[0:00] Now shall we turn this evening as God will help us to the passage of God's word which we have read.
[0:11] In the epistle to the Galatians chapter 6 among other parts and shall we read at verse 7.
[0:30] Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap.
[0:45] For he that soweth to his flesh shall of his flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.
[1:06] God is not mocked. How simple and how clear is the word of God in all its warnings to every different type of people.
[1:33] Those of us who are acquainted with this epistle will know that Paul was speaking to those that were beginning to turn away from the gospel as he had declared it.
[1:55] They were adding to it. They were adding their own works. And depending on their own works. Plus the merits of Christ.
[2:10] And Paul as you know. Had no time at all. For such folly. His great boast was the gospel of Christ.
[2:25] In which man had no part at all to play in his own salvation. His great boast was that Christ had done sufficient.
[2:40] And what he had done not only could not be added to. But dare not be added to. And he is speaking to those who had professed to know this gospel.
[2:57] And who were tending to add certain things to it. However, he is not only speaking to such.
[3:09] He is also speaking to those who profess to know the gospel. And whose lives were not in keeping with their profession.
[3:22] And he says to such simply again. God is not mocked. God is not mocked.
[3:35] What a man sows. He will also reap. And then again. No doubt. He is speaking to those.
[3:46] Who will hear. This epistle. Those who are without Christ. Religious perhaps. Interested perhaps.
[3:59] But not interested enough. To become followers of him. Not interested enough. To repent.
[4:14] And believe. What Christ has done. And so. To all three types. In this epistle.
[4:26] Paul has this message. God is not mocked. I remember. Reading a story not too long ago.
[4:37] Of a man who was. Standing by the embankment. In London. He was a tramp. He had an old.
[4:49] Kilmarnock bonnet on. There was no holes in the elbows of his jacket. An old torn shirt. Was under the jacket.
[5:02] And his toes apparently were coming out of his shoes. Coming along the embankment. There came the cavalry. And then the soldiers.
[5:14] And then the sailors. And then others. Great dignities. And then. There came.
[5:26] A funeral. And he saw the coffin. Wrapped. In the union jack. And somebody standing beside him.
[5:39] Saw him take off his hat. Very respectfully. And put it to his shoulder. As the custom was. And he bowed his head. As the. Funeral passed.
[5:50] And he was heard to mutter. You were right. Davey. You were right. You were right. Somebody spoke to him afterwards.
[6:01] And said. And said. I saw you. I saw you. Very respectful. Before. The procession. And I heard you say. You were right. Davey.
[6:12] You were right. What did you mean? Oh he says. Over 50 years ago. Davey and I went to the same Sunday school.
[6:23] We went to a Bible class. Every Sunday afternoon. And there was a good man there. And he tells us.
[6:36] That if we give our lives to God. God. God would make use of them. He tells us. If we repented. And asked Jesus to be our savior.
[6:50] We would have a good life. But if not. God would not be mocked. God. He says.
[7:01] That afternoon. I got out of the Sunday school. As quickly as possible. I waited the door for Davey. And he came out. And he says. I'm going back to ask the man.
[7:14] How I can become a Christian. Oh I said. Come on Davey. Let's leave that until we're older. He says.
[7:26] But Davey went back. And he came to it. In his words. He came to it. A different lad than he went in.
[7:38] He came to it a Christian. And Davey went his way. And I went my way. And the man was right.
[7:50] That was the funeral. Of David Livingston. And that was the testimony. Of the tramp. His friend.
[8:03] Now God is not mocked. You and I have heard the gospel. Time and time again. Simple. And clear.
[8:15] In its warnings. Simple. And clear. In its invitations. In its warnings. And God says. Be not mocked. Do not.
[8:28] Be deceived. I. Am not mocked. We do not want to be deceived by others. We do not want to be deceived by alternatives.
[8:42] We do not want to be deceived by ourselves. God is telling us not to be deceived. We may attempt it.
[8:54] We may put away the thoughts. And say to ourselves. Well it's going to be alright. Someday. God is not mocked.
[9:05] When he says. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. God is not mocking us. When he says. Today. If you will hear his voice.
[9:18] Harden. Not your hearts. Or we may attempt. To deceive ourselves. We may refuse to admit. What God in his word states.
[9:32] But he wants us all to know. Something very clear. We who profess. We who may be drifting.
[9:44] We who may not even know Christ at all. He tells us one simple thing. The life that we live.
