In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of understanding the purpose and power of the Bible. He compares the Bible to a user manual for a washing machine, explaining that we need to read and meditate on it in order to fully utilize its benefits. The preacher also highlights the role of Christ in our lives, stating that he is the source of righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He encourages listeners to walk in the Spirit and allow the love of God to rule their hearts, emphasizing that love is patient, kind, and consistent. The sermon concludes with a story about British explorers who were not satisfied with a false glow in the sky, but persevered until they found the real diamond, illustrating the importance of seeking the truth and not settling for superficial experiences.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye land. One thing we ought to be thankful for this morning is that we can do that. That isn't permitted everywhere. Been in places, in large churches where you weren't allowed to say, Hallelujah from the heart. If you did, the preacher would jump down your throat immediately and gag you. But this morning, Hallelujah. Glory to God. Praise the Lord. There are deliverances, but God inhabits the praises of his people. That's why we read in Psalm 103, All that is within me, bless his holy name. And until you've been fully liberated, you can't very well do that. There are all kinds of bugs crawling around in these temples of ours until the Holy Ghost comes in and blows them out. I often have to smile when we have a real outpouring of the Spirit of God. And everybody gets drenched and everybody gets drowned and drunk. And everybody laughs. My, how I have roared sometimes when the whole ra-he-gai-la-bu-she-di-gai-lo-ban-ja-da. The Holy Ghost took possession of me. And then to look around and see some folks get mad. Why, the madder you get, the worse it is. My mother used to say, if anything radical happened, My goodness, if that isn't good for the bed bugs. It takes a real antidote, a real medicine. But, oh beloved, it's good for everything. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me. We heard last night how David says in a place, All my bones shall be healed. All my bones. It takes a sanctified being to really praise the Lord. God says He's looking for those that worship Him in spirit and in truth. And that's why He has purchased these bodies of ours to set ablaze every atom of your being. This body that has inherited sin and bondage and death from our father Adam now becomes an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ and a temple of the Holy Ghost. Praise the Lord. But let me read this psalmist, 100. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. All ye lands. We used to think that to sing unto the Lord you had to use a minor key. That's why a lot of church hymns are written in a minor key. You know, the stuff that makes you weep and sigh and sob and sniff. And people think that's religion. Isn't it wonderful how intended cause we have? A joyful noise. Alleluia. Alleluia. To whom has the arm of the Lord's invitation to everyone that thirsteth to come to the waters and to drink free. Lord, I am not for righteousness, but I am looking for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. And my declaration is that they shall be filled. And so I call every one of you. Come on. So many have gone astray. The heavens are open and the power of God is descending. And my spirit is searching to and fro among men to fill to the overflowing sons and daughters of mine. To sanctify them wholly and to prepare them for the marriage feast of the Lamb. 400 and we will read together this beautiful psalm. And let us all join in and trust God to do something for our hearts while we speak his word of faith. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. O forgive us all thine iniquities. O heal us all thy diseases. O redeem us, thy light from destruction. O crown the fever of lovingkindness. O satisfy us, thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord execute us righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, neither will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For his nose are strange, he remembers that we are judged. As for man, his days are as grass. As the flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children. To such as heed his covenants, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his that do his pleasure. Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Amen. Praise the Lord. Now we'll open to 87 and sing, Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne. And all those who like to stand while they sing, do so. The Lamb of God Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkle, and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profiteth me. It does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not provoked, thinketh no evil. That word easily was put in there to ease the conscience of James the 11th. Doesn't belong in there. Love is not provoked, it doesn't get mad at all. All right, six. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. As a child, I speak as a child. I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. And now abide of faith, hope, love, these three. But the greatest of these is love. Mr. Zeller was in Germany. He was asked to preach in his home church, in the Reformed or Evangelical church. And he spoke about 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. They are people who constantly harp on the 13th chapter, you see, because they have no gifts. They don't believe in Pentecost. So he got up and he said, well, here's a sandwich. The 12th and the 14th are the pieces of bread and the meat is in between. It's the 13th chapter. And he gave them a very good lesson. Anyway, they enjoyed it and asked him to come again. And this is a sandwich. Now the fact that Bible here says, though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, I suppose all