In this sermon, the preacher discusses the prophecy of a nation being put into bondage for seventy years and then returning. He emphasizes that despite the despairing pictures, the coming of Jesus Christ is mentioned, bringing hope and eternal reign. The preacher also raises the issue of unborn babies being aborted and highlights the contrast between God's knowledge of every unborn child and the disregard for life shown by those who perform abortions. He warns against making vows in the heat of emotion and urges deliberate and intelligent commitment to God. The sermon concludes with a reflection on the sorrow and weeping of Jesus over the sinful state of humanity and a call for confrontation and repentance.

And Simon Peter answered, verse 16, Matthew 16, verse 16. Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. I want to take that for a moment. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. This is Peter. I've forgotten the chapter, but in Mark, you have that same man cursing and swearing and saying he didn't know him. Well, you say, why don't you say that first? Why don't you tell us the bad things and then cover it up with his amazing confession? It's one of the most startling confessions in Scripture. And the other is one of the most startling denials in Scripture. And I don't change them around for the simple thing that they didn't happen that way. Here is Peter, verse 13 of chapter 16 again. When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I am? I, the son of man, am. And they said, some say thou art John Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. But who do you say I am? Simon said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And yet in Mark, he turns around and says, I don't even know him. And remember, that's after three years of living with him, three years of seeing his miracle working, three years in which he heard the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount, which has the answer for all our problems today. But why do you make the contrast? Because the Scripture makes it. Here he is, this man who was always so right on the... hits the nail on the head, if you like. And yet, just as vehemently, he denies his Lord. In an hour when Jesus needed him. What's the story? I think the story is this. Let any man take heed lest he fall. It isn't good to make vows in the warm atmosphere of a church. It isn't good to make vows when you're on an emotional high. We need to make our vows deliberately, coldly, intelligently, intellectually before God. But here's the interesting thing, whom the man said that I, the Son of Man am. Some say thou art John Baptist. I get it because he preached with the same fiery energy. Some say Elijah, another Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Notice they leave out the mighty Moses with all his miracles. Moses preached the Sermon on the Mount and brought his sermon notes down, you remember, drop them. Moses had 40 years in the wilderness, Jesus had 40 days in a place of temptation. But they don't liken him to Moses. They don't liken him to the inspiring Isaiah. They don't liken him to Zechariah. They liken him mainly here to Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. So let's go back now to Jeremiah. What's the point of identification between Jesus and Jeremiah? Well in my mind that they were both, I believe Jeremiah was the man of sorrows, a man of sorrows until the man of sorrows came. As far as I can see he's the only one of the prophets who gets into immediate fighting with the people and he stays in a battle scene as it were right through, right to the end of his days. Maybe the outstanding thing, I hadn't noticed it till meditating a few days ago. Actually this book is the greatest book in the Bible on backsliding. It's mentioned 13 times in this book. It's only mentioned three other times and I believe that's in Hosea. But he's come to a nation that's just full of backsliding and full of apostasy. As I read it my way maybe I'm wrong but it seems to this man he's stressing this, that sometimes God sends judgment without mercy. This man predicts that 70 years the nation is going to be put into bondage. Then they're going to come back and they're coming back weeping he says. But then they're going to be dispersed again. And it looks to me like a rather despairing picture which it really isn't because if you go to study further in the book you discover that he speaks about the coming of Jesus Christ and that he is going to come and reign forever and ever. I would say about this man, let's read here from in chapter 1 verse 4. The Lord of the Lord came unto me saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee. You know what? That made me wonder, does God know every unborn baby in the body of a woman? Well God Almighty how are they going to help when God Almighty knows every baby that's there and a million of them this past year were dragged out of their mother's belly to use the scripture and flushed down the john. They only think of the immediate disgrace if they have any disgrace. I believe every baby is marked in its mother's womb. I can't remember being there. I can't remember the first day but the first day I was born my mother didn't tell me until the first time I came home from college she said Len this is a great day in my life. I said well it's a great day in my life to get home to some good food. No she said I'm just thinking the first day you were born I laid my hand on you in the bed and said Lord make this boy a preacher or don't let him live. Now if I'd have heard that I'd have been a bit scared. But the Lord says to Jeremiah before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee I ordained thee. Fancy there's an ordination. Ordained in his mother's womb to be one of the most outstanding men. In fact one section of Jewry today says that the number one character in ever lived amongst the Jews is Jeremiah. He's greater than Moses, he's greater than Isaiah. And he's so like Jesus Christ. Before thou camest out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. A prophet. That's the most thankless task in the world. You know I think when God is angry with a nation he gives it no prophets. There isn't a prophet in America today I know of. Somebody sent a circular out with my picture on it and said I was a prophet I never claimed that, they didn't give authority for that. It's nonsense. I was going to say you never find a prophet that's rich, not that I'm rich. You never find a prophet that's the man of the year. You never find a prophet where the red carpet is laid out for him. Immediately he takes up that mantle of prophecy he gets the full load of the love of God and the full anger of the people. There was a great Jewish scholar in America years ago by the name of Bucks Basin, he's dead now. He had a brilliant mind, he had a brilliant insight into the Hebrew scriptures. I remember one thing he wrote, it comes back to me every time I read about a prophet. He said the prophet by the very nature