Well, tonight we're turning to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 23. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 23. We want to begin our reading at the 25th verse. Verse 25 of the chapter. So it's the chapter 23 of Matthew's Gospel. Chapter number 25. The language of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus within this chapter is certainly not politically correct. If he would have been about today, he would have been arrested for hate speech as he speaks to the Pharisees and what he terms them and how he speaks of them. And we're going to read these words and let me encourage you to read with understanding as we begin at the verse number 25. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like unto white at sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! "'because ye build the tombs of the prophets "'and garly sepulchres of the righteous, and say, "'We have been in the days of our fathers, "'or if we had been in the days of our fathers, "'we would not have been partakers with them "'in the blood of the prophets. "'Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, "'that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. "'Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers, ye serpents, "'ye generation of vipers, How can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes. And some of them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city. That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barakas, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, And ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Amen. And we'll end there just at the natural break. At the end of the chapter, the verse number 39. Let's seek the Lord together in prayer. Our loving Father, O God, we come before Thee. We thank Thee, O God, for Thy goodness that finds unsaved among us another week of mercy, another week of grace, O God, we pray that this evening they will come to know saving grace and know the mercy of God as it is in the gospel. Grant, O God, thy servant the infilling of the Spirit of God. Send help from heaven. O God, anoint us from heaven that we may be of some earthly use. Grant, O God, the infilling of the Holy Ghost. Unction, help to be given. the Spirit of God present in this house, O God, so that sinners will become consciously aware that God is speaking to them. Answer now our prayers, for we offer prayer in and through Jesus' precious and worthy name. Amen. Although this church building sits within the town limits of Portland Owen, we would be deemed to be one of the denomination's more rural congregations. Most of you who attend this congregation and who attend this place of worship have homes in the countryside. Others find themselves either directly or indirectly involved in the various sectors of Northern Ireland's rural economy. As I got to think about that, I started to think about the many different references that there are to farming within God's precious word. Many of the Saviour's parables have an agricultural theme running through them, as well as some of those famous and memorable statements of the Saviour that he made whilst he was here on earth. The apostles, too, took to many an item from the sphere of agriculture to present some biblical truth to their readers of their letters. For example, the apostle Paul, he uses the farmer and his persistent planting of the seed and his patient waiting for the harvest to encourage the Galatian saints in their endurance to continue to sow the gospel seed. Apostle Paul exhorted them with these words in Galatians 6 verse 9 and let us not be weary and well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not of God willing, over the next number of weeks in our gospel meetings, I want to consider some of the references that we do have to agriculture in God's word and see what gospel lessons we can glean from them. And as I do so, and as we do so, I want to focus on various sectors within the farming industry, tailoring these messages to different kinds of farmers that we find in this community and across the world. If you are paying any attention to our Bible reading this evening, then it will come as no surprise to you what farming sector or what part of the farming sector that we're going to concentrate on this evening, because I want to preach a gospel message that has a close connection with the poultry industry. A gospel message for the poultry farmer. The Lord Jesus Christ, he says here in Matthew 23 and the verse 37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. See from these words. The Savior taking a common occurrence within a farmyard with respect to poultry, a hen, gathering little chickens under her wing, protecting them from danger, protecting them from death, to illustrate simply what he was willing to do for the inhabitants, the citizens of the city of Jerusalem, and how we can extrapolate from that what he is willing to do for the sinner tonight in the gospel. how He would gather you and bring you under His wing, just like a chicken or like a hen brings her little chickens under her wings. So I want to bring a challenge in the Gospel, in a message that I've simply entitled, A Gospel Message for the Poultry Farmer. A Gospel Message for the Poultry Farmer. Now I hardly need to say this, but I'll say it nonetheless. If you're only dealing with chickens and hens, or at a breakfast table with a plate of scrambled egg, or whether it be just at a dinner table with a