In this sermon, the preacher reflects on his experience of serving Jesus for 60 years. He emphasizes the reality and authenticity of the relationship with Christ, stating that it is not a fake or fantasy. The preacher shares a testimony of a young boy who has been serving Jesus since he was little, highlighting the transformative power of Christ in breaking sinful habits. He also emphasizes that Jesus is the great emancipator who can deliver people from their enslavement to sinful habits and provide strength and forgiveness to those in need. The preacher concludes by highlighting the purpose of Jesus' incarnation, which is to bring humanity from darkness to light and to enable them to become partakers of his divine nature.

A miracle it was when you forgave me. It's all beyond my comprehension how God can do such a wonderful thing for a human being. Bless his name. I'm so indebted to him. I'm reading to you from the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse number 21. From 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now they used to tell us in school it's better to take a big text and sink with it than it to take a little text and float. So we sure have a big text here to talk about as God would help us this morning. Religion is not a ritual, nor is it morality, nor is it philanthropy, nor is it church entity. But spirituality, I wish that I could lead Christians into the sweet and glorious experience of entire sanctification and to help establish them in holiness. Without any question in my mind, this is the greatest thing in the universe. It is the only thing that will get us to heaven. There isn't any substitute for it. It's the greatest thing I've ever heard about. Now to know God requires, first of all, a right relationship to him. What kind of a relationship do you have with God? Is it a satisfactory relationship? I'm finding a good many people who have a painful relationship with God. They're not really satisfied with it. There's always a consciousness that they're just not what they ought to be. But you must have a right relationship to God. And in order to have a right relationship to God, it will require some time. Now it requires faith and knowledge. And of course, God will give you faith and knowledge as you go along in Christian development. It's a wonderful thing to so live for God until your life takes on new developments, new light comes, you walk in that light, and God gives you new heights and new deep depths and new breadths. I wonder sometimes if some of us get to the place where we do not anticipate any new heights, nor breadths, nor depths. I believe there ought to be broadenings, there ought to be heightenings, there ought to be deepness, just quite frequently come into our lives. There ought to be new insights to truth and new help divine, and our lives would become more and more like the wonderful Christ. Now, because we cannot know God apart from the illuminating Holy Spirit, we must welcome the blessed Holy Ghost. I wish we could create an atmosphere of welcoming the blessed Holy Ghost. It'd just be part of the program, that he is welcome, more than welcome, to have his own right away, anytime, in any way that he wants it. And of course, friends, sin has done some frightful things to us in its effect upon us, and all the more deadly because we were born in sin and are scarcely aware of what is happening to us. One thing that sin has done to us is to confuse our values, so that we can only with difficulty distinguish a friend from a foe, or tell for certain what is and what is not good for us. We walk in the world of shadows, where real things appear unreal, and unreal things appear real. Now, this is the success of the movie industry, of making unreal things seem real. And of course, the failure of the church is we fail to verify that the real things are of the real values and exactly the thing that we need, and we kind of substitute other things instead of really spirituality and developing our Christian life in the Lord. Now, our idea rarely is in accord with things as they are, but are distorted by a type of moral astigmatism that makes things seem out of order, like it might be if you were to have wrongly learned your multiplication tables and didn't know it. If you had wrongly learned your multiplication tables and didn't know it, then of course your calculations wouldn't be right. And I think sometimes sin has done some frightful things to us, even the very fall, and we have been affected by that. One false concept to which we cling is time. We think of time as being a sort of assisted substance flowing onward like a sluggish river bearing upon its bosom nations and empires and civilizations and men. And we visualize this sticky stream as an entity and ourselves as helplessly stuck in it for as long as our earthly life is in existence. We have wrong ideas about life sometimes. Isn't it wonderful to meet a saint, somebody who's had their ideas adjusted and God has come to the rescue and through trial and error they're developing and growing and finding new heights and new depths and new breadth spiritually? Isn't it wonderful? I'd like to tell you something, friends. The saints that you know, you form your friendships with them. I like to tell our young