of his calling now what did he say? A prophet by the very nature of his calling is a tragic figure. He has a fierce loyalty, I love that word, he has a fierce loyalty he has a burning loyalty to God and he has a broken heart over a lost nation. Tell me a man in America that has that, I don't care how big his TV station show is. Maybe the nearest to it is Jimmy Swagger anyhow. He certainly says he's peace. Verse 9 says then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. I put it aside, I write on the side of my Bible, I've got a friend and I've tried to borrow that Bible, I can't get it, with a lot of notes on it. The Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said I put my words in thy mouth. How many preachers will preach God but we don't preach the word of God we preach about the word of God. We don't dare say thus saith the Lord because it isn't thus saith the Lord. Most preaching now is passing on opinions. This is my viewpoint, forget your new viewpoint. You might as well read Time magazine if that's all you want. The Lord put forth his hand and can you think of that? The fingers of God that chiseled a stone on Mount Sinai and gave the commandments are tender enough to touch the lips of a prophet? That God will come and put his word in his mouth? Do you wonder he's so full of wisdom which he is? So full of authority, so full of terrifying words? So full of terrible predictions? Yes, it's great to know the Lord has touched your mouth. Would you like this? Steve, you better get hold of this, maybe it's for you tonight. It's a tremendous verse, 10. See, this day I have set thee over nations, not over Israel merely, over the nations. You know, there were not as many people in Israel at the time this was written as there are in New York City tonight or as there are in Chicago. How can this man's message be to the nation? Because it comes to us now, 650 years at least before Christ was born. This day I have set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms. Here's his message, to root out, to pull down, to destroy, to throw down, to build and to plant. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Send a man, what seest thou? I'm going to go there to chapter 4. You see, the prophet sees as God sees. He loves as God loves. He hates as God hates. Notice in chapter 4, verse 19. Again, I say this man has a fierce loyalty to God. He's a broken-hearted man. He says in this chapter 4 and verse 5, My bowels, my bowels, I am pained at my very heart. My heart maketh a noise in me, I cannot hold my peace. Because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of what? Now notice he listens with his soul, not just his ears. He's listening in the inner chamber of his being. He's hearing that voice of God speak. The voice that's the most amazing thing this side of eternity. And because of that, I cannot hold my peace. Let me go over here a minute. Chapter 15 and verse 10, let me look at that with you. He said, if this man had one complaint, it was this, he complained he'd never been born. That was his constant complaint. Nothing's going to ease up all the way. He's come in the kingdom for such a time as this. He is a voice crying in the wilderness. His message is one of rebuke. His message is unveiling the sin, the corruption of the nation. Do you remember what Isaiah starts with? This is a nation, a people full of iniquity. A people full of wounds and putrefying sores that cannot be bound up, neither mollified with ointment. They're totally incurable unless God in his infinite mercy intervenes. I believe that's the picture of America tonight. We don't need Russia to destroy it. We'll destroy ourselves. Another decade from now, there'll be nearly as many people with AIDS as don't have it. There's another disease now that comes to women and they don't even know. You can get it at 16 years of age. It won't show any rash on your face. It won't show anything. But when it's time to bear children, you'll be barren. I talked with the doctors about this recently. I forget there's a character in the Old Testament there where they disobey God and God shut up the wombs of all the women in Israel. Women are throwing their babies down the john, pardon the phrase, but there it is, down the toilet now. They'll be screaming to God and when they want them, they won't get them. Whether they're married or single, God is going to shut up their wombs. And there's a penalty that's being put on this precious nation tonight. Is it awesome that men will still go into that filthy living and know that at the most they have five years to live after they get AIDS and yet they think, well, eat, drink and be married, tomorrow we die. The Scripture says that. No, it doesn't. The Scripture says if there be no resurrection, eat, drink and be married, but for tomorrow we die. But if there's a resurrection, everything we've done in the past is coming up in the future. Jeremiah's complaint in 15 and verse 10. He says, Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast made me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth. I have neither lent unusually, nor men have lent me unusually, yet every one of them does curse me. Let's go to chapter 9 and verse 1. I think this is one of the most pathetic verses in the whole of the Word of God. Oh, that my head were waters, that mine eyes were a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slaying of the daughters of my people. Remember in Psalm 119, is it what? And verse 136, the psalmist there says, Rivers of water run down mine eyes continually. Why do rivers of water run down his eyes continually? Because of the sin of the nation, because of their impurity. In the previous chapter, verse 20, is one of the saddest texts, I think, in the whole of the Word of God. The harvest is past, the summer is ended, we're not saved. Remember they sing the song of Moses and the Lamb in heaven, don't they? Which is taken from the 15th chapter of Exodus, when they thought the horses had been thrown over and all their enemies had been destroyed. And Moses and the children of Israel sang. And there's one of the most perfect verses about the majesty of God in that chapter, in the 11th verse. Remember it says, it's glorious in holiness. What's the next verse? Fearful in praises, doing wonders. Glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, and doing wonders. And these people have retained up, time and time again, they've tasted the mercy and the grace of God. Go back to chapter 2 for a moment there. And verse 3, it says, Israel was, now that's the past tense. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the first fruit of His increase. All that devour Him shall offend, evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord. She had walked in holiness, and now she's walking in total unrighteousness, total rebellion, total sinfulness. Verse 13, my people have committed two evils, they have forsaken me, and it's not enough to forsake God, they've hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Again, I remind you that 13 times, He calls them a backslidden, wayward, rebellious nation. And here is one man that stands up against them. The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we're not saved. Do you know where they sing that? In hell. In heaven they sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, there's no tears, there's no grief, there's no blemish. And in hell they sing, the harvest is past. And some of them went right down the main aisle of your favorite church in town, straight to hell. They made a simple confession, and the stupid preacher says, on the profession of your... I wouldn't baptize anybody in the profession of their faith. You baptize them on the fruits of their faith. Put them on trial for three months. And everybody comes up usually with the argument, well, remember the man that was going down the road, and Philip came and found this Ethiopian eunuch? A black man, a wealthy man, an intelligent man, why? He'd been to Jerusalem for to worship. And bless your life, he wasn't long after Pentecost, he went to Jerusalem, and there was nothing there that convinced him. How easily the fires go down. And the man of God goes up and finds this man an intelligent man. Why? Because he was reading Hebrew. There were no translations of the Scripture. A wealthy man, how do you know? Because they were very rare. Remember, there were some people called the scribes, and they wrote the Scriptures. It took them hours, it took them days, it took them months, it took them years to write a prophecy. And then he buys one. He's not satisfied with being in the cabinet of Queen Candacy. He's not satisfied with his social standing. He's not satisfied with the stories he'd heard in Egypt there. He goes all that way, follow it on your map. And remember, he didn't go by jet. He goes all the way from Ethiopia, way there across the Red Sea, up there into what was Palestine, now we call Israel. And he buys this treasure that he has. And it may have taken him a couple of weeks. He'd been reading day by day with amazement. Wide open eyes, wide open mind, wide open heart. And when the preacher goes along, he says, I'm reading. What are you reading? I say he's intelligent. How could he read Hebrew? He's in a country that didn't use that language in any shape or form. He said, what are you reading? He said, I'm reading Isaiah. Chapter 53. I'm reading about somebody that says he was wounded for our transgressions. And he was bruised for our iniquities. And the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed. Is he speaking of himself or of somebody else? What did he preach unto him? Prophecy? No, he preached unto Jesus. And that somehow the Spirit bore witness in the heart of that man. And this is the person you're seeking, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Maybe he took him back a little further and read to him a virgin should be born. All the prophecies that Isaiah made so beautifully fulfilled in Jesus. And the man of God says, do you believe? He said, yes. He said, what hinders me from being baptized? Well, there you are. He made a confession. And maybe within an hour of being in his confession, he was baptized. Well, listen, you bring me a man that's read Isaiah for three weeks. I'll baptize him too. If he's read Isaiah and he's convinced that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, I won't send anything to him except make a complete repentance and sever all your connection with the world and declare that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the only Redeemer, that he died for our sins and rose again according to the Scripture to ascend to the Father and justify us. I say, this man is weighed down with grief. Go on to his next book. You remember that he left us a notebook of his in Lamentations. I say he was the man of sorrows until the man of sorrows came. He's had a preview of history. He knows the torture that these people are going into for 70 years. He knows they're going to come back and then they're going to be dispersed again. And then there's going to be a final gathering and finally Jesus is coming, the Messiah is coming to reign over the world forever and ever. Look in Lamentations 1. Verse 12 he says, Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Go down again now into chapter 2. It seems to me that in the first chapter of Lamentations you have a song of a city in mourning. In the second chapter you have a song of a people who are broken. In the third chapter you have the song of a prophet who's a broken hearted prophet. Now look what he says in verse 11, My eyes fail with tears. That's why later he cries, O that my head were waters. My eyes fail with tears. My bowels are troubled. My liver is poured out on the earth. We read in the other, if you go back in the previous chapter, chapter 1 and verse 20 says, Behold O Lord, I am in distress. My bowels are troubled. My heart is turned within me. His bowels are troubled, his heart was turned within him and his liver is poured forth on the earth. For a moment go over to the next chapter. In verse 11, what a severe thing he says here. He hath turned aside my ways and pulled me to pieces. Pulled him to pieces. My bowels are troubled. My liver is poured out. My heart is turned within me. Well, why is he so troubled? As he mentions here in verse 11, My eyes do foil with tears. My bowels are troubled. Well, go up the chapter. Let's go up to the fifth verse in that same chapter too. The Lord was as an enemy. He hath swallowed up Israel. He hath swallowed up all her palaces. He hath destroyed his strongholds and hath increased the daughter of Judah, mourning and lamentation. He hath violently taken away his tabernacle. God has been stripping them. He has taken away the tabernacle as if it were a garden. He hath destroyed his places of the assembly. The Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion and hath despised indignation and his anger and the king, the priest. The Lord hath cast off his altar. He hath abhorred his sanctuary. Isn't that enough to grieve us? When I read this, I thought of an experience I had about 20 years ago. I preached in a Christian missionary alliance church. We had some very wonderful meetings. And one night I said, I think we should stay to pray. Some people went, others didn't. There was two or three oldish people at the front. And I said, you know, I see great danger for America. Maybe every preacher should preach on this. America, if thou knewest, the day of thy visitation. Because before long, as I've said to you, I agree with what Dave Wilkerson said in some ways in his book. I do not believe the number one threat to America is Russia. The number one threat to America is God. You get to a place, God says my spirit will not always strive with individuals or with nations. The scripture says it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Robert Louis Stevenson that wrote children's books. He was the one also that wrote Come ill, come well, the