[9:54] Is the evidence. Is the evidence. Of what we are. Don't be deceived. Don't think that tomorrow.
[10:07] You will be a better person. Tomorrow. You will have another chance. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. God.
[10:19] What we sow. We will reap. The apostle says. If we sow to the flesh. That is to the part of us.
[10:31] That is anti-God. Then. We will of the flesh. Reap corruption. Death physical. And death eternal.
[10:42] If we sow to the spirit. That which is of God. Which comes from God. Then he says.
[10:53] We will. Of the spirit. Reap. Life everlasting. Those who are Christ's. Sow to the spirit.
[11:06] Those who are. Of the pit. Sow to the flesh. What Paul is doing here. He is using. An agricultural. Illustration.
[11:17] He is saying. If you sow a lot of. Wheat. You will not. Reap a crop of barley. If you sow a crop of weeds. You won't reap a crop of wheat.
[11:31] But you know my friends. We are so stupid. And so foolish. We think. At the end. We will reap. What we don't sow.
[11:44] What Paul is saying. Is what's inside. Comes out. And comes out clearly. And with it. Will come.
[11:55] The consequences. With the reward. Now then. Paul is using. An agricultural illustration. To illustrate this point.
[12:07] He is saying. That the direction. Of our lives. Will find. Their own. Destination. Now tonight.
[12:18] To illustrate this. I want to use. Another picture. One that should not be. Too difficult. For any.
[12:28] Who live in an island. To see. Something that happened. To myself. I lived. In a fishing village. When I was a boy. And I used to get up sometimes.
[12:41] Very early in the morning. Just after sunrise. And I would go down to the shore. And I would look out. Onto the horizon.
[12:54] And occasionally. I would see. Coming over the horizon. A fishing boat. It was my grandfather's.
[13:07] I waited for it. I knew he would be coming in from the sea. And I would wait until it came near. And I knew how far I had to run. To get to the pier.
[13:20] To be waiting for the boat to come in. And some mornings. I would see a sailing boat. Come over the horizon. And tonight.
[13:32] I want to suggest. In the same language as Paul. Is this. The way we sail the ship of our lives.
[13:42] Will tell us. Ultimately. What destination. We are going to reach. And so remembering this.
[13:54] As a background. I want to look at. Our personalities. As a sailing ship. A sailing ship.
[14:06] I want you to look at yourself. Me to look at myself. As a ship. Sailing over. The horizon.
[14:17] And I see it first. Coming over the horizon of birth. Coming over the horizon of birth. It seems to have a long way to go.
[14:29] Long life to live. Many places to go. Many ports to call out. But. It comes over. The horizon of birth. It sails.
[14:41] On the sea of life. Be it long. Or be it short. For you or for me. The ship.
[14:51] Mansoul. Sails over. The sea of life. She belongs to a certain line. We find in the scriptures.
[15:03] Not the Qunard. Not the Pino. Not the Brains. But the line she belongs to.
[15:14] Is the line. Of fallen humanity. This ship. Mansoul. Each person. His or her own ship.
[15:27] When we turn to the word of God. And particularly to this chapter. We find in it. The crew. That sail this ship.
[15:39] I want to suggest. That she has four officers. And at least five or six of a crew. Let me simply describe them to you.
[15:52] There's the captain of the ship. Mansoul. His name is Will. You and I. We've got a human will. Oh. It's tainted.
[16:05] Because of the fall. It's diseased. But it's still the captain. Of the ship. And everything you and I do.
[16:18] Every act that we commit. Captain Will. Is responsible. Many people you meet say. Well I'm not responsible. This is responsible.
[16:29] Or that's responsible. Or the next thing is responsible. But no. Captain Will. Is responsible. Your will. And mine.
[16:40] What is will? We find. In the scriptures. The supremacy of will. And in the scriptures.
[16:52] We find the tragedy of our wills. When it speaks of God's will. You read this. God of his own will. Begat us.
[17:04] What does that say? It says this. That God chose to do something. And he did it. By an act of his will. Jesus once said.
[17:16] To those. Gathered around him. He says. Your problem is this. You will not come to me. That you might have life. I will give you salvation.
[17:28] You will not come. And the problem. The problem. Is quite plain. It's in the will. And yet the will.
[17:40] Is the captain. Of the ship. The mate. Any of you are seagoing. The mate of the ship.
[17:51] Mansoul. Is mind. The first officer. Never think. That God made us without minds.
