Beginning at verse one, And as Jesus passed
by, he saw a man which was blind
from his birth.
And he sat on the ground, and made
clay of the stickle, and he anointed the
eyes of the blind man with the clay,
and said unto him, Go, wash in the
pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation, sin.
He went his way therefore, and washed, and
came to him.
Now we'll drop down a little lower to
the fourteenth verse, And it was the sabbath
day when Jesus made the clay, and opened
his eyes.
Then again the Pharisees also asked him how
he had received his place.
He said unto them, He put clay upon
mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.
Then lower down again, They say unto the
blind man, What sayest thou of him that
he hath opened mine eyes?
He said, He is a prophet.
The Jews did not believe concerning him that
he had been blind, and received his sight,
until they called the parents of him that
had received his sight.
They asked them, saying, Is this your son,
whom you say was born blind?
How then doth he now see?
His parents answered them, and said, We know
that this is our son, and that he
was born blind.
But by what means he now seeeth we
know not.
For who hath opened his eyes we know
not.
He is of age.
Ask him, he shall speak for himself.
These words said his parents, because they feared
the Jews.
But the Jews had it proved already that
if any man did confess that he was
Christ, he should be put out of the
synagogue.
Therefore said his parents, He is of age.
Ask him.
Then again called they the man that was
blind, and said unto him, Give God the
praise.
We know that this man is a sinner.
He answered and said, Whether he be a
sinner or no, I know not.
One thing I know, whereas I was blind,
now I see.
Has God added blessing, and see this precious
word to our hearts to know.
Amen.
I told you at the beginning of this
visit that I had preached many sermons in
this church, and was seeking to bring you
four that I had never preached.
I didn't intend to speak on this one,
but as I was praying last week for
counsel and wisdom and guidance, the Lord brought
before me this thought.
To receive a hero's welcome.
You know something about that.
The great Russian man that went away into
orbit, and returned and went to Moscow to
receive a hero's welcome.
What a welcome.
Little later, Commander Shepard, returning from his last
flight into France to return to Washington to
receive a hero's welcome.
Oh, wonderful dream.
I expect unforgettable to the Major and the
Commander, whether it be in the Red Square
at Moscow, or through the grand streets of
Washington DC.
A hero's welcome.
It's possible to win it in heaven, you
know.
You might never get it in Sydney, but
there's every hope if you'll answer the challenge
tonight, you'll get it in heaven.
A hero's welcome.
Listen to these two Russians, and then answer
the question I'm going to ask.
John 12, verses 42 and 43.
Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also, many believed
on him, but because of the Pharisees, they
did not confess him, lest they should be
put out of the sin of war.
For they loved the praise of men more
than the praise of God.
My last question to you in this great
visit is, are you a hero or a
coward in heaven's dark?
That's the only thing that matters.
The depth of the multitude, the confetti of
the crowd, doesn't count.
It is heaven's thought.
True heroism is registered.
And real cowardice is noted.
While it was a packed train, I was
pushed into the corner and in the most
uncomfortable position.
It was the peak hour of travel, and
I was trying to read the evening newspaper.
Very interesting edition.
It told the story of the first Victoria
Cross run in World War II.
Corporal Edmonton, who gave his life for his
officer, had won the bridge posthumously.
And I was pushed up against the side
of the train, holding my evening newspaper like
this, and reading with deep interest that current
story.
And suddenly I became conscious of a woman's
head, leering over near mine.
What was she after?
Was she trying to kiss me?
Thanks for the day she wasn't doing that.
And what was she after?
Was she trying to pickpocket and take something
out of my pocket?
Wasn't much in the pocket to take out.
What was that head doing, leering over near
mine?
Oh, just ordinary, common crime of trying to
read her neighbor's newspaper.
And having been guilty of the same crime
myself, I didn't refuse to be elated, but
I pushed the paper out a little so
she could breathe in the other direction while
she read.
And she went on reading in comfort until
she suddenly said, You'll excuse me while you're
reading your newspaper, but you see I'm Corporal
Edmonton's cousin.
And all were extremely proud of him.
