In this sermon, the preacher discusses the importance of serving God and making a commitment to Him. He references the story of Abraham making a sacrifice and emphasizes the need to protect our commitment from being stolen by the enemy. The preacher also talks about the manifestation of God to man through a smoking lamp and how it later became the Shekinah glory. He then shifts to the book of Revelation, specifically chapter 5, where he highlights the significance of the sealed book and the question of who is worthy to open it. The sermon concludes with a reflection on the power of adoration and worship, emphasizing that words are not always necessary to express our love and reverence for God.

I said the other day that this morning I would share some thoughts on a subject that I've never heard anyone preach on. And repeatedly my wife and I have gone into bookshops and asked if they had a book on this subject and always the same answer, no. Most bookshops these days, Christian bookstores, on the one side you find a whole stack of books on demons and on the other side you find a whole stack of books on how to be filled with the Spirit. But there are two subjects that I don't find any books on. One is the judgment seat of Christ and the other is the theme I want to, well I guess just scratch the surface on this morning and that is the subject of worship. We have taught people in our churches to witness and we have taught them to work. They come Tuesday or Thursday night, go knocking on doors. We have emphasised witnessing, we have emphasised work but we have not emphasised worship. And if there is one area that is more neglected than others in any church, it's the area of worship. The prayer meetings are small but we don't even have a worship service. I know it says that on the notice board of many churches. I noticed one board outside of a church and apparently somebody in the church had been repainting it and they had not done too good a job. They gave the name of the church and then it said Sunday morning, 11am, service but the spacing of the letters wasn't very good and they put S-E-R-V and then there was quite a big gap, I-C-E, serve ice. I thought well there is one church that is really honest. We get increasing confirmation as we go on our Christian way, particularly as preachers and students. But God's ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. I don't know if you have ever noticed this but when God wanted to describe the whole of his creation to us, he took just one chapter here in Genesis, it has 31 verses. And when he wanted to describe the tabernacle, he gave us 7 chapters and there are 243 verses. Now we would have done it the other way around wouldn't we? We would have taken 243 verses describing the creation of the world and how he put the stars there and everything else. And God says forget it. And so there is one chapter to describe the creation of the world and there are 7 chapters describing the tabernacle and the camp. And it seems to me the more we lose of the glory of God, the more artificial glory we try to get in the house of God. We need stained glass windows, a robe choir, a great big steeple and all the fancy trimmings. And yet the tabernacle in the wilderness was a scruffy looking place. No attraction at all. Bits of linen, badger skins dyed red, you would have passed it and said hey that's an old army camp there. Somebody left it. I guess it's full of mice or something. And I don't think the stable was very beautiful that Jesus was in. You see it on a Christmas card, it's lovely. But it happens to smell of urine and stinking with dung and it had cobwebs for curtains and it had the heat of beasts to keep it warm. And it had a flickering lamp if you had one at all. There wasn't much in it. And yet the son of God was in it in all his glory. I need to do a little leapfrogging from Genesis to Revelation this morning. If I don't you should be home by Friday night. But that tabernacle in the wilderness. Remember the court, how it was set up. There were three courts. There was the outer court, there was the holy place and the holy of holies. The outer court there was a ministry. Let's say this again. You could be a soldier in Israel when you were 20. You could not be a priest until you were 25 and certainly not a high priest until you were 30. There was the outer court and there were ministers in it and all they did was minister to people. Run around making offerings, ministering to people. That's all they ever did. And in that outer court they had daylight. When you came into the first inner court, the holy place, there was no daylight. It was illuminated with a candlestick. And then when you moved into the holy place there was no candlestick. There were no windows. It was pitch dark. One thing you have to do, I have to do, we all have to do. After you make a real commitment to God, you have to do like Abraham. We didn't get down to that. But you remember he made a sacrifice, remember that? And he divided up the different things and put them on either side and he had a pathway down the middle. And he went up and down and he beat the birds off. They wanted to steal his sacrifice. And then he fell asleep. And then he woke up and as he woke up there was somebody walking up and down the middle with a smoking lamp. That was the first manifestation of God to man since Eden. A smoking lamp. Afterwards that smoking lamp became a pillar of fire. Afterwards that pillar of fire became the Shekinah glory. And we read in the book of Revelation that Jesus walked up and down in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Well let me ask you a little question here. When did you last go to the house of God when it was so filled with awe that you didn't leave when the benediction was pronounced and when you did leave you didn't talk? I'm emphasizing again that I do not believe our people these days come to church to meet God. They come to hear a sermon about God. And as much as I emphasize the fact of prayer I was jolted into this recognition of the fact that we very seldom know how to worship. I'll tell you how it came about in two ways. About three years ago I was at Peter Love's church and after being there for nearly a week we took a bunch of preachers, about a hundred preachers, I don't know who the other trimmings were, deacons and students, down into an area, I think we're going there in about another month, and we went to an old drying out camp. It's a place where they take alcoholics and dry them out. And for some reason we took preachers there and I was trying to get them drunk. But after we had been there, the pastor, a big handsome fellow, the pastor of the First Baptist Church in a great big town, in a magnificent church I preached in later, asked me to preach for him on the way as we went home. Well I said, sure, I'll do that. I'm free Sunday morning, I'll pick you up to minister. Saturday night he called us to dinner in his house, lovely house. And leaning across the table, I'll never forget it, as Bunyan would say, his eyes, the water stood in his eyes, his eyes were filled with tears and he said, Brother Ray, I want to tell you something. I've been to Bible school, I've been to seminary, I'm considered a successful preacher, but you hit me the other day and I can't get over it. You said something that's just eating me. Look, I can preach. I can juggle with some Greek, I know some Hebrew. Again, I have all my credentials. I have men who envy my ministry. I have men who envy this great church. But you know what? I don't know how to worship. How do I worship? I said, I'll tell you why I got started on this theme of worship. I walked in Dr. Tolt's office one day and he said, Len, latch the door. You see this rug here? And I said, yes, yeah, I see that rug. I've seen men making rugs in the audience. Beautiful rugs. This rug was about, I would think, 50 inches long, maybe 27 wide. And he said, that's not much of