In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the concept of God's love and its significance in the world. He emphasizes the depth and incomprehensibility of God's love, describing it as the "soul of the world." The preacher encourages the audience to reflect on their own experiences of receiving God's love and to remain humble and grateful. He also mentions the importance of prayer and studying the Bible, as well as the need for a divine outpouring of the Holy Spirit in order to bring freedom and deliverance to humanity.

Father, we have made an expression in this lovely hymn. Oh, come let us adore him. We hardly know how to do it. If we took the shoes from off our feet, it might be a sign of our respect and reverence, even for this house. But we would do more than that. We would dismantle our thinking of any other thing, and we would stay our minds on this blessed, wonderful event. I think of Paul with his colossal mind and his tremendous spirituality, and even he said, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. And if he couldn't express it, it seems almost vanity for us to attempt. And yet there's more to this than words. Your word says that God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And we come to do this, this Sabbath afternoon. We look back over the year that has fled from us so quickly. Most of us would say there have been some very dry spots in it. Sometimes the road has been terribly steep and uphill and the load has been heavy. Sometimes there have been great shadows in our skies. Sometimes we felt particularly lonely. Or at times we felt delighted and enriched and quickened. But we thank you that in every changing scene of life you have been with us. And as the hymn writer says, his love in time past forbids me to think he'd leave me at last in trouble to sink. While each Ebenezer we hold in review confirms his good pleasure to see us right through. We pray Lord that this word will quicken our hearts this afternoon. That whatever we get out of it, we pray that you'll get more out of it because it rings the bells of adoration and praise and thanksgiving and worship in that part of our being which we ourselves have never seen and which we ourselves cannot understand and which nobody else can see in us but you see it. We thank you for the light you've given us. Again we know not, we know not why there are millions in this beloved country who are still in heathen darkness and it pleased you to bring us out of darkness into his most marvelous light. To turn us from the captivity of Satan and sin into the freedom of the sons of God. And we remember that your word says that even now we are the sons of God. We know Lord that however big our cup is this afternoon you can fill it as we've already sung. That if there's some shade you can enlighten us in it, if there's some weakness may this word strengthen us. If there's some disappointment may it bring encouragement. If there's a situation that seems hopeless may it bring hope and strength and grace to us. We do remember, we must remember, we will remember the millions who still sit in darkness. Two thousand years after light came they've never heard the name that is above every name. They've never thrilled to the wonder of redemption. Somehow nobody loved them enough to go find them, cared enough to lay down their lives for that particular area. And as we read reports it seems the world is quickly becoming a prison house of captivity. That men are not getting more free, they're getting more and more into bondage. And Lord there's only one answer that we can see and that is a great outpouring of your divine spirit. We thank you for the Holy Spirit who wrote this word and we pray Lord that he'll break this bread to us this afternoon that we may eat and be strengthened and quickened and rejoice in thee. I just remember brother John and ask you to bless him as he recovers from his surgery. Remember that brother Oscar Thompson who's been on many of our hearts and pray you'll quicken his body too. And others who at this time are feeling bodily weariness or weakness or sickness that the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead will quicken their mortal bodies. And we'll give you thanks in these things in Jesus name. In the latter years of his life Dr. Tozer had an increasing burden for what he called the waning authority of Christ in his church. That while the church may seem to increase numerically she is weakening the authority in the church he said is weakening. And if the authority in the church is weakening the interest in the church it seems to me in the world is waning. Or if you like to put it this way Christ's authority in the church is waning. The interest in Christ in the world is weakening is lessening. And this is one of those periods in life where I get tremendously disturbed by the fact that we're more and more submerged. The Christian testimony is getting less and less effective even in our own land in many ways. We're submerged right now under what I call trees and tinsel and toys and trivia. And it's unfortunate that millions of children know more about the red-nosed reindeer or the red-coated fat man than they know about the gospel of the grace of God. And I want us to think this afternoon about the the wonder of this event. We sang this very beautiful I don't know which is the best Christmas carol. But I like this lovely lovely song that says oh come let us adore him. And I choked up I confess got some tears when we when we sang that verse veiled in flesh the Godhead see. You see because lots of people are going to an artificial crib like those original visitors to that crib and all they'll see is the manger not the majesty. The first men that went were conscious of the dung it smelled. They were more conscious of the dung than of the deity that was there. They were more conscious of the straw than there was of his sovereign majesty that was lying there in a manger. That beautiful expression of Charles Wesley's in that hymn heart the herald angels sing in which he says mild he laid his glory by born that man no more may die. In another expression he says he deigned in flesh to appear widest extremes to join to bring our vileness near and make us all divine. And then he uses this phrase he says he wrapped him in our clay. If I were to say to you this afternoon listen I have made a discovery that has never been made in history. It's beyond the realm of science psychology any science any human science but I particularly have this one revelation I'm going to share it with a handful of people this afternoon. I'm going to explain to you how the infinite became an infant would you believe me? There's no way of explaining how the infinite became an infant. There's no way of explaining how the one the high and lofty one who inhabited eternity how he was compressed into the matrix of the virgin. He lived in eternal light and he shut up in the tiny womb of a woman. I don't know when he was conscious if he was conscious there or what it is mystery. I think if the apostle Paul had given us a an account of the birth of Jesus I'm making a guess of course but I think he would have started it as he loved to start so often in these wonderful things of the spirit behold I show you a mystery. Have you ever wondered if the angels cried all the way back to heaven? They came singing no they didn't angels don't sing they came shouting glory to God in the highest and then they went back to heaven. I took a little time to thank the father not the son not the holy spirit I took a little time to thank