In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of unity among God's people. He quotes verse 21, which states that believers should be one, just as God the Father and Jesus are one. The preacher believes that many people will go to hell because Christians cannot get along with each other. He shares a personal experience of being attacked by another preacher and explains that it is God's responsibility to deal with such situations. The preacher also mentions a group of young people who are happy because they are united in their beliefs and actions. He concludes by discussing the importance of having the same destination and traveling together in unity.

As I said a while ago, our Lord prayed many things in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had just sat on the front, sat still, saying, Hey, fella, sit up and listen to me. You need this as well as everybody else does. Our Lord had just performed that amazing act of washing the feet of the disciples. Don't you recall how that he stripped himself to the waist, girded himself with a garment, and bowed and washed the feet of his apostles. After that marvelous demonstration of humility in the upper room, he then spoke to them about his departure. He let them know that he was going back to heaven. He let them know that he would send the Comforter. That's in John chapter 14, the last part of the chapter, and also in chapter 15. He made them aware of the fact that he was going to send the Holy Spirit to come and be the babysitter or take care of us or indwell us and comfort us and teach us and help us until he returns and until the rapture. Now that's behind him. The upper room experience is behind him. He goes out in the Garden of Gethsemane. The disciples, or the multitude, lead him at the foot of the mount. The disciples follow him all twelve, follow him for a way. Then nine of them stay, or eight of them, Judas is betrayed. And three, Peter, James, and John, go a bit further. After a season, however, they fall asleep, and our Lord is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane alone. A beautiful prayer. He prays for the Father to keep us from the evil one. He prays for the Father to sanctify us through his word. He prays for the Father to keep us. He prays that we shall be with him someday in heaven. But the thing that circumvents all of his prayers is this all-inclusive one, that we might be one. Again and again he makes this statement. I pray that they shall be one even as we are one. Now the honest truth is, every prayer that he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane was a prayer that could not be fulfilled unless we are one, and whose fulfillment would aid in making us one. For the thing that our Lord wants more than he wants anything else for his people is that we become one. Again, I'm not talking about organization. I'm not talking about a ministerial association or a national council of churches. I'm talking about God's people loving each other and praying for each other. I'm talking about the Bible Baptists loving and praying for the Southern Baptists. I'm talking now about fundamentalists alone. I'm talking about the Southern Baptists loving and praying for the Bible Presbyterians or any other Presbyterian who's born again. This morning we had a man in the service, a United Methodist. Now I'm sure you understand that in this age it is very rare to find a fundamentalist who is a member of the United Methodist nomination. That's not critical, that's just fact. But this man is born again. He preaches the Word of God. He's been to our pastor's school. He came in 1968. He called my attention to the fact that I had a special prayer for him, that he would leave his liberal denomination. And I would, and I don't care if it's Methodist or Baptist, whatever it is, you shouldn't stay in a liberal denomination. Because we're to be one with God's people, not one with the devil's crown. And so our Lord prays for his own. For example, in verse 9 he says, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, do you get that? I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. And all of this leads to oneness. For example, he prays that the Word of God may be, that we be kept through the Word of God. And the Word of God is to lead us to oneness, and I'll show you that in a few minutes. He prays that we'll stay busy and do the works that he called us to do. But he also lets us believe that that means that will lead us to oneness if all of us do his work. He says rally around the work, rally around the Word, rally around the person of Christ, and in so doing there will be a oneness, and our Lord prayed that we would be one. Now, this oneness is necessary to our maturity. Did you know that nothing reveals immaturity in Christ as much as one Christian not loving another, one Christian not speaking to another, one Christian not praying for another, one Christian being unkind to another, one Christian criticizing another? Jesus said one time, he said, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. That you what? Don't go to movies? No. That you don't drink liquor? No. That you use a Scorpio reference Bible? No. That you believe in the millennial coming of Christ? No. He said, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. Why? That ye love one another. Love is the distinguishing characteristic that God wants His people to carry. It is the uniform He wants us to wear. It is the letter sweater He wants us to exhibit. It is the wings He wants us to wear on our breasts. It is that one distinguishing characteristic that God wants for His people. And if we do not love each other, I mean love every Christian, if we do not pray for each other, if we criticize each other, if we will not speak to each other, if there are divisions, it is a sign of immaturity in the Lord. Don't you recall the church at Corinth in that great letter of 1 Corinthians, the apostle Paul wrote, and he said, Ye are carnal and not spiritual. You are babes. I have had to feed you with milk and not meat. And he goes on to say, Because there is among you strife and divisions, he said, Some say I am of Apollos, and some say I am of Paul, and some say I am of Peter, and some say I am of Jesus. And there was strife in the church. He said, You are babies. There is nothing as baby-like, there is nothing that reveals immaturity in the Christian, as much as criticism, as much as gossip, as much as being unkind, as much as not speaking, as much as being rude, as much as not uniting in Christ with all