In this sermon, the preacher shares a story about a marriage hall where people were dancing and having a good time. Suddenly, the Queen of the Underworld enters and starts dancing provocatively. The preacher then talks about the importance of enduring afflictions and suffering for the sake of eternity. He references 2 Corinthians 4 and discusses the physical and emotional pain that the apostle Paul endured for the sake of spreading the gospel. The preacher emphasizes the love of God and how it surpasses human understanding, using examples from the Greek language to illustrate the different types of love.

...and sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee. How great Thou art, my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee. When Christ shall come, when Christ shall come, sing it! Without of acclamation to take me home, to take me home. What joy shall fill, then I shall bow, If I have proclaimed, my God, how great Thou art. Sing my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee is born. We could sing all night. A great German theologian came to America some years ago. And he had to meet various crowds of theologians and others. And someone said to him, I wonder how many years have you studied the Bible? And so he said, X number of years. And he said, well what's the greatest discovery you've made in the Bible? Do you know what he said? Jesus loves me, this I know. Can we sing that? I'll go to Sunday school. Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Let's go and to Him belong. What joy shall fill, then I shall bow, Sing it, yes! Jesus loves me, yes, Jesus loves me, yes, Jesus loves me, God loves me. Wonderful. Now you can go home. Father, we thank you that we don't have to stand in the outer court, nor just in the holy place. But we thank you for the offering that was made once in the end of the age to put away sin by Jesus, by the sacrifice of himself. We thank you that because of him we have boldness to come into your holy presence tonight. We turn away from this world with all its sin and sorrow and shadows. We thank you for this oasis that you've provided for us. And an old hymn writer said, if our fellowship below in Jesus be so sweet, what heights of rapture shall we know when round his throne we meet? God we bless you. We thank you for the privilege of meeting without fear of being arrested. We thank you for this holy word, you've preserved it through the ages. Men have burned it and banned it and blamed it and banished it, but it's here. We thank you Lord, your blessed holy word stands at the graveside of all its persecutors. We thank you Lord, you've said that it's not determined by the opinions of men. Thy word, O Lord, is settled in heaven. And because you've settled it there, we bless you Lord, it cannot be moved. It's going to last through all the ages. We thank you for the privilege of coming to it. We thank you for the holy men. Lord, you didn't say there were rich men or brilliant men or kings or rulers. You said that holy men of God will stake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We think of the Holy Ghost moving in the beginning over chaos and brought forth order. We think of the Holy Ghost moving over some of the Old Testament characters. We think of him moving over the womb, the empty womb of the Virgin Mary, bringing forth Jesus Christ. We think of those men in the upper room, and they came out not with swords, though they may have had power over life and death, and yet they were filled with the Holy Spirit of God. And because of that they penetrated the darkness of their day, the dangers of their day, the devilry of their day. And in their generation, or a little after they, the world, the whole world heard the word of God. Lord, we ask you tonight as we've sung, Spirit of God, my teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me. Make this a very personal encounter, though we're a number tonight. Speak to me, one hymn writer said, speak to me by name or master, let me know it is to me. Speak that I may follow faster with a step more firm and free, where the shepherd leads the flock in the shadow of the rock. Lord, we want to hear your voice. I'm hearing it, we'll obey. So Lord, bless your word in Jesus' name. Okay, the epistle of Paul. From the epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. Again in chapter 5, where we were last week. For the moment reading the same verse that we had. In verse 17, therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away and all things have become new. When I was a youngster in England, there was a very brilliant preacher, filling the historic pulpit of John Wesley, which is on, it's at the Methodist Church on City Road, London. It's a kind of a, what do you call it now? A shrine almost. But Moffat Godfrey was a man of unusual eloquence. And he said this about the Apostle Paul. Quoting someone else actually, he said that somebody said that Paul's mind was so steeped in dogma, it became a mere machine for grinding out metaphysics. If you don't know what metaphysics are, well, either see Joe Foss or the pastor after the meeting. Oh, and then he goes to sunny. That doesn't matter. In my mind, Paul was essentially a preacher. He was not only a preacher, he was a poet. He's not only a poet, he's a pragmatist. In other words, he had his feet on the ground. Look at his tremendous missionary journeys. He had no plane, he had no