2003 Saving Union with Christ in the New Year

The Pastor's Burning Concern: Saving Union with Christ

0:08 As we come now to the ministry of the Word of God on this, the last Lord's Day, in the calendar year 2002, I have one central burning concern upon my heart. Only one. One. One central burning concern upon my heart.

0:36 And you ask, Pastor, what is that one central burning concern? And I answer, that concern is my desire to press home to the consciousness of each and every one of you in this place today, from the youngest to the oldest, one very basic question. One. One.

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1:11 My concern is with the help of God to press it in to the realm of your consciousness, that is, that this question will register in your brain and reverberate in your heart, and as it were, send out tentacles that wrap themselves around your soul, so that you cannot leave today without. this question hauntingly repeated in your own mind and in your own spirit. And the question is this. Will you, not mom, not dad, brothers, sisters, will you, you personally, will you, will you enter the year 2003 in a saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ? That's my question. And it's that question that I desire will be pressed into your consciousness so that you cannot escape it. Will you enter the year 2003 in a saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ?

A Pastoral Plea for Attention: The Heidi Illustration

2:33 Now please, please don't tune me out and switch me off upon hearing those words. I plead with you to allow me to do with the energy and the sincere passion of my heart and with my words what both my wife and I used to do with our hands with my daughter Heidi, now Mrs. Cook. And though she sits here, I know she's not going to be angry with me because I asked her earlier this morning if I could tell on her and I had her permission.

3:10 So with a good conscience. I tell you what my wife and I used to do and what we used to do physically with our daughter Heidi. I want under God to do with the energy of my soul and with my words. And it's this.

3:25 For some reason or another, when she was a little girl, Heidi had a difficult time of giving the impression, at least, that she was paying attention when you told her something. And so my wife and I learned that what we had to do was to gently and graciously cup her face, in our hands, left hand on her right cheek, right hand on her left cheek, and say, Heidi Joy, look into Daddy's eyes. Look into Mommy's eyes. Are you listening?

3:56 And these two little chocolate drops would look up and dart left and right. Yes, Daddy. Yes, Mommy. And it was our way of seeking to fasten her mind on whatever it was we were about to say.

4:12 And I want you to give me the permission. I want you to give me the permission not to cup your face with my physical hands and direct this question to you individually, but under that imagery with the energy of my soul and the passion of my heart and with my words to cup your face with my hands and look straight into your eyes and ask you this one simple question. As you enter the new year, do you enter it in union with the Lord Jesus Christ?

4:55 Now, for you who've gotten to the place where it'd be inappropriate, you're growing up now, for me to cup your face with my hands, I want you to imagine I've got my hands on the shoulders of you young men and at arm's length I'm looking you in the eye and saying to you in that more appropriate posture, do you enter? The new year in a saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And for you girls who've gotten to the place where it'd be inappropriate for me to cup your face with my hands and to put my hands on your shoulder, I want you to imagine that I'm graciously but firmly holding your wrist at arm's length and I'm looking you straight in the eyes and I'm saying, do you enter the year? 2003, in a saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And for you grown-up men who would not be offended with my hand on your shoulders and you adult women who would not be uncomfortable with me firmly clasping your hands at arm's length, I want you to picture that's the posture that's in my soul. If I could and it were expedient, I would come down and go from puberty,

6:20 from pew to pew and take each one of you, look you in the eyeballs because I'm still convinced after 50 years of preaching, a lot of people, a lot of people simply cannot believe that the preacher has me in mind. He's saying words to a congregation. He's conveying ideas to a group of people, whoever they may be, but not me. My dear friend, I face the fact I may never stand in a pulpit again.

6:50 Again. This Lord's Day, the last Lord's Day of 2002 may mark the last time I ever stand and preach the Word of God to you.

7:02 And I want to engage you as though God had revealed to me this was the last time I would ever speak to you. That's the burning, central, soul, passion of my heart. To press into your consciousness this simple, this basic question. Do you enter the new year in saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ?