[18:02] We've got the capacity to know. The capacity to understand. And even if our wills. Rebel against God.
[18:13] Our minds. Will very often tell our wills. That they are wrong. What is the mind. It's the understanding.
[18:26] That capacity to know. The faculty of knowing. That's given to us. Of God. Well that's the mate. And you and I know.
[18:38] We know the words of scripture. Don't we? We know what the minister is speaking about. We know that there's the way of the cross. We know that there's a heaven. We know that there's a hell.
[18:50] We know that we're responsible. We know that we're guilty. And we know. That there is an offer of the gospel. Even though our wills. Will not respond to it.
[19:03] And so in this ship. Mansoul. That's the second member of the crew. The third member of the crew. Is what we would call the second officer. That's the heart.
[19:14] The emotions. Or our feelings. The Bible tells us. Just look at it simply. Tells us of a broken heart. Tells us of a joyful heart.
[19:27] Tells us of a loving heart. Tells us of a stubborn heart. And you see there's a part of us. Of our feelings. The heart. That's the second officer.
[19:40] And then the fourth officer. And the last one. Is well known to us all. In every one of our lives.
[19:50] In every ship. Mansoul. And his name is Conscience. He's there. Whether we like him. Or whether we not.
[20:00] And the word of God. And the word of God tells us. That he. Is the secret. Person.
[20:11] Within us. That judges us. According to God's judgment. Conscience has. Sometimes got nicknames. He's called.
[20:22] Spoilsport. He's called. Pest. He's called. Pain in the neck. By the crew. But Conscience. Is an officer.
[20:34] In the ship. Mansoul. Created by God. Implanted by God. And we are thankful to God. For our conscience. So that's the four officers.
[20:46] In looking for the crew. Very often. Before the communion. When we read in Galatians. You'll read. These words. You've read them.
[20:59] Now the works of the flesh. Are manifest. Which are these. Adultery. Fornication. Uncleanness. Lasciviousness. Idolatry. Witchcraft. Hatred.
[21:09] Variance. Emulations. Wrath. Strife. Suggestions. Heresies. Envyings. Murders. Drunkenness. Revelings. And such like.
[21:21] We read that. Almost at every communion. And in that group. Of actions. Foul.
[21:33] And unclean. We would find. Five. Of the crew. Of the ship. Mansoul. Let me illustrate. First of all.
[21:45] There's. That member of the crew. Called lust. You know him. He's in your boat. People here know. What he does. Well what is lust usually responsible for.
[21:58] Three of his groupings. He's usually responsible. For fornication. He's responsible. For lasciviousness.
[22:09] He's responsible. For uncleanness. And he's responsible. For adultery. And you are here. And you have.
[22:20] A member in your ship. A crew of your own ship. Called lust. And time and again. He's been responsible. For the filth.
[22:32] And the wickedness. Long forgotten maybe. In some cases. In your life. And in mine. That's one member of the crew.
[22:43] Lust. Oh but that's not the only member. There's superstition. And if you look at the list. You'll find that. Superstition is responsible.
[22:54] For witchcraft. That which is not of God. Old wives tales. Reading the cups.
[23:04] Reading the palms. Reading the stars. Oh it's quite up to date. Dabbling in darkness. Now that's in the ship man's soul too.
[23:17] Jealousy. That foul member of the crew. Jealousy is responsible. For the envy in your life. Envy.
[23:28] You envy someone. Jealousy is responsible. For the anger in your life. In mine. For the strife. And sometimes.
[23:39] For murder. Jealousy is in the crew. Religion is there too. He brought you maybe here tonight.
[23:49] But religion is also responsible in this list. For idolatry. And for heresy. Alternatives to God. For that's something inside us.
[24:01] That wants to keep us a bit religious. But not responsible to the truth of God. Not obedient to the whole word of God. Enough religion to make us comfortable.
[24:14] Enough religion to satisfy superstition. But not enough religion to take us to the cross. We've got him in the crew. Heresies.
[24:27] I don't believe in hell. I don't think it could happen. I don't think it could happen. Heresy is the spawn of religion.
[24:39] And there down there at the bottom is drunkenness. And what he produces and is responsible for. Is the party that you were at recently. Drunkenness.
[24:53] Revelings. Good times. You see it's all there. Now my friends. That's the crew then. So now we have the four officers and the crew.
[25:06] Lust. Superstition. Jealousy. Religion. And drunkenness. What a picture my friends. And that's a picture of you and me.
