In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of being prepared for the coming of the Lord. He uses various biblical references to convey the message that believers should always be watchful and ready for the return of Jesus. The preacher warns against complacency and urges listeners to be diligent in their faith. He also highlights the significance of being rich toward God rather than accumulating worldly possessions.

I love to go to churches where parents bring their children. I want to say something to you, and I want to sound a very loud clarion note so that you hear it. The tragedy, or one of the greatest tragedies in the churches today is that parents are going the way of the children instead of making the children go the way of the parents. That's what they're doing. Mark it, that's what's happening. The churches I know that get the greatest results, if we're looking for results, are the churches that bring their babies. I've seen them lying six months old down on the aisles like that, and have to be pulled out of the way when the response comes, as they get trampled on. They bring them. They don't stay at home for them. They bring them. Revolutionary, isn't it? I'm against modern psychology. Dead against it, where children are concerned. Our God of heaven is the greatest psychologist that ever was. That's right. You bring your children. Bring them. Yeah. You may not agree with me, but I don't care two hoots whether you do or you don't. I hope you believe it. Absolutely true. Parents are going the way of their children. They're doing all sorts of things, allowing all sorts of things for the children. See? Aren't they? You'd better be honest. Instead of saying, my children, I've dedicated them to God and I want to take them. That's it. Oh, they've got to get up and go to school. Yeah, they all do, all these churches, where they bring their children. They've got to go to school as well. You aren't all that wonderful. Even if you have got a special school. I don't mean this kind of special school. But it may become this kind of special school. The whole glory and the reality of it is that everybody's got to be taught from babyhood that God and his, he comes first and his church comes next. Not the family and not the children. All right? You may disregard it, but in that day it will be recorded that I've told you. Amen. I want you to turn with me to Luke chapter 12. Again, I need hardly remind you that the theme has been fire. This morning we got it in a more refined form than say on Friday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. You know, we thought of Moses going up into the glory that was like devouring fire. But tonight I want to direct you to this great chapter in which Jesus says this in verse 49 of Luke chapter 12. I am come to send fire on the earth. I am come... Generally, I suppose, if you read that, you say, I've come to send fire on the earth. But that's not the way it should have been said. It should be said, I've come to send fire. He was dealing with his apostles. And apostles are called sent people. That's the sheer teaching of the Greek. I've come to send fire. And I'm not going to send any of you people unless you are fire. That's what he's saying. And that's why he said, you are to tarry in Jerusalem until the Holy Ghost comes. He didn't say it that way, but you know that's what it means. Until you be endued with power from on high. Nobody's got the power until they've got the fire. It's more than being able to speak in tongues. I've spoken in tongues a lot in this room tonight. But I know that that's not fire. It came out of the fire, as far as I'm concerned. Not the greatest thing that came out of the fire, I can tell you that. But here is the marvelous and glorious truth for us all to face up to in case we say, well, I've been baptized in the Spirit, all this, that and the other. We sit back and we do all kinds of things. But where's the fire? Where is the fire? We used to sing, or we have done in times past. Oh, I don't know whether we ever sang it here. It's burning in my soul. It's burning in my soul. The fire of heavenly love is burning in my soul. Is that right? Well, we won't sing it now. But I want to spend time with you in this chapter. You know, most people don't know Jesus. Most people have not faced up to Jesus and the things he says. Oh yes, in a room like this, I suppose all of us above a certain age, not that young people can't come in. I know a little girl. She's not a little girl now, but she was a little girl when I knew her. She was born again when she was three and testified to it in the Sunday school and in the church and to her friends. Three. Are you young people listening to me? Three years old she was. I know her very well. She's a dear child of God to this day. Just want you to know that in case you think, oh, the youngsters. That's why I say bring them. You bring them. Three years of age. You bring them. You do as I tell you because I'm telling you God's Word. And this is what it's all about. Not, oh, my lovey, I must just look after it. I can't come. I've got to look after my child. God, if he wasn't polite, he'd laugh at you. No, he may even weep at you. Oh, God, expose us to God, will you? Expose us all. Why should you have trouble with your children because they're not born again when they're young? God wants us to understand truth. We don't face up to him, I suppose, in a company like this. We have faced up to some things about Jesus that he loves us. You know, we learned it in Sunday school, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so, and how true it is. And we face up to lovely things that he said like, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. Or something like go and go in peace and things like that. We face up to those things. But we don't really face up to Jesus in the raw. That's what we don't do. We mollify ourselves by taking the nice words that are bound to our souls. What do you think those men thought that day when he said, I've come to send fire. Have you really faced up to that? They say, well, I'm not an apostle. Well, nobody's claiming to be an apostle in this room. It's a wonderful chapter. Before we look into it a bit, think again of that man this morning, Moses. He was a sent man. They weren't called apostles in the Old Testament, but they were apostles in the meaning of the word. God sent Moses into Egypt, didn't he? To lead his people out. He