Jack Jurgens's Ministry Library

Gospel from David Gilliland.

[0:01] Now, I’d like to read from the Gospel according to John, in chapter 3.
We often read from this chapter in a meeting like this, and I’ll read briefly from John’s Gospel in chapter 3.
If you have a copy of the Bible, otherwise you can follow with your ear.
If you cannot, follow with your eye. John chapter 3 and verse 1, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
The same came to Jesus by night.

[0:33] Verse 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
And that is reinforced by verse 7, Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
And later in the chapter verse 14, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And then verse 16, So well known 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. And the final.

[1:34] Verse of the chapter, verse 36, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Now, a familiar reading to many, we trust the Lord’s blessing.

[1:50] Upon his good word. One of the questions that I’m often asked when traveling in other countries, people ask, where do you come from? Come from Northern Ireland. And whereabouts in Northern Ireland do you live? And I tell them I live in a town called Lurgan. They say, is it a large town?
Well, it’s a town of maybe just a little less than 30,000 inhabitants. So it’s not a very large town.
Then they sometimes ask, is it an old town? Has it been in existence for a long time?
In actual fact, I often say that the town of Lurgan is very much a Bible town.

[2:31] Because the town of Lurgan was commenced in the year 1610. There was a man by the name of Brownlow was given a piece of ground by King James, and he began to build the town of Lurgan with 42 houses in 1610. King James was the same man who gave authority for that noble translation of the Bible, which became available in 1611. So the town of Lurgan is approximately the same age as the King, James translation of the Bible. If you come to the town of Lurgan sometime, I’ll take you to a very old graveyard. It’s not used today, behind a great big wall, just in the oldest part, of the town. In that graveyard is a very, very unusual grave. And this is what it says.

[3:28] Lived once, buried twice. And when you see something like that on a grave, you begin to ask, what’s the story here? Lived once, buried twice. The name of the lady upon the headstone is a lady by the name of Marjorie McCall. What happened was this, and I hope you’re not squeamish just before tea time. Marjorie McCall took ill, she died, was buried. Some of the ruffians in the town knew that she had a very, very expensive ring on her finger. So when it became dark the night that she had been buried, these boys came to the graveyard and they dug up the grave because they wanted to take the ring. And they had a little bit of difficulty getting the ring off her finger. She had a problem with whatever it was and her hand had swollen and they couldn’t get the ring off, so they decided that they would try and cut the ring. She had been buried just earlier that day and they, proceeded to try and cut the ring but in the process of cutting the ring they She also cut her finger, and she sat up.

[4:44] And of course, they ran away, and they didn’t get the ring. And she clambered out of her coffin, and she walked up round to the top of the corner, up to the street, knocked the door.
When she knocked the door, her husband said to the family, they were all sitting inside quiet and really lamenting her death and very sorry that she’d passed away.
She was relatively young.
And when she knocked the door, her husband said, he said, only my dear wife Marjorie had died.
I would have believed that that was her knock.
So he got up and he went to the door and opened the door and he collapsed.
There she was. So, she lived for another 10 years.
She died and was buried again and the dust of her bones are still to be found in that grave.
So she lived once, but she was buried twice.
I would say for the comfort of everyone, that’s slightly before the days of very exact medical science, but when you’re dead, make sure you’re dead and not buried just accidentally, and don’t give your loved ones heart failure.
Twice, twice, a double, double burial in one night. I want to speak to you about some double.

[6:04] From this chapter very quickly. It’s been a long weekend for many who are here. We appreciate all who are here just now, and I not impose very much upon your time. I don’t want to speak just now about a double burial in one life. I want to speak about a double bear in one life, Because the Lord Jesus said, you must be born again.
Everyone here has already been born once.

[6:35] But I say to us all, from the lips of the Lord Jesus, for a place in God’s kingdom, you must have a second birth.
You must be born again. There must be a change.
Because, well, everybody would like to be in heaven, God’s beautiful home.
And I would say, if you’re going to be in God’s heaven, his beautiful home, you have to be born into God’s family.
Way back over 60 years ago, I was born into the Gillieland family.
That’s a good old Irish name. I was born into the Gillieland family.
But then a number of years later, as a boy, I trusted the Lord Jesus as my savior.
And on that particular Wednesday evening at about a quarter past nine, I was born into God’s family.
And because I’ve been born into God’s family and the big change has taken place, and God is now my father, I am his child.
I am 100% sure that when it comes to the end, I will be in God’s great home.
Can I ask everyone here just now, have you two birthday?

