In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of receiving the word of God and allowing it to transform our lives. He encourages the audience to turn away from worldly idols and instead turn to the living and true God. The preacher highlights the power of God's word, stating that it not only brings assurance but also has the ability to heal and sanctify. He also discusses the contrast between the world's false promises of joy and the true joy found in following God's truth. The sermon concludes with a reminder of the future transformation that awaits believers, as their bodies will be fashioned like Christ's glorified body.

David says, I wait upon the Lord because from him cometh my salvation. Oh, that's a wonderful thing. Some people have an idea that to be saved means to have God fix a comfortable place for them in heaven. That's the idea they have. How could God ever let anybody go to hell? Why, God is good, sure. He'll take people and just make a comfortable place for them in heaven, so they can continue the dirty work. No, that isn't God's salvation. He works. He changes. The choir sang a while ago, it is truly wonderful what the Lord has done. And immediately I had in my mind a story that church history tells, the Roman Catholic church history. You know, that's different from the real church history. That's full of legends, full of myths, full of fairy tales. They tell how that Jesus, when he was a little boy, he took clay and made sparrows out of them, and then he blew at them and then they fly. They believe that stuff. And so they tell of a council, a convention they had somewhere in the third century, and some great theological problem came up. Some question had to be solved as to the theological worth of it. And they couldn't somehow agree. They wrangled back and forth. And finally one saint was summoned to come, a saint that everybody had a lot of confidence in because he was a real saint, a miracle working saint. And so he took the trip. It was a long trip. He had to stay overnight at an inn. And he had a servant with him, and he had two donkeys with him. One was red and the other was white. And when he went to sleep, when the saint and his servant went to sleep, some bad boys came around and they cut off the heads of those two donkeys and ran away. And when the servant saw that he was naturally beside himself, how can we continue the journey? He went to the saint and he told them, your donkeys are dead. They're lying dead. Somebody cut their heads off. The heads are lying there cut off. So the saint didn't bother himself. He knew something about Philippians 4, 6. And he said to the servant, just go and stick those heads back on. So he did that. And in the morning they continued their journey. But the servant had made an awful mistake. He put the red head on the white donkey and the white head on the red donkey. I tell you, it's truly wonderful what the Lord has done. Supposing something like that happened to you. Tomorrow you woke up with a red head. Well, you'd think that was a pretty great miracle, wouldn't it? You'd sure get your face in the paper. You would illustrate it. And the Klieg lights would come around and you'd be on television. And my, it's truly wonderful what the Lord has done. But you know, God does more wonderful things than that. The Apostle Paul says, I testify in the Lord that you don't walk like other Gentiles walk anymore in the vanity of their minds. You put off the old man with his deeds and you put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Can you tell of a miracle like that in your life? God has been working and how does he work? Why he sends the word of truth which worketh effectually also in those that receive it. He said to the Thessalonians, not to church, not to an evangelist or to some idea, but you turn to the Lord. And when our word came to you, it came not in word only, but also in power. And listen, has God been working in you? He has. He's been working wonderfully this week. He has given us his word. But he is waiting for some cooperation. There is necessary on our part receiving his word. Oh God is proposing wonderful changes. Not like those donkeys. But how about a new heart? How about a transformed mind? How, listen, how about having this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who humbled himself, who made himself servant of all, who became sin for us in order to save us, to lift us. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That you put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and put on the new man. Glory to God. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I know that if God offered to give some of you nicer faces, you'd be the first one to let him do it. You would. My father was telling how 60 years ago he saw a moving picture, when those things were absolutely new. And he saw this moving picture, showed an operation, where some fellow was having trouble with his face. He didn't like it, so he had it amputated and put a new head on him. And the nurse fell in love with him and chased him out of the operating room. Well, but listen, to have a new nature. Oh beloved, this sounds funny, but I just want to wake us up. That's all. I just want to awaken our consciences. Have I cooperated with God, who says nothing avails before him but a new creature, a new creation? Behold, I make all things new. Has God been operating on you? Has he been working toward you to create a new nature in you? And have you cooperated with him? Have you gotten down? He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he