was a sent man of God. Is that right? And you will know God wouldn't send him until he had taken his shoes off at the burning bush, that he turned aside to see the sight, why the bush was not consumed. He didn't know, but it was a parable unto him, for the fire was going to burn in him and he wasn't going to be consumed. And when he died, his natural force was unabated and his eye was not dim. But God had gotten into that man and he was a burning, burning fire. And because they happened, that's why he could go up into the fire on Sinai. That's why he could do it. That's why he could handle the fiery stream that came forth from God. He could handle it all right, because the fire was burning in him. And that's why people can't handle the truth. That's why they can't do it. Like answers to like, always. And what a tremendous thing it is. God sent him. He was the man that first saw fire come down from heaven and burn on the altar. Even Abraham didn't see that. He saw it centuries before Solomon saw it. You understand that? Moses, a man of fire. We call Elijah the prophet of fire. Moses was the mediator of fire, and that's about prophet. Jesus is the great mediator of the new covenant. Moses was the mediator of the old covenant. He handled the fiery stream that came from God. He went up into the devouring fire to get it, because he was a man of fire. Now let no one else, nobody in this room thinks that God ever really sends anybody unless they got fire. They go, they run unsent. I should know, I go around the world. I meet them in every country. Men who've gone, they've never been sent. They've got a vision. They say they have a call, but they haven't got fire. Jesus said, I've come to send fire. That's what I've come for. And he was fire himself. Is that right? You've got to be right to handle Jesus. Say, well, I want him to handle me. That's fine. But he also wants you to handle him. For we like to hear sermons about, she crept up behind him in the press, and she touched the ribbed skirt of his garment, just handled his clothes, and she was healed. Whoopee! You see. That's the level that churches are on. And it's so real. But there's a greater reality, and that's what we've been talking about this weekend. And may God grant everybody in this room to pass into this great reality of God. I shall have count my visit wasted. If not, so may the Lord get you to that place where you're going to go through. And you're not sitting back waiting for something to happen, but that you're up on your feet and saying, I'm going. I did tell you about Smith Wigglesworth, didn't I, the other night? That's right. He said if God didn't stir him up, he stirred God up. Not quite the nicest way, but then he was a Bradford plumber. He didn't go through any universities, except God's university, and he knew more than all the others put together about God and reality and power. And what's the use of all the other without that? So we come into this marvelous chapter. I want you to face up to this. Can you handle this? You listen to this. Verse 51, see if you can handle it. I suppose you, do you really think that I've come to send peace on the earth? They're soon going to be singing it. If they aren't singing it already, it's getting near Christmas time. Do you think I've come to send peace on the earth? I have not, he says, so you better face up to that. In other words, it's warfare. How about that? It's fire. My word, listen to this. Can you face this? See whether you can face it, and you'll know whether you're facing the real Jesus or not, and whether you've got anything like fire about you. Listen to the fire in him talking, talking about you and your mother and your father and your brothers and your sisters and you, your relationships in the world, not some dreamy thing about drifting into a cloud of glory. This is what fire's about. Here it is. I've come to send division. You'll hear some prelate standing up, mouthing over Christmas, that Jesus has come to give us all unity. Oh, and you'll hear them, the liars, they don't know, but they're all DDs, or something like that. He did not come, see? He didn't come for that. Out of his own mouth, you don't have to imagine anything, he says, I've come to give division. From henceforth there shall be five in one house. How many in your household? Divided. Three against two, and two against three. Fathers shall be divided against the son, the son against the father, the mother against the daughter, the daughter against the mother. Not that the people that have got fire are the people that are against, it's the people that haven't got the fire that are against you. You understand that? You don't go out, I don't go out to divide. Thank God, in my home, we didn't have to divide. Amen. Amen. But he says, that's it, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, not the same two, he's just taking various instances of it. In one family it will be a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, in another it will be a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law because her mother-in-law has got the fire, you see? There's nothing like fire to divide. Amen. Praise God. You say you want to be separated under God, then you've got to get the fire. It's not some sweet sort of shut myself up in my room and now I'm separated under God. It's right out there where it's real and the actual state is division. I didn't say quarreling, not on the behalf of the one that's got the fire, didn't say that, but the clear statement of Jesus Christ. May I use a word that you probably may not like in Liverpool, but I told you I was born in the east end of London. It's a sort out whether you've got guts or whether you haven't. Fire will. Amen. And the Lord wants us to see this. What he was saying was red hot, absolutely red hot. Can you handle him? Can you handle it? Face it. This is what I've been preaching all this weekend, not this same text, but the same thing. And God wants us to see it. Listen. If you've got the fire, let's go back toward the beginning of the chapter. He says this, verse 1 and verse 4, he's talking to his friends. Now I don't know whether you're a friend of Jesus, but I want to say you can be a friend of Jesus and not a firebrand. That's what we're talking about, is whether you've really faced Jesus in the law. Okay. This is what he says. We don't want anybody muffling it with fine little titillating here and there. We want to face right up to what Jesus says and see if you've ever really met him and ever really heard him, whether you've ever really seen him, or whether you've got a nice sort of drawing room attitude about it. They'd never set the cross up in a drawing room. You understand it. Here's the truth. I say to you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. Hallelujah. Now then, he's going to get you where it hurts. What goes on in your tummy? Fear, butterflies, you say, whether you're really facing it. This fire. Amen. I forewarn you whom to fear, and he's talking about God his Father now, not the devil. He says, you fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell. The devil hasn't got that power. He's going to be cast into it himself. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. Amen. That old hymn we used to sing. Fear him, ye saints, and you will then have nothing else to fear. Did you used to sing that? Yeah. Why don't you sing it now? I suggest you revise some of the things you sing. Fear him. When he hath killed, you say, God kills? Yeah. He has power to cast into hell. You understand that this book says that Jesus has destroyed him, the devil, that hath the power of death? All right. He's destroyed him, he's killed him. That is for the saints of God. Amen. He's going to cast him into hell. It's all written in the book, the book of the Revelation. You can read it for yourself. When he says the time has come, you fear him, for when he kills, it's a spiritual death. When he dispatches, it's unto spiritual places from the great white throne. Fear him. I say, all right, all right. They tell me he loves me. He does. That's why he's talking to you plainly. Somebody came to me last night, when, oh no, I've forgotten, I've been here four or five nights now, and said how that she'd been to the doctor. And the doctor says, oh no, no, no, it's not cancer, it's just this, this and the other. So another doctor says, well, it is cancer. The first one wouldn't tell her, wouldn't face her up to the truth. Of course, you don't have to do that in the medical profession. But God faces you up. Jesus is the doctor of the soul. He makes you see reality. But I like to hear you say, come unto me, I'll give you rest, Jesus. Or I like to hear you say, in my Father's house there are many mansions. I love those sorts of things. So do I. Love them. But how about this, beloved? You fear God, he says. He's really coming out raw with it this time. He knows to whom to speak. He's speaking to his friends. Out there he'd say, come on, you come to me. You come to me. People out there. He loves them. He doesn't say, you go to hell. He says, you come. Invites them. And then when you say you've become a friend of Jesus, he talks to you truth. Pure truth. Not that the other wasn't true, but the raw stuff. Why he really came. Blessed be his name. After telling them that, this is what he says. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? And not one of them is forgotten before God? Have I frightened you with what I've said? Now listen. You know, even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you're of more value than many sparrows. You've been frightened by what I've said. You have to face reality, beloved, if you want to be far, what you've been singing about. Yeah. Fancy being full of fire, and not one hair of you singed. Hallelujah. This is great, isn't it? By. Wouldn't you fight a thousand foes with this in your heart? Wouldn't you? Fire puts backbone in you. It's so wonderful. Listen, he says. Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God. Have you ever thought of that? How many times have you been confessed before the angels of God? It ties up with how many times you confessed Jesus before men. Right out of his mouth. It's fire, isn't it? Oh, I like to think he's always confessing me. Yeah, that's the way you can get about it. Sometimes you say, well, he's ever interceding, and he's doing this, and he's doing that. That's right, he is. But this is the other side of the coin, if you know what I mean. I don't think he's deceiving you. It's been written in the Bible all this time that we may understand that our God is fire. Amen. Amen. In other words, keep your hands off him, unless you want to be consumed in it. You'll get burned if you play around with it. How wonderful it is. If you deny me before men, you'll be denied before the angels of God. Isn't it tremendous? And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. And you might have thought, well, I wonder why he put it there. Well, because the fire he's talking about, only the Holy Ghost can bring to men. That's what you've got to consider. They received the fire when the Holy Ghost came. You see? He introduced it. You say, well, it's all sort of apropos nothing. Why did he say that? Oh, there's never anything apropos nothing when Jesus speaks. Glory, glory, glory. If you even go contrary to the Holy Ghost, leave alone blaspheming him, you'll never know anything about the fire. Never. Except that you read about it on Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost. You can read about it. But then you can read about anything if you want. It doesn't mean to say that you've got it. So God moves us on. And I could go on and on and on. And then he says this, look. The Holy Ghost is going to teach you in that same hour. Let's read it, verse 11. When they bring you unto the synagogues... Oh, Jesus, stop it. Why didn't you tell me it's all going to be bliss and lovely? Not if you've got the fire, it isn't. Listen. They'll bring you before synagogues, magistrates, powers. Don't even take any thought what you're going to say. He said, don't take any thought. The Holy Ghost should teach you in that same hour what you ought to say. May I say before God and before you all, I've proved that. I've been before magistrates. I've proved it. That's why some people never really prove anything. They never are in the place where they ever can prove it. But if you've got the fire, you will. You'll be there. You say, is he predestinating us to all kinds of horrible things? These are lovely things. These are the loveliest things of all. This man was facing the cross that was speaking. Jesus. Do you know what fire is? Fire sent him to the cross because he wouldn't be quiet. He wouldn't be turned away. He'd come to do the Father's will. Now listen to this. One of the company, not the friends, you see. He's going to have