train, and yet you see him going over Asia Minor. Those vast territories through all the hazards he went through. Now here he says, again in this 17th verse, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things are passed away, and all things shall become new. Now, he isn't whispering this. He isn't sitting down in one of those beautiful, what did they call them, theatres that they had in those days, arenas. He isn't talking to a nice bunch of quiet people. He's throwing a challenge to the world, the flesh, the devil. This world has to become really numerical or we'll go to hell. It has to become, capture our hearts. There's no salvation anywhere else. Oh, there are some people today, what reconstructionists, they're going to rebuild the nation. What, on human depravity? The greatest of modern historians, not because an Englishman, Arnold Toynbee, he says, remember, 19 times man has built what he calls a permanent civilization and 19 times it's fallen down. You know, you tell your children a little story, Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. That's deep theology. It's a satire on the fall of man, I think, brother Blasey. All the king's horses and all the king's men can't put Humpty Dumpty together again. What do we have now? The United Nations, what do they do? They watch the rape of every country in the world. They've stood by and watched a million people die in Afghanistan. They've watched wars and rumors of wars and not done a thing. Before the United Nations, there was the League of Nations when I was a youngster. Before that there was the League of Nations, establishing the Hague in Holland. And repeatedly men have tried to patch up and prop up civilization. But this, this is not the word of a super optimist. It's a man who has tasted so much of the grace of God and therefore he saw any man, anywhere, at any time. Can you think of anything more exciting than that? Or inspiring? If you're going to be a missionary, you better get this stuff well done in your heart. Otherwise you'll faint, by the way. You go to a civilization or an uncivilization. I got the letter that many of you got today from David Wilkerson. He has his usual monthly letter, sordid, telling about New York, all the crime, all the wickedness, that it's a jungle. And a young man called me a few days ago, somewhere on the outskirts of Dallas, and he said, Oh, I feel a real urge to serve God. Great. He said, I can't make up my mind. So you see, it was his choice. I can't make up my mind whether I'll go to New York or San Francisco. Where should I go? I said, Dallas. It's as big a hell hole as any of them. But he always looked so romantic. I've been to New York. I've met prostitutes. I've done this. So what? Sin is the same wherever you go. Sin in the church is worse than sin outside of the church. And this man has an answer to everybody. If any man, ever twisted he is, God can untwist him. Ever polluted he is, Christ can purge him. Ever bankrupt he is, God can restore him in every part of his being. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Well, I said last week, when Paul was in that terrible storm in the 27th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, he said they threw out four anchors and wished for the day. And I suggested we go find four anchors in this chapter. That is, again, in 2 Corinthians 5, beginning at verse 1. He says, We know if the earthly house of this tabernacle will dissolve, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, in heaven. He doesn't say that. He says eternal in the heavens. As I used to say to my Friday night class very often, I'm going to heaven. I'm not going for the weekend. I talked one night with a man at a banquet. He said, Did you ever meet my wife? I said, No. Oh, she's a wonderful woman, good for you. I heard of one man, he said, You got married? I said, Yes. He said, Oh, my wife. He said, My wife's an angel. He said, You're lucky, mine's still living. But what did he mean? He said, My wife went to heaven, and she stayed in heaven six days and came back to earth. And when she came back to life, she danced round the bedroom for six days on her tiptoes without going to sleep, without eating. Isn't that wonderful? That's crazy. What do you mean, crazy? I said, Listen, once I get through the pearly gates, there isn't all the hosts of heaven that are going to kick me back to this bump. He shall reign forever and ever. And we're going to reign with him. You see that statement we sang, When Christ shall come. It's too much for the nervous stomach of our generation. We'd rather sing gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Look at the first chapter in the second book of Thessalonians. He's coming in dreadful majesty. And Wesley put that in his hymn. Lo, he comes with clouds descending, ones for favoured, sinners slain, thousands, thousands, saints ascending, swell the triumph of his strength. Jesus comes and comes to reign. Lo, the tokens of his passion, knowing glory still he bears. And then he says, he goes on to talk about his dreadful majesty. That's going to be an awesome thing. So one thing, Paul is sure he has a home eternal in the heavens. That's why I went through all the stuff we talked of, you remember, last week on 1 Corinthians 11. But then we mentioned another thing in passing here. We go a little further down the chapter, or further back actually, verse 10. We must all