Thank you, Dean, for bringing God's word through song to us. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And that was the invitation that Jesus Christ gave to those in Matthew's Gospel. And we bless God that whenever you come to Christ, he gives a person rest and peace. with God. It's lovely to see you out on Monday evening. We trust that you'll make the meetings known. Don't leave it to somebody else to bring someone else in, but you make the effort and try to get someone else to come in to hear the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and we trust that the Lord will speak to hearts through this time of mission. It's lovely to see you and it's lovely for everyone to be here and we trust that the Lord will speak tonight. Now if you have a Bible with you, I want you to turn to Mark's Gospel and to chapter number 10. Mark's Gospel in the chapter number 10. If you don't have a Bible, don't you be worrying about that. If there's someone beside you, you have my permission to give them a good dig in their ribs and ask them to share with you the Word of God, and I'm sure they'll allow that if you don't break their ribs, to give you that opportunity to look on to God's Word and to see what the Lord's Word would have to say. If you don't have a Bible, just listen to the Word of God tonight. Mark's Gospel in the chapter number 10, and we'll commence the reading at the verse number 17. And when he that being the Lord Jesus Christ was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him, loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. and come take up the cross and follow me. And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions. Amen. May God bless the reading of his word to our hearts. Let's keep the word of God open and let's unite our hearts in prayer asking help from the Lord tonight in the preaching of his precious word. Father in heaven, We come before Thee in the name of our Lord and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, Lord, we are deeply honoured, Father, to be chosen to serve Thee. We thank Thee, dear Father, for the Word of God. We thank the Heavenly Father, Lord, for the Scriptures of truth. We thank the Father, Lord, that it is as a sword, Father, that pierces right farther through to the marrow and to the joint, Father, and exposes, Lord, the hearts and the minds of individuals. We bless Thee, Heavenly Father, that Thou hast described it as a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. And Lord, You know, Lord, our hearts tonight and the conditions of our hearts. And Father, Lord, there could be hard hearts in this meeting, but we thank Thee for the hammer of God's Word, Father, that can break right through, dear God, the facade. And Father, Lord, that Thou can reach, dear God, into individuals' heart, Lord, and speak to them through the Word of God. We thank the Heavenly Father for the Spirit of God. And we thank the dear Father that whenever He is come, He will reprove this world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And so, Lord, we lean on Thee. We lean, dear God, not on our own understanding, but, Father, we acknowledge our ways and Thou hast promised that He will direct our paths. Lord, Thou hast said in Thy Word to commit Thy works unto the Lord. And He shall establish our thoughts. And Father, we cry to Thee, Father, that Thou wilt establish our thoughts in all that we will say. Lord, in this preaching of Thy Word, we feel our inadequacy, dear Father. We feel our patheticness, Lord. And yet, Father, Thou hast said in Thy Word that whenever we are weak, then are we strong. And, Father, we would rather glory in our infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon us. And we cry an almighty name in the name of Jesus, that the power of Christ might rest upon us tonight. Oh, Father, fill us with Thy Holy Spirit. And, Father, Lord, we pray that signs would follow the preaching of Thy Word. Empty that Thou shouldest fill me A clean vessel in thine hand, with no power but as thou givest, graciously with each command channels only. Bless it, Master, but with all thy wondrous power flowing through us, thou canst use us every day and every hour. Father, we pray that you'll use us to the salvation of souls. Speak to that young man tonight. Speak to that young lady tonight and bring them, Father, to saving faith in Jesus Christ. For we ask it in Jesus' precious name with an eye to His glory. For we pray it in His name. Amen and Amen. I'm sure we've all heard the statement so close and yet so far. The sports commentator uses it whenever the runner runs the marathon and maybe he just gets to the finish line 100 milliseconds after breaking or trying to break the world record. He has been so close and yet so far away. The gambler knows what it is whenever he goes in and places the bet on the horse and as that horse goes to the line he's just pipped at the post and he just loses it by a short head. I'm sure we have all used it concerning the final interview, how we go to get an interview for a job and we're just pipped at the post and we come out and we say that we were just so close and yet so far away. As always in life, we always seem to fall at the final hurdle. It always seems that we fall short within our lives. It often seems that we are so close and yet so far away. In God's Word, we read of men, in the Word of God, that were so close to God's salvation, and yet, whenever it came to the moment that they died, that they were so far away from God. We read of a man in Mark's Gospel, in the chapter number 12, he comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, has a personal interview with the Savior, and he has a conversation with the Lord, and the Lord sees that that man is concerned about his soul. He's so much concerned about his soul that the