Reason 1: Preparation for Death and Christ's Coming is Only Possible in This Life

7:34 Now you might respond to me with my hand upon your shoulders, with your face cupped in my hands, with me judiciously grasping your hands or your wrists. You might respond to me and say, Pastor, why are you so concerned with this issue of whether or not I enter the new year in a saving union with the Lord Jesus? And I would answer, because to be in saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ is to be in a relationship to Him that makes us prepared for the two most solemn events, the two most sobering events, that you or I could experience in the year 2003. What are the most sobering events that could occur to you or to me in the coming year?

8:38 Some of you children might say, well, if mommy or daddy were to die, that would be a sad and a sobering event, but not the most sobering event. Our country might go to war. My older brother might be off. No, that's to be a sobering event.

8:57 But the two most sobering events that may happen to you and to me are these. You and I may die, or we might meet the Lord Jesus at His coming in glory and power upon the clouds of heaven with the entourage of His mighty angels.

9:21 Those are the two most sobering events.

9:25 We might experience that sobering event in which our spirit, in which our spirit, our spirits are separated from our bodies. And our spirits then would go to a place of indescribable joy and happiness, or a place of horrible suffering and torment, or the Lord Jesus might return in glory and power, in which case some would be caught up to be with Him and enter the joy and bliss of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of the new heavens and the new earth and ever be with the Lord. And others banished with His words depart from me into everlasting fire. I never knew you. And the whole difference would be right here. Whether or not you died or met Jesus at His return in a saving union with Him.

10:30 And I use the term, the term saving union, rather than say a Christian, rather than say a believer. Because in the New Testament, approximately 150 times, the most significant little phrase describing what it is to be saved, to be a real Christian, is the little phrase, in Christ, in Him, in whom, again and again, dozens of times, God is saying, to be a true Christian, therefore, to be ready, to die and go to heaven. To be ready to meet the Lord and His coming with joy. We must have a saving union with Him.

11:15 Now to think our way through this matter, I want, first of all, to raise this question, why is this matter the most important of all issues to consider today? Not tomorrow. Not the next day. But why, why is this matter the most important of all issues to consider on this, the last day?

11:42 I'm not the last day, but the last Lord's Day of 2002. And I want to give you three reasons. Number one, because it is only while we are alive in this present life that we can prepare for death and the coming of the Lord Jesus. Very simple.

12:04 Very basic. But the bottomline, the Bible is abundantly clear that it is only while we are alive in this present life that we can prepare for death and for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

12:20 Many of you have heard this text many times. Hebrews 9 in verse 27. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment, and it is, it is used on the front end of a comparison.

12:43 In the burden, the burden of the writer to Hebrews at this point is to demonstrate that when Christ offered His once for all sacrifice, He would never come again to sacrifice Himself for sin. But that having offered a once for all sacrifice, He will surely come again in power and glory apart from any sacrifice for sin in order to save us. He will come again in power to take His people to Himself. He died once.

13:12 He will come again in power. And these are so inseparable. The writer to Hebrews says, now let me come up with something else that is just as inseparable as these mighty works in the salvation of Jesus. And he said, ah, I've got something.

13:27 It's appointed unto men once to die, and after this come judgment in the same way Christ was once offered to bear sin, He'll come again the second time apart from sin. In other words, He uses this reality as an indisputable reality of two things that are inseparable. Death and judgment. It is appointed unto men once to die.

13:53 And after this comes judgment. You and I have an appointment with death. And as death leaves us, the judgment will find us. And as the judgment finds us, eternity will hold us.

14:12 It is in this life and this life alone before God turns up His appointment book and says, aha, there's her name. There's His name. Today is the day of their appointment with death. And when that appointment comes, there's no getting on the phone and say, God, it's not the convenient time.

14:37 I'd like to switch. I'd like to switch the appointment. God, I'd like to spread it. No, no, no.

14:42 That's an appointment that is made unilaterally by God. Not made bilaterally by agreement. It's not like calling the dentist, making an appointment convenient to his schedule and yours. It is appointed by God the time, the circumstances of your death.