[7:58] The first time we were born, we were born as sinners. We were born into the family of Adam.
And in the Bible, we know what Adam did. And Adam sinned against God. And all the members of Adam’s family, right down to us, right down to this meeting, right down to this present day, all the members of Adam’s family have been born as sinners. And I say to all of us here, dear friends, you must, the Lord Jesus said, the Bible said, you must be born again from these little ones here along the front right up to the friends at the back.
This is not something that is negotiable. This is not something that is optional.
This is something that is absolutely essential. Am I speaking to anyone here and you have allowed the years of life to drift by and and you’re still not born again.
There was a famous preacher in Scotland, his name was Andrew Bonner, and he used to keep a diary, and he wrote in his diary when he was 20 years old, he said, today is my 20th birthday.
Is my twentieth birthday.” And he said, They have not yet been born again.

[9:19] Is there anyone here and you would have to put that down and say today is my 15th birthday, but I am not yet born again. Today is my 45th birthday but I am not yet born again.
Gentlemen and ladies, boys and girls, let us take it seriously. This is not something that we can shell. This is not something that we can wave away with the back of our hand. Every person to be in God’s kingdom, in God’s heaven, there must be two birthdays in a single life. The day when they were born into the human family, then the great day when they were born into heaven’s family.
Actually, my parents, my parents were Christians before I was born.
You say, you were born into a Christian family.
Well, in that sense, in that sense that my mother and my father were both Christians and I was born into their family, and you could say I was born into a Christian family, but I wasn’t a Christian.

[10:33] I was just born a sinner, and there had to be a time when I trusted the Lord Jesus, and I was born again.
So I trust, I trust that we’ll all think about the wonder of it, that God is willing, to take people like us, and by a second birth, bring us into his family, the greatest family in the universe, and ye must be born again.
Again. Two births in one light. But then you say, well, how does this, can this take place? Can this happen for me?

[11:11] I can’t be born again myself. No, you cannot be born again yourself.
But I want to tell you what God has done. God has sent into this world his own Son.
Here’s a very, very big thing. I find this amazing, astounding.
I cannot get my mind round it by the way of explanation. It just leaves me amazed.
I want to speak about two natures in one person.
Well, you say that’s very difficult for us to understand. Well, it is difficult.
I’m speaking to you about the Lord Jesus. Do you know, dear people, the Lord Jesus Christ is God.

[11:58] And he’s also man. You say half man and half God? No.
He has two natures. He is 100% God, and He’s perfectly human in one person.

[12:14] I can’t understand that. We’ve read in this very passage, He’s the Son of God, and He’s the Son of Man.

[12:24] The day came in the history of this world when God punctuated the flow of human history.
And the Bible tells us, when the fullness of the time was come, listen for it, people, God sent forth his Son.
And the blessed Son of God, he came from heaven into history, and he came from eternity right down to earth. And that day that the Virgin Mary led the Savior, the infant Savior, in that manger, she could look down into that manger and say, this babe is my son. And God could look down from heaven and He could say, that babe is also my son. He’s the Son of Man. And that’s why, I’ll tell you people, that’s, That’s why today he can be your savior.
There’s no one like him. God is God. Men are men. Angels are angels.
But there is one person in this whole universe who is both God and man.
One mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
I remember one day I was in the city of Cambridge in England, and someone had given me a copy of the Quran, the holy book of Muslims.

[13:51] And I was sitting in a Starbucks and I was reading through the Quran.
And I’d picked out some verses, surahs, as they talk about, and read for maybe about half an hour.
Then I had to go and I just closed the book and put it into my bag.
And just as I was about to get up, there was a voice behind me.
He said, excuse me, sir, I see you reading our holy book.
I turned around and I met a man. He said he was called Muhammad.
A gentleman he was, a young student at Cambridge University, PhD and so on, he said I would like to tell you something about the Holy Book.
And we had a very interesting conversation for about another 20 minutes.
And he spoke about a number of subjects, very mannerly, very polished, very well educated.
I enjoyed the conversation with him.
And then we came in our conversation to speak about Jesus Christ.
And I said, what do you think about Jesus Christ? Who said Jesus?
Yes, he said, yes, he’s a great prophet.

[14:57] Said there are seven prophets. He talked about Adam was a prophet, and Noah was a prophet, and Abraham was a prophet, and Jesus Christ was a prophet.
And he said the greatest prophet of all was Muhammad, the last and the final prophet.
But he said Jesus Christ was a great teacher, and a great scholar, and a great communicator.
He was a marvelous prophet.

[15:22] So I thought, I’ll ask, I said, the Bible which I read tells me that Jesus Christ was the Son of God.

[15:32] And this boy, young man who’d been so helpful and so mannerly, he said to me, Oh, he said, he’s not the son of God. He said, God, Allah doesn’t have any son.

