Leonard Ravenhill emphasizes the need for personal accountability and the dangers of blaming the devil for our shortcomings. He reflects on the importance of divine intervention in a world filled with sin and chaos, urging believers to seek God's presence and guidance. Ravenhill highlights the necessity of obedience to God, asserting that true victory comes from a relationship with Him rather than external circumstances. He calls for a revival of the church, warning against complacency and the need for a return to the core truths of the Gospel. Ultimately, he reminds the congregation that God is always present, ready to help those who earnestly seek Him.

Father, we're grateful tonight for this privilege of fellowship. As the song says, what a fellowship, what a joy divine leaning on the everlasting arms. Lord, whether we have been singing audibly or not, in our hearts all day long we've been singing praises and adoration unto thee, because there's none like unto thee, glorious in holiness and fearful in praises. Lord, we welcome you to just, in your own wonderful way, by your spirit, make your word live to each of us tonight. Lord, we think of those men on the Emmaus road, those men who were crestfallen, downcast, distressed, disappointed. They never asked for your company, but you joined them in your mercy. We think of those men in the upper room who were afraid. They didn't invite you, but you went there and graciously met them and breathed on them. But Lord, we welcome you tonight to speak to our hearts. Lord, your voice to us is better in rebuke than the voice of other people in flattery, because we thank you, you are the way, the truth and the life, to speak to us individually. We can truly say, as that other old song says, on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Lord, we bless you again for your preciousness during this week. We thank you for your holy word, this lamp for our feet in this dark evil hour in which we live, this light for our path. Lord, we pray for all today who have heard your word. We thank you for the translators. Somewhere in some jungle or some place we can't even imagine, somebody has translated the first word from your word into the language of some other people who have never yet heard the word of the living God. We thank you for these people who dedicate their genius, their ability to taking this word to other countries. And amidst all the dangers and difficulties, they take these guttural sounds and somehow get a vocabulary and then put together what's necessary to translate your holy word. Lord, we pray that you'll teach us to treasure this word more and more. Lord, we want it written in our hearts. One poet said, engrave it deeply on my heart with thine eternal pen that I may in some small degree return thy love again. Lord, we thank you for the heart that loves you tonight. Once we love the world, we love it no longer. Once we love self, we love it no longer. We love your word, we love your will, we love your purposes for us. And tonight we ask, dear Lord, that somehow from this little room there may stream to the very ends of the earth some blessing because we've heard your voice and obeyed it. Give to us, we pray, that spirit of prayer, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man or a righteous woman. We pray for those who are usually with us and are not here. Wherever they are, we pray you'll bless them. We pray for those in captivity tonight as being bound with them. Lord, we think of people, we try to think of people over 10, 20 or more years of being shut up in prison and yet they've not lost their courage, they've not lost their faith, they've not lost their expectation, they've not lost their peace, they've not lost their joy. Maybe every external thing they ever had, their home, their creature comforts, parents, sisters, brothers, uncles, have all been taken out of their lives and yet they have that deep inward peace that passeth all understanding. Peace that torture and starvation and all the other things which are being heaped upon some people in the world today because they're Christ. And yet, Lord, we bless you. You have said, I will never leave the office safely. We think of the great word of the apostle, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or famine or peril or nakedness or sword? And then he says triumphantly, in all these things, we are more than conqueror through him that loved us. We thank you for loving us again today, Lord. We bless you for that constant peace in our hearts, for this assurance. You're not just the great God of the universe, but we can each say, Jesus is mine. What a foretaste of glory divine, when we shall see thee face to face in a ransom, in a nobler, sweeter song, we'll sing thy power to save. When these poor, lisping, stammering tongues shout victory o'er the grave. Lord, we thank you we shall not go even to the grave defeated. You've already made a way through it because you said, I am the resurrection and I am the life. We thank you for this. This uttermost salvation, it is a fountain full and free, pure, exhaustless, ever flowing, wondrous grace, it reaches me. Lord, we thank you you don't look at the color of our skin, you don't look at our intellectual powers, you don't look at our social standing, you take us just as we are, without one plea we came. And Lord, we abide in your mercy tonight. We say again, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift, not merely the gift there at the cross, but the gift this day of peace, the balance you've given us this day. It's been a stormy day for some people, but you've been there. For others Lord, maybe it's been a day of difficulty, but you've been there. We bless you, you are, as Wesley said, thou O Christ art all I want. Lord, you adjust to every circumstance in our lives, to keep us on top of the whole thing, to keep us more than conqueror, because of him that loved us. Now Lord, we pray, bless your word to our hearts in Jesus' name. Okay? Okay, we're going to look at the, what Martin Luther called the, uh, Martin Luther called the book of Isaiah, the gospel of Isaiah, because there's a perfect picture of Jesus in it. But we're going to skip past that chapter and go to chapter 64. Isaiah chapter 64, reading from verse 1. Isaiah 64, I'm reading, of course, from the King James Version. All that thou wouldst render heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence. You know, there was a great Jewish scholar here in America years ago, I guess a hundred years back, by the name of Bucks