Hans R. Waldvogel emphasizes the critical need for self-examination of our souls, warning against the dangers of self-deception as illustrated by a young man who believed he was healthy despite his terminal condition. He draws parallels between physical ailments and spiritual health, urging the congregation to assess their relationship with God and the state of their souls. Waldvogel highlights the importance of repairing the broken altar in our hearts, as Elijah did, to restore our connection with God. He reminds us that true healing and understanding of our spiritual condition come from the discernment of Christ, who knows our hearts. The sermon calls for a sincere commitment to God, urging believers to not wait until it's too late to seek Him.

Selected Verses: Luke 12:20. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? I Kings 18:30. And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Opening: “…and what will I if it be already kindled. But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straightened until it be accomplished!” I like that text because it tells us where we live. I was asked by a Baptist minister in another state to visit his son. His son was in a sanitarium in Chicago, and when I saw this son, I was frightened. It was a long time ago. It was a young man of about 18, and I could see that his days were numbered. He was suffering from consumption in the very last degree. He had become emaciated—nothing but skin and bones, and he could hardly talk; he had hardly a voice left. And when I sat down to talk to him, he said, “Well, I’m glad the worst is over.” He says, “I’m not really sick anymore; there’s just a little spot in my left lung.” Oh, how people fool themselves! If tonight we had a machine here to examine everybody, I wonder what our condition is—physical condition. It might be a good thing to be examined like that. You know, the city makes it a point to tell you whether you have diabetes or not. Lots of people walk around, they’re sick with diabetes and don’t know it until it’s too late—until it gets the best of them. This young man fooled himself. I don’t know whether the doctors were to blame or not, but I rather suspect it because he actually seemed to believe that he was alright, and yet death had already gripped him—irresistibly; he couldn’t escape it. It was only a few days before his body sank into the grave. And tonight, when we sang It is Well with My Soul, I thought how good it is that God has made provision for us to know whether it is well with our souls or not. We can tell. And not only has God made provision for us to know, to give us a very thorough going over… When some time ago our little ones were sick, Edwin went into the room and said, “Well, what’s the diagnosis?” Now they spread the news: “Edith has a diagnosis!” That’s a very terrible disease, you know. It might be a good thing if we all had a diagnosis, wouldn’t it? Oh, we do, thank God! We’ve got the x-ray of heaven—not only a powerful x-ray that doesn’t leave a shred unexamined: It’s “a discerner of the thoughts and of the intents of the heart,” and that wonderful x-ray machine of heaven is operated by the power of the resurrected Son of God. The Bible tells us that we’re going to be measured by Jesus in the Day of Judgment. … Selected Quotes: Wouldn’t it be a good thing if tonight Almighty God came into this meeting and said, “Thou fool! This night thy soul shall be required of thee.” I wonder how many it is, men—wife beaters, drunkards, smokers, adulterers—that have been saved only because God allowed them to be devoured by cancer, and then when they knew they were going to die, then they cried like one is crying now: he said, “Oh, if I could only have another ten years of life, wouldn’t I serve my God with all my heart!” Well, he had 50 years and he didn’t serve the Lord. And I’ll venture if he were healed, he’d go right back. Why, you can’t help it! … If the doctors told us that we had diabetes, my, what do people do when they find out they’re sick! They’ll spend their money; they spend thousands to be delivered of these physical ailments, and this body which is bound to sink into the grave anyway receives a thousand times more care than this immortal soul that’s destined to live forever with God or with the devil. … He set His face like a flint: “I come to do what the Law could not do. I come to do Thy will, O God.” And where is that will of God to be done but in the place where there was rebellion—in my heart, in your heart. That’s the provision God made when He gave us Jesus Christ. And tonight, I can know where I stand. Is Jesus King and Master and Lord in my soul? Have I bowed to Him? Has He been able to baptize me with fire? … I read somewhere today in one of these divine healing magazines, or Latter Rain magazines—I get so many of them, I need another wastebasket—and there was a wonderful article: “Why, folks, you don’t know who you are! Goodness me, why, you’re like Elijah; the Bible says you are! Sure!” Elijah called fire down from heaven, but he also took the knife and stuck it into the belly of these prophets of Baal. (Can you see those puddles of blood? He took them by the neck and he slaughtered them. Oh, that fearful wrath of Almighty God!) And before the fire fell, he called the children of Israel together and he repaired the altar that was broken down. … Oh, I’m so thankful for this wonderful will: “By the which will we are sanctified once for all.” What is that will? Oh, it is that will that made Almighty God step down and take upon Himself the form of a servant. Whose servant are you, Jesus? Oh, tell me, are You still a servant? He says, “Blessed are those servants who the Lord when He cometh shall find watching. Verily, I tell you, He shall come forth, He shall gird Himself and serve them.” He does that in every meeting when we come to Him! … Illustrations: Christian backbiting likened to cannibalism. “I was a little tot in Switzerland and I thought [the cannibals would] take people by the hind legs and swallow them whole. I wanted to see that done. But when I found out that they first cook them and then cut them up, I said, ‘Well, we can do that too. I don’t have to go to Africa.’ And we do, don’t we? Oh, yeah. How many did you roast today?” (from 10:21) Hidden sin likened to insect eggs in the garden. “The girl went out into the garden, looked at them, and she said, ‘Oh, nobody can see those. It’s okay.’ And after a while, all the cabbage was gone.” (from 16:23) Comments on parenting. “That’s the way we raise a generation of rebels against God, and our Pentecostal churches are full of them.” (from 19:29) More comments on parenting. “One mother, when somebody said, ‘You ought to train your girls to be modern; they look like old maids,’ she says, ‘I’m not raising my girls for this corruptible adulterous generation! I’m raising them for Jesus!’” (from 27:59)