Lord Jesus Christ says to him that day, he says, young man, thou art not far from the kingdom of God. We read of another man by the name of Felix. That old evangelist Paul stands before him. He preaches to him about the woman that he's with because the woman that he is with is not his wife. He has committed adultery, and so the Apostle Paul, he preaches against us, for it says that he preaches of sin and righteousness and judgment that is about to come. And as he does that, it says that Felix trembles under the preaching of the Word of God. But he said to Paul that day, go thy way for this time, for whenever I've got a convenient season, then I'll call for thee. Paul moves on and he goes to stand before another king. He stands within a royal court. He stands before a man by the name of King Agrippa. And as he preaches again the message of the gospel, people laugh at Paul and they say, you know, Paul, you're a bit of a madman. And you know, we live in a society whenever people think that gospel preachers, you know, they're a bit not wise in the head and they need to be locked up. all that shouting and all that drawing. And there were people in that congregation and in that royal court that day and they said, Paul, much learning doth make thee mad. There were other people in that audience that day and really the gospel message meant nothing to them. And that might be like you in this meeting tonight, the gospel message will mean nothing to you. But amongst that crowd and in that royal court with all the pages that came with Kinegrepa, Whenever the Apostle Paul preached the gospel, Agrippa cried out in the midst of that message, he said, Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. But I want to say to you, unseeth person in this meeting, being so near the kingdom is not near enough. And being almost persuaded to be a Christian is not good enough. And trembling under the very preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's not good enough because you can be so close and yet be so far away. You know, someone once said, eternity is too long to be wrong. And that's true. You know, there's a lot of people and they think, well, I'll get into heaven my own way. But you don't realize that eternity is too long to be wrong. And all that we're doing in these Gospel meetings is presenting to you the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. All we're doing is presenting to you what the Bible says God's way of salvation is, and that's through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. Tonight in this meeting, as we draw the meeting to a close, I want us to look at a young man. A young man who was so close. and yet so far away. I want us to note, first of all, this young man's coming to Jesus. This young man's coming to Jesus. You know, despite this young man having lived a moral life, how do I know that? Well, it says in the verse number 20, whenever the Lord Jesus Christ gives him the list of commandments, the standard by which God demands every man to fulfill in order to get into heaven, he said, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. This young man, as he would say, he was as clean as a hound's tooth. And if you've ever looked at a dog's tooth, it's pretty clean, so it is. He was as clean as a hound's tooth, this young man. He lived a moral and an upright life. This young man also, he was well esteemed within society. He had climbed society's ladder, for we find in the Word of God that he's described as the rich young ruler. People respected this young man in society. This young man was just in the prime of his life. Matthew's account records for us that he was just a young man. In other words, he had all his life in front of him. He had all his plans, all his dreams, all his desires were all in front of him. In actual fact, if you had a look at that young man, he was a healthy young man and nothing was going to fizzle and nothing was going to distract him from his goals in life. This young man had plenty of money, for the word of God says that whenever Christ spoke to him about his bank balance, he said that he went away grieved, verse number 22, for he had great possessions. I can see this young man, if he had been living today, he would have had a Ferrari in the driveway, a lovely two-storied house, a conservatory, beautiful wife, children, Maybe he would have been with Bupa for a day, health insurance, life insurance. This young man would have had everything he desired, maybe a boat and a yacht club. I'm sure he belonged to the local golf club. I'm sure he would have everything that his heart would have desired. But although despite he had all these things, I want you to realize that he knew that there was something missing in his life. despite having society and being in society's elite, despite him having climbed to the highest pinnacle of the Jewish system, religious system, despite him having no money problems, despite him being in the prime of his life, having tried all the sins and the pleasures of this world, the Word of God records for us that this young man was found lacking in something. How do I know that? You know how I know that? Because he came to Jesus. You know, and there's a wonder why some people, I always wonder why I don't see if people come to gospel meetings. I wonder why people travel to come to hear a gospel preacher. You know, if life was so great, if sin is so great, if dormance is so great, the beach club is so great, I just wonder why aren't you there tonight? If life is so great, if the drugs and the drink and the sexual immorality is so great, I wonder why are you not involving yourself in that tonight? Because, my dear friend, there's something in a person's heart. And someone once said that it is a God-shaped void, and only God can fill that. The Word of God reminds