his nose in. He's going to say something. He's got something clever to say. Listen to him. One of the company said, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. He said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? I'm talking to my would-be apostles, my friends, my disciples. That's who I'm talking to. I haven't come to dabble about in whether people have been fairly treated about their inheritance, whether they've got enough money or whether they haven't. That's the last thing Jesus ever thought about, money. You speak to my brother, he said. But you see, his brother wasn't Jesus' brother. I haven't come for this. I didn't come into the world. My Father never sent me down here to be a judge and a divider or sit on a tribunal or on a panel. He could have said, but he didn't. He said, I'm the Savior of the world. And he's really talking about this phrase, full salvation. That's what he's really talking about, what it really is, what it would do in a man and a woman so that you know whether you've got it. I'm ever so glad. It doesn't mean that every one of you will have to go before a magistrate. It doesn't mean that every one of us in this room has to say, oh, I'm ever so relieved about that. Well, you're in the wrong spirit anyway if you're talking like that. If you're looking for the let out, you're about as far from the fire as you'll ever be. God wants us to face up to reality. And that's what we're seeing in this chapter. He's facing these men up with a statement he's going to make. I've come to send fire on you. Didn't you come to save us? Yes. Didn't you come to forgive us? Yes. Didn't you come to love us? Yes. Didn't you come to heal us? Yes. Didn't you come to be the Good Shepherd? Yes. Yes, yes, to all those things. But don't forget to read Luke chapter 12, will you? In case you get the distorted view. Just in case you do. You know where heresy comes from, don't you? Over-emphasis of one line of truth. It could fairly be stated that many, many Christians are heretics and don't even know it. That they haven't faced the whole truth. And they're just pumping along their line and have never really faced up to what it's all about. Amen. I tell you what, son, you really give yourself to God and He'll make you a man. And I tell you, you women, that's what He'll do with you. He'll say, well, make me a man. I'm talking about spiritually now. I know a lot of women that are better men than men. Spiritually. To make our weak hearts strong and brave. Send the fire. To live a dying world to save. Send the fire. Amen. Amen. Praise God for these great hymns that the Salvation Army gave to us when they were really moving in the power of God. And how wonderful the truth is. We can take it on. And then He told the story, the parable of the fool. Now, I don't want you to be a fool. God doesn't want me to be a fool. Anything like that. He told the story. Straight after this, I haven't come to be a judge or a divider over you. But look, listen. Will you face it naked and raw tonight? Will you do that, man, woman? Will you do it for your own soul's good? Will you? It finishes up like this. God said in verse 20, to that fool of a man, He said, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Isn't that wonderful to be rich toward God? Rich toward God? You know, if you would say somebody's rich toward you, you would mean probably giving you a thousand pounds or a nice car or something. But you being rich toward God, you, God's benefactor, you say, Man, don't say it. But that's the whole implication of what he's saying. This is why you will read from real men of God. In Scripture they used to say, Bless the Lord. I will bless the Lord. How can you bless the Lord? It's the Lord that blesses you. This is the whole reality of it. I want us all to come wide awake. And perhaps some of you haven't been on the road very long. You listen, for you're hearing the truth and you're facing up to it. And you that have been on the road a long time, where's the fire? Amen. If your soul was going to be required of you tonight, listen to it. It's right out on the road. You fool. Tonight you're going to die. It wasn't condemnation, just poor knowledge in the parable. You're going to die. Then, what have you got? Lord, make me face right up to this. You'd better, hadn't you, where you're sitting, he's talking to his friends. You say, well, you don't talk to your friends like that, do you? Yes, you do. When you know the basis of friendship with Jesus. Amen. This is why Scripture says, uses such words as, exhorting one another, building up one another in the faith. Not saying, oh, lovey-dovey, did it hurt? I'm ever so sorry. Building you up, building you up, you see. It's as they say, you've got a fire in your bones. Knock him down. Well, so it should. Perhaps he'll get up then. You see, you are a cruel man. I'm only quoting our cruel Jesus. If you call him cruel, what have you got? He's talking to people that he wants to saturate the earth with the gospel. That's what he's after. And that's what he wants you to do. He doesn't care much about anything else. You say, well, doesn't he care about all these other things? Yeah, he does, but by comparison, no. He didn't care about my business that I'd founded and worked up and sweated in, sometimes perhaps 15, 16 hours a day. He called me out of that. He wouldn't care. I'd invested all my strength and everything I'd got in it, and then I had to leave it. Do you understand? He doesn't care about that. He cares about souls going to hell because they've never met a man that's got fire in his bones. That's what he cares about, how important it is to understand truth straight out of his mouth. He says, I love him. In the end, you get to love somebody that tells you the truth, even though it hurts. Most people only want to hear the things they want to hear. But don't face Jesus if that's what you want. Leave him alone. Let's go on, shall we? Listen to this. 22. He said unto his disciples, these friends of his, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, neither for the body what you shall put on. The life is more than meat. The body is more than raiment. And they were dressing themselves up, you see, this is what Christians do, they dress themselves up in lovely text, ooh, beautiful, marvelous. But the life is the thing, the life. Don't take any thought for that. Now that doesn't mean to say that you women shouldn't provide a pound of