In this sermon, the preacher discusses the importance of standing firm in one's faith, even in the face of persecution. He references the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the Bible, who refused to bow down to the golden image set up by King Nebuchadnezzar. The preacher also mentions the current persecution of young people in Russia and other countries for their faith. He emphasizes the need to treasure our time and live each day with a sense of urgency, as we never know when our time on earth will end.

The Book of Daniel. The Book of Daniel, Chapter 3. The Book of Daniel and Chapter 3. You know, I'm not glad to be running out of time, but I'm glad I was born before they took puppets to Sunday school to teach, and before they had puppets in the pulpit preaching. One of the songs I loved as a child was about Daniel. Daniel in the lion's den. Boy, I enjoyed that story. I remember one of the boys, the teacher asked the boy, why didn't the lions eat Daniel? Do you know what the little guy said? Because he was all grit and backbone. You never thought of that with your theological training. Did you ever think of that, John? You didn't. Shows how these Bible schools let you down. All grit and backbone. Well, that's why he still has a show, actually, in this wonderful book. We'll just take one or two spots through this chapter. Nebuchadnezzar, Chapter 3, Verse 1. Nebuchadnezzar, the king, made an image. The height was three square cubits. That's 90 feet. The breadth was six cubits. That's nine feet. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Now, let's remember that the young man, Daniel, along with these three fellows, which had strange names. It takes Jacob to read them. Shadrach, Meshach, and, as he read it, a bad negro. No, a bednygo. Shadrach, Meshach, and a bednygo. But remember, they'd been taken from the most holy city in the world, Jerusalem, and they'd been taken into captivity, to Babylonian captivity. And here they were, isolated. They'd left their nation. They'd left their church. They'd left their parents. They had everything that was holy that surrounded them and supported them. And they were dumped down in a foreign country and treated terribly. Nebuchadnezzar, the king, sent together, gathered the princes. Boy, here's a select company for you. You talk about the social, what do you say here, 400? Aren't there 400 people at the top of the social ladder in America? Nobody here, are they? So you don't know. Shrugging your shoulders. Well, you're on a better list than that. You're on his list up there, so that's all right. Nebuchadnezzar sent together the princes, governors, captains, judges, treasurers, counselors, and sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Now, there's a dozen different arguments about the image. We know what it was made of. The head was made of gold and so forth. Tell me this, apart from being here tonight, how many of you have thought about Nebuchadnezzar today? Nobody. What about the other kingdoms, the Medo-Persian Empire with all its silver and all these other parts of the image? You haven't thought about them today. Our pastor in a little church I went to after 14 years of age, he used to sing a hymn which corresponded with the hymn that we sometimes sing, Days Dying in the West. It was written by John Ellerton. And the last stanza of the hymn says, This was the greatest show on earth at this time. Maybe every important king on the earth was there to pay homage, because later they called Nebuchadnezzar the king of kings. Then verse 3 says, And all the rulers of the province were gathered together in the dedication of the image. Verse 4, What a mixture, what a crowd. Again, what a show. I think of a fellow in England, he couldn't get all these words out, so he said the band played. So you read that two or three times in the story and the band played. Half of them were wind instruments and the other were instruments of strings, always strings. But at what time the herald said, And therefore again this band plays. It says, And as soon as the conductor gave the sign and all the instruments played, it says, At that time a certain Chaldeans came. They were astrologers, and they accused the Jews, Well if you notice, Daniel is not mentioned here. Why isn't he? Where was he? I think he was home praying. I'll go back to that for a reason to the first chapter in a minute. You read further down, A bit of a difference. Do you remember? You won't remember. I remember the reading in the paper. Hitler clenched his fist, shook it against all the United Nations and other nations. And he raised his fist and shook it in the face of everybody. And he said the Third Reich, which I've established, will last a thousand years. It didn't last a thousand weeks. The First Reich was the mighty Roman Empire that tramped through the world. And he knew it was going to do everything. I remember when the, who was the minister, foreign minister of England at that time. He went over to see Hitler and he came back waving his umbrella. What was his name? Thank you, Chamberlain. Austin Chamberlain. And he came back waving his umbrella. He said that man, Hitler, is a gentleman. He'll keep his promises. Within a week, he sent his divisions into Austria and crushed it. But he said, this Third Reich, you don't know the armaments I have. Good night. When the Luftwaffe began to fly, they darkened the sky. But he'd forgotten there's a God. I remember the First World War when the headlines said an Angel of Mons, M-O-N-S. The Germans and the English were fighting. They'd dug slit trenches. And there was a moment when the Germans released gas to poison and destroy the whole of the French and the English. The gas didn't get anywhere near the English lines. The wind changed and went back and gassed all the Germans. Do you remember the story of the, I was going to say the Titanic, no, the Spanish Armada? It came all the way through the