[25:16] That's drawn by the spirit of God. That's the kind of person. That Jesus had to go to the cross to save. Not one. But all his church.
[25:29] And when you look at Calvary. Look at Calvary through that mass of filth. And then you'll know something of the agony. That the pure lamb of God felt.
[25:40] That the pure lamb of God felt. When he was wounded for our transgressions. And bruised for our iniquities. But back to our illustration.
[25:52] This is a sailing boat. We are our own captain. The sails are called self-confidence.
[26:04] It's easy to be self-confident. When things are going well. The sails are flying. We don't need to worry about God and man. We can come into a meeting like this.
[26:17] And listen. We're confident enough to believe. Well we'll get through it. We won't be too pressurized.
[26:27] To be converted. We'll come and hear what this fellow's got to say. I've come to say this my friends. God is not mocked. That's what I've come to say.
[26:38] He's not mocked by you. By your self-confidence. By any attitude you've got. God is not mocked. That's our text tonight. And in this church you can sow to the flesh.
[26:51] To the empty God. In a deeper way maybe. Than out in the streets. The sails of the sailingship are called. The sails of self-confidence.
[27:03] The oars that's taking you through life. When there's no wind for your sails. Are the oars of human effort. And the chart that you go by.
[27:14] Is the chart of worldly wisdom. See where it'll get you. We'll find in a moment. Now then. That's the picture as we see.
[27:25] The ship Mansoul. Coming over the horizon of life. Manned by a crew. A rebel crew. And so we find. That the crew. Have rebelled against the owner of the ship.
[27:39] Torn up as instructions. Tossed aside as sailing orders. And this. Is known as the mutiny. Of Eden.
[27:51] We all share in it. We've rebelled. Against the owner. Of the line. Of the line. And we take our own instructions now.
[28:04] We go our own way. Isn't that written in the scriptures? Of course it is. The captain. Will. Chooses his own course.
[28:15] And puts the ship Mansoul. Into the ports. That he pleases. The ports of his own choice. But God is not mocked. Whatever port you put into.
[28:28] God is not mocked. The recorder of heaven. Puts down the date of your going in. The decision to go in. What you do in it. And the recorder of heaven.
[28:40] Never misses anything. My friends. That which a man sows. That he's going to reap. That's our text. You may put into the port.
[28:52] Of sinful pleasure. In between your excursions. To church. You may drink and be merry. Joy yourself. Captain will.
[29:05] Steer for the port. Of sinful pleasure. Let's have a good time. You may put into the port. Of worldliness. And worldly approval.
[29:17] You. Care much for the world. You wouldn't like the world. To think. That you were queer. You wouldn't want your friends. To think that you belong to Christ.
[29:28] That you are a Christian. It's enough that you go to church. But to nail your colours to the mast. Oh that wouldn't bring you worldly approval. It would bring you scorn.
[29:39] It would bring you the scorn of the cross. But it will also bring you to hell. We might want worldly approval.
[29:50] With our nice new bungalows. And everything that we can store up for ourselves. we might want the approval of those at the office and those at work and the young roundabouters but God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man sows he's going to reap. That's what the text says.
[30:12] You may sail into the port of personal wealth. You want to spend your life and getting your bank big. You may be in the grip of godless ambition to climb up where you are and get your way to the top no matter who you crush. You may sail for the port of greedy gain, godless living, earthly pressures but there are times and one of them is here tonight when you sail for the port of gospel preaching and tonight you've taken your ship into the port of gospel preaching. You're here in the port of gospel preaching. Tonight you will find three things in the port of gospel preaching. You will find first of all exposure that you're not as safe as you thought you were, that you're not as wise as you thought you were. You will be exposed by the word of God to be sinful, corrupt, rebellious, under the sentence of death, doomed. That's what you find in the port of gospel preaching. You'll get the second thing. The shipman's soul is docked tonight at the free church at Kenneth Street, the port of gospel preaching.
[31:59] Amen. And you're being told this evening and I'm being told as I come into the same port from the same word of God. God, the Bible warns me, warns me that we won't get away with trying to make a fool of God.
[32:23] Warns me as a professing Christian that what I sow as a professing Christian I'm going to reap. Warns me as a professing Christian. Warns me as a non-Christian that what I sow I'm going to reap.
[32:39] And yet also in the port of gospel preaching there's not only exposure, there's not only warning, there's offer. We are told the port of gospel preaching that the Son of God tonight offers to be our Savior.