us that God has set eternity in man's hearts. And the only thing that fills eternity is God. The only thing that fills eternity is God. So if God has set eternity in men's hearts, then only God can fill a man's heart. And men try to fill their lives with sexual immorality, with drink, with drugs, with pornography, with football, with sport, with whatever you're trying to fill your life with. You know what it's like trying to do? It's like trying to fill the Grand Canyon with a wheelbarrow of sand. That's how futile it is trying to fill your life with these things. It's like emptying the Atlantic Ocean and trying to fill it again with a thimble of water. That's what it's like to try and fill your life without Jesus Christ. This young man came to Jesus Christ. He had everything for time, but he had nothing for eternity. You're maybe in this meeting and you say, you know, I'm quite alright. I've got my girlfriend, I've got my car, I've got my house, I've got everything that I need. I'm quite alright. But then, folks, you forgot one thing, that we're all going to die. And you might be okay for time, And you might be okay for this moment of time that you're in, but you need to remember that we're all going to step out of the realm of time someday, and we're going to step into God's eternity. And we're going to have nothing then. The only thing that you'll have on that day is your decision whether you accepted or rejected Jesus Christ. I tell you, whenever you walk behind Willie Garvin's funeral hearse, or Mr. McCuster's funeral hearse, I'll tell you, you'll find no toolbar. And you'll not see the golf club stacked in beside the coffin. And you'll not find the car towed behind the hearse. And you'll not find the boat. Or you'll not find the money. You'll not find any of those things. Because we're all going to leave it behind. We're all going to leave it behind. I want us to notice a few things about how this young man came to Jesus. Or a few things about his coming to Christ. I want you to notice, first of all, that he came at the right time. He came at the right time. Now, if you read Matthew's account of this history, because the Gospels, they interchange and they relate this story again. If you read Matthew's account of this in Matthew 19 and the verse 20 and the verse 22, it says that this man was a young man. He was a young man. I want you to notice that this man came to Jesus whenever he was young, whenever he was just a young man. And I want to say to you that there's no better time to come to the Lord Jesus Christ but whenever you're young. Whenever you're young. You see, we read of a man in the book of Ecclesiastes, he's known as Solomon. I'm sure you've all heard the statement about being as wise as Solomon. Solomon was a young man. And Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes decided that he would try everything that the world could offer. He tried music. He tried parties. He tried marrying women. He had 700 wives. 700 mother-in-laws would have been harder to deal with, but he had 700 wives. And he had concubines. And he tried sexual immorality. And he tried to drink. And he tried orchestras. And he tried vineyards. And he tried building big homes. But you know what he was trying to do? It says that he sought for the meaning of life under the sun. And as he went to all those things, as he sought to seek pleasure in those things under the sun, he realized that he was looking for it in the wrong place. And you might be looking for life, and you might be looking for freedom, and you might be looking for purpose, and fulfillment, and satisfaction, and joy, and happiness, but you're looking for it under the sun. Can I tell you, the only place that you'll find it is in heaven, is from above. For the Word of God tells us that in His presence, that's God's presence, is fullness of joy, and at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore. You see, the pleasures of this world always pass away. I always say whenever we're preaching, you know, there are pleasures in sin. I'm a preacher, I know, we've been there, there's pleasures in sin. But I wonder if you ever go down to the beach club, do you ever see an 80-year-old woman dancing on the dance floor? You never see that. Why? Because their season's over. Their season's over now. They might go to the bingo instead. But their season is over. And your season will end someday. And then you'll go out into God's eternity. What will you do then? Whenever your season is over. He came at the right time. You know Solomon said, remember now, after having lived all his life, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. For he said, Why, the evil days come not, and nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." But why should I come to Christ? You're saying I should come to Christ. Give me some reasons why I should come to Christ. Well, the first reason why you should come to Christ whenever you're young is because whenever you're young, your conscience is tender to sin and to God speaking voice. You know, it's true that whenever you take your first cigarette, you never want anyone to see you. It's always behind the school building. I remember, I don't know where I heard it, but someone was telling us, it was a few weeks ago, about the person, and he was caught smoking the cigarette, so he was, and the teacher came along, so the young cub, he put the cigarette still left in his pocket into the pocket, so the teacher saw it, so he did. The teacher just sat and chatted, so he did, and then smoke started to come out of his pocket. Because he didn't want to be seen. He didn't want to be seen. Whenever you first go into the bookies, you know, you're looking this way and that way. You're a bit like Moses whenever he went and tried to slay the Egyptians. You look this way and