Hour Of Decision: Loneliness (1950s)

[Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome welcome to another hour of decision it's a great privilege to come back into your home again this week to bring you a message that we trust will change your life and transform your home I'm speaking to a great many of you that are lonely tonight I'm going to speak on the subject of loneliness but first here's clip bars in bevere with a word and a song [Music] you know the other day I had one of the greatest privileges in my life we were down in the city of Jackson Mississippi and after the service one evening a lady came up to us and asked if some of us couldn't come out to the old folks home the next morning and conduct a little service for them I guess you there were about oh 75 or 100 folks who'd been there a good many years the next morning Ted Smith and I went out to the little home and conducted a service we sang and played and talked to them about Jesus after the service was over this lady came up to us who was in charge of the home and said would you like to meet some of the folks I said we'd be delighted to you can imagine the joy of our hearts as we went around from chair to chair shaking hands with the folks who'd come to enjoy the service I remember one lady she was over a hundred years of age she'd lived a long time another lady especially I remember she was in a wheelchair and the lady who had brought her into the room said that this lady hasn't been out of her room for 5 years but she'd heard about Mr Graham and the meetings in the city and she wanted us to bring her out to your service this morning you can imagine the joy of our hearts as we talked to her and as she shared with us some of the joys of her life she told us this you know I don't have a friend left in this world all my loved ones are gone but she said there's one who has never left me nor forsaken me and it's Jesus and you know instead of me being a blessing to her she was the blessing to my heart and I couldn't help but think of the words in in the Bible which Jesus said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee and this lady in her years of loneliness and sorrow had found that Jesus was a friend that Stith closer than a brother [Music] what a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to Bear what a privilege to car Everything To God In Prayer oh what peace we often [Music] forit oh what needless pain we bear oh because we do not car Everything To God In Prayer trials and tempation is there trouble anywhere we should never be discouraged take it to the L in prayer can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrow share Jesus knows out every weakness [Music] make it to the Lord in [Music] prayer a great actress said some time ago I have never been alone but what my heart did not ache and my eyes filled with tears for peace that I'd never found she said I've played before the crown heads of Europe she said I have danced and I have acted in front of thousands of people but she said always I've carried this loneliness in my heart you know the psalmist said something like that the psalmist said this I'm like a pelican in the wilderness I'm like an owl of the desert I watch am and as a sparrow alone upon the Housetop the psalmist said again listen to this I am forgotten as a dead man out of mine I'm like a broken vessel everywhere I go I meet people that I know a lonely we get scores of letters every week from people that say they're lonely there are several types of loneliness and I want to discuss them today and tell you something about the friend that Stith closer than a brother the first one is the loneliness of solitude just to be all alone perhaps a century out in Korea on duty on a cold Winter's Night I remember that I've been in the prairie when only there was the cold Moon above or the howl of a coyote in the distance I've been on the rockstone uh New England Shore and I felt the loneliness of the beating of the Ser I've been alone out in many places in the mountains on a hunt or in other places alone and I know something about loneliness and there's some of you right there that know the loneliness of solitude you're all by yourself not a friend in the world I want to tell you about a friend today that can come into that room right there beside you and be closer than any blood relative that you ever had and then some of you know something about the loneliness of society some of you are tenant dwellers and you do not know what it means to have the handclasp of a friend you're alone in a big city you know I think the worst loneliness in the world is to be in a great City and to be all alone there are some of you that are perhaps you're a country girl and you came to the big city seeking fame and fortune you've been disolution and now you're frustrated and all mixed up and confused and you don't have a friend in all the city well I want to tell you right in that City I don't care which one it is there are scores of churches where the gospel is preached and where you could accept Christ and immediately you would find Scores And even hundreds of friends that would take you in and be a real friend the loneliness of society and then the Bible talks about the loneliness of suffering there are many of you that know what it means to be on a hospital bed you know what it means to suffer Untold physical and spiritual and mental Agony and you have to suffer all alone no one else can share it and then there are others of you that know the loneliness of Sorrow you Stood Beside the gravide of a loved one and the tears have burst forth and you've had tragedy in your life and there there's been the sorrow of life and job said man is Born Into sorrow as the Sparks Fly upward all of us know something about that terrible sorrow of suffering the terrible loneliness of suffering and then there the Bible speaks of the loneliness of sin ladies and gentlemen sin is lonely in one sense oh you say but when I commit sin I'm with somebody I'm with a whole group of people we do these things all together and I'm not alone ah yes but you're alone with your conscience and someday you're going to stand before God's judgment seat alone you know there are many people that have told me when I go out into the future life and stand before the Judgment of God I won't be any worse off than anybody else and if I go to hell I'll be with a lot of other people that's where you're wrong because the Bible says that hell is going to be a lonely place and the Judgment of God is going to be a lonely place your friends won't be there to help you your loved ones won't be standing beside you your wife your friend will not be there you'll stand all alone before God because God is going to take men Man by man and you'll stand before him and you'll know what it means to know the loneliness of sin because sin leads to a lonely future life and then lastly the Bible talks about the loneliness of the Savior when Jesus Christ hung on the cross for our sins Jesus hung there alone no one else could share that suffering no one else could share that Agony he was doing it for you he didn't have to do it but he was doing it for you he was doing it for me he was enduring the loneliness of Hell the loneliness of judgment alone on the cross he treaded The Wine Press of almighty God alone and when he said my God my God why has Thou forsaken me even God had forsaken him the disciples had forsaken him men and women had forsaken him and there he was alone suffering in your place and my place and ladies and gentlemen if you think you can get to heaven any other way except by the cross then you are disillusioned and are being deceived and fooled because God hath ordained and God has predestined that no man will ever get to heaven except by the way of the Cross today you're lonely you can have a friend that Stith closer than a brother in Jesus Christ or perhaps the loneliness of sin and a striking lashing conscience weits you down you can know something about freedom from sin and forgiveness if you ask Christ to come into your heart right now and if you will do it right now will you and I'm going to pray for you bow your head close your eyes right there and let me pray for you our father we thank thee for this friend that thou has given us this friend called Jesus that can forgive our sins and be our constant companion in trial and suffering and sorrow and in solitude for we ask it in Christ's name [Music] amen Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that s the rich like me [Music] I once was lost but now am found was blind but [Music] now [Music] see many danger t and snares I have already C his grace hath brought me safe th far and Grace will Le Le me [Music] a [Music]