In this sermon, the preacher references John Bunyan's depiction of the celestial city and encounters with a lion and demons. He emphasizes not to fear the devil's roar and highlights the futile attempts of demons to extinguish the testimony of individuals and the church. The preacher shares a story of a man who lived a sinful life but had a powerful impact on others, leading to a touching funeral with tears of repentance. The sermon also discusses the dangers of conforming to the world's mold and the wrath of God against ungodliness and unrighteousness.

Romans chapter 1, sorry, pardon me, Romans chapter 1 and verse 16 are the best known of the verses. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. Well, you might ask, why should he be ashamed? Well, as far as I can find out, Paul had never been to Rome when he wrote to the Romans. First of all, it was a city of splendid architecture, intimidating. It was a city where the king lived. It was a city that always rejected the alien. It was a city that was competing almost for the title of the most corrupt city in the world. Apart from Corinth, it had every excess, every exercise in iniquity. They threw off all restraint. And Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I listened to some stuff on TV this week. Boy, was I ashamed of that presentation of the gospel. It's the most perverted, rotten thing I've ever heard. People in sin never, oh, I made a mistake, I made a mistake. No confession of sin, no humiliation for wasting millions and millions of dollars and time and lives, nothing of the kind. I couldn't help but contrast it with this glorious gospel of Paul. Why is he so sure? What is the gospel of Christ? Notice he doesn't say they need a new theology. He says, he doesn't say, I want to be the most wonderful preacher in the world. I think he was. You know, there was an Augustine in history, about 340, I think. And he was, he became, whether it's good or not, he became the first archbishop of Canterbury. You know, you can tell a bishop is straight up an archbishop as an arch, because they overeat too much and get too fat. But then there was another Augustine, Augustine of Hippo. Hippo was an area outside of Algiers in Africa. He was a good young man, a fine young man, very religious. But then he went to university, got corrupted. He sank to every degree of depravity he could go to. But he had one of the greatest treasures in the world, he had a praying mother. Every time people came, have you heard of my son? Oh yes. You never knew what a corruption he's gone into. He gets worse and worse. Every time we see him, he's more depraved, he's more violent, he's more reckless, he's more sinful. He wants to be an example of every reckless sin that the devil can put in a man. He says, I want that. I want to be the embodiment of evil. And every time they said that, his mother said, that's all right. You have to go to the bottom before you come up. He'd become a Christian, he became a Christian. He wrote that magnificent volume, if you haven't read it, let me tell you, it was a favourite of Dr. Tozer's. He wrote it against worldliness and paganism, called the City of God. Well, I've said all that to say this. You know, he said, if God would grant me three wishes, these were what they would be. Number one, I would like to have seen Jesus Christ in the flesh. Number two, I would like to have seen Caesar coming down the Appian Way when he had all his choice captives, prisoners. The kings and noblemen, they chained them to the wheels of the chariot, they had to run at the side. And they galloped them through the city while the people screamed and cheered. He said, number one, I would like to see Jesus in the flesh. Number two, I would like to have seen the triumphal entry of Caesar down the Appian Way. And number three, he said, I would like to have heard the Apostle Paul preach. Well, I'd change that to number two. I'd like to have seen Jesus, I'd like to have heard him preach. I don't think I dare have heard him pray. I think even praying John 17 would crush me. I've heard people say, I'd like to have been with Jesus in Gethsemane. I sure wouldn't. It would have killed me. But to hear this Apostle Paul preach. I can listen to any man if he's as good as his theology, and Paul was. He's there with a battered, bleeding, bruised body. And you can take that phrase from the marvelous poem, The Invictor, My head is bloody but unbowed. The man that bows the knee to the father never needs to bow to any other man, in any shape or form. I don't care who he is. And Paul never bowed the knee. I think, who was the, uh, was it Spinoza that talked about Bishop Brasney, I'm asking you. Was it Spinoza, pardon me, that wrote the phrase, talked about the God-intoxicated man? Thank you. I'll give you zero as you go out. I could have said that myself, why did I ask you? So there's two of us that don't know. Anyhow, so I think it was Spinoza, he talked about a God-intoxicated man. This man is never, you know what, the Church of Jesus Christ never does anything when it's sober. What was the first thing they said about the men toppling out of the upper room? They thought they'd been tippling in the upper room. These men are drunk. What did that proud Roman that had never heard the gospel in his life, Felix, Felix trembled, didn't he? When he heard the Apostle Paul, you'd have thought, Paul would have been trembling. But boy, the king is trembling. I'll tell you what, if that man trembled before Paul, what will he do when he stands before Jesus? Boy, sometimes I itch, you know, the right way, to go home. I want to see that judgment. I want to see every rebel bow their knee to Jesus. Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Genghis Khan, Philip of Macedon, tell me all the kings that ever lived. All are going to bow their knee one day to Jesus. We sing a hymn sometimes, it's a good English hymn, of course. Crown him with many crowns. What does it say? It says he had many crowns. Now let me check the bishop again. Where did he get all those crowns, Brother Bracey? We'll talk about this next time we meet. Get us both off the hook. But he said he had many crowns. What crowns? Did he get a crown over death when he died? Did he get a crown over sin? Did he get a crown over the powers of hell? He's crowned with many crowns. The lamb upon his throne. That's an excellent, wonderful hymn. Here is a man and there's nothing breaks him. It doesn't matter where you put him, what you put on him. They whipped him, they lashed him. What did he say? A night and a day I was in the deep. What's that, 36 hours? Holding on to a piece of wood in the Mediterranean. In weariness, in fastings, in painfulness, in perils of the deep, in perils of my non-countrymen. And what did he say? I think this man gave the devil a headache all the ex-hedrons in the world couldn't move. Sure he did. Why? Because he said none of these things move me. Now get him straight, he didn't say none of these things hurt me. Of course they hurt him. The more sensitive you are, the more deeply you're wounded. But they didn't move him. Why? Because he says to everybody, you know the success of the Christian life isn't profound theology and memorizing scripture, it's keep looking unto Jesus, the author and deliverer. If you look around about you today, you'll be disappointed. If you look inside, you'll be disgusted. I thought I was right. Bracey said I'm right for once. Thank you. So what do you do now? You keep looking unto Jesus. The Lord didn't ask you to look at bishops or archbishops or missionaries. He says keep looking unto Jesus. And if you say I want to be like Jesus, get ready to suffer and be persecuted and rejected and despised. You see this man had such a comprehensive view of God, of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. He believed John 3, 16, God so loved the world. He wrote to the Ephesians, Christ loved the church. But he said you know, want to know something more marvelous than God loving the world and loving the church? He loved me. And that dear saint that ended his life up in a prison off the west coast of Scotland, Samuel Rutherford. How many of you know his hymn, The Sands of Time are Sinking? Bracey again, you're down. Boy, you're getting all straight zeros tonight. I've never seen a straight zero, but anyhow you're getting them. I've got to get some copies if we can get them Martha. The Sands of Time are Sinking is one of the most amazing hymns ever written. In it he says the bride eyes not her garments, but her dear bridegroom's face. There's a pillar, there's a rock and then what looks like a chimney off the west coast of Scotland. It has some bars up about 10 or 12 feet from the base of the rock. They put that old man in that prison. Somebody rode over in a boat one day to see him and said you've been here so long, what a terrible place. And then the wave came and splashed up and the poor old man was there, wet. And he said isn't this a terrible place to be in? Look at the slime running down the wall. Oh there's a rat. This is a terrible place for a saint of God to be. What is it like to be here alone? He said friend when you're not here those walls shine like rubies and diamonds and everything else when I'm alone. You see? We want that but we don't want it at a price. The most difficult thing in the world is to walk alone. Great men walk alone, eagles fly alone. Lions when they're hunting hunt alone and great men walk alone. Can two walk together? Well two walk together except they'll be a great. The two are God and myself and he's the manager, I'm just going on with him. But this man, none of these things move me. Weariness, fastings, painfulness, a night and a day in the deep. Once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck. And he goes on giving a catalogue and he says but none of them move me. But I'll tell you what moved him. He said the greatest thing in the world is not having your back whipped until its flesh is torn like a plowed field. It's not being stoned. It's not being half starved in weariness. And he said I know how to abound and how to be abased. How in the world he abounded I can't find anyplace except he abounded in every situation he was in. What did he do it for? Because he said Christ loved me and he gave himself for me. I used to think the motivation of his life was in, is it the second or first epistle? I won't ask any more questions. Either 1 Corinthians 5 or 2 Corinthians 5.17 where Paul says what? You can't remember the scripture? I can't either. Okay, something like that anyhow. No, no, no, no, I'm