appear to the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done rare in his body. According to Holieth, done whether it be good or bad. Now that's the second anchorage. The third one I think is in this wonderful verse 14. You know I've heard people say what made the apostle Paul take it? Not what, it's who. Here's the speaker of his life and one of them, the love of Christ constrains me. The love of Christ? You say I'm not quite sure if I really love the Lord. I'll tell you how to find out. Find out from this book. Look what it says in John chapter 14. Here it is, I didn't write this. This is given by divine inspiration. John 14 and verse 21. He that keepeth my commandments and keepeth them and he that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me. Got that? Nail it down. You'll keep his commandments. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father. Dear God, if I had said that 20 years ago in the Pentecostal church I would have shouted the roof off. The love of God? Overshadowed by the love of the Father? Before you enter that love you have to leave the other love. The love of the Father isn't in him. He won't come to a divided heart. O happy day that fixed my choice on thee my Saviour and my God. The last sentence says now rest. My long divided heart fixed on this blissful center rest. Nor ever shall my Lord depart with him of every good possessed. But here it is. Where were we in John 14 and verse what? 20. Was it 21? He that hath commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him. I will manifest myself to him. You say he doesn't manifest himself to me. Sure he doesn't. You don't love him. I always heard you sing the most popular hymn in the world that was born in America Blessed Assurance. I didn't do that. You've been singing lies. Why? This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Saviour all the day long. Is that why you watch football all Sunday afternoon? Are you praising your Saviour? What are we singing? Every idle word we've sung is well a spoken word to answer for at the judgment seat of Christ. I think the most reckless thing for a man to do today particularly when there's a storm but it isn't a man skydiving it isn't a man scuba diving it isn't a deep sea diver walking on the bottom of the sea I think the most reckless thing a man can do today is say I'm a Christian in a perverted, degenerate generation in which we live. Immediately I do that I become a target for the devil for the world and the flesh to oppose me. Is this vile world a friend to grace or a foe? It opposes every inch of the way and while I'm there I'm going to say this very hard I believe if you profess to be still filled with the Spirit it's much harder to commit sin than for anybody else because first you should have the Word of God in you then you should have the Holy Spirit and He hates sin. When men go into sin as some have done they go into all truth and when He has come He leads you He doesn't lead us to harlots He doesn't lead us to sin He hates sin before a man can get into that sin he's got to do at least three things he's got to resist the Holy Spirit he's got to grieve the Holy Spirit and he's got to quench the Holy Spirit it's to fight all the opposition of the Godhead it's an awesome thing in this day to say we're Christians it means we're Christ's ones well anyhow let me go over to that verse again I will love him and will manifest manifest myself to him that's verse 22 Jesus said unto him not his carrier Lord how is it that I will manifest myself unto us and not unto the world Jesus said if a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come to him and watch take up our abode he came to a wonderful place when he came to earth he came to a royal palace it had wall to wall dung it was acrid with animal urine it had cobwebs for curtains it had the sweat of bees for heating and he came there but he doesn't come to the beast of a human heart he cleanses it before he comes it has to be purged it has to be pure it has to be clean I and my Father will come and take up our abode verse 21 he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty the favorite hymn of our dear president when I went to a little Bible school was God is the refuge of his saints when storms of sharp distress invade e'er we can offer our complaint behold him present with his aid let mountains from their seats be hurled down to the deeps and buried there convulsions shake the solid earth our faith shall never yield to fear we don't fear man we don't fear the future the psalmist said my times are in thy hands is there anything more glorious my times I'm not kicked around by every strange thing I'm not a dead leaf blown by the wind of circumstances I'm a personality I'm supposed to be the habitation of God I'm a mystical book I'm religion in the world and he spent a lifetime doing it one day somebody said what is the greatest thing you've read in the Vedas that doesn't matter the Quran it doesn't matter sacred book doesn't matter what is the most amazing thing you have a book a Bible yes you have a book Ephesians yes you have a chapter 2 yes it begins by saying we're in the world you're the most amazing person in the world he said what the Christian didn't know that he took a man from China to tell him you're the most amazing man why because he said your little book says you are the habitation of God is there another religion in the world