sugar if it's needed for the family. Don't misunderstand me. That's not what he's talking about. It means, what is the consuming passion of your life? That's what he's talking about. Really. Well, be honest. I mean, at this present time. Oh, so, well, underneath all, no, he doesn't want it to be underneath all. He doesn't want you to be underneath something dressed with a lot of fine, finery clothes with wonderful texts and that. He wants it all to be out here. Where he can see you. Where everybody can see you. He doesn't want any nice Christians. He wants rugged men. That's what he wants. He wants people that come straight from the cross. He wants people that come straight out of the fire of the Holy Ghost. That's what he wants. They were the type of men that wrote Send the Fire. They were the type of men that wrote those things. They weren't tucked away in comfortable little fellowships. They stood out on the Mile End Waste in London that I've walked along many a time. They were pelted. I can remember Selina Vought. Wonderful soprano voice she had. She used to sing. One night she was singing and a brick hit her on the back of the head. She was never the same afterwards. Couldn't sing. She was a beautiful woman too to look at. But she didn't care. I never heard that she ever complained. She stood out there and sang for Jesus. I thank God that I ever stood in the company though I was only a little chap. I left London when I was 13. Thank God I ever stood in the company. I thank God I can look back on memories like that. I thank God for it. I could tell you a lot more stories like that. That's the one that suddenly flashed to my mind. The Lord wants us to see it. He says, look, if you want to see anything, I'll tell you what to do. You people, you're going to be fire, are you all right? Now have a look up here, 24. Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap. They neither have storehouse nor barn. They say, I've got a fridge and I've got a deep freeze too. All right. And God feedeth them. How much more are you better than fowls? Now will you tell me? He's not telling you you are better than fowls. He's asking you to consider it. How much more do you think you are better than fowls? Oh, you say, well, don't compare me with a raven man. Now God's expecting a lot of you then. Isn't he? Isn't he? Let's go on. Which of you, with taking thought, could add to his stature one cubit? Now stop saying, well, I'm going to think this out. I tell you, you won't add to you. You'll nearly stunt yourself. You'll become a dwarf if you live in the line, oh, I'm going to think this through. You say, what does God want then? Hot-headed people? Yeah, I've got a hot head. He wants people to rush on, go right into the fire, the fools. That's what he wants. Yeah, that's right. Glory be to the name of the Lord. He'd rather have one flame than one university professor. Perhaps I may be doing them an injustice. There may be one or two around in this great realm. But here is the thing for you to see, beloved. God doesn't set any store by the things that men set store by. Nothing. He's only set store by his Son and what his Son can do in every man and woman. That's what he said. And what his Son can do in every man and woman. That's what he sets store by. I want this to grip your heart, beloved. I want you to understand it. Because if you happen to be one of these people that was born with brains sticking out all over you, no, perhaps inside your head, you can't help that. You're not to be condemned for that. But you can still have fire. Nobody had more brains than Jesus. Nobody. And once we begin to see truth, beloved, everything changes its color. The contours become right. And we see what God is saying. You can't add to your cubit. You've got life. You can't add to that. Not one cubit to it by thinking. You only will add to it by listening to me. I'm doing the thinking. You obey me. We were saying this this morning. That's the basis of the covenant. That you obey. I'm your head. I'm doing the thinking. I'm talking to you. That's all you need to know. You say, have I got a plunge on that man? Yeah, that's it. This is raw. This is truth. This is just what's expected of you. Especially if you say that you are a servant of the Lord. Especially if you say you're a preacher or you hold any kind of leading positions. Yes, that's what God's expecting. You say, man, you'll denude all the churches of elders. Might be a good thing. Not this one, perhaps. I don't know. But here's the thing for us to understand. It excites me. Amen. Let's go on, shall we? Well, if you can't do that, which is least, says Jesus, don't worry about the rest. I'll take care of that. Consider the lilies. How they grow. They toil not, they spin not. Yet I say unto you that Solomon, we were thinking about Solomon and that temple, that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Amen. Of course, you know how lilies get their clothing, don't you? They grow them. They grow them. They don't add them. We think we grow by addition or accretion. Whichever you want to say. You don't. You grow. Hallelujah. That's the life. God wants us to see this. They don't work. They don't spin. Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Can you imagine it? He looked down upon Solomon in all his magnificence. That temple he built and everything that he did. And this is why he's greater and different from Solomon. Because when Solomon was on the earth, he was all peace, peace, peace. There was no division. Nothing. But you're in a new covenant. You're not in the old covenant. See, in case you let your mind and eyes ogle around that and say, oh, this is what we want. You're in a covenant. Which a new covenant. A different covenant. Hallelujah. But even he had the fire under the old covenant. May the Lord open our eyes. The great tragedy, of course, you must have heard me say this before. God help me while I'm breathing. I'll keep saying it. Most people don't know what covenant they're in. They're still living in the old. That's one of the great tragedies. Amen. Well, he says, listen to this. If God clothes the grass, which is today in the field and tomorrow's cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you? Oh, ye of little faith. Thank you, Jesus, for calling us friends, even though we've only got a little faith. And seek not ye what you shall eat or what you should drink, neither be of doubtful mind. Oh, oh, oh. There's