[33:02] He offers to take every sin we've ever committed and clean it out of very, not only out of our being, but out of existence.
[33:13] In the port of gospel preaching the ships are examined, the ships man's soul. The flaws are pointed out. The trade routes are warned against where we should go and what we should do.
[33:31] Certain storms are described, we'll see in a moment. Dangerous rocks are depicted, tragic ends are considered.
[33:43] Oh, there is a lot to be learned, a lot to be listened to, a lot to be thought upon in the port of gospel preaching.
[33:55] Together, in here tonight, there are many captains with many crews of the ship Mansoul.
[34:08] There will be some tonight who will get to that door as if they were going back to the pier. They'll loose the ropes and they'll make for the sea of ungodliness to continue as they were before.
[34:34] Straight from the port of gospel preaching, you'll go out to the sea of ungodliness. You'll follow that chart of human wisdom for a year, a month, ten years, thirty years.
[34:51] But I will see you again. And I'll come back to you before we end this sermon tonight. But let's look in case here at the port of gospel preaching, through the spirit of God, there's someone here tonight.
[35:12] And you say, that's true what you say. Captain is my own human will, stubborn. The mate is my mind. It tells me that I should be saved.
[35:24] But I'm not. My heart tells me I should and so does my conscience. What message is there for me in the port of gospel preaching?
[35:38] Well, there's warnings. The preaching of the word tells you this, that in your ship, there's a flaw in your construction. The Bible calls it original sin.
[35:51] And that flaw begins to get worse. And the Bible calls that actual transgression. And the rent in your ship is getting bigger and bigger until at last the water will come in.
[36:09] Unless you do something about it spiritually. But not only is that the warning of the flaw in constriction. There's the danger when the former owner brings you to judgment.
[36:25] There's the coming fearful storm of death. There's the black rocks of judgment. And they're sinking down to the bottom of the ocean of life.
[36:36] To the caverns of the doomed and the damned. My friends, God is not mocked. What you sow, you will reap. And if you're sowing is the rejection of God's Christ, you will reap the damnation of God's hell.
[36:55] Now that's the truth. We may not like it. But it's true. Now there's an advice given at the port of gospel preaching.
[37:05] Will you listen to it? And this is what the advice that's given in the word of God. To all who find themselves in the line of human depravity.
[37:19] With a crew inside their own breasts that's evil. With a captain that's in rebellion against the creator. There comes a word from God.
[37:30] And you find it in the port of gospel preaching. Go immediately to the port of Calvary. The only place in the world where there is resources for reconstruction and refit.
[37:46] There is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved. The complete refit is called confession or the new birth.
[38:01] And the cost of it is paid by the owner's son. And the pardon of the owner is given to you on the account of his son's death.
[38:12] Oh, it's simple. And to you, O men, I call. My voice is to the sons of men and to the daughters of men. Hear and live.
[38:25] Come to the port of Calvary. The place of the cross. Ask the Savior to help you.
[38:36] Trust the Savior to save you. Ask God to give you a refit. And he that cometh to me in a sinful condition, I will in no wise cast out.
[38:54] God is not mocking you when he offers to save you. And God is not mocked when you put obstacles in your own way. And so at the port of gospel preaching, we're told to make for the port of Calvary.
[39:14] When we come to the cross, when we ask Jesus to forgive all that that ungodly crew has done, last, and jealousy, and superstition, and religion, and drunkenness.
[39:35] Oh, what a list. And then the worst thing. That crew is bad enough. But the mind that knows so much.
[39:47] And the heart that knows so much. And the conscience that's accused so much. And the will that's so stubborn. All that has to be forgiven.
[39:58] And all that everyone has done has got to be paid for on the cross by the Lord Jesus Christ.
[40:11] And I say tonight, at the port of Calvary, you can have a refit. Be reconstructed.
[40:21] What happens when you come to Jesus and you ask him to be your saviour and trust him? What happens? It's quite clear from the word of God. You sail under a new flag.
[40:32] You've taken down the flag of rebellion. And now you've put up the flag of redemption. You belong to the fleet of Christ. You've got new sails now.
[40:46] Faith. Faith in what he promises. Faith in his help through life. Faith that he's going to be there at death. Faith that there's a glory. I go to prepare a place for you.
[40:58] And boy, the sails of faith. They can open up. Take you through life. There are new ropes put onto the ship at Calvary. New obedience. There's a new chart.