where a man's God comes and lives inside of him where the Holy Spirit comes to check each thought and calm each fear and speech of heaven I'm going too fast and come strangely I'm going too slow dear God what manner of person should we be every meeting should be like a volcano let me go back to this little word again he said the love of Christ constrains me that reminds me I was standing at the side of a charming lady one of the most ugly women I've ever seen dear Lord she was ugly I don't think she could have won a beauty competition do you know who she was she was the daughter of the founder of the Salvation Army she was 84 years of age she came to preach at a church I pastored and we were singing and I looked at the congregation and she had craggy cheeks and the tears were bouncing down the cheeks we were singing a hymn that she wrote and I can't remember the first verse but one stanza was there is a life to have given me a life divine and strong there is a light there is a fire that falls on me as India proved destroying all carnality dispelling fear and gloom there is a love constraining me to go and seek the lost shatter curvature of the spine like a mother had she went to her daddy the founder of the army and said daddy and he kicked everybody out of his office go to another country don't stay in England go to France you have your mother's frailty she spoke French better than the French I'm going she gathered some society ladies ladies that never even put up their own hair and they took abasement I saw a picture of a bunch of Maranatha singers the other week they had been to France dancing in front of Notre Dame Cathedral and they said they were so accepted did you ever know a dance scared the devil do you have to go to a bible school for months to learn how to dance did you ever know these women went and they rented a basement and taxed it the greatest prostitutes in town came the greatest most brilliant scholars in the southern came and they sat there and at night they said at the altar call men would reach down and pull out revolvers pull out knives and leave them there one night the queen of the underworld came in big fat voluptuous woman and when they started singing she lifted up her skirts and danced she said my dear do you want to dance he said sure she said ok pull all the forms back and she said come on get some music going and she said there's one condition we'll play the music you dance for 20 minutes and then I preach for 40 minutes but like me she didn't believe in God they dance for 20 minutes you preach for over an hour and 20 minutes and the altar was lined and the whole of Paris was shaken through one little woman no financial backing in a dirty slum area as bad as anything Wilkinson's in now every other woman on the street was a prostitute everybody else was drunk and malicious they hardly go out at night they went it's all right to sing in church and feel sweet all the angels camp round about you what do you need angels round here for nobody will pick your pocket they went to the underworld why she said what do you need to go and seek the lost I yield oh Lord my all to thee to save at any cost there is a fire that falls on me as India Perum destroying all carnality listen you can't lead people to victory if you're not in victory yourself that's hypocrisy you can't preach purity if there's inward defilement the whole lot of revival in America is not in the taverns or the movie house it's in God's house there's so much carnality there's so much indifference God help us why the world perishes outside but you see Paul says the love of Christ not love for Christ but God is love the love of God is coming to my heart the love of Jesus do you remember that in the name of Edwin Hatches breathe on me breath of God fill me with life anew that I may love what thou dost love and do what thou wouldst do all this earthly part of me glows with thy fire divine that was Edwin Hatches in a prosperous church in England packed every Sunday plenty of money but he said there's no moving of God he snatched a piece of paper and wrote that hymn he left his fashionable church and went to Canada for a while and headed up a Bible school but you see his desire there breathe on me breath of God don't tell me you have to go to the upper room to do signs and wonders and miracles forget it they did every miracle before Pentecost they did after Jesus came and breathed on them in the upper room and said receive ye the Holy Ghost Wesley calls that the witness of the Spirit and then he said before you go tarry and not only tarry wait for the promise of the Father dear God what a day that must have been what do you think it was like they weren't nervous like they were before Jesus came they were nervous after the resurrection weren't they in the upper room gathered together for fear of the Jews they weren't nervous when they saw him ascend they went back with great joy they were rejoicing every step of the way every day of the countdown they'd be now waiting 28, 38, 40, 50 no 36 or 37 only 50 days and the Holy Ghost is coming what a difference somebody said there was only one church in the New Testament look what they did dear God I had an American theologian in my office not too long ago I said I've just been reading that book on Azusa Street on the second page on the fly leaf it says there are now 70 million classical Pentecostals in the world and he said not 