Respected, Religious, But Lost | October 26, 2025 AM

Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look

us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

You open your Bibles, please. Acts chapter 10 this morning,

Acts 10 · chapter mention

the book of Acts and chapter #10 And as you turn there, I want to

talk to you about an event that took place not in Acts chapter

Acts 10 · chapter mention

10, but in Acts chapter #16 about 10 years or so after what

we're about to read in Acts chapter #10 because I think it

will illustrate very well what we're going to look at here in

just a moment. In Acts chapter #16 Paul and

Silas are on their second missionary journey.

And as they are in a place called Philippi, as they're

preaching the gospel for the very first time in Europe, they

meet a woman who is possessed by demons.

And this woman is being used by wicked men to be able to make

money off of her abilities to fortune tell.

Well, Peter and rather Paul and Silas see this woman in her

distress and through the power of God released her from the

power of the devil that's upon her life.

Now there was an uproar that took place in the town and

because of what they did, believe it or not, they were

thrown into prison. Their only crime, just doing the

work of the Lord and preaching the word of God.

And they were there in those stalks by day and into the

evening. And I don't know about you, but

if I was in prison for a crime I didn't commit, I would add a tin

cup and would have been going right against those bars and

going let me out of here, let me out of here.

That was what I would be doing. But these men are doing what?

They're singing praises to Jesus Christ.

They're singing hymns there in the prison.

And it was there in the midst of the praises to God that they

were offering there amongst those in the prison, that all of

a sudden the earth shook and God miraculously opened the doors to

not just their prison cell, but all of the prison cells.

And the warden of the prison jumps up and is startled by the

events of what are taking place, realizing that if these men

escaped, that it will be their lives paid by his life being

this, that there won't be a slap on the wrist.

He won't be fired from his job. He literally will have to give

up his life because of what's about to take place.

And so Paul says immediately, no, no, don't harm yourself.

We're all accounted for it. I have to wonder, those other

prisoners are saying, speak for yourself, Paul, like we want to

go. But Paul says, no, we're all

here. Don't harm yourself.

And that that warden, he, he falls down at their feet and he

asked this question. He says this, What must I do to

be saved? What must I do to be saved?

You know, this question was asked about 2000 years ago, but

it's a question that mankind is still asking today.

What must I do to have eternal life?

What must I do to be able to have peace?

What must I do to be able to go to heaven?

And you know, the interesting thing about each of those

statements is this, that it really could all boil down to

these two words. I do.

What can I do to achieve eternal life?

How can I make this happen? Well, today in Acts chapter 10,

Acts 10 · chapter mention

we're going to look at a man who seemed to check all the boxes.

If any man was ever going to make it to heaven, it would be

this man. He was respected, he was

religious, but ultimately he was very, very lost.

The title of my message this morning is simply that,

respected, religious, and lost. And I hope by the time the

message is over this morning that you'll come to the

realization, as many of us have over the years ourselves, that

it's not about what we do to achieve salvation, but it's

about what Jesus Christ has already done so that we may have

the forgiveness of sins and be saved and have a home with

heaven with him for all eternity.

Would you stand, if you're able, please, for the preaching of or

for the reading of God's Word? Rather, if you're able, please

stand. We'll read Acts chapter 10, but

Acts 10 · chapter mention

we'll look at many of the verses throughout this chapter.

Read Acts chapter 10 the verse 8 verses.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a

centurion of the band called the Italian band.

And some of you might say I've never heard of the Italian band.

What kind of music did they play?

It's not talking about that kind of band, OK.

It's talking about a centurion, a man who is over 100 soldiers.

And these hundred soldiers were called together the Italian band

because they were swearing allegiance to Caesar.

They were from Italy. Verse 2A Devout man, and one

that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to

the people, and prayed to God, always sounds like a great man.

He saw in a vision, evidently about the ninth hour of the day,

about 3:00 in the afternoon, an Angel of God coming into him,

and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he

was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord?

And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come

up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and

call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter.

Now, if you've been here the last few weeks, we know we've

been looking a lot at Peter, have we, in the growth that he

has achieved in his life through the power of God?

Or six? He lodgeth with one Simon, a

Tanner, whose house is by the seaside, and he shall tell thee

what thou oughtest to do. And when the Angel which spake

unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household

servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him

continually. And when they had declared, when

he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to

Joppa. What do we see?

He was respected by the people. He was religious.

He was playing, praying to God always.