a rug, is it? I said, no, he said it cost 69 cents in Kresge. That was in 1950 and money was money. But 59 cents. And then he said this amazing thing. He said, Len, I come in my office some morning so overwhelmed with the majesty of God I lift my phone off the cradle and say to my secretary in the other office, Margaret, you can go home. I can't dictate any letters. I can't interview anybody. I've just got to meet God. And he said, at 8 o'clock in the morning I get down on that rug. On my belly, he used a good old Bible word. I get down on my belly at 8 o'clock in the morning. I'm still there at 10 or 11 or 12. And I've never said a word. I haven't said a word of prayer. I haven't said a word of praise. I've just worshipped him. Basically, prayer is making our requests known unto God. Praise is thanking him. Worship is forgetting all about what he does for us and all that we need to be done as desperate as our situations are and worshipping him in spirit and in truth and in the very beauty of holiness. And it's even harder than prayer. The Lord gave the description, again, of the tabernacle in the wilderness. And the first thing he said about it was this. Thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be the length of it and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of it. That's in Exodus, chapter 25 and verse 17. And then he says this. In verse 22 of the same chapter. There will I meet with thee and will commune with thee from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony and all things which I will give thee in the commandments unto the children of Israel. In verse 43 of chapter 29 he says There will I meet with the children of Israel and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. Again, there was no light in that place. It was totally dark in the holy of holies and except God came. God is light. John says that in 1 John 3, doesn't he? God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. And except there was an invasion of God in that holy place, it was totally dark. There were no windows. There were no steps into the tabernacle where nobody would fall down getting in. There were no locks on the door. And yet just that one man was permitted to come right into the holiest place of all and stumble around in the darkness and ask the glory of God came. But when the glory of God came, the mercy seat was pure gold. The cherubim were pure gold. Can you imagine the blazing light in that holy place? The switch from total darkness into the brilliance of the presence of God. Before ever he said how long the tabernacle should be. Why? The first thing he said, I need a mercy seat. I need to meet with thee there. That's the most important thing in the whole world that we meet with God. I know you may go to a meeting where they say now let's stand up and all put your hands up and let's worship God. That isn't worship. That's praise. Do you remember that when Jesus appeared to his disciples, it's mentioned in the end of the chapter, I marked it in my testament, didn't bring my testament with me. Yes, here it is. Matthew 28 verse 9, and as they went to tell his disciples, behold Jesus met them saying all hail and they came and held him by the feet and they worshipped him. And then it says at the end of the chapter in verse 17, and when they saw him, they worshipped him. We stand to sing, we kneel to pray, we prostrate ourselves to worship. Jesus used to say to me often Len, never mind what other men do, let me tell you something, you and I have to worship God face downwards. Do you remember in the case of Daniel when he said he saw the Lord, he said my strength went from me. Some people suggest, you know when I get to heaven I'm going to walk up to Jesus and say hey you know what, I enjoyed serving you. Remember all I did for you? You know I got a list there and I got saved and everything. Look I'm going to tell you something, Jesus right now at this moment is on the throne of mercy and we can find grace there but when you see him he won't be on the throne of mercy, he'll be on the throne of judgment. In the fourth chapter of the revelation you have the picture there of Jesus and you have the other thrones round about and the other sitting around on 24 other thrones. In the 20th chapter you have him sitting supreme in his majesty and his glory and you can disagree if you like but when you see Jesus Christ you'll be terrified, you'll be terrified. Oh I'm longing to see my savior, we've sung a lot of sloppy sentimental songs from his beautiful throne he will welcome me home, who told you? There was one man in history that had a supreme opportunity and he laid his head on the bosom of Jesus and heard that divine eternal heartbeat and one day he saw Jesus in his resurrection splendor and you think how people are going to do that following so far off and half of them will die backslidden anyhow and you're suggesting that listen when you see me he's high and lifted up on the throne his hair is as white as snow his feet are like burnished brass his face is like the sun in its spread his eyes are living coals of fire his tongues are sharp to edge and sore and when I saw him I felt his feet as dead. What a picture. I've been in art galleries around the world looking for a picture like I've never seen a picture of Jesus like that I've seen sloppy pictures of Jesus with a lamb in his arms pathetic looking like a woman and I said to one of the world's greatest artists why don't you paint a picture of Jesus as he really was he was a strong man he comes from the battle of Armageddon with the blood of the nations on his skirt who is this that comes from Eden with garments dyed red from Foster's field travelling in the greatness of his strength he offered Jesus as though he was wringing his hand saying could I come into your heart I'll be so unhappy you can go to hell for all Jesus cares now you know why that he died between two seas on a cross and he never witnessed to them he stood before Herod and wouldn't even open his mouth we had a very famous preacher in England an Irishman actually by the name of W.T. Nicholson he was a fantastic preacher I shouldn't say fantastic that's a silly word he was a very dramatic and he was a very powerful preacher I followed him into Scotland once and he'd been to one of these great big granite churches a magnificent church and he had prayed and preached and if you go to the statute book of Northern Ireland which is in convulsions right now politically and every other way you'll find on at Stormont which is the Houses of Parliament you'll find on the statute book for about 1926 there's a big line and scored right across the big open pages we anticipated revolution God sent revival through W.T. Nicholson he was a great preacher but he wouldn't stand for nonsense he preached in this great church for about five nights and there wasn't a move and Sunday morning he went into the pulpit and he put his foot up on the desk like this and took his handkerchief and said look I shake the dust off my feet as a condemnation against you you won't hear God's voice and when he got to the edge of the city that divides that part from Glasgow he got out again and he stopped his car and he shook the dust off and he said like Paul Heaven took their witness I shake the dust off my feet against doing condemnation you saw a preacher do that in your church you'd remember it better than any sermon you ever heard in your life there's no man on earth does God a favour will you please get that in your mind you'll never do it you'll never be the smartest preacher going but if he hadn't you might have been in hell already don't get out there just some pretty little guy and of course the Lord's really honoured to have me I mean I'm no gifted you need a week's repentance if that's your idea no man does God a favour and when we see him no he's not going to be a meek and lowly Jesus gentle Jesus, meek and mild well thank you Charles