In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of the Israelites and their journey to the promised land. He emphasizes the importance of belief and faith in God's promises. The preacher also highlights the need for personal conviction and surrender to God's will. He warns against the dangers of disobedience and the consequences of not fully trusting in God. The sermon concludes with a reminder to prioritize relationships and to live out our faith in all aspects of life.

When it says, Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the street, she crieth in the chief places of concourse, in the openings of the gates in the city, she uttereth her word, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools' hate knowledge? Turn ye at my reproof. Oh God, that makes me think how we need reproof and how we hate it, how we don't like reproof, and yet we need it. God gives a great and wonderful promise to those who turn at His reproof. Quite an art you've got to learn to turn at the reproof of Jehovah. You'll find out that all of us by nature shrink from it. We shrink. Let someone correct me or instruct me or teach me or criticize me and immediately there's an inward shrinking away from it. Sort of an excuse comes right out. How many times you find that you mention some fault that a person has and they immediately excuse themselves, not only in spiritual things but you notice that with the cooks many times. They bring a meal to the table and you enjoy the meal but you didn't say anything about it. They'd like you to say, My, this is a marvelous meal. How did you cook this pudding? How did you fry this meat? And what kind of a spice? And then she'll say, Oh well, well I meant to but I didn't get it just right and all the while fishing for some praise. We do that, we who are ministers. I remember one minister, he never enjoyed the meeting unless he could preach with power, unless he could do the preaching. And then when he come home he'd say, I didn't seem to have the liberty tonight. He wanted me to say, Oh my, that was a wonderful sermon. My goodness, didn't you notice how everybody was under conviction? That's what he was fishing for. But if you criticize someone presently, the reason for that is we want to appear good. We don't want to be good. We don't care about being good. God cares about our being good, our being perfect. God comes to make us perfect in every good work to do His will. And when we care to be made perfect in every good work to do His will, we'll discover that it doesn't end us at all. It's got to come from heaven and that's why at this time we ought to think that God is seeking us. God is really after us. And oh, what a blessing if God hasn't cast us off. The whole world, the Bible says, God has given them up to a reprobate mind. All the scientists in the world, all the theologians, all the wise of this world, God says He's made foolish their wisdom because they would none of His reproof. Because I have called and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded, but ye have said it not all my counsel and would none of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind. When distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. For that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Now it says, I called and we could ask ourselves the question, did God call me? Did I ever hear His voice? Was I ever conscious? It seems to me that I've never been in a meeting, a Pentecostal meeting, where I haven't heard the voice of God calling me very definitely, making known to me His divine counsel. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. We could ask ourselves this morning, have we come to Jesus and bought from Him gold tried in the fire that we might be rich? And He says, you didn't. You heard me talk. You understood my way to some extent and you're satisfied with it. You say you're rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. We ought to search our hearts very diligently and God will help us to do that. When He says, if any man hear my voice, we've heard it. He has called us. But it says here, no man regarded. That's been a great mystery to me in my 40 years or 50 years of ministry, to find people everywhere and all the time who have heard His voice. My, how many hundred times I've heard them confess that they were convicted. And sometimes they've testified that they're going to do better. Now, looking back over these 50 years, I see the way strewn with carcasses of men and women that knew God's will and didn't do it. Good people. How many times have I stood at the bedside of the dying? And we called together unto the Lord and He wouldn't hear. He didn't regard. Well, one time He called them and they wouldn't regard. Beloved, it means something to regard and to hear the voice of God and to hearken diligently and to desire His counsel. What do you counsel me? I will guide thee with my counsel and afterwards receive thee to glory. Oh, what a privilege when God makes me know His will, so that I can be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. We've heard it a thousand times, but it tells us that's not enough. And when we hear His voice and we're convicted, it means that God works in us to will. And I've