the father this afternoon for loaning Jesus to the world for 30 years he must have been awfully awfully awfully lonely. We had our boy on for the other day as you know he's in Belgium today and as I thought of him this morning I I felt a tug at my heartstrings I confess. Oh he said we'll try and come next year but we may we may get a five-year contract and I thought well that would be a long while of course we've missed some of them as long longer than that and then I thought to myself I don't think God had anybody in heaven to talk to. His son had come to earth for 30 years heaven was empty and for 30 years God watched them kick his son around spit on him kick him out of the synagogue abuse him. Again this is this is the greatest sweep the greatest sweep isn't beyond the farthest star to earth the greatest the greatest distance cannot be measured but if it could it will be between the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. And what did he do? He deigned in flesh to appear widest extremes to join to bring our vileness near and make us all divine. Listen if you're not divine now you won't be one minute after you die. One of the great things John Love notice how many times he says he's got a bit older when he writes his letters you know and when he gets into his letters you know how many times he says we know we know we know so we stand o'er we stand before the greatest gift that could ever be given to the world. In a verse I think I've only preached on once Dr. Tozer told me he never preached on it he said there's one verse in the bible too big for me one that every Tom Dick and Harry evangelist the first time he gets up he spouts a lot of stuff he spews it all about John 3 16 God so loved the world and he says I didn't touch that text you know some people rush in where angels would fear to tread little guy comes in and says I don't want to tell you this I've read this in four versions I happen to have the 24 versions right here and he starts exposifying or whatever he calls it on this and he does nothing about it. Oh the apostle with his colossal intellect says you know you can almost hear him growling in his face oh the depth of the righteous of the love of God. This little two before preacher that got his diploma a week ago comes out and says well I'm going to preach to you tonight on John 3 16 and the only way even that the divine mind could reveal it that God so how do you explain so if your boy asks you what a so is what would you say might tell him what a sow is you might tell him how you're so see but he says that little word soul of the what does it mean soul of the world well it's so big and so high and so deep and so vast and so incomprehensible but God says settle for that he's soul of the world love so great so high so deep and a poet said oh fairly recently maybe the last hundred years anyhow that's recent in time and he says love love love love what does it do love ever stands with open hands and while it lives it gives have you noticed when people love you they bring you a gift and as soon as they have a tip or something and something's wrong I'll tell you one thing we won't get a gift from them this year why love ever stands with open hands and while it lives it gives God's soul of the world he gave his only begotten son Christ loved the church and gave himself for the church and John says if we love we should give our life this is what love does it gives love ever stands with open hands and while it lives it gives and this is love's prerogative to give and give and give well I don't made up my mind I made up my mind I wouldn't preach when I came this afternoon just talk to you but I get overwhelmed I say by the majesty of the manger by by dear tree with wall-to-wall dung at the side of him by a building that had cobwebs for curtains and the sweat of the animals for heating central heating and it stunk of urine I saw one mystery I know every Christmas card you get why I saw one just the other day where the manger was there you know and the shepherds were there and there was a man with a broom cleaning it up didn't need to do that all the animals in the in the stable had diapers on you don't think they dare to make the droppings in the presence of the son of God dear or urinate or the bugs would come in or the animals would sweat do you see our poor little puny minds I think the reason he came to a stable because it was typical of the human heart it was typical of the lousy filthy world into which he came there's a lovely lovely song I I'm not sure of this I think it was written in this country it was written by the grandson of the founder of the Salvation Army I met him once he is an eccentric old boy that's why I liked him and he played a violin like Yehudi Menuhin and there was a big concert up in Canada some years ago and it was a Christian thing and a lot of people there and they said now miss so-and-so who is a I don't recall a mezzo-soprano or mess of soprano but she was to sing and they said she's going to sing that gorgeous song just made for her voice down from his glory and somebody watched the old boy shuffle from under the seat there and he walked up behind the stage and as soon as he stuck up he stood behind and he played it through and did he play sure he did he wrote it didn't write the tune he wrote the words down from his glory ever-living story from heaven to us he came and Jesus was his name born in a manger to his own a stranger a man of sorrows tears and agony oh how I love him how I adore him my breath my sunshine my all in all the great creator became my savior and all God's fullness dwelleth in him what condescension he says bringing us redemption when in the dead of night not one faint hope in sight God gracious splendor God gracious tender laid aside his splendor stooping to woo to win to save my soul love the world but keep in mind like dear old Rutherford said you can talk about all the miracles Jesus did I want to tell you the greatest miracle he did was when he saved me I don't know what was in you but I know what was in me I don't know the potential you had I know what was in me he saved me and I believe this was the divine perpetual indestructible excitement in the heart of the apostle Paul because he says God loved the world sure he loved the world Christ loved the church but he said listen there's something greater than loving the world and loving the church he loved me and gave himself for me you wonder that little guy couldn't keep his feet he went fiddling on his old violin and he's muttering it he'd like to have sung it oh how I love it how I adore it my breath my sunshine my all in all the great creator he once hung the stars now he hangs on the breast of a woman he put every vein of silver in the world and every nugget of gold and he and he and he came the only man that intentionally came into the world I remember one night in a street meeting where a man got pretty rough I held this street meeting about three years from 10 o'clock Saturday night not the meeting for three years or you'd believe me I'm sure but uh I held a meeting for every Saturday night for three years and the drunks and prostitutes came out one night this man got wild I want to tell you something he said I didn't ask to come in this world I said fell you may not ask to go out either nobody asked him I was a prostitute doesn't make any difference in that sense we didn't ask to come into the world he did he did and if you if you're the choice of coming in the world would you say let me be born on the level of poverty and never rise above that