God's believers. Now, ladies and gentlemen, you get this. This is what Jesus wants you to have the most. Oh, you'd want me to say, He wants us to quit drinking. And He does want us to quit drinking. And He wants us to quit our cursing. And He does want us to quit our cursing. But the thing He prayed for the most was not that we be kept from the evil one, and not that we be in the Word of God, and not that we be sanctified. The thing He prayed for the most is that we would be one, even as He and the Father were one. Now, you'll be surprised what it will do for you if you will decide never to criticize another Christian. Never. You folks who are new at our college, we have a standing rule in our college, and I mean it will be enforced, too. If I ever hear of one of our professors criticizing another Bible-believing school or Bible-believing church or preacher, he won't get a second chance. He'll be fired. We're not going to live critical of other brethren. Now, we're not going to do it. If our students decide to criticize, we don't even allow our students in homiletics class to discuss critically the preacher sermons who preach on chapel. I can recall we're in school, you remember this brethren, we're in college, it was one of the requirements of homiletics class in my college for us to go and discuss the preacher sermon and find if it were homiletically correct. But we won't do that here. We're going to brag on the preacher or not have him. And if we have him, if he believes the Bible, we're not going to slander him, we're not going to criticize him, we're not going to sit in judgment. Why? Because we want our Lord's prayer to be answered when he said that we may be one even as he and the Father are one. It is necessary to maturity. Look at verses 22 and 23 of John 17, if you would, I think you'll see that. Verses 22 and 23, look at it. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them, thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. That word perfect means mature. It is the word that has to do with fully grown, completely mature, well grown, full grown. The Bible says that if we are one, we must be one if we are mature in our Lord. There's something else. Did you know that being one in Christ is necessary for our Christian joy? Being one with others is necessary for our joy. Tell you what to do. Look at the face of the gossip. Nobody ever walks up and says, hey, hey, praise the Lord. Hallelujah. I've got some sweet juicy gossip for you. It's always, hey, did you hear? No joy there. No, no joy unless there is oneness. The Christian who divides the body of Christ is not the one who has the joy. Our Lord says it. Look in verse 11, if you would please, and you'll find it plainly in verse 11. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those that thou hast given me, that they may be one. And it goes on down to say in verse 13, and now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world, what things, be one, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. You look at the face of the critic, and you'll find no joy. You look at the face of the one who promotes oneness, and you'll find joy. Now, there's no way to have it. No way. The person that is angry, here are two men, and they walk down the street, and they won't speak to each other. Look at their faces. They don't look and smile. You know why? Because you can't have joy. Do you know who has the joy? The forgiver gets the joy, not the forgiven. The one who's miserable is the one who says, I'll get him back. I'll let her have it. I won't speak to him. No, that's the one who's miserable. That doesn't bring joy. Joy, listen, there's a great difference between joy and pleasure. For example, let's take the story of Abraham and Lot. Abraham and Lot were both wealthy. They had many servants, and the land was not big enough to contain Abraham and Lot. There arose strife between Abraham and his nephew Lot. Abraham said, Lot, let there be no strife between thy herdmen and my herdmen. He said, choose what land you want. You take whatever land you want. Lot chose the well-watered plains toward Sodom. Abraham got the old dry, rocky land away from Sodom, and he said to Lot, you take what you want. Now, Lot got the best land. Lot, I'm sure Lot said, boy, oh boy, man alive. Boy, that gives me great pleasure. But Abraham said, that gives me great joy. Let me ask you a question. Who had more joy? Lot or Abraham? Lot said, I'll take what I want. Abraham said, you have what you want. Lot got the pleasure. Abraham got the joy. Pleasure is temporal. Pleasure is gone when that which causes it is gone. Pleasure over getting property is gone when you lose the property. Pleasure over getting money is gone when you lose the money. Pleasure over being popular is gone when you lose popularity. But joy comes from the inside of being right with God and right with our fellow man. And God says, if you want joy, you'll have to be one, even as the heavenly Father and the Son are one. You take the story of Joseph and his brothers. Do you recall how that Joseph was the favorite son of his father? He went down one day to speak a word to his brothers. His brothers rose up to kill him. And one of them said, no, let's don't kill him. Let's set him. He might be worth something. The Ishmaelites came down and they sold Joseph for a few pieces, 20 pieces of silver, I think it was, to the Ishmaelites, the Ishmaelites, the Ishmael, I-S-H-M-E-E-L, Ishmaelites. And they in turn sold him into slavery in Egypt. Now here are these brothers of Joseph who said, we'll kill him. And they would have killed him if there hadn't been covetous for money. And they sold him, years past. Joseph has gone to the top, next to the top in the land of Egypt. He is the right, the right-hand man to the king of Egypt. And Joseph one day sees his brothers come seeking for food. Joseph conceals himself and does not reveal his identity. Here come these brothers, these men who said, we'll kill him. These men who wanted to kill him, these men who sold him into slavery, these men who left him in a pit, these men who hated Joseph. And now Joseph has a chance to get his vindication. Joseph could have said, they came and they didn't know they're talking to Joseph. He had, he had concealed his face. And these men said, there's a famine down in the land. Could you help us? Joseph could have said, why you murderers, you, you left me in the pit back down there one day. You'd have risen up and killed me, except you sold me for some filthy lucre. I'm not going