Wesley for writing the hymn that Jesus is always gentle he can lash people too my church didn't do that I get sick of people sending me bulletins from the churches our church has full son and fellowship well why don't you go into the restaurant business then I had one not long ago the preacher auctioned slaves after the Sunday night service did that in my church I'd auction the preacher you don't need any gimmicks if you have the Holy Ghost if you have to go in for that stuff you're hanging your shingle out but your church is bankrupt we ourselves have manifest Jesus in all his glory we're so concerned we might offend somebody or the choir doesn't get to sing or Miss Jones doesn't get to gargle to music or something that we're prepared to shove everything on one side what did Jesus say Jesus said the father seeketh such to what worship him to worship him and to worship him in spirit and in truth and in the very beauty of holiness now I'm going to give you a classic story it's here in the word of God it's a very beautiful story oh it's told by each of the evangelists in a different way but there's a version here in the gospel recorded by Luke and I'm going to read it quickly a part of it to you Luke chapter 7 verse 36 one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him and he went into the Pharisees house and sat down to meet and behold a woman which was a sinner when she knew that Jesus sat at meet in the Pharisees house brought an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his where his feet weeping and began to wash his feet with tears and wipe them with the hairs of her head and kiss his feet and anointed them with ointment when the Pharisee which had bitten him saw this pig within himself saying this man if he were a prophet would know who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him she's a sinner and it was an offense for a woman to touch a man of God and he claims to be the sinner oh I've messed the whole thing up you see this man had sent his invitations out to his friends all the society people there the millionaire was there and the mayor of the town and all the wealthy people and women weren't allowed anywhere near such an occasion I can imagine this man having almost a nightmare and I'll put songs to him now I've just got the right people I've got the right folk we must have the right food we must get the right flowers and create a good atmosphere and he got up that morning saying to himself this is going to be the greatest day of my life a day I never want to forget and it became a day he never wanted to remember this is going to be the day of my exaltation it became the great day of his humiliation one of those days you missed it at the beginning you missed it the whole way through and he's busy around the house somebody says there's so-and-so's coming in oh he's coming with a choicest pair of white horses master and he runs to the door according to custom kisses him on either cheek and escorts him to have his feet washed because they didn't wear a hose and you must be comfortable and he gets different people sitting around and a servant says the master goes over and he said you know that certain woman in town if she comes near here turn the guards on her master she's in the back doing what? that Jesus man you call him well I didn't see him arrive no you didn't see him arrive you were too busy paying homage to the famous people and I have an idea Jesus swept in at the back door that's the way Jesus did things he didn't want any ostentation if he did he'd have come the first time with 10,000 of his saints and come back in the chariot that Elijah went to heaven in and startle everybody and he came through the back door with a suggestion of illegitimacy on him and Jesus I think had stolen in the back door after all he took upon himself what? the nature of angels not the form of a servant where do you find servants? in the back quarters where was Jesus? he was there and Simon comes and looks boy I missed it and Jesus turned and said Simon I somewhat well ok I'll listen there was a certain creditor had two debtors one owed him 500 pence and the other 50 and when they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both tell me therefore which of them would love him most well obviously if this man owes 5 cents and this owes 500 and in that I love this woman do you know why? she was the only one that went to that feast that took Jesus a gift they all went to get something she was the only one that went away blessed as far as I know reading the record she went away forgiven she went away excited this very stuff frankincense this incense this beautiful alabaster box she paid a great deal in reading these stories it tells you the box had just in it one pound of ointment well do you care if it had a pound or 500 you may not I do it tells you how much it was worth an awful lot of money for people who only got a penny a day for a long day and didn't work every day of the week and she saved it up against a burial she was going to have a real hard time with it and if this Mary was the sister of Lazarus which she may have been she didn't love a brother enough to embalm him when he died and she had this box of ointment and she stole it oh I like this do you know why I like it because while it wasn't unpremeditated it was unprecedented she didn't copy anybody else like we did oh we are going to try this in our church she loved gimmicks and gadgets she took a pound of ointment she could have gotten thrown out on her neck I don't know whether she stood on the edge of the crowd and heard Jesus say come unto me all ye that are weary and she said I can't push through the crowd man they'll break my neck but I hear he's at a feast and I've made up my mind I'm going I've got an idea that the rumor around is true that they're going to kill him before long and he won't be there when I want him she anointed his head she anointed his feet she should have knelt in front of him she knelt behind him she should have washed his feet with water not water, not water she said I've never washed his feet with water I wash his feet with my tears Charles Wesley has a lovely hymn on that oh let me kiss thy bleeding feet and bathe and wash them with my tears did you ever wash his tears his feet with your tears not tears when you're in trouble and sorrow tears of gratitude and you felt totally disintegrated and shattered and said God in heaven why did you save me I told you I watched more than once when I was with David Wilkins and watched those prostitutes and jail birds and criminals and big husky men I said to me one day so and so he looks a nice fellow and I went to him and asked him a question I said when did you first start in crime well he said I carried a 38 when I was 8 years of age I murdered a man when I was 12 I've been in so many murders and double murders I can't remember I've just come out of Sing Sing I did 10 years there I bumped off a big politician for 5 grand that was when money was money I've so much sin in my life I could go to hell 50 times over and it wouldn't be wrong for God to do that but one day I met him not David Wilkinson I met Jesus you know I always tell people when I went in there such a sense of worship and adoration and gratitude amongst those kids they knew they were lepers they knew they had come from the very scum do you think pride is any less sin than adultery God doesn't many of our people are respectable sinners in the church they're not lousy they're not social outcasts they're not social lepers and they don't feel too bad about it and she said I'm going to take him the most precious thing that I have she washed his feet with tears and she wiped his feet with the hairs of her head and then when she'd done that she poured out the alabaster box of ointment and you know what she did after that she dried his feet again with the thing that the word of God says is a woman's glory she should have washed