Basin, Dr. Bucks Basin. He was a Hebrew, a very brilliant Hebrew scholar. I was going to say he got converted to Christianity, that wouldn't do, he got converted to Christ. And he used all his knowledge and background and all the texture of the Hebrew scriptures to a great advantage. He, he left an indelible impression on my mind about 20 years ago. He spoke about these great Hebrew prophets. You know, some are called major prophets and some are called minor prophets. I don't know much difference in some of them. The minor prophets have some very major things to say. Not that the major thing, prophets have minor things to say. But he said this about the prophet, he is by the very nature of his calling a tragic figure. For this reason, he says, he has a fierce loyalty to God and he has a broken heart over the sin of his nation. And he's pulled both ways. He's pulled Godward because he has a tremendous loyalty to God. And he has a tremendous compassion over a stupid, rebellious people. You get something of that in the context of this scripture that we have here tonight. Stay in the same, pardon me, go back to the previous chapter and start at verse 7 there. He says, I will mention thy loving kindness. I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord, according to all the Lord hath bestowed upon us. And the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which hath bestowed on them, according to his mercies, according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. For he said, surely they are my people, children that will not lie. So he was their savior. In all their affliction, he was afflicted. And the angel of his praise, that's talking about the time, of course, they were in Egypt when they were bondsmen, when they were whipped and lashed, when they had to make bricks without straw, when they suffered incredibly. In all their affliction, he was with them. The angel of his presence saved them. And in his love and in his pity, he redeemed them. And he bared them and carried them on, as in days of old. But they rebelled and vexed the Holy Spirit. Notice that? People make so little of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. But this is what it says, they vexed the Holy Spirit. Therefore, he was turned to be their enemy. Now that's not popular today, is it? To talk about that kind of thing. Look what it says in Judges chapter 6. In Judges chapter 6, in verse 1, it says, The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. The Lord delivered them. They resisted his mercy. They wouldn't obey his commandments. So he said, Get out, suffer a little. If you go back to chapter 4 of Judges, it says in verse 1, And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead. And the Lord sold them into the land of Jabin. The Lord sold them. The Lord delivered them. The Lord sold them. Well, go back a little further. Go back to chapter 3 in verse 8. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. Remember that time? Again, you know, you get like the people you live. That's what it said tonight on the news. I thought that was terrible. You know what they did? They showed a bulldog. And it said, You get like the people you live. I thought it looked awfully like Winston Churchill. You do get like the people you live with. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. Not against the Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites. Watch out. Don't you start blaming circumcision. Blame God. It's God. You've transgressed. You won't walk in the light. He's going to lash you for it. He's going to correct you, discipline you. We blame the devil. Whom the Lord loveth he chastened. He made you use the devil. Sometimes he does do that. That reminds me of Dr. Alexander White, the great pulpit genius. When I was a boy, I never heard him. Wish I had. He died in 1913. They said he sat on his throne. Pardon me. He sat in his pulpit at Free St. George's in Edinburgh, like a king on a throne. And boy, he ruled it. And he really preached. He said he had some marvelous characters in his church. They call it the Kirk. In the Kirk. And he used to go around visiting, Monday afternoon particularly. You know, I'm so old, I not only remember when doctors made house calls, preachers made house calls when I was a boy. Came to our house twice a year. Mother said, straight from school this afternoon, don't get in any puddles, come in, and the preacher will be innuendous. He had a three-quarter coat. I loved it. Because he always got an extra piece of cherry cake or something when he came. So I love to see the pastor come. He's a great guy. He used to go visiting. He went to one house, and the lady said of him, you talk about drinking tea. He was in my hoose, as she said, my hoose, last Monday. It was awfully wet when he came. And he drank tea. And I said, I give you more. No, no, I never take more than three. There were these tiny cups, you know, horrible little things. And I never take more than three. She said, I'd already filled it twelve times. And he didn't even know he was drinking. But he said, she was a remarkable character. Never once, when he went, all the years he visited, she died in old age, never once did she complain about anything or anybody. Never said a wrong word about anybody. In the church, even if things were wrong, never said a word. And he said to her one day, you're a remarkable woman. I think you have a good word for everybody. I think you'd even have a good word for the devil. She said, well pastor, he's very industrious. So she had a good word for the devil even. Don't find many people like that. They rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit. Therefore, he turned to be their enemy. Their friend, their deliverer, turned to be their enemy. He took them out of the hand of the enemy. They weren't obedient. He threw them back in the den of lions, if you like. And that's his way. There are no pampered children in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. And he does it his way. There's no royal road to victory except obedience. That's the only thing I know about it. Then he remembered, verse 11, the days of old. Moses and his people saying, where is he that brought them up out of the sea, the shepherd of his flock? Now look what he says. Where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him? I listened to a panel of famous men last year discussing the work of the Holy Spirit. They came up with an old cliche. Well, you see, the difference is this. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was with them. In the New Testament, he's in us. He wasn't in it. Well, the scripture here clearly says, and elsewhere, the Spirit of God was in Moses. He was in him. And that's where he wants to be with us. Abiding in him. Okay. He led them by the right hand. Verse 13, he led them through the deep as a horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble. As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest. Well, that sounds new. Or does it? There remaineth a rest for the people of God. In the midst of the greatest turmoil, in the midst of the greatest tribulation, I try to think every day of my life, of my, if there is an opposite number to me, mercifully there may not be, in Russia, maybe he's been in prison 10 or 20 or 30 years, and yet he has a peace that passes all understanding and all misunderstanding. Do you know what? I think if there was a Russian invasion in America, most of our people would backslide in the first hour. Oh, we're afraid of the invasion of Russia. That's the trouble. If we were afraid of God as we are of Russia, we'd have a revival. All these people are always talking about separating of church and state. Forget it. I believe in separation of church and state. I'll tell you what I believe more in, the separation of the church and sin. You see, when the Holy Ghost comes, if you've got sin, if you're secret lust, boy it would show up tonight, you'd run for that door as fast as you could if the Holy Ghost really came. He doesn't come to teach us to clap our hands and be happy. The least emphasized ministry of the Holy Spirit of God today is conviction of sin. I hope you're going to get one of these books later, not tonight, but Brother Jack's going to order something. They want to be about five dollars maybe. Four and a quarter. Good. Well, pay the five. I'll take the other part, but anyhow. This is seven Pentecostal preachers. This will make your hair stand up. Oh, people say, you know, all those miracles finished with the closing of the New Testament. Well, come on either, be tooth for a liar. Is Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever? Well, if he is, he'll do the same now as he did then. This is creative miracles. When you get it, it'll take a couple of weeks to get them maybe. Begin with reading the story of Stephen Jeffreys. He was in England when we were there, just a little Welshman. They took a girl on the platform, maybe I told you, looked as though she had a thumbnail in her eye, in this eye. This eye was okay. He prayed for her, and the eye, that little skin of what it was went away, and an eye came. There was a girl in town called Celia Brown. Everybody knew her. She had two gashes, no eyes. He prayed for her, and eyeballs were created. They weren't even as big as peas, just sockets. And he prayed, and immediately the eyes came. This girl had one eye, and the Lord gave her a brown eye. Sure he didn't. He's a better color scheme than that. He gave her a perfectly blue eye, to match the other one. There's no hype, no selling holy oil, no strutting on TV showmanship. Those guys were the humblest men I think I've ever met in my life. And yet, when they went in a building, the Holy Ghost would come, and strong men would start to eat before the preaching. This man hardly ever preached on healing. He could have said with the Apostle Paul, my preaching is not in word only, but in power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost. He was too humble to say that. He'd be preaching, and somebody would raise their hand. But I got my hearing. I can see. Miracles happened. The very presence. What happened? People packed the largest auditoriums in England. You say, well, there you are. They didn't go to see Jesus. They went to see miracles. And you know what? That's scriptural. Because the Word of God says clearly, they came not, they came not to see Jesus, but to see Lazarus, that Jesus had raised from the dead. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Pentecostals ought to give these free to everybody in the country. You know, everybody was complaining a few months ago. You know what happened yesterday? Ollie North admits he took some secret documents, and he shredded them, and they went down the tube into the next room. Do you know what? At the same time he was doing that, Oral Roberts, and Jim Baker was shredding the Pentecostal testimony in every home in the nation. This would be a vindication. I'm asking God. You see, everybody says the Pentecostal testimony is stained now because of those men. Forget it. God's glorious, and he's jealous for his glory. He's going to raise up some men we don't know. The big shots have had their day. They've bled the people and got millions of dollars, but the country hasn't changed. We had an Archbishop of Canterbury when these dear, uh, what do you call them now? Stephen Jeffreys, George Jeffreys, Edward Jeffreys. Three Welshmen with no money, no backing, just came into a town, rented a building, and in three days the place was packed. Do you know what happened? Maybe I mentioned last week. In one place alone, 924 people went through the inquiry room in two weeks. They didn't say come here and say the sinner's prayer, God be merciful to me, a sinner. They took them through the scripture. They showed them they're straight from God. They showed them they were rebels from God. They showed them they needed mercy, they needed forgiveness, they needed cleansing. 920 people born again in a town. What do you do with a newborn baby? You don't put it in a refrigerator, do you? You know, if we had a revival in town here, you couldn't send some people to a church. They'd die the first hour they were in it. Starved to death. So what did they do? In every town they went to, dear brother, they established a new church. The strongest church in the city of Leeds. I was born there, so that's famous, but anyhow. There's a church in the city of Leeds tonight that started in 1927. I witnessed the birth to one of the most gracious, lovely, holy men I've ever met. George Jeffreys. You ever hear of George? You know about George. I went to hear him, you know. I thought there'd be a lot of palaver. There were about 25 Pentecostal preachers on the platform. The guy that, it didn't matter what you were singing, all he did to conduct was this, you know, if it's blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, and if it was, you know, lead kindly light, all he did was stretch his hand. He came on the platform, they sang a hymn, and then he said, let us pray. And as the man prayed, George Jeffreys, this