In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of preparing for the final judgment. He mentions preaching for three and a half hours on the judgment seat and expresses his fear and awe of it. The preacher also discusses the misconception about the apostle Paul's words in Romans 7, clarifying that it is a funeral march while Romans 8 is a wedding march. He shares a story about a man repenting during a sermon on adultery, highlighting the power of God's glory to expose the human heart. The sermon concludes with the preacher discussing the liberation and emancipation that comes from the Spirit of God.

The Book of Psalms is actually the Jewish hymn book, and with all the modern songs that we have, nobody has reached the heights of worship and adoration that David the Psalmist had. That wonderful psalm, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors. Is there a modern tune to that? You don't know? You know one? Oh, I won't ask you to sing. It might be as bad as Mike, but we'll find it one day. Well, how many psalms are there? 150? Out of the 150, there are eight penitential psalms. I believe all of them were written by David. Out of the eight penitential psalms, one is the greatest, and that surely is the 51st psalm. I want to read a part of that right here. Have mercy upon me, O God. According to the multitude of thy tender mercies brought out my transgressions, wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Against thee the only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in inward parts. In the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy, and gladness of the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart of God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and of holy with thy free spirit. Then, that's after he's been restored, after he's been liberated, then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. I was thinking, as I think the brother mentioned earlier tonight, about the glory of the Lord. Some people think the glory of the Lord may come like the Shekinah glory. I think the glory of God comes when people who have been concealing sin for years suddenly feel conviction, and they rush for mercy. A brother told me tonight about a meeting in Wisconsin, I think last night. There were about 1500 people there. The preacher was preaching on repentance. Before he got halfway through, a man ran up to the altar and said, I need to repent, I'm living in adultery, I need mercy, I need mercy. I think that's the glory of God. When suddenly the human heart is exposed to the glare and majesty of God. Leonard Bernstein, as many of you know, is considered one of the greatest conductors. I think he's conducted what, the New York Philharmonic, or New York. One state offers something for years. He's considered a maverick because he breaks every law in the book. He'll jump off the podium when he's conducting, or he'll join in the singing. And the other guys don't like that, it's not highbrow enough. But in his own right, he's one of the world's greatest classical professional pianists. And years ago, a friend of his was in Europe, and he bought a piece of manuscript that he paid a small fortune to receive. He came home to Bernstein's apartment in New York, and he said, I want you to play this. And Leonard Bernstein looked at it and said, I can't play this. He said, you can, you won't, but you can. He said, I can't. Why not? Where did you buy it? I bought it in Europe. It was written by a man 200 years ago, playing one of those majestic organs in one of the great cathedrals of Europe. And he said, it's a masterpiece. So Leonard Bernstein says, I know that, but I can't do it. He said, why not? You've got the music. He said, listen, if I'd been sitting up in that choir loft, if I'd heard that maestro really playing that piece, if I could get all his moods and cadences, maybe I could imitate it. But you see, he's 200 years away, and I just can't get the strength, I can't get the measure of that man. I can't just interpret him by his music, the little black and white dots, whatever they are. You know, that's something akin to the problem of the preacher. I'm reading to you a manuscript tonight that was written about maybe three, four thousand years ago. The atmosphere, the book itself carries no atmosphere. The only hope that we can get through is that the Holy Spirit of God who inspired this will take it tonight and inspire it to you. Only then does it live. The Bible itself says, the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. Now this is an amazing psalm. If you read it carefully, you'll discover it's a monologue. There's nobody in it but David. He doesn't even talk about Bathsheba. He doesn't talk about murder. He talks about himself. Have mercy upon me, O God. According to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sins. I've sinned against thee. He isn't pointing a finger at anyone else. And he comes with this gorgeous word that we have here, one of the greatest in the vocabulary of the theologians, have mercy upon me. He has no excuses. Again, I say this is a monologue. In your Bible it's written on beautiful paper, it's written with black ink, it's punctuated with stops and commas and all the laws of grammar. Actually this psalm is written with blood. It's punctuated with sobs and with tears and with brokenness. This man isn't dictating this to a charming young secretary at the side of him. He's talking to God. He's a man that's crushed in a load of sin. There are at least three prayers in this wonderful psalm. In the first verse he says, have mercy upon me, O God. According to the multitude of thy tender mercies brought out my transgressions. Read it carefully when you're home. There are three different words for sin, there are three different words for cleansing that he uses here. But here is a man bowed down in guilt. Have mercy upon me, O God. You see, nobody I think in the whole Bible ever exposed his heart to the gaze of people as much as did this wonderful man David. He was the darling of his nation. He was a young man. They had had a king before him who was very great and very wonderful. But before very long people were marching down the streets having parades and they were singing Saul has slain his thousands but David is tens of thousands. This man is hitting the charts. He's written the most quoted, most wonderful psalm in the whole of the word of God, that 23rd psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Can't you see him on the side of a hill there in Israel? Many of course, many of you of course have heard Keith Green, at least you've had his records. He used to come to my home often, too often sometimes. Two or three times a day. Sometimes he'd bring his guitar and I used to tease him about the thing. He used to say there are no guitars, guitars are backslidden harps. I can't imagine David there on the hills of Bethlehem when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained. What is man? People are still asking the question. You know there's a guy on TV sometimes. When he's there I like to hear him. He's called Carl Sagan. You know Carl Sagan? He's an atheist, unbeliever. Do you know that man blesses me to death? He's so stupid. Well isn't it amazing a man of the intelligence of PhD has spent thousands of dollars trying to find out where he came from and he doesn't know where he's going. Isn't that stupidity? He's like a man sitting at the airport with his baggage and a $10,000 suit and a big ring and you know one of these evangelist watches, $12,000. And he's sitting there you say where did you go? Oh I don't know. I've got all this luggage, I've got all my, but I don't know where I'm going. You say boy you need your head shaking. But you know I like Sagan for this reason. Let me say this, amongst other things I've always wanted, I've never had one. I'd like a powerful telescope that looks away there into infinity almost. And Carl Sagan says do you know we've discovered there's not one Milky Way with billions of stars, there are hundreds of Milky Ways with billions and trillions and quadrillions and sextillions of stars. Great. It blesses me to death. Why? Because it says in the 40th chapter of Isaiah that God knows the stars, he counts them and he knows all their names. Isn't that lovely for an atheist to admit that? That God counts the stars, he knows the names of all of them. Well if he knows the stars surely he knows my name. And he remembers I'm dust, that's what the psalmist says. He knows our frame and he remembers that we are dust. But here is a man, he's had all the opportunities, the greatest opportunities that any man has ever had in history. He rules over a great nation and he can control armies, he can control governments, but he can't control his passions. He's in trouble here. And