not thinking of that. I'm thinking of 2.57 I think it is. If any man being Christ is a new creation. This man doesn't come loaded with guilt as we think of guilt. He's everything going his way. He's a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He's of the tribe of Benjamin. He's of the seed of Abraham. He has everything going. His father was a Pharisee. He was a Pharisee. He argued once with a general or a centurion in the Roman army. And the centurion stuck out his chest and said I'm a centurion. And I paid a vast sum of money. A corrupt politician got me my freedom. Paul says I was free born. He's the leader amongst the Romans. He's the leader amongst the Jews. And yet he did as we sing I lay in dust life's glory dead. In everything that came his way he said there's death in it. Well how did it happen? Let me skip back a minute here and then I'll come back to this chapter. What do they say in Romans, pardon me, in Acts chapter nine. You know this story anyhow. Acts nine verse three. As he came near to Damascus suddenly there shone round about him. You know I like that word suddenly. Why? Why do you like the word suddenly? For this reason. The scripture says the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple. No 24 hour notice. The shepherds went out as usual to look after their sheep and suddenly the sound of a heavenly host. And what happened? They announced that Jesus had come. A bunch of nervous men were in an upper room and suddenly the Holy Ghost came upon them. And this man is on the Damascus road. He's going down the Damascus road and there inside of his garment he has a Roman toga. He has credential sign that he can liquidate every Christian that he finds. It says he goes down that road breathing out threatenings against the Christ of God and his church. I think I read this once. I'm going to read it again to you. This is a statement of an atheist. It was sent to me from India. It's an atheist. Listen what he says. Were I a religionist did I truly firmly consistently believe as millions say that they do that the knowledge and practice of religion in this world life influences the destiny in another. If I did that religion would be everything to me. I would cast aside earthly thoughts and feelings as less than vanity. Religion would be my first waking thought or my last image sleeping into unconsciousness. I would labor in her cause. I would not labor for the meat that perisheth nor for the treasures of the earth but only for a crown of glory in the heavenly regions where treasures and happiness are alike beyond the reach of time and chance. I would take thought for I would take thought for the tomorrow of eternity alone. I would esteem one soul gain to heaven worth a life of suffering. There should be neither worldly prudence nor calculating circumstance in my engrossing zeal. Earthly sequences would never stain my hand nor seal my lips. I would speak to the imagination, awaken the feelings, stir the passions, arouse the fancy. Earth its joys and grief should occupy no moment of my thoughts for these are but affairs of a portion of eternity so small that no language can express its comparatively infinite littleness. I would strive to look for eternity alone and on immortal souls. Everything that man says Paul did. Everything. There wasn't a moment when he wasn't conscious of eternity, conscious of God, conscious that he was in a world. He wasn't here for a playground like PTO. You know I used to say it means pity the listeners. I know what it means now. It means polluting the listeners. God help them at the judgment. They've lost sight of eternity. They never have that stupid thing. Two nights ago in the in the national news as they finished it they showed girls with minimum bikinis on. This is the PTO. They said PTO ministry. It may be but it's not God's. Nakedness. As naked as they dare be. And yet that's supposed to be the Holy Ghost brooding there. I don't believe it. People say is that Pentecost? No it's not. They're having a bad time right now. The biggest church in Houston collapsed I believe. A Pentecostal church. The biggest church in uh what's further on? Oh this way. New Orleans collapsed. Pentecostal. People say is that Pentecostal? I said wait a minute. A Ford motorcar down the road knocked a woman down and killed her. Do you blame Henry Ford for that? You blame the driver. Some of the godliest men I've ever met. We had a man in England. Do you ever ever remember hearing of Donald G? You did. A brilliant man. A perfect English gentleman. Apart from that a scholar and a magnificent man in Christ. When he preached my daddy would go 100 miles to hear him. He lived at the same time as a man just the opposite. A boisterous I was going to say rebellious fellow. What was his name? Ever-increasing faith. Smith Wigglesworth. Oh boy was he a brand plug from the burning. He was in a meeting as a lady with a big fat tummy and he didn't like fat tummies. And he went down while he was singing. He bawled in the rear. Are you pregnant? No. He hits in the she said I've got something there. The doctor says it's a growth. He says oh close your eyes and she didn't. The boy hit her in the stomach as hard as any boxer could hit. She said oh. He says you're healed. Well either she's healed or dead. One