that exalteth himself shall be humbled. And God says, they that honor me I will honor. Are you cooperating with Jehovah? Listen, it's a hard job, but it means, it means death to cells. I worked at it a little bit years ago. I'm still at it. But I know what I'm talking about. I know that God did not let me advance. He didn't let me go on. I found out you cannot maintain the unction of the Holy Ghost. You cannot live a spirit-filled life and still be proud and conceited and sensitive and selfish and ambitious. But as you get down, as you humble yourselves, as you practice meekness and love, we heard of it this week, what do you more than others? They all do that. The harlots and the publicans love those that love them. But what do you do more than others? Oh, Jesus Christ, I thank you because you're on the job to make us like unto thyself, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is the truth. And what does that truth bring to me? Well, it brings me the truth. When a minister complained to me that people were lying about him, I said, you ought to be glad they don't tell the truth about you. God tells you the truth. Thank God. He shines through and through. There's the x-ray of heaven that shows what's on the inside. But not only that, he shows me the fountain open in the house of David for sin and for uncleanness. And he points me to the resurrection power of the Son of God that you might know the... Oh, that's how God works. He has power. He is able to subdue all things unto himself. That's the change he makes. And those evil thoughts don't occupy my mind anymore. They don't bother me anymore. And selfish thoughts don't dominate my thinking anymore. And loveless, unkind thoughts don't find an entrance in my heart. But Jesus has come to raise and the fruit of the Spirit is joy and peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Oh, praise the Lord. Would you like to have a new head or would you like to have a new heart? Would you like to have a new spirit? Would you like to be like Jesus? You've got to work at it because God is working at it, thank God. He really is. And beloved, the day will come when there will be a great separation made. One will be taken, the other will be left. What will happen to me? Oh, something depends on what happens to me tonight, what happens to me every time God gives me his word. Do I tremble at his word or do I treat it lightly? Do I forget it and neglect so great salvation? A master has come, a great, wonderful artisan. And he has taken me in his hand. And he has not chosen the noble or the mighty or the strong or the eloquent or the rich. But he has chosen things that are not that he might bring to naught, things that are even you and me. Oh, how wonderful it is to have God graciously visit us so that we knew. He that walketh in the midst of the candlesticks has walked in our midst. He out of whose mouth proceeds a sword of fire. He has unsheathed that sword and he has become a discerner of the thoughts and intents of my heart. He has called me by my name. Oh, thank God. It is truly wonderful, it is truly wonderful what the Lord has done. It doesn't take him a long time because it's the exceeding greatness of the power of his resurrection into which he has put on Christ. We make no more provision for the flesh. We hate it. We crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts. What brings to me the glory of the divine nature that you might be partakers of his divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Nobody escapes the corruption that is in the world through lust. God pictures it. He says there's none righteous, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. What comes out of their mouth is dead, is decayed with their tongues they have used, deceit. What a picture God gives and we think, my, those are horrible creatures. No, those were the best creatures God had. The Saul's of Tarsus, the Gamaliel's, the Pharisees, the scribes. They were the ones of whom God Almighty spoke these things. And nobody will escape the corruption that is in the world through lust until you recognize your condition and you cry like Isaiah, Woe is me, I'm undone. I live among the people of unclean lips. And I'm a man of unclean lips. And mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Oh, beloved, it's truly wonderful what the Lord has done. My mother used to take a piece of soap and wipe and wash my tongue. I did spit with a mighty spit, I tell you. But I was careful next time not to say the naughty word to him. But listen, it's truly wonderful what the Lord has done. Did you ever wash your mouth? So you're careful next time not to say the naughty word, because the Holy Spirit controls. That's salvation. Everything else is a farce. That's the kingdom of God. Oh, when you have a kid who raves, he says he'll smash them like a powdered vessel. But today he is making vessels unto honors sanctified and meat for the master's use. Are you in his masterful hand? Can you say it's truly wonderful what the Lord has done? There were two little girls in Germany. One had beautiful dark curls and the other one was a redhead. She was tough like some redheads are. And this dark haired girl was kind of sweet, you know. And one morning when these two children got up, the people thought they'd have a little fun with the dark haired girl. She was so proud of her dark curls. And they said, Oh, look at Susie. Her hair turned red overnight. And somebody else told her the same thing. And she started to cry. Oh, that's the last thing she wanted, red hair. And