15:00 And once you die, the next great event is judgment. No opportunity to go back again. No opportunity to reverse the condition in which you die. That's why I'm pressing this question upon you.

15:19 This is the most important issue for you to consider on this last Lord's Day. Do I enter the new year in saving union for Christ? Why be concerned about it? Because it is only while you and I are alive in this present life that we can prepare for death and the coming of God.

15:39 The coming of the Lord Jesus. Consider a text that points to this reality as far as the coming of the Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 24. Our Lord is speaking of His coming again in power and in glory. And this is what He says, verse 37, As with the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man.

16:02 For as in those days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, anything wrong with eating? If you don't eat too much, no. Drinking? If you don't drink too much, no.

16:15 Marrying? If you married the right person, no. Giving in marriage? Nothing wrong with that.

16:20 As in the days of Noah, they were eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage until the day, until the day, until the day that Noah entered into the ark and they knew not until the flood came and took them all away. So shall be the coming of the Son of Man. The day Noah enters the ark and God shuts the door, it's all over. And Jesus said, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

16:59 This nonsense that He'll snatch His own people away and many will be left behind. There will still be opportunity to repent. It is a soul.

17:13 When Jesus... It's all over.

17:21 When the flood took them, all over. Therefore, Jesus says in verse 44, be ready, for in an hour that you think not, the Son of Man is coming. The Son of Man is coming. I have asked you the question, as you enter the new year, do you enter in saving union with Christ?

17:46 And it's crucial because of this simple, basic, biblical, truth that there is no reincarnation. There is no second chance after death. There is no extension of the day of grace after the coming of the Lord Jesus. There is no extinction of your being.

18:07 No annihilation.

18:10 The period of repentance and faith is now. When death comes, when Christ comes, it's all over. So that's my first reason for urging every single one of you. My hands are on your face.

18:36 The fingers of my soul are wrapped around your wrists. They're on your shoulder. And I ask you, do you enter the new year in saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ? If you don't, if you aren't in union with Him, what you're saying is you're willing to run, you're willing to run, you're willing to run, that your appointment may be in God's book to go to judgment the way you are right now.

19:09 In such an hour as you think not the Son of Man comes, you're ready to take your chances.

Reason 2: The Uncertainty of Life's Duration and Christ's Return

19:16 He may come and find me utterly unprepared. But then there's a second reason why this is the most important issue to consider.

19:28 And it is this. Because not one of us knows how long the gift of earthly life will be given to us. By our sovereign God. Or none of us knows when Christ will come.

19:42 None of us knows how long the gift of earthly life will be given by our sovereign God or when Christ will come. Again, several texts of Scripture. Look at Acts 17, verses 24 and 25. The Apostle Paul is preaching to a group of pagans.

20:03 And he's declaring the true and the living God who He is as Creator. Creator and Sovereign Lord of the universe. And notice what he says about Him in verses 24 and 5 of Acts 17. The God that made the world and all things therein.

20:18 He, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Neither is He served by men's hands as though He needed anything. Now notice. He needs nothing from the creature.

20:32 Why? Seeing He Himself gives to all. Life and breath and all things. God needs nothing from us.

20:48 But we need everything from Him. He is continually giving to all. Life and breath and all things.

21:02 Are you breathing? Say, well, I wasn't thinking about it. But you sure are. If you hadn't been, I'd have seen somebody keeling over.

21:10 Some deacon would be running. Somebody would be calling 911. You've been breathing.

21:18 Inhaling. Exhaling.

21:22 Inhaling. Exhaling. You know why you've been breathing? Almighty God's been giving you breath.

21:30 That's why. He's been giving you breath here this morning. If He stopped giving, you'd stop breathing. You'd be gone.

21:38 He gives to all and breath and all things. Why do all of the atoms in your pile of gray matter and all of the electrical currents that sweep through the brain at absolutely astounding rates of speed to read anything about the chemistry of the brain is in itself brain-boggling. Who keeps all of that going in such a way that you look on me and say, hey, that's a man. That's a man and not a horse.