to feed you. But Joseph lovingly forgave. And Joseph said, of course, I'll feed you. Go get your kid brother and go, and then, and bring him back. Of course, I'll feed you. And Joseph, who had been hated by his brethren, loved them and fed them. Joseph, who had been, who would have been murdered by his brethren, loved them and fed them. Let me ask you a question. When those men got that food, those, the brothers of Joseph got that food, do you think that brought pleasure? Yeah. But do you think it brought joy? No, it brought joy to Joseph. When Joseph went to bed that night, he said, I forgave. I forgave. They tried to kill me, but thank God I forgave. They tried, they sold me, but thank God I forgave. They put me in a pit, but thank God I forgave. They sold me, but thank God I forgave. Oh, let me say, if there's one thing that preachers need, if there's one thing that God's people need, it's a baptism of real, genuine love of Christ that causes forgiveness, and cast aside vindication, and cast aside gossip, and cast aside talking back, and cast aside retaliation, and cast aside bitterness. And we have the love of Christ where we say, with Joseph I'll forgive. When those men went home that night with their, their bags full of food, they had the pleasure of knowing they could eat and live. But Joseph had the inner joy of knowing he had forgiven those that had tried to kill him. Who had the joy? Joseph had the joy. Who had the pleasure? His brothers had the pleasure. Who had the joy? Abraham had the joy. Who had the pleasure? Lot had the pleasure. You've taken the story of David and Saul. I'll need not repeat it. I've preached it so much here. David and Saul, Saul said, I'm going to kill David. He's gotten most attention. He's the one that's gotten all the attention, and I, and the ladies are singing, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands. I'll kill him. Saul drew his sword and spear and chased there to pursue David and tried to kill him. And one time he hurled his spear against David, and Jonathan saved the life of David. Saul had said, I'll kill him, I'll kill him. One night, David was asleep inside a cave. Saul and his men came hunting for David, did not know that David was inside that cave. And Saul was asleep outside the cave. David awoke in the next morning. He walked outside the cave, and there was his pursuer, his enemy, the man who was trying to kill him, lying asleep in front of the cave. David had a sword at his side. One of David's men said something like this, chop his head off. He's trying to kill you. Here's David's chance. David was running from his life. That man lying asleep right there at David's mercy is the man who if he were up here and David were there, a spear or a sword would be through David's breast. David looked at him. He took out his sword. He just cut a little bit of the skirt off of Saul's garment. And David said, I'll not lift up my hand against God's anointing. And David kept on running from Saul when he could have killed him. Let me ask you a question. Saul woke up and somebody said, guess who was there? Who? David. Oh my, oh my, oh my, am I dead? And guess who was here? David. And Saul said, oh my, David, David, oh, hey, hey, let me get out of here. Oh, don't worry about that. He's not going to kill you. He had a chance. He had a sword over your breast. He could get us, could have pierced your heart and killed you. He didn't choose to do so. I'm so sure Saul said, boy, I feel good. I'll tell you somebody else that felt better. And David walked away from Saul and began to run again for his life. David said his now linear prayers that night. He could look up to God and say, dear God, I could have killed him, but I didn't. Who had the joy? David. Who had the pleasure? Saul. Who had the joy? Abraham. Who had the pleasure? Lot. Who had the joy? Joseph. Who had the pleasure? His brethren. There is, there is a wickedness that creeps into fundamentalism. A wickedness that creeps into, we, we fight. I mean, we're against liquor and we're against communism and we're against socialism and we're against McGovern. I thought I'd put that in. I happened to feel led to say it. And, and we're, boy, we're straight. I mean, we're for McIntyre and we're for John Rice and we're for Roloff and we're for Lee Robertson and we're for Hiles and we're fundamentalism and we're, we, we, we stand, but there's a wicked thing that creeps into fundamentalism. And that is we let our wrath on sin and immorality and indecency pour over or spill over on people. And God never intended for any of us to hate any other of us. Never. You got the idea that if you're a fundamentalist, you've got to punch little boys and girls in eyeballs with ice picks and push old, push old men down steep hills in wheelchairs and trip old ladies while they walk across the loop street in Chicago. That's not true. It's not true. The most loving people in heaven ought to be the first Baptist church people. The kindest people ought to be first Baptist church people. Most gracious people ought to be first Baptist. Now don't misunderstand me. I think when it comes to sin, we ought to do what the Pentecostal preacher said. We ought to heal the dead, cast out the sick and raise the devils. When it comes to sin, I think we ought to hate it and fight it and woe be to the preacher. And God pity the preacher who won't stand and thunder out against indecency and immorality. This dirty, filthy hell hole they've tried to start over here on State Street at 107 State Street, a sensitivity training parlor, they call it, where they hire eight women, beautiful women, and put them in there. And men come in and can commit any kind of sexual act they want to commit. That's to the devil? Any preacher in town that won't fight it ought to close his Bible. He probably already has. But he ought to get out of the pulpit and make an honest living somewhere. We have enough preachers in town that have enough courage to stand. Such rotten garbage like that wouldn't even be in our city. We ought to hate it with a passion. And yet we stop and think about those eight poor little ladies, pardon me, women over there, somebody's daughters. One day a mother and father held a little baby in arms one day a mother went into the jaws of death and gave birth to every one of those little girls over there that have sold their bodies out to the wicked touch of men, evil men. And somewhere across this country tonight, no doubt there's some sweet mothers who wonder where their daughters are. I went to Jacksonville, Florida