But there's only one problem. He was utterly and completely

lost. And I don't want you to leave

this building today thinking that it's religion that gets you

to heaven. I don't want you to leave here

today thinking that it's what you do that gets you to heaven.

I don't want you to leave here today thinking that it's

becoming a Baptist and coming to a Baptist Church to get you to

heaven. But it's only by trusting in the

gospel message that one believes in Jesus Christ and is saved.

Salvation isn't just believing in a God, it's believing in the

gospel. Salvation isn't just believing

in a God, it's believing in the gospel.

Why don't you be seated as we pray together?

Heavenly Father, I do pray to you.

Help me as I preach this word. I know what you have for me

today, for us. Lord, I humbly want to give it

with the power and authority that it needs to be given.

So Lord, I do pray that you'll be with us today and that each

one of us could inspect our own lives to make sure we are of the

faith. Lord, I thank you for everyone

coming here today for taking the time to be in your house.

I pray your blessing upon your word as only you can, and we ask

it in Jesus name, Amen. So the Bible here in Acts

Acts 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10 talks about a man named Cornelius, a centurion who

is part of this elite group of soldiers that are called the

Italian band. And there's a few things that

you need to know about him. And the outline is pretty simple

to follow because basically the outline is the title, the

message. First of all, we see he was a

man who was respected. He was a man who was respected.

Look again in verse #2 it says a devout man and one that feared

God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people and

prayed to God always and focused in for a moment on that phrase,

gave much alms to the people. Now you understand that if

Cornelius was a member, a centurion of the Italian band,

that meant that he was part of the Roman Empire.

And may I remind you this morning that the Roman Empire

were oppressors to the Jews. In fact, the Roman Empire were

oppressors too. Well, much of the known world at

that time because they had conquered much of the known

world. And so here is Cornelius.

He is there in this place called Caesarea.

He is of the occupying force. And he as an occupier, he as a

one who is over this place militarily, yet is still giving

alms to the people, which he is oppressing.

Now, he himself is not oppressing the people

necessarily. Seems like he's a really good

man in a lot of ways, but he is part of the occupying army.

But yet he realizes that even though I'm part of the occupying

Roman army, want to do good for these people, I want to treat

him well. I want to do right.

He was a very generous man, which by the way, he didn't need

to be a generous man. No one's expecting him to be a

generous man. I wouldn't imagine that anyone

would look at a man named Cornelius and say, I bet this

guy will be really generous to us.

They were expecting quite the opposite.

But he was a man who actually commanded much respect.

In fact, verse #22 says this, and they said Cornelius the

centurion, a just man, one that feareth God and have a good

rapport among all the nation of the Jews.

So not only was he giving alms, that meant he was giving money

and he was giving material support to those who were Jews.

Not only that, they felt good about him, they liked him.

Perhaps we could even say they had some affinity and maybe even

some love for this man. This man was an exceptional man

in a lot of ways, maybe more so than we would realize just at

our first reading. You know, there are many who are

very generous with their wealth and there are many who take the

wealth of which they've received and are very generous with it.

I think even here in the town of Easton, that the Ames family is

one that's held in very high regard.

Over the years, the Ames family helped settle this area.

The Ames family started the shovel shop many years ago from

which much income was derived here in this area.

Much of the land for a great period of time was owned by the

Ames, but yet the Ames ended up giving away much land.

The Ames family ended up giving away much property and much

money. In fact, I know of two different

churches in our town that either received buildings or property

from the Ames family. Now, I haven't talked to anybody

from the Ames family lately. Maybe that's what I've been

missing for us to get our own building.

But that has happened over the years, and the land that Stoned

Hill College is on, it was Ames land, the land that our town

hall is, an Ames house, all of that.

They were very generous, and we see this in lots of different

places. Go to Boston and go down

Longwood Ave. and find all the hospitals that are there in that

area. Each one of them have a name of

a family. Each of them have a name of a

group of people, whether it's Moakley or Yaki, names we might

know or names we don't know. But we know that there are

people who have been benevolent with their funds, even the Yaki

family, owners of the Red Sox for many years, starting the

Jimmy Fund, of which children have received money for cancer

treatments. Very generous with that.

Growing up in Tampa, George Steinbrenner, a lot of people

don't want to talk about him, but owner of the Yankees was

from Tampa, FL and I you can't turn anywhere in Tampa without

something being named after George Steinbrenner because of

him giving money to these different pursuits.

Children's hospitals, museums, parks, schools, all of these

named after George Steinbart. People who have had good

reports, people who have given, could we put it this way, much

alms people who have lots of respect, but nowhere listen.

