Hello friends, we give you a very warm
and friendly Christian greeting to our program today.
We've prepared another informative and challenging half hour
of times of refreshing brought to you under
the auspices of the Voice of Melody Victoria.
Scripture is full of commands and invitations and
the two should not be confused.
God gives commands to us individually and universally
and he also gives invitations individually and universally.
For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting
life.
Look unto me and be ye saved.
Whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved.
He that heareth my word and believeth on
him that sent me hath everlasting life.
Yes as Christians it is our business to
see that the invitation to salvation is extended
as far as mankind dwells on the earth.
We are to go into the highways and
the hedges and compel men and women to
come in.
It began in Jerusalem the city of redemption
and from Jerusalem it spread to Judea, to
Samaria and to the uttermost part of the
earth.
As long as there are corners of the
earth where the gospel is not preached or
where ears have not heard it is our
business to go with the gospel invitation.
Perhaps you have a burden for unsaved loved
ones.
Peter reminds us that God is not willing
that any should perish but that all should
come to repentance.
How terrible it is for Christians to be
cold of heart without a burden or a
care for the lost.
The scriptures tell us that whosoever comes to
Jesus Christ will not be cast out but
may take the water of life freely.
One of the many invitations to salvation in
God's word is found in John chapter 5
and verse 24.
Today is the first of a series of
five programs where we are going to have
a closer look at this particular verse, John
chapter 5 and verse 24.
We are very privileged to have our special
friend and colleague Peter Brandon from England to
lead us in these studies and we encourage
you not to miss a word of what
God has to say to you through this
series of five programs.
John chapter 5 and verse 24.
Friends for
many years from his home base in Bedford
in England Peter Brandon has travelled the British
Isles preaching the gospel.
He has also made many extensive preaching tours
of the English speaking world and his ministry
of God's word is in much demand and
has been greatly blessed of God.
He is certainly no stranger to us in
Australia and it's great to have him back
with us again and we welcome him to
our microphone today.
The verse that I want to share with
you for a number of occasions is found
in John's gospel chapter 5 verse 24.
It's one of the words of the Lord
Jesus and it has brought thousands perhaps millions
into blessing over about 2000 years and these
are the words of Christ himself.
Verily verily I say unto you he that
heareth my word and believeth on him that
sent me hath everlasting life and shall not
come into condemnation but is passed from death
unto life.
What I want to speak to you today
on those opening words verily verily I say
unto you.
I find all over the world that people
really need authority.
People are saying to me there are so
many voices we just do not know what
to believe.
In fact even in Christianity they say so
many denominations they can't all be right.
My dear friends I believe the secret is
this.
It's knowing the voice of Jesus Christ.
He said my sheep hear my voice and
they follow me and that is why I'm
turning you right back to the originator of
Christianity and he is Jesus Christ.
And he says verily verily.
Now of course we don't use that word
today.
If you went into a shop and said
verily verily they would look at you as
though you came from another planet.
The word simply means Amen Amen.
Now of course that may be confusing.
We say Amen when we finish a prayer
and it simply means Lord let it be
or literally please answer the prayer.
Now the Lord Jesus put his Amen not
at the end but at the beginning.
In other words he was saying I'm going
to make a promise and even before I
make it I'm going to Amen it.
Isn't that wonderful?
Secondly the word means truly truly or literally
of a truth of a truth.
Now none of us can speak the absolute
truth because we do not know what the
absolute truth is.
Only one person ever said in history I
am the way the truth and the light
and that was the Lord Jesus.
He is the source of all truth.
He is the communication of all truth and
when he speaks it is the absolute truth
and this word comes to us in power
truly truly of a truth of a truth.
And lastly it means listen listen.
In my own family there were eight of
us five boys three girls and when we
were going fishing mother would call us and
she used to have rheumatism in the small
finger of her right hand and she would
put that rheumatically old finger under our noses
I can see her now and she would
say now listen listen and when mother said
listen we had to listen.
Now what the Lord Jesus was saying was
this listen listen don't miss this it's absolutely
vital.
So you can see now the brilliance of
that little old English word verily.