70 million no he said 120 million I almost put my finger in his eye what's the difference between their baptism and ours what does a man up the street care if you speak Chinese or anything else there's a cripple at the door what are you going to do Jesus passed that cripple hundreds of times Peter passed him there came a moment when it would glorify God to healing so Peter went and said silver and gold I have none so he knew he wasn't evangelist he knew he wasn't the Pope so he knew he wouldn't be a Pope again but he goes to that twisted tormented man everybody in town knew him listen some young evangelist came to a town called Blackburn in England when I was a boy and there's a man up the street called a blind he would steal for his money and sell his newspapers and somebody took him into a meeting where not Stephen Edward Jeffries the son of Stephen was there they brought him in the meeting and he prayed for him and he opened my dear neighbour came back yesterday he's a prodigal son he goes away and comes back now again Tim and he was telling me he'd been to Western Canada everybody's looking here oh if you knew there was going to be a moving of the spirit where would you be you'd be there so we go to the ends of the earth there'd been a meeting in Western Canada with the Indians wasn't it Tim and one young lady got full of the Holy Ghost and the joy of the Spirit when she got in the hospital the doctor said no no I've got to see my grandpa he's in the room he's dead he's laid dead I've certified him dead I've got to see my grandpa you can't see your grandpa she pushed the doctor on one side bless her she went in took the cover off his feet took his feet in her hands and prayed for him and the dead grandpa got up and the doctor didn't say he had to admit it I said I'd like to take you with me every church I go the roads of dead people hmm let me put a commercial in here Sunday, is it this Sunday morning we go there's a church called Birchman Baptist Church in Dallas they've got 6 weeks of nightly revival and I'm to go there Sunday night I'm not excited there'll be a thousand people there I say there'll be maybe 200 seminary students so boy there's a chance to preach I'll feel like Ezekiel can these dry brains live then after that next morning I have to speak to a hundred or more Baptist pastors that's a challenge then the Wednesday night go to the Anchor Church which is a church I think about 3 or 4 years old that Jack Taylor raised up so I've got a full load next week pray because I'm not that strong physically mentally sure but what a chance to serve the Lord Paul says the love of Christ constrains me I don't know the verse but you know it what does it say he believed John 3.16 God so loved the world he also believed the note in Ephesians Christ loved the church but didn't that smell wonderful do you know why he left the ivory palaces for a world of war do you know why he left the blinding glory of eternity where a cherubim and seraphim bowed down before him why did he do it to leave that glory indescribable majesty of eternity and get set up in the belly of a young Jewish girl why did he do it because he said he loved me that's why he did it he loved me oh we sing it we don't mean it love so amazing so divine demands my soul verbal he said he loved me that's why he understood that's why he put up with the contradiction of sinners that must have been amazing I read the other day that marvelous verse is it I don't know how often you explore when you read the word I've read this I guess 70 years and it says at the beginning of John chapter 13 of John before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew his hour was come that he should depart out of the world unto the Father having loved his own he loved them unto the end what's this man talking about the apostle Paul had a joy unspeakable a faith unshakable and a love unbreakable and that's why he conquered where other men failed that's why he went where other men stopped what makes him so sure because Jesus said in John 14 I go to repair a place for you so he knew I had a home he turned me into heaven the second thing he was caught up to the third heaven what did he see he doesn't tell us do you think when he was caught up and I don't know how long he was there a day or a week or a month do you think he had a preview of the marriage supper of the Lamb with millions coming through the skies led by Jesus Christ there was something that's why you can torture him beat him, starve him put him in prison, do as you like I don't care, I have a home eternal in the heavens destroy this body, so what there's something in me indestructible I've got a home eternal in the heavens yes, yes, in English we know when we've been there 10,000 years poor guy that's only a weekend when we've been there 10 million years bright shining as the sun we've no less days to sing his praise than when we first began you see we're so earthbound that's our trouble, we're earthbound Paul says Jesus Christ loved me and he gave himself for me let me ask you to skip to that amazing chapter we had last week I always call that brother Bracey's chapter what is it? 2 Corinthians 11 listen before you step back a moment there do you know what this man had? I wonder if John Edwards got the idea from this when he said God stamp eternity on my eyeball see everything in the focus of eternity makes all the difference we're earthbound