Bay of Biscay up the English Channel. And then the wind drove all the ships onto the rocks. And history says he blew with his wind, that's all. And all the multi-million dollar investments of ships were shattered. Well, aren't you happy? You don't look too happy tonight. You didn't get paid today. OK, I didn't either, but anyhow. I thought, Jacob, get in your letter. I said, you got your money? He said, no, it's a bill. I said, well, that's all right. I didn't want to talk to him. Aren't you glad the Lord's on the throne? Come hell or high water? As the hymn says, change and decay in all around I see. O thou who changest not, abide with me. They spake and said to the king, verse 9, O king, live forever. Then these soothsayers said in verse 12, There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy goods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar was blazing mad. He raged with fury. Bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego here. Then they brought these men before him. Nebuchadnezzar said unto them, Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that ye do not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready at this time to hear the sound of all the instruments, and bow down in the midst, in the middle, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, well you'll, it's well for you. But if ye worship not, I shall cast you at the same hour in the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And remember he heated the furnace seven times hotter than normal. In other words, what he's saying, I'll throw you into an incinerator. You've no chance of getting out. You'll be frizzled, you'll crisp like that. Everything will be destroyed. We'll shovel you up in dust, if you don't obey me. You know, this is about real commitment. This fellow isn't, these men are not playing for safety. If you go back to the first chapter for a minute there. Verse six gives you the names of the men, then they were changed in verse nine. Daniel became Belteshazzar, and Hananiah became Shadrach, and Meshach became Meshach, and Azariah became Abednego. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat. Now God had brought Daniel into favor with a tender love of the prince of the eunuchs. Now I've never, I agree with this, I don't know how to totally prove it. But somebody has said there are only two faultless characters in the whole of the Old Testament. You can't find a flaw in the life of Joseph. You can't find a flaw in the life of Daniel. They worshipped. They were love slaves. There was nothing that God asked of them that they couldn't do. Verse ten says, The prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink, for why should he see your faces worse liking the children which of your sort? Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Rameshiel, and Azariah, prove thy servants have beseeched thee ten days. Verse seventeen, These four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning, and wisdom, and Daniel in understanding of visions and dreams. You see here, why do these young men stand? They don't bow, because they have a role model. They've seen Daniel in the tightest spots, and he's never flinched. And therefore they say, in other words, if he can do it, we can do it. In verse two. Pardon me, sorry. Chapter two, verse three. The king said unto them, I've dreamed a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know. This book's full of visions and dreams, this book of Daniel. Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriac, O king, live forever. Tell thy servants the dream, and we will show it. The king answered and said, The thing's gone from me. Mercy, what an unreasonable thing. Tell me the dream. He said, I can't, I forgot it. Well, you expect us to know it? Well, you're the wisest men in the world, aren't you? Come on, come up with the answer. Boy, did they blush. Were they embarrassed. If ye show the dream in the interpretation, ye shall receive gifts and rewards and honor. Show me the dream in the interpretation. Verse ten. The Chaldeans answered before the king and said, There's not a man on the face of the earth that can show the king's matter. Therefore there is no king, lord, or ruler that ask such things of any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. For this cause the king was angry and very furious. Boy, this old boy gets explosive, doesn't he? Again and again. Blazes, immediately he's stalled. Can't get what he wants, shows he goes off petulantly. The king was furious. Verse seventeen. Then Daniel went to his house and made the things known to Hamaniro. In other words, to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He goes to the place of prayer. He doesn't rely on the fact that he asked favor with God. And he wants to train these young men, look our backs are to the wall. If you start showing signs in your face that you're eating, you're not eating the king's meat, your skin goes dry, you start looking haggard, we're in trouble. So he gets together. Again, he's a model for them. He gets them together. Verse eighteen. That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning his secrets, that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men. Then was a secret revealed unto Daniel in the night of vision. Remember, some of you read Dr. Tozer quite a lot. He has a wonderful book called Born After Midnight. And this is where this fellow spends his time at night. Daniel is one of the men. These are the astrologers that study the stars at night. He ignores the stars. He calls on the sun, the sun of God. And God gives him wisdom. God gives him the answers. We go a bit further over here now. You've got the three young men now in this third chapter. Verse three. The princes and the governors, the captains and the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, the rulers. What is this? These young men are what? They're under peer pressure. Here are all the celebrities of the world. The wise men, the astrologers, the rich men, the treasurers, the judges, the judicial people. Every person of rank and file in the nation and even in the world is there. And so these three young men are an exhibition. Look, he's fallen down, that king's fallen down, that ruler's fallen down, that other man's done something. And here they are standing, not trembling, but defying, because they've seen a role model in this amazing man Daniel. Verse twelve. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set affairs of the provinces of Babylon. Meshach, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They have not served thy gods, nor worshipped the golden image. Ebuchadnezzar was full of fury and rage. And they brought these men before the king. And Ebuchadnezzar says, Is it true what I hear? You don't serve my gods, nor worship the golden image? Yes, that's exactly right. Well, if you will fall down and worship me, well, I'll see everything's all right for you. Verse sixteen. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful. Isn't that something? Their lives are on the line. We're not careful. We don't bother whether we answer you or not. Threaten us. Call down fire from heaven if you want. But we must serve our god. We're not going to flinch. As a little boy said about these three fellows, What's the secret of their lives? A little guy said they would not bend or budge or burn. There's three divisions now to talk to the youth about. These are stories we need to tell young people about. Today, I guess, in Russia and other countries, young people have been hailed up before judges. And if you'll only say, as I used to say in the old days, you go to a shrine, they go to an image of Caesar, pick up three grains of incense and say, Caesar is Lord, they were free. If you say, Christ is Lord, they release the lions. And you stood there and watched your wife with a baby at her breast, chewed up, and all the crowds in the arena shouting to Caesar. But Caesar isn't remembered tonight. These men have a faith, they have a fortitude. There's a hymn that says, O for a faith that will not shrink, though pressed by many a foe, that will not tremble on the brink of poverty or woe, that will not murmur or repine beneath the chastening rod. Again, look at these young men in an exhibition to hundreds of thousands of the kings of the earth, diplomats, royal people, wealthy people, scientific people, judicial people. All their peers are there, but they won't give in because they have that inward fortitude which is born again of faith in the Spirit of God. The God whom we serve is able to deliver us. And then there's a wonderful, wonderful verse, word there, three little words, but if not. Isn't that great? If he delivers us, great. We'll shout hallelujah. And if not, we'll shout hallelujah. He doesn't always answer prayer and come at an emergency crisis in my life. He says it's not emergency in my sight, it may be in your sight. The only way for you to get strength and be strong is to go through this. I'm not going to open the Red Sea for you to swim this time. I'm not going to lift the burden. I'm going to share it with you. He said, I will never fail thee or forsake thee. I was thinking of a character, John Huss. John Huss was an early edition, actually, of Martin Luther. He was brought up before the hierarchy of the church and they wanted him to bow and so forth and so on. He wouldn't. But remember, it was under Charles V, they got Martin Luther and they got one of the heads of the Roman Catholic Church and they got lots of dignitaries there and they said, you're preaching something which is the very opposite of the Roman church. And they began to tell him of the penalties they put on him. And he said, I will not bargain. I will not flee. I will not abdicate. I'm staying by this revelation that the just shall live by faith. And because of that, he became a martyr. You know, we pay so little price these days. Others today maybe have sealed their testimony with their blood in other countries. I refuse to live any day without remembering my opposite number in Russia or some other country. I don't want to read these stories and then at the last moment collapse when it comes to a critical situation in my life. If so be the God whom we trust is able to deliver us, but if not. How many if nots have there been? What about those people in Hebrews 11 that are not listed? We read about these who subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of liars. Others had trials of cruelty. Others, who are the others? Trials of mocking and scourging. Women received their dead race to life. You see, actually, I think Dr. Chaucer put this in my mind first. He said from the very moment that Adam transgressed the law of God, from that moment to this, you and I were on enemy territory. Or as a hymn says, this vile world is no friend to grace. There's not a thing in this world, a system that the devil has, which is to help you to mature in spirituality. God may turn it round to that end, but it's opposition from the moment you're born again of the Spirit of God. The whole of the world, the flesh and the devil are against you. That's why I think again it's so important. I'm scared to think that maybe at the judgment seat, God will require some people's blood of my hands. I had a man in my office a while ago with one of the most famous revival parties in this country, or evangelistic parties. And he said, the thing that troubles me, he said, I'm not, our leader is a very wonderful man. But as soon as the meeting's over, he, I said, well, who stays? I see hundreds come to the altar, who stays? The leader and his wife and myself. The others go sightseeing. I said, what, every time? Almost every time. I said, well, why in God's name do you bring them forward? You've got to deal with them, you've got to help them, you've got to help illuminate