people occasionally, if there's any saints in the church where you go, you'll frequently go to one of those saints on a Sunday morning and say to that old saint, could I sit by you this morning? I just admire your Christian experience and your testimony and your life, and I'd just like to sit by you for a while in the services this morning. Now, there's one thing that'll do for a young person. It'll make a lifelong friend out of that saint. Not many people really lean toward the saints, you know. If you're a saint, you almost develop it singly, almost by yourself. Not many people are really catered to who are saints. But it'll make a lifelong friend out of that saint if you'll show them some recognition and tell them that you love them and appreciate them and you'd like to sit by them and maybe some of their religion would rub off on you. Now, the greatest fact today in this sin-saddened world is the fact that Jesus Christ is alive. There isn't any other fact equal to that. The greatest fact in our sad, sad world, and we live in a sad world, if you only knew the heartache and the tears that we shed any one night in the city of Birmingham, you wouldn't have any trouble understanding that this is a sad, sad world that we live in. But let me tell you that Jesus Christ is more than the hero of the poet's pen. Thank God. Jesus Christ really lives. And he's more than the paint, than he's more than what the painter's brush can picture. And Jesus is more than the sculptor's chisel can chisel. Jesus Christ is alive forevermore. He's not dead, and he's not going to die. He came once to die, but the next time he comes, he won't have to die. Thank God. I think we fail to realize what a big thing we've got a hold of here, friends. We fail to comprehend it somehow. The very fact Jesus Christ is alive forevermore. Christ is not the Christ in the manger now, nor is he the Christ on the cross. He is not the Christ in the tomb, or he's not the Christ even on the throne, so far as that's concerned. But it is Christ living and reigning. Christ in you is the hope of glory. I want to tell you, friends, we've got something. This is not a fake. This is not a fantasy. No, no, no. This is the most real thing in the universe. Of course, one day I did not realize how real Christ could be to a boy. I didn't understand that. But one day I came to Jesus and he saved me, and I began to get a new glimpse, a new understanding of Christ. And I, like one little boy, just a little toddler of a fellow, just gave a marvelous testimony for a little lad, told what Christ meant to him, and told how he tried to love Christ and live for him. And when he finished giving his testimony, it was marvelous. Somebody said to that little boy, said, Sonny, how long have you been serving Jesus? He said, the boy said, ever since I was a little boy. I like that. Ever since I was a little boy, I've been serving Jesus. I like the thought that that carries with it, friends. Christ can make himself the most real, the most real thing to you, the most real person to you in all the world, and how great and how wonderful that is. Let me tell you that Jesus Christ stands forth today upon the highest pinnacle of heaven and glory, and he is proclaimed by God, and he is adorned by the saints, and he's acknowledged by angels and feared by devils. Thank God Jesus Christ lives. If you want to put the devil on the run, you just tell Christ to go after him, and you let Christ do it then. Don't you try to do it yourself. Let him take care of the matter. He can put the devil on the skedaddle, whatever that word means. I don't know what it means, but he can sure put the devil on the skedaddle if you just let Christ handle the matter. Let me tell you about Christ a little bit. He's literature's loftiest ideal. He's philosophy's highest personality. He's theology's fundamental doctrine. He's life's cardinal necessity, and personally and socially and individually and collectively and politically and economically and educationally and scientifically and spiritually and eternally and nationally and internationally, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and he's living today. Oh, thank God, friends, how wonderful it is to serve him. I wouldn't want to do anything else but serve him. Whatever it costs to serve him, it's well worth what it will cost him. Christ is the one and the only indispensable hope of this head-dizzy, body-weary, soul-sick, heart-aching, war-scarred, sin-smitten, and devil-ridden and hell-bound world. We can't go without him. Let's not try to go without him. I mean, let him have his rightful place in your heart. If he doesn't have his rightful place, then you're not what you ought to be. The only one who can make you what you ought to be is Christ. And the problem is, will you allow him to have his wonderful way? To the architect, Jesus is the blueprint. To the artist, he's the one altogether lovely. And to the astronomer, he's the bright and the morning star. And to the baker, he's the bread of life. And to the builder, he's the foundation. And to the carpenter, he's the door. And to the doctor, he's the great physician. And to the educator, he's the profound teacher. And to the farmer, he's the lord of harvest. And to the florist, he's the rose of Sharon. And