plate of chicken curry or chicken pie, I don't want you to turn off in this gospel meeting. If you're not a poultry farmer, I don't want you to be sleeping in the gospel meeting this evening because I believe that this gospel message is as relevant for you as it is for a man or a woman who works with chickens and hens. on a day-to-day basis. Now, from our text, I see two things. And I want to say that the first is the lengthiest, the last is very short. The first thing that I want us to notice together, from these words of the Lord Jesus Christ, is Christ's willingness to gather a people unto Himself. Christ's willingness to gather a people unto Himself. Now these words of the Savior are spoken, and they are spoken near the end of the Savior's earthly ministry. In actual fact, these were the last words that the Lord Jesus Christ was ever to speak as a public teacher. Yes, he is going to converse with his own disciples in the upper room. Yes, he is going to communicate with his enemies, Pilate and Judas Iscariot and others. But this was going to be the last time that the Lord Jesus Christ would publicly address the masses by way of direct teaching. And so these words are of utmost importance. It was, as it were, his final invitation, his final appeal to them before he makes his way to the cross, there dies for sin, rises again from the dead, having been buried, and goes back into heaven. This is the last time that he's going to, as it were, speak to a congregation of unconverted men, women, boys, and girls. As he speaks to them, he speaks in tones of pity. and in tones of love. In his words we see love, love for his retractors, love for his enemies, his willingness, we see, even at this late hour to gather such ones unto himself. To those within the holy city, the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, How oft would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings." You know, if those words do nothing else, they remind you and I of the willingness that Christ has to gather a people unto himself. Think of those great words that were spoken by Jacob on his dying bed concerning Shiloh. It says concerning Shiloh, the one who would arise out of Judah, the lawgiver, speaking of the one who brings peace, gospel peace, it says that it is to him that the gathering of the people shall be. And it is to Christ, Christ alone, that sinners must be drawn to, if they are to know protection, if they are to know a place of refuge on the day of judgment, on the day of life's last storm. There is a willingness here by Christ to draw a people, to gather a people on to himself. As we consider these words of the Savior, there are a number of things that we want to think about tonight. In gathering a people unto himself, I want you to think firstly about the persons that Christ engages with as he gathers a people unto himself. Here he says that he would gather them. That's what he would have done. He would have gathered such people. Who are the people? What type of people are they that Christ gathers unto himself? Now contextually, the people that Christ is speaking of here are the children. Notice that's the term that's used, thy children. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thy children. This is who he's speaking of. He's simply speaking about the inhabitants, the very citizens of this great city in the Middle East. This city of Jerusalem, he's saying that he would gather those people unto himself as a hen would gather her chickens under her wings. Now let's remember who these people were. Let's remember who their fathers were. You see, these people were a people whose forefathers had killed the prophets. Do we notice that? Verse 34, wherefore, behold, I send on to you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them you shall kill. That's what they were going to do. But notice in the verse number 30, we have been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. In other words, their forefathers, their ancestors were guilty of the sharing of the blood of God's prophets. Individuals like Isaiah. Isaiah is believed to be the individual that's spoken of in Hebrews chapter 11 with respect to those who were sown asunder. It's believed that Isaiah the prophet was put into a tree stump and they sawed his body in half because they didn't like his message. And like the message that he brought to the people, and so they killed the prophets. These men that God had sent, many of them saw a sudden death, an untimely death, because the people would not hearken, they would not listen. No, instead they wanted to go their own way. These are now the descendants of such people. These predecessors, or their predecessors, were those who had stoned the messengers. Stoned them out of town, as it were. Look at verse 37. Thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent on to thee. These are individuals who had refused to receive Jesus Christ. What do we read there in John chapter 1? He came on to his own. and his own received him not. They had no welcome for Christ in Jerusalem and no time for the Savior. Where was his earthly ministry? Where was he most fruitful? In Galilee. Yes, around the lake of Galilee, James and John and Peter and those fishermen gathered in to Christ and saved by Christ, then commissioned by Christ. Ah, but very few, very few were saved in Jerusalem. No, instead they stoned the messengers. They wanted to have nothing to do with them. Yes. And Christ looks ahead just a few weeks. And