[15:45] Jesus is a prophet, but he’s not the son of God. Allah doesn’t have sons. I’ll tell you people, that’s what gives the message of the gospel that we preach. Special quality and special dignity.
God is one son.
And it amazes me that for sinners like us, the God of heaven in matchless, measureless love, he gave his one son right into this world.
And it was born on earth and there lived a man that never made a single mistake.
The sinless, spotless, blameless, faultless, flawless Christ.
Christ. What a Savior, God and man. Two births in one life. Two natures in one person. God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. I want to speak to you about two parts in one book.
See, this is the greatest book in the world, and it just splits in here.

[16:56] And in this one book are two parts, and there’s what is called the Old Testament, and there is what is called the New Testament.
Well, you say, which part do you like, and which part do you…
I’ll tell you, we need both parts to give a whole vibe.
The Lord Jesus, actually, you say, why have we got two parts?
Why not just one part, one Bible, one part from A to Z, that is it? Why in two parts?
Well, the old part of the Bible, the Old Testament was written before Christ came.
And it was written to tell us that he will soon be here.
The next part was written to tell us that Christ has come. So that one part makes the forecast, and the other part tells about the fulfillment.
That’s why the Lord Jesus said to this man Nicodemus, he said, Nicodemus, do you see in your Bible way back here, way back in this old part?
As it tells about people that were died.

[18:02] And there was a serpent lifted up upon a pole. And God made the provision and God told him a plan.
And he said that if anyone would look to that serpent, he would live.
He said that was in the old book.
He said, that’s a little picture of me. For he said, the day will come when I will be lifted up upon the cross.
He said, I have to be lifted up. He said, there’s no other way whereby people can be born again.
There is no other way by which people can be brought into God’s family.
I’ll tell you, dear people, listen to this.
God can’t bring us into his family because he smuggles us in.
And God doesn’t bring people into his family and slip them in that no one notices.
If God is going to bring people like us, sinners like us, into his family, I tell you, there’s going to be a price that will have to be paid.
It’s going to be costly, and I’m glad, it thrills my heart to date, just here, right here in Midland Park to tell you that that mighty price was paid in full when the Lord Jesus died upon the cross.
Lifted up was he to die.

[19:20] It is finished was his cry. Now in heaven, exalted high. Hallelujah, what a Savior.
And when the Savior died upon the cross, actually, you see way back in this old part of the Bible, way back early on, it said that it pierced his hands and his feet.

[19:41] And when he came, that’s exactly what happened. They pierced his hand and his feet.
It said a way back in this old part of the Bible that the Lord Jesus, when he would hang upon that cross, that they would gamble for his garments.
It said that a thousand years before he ever came. But when he did come, that’s exactly what happened.
I tell you people, when it comes to getting saved, we do not only have a great Savior, but thank God we have the great scriptures.
And the Bible tells us Christ died.
Good, he really died. suffered shame and pain and disgrace.
And disgrace. But dear people, he did more than suffer, he died.

[20:36] Well, you say, I know he died one day, but the Bible says more that he died for our sin.
And it says more, it says that he died for our sins, according to the scriptures.
And what the Bible said in the old part, Christ has accomplished to finest detail in the new part of the Bible, and we have a complete Bible, and we have a complete Savior. Two parts, two births in one life, two natures in one person. Jesus Christ is God and man. Two parts in one book.
But tell me about a Savior who was coming and a Savior who has come. Thank God he came. We were, singing, was it last night, up in the home there, when I think that God, his Son not sparing.

[21:31] Sent them to die. I scarce can take it in. It’s amazing dear people, we talk about it so often, it’s amazing. I scarce can take it in that on that cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin. Is it any wonder we can tell you today, you can be born again. He died so that we, might be forgiven. He died to do us good, that we might go at last to heaven, saved by his precious blood.
Well, you say, is it that important?

[22:22] Do I really need to be born again? Does it really matter?
Can I not just live my life and forget about all this stuff and just have my own way and do my own thing and go to my own places and I don’t want to worry about all this, all this Christian stuff?
Do I really need? Is it important?
Well, it’s important because I want to speak to you for just a minute about two destinies in one eternity.

[22:52] You see, the message that we preach, it has eternal consequences.

