From the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster we present Let the Bible Speak. It's good to have you join us today as we spend time around the Word of God, preaching Christ in all his fullness to men and women in all their need. ♪ When your anger falls, when the storms of life ♪ ♪ When the climes of old bear wings of strife ♪ ♪ When the strong guides lift, when the navels straight ♪ ♪ When your anger ends, when the skies are bright ♪ Oh When the straits of fear, when the breakers roar, and the reed is near, and the surge is great, and the wide waves blow, shall the angry waves near God go? ♪ We have a curve that beats the soul ♪ ♪ Steadfast and sure while billows roll ♪ ♪ Fastened to the rock which cannot move ♪ ♪ Grounded firmly in the same place ♪ is a ♪ Blossom to grow, which cannot bloom ♪ ♪ Grinding fervently in the Savior's love ♪ ♪ May your eyes be gold till morning light ♪ ♪ Let the city of gold and the martyrs rise ♪ We have a curve that meets the soul, straight past the turmoil billows roll. I'm Welcome to another Let the Bible Speak, a recording. We are glad to present to you the word of God and all of its simplicity and of all of its power. And like Peter, when Christ said unto him, will ye also go away? Well, we're glad that you've responded in faith. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. But before we come to the book, let's come and seek the Lord together in a word of prayer. our Father in heaven, how we do thank thee for the wonderful word of God. And truly, Lord, we can say, along with those of old, that Lord, just like those who heard the Savior, that Lord, no man has ever spoken like the Lord. And Lord, how we find as we come to the book, Lord, how we find that it comes with such authority Lord, with such gripping potency and power, that, Lord, it claims our heart and our obedience to follow after Thee. And we thank Thee, Lord, within it we find the way of everlasting life. We thank Thee, Lord, that we find the wonderful good news of the gospel, of a way to come back onto our holy God through the precious shed blood of the Lamb. And we just pray that, Lord, that that good message, Lord, will come and refresh and revive our hearts again, Lord, as we hear it all again in all of its clarity and all of its simplicity, that our hearts would reverberate within us, that we are glad that we have heard thy word. So bless us here now and fill us with thy spirit, for we ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. We'll read God's word together from the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 45, commencing our reading there at verse 18 down to verse 25. There in God's Word we read, For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it, he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth. I said not unto the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a God that cannot save. Tell ye and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from the ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me, a just God and a savior, there is none beside me. Look on to me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that on to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. God will bless the public reading of his word, and we'll sing another hymn together. Come with me, visit Calvary. where our Redeemer died. His blood it has departed, ♪ This world is being designed ♪ ♪ The eye from sin to save her ♪ ♪ Our hearts and lives from pain ♪ ♪ He saves and keeps forever ♪ ♪ Those dying at his feet ♪ ♪ To the othermost we sing ♪ ♪ To the othermost we sing ♪ ♪ There in God beaming ♪ ♪ And His love receiving ♪ ♪ To the othermost Jesus sing ♪ ♪ This is everlasting ♪ ♪ Each day I triumph with you ♪ ♪ He gives me every pleasure ♪ ♪ This I am longing for you ♪ ♪ Oh, what a priceless treasure ♪ ♪ To the Outer Coast he stays ♪ ♪ To the Outer Coast he stays ♪ ♪ There in Barney and his lovely city ♪ ♪ To the Outer Coast he stays ♪ We want to thank the Reverend Murray for leading the meeting for us this evening. And we're glad to have you in our service. I want to speak to you this evening on four gospel terms. And we introduce the message tonight from the point of view of a missionary illustration. Dr. George Green was born in Montreal in Canada in 1872. He married Lydia Barnes-Williams in 1907, and together they served the Lord as missionaries in Nigeria for 37 years. Dr. Green was a preacher and also a medical doctor. His wife, Lydia, was a nurse. On arrival in Nigeria, they opened up their home as a hospital at Ogbomosho in southwestern Nigeria. in their garden outside, became the waiting room for the hospital. And under that tree every day, as patients waited for their name to be called, a Christian worker read the scriptures to those patients. On one occasion, Dr. George Green was at home in Canada on furlough, and he said this in a meeting. When I first went to the mission field in Africa, The boat carried me up a wide river in the jungle as the sun was setting. And I listened with much misgiving to the African war drums that continued far into the night. The captain of the boat was very uneasy and tried to dissuade me from going ashore the next morning. And I do admit that I was trembling with fear. I found that the Lord stood with me and that the Lord keepeth watch over his own. A good few years after that, I left that jungle on that same boat. I came down the same river, and thousands of those same natives stood gathering on the shores of their villages as they said farewell. As our boat came into sight, they broke out into song, but it was not a war song. They were singing the words of their favorite hymn, all hail the power of Jesus' name, let angels prostrate