Hour Of Decision - Untitled (1950s)

Heat. Heat. [Music] Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another hour of decision. It's a privilege to come back into your home again today to bring you a message of song and word that we trust will bring salvation to you and to your home. Today, I'm going to talk on short beds and narrow covers. I think that it'll be interesting to you and I hope that you'll stay tuned to this channel. But first, here's Cliff Bars and Beverly Shay with a word and a song. Our story tonight, Billy, is an interesting one. It's about a man who gave his whole life in ministering to a little group of folks in a community in Southern California. He and his wife served faithfully as pastor of the little church and had a blessed time. They lived on meager fair. didn't have too much of this world's goods. But as the years passed by, he found that it was impossible for him physically to carry on the responsibilities as a pastor. So he gave up the work at the church. However, they had no savings and in order to keep body and soul together, he had to take a job at a packing plant in one of the orange groves in that section. He became very discouraged as the days went by. Didn't seem to be much hope. His body was tired and he felt that perhaps God had forgotten and had forsaken him. His wonderful Christian wife kept praying for him and one day she came across the words of a poem. And I understand that they were the words that had been written on the wall of a public institution by an unknown writer. She thought perhaps, well, these are the words that might give my husband just the lift that he needs. And so, without him knowing it, she placed them in his lunchbox one day. And while at work at noon time, as usual, he leaned up against the old packing house and opened his lunch box. But before he ate his lunch, his eyes noticed the words and he began to read them. Wonderful words they were. And as he thought for a while, he he forgot about his lunch and began to think of, "Well, God has been good to me. He's been wonderful to me. And it's been all because of his great love for me." And as he thought of the love of God, the cares and the burdens seemed to lift and the disappointments and the discouragements faded away. That night when he arrived home, he went into the room where the little organ was in the corner and sat down and composed the words. Well, he had really thought of them earlier in the day, but he put the music to the words of the first verse and the stanza and the second verse. also a refrain and it was the words of a song about the greatest theme in all the world. The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen could ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest heaven. [Music] [Music] Oh love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong. It shall forever more endure the saints and angels song. Could we within the ocean feel? Or were the skies of parchment made? Were every stock on earth a quill? And every man ascribe by trade. [Music] Who right the L of God above would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky. [Music] Oh love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong. It shall forever more endure. The saints, the [Music] angels, you know, there's a very unusual verse of scripture in the Bible. I don't know whether you've ever seen it in your Bible or not, but I want to read it to you and then I want to talk about it tonight. Here it is. It's in the 20th chapter of Isaiah. Uh, pardon me. It's in the 20th verse of the 28th chapter of Isaiah. Here it is. For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. Isn't that a very unusual verse? I'd never seen that till a few days ago, and I'd read the Bible several times. I want to talk about that tonight because here we find a picture of Isaiah the prophet. He is pronouncing judgment upon all the nations round about the nation of Israel. He says, "Judgment is going to fall on this nation. judgment is going to fall on that nation. Judgment will fall on that nation. And then he points to Samaria and he says, "Judgment is going to fall on Samaria because Samaria has made an alliance with hell. And Samaria has made a deal with the powers of darkness." And then he turns to his own nation of Israel and the nation that he loved, the nation that he was born in, the nation that had nurtured him. And he says, "God's judgment is going to fall on you, too, Israel, unless you repent of sin. You too have made a league with darkness. You too have made an alliance with hell. You too have gone down to Egypt and made an alliance with those fellas down there instead of trusting in God. You've made an alliance with all these other people around you instead of with God. You've trusted in your horses and in your chariots and in your bows and in your arrows and spears and swords and arament rather than an almighty God. And as a result, the judgment of God is going to fall on you, too. I think that Isaiah would say that to America today if he were here. I think Isaiah would say that to you, Mr. and Mrs. America, that we've made an alliance. We're trusting in our atomic bombs. We're trusting in our jet planes. We're trusting in all of our armaments. We're trusting in all of our natural resources. We're trusting in the industrial might of America at