of the two. She was healed. He did the most extravagant thing. They were extremes. They were like John and Peter. I take that as real whole Pentecostalism not the junk that's around today. I don't care where you turn. Immorality is rotting almost not every pulpit. A man called me tonight and he said I've got to deal with somebody in a church. The pastor's fooling around with a judgment. He said oh well pray pray pray for me tonight. I talked with a pastor the other day. A young man who's been out on the road. And he said I met a whole bunch of my seminary friends. He said almost every one of them is divorced now. He said they're just cracking up like mad. Do you know why? Because there's no fear of God in the sanctuary. Somebody said that Jimmy, not Jimmy's faggot, Jimmy's mixed up. Jimmy, Tommy's Jimmy, Jimmy's Tommy, Jimmy said this week we have a replica of the upper room. Did you hear about that? And he said what hundreds of people pass through and they come out speaking in tongues. He didn't say they were filled with the Holy Ghost. He didn't say they become revolutionized. Was this man tasted the grace of God man? He had eternity in his heart and eternity in his vision. You couldn't tire this man out. He worked on the superhuman or unhuman strength. Holy strength, divine strength. You expect people to give you up and fail you, don't you? If you don't you will. But listen this man had maybe the most wonderful team of evangelists the world ever saw. What happened? They all deserted him. Listen, you say Lord draw me nearer and nearer. The only way he can get you near is to separate you from other folk. Some of your dearest friends. Some will misunderstand you. Some will misrepresent you. Some will lie about you. So what? You said draw me nearer. He said I'll do that. Paul gets going. He's seen signs and wonders and miracles. What happened? He says demons have forsaken me. Not going into the sin of the world but having loved this present world. The men that were with him he out preached them. He out prayed them. He out fasted them. They said he's eccentric. Well those are the people that are anything for God. God intoxicated men. You can't see what the others are seeing. You can't hear what the others are. To use a common American phrase you're marching to another drummer, an eternal drummer. And this precious man says I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Let me stay here a minute or two. In this ninth chapter. Suddenly I shined right about him. Verse three. A light from heaven. And he fell to the earth. I think he was on a horse. He wouldn't be going to Damascus walking. And he fell to the ground. And he heard a voice saying why persecutors thou me? He'd never seen Jesus Christ. Unless you accept the theory of some theologians that that Saul was the rich young ruler that ran away. Yet the Lord caught up with him. But he doesn't say you're persecuting the Christians. He says you're persecuting me. Every time you touch into another brother or sister you hurt him first. He's the head and your head feels pain before your toe that somebody stamps on. He says why persecutors thou me? It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And at verse six says he trembling and astonished said Lord why me? No he didn't. He said Lord what will thou have me to do? Verse seven says the men which journeyed with him stood speechless. It doesn't say they even saw the lights. You know that's one thing I think that riveted Paul to his task. Nobody could divorce him from him. Where had he been? He'd been standing at the uh watching a young man maybe not 20 years of age stoned to death. And the young man never murmured. What happened? The heavens opened and all the people who crucified Jesus were there. And they said oh he's done away with. This young man says I see Jesus. Boy that must have shot them through the heart. They said Jesus is dead. Somebody smuggled his body away. And this precious young man says I see Jesus standing. The scripture says he's sitting at the right hand of the father. So one preacher I think was an eccentric Englishman said Jesus got so excited to see this young man giving his death dying like that patiently praying for his enemies that even Jesus got jumped off his chair and said come on come on heaven's open come up. Heaven opened in for Jesus in the most critical circumstances of his life. And if you want heaven to open for you get ready for something that's tough. Anyhow they stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man. Jesus had vanished. Then verse 10 there's a certain man at Ananias. A certain man at uh a certain disciple Ananias of Damascus. He saw in a vision. You know I'm glad that man stayed to pray. If he didn't like everybody else and said the prayers and run away God wouldn't have found an heaven boy. But he just waited a bit longer. Prayer is two ways. He unloaded on God and God unloads on us. People say well who does God unload on us? Otherwise why did he say my yoke is easy my burden is light. You know sometimes we run away. We ask people pray for us. I've got a burden. I say I'm not praying for you. Maybe you're asking me to pray God will remove the burden he's put on you. He's trying to get you somewhere. He's trying to test your muscles. All those extravagant things