poverty would you say I would like to go in the world and embrace and absorb all the suffering of mankind and yet he chose to come into the world I'm making a guess here I haven't read it I get less and less interested in books really there's some I'd like and please I hope Betty will get the books get do do read for you for your for your Christmas reading it's almost like reading the death sentence of the nation but read Dave Wilkerson's new book Racing to Judgment it increased my burden it's a tremendous book no I'm not I'm not too worried but I'm going to say this I believe somewhere in eternity in the council chambers of eternity you know it says there when God said let us make man that's that's a plurality in the godhead the father son and holy let us make man and Jesus says father I know you're disappointed you made a perfect world you made a perfect man in no cracks in his mind in his emotions in his will in any area he was perfect perfect perfect he was good you made everything good and you made man extremely good as the head of everything that was good and he failed you he messed it up broke your laws he's become a rebel and people say well men could never live and obey God perfectly would you let me go down and live that way father I I I'm willing to go you know we've got something so many things mechanized even in our theology we just think it went like that one two three that's all it father said you go down son and carry that load I don't think it was as easy as that I noticed the other day on tv a boy said to a preacher well you know sometimes you make Christianity very hard he said well son let me tell you two things the man who says it's easy is one of two things he's either a fool or a hypocrite oh he has many wonderful titles Isaiah says his name shall be called wonderful counsellor that's beautiful isn't it something very smooth lovely about it wonderful counsellor the mighty God the everlasting father the prince of peace yeah but read a bit further down that remarkable 53rd chapter of Isaiah that that bird's eye view of the cross 75 years before 750 years before Jesus died remember what it says there he is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and in his humiliation the judgment is taken away there's a famous old Scottish preacher who said he never missed reading that once a week he needed it and if ever you feel your heart is getting hard and your judgments are being pretty brittle and critical well uh just remember the pit from which you were lifted and I suggest you get on your knees I like to read on my knees do most of my well I pray on my knees I do most of my studying on my knees I think too I enjoy it it clouds the world out I keep my eyes closed I concentrate meditate behold I show you a mystery he laid his glory by the glory he had with the father before the world was you know in in the in the tabernacle of old in the temple of old rather pardon me that there were there were nine gates of entrance there were nine doors of entrance there were 12 gates to the city there were nine doors of entrance into the into the tabernacle we've got three doors of entrance in ours we missed one somewhere there are four doors of entry in discovering the majesty of Jesus they're called Matthew Mark Luke and John and I trust you'll give some time to reading each one of these these separate introductions after all Matthew begins and he introduces Jesus along two lines the book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son of David which is the royal line and he's the son of Abraham the priestly line but you need to read into the second chapter you know we hear a lot about planned parenthood these days I want to tell you something this is the most planned baby that ever came in history I can prove that to you pretty easily because it says in verse 5 of the second chapter they said unto him in Bethlehem of Judah this is where Christ should be born the last part of verse 4 says he demanded of them where Christ should be born they said unto him in Bethlehem of Judah for thus it is written by the prophet and thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the princes of Judah all that right that comes from the prophecy of Malachi Micah and then you get to verse 15 he was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the law of the Lord by the prophet saying out of Egypt have I called my son that's the prophecy of Hosea and then it tells you very carefully in the 17th verse then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah or Jeremiah the prophet in Ramah there's a voice heard lamentations and weeping and great mourning Rachel weeping for her children and she would not be comforted because they're not and so you have three prophecies there the prophecy from Micah the prophecy from Hosea and the prophecy from Jeremiah and then it says at the last verse of that chapter he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets not one not to a whole bunch of prophets said he should be called a Nazarene you know there's a sect called a Nazarene they like that they like that he was called a Nazarene they say he's the first Nazarene but there you have all the converging prophecies if you get a big good map of the United States you'll notice here that all the roads come up here they come up through these valleys you know and they come down here through the Allegheny mountains and they all stop on one spot a spot called New York and then you'll notice black lines going up here and it says this is the sea sea lane as it's called there's no fences up but it's a sea lane and it goes up there to Newfoundland or it goes up to Greenland and down here how many miles to Cape Town how many to England so what happens all the roads lead to New York all the seaways lead out of New York all the prophecies that we've mentioned here they terminate at Bethlehem and all the New Testament prophecies come out of Bethlehem you see the old testimonies are there the the old prophecies we had a teacher that was always drilling into our minds or trying to drill into our minds about the old scriptures but the Old Testament uh the new is in the old concealed and the old is by the new revealed well the emphasis that is given here actually the four different entrances as I say into this revelation of the Lord Jesus in what the theologians call his incarnation you hear people say sometimes he's carnal carnal means flesh the incarnation is coming in the flesh he was with the father before the world began and now he comes in flesh he deigned in flesh to appear the widest extremes to join so he's introduced by Matthew really he's introduced as a king the emphasis of Matthew is to show us the kingliness of the Lord Jesus and so you pass through those prophecies and you come to realize that this babe as he's later described to us is prophesied from so many angles now in Mark we're introduced immediately to John Baptist in Luke we're introduced to John Baptist but with an emphasis on his parentage his godly mother his priestly father that's a that's a a great study but read Luke he's better you know I I don't wonder that that John Baptist was such a marvelous man do you know what he had a spirit-filled pastor isn't that something that's what it says his pastor was filled with the Holy Ghost I know it says his mother was filled with the Holy Ghost I know it says his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and this may raise a theological problem to you but the very day he was born he was filled with the Holy Ghost and Ivan I did he didn't speak in tongues the first day