man that had the biggest anointing in his day, slipped on the back seat of the platform. He sat there until it was time to start, and then the young fellow said, I'm glad to introduce Principal Jeffreys. They called him Principal Jeffreys because he was the head of the Bible School. That dear man just walked up quietly to the front no-show, and he began to speak. Boy, you talk about the atmosphere changing. It was as though somebody was controlling a valve with heat or fragrance. The whole place was absorbed, and that happened night after night. There was no one who'll give a thousand dollars. It was a time of depression. Again, we had brilliant preachers in the country, some very wonderful Methodist preachers at that time, some Baptists, but God bypassed them all, and he takes over nobody, and not unanointed, unordained. Why are people so worried about being ordained? Won't do you any good. I don't know where my ordination certificate is. If I find it, I'll bring it for you next week. There's only one ordination, that's in John 15, isn't it? I have ordained you. Dear Lord, if a thousand bishops laid their hands on you, you just might get fleas anyhow. I'll tell you what, if God lays his hands on you, everybody will know. It won't be known from here to yonder, it'll be known from here to hell. From here to hell. Preachers get angry when I tell them, if your name isn't listed in hell five feet high, it's time you got something from God. What did the demons say? Jesus we know, and Paul we know. People ask me, have you any ambitions? Well, I'm a young man, I should have. Should I have ambitions? I've an ambition to be known in hell. An ambition that the devil says, well, I don't know what Rainer's going to do today, but watch out, there's going to be some trouble around. Boy, wouldn't you like to be a troublemaker to the devil? What's the good of getting a degree in some theological cemetery, if you're no good to the, uh, seminary, if you're no good to the devil? Let me go back a minute here to this first verse. You, you can't, you would not persuade me in a thousand years that this man didn't say this with tears streaming down his eyes, on his knees, crying before God. Oh, that thou would heavens. It's an acknowledgement of need. It's an acknowledgement of bankruptcy. We can't do anything. There's nobody on God's earth can do a thing for America today except God. We're sunk. What's it going to say? We're more telephones and bathtubs than anybody. What does it matter? We're more divorces than anybody in the world. We're more children, teenage girls pregnant than any, any of the five industrialist nations in the world. We're number one. We're more drunkards. We're more broken minds through drugs, more broken bodies through lust. We've invented a new disease, a damning disease called, uh, AIDS. It's hell on the way to hell, I understand. Well, you talk about the benefits of being saved, and look at these little preacher friends of mine here. Think of them during the day, pray for them. We used to say, children, they used to tell us, it saves us from 10,000 snares to mind religion, young. I had the wealthiest father in England. He didn't have a dime, mother had the cash, but I'll tell you what, I had a wealthy dad because he was a praying man. He used to weep as he prayed. My sister said to him one day, uh, daddy, you, you, you're, you know, I live in such a strange day. Do you know we used to say grace twice? Not two times to start. You started with grace, you finished with grace, or you were in disgrace. If you got up from the table, we haven't said grace yet. So, you say grace to finish the meal. But the greatest asset in the world is to have godly parents. My dad lived for a while with the Duke of Argyll in that famous multi-million dollar castle in Scotland. And the Duke's sister used to say, Walter, to my daddy, Walter, let's go in the chapel. He used to pump the organ, and she used to play those great old psalms from the, uh, as only the Scots people can sing psalms. And he used to go and play and sing, and he'd been raised a Catholic. Boy, when he heard some of those psalms, it just stirred him immensely. But he said when anybody, a bishop or anybody came, he would say, we'll sing this, and he'd bow to the Duke, and to the Duchess, and Lord this, and Lord that. One day the King of England came. They served lunch on gold plates. Isn't that wonderful? Gold plates. But he said, he said, Len, one to me, I remember him saying to me, Len, you should be thankful you were born in a poor home. To be frank, I wasn't. He said, because the rich people never hear the gospel. My dad never heard the gospel till he was more than 30 years of age. He went through the ritual of being a, an altar boy in the Catholic Church. He heard dignified preachers in Scotland, but none of them ever dare talk about sin, about hell, about destruction. Dear God, if there's anybody that we should pray for in America today, it's preachers. They're preaching issue, drugs, divorce. Listen, and some of them need to be preached. I'm not arguing against it. I'm saying this, we need to preach about the blood. We need to preach about atonement. We need to preach about forgiveness. We need to preach about adoption. We need to preach about assurance. We need to preach about eternity. Dear God, we're going to live forever and ever I have a sign on my desk. Some of you have seen it there. Lord, keep me eternity conscious. I don't think I need that. I wake up in the night, I think about eternity. Get out of bed and go in my office for a few hours. Meditate on eternity. You know, who's the richest man here about from Brother Hughes? None of us. The only thing you own, my dear Brother Hughes, or anybody else is one beat of your heart. That's all you have. A dime won't do you a bit of good if you die this minute. You can't massage a guy with his bankbook. Won't do any good. We're eternity bound. God has set eternity into the heart of men. Now let me tell you why this fellow cries the way he cries. He doesn't say, oh that thou would send us Elijah the prophet. He doesn't say, oh that thou would send us Michael the archangel. Or that thou would send us the cherubim that stood there in the Garden of Eden. He's really saying in the language of an old hymn, other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on thee. It's God. Unless God acts in mercy, America will not last ten more years. We rot in our sin. Every six months now we're told that AIDS is doubling. Every six months. They say next year it will double every