fall. And folks, it was the gospel that Dr. George Green and his wife Lydia proclaimed to those natives in Nigeria that made the difference. The gospel of Jesus Christ changed them from their tribal and animistic jungle religion, turned from their heathen ways to serve the living God. Gone was the tribal warfare and their pagan practices. Dr. George Green died in 1962 at the age of 90. Folks, the gospel proclaims salvation. The gospel transforms. It changes a person. It changes a person's heart. It changes their eternal destiny because the gospel works. No matter where we are upon this earth, the gospel fits men and women because there is no other way and there is no other remedy. For the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Sometimes we find that people will try and complicate the gospel. And they try and introduce different man-made preconditions that are laid down. There's a series of do's and don'ts. There's a set of boxes to be ticked. But friends, the gospel is not man-made. It is Christ-centered. And in the Word of God, you will find that God gives us simple terms to help us to understand what we need to do in order to be saved. The work of salvation is done for us by Jesus Christ on the cross. There is nothing that we could do of ourselves to merit heaven or God's salvation. And friends, there are four gospel terms that we want to highlight to you that reveal to us how you and I can be saved. Saved from what? Saved from the penalty and the punishment of our sin in a lost eternity. Let's look now, therefore, at four gospel terms. The first one is look and be saved. We have in Isaiah chapter 45, verse 22, the words, look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. The Lord God of heaven is the speaker here and he is addressing those whom he has created. The Lord God of heaven is making a call to the men and women upon the earth to look on to him. The Lord's trying to grab a hold of their attention and he's calling them to look on to me. That implies that men and women are not looking for the Lord in the first place. And in Isaiah's day, the people had got distracted. Many of them were looking at the false gods of religion that had crept in from neighboring countries into their society. Some were looking towards pleasure, and some were looking towards recreation and money. And I wonder, friends, what is it that has grabbed a hold of your attention? Maybe it's a relationship. Maybe it's pleasure. Maybe it's money. Maybe it's possessions or position. And perhaps God has become squeezed out of your life. Friends, the Lord is looking for you and He desires that you look on to Him and be saved. Many people do have a religious persuasion. Some people look to their church, they look to their acts of charity and kindness and their good living, but the text does not say to look to your church or look to religion or look to a cleric or to a priest. Because friend, if that's what you and I had to do, then there would be another God. And there would be an alternative route to heaven and an alternative route to be saved. This verse does not say to look to yourself. Some people try to do that. They try to make themselves presentable before God and tidy up the rough edges of their life, and they think that if I can put on an all-rounded performance that the Lord will accept me on that day when I come to stand before him. Friends, that's establishing your own righteousness. God wants you to get your eyes off yourself, get your eyes off ritual and ceremony and church and clerics. and to look unto him and be saved. That's the directive that the Lord is calling unto you to do, says here in the text, to look unto me, all ye ends of the earth. It's an all-inclusive term. Not only includes those far off geographically, but those near at hand as well. And folks, that is the orbit of the look and be saved. And it is the Lord who makes that call. He says here in our text, for I am God and there is none else. The Lord is our maker and creator and there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. We look and be saved. Secondly, we enter and be saved. In John chapter 10 in the verse 9, the Lord Jesus Christ says there, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Here the Lord Jesus Christ illustrates the gospel by using the imagery of sheep and a shepherd and a sheepfold. To the Jewish mind, any kind of a leader in society was seen to be a shepherd, whether they were political or religious. And here the Lord Jesus in this text is speaking of himself as the door and also as the good shepherd. There was an open doorway into that stone circular enclosure that was the sheepfold. And the Savior speaks of himself as being the door into the enclosure of heaven. And friend, that is how you and I access heaven. through the Lord Jesus Christ, the open door. And when we enter through him, Jesus promised that we shall be saved. Just as any door has two sides, so too does the Lord Jesus Christ. You think of when Christ was crucified on Calvary's cross. There was a thief hanging either side of him. There were two sides to Jesus that day. One of those thieves repented of his sin and was saved. The other perished in his sin and went to a lost eternity. And I wonder on which side of heaven's door are you? Because friend, all of us have been born on the wrong side of the door. Been born on the wrong side of the door because of sin. And the purpose of a door, of course, is that it gives admission to you and I from one place to another. And from a gospel point of view, there are many people who admire what is said about the door, but they don't enter. They stay outside. Jesus said, here by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. It doesn't