his feet with water and she washed his feet with tears she could have anointed his feet with oil and she anointed her hair and she gave the ointment she could have dried his feet with a towel and she said not a towel I'll humiliate myself to the very bottom and she took him by the feet and the disciples when they saw the Lord they fell at his feet in worship Daniel saw him and my strength was gone and I fell at his feet an old saint used to say very often never nearer than my cross and never higher than my feet oh and we poured out our desire and I can pray as firmly as anybody and I can sit on chairs and I can cry and yell at times and sometimes I can sing softly and just praise him but you see when you get to a place of adoration you have no words I know this woman went to worship Jesus for two reasons one she took a gift the most costly gift and the other thing she never said a word to him and we think in the multiplicity of words the man who is an orator the man who can express himself oh he may impress you by his spirit of worship and Dr. Tudor says I gaze on him in his majesty in his holiness and if I say anything at all it's not in prayer and it's not in praise it's adoration to him he would quote Faber how beautiful, how beautiful the sight of thee must be thine endless wisdom boundless power and awful purity oh Jesus, Jesus dearest Lord forgive me if I say burn, burn within me love of God burn fiercely night and day till all the dross of earthly love is burned and burned away there was a little woman lived in France and Tom Westley was converted on the 24th of May 1738 a hundred years before that the little French met St. Madame Courignac she had a remarkable life of devotion to Jesus and she wrote a hymn to Jesus from a verse assist me with thy heavenly grace empty my heart of earthly love that's where it starts if you've any rival love in your heart forget it you don't say darling I love you but of course I'll expect every third week off because I have another girlfriend your wife will tell you where to go and how to get there and one day John Westley who loved the French and spoke French very brilliantly he discovered a bit of poetry and he said this is what I want if I had a banner like the old English aristocracy I'd want to blaze it on my banner it was a poem of Antoinette Courignac can Saviour Jesus from above assist me with thy heavenly grace empty my heart of earthly love and for thyself prepare a place now that's not too dramatic but listen to this nothing on earth do I desire but thy pure love rest upon my breast only this will I require and freely give up all the rest wealth, honour, treasure and what else this short enduring world can give tempt as ye will my soul rebels for Christ alone resolve to live thee will I love and thee alone with pure delight and inward bliss to know thou takes me for thine own oh what a happiness is this now that's pretty easy to say isn't it nothing on earth do I desire but John Westley's home John Westley's brilliant father and his brilliant grandfather and the group he was in were the most impressive and influential family in England apart from the royal family and one day when John Westley fell in love with Jesus on the 24th of May 1738 about a quarter to nine he made a hole in hell that they'd never filled up he got the angels so excited I think they're still excited nothing on earth do I desire if he'd given his genius to politics it would have been the greatest prime minister England ever had if he'd stayed on course with the Church of England he would have been the most influential and powerful archbishop of Canterbury the Church of England never knew if he'd given his genius to inventions he would have invented more than Edison because he invented things for fun he learned new languages so his brain wouldn't go rusty but one day he took all that wealth out of the fire and he came as a missionary to Georgia and said he woke up one morning and he said I managed to pull one of my arms out of the mud and then I released the other one and then he wore hair like some of you guys it was a bit long and he said I released my hair out of it he slept in the open and he said I stood up and got the frost off me and got to circulation and raised my hands and sang and praised God from whom all blessings flow man if our preachers did that they'd need 6 months in Florida to recover and they'd write a book about it John Wesley passed into the mirroring scene as I mentioned the other day for 50 years he lived on $100 a year oh he made money, sure he did I preached in his famous school there in England in Bristol orphanages he built schools he built he made money he turned the money into Bibles he turned the money into printing hymn books nothing on earth do I desire it was a love trice and it's exactly what Jesus Christ you can't make God wise you can give God a million dollars every hour on the hour you can't make him rich he doesn't love all earth anyhow what can you give him you can preach more brilliant than sermons than Spurgeon that won't impress God the only thing that satisfies God is love not he has love, he is love and this woman brought a gift and you know what happened she poured the ointment on his feet and then she had a little loose that long cataract of hair and she wiped his feet with the hair of her head you see the point the fragrance she poured out on him she got back on herself didn't she as soon as she brought the ointment the fragrance filled the house isn't it ironical that I don't know who went to that party who wasn't on the guest list that's the kind of joke God's playing she's stolen the show she shouldn't have been on the guest list you know there's no evidence that Jesus ever took a drink of water or a bite of food can you imagine Simon saying but Lord I wanted to see it my way I've been trying to get God to see things my way for 50 years and I still can't get him to do it I've got to see them his way Lord do you realize that table is groaning under the weight of food look at that beautiful meat look at everything I had to raise a big loan to buy this well I don't know Jesus took a bite of food or anything you know the devil isn't dumb there's a lot of things he isn't money isn't dumb he'll never ask you to do what you can't do but he'll try and get you to do what you shouldn't do if thou be the son of God do you know how great worship is that's how important worship is I'd just like you to kneel down and just say one Satan I worship you I adore you and if you do I'll give you the whole world and Jesus didn't say you're a liar they're not yours to give you recognize the word because in Revelation it says one day the kingdoms of this world they're not the kingdoms of God right now in that sense Satan has dominion and don't you forget it you know I don't think five years from now you'll have a penny in your pocket you'll have two lovely wives that bear a child you'll take them down to the store and they'll photograph a number on the child's skin you won't be able to see it it'll be under the skin and it'll be his insurance number his car number his driving license number his social security number that's what it'll be and when you go to the bank you won't need anything you just stand there a light will shine and you go to Sears Roebuck and they'll just look at you and they'll say press the button yes that's the answer we just got your bank balance from the bank they're doing that already aren't they you can buy a thing now down in Johannesburg and the moment you buy it the price is reflected in London brother big brother isn't looking over your shoulder he's already got it people say I'll die before I have the mark of the beast what's your social security number isn't that the mark of the beast you're already the property of the devil getting tighter and harder and more difficult every day we move and if there isn't a new wave of love in the church of Jesus we're sanct oh says