that way, and you're ducking and diving, and you don't want anyone to see you. But, you know, as you progress down life, and as you continue to go those places, you know, it doesn't matter anymore. You know, whenever you have committed your first sexual act of immorality, you know, you don't want anyone to know. But now you boast about it. You boast about it to your friends. Because, you see, you don't see it as sin anymore. But it is. It is. And God requireth that which is past. You should come to Christ whenever your conscience is tender and whenever you can hear God's voice. You know, God speaks in gospel meetings. And there's many a man that has come to a gospel meeting and they've felt God's Spirit striving with their soul. And yet they have hardened their heart and they have walked out while the word of God says, he that being often reproved and hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and not without remedy. You should come to Christ not only because of conscience but you should come to Christ when you're young whenever you've still opportunity. Whenever you've still got an opportunity. You know all you have to do is pick up your newspaper and see who's died in the roads at the weekend. Young men. young women ushered out into God's eternity. Think about those 11-year-old, 13-year-old young men on the Gaelic pitches of this land, dropping instantaneously dead young men in the prime of their life, healthy, young, fit young men, and yet taken out into God's eternity. What if God says, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. There was a young man in the Word of God, his name was David. And David said to his older friend, Jonathan, one day, he said, Jonathan, there's a step between you and death. No, he didn't say that. He said, Jonathan, I believe that as a young man, there's just but a step between me and death. Just a young man, James, asked the question, what's your life? It is but a vapor that appears for a little time and then it vanishes away. I want to tell you that from the time from the wood of the cradle to the granite of the headstone is just very short. Just very short. You need to come to Christ when you've still got opportunity. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. You should come to Christ because he'll give you something worth living for. You know, I never really started to live until I came to the Lord Jesus Christ. I actually never knew why I was here on planet Earth. You know, we're not here on planet Earth to do a 9-to-5 job. Get up in the morning, get washed, get dressed, go down, watch GMTV as we eat our breakfast, go into the car, travel to work, go to school, do the school or do the work, stay, come home, watch television, get your dinner, watch Neighbors Eastenders, go out with your friends, get undressed, get washed, get into bed and start all the routine all over again. That's not what life is about, folks. Life is all about God. You see, it starts with God and it's going to end with God. And that's what life is all about. The Apostle Paul, he said, for me to live is Christ and to die is game. Now, I don't know what you're living for tonight. Maybe you say in my life, for me to live is football. But you see, you need to remember that there's coming a day whenever you're going to have to hang up your boots. You might say, well, for me to live is drink. There's going to come a time whenever the drink's going to start flowing. Well, for me to live is my car. Well, you need to remember, folks, that that car's going to rust and it's going to go to the scrapyard someday. But you see, whenever you have Jesus Christ, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Then you've got everything. You've got everything. Jesus Christ said one day, I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. Another reason why you should come to Christ whenever you're just a young man or young woman. It'll save you a life of regrets. A life of regrets. You know, whenever George Best was lying in that hospital in London, I'm sure he had many regrets. He wanted the whole world to see what drink would do to a man and so they allowed to take the picture. And you could have written over that headline and over that picture, a man with many regrets. He regretted how he'd wasted his life, missed his opportunity, how he had wasted his money and substance on really things that did not matter. You know, I didn't see the barman going in and seeing George Best. I didn't see him go in. He was all alone. And all that ended up around him was his family. and a Christian nurse, that's all. A life of scars. There's many a man who has lived his life and lived a life of sin in their youth, and they regret the heartaches that they have endured, the tears that they shed, the scars they now endure within their body and within their mind because of a life of sin. And they sit down and they say, oh, I wish I had come to Jesus Christ. I wish I had come to Christ. Do you want a life of scars? Do you want to be standing in a divorce court? Do you want to be going to alcoholic synonymous? Do you want to go to those places? I tell you, go on, your life of sin, that's where you'll be found. That's where you'll be found. The Word of God says that the way of the transgressor is hard. It's a hard road. You know, some people think that Christian life's a hard road. I tell you, the life of a sinner is a harder road. Because at the end of the day, you know, there only comes one place for the sinner. That's God's hell. That's God's hell. You know, could it be in this meeting, he came at the right time, he came in his youth, but he came at the right time, not only in relation to his age, but in relation to the moment of time, because the Lord Jesus Christ is going to Jerusalem, he's going to the cross, and he's never going to come this way again. He's never going to come this way again. This is the Savior's one and only visit to this young man's heart. And for this young man, it's now or never. It's now or never. And maybe in this meeting, maybe you'll never be in a gospel meeting ever again. You'll think, I'll never be back in a gospel mission again ever in my life. But God's Spirit is striving with your soul. You find trouble within. You have heartache and you have trials and you have troubles and sin presses upon you. Tonight could be now or never for you. Tonight could be now or never. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. He came at the right time. He came to the right place. He came to the right place. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ has just blessed the mothers and the children, put his hands upon them. And the Lord Jesus Christ has now left the city. The crowds have been swelling that city. They have wanted to see what the Master could do. And as the crowds, they start to feed away, the Lord Jesus Christ makes his way out through the gate of that city and up the dusty pathway. But as the Savior goes from behind him, he hears the sound of feet running towards him. And so the Savior turns around to see a young man, just one young man, running after Jesus. Just one young man running after Jesus. You see, the crowd didn't run after Jesus here. Just an individual. If you're thinking that the crowd's going to come to Christ, you'll be waiting a long time. You'll be waiting a long time. People come to Christ as individuals. The Word of God says, wide is the gate, broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at, speaking about the road that leads to hell. Then it goes on to say, but straight is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth on to life, on to heaven, and few there be that find it. You might say, but my friends think they're all right, so I'll be all right. Few there be that find it. Just few ever find God's way to heaven. This young man, in order to get to Jesus Christ, had to do one thing. He had to get out of the crowd. He had to get out of the crowd. This young man had a desire to meet Jesus Christ, but if he had stayed in that crowd, if he had stayed in that city, if he had stayed with his friends, his neighbours, his loved ones, his workmates, his social pals, if he had stayed with the religious crowd that he was comfortable with, then he would have never, ever got to Jesus Christ. He had to get out of the crowd. And if you want to come to Christ, you have to get out of the crowd. For the crowd will take you to hell. He came. He came to the right place. Can I say to you tonight in this, in the bright world, you're in the right place. You may even think that. But I'll tell you, you are in the right place where the gospel is being preached. You have literally done part of what this young man has done. You have literally come out of the crowd. You've come away from your friends tonight, away from your family tonight, away from your girlfriend, away from your boyfriend tonight. You've come away from your home, from your comfort zone, and you've come into this meeting. You're not gospel literate, you're not gospel greedy, but you've come out of the crowd, and you're at the feet of Jesus. That's where this young man came to. He came to the feet of Jesus. And if you never come to the feet of Jesus, then you'll never be in heaven. You know, isn't it amazing that people would rather stick out their chest and go to hell, than kneel at the feet of Jesus and go to heaven. This young man came to the right place, he came at the right time, he came with the right attitude. For it says in the verse number 17, that he came running and he kneeled to the Saviour, he kneeled to the Master. Do you know what that suggests to me? That suggests to me that he had no pride in his heart. He had no pride in his heart. Do you know what keeps many a young man, many a young woman from coming to Christ, coming out for God, becoming a genuine Christian? Do you know what keeps them back? Their stinking, rotten pride. Pride. You're afraid of what your friends would say. You're afraid of what your family would say. You're afraid of the ramifications of what it would be to be a genuine Christian. But I'll tell you, if you want to keep hold of your pride, then my dear friend, the only place where pride dwells is in hell. Pride dug hell. Pride dug hell. For the devil said, I will. I will ascend. I will ascend. I will ascend. And God turned around and he says, no you won't. And God took him down to hell. He came with the right attitude. I can see this young man. He's coming out of the crowd. And I can just get into his mind, and I can just think what he's thinking. He said, I don't care what my family think. I don't care what my friends think. I don't care if they think that I'm a madman. I don't care if they think that I'm odd. I don't care what my relations say. I don't care what my girlfriend says. I don't care what my wife says. All I need to do is get to Jesus. And I wonder, has God been bringing you to a place where you really do not care? You don't care about what your girlfriend's going to say. You don't care about what your boyfriend's going to say. You don't care about what society's going to say, what the football mates are going to say. You're not going to care about that. All you desire within your heart is that you know you can't put your finger on it, but you know that you need something. No, my friend, you don't need something. You need somebody. You need Jesus. And this young man realized, listen, he left behind his free iron, he left behind his car, he left behind his boot, his golf clubs, he left it all behind and he came just himself to Jesus. And if you want to get to Jesus, then you'll just have to come yourself. He