it's attributed of course by all the writers it's attributed as the psalm of King David. Well I wrote a little note here tonight. I was thinking about the different men in history. Here you have a man and he's dressed with guilt. Every time he hears a baby cry it tears him up on the inside. He remembers the child that he gave to Bathsheba. Every time he looks out of his castle he sees a soldier standing there. He remembers the brilliant young man he put to death, he planned his death. And here he is condemned, last with guilt, tormented within a man. You know the least emphasized work of the Holy Spirit today is conviction of sin. We want the blessings, we want the fruit, we want the joy. But I'll tell you the most miserable man in the world is the man who really gets to know conviction of sin. Do you know why the world's in the mess it's in tonight? It's not politics, it's not Hitler, it's not the cult, it's not the devilish things that people teach me. The reason we're in this mess in America, what I call this moral desolation and spiritual destitution, is due to one thing. The pulpit has lost its authority, the pulpit has lost its vision, the pulpit has lost its power. We're comfortable with sin. Nobody commits adultery anymore, they're just having an affair. There are no phony cases, they're just having premarital sex. Nobody's guilty anymore. Oh you don't preach condemnation, dear God. I mean aren't you burdened enough with the taxation and the possibility of an invasion of Russia and other things? But when it comes down to the issue of dealing with this little thing in here that we call the heart of man, there is only one answer to the problem, and that is the answer of the cross of Jesus Christ. I think one of the greatest hymns ever written, let me put it backwards, I was preaching in a conference in Wisconsin in 1953 I think it was, and as we finished the service somebody struck up, so I'll cherish the old rugged cross. The next morning I was going to cross for breakfast, I had to speak at nine o'clock, and here's a lovely lady walking over the grass, and she said, well that was a great meeting last night. I said it was, I noticed as we began to sing at the end, so I'll cherish the old rugged cross, the tears were coming down your face, it's a wonderful hymn isn't it? She said, yes my husband wrote it. Well it was doubly nice. But you know we've got to go back to the cross. The most, the biggest lie I think the devil has put on our generation is this, that in history we passed Jesus Christ coming up the road two thousand years ago, that's a lie from hell, he's ahead of us. Whether you go the broad way to destruction or the narrow way, you're still to confront Jesus Christ. You may not hear it, you may hear his voice and disobey him tonight, you've heard his voice often, you've heard your mother praying for you, you've heard somebody pleading for you, you've heard that voice and you're deaf and deaf ears, but listen, when you're lying in the grave there at the voice of the Son of God, you'll get up at that very moment, you've no option about it. You see we're all heading up for the final checkout, whether you're a saint or a sinner, you're cramming whether you know it or not, you're cramming for your finals. I wanted to preach, which would take me about three days, in fact I preached on it one night for three and a half hours, three, no correctly, three hours and twenty minutes on the judgment seat, but I can't do that. I want you to know something David, you're welcome to this pulpit any time you want to come. You forgot to tell him so I told him. And when you come I'm coming with you. So I certainly love to meditate on that. I'll tell you what, it terrifies me. I go into my office between midnight and two o'clock and some days I didn't even pick up my pen. I didn't kneel. The majesty of God is so real, the awesomeness, that this whole world is going to the final checkout counter. There isn't a sin that's being committed unless it's under the blood that won't be brought to light. The last thing that's crossed the mind of Senator Kennedy is he's going to meet that girl that drowned at Capiquity. She didn't drown for the simple reason when they got her body she had no water in her lungs. I understand she had a baby in her belly, whoever calls that, but he's going to stand, there'll be no exoneration, there'll be no pope to plead for him, there'll be nothing he can bring as a sacrifice. He's going to stand there not as Kennedy but as an ornery sinner in the sight of God. Every sin that man has done is going to be brought to account in that great. Can you think of that? Isn't it awesome that the church slanders when this is so true? That men and women have not been alerted. When did you last preach on flee from the wrath to come? When did you last preach that all wicked shall be turned into hell and nations that forget God? We don't preach that anymore. The sting has gone out of our preaching. There used to be a time when conviction of sin came and people went home. And what did they do? They couldn't sleep. They go home now if they're troubled and they turn TV on and wash it all away. They're terrified of facing reality. But here is a man again confronted with his sin. And I acknowledge my transgression. God can do nothing until he confesses sin. My note on that was this, that Mary Queen of Scots would have said I'm above the law. The law doesn't apply to me but it does apply to her. Mohammed would have invented or produced at least a revelation that would absolve him from both crimes. Charles II would have publicly abrogated the seventh commandment. Queen Elizabeth would have suspended Nathan. But this amazing man doesn't do anything of the kind. He faces up to the fact that he needs mercy. I love that hymn that says mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary. What's wrong with this man? He's the most famous man in the world. He's he's had more victories than King Saul has. The people in the streets are singing David Saul has slain his thousands and David is tens of thousands. He's riding a great wave of popularity. He's put down his enemies the Philistines. Everybody trembles at him. This anointed anointed shepherd boy. How amazing what a lesson. Everybody else would have chosen Ahab. No that's not his name. His brother anyhow was a tall handsome man and David is only a shepherd boy. Isn't that a wonderful story of David and Goliath? I love that story. I like to see that little boy David with his sling and he went out and what did he do? The first thing he said I slew a lion. Then there came a bear. I took the lion and I caught him by the beard and punched his nose and sent him home. Then there came a bear and I destroyed the bear. Now comes Goliath. Boy I'll get rid of him. And Goliath is saying who's this little creature coming here? He didn't realize this man that stone he had in his sling was more powerful than an atomic bomb. You know it seemed as though he'll never do it. He swings it around and lets it go. This man has armor everywhere. His breastplates, his armor on his legs, his armor on his hands and his arms and he's totally protected and yet he has a little space here above his visor and the stone went right through and right into the head of Goliath. And you know such a thing never entered his head before. Next thing he's laid out. What a foolish thing. God takes the foolish things. Dear God now you can't go to many schools. You can't be a preacher. I get young men distressed. I want to go to a school. I want to go in the ministry. They say you can't go in the ministry until you've got an education, until you've got a degree. So what? Our pulpits are full of degrees now. What are they doing? They're in splendid isolation. The emphasis is on the ice. It's amazing here. Here is a man loaded with guilt, as I say, condemnation. You know somehow we think that the salvation that we offer is only for the down and out. It's only for the men who've got messed up. It's all right to be in New York. We work, David and my other son and Martha, we work with David Wilson when he first started in New York 26 years ago. And he gathered up the scum of the earth, as it were. Prostitutes came every night to the place. Guys would tell you how many people they killed, how many murders they've been in. Gang rapes, gang murders, and the filth of the earth. It was an abomination to listen to it. But how wonderful to be able to call Hebrew 725 to somebody who says, listen there's no hope for me. I've been in prison 12 times. I've been in so many rapes. I've been in so many murders. I've got a lust for all that's wrong and all that's sinful. And then you tell them about, and you know what? They had religion. They had crucifixes around their necks. Many of them never missed a mass or missed