one hymn writer let me love thee love is mighty swaying realms of deed and thought by it I can walk upright I can serve thee as I ought love will soften every trial love will lighten every care love unquestioning will follow let me love thee some people say well you know people talk about gifts of the spirit but Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13 love is greater than all the gifts well just a minute you'll be very honest about me he doesn't dismiss gifts because he talks about love he said if you're going to have gifts the only way to operate them is in love otherwise you become arrogant you're strapped you show off he didn't say though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love I become a standing brass love suffereth long and is kind love envious not now he doesn't say if I speak with the tongues of men and have not love gifts are nothing he says I am nothing I'd like to have preached on that verse I nearly did last night that chapter he's got a great chapter 1 Corinthians 13 I love that chapter but you see love can carry any burden love can accept any challenge there's no sea it cannot cross there's no mountain it cannot climb there's no difficulty that it won't take the first and greatest commandment is thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and strength and thou may that the first fruit of the Spirit is love the first being in the world is God and God is love you can't escape it the badge of discipleship by this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you have love alright Jesus didn't take a bite of food or a drink of wine or anything that I know of Satan isn't a food you know Jesus you're doing pretty good oh yes you'll be feeding the multitude soon feed yourself you're very hungry listen now let me put these little rocks out here now you command that those stones become bread well I think he did I think he did I read about it this morning so men were out on the balls and they were weary and tired and suddenly they said come on boys hang up Jesus remember the song we used to sing come and dine the master caller here they met their hearts desire bread and fish upon the fire do you think Jesus went fishing that morning do you think he went down to the baker's shop and knocked him up it wasn't even daylight yet I think Jesus got some nice big rocks like that and he put them down and said become bread and they became bread he said to the devil there you are I'll do it when I want not when you want you can do the wrong thing at the wrong time sure you can do the right thing at the wrong time you can never do the wrong thing at the right time Simon is this the same man in the 26th chapter of Matthew there's a little word inserted there he went to the house of Simon leper hey you can't live in your house if you're a leper no you can't there came a day when Simon discovered he was a leper and he kissed his wife goodbye and he went to the gate of the city and they crossed his name off the register because he was a leper and he went down the highway begging and one day Jesus came that way and he said have mercy on me have mercy I'm a leper and Jesus healed him and when he got back to the gate hey you can't come in here you're a leper he said what where oh you've got beautiful hands what happened he touched me and made me hot he went back to the temple and the priest said don't defile the house of God with what he said you see my hands and let Jesus down the way and make me hot he goes home and his wife says please don't come in the house and touch the children why not you're a leper isn't it incredible that the man only Jesus could have healed him there was no other cure for it and yet he forgot to kiss Jesus he forgot to worship Jesus the woman had an alabaster box of ointment and it weighed a pound a few days afterwards those feet that she put in her hands were on a cross with blood running out of them and I'm going to suggest to you she was the only woman in the whole crowd including the mother of Jesus and all the disciples she was the only person that was happy in the crowd because Jesus said don't you start putting a price on this and saying the money should be given to the poor you didn't care about it anyhow against the day of my burial a few days after those feet were running with blood and I can hear her saying bless him I'm glad I did it I know I was terrified outside of the door what will they do if I go in but I have those feet in my hands just a few days ago and I poured my ointment upon him and then you remember they took the body down and if you've been going up the hill you'd have seen some men the next day four men carrying a hundred pounds of the same stuff that she gave to Jesus and she'd only a pound and the millionaires gave Jesus a hundred pounds the only trouble was Jesus didn't know a thing about it he gave it to Jesus when he was dead a lot of people are going to give Jesus a lot of things when they die have you made your will be sure you give it to the church be sure it's used for God's glory well I think that's alright but I want to tell you something if you leave ten million dollars in your will I don't believe God will give you ten cents for it let's get this rich Texan buried Billy Graham tells the story of a Texan they buried him in a solid gold coffin the colored men were standing around as they lowered the coffin into the ground one of them said boy that's living well er alright let's get this millionaire he's lying in his casket they even buried him with a ten thousand dollar pipe in him and diamond cufflinks he looks great don't know where he's going but he looks great anyhow and he's in the greatest casket that's ever been made in Texas and of course they say a lot of wonderful things and then someone says just before we close the casket would you like to come and look at our dear friend he was in this church and he bought us a new organ and he put this new rug in and they talked all about all the things he did because he never went to a prayer meeting but that doesn't matter he put a new rug in in the prayer room and he did a few other things and I'd like you to see him when you go there in the old boys but he left ten million dollars for the mission this old book of mine says the Lord love us what he doesn't look so cheerful does he did he give his ten million dollars no no he didn't he was still living dad put the place up and said there you are you're gone but he wrote up a little before that any money that I should leave please give it to the mission because he's sure that's somehow a God and when he gets there he'll discover his ten million dollars just made one paving block for my mansion won't he be embarrassed that's why I say sometimes when you get to heaven you'll pick most of the evangelists up they'll be digging the streets alright they'll be chasing the gold oh this woman bought one pound of ointment and Jesus said this is marvellous I'm breathing your love and I'm seeing your love she never said a word she did it all in action she bought a gift nobody else bought a gift for the priest not even Simon and the woman as I say she bought a gift do your giving while you're living then you're knowing where it's going the man bought a hundred pounds of ointment and Jesus didn't even believe it you know there's only one little story I think from this for me to understand in the bible I have no problems I don't think you have about John and the whale but there was one couple in the world one woman of all the women that crossed the bridge of time that was privileged to carry the son of God in her body and you know we've lost a lot a lot of the reality of what it meant to go to the temple they went to Jerusalem to worship they loved to go there and you know that temple was so big that once there was an uprising in it and six thousand people were killed inside the temple of course and people came north, south, east and west and sometimes we sing with