he sees these same people who he's now addressing. And he being the Omniscient God, he being God who knows all things, could look into the future with respect to man and he would see that those people, they were going to raise their voices under Pilate's palace and to cry out, crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify him! These were the ones that were going to demand the crucifixion of the only sinless man that ever walked this scene of time. And yet, and yet, with that history, and yet that which was ahead of them in their history, Christ would still gather them. Isn't that an amazing thing? to think of their past sin, to think of their future sin, and yet Christ himself was still willing to gather them just like a chicken would have brought her little, or a hen would gather little chickens onto her wing, that's an amazing thing to me, that's astonishing, that's astounding, to think that God would gather such a people to himself, such a people with such a history, and yet sinner, when I think of the gospel, I think of those whom Christ has gathered to himself, in and by and through the gospel of Jesus Christ, those whom he has saved, those whom he has redeemed, those who have come to trust in him. Surely is it not the same kind of people as these people? People with a past, people with a future of sin, he has successfully gathered onto himself. People who once hated God, spokesmen, Yes, individuals who hated the preacher, who hated the evangelist, who hated the minister. Now they didn't go as far as killing him. They didn't go as far as stoning him. And yet they despised their messages. They ridiculed their passionate pleas. They mocked the gospel that they preached. And yet, yet what did grace do? Saving grace subdued them onto Christ and they were gathered onto him. There's individuals like that here. In this house, that was you, an individual who hated the preacher, the gospel preacher. Or you didn't mind the minister that really didn't speak to you about your sin. Oh, you didn't mind about the individual, the pastor who spoke generally about sin, but that preacher who spoke pointedly to you, who said about your sin and your adultery and your fornication and your drunkenness and your lying and your stealing, ah, that preacher, that's the preacher, you hate it. And yet, grace came. brought you on to Christ and subdued you on to Him. Yes, people who had repeatedly rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and as Lord, and yet again the gospel came and drew the ones on to Christ, those who despised the Son of God. And yes, if they hadn't been standing under Pilate's palace, they would have joined their voices and added their voices to condemn the Savior to death on the cross. I tell you these, These are the kind of people that God gathers onto himself in the gospel. Great sinners. Because you see, in the gospel, God deals and God engages with the sinner. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Great sinners, helpless sinners, hopeless sinners, unworthy sinners, hell-deserving sinners, God engages with such in order to draw them out of their sin and onto Christ. He would gather you tonight. Think of it, sinner, He would gather you unto Himself tonight, even though that be your spiritual state, a great, hopeless, and hell-deserving sinner. Despite your sin, despite your Christ rejection, He would have you to come unto Him and find gospel rest for your sin-wearied soul. I tell you, if Christ would have Jerusalem's children to be gathered unto himself, if Christ would have such a people to be brought under his protecting wing, children who had abused so many mercies, Children who had been so unyielding to the many times of justicement and judgment that God sent into the nation to try and to bring forth repentance from their sin. Children who had been deaf to so many invitations from so many prophets, so many spokesmen. If God would bring such a children, why would He turn you away, sinner? Why would He turn you away? There is even something more astounding than this. We have here in verse 37, and it is this, even when they had crucified him, Even when they had put him to death, even when they had him kneeled to the tree and crowned with thorns, even when they had spat upon him, even as he had hung and suffered and bled and died, even after they had done their worst, Jesus Christ would still have gathered them. How do I know that? I know that because of what I read. The words of the risen Christ to His disciples. What does He say? Matthew or Luke chapter 24 verse 47. Don't turn, let me say. This is the words of Christ. He gives this command that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in His name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Think of it. These are the people that He would have gathered. They refuse to be gathered unto Him. They put Him to death. They crucify Him. He rises again from the dead, but He tells His disciples to go to such a people again. This is a mercy of God. I tell you, sinner, why should you hear the gospel twice when there's men and women in this world that haven't heard the gospel once? Why? Should you hear the gospel week after week, I'll tell you why. It is a mercy from God. A mercy from God, and that's it. He would have still gathered them. Now you think, sinner, is there any greater sin than the sin of condemning Christ to die on a cross? Is there any greater sin than that? I think not. And yet Christ would still have gathered