something else, and yet they were perfectly dominated by sin. And then you say there's one by the name of Jesus, he's able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him. Somebody mentioned yesterday that wonderful book of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Boy Bunyan was some preacher. Do you know when he lived? He lived in the reign of Charles II of England. Do you know who was the leading preacher in that day? Nobody but John Owen. The greatest preacher in history at that period. The greatest preacher to all of some of the Calvinists. John Owen has about 16 volumes of sermons. I have about six of them. I've never read them. But he's a great preacher. Every time Parliament opened, the king sent for John Owen. You must give some orations. Every time there was some distinguished gathering of celebrities from the world, tell Dr. John Owen he must appear in the Royal Chapel and he must preach to us on a certain subject. So this man had favour with the king. He had favour with the elite of England. One day, he was summoned into the presence of the king. So he thought, well, I suppose I'm going to get a commission to preach somewhere. And the king in his archaic English said to him, listen, Dr. Owen, I want to ask you a question. You are the greatest preacher in England today. You have a colossal intellect. You have marvellous reasoning. You have rhetoric. You have scholarship. You read it all together. You're the most stirring preacher that there is. Is it true that you've been going up the road to listen to a babbling Baptist by the name of John, I nearly said John the Baptist, John Bunyan? So he said, yes, your honour. He said, you, the greatest preacher, you go to listen to an uneducated man like John Bunyan? He said, yes, sir. I went into a shed where the roof was leaking and the walls were not very secure, the wind was blowing in, the rain was blowing in, and I listened to him for four hours. I stood there astonished at the power of a man, the authority he had, the wisdom he had, the strength he had. It was like arrows shooting into my heart. I would listen to him for hours. I don't understand why you do that. Well, said Dr. John Owen, listen, sir, I would gladly take off my robes. He has to wear certain robes in the presence of the King. I would gladly take them off and throw them at your feet if I could preach like that man, that unlearned, unlettered man. What happened at the upper room? Did they all come out with degrees? Well, the one thing for sure, they didn't come out to do mimes. Can you imagine them coming out of the upper room with face and white hands doing silly stuff that they have these days? They came out of the room in the energy of God, in the power of the Holy Ghost. Pentecost in Scripture is married. It's married to poverty, it's married to power, it's married to persuasion, it's married to prisons, it's married to persecution. Pentecost today is married to prosperity. It's a million miles away from Pentecost. There has to come another time when we not merely sing what we sang tonight, but actually we say, Lord, I humble myself at thy feet. I'm totally unworthy that I should even be the least of one of your disciples. So go back to John Bunyan. Remember in his story he talks about the man who turned his back on the city of destruction to go to the city of God, and he tells him to follow that shining light, and he followed it, and then the pilgrim says, I came to a place that was somewhat ascending. There was a wall on this side and a wall on the other side, and then right ahead of me I saw a cross. And when I gazed upon the cross, the burden loosed from off my back, fell from off my shoulders, rolled down the hill into an empty sepulcher, and I beheld it no more forever. And he gave three leaves for joy. I think one for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Ghost. Listen, a Baptist got delivered of his sins and gave three leaves for joy. Well dear God, what should a Pentecostal do if he gets rid of all this stuff? He ought to have a war dance. He ought to be magnifying the Lord. Listen, my guilt has gone. Sure it's for sinners, and it's for scholars. The highest family in English history at that period, when John Wesley was around, was the Wesley family. John Wesley's grandfather was a bishop, his father was a preacher, they were all hymn writers. So John Wesley's family, Charles Wesley, came into a living relationship. Listen, he was a communicant. When that man got saved he was as clean as Nicodemus. There wasn't a thing you could lay on him. He didn't smoke, drink, swear, do anything. He took sacrament. He even went to pray with men at three o'clock in the morning when he wasn't saved. Dear God, my problem with Wesley is he's more spiritual when he wasn't saved than I am when I am saved. He loved the lost. He came to Georgia to rescue the Indians he said who were without God and without hope. And he slept where? In some nice hotel. No, he slept on the ground. Woke up in the morning with his hair frozen to the ground. Couldn't release his arm in the frost. Got one arm released, released the other, got his legs free, got his hair free out of the mud, stood up and he said, I brushed the frost off my coat and I sang the doxology to magnify God. And he wasn't even born again yet. He had such compassion for people in their ignorance. Dear Lord, I'm sick to death of this psychology stuff. I don't find the psychologist, Christian psychologist, getting on a boat and going up the Amazon and then going up the Oronoco River to another place. There are Indians there, have been there two thousand years, they're without God. They don't go and rescue them because they've no message. They come messing up Christians. Oh, these poor little Christians, always trouble. Somebody comes with a soft message and soothes you, you know, and says, Well, dear ones, you're really a problem. Your image is too small. Well, if you're a Christian, you shouldn't have images anyhow. Hark the herald angels sing, says Charles Wesley. Add glory to the newborn King. Adam's likeness now effaced. Stamp thine image in its place. So Charles Wesley has an experience of God. Maybe his greatest hymn was, And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died he for me who caused his pain? For me who him to death pursued? And here you have this scholar, this gentleman, this brilliant man, accepting to royalty. And then he writes this verse, No condemnation now I dread. You know, so you look so nice tonight and inside of you there's something twisting, condemnation, guilt, unconfessed sin, rebellion against God, and you'll never have mercy. I don't care what you do. You can go through the ritual, you can be baptized and come up. All you do, you're going to dry sinner and come out a wet sinner. But this man has been radically born again of the Spirit of God. And if any man, I love that, there's such a defiance in that word of Paul's. Is it in 2 Corinthians 5 17? If any man be in Christ, any man, anywhere, at any time. If you have a message less than that, you then go to the heathen up the Amazons. You can't go to people in those far off countries in bondage. You can't go down the street to the prostitute. You can't go around the corner to the drunkard. And listen, be very careful. He may turn around and ask you, you're preaching victory over sin. Do you have victory over sin? Do you have victory over lust? And are you pointing the way? You know, our young people, they have so many signposts pointing the way. We don't need guideposts to point the way. We need guides to lead the way. We need guides in the pulpit. We need guides in the Sunday school. Anyhow, this man is burdened with guilt. He's borne down with grief. And so he comes and he cries, Have mercy upon me, O God. According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, brought out my transgressions. Wash me truly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Against thee, the only have I sinned. You say that's not correct. He didn't just sin against God, he sinned against Bathsheba. I'm not sure he did. He sinned with her. But I'm not sure he sinned against her. She's part of the deal. But he doesn't blame her here. He says, I am the sinner. You know, we all know what's wrong with somebody else. But it's when it comes to me being feeling condemnation and guilt, and we start making excuses about it. But it's an amazing thing again. And he says, Against thee, only have I sinned, and none this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was straightened in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. He prays the first part of this wonderful psalm. He prays it as a sinner under condemnation, under guilt. And he uses three different words in the first two verses for sin. And he uses three different words