And then she introduced me to Corporal Edmonton,
and to his father and mother and family,
and Corporal Brennigan, and she was indeed extremely
proud of him.
No doubt.
He was a hero.
He'd given his life for his officer.
And he won the highest honor for valor
that the Empire in those days could convey
to any man, to Victoria Cross.
And most people appreciate heroism.
And goodbye, shall it.
Never should I forget in a dreadful day,
the most awful day I expect I went
through, second to one other in World War
I, when we were just burrowed into little
shell holes and hit the trenches under the
terrific bombardment.
A little fracture bearer.
Just the thought that jumped into my shell
hole.
Mr. Ridley said, Would you come across to
that trench over there?
Covid-X says he must go out.
He can't stand it any longer, but he's
not wounded, sir.
And he's not really shell-shocked.
I can't take him out without an officer's
word.
And we waited and waited until there was
a few moments left in the dreadful bombardment,
and then we dashed across and down into
the trench.
And I'd passed several men with white tracers
ripping onto the earth for their only protection
from the shells.
And came up to this poor fellow, sitting
at the end of the trench, a big
bald fellow, trembling like an aspen leaf.
I said, What is it, lad?
What's the matter?
Oh, sir, he said, Let me go out.
Let me go out.
I can't stand it.
It'll send me mad, sir.
Oh, let me go out.
And I said, After a few moments, walking
with him, I'll take him out.
There'll be no help to us when we
go over the top tomorrow.
Take him out.
And as the little stretcher-bearer led this
man out past these other men with their
white tracers and grim-tight grips, I could
read what they were saying.
We could all do that kind of thing
if we wanted to.
And an officer would say, Goodbye, Mr. Cowan.
I want to tell you tonight, dear friend,
I've far more consideration and esteem for that
poor nerd's broken shoulders than I have for
the treatment of this Tex tonight.
At least he's on the uniform.
At least he stood up for the time
to the awful bombardment, and then he's nervous
for that.
These rulers wouldn't do anything about it.
They were convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was
the Christ of God and the Savior of
the world.
But they would not confess it.
They would not own him.
They would not honor him.
They passed him by coldly on the other
side.
Harvest, you say, Peter.
They were believers.
They were.
They were believers with a buck to the
tooth.
And I want to speak about those scarier
bucks tonight, wherein men and women and boys
and girls say, I'm a believer.
And they do not confess it.
They do not confess the Lord Jesus Christ.
They do not acknowledge the Son of God.
They do not command the Christ of the
cross of Calvary.
There's the buck, the barrier of the fear
of man.
It's part of the passage.
Many believed on him, but they did not
confess him because of the fallacy.
Who was the fallacy?
The fallacy just formed a strong political, ecclesiastical
depth in Jerusalem, so strong, so influential, that
they could put the fear of death into
any man.
Oh, the rulers said one to the other,
it's no use.
You know us, we confess him.
Then we'll be censured, we'll be condemned, we'll
be criticized, we'll be cast out, we might
even be crucified.
Or not.
We'll say nothing of that.
But it looks as though he is the
Messiah.
Well, I think he is.
But we won't confess.
Ah, the fear of man.
Freeness of prayer.
But to so put his faith in the
Lord.
His trust in the Lord.
Now, this faith.
Ah, well, someone said perhaps in the congregation,
they were rulers, weren't they, Mr. Ridley?
That's right, that's what the scripture said.
They were rulers.
Yes, I thought so.
Just like some of these big people, that
haven't the common-of-garden courage of the
working man.
People of more humble strife than in race
would have the honest courage to confess the
Lord.
Don't you think he thought of that?
He was only a poor blind beggar, and
his people were as poor as he was.
And they sent him out on the streets
to beg.
There, with his great affliction, war and plagues,
he sought to fend for the coins of
the parsoned people.
And then came Jesus.
Oh, that was different, when Jesus came.
And we remember how he sat into the
dust, and worked up with his holy sickle,
and with the dust of earth, that remarkable
culture, and put it on the eyes of
the blind man, and told him to go
and walk.
And he came and seen, and he passed
his thrills.
He's come out of darkness into light, and
you could almost feel the joy of the
man.
