, It is no more I that can go along the coasts of Galilee, and now I have completed my purpose at task. I as a boy of twelve could say it is my job. But now he says, you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and even unto the uttermost parts of the earth. I find that people often say to me, Brother, I am not gifted to preach the gospel. We have sisters sometimes say that Paul said that sisters should not usurp authority when brethren are present, sisters should be silent when brethren are present. Therefore, my lips are sealed in preaching the gospel to the unsaid. If it's a teenage boy in the meeting tonight, and because you cannot stand behind a few square feet of wood to proclaim the name of Jesus, don't let it hinder you in your testimony to your Lord. My beloved sister, if you think you can only stand behind this little bit of lumber and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, I'll tell you something. I feel that my ministry in the gospel is more important away from the gospel platform than even it is when I'm upon it. You say, well, how can I witness? I had a close friend. We were, in our early twenties, we were Sunday school teachers together in the city of Gloucester, Britain. I found my way down to Jamaica, serving the Lord, and dear Wilfred Durham, found his way down into Bombay, India. Went home to be with the Lord at the age of thirty-eight, leaving a white and four children. But he had an army service center in Bombay, and he was also looking after some work in a few of the assemblies. And he tells us the story of the old man eighty years of age. The dear old man was almost blind and the only way he could go to the worship meeting, Lord's Day by Lord's Day, was with the age of a white stick. And also he would have a great big, almost a porphyry Bible under his arm. From walking down a narrow street of a little gospel chapel in Bombay, making his way, two British Army service boys were walking up the other side of the street. Said Wilfred Durham in his letter, the two English soldier boys began to laugh. The old man was going to remember his lodge. The two English soldier boys in their khaki uniform were out for a Sunday sport. And one stopped and nudged the other and shouted across the road, Good morning, Grandpa! The old man stopped, he said, Good morning, boys. Grandpa, look at the Bible you got. Yes, boys. Grandpa, how is Jesus Christ this morning? So that the old man pulled himself up straight. Boy said he, do my eyes deceive me this morning? Are you not wearing the uniform of the British army? Are you English boys? Yes, Grandpa. Boy, perhaps I've made a mistake. But for sixty years I've been getting on my knees and thanking God for your little island across the seas. Because it brought your William Carey and others to bring us the gospel of Jesus Christ. And is it possible a man which has sent out missionaries to convert us? And now sending out boys to ask how Jesus Christ is? Is it possible? Listen, boys, for a moment, you see my Bible? For over fifty-five years, I've got on my knees every morning and every night. And do you know, boys, I thank God for your little island, proven British and foreign Bible society, sending us the word of God. Have I made a mistake? Is it possible you don't know how Jesus Christ is? Boy, he said, if you don't know, I'll tell you. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. Good morning, boy. And the old man made his way to the little gospel hall. Some of you will say that wasn't much of a testimony. It was a testimony of the last few years. All the story goes on to tell us the two o'clock next morning in the English camp up above the city of Bombay in the hills. A little cot creaked and a boy named Fred got down on his knees at his bedside. Within a couple of minutes another cot in the tent creaked and a boy Fred came. He whispered, Tom, what are you doing? Fred, as a kid of twelve in a gospel hall in Britain, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ, I meant it. And that old man this morning showed me very plainly, but I got away from him. Fred, he's never left me. He's the same yesterday and today. I left him and I'm coming back. Fred said, Tom, I've never known him, but the old man's words have been on my lips all day. Can you help me? And two o'clock on that Monday morning, Fred was restored to his Lord and Tom accepted Christ the Savior. Today... in the mountains overlooking Bombay, there's a mission station, and the missionaries in church of that station are named Fred and Tom, all through the testimony of an old man eighty years of age. You, said Jesus Christ, shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and even until the uttermost answer of the earth. Chapter seven closes with a tragedy. For then I find that even is beaten, his face is terribly misshapen from the stone's throne, and he snatched at the foot of a whipping post, and he says, Lord, lay not this thing to bear charge. Did I say that was a tragedy? I cannot help but feel in my own mind that there's a greater tragedy in the commencement of chapter eight. And the tragedy I'm referring to is this, that we find chapter eight that they were teaching the gospel, they moved down into Judea, for S-E-A-F, or fear of the Jews. And later in the chapter we find that Philip is preaching the gospel in Samaria. And in that generation the Apostle Paul had blazed the trail across the known world of today. The fulfillment of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was fulfilled in one generation as to what his last recorded words were given. First of all in Jerusalem, then in Judea, and then in Cimmeria, and then to the uttermost part of the earth, that statement, his last spoken statement, was fulfilled completely in one generation. But did I say, fear? Yes. I don't wish to bring theatricals or be melodramatic on your platform, but I do ask you then. when the Lord stood before his disciples and