there, which I won't to emphasize at the moment. He uses three different words there for cleansing. I'm talking here about the urgency to get rid of that thing. If you had some diabolical disease and sin as a disease, would you want to get rid of it? If you got rid of it, would you keep quiet about it? If you got miraculously delivered from cancer via some medical prescription, wouldn't you feel obligated to run out and tell everybody that there's a deliverance for cancer, that they can be healed and made whole? If a man, you know, we ask some people, are you saved? They say, I don't know. Supposing you're walking up the road, you have a sack of 80 pounds on your back, and somebody snatches it off. And you say, somebody says, have you lost your burden? You say, oh, I don't know, let me feel around. If you lost your burden, you'd know pretty quickly that that burden had gone. And one of the most joyful things we sang tonight, you know, I'd almost like to stop the whole meeting and say, listen, you sang a truth tonight, explain it to me. What do you think? Blessed assurance. Why do you have assurance? How do you have assurance? Again, the Holy Spirit convicts of sin. And the Apostle Paul, as we mentioned yesterday about faith, in the ninth chapter of Romans, he says, I call the Holy Ghost to bear witness. Do you do that? Do I do that? Can I call the Holy Ghost to bear witness, that when I pray, I pray with as much zeal and passion and longing and yearning in the secret place as I do openly? Am I as consistent there as I am publicly? The Holy Spirit bears witness. It was the favorite preaching of John Wesley. He preached on that text more than any other text. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're born of God. No condemnation, Wesley says, now I dread. Jesus and all in him is mine. Alive in him, my living head and clothed in righteousness, divine bold, I approach the eternal throne and claim the crown through Christ my own. There's nothing more awesome, I think, than seeing God take the beggar from the dunghill and make him a prince unto God. Some of Wesley's greatest preachers were the vilest men in the country. He gathered a bunch of men round him. They weren't intellectually his equal. They weren't socially his equal, but spiritually they were his equal. They fasted when he fasted. They submitted to all the rigorous life that they had to live in those days, because they'd been emancipated. They'd lost their burden of guilt. They got a message to declare to others that he's able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God. You know, lots of people get neurotic and all this stuff. It's due to the fact, if you could push it right down, it's guilt, it's condemnation, it's hidden sin that has to be cleansed. It has to be done away. And so David prays here, have mercy for me, my past sins. And then he prays again. He mentions in this chapter, he mentions the Spirit three times. He mentions sacrifices three times. He says, thou desirest not sacrifice, else I would give it. Well, what can you do? There's no other way to God. We mentioned, was it last night, about Elijah. And what did he bring? He didn't bring a pair of turtle doves. He didn't bring a handful of meal or something. The sacrifice of God are a broken and a contrite heart. A broken spirit and a contrite heart of God, thou will not despise. That's so very seldom real in our lives, is it? Brokenness. You know, we've got used to sin. We're used to it. People can sin without any fear anymore. Dear God, it used to be in meetings, the Spirit of God would come like a cloud. People would go home and they wouldn't sleep. They keep awake night after night after night, as in the days of Jonathan Edwards. When the whole community was visited with God, and that's what I want. I want God to come on the community. Not just a blessing here and a healing there and a vision over there. I want the Spirit of God to come until taverns are closed. Nobody wants to drink. Until people don't curse. Until every home becomes a tabernacle where God lives. Where every father becomes a priest. He ministers the things of God to his family. Where he becomes a king, walking in righteousness and holiness. David here, thank you. I thought we'd get a hallelujah before the week was over. It's pretty dried up around here, okay. But here. Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. That's an absent thing these days. How many people have truth in the inward parts? If we have truth in the inward parts, we'll have integrity. There isn't much integrity around anymore. There isn't much honesty around anymore. As I've said before, the missing feature to me in modern preaching, there are three things missing. Missing immensity, intensity and eternity. I would like to hear preaching till people can't do their office work. They can't do any other work. They say, my number one priority is to get right with God. I want to get rid of this guilt. I want to get rid of this shame. It's amazing how people can cover sin, isn't it? You know, we think of revival as a happy time. Oh boy, we shouted, we danced with more blessing. Listen, I talked with a man some years ago. He was 90 years of age. He'd been in the Shang Tung revival away there in China when the Holy Ghost came on the whole community. And he said, by the way, you know, the meetings would start in the morning. And the same thing is recorded by Jonathan Goforth's daughter, or wife actually. She said, when revival came, we'd go to the sanctuary with maybe two or three thousand people. We'd go in at nine o'clock in the morning and stand up and sing. And we'd still be singing at five o'clock at night without stopping. And nobody got tired. The next day you'd go and they'd start praying. And they'd pray from nine till seven or eight at night. And nobody got tired. You'd go another day. There wasn't a word of prayer. There wasn't a word of singing. But she said, we'd sit for five, six, seven hours in total silence. And that was the most penetrating of all. Be still and know the time God. You had no voice, no human voice. Just the Spirit of God got down the corridors of the mind, the avenues of the heart, and began to stir memory. You know, we don't mention conscience much anymore, do we? We don't believe in conscience, so we invent a lie detector. I go for the old-fashioned conscience. But once guilt is really registered by the Spirit of God on us. You know, a man is not just a sinner wandering away from God. He's a rebel. He has his fist up against God. I will not have this man to rule over me. I'm going to run my own life. And therefore, you have all the mess that we have in the nation. Our divorce courts are packed. People say, but Brother Abner, remember, Sunday morning in America, almost every church in the nation is packed. So what? For how long? An hour. The jails are filled 24 hours a day, every day in the year. And it doesn't balance out. The only reason jails are filled to that degree, again, is that the Church of Jesus Christ has lost vision. Lost the sense of its wholesome task. To say that Jesus Christ is able to save to the end of us. He says, wash me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Cleanse me and I shall be whiter than snow. Well, what did he know about snow? Well, there was snow on Mount Hermon. But did he know what modern science says? Not only is every snowflake different, but every snowflake has one little speck of dirt in it. There isn't a snowflake that comes down from the sky that doesn't pick a little one bit of grain of dirt in it. But he says, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness. These are his requests. Cleanse me. Take away my deafness to your voice. Then what does he say? Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Here he's praying like a backslider. He remembers the heights that he had with God. He remembers the time when he could say, the heavens declare the glory of God. When he would lay for hours in meditation and adoration of God himself. But it's very different now. In Psalm 139, he says, one of the most daring things that's ever been uttered from human lips. What does he say? He says to the holy God, whose holy of eyes is too holy to look upon sin. And then he calls on God. He says in Psalm 139, Search me, O God. Isn't that something? Dare you say that tonight? Brave as you are, secure as you are, spiritual as you are, satisfied as you are. Can you say to the holy one who's going to search you with eyes of fire of the judgment, you say, Lord, spare me. Don't embarrass me there. Search me, O God, my actions try. And let my life appear as seen by thine all-searching eye, to mine my ways make clear. Search all my thoughts, the secret springs, the motives that control. He bears his heart. The heart that caused him to commit adultery. The heart that caused him to murder, to cover up the adultery. He says, search this heart of mine with all its impurities, with all its rebellions. Where all my evil desires. Search me, O God. What does he say in this psalm? Here he is, loaded with guilt, condemnation. Terrified to hear the cry of a baby, because it reminds me of the baby that he fathered. Looking on soldiers, he's ashamed because he knows that he's put a soldier to death. Does he cry here? Search me, O God. No, this is what he says. Hide thy face from my sins. Lord, don't go away, but don't go any nearer. And then he prays this awesome thing. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Do you know what? If the Spirit of God convicts you of sin tonight, you ought to run to this altar before I finish speaking even. There are people in hell tonight who would like one more chance to hear the voice of God, and they can't have it. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. You don't have that joy, so you stick in front of that dumb idol called television to try and get a lift. I say what I said last night. Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy. There's no joy like the joy of sins forgiven. To say no condemnation, now I dread. The Methodists used to sing a hymn about the first who was saved. They talked about hell subdued and peace with heaven. That reminds me of when I used to look across the aisle in the Methodist church. We had a fellow there. He was about the most wild man in the whole community. He got saved. And you know, it was all right when our preacher was there. But when they sang that hymn, And can it be that I should gain? Surely at the end, he put up that big hand. He had a hand as big as a shovel, I thought. And a voice worse than anybody ever heard. And it's strike up in the wrong key. No condemnation, now I dread. The preacher would jump in the pulpit. But you see, this man had been liberated. He had chains, he had fetters, he had guilt. He had habits that made him a victim. He might as well have been chained with chains of iron. But what if you don't have chains of iron? Aren't chains as heavy if they're made of gold? Some of you have intellectual chains. Some of you have moral chains. Some of you have theological chains. But when the Spirit of God comes and begins to liberate, It's something entirely different. Everybody gets emancipated. I met my darling wife in a town outside of Manchester about 1937. She came with a bunch of nurses. And I preached one night, Saturday night. It was a cold, miserable English night. It was summer. It was terribly hot. I think it was 65. I don't think there were more than about 60 people in the meeting. I preached on this psalm. And I emphasized this. I said, you know, when joy goes out, you try to cram that space with everything. As everybody went out, this one woman at the back, I'm sure she was about six foot two. And she was surely an ugly piece of work. She came down the front in a black dress, black hat, black outlook. Never saw a woman looking so miserable. And she grabbed hold of that little wooden rail at the front. And she shook like this. So I said, well, lady, tell me, what's your problem? And she said, my problem. My problem? I said, yes, what's your problem? Oh, she said, I can tell you that immediately. I heard the voice of God tonight, the first time in 40 years. And that big old rugged face cracked and she smiled. She said, Mr. Rainhill, in the meeting tonight, when you said, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, I said, Lord, I lost my joy 40 years ago. She said, for 40 years, I've never had joy. I've never had satisfaction. I've never had peace. I'll tell you how it started. She said, I was one of the most promising women preachers in the Salvation Army. And I had a partner. And we would select the hymns and so forth. I got to the meeting this night. My friend says, look, I've got the hymns here. She said, no, I've got the hymns here. And the girl said, no, I'm going to have my hymns. And she said, we'd quarrel about it. And at the end, she said, I said, look, I'm tired of quarreling with you. And here they are, they're trained officers in the Salvation Army. They're supposed to be saved and sanctified and edified and everything else. And she said, I went home blazing mad. I took off my uniform. I got my scissors and I cut up the coat. I took off the skirt. I cut off the skirt. And I burned it in the fire. We have open fires in England. And then she said, I took my Bible and I tore it up page by page. And I put that on top of the fire. I took my straw bonnet and put that on the top. And she said, immediately, I did that. The light inside went out. Immediately, I did that. A loneliness came over me. And it's been there for 40 years. She said, Mr. Raven, you don't understand this. I said, I think she said, no, there was no man on God's earth could preach in those days like William Boole. I heard him preach. If thou hast run with the footman and they have wearied thee, how wilt thou do in the swelling of the Jordan? And she said, I would tremble. But immediately, I got out of the atmosphere. I went home and I went to my sin. After that, I heard his greatest preachers. I heard Brangle. I had Dr. Brangle preach, a brilliant American. Do you know why he went over there? He was the greatest oratory in America at that time. The senior orator in all the universities. And he went to England. When he got to England, they said, you have to see William Boole. So he said, who are you? He said, well, I'm Dr. Brangle. From where? America. I want to join the Salvation Army. Do you know why? The Salvation Army had a banner, which they still have. And it said on the banner, what did it say? Blood and fire. Blood for the cross and fire for the fire of the Holy Ghost. They preached the baptism of the Spirit. They never mentioned tongues. But listen, they went into 70 countries in 90 years. You're talking about Stavnerola. Dear God, when a man's been in the presence of God and he's in purity, everything around him is impure. Everything is ugly. Everything is repulsive. He sees people as though they have cancers hanging all outside of them. And this amazing man, Stavnerola, somewhere about the 1500s, got marvellously born again of the Spirit of God. Do you know why, what he was like? He lived in the secret place of the Most High. So that when he was going down the street and a priest was coming, the priest would cross the street rather than look into the eyes of that man. There were kind of waves of power going out of him, the power of the Spirit of God. There were no miracles. There were no tongues. There were no visions. He preached salvation. Truly, truly being born again of the Spirit of God, that the blood of Jesus Christ, God sent. It doesn't matter how filthy you are, he can make you pure, change you from pollution to purity, change you from rebellion to being a subject of the Most High God. He got rid of all the trimmings he'd had as a Catholic priest and he got marvellously born again. What happened? He admitted that every priest practically was living in impurity. The Pope was living in impurity until he tackled sin in high places and low places. What did they do? They finally arrested him. They hung him up on a rope, pulled him up and they let him crash to the ground twelve times over. The delivery bone in his body was broken but he was rejoicing. Why? The whole fitch had been transformed. Purity had got into high places. The priests were getting saved. The politicians were getting delivered. The drunkards were no longer staggering down the streets. The women weren't doing prostitution. It was a moving of the Spirit of God. But you see that man had a broken heart and he had a broken life. And there's no hope for us brethren. We're not going to stand here and say that way to heaven, that way to blessing, that way to healing. Forget it. We've had men that had the greatest chance in history. You know if these men that recently fell on TV, if they'd been liberals we'd have said, you see the reason started they didn't believe in the virgin birth. The second thing they didn't believe in the atonement. The third thing they didn't believe in the Holy Ghost. They were not preachers. They were the holiest men in the world. They told us they were born of the Holy Spirit. They were filled with the Spirit and guided by the Spirit. But it doesn't guide us into immorality. Listen, if you get filled with the Holy Ghost it's terribly hard to sin once you get filled with the Holy Ghost. The first thing you have to do is resist the Spirit. The second thing you have to do is to grieve the Spirit. And the third thing you have to do is quench the Spirit. And that isn't easy. I don't believe a man when he says I've struggled for three years with