Ah, go on, Luther.
Ah, no.
You were never born blind.
You were never...
Oh, I was, and said, you can ask
my mother and father.
I was born blind, all right.
All right, sorry, parents.
And soon the Pharisees have brought the parents
to the front, and they say, is this
your son, who was born blind?
What does he now see?
Yes, I said, he does run all right.
Yes, we know.
We know he was born blind.
But by what means he now sees, we
cannot tell.
He believes.
Ask him.
He can speak for himself.
Ah, but parents, he has spoken for himself.
He's told them what he thinks of Jesus.
He's a prophet.
Now it's time for you to speak.
They had heard tells, that if anyone could
confess that Jesus was the Christ, they would
be put out of the synagogue.
And so your parents, poor people, were just
as powerful as the rulers.
They would come and beat us, even after
following the Lord for three years, perhaps a
little more.
And when that last betrayal night came, and
it was warm, he turned at the fire,
and the slip of a girl would let
him in at the door, only a maid,
crawled out in her rocket flight.
This fellow was also the Jesus of Nazareth.
Peter said, Heavens, I know him not.
He denied it.
With all his muscles, with all his self
-confidence, and the thrust of impersonality, he did
not confess him.
It's always the acid test in the Christian
life, friends.
I don't mind whether it's in India, where
it costs a man sometimes his life to
confess him, where it often costs him his
family, where it costs him a hundred percent
more than people in this private land, or
whether it's here in Australia.
It's always the acid test to confess him,
to own him.
Let me introduce you to a man who
lived in the middle of the last century.
He was a wealthy man.
He lived gracefully in the world, a prosperous
society.
Cards, dancing, racing, hunting, those things made up
his life.
Frequently he'd heard the knock of the pierced
hand.
Frequently he'd heard the voice of Jesus say,
Come unto me and rest.
But he didn't come.
And he took it off and tight-fisted
until that night when he was forty-five
years of age, playing cards with some of
his worldly friends, a frightful pain caught him
in the body.
He collapsed at the card table.
His son and a friend lifted him up
and carried him up the staircase to his
own room, placed him on his bed, sent
for the doctor, called him the little servant
maid to light the fire for Master, for
they lived in Scotland and it was cold.
And as the little maid prayed to light
the fire, but it wouldn't burn because of
the winter, as he tried to get it
going, this man, in anguish of pain, thought
now, What a forty-four years of following
the devil down to me.
I'll soon be in hell.
I must sit on my knees and plead
for God's mercy before I die.
I'll do it now.
I won't.
That girl seemed to whine all night, whispered
to go out of the place, I can't
do it in front of her.
Oh, I can't.
Oh, I must.
The pain is killing me.
I must.
No.
It only goes from the place I get
out.
And the pain increased.
And suddenly, he rose up and rolled out
of his bed and sat upon his knees
and cried out, Oh God, be merciful to
me, it's enough.
And saved me, Jesus Christ.
And down low north, one of the greatest
of Scotland's evangelists was born again.
Many, many years afterwards, Mr. North Quincey said,
I believe that was my last opportunity.
I believe if I had refused to acknowledge
Christ before that servant girl, I would have
not had another opportunity.
I can't say for sure.
God is very merciful, for as far as
I know my own heart, that was the
Holy Spirit's last call.
As I sat on my knees before the
girl and acknowledged Christ.
Because of the panic.
Because of the flames of dismay.
Because of the girls at school.
Because of the young shadows you've got to
associate with.
Because of the world that is all around
you.
Fear of man.
Wrong doing.
How different to that great mass of heroes
who march to the relief of luck now
in the dreadful days of the Indian mutiny.
And there upon this monument, that grand testimony
concerning Sir Henry Callalot.
He feared man so little because he feared
God so much.
And his one testimony in the army was
to Christ.
All he feared God to be.
That's how it happened, didn't it?
Paul, in his charge against the human race,
said there's no fear of God before their
eyes.
How true that is.
David said he would be in the fear
of the Lord all the day long.
And if a man will not fear God,
he'll fall into the snare of the fear
of man.
And though he's feared, could a hero's welcome
in the streets of Moscow or Washington or
Sydney?
