Join us in this Sunday Sermon as we dive into the fascinating world of early biblical characters through the insightful teachings of Dr. J. Vernon McGee. We’ll explore the steadfast faith of Abel, Enoch, and Noah, and how their lives before the flood were marked by unwavering belief and remarkable sacrifices. Our host, Steve Schwetz, leads this session, unraveling the complex yet profound relationships between these men and God. As we draw on Hebrews Chapter 11, come prepared to see how faith was consistently the foundation upon which all salvation, even back then, was built. Listen in as we
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellence.
SPEAKER 01 :
If you’ve been on the Bible bus a while, you’ve likely heard our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, say that God has never saved anyone except through Jesus Christ. Before the flood and after the flood, during the time of the law, and until the Lord Jesus came, everything pointed to Him, and it was always by faith. But how does that apply to those in the Old Testament? All those great men and women, will they be in heaven? Welcome to the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible, where we’ll take a look at Dr. McGee’s bold claim in the lives of Abel, Enoch, and Noah. I’m Steve Schwetz, inviting you to grab your copy of God’s Word and turn to Hebrews 11, Chapter 4, and we’re going to begin Dr. McGee’s message, Faith in Action, in just a moment. But first, let’s hear from a couple of our fellow passengers. Now, here’s a voicemail. This is from a listener in Tennessee.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is Marilyn from South Carthage, Tennessee. I got back on the bus in Revelation. I can’t remember what that was, but I had just moved to an apartment, giving up the house that my husband and I had had for a number of years and was lonesome. And it’s been very comforting to me to get on your program every morning. Today, it was so exceptional on Psalm 120 and then 21. and I actually got in here to open my Bible to follow, and that’s what we’re supposed to do. I’m just thankful for all the ways that we can connect, and your program is a stabilizer for me since I’ve been depressed away from our home and my husband. Thank you again for your consistency, and around the world is what I wanted to say. I have done a small amount of world. And I’m interested in the history that you give and the letters that come from people there. Thank you for all, and may God keep you on the air, amazed at getting into the small groups in the dangerous countries. It’s an amazing thing. It gives me chills.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks, Marilyn. We’re so glad you’re on the Bible bus with us. Our next note is from Chaya in West Bengal, India. My family and I watched every episode of your program in my language of Bengali. We have been delving into the book of Psalms. The study has been incredibly deep and insightful, revealing aspects of God’s beauty and love that we were previously unaware of. It has greatly encouraged me and helped me realize just how wonderful our God is. I have also suggested it to my church members so we can all grow more mature in our relationship with God. Well, if you enjoyed hearing these stories about how God is working in the lives of our fellow listeners, then would you please write and share your story as well? To leave a message like Marilyn did, call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE or drop us a note. You can do it really easily. Just click on feedback in our app or email us at biblebus at ttb.org. And of course, you can also write to us at P.O. Box 7100, Pasadena, California. 9-1-1-0-9. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. Let’s pray. Father, we agree that you are wonderful. Thank you for your grace that allows us to come to you by faith. We ask that you would open our eyes to understand more about how you have provided for us from the very beginning. In Jesus’ precious name, amen. Here’s the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 02 :
By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death, and he was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became the heir of the righteousness which is by faith. I’ve read in your hearing tonight the story of the faith of three men. This is actually faith before the floods. These three men all live before the flood. They are the only ones mentioned before the flood here. Actually, the 11th chapter of Hebrews is not what a great many folk call it, a catalog of the heroes of faith. It’s better to turn that around and say this, that what you have in the 11th chapter of Hebrews is the operation of faith. in all ages, under all circumstances and conditions of life. And here you see faith before the flood. You see that there has never been a time when it was not by faith. God has never saved anyone except through Jesus Christ. And it’s always had to be a step of faith. and faith that would point to the Lord Jesus Christ. And before the flood and after the flood, during the time of the law, and until the Lord Jesus came, everything