22:18 And the words that I utter, they hit the outer vestibule of the ear and they send impulses to the inner ear and the auditory nerve goes to the brain. Or in the case of our dear hard-of-hearing and deaf folks, the signals that are made with the hands that register words that impinge on the brain and concept. Who gives us all of that? That we're all not a bunch of blethering idiots.

22:47 Thinking we're whoever and whatever. God gives all of these things to us. He gives them sovereignly, continually, imminently. He gives to all life and breath and all things.

23:09 And when almighty God says, ain't no more going to be given,

23:16 there aren't enough paddles to shock that heart back into life. There aren't enough paddles to shock that heart back into life. There aren't enough paddles to shock that heart back into life. There aren't enough paddles There aren't enough pulmonary special care units to keep you alive.

23:26 You're gone.

23:30 That's reality. That's not a preacher's scare tactics. That's reality. That's reality.

23:35 You are not a self-perpetuating, autonomous little creature. You're God's creature. He made you. He gives you life and breath and all things.

23:51 Second text, James chapter 4. James chapter 4. Trying to persuade you why it is crucial for you to lay this question to heart today. Am I in saving union with Christ?

24:06 Why be concerned about it? Because it's only union with Christ that fits me for death and the second coming. I need to be concerned about it because I do not perpetuate my own life. A sovereign God keeps me alive.

24:24 It is a sovereign God who gives me life. It is a sovereign God who gives me life and breath and all things. James chapter 4.

24:31 James is going after this carnal presumption about the extension of one's life. And notice how he expresses it. Verse 13. Come now.

24:42 Listen up. You that say inwardly or outwardly, today, tomorrow, we'll go to this city and spend a year there and trade and get gain. What are we going to do in 2003? Well, going to take my SATs, going to apply to X number of colleges.

25:04 Got it all planned out.

25:07 As you say, this is what I'm going to do. This is what I'm going to do with my life. I'm going to go into this city, spend a year, trade and get gain. Look at verse 14.

25:17 Whereas you do not know what shall be on tomorrow.

25:24 You do not know what a whole year may hold. In fact, you don't even know what tomorrow holds.

25:34 You don't. I don't. I can say most likely I believe that tomorrow will hold thus and thus. There are rhythms and structures and patterns to life.

25:46 But you don't know. And it's the height of arrogance then to talk this way as though I were in charge of the next year when I'm not even in charge of tomorrow. You do not know what will be on tomorrow. For what is your life?

26:04 Vapor. A little. A little puff of smoke. That little puff of stuff that comes out of the exhaust pipe on a cold morning and there it is when you try to grow.

26:15 God says that's what you are.

26:19 A little vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away for that you ought to say. Your mindset ought to be this. If the Lord will, we shall both live and do this or that. In other words, the inward disposition of someone in touch with reality is that whenever I think of the future, I think in terms, yes, this is what I propose and purpose to do.

26:47 And there's nothing wrong with proposing and purposing. Look at the language. If the Lord will, we shall both live and do this or that. I have things written into my calendar for tomorrow that need to be done.

27:01 Chores and patterns of part of the rhythms of my life. Is anything wrong with me or should I just come to Monday morning and say, well, Lord, don't have a clue. What do you want me to do today? Lord, give me some impulses.

27:11 No, God wants us to act responsibly. We shall both live, do this, do that. But it's this disposition that James is going after. The disposition of arrogance that thinks you're in control of your life when you're not.

27:27 Gives to all life and breath and all things. God sustains that little vapor as long as he chooses to and the circumstances in which he chooses to sustain it.

27:41 I had a reminder of this just a couple of days ago.

27:45 How just little things can alter the whole pattern of our lives. For years, I went to the market with my son-in-law. Got the groceries that I was supposed to get. The back in the car, cranked up the car.

28:03 I've never done this before in all my years of driving. Age 68, I've been driving since I was 17. So you do the arithmetic. 51 years.

28:13 Next thing I know, with the car in reverse, I stepped on the gas and the car shot back about six feet, just like that.

28:23 It shocked me.

28:25 Suppose some little child had been walking behind that car.

28:30 I might be standing today by a grieving family whose child I killed.