of us have spoken that way. When we speak in tongues, people don't understand. Many people don't understand why tongues are given. Sometimes we have spoken in tongues that were understood. Just before I left for Germany last summer, there was a missionary here from India and I noticed he got awfully happy all at once. And after the meeting I found out that he had heard me speak in tongues and it was his language in India. And that made him so happy. He said he didn't know there was anything like that. Another time in Zion in the faith home, after the meeting a missionary from Africa came to me and he said, hey, you got to come with me to Africa because you spoke in my dialect tonight. You were praying for the native in tongues. Another time a Methodist preacher was over on Seneca Avenue and he was not very friendly to us but he understood me talking in Greek. But many times you don't understand me. And many times you, I speak in a language that's not understood on earth. And we ought to be very careful. Sometimes people come and they say, oh, you speak in Italian because maybe you used a word that sounds Italian. You can't always go by that. You know when during the Boxer Trouble people, armies were drawn from all the nations. Some Swiss fellows were in China. And in the morning they got up and one said, Shang shan du, shao zun xin chou. That's good Swiss word. And it means, John, get up, the sun is shining. And of course the English thought he was talking Chinese. They said, look at those Swiss. You can't beat them. They've only been here overnight and now they talk Chinese. Well, some of those words are Chinese. But he didn't mean it that way at all. But anyway, it's a great miracle to speak with the tongues of men and of angels. But God says it's a sounding brass and tinkling cymbal unless it flows from the fountain. And that fountain is God. My, when you read this chapter, everyone might say, my, how far short I come. That's not the way to look at it. Look at it like, why, hallelujah, I've got something here. I didn't know it was there. Here's the description of it. Praise the Lord. The real thing is there. Christ is there. Give him a chance. This is the direction. Hallelujah. You got a new wash machine, you don't know how to operate it till you read the direction. And you'll find that when you plug it in and you turn the crank and you turn this switch, it'll just work by itself and you put the dirty wash in there and there, it's hanging on the line whiter than it was when it was new. Why, that wash machine was made for that purpose. And listen, Christ is made of God unto us. Righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And the New Testament is given to us that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. And when I come short, it's because I exercise flesh. I don't walk in the Spirit. Oh, give God a chance. And that's what the Bible is for. Meditate therein, day and night, and it'll create faith. It'll give its power. It'll slay the flesh. It'll break forth like a fountain of living water. And every one of us has this fountain in them. Jesus says, gold tried in the fire. I believe I told some months ago of an expedition in South Africa. The natives had a habit of worshiping on a certain night when the moon was in a certain place in the sky. They saw somewhere else a glow in the sky. And they said that was a ghost, that was a spirit. And so the natives would gather and they would worship that glow. But these Britishers, always after money, they said, I know what that is. There's a diamond there somewhere on the surface. So they took a cart and they went in search of the diamond next day. And really they found a great big rock, transparent. Never saw a big diamond like that. So they dug it out and put it on the cart and took it to Johannesburg to a jeweler to examine it, see how much carat it was. Well, this jeweler laughed. He says, lick it. It's rock salt. You can lick a lot of religion, a lot of sanctification, a lot of holiness. It's nothing but salt. It melts. They were fooled. Oh, it's a strange thing how people are satisfied to fool themselves. And that's why God gives us the Bible so that you may have the real thing. You take this word and examine yourself by every sentence and see whether you live like that. If not, why, that's just rock salt. That isn't. That isn't love. Love suffers long and is kind. You know how we are naturally? When things don't go our way, we go into a dump. Let people feel it. Why, that's flesh. But love isn't like that. Love is always even. Always the same. I knew a young fellow who never testified except when his girl was there in a meeting. Oh, he could preach like a house of fire. Sometimes two and three times in a meeting. I knew what was the matter with my eyes closed. That gave him an inspiration. Strange where people get their inspiration from. But when the love of God is ruler in your heart, when the love of God, then you do all things for the love of God. You do it by the love of God. Oh, love. Praise the Lord. Well, these Britishers, they didn't give up. They went again and they found the real diamond. It was there. That glow was still in the sky. And they found it because they were not satisfied with rock salt. They wanted a pure diamond. You and I don't have to be satisfied with anything short of the love of God described here. It's yours. It's mine. Thank God. You're saved by grace. It's the gift of God. You'll never have salvation by working it up yourself. But you have salvation by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and giving him a chance. And we do that when we love his command. He says, if you love me, you'll keep my words. You can't keep his words without knowing it. You've got to meditate therein. Get acquainted with it. Read the directions. And then Jesus says, I'll manifest myself to you. I'll show you that that's me. Search the scriptures. You think you have eternal life? Why, they testify of me. That's the New Testament. Glory to God.