the lily of the valley. And to the geologist, he's the rock of ages. And to the jewelryman, he's the pearl of great price. Did it ever really dawn on you what Christ really was and who he really is? Oh, thank God! To the judge, Jesus is the supreme judge. To the juryman, he's the true witness. To the king, he's the king of kings. And to the lawyer, he's the great counselor. And to the newspaper reporter, he's the glad tidings of joy. And to the philanthropist, he is the unspeakable gift. And to the philosopher, he is the truth. And to the sailor, he's the pilot of Galilee. And to the saint, he's wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And to the sinner, he's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And to the soldier, he's the commander-in-chief of the armies. And to the statesman, he's the desire of all nations. Oh, how wonderful this wonderful Christ is! How fortunate! I almost, almost amaze, I stand amazed, how it was possible for a boy like me to find him as wonderful as he is, as great as he is. Thank God! How wonderful it is to serve him! He is heaven's bread for earth's hunger. He's heaven's water for the earth's thirst. He's heaven's light for earth's darkness. He's heaven's glory for earth's shame. He's heaven's grace for earth's guilt. He's heaven's peace for earth's strife. He's heaven's love for earth's hate. He's heaven's harmony for earth's discord. He's heaven's wealth for earth's poverty. He's heaven's wardrobe for earth's nakedness. He's heaven's life for earth's death. And he's heaven's salvation for earth's damnation. Oh, how wonderful this Christ is! I wish I had words that could somehow tell you better about who he is and what he is and what he wants to be to you and what he'll be to me. It's been so wonderful these years of serving him. I'm not tired of serving him yet, and I'm not fearful of getting tired of serving him. He's proven himself over and over and over and over, and it'll soon be, it is now 60 years since I started serving him. The last week of 60 years ago, I began to serve him. I felt like that day, it was the right thing for a boy of 15 to do. And I came to Jesus at that little Methodist martyr's speech, and he saved me that day. And I want to tell you, the walk with Jesus Christ has been wonderful. It has been glorious. It's been far beyond human words know how to explain. And if you are a slave to sinful habits, he is the great emancipator who can break every chain. I remember holding a revival meeting at the active church a number of years ago. I believe we were pastoring in Selma at that time, and we were up there in a revival meeting. And as the revival was in progress, it was summertime and they didn't have air conditioning and the windows were open. And out across the field, across the road and a little field and a pastor area and some pines and down in the valley, a little ways over the way was a little house. It was a dilapidated house, but a man and his wife lived in that house and they had retired. They had quit going to church. They'd highly lost interest in all churches around. Seemingly there wasn't a great deal of interest being shown, but this man and his wife had retired and the service was on in the revival meeting. After they had retired, he said to his wife, listen, said, I believe I hear some singing. It must be the little churches in revival up here. And they talked about it and they listened and they could hear some of the things that was going on. Even when the preaching began, they could hear the preaching part of it at least. So they had determined they'd go to the church the next night and the next night they were in the revival meeting. And how well I remember when the altar call was given that night, the man was sitting on this side and he made his way down to the mourners bench. And I guess there's others came, I'm not remembering necessarily about the others at this point at least. And when the altar had cleared and the man had gone back to his pew over there, he stood up to give a testimony. It was something like this. He said, I'm 57 years of age and I have used tobacco for 50 years and said, God has broken the habit tonight. I want to tell you, this Christ that I'm trying to talk about, he can do for you what needs to be done and nobody else could do it, but he's ready to do it. He's the emancipator. If you, if you're a slave to the habits and whatever they are, I want to tell you there's deliverance in Jesus Christ. He is the great emancipator. Thank God. If you're a widow, he'll be the strength of a husband to you. If you're a prodigal son or daughter, he would kiss away your sins, cancel your guilt and cleanse your depravity and place the ring of authority on your hand and shoes of sonship on your feet. He came from his bright world down to our dark world that we might go up to from our dark world to his bright world. He became the son of man that we might become the sons of God. He became partaker of our human nature that we might become partaker of his divine nature. He was born in a manger that we might live in a mansion. He walked the dirt roads of earth that we might ride in the golden, ride the golden streets of the new Jerusalem and he drank vinegar mingled with gall that we might drink the water of