pornography. That's a reproach on God. Didn't the Spirit convict a man of sin? And he has to tread that down. Doesn't the Word of God that he's preached for years burn like a fire in his heart? Why the psalmist himself said Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. You see today we're comfortable with sin. Isn't that true? Yeah, you'll stand and sing Amazing Grace to save a wretch like me. But if I say listen you wretches come to the altar you'll get offended. You'll stand and sing we're the whole realm of nature mine. And you'll sing about I surveyed the wondrous cross with Isaac Watts. And then when you get to the end you'll sing poor contempt on all my pride. But as I say listen you've got pride. You've got the same thing the devil had when he was kicked out of heaven. But pride is there and arrogance. And only the blood is able to take it and to cleanse it. I was preaching in a certain university. There were as many people as there are here maybe more. And on the Monday night one of the most famous preachers in America. He's the national broadcast preacher for his denomination he preached. And when he finished there was a rush to the platform. Please sign my Bible. They were wanting autographs or photographs. I stood in line for a little while then I went up behind him. I said sir I'm not a hero worshiper. And he looked well what do you want. I want to tell you I enjoyed you as look at these hundreds and hundreds of teenagers. Young married people pouring out of this university tonight. And I said I would go along with about 99 percent of your message. You did a good job. Oh thank you he said. But I said listen you made a terrible blunder. You spoke as though sin is permissible in the life of the believer. I said while you were preaching about sin. I was thinking of a woman that came to Jesus bowed in sin and guilt. And Jesus smiled on her and said go and sin less. He said what? I said oh you preach. That's not what the Bible says. He said to a woman at the other side of the cross go and sin no more. You don't sin because you have to you sin because you want to. You sin in your sin. This man likes lust and he lusts after women. This man likes greed and so he's greedy for money. You've got a besetting sin it says in the what? In the 12th chapter of Hebrews. There's a besetting sin. I love that scripture. Let me go back a minute here. One of the greatest broadcasting preachers in America was Dr. R. R. Brown in Omaha. I had the privilege of preaching in his tabernacle. And he said he talked with a lady one day. He said what's your favorite portion of scripture? Oh she said Dr. Brown I so love that word in the epistle of John that says when we sin we have an advocate with the father. Isn't that wonderful? He said I don't know it isn't in my Bible. She said surely it is. I said well here you are lady show me. So she searched through and she found the first what? Epistle of John reading. So she read it. If we sin what? Not when we sin if we sin. Now there's another verse of scripture that says when you fast. You know we've changed the letters over. We've changed it from when you fast to if you fast. And we've changed it from if we sin to when we sin. We don't have to sin in thought word and deed and struggle. We can have perfect victory over sin. We can have dominion over sin. It doesn't have to have power over us. I was going to say I don't like to use the word love. I do love hymns. I've got a whole rack of wonderful old hymn books. And years ago I was preaching at the Keswick meeting in London. It was in an area the street is called Orange Grove. It never saw an orange in a million years. But it's a wonderful gothic old building stained glass windows. The pulpit is as ornate as this is ugly. And it was beautifully carved. And I stood there. I got all of that. I got all of that pulpit and I put my feet there. And I held on tightly. Do you know why? The pastor of that church used to be Augustus Toplady. He wrote Rock of Ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in thee. What's he saying on him? Be of sin the double cure. You see the trouble. I believe the preachers today are the most guilty men this side of eternity. They don't have a message. You can't be saved by confessing your sin. People do that in the Catholic church every day. And particularly weekends. There's far more to it than that. I need more than, I need more than forgiveness. I need justification. I need more than justification. I need adoption. Dear God what a wonderful thing to be adopted. You stare at me and say well he's only a little Englishman. Forget it. I'm royalty. I belong to a royal priesthood and a holy nation. I'm supposed to live above the world. Above the habit, the customs of the world, the desires of the world. So the hymn says what? Be of sin the double cure. Cleanse me from its guilt and power. You see you don't have too much trouble if a man is desperately on it. You don't have much trouble with that man that has guilt and condemnation. He has a form of godliness but no life in him. You don't have too much trouble getting him to the cross. Your trouble is to get him on the cross. We say come to the front. Come and find life. I won't invite you to come for life tonight. I'll invite you to come and die. Jesus isn't asking you to live for him. He's asking you to die for him. Abandon all your desires. Abandon all your habits. Abandon all your appetites. And say for me Christ is not important. It's not a case of Christ first in your life. It's Christ only. Oh there used to be a slogan 20 years ago in America. Take Christ into partnership. He doesn't want partnership. He wants ownership. He's not going to be a sharer. He wants to govern the whole of your life. And he's of a holier eyes than to behold iniquity. So this man cries. Let me go back a minute and say that precious woman got such a deliverance that night. I can't tell you the ecstasy I had. If she'd give me $10,000 I couldn't have been happier. She went out. She said Mr.Ramiel for the first time in 40 years I've listened to preaching. I've gone home and I've wept. But only tonight did God speak to me. And she said I've got peace back tonight. I've got joy back tonight. And you know from that night that was Saturday night. I went to the church in the morning and it was about 6 inches of snow outside. I went to open the church for the Sunday morning prayer meeting. She was standing in the snow. And all the years I pastored she was the first person at every prayer meeting that we had. She said she don't know what it's been like. 40 years of torture. 40 years of waking up in the night. And guilt would come. And condemnation would come. And fear would come. Boy she said everything that the devil could bring he brought into my life. And then in one split moment I knew I was pardoned. I knew he had restored unto me the joy of his salvation. There are some of you sitting here tonight. Once this book was sweeter than the honey in the honeycomb. Now you can live a week and not touch it. There's a time when you do in prayer. If you love people you want to be with them. If you love God you spend time in prayer. If you love people you want to talk with them. You say I love God you can't love somebody you don't know. Most of our people don't know God. They know religion. They know formality. They know ritual. They know how to clap and sing. But really knowing God. Hearing his voice. Submitting to his voice. Submitting to his commandments. It's something entirely different. So she prays have mercy upon me. He prays then restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Then will I teach transgressors. Wait a minute. I've rushed past something there I think. In verse 10. Create in me a clean heart O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Upon me with. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways. Why don't you search? Why don't you say I'm looking for something lofty. I'm looking for an experience of holiness. I'm looking for an experience of sanctification. For the very reason you know that man in the pulpit doesn't have it. He isn't leading the way. But this man says you do it in me. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways. Now listen to what he says in the next verse. O Lord open thou my lips. And my mouth shall show forth thy praise. What does he say that for? He's not dumb. But he said it's no good me opening my mouth. If my life is a contradiction to what I say. Let me go back a moment there. He has an experience of God when he says this. That is just a little verse I skipped over it. It's in the context of that same word. Make me to hear joy and gladness. But the bones which thou hast broken. Did you ever break a bone? I told you I leaped out of a Birmingham hotel in 1951. In Chicago three stories up. You know the world champion in the Olympic games recently was asked. When you dive off that high board how high is it? He said standing here and looking up it's 30 feet. Standing there by yourself and looking down it's 300 feet. I know what he meant I was up in a burning hotel. It seemed 3,000 feet up. Jumped out got in the street with a broken back. Broken legs. My left leg in three pieces. Both my feet broken. Three breaks in my back and there I lay in the cold. And a guy came so kindly. You know I can't understand American humor. He looked at me lying helpless at half past two in the morning in the snow. And he said what are you doing here? Well obviously I was playing tennis. What are you doing lying here? He said you can't stay here. I said sir I don't want to. I said I can't get up I've tried. And he lifted me up. And he laid me in the bank of snow. Dear Lord. I was there about two minutes. I was shaking like this. I thought well what's he going to do kill me the slow process? Then suddenly the ambulance came. And the next thing I knew the thing was screaming. We were going down the road to the hospital. But you know when he lifted me up. He put his hand under my under my knee there. And under my head and lifted me. Every bone in my body screamed out. I thought of this text. Come on this should come to home to some of you. He says when you're out of touch with God you walk with God. And now something's come in. Business has come in. Sport has come in. Christ is not the attraction. Prayer is not the attraction. Testimony is not the attraction. And David says the bones which thou hast broken. You've severed your relationship. The greatest pain in the world. Is not a pain not even trouble for women. The greatest pain is to have conviction of sin. Is to have a burden of guilt. To know that we've defied and defiled a living God. So he cries created me a clean heart oh God. I heard G. Campbell Morgan preach many times. I think I had a great life. In the 80 odd years I've traveled. I would go to a preacher's forum. And one Monday I'd listen there to G. Campbell Morgan. The next time I'd listen to one of the greatest preachers ever. Dr. Sangster of Westminster. Another time it would be Dr. Black from Edinburgh. Another time it would be Farmer all the way from Cambridge University. On occasion it was C.S. Lewis. I listened to these great wonderful preachers. And only twice did Campbell Morgan disturb me. One was when he said preaching is my life. Rubbish. You're in trouble if preaching is your life. Christ is my life. I can live without preaching. I had to do it for two years. I was ready to go around the world and preach. Instead they had two years in pain and agony. And all the therapy and stuff that I had. I can live without preaching. I can't live without Christ. The second thing was he preached a message on holiness. And everything he said I was saying under my breath. Of course, you know, all the preachers there. Hundreds of them in their clerical colours. You know, the chosen people and the frozen people too. And when he said something that was glorious, I would say in a steadfast way, Hallelujah, hallelujah, praise the Lord. The fellow behind me kept looking at me and said, Get out of here you lunatic. And he kept going on an ascending scale about holiness. And I was just enjoying every moment of it. And then he said, now listen, remember, I'm not preaching sinless perfection. Of course he wasn't. You say, well, we can live without sin. We can live without practising sin. There's no experience this side of heaven that in a sense guarantees I won't make mistakes. It's not sinless perfection. It's not angelic perfection. It's not Adamic perfection. It's Christian perfection. A perfection of love, a perfection of obedience. What do you sing tonight? Perfect obedience. Why did you sing it if you don't do it? So, D. Campbell Morgan gave this marvellous. And then he said, look, I want to caution you. The blessed apostle Paul, with his amazing walk with God, finished up in Romans 7 saying, man that I am. That's a lie from hell. He didn't do that. How does he finish in Romans 7? In Romans 7, he says through the chapter that the law is power. You see, Romans 7 is a funeral march. Romans 8 is a wedding march. He knows a famous writing in English history. What was his name? He wrote Paradise Lost. Pardon? Thank you. John Milton wrote Paradise Lost. Do you know when he wrote it? After he got married. Then he wrote a better book, Paradise Regain. Do you know when he wrote that? After his wife died. Now, those are two historic facts. It's humorous, but there it is. But you see, most of the features got stuck at the bottom of Romans chapter 6. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me? And he said that's where Paul died. He did not. That's a lie from hell. There he says at that period in his life, oh, wretched man that I am. It's not I, it's sin that dwelleth in me. You go to Galatians 2.20, he says it's not I, it's Christ that liveth in me. You can't have indwelling sin in the indwelling Christ. He won't stay where there's impurity. He won't stay where there's pride. He won't stay where there's greed. He won't stay where there's lust. You're trying to make Christ accommodate himself to your lifestyle. He says no. Then he finishes. Paul says, oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me? Can the priest deliver me? No. Can the sacrifices deliver me? No. Can holy days deliver me? No. What do I am? What do I do? Oh, wretched man that I am. Okay, let's wind it up. He doesn't stay there. Oh, wretched man. Who shall deliver me from this bondage of death? You see, a man could be crucified on a cross like a letter T, and his head would go back. He could be crucified on a cross like the average cross, you see. He could be crucified on a cross that was an X, and you stretched his limbs out and nailed him to the cross that way. Or there was a cross which was merely a big trunk of a tree with a spike, and you stuck the man's body on it and turned him and left him upside down anyway. But there's another crucifixion which was worse than all of them, and that was if a man killed another man, you took him to the corpse of the man he killed, and you stretched him on the corpse, and you tied the living hand to the dead hand. And then you stood the man up, and you pushed him off, and he would struggle with that wretched body that he had. And Paul says, I have a body of sin. Who can deliver me? You see, Romans chapter 6 says, if you really, you know, if the Baptists believe what they talk about, that when they're buried in Baptism and raised in newness of life, they'd set America on fire, they'd set the world on fire, that they're in bondage to worldliness and sin themselves. So what? You get this man going around with a body. He wakes up in the morning, he looks into the glassy eyes of the corpse. The corruption is beginning to stink, and he wants to get away. I happen to see that man on the road, and I say, well, I'll set you free. I take my knife, and I cut the ropes off him. Or I start to cut them, then a Roman centurion comes up to me. What are you doing? Oh, this is a friend of mine. And I don't want him to die. He's going to carry this body of death. It's gradually going to creep into him until he is full of maggots and corruption. Don't do this. Let me liberate him. He says, you can liberate him on one point only. What is that? That when you cut that corpse from that, when you cut that corpse from that living man, we take the corpse, and we tie it onto you. Are you willing to bear that body of death in his place? Oh no. So the man goes staggering on. We've got so many Christians now. They've got rid of one or two dirty habits. Oh, you've grown out of your bad temper. Are you? Ask that woman who's been married to that bad-tempered man 25 years. Is his temper getting better? That man who has dominated with lust, is it getting less? It's getting stronger. So finally, the apostle says, oh wretched man that I am. The law can't do it, and this, that, never can do it. And he doesn't stay there. He says, thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The only way to have liberty is in bondage. The only way to have life is to die. And we're invited to death. Jesus didn't make any terms with a rich young ruler. He says, take up your cross and follow me. He didn't bargain with him. And the only way that you and I are going to have victory, perfect victory over sin, is when we cry out with David. Create in me a clean heart. You know, thousands of people, and I'm not trying to revive anything. Thousands of people pointed the millions at Jimmy Swigert and the PTL guy. Okay, for what? Messing around a little while with some harlot. But wait a minute. The law says, thou shalt not steal. The law says, thou shalt