So in our orders of worship we have that we are picking up with Romans chapter 10 verses 5 through 13. Actually I'm going to jump forward just a little bit, and I want us to look at verses 13 through 15 because of circumstances this week and things that were going through my mind and that I'm very passionate about. I wanted us to look at Romans chapter 5 verses 13 through 15. If you would stand with me for the reading of the Word of the Lord beginning with verse 13 going through verse 15 let's read together the Word of the Lord for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Amen.

Let's pray. Father, creator of heaven and earth, you who are from everlasting to everlasting, we bless your name forever. You are the Lord, there is none other. You are God, there is none beside you. One God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

Oh God, in our weakness, we pray this afternoon that you would show yourself strong, that you would speak to our hearts by your word, and that you would give the Spirit to work powerfully in our lives, in our hearts, in our minds. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's be seated. I'm convinced that there are far more deathbed conversions than many people suspect.

It is said that the hearing is the last thing to go. I believe that's True. Studies show that EEGs, the electrodes, encephalograms, they record brain wave recordings. They found with these studies with EEGs that many actively dying patients, even patients who were comatose, continued to have brain responses to sound even up to the moment of death. Caregivers and hospice workers and family members notice things like changes in breathing and in facial expressions.

Be they ever so slight or maybe just a finger moving when they hear the voice of a loved one or when someone prays for them or when familiar music is played. I've been thinking a lot about this this week, how hearing seems to be the last thing to go, and how precious are those last hours and minutes of life where the hearing is still in operation. A few days ago, Sandra's father died. Most of you know that. And the day before he died, unable to talk, he was surrounded by family, by his daughter and by many grandchildren who were all telling him of their love for him and sharing the gospel with him and singing hymns to him.

Sandra sent me you know some video clips and after watching the video of the family all gathered around him and giving him hugs and confirming their love to him and sharing the gospel with him and singing hymns to him. I texted back to the family, this is exactly what needs to be happening. This is Exactly what needs to be happening. This is exactly what needs to be happening. I rejoice in my soul Later I sent everyone a link to that Keith Green song your love broke through How many are familiar with the song your love broke through?

And I had underneath the link to his song these words, hoping that the revival meeting at the Millray home this evening took a couple of souls by surprise, and that God's love broke through." We hold out hope. We hold out hope. We hold out hope. In verse 15 of our opening text this afternoon, we read, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. That's peace through Christ.

Peace with God through Christ. And bring glad tidings of good things. I was thinking about also this week how our nation is aging right now. About seven percent of the population of the United States of America today is over the age of 75. 2.5 million people in the United States are currently living in nursing homes and in memory care facilities and assisted living situations in our nation.

And I was thinking that really one of the most needed ministries in this country today, One of the most needed, desperately needed ministries in the United States of America today is a ministry of visitation to the elderly, to widows and widowers, to the elderly, especially in nursing homes. The numbers of precious souls in these facilities who need to hear the gospel of peace and who need to hear glad tidings of good things are overwhelming. As I was thinking about this my thoughts went to that time in the book of Luke where Jesus is sending out the 70 and he's sending them out two by two and how he said do you not say that there are yet four months and then comes the harvest behold I say unto you lift up your eyes lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. They're white already to harvest." And I was thinking, you know how it's so true in our nation today, and if the church in America and families in the churches of America could only lift up our eyes and see, if we would only lift up our eyes and see we would see a great mission field of precious souls Whose greatest need whose desperately?

Greatest need is to hear the gospel of peace. That there is peace with God and rest for their souls, however restless they may be at this very moment. That there is the forgiveness of sins no matter how burdened they may be with the sins and the guilt of their lives, that there is life everlasting even though they see themselves approaching death. And all of these through Jesus Christ our Lord. The harvest is truly great, brothers and sisters but the laborers are few.

Jesus said pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Oh Lord, let it be so. Oh Lord, send forth the laborers into this harvest, for the fields are ripe. The fields truly are ripe. Our opening text this afternoon says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." And he goes on, but how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How shall they believe if we don't tell them? How shall they hear if we don't bring the gospel to them? They need to hear of Him.

And who's going to tell them if not us, and if not now, when? With approximately 530, 000 people passing away in nursing facilities every year in the U.S., It's really a mission field every church should be involved in. 530, 000 die in nursing facilities every year in the United States. It's amazing how simple it is to get started, and I know many of you have done this and some may still be doing this, but it's amazing how simple it is to get started and I know many of you have done this and some may still be doing this but it's amazing how simple it is to get started you just show up like anything else you have to put it on a calendar you have to say okay I'm going to do this we're going to do this our family's going to do this we can only afford five minutes but we're going to go for five minutes. Our schedules are busy.