nothing like to terrible heart there's a doubtful mind. Is this right? Is that right? They're walking like on eggshells. Oh, that's right. Oh, will this do? Will this? Is this? Who's this? Something else. Process by doubt. Process by doubt is downward. You can believe in doubt. You can have faith in your doubts. Did you know that? You say, that sounds contradictory, man. Yeah, that's this. I'm telling you, this is the contrary side of Jesus. Come, I'll give you rest. Here's what I'm saying, face up to the fire. Face up to reality. Progress by doubt. Why are you doubtful? Don't be of a doubtful mind. Perhaps, friend, I'm talking to one who has got a doubtful mind. That's the set of their mind, it doubts. That's the set of their mind, they doubt everything. I know someone, if I say anything, this person always says the opposite. Yeah? A doubtful mind. Everything has had doubt cast on it. And I'll tell you what, these doubters, they'll hold you back. They'll put the fire out. As sure as anything, if you listen to them, they'll put the fire out. Now be careful, now be cautious. You're too rash. You're too venturesome. Fancy Jesus venturing to become a baby. You're sure you're not doing it all wrong. Leaving your throne, man. What are you doing? Stepping down from the glory? Yeah? What's wrong with you? I've got fire in my bones. Jesus. Oh Lord. He said, don't, don't take these things. The Father knows that you have need of these things. What a blessed thing that is. That stops your fretting. Father knows what I need. How many of us dare live on that? I will only have what Father gives me. If you're going to be a firebrand on the earth, know what the standard is. I'll only have what Father gives me. He said, fine, this is some training. I ought to have put this in a publication called Apostleship. I think I didn't. I'd let you off light if you read it. Here is the truth. But people don't face it, beloved. I mean, it's not prudent to walk this way. But the Lord knows. Let's go on. It says, the Father knoweth his responsibilities. Rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that you have. Do you like what you're hearing or reading? Sell that you have. Give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For, I tell you, I put these words in, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Then, let your loins be girded about, your lights burning, you yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Everybody rushing. Who's going to get there first to open the door for him? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, make them sit down to meet, and will come forth and serve them. If he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. Let this know, that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when you think not. Hmm. Strange stuff, isn't it? Now Peter couldn't keep quiet any longer. He was that type of man. He says, Lord, you speak this parable unto us, or even to all. So the Lord said, all right then, you answer yourself. Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. By what a reward! Everything that the Lord has, make you a ruler over it? But, and if that servant say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men's servants and maidens, and to eat and drink and to be drunken, the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. You say, who is the Lord talking about? Do you know what you're saying, don't you? Yeah, the Lord knew what he was saying. He knew who he was talking about too. And that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit those things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, to whom shall be much required, and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more, I'll come to send fire. Who is he talking about? He says, you're talking. Now ask why you talk to them. Work it out for yourself, Peter. I'll turn the question back on you. Are you meaning to tell me? Yeah, I'm meaning to tell you. Yes, that's right. But you're saying you can be, finish up with the unbelievers. Well, I didn't tell the story. I'm reading it. I want you to know how many times I do read it too. If I don't actually read it in print, I read it in here. It's tough stuff, isn't it? Am I going to be beaten up at the end then? I told you he started off by saying, fear him, fear him. You say, you're showing fear in our hearts. No, I'm not showing fear in your hearts. I think perhaps I'm talking to myself. Amen. Have your portion appointed with the unbelievers? What? And you've been steward? Being made a ruler over God's household? I don't know. He didn't put that parable in as an idle threat or anything like that. But what he does do is make your face up to it. Listen. To whom much is committed, much is expected. That's another thing that Jesus said. If to you has been committed the gospel and you've heard it, you say you've received it, then something's expected of you. Yes. What a thing to face up to. I'm not surprised he finished up that parable by saying, I've come to send fire. What's it calculated to do, that kind of statement? I'm facing you, Lord. What are you calculating it will do to me? I'm calculating that it will make you get the fire, son. That's the answer. That's the answer that's come back to me many a time. I'm calculating that you will have listened to what I've said and you will believe what I've said and that you will give yourself to me. I've come to become fire on the earth. Amen. Hallelujah. And send us fire too. So don't get yourself tied up with anybody that's going to hold you back, will you? I've come to send fire. You say, oh well, of course I'm not an apostle. I don't think I'll ever be an apostle. And hide behind that. Adam is always looking for a tree to hide behind. May the Lord open our eyes. I have... Would the Lord send you? Well, I'm only a nothing. I'm a nobody. Well, I could use the end phrase and say, join the club. We're all nobodies. But we're loved by the Lord. He spent his last ounce of physical strength and spent his last drop of blood to redeem us. So he must think we're worth something. Amen. And I think you may be like me. I'm sure you must be. You keep coming to the meetings. That you want to be in everything that God's got for you. Everything. Well, know that if you get the fire it will make your weak heart strong and brave. That's what it will do. It'll make you stand up anywhere and everywhere. It will make you go through examinations, criticisms, divisions, all kinds of things and come out burning. The better for it all, actually. The stronger, the truer, the more like your Lord. And you keep singing, that's what you want to be. Oh, to be like thee. Got a lovely tune, hasn't it? God wants us to be in what he wants us to be. All right. 