them by the power of the Spirit of God. I read a statement this week that I thought was very, these are not all notes, don't tremble. I need shots in the arm now and again. Here's a quotation from E.K. Cox. Do you know who he is with a jacket? I've read his name somewhere. E.J. Cox said that the religion that does not summon the world to judgment before its holy demands and lofty standards, and lofty standards has already signed its death warrant. I cross the word out there, religion. I put our preaching, the preaching that does not summon the world to judgment before its holy demands and lofty standards has already signed its death warrant. The next is from a character that Mr. Tozer loved very much, Anselm. I think he was a bishop. Anselm said, here's the exact quote, if hell were on one side and sin on the other, I would rather leap into hell than willingly sin against my God. Do you think of that? Here's a man who preached the terrors of hell. You know, I'm trying to grasp some of these things. You see, if these people are not born again, we're sending them out deficient. We're sending them out lame and in darkness. Oh, we're all going to the marriage supper. Well, come on, how many virgins were there? Ten, good. Five wise, five unwise, five the others. They were all virgins, they were all pure. Well, why didn't they all get into the marriage supper? Do you realize that they were shut out in outer darkness? Read the story of the unprofitable servant. Hell is terrible, I know, but it's the unprofitable servant that's cast out into weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. We take it so easy, that because we come to the front and say a little prayer, no, no, no, no. The very moment I say yes to Jesus, I say no to the world, the flesh, the devil, the customs. How can you commit to God when your heart's in sport? Do you know what I think? I think people seeing things on Sundays like Majesty, and they're thinking about the divorce court tomorrow, or they're thinking about sport or something. They're not totally committed. It's quoted from various sources, sometimes from Wesley. Maybe he said it, but I know D.L. Moody said it too. Give me ten men who are totally devoted to Jesus Christ, and I'll go to any city and see revival. I'm trying to live, I always have, I hope, what I preach, eat as little as I can. My dear wife keeps getting on to me about that. Eat as little as I can, sleep as little as I can. Time's running out. I don't have anywhere except I know I'm really in the will of God in doing it. If so be that our God, if so be our God whom we serve is able to deliver us, but if not, I've no doubt about him. He has the resources. He can come in at the very last moment when I feel everything's gone. And if he doesn't, he said, it's okay. He giveth more grace as the burdens grow greater, as that great American lady wrote. He giveth more strength as the labors increase. To added affliction he addeth his mercy. To multiplied trials is multiplied peace. His love has no limit. His grace has no measure. His power has no boundary, no none to men. But out of the fullness of blessing in Jesus, he giveth and giveth and giveth again. You know, I think I'm going to get to the judgment seat and look back, and God says, you see all those resources? They were all available while you were in Texas. You never bothered about it. You were content that you don't smoke and drink and swear, and you know some nice people, and you spend more time with them than you do with me. I don't want to die on the verge of bankruptcy. We're heading for trouble. These boys were not afraid of the fire or the faggots of the flame. They'd seen Daniel. I don't know whether at this time he had actually been in the lion's den. Can you imagine a man, a thing being moved up there, they take the lid off a pit, and there's a man dangling on a rope, and there's some hungry lions there thinking they're going to have him. And all the guy does, he goes, what does it say in Hebrews 11? Who by faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, stopped the mouths of lions. Who did? You say, well, David did that once. Yes, he did. I believe this man stopped the mouths of lions. I believe he dangled on the rope, and he saw them. He said, listen, shut your mouth. Then he tested all the bellies to see which was the softest so he could put his head on it. And went to sleep, and sniggered at the devil, and said, listen, you thought you'd get me. You didn't. Isn't it wonderful? The king went to bed. He had one of those, you know, king-sized beds. It had to be for a king. King-sized bed. Everything was lovely. Put his head on the pillow. Thought somebody played a joke. It was full of glass. He couldn't sleep. Here's the man that should be trembling, snoring. Here's the king that should be snoring, trembling. Isn't that lovely? Think there's no humor in the Bible? I find it anyhow. Poor old king's walking around the bedroom. He can't get to peace. Can't get satisfied. Oh, I feel upset. Maybe it's that lovely man. I know he's a very wonderful man, Daniel. I've heard him singing the praises of his God. I've seen him under provocation. He's a marvelous man. He's the most God-like man the world has ever known. And I put him down there. I hate to lift the lid off and find his body all torn up. He says to his servant, hey, take the top off this pit. This well. And when he looks down, he says, hey, Daniel, how are things down there? Oh, king, he says, fine. What do you wake me up for? Well, I can't sleep. He says, I can. See, there's no pillar like a good conscience. He knew it was in God's will. He knew he hadn't offended anyone except the king. Well, what are kings anyhow? They'd seen a role model in a man and they said, that's the man. I think somebody said last week in the prayer meeting, was it? How many preachers could really sing? What you have seen and heard in me do and the God of peace be