life. He wore a crown of thorns that we might wear a diadem of splendor. He wrote a borrowed unbroken colt that we might ride in a golden chariot. He was incarnated in our human likeness that we might be translated into his glorious likeness. He went down into the grave in the shame of crucifixion that we might come out of the grave resurrected. He was stripped of the seamless robe that we might be clothed in the beautiful war robe of redemption. Thank God he hung on the crucial cross that we might reign on the throne. He suffered that we might be saved. He died that we might be delivered. What a savior he is! How great he is! How wonderful he is! It seemed to me the whole world would bow in honor and seek his face. I can't understand why anybody would want to rebel and reject such a wonderful Christ. Surely they've misunderstood. We're not getting over to them rightly evidently but we ought to get over to them when we try to put the remedy and the need together. We can readily see the great adequacy of the remedy and the need is as radical as the cure. Everything is wrong in this world until God sets it right. We can adopt that as part of our philosophy. Let me inquire politely if I may to you. Is your soul all a thirst for God? Have you reached the place in this life where you had rather have God and his son and the blessed Holy Ghost? You'd rather go this way than anything else in the world? Just how do you consider the matter in your own thinking? A lot of people have such little interest in seeking God and going with God. Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness? If you're hungering and thirsting after righteousness, let me urge you to stay with that. Keep on praying. Keep on believing. Keep on obeying. Keep on letting God have his way and he'll fill your need. I want to tell you he's able and he's capable and he will do it. I mean he's not a God that you just have to talk about. No sir, I believe we can really know him and love him and serve him and live for him every day of our life in this world. Let's don't miss the way to glory. Are you planning to be filled with all the fullness of God? Is there a strong desire in your heart? Is there a and that is a condition for success? Are you really desirous that God almighty would have his way in your life? I mean your life as small as you may think you are as as finite as you may think you are. Then let me tell you first let Jesus Christ have his way and you'll be amazed of what he'll do for you. I mean he's in this business. This is the only business and this is the only business he'll ever have is making human beings what they ought to be and he wants to take you. He wants to take me. He wants us to let him have his way in our hearts and in our lives. Are you in earnest about heart purity? I need to talk to you about heart purity a little bit. By an act of consecration we place ourself in the path of obedience and this will bring you into sanctification. If you just start out minding the Lord and let God have his way you can't miss the way to glory friends. I mean obedience is the thing that's essential and are you ready to commit yourself to him? Are you ready to put yourself on his altar and then take your hand off and I mean put everything you have on the altar. I read the book about Amanda Smith the black woman that came up from slavery days and while some of the details may not be so clear in my thinking yet there is an area there that I like to talk about. Mandy had gotten wonderfully saved and very poor woman had nothing to live on really and one day her husband came in home and did something out of the ordinary and somehow something in her heart flew up and she grabbed up a stick of stovewood and headed down the alley after her husband saying I'll kill him I'll kill him and God the Holy Ghost said Mandy and she stopped dead still and she said oh lordy I didn't intend to do this and I didn't intend to do this. She turned around and went back to her old kitchen got out on her knees and begged God to forgive her for having such a spell that she had had. Some days later her husband came in again and did something out of that out of context and that old thing flew up in her heart again and she grabbed up a stick of stovewood and headed down the alley after her husband saying I'll kill him I'll kill him. God said Mandy what's wrong with you? Oh she said lordy I don't know but I'll try to find out. She goes back to her little old house and gets on her knees and begs God to forgive her for having such a spell that she's had and then she goes over to see her pastor and her old brother sunshine tells her said now Mandy you've told me what happened to you and said there's no use for you to be so upset about this we all have that that's the Adamic nature the nature of sin and we all have it and we'll just have to live with it until we die and when Mandy went back to her little old house she went back saying oh lordy what's a way for a fella to have to live till he dies but God heard her prayer and God turned the light on her she began to see what was wrong and finally somebody told her it was the nature of inbred sin and that nature of inbred sin was not part of the original makeup of man it was inoculation that satan gave to humanity and that thing