marching to Zion well they used to march to Zion the women went first, the men came last that being so as they went down those dusty roads if the bandits came down to rob the women the men could pounce on them and they went to the feast and they had a great time and all good things come to an end like they were with us today in some way they got to the end of the day there were maybe a few thousand people there and maybe Mary goes round and says I didn't see my hundreds and hundreds and thousands of people there I didn't get a drink at the well today oh my and all these people kicking up dust I'm not hungry I've eaten so much dust oh boy I but I certainly would like to find my oh there's Joseph and Jesus Joseph oh Mary darling how are you how do you feel oh there's people dressed in the dust there I don't think they even wore shoes I think they were too poor do you remember when the prodigal came home what did his daddy say put shoes on his feet put a new robe on him he suggested all they did all the pig dirt on him and he skunked like a skunk and his father just said do you think so or do you think he made another bastard we kind of suggest God puts his robe of righteousness over our corruption that's why there's so many backstabbing people in church if they're not cleansed they need more than forgiveness they need cleansing put shoes on his feet that must have been a wonderful homecoming alright let's step back here and say what Mary says I don't think I'm coming to any more conference first of all I don't think so and people are so rude a man just jogged me away I didn't get a drink of water I nearly fainted and Joseph says you know what I didn't get a drink how did Jesus get on what oh Mary you know what I said how did Jesus oh Joseph don't tease me what do you mean well you know very well Jesus has been with you all day you're kidding go on Mary you're teasing me you've got Jesus with you I haven't seen Jesus isn't that about the most incredible story they were given God's treasure and they lost him and do you know where they lost him they've been to a conference well what do we do there's only one thing we'll have to go back leave the crowd yeah you're going to leave the crowd then when you've lost him you could lose him in the crowd and she did she did like any woman who'd lose her son twelve years of age cried herself to sleep all night what do you think there is an insect they're round here and there where do you think he is well let's see I know I'd like to go to the pool of Ceylon no he's not there oh the bazaar he's always talking about the men that buy costly pearls he's not there where is he he's in the temple those Adams that come up selling stuff in the feast he's searched everywhere now look look look let's ask you a question a minute where did we last see him in the temple did you look in the temple Mary no did you no well let's go oh it was a vast place look at it in the back of your Bible a picture you have read about it it's a vast place did you look in there he was a priest when you get desperate you don't care where you look do you and he was battling those wise men that's one reason I don't believe in boy preachers all the king's horses and all the king's men and the sherman's fang wouldn't get me to hear a boy saying hey if Jesus had ever been a boy preacher Jesus would have been up there battling the men but he was like all children he was down there asking them questions peppering them with questions when God gets injured oh poor me I got hurt I got trapped I sometimes wonder if Jesus didn't whip those disciples do you remember when they were in a boat on the sea of Galilee and the waves came up and they were going to sink and they awakened him don't you care that we perish man you would have thought at least they would have said master we are afraid you are going to die please don't you care we perish what did Joseph Mary say don't you care for your daddy and your mummy and Jesus looked and smiled and said don't you think I should be about my father's business I get that Joseph what does it mean oh I am not his father eh we have lost authority over him you know lots of our people when the glory of God comes down in the house of God Sunday morning if and when it does they lose that glory and they sit in front of the church with their silly stupid gossip hey you have a bigger TV than that it is a little serious could I come round this afternoon hey I see you have got light bulbs is that your carpet and brother they have forgotten all about God and eternity in 10 seconds some people lose God because they gossip going out some people lose the blessing of God because they get the church too late there is a man in record in the bible only for one thing he got the church too late when he got there oh my God it is wonderful isn't it what do I look at now oh oh oh you just moved in oh you should have been here as a matter of fact he stood right on that spot where you are standing now who is it oh I met Mary up the road screaming about it who is it who is it you know it is just women that are emotional listen we are a bunch of men and he is there and he is cold well I am going to tell you something you are not going to fool me I am going to take my finger and put it right there in the nail print and he is going to lift his shirt up and I am going to put my hand in his side and when he does that I will believe and until then I am not believing and Jesus turned up a little while after boy Thomas Whitson being sexy and good Thomas come here yes Lord I recognise you praise the Lord I am glad you have written well good I am going to take you at your word you see you once told God you would take anything he could do anything in your life as soon as he did it you started swearing and called the pastor and asked for help I don't know what God is doing well I will tell you what he is doing he answers a prayer you make so courageously when you are so hot and excited about spiritual things you don't write any love stories to God and get excited and get away with it come on Thomas can you imagine Thomas going up in front of the disciples well Lord I Lord I believe you I know you are the son of God and I remember many miracles you did and of course I have never forgotten that so it was just the greatest thing ever and Jesus says you forget all about that come on now here put your fist in please come on that is where the nail went through there you are Thomas but Lord your faith will never be whole until you do it that's what if he had gone to church at the right time he never got in that mess we had a forum in Manchester, England where the great preachers used to come G. Campbell Morgan, Dr. Black, Father W.E. Sangster, Martin Lloyd Jones, name them I used to go down on a Tuesday and listen but I always got there on time because very often I got more in the first hymn or I got more in the opening prayer than I got in the whole sermon and I knew if I got there late I'd missed it and if the blessing of God came which he did at times I didn't stay and talk with him usually a gathering of preachers three or four hundred I beat it I wouldn't let anybody rob me, no sir they'd been to the great wonderful festival and they lost Jesus but they found him in three days we don't usually make it back in three days let me just leap over here to the book of Revelation can I do that a few minutes the fifth chapter sorry let me read just the first part please Revelation 5 from verse 1 I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof was able to open the book thereof was able to open the book neither to look thereon and I wept much because I was found no man worthy to open and to read the book neither to look thereon and one of the elders said unto me weep not the lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof and to change this if you like but I'm going to suggest to you this is the most awesome moment in eternity I can't give you the