cross, the crown, the lightning or the thunder. I lay both soul and body down for God to plough them under. And Robert Louis Stevenson said, It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It's a more fearful thing to fall out of the hands of the living God. Jeremiah was a man of sorrows. Jeremiah wept. Well, didn't Jesus weep? Who is Jeremiah weeping over? Jerusalem. You know, in the rotation of scripture you get lamentations, the major prophets of Jeremiah, and then you come down to the minor prophets as they're called. The school men call them the minor prophets. I don't think there's much minor in them. They have some awful statements that they make. But actually, Joel lived years and years, more than 150 years before even Jeremiah was around. And yet God had warned them over and over and over again what He would do. But people don't hear. In that terrible landslide in, was it, Puerto Rico last week. Somewhere over there that whole hillside moved. And people were warned, You'd better go because the river has broken its banks. It's coming this way. It's going to cut the ground. And wash your... Oh, no, no, no. My grandfather lived in this house. And they showed a pile of mud and they said, There are 300 boys and girls and men and women buried under that mud. And they were warned and took no notice. Well, isn't that the task of the prophet to be a voice crying in the wilderness? To be crying when nobody wants to hear? The popular man today is a man who tells the people what they want to hear or what they already know. But not what God wants them to know. So I'm going back to that verse again there. Chapter 2, verse 10. The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and keep silence. They have cast up dust on their heads. They have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang their heads down. My eyes fail with tears. My bowels are troubled. My liver is poured out for the destruction of the daughter of my people. I've said to my wife a few times, and one or two other folk maybe. When are we going to get serious about being serious? The church loves its games. It loves its fun. How many people came to the square dance here a few nights ago? A dozen? Or a hundred or two? They're not here tonight. I think jokes are out of place in the funeral parlor, don't you? Well, fun and all the silly stuff that goes on in churches today is out of place in a world that's rushing to hell. Or to use Jimmy Swaggart's common phrase often these days, America's going to hell in a basket. Used to be when people's bodies were broken, they laid them in a long basket chair and wheeled them out. That's what it means, wheel them out. They're helpless. They're paralyzed. Is there a voice of the prophet in the land? I think it can be said of us. We've committed two evils. We've forsaken him, the fountain of living water, and we've hewn him out cisterns that can hold no water. Isn't it amazing how rubbish sells? There's a big boy in his glass palace out in the West Coast. What is his name? Bob Shuler. You know, his constant argument is, your trouble is you have, your self-image is so poor. You need a better self-image. That's not your trouble. Your trouble is your self-image is too good. Take your self-image to the cross and get it crucified. Get a new one. Self-image is based in pride mainly. It's your ego. We don't need a better self-image. We need to see ourselves corrupt and perverted before God and useless unless he comes with his redemptive power and does a miracle in us. I'm going over to chapter 9 now. Oh, that my head were waters, that mine eyes were a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people. He doesn't just see them needy. He sees them destroyed. God has removed his tabernacle. God is removing his favor. And there he stands in splendid isolation. What to do? To weep. I say again, when are we going to get serious about being serious? Five minutes inside the bed and every one of us will be embarrassed that we landed there so poorly when we could have landed there rich. We'll be sorry that we escaped trials and tribulations and didn't volunteer to carry burdens other men wouldn't carry. Let me use my old phrase here again. Revival tarries for number one reason. We're content to live without it. I thank Christian people. They live from one event to another. We're going to a big concert. We're going to a conference. We're going here. We're going there. And in between they're half backslidden. Wasn't it what, when he wrote a book, The Normal Christian Life? Do you know what the normal Christian life is now? To be dumb and deaf and speechless. The normal Christian life today is just about to be paralyzed. Just sit in a pew and give an offering and that's it. The old Methodists used to sing a hymn Blessed are the men of broken heart who mourn for sin with inward smart. But how many want to do that? I was looking for a book yesterday in my little library. I couldn't find it. And I don't think it was by accident I picked this up. This is the narrative. And there's a picture of that handsome man. Do you know who that is? Jonathan Edwards. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. I talked with him a few times. In London he said he was the most brilliant intellect America ever had. This may not seem too much but you know what? Let me give you some statistics here. If I can find them. Jonathan Edwards entered Yale College Yale University at the age of 13. At 17 he graduated as the head of his class as a valedictorian. Then he was a tutor for two years in Yale. Well then you remember he had an amazing experience with God. He said he was famous in European universities as a philosophical writer. Jonathan Edwards left a glorious legacy of deep spiritual literature to the church as the human leader of the religious Bible known as the Great Awakening which visited the colonies British colonies from Georgia to Maine. At the early age of 10 John manifested his spirituality and intellect at 10 years of age by writing a great tract on the nature of the soul. One rarely meets his writings. In his writings any bursts of lofty ecstasy which are found in the works of Samuel Rutherford and John Howe and Robert Hawker and Andrew Monner. It says in the biographical account it's a very brief biographical account of Jonathan Edwards would not be complete without mentioning his wonderful wife Sarah. Sarah Pierre Point Edwards passed from death unto life when she was 5 years of age had a conscious relationship with Jesus Christ at 5 years of age. My God, our kids at 15 go to Sunday school year after year and never get an awakening in their hearts. Why don't they? Because we now have preachers like Jonathan Edwards. They preach theological slop they preach about prosperity and all the other junk. You can get in a decent club. Sarah Pierre Point Edwards passed from death unto life a conscious relationship at 5 when only 13 a singular reputation as a youthful Christian was already known to not a few. They would say there's a young lady in New Haven who is loved of the great being other words she is loved of God who made the rules of the world and that there are certain seasons in which this great being comes and visits her. Isn't that awesome? 