could be removed and taken out and Mandy got ready to have that thing taken out and when she read in the bible this is the will of God your sanctification she said I'll have that will if I have to break the will she said I'll have it she was desperate about it and one day she's attending a revival meeting and God had dealt with her and she bowed at the altar and the helpers told her said now you'll have to put everything you've got on the altar and everything you'll ever have goes on God's altar you'll have to make a complete consecration and she didn't understand proverbial language like you would and know what they meant she thought they meant what they said she didn't have all she had in this world was two wash tubs and a washboard and she got up and left the altar and the altar helpers wondered if they'd maybe said something that offended her and she got up and left but they just stayed around to see what was going to happen after a while after Mandy had exited after a while here she came back and then she came in she had her two wash tubs and washboard and she brought her mat down to the altar and said then make the washboard up on the altar and set the tubs down at the altar and then stepped over in one of the tubs and sat down and looked up and said here we are Lord tubs and all and you say well what happened let me ask you something what could have happened when a person does like that the only thing in the world that could happen happened to Mandy God sanctified her calling her to preach and she preached alternate sermons on the greatest platforms across the nation before kings and queens around the world I want to tell you God is a master workman prayer you're not in error when you commit yourself to him when you put everything on his order you're in the right process of things you're doing the right thing when you do that now when some when we talk about second blessing holiness somebody has trouble understanding why there's two works of grace and it's nothing nothing's difficult to understand about two works of grace if you can understand that sin is a twofold thing that sin is a nature you were born with the nature of sin and not only is sin a nature sin is an act like cursing or lying or stealing whatever the act may be sin is a twofold thing sin is a nature and sin is an act if you can understand that sin is a nature that you were born with it and sin is an act something you do wrong you should have no trouble at all understanding why there's two works of grace Mr. Wesley would just have something to preach about when he came along or V.O. Agin or anybody else came along trying to preach that they'd have something to talk about no no no no friends God made this plan of redemption with a pattern with something in mind and he had you in mind and me in mind he didn't have another race of people in mind he had us in mind and when he made this plan of redemption he knew what was in man and he knew what we needed he needed that we would we would sin all have sinned and come short of the glory of God he doesn't all does sin he said all have sinned and therefore you need to repent and then there's a nature of inbred sin a proclivity of sin that remains in your heart after you're converted that's coming theology that's knowledgeable theology among all theologians that there's a nature of sin that remains in the heart after your sins are forgiven and the reason God made this this work and two works of grace is because that's what we needed and he fixed it to exactly fit us and he can forgive your sins and he can sanctify you holy and take that nature of inbred sin out of your heart and in that amazing plan of redemption nobody but God could have made it thank God we ought to shout about it we ought to have a time leaving this way and going this way and tell our loved ones and our friends this is the greatest thing in the world and it is the greatest thing in the world we're not exaggerating when we tell you it's the greatest thing in the world thank God for two works of grace thank God for the holiness way I could have missed it I could have missed it I didn't get in because I was smart I got in because God the Holy Ghost turned the light on me he showed me the way all I had to do was to walk in the light isn't it amazing the plan of redemption God can make it he can make it so simple and so good and so thorough and so genuine God will do what he said he would do when he said if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and he's able to do that I've tried it one day and it worked and he says if we walk in the light as he's in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin I thank God for the blood the blood the blood this is not a human plan that we're talking about I'm talking to you about the divine plan the great eternal son of God provided the splendid redemption and placed it on conditions that you can meet and obtain it isn't that amazing that God can fix it now of course when it comes to the matter of the change of the human nature a lot of people have an idea that it's impossible to get the human nature changed but you are you just have to live that way the rest of your life I listened a little bit of the debate in what from Washington when the senate was having their hearing and