people we see with our eyes we think with our eyes very often but look what he says here again in chapter 5 verse 1 if the earthly house of this tabernacle is our we have a home eternally in the heavens but wait a minute look at verse 17 of chapter 4 our life's affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal way to glory for we look not at the things which are seen do we? how much have you lived by what you've seen today? the believer doesn't do that we look at the things which are seen we don't look at the things which are seen but the things which are seen at temple but these things are eternal it carries it over to eternal in the heavens it's at the end of the 17th verse this man's a joker is he saying? let me get hold of that and underline it in your mind a minute it is 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 17 for our life's affliction which is but for a moment there's no rational way to explain that it's total insanity it's illogical listen to this of the Jews 5 times received I 40 stripes say is that a moment? how long does it take you to whip a man's back 5 times? or 39 times? and do it 5 times over with maybe 1 day and 2 days rest and then start doing it or weeks in between does it make it any easier? he's counting the stokes they're ripping his back with a cut of 9 tires it's a lash which has at least 5 or even 9 lashes at the end and each of them has a spike of copper and that cuts more than glass and they rip his back and he's counting only 2 more and then this is over and he's tied into a lousy prison and say listen 2 days you're going to get another lash then a third time then a fourth time then a fifth time is that a moment? is that life's affliction? dear God it would kill most of us once never mind 5 times send a begging letter I need to go to California for a month or Florida my poor back is so sore and I'm lame and I'm the other we'd sing a song of sorrow and Paul sums it all up as it's a joke our life's affliction what's the life's affliction? I was beaten once once I was stoned you see it's a model universe he stood one day and he watched a man stoned to death I guess the first time a stone hit his head he wondered why people didn't interfere he didn't interfere he lets people get stoned to death and you see the wonder of this you know why? because this man met Jesus Jesus had nail prints in his hands and this proud Pharisee had bloody hands he tore up families he kicked them out of their homes he kicked them out of their cities he was a pharaoh he was a Hitler and yet Jesus in mercy didn't destroy him he came in mercy there he would have sung mercy there was great and grace was free wouldn't he? he would have sung and can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour's blood died he for me who caused his pain for me who him to death pursued amazing love how can it be that thou my God should die for me he left his father's throne above so free so infinite his grace emptied himself of all but love and bled for Adam's helpless race you wonder again he sings tis mercy all immense and free for oh my God it found out about me you see the thing that stunned him was this I guess when he first met Jesus and there he was in his corruption and his sins he had heard Jesus say this he does it by the scripture he read that Jesus said I came not to call the righteous here's a man that's righteous and he's told to his head according to the law he says I'm as righteous as any man on earth well Jesus I don't come for the righteous but then he suddenly realises as he visualises as he sees Jesus not visualises he sees him can you imagine Jesus leading the throne and coming and standing on that robe for one man did anybody I've never heard anybody say this maybe Bill Bracey you have I think it was the greatest shout to the hallelujah I think three great days in the early church one well maybe more one was when Jesus was born and the old people knew about that because they were there the second was when Jesus died the third was when Jesus rose from the dead the fourth when have you heard the news what news well the man that's been killing your grandfathers and your mothers and your uncles and burning our churches he got saved Saul of Tarsus never he blasphemed Christ and yet God takes hold of him you know I believe that as long as the apostle Paul lived angels were delirious at his ministry and demons were what would you call them terrified he's such an immense viewer but love of God oh my God it found out me that he says these things of us our light affliction here's the light affliction perils of the waters is that a moment perils of the deep perils by the brethren is that a moment perils in the city perils in the wilderness can you get through the wilderness in a moment it's only a moment compared to eternity what is it as my dear wife said today some of the great joys they only last a minute and some of the great sorrows only last a minute there's a lady in England one of those wonderful old ladies and she was never up or down she was always the same a new preacher came along and asked her what's the secret of your they say you're always balanced you never get bowled over you never get too heavy you don't go up too high what's the secret of your life oh she said I love that scripture what scripture it came to pass well that guy knew Greek but he didn't know that oh that's it it came to pass why do you get so heavy