he was born but he was filled with the Holy Ghost now you come to the version that's presented by John and John gives us an entirely different picture he says that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us oh well take the first verse and I'm not going to stay with it but just that first verse is so fantastic in the beginning see it doesn't ask you if you believe in the beginning it just says it it just states a fact like later a minute we look at it Hebrews 1 and Hebrews 1 1 begins God who at sundry time doesn't ask if you believe in him doesn't ask if you believe that somewhere mysteriously God had neither father nor mother he has no beginning no ending how do you understand he's not asked to understand you're asked to accept it there's a there's a there's a reach of faith but isn't this sublime this first verse in the beginning was the word the scholars will tell you that that is the Logos Jesus is described in his pre-incarnation as the Logos that that is his name in his pre-incarnation days and afterwards the word became flesh he becomes the sun in the beginning was the word beautiful the word was with God marvelous the word was God beyond my comprehension all right in the beginning eternity the world was with God equality the word was God deity and then you skip the next 12 verses and you come down to verse 14 and there are three three more things about him remember in the first verse there are three in the beginning was the word number one the word was with God number two and the word was God number three now verse 14 and the word was made flesh isn't that something and dwelt among us isn't that marvelous and then there's a parenthesis again we beheld his glory the glory of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth wow isn't that beautiful huh the word was made flesh and dwelt among us you know you know that word there really is the word there really is the word was made flesh and he he tabernacled with us the tabernacle in the old testament you remember originally it had no floor why because they were moving people and we never ought to stay still where God expects his people to be on and you know what it had no windows and it had no steps so if in a hurry you wouldn't fall over the steps or fall coming out in the dark or something and it had no windows and and it says here the word was made flesh and and he he tabernacled one old preacher says he pitched his tent at the side of mine that's why i knew him ha ha isn't that lovely because he comes right down to where i live and it says that jesus had nerves and sinews and emotions and he got hurt and pushed around and hungry and weary and all the rest of it how do you know because it says in hebrews that he was touched with the feelings of our infirmities he wasn't standing on a pedestal waving a traffic going to go that way for liberty and that way for blessing he embraced everything that we have he wasn't a special edition from except for the fact that he had not no sin in the way that we know sin the word he was the word he was made flesh and he dwelt among us john we don't know when john wrote this but i'll tell you what i'm sure he was an old man when he wrote it and you know what when when he when he mentions that miracle of being on the mount with when jesus was transfigured john was there but he never put his name on the on the special list you and i would have done that we were with the vips you know only three of us there peter james i was there just as you all know now there's no swagger staggering around no he doesn't say that and you know what he's doing here i'm sure that he's referring to it here when he says that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory hallelujah he doesn't even try to describe it it says all you can do is behold it you hold your breath do you wonder they fell down and worshiped him do you wonder they were overcome i i don't believe god turned the spotlight out of heaven onto his son there i believe that when he was shut up in with the father there the glory he had with the father before the world was shut out of him it was his indwelling purity his indwelling holiness the majesty of his person that even though he lived in a dirty world it never stained him it never contaminated and never corrupted him in our language he kept on course the whole of the way so that's john's interpretation for us here's another one that i think is more sublime than any of them listen to it god who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets have in these last days spoken unto us how by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also god's very sure we get this and he says he was with me when i made the worlds don't you start saying he was just uh just had a different emphasis like some people say well he was a bit more a prophet than anybody else no no no that's not what the scripture says he's appointed heir of all things by whom i also now now now listen can you comprehend this and he says this is my son who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high hallelujah the majesty that he laid aside and the father says i'm not going to let you forget that i'm not going to let you forget he sat with me when we made the world when we found the stars when we ordered the solar system when we created all the different things he was there doesn't it say that in proverbs chapter 8 i was with him in days of happiness at the right hand of the father that's what it says god i like that i got a kick out of that he doesn't ask you to reason about it he just says frankly god like you begin genesis in the beginning god created well right here the apostle says god who at sundry times at different periods in history and in divers manners my there were some great people and you know so often we we say about jesus and it's right and it's beautiful do you know what he is he's king of kings and he's lord of lords right do you know what else he is he's prophet of prophets why because it says here that god who at sundry times in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets you know from here to malachi there you have roughly a thousand years and think of all the prophets the school men have divided them up i don't know how they were brazen enough to do it they talk about the major prophets and the minor some of those minor prophets have major utterances but they didn't live very long and they didn't write very much and so you have hosea and malachi and the others we call the minor prophets god spake to us he says in divers manners by the fathers to the fathers by the prophets how else did he speak oh he speak he spoke about uh uh through some mysterious things called urim and thummin thummin you better see if we have a book on that urim and thummin he spoke by prophets he spoke by visions he spoke by judgments he spoke by captivities and you go to the manger and somebody says well oh isn't that nice kiddies laugh they don't know any better it's not their fault bless them they're innocent enough and he just says a little fella called jesus you know well come on we've got to go shopping go see us it'll be closed in 10 minutes all in the same breath almost dear dear to the depravity the little fella lying there was with the father before the world was before the stars sang together or the trees of the field clapped their hands didn't know how they didn't do it because they weren't there anyhow it's before they hung the stars up it's before there weren't any trees to clap their hands before there were any angels to adore him and magnify him and and and that