and their episode whatever they did and made us all ashamed of them I'm sure but anyway they did what they did but I heard some of them talking well they said you can't live without without doing wrong I mean that's people's philosophy they think that you're like you are and there's no way to change but I'd like to tell people there isn't there can be a change made if you come and confess your sins I mean he'll change your life he'll change your desires he'll change your walls I mean he's got the remedy for the same business I mean the whole sin business not only to forgive your sin he'll cleanse the nature of inbred sin out and fill you with the blessed Holy Ghost and send you down the road rejoicing and having a time oh thank God I'm glad God fixed the plan we can get things fixed up right I uh I like to talk occasionally about some restitution I recently heard about one I think I'll tell you about it I'd never heard the lack of it before the man was telling me about it and he'd had a restitution that he needed to make and he knew he needed to make it and God had dealt with him and dealt with him about it he just seemingly he couldn't make it he couldn't bring himself to it and he backslid and stayed backslidden for several years and thought maybe he'd never get back to God because anytime he prayed he faced that restitution and finally he got in a revival meeting and God helped him and he saved him again brought him back into the kingdom and now he decided he better go and take care of that restitution and he went to the man's house and you were the man lived and knocked at the door and the man came to the door and the man who had come to make the restitution said sir said I've come to talk to you about a matter said I have a restitution I need to make and told him how long ago it was he'd gotten into the man's watermelon patch and stolen some watermelons I think there's three melons involved him and the poor man who's making the restitution he begged the man to forgive him said I'll just gladly pay you said I suppose it's worth three dollars maybe and I'll pay you that or more if you if you want more but he gave him three dollars and the man took the three dollars no problem at all and finally he got his restitution made and paid for and before this man left the door after making his restitution the man with tears running down his cheeks and sir said I've got a restitution to make and I have been able to make it would you mind going with me since you came to make one to me would you mind going with me where I have to go to make my restitution while the man said I'll just be glad to while I'm here so they got in the car and the man said now turn right and they went and turned and so a few turns and finally they come to a house out in the country and the man said pull right into this yard right here this is the house right here where I have to make the restitution and the fellow who's with the man the man who's already made his restitution said to that man said well sir said why would you need to to make a restitution at this house well he said several years ago said I passed this house and there was a heater a wood heater sitting on the porch and said I stole that heater well the man who just made his restitution said to that man said sir this is the house I live in this is my house but he said that old heater sitting on the porch said I tried to give it to everybody come along and nobody take it and now you've stolen it and you want to pay me the man said I've got to pay you and pull out $35 and pay him pretty pretty profitable restitution for him cost him three and he made 35 on it friends let me tell you God God has got such a wonderful claim of redemption it seemed to me if the devil could somehow could be pushed back and let us see this thing as it really is everybody would want to go this way it's the greatest thing in the world you can get those burdens off of your heart and things made right that you probably thought never could be made right one man some years ago went to his pastor here in the conference he was a layman and he went to his pastor and said would you make a trip with me today and the pastor told him he would and then the man told him what had happened said 33 years ago when Jesus first saved me I promised God I'd make this restitution and the man said for every camp meeting we've had and every revival meeting we've had for 33 years I faced this restitution and I'm sorry and I'm tired of facing it and I'm ready to get the thing made right and the pastor went with him and he got the thing made right I'm glad he did for that man is gone he's been gone several years now I'm glad he got his restitution made thank God and I if you've got any restitutions it's not made but take care of them friends why don't you just face the issue and take care of it and go ahead and let God have his way I know the devil will tell you they'll put you in the penitentiary but I'd rather go to heaven from the penitentiary than to go to hell not in the penitentiary let's get ready for heaven I believe there's a heaven friend I don't believe we're just floating around here and kind of wandering around and we kind of kind of wish and hope maybe tomorrow be better than yesterday was no sir I believe there's a