pointed to him. And it was always by faith. Now you have here in these three men, in Abel you have the worship of faith. In Enoch you have the walk of faith. And in Noah you have the witness of faith. And tonight I’d like to parade these three men before you that you might look at them and see how faith operated in their life. First we have this man Abel. You have the worship of faith. And we read, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, and by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh. We have here the worship of faith. These two boys, Cain and Abel, they came to God. One was accepted, the other was rejected. We’re told that it was by faith that one offered a more excellent sacrifice than the other. Let’s go back and look at that for just a moment. We read in the fourth chapter of Genesis, And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord, and should be the man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Here are the two boys. We are told now, and in process of time. Actually, the Hebrew would lend itself at the end of days, which means the Sabbath day, up to the time of of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the human race worshipped on the Sabbath day. It was even before the flood. It was given as a peculiar covenant between God and Israel. God said that this is a covenant between me and thee, speaking of the children of Israel. It never was given to the church. The church worships on the first day of the week because the seventh day belongs to the old creation. God created the heavens and the earth. He rested on the seventh day. That became a holy day for the old creation. But today you and I belong to a new creation. If any man be in Christ, he’s a new creation, old things. That is, we don’t go back to the Sabbath. Old things are passed away, these old relationships. All things have become new, and we now worship God not on the end of the week, not at the end of days as it is here, but on the first day of the week we read the early church came together. That is something that is, I think, very important to see. And in process of time or at the end of days, the Hebrew will lend itself to that. It came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And it says in the process of time, at the end of days, that Cain brought of the fruit, and Abel also brought. And in the Hebrew, the suggestion is that they not only brought it, but they brought it to an appointed place. I think this is helpful tonight to see that these men came to an appointed place, and they came on an appointed day, if you please. And they came to worship God. And we are told that Abel, he also brought to the firstling of his flock. and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, his countenance fell. Now we have here the writer to the Hebrews therefore saying that by faith Abel brought this sacrifice, which throws a great deal more light on it. Why was it that Abel brought a sacrifice? Well, he brought a sacrifice because he brought it by faith. And my friends, if he brought it by faith, evidently they had a revelation from God because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And there had to be a revelation from God for him to come by faith and bring the little lamb. In other words, God had told him what to bring. Now, this man Cain ignored it. He brought the fruit of the ground, and I don’t think anyone’s going to find fault with the fruit. It was lovely as any that you see out at the Pomona Fair. It was lovely fruit, probably the best fruit, but it represented the work of the man’s hand, and it was not brought by faith at all. Now, Abel brought a little lamb, and he offered that lamb, a bloody lamb. I’m confident had you been there and stepped up to Abel and said to Abel, why are you offering this lamb? And he says, because God asked me to. And God asked me to. He said, this is the way that I’m to approach God. Therefore, I’m obeying God in this matter, and I’m bringing the lamb. Well, do you think for one moment, Abel, that that little lamb can save you? No, I really don’t. And by the way, if you feel that those two boys, and I’ve seen pictures of them even in Sunday school literature that make them look like a couple of cavemen, if you feel that for one moment that these two men are cavemen, you’re sadly wrong. They just happen to be your ancestors and mine, and these were very intelligent men, both Cain and Abel. So Abel would have said to you and me, of course, I do not believe the blood of bulls and goats can take away sin. Well, then why are you bringing it? He said, I do not understand everything that’s in the future. But I do understand this, that God has said, he said to my mother, that he was going to send the man, the Savior is coming. That Savior will be the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And this little lamb that I’m offering is pointing to him, whoever he is and whenever he comes. and I am coming by faith to God. So that when God saved Abel, he didn’t save him because he was a superior man to Cain. He was not. I always enjoyed hearing the late Dr. Harry Rimmer. He had