not commit adultery. But Jesus says, I say to you, if you look on a woman to lust, and you're lust in your heart, you've done the same thing. I was up in Michigan in 1950, I think it's three. There's a big handsome fellow there, about six foot two. I said, are you a pastor? He said, I'm a missionary. I said, to who? He said, I've given my life to going around the different, what do you call them, camps that the Indians have. Thank you, reservations. And I said, how are you getting? Oh, he said, I had some wonderful deliverer. Let me tell you about one. He had a fancy name, you know, Eagle Feather or something. And he was the worst man. He was always fighting. He was always drunk. He was a devil of a man. Everybody hated him. And he said, in one of my meetings, he just trumbled down and said, listen, can God do anything with me? My mind is dirty. My life is dirty. I hate. I'm bitter. I don't know a thing about love or kindness and gentleness. I'm a brute. I'm a savage. I'm a drunken. I'm a fighter. I'm an adulterer. And the guy poured out his sin. So he stayed with him. And the man got wonderfully changed by the power of God. So the mystery was away for about a year or more. And he went back to the camp. And when he got there, as he went in, one of the young men came to him and said, well, so glad to see you. So he said, well, how's Eagle Feather doing? He said, well, he's in jail. For what? Well, you won't want to believe it. He's in jail for committing adultery. No, he's not. Yes, he is. No, he's not. Yes, he is. No, he's not. Let's go to the jail. So the jailer let them in through one gate, through another. And finally, there was Eagle Feather. When he saw the man who had led him to the Lord, he just put his head down, began to weep. And then he stopped and he embraced the missionary. And he said, well, what's going to happen to you? He said, well, I got sentenced for so long, so many years. For what? He said, well, I committed adultery. He said, you didn't. He said, I did. He said, you didn't. Tell me the story. He said, I came around through the trees on my horse and there was a beautiful girl. I knew her. She was a princess in another tribe and she was skinny dipping there. She had a stitch on and I pulled up my horse and I got behind the tree and I looked for a moment. And immediately I felt, oh, I'm guilty. I've lost it. And he said, I jumped on my horse and I galloped away as quickly as I could. What he didn't see was another man came through following him. And that man actually raped that girl and blamed it onto him. And he got a sentence for a number of years. And he said, I'll never forget the joy that came to that man when I said to him, listen, yes, you fell to temptation, but you didn't in any way defile yourself with that woman. There's a sense of guilt that you have. But he said, I don't have guilt anymore. I told the Lord that in a warm moment of weakness, I lusted after that woman. It's never happened since. You see, what these men did is one thing. But listen, they can stand and apologize as much as they like. But I want to tell you this terrible thing. The sin that they've done is in the history books of America now. People are mocking the Pentecostal message because the leading men that have defiled it were not the opponents of the Pentecostal message, but the exponents of it. That's why God is going to give us a revival of holiness. Not to vindicate the assemblies of God or the Pentecostals, but to vindicate his holy name. To show us that he can have a people who want to walk in purity. You see, so here's this wonderful, wonderful word that this man has, creating me a clean heart. Well, how many of us believe Jesus is coming? Let me see your hands. You believe Jesus is coming? Okay. Well, who's he coming for? A who? A what? It begins with B. Oh, Mike knew that. That's one thing he knew. The Lord's coming for a bride. Boy, I've seen some weddings around the world. I've been to weddings, I've seen brides, you know, tall ones, small ones, wide ones, not so wide, but wide, and thin ones, rich ones, poor ones, educated, wise, otherwise. But I've never seen a dirty bride. I'm still wounded every day. I think about these men who had the world at their feet, and they've lost it all. And the history books will rise up against them. There are tens of thousands of young people who will never go to church in America. They curse, and everything else, because of these men. But wait a minute. When they point their fingers at the church, and they say, some of those preachers are adulterers. Some of those preachers run off with women. Some of those preachers steal money, and so forth. That hurts me. I go to a higher authority. I go to the one who, according to the hymn, the church is one foundation. What does it say? With her own blood he bought her, and for her life he died. In heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride. So he's coming for a holy bride. Supposing he comes five minutes from now, are you in purity? If not, you'll be left behind. The scripture distinctly says that he that hath this hope, if every morning you get in your car, you say, Lord I hope those are up to the day. I'm ready to go up in a moment. Are you? Have you a grudge against anybody? Have you any bitterness against anybody? Are you really close with God in prayer? Is this blessed word electrifying to you? Are you faking the whole thing, in that moment? Supposing I had a bowl here, and I could, I could take a handful of gold and chips, and put all these pieces of gold in there. And in the other pocket I have a handful of silver chips, and I put them in there. And I put an emerald in there that's worth fifty thousand dollars. I put a diamond in there worth a hundred million dollars. I put them all in that cup. And then the last moment I take some little bits, little scraps of steel, and I drop them in. Then I put a magnet over. What happens? Does the diamond at the bottom rush right through to the top? Does the emerald come up to the precious thing? No, scrappy little bits of steel leap up. To the magnetism, where Jesus Christ is coming. Is he coming for a dirty bride? Listen to what he says of his church. Forget all your theories about mid-trip, pre-trip, pre-trip, post-trip, and any other trip. Forget it. I find as I check with pastors, do you believe right now we're living in a Laodicean church age? When instead of being guided by men of God, we go by public vote of members. Which is wrong? Well, thank you for your patience in listening. I'm going to preach on the morning in intercessions. So let the bishop close the meeting. While listening to this tape, perhaps God's spirit has been talking to your heart. If you felt the need to draw closer to your creator, why not start today? God has provided a way for man to enter into relationship with him forever through his son Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. The Bible says that as many as receive him, to them give he power to become the children of God. You too can receive him right now by asking him to forgive you of your sins. And asking him to come into your life and to be lord and savior of your life. If you'd like to receive Jesus Christ in your life today, you can do so through a simple little prayer. Just open up your heart and repeat this prayer with me. Lord Jesus, I admit to you that I am a sinner. I believe that you died on a cross for my sins. Please forgive me of all of my sins. Please come into my heart and into my life. Please make my life acceptable unto you. Thank you, Lord, for your gift of eternal life. And I receive you this day. In Jesus name I pray, amen. Now if you prayed that prayer with me right now, you are a new person. All your past sins and faults have been forgiven by God. And in his eyes you are a brand new creature. The Bible says that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away and behold, all things become new. Now as a newborn spiritual infant, you should seek the sincere milk of God's word so that you may grow by it. So read your Bible and pray to the Lord often. And seek out other Christians and enter into fellowship with them. We'd love to hear of your decision for Christ. And we'd love to give you a free study of the book of John on cassette by Pastor Chuck Smith. Jesus never turned a spiritual or hungry or thirsty soul away, but filled everyone who asked. So we'd like to do the same for you in his name. So please write to us at the address on this tape. And tell us of your needs and what the Lord has done for you today. May the Lord bless you now and keep you in everything you do and everything you say. Welcome to the family. When our eyes We want to see Jesus Oh We want to see Jesus To reach out And say that we love Him Open our hearts to Him And we want to see Jesus We want to see Jesus