little babe there do you know what he's doing he's speaking to us what is he speaking about oh well he speaks about the majesty of god but but god in all his majesty you know paul gets a bit uh stirring when he says immortal invisible who alone art immortality the hymn writer says immortal invisible god only wise in light inaccessible hid from our eyes what is it and something and i've forgotten it's so long since we sang it it finishes up we wither and perish but not change a thing you know we don't really do much praising do we we'll have to find a tune i i thought of it and i forgot it but i heard but you know it's a it's a good while since we sang the doxology isn't it didn't know when it was written didn't know who wrote it well of course you'd guess an englishman it was written about 1615 1638 it was written 100 years before john wesley got saved what is it praise god from whom all blessings flow do you know the first verse of the hymn beautiful well think of it in the morning awake my soul and with the sun thy daily stage of duty run shake off those sloth and joyful rise to pay thy morning's sacrifice well that's beautiful the last stanza again praise god from whom all blessings flow i was trying to think of the doesn't come to my mind you see those men knew something i i thought it was wonderful john pool has a very very large church i preached it once in philadelphia a huge church it's it's as different as any church he was singing and i i was lifting my heart boy they were singing i was lifting my hymn book and i looked and about three women dancing down the aisle they had their eyes closed and they were going round and round but they never collided and nobody fell down and they went right back to their seats and they just sat down and then somebody else got up and then they they sang in the spirit for about 15 minutes but i have a tape of his in which he says this we've just made a discovery we don't need our song book we need a hymn book and we've just discovered a hymn imagine that can you imagine a man who's passing a church about a thousand people saying we've just discovered a hymn all for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's where's he been all his life i sang that when my nose caught on the edge of the pew and i when when i was trying to get as much in it as i could all for a thousand tongues i'd like more than a thousand tongues i'd like a thousand lives i'd give him them all i'd like a thousand hearts i'd love him with them all i'd like a thousand minds i'd think of him with them all one great hymn writer got to at the end of the line he didn't know what to say and he kind of got angry with himself and he says oh eternity is too short to at all thy praise well brother you're blessed when you say that when you kind of get angry with the lord and say lord eternity won't be long enough lengthen it won't it be lovely never to have a debt to pay a bill to pay a sorrow a sigh a tear anything like that no lousy news another nation has gone down oil's going to go up it's all up and down these days you never know who's up and who's down that's the only thing there's about it and one hymn writer says then then then that one split second out of time then in a nobler sweeter song i'll sing my part to say when when this poor lisping stammering tongue lies silent in the no forget it he says i don't sing that when this poor lisping stammering tongue shouts victory all the grave i like that you see death may knock you down it won't knock you out it'll just transfer you to the place where you don't pay any debt you'll leave everybody else to pay for the mess you won't even have to pay another joy they see these people knew something about the wonder of it all oh what wonder how amazing jesus glorious king of kings deigns to call me his beloved lets me rest beneath his wings all for jesus all for jesus another says how can it be thou heavenly king that thou dost us to glory bring make slaves the partners of thy throne decked with a never fading crown as i said the other day when peter says well lord i hope you keep in mind we've left all and followed thee i wonder if he expected a cash payment right away we've left all and followed thee and jesus says i'll tell you something son listen when i sit in the throne of my splendor he doesn't say on it he says in it he's going to stay there it's perpetual when i sit in the throne of my splendor ye he's talking to the twelve shall sit on twelve thrones brother won't that be something i've had one and he missed it as we would say in our colloquialism for 30 bucks he not only missed eternity with god he missed the throne jesus said peter don't you don't you just get worried and lost with what you can see before very long son when you sit in a throne of splendor oh well won't that be something you know big old rough bungling peter just like you just like some of us you know always saying things they didn't always think too clearly and he said it and wished he hadn't they didn't say it and wished he did and he went too swift and wished he hadn't gone and he stayed too long and wished he'd gone off that baby speak you know i hope you'll gaze on that you know we have no pictures of jesus do we i i think he must have a lovely face as a baby don't you think so i know i had so my mother said people used to stop and look at me going past in the buggy nobody stops now it's so sick ever thought about him do you think when she washed that baby hand she ever saw a nail print in it because she'd been told he was the savior of the world do you ever think when she put him to a breast that she said this little thing i can see this little heart beating he he's the author of eternal life and i i'm privileged to sustain him you know we leap over so many things don't we well you know hurry i'm just going to read this before i go on a little uh i have to read two verses from streams in the desert and the last chapter of squirts in the wilderness and then i'll be all right for the day come on now come on now how much have you thought on him this week meditated on him this week before we get to the stage of his redemption we we see him as a babe he swung walls into space he can't even lift his own hand now he put life into everybody poor little thing can't even walk he laid aside everything he got nothing for it really you see science doesn't like to accept this it baffles you can't explain it in a test tube and not even a computer can explain it so do you think we're going to accept it well go to hell if you don't want to that baby speaks that baby says look after the law and the prophets couldn't do it god said listen i'm going to make one last attempt only one i've given you some towering man look at the size of moses look at the greatness of jeremiah think of isaiah but i'm going to do something more all the prophets all the wisdom of the prophets together can't equal his wisdom they can't equal his power they can't equal his authority and i'm going to wrap him up in a little baby just about two stands long one of the points says they were looking for a king that's what they've been told anyhow thy king cometh unto thee they were looking for a king to bring salvation nigh he came a little infant thing that made a woman cry huh maybe she had the pains of hell giving birth to him how do you know she didn't she certainly didn't have too much help around i'm sure and he comes into the world with pain sure and he leaves it with pain he came into the world spotless he goes out the most corrupt being that ever was i do not know nobody knows how god can