13 years of age she had confrontations with the one who made the world the being who put those stars he made the stars those heavenly flames he sits on the circle of the earth the nations drop in a bucket and he the mighty lofty God comes and talks with a 13, 15, 16 year old girl it was a preparation for an experience a life that God was going to build in her and make her a pyramid of strength at the side of her amazing husband who was going to go see that fantastic revival then become the head of a university and get kicked out of it because he didn't like what he said. Excuse me this is horrible dry thought. They say there is a young lady in New Haven who is loved of the great being who made and still rules the world there are great seasons certain seasons in which this great being in some way or other but invisible comes to her and fills her mind with exceedingly delight she has a strange sweetness in her mind and singular purity in her affections she seems to be always full of joy and pleasure and nobody knows why well if God came to me once every three months like that I think I'd know why she had a willingness to wait upon God there's a thing for you I cannot find words to express how the love of God appeared to me my safety and happiness and eternal enjoyment in God's immutable love come on, tell me if there is a girl in the whole of Texas can write at 17 years of age with a relationship with God like that who's fault is it? the pastor's fault the church's fault we just get people saved they give up smoking dancing, cursing and we think they should get wings and a halo I cannot find words to express how certain the love of God appeared to me my safety, my happiness my eternal enjoyment in God's immutable love most of our 15, 16 year olds couldn't tell you what immutable means they think it was an insurance company this great unchangeable God with immutable love comes to me I'm melted and overcome by the sweetness of his assurance I fall into great flows of tears and cannot forbear weeping aloud these words seem to come over and over to my mind my God, my all my God, my all the presence of God is so near and so real I seem scarcely conscious of anything else a very little snapshot as it were here of this revival the great awakening of 1735 came in the course ordinary course of a faithful pastor's ministry he hadn't gathered people for prayer or repentance or anything else he was just in a normal course of his life but remember he was a praying weeping man it's interesting for pastors and evangelists to know that no publication public pardon me invitations were ever given by the pastor you know the altar call is a modern invention you have to have an altar call because the Holy Ghost hasn't convicted anybody in the old days conviction was read the third chapter of Luke and here he is he's no people nowhere to sit nowhere to pardon me he's no pews he's no anything he's in the burning sun and he preaches and the Roman soldiers they've come from Rome and never seen anything like this they've seen a false corrupt system and they're starving and they cried out as he prayed repentance what shall we do and he says repent the publicans asked what shall we do repent they came north south east and west with a man that had no advertising he never found a profit advertising anything he's never selling anything he never appeals for funds he's totally cast on an almighty God if he isn't well for God's sake don't dare go out naked faith is the most precious thing in the world and it's the scarcest thing in the church of Jesus Christ today why fast why pray when you can have a TV show when you can send out a newsletter and get money there are few men that are really shut up to God married to the will of God married to the intentions of God married to the sufferings God will give their wages are to bear the suffering of Jesus Christ their wages are to hear the secret voice of God it's interesting also for past evangelists to know that there are no public invitations ever given by this pastor or fellow workers during the public revival no invitations to come forward and to accept Christ were known in the Puritan world the sermon was an invitation with the glorious gospel of the grace of God you know Spurgeon maybe won more people to Christ than any man since the Apostle Paul do you know he never once made an altar call Spurgeon the last of the Puritans we will call him himself a fellow followed this pattern at the conclusion of his sermon on Sunday he would say now who you those of you who are convicted come to my church office in the morning and he'd give the hours and if you can't get there in the morning these other hours I'm there to counsel you in his long and varied ministry in London it was the unusual thing it was the unusual thing pardon me it was the usual thing for there to be a steady procession of inquirers from the vestry in the early hours of the morning right through the entire day why? they had a night under conviction I say this tongue-in-cheek kind of I think the biggest idiots in the world are evangelists you've got those great wheat fields up in Kansas isn't it Kansas where they have the big wheat fields you see Jebby Meyer if we'd gone a bit slower we'd find out he says break up your fallow ground do you know any man with all his modern machinery can he go break up the fallow ground sow the seed and water the seed and reap a harvest in twenty minutes like evangelists expect to do he can't do it that with his one hundred and fifty thousand dollar reaping machine break up the fallow ground sow the seed we're asking people to be saved that don't know they're lost we're asking people to be filled with the Holy Ghost we're asking them to come forward Dr. A.C. Dixon was invited to fill the pulpit after the death of Spurgeon and God gave him a mighty ministry for many months he introduced what was an innovation in the church and he publicly invited people to come forward and accept Christ Dr. Dixon in introducing this method said he believed that it's striking the iron in striking while the iron was hot on the following morning there was a letter of the British Weekly which the writer said we could not help wondering what the great Spurgeon would have said of that principle would incline to think he would have said if the iron was heated by divine fire at night it would still be hot the next morning does the Holy Ghost depart when you go out to the church the voice of the preacher may but the voice of the prophet doesn't the voice of the anointing man we were in a place a few years ago the pastor introduced me to a fine man and his wife I said by the way is that your lovely Rolls Royce out there it was grey like a friend of mine just bought a new grey car beautiful car he said it's yours for the week well that was too