take long to pass through a doorway. It's done in an instant. And that's the same with salvation. You and I enter through Jesus Christ. It's instantaneous. It is immediate. Salvation is not a long, dark corridor. It's not a tunnel. It's a door. We enter through the Lord Jesus Christ. Friend, it's a step, but it's a saving step. And the door to heaven is not padlocked. It's an open doorway. And I trust that you will not sit and watch as others enter in that you will enter in yourself. Thirdly, the third gospel term is believe and be saved. In Acts chapter 16 and the verse 31, we have these words, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. Those words were spoken to the jailer in the city of Philippi. Paul and Silas were the two New Testament missionaries who had been persecuted and beaten. They had been imprisoned for the gospel sake and sitting in the stocks in the prison that night. We find in this passage of Scripture that they were singing praises to God and at around midnight, there was an earthquake occurred and the jailer Fearing that all the prisoners had escaped when he saw the doors were opened, he was about to commit suicide. And Paul called out to him, do thyself no harm, for we're all here. And after hearing the singing of Paul and Silas, that man came in trembling to the two missionaries. And he asked this wonderful question, what must I do to be saved? And he was told, believe. On the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That man knew he needed salvation. He also knew that the two missionaries knew about the way. And he's told here to believe on a person. The person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That jailer was told to believe on him. That simply means to believe that what Jesus Christ did on the cross, that he did it personally for me. And place your trust in the work that Jesus did on the cross and believe that he shed his blood for me and I rest my soul on him. I wonder friends, do you believe that what Jesus did on the cross, he did it personally for you? I wonder, do you believe that he was the sinner's substitute and you are the sinner. I wonder, can you say tonight with the hymn writer that his wounds have paid my ransom? Because salvation is personal. Saving faith is in a person. You and I believe in a doctor. We put our case into the hand of a doctor. We trust the doctor's word and we trust the doctor for a cure. You and I put our case into the hand of a solicitor. And we trust the solicitor to plead our case and to argue it out for us. We place our confidence in a banker, in a financial consultant, and we put our money into their hand and allow them to keep it on our behalf. But what about putting your trust in the Savior? What about putting your trust in Jesus Christ? I wonder, is that something that you have done? The Lord Jesus Christ presents himself as the savior of sinners this evening. And I wonder, will you take him by faith? Because friends, that's believing on him. Believe and be saved. Enter and be saved. Look and be saved. Fourthly and lastly, there's call and be saved. The Apostle Paul tells us these wonderful words in Romans chapter 10 and the verse 13. And whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How simple is the gospel. Look, enter, believe, call. The Lord Jesus Christ says, call. That's something as straightforward and easy. You remember the penitent thief on the cross? As Jesus was crucified, he called upon the Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. We think of the publican there in the temple. God be merciful to me, a sinner. John Wesley. was a famous gospel preacher in a bygone day. God used him mightily during the evangelical awakening in the 1700s. One day he told a group of villagers that in the evening time he'd be holding a gospel meeting in a farmyard barn. And he invited everyone to come along. A group of lads laughed at the idea of a gospel meeting, especially having it in a farmyard barn. And they decided that they would break up the meeting that night and cause chaos. One of the lads agreed that he would go to the barn early and hide himself in the corn sacks at the back of the room. And that when the meeting started that he would jump up and make a nuisance of himself and open the door and let the rest of them in. Soon the villagers gathered and the country folk came. John Wesley announced to him, And the man in the sack was affected by what he heard. The mob waited outside. No one opened the door. And the man in the sack listened to John Wesley preach and plead for sinners to come to Christ. And suddenly, he began to cry. The sack began to move across the floor. And he stood up and he shouted to John Wesley to lead him to the Lord there and then. man could save. That's the power of the gospel. Power of the gospel to save. That's what happened in Nigeria in the days of Reverend George Green. That's what happened to the man on the sack. And friend, it can happen to you. I wonder, will you look? Will you enter? Will you believe? And will you call? That's the simplicity of the gospel. And I trust that you will put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Redeemer. Let's close in a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your presence amongst us. We thank you for the simplicity of the gospel. We ask, Lord, that you will give each one a believing heart. Give, O God, understanding, and may there be a coming to Jesus Christ in faith and in repentance. We pray it in Christ's name. Amen. Thank you for spending some time with us today around the Word of God. For further information visit our website at ltbs.tv. We look forward to joining with you next time as we seek to let the Bible speak once again.