28:36 Suppose a car had been passing behind me. I might be filling out all kinds of forms in red face telling the deacons what I did with the new car they provided for me. All kinds of things in this little action, that little action, this little inadvertence, this little slip of the foot off the brake and on to the accelerator. A thousand things.

28:58 Sovereign God in control of all of them.

29:03 And the only realistic way to live is to say with respect to all of our plans, if God wills. Now I'm not saying that every time you speak of anything in the future, you've got to say the little phrase, if the Lord wills. Some of us do it. Just as a discipline.

29:19 I'm not mandating that. I don't believe the Bible is. It's a disposition. It's a disposition of heart.

29:23 And I'm speaking to kids and young people and teenagers and men and women in this place who really think you're going to live through the year 2003. You really think you're going to live through the year 2003. If you didn't, you'd be on your face crying to God for mercy. Because if you died tomorrow, you'd split hell open.

29:47 If Jesus returned in glory and power, he'd consume you in his fiery judgment. But you really...

30:02 God says,

30:05 with respect to the coming of the Lord, the same is true. Jesus speaking with respect to himself said, even the Son of Man knows not the time of his coming. The angels do not know it. That time is uncertain.

30:23 Does he know it now in his glorified state? The theologians can debate it. In what sense did he not know it in his divine nature and omniscience and surely he knew it. I am not going into any of those debates.

30:37 I'm simply saying this. When Jesus is determined to underscore the uncertainty of the time of his return, he says, the angels and the Son of Man do not know it. And you act like you do know it. It won't be tomorrow.

30:53 Won't be next week. It won't be a month from now. It won't be the year 2002. You act like you really know that Christ is going to delay his coming.

31:04 Now, do you see why I'm concerned to press on you these questions? Do you enter this coming year in a saving union with the Lord Jesus? Not only because it is only while we're alive in this present life that we can prepare for death in the second coming, but also because none of us knows how long the gift of earthly life will be given or when Christ will return. And it surely is death in the second coming, or fixed in the purpose of God.

31:39 The moment of each man's death is recorded in heaven. Yet the time is not revealed to us except it wasn't recorded up till now. That's all I can say for certain. I've passed any question that my appointment was there in God's book up till now.

32:03 But that's all. I might drop dead of a heart attack before the sermon's over. I don't think so. But can I stand here and say I know so?

32:12 Especially when I've often prayed, Lord, when I go, let me go preaching. That's right. I've prayed, Lord, let me go preaching. Let me talk about you and about heaven and then take me there.

32:24 Like he took the president of a Christian college some years ago. He was in a chapel service preaching about heaven. And all of a sudden, he backed up, raised his hands, slumped to the platform, and he was gone. I don't know.

32:42 You don't know. That's why I'm pressing you. The hands of my soul are on your cheeks. They're on your shoulders.

Reason 3: God Calls the Unprepared a Fool

32:49 They clasp your wrists in love. And I ask you, do you enter this new year in saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ? But then I have a third reason for pressing this question, and it's this. Because God, and this is hard language.

33:08 As I went over it, I said, Lord, can I soften it in any way and still be true to your word? He said, no, I can't. God calls everyone a fool who does not make preparation for death and for the second coming the primary business of his life. God calls every man, every woman, every boy, every girl a fool who does not make preparation for death and the second coming the primary.

33:43 Not the secondary. Not the secondary. The tertiary. But the primary business of his life.

33:52 A strong language, isn't it? But my Bible leaves me no liberty to use any other language. And we're going to look at two passages that demonstrate it. Luke chapter 12.

34:04 Luke chapter 12. Here we see God calling a man a fool who did not make preparation for death the primary business of his life. Luke chapter 12. Beginning in verse 15.

34:24 And he, Jesus, said unto them, Take heed, keep yourselves from covetousness. For a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses. And he spoke a parable unto them, saying, Jesus is trying to underscore there's something more important in life than living for things. And so he's going to speak a parable.

34:50 And here's the parable. The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he reasoned within himself, saying, What shall I do? I have not where to bestow my fruits.