He's still a model and a spiritual talent.
He will not confess Christ.
There is no fear of God before his
eyes.
They that honor the Son honor the Father
who hath sent him.
He that honors not the Son honors not
the Father who hath sent him.
Fear of man.
That I, as David preached to you know,
David, believers, yes, that's right, but believers with
a but.
Because of the dread of loss, they would
not confess him.
Oh, they might lose the synagogue.
Oh no, you can't lose the synagogue or
what the synagogue symbolizes, you know.
Oh no, look, look, they're throwing the blind
man out of the synagogue now.
He didn't do much confessing.
He might lose the synagogue.
And isn't it the dread of loss that
keeps many a man and woman away from
Jesus Christ and from owning him as consular
in passion?
Watts, the great artist on one occasion, painted
a picture of the back of a man,
only the back, and underneath his great painting
he put these words, great possession.
And a friend came to see the picture
and looked upon it, and Mr. Watts said,
what do you think of that picture?
It's only the back, you know, but that's
the rich young ruler.
He turned his back on Jesus Christ and
they say his back looked horrible.
I meant it to look horrible.
Can't be turning your back on Jesus Christ
with a few thoughts, he said.
That's what the artist thought.
But the average man and woman don't think
it's a tremendous thing to have to lose
the synagogue, you know.
Or, what the synagogue symbolizes, probably you heard
of that man who was earnestly entreating a
friend to come to Christ.
And the friend was treating deeply, and the
personal worker, young he was, was urging him
to an immediate decision in a fine manner.
And then suddenly the friend said, no, no,
look here, I'll tell you honestly, I'm afraid
of what I'd have to give up if
I honestly come through to be announced to
you.
I'm just afraid.
And an older worker, a worker passing, took
his hand upon that man and he looked
him in the eye and he said, did
you ever think, my friend, what you certainly
will have to give up if you don't
come to Christ and become a real Christian?
That's the other side of the picture, isn't
it?
That's the eternal side of the picture.
Oh, I've heard the voice of the devil
as many a man has, suggesting things in
the soul.
Listen to him, saying to you tonight, don't
you make a stand for Christ.
Why, it might mean you'll have to give
up that secret sin, that little inward lust,
that empty flirtation, that propensity to drink or
to gambling or to loose living or to
having a bit of a joke that's not
so clean.
You'll have to give all that kind of
thing up.
Or you might have to give up that
special thing that you want, that special friend
who doesn't like this kind of business.
You can't lose that special friend, for Christ's
sake.
Or you'll think of what you'll have to
give up.
You'll have to give up the happy go
way of life and the places of the
world.
Don't you come to Christ.
No.
I am not confessing.
Actually, I do believe I'm as good as
the people that make a great show, and
I don't like to be dangerous to call
people to the front.
I'm as good as the next man.
I'm a believer, all right.
But you don't confess him.
Did you ever think of what you most
certainly will give up in the world to
come?
I want to tell you, dear friend, as
an old minister of Christ, and as one
who has often dwelt on this, if you
do not come right to Christ, open your
heart and receive him, and stand up for
him in open, humble, honest confession, you'll give
up four of the most precious, priceless things
in the world, and in the world to
come.
You will give up the pardon of God.
Four precious, priceless pardons.
He came far from heaven's glory to perfect
a pardon for sinners at the place called
Calvary.
He finished the work of a comb for
sinners.
He was crucified, that we might be accepted
in him without being put away by the
crucifixion of the cross.
And the word of God says beautifully and
clearly, if you'll come, let the wicked forsake
his way and the unrighteous man his foot,
and let him return unto the Lord, and
he will have mercy unto our God, and
he will abundantly pardon.
Abundant pardon, you say.
Abundant pardon.
It's way upon way of pardon.
That's what it means, it's like the waves
of the sea constantly washing your poor soul
and sending abundantly pardon.
You'll give it up.
And there is a sin which has no
forgiveness, neither in this world, nor in that
which is to come.
And the way to get into the pathway
of that dreadful, unpardonable sin is to sting
your heart against honoring Jesus Christ.
You'll give up the Prince of God.