came with the right attitude. He came running. You know, there's a wild lot of dilly-dallying about, and people on the internet, and if you're from China listening, you'll not know what dilly-dallying is. But there's a lot of dilly-dallying about Southeris. And there's all this, like, you know, the teenager sort of attitude, like, you know, everything's so much. You know, you ask them to do something, a teenager around the home, and it's like, pfft. You know, they're going like, out there, everything's so much of an effort. You know, this young man wasn't like that. This young man, it says that he ran to Jesus. This man realized that there was an urgency involved here. And you might think, that preacher, That man needs locked up. That man needs to go down to that holly well in Antrim so he doesn't need to get his head sorted out. My dear folks, this business is urgent. This is the most serious thing that could ever come across your life because your eternal welfare depends on your choice that you will make for Jesus Christ before you go out through that door tonight. This business requires haste. And this young man, I tell you, he went like the clacker, I don't know, I think it's the clacker's goal, he went all at it. And he says, I need to get to Jesus and I can see the dust coming up behind him so I can. As he runs to Jesus. And he leaves it all behind, he came with the right attitude, you know. You need to hurry up. You need to hurry up. Do you remember the Lord Jesus Christ said to Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus is up the tree. And the Lord looks up into the tree and he says to that wee man, he says, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. You need to hurry up. That's what Jesus said to Zacchaeus. Hurry up. You may say, but I don't need to hurry up. Do you not? You don't need to hurry up. Do you not realize that death's coming? You see, you say, there's the preacher going again. All he's talking about is death. That's all the preachers talk about. All they talk about is death. Right, folks, you'll not read in the Sun newspaper tomorrow that as it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment. That's why you don't read the Bible. Because the Bible confronts you with realities of life and death. with the realities of heaven and hell. And you would rather prefer to read The Sun, or The Mirror, or FHM, or Shoot, or Sport, or whatever it is, or Nuts, I think it is, or whatever they're called. I don't know what they are. I don't buy these things, so don't be worried. I don't buy it. But you would rather prefer to read those things because they don't confront you with the realities of life. And you're quite happy to mosey on along. But there's going to come a day whenever you're going to be confronted with these things. It'll be too late. It'll be too late. The day is coming. That's why you need to hurry up. The Spirit of God may stop striving with your soul. The Word of God says, my spirit shall not always strive with mine. That's why you need to hurry up. Maybe God's been speaking to you. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what your situation is. I don't know why you're here. But maybe God's Spirit has been striving with you. Maybe in recent days you have led someone that you dearly love into Mother Earth. And you've stood at the graveside and you've asked yourself the question, man dieth and wasteth away, yea, man giveth up the ghost and where is he? Where is he? You need to hurry up because Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. You know, the Word of God says that you have to be ready. Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. I wonder how many people thought that Jesus Christ was going to come back tonight. Nobody. But in such an hour as ye think not, He could come back tonight. The word of God says that there's going to be two in the field. One's going to be taken, the other's going to be left. Two in the bed, one taken, the other left. Two grinding at the mill, one taken, and the other left. Jesus Christ is going to come, and he's going to separate, and there's going to come a day, and all the Christians are going to be away. And you're going to be left. Left behind. Left behind. He not only came at the right time to the right place with the right attitude, but he came to the right person. He came to the right person. For it says in the verse number 17, he says, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? You know, he didn't go to the religious hierarchy of the day and ask them, what do I need to do to inherit eternal life? Do you know what would have happened? They would have said, you're a pretty good sort of guy. You're a decent sort of man. You're a good neighbor. You never really do anyone any bit of harm. You've tried to live a moral life. You've tried to live your life by the Ten Commandments. You're a pretty good sort of fella. Don't be worrying about that Christianity business, that fanaticism, that Bible-based Christianity. Just you try and do your best. He didn't go to the religious hypocrites, and he didn't go to his friends. Like, imagine tomorrow. Say you're concerned about your soul and you go to your friends and at work and you say, you know, I was at a gospel mission last night and I'm concerned about my soul and I'm thinking of becoming a Christian. Well, I can hardly imagine them saying, good on you. All I can hear them saying, are you wise? You're thinking of becoming one of those holy roars? Those Bible bastards? Sure, come on out with us. You've plenty of time to think about those things whenever you're lying in your deathbed. Come on out with us. Come on out at the weekend and forget about all those things. This young man didn't go to his friends and companions to ask them what he should do to inherit eternal life. And