35:02 And he said, This I will do. I'll pull down my barns and build greater. Nothing sinful in that. There I will bestow all my grain and my goods.

35:14 Nothing sinful in that. If he was storing it up with a view to having it as his investment. And going to be generous with it. But here's where his problem was.

35:25 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years. Many years. I'm at this stage in my life. I've made it.

35:42 Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the fruit of my industriousness. My wise investments. For a lengthy period of the golden years. So he said to himself, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years.

36:01 Take your ease. Eat, drink, be merry. Join one of the prestigious local golf clubs. You're going to be out on the links three times a week.

36:12 And then you're going to join one of the fancy prestigious health clubs. And you're going to be down there. You're going to beat the system. You're going to work out regularly.

36:21 And you're going to keep in shape. And you're not going to become just a fat, lazy slob. And welcome and bring on to yourself cardiac problems and all the rest. No, sir.

36:31 Many years. But God said unto him, You fool. You fool. You fool.

36:46 And why was he a fool? This night is your soul required of you. And the things which you've prepared, who shall they be? He did not make preparation for death the great business of his life.

37:06 And Jesus called him a fool. Sitting here today, I care not how old or how young you are. If you are not making preparation for death the great business of your life, God says you're a fool. You're a fool.

37:28 You're a fool. Gentle. Compassionate. Jesus.

37:34 Of whom it is said they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth. Said, You fool. You fool. And he says the same thing with regard to those who do not make preparation for his second coming.

37:53 The primary business of their life. Matthew chapter 25. And some of you already anticipated this, I'm sure. In a setting where Jesus is giving several parables in conjunction with his second coming in glory and in power.

38:12 In verse 1. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish. Five of them were wise.

38:27 You've got five fools. Female fools. And what made them foolish? As you read the parable, it was this.

38:37 They were unprepared for the coming of the bridegroom. They had lamps but no oil. And without going into the possible symbolism of the oil and all the rest. This much is clear.

38:52 When the cry went forth. Look at the text. Verse 6. At midnight there's a cry.

38:58 Behold the bridegroom. Come forth to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said.

39:06 The foolish said to the wise. Give us of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered. Peradventure they'll not be enough for us and for you.

39:15 You go rather to them that sell and buy for yourself. And while they went away to buy. The bridegroom came. And they that were ready.

39:25 Went in with him to the marriage feast. And the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins saying. Lord, Lord open to us.

39:36 But he answered and said. I do not know you. I do not know you. The door was shut.

39:46 The foolish virgins were those unprepared. For the return of the bridegroom. And so I say sitting here today. If you are not in a saving union with Christ.

40:00 Jesus calls you a fool. For you're unprepared to die. And you're a fool. Because you're unprepared.

40:10 For the Lord's return. What a horrible thing to enter the year 2003. Adorned with a fool's cap. Now I want you to use your imagination with me.

The Angelic Dunce Cap Illustration: A Call to Self-Examination

40:24 Perhaps it'll help to drive home the point. What if the God. Who knows every heart of every man, woman, boy or girl in this place today. What if God.

40:36 Who knows all of our hearts. Were to call to himself. A dozen angels this morning. And say to those angels I have a special task for you.

40:48 That I want you to perform. Down there in Montville, New Jersey. Here I have a list. With the name of every man, every woman, every boy, every girl.

40:59 Who is seated in that auditorium. On the corner of Change Bridge. And Horse Neck Roads in Montville. And I'm giving you a stack.

41:09 Of dunce caps. And you'll notice there's an asterisk. By the name. Of some of those on the list of every man, woman, boy or girl.

41:20 And I want you to go down to that building. And wherever you see an asterisk. I want you. You twelve angels.

41:30 To go up and down the piers. And I want you to put a dunce cap. On the head. Of everyone.

41:37 That has an asterisk. Because they're a fool. They're not ready to die. They're not ready for my death.

41:45 They're not ready for my return. They're fools. Take your arms and dunce caps. On the heads of everyone.

42:07 That I infallibly have marked. As a fool. I want to ask you something. Would you leave here hatless.