and preached. A man and his wife met me at the airport to take me to my hotel room. I asked, as I always ask, I said, do you have children? They said, yes, we have a daughter. I said, does your daughter live at home or is she married? They said she neither lives at home or is she married. And I said, where is she? And they said, we don't know. They said several years ago. One day she went to work. She never came back. Just a young girl. We've never seen her. Have you investigated? Oh, yes. The police have tried. We've tried. We don't know where she is. We go to bed at night and get on our faces before God and say, God bless our daughter. Now, I hate that dirty, rotten, filthy, hell hole. And thank God that Mayor Clinton said he'd try to keep it closed. And thank God that Judge Tadola said he'd go all the way to the Supreme Court. And I told her on the radio the other day, if Judge Tadola will go to the Supreme Court, we'll pass the plate here and take all the money we can get to try to keep that dirty, rotten, hell hole closed over here. But let me say again, those poor little women over there that have fallen into sin at the hands of wicked men, we ought not to hate them. Our hearts ought to be filled with compassion. They don't understand if they knew. Oh, if you just knew what I know tonight, they're young girls who've come to our church and sung in our youth choir and sat in this section over here that are missing tonight and no one knows where they are. We have young girls tonight that have grown up in this church, God pity it and God forbid, but it's true, who sold their bodies in the houses of prostitution. We have young people growing up in this church tonight and growing up in this church who tonight are communist and living a communist life. We have young people who've grown up in this church living in communals and all kinds of wicked living. I'm simply saying God wants us to love each other. And nobody, listen, nobody's ever known real joy until he gets slapped in the face and says, God forgive him and turns the other cheek and then goes alone and doesn't seek vindication. Nobody's ever known real joy until he's seen his brothers try to kill him. And he said, I'll feed you even though you've tried to kill me. Nobody's ever known real joy until there's a strife between maybe somebody in the family. And he says, okay, Lord, you take what you want. I'll take what's left. That's real joy. You've never known joy until you try to knock. You say, boy, if I could get at him, if I could get at him. Oh, no, no, no. You ought to say with Esau, I'll not try to get back at Jacob though he stole my birthright and though he, he got, he got my blessing from my father because he deceived me. I'll not get back at Jacob. You ought to say with David, I'll not get back at Shimei. I don't care if he is walking up and down the path beside me saying, oh, you dead dog, throwing stones at me and throwing dust in my face and calling me all, calling me a murderer. David said, don't, don't touch him. Don't touch him. God probably sent him to, uh, to be a messenger, to buffet me. Nobody's ever known joy until he learns forgiveness. Nobody's ever known joy until he learns compassion. Nobody's ever known joy until he says, I'm going to forgive. Now I've spent too much time on that, but God knows we need it so desperately and in fundamental circles. And now why is it important? See what's important? Verse 21 says, listen to this. Verse 21 says, that they may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee, that they may also may be one that the world may believe thou hast sent me. Listen, you know why, why millions of folks will die and go to hell and burn forever is because God's people can't get along with each other. A preacher in this town got on the radio and started to start attacking me. He never called my name, but he almost did. And everybody in town said, why don't you let him have it? That's not my business to let him have it. That's God's business to let him have it. It's not my business. I'm not going to get on my, now I'll tell you what, I'll get on my broadcast and I'll skin the liberal. I'll skin him. A liberal preacher called me from Hammond and he said, I want to come down and let you show me how you build a great Sunday school. And I said, do you believe the Bible? He said, no. You believe the virgin birth? He said, no. You believe in the deity of Christ? He said, no. And I said, then the next Sunday morning when you preach, I hope you get the hiccups. And I do. I'll remind you one thing, I'm not going to sit in judgment against the fundamental Bible believing brother. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to take God, look, here's a fella who's he stands, he turns his radio on and I launched an attack against one of God's people. One of God's preachers was called to attack me. And the poor unsaved person says, I can understand that. They're both preachers. They're supposed to be saved. I can understand that. They get along better at the tavern. And by the way, in many taverns, they do get along better than they do in many churches. I don't know, but the fifth told me, I have no idea, but, but they do get along better in many taverns than they do in churches. The very idea of churches, bickering and fussing and church members not being courteous to each other and church members because so-and-so didn't speak nicely to me or didn't treat me right. I'll not speak to her. I'll not speak to him. That kind of paganism is what's sending the world to hell tonight. God give us a love and compassion one for the other. Jesus said they won't believe. One of the sad stories in the Bible to me is that story over in about Lot and Abraham. It said that there was strife between Lot's herdman and Abraham's herdman. And then one of the statements says, and the parasite and the Canaanite dwelled in the land. They saw the, they saw the fussing. They heard the fussing. Recently in a magazine, there was an article about the bus ministry in a famous magazine. And I even got sympathy cards from people around the country that thought the article was written to me. And I got sympathy cards. And one night I came in the study and my David's mighty men were all gathered around in the study. And somebody said, did you read the article in a certain magazine? I said, no, I didn't. And I said, but I know about it and I'm not going to read it because I'm happy and I want to stay happy. And I said, now that nobody from this church make a rebuttal, let none. This, the