seen that happen a thousand times. Oh, in every meeting, God works in us to will, and He never gives up. But that's only half of it. He shows me that gold. He says, listen, you've got brass. That thing won't stand the acid test. It won't. And He'll allow me to be tested and tried and tempted, that I may find out how miserable and wretched and blind and naked I am. And then we get sour upon it. And then we seek another way somehow, instead of bending and hearkening and buying from Him. When God works in me to will, when He gives me some conviction, He shows me what He wants to do. He talks about the Word of God that is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It's sharper than a two-edged sword. And have you noticed the connection in which that word is being used? He talks about the great counsel of God, the rest that He has provided for His people, that wonderful union of our souls with God, where we obtained the inheritance prepared for us before the foundation of the world, where Jesus Christ has become our all and in all. And He refers to Old Testament Israel, how He brought them up to the promised and He had told them for a year and a half at least and longer, that He had a land for them flowing with milk and honey, not only that He had provided for it, but He was going to bring them in. And He performed great miracles to prove that He was the one that had called them. And then they came up to the border of the promised land, and then they sent out their spies. And the spies came back and told them, oh, it is really a marvelous land. And they brought of the fruit thereof. One bunch of grapes had to be borne by two men. Oh, give me some grapes. And made their mouths to water. Oh, my goodness, that kind of a land God has provided for us. But these very spies made their hearts tremble. They said, yes, but there are giants. And there are terrible mountains and great dangers and walls, cities. And now they didn't consider that God promised to take them in. They were tested, and they failed. The Bible says they entered not in because of unbelief. God had worked in them to will, made their mouths to water, but they wouldn't let God work in them to do. They were not willing to believe that God was able to perform what He had promised. And so they failed. And oh, what a failure. What a terrible failure. They're still suffering from it to this day. They entered not in because of unbelief. It was unbelief that made them disobedient. And beloved, God needs that lesson for us because He has provided a land flowing with milk and honey for us. But there are the giants, and there are the difficulties, and there are the tests. And sometimes these tests are very severe. We're tested unto blood. And now the question is whether we believe God and take His counsel and hearken to His voice, and we're not satisfied to see the promised land. But we're going to put on the whole armor of God, and in the name of Jesus Christ give ourselves continually to prayer, and praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication that we might enter in. They entered not in because of unbelief, and we enter in because of faith. We who have believed, what believed by what God says. And that's why I say we ought not to think that we're seeking God. We ought to think that He is seeking us. We're too quickly satisfied with our spirituality. God says, I have not found your works perfect before my God. Why was that? Because we didn't believe Him. We didn't believe that He was able to make us perfect, and so we became disobedient. And wherein does God seek perfection? Why, He says, the works which God provided for us before the world began. That's what He created us for. That's what He saved us for. A perfect heart, a heart that is perfect toward Him. Perfect sonship, perfect lovership, perfect submission, perfect control by the Holy Ghost, and we don't believe it's possible. Beloved, the whole church today has backslidden, has left their first love. We had a dear minister in Germany who published a paper called Die Heiligung, Pastor Paul. It was a wonderful, wonderful paper. The man had a wonderful experience with God. And one time in his paper he said that he had come to the place where he didn't commit sin anymore. Jesus Christ was keeping him from committing sin. My father had subscribed to this and immediately he stopped the subscription because he thought that was a false doctrine. The church teaches that that's false doctrine, to think that Jesus Christ is able to make you perfect in every good work to do His will, to give you a perfect tongue. God says, if any man offends not in word, that's his counsel. Oh my Lord and my God, my mouth to be the pen of a ready writer, to be the fountain, the well of life. We don't believe God, else we wouldn't work at it. He that has begun a good work in you, how did it begin? Why, by coming into my heart, by taking the throne of my heart, by taking possession of me, by making my body His temple. He purchased me with a great price and I don't belong to myself anymore. Oh thank God, in every word, in every thought, in every feeling, in every act, to do His will. He worketh in me that which is well-pleasing in His sight. That's gold tried in the fire. Listen, if