he didn't go to Peter, James and John to ask either. Because he knew that they weren't the answer. But this young man, he came to the right person because he came to Jesus. He came to the Lord Jesus Christ. No, the word of God says, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name under heaven given amongst men, whereby we must be saved. We saw his coming to Christ. I want you to see his conversation with the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, good master, verse 17, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? This young man not only came at the right time, to the right place, with the right attitude, to the right person, but I want you to notice that he asked the right question. You know, this young man didn't ask the Saviour, Lord, how will I make my first million pounds? He didn't ask the Saviour, Lord, how do I get a good looking woman? He didn't ask the Saviour, how do I climb society's ladder? He asked the question, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? I wonder, have you been asking the right sorts of questions? I wonder if you've been asking yourself, away from the facade that you put on to your friends, I wonder if you asked yourself the question, why am I here? Why am I here on planet Earth? Where am I going? After I die, what will happen to me after I die? Is there really a God? And if there is a God, does he know anything about me? And if he knows anything about me, does he even care? Have you asked yourself the question, is there really a heaven? And is there really a hell? And if there is, where will I be after I die? These are the right sort of questions that people need to be asking themselves. And this young man asked the right sort of question. The Lord Jesus Christ takes him to the law of God. He takes him to the law of God and he says to him, young man, you know the commandments, thou shalt not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and mother. And the young man, he says, you know, all these have I observed from my youth. Well, I believe that he deceived his heart. What young man could ever say? that they had obeyed their parents in everything that they had asked them to do. Can you imagine this young man and the parents say, now go and tidy your room? Yes, mum. Wash the dishes? Yes, mum. Clean out the toilet? Yes, mum. Wash the dog? Yes, mum. Can you imagine him saying that every day of his life? I doubt not. This young man believed that he had kept all these things from his youth. Thou shalt not still do, seriously believe that that young man had never stolen anything in his life. Everybody has stolen something. I was watching a program today. I'll not tell you what program I was watching, it was just for a brief time. I was watching a program and there were people talking and they were talking about things that they had stolen. And one of the women, she perked up and said, well, I once stole with my brother a filing cabinet. I don't know what issue it was, but one night she went and stole a filing cabinet. Now, what she done with it, I do not know. The same woman then said that she was in a beautiful hotel just the other week, and she's had a lovely duvet. And she thought, this is the best duvet that I've ever had. And she just thought that she had, well, in her words, died and went to heaven. But she hadn't. That's in her words. So she decided to look around. And she went into the cupboard. And lo and behold, wasn't there another duvet? And she decided to try and fold it up and to put it into her suitcase. Now, she said that she couldn't get it in. But that's what she tried to do. It is said that whenever you go into a department store, that 4% of the people in the department store are shoplifting. Now, people say, this is what they say, well, it's Tesco's. Tesco's is a multi-millionaire company. They're not going to miss a roll of sellotape. That's how people justify themselves. You ever go into the petrol station, you put the nozzle in, and you only plan to get 20 pound into your thing, but lo and behold, isn't it always 20 pound, 1p? That's Markerfeld people, that tight. They're always looking for the 1p. But do you know what that is? That's stealing. That's stealing. You may say, listen, you are way out. Well, do you pay for it? Oh, I've only 20 pound on me. It's stealing. You ever see those children, and their mother's at 1,001 to put over the buns? I think they're wee tiny balls. And they're going to their mom, and they scoff it all down them. And then their mom looks for it, and she's wondering where it's at. Just wondering where these thousand and ones and all are at. And she asked the wee child, now did you take them? And she goes, no, never took them. And there's a pink one there, and there's a yellow one there, and there's a red one there. And they've just told a lie. You see, folks, whenever we put our lives against God's standard, we're all guilty. We're all guilty. Now, the word of God says that men love to justify themselves. And this young man tried to justify himself. But the word of God says that if you break the law of God at one point, then you're guilty of all. If you have ever told one line, then the word of God says that you are as guilty as a murderer, a thief, an adulterer. An idolater or someone that has blasphemed in the name of God, blasphemed and coveted someone. If you break the law on one point, then you're guilty of all. It's like a row of ten dynamos. God's standard is the ten commandments. You knock over one, they all fall down. They all fall down. And that's why there's coming a day whenever we're all going to stand before God and we're all going to become guilty. Guilty. How is that sorted out? That's what the cross is all about. Because Jesus Christ came and he satisfied the law. You know, we live in a society, we live