author of this article is a good man. And the, and the, and the editor of this magazine is a good man. And the institution that this magazine represents is a good institution. And I wouldn't hurt it if I could. I wouldn't hurt the man who wrote the article. I wouldn't hurt the institution. Why? Good night, we're on the same team. We fight the same battle. We're going to the same heaven. We have the same Bible. We have the same blood in our veins. The same Savior died for all of us. We're in the same family. Why in the world should we promote unity among the body of Christ instead of division and strife and unkindness and retaliation and vindication? Let others criticize the people of God. Let them slander us if they want to. Let's just keep on building the wall. Remember the story of Nehemiah? Nehemiah and his people up building the wall. And Sanballat and Tobiah came and ridiculed him and said, hey, that old fox could go up and break down that wall. Now, what Nehemiah wanted to do, Nehemiah was a big fellow. They called him the big chief. Turn yourself out, big chief. They called him that. Nehemiah said, we're just going to keep on building the wall. They came and said, hey, they mocked and made fun. They just kept on building the wall. Now I believe in conviction and I believe in standing against liberalism and against, against, against modernism and against sin, but I do not believe that God's blood-bought people ought to divide. I do not believe it. In the Bible, Jesus prayed that we'd be one. None of that. Did you know we have everything necessary to be one? Let me read you a wonderful verse. Verse 22. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one. The glory that thou hast given me, said Jesus said, have I given them? Why? So they can be one. The word glory there is the word doxa in the Greek, which means praise or glory. He says, everything, Father, everything you gave me so you and I could be one, I've given them so they can be one. There's no excuse for us not being one. No excuse for us being critical of one another. No excuse for us dividing the body of Christ. Now you say, well how, how can we be one? Okay, follow me. You don't, you don't be one because you want to be one. Knock, let's have a fuss. And so we have a fuss and I say, I'm going to be one with you. Ready? Okay. We won't. Can't do that. What do you do? I'll tell you what you do. Thank you. What you do. First thing Jesus told us. First thing, you gather around the same person if you want to be one. I saw a baseball game the other day. Two outfielders running for the same ball and neither one of them called for it. They bumped into each other and the ball dropped. You ought to guess what team. It's the Cubs. Pray for the Cubs. You're not praying. And now they didn't, they didn't say, let's get together. No, they looked up and a ball was flying out to left center field and they both ran toward the ball until finally they got together. And that's the way you become one in Christ. You run for the ball. You say, what you do is this. You try to get close to Jesus. Gather around the same. How many, how many times have I seen a young couple just got married that couldn't get adjusted? Uh, he wanted to go to the ball game. She wanted to go to the flower show until the compromise went to the flower show. And so, um, but, but, but, but they just couldn't get adjusted. And then one day he came home and she was knitting and he said, what are you making? She said, it's not a sweater for you. Guess again. Oh, no, it's not a pair of socks either. Try again. Oh, is it a, yeah, it's a, and it wasn't long until the baby came and, uh, he stood on one side of the crib and said, that's the prettiest baby I ever saw. And then she stood on the other side and said, that's the prettiest baby I ever saw. And they gathered around the same person and their problems were solved. Now, whenever a Christian gets to the place to where he says, I just want to exalt Jesus. I just want to love Jesus and gather around Jesus and praise Jesus and talk about Jesus and praise Jesus. And you know what will happen? Every other Christian that does the same thing will find himself close to each other. We gather around the same person. Number two, how can we, uh, how can we, um, uh, become one? You gather around the same person. That's what it says in verse 22. It says in the, I'm sorry, verse 24, uh, father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. By the way, you don't have to get to heaven to make that fulfilled either. You get close to Jesus, close to thee, close to thee, thou my everlasting portion, you get close to him. And then you're close to each other. Now the same person, the second way you gather around the same work, look at verse 18, the same work as thou has sent me in the world. Even so have I sent them in the world. When I was a kid, I joined the army. I joined the army. Nothing. I got drafted in the army. And I joined the paratroopers and I, I was a semi-professional softball pitcher before I became a paratrooper. And, uh, that was back in when pitchers were hard to find and, and, uh, back in, in all six, as somebody said this morning, uh, back in 1906. But anyway, I was, I, uh, I was not professional softball pitcher. So when I got in the army, they found out about the softball pitcher. You know how they found out? I told all of them. And, uh, so they found out about it. And so I pitched for the, for the, uh, special troops of the 82nd Airborne Division, the paratroopers. And, uh, uh, we, uh, uh, we had one team I hated worse than any other team, the 325 glider outfit. We were, we, we jumped and they, they got in gliders, just glided down. And I thought they were a bunch of sissies. Any, any ex-gliders here? Anybody that was a glider, the glider outfit? Anybody? I want you to hold your purse up if you're here. But, uh, anyway, I, uh, I, but, but they had a pretty good softball team and they gave us our closest game. We won the championship, but they gave us our closest game. And they had a, uh, captain over next to the, who was first, first base coach. He heckled me while I'd preach. Well, I hate captains in the first place. And, uh, and, uh, I did, uh, the Lord's forgiven me, but the Lord hates captains too. And, uh, so I, uh, but, oh, we hated that team. I, boy, I would beat them and lose every other game, then win every other game and lose to them. And I can recall several times when I felt led to aim at the temple of one of their players, uh, while he was here. You know, the Lord