heaven out there thank God and I want to go by the grace of God and I believe God can make it possible that we can get things adjusted so we can go and I'd like to appeal to you why don't you accept the entire sanctification any way that God wants to give it to you don't tell God how to do it just come and put yourself on his hand and say I'm on your hands Lord I put everything on your order I'll obey you I'll do what you tell me to do I'm ready to obey just anyway God wants to give it to you thank God one man said I'd have gladly got sanctified a dozen times if God had done it decently but he didn't seem to be he didn't seem to be interested didn't do anything decently and said when he did sanctify me said I was laid flat on my back with my coat up over my head oh friends don't worry about how you get it just worry about getting it just go ahead I mean whatever you have to do if you can get it in your pew I really think be sitting at the pew be the most logical way while the truth is just falling all around you and the bums are bursting and the devils are kind of taking he's kind of having to take the back seat and truth divine is having the ascendancy and people are letting God have his way it just seems if you just say yes Lord yes Lord I'll obey you I'll do what you want me to do I'll make that thing right I'll make my confession I'll do what I ought to do I'll testify like I ought to testify I'll live for you I'll do everything you want me to do just tell me and I'll do it you can get through right there in your pew one of the brightest and sanctified experiences ever saw a man get he'd been he'd been battling for months I mean he'd been several years several years and he I was his pastor and when we'd have revivals and revivals would reach about a certain place and and it's time for people to move he along with a number of others would come to an altar to get sanctified there's about a half a dozen men in the church they'd come to the altar but they didn't seem to be able to get through the real hole in his victory and again we were in revival and the evangelist had preached and was giving the altar call and as he was giving the altar call one big husky man successful farmer rather bull-legged standing right back about four seats back where he normally sat four or five seats here where he normally sat and he left this pew and went to the outer aisle and headed toward an altar and before he bent a knee at an altar the holy ghost fell on him he was not an emotional man he walked back and forth laughing in the open area here before the altar finally he'd walked several crosses times across there and he simmered down enough so he could talk and this is about what he said as i stood back there at the and the altar call was being made said old satan came and satan said now there's no use for you to go to the altar you have been to the altar before several times and god's not going to sanctify you there's no use for you to go then the man kind of paused at that point and kindly laughed a little as he had been laughing since he'd been walking there and he then said again he said i answered back he said now mr devil you have met me before and i have met you before but this is one night you've got something on your hand and he left his altar to get sanctified and never had to bend the knee god the holy ghost fell on him and he shouted he laughed he praised god he's gone on now to glory let me tell you friends let's let's let's just let go let god have his way don't hold back on god if he's dealing with you about something walk in the light of that do what he says if there's any immodesty in your life do take care of it i mean anything and everything let him have the whole right away with you it just seemed to me we people who have eternity before us we'd be anxious to get ready for heaven and as i mentioned a bit ago i believe there is a heaven i don't have any trouble with believing in heaven once pastor went out to visit a senior couple of his church and in the when he knocked at the door the door was a little slow about opening somehow but the pastor was just waiting at the door and finally the door opened and when the door opened it was the dear brother the elderly citizen that lived there the senior citizen and he would had his handshake up in his head and he was mopping tears and shouting at the same time and when he saw it was his pastor he said oh pastor i wish you could have been here just a few minutes ago said my wife has just gone to heaven and the most beautiful thing i've ever seen in my life said she'd come right to death door and she said listen husband honey listen the most beautiful music i have ever heard he said to his pastor i listened but i could not hear the music evidently the sounds was for my wife and her alone and then he said my wife said look honey look look right down through the skies there's a set of golden stairs being lowered he said i loved but i could not see the set of golden stairs evidently the sights was for my wife and her alone but he said that golden set of stairs just come right down and then he said my wife said finally said look husband look honey look there comes our little four-year-old curly-headed girl down the stairs to welcome me he said i looked and he's mopping