with you. Wherever I go, you go. Talk like I talk. Walk like I walk. Pray as I pray. Sacrifice as I sacrifice. Paul says I do that. So, Timothy had a role model. I didn't emphasize it last week. I should remember. He says, the one that you're serving is the same person, of course, that Daniel was serving. But Paul says, remember, you're serving the king, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. We sang that tonight. That's a beautiful hymn. And he says, Timothy, keep your eye on that. This Roman Empire is going to get worse. You're going to see some of the most devilish men that ever lived. They're going to devour the church of the living God. There's going to be persecution beyond description. But remember, he's the king, eternal, invisible, immortal, invisible, God only wise. And because he was looking unto Jesus, nothing ever moved him. What do you do with a man that when the devil's exhausted all he had and the poor devil's chewing his fingernails if he has any? What can I try next on this man? And Paul says, anything you like. None of these things move me. Dear Lord, we can't say that. How easily do you get offended? Do you get hurt? Oh, they had a party, didn't invite you. Well, that should make you happy. There's a very famous rich fellow that founded one of the great empires in California years ago. He didn't know the English language very well. They told him the greatest banquet that had ever been thrown was going to be thrown. Film stars, merchants, princes were going to meet in Hollywood at that super hotel. They sent him an invitation, please reply. So he put in his nice English, include me out. Isn't that nice? That's what I say on most things. Include me out. I'm realizing more and more how precious time is. Every day I wake up, good night. I've been in the hospital that much for months at a time. Martha's buried me three or four times. I keep coming back. But you know when you've lived so near eternity, you treasure your time. This day will never come again. We do not treasure our time as we should. You know this, I guess, but let me say it quickly. I'm going to put this proceeding in my book on the judgment. I'm going to put this at the beginning of the judgment for the sinner. I dreamed of the great judgment morning. You know the poem? I dreamed of the great judgment morning had come and the trumpet had blown. I dreamed that the nations had gathered for judgment before the white throne. From the throne came a bright shining angel. He stood on the land and the sea and he swore with his hand raised to heaven that time was no longer to be. The rich man was there, but his money had melted and vanished away. A pauper he stood at judgment. His debts were too heavy to pay. The great man was there, but the greatness, when death came, was left far behind. The angel had opened the records. No trace of his greatness could find. The gambler was there and the drunkard. You know what? I believe every bottle that comes off the assembly line of coers, they're Baptist brewers, at least his wife was. I believe God has a count of every one of the millions of bottles that come off there and he can trace them to lives that were blasted, young men that drank and got killed on the road. Part of that guilt will be on coers or strobes or anyone else. The gambler was there and the drunkard, the man that came to drink with the people that sold the license and in hell they forever did sink. The moral man came to the judgment, but his self-righteous rags would not do. The men that crucified Jesus had claimed they were moral men too. The soul that had put off salvation, not tonight. I'll get saved by and by. No time to think now of religion at last, yet found time to die. I'm turning over each day now more and more in Hebrews. Today he will hear his voice. Don't say to people, come tonight. Don't put it off. You can't listen. If God has an appointment with you, do it tonight. He may never come again. Why does God have to come to your heart twice? If you're invited to the White House, do you think you'll call up and say, I'm sorry, I can't come. I'm getting tired on my car tomorrow. I'll come a week tomorrow. You come now or you don't come at all. Today he will hear his voice. Today. Now is the accepted time. We don't value treasure or opportunities. I believe if I really preach in the power of the Spirit of God, that people are saved whether they come to the altar or not. And people die in a meeting. I don't find a lot of joy in preaching. Honest before God, I don't. Particularly with the average church audience. God speaks to somebody the last night. He'll never come again. He doesn't have to. And that puts an awful onus on the preacher, I think. Who was it? A Puritan preacher that said every sermon that's really born of God leaves people nearer heaven or nearer hell. Do you believe that? I do with all my being. Alas, he found time to die. But oh, what a weeping and wailing when the lost heard of their fate. They cried for the rocks on the mountains. I read that yesterday. Was it Revelation 5 or 6? Like this bunch of celebrities that were there. They're not the same bunch, but it says in Revelation 5 or 6 the kings of the earth, the rulers of the earth, the prosperous men, the rulers, the judges. Not the bums on the street. Not the heathen up somewhere up the Amazon, up the Orinoco River or somewhere. The famous men in the world tonight are going to stand. Do you think that Kennedy says every day he lives he remembers the girl he left drowning in that car. She didn't drown because she had no water in her lungs. She suffocated. He didn't try and save her. That judgment is going to be brought up at the judgment seat of class. Jimmy Hoffa, they showed his picture the other night on TV. He disappeared. They believe they put him in a big trash crusher in a factory and destroyed him. Marilyn Monroe, nobody knows how she died. F.D. Roosevelt died in mystery in