then the red haired little sister said, Oh, don't be bawling, sister. That ain't no sin. No. And that wouldn't be a very great miracle if your hair turned red overnight or black. But what did God do this week for you? What has he done? The spirit of God. Who visits us graciously with his life giving word. And more than that, listen, he visits us with the exceeding greatness of his power. And someday he shall change this vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorified body. And that in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, to his changing power today and every day, as he walks with me, as he talks with me, as he manifests the power of his resurrection, I can say I live. Oh, there's salvation. I live no more. The enemy can't find me anymore. Sin doesn't find me anymore. Sin shall not reign over you anymore. I have been crucified with Christ and it is no more I that live. I don't have to live anymore. The exceeding greatness of his power is He sent his word and healed them, sanctified them through thy truth. Listen, men up there and women up there, is God Almighty sanctifying you through his truth? He'll certainly do it. He'll certainly transform you. And oh, what a joy. Beloved, it's the truth. It isn't a lie. The world is following a high piper of hell that promises them joy. He blows his whistle or his agony pipe and all the rats come out of their holes and all the mice. And oh, what a parade. Go down Fifth Avenue, go to Times Square and see what the devil employs in order to attract attention. Why is it that our educational institutions get away with this insane monkey theory of evolution, which has no hands and no feet and has no tail either, and has no common sense? Why is it? Because the carnal mind is everything against God. He'll embrace everything that's against God rather than the truth. The thorny crown upon his head said to Pilate, I have been born that I might testify of the truth. Every one that is of the truth. True. Oh, it's truly wonderful what the Lord has done. Glory be to God, to take a poor lost sinner. And listen, I wasn't any more lost than any of you. I was born into a minister's family. I was memorizing chapters of the Scripture before I could read. I had imbibed the love of Jesus Christ as a child. But that did not give me a new heart. And oh, when God Almighty got ready, I saw that I was not fit for heaven. And I, beloved, it's a horrible pit. You want to struggle further than that. You want to sink deeper into it. Or do you want to have that extended hand of mercy draw you? You've got to cooperate with him. Glory to God. He worked. Oh, how graciously he has worked. How graciously my God gives us the truth. So that a fool need not hurt him, but tell me, is he sanctifying you through his truth? Are you escaping the cross? Half the people in this meeting wouldn't stay here. If God Almighty put on a screen the corruption they live in, we can hide it, and we're satisfied to hide it. Ah, but listen, if God Almighty has caught your attention and has given you a sight of Jesus and of righteousness which comes through the blood of Jesus Christ, you cannot be satisfied. I will be satisfied when I wake with thy righteousness. Oh, that's the wonderful thing God is working on every day. Every time we come together, it is truly wonderful. It is truly wonderful, beloved. I tell you, it is the wonder-working power of God. Oh, that he might give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. That's why he baptizes you with the Holy Ghost. That you might get acquainted with Jesus. That you might love him. And that the eyes of your understanding might be enlightened and you might know what is the whole of his calling. Beloved, no one can give you that knowledge but the Holy Spirit. Eye has not seen and ear has not heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for all you folks up there in the balcony. Every one of you, you got to get it by the Holy Ghost. You won't get it from the spirit of the world that now worketh in the children of disobedient. You won't get it out of the illustrated newspapers. You won't get it in the funny. You won't get it in the television. You won't get it onto the radio. You will not get it unless you do what Jesus does. Oh, what a call. What a call! My Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Someone that's been careless about following Jesus Christ. Oh, it's truly wonderful what the Lord has done. And he wants you to have a sight of What is the exceeding riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe. I saw something here that interested me very greatly. Just one sentence. It's the new bread of life. And here it is. And I always have to take off my glasses when I want to see. Listen, we cannot say that God will protect us if we are too easy about our spiritual lives. Can we? He says, no flag shall come nigh thy dwelling. He'll give his angels charge over you and they'll keep you in all your ways. But oh, when I become careless about following Jesus, I cannot claim the exceeding grace. Praise the Lord. Which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand. In the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body. You know, those sentences, they bring to you a theological education that you can't get anywhere. The spirit that searches the deep things of God is ready to enlighten you. The Lord is my light. Oh, in his light, I see light. Now I see Jesus. Oh, son of God, my savior, how little we know you. And yet it's truly wonderful what the Lord has done. Hasn't he now? Let's praise him.