He works in me, love, the love of God. Oh how we fail, how we fail to hearken diligently unto Him. If we did, if any man hear my voice and open a door, we would open the door. We would not be satisfied just to talk about it or preach about it, but we would open the door and we would seek Him until He comes in, until He wins that victory for me. He says, we who have believed enter in. They entered not in because of unbelief. They defied God. They said, we can't go in. We're going to be defeated by the enemies. And that's what we say, when we say, well it can't be done. To live a life of overcoming, a life of perfection in God, to have a perfect tongue, perfect love, perfect peace, that passes all understanding, that reigns within me. Beloved, that's God's counsel. Isn't it wonderful? It isn't my counsel. I'd never make it. I'm satisfied with less than that. Most people are perfectly satisfied to appear nice on the outside. And oh, how we labor to make people think that we're more spiritual than we really are. As long as they don't find out how we really are in our hearts. But God's word is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And if I want to be perfect in His sight, I'm not going to be satisfied with knowing about it. But I'm going to work with fear and trembling. God works in me both to will. Thank God He does that. I stretched out my hand. I've offered you my help. I poured out my power to turn you at my reproof. Beloved, could we have two weeks of turning at His reproof? Would we have to unload? Would we have to purify ourselves even as He is pure? Most of us don't even know how unclean we are. We hide ourselves. It's a surprising thing how we can get away with flesh and flesh and flesh when it comes to a real test. Oh my God, I need you to call deeply. I need the scripture which is given for doctrine, for reproof, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God might be perfect, truly established unto all good works. God's given us the scriptures. Think of it. We have the counsel of Jehovah, so clear, so sharp, so quickening. It is quick and it is powerful and the reason it loses its sharpness is because we've sinned against conviction. Have you noticed in these 40 years, every time at the end of a time of prayer, God gives us His word in greater sharpness. Sometimes I've said, if you don't like it, don't pray anymore. You won't get it. God won't bother you anymore. He says, I've given them up to their own counsel. All right, have your own way, but oh, how dangerous it is when God lets me run in my own way, but He has to do that. I was dealing with a minister. He hasn't been with us for many, many years and he got so angry at me because I correct, I wanted to help him. He didn't want correction. The Lord said to me, try to make him feel good. Honor him. God has to honor us or He won't have us at all. He's got to tickle us under our second and third chin or we won't even come to meeting. We ought to be thankful for conviction if God really has found an entrance into the depth of our souls and He is able to say, thou art the man. Why He can't do that? Because immediately we look around to see who is meant. Too bad that so-and-so isn't in meeting. My, that's what he needs and that's what she needs and why isn't she here? And the Lord says, thou art the woman. I'm after you. Oh God, that's what I want and that's what I need. I want gold fried in the fire. Oh my Lord and my God, are you really offering me your own divine nature? Are you really? And if you are, you're going to apply the acid test. When I started working in the jewelry business, I had to learn to know the difference between gold and brass. I was surprised when brass was polished, it was exactly like gold to me. I couldn't tell the difference and I made mistakes. One time I soldered a piece of gold and a piece of brass together, not knowing that it was brass, until it was put in the acid and then immediately that brass began to burn and boil and disappear. But gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich because I called and because I stretched out my hand. Beloved, that's been God's program in every meeting. And we could say, my Lord and my God, where are all the people that have come through these meetings and have not hearkened diligently? Used to have a saint, wonderful saint, wonderful saint. Oh, he could speak in tongues and prophesy and preach and dance, but he couldn't get along with his wife. One day he was dancing. I had a hold of another sister and he was hopping like a jackrabbit up and down. And when he was through, I went to him and said, now go to your wife and dance with her. There was a total eclipse then. And one day his wife says, you come to my home and you'll see what kind of a saint he is. Well, he was able to preach to others. Oh God, God deliver us, my Heavenly Father, my Heavenly Father. Help me, my God, to really let you find me. Let me give you time. Let me wait upon the Lord until he melts the crust, until he breaks this steel armor that I have armored myself with against conviction and against the light of conviction. Oh God, let me really experience some of that fear and trembling, lest after preaching to others I myself should be cast away.