But nowhere in the word of God, as wonderful as those things can

be, but nowhere in the word of God as wonderful as being

benevolent could be. To an area or to a town or to a

college or to a hospital. Nowhere does this type of

activity save us all. Nowhere in the Word of God do we

find that someone can give enough.

Could you imagine the pay for play?

The idea that if you give enough that you could have entrance

into heaven? That's not what we see in the

Word of God. That's not what we see in the

least. In fact, Mark 836 helps us to

understand this thought process when it says for what shall it

profit a man if he gains the whole world?

So let's say someone had the whole world, They amassed the

whole world, they collected it, they bought and purchased it for

themselves, or maybe even gave it away to someone else.

But what shall profit a man if he gains the whole world and

loses his own soul? Building a hospital, helping the

homeless, giving back to the community while good in its

proper place is never a substitute for a real

relationship with Jesus Christ. I talked to a gentleman here

just over the last couple weeks and I don't want to say his name

or what he does because my prayer that he'll be coming to

church here sometime over the next few weeks and months.

And I was able to give him a track and talk to him.

He was helping us out with the church with a certain project

and gave us a price that was far below what market value would

have been on that project. And he said this to me.

He says, well, hopefully this will help me make it through the

pearly gates. And I looked at him and I called

him by name and I said I don't have that kind of authority.

I said, and that's not how people are saved.

And I was able to give him a track and talk to him and said,

well, you know, please don't change the price.

We're thankful for the price, but be very, listen, I'd rather

pay full price if it meant that he understood that that wasn't a

way that he was to get to heaven.

But I was able to talk to him about the Lord and be able to

use that as an opportunity to tell him, no, that's not how a

soul is saved. Could you imagine if that was

how God had a soul to be saved, that you and I would have to

give enough? And what would happen if we

didn't have enough? And how much would be enough?

And where would be enough enough be enough?

But no, God's plan is much different.

It's not just about being respected.

This man, Cornelius, he was respected, but he wasn't just

that. He was also religious.

He was religious. Look at verse #2 there were

several things that we saw there.

He was a devout man. That word devout means this,

yielding A solemn and reverential attention to God in

religious exercises. He was one that feared God.

There's no doubt that he had great reverence and respect for

God, at least in some element of his life.

It says this. He prayed to God always.

Now listen, believer, how many of you could say that this

morning? Do you pray to God always?

I know for me prayer is sometimes times is one of the

most difficult parts of the Christian life, isn't it, to

pray consistently. But here's a guy here who he's

praying to God and the Bible says, no, this isn't someone

else saying it. The Bible records in it's truth

that he's praying to God on a constant basis.

And this is a religious man. And maybe what's most incredible

about this was this was not a man who came from the Jews.

This is a man who very likely grew up in Italy, that man who

grew up within the Roman Empire in the pantheon of Roman gods,

of which they had Jupiter, Augustus, Mars, Venus.

These are all gods of which he would have come from a land

where they were worshipped. But sometime he came to Judea,

and at some point he got there and he realized there's an

emptiness here. There's something here that's

not satisfying. And he was searching.

He was searching for something more, but he was religious.

He was going through all of the motions.

By the way, is there anything wrong with being devout?

No. Is there anything wrong with

fearing God? I'd suggest to you that the

Bible talks to us quite a bit about making sure we have the

right type of the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord's,

the beginning of wisdom, the fear of the Lord's, the

beginning of knowledge, the fear of the Lord's, the beginning of

a lot of things. Just open up the book of

Proverbs and you'll find a lot of those verses that are there.

Is there anything wrong with praying to God always?

There's nothing. In fact, it's quite the

opposite. It's a wonderful thing, but

what's wrong with these actions is when they're not anchored to

Jesus Christ and Christ alone, and when they're not anchored to

the fact that, as we just talked about last week, that they are

not to be saved, but rather that we do them because we're saved.

And this man was religious. He went through the motions.

He thought that that might be enough.

How you say, Well, how do you even know that he's not saved?

That's conjecture on your part, Pastor.

How do you know? Well, I know because I've read

the rest of the story and beyond that we know this, that he had a

vision that came from God and God said this.

I'm going to send someone to you who's going to tell you the

truth about the gospel. I'm going to send someone who's

going to tell you the real way. I see that your heart is pure

towards me. I see that you have a desire for

me, but you don't understand the whole story.

So I'm going to send someone to you who's going to tell you and

to preach to you the word of God and the truth of the gospel.