Jesus went to that cross and shed his
blood, the lifeblood of the Christ, the God
-man, to give you peace with God.
He has no peace through the blood of
this cross.
And when I come to Jesus with all
my discord and all my defilement through the
cleansing blood, I have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ.
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within you
that you'll give it up.
And then you'll fall into that company of
which the word says, the wicked are like
the troubled sea when it cannot rest.
There shall be no peace.
That's my God to the wicked.
I don't know a more wicked thing in
the world than to turn your back on
Christ, to slight him, to deny him, because
you deny the Father of the Son.
You give up the peace of God.
You give up the presence of God in
your soul.
General Gordon's favorite text in the fourth chapter
of John's first epistle, Whosoever will confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth
in him, and he is God, that he,
if I will, from an honest heart, confess
Jesus is the Son of God, God comes
into my heart by his Holy Spirit and
dwells in me.
I'm born again, born from a birth, a
new person.
But you'll give it up.
You don't want the new birth.
You don't want to be numbered with the
saints forever blessed.
So you give up the presence of God.
And I tell you, you'll give up a
fourth thing.
You'll give up the paradise of God.
Oh, that paradise, the paradise of God, where
there is the tree of life to be
overcome.
That land of light and love, you'll give
it up.
There shall in no wise enter into it
anything that defileth and sins defiles.
For whatsoever wrought the sublimation wrought his own
passage through by the pride of his own
deeds, sublimation's gone.
Born makes us alive.
Oh, yes, I greet you well.
I may not be a confessor of Christ,
but I'm not a liar.
I could turn you again to John's first
epistle.
I could read you from this book of
absolute truth.
Who is a liar?
But he that denieth, he is a liar.
He's a liar.
No, you'll give up paradise.
You'll give up the pleasure that God's right
hand forevermore.
You'll give up that love divine all love's
excelling.
You'll give up the joy that is full
of glory.
You'll give it all up because you won't
catch it.
Let you lose what the King of God
symbolizes.
And when at last the cold, bleak winds
of death begin to blow over you and
the old house is beginning to break up
and you feel your feet beginning to thrive,
that voice rings out of the eternal saying,
What shall it profit a man if he
gain the whole world and lose his own
soul, his lost all?
I don't think any man, be he professed
Christian or be he a man of the
world, has ever gained a hero's position.
But he's been willing to give something up.
I could give you so many illustrations.
Let me show you Lord Nelson on the
port-a-deck of his ship at the
Battle of the Baltics when the printers are
flying left and right and men are calling
and it seems so terrific that the high
pastor singles to him to retire, to come
out of it.
And when Captain Foley said the Admiral has
signal to retire, sir.
Retire, said Nelson.
He put his last to his blind eye
and looked through the blind eye and said,
I really don't see that signal, Foley.
I would like to be blind sometimes and
only one eye keeps the signal for closer
action flying.
And he fought through to victory.
But he risked to court-martial.
He disobeyed his senior Admiral.
But he was a hero, you see.
And if you went to London, right in
the centre of London, you would see Nelson
dominating England's capital.
A hero.
But he risked it the same that Daniel
did when the writing was fixed and signed
according to the law of the Meek and
Persians.
If there was any petition offered to any
god or man for thirty days except for
the king, the riots, he would be cast
into the den of lions when Daniel knew
that that writing was signed to him.
He went to the open window towards Jerusalem
and prayed three times a day at the
open window towards Jerusalem as he did aforetime.
And they threw him into the den of
lions.
And God, to prove his power, shut the
lion's mouth and delivered him.
Oh, I don't wonder that the apostle Paul
said that he was willing to suffer the
loss of all things that he might win
Christ and be found in Him.
Oh, I'll have to give up something if
I become Christian.
Isn't it a miserable, despicable attitude?
I'll lose the synagogue.
Well, would you sooner lose the synagogue than
the Saviour?
Would you sooner lose the past, the fleeting
pleasures of life or lose the pleasures of
God's right hand forevermore?
The dread of loss.
And then, of course, you'll come to the
perverted values, the perverted ambition, the false scale
of values.
Because they esteem the praise of men more
than the praise of God.