the White House. A Russian woman was painting his portrait and that was the end. They're all coming to judgment one day. So that's what I want to put in my book before talking about the sinner's judgment. I dreamed that the great judgment morning had come and the trumpet had blown. I dreamed that nations had gathered for judgment before the white throne. On the banks stood a bright shining angel. He stood on the land and the sea and he swore with his hand raised to heaven that time was no longer to be. Then you get the rich, the drunkards, everybody coming. The unsaved church members. What are they going to do when God says, you heard the gospel preached thousands of times. It seems everybody that phones me or writes to me says, you know, I'm reading Jeremiah. I say, leave Jeremiah alone. Read the Laodicean church. Where's the Laodicean church? Laid back, sleepy, well clothed, but naked in God's sight. Did every house... In America there are three Bibles for every home. There are 600 million Bibles in America. How many Bibles were there in Jeremiah's day? Only one in the temple as far as I know. Was there a church every corner in Jeremiah's day? No. But Jeremiah was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. How much more ought we to sorrow over our nation? We're a drunken, divorced, wicked, rebellious nation. And England and other nations are exactly the same. But look at the other side of the coin here. This is for the believer. A friend of mine wrote it. I don't know where he's gone. I haven't seen him for about ten years. He wrote some lovely poem and sent me a set. Here's one. It's called A Hundred Years From Now. It will not make much difference, friend, a hundred years from now, if you live in a stately mansion or a floating river scow, if the clothes you wear are tailor-made or just pieced together somehow. If you eat big steaks or beans and cake a hundred years from now, won't matter what your bank account or make of car you drive, for the grave will claim all your riches and fame and the things for which you strive. There's a deadline that we all must meet. No one will show up late. It won't matter then all the places you've been. Each one will keep that date. We will only have in eternity what we gave away on earth. When we go to the grave, we can only save the things of eternal worth. What matters, my friend, the earthly gain for which some men will bow, for your destiny will be sealed, you'll see, a hundred years from now. Isn't that solemn? All the things... Somebody asked me the other day, did you see a show or something that they had on TV about the men with AIDS? How they live. And you know, it suddenly hit me just going to bed last night. Why in God's name don't they picture some of these men with AIDS dying? They tell me that actually the pain is just like taking a man and sitting on a hot stove. He has pains beyond description. And yet there are hundreds and hundreds of men in the nation tonight with it. By 1991 they said there will be at least a half million. And then Mr. Cook came along, the Surgeon General, said it will be more like a million. And I suddenly thought of them. Their lifestyle troubles us. Sure it should. What about their death style? Huh? You hear people say, well, you know, there's nothing after death. Well, why are they terrified to die if there's nothing after death? If you told me there's a room there, and there's a pit bull in it, and you said, what do you call that dog? Pit bull dog or something? Is that right? You put me in that room with that dog. No, boy, I'd be scared. I wouldn't want to go in. But if you just said there's nothing in it, there's just darkness, that's all, it wouldn't worry me at all. Do you know what it is? These people have a date with death. It's a blind date as far as they're concerned. They have no hope. One of the greatest infidels in England was dying. He asked for his friends, they all came round. And they began to say, hold on, George, hold on. He said there's nothing to hold on to. You know what? In this day when everything's changed in style, I remember when we used to go to preacher's meetings, and we'd report on, you know, since we were here a month ago, what happened? We've had five people saved, or six people. I was in the hospital the other day. I prayed for two people on their deathbed. They were going to die within 24 hours. They both repented. You never hear of deathbed repentances now. Why? Because people are drunk 24 hours before they die. They go into eternity drunk. Doesn't matter what their background is. They may have been saints, or they may have been the most diabolical people on earth. But before they get to eternity, already they've been drunk. You can't get to them. This is the day in which we're living. Let me just look at this a minute, will you? I say we're heading for trouble like the three Hebrew children. This is a report. This man has, they say, the most accurate predictions of anyone. He says, whatever the outcome of the present Irangate inquiries in America or the Peterite scandal in England, all of it will be swept away by gigantic world affairs, world affair events involving the very life of the Western alliance. Mr. Gorbachev will fail and fall in circumstances of the most dire as a result of the coming world confrontation caused by the Gulf and canal issues, which together with Jerusalem, you see what Russia's doing, is offering the Arabs Jerusalem. If Russia gets Iran, then she has a bridge right through. She doesn't have to go to sea. She has a bridge right through to Israel. The Jews want Israel. The Christians want Israel. The Arabs want Israel. The greatest confrontations coming up, confrontation caused by the Gulf and canal issues, which together with Jerusalem will bring about the greatest drama in the entire known history of the world. These events will sweep away all the present economic conflicts and problems which now engage the