said, Now I want you to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the other most part of the earth. He was caught up and a crowd received him out of their sight. That was not just a little favor than the disciples. That was the representation of the church at Nudge, even the church today. How do you think he spoke those words? Do you think it was with a tongue like a whiplash? Do you think it was with a keen eagle eye? He said, You men, get out and preach my gospel. Come along, get out. No, sir. If I could possibly be an artist and paint a picture of that scene, I would put tears in the eyes. I would put the most loving look upon the Savior's face that ever pain could paint. For I am sure it was with a heart of love and not with a voice of a with God. But he entreated, he filled it with them. Take my gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Simelea to the uttermost parts of the earth. I can no longer do it through my lips. But I can still continue the work through yours. Will you lovingly go? And that tragedy of chapter eight is instead of going for love. They stayed on the street contracts of Jerusalem until fear drove them out at the stoning of Stephen. You know, the last twelve months it's been a little bit easier. to get into the United States of America. I live about a hundred miles, a hundred and ten miles out of Toronto. And I had to drive in at six thirty, three mornings running, and spent three whole days in the consulate, the US consulate in Toronto, and then drive back each night before I could get a visa, which is called a visitor's visa, to come into the state anytime I wish. And in spite of those thirty hours, and about six to seven hundred mile journey, for the first four years of our living in Canada, in spite of its stand on my passport giving me a free entry into the States, there were time after time I was questioned and cross-questioned until I sometimes wonder if I could step into the States that day. And going back to Toronto, I saw your consul himself and I said, Sir, can you tell me why it is? that you let me spend thirty hours in your consulate, and yet I'm given the third degree every time I want to cross the border. Yes, he said, I'll tell you what it is, but he said, I'll put a stamp on him, cure that. But the reason is, Mr. Davis, is this. We are getting forty to sixty communists a day crossing the border. And we can't stop it. You see, your country is within fear and is still in fear of communism. When I landed from Jamaica in Peterborough, Ontario in nineteen fifty three, I went down into the city of Ottawa, the capital of the nation, and I only saw one priest in the fall of a week I spent for a gospel campaign walking the street. You go there today and the city is just riddled with nuns and priests. You find that Quebec is certainly not the only place that is a hundred percent Rome, but it is spreading like a prairie fire across Canada as high as it can go. And I thank God night after night on Wednesday, May that God has put a bitter enmity between Rome and Russia, and if they ever find a peace pact, how that God, you and I would only preach the gospel in fear of our lives, may crush it. And it might be better for us if they did, for there would be more people standing up, proclaiming the name of Christ. This is not a mother's request. It's the command of our Lord. I want you to be my witnesses. Now what exactly is his expectancy? If I go, I will come again. His final command is that you shall be my witnesses. Now we find his expectancy is found in James chapter five, verses seven and nine. For there we find the husbandman standeth before the door. I'm sorry, the husbandman awaiteth the precious fruit of the earth. And verse nine, the judge standeth before the door. Am I hands, willing hands, working hands, waiting to do the master's will? If you remember in Acts Gospel chapter twelve, the husband's man sent his servants, and then he sent his son. We find that his son shall be one person alone, and there the husband's man is awaiting the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it. Must I go an empty handage, not one soul to meet my love? Tell me, child of God, how are your fruit verses tonight? For the Master is still awaiting the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it. Please bear in mind that the Judge standeth before the dawn. I worked in Jamaica with Mr. Harold Wildish. and not only in Jamaica but also in Britain with our paths crossed and were linked together often. And on one occasion we were on the east coast of Britain in a little tiny country assembly that was having a one-day conference. I can see him now. There came into the little gospel chapel, a boy that was mentally retarded. His name was Fred. And Fred came in, a youth of about eighteen in Britain, the villagers, would call him the village idiot. But he was by no means an idiot, he knew Jesus Christ, the Savior. He used to do the menial tasks that owned the farm, called the man that employed him. But I can see Fred now with that dirty old scarf around his neck, his hair all shaped, and pulled the cloth cap off. And during the afternoon conference, He was sat cutting a straw. And sitting on the platform whilst Brother Wildish was speaking, I noticed Brother Wildish said something like this. He said, Friends, the judge stunned us at the door. And you know, Friends, he said, I am a workman, and Wildish pointed out his hand. He said, You see my hand? There the honest hand, he said, of a workman. I go to Jamaica, he said, and I lay there for my Lord in the Gospel. And then, he said, I get on a ship when I can have this sand with exhaustion and take a fourteen-day rest, and by the time I land in Britain, he said, you people in Britain have booked me up for meetings all over the country, and I am only too glad to get on the ship again to go back to Jamaica for a rest. I think, said Wildish, I do a honest day's work. These are the