We have so many other concerns. We're going to take five minutes and we're going to do this. And then you walk in and you know, you tell the staff what you're wanting to do, to visit with some of the residents. And then you just walk the halls or through the community room and start talking to people. Almost everyone in this congregation has done that at some time.

We had a ministry to the nursing home for many, many years and almost everybody participated. You know how it works. You just start talking to people. You adopt a grandma or you adopt a grandfather. You adopt someone, you go to someone and you just begin to talk to them and, Lord, lead me to the one that you want me to minister to and who will minister to my soul as well as I minister to him or her.

And then you just start talking and engaging in conversation. And they may not remember when you come back the next time, but you can assure them when you leave, we're coming back again, I'll be back, I'll be back. And it gives them hope. Maybe it only gives them 60 seconds of hope. Maybe they're in the memory care portion and you only have 60 seconds of hope, but they have 60 seconds of hope that they wouldn't have had if you hadn't been there.

And again, I was just thinking about all these things this week and what the impact might be if just one church or one family in every church in America adopted a widow or a widower at a nursing home in their community. Can you imagine if just one family, what if every family did? Can you imagine the ministry? Can you imagine the impact on lives on those 530, 000 souls that are entering into eternity every year in the United States, the possible impact. Many of them have no one.

They just don't have anyone. And they need our love, and if they aren't believers, they need the love of Christ. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. How beautiful. How beautiful.

You know, with 530, 000 people dying in nursing homes every year in the United States that's nearly 1, 500 people a day passing into eternity. It's like 1, 460, 1, 070 people a day passing into eternity. It's staggering. What a blessing it is for believers in nursing homes to have a brother or sister in Christ visiting them regularly and encouraging them. So, you know, you're ministering, you're going, and maybe this person is a believer.

It's not an unbeliever that you need to share the gospel with, but it's a believer that you need to live out the gospel with. And it can be so encouraging, so encouraging to them. And what a blessing it is for the lost souls to have someone to share Christ with them. Maybe you're one of those that's been asking God, Lord what do you want me to do? Or maybe you've been praying, Lord what can I do to help advance your kingdom?

What can I do? What can little old me do? What can I do? What can little old me do? What can I do?

What can I possibly do? And maybe there's an answer in this. But back to the dying bed for a minute. A dying bed is a blessed bed if it's the bed of a soul who has come to trust in Christ in that dying bed. On July 13th of this year, Pastor John MacArthur passed away.

He preached for 56 years at the same church in California, and in his life and ministry he's been used of God to impact millions of people. His funeral was yesterday. Close associates said that on the day that John MacArthur died in between his last breaths He said these words. I feel no sting I Feel no fear Close quote. MacArthur was referring to 1st Corinthians 1555 where the Apostle Paul writes, Oh death, where is thy sting?

Oh grave, where is thy victory? For the believer death has been conquered by Christ, its sting removed, its power vanquished. Dr. MacArthur put it this way in one of his sermons at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, quote, the sting of death for the Christian, gone. I think I saw him actually preach that sermon.

The sting of death for the believer, gone. Death is now a welcome friend. Death is disarmed. Death is defanged. Death for us has been destroyed." Close quote.

In another sermon he said quote, all death can do to the believer. Please listen to this. All death can do to the believer is deliver him to Jesus. It brings us into the eternal presence of our Savior. Close quote.

For the believer this is true. Everything that MacArthur has said. For the unbeliever, of course, this is not so. There is fear in death, and that fear is justified, and that fear can be an asset when on a dying bed the unbeliever is presented with the gospel. Some of us have been in the presence of lost loved ones in the hours or minutes leading up to their death.

Many of us will likely be in the presence of lost loved ones as they're dying at some future date. I think it's undeniable that on a dying bed, The defenses of unbelievers are weakened. On a dying bed, when a lost soul is finally convinced that recovery can no longer be hoped for, I think lifelong fortifications begin to crumble. I think bulwarks are eroded and long-held positions prime to be reassessed. When the unbeliever comes to realize that all of his or her pushback against the gospel is about to be put to the final test, I think one's confidence is shaken.

When a soul comes to understand that death is at the door, gambling with the eternal state of the soul becomes a much more serious matter. It's one thing to live one's life obstinately rejecting any notion of a coming judgment when one's health is sturdy and robust and when one has reason to believe that tomorrow is going to be just like today. It's another thing altogether to find an anchor for that obstinance when a person is fighting for their next breath. The prospect of imminent death serves to shake the confidence of the self-secure who are outside of Christ. And the deathbed becomes a blessed bed if it causes a man or woman to abandon their untenable positions, lay down their arms, and embrace the gospel of Christ.