become man but how did he become sin doesn't say he became like sin he became sin if he became god incarnate he became sin incarnate tell me the demons are there i talked with a man one day who had delirium tremens three times before god saved him he said radiel at night they they switched the lights out in the ward this military ward and he said that i was in hospital and he said as soon as they put the lights out he said serpents so thick and they dies and he wasn't facetious bigger than dinner plates and they were both revolving the wrong way and they crept up at the moment and i'd scream like hell i'm going to suggest you that all the anguish that any demon possessed man ever had jesus felt in that moment he asked to answer sin he asked to answer every diabolical thing that the devil invented and he says come on i'll take it the lord that laid on him the iniquity of us all isn't it tragic today there are too many people so proud they won't accept his gift to them he's somebody to decorate a christmas card oh i suppose he was a nice man as they say but you know i don't i don't think it's all true that he really was god well you may not but i'll tell you what god has left it very clear he says he has in these last days and again i remind you this was written 2 000 years ago he has spoken by his son you see what the law of the prophets couldn't do jesus did in a split moment in the moment he was bought plus three and a half years of ministry and that ended it all that ended it all let me read just a minute here now before i close in the second letter of paul to the corinthians chapter 8 he's talking remember he's talking about giving because he never had anything else on radio but pardon me mentioning it again radio preachers have got the gift of giving at least getting notice what he says in verse 7 2 corinthians 8 7 therefore notice with you see i'll tell you i'm emphasizing this because this church always gets blasted for having more gifts than any other church and being more carmel you see god is just sure they had more gifts sure they're more but listen balance the scale this verse balances the scale 2 corinthians 8 7 therefore as ye abound he didn't say you have some he says you are bound in what you're bound in what in everything and then in case you don't know what he means by everything he says i'll tell you what i mean by everything they abounded in faith in utterance which could be prophecy in knowledge in all diligence in your love toward us it's not beautiful they get somebody off the hook you're not going to suggest every church is full of carmel people any more than every church is full of saints they were a mixed bag and paul is very just here if you go through that chapter carefully i think you'll count don't do it now but i think you count nine times he talks about grace you know what grace is it's getting one thing when he deserves something else that's my simple definition for it you're gonna have all the theological definitions you like but grace is getting one thing i deserve i deserve judgment i deserve death i deserve hell i deserve that god would scourge me oh i like that hymn oh to grace how great a debt of debt i don't like the last verse i don't sing it prone to wonder lord i feel it i say you sing that to your wife and see what she says when i sing it i sing prone to wonder i don't feel it prone to leave the god i love i sure don't i don't want to get far i want to get nearer to him i'm determined to get some real praying while we're over in the islands there for the next couple of weeks i want to hear from heaven i want to get some new quickening from god 77 is going to be a very very difficult year but he says you abound in what in everything hey that's great in faith in utterance in knowledge in all diligence in your love for us ah that's where the breakdown is you see he was biased in his love he loved just a little group his love wasn't really shed abroad now you don't need any grace to love the lovely any old sinner can do that we need grace to love the unlovely oh i get along very well with him you know i mean we're kind of two peas in a pod so what there's no difficulty there i understand they polish diamonds in a very special way i was saying something the other day to david to to phil and judy about the yeah we we walk out in the country sometimes what do people do well one of the pastimes is finding diamonds i said do you find any oh plenty no problem finding diamond fill a bucket full in an afternoon the only thing is you don't own one of them when you've got them you turn them all into the police station they belong to government you can't have one so nobody bothers with them do you know how they polish a diamond you you can polish moonstones rub it on your head uh you can polish some other stuff do you know how you polish diamonds you rub the diamond against the diamond because it's the only way you make it polished you see you say lord i want to be a saint my husband's been more difficult this week than ever well you asked the lord for it didn't you i mean you didn't put it that way you just said lord there's a side on me a bit dull would you polish it up and husband and every time and he never quits he never quits he never quits or the wife comes in she doesn't understand you see it isn't all done by magic it isn't all done overnight you wake up sweet in the morning and you say my head well at last my halo oh gabriel must have put it on my pillow in the night i've been expecting it thank you thank you for this halo he says if you're gonna have a halo halo you're gonna have to work for it the lord's gonna do a bit of rubbing here and a bit of rubbing there and this is how he works but he give us more grace you see again the apostle here let me quote it right here he says in verse nine now you know the grace of our lord jesus christ that though he was rich for your sakes he became poor isn't that beautiful that's another way of saying it matthew says it one thing mark says it another luke says it another john says it another hebrew says it another and paul here says for your sakes you see it's not for somebody who lived for your sakes for our sakes he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might be made rich now people identify that with with material things i don't think that's what i was talking about to tell you the truth look at the end of the the same chapter pardon me the next chapter nine he says thanks be unto god for what his unspeakable gift well say if if uh if paul couldn't say it i i guess i'm not going to get very far with it thanks be unto god you're bound in what you are bound in giving and you know he's provoking them because he says some people if you read the beginning of that chapter some people poorer than you got together and gave not what they were able to give but what they couldn't give i remember in our church there had been a collection for a certain thing and of course you know scripture says let not your left hand know what your right hand do we never read that in our church you put it on the list at the door who gave this and who gave that and who gave what my grandmother there were two groups a group of women met and they were called the sisterhood and another group met on a tuesday night they were called the brotherhood well it so happens that one of the deacons was called mr hood i remember his wife she was as big as a tank but she was a lovely woman i'd love to go to their house you know i do you know what they had boys i guess you'd like when the teague boys were i'm sure on the girls they had