three months. What did they say, by 1990 something? Every home in America will be infected one way or another. Other people's sin is going to affect us. So this man says we need, what we need today, a divine intervention. I'm not looking for superstar preachers. I'm looking for men that come out of the council chambers of eternity in the 1859 revival. In England, in Scotland, and in Ireland particularly. Men came out of the fields with all the clay on their feet and whatnot. And they said that when they came in the sanctuary, some of them just had lifted up their Bible and they preached wherever the Bible opened. Suddenly they meditated on the day or two before. And they preached with more illumination and strength and wisdom than all the preachers in the country at that time. Why? Because they had a direct line to the throne. The spirit who inspired this word ignited it again. After all, he's the spirit of God, he's the spirit of fire. Our God is a consuming fire. And it's a cliche, but I'll say it again. The reason the world is going to hell fire tonight is the church's last holy ghost fire. There isn't a person in this room ever seen revival. When the lights stay on week after week, when the glory of God comes on the store, as I mentioned maybe last week, when the Jeffreys were in a place called Bishop Auckland in northwest of England, the holy ghost came. And at that time the chorus again was, give me oil in my lamp. And they said, you'll be standing in sears or some store like that. And somebody next door to you would start saying, give me oil. And the whole store was singing. Wouldn't that be wonderful? The terrible thing is an evangelist said, it'd take an offering. Give me oil in my lamp. On the streets, on the buses, in the factories, in the coal mines, men would stop for a, they had a break only for about 20 minutes to have what they call their snap or their lunch. And they'd eat it quickly and they'd have prayer meetings. Or they'd sing and magnify the Lord. We take a hymn here sometimes. Come ye that love the Lord and let your joys be known. It was written by, who was it written by? Isaac Watts, he wrote when I surveyed the wondrous cross. Also he wrote, joy to the world, the Lord is come. And he wrote, come ye that love the Lord. One stanza says, the hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields. I noticed the press said recently a man died in England, more than one died, but this special man died. And a few years ago he said, I drove my automobile up to the Church of England. I sat there in my automobile and watched people go in. He said there were about 12 people, about eight of them were women, other two were men, and two children. He said, I watched them going into church. My goodness, he said, I sat there and as they went in, they were so downcast, they looked as though they were going to the dentist. He said, I waited till they came out and they looked as though they'd been. Well, not every meeting necessarily is rollicking with joy, but there's a joy of the Lord. As I've told you, the less joy you have, the more entertainment you need. And the devil's substitute for the joy of the Lord is entertainment. But boy, it's wonderful to have that peace and that joy. Because Jesus did not say, joy I give you. He said, my joy I leave with you. And he said, your joy, no man taketh it from you. Don't say somebody took your joy, the devil took it. They didn't, you gave it up. There are times when you have to praise in spite of all the adversity that's there. So here's our tear-stained prophet. Think of the holiness and majesty of God. Thinking of the God who had delivered them and then put them back into captivity, delivered them and back into captivity. Look at verse 14 of chapter 13. As the beast that goeth down into the valley, the spirit of the Lord caused him to rest. Thou didst lead thy people to make thyself a glorious name. Look down from heaven and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory. Where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels of mercies? Are they restrained? Look at verse 18. The people of thy holiness, isn't that a title? The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. We are thine, thou wilt not bear us rule over them. Go down to verse 14 in chapter 64. For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee what he hath prepared for them that love him. That sounds like Paul in Corinthians, doesn't it? I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath there entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. Now he says, in that first verse again, he says all that thou wouldst rend the heaven, but there's a human side. Look what he says in verse 7 of this 14th chapter. There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from us. Do you remember the 80th Psalm? Where the Psalmist in Psalm 80 says over and over and over again, cause thy face to shine upon us and we shall be saved. Most people don't even know God well enough. They go on the same routine of life every day. Same little prayer, same little thing. They don't know the stops and the steps of the Lord. But when you are intimate with the Lord, you know that very clearly in your spirit. There is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from us and hast consumed us because of thine iniquities. Now look at verse 10. The holy cities are a wilderness. Zion is a wilderness. Jerusalem, a desolation. Now look what he says. Jerusalem, what's he called? The holy city, the city of David, the city of God. This is what he says. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned with fire, and now pleasant things are wasted. You remember what the Psalmist said? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem. As far as he was concerned, Jerusalem was the outpost of heaven. Zion was there. That's where the glory of God was. But this is what he says about Jerusalem. Our holy, verse 11 of chapter 64. Our holy and our beautiful house, wherein our fathers pray thee, is burned with fire, and all our pleasant things lie waste. Look for a moment here as we close in the book of Revelation, chapter 11. Revelation chapter 11, verse 2. But the court which is within the temple, leave out and measure it not, for it is given unto Gentiles. And notice what it's called. And the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. Look at verse 8. Their dead bodies shall lie in the street of that great city. What great city? The holy city, Jerusalem. But notice, it is called the city of David. It is called the holy city in verse 11. What is it called here? In verse 8, their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom. It's gone from the holy city to Sodom. They've got these witnesses. I know people have tried to name them, that's no point right here. He says in verse 3, I will give power unto the true witnesses. What have they power to do? Verse 6. They have power to shut up heaven that it rain not. Some say this is the resurrection again of Elijah. Well, it may be. They have power to shut up heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy and have power over waters to turn them into blood and to smite the earth with plagues as often and as long as they will. Think of that power that God's putting into the hands of those men in the most critical hour in human history. They've power to turn the rain off so there'll be a drought as long as those men think the pressure should be there, it's there. When they pray again, it will be released. When they exercise the authority God has given to them, they can turn on plagues. And you know, when the judgment of God comes, you can have all the missiles you like. You won't stop God's judgment. You can have the best defense system there's ever. You can join the American defense system with the Russian defense system, and it'll be like putting up a piece of paper. God Almighty. You see, we know so much of the love and mercy of God. We don't know much as a nation about the judgments of God. Oh, Europeans never forgive the Americans. They're all so cocky. They always say, we won the last, we won two world wars. I'll tell you what, there wasn't a shot fired in America in either of the two world wars. There will be in the next one. The two world wars were fought in other people's backyards. I don't think the next war will be declared. I think some of it, shh, some will go wipe out a city, and that's the initiation of it. And from there until God stays it, there'll be no stopping it. Men scorn God. God, did God send you to hell? No, men have invented a thing called AIDS, and they tell me it's the pains of hell. It's almost like taking a man and sitting him on a hot stove. It's agony. Again. Well, trying to think of a hymn there. Oh, Henry, Henry Light, an Irishman, went to, went to the school long before our boys went. He wrote the hymn, Abide With Me. Fast falls the eventide. Trying to think of a verse. One verse is, I need thy presence every passing hour, not that thy grace can foil the tempter's power. Who like thyself my guide and stay can be, O thou who changest not, abide with me. That wasn't the connection I wanted. But anyhow, you see, God Almighty, we've never seen judgment. Some of these boys now talking about success and prosperity. Well, why in God's name don't they take a plane and fly to Russia and preach it? Let them have a six-month crusade there where they can't ask for a penny. Let them strut the mighty power of God they have. There's a lot of rotten hypocrisy in this whole thing. The church is fouled up with it in this day. We need a cleansing, but judgment must begin at the house of God. When he was on earth, he cleansed the temple. If he came back now, he'd cleanse the pulpit at least. I hope he would. Maybe he'll cleanse it by bypassing it. So these men are going to sit down and say, where's that man get his authority? Where's that man get his wisdom? Jesus Christ has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification, redemption. And the knowledge of this world is dirt compared to the wisdom of God. Why is everybody running to count for counseling? Dear Lord, in our day, you never never heard of people going for counseling when there were Christians going to a church for counseling on marriage or something. Well, who's a marriage counselor? I'll tell you. I'll tell you who the best counselor is in the whole world, not just in America. He's named to be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. But God is glorious, jealous for his glory. They love the temple. Can you think the place where Solomon walked, the place where Isaiah walked, the place where Jeremiah walked, the place where some of the other saints had walked, that now at the end of the revelation, it's called what? Spiritually, it's called Sodom and Egypt. It's deteriorated to that point. I'm going to finish with this again as I did last week because the things really got a hold of me. I read criticisms about the church. I don't take much notice of them. But when the Lord Jesus criticizes his church himself, boy, I'm all ears. I want to know. What does he say of the church? There's all kinds of interpretations about the last days, pre-trib, post-trib, mid-trib, no-trib, so what? But I'll tell you what, most of the teachers are agreed at least that the day in which we're living is the day of the Laodicean church, rich, increased goods. Dear Lord, when did the church ever have the equipment that she has now? And yet she's dead and lifeless. Hell is filling. Whether you put a building up with 17,000 panes of glass, dear Lord, you may as well grow tomatoes in it. It has no anointing in it. God is going to vindicate his own holy name. He's going to raise up his men, spirit-born, spirit-directed, spirit-authorized, spirit-energized, because he's going to prepare a bride. Yeah, we talk about pre-trib and post-trib and all that other thing, but the Lord Jesus about his church in this last day, she's rich, increased in good, but he says, I didn't say it, John didn't say it on the Isle of Patmos, but the Spirit said it through John, the church is rich, increased in good, she's in need of nothing, and she didn't know she's naked, wretched, blind, poor, and miserable. But that blindness gets me. The church is blind, that's what he says. Doesn't Isaiah say, there's nobody as blind as my servants? She's blind. The average believer today, I don't care about whether they go to Pentecostal church or Presbyterian, Methodists or Mormons, no Mormons are out of it, Methodists or Mennonites. So what? They're blind, we're blind to eternity, we're blind to eternal death. Dear Lord, we're always talking about eternal life, what about switching, what about eternal death? For the unbeliever, when they're outside of mercy, we don't think of that. The church is blind to it, she's blind to the majesty of God, she's blind to the resources there are. I almost spoke, maybe it's one other time, that, what is it, verse 38 in Romans 8, we know verse 28's alright, that God has with Jesus Christ freely given us lots of things. All? You must have a very old Bible. But that's what