banking system. All conventional calculations will be driven away. This is the picture. It's a bleak picture. I have a sign in my office. I look at it many times a day. Lord, keep me eternity conscious. We live in a world that's so seductive. Get caught up with this. Get caught up with that. The devil hates the time you spend with God. He doesn't mind where you spend it, anywhere else. Spend it with God. I'm going to loan you that book I got this week, Jacob Lather. A dear brother has written a book. It's supposed to be the definitive study on the life of Jonathan Edwards, the great, well, he was Presbyterian, but apart from that, he was one of the great, what's the word there, Puritan preachers. I've got two big volumes of his works. That man walked on the edge of eternity. That's where I want to walk. He walked on the edge of eternity. How much? Consistently, dear brother, he spent 13 hours a day with Bible and prayer. Isn't that something, Sonny? Dear God, I guarantee that most preachers don't spend 13 hours a week with God and prayer. They live so close they knew the heartbeat of God. As I say, they lived in eternity six days a week, then they came down to earth. We've prayed for two or three years, maybe more, for a moving of God in Tyler. Particularly amongst the young people. Jacob, when do you go, Monday? Jacob's going to preach at the, uh, at Rose Heights Youth Conference. Fun? Youth Camp. It'll be wonderful, it's the Holy Ghost. And I'm going to pray he won't get much sleep at night. He'll deliver his soul as he's never delivered it before. There has to be a move of God somewhere. If I had a, maybe I'll get a sign here, revival. If not here, where? If not who, us? If not now, when? The Lord is going to come once, just once more. Before he comes in wrath, he's going to come in mercy. We had a wonderful prayer meeting Thursday. Jacob couldn't make it, but it was good. Uh, I think Youth on a Mission, Youth on a Mission have a what? A home for women and children where? In Tyler or Linda? Tyler? Well, Joe Foster was saying it's been doing real good. I like to listen to specials on TV. There was one the other night, a heroic young lady. I thought, boy, I thought they'd all died. They showed this young lady 35 years of age. Four years ago, she was walking the streets of Los Angeles. She saw pretty little girls, 12 years of age, prostituting, 14, 16. She made up her mind. She never mentioned God or Christ in the whole thing. But she said, could I leave those little children like orphans on the street? And she said in the last three years, she's brought over 200 into her home. Since 1979, she has handled over 2,000. Eighty percent of them have not gone back onto the streets. They need love. Then Joe came in, Joe Foster. He'd been troubled and very, very burdened about debts that they had. And lo and amazing, somebody came in and gave him a check for $18,000, said you need this. So he went to town and paid off all his debts. I didn't know the work he's been doing. He has a house down in, what is it, Juarez or somewhere? In Mexico. They have 19 children and people caring for them in four houses. Imagine that. Somebody gave him a nice check, and he's already started this week. He's going to put up an orphanage for 100 children. That moves me tremendously. Jesus loves these little ones. As I say, we go to our fashionable church. I thought, well, in God's name, here's a woman walking till 1 and 2 in the morning and saying to a child, pulls her car up and says, get in my car. What are you going to do with me? Are you a pimp? No, no, dearie. I want to help you. She takes the child home for a few hours, bathes them, feeds them. Does the best she can for them. I wonder what that glass palace that, what's Joe Plush, what do you call him? Joe? Schuller. Schuller, Schuller. I wonder what Schuller's church does with its millions. Do we rescue the perishing, care for the dying? Who does? We need to pray tonight, pray for Jacob. And I mean that sincerely with a special anointing for that. Those kids have been to camps, they've been to the front, they've wept, they've cried. I can give you the names of some of them. But I'm trusting they'll meet God in a new way. Pray that you'll pray. I think what we'll do next Friday night, we'll sing a hymn or two or bring a message. And then we'll leave the meeting open at the end. Sonny's going down to Houston, what, the end of the month? You know, you need to go, you need to be, know where you are. Boy, I remember going the first time. We went to 111th Street with David Wilson about 23, 24 years ago. Some big prostitute put her arm in mine. Boy, I shook to my toes. He says, come with me. You see in the house there? They came out, they were, you know what? Dave said last year when he was there, something came to him and he told them, what are you doing? Oh, we love Jesus. We've spoken in tongues. What are you doing prostituting? Joe Foss said in the local jail here. He sent some girls, they went in and these girls said, oh, we're saved. We're maybe, you know, nobody's backslidden anymore, just out of fellowship. That's all. You know, we've never seen him or we wouldn't do those things. If we'd seen him in his beauty and his glory, if we'd felt the heartbeat of eternity, that it took the Son of God to redeem me, a worthless, stiff-necked, arrogant Methodist, and yet God got hold of my life. And I'm praying for you young fellas, I really am more than ever, that God has called to preach. That you're bringing a new emphasis in this day in which we live. Brother Sonny, I admire him so much, working with those fellas, such different personalities and interests. I guess they don't all eat the same food. You know, to be a, I believe with all my heart, the greatest honor in the world is to be a child of God. And one step higher than that is to be called to the ministry. It's a thankless task in one sense, and yet it's the most wonderful. We