some very novel interpretations, and one of them was he believed that Cain and Abel were twins. They were brothers. They were twins. I don’t think so, but you can’t rule it out. I’d like to say this. that if they were not twins, they were closer together and more alike than any two identical twins that you’ll find today. And I’ll tell you why. You see, tonight, all of us that are here present have poured into our bloodstream back of us all sorts of ancestors. And if you really knew tonight your line, you’d be shamed of it. A great many folk like to trace their ancestry back. I have a cousin who loves to do that sort of thing. The last time that I ever saw him, he was telling me about someone he’d found. way over in North Carolina somewhere. And I asked him, I said, have you found any horse thieves in the line? He was greatly shocked that I would even suggest that. And I told him, I said, you better not look too carefully. I have a notion there’s some rascals back there somewhere because every now and then I feel them stirring in my bloodstream. I know that they’re back there. They must be back there. My friend, and don’t you laugh, you’ve got the same kind of ancestors I’ve got. But what about Cain and Abel? You can’t say that they’ve inherited anything from an uncle or an aunt because they didn’t have an uncle or an aunt. They only had a papa and mama. That’s all. And you just can’t explain the difference in the two boys on that basis. And then, of course, there are others that would explain the difference in individuals today on the basis of environment. Now, you can’t explain the difference in these two boys on the basis of environment because both of them had the same father, the same mother, brought up in the same home under the same circumstances. You just can’t explain this difference. What is the difference? The writer to the Hebrews says the difference is in the sacrifice. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. And my friend, that makes all the difference in the world tonight, in men, is whether they have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ or whether they do not have faith. Here sit here tonight, let’s say. This is merely just a supposition. Suppose they sit here tonight, twins. They are known as identical twins. They’re alike. They have the same likes. They’re dressed alike. But one of them is a Christian and one is not a Christian. Two boys that are Christians are going to be together for eternity. Both of them are in Christ. Both of them are in the body of Christ and in the family of God. And they’re brothers, if you please. The other two boys are The twins are headed in opposite direction. They’re altogether different. Here are two boys. They could have been twins. They’re more alike than twins. And at the very beginning, God put down black and white. God said one is right and one is wrong. God says that men will come to me by faith and they’ll come by believing what I say. I say they’re to bring a sacrifice, that little lamb. And again, I say Abel did not know what we know tonight about that little lamb, but he did it by faith. And my friend, tonight if you are saved, you have to come by faith to Jesus Christ who came to this earth 1,900 years ago and died upon a cross for your sins and mine. And it would be wrong tonight for you to bring a lamb because we passed that stage. Christ has come now, and everything looks to his coming. As we saw this morning, the writer to the Hebrews says you’d crucify afresh the Son of God if you brought a lamb, because you’d say that which the lamb pointed to has not come yet, and that’s crucifying Christ afresh. But we come by faith and look back to his coming 1,900 years ago, so that Abel Before the flood, he worshipped God by faith, if you please, by bringing a little bloody sacrifice that pointed to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the second man here walked by faith. By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death. He was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. Marvelous testimony that this man Enoch had. And Enoch lived in a very difficult day, by the way. It was a day that it was said of it, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” That was in Noah’s day, and it was in Enoch’s day. Now, Enoch is in the line of Adam, and it’s in the genealogy that’s in the fifth chapter of Genesis, and it’s a rather monotonous genealogy, as all of them are. It says, so-and-so lived so many years, he begat somebody, and then he died. That’s the story, that’s the biography of all of them, until you come to Enoch, and then things change. Here is the thing that is said, and again and again you read like this, all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. That is true of all of these here, until you come to Enoch. Enoch lived 65 years and begat Methuselah. That’s always been interesting to me. He lived 65 years and begat Methuselah, and then he walked with God. Why did he do that for 65 years? I don’t know. I have a notion he did not walk with God. But one day there appeared in his home a little baby. And he went in and he looked