a parrot that talked didn't say naughty words you'll be sitting there i sat there with my mother and mrs hood would say well sister raven you know we'll soon be seeing jesus in heaven and the old parrot will say we'll meet to part no more very nice we'll meet to part no more and we get down and pray and as we were praying the old thing would say hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah you know if nothing got blessed the old parrot did well there had been an offering taken in the brotherhood and they raised a lot of money and in the sisterhood my grandmother read it she said i'll tell you what those hubs are it says here brotherhood gave so much and sisterhood gave so much and my mother just nodded her head and thought let the dear old soul think it that way that's all right that's all right and somebody there i think it was my sister said it must be nice when you can give like that i never forget my mother she was working at the table and she turned and she said len god doesn't take any notice of what you give it's what you have left you know that changed my whole thinking you know sometimes we say i'll tell you listen you want to hear the supreme story about giving jesus up by the treasury and a woman and you know she threw in a quarter of a penny the big guy came up and he says $20 piece another gold $20 piece another boy i wish i could give like that jesus says i want to tell you something this woman gave more than that man and all the rest you know why because when she went out the purse was empty she nothing left makes all the difference which angle you take it from i don't know why this reminded me of a of a girl who was she said very much in love with a fellow and she she asked her daddy and mommy to see him and they they held off for a while and finally they had a discussion one night and mother and dad said well look before you go to bed and weep again let's talk about this and she talked about it and and uh and mother said well listen i'm going to ask you one question are you sure you can live with him she said mother that's not the point i can't live without him well that's love not can you live with him i can't live without him there may be lots of people don't live with i can't live without him that's love i don't convince him because i give money good as it may be and useful as it may be i don't convince him because i try and preach my heart out every time i preach that doesn't convince him love is more than that love is more than that god so loved the world that he he gave his only begotten son let me look there at uh what am i looking for ephesians this is the end of it you know there's a philosophy aboard these days that uh you can't out give god and the rascals put that on a monetary basis i don't believe that's anything to do with it at all but i'll tell you what you can't out give god here is something we're trying to think where you know i feel as i'm trying to get hold of the cloud and i can't get hold of it talking on a subject like this who can it's a mystery it's beyond our comprehension there is no such thing as comprehending it there is no such thing as a complete revelation the only thing is a participation that we're born of the spirit and the spirit dwells in us and we become a habitation of god by the spirit what can i give him well there are two things i can give him romans 12 1 and 2 is a beautiful verse do you remember it romans 12 1 and 2 i beseech you i beg of you i entreat you i implore you by the mercies of god that you present your body a living sacrifice you see chapters 1 to 11 is all the doctrinal side of that marvelous marvelous mountain of truth in romans and chapter 12 begins the the practical side and he says i beseech you by i beseech you therefore what does therefore by all the things that have gone what has gone before well he's told us of our redemption he's told us of our justification he's told us our sanctification and he says if god has done so much for you in jesus christ then isn't it reasonable it's your reasonable service to give yourself to god so him rather says let my hands perform his bidding let my feet walk in his ways let my eyes see jesus only let my lips speak forth his praise all for jesus all for jesus all my beings ransom powers all my thoughts and words and doings all my days and all my hours all for jesus if i say to you here here take this watch if i gave you the watch i'd give you the face i give you the hands i give you the works i give you everything here take it and when he says present yourself a living sacrifice he's not saying the same thing as a sacrifice in the old testament actually he's not speaking there of a sacrifice of death obviously a living sacrifice he's not speaking out something that can make an atonement you see in the old testament levitical order there were four four sacrifices two of them only we need to think of two sacrifices once there were four sacrifices forget two one sacrifice was an atonement that i might make that i might receive forgiveness of god and the other two were sacrifices of gratitude that he received me so john pardon me so paul says look at romans 6 look at romans 5 think that we are justified think that whatever sin you have if you if you humble yourself and beg and entreat and cry in mercy that god will erase your sin and then he'll come and indwell you and then he'll give you habitation in heaven for eternity that's very wonderful and in the light of this he says can you give less than this how much do i employ my mind i've got a brain i don't have too much when i was younger i wanted to be a doctor i've got nice long fingers you know i'd like to have been another paderuski to play the piano but i couldn't make it i'd like to have been a surgeon i didn't have enough brain so i became a preacher but by the same token i'm i'm glad i'm a preacher i wouldn't swap it but but how much of my mind does god get every day how much do i concentrate in thought on him because one day i knelt at an altar i could take it to the crack in the floor wasn't a ritzy church like this with rug it was an old smelly place with boards and i can take it to the crack where i knelt and i said lord make romans seven six seven really my life the preacher said you mean romans six six no romans six seven no len you've i said sir it's romans six seven he said well what is it he did not i said i'll tell you what it is it says he that is dead is freed from sin and i want to die to myself to my plans to my wishes to my all that i have i want to die to it go to my own funeral dig the grave get rid of the lousy self and take up my cross and follow the lamb with us whoever he leads in the tabernacle i there were nine gates of entrance eight of them were uniform they were same in size they were plated with silver at the same place they were painted but there was one the beautiful gate of the temple how high is this roof about 14 feet no no it's not that 12 feet 12 okay the gates were 75 feet high think of that 50 cubits 75 feet high they were beautiful because they were wrought in bronze brass some say this is why jesus spoke of the two of them they have the vine in them and then they were plated with gold and they had a luster and they had a beauty and they were called the beautiful gate of the temple and somebody has said you see all the prophets were like the nine gates but he's the beautiful gate of the temple i see the king in all his beauty i said out of them i love there is no stopping me i say the glory of the father is revealed in jesus christ you remember some people came one