it says, he hath with him freely given us all things. God isn't sleeping in this situation, the church is sleeping. We say the church is dead, how can eternal life be dead? She's not dead, she's asleep. But when she's asleep, if a man's asleep, the house can be on fire next door, he doesn't know, he's like a dead man. And the church is asleep, because Paul says to Ephesians, Awake thou that sleepest and rise from the dead. I sowed all good seed in that field, and look at the tares, what happened? Wild men slept. Dear Lord, we're going to try and correct the Mormons, giving a few tracts on the street. Forget it, the Mormon church makes three million dollars a day, that's over a billion a year. How can you compete with it? You have an evangelistic crusade, thank God for them. But dear Lord, it's a pinprick. How are you going to reach, what are we now in the country, 230 million people? The world population has just spilled over the edge of five billion? It's incredible. A dear young fellow, are you going back to India? You think you are? Brave young man, without any backing, going to India, been there already. And he loves his country, he loves America, but he's embarrassed at American evangelism. They go so dressed up, they go to a five-star hotel in the city, they drive in a limousine to the auditorium, and the young uh, young Indians there say, hey let's go to, look how the evangelists live, let's go to America and start evangelism. You know God's going to take us to the woodshed before long. I expect to see some of these young men come from other countries. How many of you read the book on Sammy Morris? Let me see your hands. Good, oh you should all read it, that's, that's fabulous. I met two people this last week who both said the same thing. I read Sammy Morris, oh he knocked me out. He's dead at, at Fort Wayne. I went to his grave one day, there's a rock, a sharp rock, and it says what, Sammy Morris, what was his other name? It was a prince of the Kru tribe, K-R-U tribe. It, it was exchanged, it's, daddy got into trouble, so it was, it was used as a pawn, his daddy used him instead of money. He came to this country, they kicked him like a football all the way, the sailors kicked him on the boat, and when he came here, he was so anointed with the Holy Ghost. Dear God, did A. B. Simpson preach in New York at that time? He was a dozen great preachers in Fifth Presbyterian and other churches, and yet God brings a little black boy that could hardly, couldn't speak English too well, and the Holy Ghost is on him, and what happened? Everywhere he went he had revival, he died at 21 years of age. Why did God Almighty leave him in Africa? They needed him more than we need him, nor do the people here with big heads and shriveled hearts, that needed to see a young man ignited with the power of God. And everywhere he went, in meetings, anywhere, king ages would lay out under the power of God, groaning in conviction. Didn't take six months training, he took the finger of God, that's all he, he needed once to touch him. But now let me quote with this, you know what Jesus, what the Lord said to John Baptist? Yes, there's one coming, the whole history of the world is going to change on one person, and when you see him, and remember what John says, I hadn't even seen him, he'd never seen Jesus, they'd been in the same wilderness, they'd heard the same beast yelling and howling at night, he'd never seen Jesus, but the Lord said, when you see the Spirit coming upon him, no he didn't say that, what did he say? He said the Spirit will come, the Spirit that cometh and remaineth upon him. The trouble is, people I've been anointing years ago, I remember Oral Roberts, when he wasn't a fundraiser, he was a hellraiser. I pray for that man every day, backslidden as he is, that God will restore him. Maybe he has no chance now, maybe he's had his chance. You know it's a fearful thing, the Word of God says, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. We think, I think we use that day, Brother Hughes, sometimes, as though, you know, you're backside, you're falling into the hands of the living God. Wait a minute, every living person here tonight, in the world, is going to fall into the hands of the living God at the judgment seat. Every one of us, every thought you thought today, whether it's good or bad, every disposition, whether it's covetousness, what it is, it's all coming to the blazing light. I wouldn't believe in a God any less than that. You know, sometimes on TV, they say we're going to give a rerun of something that happened years ago. Do you know the judgment seat of Christ is going to be a rerun from Adam to the last person that died just before Jesus came? We as believers are going to the judgment seat of Christ. The sinners are not going to a judgment seat, they're going to a throne. In the 20th Revelation, I'll tell you how terrible it is. You know, the reward of the righteous, is it right at Revelation 21? The revelation, the reward of the righteous is, they shall see his face. Our dear Paul loves that song, and I shall see him face to face. But you get what, the fifth, the sixth chapter of Revelation, the kings of the earth, not the bums, not the drunks, not the prostitutes, not the naked savages up in the Amazon. It says the kings of the earth, the noblemen of the earth, all the Harvard people, all the IBM people, all the Wall Street people, all the kings, all the rulers of the world, they're all going to cry, hide us from the face, the face that you and I want to see, and we'll gaze with wonder. They say, hide us from the wrath of the Lamb. Dear God, there's not, there's not six preachers, there's not six preachers in Dallas, never mind Tyler, that dare stand up Sunday morning and read the second, the first chapter of the second book of Thessalonians, that he's coming in flaming judgment. Yeah, we love Wesley's little hymn, gentle Jesus meek and mild. I sang that at my mother's knee every night of my life till I was about 10 years of age, my dear sister and I, met with mother at mother's knee and sang gentle Jesus meek and mild. That's a lovely song, gentle Jesus meek and mild. But what about his other song, clouds descending, every eye shall then behold him clothed in dreadful majesty. Those who set at nought and pierced him and nailed him to a cruel tree, deeply wailing. Can you imagine what Judas is going to feel like when he stands before Jesus? What do you think Pontius Pilate's going to feel like when he stands at the judgment? Teddy Kennedy, when he has to face how