down at this little baby. We always think of Methuselah with a beard that he tripped over. But honestly, there was one time when he was a little baby, and he was in the crib. And Enoch went and looked down in that crib, and he saw that little baby. And he said, I’m going to walk with God from now on. You know, a little child will lead them. I’m of the opinion that if a child in the home will not bring you to God, nothing will bring you to God. No use for a preacher to talk with you. The little child shall lead them, the Lord Jesus said. And one day Enoch went and looked down in the crib, and there was a little Methuselah. Oh, he says, I’ve got to walk with God. And from that day on, he walked with God. And he walked so close with God that God took him. And the little girl that came home from Sunday school, and I don’t know how better to say it than the little girl said it, A mother said to her, what did you study about today in Sunday school? She said, we studied about Enoch. She said, well, what about Enoch? Well, she said that Enoch and God used to take a walk together every day. And God would come by and say to Enoch, let’s take a walk. And Enoch would say, all right, I’d like to walk with you. And God and Enoch would walk together. And one day God came by and said to Enoch, let’s take a walk. And Enoch said, fine. And they started taking a walk, and they got so interested that he got late. And finally Enoch says, My, we are a long ways from my home. And God says, You’re closer to my home than you are to your home, so you just come on and go home with me. And Enoch went home with God. Now, I don’t know how to say it any better than that. The Word of God says that he was not, for God took him. And the writer to the Hebrews says that by faith Enoch walked with God. It’s a tremendous statement. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death. He was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. How did he do it? He did it by faith. Here’s a man who walked with God by faith, and don’t tell me that he had it easy, that he lived in a day when it was comparatively easy to walk with God. He lived in a very dark day, a day that was moving very swiftly to the flood. And this man, on a day like that, he walked with God. It’s a marvelous, wonderful testimony, if you please, concerning this man. And the writer to the Hebrews goes on to say, But without faith it’s impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he’s a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And here’s a man that lived in that day when men were turning away from God, and he turned to God. He walked with God. And he walked with God by faith, and God took him. I think he’s a picture, must be a picture of the rapture of the church, because God took him out right before the flood, just as I think he’ll take the church out of this world before the great tribulation, before the judgment comes upon the earth. This man was delivered from judgment because of the fact that he walked with God by faith. And he looked out yonder to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and God saved him by faith. Now will you notice this third man that we’re looking at tonight? He in many ways is the most interesting one of all. He lived on both sides of the flood. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Now, God brought the flood after the death of Methuselah. In fact, if you will trace this down, I have a chart that will show this, that the day the flood came, or the year the flood came, is the year that Methuselah died. Have you ever wondered why he lived so long? live longer than any other man. And the reason that he lived so long is, his name means ascending forward. When God sent him forth, God says, as long as he’s in the world, I’ll not send the judgment of the flood. But the minute that he disappears off the earth, you better start looking for high ground, because I intend to send the judgment upon the earth. Now, as long as they could see Brother Methuselah walking about, it was all right. But one day he died, and that year… The flood came, if you please. God was very patient. During all that time there was a building up, as there is today, of the sin, the iniquity, the rebellion, the lawlessness on the earth. God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. Notice this, the piling up of modifiers, and that every imagination, not just some imagination, but every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil. There wasn’t a good thought in the crowd. It was only evil, and it was continually. I have been this past two weeks, first week in a hotel, this past week in a motel, and I ate in a restaurant where these traveling men, apparently Lodi must be a place for traveling men to spend the night, and I would listen to them, especially at breakfast time. I listened the other morning to a group of men, fine-looking men. There wasn’t a man in it, wasn’t well-dressed man, intelligent-looking man. I listened to their conversation. May I say to you, I thought of this verse of Scripture. The only thing in the world these men could talk about was something