is in his holy temple and I was going to try to aim. And so I'd, I'd let him have it to know, but after the season was over, they announced we're going to have an all-star team of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. And they chose me the picture of the all-star team of all of the divisions, the entire camp, about, I guess, 150,000 men on the camp. And I was the pitcher. And you know, that, that captain that was the coach, he was chosen as the catcher on the all-star team. And he was the one at whose temple I had aimed profusely. Profusely is a Greek word. It means I tried to kill him. And, uh, so now he, he's a pitcher and I'm the catcher. And we had a big tournament, the Seventh Army Tournament played at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. And I was a pitcher and he was a catcher. And now we wanted to beat everybody else. And our, our goal was to win the championship. And I'd look in, see the fella that I used to hate. And now, boy, I wanted to catch every ball I threw. He'd give me a signal and I'd go. And, uh, you know what? He became one of my best buddies. A captain. I've asked God to forgive me and he has. But, uh, a captain. And one of my best buddies. You know why? We had a common cause. As long as he, we worked, I worked for one team, he for another, we didn't like each other. But if we got on the same team and decided to work for the same thing, the same goal, we learned to like each other. Now you want to know how to get one in Christ? Do the same work. The same work. What's that work? Soul winning. Get your bus route. Loud knock on doors. Get busy winning. Listen, soul winners don't usually divide or cause strife or division. It's when you quit winning souls that you get a little cantankerous, a little hard to get along with. Down in Texas, I suspect you heard me say this years ago, down in Texas, we have a deacon named J.B. Cumbest. J.B., I know I've told you about J.B., one of the most active participants in preaching I've ever heard in my life. I'd preach along and old J.B. would say, hmm, that's good. I mean, out loud. He'd make the fella that sat over here this morning that shouted a little bit and got happy. He'd make him look like an Episcopalian rector. I mean, really he would. I, I'd preach along and one night I was preaching and I said, sometimes I get so full I just can't contain myself. Old J.B. got up and said, then let her go, brother, let her go. And I, I was preaching one night. I got down to, to, to dancing and J.B. hated dancing. Oh, if I'd preach on dancing, he'd just, he'd holler and scream, amen, glory to God. I still got some tapes in my office of sermons I preached there and J.B.'s, one of these days I'll play one for you sometime. Let you hear old J.B. perform. Sometimes I'd stop and say amen to him while he's preaching and, and I was preaching on dancing and I, I said, oh, these little hell holes, you go dance, these little leaping and limping places. I said, nobody ought to participate in the modern dance. And J.B. said, pull over and park there a little while. And I pulled over and parked there for a little while. He'd, he'd get, sometimes, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. That's it, that's what it says in the Bible. I see it, there it is, yeah, mm-hmm. And he just kept on, just kept on. But that kind of personality, he was also a little bit, a little bit on the quick-tempered side. He was quick-triggered. So we, one night we're talking about predestination. He believed one thing, I believed the other. I'm not sure who believed what. Next time we'd change sides, I'd believe what he believed and he'd believe, we didn't care about predestination, we'd like to fuzz. And J.B. said, preacher, about that Bible study you had last night, he and our partner's going out soul-winning on Thursday night. And on the way to First House, he said, about that Bible study you had last, last night, he said, that was heresy. Do you know me very well? Do you know how I would, I react to things like that? With a sweet, wonderful disposition, I cut his throat. I said, here, I said nothing. I said, if you had enough spiritual perception to understand the Bible, you'd know that's plain Bible truth. He said, if you just walk with God, you'd know to teach the truth sometime. I said, you wouldn't know God if you saw it. He said, I ought to leave this church. I said, I'll show you the door. And a wonderful fellowship we enjoyed, like this. So we went out. I can, I'll say the name of the family in a minute. It was over in Castelinda in Dallas. Family's name was M-A-R-R, Marr, or M-A-H-R maybe. Knocked on the door. J.B. was facing this way. Wouldn't look at me. And I was knocking on the door this way. I wouldn't look at him. Isn't that pitiful? Just as pitiful as some of you. Fellow came to the door. Had a bathroom on. Had gone to bed early. I said, Mr. Marr, my name is Jack Hiles. They said, J.B. Cumbas. J.B. said, hi. I said, this is J.B. Cumbas. We walked in. A few minutes, the man was on his knees. And J.B. got happy. I'll never forget it. He said, where's your wife? Where's your wife? And the fellow said, I hate to even tell you this. Fellow said, she's in bed. I'll get her. J.B. said, never mind. I'll get her. And so I said, hey J.B., you're taking a shot at this too far. He was going to go get her saved. Bring her in there, you know. I said, hey, hold it. Fellow went and got his wife. His wife came back in. Both of them got saved. And J.B., there's a chair right in the living room. He was running around in that chair. And the man is running. He said, this is wonderful. This is wonderful. This is wonderful. Praise the Lord. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Amen. And all the time they were getting saved. He got happy. I mean, he clapped his hands. He shouted, praise the Lord. After it was all over, we went back out and got in the car again. And J.B. said, preach on. That's wonderful, isn't it? I was sure is. He said, I've been thinking while they were getting saved, I've been thinking about that Bible study last night. He said, you know, that's a good Bible study. And I said, J.B., I've been thinking about it too, and I think I was wrong. No, no, no. He said, it was a wonderful Bible study. And I said, J.B., you listen to me. It was not. You know how we got together? Huh? We got wrapped up in the same thing. We got interested in the same work. Same work. We got, we got so burdened about one couple that needed to get saved. Now, you want to know how to be one? Gather around the person of Christ. How to be one? Gather around the work, the work of Christ. Do the same thing. Get busy for God. And you want to, listen, you know that's one reason why I don't fellowship, what we call fellowship a great deal around the country. I hardly ever, unless the preacher needs me desperately, I don't go out and sit around some restaurant till midnight every night. You know why? Because we're going to be talking about each other before we know it. And that's not of God. There's a third way you can become one. That is, the same word. The same word. Verse 16 says, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy word. Thy word is truth. How can you become one? Through the word of God. Gathering around the word. Let me just say this and I'll pass on. Did you know we read too many substitutes for the Bible? Now, I'm for studying. I'm for studying and reading books. But when it comes to your devotional time, you'll do a lot better off to throw every one of your devotional books away and get in the Word. Now, for information, other books are fine. For Bible study and learning what the original words mean, other books are fine. But I'll be honest with you. I learned years ago that if you really want to gather, if you really want to become one in Christ, become the kind of a strong Christian you ought to become, just the undiluted word of God is what you need to do. For devotional time. These little books, you know, I'm not, I'm not going to preach against them because they're not bad, but they just, they're diluted. You know, a book that's, this is a devotional for every day. And so you have your devotional time and you read about a book. And this is the, this is today, the heaven, the terror, the glory of God. Did you ever go out and look at the stars at night? Did you ever try to count the stars? There are myriads of heavenly stars. God shows His handiwork in these stars. One of the boys one time was looking at a star and he said, ain't this pretty? And so forth. And you say, boy, that's so sweet. It may be sweet, but it won't feed your devotional soul like the Word of God will. I go to hospital rooms sometimes and I find people who are trying to get the strength and, and, and, and help from God reading a book of poetry instead of the Bible. If you won't read the poetry, turn to the Psalms. I'm not against poetry. I, and, and, and I love it. But I mean, if you're trying to get something for strength and to help you along the way and to give you courage and strength to fight the devil, get in the Bible and stay in the Bible. Gather around the Bible. You know, one reason this church gets along so well, we just get in the Bible all the time. Just get in the Bible. And we just keep soul winning, come together and study the Bible together. And we have, we're, we're built around the person of Christ and we're built around the Word of God and built around soul winning. And that's one reason why we don't have much trouble because we get close to each other. As we say, Jesus, we want to get close to you, do your work and gather around your book. But there's something else. In verse 11, it tells you how you can say, get, get close to each other. Verse 11 says, um, and now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. And look at verse 12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou has given me, I've kept and none of them is lost. He said, if you want to get, want to be one with other Christians, not only gather around the person of Christ, gather around the Word of God, gather around the Word of God, but flee the same enemy. Hey, where were you the night, the day we had the 26 inches of snow? Huh? How many remember where you were? I recall where I was. All right. Now, how many were, were in a place other than your house? Huh? Uh, where were you? Korea. You're really a smart aleck is what you are. You know, if you keep getting that nasty, we'll put you on a staff here before long. Do you know that? One of our men was in Chicago. He was in a restaurant and he got stranded in the restaurant. He told me an interesting story. And you don't remember how the snow came. You couldn't get outside your house. You couldn't even push the screen door open. And this fellow was stuck in the restaurant with a bunch of people. And, uh, he told how that after three days in a restaurant, he started cooking. Huh? And he told how that felt like they're one of the family, one big family. You know why they're fleeing the same storm. They found refuge from the same tragedy, the same calamity. And there's something when you flee the same calamity that gives you a oneness. If you flee the devil. Hey, when I was in school, we had the ugliest girl in school was Nazarene. Now Nazarenes aren't ugly necessarily, but so happens she's a Nazarene, she's ugly. And I was a Baptist, but I was the only Baptist in school that wouldn't dance in gym class. And so this Nazarene girl wouldn't dance either. And so I saw her in class one day and I went, and, uh, so time came to go to gym and they said, we're going to have a dance now. And I said, I can't. And this little girl, she said, I can't either. And so I went over there and we sat there. They laughed at her and they laughed at me. They laughed at her and they laughed at me. They laughed at her and they laughed at me. You know, when she's the only friend you got, she wasn't so bad looking after all. And you know what? Although we never courted, she became one of the best friends I had. You know why? Because we had the same, we had a common enemy. We had to say no to a common temptation. And if God's people want to become one with each other, then you just keep saying no to what's wrong and living the kind of life. Last Thursday night, Cindy and I were driving down the street and she said, there goes a first Baptist church kid. I wonder who he is. I said, what? She said, there goes the first Baptist church boy. I wonder who he is. Teenage boy walked by. I said, how do you know he's the first Baptist? You don't know who he is? Why don't you know who he is? She said, I haven't seen his face yet. Well, I said, how do you know he's the first Baptist then? She said, look at his hair. Sure enough, he's one of the Ross boys. Our church. She knew. You know why? They share the same conviction. They have the same enemy. They have the same conviction and try to live the same way. That's why one of the happiest bunch of young people in this world and I was on those buses stranded down there in Lafayette. You know why they're