Of course, they'd like to have both.
They'd like to have the praise of God
as well as men.
But they swung out, swung out rather those
balance sheets and on one side they put
the praise of men and on the other
side the praise of God.
And then they wave them.
Oh, no, don't you.
The praise of men.
We want the praise of men.
Heroes welcome in Jerusalem a group dancing amongst
the Pharisees and the general public.
We don't want to be ostracized.
We don't want to be a pilgrim.
And we won't want to follow the Nazarene.
The praise of men.
That was the cause of our Lord's crucifixion.
That brought out like strangers the cross.
Pontius Pilate was, the scripture says, determined to
let him go.
Three times he said it, I find no
fault in him.
I find no fault in him.
I find no fault in him at all.
Determined to let him go.
And then they began to call out from
the clouds, If you let this man go,
you're not Caesar's friend.
You're not Caesar's friend.
And Pilate willed it.
Lord saw in the study of the trial
bed, Pilate was damned with the dagger of
fear.
And he submitted him to be crucified.
And he was crucified.
But all spiritual cowards, for Pilate, for Peter,
and for many, many thousands and tens of
thousands of spiritual cowards, he went up to
the cross, and he was not ashamed to
endure the cross, despised the sight, that he
might pay the price of sin, and lead
many sons into glory.
He was not ashamed to do it.
Not ashamed to call us brethren.
Not ashamed to die for us.
People still love the praise of men more
than the praise of God.
And when you come to lessen up the
praise of men, it's simply hot air.
It's passing popularity.
It doesn't last.
Wellington came back from Waterloo, and they were
cheering him, and giving him a hero's welcome,
and a castle, in one Waterloo.
Thirty years later, the mobs smashed the windows
of his house, and there were little groups
along the road waiting to kill the Iron
Duke.
Why?
Because his politics didn't agree with the crowd.
And the popularity of the consular of Waterloo
had gone down to zero.
Oh yes, the praise of men is just
hot air.
It doesn't last.
That's why Sir Thomas More, when Henry VIII
wanted him to agree to another divorce, said
no.
Not like in God's day.
Oh, said Henry VIII to Lady Alice More,
you go and persuade your husband to agree
to it.
And Lady Alice More went into the prison
where Thomas More was in danger of execution,
and she said, my dear, just agree with
the King for this divorce, and we'll have
many happy days together.
He said, my dear, how many happy days
do you think we will have, should I
agree to the King's wrong action?
Oh, she said, God willing, twenty years perhaps,
my dear, he said.
You're not good at striking a bargain.
Twenty years!
If you'd have spent twenty thousand years, it
might have been nearer the mark, but what
a day compared to eternity!
Oh, my dear.
You're not good at striking a bargain.
Thomas More, Sir Thomas More, went to the
scaffold for truth's sake, for right's sake.
Oh, but other guys have been dead so
often in our campaigns down the years.
I knew a certain woman that came out
for Christ at one of our Baptist campaigns
in the South West years ago, and she
asked for one thing, pray my husband in,
Mr Ridley, oh, pray my husband in.
And we did pray, and pleaded, and he
came once or twice, and then stayed away,
and then came for the last night of
the lengthy mission, sat in the back seat,
and the dear wife was holding on to
God so she knew the joy of Christ
after twelve days, a new creature.
And when I commenced to make the appeal,
he did what so many people do, he
got up and shut out the door.
And she was in tears.
No more mission meetings, and he's gone, she
said.
And he wept there.
And about midnight, my wife and I were
retiring in our caravan at the back of
the church, and we heard a knock at
the door, and we opened the door and
there's the husband.
Yes, how are you?
Come in.
Oh, I'm a cur.
He said, I'm a cur.
I'm a coward.
There's been a great change in my wife's
behavior and life since she took Christ, and
I know I should have come out tonight,
Mr. Ridley, but I'm a cur for it.
I said, come, Brendan, you take Christ with
me now, and make your confession tomorrow before
your workmates.
I'll do that, he said, I'll do that.
And we went to prayer, and we prayed
together, and he accepted Christ.