evil. I never heard a noble thought. I never heard any fine sentiment expressed by any of them. They were talking about sin, something dirty, something filthy. That was their thought. And I thought, my, it’s becoming a day just like the days before the flood that brought the judgment. Now, God waited all those years. Why did he wait? Because God says he’s long-suffering, he’s patient. It’s not his will that any should perish. Now, God waited 900 years to send the flood. And I’ll ask any reasonable person, how much longer do you want God to wait? He’s been waiting now, I think, a long time to end this particular age that we’re in. I don’t know when he’ll end it. It may not be as close as some of us seem to think that it is. May I say to you that he’s patient. God’s long-suffering. He’s not willing that any should perish, and he just lets this keep building up. Now, the reason that he reached in at the time of the flood was because of this. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. For all flesh had corrupted his way, that is, God’s way upon the earth. So that all flesh is now in a state of corruption, and there’s only one man. And if God does not intervene now, it’ll be too late after Noah. He’s the last man that’s left. Now, you could have found several before Noah, but by the time you get to Noah, he’s the only one that’s left. You talk about a minority. He’s a minority in the world. There are several million people on topside of the earth. Now, God says to this man, I want you to build an ark. I’m going to send a flood. I want to submit to you that here’s one of the bravest men. I think he had to guard the thing at night to keep the hoodlums from destroying the ark. And all day long, he was ridiculed. Here’s a man building a boat. high and dry way up, you know where he built that thing? Way up the Euphrates River. And friends, you just don’t build a boat like that up the Euphrates River. There’s no water up there to float the thing at all. How in the world is he going to float that boat? And why in the world is he building it? Now, he’s doing it by faith. We’re told that it was by faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, they haven’t appeared. There was no water. But God said, there’s going to be water. God says, I’m going to send a flood, he believed. Now today we are told that in the last days there will be scoffers walking after their own lusts, saying, where’s the sign of his coming? All things continue as they are from the foundation of the earth. A man said to me, and he’s up in the hotel, he and I were sitting at the table. eating lunch and he got to talking and he said, what are you doing here in Eugene? I said, well, I’m speaking to these Baptists here. He said, you really think Jesus is coming again? I said, yes. He says, you know, that’s absurd to me. He said, if you just pardon me, he says, he’s a very nice, sociable fellow. very courteous. He says, if you’ll just pardon me, he says, that’s absurd to me. I says, I imagine it is. I said, you know, you’ve got to be right with the first coming of Christ before you can even talk about the second coming. I said, candidly, I don’t even care to discuss the second coming with you. I would like to discuss the first coming. He said, oh no, I’ve got an engagement. May I say to you today, in the last days there will be scoffers walking out there and say, where is the sign of his coming? You mean to tell me you think he’s coming? I don’t see any signs. There’s no evidence. Well, my friend, the day the flood came, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky that morning. People went about their work as usual. Now, I want to tell you what really happened. You hear people say that this man Noah never made a convert. That’s not exactly accurate. He did make a convert. He preached 120 years, and it didn’t seem that he had a convert, but he saved his own family. That’s something that all of us ought to think about and ought to be a real concern about. What about your family? Are you going to get them all saved? I’m afraid some of us get so concentrated on the world that we forget about maybe our own loved ones. And I can’t think of anybody that ought to be interested in our loved ones except those of us that are the loved ones. Noah saved his family. And I’m of the opinion that when he was building that ark and got it rolling pretty well, that the bus company that runs tours ran a tour out of Babylon out to see it. That was, if you were a tourist in Babylon in that day, that would not only show you the old Tower of Babel, but they’d take you out to show you this very interesting thing that’s happening is the building here of a boat on dry land. And they said it’s the most ridiculous thing in the world. I think the boys had left home, Ham, Shem, and Japheth, the three boys. I’m of the opinion that probably Japheth was over in the business world. He probably was an executive in some corporation in Babylon. One day one of the salesmen came in, and they were having a sales meeting. He was meeting with them, and one of the fellows there said, You know, up in my territory the