[41:10] It's called heavenly wisdom. There's a new pilot comes aboard. The spirit of Jesus. There's new instructions. Some of them general.
[41:21] And some of them sealed orders. You'll not know them till later. There's a new course. It's a city of God. It's the port of glory. It's the new Jerusalem. And so from the port of Calvary.
[41:36] The refitted. Reconstructed ship. New creation in Christ Jesus. She sails again. She sails again. Ah, she's taking on a new crew.
[41:48] Has she put out the old crew? No. But she's taking on a bigger crew. You'll find it written here in Galatians again.
[41:59] Let me read them to you again. What are the new crew? Oh, they're here. Listen. Listen. There's a good fellow to come aboard.
[42:11] Love. He can put people in their place when he's given his head. And there's joy comes aboard. And peace comes aboard. And long-suffering comes aboard.
[42:23] And gentleness comes aboard. And goodness comes aboard. And faith comes aboard. And meekness comes aboard. And temperance comes aboard. Ah, against such there is no law.
[42:35] No law. They all come aboard. And God uses them to subdue. The power of the old rebel crew.
[42:47] Oh, the old rebel crew will try to start again. On different occasions. But the new crew that's put aboard at Calvary.
[42:57] Ah, my friends. It will conquer her. The ship man so then sails for new ports.
[43:09] Goes sometimes to the port of fresh repentance for repairs. Goes to the port of sorrow for sin. Man sometimes feeling very sad.
[43:22] Goes to the port of Bible instruction. It goes through the canal of fresh consecration. Into the gulf of loving service. Oh, this is the ships of the line of the living God.
[43:37] They sail for the Christ. Are you one of them? Are you one of them? They've got a cargo, my friend. A cargo. They don't just come to church alone.
[43:53] They have a cargo of gospel truth to give to the lost. They have a cargo of kindliness to spread around. They have a cargo of friendship for those who have no friends.
[44:06] They have a cargo of social help for those who are down socially and financially. And when you see the fleet of the church of God in full sail filled with a cargo going out.
[44:23] You see our glorious and majestic in our splendor bringing honor to Jesus. Now that's the intention of God for the fleet of Christ.
[44:38] Let me say this to believers. God is not mocked. God is not mocked. Is that the kind of Christian you are? Is that the kind of cargo you take?
[44:51] Is that the kind of places you go to? Is that what you give? To all you come in contact with. A ship of the line. Proudly flying the flag of redemption.
[45:04] Humbly steering on the instructions of the pilot. The spirit of God. And so they make for the city of God.
[45:16] The ship's man soul. And I was looking at the scriptures and I saw Stephen. The good ship Stephen. He made through the city of God.
[45:29] Through the painful channel of martyrdom. With the war like people on both sides of the channel stoning him. And as he was going through the channel.
[45:40] He said I see Jesus at the right hand of God. Man he was within the harbour limits of the city. When they were stoning him to death.
[45:52] A ship of the line. My friends. That's the gospel we preach. That's the triumph that we look forward to. Are you going to be there?
[46:03] That's the question. Yes I see Stephen. A tumultuous welcome waiting. I see Jesus. There's a special landing spot in heaven.
[46:17] For those who are scarred. Who arrive scarred. Having coming through the straits of suffering. Or martyrdom. And then I see on the harbour.
[46:28] That old ship. He's tied up now. Paul the aged they call him. Ah he's tied up. He's with a home fleet.
[46:40] In the city of God. There's one ship that I haven't spoken about. A ship of the past. It was that great.
[46:54] Flawless ship. Who was not touched. By the flaw of original sin. Babe of Bethlehem was born of a virgin.
[47:06] Without sin. The king of the city. Who's gone to prepare a place for his people. He sailed these seas of ours.
[47:17] For 33 years. What storms he met. Remember that storm in the wilderness. The beginning of his public ministry. For 40 days and nights.
[47:32] Tempted of the devil. With such temptations. That we can only stand back. And view from a distance. He passed through the storm of temptation.
[47:46] The storm of inspection. Of those who wanted to see a flaw in him. And then. He came to the storm. Of crucifixion.
[47:59] The sun shut our eyes. It was dark. How he suffered in that storm. When the sins of the fleet.
[48:11] Were placed upon him. The sins of all those that would yet trust in him. The sins committed by these rebel crews.
[48:22] And those rebellious officers. Oh my friends. What was he doing. Then. In that storm of death.