that girl died, Jimmy Offa, wherever he is, will be brought to judgment seat. Every dirty deal in this Iran crisis, he's going to come to judgment. Nobody's going to be escaped and thank God, no, no false, nobody will appeal against him because this is the final court. There is no court of appeal beyond this. He's the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the judge of judges. And what does it say in 18, 18th chapter of Genesis again, shall not the judge of all, all the earth do right. There'll be no wrong verdicts, no corrupt evidence, no false witnesses. Boy, we'll all stand for attention that day. You say, Mr. Adler, you said there are 5 billion people in the earth, how many have lived since Adam? Well, if you like, 500 billion, I don't think that, but what if there aren't? Is the Lord going to judge everyone? Sure, plenty of time, we're not going anywhere, are we? Wouldn't it be wonderful? One of the great trials in English history was, what was he called? Hastings. You don't know English history, I can't remember right now. What was he called? Anyhow, he was in a big scandal. He was made kind of a big chief in India during the British, when the British had the Indian Empire, and the bamboos were millions of dollars. It took seven years to try him, and the man that, the evidence against him was given by a man called Edmund Burke. And you know, he went every day, almost every day in the week, and brought up evidence against this man, and he never had a note. He memorized everything that this man had done, every life that he'd affected, every twisted deal he'd done, everybody who'd suffered. And this sitting there, Hastings, I can't get his first name there. Anyhow, he said, I felt as I sat on what they called the wool sack, and all the lords and ladies of England were there. Mrs. Siddons was the greatest actress in the world. She fainted during the trial. Other people were carried out. And this man said, I felt the most culpable man on earth as he unveiled my evil, as he unveiled my corruption, as he unveiled my misdeeds. Boy, it's going to be exciting. I see the dear old Pope's coming. Where's he coming to? Not here, I hope. Where is? Oh, San Antonio, yeah. I wonder, will he visit his kids in New York? You know, Murder Incorporated and Mafia. They're all his kids. He doesn't talk about them. Everything that they've done, every priest, every Pope, every potentate, every pedestrian, is going to stand at the judgment seat. Boy, I'm glad I'll have a redeemed voice. Not this rusty old thing. Boy, when judgment's passed on some of them, boy, if you think it's thunder, it won't be thunder, it'll be me yelling. The king of all the earth, the judge of all the earth will do right. Well, aren't you glad he's redeemed you? Aren't you glad before that condemnation comes? Because there's no appeal, you better put your house in order. I'm glad I lived as a kid where we often sang hymns about eternity, and one hymn finished, live with eternity's values in view. That's the only way to live. You know, some people, the very last thing, they tell me that one of the most, the keenest investigations in America is the 66, what do you call it now, that Sunday night deal? 60 minutes. They do such a thorough investigation. Other people say, no, the IRS do more than that. I'll tell you what, we're going to the greatest investigation that's ever existed. God has set up his own corporation, and all, all of us are going to be there one day. No wonder you sang tonight, you looked a bit heavy about it. Cheer up. Then in the noblest, sweetest song, I'll sing thy power to save. When this poor lisping stammering tongue shouts, victory or the grave, it will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Five minutes inside of heaven, you'd wish to God you'd sacrifice more, prayed more, suffered more, read the word more, believed him more, loved him more, adored him more. It's too late. I don't believe it's going to be a clean-up job at the judgment. This is a clean-up period. The bride hath made herself ready. Make your choices, and choose all the time for him, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Well, it's prayer time. Our brother Jacob comes to see us sometimes. He's preaching in town tonight, I think until Wednesday night at Rose Heights. I don't know where brother Joe Fossey is. Is Joe out of town, do you know? He's home. For the weekend? Huh? Well, he should be at the meeting, tell him. Well, we'll pray for them all and pray for other precious people. This upset in the Philippines is going to cause a lot of trouble for missionaries too. It's not just something political and economic. It always hurts the church of Jesus Christ. The devil will do anything to distract people from Christ, in your life or in mine. Again, three words could change your life. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher. Not just looking at his crib, not just looking at his cross, but looking at his coronation with all the redeemed. He shall reign forever and ever. And you know what he says? If you're an overcomer, you'll reign within too. To him that overcometh, the bride is made up of all those people who overcome. Not every church member, half of them actually, many have. Those who overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Let's pray for the Indians again. Go tell Spencer back, they had a good time. Do you want to give us a minute, tell us something? Well, that's good, we're ready to die. Well, it says, thy beautiful house is destroyed. Another part, it says, the walls are broken down, the gates are burned with fire. It's like that in the sanctuary today, isn't it? The worldliness in the church, the concerts, any silly old thing, except the glory of God. It's our business tonight to cry out that thou wouldst, we can't render, that's an acknowledgement, that's why it says that thou wouldst render. There's nothing we can do except obedience. But God has to come in mercy, we don't deserve it. But he is going to be merciful. I'm quite sure there's going to be one more visitation of God. And we plead again in wrath, remember mercy. Before he opens the heavens with judgment, give us just one more visitation of the Spirit of God. And it's going to come as we wait on God, and other people like us, and really believe God. Forget all the big systems around us, and know he still takes men and women, sanctifies them, edifies them, and thrusts them out for his work. So if you have to go to prayer, I mean, if you, I mean, if you have to leave, leave quietly and we'll go to prayer.