funniest thing in the world is happening. He said, What is it? Well, there’s a fellow building a boat on dry land, and you know what he says? He preaches you a sermon and he says that God is going to send a flood on this earth and we haven’t had rain up in that country for several years. Isn’t that ridiculous? And this fellow Japheth says, by the way, what’s his name? He says his name is Noah. Japheth says, you know, that’s my dad. Now he says, I hadn’t heard about that before. because I’ve gotten away from home, and I’ve gotten away from God, and I’ve gotten away from everything. But I want to tell you fellows this. If my dad says, God says a flood’s coming, I want you fellows to buy some hip boots. A flood’s coming. And I, for one, am going up home to find out. And he went home and said to his dad when he arrived, give me a hammer and some nails. I want to help you. You see, these boys knew their dad, and they knew the faith in their home. And I think that Shem got out into politics, and he was elected to some high office. And one day one of the politicians came in and said, one of the legislators came in and said, up in my district, I’ve been up there politicking, getting votes. And do you know I ran into a fellow building a boat up there on dry land? Shem says, I happen to know your district is my district too, and I knew you were up for election, and I knew you’d been up there, and I’d like to ask you who it was. He says, it’s a fellow by the name of Noah. God says he’s going to send a flood. Isn’t that preposterous? And Shem says, if you had said anybody else was building the boat, I would have said it was preposterous. But he says, you see, that fellow Noah is my dad, and I happen to be brought up in that home. And as a politician, I may have stretched the truth at times, but my dad never did stretch it. If my dad says God appeared to him, God appeared to him. I’m going home. And Ham, he had gone down, and he was a professor in the University of Babylon. And they were having a meeting at the beginning of the year of the faculty. And the different members of the faculty were telling what they had done during the summer. And one man said, you know, I teach geology. And I’ve been up in the country looking at the rocks up there. And I want to tell you I found one. I found one of the most unusual fellows you’ve ever seen. He’s building a boat on dry land, and to me, that’s ridiculous. And I tried to tell him that it’s not scientific, that according to science, it can never rain up here, and there never will be a flood up here. He is preposterous. And Ham, who’s Dr. Ham now, he says, by the way, what was the name of the man? He says his name is Noah. Noah said, you know, that’s my father. And the other professor said, well, I’m very sorry for what I said, but I still think that there’s something wrong with him. And I think Ham says, just a moment, I know that it’s unscientific. And I know that according to our books that we have today, that there’ll be no flood. But he says, I happen to know my dad. And I do know that when I was raised in that home, that he was a godly man and he knew God. And if he says there’s a flood coming, I want to tell you, fellas, you can put your books aside and you better go to the top floor. It’s coming. And on the way home, and I’m through, I’m asking for a leave of absence, and I think it’ll be permanent. I’m going to go up and on the way, I’m going to buy me a hammer and saw. I’m going to help my dad. And it wasn’t long until the three boys were there helping him. By faith, Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear. He prepared an ark to the saving of his house. He saved his house. That’s the witness of faith. My friend, that’s needed today as the witness of faith. I remember hearing Dr. Philpott, a wonderful preacher. I heard him tell this story. He was talking to a group of ministers down there. He said, When I was a young preacher, I was a pastor in Ohio. I think he said it was on the B&O Railroad. I’m not sure which one, but I think that was what he said. He said that in this little town, I had a man who was the chief officer in this little church. In general, in a little church like that, you find one man that’s probably carrying the load. And this was the man. He was up in years. He had two boys. One boy was in Chicago, a successful businessman, and the other boy was in Pennsylvania, a successful businessman. So The boy in Chicago was a Christian. The boy in Pennsylvania was not. And that was the burden of this father. Dr. Philpott says, as a young preacher, I used to go and visit with him. He’d sit in an old rocking chair by his bedside because he had to get back in bed even during the daytime. And he said the great burden of his heart was that boy in Pennsylvania. And he’d say, when you pray, pray for him. I seemed to have failed in raising that boy. So the old man got worse. Dr. Philpott said he was one of these wonderful fellows, said they never paid me very much as a preacher, and he’d always come around and slip me a check for $25 every now and then. He said, my, that was wonderful. Said he was that type