[48:34] He was not only. Pardoning. Our sin. He was taking. Aboard. His body. The whole cargo.
[48:45] Of human sin. For his church. He was taking it on board. He was accepting its punishment. And what then. In that black storm.
[48:57] Of his own. Agony and death. He was taking it to a spot. At the back of the storm. Or even at the eye of the storm. And he was unloading it.
[49:10] In the sea of God's forgetfulness. Hallelujah. What else? Well when he went into the storm of death.
[49:21] Loaded with the cargo of his own fleet. Suffering the agony that the law of God demanded. Filled to the gunwales. Making for the eye of the storm.
[49:33] To unload it in the sea of God's forgetfulness. After he had been punished for every sin that was in the load. What did he do? He came out of death in the resurrection morning.
[49:45] And he tells us. That he's now found the route for sinners to the city of God. And the Bible says. The route to the eternal city. Is through a new and a living way.
[49:57] Consecrated by his blood. He is the captain. Of all captains. And I say to you tonight my friends. God is not mocked.
[50:08] I come here. To the port of gospel preaching. To meet with all the ships. Mansoul. That have tied up in the key.
[50:20] Of Kenneth Street Free Church tonight. And I have a message. From King Jesus. It's a message to tell you of pardon. But it's a message to tell you of pardon tonight.
[50:32] Yes. Yes. He came through the storms. And then on the cross. You remember what he cried.
[50:43] It is finished. The route is now open to all who will trust him. Trust him as their savior. And obey his instructions.
[50:56] So to the spirit. Remember that. So to the spirit. From the moment you receive him as your savior. Now I'm almost finished.
[51:09] What about that other captain we saw going out. Taking off the ropes. The side of the pier of the church here. Making for the seas.
[51:21] Of godless living. Maybe with a sigh. Some with a laugh. Some with a tremor of fear. But let's get out of here.
[51:32] Let's get away from this gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I see. Yes. I see this man.
[51:43] Who is now going to take the route of self pleasing. I see him one ignoring the warnings. I see him refusing the instruction.
[51:54] And I see him rejecting the pilot. And I see people go out here tonight doing these three things. Ignoring the warnings.
[52:07] Refusing the instructions. And rejecting the pilot. But I look ahead. I take out those old spine glasses of time.
[52:19] Look down a few years. And I see that ship. Going older. And older. And older. I see new storms coming on her.
[52:33] I see the storm of sickness. I see the clouds of age. And then the storm of old age. Stop.
[52:46] Shh. I want you to look on board that old ship. I see the officers. Remember Captain Will.
[52:59] Mind. Feelings. And conscience. And conscience. But I only see three officers. I can't see the fourth one. I look into the ship.
[53:11] I see the captain there. Not quite as arrogant as before. I see the mind. A little bit fearful. And I see the emotions. Just tremble a bit. Because they can see the storms.
[53:22] And the ship is not as good as it used to be. But where is conscience? Conscience. Ah. He's down. In the bottom of the hold.
[53:35] Tied up. With a gag in his mouth. Tied up. With a gag in his mouth. For years. Conscience's opinions have been silenced.
[53:47] He was always against things. He was always warning. He was always spoiling things. Never letting the rest do what they wanted in peace.
[53:58] But I see. A struggle going down there in the hold. And all of a sudden. Conscience gets the gag out of his mouth.
[54:10] And he gets the ropes off his wrists. And he comes up to the bridge. And he comes up to the bridge. In the middle of the storm. A storm. It's approaching quickly.
[54:22] Captain. There's no time to comment on conscience being there. This looks like the most fearful storm ever. It's called the king of storms. The king of terrors.
[54:34] Conscience is now unloosed and un-gagged. I see the wind becoming more turbulent. The crew too old for folly.
[54:48] I see conscience. Having broken free shouts. I warned you. The sails of confidence or self-confidence are torn.
[55:02] The oars of human effort don't stand in the storm. Ship is drifting before the wind. They're desperate.
[55:16] They pull against the tide. But they can't. They can't laugh it off anymore. They can't put a brave face in it. They can't joke about it.
[55:30] The storm is too strong for the oars. Too strong. There's a commotion among the officers. They've been arguing ever since conscience came to the bridge.
[55:44] Arguing among themselves. Intellect says, I think we should make for the port of Calvary. Ceiling shouts, I agree, we'll never make it in the storm.
[55:56] But old Captain Will says, I won't. I won't. Just as he said he wouldn't in the night they had docked at Kennet Street to hear the message on gospel preaching.