hands of a workman. But I noticed Fred begin to chuckle, and I could see quite a gleam coming to the dear boy's face, and he began to twist that so that I could see something was working in that poor old mind of Fred's. And as the meeting closed, we made our way to the back, and standing in the doorway was Fred. Brother Wildish, show me your hands. What? Show me your hands. So Brother Wildish put his hands out and said, took them and began to feel carefully. He turned them over and examined the fingernail. And then he gave quite a slap. He said, then up the hands of a workman, Mr. Warnish. Look at mine. Calluses and cuts all over them. The fingernails, very grimy from the tractor grease. God forbid that we should criticize the workman. And we're certainly not good at... But he put great importance on those hands of his that were cut and heard and calloused and grinded. He said, called your hands the hands of a workman. There not, he said, there's the hands of a workman. How did God the judge stand it before the door? and it may be in a coming day that our Lord could say to you, show me your hands. Must I go an empty hand, not one soul to meet my Lord? Let us beware, young people, he might say, that's not the hand of a woodman. Look at mine, as your point of a hand the dead, the curse of Calvary. He only scourge in the glory. The judge waited at the door. Friends, I want this meeting to close Thompson. But I'm just going to quickly bring to you now his coming. If I go, he said, I will come again his promise. You shall be my witnesses, his command. The judge standeth at the door, the husbandman awaited for precious fruit of the earth, his expectancy. And now we see his coming. It seems to me, in the first book of Thessalonians chapter four, that somehow the Apostle Paul had a very disappointing letter sent to Corinth. I've often wondered what that letter could have been like, and I've tried to surmise in my own mind it could have gone something like that. Dear Brother Paul, you came into our town and you preached the gospel, and during your gospel campaign, you know, that's the trouble with you young people today, why you don't understand scripture, I'll tell you right now. You try to put the things of Scripture as something on a pedestal that is really out of reasoning for today. If you young teenagers want to learn the things of God, do it the way we taught the Jamaican. Read that precious book and read it not once or twice or three times, but five, six, ten times at particular portion of Scripture. Mr. Wallace used to do it, I used to do it, and we thought, doesn't the Jamaicans do it? And I'll tell you it's a treat to hear those Jamaicans, Minister of the Word of God. They sit down on a dark night in their little hut, and they close their eyes, and they try to visualize that they were in the picture that they bred so much during the day. And you know, surprisingly, Daniel becomes very real if you try to think, is it on that way? The disciples become very intimate if you try to put yourself as an onlooker into those lovely Bible stories. And do not try to think that things were so different in that day. The proper evangelization today is exactly the same as the evangelization of all day. That's why I bring this mythical letter to you. You were preaching the gospel, Paul, and as you were preaching the gospel, my husband and I were saved. We began to come to your cottage meetings. We began to come into your ministry meetings. We came into your prayer meetings. And during those meetings, whilst down in Thessalonica, We oftentimes used to hear you say, the Lord is coming again, his coming, God is nigh, and we shall be caught up to be with him. But Paul, something's happened in our home and it's shaken my faith. You know, Paul, that my husband and I used to go out each night and say, well, perhaps before that moon goes down tonight, Jesus will come. possibly before the dawn of another day. He'll be here. We'll be with him, like Paul told us. And we lived in hourly expectancy because you told us so much about Jesus coming again. But Paul, something's happened, and I see tears stains on the paper now. My husband's dead. And he's missed the blessing. And I think it's something like that, but we get that lovely reply of Paul. He says, Now concerning them which have asleep, sorrow not, as do those which have no hope. Now listen, if there's an unsafe friend in the meeting tonight, listen very carefully. concerning those, he said, which have sorrow not, such as those which have no hope. Or there's going to be a great shout, and the trump of God shall sound. And the dead, listen, my friend, the dead in Christ shall rise first. And we which have arrived shall be caught up together with them. And we shall meet him in the air, and so shall we be, forever with the Lord. The coming of the Lord is in a moment the scripture from... No, not much. Our being, Brother Rogers, Brother Hoffman, Brother Jones, Brother Patterson, others, living creatures upon the earth, and their parents and forefathers which have died in Christ six feet lower down. in the moment that the prison of an eye the dead in Christ shall be raised first and we shall be caught up together with them to meet Christ in the air so shall we be forever with the Lord comfort one another with these words wonderful comfort for the believer But my, oh my, wonderful desolation for those not trusting in Christ, if there's a man or a woman, a boy or a girl in this meeting tonight, I want to give you on the authority of the Word of God. It's not my Word, it's God. That for you to die out of Christ, there is going to be that tragic thing which Paul refers to in that letter to the Thessalonians, those which are without help. Why? Because they are not washed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. What's going to happen to those that have died in their sins? What is going to happen for any, perhaps somebody in this meeting