this crucial hour of our history. And I want to tell you that all the atomic bombs and all the jet planes and all the industrial power of America and all of our tremendous natural resources are never going to save the American nation unless we trust also in God. Our forefathers put in God we trust on our coins. They put a Bible in every courtroom in America. They came here trusting God. And then Isaiah says to the nation of Israel that he would say to us tonight, he says, "Your clever ideas to escape the judgment of God is like a man trying to sleep on a bed that's too short for him or trying to sleep on a cold winter's night when the cover is too narrow for him." And I think that Isaiah would say the same thing to the American people. Your clever ideas to escape the judgment of God and to escape the third world war and all of those other things that we're hearing talked about today. Your bed is too short. Your covers are too narrow. And to you too, Mr. and Mrs. America. Personally, he would say that to you because there are great many of us that are trusting in, for example, wealth. You're trusting in your money to save you. You're trusting in money for security. You know, the Bible teaches that wealth can be the root of all blessing. But the Bible teaches that the love of money can be the root of all evil. I talked to a man the other day. He said, "I have $800,000 in the bank." That's quite a lot of money to have in the bank. He says, "I have trust for all of my children." He said, "I'm well taken care of for the future." But he said, "I feel a sense of insecurity." Wealth does not bring security. It's a bed that is too short. The cover is too narrow in time when you have to face God out yonder one minute after death. And then there's another thing that many people are trusting in. Many are trusting in knowledge. I talked to a young man the other day. He said, "Uh, I've been to school. I've gotten an education. I have a PhD degree." But he said, "I still have a sense of insecurity." In other words, the bed of knowledge was too short. The covers were too narrow. It doesn't bring him security. It doesn't solve the innermost problems of his soul. With all of his knowledge, oh, there are thousands of people have knowledge today, but very few have wisdom. Why? Because wisdom comes from God. And then there are other people that are trusting in pleasure. They're going out to try to drown their sorrows and try to drown their disappointments and their frustrations. I know a lot of people that have gone into drink or they've gone into sex irregularities. They've done all types of things to try to drown their sorrows and they can't. They still have their problems. They still have their difficulties. They still have their sorrows. They're still with them. The next morning, the old hangover's there because pleasure is too short and insecure to bring real lasting joy and happiness and peace and security. The bed is too short, the covers are too narrow. And then there are a lot of people today that are trusting in their morality to save them. They are just like the rich young ruler. I've kept the law from my youth up. I've been a good man, he said to Jesus. But Jesus said, that's not enough. You have to have more than that. Have you committed your life and your heart to Jesus Christ? That's the only bed that's long enough. That's the only cover that's wide enough. In the day when we stand before God is personal faith in Jesus Christ. Morality is not enough. Because the Bible says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." In other words, all your good works, all the good life that you lead will not get you to heaven. And then the last thing a lot of people are trusting in is philanthropy. I talked to a man some time ago that had given away $100 million in the last two years. That's a lot of money to give away. And he said, "I think I'm pretty good in the sight of God." I know that's not enough. It must be faith in Jesus Christ because giving away all of that money, the bed is too short. The covers are too narrow. Are you ready to meet God? Is your bed long enough? Are the covers wide enough in the day of judgment when God is going to judge the world? I know that I'm saved. I know that I'll never come under condemnation and judgment when God judges the world. Why? Because of my personal faith in Jesus Christ. You can have the same assurance, the same peace, the same hope, the same joy that I have by letting Christ come into your heart right now. And if you will, I'm going to ask you to bow your head and pray with me, will you? I'm going to pray for you right now that you might know Christ as your savior. Our father and our God, we pray in Jesus' name that many that are watching me at this moment might come to know Christ as Lord and Savior by simple commitment and surrender to him as Lord and Master. For we ask it in his name. Amen. If I could pray like a child again upon my mother's knee. [Music] Recall the prayer that I uttered there and from my sins be free. I pray for faith that I had been and nod and moan with each amen and learn to live to love and forgive. Could I pray like a child again? [Music] I'd pray for faith that I had then and and mourn with thee. Amen. I'd learn to live to love and forgive. Could I pray like a child of God? [Music] Good morning. [Music]