short a term take me a week to learn to drive the thing no he said you can have it the whole way oh I don't want to drive it I said the first thing I'll do is hit a lamp post or something with it what was I going to say there oh we went out to supper because I don't eat before preaching and Friday the day off we went to a meal during the day there was a very rosy lovely lady says I've seen you I said well I've seen you too but I don't know where she said I sat on the front bench of the every night you preached this week for five nights I haven't slept one wink of sleep I said that's great what's great about it why didn't you just read I'm so convicted I'm so disturbed I'm so torn up my past is coming alive the ghosts of yesterday are coming five nights I've had no sleep now you can tell there's a touch of revival when people are like that I said well come tonight God will deliver you and she was about the first she ran to the altar at night and got a wonderful deliverance yes he said if the iron was heated by divine spirit it would remain hot at least until Monday morning from Saturday Sunday night to Monday morning the fire still burning listen to this the Puritan preachers feared more than anything else the sin of plucking unripe fruit you get that they feared the sin of plucking unripe fruit they were afraid of sham converts in their ministry they were afraid that they in their zeal for souls might lead people into a false profession of faith and thus by means of be their means of damnation rather than their means of salvation there are hundreds of evangelists in America and across the world sending people to hell every time they have a crusade do you know why they were like that because these men if ever a bunch of men in the 17th century you get these fantastic giants William Gurnall with his whole armour of God and well you have them I can't remember John Owen with his masterly exposition of Hebrews you have men who live in constant fear of God not cringing fear but filial fear I don't want to hurt God I tell you what the judgment seat of Christ preachers will have a worse time than anybody there's a judgment for sinners there's a judgment for believers there's a judgment for teachers isn't there be not many teachers knowing we shall receive a greater condemnation but you see we're all on the counting business we count the number in the congregation you count the number you've got to put something on the newsletter if you've been in evangelism I'm going to read this again the Puritans feared more than anything else more than anything the sin of plucking unripe fruit they were afraid of sham converts in their ministry they were afraid that they in their zeal for souls might lead people into a false profession of faith in Christ and thus be the means of their damnation rather than of their salvation Thomas Shepherd what did he found he was a founder of Harvard one of the great Puritans said it is easy for a man to drop a tear or two and be sermon sick but to have a heart rent for sin and from sin this is a great humiliation and this is hard there's another statement here it doesn't matter you'll check my word for it I'm sure you know John S. Edwards is considered well he's talked about today as a man with a granite face it says here that he held a candle in one hand and his notes in the other he had bad eyesight and he looked and he turned over a stack of notes preaching sinners in the hands of an angry God but nobody was disturbed until a certain moment when the Holy Ghost came upon them and they fell off their seats and they hung on to the pillars that were supporting the gallery and they screamed they cried for mercy and instead of that he whipped them with the word of God he didn't put a bandage on them just because they were weeping he didn't comfort them because they were weeping he just applied more and more of the wrath of God what happened he had the greatest percentage of lasting fruit maybe of any man that's ever preached in America because he gave the seed time to take root downward before it started bearing any fruit upward and go back to this verse again in Jeremiah 9 going back to verse 20 in the previous chapter the harvest is past the summer has ended we are not saved for the hurt of the daughters of my people am I hurt I hurt because the nation is hurting got any preachers like that and he says in chapter verse 22 is there no barman in Gilead is there no physician there why then is not the health of the daughters of my people recovered and because of that he says oh but my head were waters that mine eyes were a fountain of tears look over a minute for a moment there in Lamentations chapter 1 and verse 12 he says is it nothing to you all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger he has tears the children of Israel had tears when they sat down in Psalm 137 and they remembered the former glory of God do you know why we are not embarrassed with our barrenness do you know why we don't cry for the glory of God because we have never seen it we have never seen the glory of God come and stop in a meeting and everybody goes silent and the preacher quits and there is an hour of silence maybe or there is an hour of groaning and weeping we don't have it we are so mechanized I am judging myself here as well as others this chapter is a favorite of mine the ninth oh but my head were waters mine eyes were a fountain of tears I can remember on three different occasions with years between them preaching on the harvest is past the summer is ended and we are not saved thousands of people who sat in Billy Graham's meetings never got through or any other meetings we were there in the lost eternity with the filth of the ages filth pardon me hell is God's mad house where he shuts up all mad people hell is God's sewer where the drainage and filth of the world goes whether it goes out of some back alley in Chicago or out of the old author's story where a woman may be dripping with diamond and yet living in lust and sin I say Jesus was a man of sorrows remember he goes over the hill and he weeps he whipped them sure he did but before he whipped them he wept over them I believe as he looked over Jerusalem what did he say oh thou that killest the prophets you killed Jeremiah what did they do with Jeremiah they said we're going to stop your mouth we'll put you in jail and they put him in jail he's so concerned of the bondage of the nation he puts a beast's yoke around his neck and goes in the pulpit and says as I wear this yoke you're yoked up to evil you're yoked up to iniquity and he grieves over their blindness he grieves over their rebellion he grieves over their willful filthfulness all that my head will waters whenever I read that I think of the news when it was taken to David your son Absalom is dead what did he say I'm glad to hear that he's been after my life he's tried to take the crown off my head he's tried to take the throne from underneath it you say he's dead what did he say oh oh Absalom he's a broken hearted