54. He said to the people, when you see a cloud rise out of the west, you say, straight way, there cometh a shower. And so it is. That, of course, is relative to the land in which he was speaking. That's a cloud coming out from over the Mediterranean, bringing rain to that land. When you see the south wind blow, you say, there will be heat, and it cometh to pass. Didn't he say, didn't he didn't say, well, now you are very clever. He says, you're a lot of hypocrites. Oh, Lord. Never really faced them. The hypocrisy comes in because you have enough savvy, just as a human being, a boy could do it, girly, winds blowing from the west, winds blowing from the south, it's going to be wet, it's going to be heat. Anyway, if you have just enough savvy to know things like that, you see, you're held responsible. Yeah. Hallelujah. Because, you see, everything like that works by law. You know, in some of these countries, they can tell you the very day on which the weather changes. I was talking with somebody, I'm thinking about going to Zimbabwe again next year, you see. And I was talking to somebody late that came back, or no, not lately, but had been there, and I was talking about the time, because most of you know, instead of having blood in my veins, I have ice water. So I like it hot. So if you're complaining of the heat, it's all my fault. All right. So I inquire very closely, and somebody said to me, since I've been here, somebody said, you go on such and such a day, the weather changes on the 25th of the month. How about that? See, they can tell you the day of the month it would change. It's not like fickle England, where you don't know when it's going to rain, or blow, or shine, or snow, you don't know anything about it. They can tell you the day. You know that, he said. Now, then you're a hypocrite. If you know that, and you say that you're my friend, and you don't go through on this. Say, Lord, I'm your friend. Oh, I wish we'd have taken John 14. That would have been comfortable, wouldn't it? I want just to say this to you, because I know this. That you're going to have savvy and a chicken heart. God says, I've come to send fire on the earth. And I warn you, it'll be uncomfortable, it will cause trouble, but not in heaven, of course. Amen. You'll be lied against, you will be maligned, people won't understand you, they may even want to crucify you. Yeah? You can tell the genuine people who are they after, whose blood are they howling for. Can I give you a little, little anecdote here? I wouldn't have said this, it was brought vividly to my mind by somebody who was talking to me since I've been in the room tonight, about the accusation of preaching sinless perfection. If you haven't heard it, I'll tell you that they accuse me of that. Well, I was over in Ireland just a few weeks ago, and I was asked in a particular church, they'd heard this, there's been a book published against me in Ireland, I think there must be the sixth that's been published. I haven't bothered to read them, but there it is. And they said, this book's been published against you, told me the name of the man who wrote it, and the town in which he lives. And so they said in this particular group, we'd like to talk it over. So all the men in the fellowship came, they all gathered there, strong. And I just told them where I sat, and I said, well, that's right. Which way to record it? It ought to be printed, they said. Then somebody said, aren't you going to write to this man? This man is even telling lies about you, man. It's true, the things he's saying. He ought to be answered. Oh, I said, no. Self-indication is no part of holiness. They said, well, I will then. I said, you must please yourself what you do. So I believe he has. I've got a champion in Ireland. I've got more than one, of course. But here is the great truth, that these are the kinds of accusations. They will all wait. The devil hates to think that anybody could ever believe they can be free from sin. The devil hates that. By God's methods, of course. The devil hates it. He's got to shut it up, you see. The devil hates he'll raise up somebody who will lie in the name of truth. Tremendous, isn't it? Glory be to God, beloved. When that holy fire burns in you, it'll burn up every trace of sin and it'll bring the light and the glory in. And it'll be a revolution when the fire comes. You'll have a revolution of your thinking and your attitude. It could cause a revolution all around you. If you'd have been here in the early days, you would have thought there was a revolution going on. I can assure you, I know there's one or two here that were in the very early days. I mean, Queen's Road, before this place was ever established. You would have thought it was a complete revolution. It was. God will move. You people go for the fire. You people move in truth. You people give up everything else. Give up all these things you've invested your life in. Invest your life in this. Have a revolution. Change your habits. Change your ways. Let it get hold of you. Let it burn in you till somebody thinks you're a fanatic. That's what they called Paul. They said, Much learning has made thee mad, old Paul said. I'm not mad, most noble Festus. Hallelujah. Yeah. Hallelujah. Of course, all the psychologists will be against that. You mustn't get one track. You've got to diversify. Well, that's for people whose minds are sort of like this all the time. But a man who's been integrated in Christ and he's got the mind of Christ, he's one track. No matter what a medical profession says, they've got to advise their patients. They've got to sum up whether their patients can take it, whether they're living on a hair, brain, thing like that, between the red and the dark, like whether they're gone or whether they're not. They have to do their best. But let you get baptized in the Holy Ghost and you won't be like that. You can't be like it all the time. You keep filled with the Holy Ghost. As I'd have been gone years ago. The only times I've been in mental hospitals is to minister to people. Some people think I ought to be shut up in one. But here's the tremendous thing for us to