happy? Huh? Because they're alike. They're alike. And that's why that, that, uh, that the younger you ladies, they wear their skirts properly and they do it with honor and pride. You know why? Because there are hundreds of others do the same thing. Fleeing the same enemy. Time is gone, but let me say this, having the same destination will draw us together. Do you ever take a trip with anybody? And when you take a trip with somebody, the real you really comes out. One night I was driving from Murfreesboro, Tennessee back to Hammond, Indiana. There are four preacher boys down at Murfreesboro and they said, Dr. Hiles, we hate to impose on you. We know you're a busy man, but could we ride with you? They say it'd be the biggest honor in this world to get to ride with such a giant. That's what they said now. Such a giant of the Lord. They didn't know I was more of a pygmy than a giant, but they said such an honor to ride with a giant of the Lord like you. Could we ride with you? We've got to go that way. I said, come on, fellas. We got in the car. We drove, we started about 10 o'clock. Along about two o'clock in the morning, we got sleepy. Like that. Stick your head out the window. Stop and run around the car. And so, and when you get sleepy, if you stay awake, you get giddish. Now, honestly, I didn't drink anything really, but I got tickled and I started telling those boys all the funny stories I could tell them. And I heard one of them say, is that Dr. Hiles? And in the backseat, they'd laugh and laugh and laugh. And one of them would say, I didn't think you'd be like this. Now, you know what? There's something about traveling together. It makes you just sort of really know the humorous side. And we got tickled and tickled and we laughed so much until the muscles around your eyes break down. You know how that is? I mean, they just collapse. And when that happens, you can't keep your eyes open. You can't see a drive. But when I, when I got, we got to Hammond, sun up the next morning, one of them walked over me and said, Dr. Hiles, we never thought you were human. But he said, you know, we love you more than we did. Because everything you said and all the fun, it was, it was, it was in Christian fun. Nothing was said that was wrong or suggestive. He said, we've seen you when you were so tired and sleepy, you couldn't stay awake now. And we got to see Dr. Jack Hiles laugh and cut up and laugh that it could be cried, really tears rolling down your cheeks. And he said, we love you more than we've ever loved you. Every once in a while, I'll see one of those four fellows around the country. They're, they're, they're men now. They're pastors now. Every time I see one of them, he'll say, hey, remember that night we laughed all night long, the guy. And those men love me and appreciate me more than they ever would have if we hadn't traveled together. Now, listen to me, listen to me. You will love me forever. If you'll get this one truth, be one with God's people. I think I know what I'm talking about. There's not a man in this town that's slandered or talked about any more than I am. You know, that's true. A little girl wrote me a letter. In fact, it was your daughter, Brother Fisk, a long time ago, wrote me a letter. Said, I love you. You're my favorite preacher. She said, I'm going to stand for you in spite of the fact everybody in my school hates you. Been years ago. They all love me now. But it's been years ago. And so many times. Used to be a man met me right over here in this hallway every Sunday morning when I'd walk in. He'd say, Pastor, I want you to know that I want to stand beside you this morning. I'm for you. I'm going to stick with you no matter what they say. I said, what they say? Now, I don't have to with criticism. People think it's funny to tell me about my enemies and what folks say about me. And they delight because they don't think I care. I know something about it. I know something. You'll forgive me for being a little personal, but I know something about the hurt of someone you thought was a friend for life turning his back on you because you were a little bit unpopular. I saw a young man one day that I had married. Married him and his wife. I won him to Christ. I baptized him. I was his pastor when he was a young, just a little fellow. I saw him one day in a place where I was unpopular, defend the other crowd and turn his back on me. I came to a time in my life where every invitation that I had was canceled, every speaking engagement was canceled. And for a while I fought back. I'm sorry, but I did. I knew I was right. I knew I stood for what was right and I wanted to get the word out. And I fought back. But the more I fought back, the more bitter I got. And the more bitter I got, the less joy I had. The less joy I had, the less I could feed my people. The less I could feed my people, the more backstabbing they became. And one day I learned the blessed truth. It's been one of the three greatest days in my life. And that was the day when I realized that it's up to him to fight back. It's up to him to take care of vengeance. It's up to me to stay so close to him and so close to his word and so busy in his work and so in love with Christ. I'll look up and say, I love all of his people. I'm going to close and ask you a question. How is it with you and the Christian world tonight? How is it with you and the body of Christ? Huh? I told you a story. I won't tell you again. I was in Texas recently preaching. The end of the Tuesday night message, the greatest blessing I got while I was there took place. A little lady walked by. She gave me a fountain pen. She and her husband own a ranch now and raise cattle. She gave me a fountain pen. She looked up at me and she tried to speak and she couldn't. And she just sobbed. And so did I. And I just took her hand and held her hand and I looked at her and she looked at me for just a few silent moments, just crying. And both of us wandered back. Our minds wandered back to the night she and I had a falling out. And her husband and I wouldn't speak. I was a kid preacher. I was in my 20s. I didn't understand. We wouldn't speak. I wouldn't speak to him because I saw him on the street and he wouldn't speak to me. He hated me. But we made it right. She drove 40 miles just to hear me preach on Tuesday night and gave me a fountain pen. And we just stood there and held hands and cried. And I remember the day when I decided to let him take care of my enemies. How about you? I wish you knew the joy. I wish you knew the joy. Let's pray.