geography of it I don't know how many millions we'll be looking on but remember I say this about the book of the Revelation to me the book of the Revelation is a book of mystery it's a book of majesty and it's a book of misery because it shows me God's final judgment on the world in the womb of lost men so it is a book of majesty a book of mystery and a book of misery this book is not only the end book of the Bible but it's the book that describes the end of all things and it's the only book authentically that describes everything that happens after the end of all things and John has a preview now listen in many ways John is not as profound a theologian in my judgment he had a way you'll have it all by himself if you've gone to Ephesus and you say I've come to hear John I believe he's about 90 years I want to hear him preach well come up on this hill you see that little island you can just see a spot in the sea well John is there in the isle of Patmos and you say to somebody would you row me over there all the bitumen miners all the rapists all the murderers were dumped on it it was a hell hole and they put John the saint of God there and he's sitting on a rock contemplating meditating after all that that's really what worship is all about worship I say again is total silence meditation adoration contemplation not merely with language not merely with intelligence but my spirit I am a spirit you might say to somebody you've never seen me you've seen the shell I live in but you can't see me I am a spirit and there is John with his long white beard sitting on a rock and you go up to him and say excuse me John I went to your church I thought I'd find you in your church can you read my letter he's not in the isle of Patmos he says I'm in the spirit oh geographically he's in the island but he wasn't in the island you know we sing a hymn where Jesus rest there's heaven there and when he got all alone he'd lost the elders he'd lost everybody else he's an old man and there he is on the isle of Patmos and the Lord says slip your arm in mine I'm going to take you for a walk and Paul the apostle had the same revelation but God wouldn't let him write it someday in eternity I'm going to get a thought with the apostle Paul for about 10,000 years and if you see me keep your nose out of it till I finish talking to him I want to ask him a lot of questions I want to ask him what he saw when he was caught up into the third heaven did God roll out the plan of the ages from the incarnation to the consummation this I know that when he came out of that experience on the Damascus road God revealed himself to me but when I went in the wilderness he revealed himself in me and a lot of you young preachers God revealed himself to you but he hasn't revealed himself in you yet and immediately does you become a man I don't care whether you're 17 or 17 on the Damascus road he revealed himself to me in that experience of three and a half years he revealed himself in me and I was caught up into the third heaven and I saw things unlawful I believe he came out of that experience spiritually pregnant I believe the Holy Ghost conceived all these churches that he wrote last words to him God birthed the church at Corinth in him God birthed the Roman church in him God birthed the epistles of Ephesians he birthed those churches and he birthed those epistles in him if you haven't discovered it you have to discover it that one of the greatest things in the Christian life and one of the hardest for preachers is loneliness G. Campbell Morgan I heard him say one day I've written over 50 books on the Bible but I know so little about it and he wasn't fooling he was about 70 years of age then tallish but thin and he said ladies and gentlemen I have written 50 books on the Bible 60 I didn't get to it but he said I know so little about it the guy who knows most about it is the guy that borrowed everybody's opinions from watchman me to who have you got and he chained them all together to one issue of Spurgeon sermons 30 volumes we've been Spurgeon to death don't you think the God who spoke to Spurgeon can talk to you man said to me one day I've got to make an apology to you I said you don't have to he said well I want to tell you I have a broadcast and he said I've only 50 minutes and I have a hymn and then he said I just preached my Revival Talis I've been at it for months now I gave about 7 or 8 minutes out of my Revival Talis every morning over the year you don't mind do you I said no great could I do it with your other book he said sure if you acknowledge the book it would help the sales and that goes to missions I said I want to thank you for laying a treasure in heaven for me think God's going to reward you because you rehashed Spurgeon forget it Spurgeon will need about more acres than the King Ranch down here for all the treasures he's got everybody preaches Spurgeon AC Dixon you guys get AC Dixon's notes preachers all over the country get AC Dixon's his own church has been falling apart the last 2 or 3 years everybody reads what somebody else recommends and somebody else recommends I don't do that as badly as I do but that's alright but I get alone and listen to God I wake up in the night and boy I get out of bed as quickly as the Lord speaks I'm up and gone I'm in my office what time is it, 3 o'clock coming to bed, not yet what time is it, 5 o'clock coming to bed, not yet aren't you going to be tired well maybe if somebody comes this afternoon 5 o'clock midday what will they think I don't know most people can't even think so don't worry and in any case when did the Lord ask me to live according to somebody else if I'm up all night I don't care nobody's business what I do in that area you remember what God was trying to get through and he couldn't get the dumb old preacher there little boy comes running in oh you must have been having a dream go back to bed he came in and said master you did I heard a voice distinctly say Samuel oh God I'm so dumb I'm so backslidden you can't get through to me and you're going to talk to me to a boy that lights the lamps in the church well God's full of mercy he'll get through to somebody alright let's step back here a minute this is the most awesome moment in eternity there was a book sealed with seven seals he knew what it meant the people in the Old Testament knew what it meant a book that was sealed with seven seals like that was a standing sign of an alienated inheritance somebody lost the territory somebody else took over somebody's inheritance they'd gone bankrupt and he says I'll take over 6,000 acres of land and the three houses you own and a few other things and we'll seal it and if there should ever be a day of an alienated inheritance you come and we'll break the seals and I'll give you back your territory and the day that man sinned in one sense God lost his rights on this country he lost his hold on mankind didn't he Jesus said you're of your father the devil saw they couldn't they're God's children a forfeited inheritance and now John comes and he says millions of people the previous chapter again and there's the throne and the four and twenty elders and they're sitting upon seats and they're clothed in white and they're crowned on their heads and there's a throne and there preceded thunders and there were lightnings and there were lamps burning and there were voices and there was a sea of glass and he's overwhelmed by it that's why I say that except you had a glorified body when you saw God on his throne and there were voices and then suddenly he says I'm startled there's a man and in the right hand of him on the throne he has a book listen to what he says can you get this in your mind he says there was no man on earth or in heaven or under the earth Moses couldn't do it Isaiah take the book out I can't hey Apostle Paul you're the greatest man that ever lived I can't Jeremiah Spurgeon Phineas Calvin no man in heaven in earth under the earth