tonight? that's on the earth when Jesus come and may not settle the great transduction of Calvary. There's no need for me to bring you a long oration concerning the crosswork of Christ. You know it. You've been taught it in Sunday school. You know that Jesus Christ gave to your sins on Calvin's cross. You know that that precious blood that flowed from his head, his hands, his feet, his sight is the only atonement for sin. I am not detaining you tonight to go into that. You heard it from Charles the day. What I am going to impress upon you is that if you are outside of Christ, you are living in dangerous days. Or the coming of the Lord draw it nigh. It almost seems as if we can hear his footsteps on the thresholds at the door. Some of us were startled yesterday and today when we hear that it's Poland putting up their hands and pushing back the great nation of Russia. Some of us are wondering what's going to happen with the Suez Canal. Others are wondering what's going to happen to the Gaza Strip with the fighting on us. It's telling me word by word and letter by letter and paper after paper of your press that Jesus Christ is coming in an hour when he thinks not. We can almost hear him coming according to the fulfillment of scripture. For my unsafe friend, there's time after time you've gone. The crossword is helping. There's time after time you've been brought to a point of decision. You heard Jesus Christ knocking at your church door. And you faced him and you said, No, some other time I'm too busy. I will not take him now. and Satan has hardened your heart, Satan has stiffened your neck and up to this moment of time you are still saying no. What's going to be your ultimate end? I'll tell you what it's going to be. I am reading from Revelation chapter twenty and I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of a bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up, and set a seal upon him. Listen, verse five. What's going to happen to the people that died in their sin? What's going to happen to you that's alive upon the earth, rejecting Christ when he steps into the earth? But the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. When I go down to verse ten and I read, And the devil that deceived then was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet Amon shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Now let's get one thing straight. There are people at large today, and they have possibly visited your home, they've possibly knocked at your door trying to sell literature, and they tell you that there is no such a thing as eternal destruction, it is only soul sleep. There are people that tell you that the only thing you're going to lose is that you're going to lose the glories of heaven. You will be in a state of sleep or unconsciousness, as there's no such a thing as eternal punishment. My friend, that is a lie out of hell itself. Listen. And the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were passed. And it goes on, and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and convinced them. And then it tells me, and I saw the dead. Small and great. Stand before that. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. Verse fourteen and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. If you consider the second death, soul's sleep, please remember that it said, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. That is the place we find in verse ten, where Satan was cast. And if that is anything like an unconsciousness, I don't know. Hell today is a waiting room for the lake of fire. And it is the first class waiting room for the terrors of the night for eternity. But I hear somebody else say, but you've just read it, that they were judged according to their works. His remember, this do not include the believer in Jesus Christ, for he was caught up a thousand years before when Jesus Christ stepped into the air. This is the rest. of the dead, those that died in their sins. And whoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. I don't want to send you home scared or frightened. And that is the reason as I close this meeting now. It was never God's intention that you should find that your ultimate end. That's the reason he sent his son today on Calvary's cross to your redemption. You are going to meet him at the place called Calvary and then meet him gloriously triumphantly in the air. Or you're going to reject him at the place called Calvary. and meet him in this coming day, when he will hear from his lips, he part, I know you now. Whose fault is it that he knows you not? Tonight again he is yearning, he is longing, he is pleading for you to come to him and accept him as your own personal savior. He is yearning. that you might make that decision for him now, it's got to be made at the post-call Calvary. Are you going to meet him there and then meet him on that great resurrection morning? Or are you going to continue in your waywardness, continue in your rejection, by doing what Satan's been doing for you is happening your half and stiffening your neck and rejecting him. The decision tonight, my friend, is you as I can do no more. But if you want to talk it over, as God's servant, I want to be your servant. But if there's one in this meeting tonight outside of Christ, I advise you, sir. I advise you, madam. I advise you, boy, girl, whoever you may be, that Jesus said, my spirit shall not always strike with man. And he might have put this into my mind to bring this little few minutes message at the close of what I intended to say to you. Are you going to accept or are you going to reject tonight? Your blood is not upon my head. But you must make that decision tonight. Are you going through that door saying yes to him? Or are you going through that door tonight saying no, I will not? Settle this matter for eternity tonight. Brother Hoffman, will you close the meeting in prayer, please? Great is going to be all of us.