[56:15] I won't, he says. Keep course. We'll get through this all right. But the black crowds darken. The rocks are almost within touch.
[56:27] Conscience cries, I told you. Feelings cries, please, please make for Calvary. The intellect says, make for the place of the cross before it's too late.
[56:41] And I hear Captain Will, no longer arrogant, now with a voice of woe, groan, not I won't, but I can't.
[57:02] I can't. And the ship breaks up on the rocks of judgment at the height of the storm of death.
[57:13] And they all sink to the caverns of the doomed and the damned.
[57:26] God is not mocked. What you will sow, what I will sow, I will reap.
[57:40] Someone says, have you not more of a message of hope? No more than the scriptures. I have a message for tonight, I have a message for tomorrow.
[57:52] I have a message for tomorrow. Let me finish, because this is true. Tell you of an old frigate who had a refit, joined the fleet of Jesus, just a few days before she died.
[58:15] And another person joined with her. It happened down at Hull. It was a very, very aristocratic minister, had a congregation in a very fashionable part of Hull.
[58:29] He didn't know the gospel. His gospel was, do your best, and you'll get to heaven. One night, he tells the story himself.
[58:44] Knock came to the door. He saw a woman, oh, very decrepit, ugly, sin-stained. And she said to him, she said, sir, she says, mama sent me to get here, to come and help her to get in.
[59:02] He didn't understand. He says, what do you mean? Just mama sent me to take you with me, to see her, to get in. Oh, he says, will you come tomorrow?
[59:14] No, tomorrow, she says, maybe too late. Come with me tonight, sir. And he put on his hat and his coat, and went down from the fashionable part, right down to the fishing part, where all the public houses were, and the place in those days was a stench.
[59:34] He went through a public house with her and up to a garret. And he said, if I thought the one was ugly, when I saw the other, she looked beautiful. Here was an old woman in her 70s, with a gin-blown-up face, lying in a sugar sack, coming close to the end of the road.
[59:57] She was in the vicinity of the storm of death. She said, what can I do for you, dear?
[60:10] She said, sir, I want you to get me in. What do you mean, you want to get me in? I want to get into heaven. Oh, he said, well, if you pray to God, and read your Bible, and do your best.
[60:24] She said, sir, it's too late for that. And he didn't know what to do. And all of a sudden, he went back 30-odd years to his grandmother's knee.
[60:38] She was a Christian. And he remembered sitting on her knee, and she said, laddie, when Jesus went to the cross, he bore our sins in his own body in the tree.
[60:54] And the blood that he shed wipes them all clean. Oh, he never believed that when he came out of college. But he turned to the lady, and he says, oh, Meg, and that was her name, he says, oh, Meg, I want to take you back before the world was.
[61:16] And God looks down, and he sees people like you and me, and sees the sin we've committed. And it's as if God, the Father, says to the Son, do you see Meg down there?
[61:32] Will there be sufficient in your suffering on your cross to save Meg? And Jesus says, yes. And all of a sudden, Meg shouted, sir, she says, I can see it, I can see it.
[61:50] I didn't need to do anything. He did it all for me in the cross, and he says, now, he'll clean old Meg white. And he said, the beam came on to her face.
[62:04] And Meg got in, and I followed, hanging on to her apron. He joined the fleet.
[62:17] Tonight, I say to you, like Pilate said 2,000 years ago, what will I do with Jesus that is called the Christ?
[62:35] And Pilate gives sentence for him to be crucified. What will you do with Jesus that's called the Christ? Because God is not mocked.
[62:46] What you do with the gospel offer is sowing either to the flesh or to the spirit. God is not mocked.
[63:00] You can't mock him tonight. You will be like the captain that unloosed the ship at Kenneth Street and sailed the chart of self-pleasing and ended in the caverns of the doomed and the damned.
[63:26] May God help you to go to the port of Calvary and personally ask Jesus to be your saviour and forgive you and start tonight by the grace of God sowing to the spirit.
[63:45] Shall we pray? Oh bless thy word to us oh God this evening. Thou art a gracious God thy word is clear and we pray thee that we may believe it that we may see ourselves in the pictures that have been presented of the ship man's soul may we ask ourselves are we in the fleet of the redeemer or are we pirates still under the mutiny of Eden lost guide us to the Lord Jesus tonight our father give us to repent and say we're sorry for the mutiny and ask him to be our saviour for Jesus' sake Amen