to take the book out of him the hand of him that sat on the throne and I wept much listen you may have wept and I've wept many times I want to tell you something it happens in the whole of New Testament you know what it means I wept with eloquence I wept with grief and anguish you know the only other time it's mentioned when Jesus says goodbye to Jerusalem and he wept over the city he didn't shed a little tear he wept with a broken heart with grief he said under his bread you idiots you fools you priests you're not throwing me out I'm throwing you out God hasn't been back in the synagogue for 2000 years do you wonder he wept between that point and when they see him on his throne millions of people will perish and Jesus anticipates the grief and he weeps and John uses that very word here I wept much I was broken in my spirit and suddenly a voice said weep not I know but I want to tell you somebody something there's no man in earth there's nobody on the earth whether they're still to be resurrected I don't know and there's no angel and there's no archangel there's no one able to open the book but the elders said unto me weep not the lion of the tribe of Judah can do the job the lamb has become a lion and he said he took the book out of the hand at hand of him weep not behold the lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book and he says I looked and when I saw him he was of the lamb that had been slain that's very beautiful do you remember the old testament what they did with the paschal lamb they had to keep it in the house for four days and become a pet for the children our boys used to have lambs when we were in Ireland we had two of them they loved them talk about Mary's little lamb they'd follow the boys wherever they went the boys would have taken them to bed if we let them and they'd go and put their fingers in the wool and the lambs would skip around and dance and they got to be pretty big and he says I saw a lamb and it had been slain and the only way you can take that lamb is to love it and then there came a day when they saw daddy put a robe on daddy what are you doing with our lamb you're not going to sell it no oh what are you going to do kill it kill it oh daddy there's a lot of lambs out there yeah that won't do isn't it wonderful that God didn't let Gabriel die for us or Michael the archangel or a cherubim he gave his only begotten son I sometimes think the most excited preacher that ever lived must have been that rugged ragged fiery John Baptist when suddenly he turned and saw him he said behold did you see something Isaiah wanted to see and Moses wanted to see and everybody here he is the lamb of God the lamb of the world I would have died on the spot after I said that and he said the lamb that do you remember at the resurrection Jesus said do you really love me yeah feed my sheep do you really love me feed my sheep and the last time he says it it's different he says feed my lamb is it not the real Greek implication is there feed my pet lamb just like the pet lamb you took and brought it in your family and loved it and then you shed it's blood here is my pet lamb and he is able to take the the book out of him the hand of him that sits on it and he's going to break those seven seals open and all that was lost oh my that lovely man that lived before John Wesley Isaac Watt was blessed on him when I surveyed a wondrous cross but that other hymn is majestic when he said Jesus shall reign where'er the sun that its successive journeys run its kingdom stretch from shore to shore till moon shall wax and wane no more blessings abound where'er he reigns the prisoner leaps to lose his chains the weary find eternal rest and all the sons of ones are blessed in him he said in Christ the tribes of Adam boast more blessings and I don't care what was lost and there isn't a man ever understood it there's no man that has ever fully understood all that was lost through Adam's transgression and it's all going to be restored oh what a day you know when I read stories like this I wonder how those professors got us to and trained us to preach so well you wonder with an exciting thing like this that deals with eternity that people can sleep in the pews God pity them but he'll keep them awake anyhow immediately that one goes and takes the book out of him that sat upon the throne what happens? read it when you go home not now there's an ascending crescendo of praise and adoration to Jesus read the first chapter in the book of the revelations and you'll find there's a two-fold doxology read the fourth chapter and you'll find there's a three-fold glory and honor and power and go into the seventh chapter and you get a seven-fold doxology glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might and immediately he took the book out of the hand of him that sat on the throne you talk about a choir well to you some good American English you ain't heard nothing oh brother that's going to be a moment did you ever sing a song holy holy is what the angels sing and I expect to help them make the courts of heaven ring I was reading Graham's book just recently about the angels singing and I can't find where they ever sang in the New Testament you say yes when Jesus came to earth they sang glory to God they didn't they said glory to God in the highest and over and over in the book of the revelations it said that they said ah yes they said they didn't sing they didn't sing that twelfth verse of chapter seven says that they were saying amen and blessing and glory and honor but listen it said in the eighth verse of the fifth chapter they had taken the book the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb having every one of them harps and golden vows full of orders and they sang a new song part of that hymn is right because it says holy holy is what the angels sing and I expect to make them and I expect to help them make the courts of heaven ring but when I sing redemption story they will fall their wings and the song is to the redeemed they sang the song of Moses and the lamb and do you know what kind of a choir had you could put Billy Graham's choir in a thimble compared to this do you know what it said ah verse eleven of chapter five I beheld listen I'm getting all goose pimples and behold I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and beasts and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands and thousands saying with a loud voice worthy is the lamb that was slain you know I love to play that marvellous piece of music written by Handel the Messiah you remember where he bursts out that worthy is the lamb that was slain and he climbs up blessing and honour and glory and power beyond the hymn that sits upon the throne and he shall reign forever and ever king of kings and lord of lords and they go up king of kings and lord of lords and they go a bit high and I say you better watch it ten thousand times ten thousand that's a hundred million plus thousands of thousands and they're going to shout and rejoice and say power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing and every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and those in the sea and all of them heard I saying blessing and honour and glory and power beyond the hymn that sits upon the throne and unto the lamb forever and ever and it says in the fourteenth chapter that there are a hundred and forty four harpers harping with their harps see hard lines on you boys with guitars but cheer up a hundred and forty a hundred and forty four thousand harps Spurgeon will get to the place of blessing when he was praying and he wouldn't know what to say and the lady told me heard him preach she was ninety five years of age and she said he get to the place where he suddenly stopped magnifying the Lord and say all for a well tuned harp do you wonder when we sing feebly it will be worth it all when we see Jesus the biggest tile of life will seem so small when we see Christ