But though the prospect of imminent death is often used of God to prepare souls to embrace the gospel, The gospel is never received until it's heard. The gospel must be heard. The gospel cannot be received unless the gospel is heard. Romans 10-17 says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God Again John MacArthur writes no one is saved apart from the word of Christ The gospel must be heard the gospel must be heard it must be understood and Believed There is no other means by which saving faith can come." Close quote. Romans 1 16 tells us that The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, which is why it's so important to bring the gospel to the hearing of those who are dying.

Christ, brothers and sisters, Christ, Christ is the only lifeline of hope that sinking souls can take hold of by faith on a dying bed. The only lifeline of hope. The world's deathbed doctrine says, The best thing you can do for a person when they're dying is to make them comfortable. How many times have I heard this? When the truth is that comfort before death is only profitable if there is a reasonable certainty of eternal comfort after death.

What is a person profited if he should enjoy temporal comfort at the end of his life, only to be eternally tormented in the life to come. The world's deathbed remedy says turn up the morphine so that that person dying can have rest and peace in their final hours. The biblical remedy is if there isn't a reasonable certainty that a body will rest in peace after death is for the thoughts to be stirred by the proclamation of the gospel of Christ in hopes that the conscience may be awakened by the Spirit of the living God. People have long said, rest in peace to loved ones on their dying bed, But the only people who rest in peace after death are those who rest in Jesus before death The only people who rest in peace after death are those who rest in Jesus before death If you know someone who was close to death but you know that person is outside of Christ if not by their words but on account of the way that they've lived their lives or if you're unsure of that person's eternal security because that person's life didn't match his or her profession of faith.

If you look and you say, well, the fruits of the Spirit just aren't there. Give that person the gospel and give that person the gospel again and again and again and again and again. Share the gospel with them. Sing hymns to them. Pray for their conversion because you never know what God might do with a person, a desperate person, on a dying bed.

Our opening text says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Someone might ask, well what if a person can no longer respond verbally? Does that mean they can't be saved? Well what we need to understand is that calling on the name of the Lord is an act of the heart. When a person comes to recognize Christ's authority and rely on his power to save, that's what it means to call in the name of the Lord. I was talking with an unbeliever this past Monday about faith in Christ and how the gospel is the only means by which any person on earth will ever be can be or will ever be reconciled to God.

He was resistant to everything. Pushback, pushback, pushback, pushback, resistance, resistance, opposition. He was throwing every excuse at me he could think of in his attempt to somehow overthrow the universal application of the gospel as the one and only way of salvation. And in his frustration he blurted out, well what about the mentally handicapped? They can't believe like you or me.

They don't have the capacity. And I said in effect you err not knowing the scriptures neither the power of God. I said I know people personally who have the kinds of handicaps you're talking about and they're some of the strongest believers the world has possibly ever known. And many who are last will be first and the first last. Laura Dewey Bridgman was blind and deaf and mute, like 45 years before Helen Keller ever came along.

Laura Dewey Bridgman was blind, and she was deaf, she was mute, and in 1852 she was baptized on a profession of faith in the Baptist Church where she grew up. I was watching a wall builders video where David Barton was displaying, you know he has all of these archives in his library, and he was displaying a letter that Laura Bridgman had written where she was talking about how her father who had recently passed was now standing at the throne of grace. The gospel of Christ is the power of God and the salvation to everyone who believes. As we close, our job is to take the gospel into all the world. How many know we have more resources and luxuries and amenities and comforts than any generation in the history of the world?

How many know we have more ability to facilitate and easily reach the lost than any generation in the history of the world. We have so many means, so many resources, so many comforts. I fear for the church in America. Our job is to take the gospel into all the world. Our job is to tell all the world that Jesus Christ died for our sins, for the sins of his people, and that he was buried, and then he rose again the third day, and that he commands all people everywhere to repent and believe on His name, to turn from their sins to God, to put their trust in Jesus, God's Son, and what He has done and done alone for them to save them, knowing that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, shall be saved.

We can't always know the results of our efforts. Most of the time we probably won't know in this life. But we can always know this. They will not call on Him in whom they have not believed. And they can't believe on him of whom they have never heard and they can't hear unless there's someone sent and willing to go to them and bring them the gospel as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things amen let's pray father the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.

Even as Jesus said, and so we pray, O Lord of the harvest, that you would be pleased to send forth laborers into your harvest and your spirit to work in the hearts of those who hear The good news. For the glory of the name of your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask these things. Amen.