I say unto you notice the person who
speaks I say great men have spoken I
was only thinking the other day of the
words of Alexander the Great I was only
thinking of some of the words of those
great Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle I was
also thinking of some of the remarkable words
of Caesar especially Julius Caesar and then my
mind rushed over the years and I thought
of the words of Winston Churchill to the
people during the war but most of those
words dear friends have been forgotten I am
quite sure of this only a few of
us could quote from Alexander the Great Aristotle
Plato and the Caesars and Winston Churchill but
this is remarkable the words of Jesus Christ
are more powerful today than when he first
uttered them there are thousands and millions listening
to Christ and therefore there is tremendous authority
in this I say these are not the
words of the church they are not even
the words of a great preacher or a
great minister or a great priest they are
the words of Christ himself and after all
our date system is not based upon Alexander
the Great or Caesar our date system is
based on Jesus Christ and that's why we
talk about BC and AD notice the way
he speaks I say unto you God speaks
to us in two ways he speaks to
us through his word and he speaks to
us through preaching the apostle Paul says how
shall they hear without a preacher and how
shall they preach except they be sent therefore
when God is going to speak to us
he speaks to us through the preaching of
the word and to me it's a very
humbling experience to know that whilst I'm speaking
to you I'm conveying to you the very
thoughts of God and that's why I want
to say as carefully as I can thus
saith the Lord I know that's old English
but it has authority and it simply means
that this is the Lord speaking secondly he
speaks to us through his word if I
want to correspond with my dear wife who
is in England I can do so by
phoning I can do so by writing a
letter and the most reliable form of communication
is that which comes to us through a
letter you see it's always there and God
speaks to us through the word of God
that is why the scripture says all scripture
is given by inspiration because this book the
Bible if it's not inspired by God it's
just an ordinary book but you see the
scripture makes it quite clear it's a God
breathed book and that is why we can
rely upon the scripture now to whom does
he speak truly truly or verily verily I
say unto you I love that sometimes the
you can refer to a crowd like the
five thousand sometimes the you can refer to
a group of people like the twelve disciples
but sometimes the you refers to an individual
you know if you follow carefully the ministry
of the Lord Jesus you will find that
he spoke to individuals over and over again
let me give you some occasions he walked
forty long miles through a hot burning wilderness
to speak to a Samaritan woman that was
a harlot he went nineteen miles down to
Jericho to speak to a despised tax gatherer
when he was actually doing his dying on
the cross dying for our sins he took
the trouble to say to a malefactor today
thou shalt be with me in paradise and
when he went back to heaven he saw
a son of Africa an Ethiopian who was
seeking for the Lord for all he was
worth and God took one man all the
way from Samaria put him right down in
a burning desert in order to speak to
that man now dear friends this to me
is exceedingly wonderful there may be one of
you listening to me now in your room
I don't know where you are but perhaps
God has brought me all the way to
Australia just to speak to you to you
God loves you Christ died for you he
wants to enter your life and may you
respond to him today listen to that word
truly truly I say unto you shall we
pray Lord we do pray that thou will
make this word real to someone that may
be now listening help them to understand that
you love them Christ died for them help
them to realize that even in a quiet
room the Lord is there and they can
receive him in the name of the Lord
Jesus amen He is the
Savior, the joyous
Lamb, His eyes are mercy, His
word is rest, for He is the
Savior, the
joyous Lamb.
We all
have sinned and come short of the glory
of God.
My friend, we cannot escape it.
It is personal, it is individual.
We all have sinned and come short of
God's glory.
Two thousand years ago God took every sin
that you have ever committed or ever will
commit and He laid those sins on Jesus
at Calvary.
Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 6 says, The
Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of
us all.
While Jesus was bearing our sins in His
own body, God punished Him in our place
to pay the debt that we owe, so
that when we die we will not have
to pay it.
That is the simple gospel story.
If we recognize that we are sinners and
believe that Jesus Christ did bear our sins
and then trust Him completely for salvation, then
the Bible promises everlasting life.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life.
John chapter 3 and verse 36.
My dear friend, trust Jesus Christ today as
your Savior.
Receive Him into your heart and life today.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my word, and believe on him that
sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation, but is passed from death
unto life.
I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold.
I'd rather be His than have riches untold.
I'd rather have Jesus than all the land.
I'd rather be led by His hail, pierced
hand, than to be the king of a
vast domain and be held in sin's dread
sway.
I'd rather have Jesus than
anything this world affords
today.
I'd rather have Jesus than men the poor.
I'd rather be led by His hail, pierced
hand, I'd rather be faithful to His dear
cause.
I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide shame.
I'd rather be true to His holy name
than to be the king of a vast
domain and be held in sin's dread sway.
I'd rather have Jesus than
anything this world affords
today.
Friends, as our program draws to a close,
we remind you again that a copy of
today's program is available to you on cassette.
A copy is yours free and post-free
if you would so desire.
When writing, be sure to mention the number
of today's program, number 854, cassette number 854.
Our mailing address is Times of Refreshing, Post
Office Box 66, Lillydale, 3140.
Times of Refreshing, Post Office Box 66, Lillydale,
3140.
And the cassette number again is 854.
Times of Refreshing is a radio missionary outreach
of the Christian Brethren Assemblies of Victoria and
is made possible by God's provision through His
people.
We encourage you all to be tuned next
week when Peter Brandon continues his series of
studies from John chapter 5 and verse 24.
Until then, this is Ralph Taylor on behalf
of Peter and all your friends here at
the Voice of Melody saying goodbye, God bless
you, and remember, keep looking up!