Maybe he had never heard of Jesus.

Maybe he'd only heard the Roman version of who Jesus was.

Maybe he was confused about these things.

But this is what we know. He was not saved at this point,

even though he was going through the motions.

I know from my own testimony growing up that being a

Lutheran, that there was a lot of ritual that we did.

We lit the candles in a certain order.

We extinguished the candles in a certain order.

We approached the altar with a bow.

We left the altar with a bow. There was a candle that was

never supposed to go out, a perpetual light that was always

to be shining. There was a certain way of which

we performed communion, and we had to follow that to a tee

every single week or every two weeks.

When our church celebrated what they called the Holy Communion,

there were rites and they were rituals.

And by the way, could I say this?

There can sometimes be a comfort that's associated with those

rites and rituals. You know how I know that?

Because there are many people who say something along these

lines to me. Pastor, I used to be Catholic,

or pastor, I grew up in the Catholic Church, and many times

they're not practicing Catholics for many, many years, but

they'll be a funeral. And usually that's the place

where they come back to the Catholic Church.

There's a funeral. And what do they draw comfort

from? The rituals?

To kneel, to stand, to recite, to kneel, to stand, to speak, to

say, to hear. All those things they did as a

child, all those things they did growing up.

And there could be a comfort with ritual, but the problem

with this is it's a false comfort because salvation

doesn't come through ritual. Salvation does not come through

rote religion. Just going through the motions.

If I do God like things, then I will be saved.

And as I've mentioned to you before, even just a few moments

ago, that includes some of the things that we do even as

Baptists. Well, I come to the Baptist

Church, I give to the Baptist Church, I attend the Baptist

Church. My membership is on a Baptist

Church roll. I do the Baptist Church thing.

So, pastor, that means I need to be saved because or I am saved

because I've done these things. Listen, that will get you as

close to salvation as the rosary will.

Amen. Which means it won't get you

there. Salvation by works.

To be able to save yourself by your own works is like trying to

button up a shirt wrong. I just did this this week.

You know, you're button it up and you get to the end.

You're like, this doesn't add up.

You know, maybe if I lean over like this the rest of the day

everything will work out. But you know, salvation by

works, it makes sense for a while until you get to the end

and you realize it doesn't line up.

And by then it's eternally too late to do anything about it.

What do we do? We say, listen, it's not

religion that saves us. He was saved.

He was or he was respected. He was religious.

But what do we see? Ultimately?

He was lost in the verses. After our text, God sends Peter

to send the message of the gospel to Cornelius.

By the way, do you know who wanted Cornelius to be saved?

God did. Could I give you some good news

this morning? Do you know who wants you to be

saved today? God does.

The same God who desired for Cornelius to be saved almost

2000 years ago is the same God who wants you to call upon him

today to be saved. It's that same God.

It's the same Jesus Christ who died on the cross.

It's the same Holy Spirit who's working within your heart.

It's the same you say that's an old dusty book and it has

nothing to do with me today. Listen, it's the most relevant

book you will ever read in your life and it has everything to do

with your life today and it had everything to do with your

eternity as well. His need for Christ was real.

So Peter comes and what does Peter do?

Well, we know what Peter would do back in the old days.

He would have been like, what am I doing here?

Peter did what he's been doing so well since he's been growing

as he preaches the Word of God. Drop down to verse #34 I wish we

could take time to go through all these verses here in a real

detailed way, but look at this. So then Peter opened his mouth

and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of

persons, but in every nation He that feareth him and worketh

righteousness is accepted with him.

What is he saying? Listen, he's saying this, that

it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor.

God is no respecter of person. It doesn't matter if you're from

one nation or another. God is not a respecter of

persons. It doesn't matter if you speak

one language or another. God is not a respecter of

persons. He desires that all come to

repentance. He requires that desires that

all come to him, the word of God, the word which God sent

unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ.

How is peace achieved by Jesus Christ?

Well, when will there be World Peace?

When Jesus Christ reigns, it will reign someday.

That's why we need to know Him now, because He will rule and

reign. It is the King of kings and the

Lord of Lords. Peace comes by Jesus Christ and

Christ alone. That word I say you know, which

was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee

after the baptism with John, preached how God anointed Jesus

of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.

Who went about doing good. Remember when we looked at that

last week and went about doing good and healing them who were

oppressed of the devil? For God was with him, and we're

all witness of these things which He did both in the land of

the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree.

Him God raised up the third day and showed Him openly.