you said in prayer. I lay in dust life's glory day. Here's your chance to do it. Well it means two days of vacation. I'll miss or something else. But he says you ask for it so work it out. This man says work out your own salvation. He surely worked his out didn't he? Listen the Lord said unto him arise go into the street which is called straight inquire of the house of Judas once all Saul of Tarsus. Isn't that nice? Where does he go? Into the city. Where? To a street called straight. To where? To the house of Judas. Do you know what thrills me about that? If Jesus knew his name and address he knows mine. If he wants somebody to come they come. Some I wish didn't come but anyhow if he sends them I put up with them. I rough it smoothly but anyhow. He knew his name and address. There's where he's staying. He's seen in a vision a man named Ananias. Let me jump down here. Verse 19, 18 says immediately there fell from his eyes and it had been scales and he received his sight forthwith and a rosary was baptized and when he had received meat he was strengthened. Then were sold certain days with the disciples. Verse 20 straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues. Now listen this man's only just been born again. Just been filled with the spirit. Just been liberated from the bondage of the law. Just had a divine transformation. I don't believe in being filled with the Holy Ghost without action. When they were filled with the Holy Ghost what did they do? They went to the marketplace. As I said to somebody yesterday yes those Puritans were never fundraising they were hell raising. What happened when they came out of the upper room? The whole city was stirred. What's the next movement? They were in another room praying. As soon as a man gets filled with the Holy Ghost he talks about a prayer language speaking in tongues. I don't believe it is. I believe it praying the mind of the spirit. It may be speaking in tongues at times. It's praying the wisdom of the spirit. It's praying with the authority of the spirit. Whether you speak in English or not. I used to go to a prayer meeting on Monday mornings. How many have ever heard it? Did you hear David Duplice say? Do you know who he is? Who he was? He's an angel now or somewhere. Well David Duplice came every Monday morning. We used to meet with him and the founder of Daystar Missions. What was his name Martha? Jack Winter and a whole bunch of other wonderful fellows. Boy we had some prayer meetings. I'll tell you what you talk about praying about anointing. Once he got going you didn't know who was who. But I remember one day a fellow really prayed with that and he was an Englishman. I remember Jack Winter saying you know that was wonderful hearing that fellow. He put it this way. I guess you'll understand. He said he prayed in tongues in English. Do you know what he meant? He prayed with anointing in English. They spoke in every language in the Holy Ghost. Now here's a miracle. Straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues. You remember in the 17th chapter of Acts where he's at the intellectual capital of the world? Remember he began, he was born in the ancient capital of the world, Tarsus. He finished up in the military capital of the world. In between he went to the religious capital of the world, Jerusalem. He went to the immoral capital of the world, Corinth. And he went to the intellectual capital of the world where the poets and Stoics and philosophers were all gathered in the 17th chapter. He doesn't pull any punches. He says you worship strange gods. I want to tell you one. What an astounding thing. It wasn't something that flitted in out of his mind. Do you know all you brilliant men with your genius? One day God has appointed a day. Do you know why he doesn't pass judgment on P.T.L. and others or even on you and I? Because he's appointed a day. Nobody's got away with anything. There won't be a thing missing from P.T.L. whether it's 90 million or 900 million. God has a document on it. Everything, every word that's been preached there, every action, everything. I call it now the judgment seat. I call it also the final checkout counter. And again remember this, no case is going to be settled out of court, either for the pope or the prince. Kennedy got away. It's John Kennedy's birthday, anniversary today, 70. What a family. What about Teddy Bear? He died with that girl in his car. And for years they said he let her drown. He didn't let her drown. She didn't drown at all because there was no water in her lungs. She suffocated. She got her head up in the car, breathed up all the air and passed out. The man who investigated it said two years from the death, I shall publish a book that will shock the world. He never published it. It never will be published. There was too much money paid. That whole case is going to be tried at the judgment seat of Christ. There'll be nobody pope to plead for him there. Where did Jimmy Hoffa go when he died? Hell, I think. But anyhow, wherever his body went, it's going to be played out in that great day. All these mysterious, no mistress to God. He won't need any book of reference. Man, if he sees Sparrows fall to the ground, if he knows the names of every one of the billions of stars, and it says that he does in the 40th chapter of Isaiah, the Lord could stand here and he could recite the name of everybody that's lived from Adam till this moment, and who will live till the judgment. I think the only thing that's kept me sane, I'm not quite, but I'm nearly, and the only thing that's kept me sane is this. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Nobody's going to corrupt God. He needs no memory. He's the eternal God. He's infallible. He's immaculate in his understanding. He's omnipresent. He's witnessed everything that's gone on today with one sweep of his eye around the world. He's registered every emotion. As the hymn says, crown him with any crowns, whoever he grief hath known that wrings the human breast, and takes and bears them for his own. Does Jesus suffer? Yes, he suffers now, and he'll suffer till he comes finally to sit on the throne in the world. Why? Because it's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Whoever he grief hath known, in Isaiah, doesn't it report that? It says concerning the Lord Jesus that he was with them in their suffering, in everything they suffered when they were whipped in Egypt, he suffered with them. Well, let's rush on with this. Verse 20 says, straightway he preached Christ in the synagogue, and all that heard him, what were they? Amazed. Listen, he's on his own ground. He's not a select company of preachers. He hasn't chased around to see if there's any apostles left. He's in territory that's foreign. It says in a sense he's a Jew, but here he is with all these antagonists, and yet in the midst of all of them, all that heard him were amazed and said, he's not this, he that destroyed them which called on the name of Jerusalem, and he came here with that intent. Doesn't he say in the 26th chapter of Acts before Agrippa, I went everywhere, I tore families apart. In my holy zeal, I tore families apart. I chased them into strange cities, and these people say he came here with a, he's got a death sentence in his pocket, and he can command death for all of us. But they said, listen to him now, he came hither with that intent, that he might bring them bound to the chief priests, and Saul increased more and more in strength. Isn't that gorgeous? You say, Lord strengthen me. He says, well, bend your back, I'll put a load on it. You remember John Bunyan has a picture of the celestial city, and on the way he said there was a lion, and when he saw it, he was afraid, and he discovered it had a chain, and it could just come near enough to lick his legs, but not near enough to bite him. He said, it's a type of the devil, he gets very near, don't be afraid of his roar. And then he saw a big fire, and he saw demons, and there they were throwing buckets of water on the fire, trying to put out the testimony of the individual, or the testimony of the church, and he said they were throwing water on furiously, and the more they threw it on, the more it blazed. I couldn't understand it, water doesn't do that. He said, I walked around the back, I looked at the front, there were demons with little buckets throwing water on, and at the back, there were angels with buckets twice the size throwing oil on. So there you are. You see, we're more than conquerors through him, and the man that wrote this blessed epistle. Let me just finish with a couple of things here. Let's go to Romans. I think we're living, we mentioned this yesterday, I think, in our meeting with the preachers. I don't know how they got the message through, but he says that their faith is heard of throughout the whole world. In verse 8, verse 10, he says, making a request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey unto you. Verse 11, I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established. Now again, remember, he's gone to this city that didn't want him. He was the greatest reject the world ever had. Nobody wanted him, and yet he was the most anointed man I'm sure that ever lived. That's why I say I'd love to have heard him preach. In verse 15, he says, so as much as in me is, as much as in me. What was in him? Do you think Paul ever preached anything he hadn't done himself? He writes in this very epistle in chapter 12, present your body a living sacrifice, be not conformed to this world. I don't like most translations, but if you've read, is it J.B. Phillips says, instead of not, instead of using the authorized version, be not conformed to this world, J.B. Phillips says, don't let this world squeeze you into its mold. That's what it's trying to do. It got all the PTL and molded it, it would pass now for Hollywood. They lost track of something. They got the extra gold and greed. Oh Tommy, Jim says, I raised it because I wanted people to see what God can do for his people. Do you think there's anybody rejoicing now in what he's done? Yesterday, I talked with a man and he, I said, how's your family? He has three sons like we have, and he said, well the oldest one is going on with the Lord. He's doing pretty good, but the other two, he said, they're complete cynics. They said, Dad, is that Christianity? Is that Pentecost? I said, it isn't. The man's lost his nut, lost his head, lost his thinking. He's got caught up, or sucked down, if you like. But you know, God's going to give an answer to all that. He's going to raise up pure men, poor