day and said well you talk about your father often enough don't you show us the father well he says he that has seen me has seen the father he's just like me in love in patience in wisdom in grace he's just like me i'm an addition of my father how much do i give my mind to concentrate on that do my feet run in his ways do my eyes see jesus do my lips speak forth his praise our fellowship is with the father wonderful when you can keep them in that order and with his son and with one another but often we pitch it the other way around it's much better to sit in the house or somewhere and talk with a bunch of people i like that fellowship great but you know what john wesley said kills more churches than adultery because adultery might spoil a couple of people he said the greatest thing the most killing thing in the church is gossip and if fellowship goes down to gossip get up and walk out and people will know where you're going john wesley said he wouldn't stay in the house more than 15 minutes because he said i have to say well you wouldn't stay there these days they'd say well do you mind we always watch channel six at this time of night how much of my mind is he getting how much of my adoration really how much i love how much of my love over and over again in my little devotions i sing and you know in heaven they think i'm one of the greatest singers in the world because it says in the bible it says make a joyful noise and singing and making melody where in your heart most of you it gets spoiled coming out i know but still i mean most of us but you know i sing and make melody and i love to sing one thing to the lord and by myself and i sing i love thee for wearing the thorns on my brow if ever i love thee oh i can get excited about preaching i enjoy my own preaching i'll be an idiot if i didn't i wouldn't put it on you if i didn't i enjoy the stirrings in my own spirit i enjoy the anointing he gives my eyes but that doesn't satisfy him alone i've got to have my secret christ with him i've got to love him i've got to adore him i haven't to wait till christmas and go to a party where they give each other presents and don't give him one i love thee for where all right the last thing ephesians 4 and 8 do you know what it says just before he went to heaven he decided to do something what do you think jesus is come on now don't look stop peeking i'm the school teacher stop peeking what did he do ephesians 8 do you know what it says the last thing he did before he went to heaven he led captivity captive and he gave gifts now i'll agree you can't out give god he gave gifts unto men and you know in the context in the text without its context is a pretext remember in the context you know what it was it's the church christ loved the church and he gave gifts unto men i'll tell you what the gifts are he gave some apostles some prophets some evangelists some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints and for the ministry and for the edifying of the body of christ now it doesn't mean that the other gifts are not important they are but they're not the main builders of our faith and our courage and our adoration and our love we need illumination or you may get some inspiration you may get some excitement in speaking in tongues and prophecy and seeing miracles but you know there's no country on god's earth had more miracles than we've had in the last 50 years it doesn't move people after an hour i stood at the side of miss coolman when she had a massive meeting and after the meeting she'd say to dave wilkerson i thought that was great i don't know how god does it i knew there was a woman in the gallery that had a goiter and and and it disappeared and one of the deacons looked on the floor for it would you believe that he thought it had rolled off he did he told me he did he said this woman had this thing out here it was tied up with a scarf and when she said beheld it wasn't he said boy i look what he's going to take it home i think it's a you know it had gone the carnegie hall was jammed to the doors tuesday night no miracles just preaching the word you know how many were there not half the congregation they saw some of the most outstanding miracles ever been seen in america in the last 50 years but when he came purely to the word of god ah oh it happened i preached for a number of times in that carnegie hall when she was away took the bible study on a tuesday night wonderful we had a fine choir and everything was marvelous and you know what people said very often you know by the way her meetings very exciting but often i feel i went away hungry i just didn't get anything you know a slice from the loaf of the thing is a piece of the a piece of the word isn't it marvelous that just when he died and he rose again and he said you know darling i'm going to leave you i'm going to leave your church and i love you so much and i'm going to give you something right out of my purse right here out of my riches in glory i'm going to give you gifts for men and i'm going to give them apostles and evangelists and teachers and prophets and workers and miracles and all that i love my church one verse and i'm through written in america my faith looks up to thee the second stanza says may thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart my zeal inspire as thou hast died for me all may my love to thee pure warm and changeless be a living fire i think that's superb i never doubt his love toward me i wonder if you ever doubt mine toward him hmm well i can make my vows particularly there's a warm meeting and i say would you like to come and consecrate would you i think some consecration become desecration if somebody said would you like to come up and get married again you married thought you say listen i got married once and for all okay why do you want to come and consecrate more and more and more the only reason you can consecrate is you took something off the altar that's the only reason you can bring it back if you give it once and for all and that's what it is in romans 12 1 and 2 it's in the it's something you do once and for all no i i by the grace of god i'll never take anything off but if god gives me more i'll take that and put it on that's one reason why i could go well i don't think there'll be a lot of sincerity in singing a lot of the hymns or songs of the sun there'll be a lot more about the little drummer boy and the red-nosed reindeer and a lot of that stuff but i hope you'll get alone with him and almost as though you could smell the smell of the stable and feel the heat of the beast and feel the things that suggest the very depravity into which he came you'll see him and then look beyond him and see him you see here it is when they saw him they saw him in a crib you and i have gone beyond the crib we've gone to the cross and thank god we've gone beyond the cross we see him wearing a crown and the writer of the hebrew says that very same thing but we see jesus made for a season a little lower than the angels but now he's crowned with glory and matthew bridges says crown him with many crowns the lamb upon his throne hark how the heavenly anthem drowns all music awake my soul i'll try and stir up your soul i can't do much for you because the scripture says you stir up your own soul stir up the gift of god that's in thee but i'll stir my own soul and i stir yours i trust and this christmas we really bring him an offering of love and of devotion and of adoration and of praise we see him in a manger we see him on a cross but the head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now