tears and shouting both at the same time he said i looked but i could not see our little four-year-old curly-headed girl that we had lost back then but he said then god just seemed like my wife just stepped under the set of golden stairs and god took them back to heaven with him i believe there's a heaven out there heaven's not just floating something floats around that's a friend i want to tell you heaven's a place if you don't have your sight on heaven i wish i knew how to adjust your thinking for you to get interested in heaven we we don't we don't have to just live for things of time and the things of this world if you want to get into a realm that's great and wonderful i believe it's the book one of the books of the bible i believe ecclesiastes who said vanity of vanity all is vanity 29 times he said vanity of vanity all is vanity and then he finally qualified what he meant by it by saying all is vanity he said everything that's under the sun and by that position by that position i take that everything under the sun everything of this world really is vanity cars automobiles homes houses lands stocks and bonds what does it all amount to not much not much of anything really there comes a time when breath is leaving your body that if you had a pile of twenty dollar bills as big as this tabernacle they wouldn't help you one bit in the world and i want to tell you another thing if you put your eye on that celestial city and purpose by the grace of god that you're going through and never refuse to let anything detour you or turn you aside and you set this matter and said that good that you're going through with god whatever it may cost you i want to tell you there's something not only to live for there's something to shout about there's something to die for let's have a time serving the lord it's none of the devil's business what kind of a time you have if your heart is hungry forget about satan trying to hold you back if you're not cleansed from inbred sin go ahead and walk in the light if your sins are forgiven and the nature of sin is still there and you're having problems and if it's there you are having problems as long as that nature of sin is there you'll have problems with it you can't reform it it's it cannot be brought into subjection to god it's not capable of that but i want to tell you through the merits of calvary's blood jesus blood can cleanse that old thing from your heart and fill your heart with the blessed holy ghost and you can go down through life and have a time living for god and one day you can answer their old call i don't know we may get to go when the sounding of the trumpet who knows i'm not much of a protector of the future so far as that's concerned but i want to live in red and it's for whatever may become i'm not necessarily afraid of the future i can't figure out y2k or j2 whatever it all is i can't figure all of that stuff out but to tell you one thing i'm not great worried about it jesus christ is my savior he's my sanctifier and i'm going to keep on living for him i don't have any other objective in mind than just to live for him and i'll leave all the future in his hand to help me as he wants to help praise god i believe there's something worthwhile for every saint of god not only to die for but to live for i'm not tired of living it's a good way to live it's a wonderful thing to serve god it's a good thing to get up in the morning purposing in your heart to mind god it's a wonderful thing to go to bed at night having the feeling that you've minded god through that day and the victory is yours through calvary's blood if there's a need in your heart of holiness then why don't you let go and let god forget the past don't worry about the past forget the future and say this moment the blood of jesus cleanses me now if i were you and didn't have holiness i'd start saying right now my pew the blood cleanses me the blood cleanses me it's my faith that you get through to this i know there's a consecration there's no question about it but really faith is the connecting link when you do get sanctified it's my faith your faith is functioning and start lifting up the faith the line of faith the lightning rod of faith go higher and higher and believing and believing the blood cleanses the blood cleanses the blood cleanses the blood cleanses me now make it practical make it present dance the blood cleanses me right now and you can get a witness to the spirit this very instant right at your pew the blood cleanses you there's no cheap route through on this thing god requires all of us to go the same direction but i want to tell you the devil causes a lot of disturbance and a lot of problems for people why don't you just somehow push satan aside and tell him to mind his own business while you settle the matter between you and the savior if you've got unfinished business with him whether unforgiving sins or whether it's unmade restitutions or whether it's sins that's it's the nature of that you haven't been cleansed from why don't you just turn loose and let go and let god almighty do it for you now would you stand with me please for a moment and while we while we wait before the lord for just a little bit why don't you just take the matter in hand and say by the help of god i'm going through