[23:00] We have read in this very passage of the Bible about perishing, and we’ve read about everlastingly.
That’s it. Boys and girls, men and women, that’s it.
Perish. I don’t know, I cannot explain. It’s a word that really upsets me, troubles me, sends a sense of darkness into my mind and soul to think about a soul perishing.
No one here will ever be annihilated. No one here will ever be put out of total existence.
Dear people, it breaks our heart to think there could be people just in this auditorium now who might perish. The awful eternal loss to be in hell forever. It’s unthinkable, it’s unbearable. Take care dear friend, you don’t perish. People who are never born again will perish.
The destiny is eternal doom and desolation and darkness. People who are born again will have eternal life now and thank God they’ll enjoy eternal life in heaven forever. It’s the difference between heaven and hell, for in fact, there was an old preacher in England, way back many years ago, his name was Mr. Ryle, and he said this. He said, if a person is never born again.

[24:29] It’s a pity that he was ever born at all.
Did you get that?

[24:42] All the folks up there, did you catch that? If a person is never born again, it’s a pity that he or she was ever born at all. Lying out before us all tonight is a long measureless eternity without a boundary, without a brink, without a bank that will go on forever.
And I ask you all, dear friend, to think each one of us will face eternity’s ages.
Your soul has to face, in blackness of darkness, our riches of grace.
I conclude.
Very important thing I want to mention as I stop. Two births in one life.

[25:29] Two natures in one person. Two parts in one great book.
The Bible can be trusted. Two destinies in the one eternity, heaven or hell forever.
Just as I close, I want to speak about two categories in one meeting.
The last verse of this great John chapter 3, I call it the millennium chapter of the Bible.
John chapter 3 is the 1,000th chapter in God’s book, and the last verse in this great millennium chapter of the Bible, it says this, he that believeth, he that believeth not.

[26:17] Those are the two categories. And as we bring our brief little message this evening to a close, and I appreciate your kind attention. I want to ask you, dear friend, are you a believer or are you a non-believer? He, that believeth hath. Have you trusted Jesus and his saving power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? I ask you, dear friend, has there been a time when you you rested your weary soul entirely upon Christ and trusted in him and his merit and his love, his grace, his power, his precious blood.
If you have, God has saved you. You’ve been born again.
He that believeth on the Son, ha, everlasting life.
It’s great to be a believer. The satisfaction of it, the security of it.
He that believeth not, shall not see life.

[27:22] But the wrath of God abideth on him.” That’s a predicament to be in. I speak very tenderly, and I speak briefly and plainly to you, dear friend. Pardon me, I’m not going to keep you long, but I want to tell you, if you’re an unbeliever and you leave this meeting still an unbeliever, the wrath of God hovers over your head. And it will just be a matter of a few more summers and a few more hours and a few more days until that wrath over your head as a Christ rejecter descends and sends your soul down to eternal doom. It’s a serious thing to be an unbeliever. Where do you stand as we draw the line? I couldn’t go through the audience. The two aisles split the building. I couldn’t go through the audience and say there’s the line, but you know.

[28:12] Which side are you on? An unbeliever and the wrath of God over your head, or a believer in the possessor of eternal life? The one good thing I have to tell you is this, if you’re on the wrong side of the line, thank God you could change just right now. You might, have come in through some of the doors there, an unbeliever. As you sit in that seat, you, could say just now as a sinner, I will trust Christ as my Savior. And the moment you do, dear friend, you’ll be born into God’s family. You’ll cross the line.
You’ll become a possessor of everlasting life. Have the assurance of your sins forgiven, and have the assurance of a home in heaven throughout the ages of, eternity. Assess your situation. Locate yourselves. See where you are.
Do that please dear friend. See where you are. You say, but I’m quite a nice person.
Now, but you’re no believer.

[29:12] You say, but I’ve thought about this. I bet you’re an unbeliever.
Nothing varnishes it. Nothing coats it over. It’s an unbeliever. And God really takes unbelief, very seriously. An unbeliever. Take a look at where you are. Take a look at where you will be, if you remain as you are. And take a look at where you could be if you were changed.
May God grant, if, if tonight you’re in the wrong position, that you may turn, turn and believe this very art rust in the Savior’s grace and power, and then will your joyous answer be, saved. For a long, I can tell you what side of the line I’m on. I can’t say, dear friend, I’m brilliant. I can’t say I’m highly educated. I can’t tell you that I’m wealthy. I can’t say that I’m famous, but I can tell you this, I’m a simple believer in the Lord Jesus Christ as my saviour. That’s where I stand tonight and I would invite you to cross the line, to the same side and to be saved and satisfied for two births in one life.

[30:22] Two natures in one person. What a Christ, what a saviour, two parts in one mighty book, Look, two destinies in one eternity and two categories just now within the walls of this one building.
May God bless His Word. Thank you for your good attention.
And don’t forget, dear friend, that you must be born again.
And the good news is, by trusting Christ tonight, you can be born again.
May it be so.

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