man you can't say that oh by eloquence you can learn go anywhere you like in the world you can't say it it's born of grief it's born of sorrow it's born of pain it's born of anguish Jesus looks over Jerusalem he knows how soon he says this generation will not pass away before there's persecution and in A.D. 70 Titus went you remember and raped that whole city until blood ran up to the knees of the horses they say and Jesus was thinking of that and they turned him and they said we're doing you away he says no your house is left desolate and they're still suffering tonight they're still going to have a rough time in Israel they're still going to be kicked out of that country and they'll come back repentant when they come there's a horrible situation coming up all but my head were waters I say no eloquence can teach you that one of the great unbelievers in Scotland in the days of Wesley was a man by the name of David Hume he was going through London one day morning at five o'clock listen five o'clock in the morning not evening and it was misty and rainy he went round the corner and crashed into a man the man said David Hume a scholar like you up at this hour what in the world are you up for he said I'm going down to the mile end there at this hour for what oh there's a man there by the name of George Whitfield who preaches every morning at five o'clock and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds gather to hear him at five in the morning in the rain in the dark yes the man said but David you don't believe a word he says he said no I don't but he does have you ever left the church wondering if the preacher really meant it was he beating treading water was he saying words George Whitfield had the voice they said like a mighty organ he could roar or he could whisper one day when he was preaching the wind must have blown that way a man a mile away sitting on the side of the road learning preaching got saved now they sit on their noses and can't get saved but they said there was one word which he would use in fact they said he had such a voice he could even quote one word Mesopotamia to a crowd and they'd weep with the intonation of his voice but he never used his voice to that end they said if he preached on hell you'd think he'd been living there a week if he preached on heaven you'd think he'd been living there a week got any preachers like that the preacher is his own atmosphere if I've no fire in me I won't spill anything out on you for sure if I come in as a nice bird you'll all go icy George Whitfield would preach one woman said to him one day he was a porty man or he was a youngish man he was pretty heavy built he had cross eyes English stage cracked jokes about Dr. Scrinton they called him and she said I've listened to you he used to stand on the high pulpit I've listened to you three times today and three times I've been wet with your tears they come off bounce off your belly she said and they fall on me and she's a little woman three times today I've been wet with your tears why do you weep sir because you don't weep I say if your preacher doesn't weep you weep over the preacher so I say if your religion doesn't change you change your religion weeping is an integral part of revival doesn't it say there in Joel 2 what's the verse 17 let the priests and ministers of the Lord weep between the altar and the doorpost let them say spare thy people O Lord and give not thy heritage to reproach that the heathens should rule over them doesn't anybody want to do that we have conferences we call people to repentance you can't you can call them to listen only God can call them to repentance we should live in a constant state of repentance why should I repent every night when I go to bed if I've done nothing wrong all day I think what we have to do is not live in a state of repentance it's live in a state of brokenness how can we be whole when the world is damned and rotting before our eyes in the news the other day they said the young girls 16 and under getting pregnant all over the nation the tide has risen this last year and the girls of Texas hold the record for this year of girls 16 and under getting pregnant we have great scourges in the nation does it matter Whitfield would probably preach and say all he could say under tremendous anointing and then when he could get no further they said he lift his hands and just say oh and there was something in his voice that was not of men it seemed as though the very heart of God was breathing through him and he would say oh as Jeremiah said that my head were waters and unashamedly he was a brilliant scholar remember and unashamedly he would stand there and talk to coal miners at five o'clock in the morning you don't have an evangelist in the country I know of a guy at five o'clock in the morning to talk to a crowd he would talk in a plush office over TV and you know all the trimmings but where is the confrontation of the men of God oh that my head were waters mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people that seems to have passed away I'd like to see 300 pastors come together for a whole week and stay prostrate before God wouldn't you like to see that for the rain no fancy lecturing just getting there in prostration heart searching and saying God if we can do it if we can birth revival if we can give our bodies our spirits our minds to total control by you if we stay here it doesn't matter whether we die here see this class of prayer is hardly known it's in the ninth chapter of Romans where Paul says I could wish myself were cursed back in Exodus when Paul when Moses says this burden is so great it's I can't bear it anybody that's got soul passion like that today I've got a burden for Tyler I'd go on record as telling I don't care what it costs if I spend the whole of the rest of my life in Tyler if I become the most despised rejected man if I lose most of my friends I know some that would die with me but you know we talk so often about Hannah bearing that baby year after year she went to the temple and she groaned and she wept and she was one of the prayer group that went and prayed with Simeon and others how many years I don't know she's nearly a hundred years of age and Simeon's old and they believe that they would live to see the day when the Christ of God would come remember Simeon in the temple is overcome with joy and tears and he says now let your servant depart in peace I've seen the salvation of God well if God would break out in in Thailand and give us a move like that I guess within a month of that I'd say Lord I'm happy to go if you want me I'd like to stay a bit longer but you see tears are not some fluffy thing that comes out just without emotions being stirred when Jesus wept it wasn't some emotional thing it was grief that was born of his anxiety for that people that he knew were going to be flooding the streets with their blood before long and I remind you again as I said the other week remember we talk about the tongues isn't it wonderful so many