And next day, he went down to his
workmates and confessed himself a Christian, born again,
and a follower of the Lamb.
That was the way back in the early
30s.
And about three years ago, I met him
in age, a man out in Western Australia
with the same wife, Bill Buckley.
But I was a coward, I was a
cur.
How dangerous it is for fear of man,
the dread of loss.
It was a poor scoundrel's madness not to
confess.
I'd like to tell you a very true
and tender and challenging story as I finish.
A way on to an island, there was
a great time of revival.
It was the revival of 59.
Multitudes were coming to Christ.
In Limerick, there was a movement of the
Spirit that was mighty.
Edward Singleton, High Parish of Limerick.
Quietly accepted Christ, he said it is, into
his heart.
But he reckoned in his own thinking, I'll
not make any display about it.
I'm well known in Limerick society.
And so while it was rumored that Edward
Singleton, magnificent handsome man, had come through for
Christ, no one was quite sure about it.
And up from the south came Thomas Dredge,
a virile evangelist, and he knew Edward Singleton.
He was to hold one meeting in the
main theatre of Limerick.
And he wrote to Singleton and said, I'm
coming to Limerick for one meeting.
Edward, I want you to come with me.
Give me hospitality and come to the meeting.
He got his answer back, Dear Tom, you
can come and stay with pleasure, but I'm
not going to your meeting.
Ah ha, said Thomas Dredge, and I know
why.
Edward Singleton is ashamed to phone openly he's
on the Lord's side.
As they were dining that night at the
meeting, he turned to him, to Edward Singleton,
and he said, Well Edward, you're not coming
tonight, no Tom.
He said, I won't be there.
Edward, he said, would you do one thing
for me.
Will you accompany me in your carriage to
the green room just behind the stage?
But Tom, what's the use of it?
Tom, I'm not coming to the meeting.
I know, but just come with me to
the green room behind the stage.
Just see the crowds that's playing.
You've got nothing on.
All right, he said, but it's useless.
I'm not going to your meeting.
And when they got to the green room,
and Tom Frank sat down, he said, just
before you go, Edward, have a look out
and see what kind of a crowd I
have tonight.
And Edward Singleton opened the door onto the
stage and looked out and turned back, and
he said, My Tom, you've got a magnificent
crowd.
The theatre's almost packed to capacity.
Oh, that's grand, that's grand.
He said, sit down a moment, Edward, sit
down a moment just before I go in
at eight o'clock.
I want to have another glimpse out, and
then you can go.
And so they chatted for a minute or
two.
He said, well, time's up now, Edward.
You better have another glance out.
And Edward Singleton opened the door and looked
off to the stage, and Frank stepped up
behind him.
And he put one hand onto the open
door and one hand onto the back of
his coat.
And he leaned over near his head, and
he said, Edward, that's a great crowd.
Oh, Tom, he said, that's Lindrich, the scientist
who's got tonight.
Are they trained, Edward?
He said, trained, no man.
Of course they're not, said Edward Singleton.
Well, out you sit and tell them how
to be trained.
He put one hand onto the stage.
And here is the high sheriff of Lindrich
staggering onto the front of the stage.
And he stood still.
And the footlights glaring up on him.
And the writer tells us that on one
side of Edward Singleton there was like a
roaring lion saying, Do not confess it!
On the other side was the angel of
Jehovah saying, Whosoever will deny me before men,
him will I deny before my Father in
heaven.
Singleton, after about five or ten seconds of
silence, walked to the front and confessed Jesus
Christ.
And told him he'd been a secret believer
and had been ashamed to owe him.
But he now acknowledged before the whole of
Lindrich that he was a sinner saved by
grace and dependent upon the Lord Jesus and
lived from that time as a confessed Christian
Christian.
Well, French put him on the spot.
And in some sacred way, God puts it
on the spot.
He says, What will you do with Jesus?
You?
You cannot be.
Someday your heart will be asked, What would
be true with me?
All stainless man, all with a hero's wealth
in hand.
And the voice of that welcoming Lord Jesus
saying, Well done, good and faithful.
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
May God bless you.
We're going to bow before that great Savior.