don't know, we don't know what God is doing through our lives. Some seed you sowed before, Paul may plant. Somebody planted at that church that Jacob's going to. They planted, Jacob may water, God gives the increase. But the hour is desperately serious. If we escape a war in the Gulf there, I'll be very, very, very surprised. All these things are crowding in us, on us, on whom the end of the age have come. And the only answer is a marvelous outpouring of the Spirit of God. You know when God's in a meeting, people won't leave the meeting as soon as you say amen, they'll stay around as though they've been hit with a two before. But they're so dazed, they're so unused to God, and God comes and stirs the heart and the conscience and the memory. One thing I preached in that great Methodist church in Dublin, right opposite the Abbey Theatre, where years before Handler played the Messiah for the first time. That night God came, I preached on Psalm 51. Three years afterwards at a worldwide evangelistic convention in Northern Ireland, in Belfast. A man came to me afterwards, he said, Do you remember me? I said, No. Do you remember preaching at the Methodist church? Eva Stewart-Watt was there. Jock Purvis was there. No, I'm sure I remember that. He said, I went home that night. We had a cup of tea, went to bed. I sat on one side of the bed, my wife sat on the other. And he said, we sat for an hour in silence. And then she said, Why don't you get into bed? He said, I barked out, Why don't you get into bed? He said, I can't. Why can't you? Well, there's a film in my mind. The Lord's taken me back to my sins when I first deliberately disobeyed God. And he said, Brother Rayfield, I sat there an hour, nearly another hour. My wife was weeping. She got up, trying to walk up and down. I yanked the bed away from the wall. She walked that way and I walked the other for another hour. Then suddenly she fell to the ground and began to cry, God have mercy on me. She was a good Methodist, a gracious woman, Christian worker, holy of God. But he said, she broke up and wept. I was stubborn. I held out another hour. Then I knelt down at the other side of the bed and cried to God. He said, That night we had such a jubilation in our house. We both passed from death unto life. We had a conscious entry, living entry into the presence of God. We felt an invasion of a new power. I said, What have you done since? He said, We've gone to the mission field. We've sold our house, sold everything. We've been training. We've been doing open air work. And he said, All that night. Because one night I faced up to my record of sin and said, I can't do a thing about it except you come in mercy and forgive me. It's so simple and yet it's so profound. All heaven-bent, the angels rejoice over what? Well, not over a sports program, thank God. Over one twisted, deformed, depraved, rebellious, wicked, violent man who's cursed God and cursed people and his life is a curse. And God cuts him off from his evil habits, his evil desires, his evil appetite, makes him a new creature and all heaven gets excited. I'll tell you, when a baby comes in the home it makes a difference, doesn't it? Do you know why our churches need so much big programs and sports deals? Because of no joy over new births. Thank God I went to a church that had no sports programs. A fellow called me the other day. I'm in a certain city. And he said, Brother Raymond, I've been round the city. There are two big evangelical churches. But Brother Raymond, why do they have such big sports programs? I said, I don't know. He said, they're more concerned about the sports field than the mission field, which you usually find. All right, the last thing. God's going to raise up you young folk. We've had our day. What does it say? In the last days he'll pour out his Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. But I can't wait to hear somebody going to the First Baptist Church, brings his pastor and says, you know, my daughter woke up this morning at three o'clock praying in tongues. Wouldn't that shock the Baptist? Or my daughter came home and said she'd witnessed in the factory. And the boss said, you can't do that. You know, God isn't going to come to accommodate us. He's going to come with revolutionary revelations and power and authority. In the revival of 1859 in Ireland, young men came out of the field and stood up in meetings and preached. They'd never studied the Bible. They took the Bible and they said it began to throb like eternity. Their language seemed to be on fire. And the men who'd been to seminaries and whatnot said, where do these men come from? They come from a prayer meeting. And yet when they were plowing the fields, the Spirit of God came upon them. And the whole of that nation broke. Aristocrats, the son of Lord North came and he got marvelously transformed. He's going to do it again. Let's pray for last days. They're going through a transition period, I think they say. There's so many changes and whatnot. Let's pray for them. Let's pray for George. He's started already building his home for a hundred orphans. I think that's wonderful. Pray for Jacob as he goes to this meeting. Our David is tonight in Singapore, starting a week in Singapore, then one in Malaysia, and his wife's teaching somewhere else in the country. We could remember them. Pray for Paul. He said they're having some blessing there, but they're also having tremendous opposition. We'll pray especially next week more for Sonny and his team as they go to Houston, for Spence and his brothers and others. They're going to this big powwow in August with the Indians. But maybe the first thing we have to pray for, quickness, quickness, quickness, Lord. Quickness to pray tonight. To pray with faith, believing. If you can stay, stay some of the time. If you can't, we'll understand. Anyhow, let's go to pray. Let's pray that we'll have courage to stand in the evil hour.