people speak in it so what it's wonderful until you reckon there's a school not many miles from here with 120 students with 1250 students almost everyone speaks in tongues nobody knows they're in town only 120 in the upper room and they turn the city upside down there are supposed to be what is it 15 million people in America at least that speak in tongues there's a proof they're filled with the Holy Ghost and half of them you couldn't drag them to a prayer meeting there displays a show off when there's an assembly there before the Huguenots were kicked out of France in the 1600s they were a quiet people like the Quakers the Holy Ghost came and moved on them and to their amazement they spoke in tongues but right after that came the bloody revolution that swept the monarchy into the garbage can where the French put up their tricolour liberty fraternity and equality then there was no move until in the middle of the 1700s of the 18th century when John Wesley came they didn't have tongues but they had one of the mightiest revivals in history 1904 in Azusa Street in California there was great anointings of God and a number of those men were Nazarenes that were used of God what happened that was 1904 10 years after the first bloodiest war in history came World War 1 in between there was an outpouring of the spirit in England I remember in 1930 going to hear George Jeffries what a preacher and there was an outpouring of the spirit and thousands of people spoke in tongues then what happened that same horrible thing happened judgement fell all through history before there has been a blood shed a blood bath God in mercy has visited his people with or without tongues but the Holy Ghost has come there has been fantastic reaping of souls and now we say that the whole world in almost every country then judgement is coming to every country it is God giving a thumb brick verse and saying you have seen this thing are you so blind you can't see are you so deaf you can't hear turn the pages of history if you can't read your bible read history and every time there has been a moving like that it has been followed by a blood bath I read that scripture it is a comfort to me you know preachers actually tease me and say how long have you been praying for revival 60 years at least 60 years we are no nearer now well we are at least by the calendar we are nearer I am not the only one there used to be a couple of men lived in Pittsburgh when I first went there in 50 one was called Hyde and the other was called White House they had some of the most remarkable ministries of this generation though there is not much said about them they had power with God they had power in prayer they had power over demons they had power over sickness the average church does not have that anymore let the priests the ministers of the Lord weep between the altar and the door post I don't remember where the scriptures it came to me just before I came to the meeting remember a time was it well remember how God visited them remember a time when one king put sack cloth even on the beasts in the field you know many of us are arrogant and we don't know it we are further from God than we think otherwise some awesome things will be happening I know there is an under current of prayer in Thailand I want to be in it I told you I want to in I want be in it I in it I want in I want to in it I want to be in want in it I be in it I want be in it I want to in I want to be in it I want to be in it want to be in it I want to be in it I want be in it in it I want to in it I want to be in to be in I want to I I want be in it I in it I want it to be it I want to be in it in it I want to be in it I want to be in it I want to be in it I want to in it I to it I to it I to be in it I want to be in I want to be in it I want to in I to be in I want to be in it I want to be in it I want to be in it I to in it I want to be in it I want to in it I it I to be in want to be in it I want to be in to be in it I want to be in it I want to in I want to be in it I want in it I want to be in it I want to to I want to be in it I want to be in it I want to be in it I want to be in it I want to be in it I want to 14, 15 and 16. Does that make you hungry? One of these nights I'm going to come here and just give out a text and sit down. Go to immediate prayer. Well we're going to go to prayer now and if you have to go you're free to go. We're going to pray. Usually we finish half past ten, quarter of eleven. Do you think the Russians might have got in? Need to pray for that. Good to have Jake, I only know his calling Caleb, Jacob back again. He's been in England. He said in some cities they're closing churches at the rate of eight a week. And one town they said 22 are closed. 22 churches are closed. But the report here, it says here, England, the Islamic revival in Great Britain, the greater light, the greater the darkness, when that light goes out, the country of Great Britain, once literally on fire with the message of Jesus Christ, produced some of the greatest spiritual wars in history. America owes much of its religious heritage to Great Britain, to the men and women of Great Britain. The sad thing is happening in Great Britain as well as the U.S. The light has gone out. This has paved the way of a revival of cults, pagan Eastern religion and even Satan worship. Our own country is becoming inundated with Hinduism, Moonism, Buddhism, Mormonism, Krishnaism. You know, I'm absolutely startled at the aggressiveness of iniquity and the somnolence of the church. We're sleeping while the house is on fire. God must do something. If he doesn't, I don't want to live. I've had a good innings. I haven't always been the best boy in the class, but anyhow I've caused the devil a bit of trouble here and there. But God wants to give one great drastic act of mercy to our generation. I'm sure of that. There are more lost people in the world tonight than any period in history. Therefore it's our greatest opportunity. I want you to pray for what's on your heart. Pray for India if that's your burden. Pray for Sweden if God burdens you for it. I'll pray for Thailand, I'm sure of that. Pray for this precious woman that's so destroyed now with this disease. Every ministry around here, this one, every one of them needs a quickening of the Holy Ghost. We can get so content in what we're doing and forget what he wants to do. Is he willing that any should perish? Not any. Well, it's not any perishing, it's many perishing. It was this man, Jonathan Edwards, you remember, before the revival that prayed, God stamp eternity on my eyeballs. Stamp eternity on my eyeballs. Do you wonder he had a wife like that? Do you wonder they had a daughter like that? What's your ambition for your children? You want your boy to be a quarterback for the Cowboys? Some old drunkard wants the same thing. What do you want your daughter to be? Lay it out before God. Give me a chair please. We're going to pray and if you want to go, feel free to go anytime you like. Thank you.