42:18 Or with your pointed dunce cap. Would the angel pass you by. And say no. No asterisk next to him.

42:34 I know. I know that boy. I know that girl. They've repented of sin.

42:39 They've cast themselves upon the Lord Jesus. They're entrusting their everlasting soul to Christ. They're clinging to him. Seeking to obey him.

42:49 To please him. Trusting only in him. No asterisk by their name. Would the angel smile.

42:55 When they walked by you. And didn't have to reach into their pile of dunce caps. Would the angel pause in the sadness say. You've got an asterisk by your name.

43:07 Almighty God has told me. I've got to put a hat on your head. Silly illustration isn't it. But I pray God.

43:24 It'll get through to the conscience of some of you. That you're a fool. You're a fool. You're a fool.

43:32 And I'm preaching this morning. That by the grace of God. The angels had a second task. That at the end of this day.

43:46 They were commissioned. To go down to everyone. Who started the day. With a fool's cap.

43:51 To see. When they cease to be fools. Asterisk and say no. They've joined the ranks.

44:03 Of those that are wise. Unto salvation. That's the issue. That's the burning issue upon my heart.

44:15 This morning. You must face this realistically. Not to put it off. Not to push it into the corner of your mind.

44:27 It is. A fact. That the great business. Of your life.

44:35 And mine. Is to prepare. For death. And for the second coming.

44:41 And to make anything else. The prime business of your life. Is to be a fool. Now I come secondly.

How to Achieve Saving Union with Christ

44:53 And much much more briefly. You say pastor. I see from the scriptures. You've quoted.

45:00 Scriptures you've quoted that I ought to take this issue seriously. I've not taken it seriously. From time to time I have, but then I've let other things become the primary business of my life. My schooling, my friends, my boyfriend, my girlfriend, my sports, my face, my form, whatever it is.

45:26 Occasionally this becomes the burning concern, but then it's pushed to the side. Other things become the prime business of life. But you sit here this morning and say, by the grace of God, this day will not close without me settling this issue of being savingly united to Christ. How, how then can I become savingly united to Christ?

45:55 I can't give you a cute little formula. I can give you very briefly. I can give you briefly several clear biblical principles. You must first of all acknowledge yourself to be what God says you really are.

46:10 God says you're His creature, made to glorify Him.

46:16 And because you've not glorified Him and you've lived for yourself, and you've lived to please your own appetites and passions and interests, you are a hell-deserving rebel against the God of heaven. That's what God says you are. Abundant text of Scripture. He affirmed this.

46:33 All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned each one of us to his own way. There is not a just man upon the earth that does good and sins not.

46:47 On and on we could go. That's who you are. And you'll never be savingly joined to Jesus Christ until you own yourself to be what you really are. Because the Scripture says this is a saying worthy of all.

47:03 All acceptance Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And He does not do His saving work until men and women, boys and girls own themselves to be what they really are. Sinners. Then you must believe that the Christ of biblical revelation is the only hope for such hell-deserving sinners as you are.

47:30 He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father. But by me, the Apostle Peter said, there is salvation in none other, no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. For some of you, all that you've heard about Jesus and the uniqueness of who He is, true God and true man in one person, what He has done in dying in the room instead of sinners, rising from the dead, ascending to the right hand of the Father.

48:02 He is the living Christ, raised with power to break the chains that bind you. Your lying spirit, your deceitful heart, your pride, your self-will, your love of the world. Jesus is mighty to save. And you must believe that He is, because He says that He is.

48:22 He says that whom the Son sets free is free indeed. He says He is willing to save. Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. He made this.

48:35 He made this plain by His own word of invitation. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Would you be savingly united to Christ? You must own yourself to be what you are.

48:51 You must believe that Christ is who He is and can do what He says He will do. And then you must embrace that Christ in penitent faith. Say, O God, I don't want to coddle and fondle I don't want to coddle and fondle I don't want to coddle and fondle I don't want to coddle and fondle I don't want to coddle and fondle I don't want to coddle and fondle I don't want to coddle and fondle in stroke and hug to my bosom my sins that are offense to You my sins that put Jesus to death my sins that caused Him to cry my God, my God, have You forsaken me? O God, I want to vomit them out.