Do you see the gospel is being preached here, and Peter's

giving him the straight gospel that He lived, He died, he

resurrected. Why?

For the sins of all mankind, not to all the people, but unto

witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink

with Him after he rose from the dead.

And he commanded us to preach under the people, to testify

that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick

and dead to him give all the prophets witness.

Look at this, that through his name whosoever believeth in him

shall receive remission of sins. He says this, Cornelius, you're

a good man, but good men are lost without Jesus Christ.

He said you need Jesus Christ. Your problem, Cornelius, is you

haven't accepted the gospel message.

He says in verse #43 to him, give all the prophets witness.

Do you know what he's saying? He's saying the Old Testament

speaks of this. Have you ever wondered why the

Old Testament's important? Ever wonder why we read it?

Ever wonder why it's even in the Bible in the 1st place?

Because the Old Testament gives us a preview of who Jesus Christ

is. Every page from Genesis 11 all

the way the end of the book of Malachi, all speaks of Jesus

Christ. I had a list that I'm not going

to read it for the sake of time, but of some, just some of the

promises that Christ's coming and that Christ's life and that

Christ's death and Christ's resurrection fulfilled, just

some of them would boggle your mind.

It couldn't be replicated, it couldn't be faked or forced.

It could only be this, that God fulfilled them because Jesus was

God and salvation is only through Jesus Christ, it's only

through his name. It says the one who is the

righteous judge. The Old Testament gives the

Word, the New Testament confirms who he is in the Word.

And today it's our job just to trust in Him and that gospel

message. It's amazing to me to see

someone's life when they transform, when they realize

that it's not about what they do, but what Christ has done and

how their life changes forever. When the light bulb turns on,

when they finally know it. I've talked to many who are in

all types of different religious experiences who will be on their

deathbed and they'll say something like this.

I wish I knew if I'm going to heaven.

You know, that was never the intention of Jesus Christ coming

to this world, that people would then leave this world and never

know what they were saved. You go to a Catholic funeral.

I mentioned this before here, and I go to several of them to

be able to, to to be there for different families at different

times, but there are different rituals that take place in the

hopes of that person who passed away could someday achieve

eternal life. Nowhere in the Bible does it say

that there's anything that you and I can do in this life that

could give eternal life to someone else.

Nowhere in the Bible does it teach that there's a place

called purgatory, that if you just happened to miss out on

that which the Bible said, that there'll be a time of holding an

eternal penalty box, if you will, that you can sit for a few

minutes and eventually you'll get out and be able to have that

which you desire. You know, the Bible says this.

Now is the appointed time. Now we call upon Jesus Christ

our Savior. Isaiah 64 verse 6 says this.

Isaiah 64:6

But we are all as an unclean thing and all our

righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we all do fate as a

leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.

All, all of our good works are just filthy rags because of our

sin. Could you imagine?

After church today, we say, hey, we have a free car wash after

church. The first of all, that'd be

probably pretty wild, all things considered, to be able to have

that in the, you know, after church.

But let's say a free car wash after church, we'll line all the

cars up and we're going to make sure all your cars are clean.

And you say, well, how are you going to do that?

Well, we got a hose connected next door because we don't have

any outdoor water here in our building.

So I have to, you know, hopefully pay back the the

people next door for the water that we use over there.

But then we tell you this, we're going to clean your car by using

some rags we borrowed from a local mechanic.

They use them to clean up their oil, but we're going to use

those rags to be able to clean up your car.

And you say something like this. You know, Pastor, I really

appreciate it. But I think our car's fine.

Thank you. Now, why would you say that?

Because it would be foolish to clean something with filthy

rags. I wouldn't clean my car with a

filthy rag. You'd use something that was

clean. You'd use something that was

pure. And to be able to try to clean

your own soul with your own works is like taking a filthy

rag and trying to clean yourself.

It just smears everything. It just makes a mess.

It'll never make a soul clean. But listen, the precious blood

of Jesus Christ, which is pure, which is efficacious enough to

save every soul of all time if they all call upon Jesus Christ,

but we're talking about you today.

If you call upon Jesus Christ to save you today, his precious

pure blood can cleanse you of all of your sin, not your

religion, not your respect of your peers, but about what Jesus

already did on the cross. Remember Acts chapter 16 a few

Acts 16 · chapter mention

moments ago, That man who said, what must I do to be saved?

That occasion that took place about 10 years after this text

that we're reading right here. Well, Paul said this to him.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy

house. Now you say why in the house?

Because the message wasn't just good for the jailer.

The message was good for anyone who would hear it.