you get bumbling pondering over something and it worries you why don't you do the same when you're joyous we spend more time over our adversity and calamity this man says well in perils of the deep in perils of the deep let me go right across the page quickly here into the twelfth chapter listen do you know why he does this do you know why he's happy to be worked he says because the master says my grace is sufficient for you he gives us more grace the less does the burden go greater he gives us more strength as the labours increase to add to the affliction he adds his mercy to multiply trials he multiplies peace his love has no limits his grace has no measure his power has no boundary none unto men but out of the fullness of blessing in Jesus he gives us and gives us and gives us again there is no limit so listen to what he says this reckless man here in the twelfth chapter of 2nd Chronicles Corinthians he said unto me my strength is made perfect in weakness most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities he said that in the previous chapter and verse 30 if I must need glory I will glory in my infirmities we glory in our successes we glory in our blessings those who came to Friday night class heard me pray many times we had five hundred Friday nights I think I missed five of them and I would say again and again in my disturbing prayer Lord when I get to heaven and there are billions of people there don't point me out before the apostles and prophets and saints of all the ages men who were martyred men who were dismembered all the heroes of Hebrews 11 don't point me out with Paul and Peter and all the saints looking on and say rave me when you were in Texas I had many things to tell you but you couldn't bear them people say brother, brother cast all your burden on the Lord who does God cast his burden on he doesn't need to he's omnipresent and omniscient and everything he does he says my yoke is easy my burden is light but he doesn't give some of his burden dear God we get upset and offended over nothing this man says I glory in infirmity I've hardly met a man in my life I've met some strange and wonderful people I've hardly ever met a man who said Lord pour it all on me give me a double portion we all want a double portion of joy a double portion of blessing and the only way God can prove his gospel to this generation is when we get into some hell hole and there's no way out you can't back out you can't go to the right or left no man can be living on your hang on I believe there are men and women like this in China tonight there are men and women in the prisons in Russia tonight they haven't had a bath for months they haven't had a decent meal they don't know what it is to get a night's rest didn't Solzhenitsyn that one of the most amazing men of our generation didn't he say that the thing that turned him to God was the man across the prison he was in would feel in his clothes at night and unroll some bits of paper and read what was there and then roll them up and put them back and he asked him one day he said there was human filth running round the place and he said they doubled the burden on that man twice as hard a burden gave him less food persecuted him beyond the rest of them and he said the man never lost his joy and I want you to know why he said because I have God I have Christ in me Paul says listen whip me the stunning thing you can't kill it with whipping throw me in the sea you can't drown it I've got a fire nothing else can put out I want to prove God to the last degree and therefore he says most gladly therefore most gladly will I glory in my infirmity now listen to this I take pleasure in my love offerings in my popularity in the many epistles I've written in my fame no I've got that's an evangelist up the road what did he say I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions no no no God loves you so much dear friend he does never want to see a teardrop from your face the blood of Jesus the Bible says he stores them up in heaven in his bottle Jesus wept Paul wept as I told you this man knew every conceivable trial he knew every emotion he was torn up when his revival part his spiritual men all forsook him that's hard to bear he was torn up when he prayed as he did in Norman's chapter 9 ok I take pleasure in infirmities reproaches necessities persecutions in distresses for Christ's sake you see that he's not you see this man won't give the devil an inch where's Paul he's in prison oh I'll tell you what that Pharaoh somebody should kill that Pharaoh Caesar Paul the man of God Paul the man that's walked the streets of heaven had a revelation like nobody else on earth and he's the prisoner of Caesar he doesn't say that he won't give the devil credit he doesn't say I'm the prisoner of Caesar I'm the prisoner of he says I'm the prisoner of Jesus Christ if he orders my steps he orders my steps but don't make any mistake you might have said to Paul well you must be very lonely in that prison he said no I'm alone but I'm not lonely I will never leave you I'll forsake thee what do you think when he was washed up and down well let me say this again that 13th chapter John read it when he go home having loved as he said he loved them to the end don't you think they were a torment to him don't you think Judas often pilfered the money don't you think Thomas often doubted him don't you think Peter often blew up in anger and