understand, beloved. To go for God. Don't go for gold that's cheap. Go for God. Let God get hold of you. I've already commended you women for bringing your children. Keep it up. Don't do it for a special weekend. Your heart's got to be here in the fellowship. Invest your life here. Invest your children's lives here, so far as you have any influence on them. And live in the fire. Praise God. Hallelujah. Well, my children have to do homework. Yeah, I had a child who had to do homework. My children had to do homework. They got to Liverpool University. Not a bad place after all. But my work, yeah. Listen, I can remember the night when my daughter got really through. She should be nameless which one it was. See? She responded with many others in the church. And she knelt there with the rest of them. And I said to them, you stay on your knees until you've got the assurance in your heart that God's come. I didn't send a counsellor to them. She stayed there. And when she got up and went home, because we had another service after that. We weren't like you people. Nothing comfortable. We were in the fire. She went home and she said to her grand-grand, God's done something in me tonight. Wouldn't it be wonderful when your wife, your child, talks to you like that. But they won't all the time. You baby squat them. I'm telling you, lock me up if you want. I'm telling you. God, give us men and women that want God before everything else and anybody else. Give us that. I'm not saying there won't be times when they've got to stop the time. Don't read too much into what I'm saying. What I want to do is to stir you up. So that the fire burns. Get hold of this verse. Yes, I've come to send fire. If you're going to be a sent one, know that you've got to have the fire. And I tell you what, without claiming anything like a big name or office, he'd probably like to send you to the person you work with to tell them. But it's no good you telling them if they can't see it. Amen. Don't try and make a tract do what you should have done. I'm not saying we shouldn't give tracts. It's funny, I have to keep saying that because people swing the other extreme, saying, oh, he says you shouldn't give tracts away, or something like that. I wouldn't have written any if they shouldn't have been given away. Here is the thing for you to see, beloved. That we have got to get the fire. Well, have you got the fire? Have you? And if you've had it, did it burn low and God stoked it? The fire. Now keep it going. Keep going. Hallelujah. Join heart with heart that those that have got it all want it. And leave the others go if they want. For this is the most vital thing. Amen. Let the fire fall, we used to sing. Let the fire from heaven fall. We are waiting and we are expecting. We used to sing things like that, didn't we? How long ago is it when you last sang it? Well, did you have to sing special? No, no. No, but a special condition made 252 the hymn of this conference. See? We didn't have to keep singing it. That's the tell-tale. I go to a fellowship. I came here. I summed you up immediately by the things you were singing. You know. You say, has he got discernment? No, I'm just an old fool. Here's the truth. When God fell on us in those early days, we used to sing these precious things. Fire. Everything was fire. And everybody got a blaze for God. Amen. Go for it. Don't diversify. Concentrate. And let the Lord do marvelous things among you. The other night, Brother gave an invitation. He said it was your first business meeting. You were going to do this business with God. I hope they aren't just fondly remembered words in a few weeks' time. Amen. Amen. God will melt what needs to be melted and fuse it. And God will burn up all that needs to be burned up as chaff and get rid of it and blow it away like ashes. But God make you a living flame. What was it that Amy Carmichael had us singing, or she would have? Let me not sink to be a clod. Make me thy fuel flame of God. Do you mean it? You did when you were singing it. Let's pray. There's an easy way out if you don't want to be in this. Of course. There's a way in. When I prayed earlier, it was springing in my mind like prophecy. I could have prophesied it. It's the heart that's faced death and gone beyond it. This is the heart. Hallelujah. And I don't just mean physical death. I was meaning that great death to sin and self, Satan, the world. Hallelujah. Your death to it. Amen. Glory. And then gone beyond that. That's where the fire lay. Just as it lay beyond Jesus Christ's death. He died. He rose. He went home. He gave the fire. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen. Amen. When I say concentrate, I don't mean work yourself up into a pitch about it. Relax now. Bring your heart into it. It's for everybody in this room. Everybody. Father. Praise the Lord for the scorching words that came out of your mouth. Flames, Lord, that burns through so much. Thank you, Lord, for facing us with reality. God's intention for mankind. For which Father sent you, Lord Jesus, to tell us the truth and tear away all other things that obscure the view and refuse to see the vision and face up to that reality that thou art. Oh, Father, we do thank you that it is thy gift through thy Son, this blessed fire by the Holy Ghost, that it should sit upon each one of us this night, Lord, and we should know, everyone, what has happened. We love you, Lord. We praise you for your goodness and your mercy and your grace. We thank thee that through it all you are still the gentle Jesus. When you see us wounded, when you see us helpless, when you see us as we were lost, oh God, but you also see us in the abilities we have that we can grasp this and we can grasp that, but we don't grasp what you're doing and what you're saying. Now, Father, we love you. We love you. Thank you for these days together. Thank you, Father, that you have pinpointed us down onto the truth. Thank you, Lord, that you've kept our hearts aflame. Thank you for eager souls that prepare to go on and go through with thee. Thank you, Lord, for men and women that hear the truth and buy the truth and never sell it. We just look to thee, oh God, that thou would indeed confirm it all in flesh and blood, Lord, what is on that printed page so that we, Lord, shall understand a great desire that was burning in thy soul on the earth, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We glorify thee. Praise thy holy name. Amen. Jesus.