And tonight as we bow in prayer, I'm
going to ask all there are many of
us here that know the battle it is
to confess Christ.
I'm going to ask for those of you
who would like to be prayed for for
strength and power to make that good confession
tonight to raise your hand up in prayer.
And I'm going to ask for any Christian
man or woman who feels they've failed in
that great heroic business of confessing Christ, raise
your hand up and ask for the blessing
from God to make you a hero of
heaven, a heroine of heaven.
And not a coward in sight of the
Christ of the cross.
Let us bow together in God's presence humbling
our hearts and closing our eyes, bowing our
heads and in these solemn moments of opportunity
may I ask for those who would like
to be prayed for for the grace of
heroism, heavenly heroism to confess Christ gracefully before
men perhaps for the first time tonight or
for the strengthening of their confession or for
the renewal of it.
Would you lift your hand quietly and let
me pray for you just before I speak
to God in prayer.
You lift your hand those that would like
prayer with that courage to confess Christ openly
put up the hand just where you are
and I pray for you young man, young
woman, friend who needs that power would you
lift your hand up humbly and say brother
Brittany pray for me that I may be
unashamed to confess Christ before men thank you
my dear brother God bless your heart thank
you that's fine someone else thank you my
dear brother God bless your heart thank you
someone else while we're bowed in prayer just
lift up the hand quietly and say pray
for me brother Brittany I'm a Christian but
I'm a poor confessor of Christ I failed
him badly I want the power of God
someone else come on there are many more
that need prayer tonight God bless you my
sister thank you and he will bless you
for that humble lifting of the hand someone
else while we're just bowed in God's presence
there are many of us here know our
weakness now don't let us hesitate God gives
power to those who ask him that dear
man is still holding up his hand at
the back thank you my brother is there
someone else that is earnest enough to say
come brother Brittany pray for me tonight that
I may get the victory and be a
hero of heaven just before I pray someone
else we pray these few that have asked
for prayer put your hands up young man
young woman thank you dear friend thank you
another lady two ladies back there God bless
you someone else before I pray I may
not see you but God will see you
put the hand up toward heaven tonight and
ask for prayer I'm about to pray someone
else that would like to be included the
hardest fight in the world to get this
victory place on to lift a hand up
and put a heart down under God's mighty
hand and say Lord I humble myself do
help me to be a hero of heaven
in thy power from tonight someone else Our
God and Father we commend these dear friends
to thee tonight and ask that thy blessing
might rest upon them and the power of
the Holy Spirit might be their portion and
wilt thou give them the victory to honor
the Lord Jesus Christ not fearing the face
of man not dreading the loss of anything
provided they gain at last give heroes welcome
into that heavenly realm grant them thy grace
and thy blessing we ask it in Jesus
Christ's name Amen That has been one of
my most fruitful messages in other places and
I gave it because I felt God's meaning
and if it's not been received tonight it's
not because God hasn't laid upon my heart
his word and so blessed a time that
I've seen a place give way beneath the
power of the challenge to heroes I believe
there are others in our gathering who really
want to honor the Lord Jesus Christ tonight
May I ask for those who have come
forward on our other meetings would you just
stand to your feet in testimony you've come
forward on Friday night or Saturday night or
this morning would you just lift up to
your feet stand up to your feet those
that came forward at any time and remain
standing for the moment or two those that
came out during this little visit May I
ask if there's someone tonight would stand with
them in confession of the Lord Jesus Christ
you raise your hands will you rise with
them now and confess that good Savior just
where you are is there someone that will
do that God bless you my brother thank
you God bless you is there someone else
that could do that I'm going to ask
while we sing our invitation hymn for other
friends seated whether you've never done it before
will you make this good confession tonight and
stand with these friends and I'm going to
ask for any Christian who feels that they
would like to renew their confession at the
close of our 60th anniversary will you also
stand to your feet as we sing stand
up stand up for Jesus 618 chorus tune
congregation as a whole is seated these friends
are on their feet in testimony I'm asking
others to rise in confession of Christ while
we're singing this grand message may God bless
you and give you grace to rise whether
it's for rededication or acceptance of Christ don't
hesitate stand up for Jesus