of a man. Then said one day he died. He said, I sent a wire to both of the boys, and they came immediately. The funeral service was held. He says, I preached the gospel the best I knew how, because he had told me, he says, when I die, my boy from Pennsylvania will be there, and I want him to hear the gospel, and you preach the gospel to him. And Dr. Philpott said, I did the best I could. And then after the funeral service, he said it was on a Saturday, and I had to prepare my sermons for Sunday, and I went back to the church. And he said, my study was upstairs above the pulpit. And he said, I went up there. The light was on. He said, the boy that lived in Chicago came and said, my train from Chicago is getting ready to leave in a little while. And I wanted to come by and thank you. for the way you conducted Dad’s funeral. I want to thank you for everything that you said. I believe every bit of it.” Then he told about how wonderful his dad had been to him, and he did want to carry on. He said, Now, I happen to know that he was the one really paying your salary, and you can count on me to take care of that from now on. You’ll get a check every month from me. Dr. Philpott said it always came in. and said he was busy there in the study after that visit, and he was really working, and he heard the knock downstairs. And he said, come in, and the other boy, grown fellow now, of course, both of them were, and this boy came upstairs. He said, I’ve been over at the house. He said, I’ve been in Dad’s room. He said, I went and I sat on that old rocking chair, and I knew that he’s always sat there, And he said, I also knew this, that he always prayed for me. And I’ve been in rebellion all these years. But he said, you may be interested to know that a little while ago I knelt down by that rocking chair and I did what my dad wanted me to do all my life. That was to accept Christ as my Savior. And I accepted him as my Savior. And he said, if you don’t believe it, here’s a check for $1,000 in memory of my dad. And he said, you can count on me to support this church from now on. And he bade that fellow goodbye. When he went down the steps, he turned around. He said, I wonder if there’s any way to let my dad know that I’ve come to Christ. And Dr. Philpott says, well, I don’t know whether there will be or not, but I’m sure going to ask the Lord to tell him. because I think it would even rejoice his heart in heaven to know that. May I say to you tonight, the witness of faith, it has a witness, always has a witness. Whether it’s before the flood, after the flood, we worship by faith. We walk by faith and we witness by faith. I’m wondering in this congregation tonight, Probably you come in here without Christ, or you’re not sure of your relationship to him. That’s one of the things that the Epistle to the Hebrews deals with, that you can know that you’re God’s child. Warnings are put up, but amidst all those warnings an assurance is given to the heart that you can know this wonderful Savior. My friend, I’m not being sentimental at all, nor am I appealing to emotion. I’m appealing to your faith tonight, but it may be you had a godly mother or dad, and you’re far from the God of your father and your mother. You’re far from the God maybe of the friend that has loved you. May I say to you that God will receive you. He took these three boys into that ark and saved them. because of the witness of a father. And tonight, God will save you. I don’t know who you are, how you are, why you are, but I do know this, that God will save you. But if he saves you, you’ll have to come by faith. He’ll not bring a sacrifice tonight, but by simple faith, looking to Jesus Christ, who is the Lamb of God. that taketh away the sin of the world. He bore your sin 1900 years ago, and by faith you can trust him tonight and know your sins are forgiven.
SPEAKER 01 :
For more great teaching from Dr. McGee and the book of Hebrews, join us every day this week as we make our way through the Bible. And well, this is our final Through the Bible Sunday program to air in 2024. There’s something to be said about finishing strong, isn’t there? And I’d say that your choice to be in God’s word on this last Sunday of the year says something about your commitment to grow in your own relationship with the Lord. I know I can speak for the entire team at Through the Bible when I say thank you. Thank you for your company on the Bible bus this year. We’ve traveled some great roads, haven’t we, through the Bible together? And I can’t wait for the roads ahead of us in 2025. That is if the Lord tarries. Maybe we’ll see our faith become sight in 2025. And in that case, we’ll ride this Bible bus together right into God’s presence. Fix your hope on that very real possibility, won’t you? I’m Steve Schwetz, your host and your friend on the Bible bus. And let’s be grateful for all that God did in our lives this year and walk with Him into the next. Join us each weekday for our five-year daily study through the whole Word of God. Check for times on this station or look for Through the Bible in your favorite podcast store and always at ttb.org.