right to the end he loves them he loved them so much that when he's facing the cross he takes a towel and washes somebody's feet and Peter says no poor petulant Peter why the answer of Jesus is amazing the answer of Jesus is this what thou doest thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter you're looking for an answer to your problem forget it God's trusted you with it what you he does now you don't know you'll know hereafter what thou doest now what I do you don't know you'll know hereafter listen I'm going back to that word where Paul says the Lord is coming with ten thousand of his saints who's going to lead them Jesus who comes after them maybe the archangels maybe the saints and there's Peter well Lord I don't understand it then I understand it now part of the heavenly host dear God will I not be embarrassed in heaven and how often we've doubted God people ask me would you ask the Lord to take this off me no he put it on you he put it on you the devil can't stick something on you he came to Job isn't it wonderful God says to the devil have you considered my servant Job do you think he ever says have you considered my servant Sonny or is it just like that of Job nobody like him in the earth isn't that a testimony well he says look I'll tell you what it is it's this this is what the devil says you put a hedge round him take the hedge away and the Lord says no I'll tell you what we'll do I'll pull it in a bit nearer so then the devil goes round and destroys everything he can what does he do he goes to bed Job goes to bed a multimillionaire wakes up bankrupt in the morning what was the first thing he did send him bankrupt yes but you've got that hedge round let me touch him no I'll pull it in a bit closer so the devil goes on rampages again what did he do the first time he sent him bankruptcy what did he do the second time he sent him bereavement he killed all his family yes but you still have a hedge round him and the Lord says you can do all he has but you can't touch his soul bereavement bankruptcy bereavement go on then I'll take the hedge away so then poor old Job Job gets boiled he can't sit down he can't stand up he scratches himself and his greatest friends came wonderful we've all got friends like these Job's wonderful friends Eliphaz the Temanite build out a shoe height he was a dwarf he was only a shoe height so they all come round and just like the devil he took all that he had and left him with a nagging wife his wife came in and said listen curse God and die the Hebrew said blaspheme God and commit suicide what can you prove what kind of a God is this you've lost your millions you're bankrupt all your family's washed out you're bereaved your body's broken quit dear God I'm going to see Job and talk to him a million years I think he jumps on the ass seat there and he says listen even if worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God I know that my redeemer liveth what do you do with a man like that as a faith unshakable a joy unspeakable and a love unbreakable I know that everything's in the hand of God yes God is prospering me what if he takes it all away how many businessmen do you think you're out in Russia today or Afghanistan who watched everything collapse or in China and what happened what did Paul say all men forsook me he means those men that were on the revival party of the apostle Paul all men forsook me nevertheless he says the Lord stood by me and sometimes the only way you can see God it's like looking at a building I remember being in the audience and I saw a building and the scaffolding outside wasn't made of metal it was bamboo it looked as though it cut a forest down there was an awesome building covered with bamboo the next time I saw it two or three years after all the bamboo had gone I'll tell you what the building was very different without the bamboo and sometimes God has to take all the scaffolding away isn't there a statement made now that maybe whatever money you give to missions next year instead of getting a hundred percent tax deductible you only get forty percent that's going to cut a lot of giving down a lot of people are going to suffer lots of people are not giving their money they're giving government money it's going to come to an end we're going to be tested on every level well I'm enjoying this I don't know what you're doing I don't care oh that's glorious our light affliction workers for us an exceeding eternal weight of glory we look at the things we've seen the things we've seen at Temple Temple Temple Temple Temple I said that and I mean it there that I believe that one of the strong parts about the life of the apostle Paul was that he knew that constant love of God I don't believe love is an attribute of God it's the nature of God how many letters did the Greeks have for love for? four we have one one word for love oh I love my husband I love my dog maybe it's the same love except the dog gets more attention than the husband usually oh dear dear dear oh I love hamburgers I hate them oh I love this I love that I love it's one word that we use all the time the Greeks have different words for love and the strongest is the gap of God's love God so loved John 3 16 that love and it's that love and only that love that will take me what did Wesley call it Charles Wesley called it love divine all love excelling take all the romantic stories that you have ever read or could read