in a society that has tried everything. And yet this young man, it says that he said, what lack I yet? And within, deep within human hearts, despite of all that people have, there is yet a yearning, there's something missing in my life. I don't know what it is. I don't know how to put it right, but I know that there is something missing in my life. Well, the gospel is that it's Jesus Christ is missing in your life. I want you to notice finally his choice concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. His choice concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, there are many sad phrases within the English language. It might have been, that's one of them. It might have been. Or another one is, I'm sorry, but it's over. Or another one, it's, I'm sorry, but you're just too late. But I believe in this passage of scripture, we find the saddest of all phrases within the English language. And it's summed up by the young man's choice. And it's found in the verse number 22. It says, and he was sad at that saying and said, And I want you to mark it down. Here it is, the saddest of all phrases, and he went away. You know, you can come at the right time. And you can come to the right place. And you can come with the right attitude. And you can come to the right person. And you can even ask the right questions. But you can make the wrong choice. He can make the wrong choice. And it says that he went away. What did he go away from? Verse number 21 tells us, Then Jesus beholding him loved him. He went away from God's love. And he turned his back on Jesus Christ. Now there's always a choice in a gospel meeting. There's always a choice of what you're going to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a choice of what you're going to do with the preacher. It's what you're going to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. And you'll either accept Him, or you'll go away. You'll go away. You know, down the dusty pathway, I can see the Savior and Him have stood eyeball to eyeball. They have conversed with each other. This young man knows that the Lord Jesus Christ loves him. But I can see as they go their separate ways. And the young man goes down to the city, and he goes back to his friends, and he goes back to the party, and he goes back to the girl, and he goes back to his workmates, and he turns his back on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ, as he sees him go away, he turns around, and he goes to Jerusalem. He heads to the cross. The Savior did not run after that young man. He made the choice. Now he will suffer the consequences of his choice. You know, tonight I'll not be running out after you onto the street. You'll make your choice in this building. But remember that there is always consequences for every choice you make. And the question comes, what are you going to do with Jesus Christ? That's the question. Where did the parting come? Do you know where the parting came? The parting came at the mention of the cross. And that's where the parting always comes. It always comes at the cross. It was the mention of the cross that caused that young man to leave the Savior and go back to his sin. And the cross of Calvary is the place where you will make your choice tonight. You'll either humble yourself, confess your sin to God, repent, that means to turn from your sin and turn to Christ, or you will go away like this young man and be lost. You may ask the question, well, what happened to this young man? What happened to this young man? Does the Bible say anything about this young man? No. He made his choice. The Bible has nothing more to say about him. But then the Bible has a lot to say about what happened to Jesus Christ. And though the Bible is silent concerning this young man, the Bible is not silent about what Jesus Christ went to do on the cross. There he hung and bled and died for your sin and for my sin. There he would die the just one for the unjust one. He would die, he would be buried, he would rise again, and he's alive forevermore. And he's coming again. And on that day, there's going to come a day whenever he's going to say, depart from me. I never knew you. This young man made the choice, but he made the wrong choice. And it was all pivotal at the mention of the cross. Now I wonder what you're going to do with Jesus Christ. You see, you have a choice to make. Your choice is either to accept him or to go out into the night and reject him. It's your choice, but always remember that there are consequences for every choice that you make. I pray, God, that tonight that you'll make the right choice and that you'll come to the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust that you'll do that. Let's bow our heads in prayer. We'll not be singing any hymn tonight. There are refreshments behind us for everyone. But I want to say that we are here for people. We're here to speak to you about your spiritual soul. I'll be at the doorway, the far doorway. Roger will be around the front if you want to speak to either himself or myself. We'll be here to speak to you about your soul. I trust that you'll not go away without Jesus Christ. Jesus beholding him, loved him. Our loving Father, we thank thee for thy word. And we thank Thee for the truth of Thy Word, and we thank Thee for the warning of Thy Word, Father, because we can do so many right things, and yet at the end of the day make the wrong choice. We think of those, Father, that have been asking questions, but they're still making the wrong choice. We pray that tonight that they might respond to the call of the Gospel and come. Come to Jesus and receive that which has been lacking in their lives. Pardon, forgiveness and peace with God. Something that money cannot buy. Bring someone to Christ, for we offer prayer in Jesus' precious name. Amen.