Listen, this message is good today for anyone who hears it

for all time. Why?

Because it's the eternal message of the gospel through Jesus

Christ. Say, well, if it's always

available, then I'll think about it and I'll avail myself of it

later. There's only one problem with

that. The problem is this.

The Bible says that life, James chapter 4 is like a vapor.

James 4 · chapter mention

It's here 1 moment and it's gone the next.

To take water like this and to create it into a mist and to see

it float in the air and it's there one moment and it's gone

the next. Your life is like that.

Say, well, my life feels kind of long.

Maybe you feel like Jacob. He says many are my days and

full of trouble. That's what he said.

He says I've been around a long time and then I've seen a lot of

trouble. I've been alive.

Listen, in the light of eternity, your my life is

nothing. We have a very short time.

And by the way, we don't know how long that time is.

I have a dear friend of mine started a church the same time

that we did. He and his wife as we were

starting the church here in Easton, they're starting a

church in Fairfield, CT. We were on deputation.

They were on deputation the exact same time, exact same

ages. As they were traveling, they

found out his wife had ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease.

They still planted the church about two years after getting to

Fairfield, CT. They she passed away young,

early 30s. Just over the last year or so,

her husband, who's since been remarried, found out that he has

cancer. His cancer is deep, went through

some very difficult treatments. It required him to be in a

hospital for a month and not be around anybody.

Just found out yesterday by watching online that all of the

things that have been done, all of the treatments that have

taken place have all been unsuccessful and unless the Lord

intervenes that he will also perish.

A little boy now without a father and a mother, very likely

both dying one or in the 30s, one in the 40s say, pastor, I

thought we came here to be encouraged today.

You're not very encouraging. I understand that the

encouragement comes in this. Except Jesus Christ today

because you don't know that you have tomorrow, that Jesus Christ

has created today to be the Today that you can know him as

your Savior. You know God will go to great

lengths to convince someone to be saved.

How do I know that? Well, he used an Angel for

Cornelius. He used an earthquake for a

jailer. I read this just this last week.

This is incredible. In the mid 1800s, Scottish

teenager William McKay left for college where endless parties

consumed. And look at that, even in the

1800s, college life was party life.

His godly mother, concerned for his soul, gifted him a Bible

inscribed with his name and a scripture verse.

Desperate for whiskey money, he sold it.

Eventually he graduated and became a hospital doctor, yet

grew more wicked, scorning his mother's God and prayers for his

salvation. One day a hopelessly injured

laborer fell from a ladder and arrived alone at his hospital.

Conscious of his fate, he asked to see his landlady to settle a

debt and say her farewell, requesting that she bring the

book. She would know what he meant.

For a week, William visited daily, struck by the man's

almost serene and joyful face in the midst of his suffering.

Knowing him as a Christian, William avoided spiritual talk

after death, settling affairs. The nurse held up the man's

Bible, worn from the constant reading pages loose, torn and

underlined. To William's shock, that Bible

was his own, his mother's handwriting still inside the

Bible that he had sold for whiskey those many years ago.

Deep shame overwhelmed him. This precious gift, sold

cheaply, had comforted the dying man into peaceful, eternal life.

Hours later, William knelt, receiving Christ as a Savior.

He became a preacher and penned to him that we sing here at

Liberty Baptist Church. And I never even knew this.

We praise the O God, for the Son of thy love for Jesus, who died

and has now gone above. Hallelujah thou in the glory.

Hallelujah, Amen. Hallelujah thou in the glory.

Revive us again, Say God will go to great lengths, huh?

Yeah, he will. You want to know how great

lengths God will go? He brought you to Liberty

Baptist Church today on a friends and family Sunday.

He had you tune into a online live stream.

Maybe you're watching this days or weeks later, I don't know.

He brought you to this place to be able to hear this message.

Why? Well, for one reason and one

reason only, He wants you to be saved today.

You can be respected. You could be religious and

completely and totally lost. There will be many who miss

heaven by 18 inches. Ever heard that before?

They miss heaven by 18 inches. What does that mean?

They know about Jesus in their head, but the distance to their

heart, 18 inches. And never trusting Jesus Christ

their Savior. Listen, salvation isn't just

believing in a God, it's believing in the gospel, which

means this, the death, the burial, the resurrection of

Jesus Christ to save you from your sins.

Will you call upon Him to save you from your sins today?

Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of

Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing

to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us

know by contacting us at [email protected].

Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,

MA. May the Lord bless you as you

grow in His Word.