them. his detractors, his enemies, unto himself. You know, I then think, sinner, that your sin, compared to that sin, why think your sin would inhibit you from being gathered on to Christ in the gospel if Christ was still willing to gather these people? He would gather thee. He would gather thee tonight. As we think about Christ gathering the people unto Himself, consider secondly the methods that He employs in gathering the people unto Himself. Note with me that the Savior from these words, these words of Christ, they infer something. They speak of His desire of gathering a people unto Himself, but we can infer something from His words that we infer that they are therefore at a distance from Him. They are a people who have strayed and wandered from Him. If they are to be gathered, they're obviously not near Him. They need Him to gather them. They have wandered straight from Him. Such detached, disconnected, distant ones needed to be gathered on to Him. How was that to be accomplished? Well varied, varied on many are the ways whereby Christ gathers a people unto himself. But there are two component parts, two component ingredients that are absolutely necessary if a sinner is to be gathered unto Christ, the Word of God and the Spirit of God. It is when the Word of God is applied effectually by the Spirit of God to the heart and to the mind and to the soul and to the conscience of the sinner that the sinner is irresistibly drawn on to Jesus Christ. And so, if a preacher or an evangelist or a layman is to be used in gathering a people on to Christ, they must know the infilling of God the Holy Ghost. and they must be a preacher of the word. May God give me such an infelling tonight that God would gather you unto himself. Now sinner, as you hear of Christ, as he is preached in the gospel, as you come to understand something of Him through the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, as you come to understand the uniqueness of the person of Jesus Christ, as you come to understand the humiliation of His sufferings, as you come to understand the glory of His resurrection, as you come by the Spirit of God to understand the virtue and the power and the victory and the sin-cleansing power that's in the blood as you come to understand the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to put away sin, then there is only one outcome, one outcome of such preaching, and that is that you are irresistibly gathered onto Christ. And we need such a meeting. Sinner, you need such a meeting, a meeting where God the Spirit is present. And yet though the Word and the Spirit of God are key components, God is never at a loss in how he can draw men and women on to Jesus Christ. Sinners who have heard the gospel, sinners can be drawn on to Christ. There's many a sinner. They've been drawn on to Christ through the untimely death, of some loved one gathered unto himself. We heard about it just in the prayer meeting tonight. A brother was praying concerning some individual that had died and was buried today. The reason why that man trusted in Christ is because one day he stood at the grave of his dear wife and it was by that death, by that death that drew that individual to Christ. Yes, the Spirit of God convicts the conscience over some past sin, and God uses that to gather the unsaved unto Himself. Maybe the reading of the Word or some gospel tract, the hearing of some gospel open air, God uses to gather the unregenerate unto Himself. Maybe the pleas, the entreaties of some earnest Christian, God uses. gather the unconverted on to himself, and yes, the backslider, he would gather you tonight. How was backslidden Peter gathered back on to Christ? Do you know how he was gathered back on to Christ? By the crowing of a cockerel, by the simple crowing of a cockerel. He was drawn back on to the Savior. He goes out and he weeps bitterly. How was Jonah, the backslidden preacher, drawn back on to Christ? By a storm in the sea. How was David drawn back on to Christ? By the simple story of a prophet, Nathan, about a little lamb. The challenge, thou art the man. Let me ask you, has God been drawing you to himself in recent days? Have you found your heart being strangely warmed with respect to the things of God? Has there been a renewed interest, a renewed interest on your part with respect to spiritual matters? Oh, may God's drawing of you culminate in you being brought into saving union with Jesus Christ. May you be drawn to Christ tonight by bands of love. this very moment. As we continue to think about Christ gathering a people unto himself, consider with me thirdly the persistence that he exhibits in gathering a people unto himself. Note the phrase in verse 37, how often, how often That little phrase, just two words, it highlights to me the Savior's persistence in His attempts to gather a people unto Himself. As a phrase, it brings to my mind the suggestion that Christ did not simply make one attempt to bring them unto Himself, but that repeatedly, persistently, He tried to draw them unto Himself. That suggestion is borne out in the gospel narrative. Because what do we hear the Savior doing on many occasions? We read of Him sending out the gospel invitation. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He constantly, perpetually, doggedly as it were, He continually seeks to gather them. The persistence. Repeatedly God knocks on the door of many a sinner's heart, doggedly, persistently. He pursues men and women, boys and girls in the gospel. He pursues them in childhood. During the days of adolescence, up through a person's twenties and into their thirties, and then into their forties and the middle years of life, and even into old age, God persists, pursuing and in His pursuit, gathering men and women unto Himself. Let me ask you, how often has He called thee? The Master has come. And he calleth for thee, how many times? How many times has he called you? Did he not call you in days of Sunday school? Did he not seek your salvation when you attended a youth fellowship? Did he not visit you in days of sickness, in days of sorrow, in order that he might gather you unto himself? And now, and now for some of you, you're in the latter years of life, and he still seeks you. He still seeks that you would turn from your sin and trust in Him. Resist not His strivings. Resist not His Spirit. Fly to Christ. Fly to Him. Be saved. Be saved from sin and hell. Oh, the patience, the longsuffering of your God towards you. I say, unsee a friend, do not imagine, do not imagine that he's always going to be patient, and certainly do not presume that he's always going to be longsuffering. My spirit shall not always strive with man. How often, how often has he tried to gather thee? He tried to gather you at the grave. grave of a loved one, he tried to gather you? He tried to gather you at a sickbed while you lay on it? He tried to gather you in family troubles and trials? He tried to gather you in the gospel mission this year? Did he not try to gather you then as the Reverend Higginson preached the word, he tried to gather thee? How often, and week after week, month after month, I now come at the end of this month into next month, I come to year number five. Five years, and there's still men and there's still women in this congregation, and you're still not saved. How often has he spoken to you? There is a fourth truth that he wants to consider in light of Christ gathering the people unto himself, the refuge that he endows to those whom he gathers unto himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. As I've said, he uses this very simple farmyard illustration. He's not complicated. Everyone would understand this very illustration, the image of a little brood of chickens under its mother's wing to illustrate the protection that he gives to those who gather on to him in the gospel. Think of the lowliness of the Savior. He speaks of himself like a hen, the God of glory, the King of kings, and he condescends to picture himself just like a hen. One preacher said, it is a very marvelous thing that God should condescend to be compared to a hen, that Christ, the Son of the Highest, the Savior of men, should stoop to so humbly a piece of imagery as to liken himself on to a hen. But this is what he does. And it is through this image that the Savior is showing to the sinner. He's showing to you the refuge to which you are to fly to, the place where you are to hide. You're to hide in Christ. You're to hide in the wounds of Calvary. That's where you're to hide tonight. The provision of a refuge in fear or something. That there's danger. There's danger. Why the need of a refuge if there be no danger? Why the need of an ark if there be no flood? Why the need of salvation if there be no danger? Ah, there's danger. Therefore, the need of a refuge. Sinner, you're in danger. You're in danger of the curse of the law. You're in danger of the avenging justice of God. You're in danger of the judgment of God. You're in danger of your own sinful corrupt heart. You're in danger of death. You're in danger of the grave. You're in danger of the devil. You're in danger of the everlasting burnings of hell. Sinner! You're in danger! There's danger. but blessed be God, there's a refuge. There's a refuge from danger, a place of shelter, and it's found under God's wings. The beautiful illusion that Christ uses here for the protection of the mother head and for her little children implies that there is a safe refuge. for all who run to Christ in the gospel. This illusion is used many times in scripture, the shelter that's provided for us. I think some of the most beautiful words in the Old Testament are found with respect to Ruth Boaz. He says these words to her as he looks at her and considers her in the field. He says this in Ruth chapter 2, verse 12, the Lord recompense thy work. The full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust." The psalmist, he uses this many times. He speaks in Psalm 17 verse 8, keep me as the apple of thine eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. Psalm 36 verse 7, how excellent is thy loving kindness O God, therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. Psalm 57 verse 1, be merciful unto me O God, be merciful unto me for my soul Trusteth in thee, yea, in the shadow of thy wings. Will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed? Psalm 63 verse 7, Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. We sang a hymn tonight, this illusion being under the wings. Other refuge have I none. hangs my weary and helpless soul in thee. Leave I, leave me not alone, still support and comfort me. All my trust in thee is stayed, all my health from thee I bring. Cover thou my defenseless head with the shadow of thy wing. Under his wings I am safely abiding. Though the night deepens and tempests are wild, still I can trust Him, because I know that He will keep me, He has redeemed me. For I am His child, O spread Thy covering wings around, till all Thy wanderings cease, and at our Father's blessed abode, we'll all arrive at peace. Be not dismayed, whatever be tide, God will take care of you beneath His wings. Of love abide, God will take care of you. the psalmist, the hymn writer, hiding under his wings. Let me ask you, have you fled to Christ for refuge? Are you hiding under the broad and wide spreading wings of God tonight? Have you come to shelter under the one who has arisen with healing in his wings? Have you been gathered beneath the wings of divine love in the gospel? The illustration is well known, but it's worth the repeating. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park in the United States of America, Magazine National Geographic reported that forest rangers, they began their track up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in the ashes, perched on the ground at the base of the tree. There was something sickening about that eerie sight, and so the ranger knocked the bird over with a stick. But as he struck it, three little chicks scurried from under that dead mother's wings. What had happened? What had happened was that loving mother keenly aware of the impending danger and disaster that was about to unfold, gathered those little offspring to herself to the base of a tree, knowing that the very smoke would rise and take her life. Now she could have flown to safety. She could have escaped for her life, but no, not so, not so. She refused to abandon her little chicks. And so when the blaze arrived, the heat singed her body, killed her, but preserved the life of the little chickens. She was willing to die so that those that were under her wings could live. I hardly need to apply the illustration. He, the Son of God, was willing to die so that I, who am hiding under his wings, live. I live because he died. He bore the fire. At the very cross of Calvary, He was willing to endure the punishment for sin, and I find refuge and life as I hide under His wing. Let me ask you, will you avail yourself of such a refuge? Now, I said the first point was the longest, and it is. I have just a paragraph with respect to my second point. We have seen Christ's willingness to gather a people unto himself, however, we also see in these words a people's unwillingness to be gathered unto him. The Lord Jesus Christ said, how often would I, but our text goes on to say, ye would not. Ye would not. Now in this text, I see from these words that there is no reluctance on the part of Christ to gather sinners to himself. All the reluctance is on the part of the sinner. He would, but ye would not. Sinner, you'll never arrive in heaven. and say, I was willing to come and Christ would not have me. You'll never be able to say that. He says all that come will be received. He would save you tonight, but will you leave this house and will you say, I will not. I will not." Is it the case that you will not come to Christ? If it is, then be warned, because by your refusal to be gathered unto Christ will leave you to be exposed to the full fury of God's wrath. There's a place of refuge, sinner, a place of refuge for you, but you need to avail yourself of it. To say no to the refuge for the sinner provided by Jesus Christ, to reject the Savior, is to reject the only place of safety where the sinner can be sheltered from God's judgment. In the words of the hymn writer, I say to you, fly to his wounds, ye guilty ones. fly to his wounds, escape to the place of refuge, run to the cross, hide yourself in the rock of ages, be saved without a moment's delay. Christ is willing to save you. Christ is ready. Christ is able. But are you willing to be saved? He would. but ye would not. Let it not be said of you with respect to the gospel, ye would not. Come to Christ and be saved. May God speak to all of our hearts for Jesus' sake. Amen. Let's bow our heads in prayer. May God speak to your heart. And if I can help you in any way, then make your need known at the door. It's just a very simple thing that you need to do. We can only but point you to Christ. We can't save you, but we can help you. Want to do that? I want to help you, to lead you to Christ. He would extend to you The offer of mercy tonight, he would do that. But will you come? Will you come? Oh, may you come to the Savior, be saved. He would gather you to himself or be saved tonight. May God give you deciding grace. Oh God, our loving Father, we thank thee for thy word. We thank thee for the mercy and the pity of the Savior. He knew all that they were going to do. And yet he still would gather them. And having done it, he still would gather them. What mercy, what pity there is in the gospel and in the Savior. Oh God, speak to that man, speak to that woman, boy, that girl. Bring them under thy wing, we pray. It may be said of them that they've come to trust under the shadow of thy wing. May they be saved without further delay because just decades from this moment, Titus would come and raise the very city to the ground and would butcher the children of the ones who heard this message and maybe even some who heard the message. They were taken out into God's eternity. Oh God, we realize that there is a time, a line, that men and women may cross the boundary between God's mercy and His wrath. May they not cross that line tonight, but may they come to the Savior and make no delay. Answer prayer, speak on by thy spirit. We offer our prayers and petitions. and in through Jesus precious name. Amen and amen. Thank you.