49:25 I want to be divorced from my sins.

49:28 I want to embrace Jesus to be to me all that He says He will be to sinners. I want Him to be to me all that He will be to sinners. I want Him to be to me all that He is committed to be to all who trust Him for as many as received Him to them gave He the right to become the children of God even to them that believe on His name.

49:53 You've got to have personal dealings with Him. You can't hope that mom and dad's prayers will do it for you that pastor's preaching will do it for you. That's the great problem with not a few of you children and young people, I'm persuaded. You go out of here on Sundays when those of us who preach to you have poured out our hearts and we've preached Christ to you and we've told you that Christ is available to you in the gospel.

50:18 He sincerely entreats you to come to Him. He is willing to embrace you and you go home and you don't do anything about it.

50:28 The divine zapping will hit me or mom and dad's prayers will somehow carry me. No, you've got to have dealings with Jesus yourself, personally, really.

Final Exhortation to the Unsaved and Comfort to Believers

50:42 And I come around full circle as I close to where I began.

50:48 I hold you gently, your face in my hands and I ask you, are you savingly joined to the Lord Jesus Christ? My hands are on your shoulder. I clasp your wrists and I ask you, and I ask you with these words, behold, now is the day of salvation. Behold, now is the accepted time.

51:25 Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart. May God grant that ere the day is over, ere this service is over, you will be in Christ and Christ will be yours. And I've not said a word directly to you whom the angels would pass by with their caps this morning. I've deliberately directed all of you to the Lord Jesus Christ.

51:54 I've deliberately directed all of you to what I've had to say to those who are not savingly united to Christ. But for you who are and who know that you are, whatever the coming year may face, remember this simple principle. This is my only word to you. There is nothing that will unfold in the will of God for you,

52:19 but that the grace of Christ towards you and in you will be sufficient to bear it. I can do all. I can do all things through Him who strengthens.

52:36 What will the coming year hold? Some of us may enter the new year with some very dark clouds over our personal lives,

52:48 but we enter it in union with Christ. The Christ who has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. The Christ who, when His disciples are scared, witness in a storm, comes walking on the water and says, Be not afraid. It is I.

53:08 Whatever turbulent, storm-tossed seas some of us may face, Christ is there saying, It is I. Be not afraid. Nothing can touch me but what it touches Him. Because He and I are one.

53:26 That's a wonderful truth. Do you believe it? Because my head came out and the body is going to follow Him at the resurrection. Christ's empty tomb is the pledge.

53:40 Mine is going to be vacated. It's a wonderful thing. Stand by the plot of ground where you know you're going to be put if Jesus doesn't come back and say, You ain't going to hold me forever.

53:50 You're going to hold me forever.

53:54 Blessed thing to be united to Christ. Child of God, feed your soul upon the blessed reality. And what this means for you and for me is those in Christ have to wait another sermon. But my one burden was to go after those who are not in Him.

Prayer for Conversion and Devotion

54:12 May God grant that I shall not have labored in vain. Let's pray. Our Father,

54:27 we can only plead with You that You will come by Your sovereign power and shake the very foundations of the folly that holds the hearts and minds of some sitting here this morning. We pray that Your Spirit by the Word will so work that Christ will be embraced by many who came to this day strangers to His saving power that they may not be able to see Him. Let's pray. Let's pray.

54:58 Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

54:58 Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.

54:58 Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. They may pillow their heads tonight in blessed saving union with the Lord Jesus.

55:07 Thank You for the privilege of meeting together on this, the last Lord's Day of this year. And we pray that You would pardon and cleanse all of our sins. That You would forgive us for our waywardness and our dullness. And that You would so quicken us and fill us with Your Spirit that should You spare us individually.

55:31 And should You delay the coming of Your Son throughout the coming year that we may render to You measures of love and devotion and service such as we've never rendered You before. And all to the praise of the glory of Your grace. Hear us and answer us for Jesus' sake. Amen.