men, unlettered men, if you like. Those men went into the upper realm, unlettered. What did the world say about them? Peter and John worked a miracle and they dragged them up before the big shots, and the big shot looked down and he says, be careful, these two men are unlearned and ignorant. Oh boy, that's what we can't bear, isn't it? Just yesterday, a preacher said to me, almost everybody in our denomination now has got a doctorate. Somebody said to one of John Wesley's men, your church won't prosper. He won't go on. He said, why? He said, you don't have a single doctor in the whole range of your preachers. Do you? He said, no. He said, our theology isn't sick enough to need a doctor. What have we got with all this wisdom and all this learning? We've got no way. We're more carnal, we're more helpless. God isn't wanting to put us on exhibition for scholarship. It's sainthood he's after. And yet this man has such a comprehensive revelation of God. As much as in me is, what did he have? He had a colossal intellect. He had an unbreakable spirit. He had an unshakable faith. My faith looks up to thee. A joy unspeakable he had. A faith unbreakable. He's sitting in a prison, bloody, half starved, cold. What does he do? Send a letter, a monthly letter. Please help, send some food parcels, care packages and all the rest of it. No. What did he say? He says to other people, rejoice in the Lord. And again I say rejoice. Look at the epistles that he wrote. Somebody says, you know, Paul's in prison. Why doesn't he get out? Those big shots, you know, Dallas, the faith gang. They say if he'd had more faith he'd never had a thorn in the flesh. I'll tell you what he did. They don't do. They beg money. He had a thorn in the flesh. Sure he had. His faith was so small. Do you know how small it was? It's so small he raised the dead. Do you know how small it was? He cast out devils. Do you know how small it was? He invaded all the heathen powers. One man. He didn't raise a million dollars. He just lived in a living vital relationship with God. And because of that, of course he boasts. The psalmist said my soul shall make a boast in the Lord. People don't. They boast how big their radio program is, how big the results are of our ministries and so forth. Paul didn't do that. What did he do? He boasted that my soul shall make a boast in the Lord. And he says very joyfully, triumphantly, I can do all things through Christ. You see, this man has such a comprehensive realization of the redemptive work of Jesus. In Jesus' name he cast out devils. They did that before Pentecost. But it's more than that. He's willing to lie. And in that great hymn I quoted, the hymn writer says, it was a well-spent journey though seven deaths lay between. If I had to die and rise and go to martyrdom again and another martyrdom and a second and a third and a fourth and a fifth, it will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Five minutes inside of heaven we'll all wish we carried greater burdens, had greater zeal, had greater love, had greater sacrifice. What in the world is treasures? I talked with our dear David the other day. If you've ever seen a saint walking, there's one. His walking with God is awesome. And I said, David, these things don't matter. I said, supposing you saw a woman with a million dollar ring, wouldn't she be more precious? He said, Dad, these things don't make any difference. All that you can take off and put on, the world can rob you of everything. But my faith looks up to thee. I can have a joy unspeakable, a faith unshakable, a love that's indestructible. Paul had them all. That's why you can't fault him. You may say, well, Jesus, oh, he was a son of God and the son of man. He was a son of God. Well, Paul says, listen, I can take everything that comes. I can do all things through Christ and he did it. So let's tackle the situation right here. I mustn't take much time now. Verse 15. So as much as in me is that colossal intellect, his spirit, his unbreakable spirit, his love, his joy, his peace, I'm ready to preach the gospel to those that are in Rome also. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. You see, there's no, he says, in another place, there's neither Jew nor Greek, which is race distinction, bond nor free, class distinction, male nor female, sex distinction. It doesn't matter what category you're in, the blood can come, because sin is the same in everybody. But remember, God's holiness will never cover, God's mercy will never cover over the sin that his holiness has condemned. He'll forgive us here, but not afterwards. Why is he so zealous? I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and righteousness of men who hold the truth in righteousness. Now look at the people. I'm going to skip down this quickly. Who is he going to? Verse 24. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. That's wrong living. Now look what he said in verse four, or verse 25. Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forevermore. In verse 24, it's wrong loving, living. In that verse, it's the last one, 25, it's verse, it's wrong living, wrong loving. Then he comes down into verse 28. Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, giving them over to a reprobate mind to do these things which are not convenient, filled with all and filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness. That's wrong being, wrong living, wrong loving, wrong being. These men were totally corrupt. They were a new edition of sodomites. He needs a gospel as big as that. I think he wrote Hebrews and Romans. Do you quote it tonight, I think, dear brother? Romans, Hebrews 7.25. He is able to save to the uttermost. We have a prayer meeting Thursday morning in our house. It's kind of private. It's just for preachers. But it's good. I enjoyed it anyhow. So, if your preacher can bear it, time to come along. It's a half past nine, just about two hours. Joe Foss was there yesterday, dear Joe. People say to me, boy, there's some wonderful ministries where you live, aren't there? I say, yes, two big ones. Oh, no, no, no, I wasn't thinking of them. Two very special ministries. Who are they? Gates of Life, run by my dear friend there, Sonny James. And down the back lane there, as I call it, Joe Foss. Joe said, I think it was a friend of his, you were there, Gracie. What did he say, a friend of his, that chaplain? And he'd been visiting a man who's murdered six different people. And he acknowledged before the judge. He said, I did it. I'm not going to plead for my life. I did it. I did it. I did it. They gave him a time on death row. Then he was to die on a certain day. And Joe's friend, the chaplain, went in. And he said the man was laid back on a bench, relaxed, with a huge smile on his lips. The other men had been whining and pleading. He said, I'm not going to plead for my life. And the chaplain said, are you going to, did he say, are you going to plead again or something? Oh, thank you. So you're right at the end anyhow. He said, yes. The chaplain said, have you any last words? He said, yes. Well, he said, say it. What was he saying? The wages. Yeah. With six murders on his conscience. But now he's got right with God while he'd been there. They led him to Christ. And he said he had a huge smile. And he said, well, this is the last word I'd leave to others. The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life. And he said, they injected him and he just folded up and passed away. Those were his last words. You think of that. The psychologist is going to whisper some nursery rhyme in his ear. Here's a man says, listen, I've got the answer for you. There's one who died for you. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away. I could keep you all night telling about amazing characters in America. None of them greater than Jerry McCauley, the man that came to Christ in Sing Sing Prison. One of the vilest men that ever was. When they buried him in New York, the crowd outside was so big it was like a royal funeral. They opened the door. There's the body of the old guy. His eyes were sunk and his face wrinkled. He drunk enough beer to launch a ship. But every time he went to a meeting, he would have a prostitute on one arm or a jailbird on the other. And as he lay in his casket there, the preacher said some nice words about him. They opened the door and a woman came in with a white flower anyhow. And she walked up to the front of the casket. And they said that tears were flowing so much that by the time they'd gone past, those eyes there were just puddles of tears. And after the women walked in with their white roses or white flowers, then they opened the door and 25 men came in with a red rose. All very deeply dyed sinners. The vilest of New York's underworld. And he led all those 20-odd women and those 25 men to Jesus Christ. Because he said if he did it in me, he can do it in anybody. That's why Paul says, I'm the chief of sinners. If I'm the head of the gang, if I'm the worst reprobate, he wasn't in sexual uncleanness and things, but he hated Jesus Christ. He hated the system. The persecutor becomes a preacher. He says, listen, God's done the miracle in me. And if he's done it in me, he can do it in you. He's able to save to the uttermost. Whether at the lowest hell or you're in the highest echelon of so-called rich and famous people. I've got a book here I'm going to read. It's written by F. W. H. Meyer. If ever you see it, buy it. You'll have to buy it in a used bookstore somewhere. It's all about St. Paul. It's the most moving thing. And I've dozens of lives I'm going to save St. Paul. This is all in verse. But he's a preacher. God help us. These young theologians come from the seminaries and say to me, oh, my teacher was saying this and I said, well, forget it. Let me tell you something. Oh, they say, you know, we aren't the sawdust preachers now. We don't go down. We have a profession equal to doctors, equal to lawyers. I say, brother, preaching isn't a profession, it's a passion and an obsession. In God's name, if you can live without getting in the pulpit, keep out of it. But if you get in it, don't let a 50 Clydesdales pull you out of it. It's the hardest job in the world if you're going to do what Paul did, carry a burden for the last. He doesn't say my eloquence gets me through, my logic gets me through. What does he say? He says, I travel in birth. Ask your pastor, does he travel? Ask him how often he weeps in the secret place. Ask him how many people have really been, but they're not being born again because nobody's traveling, that's why. This is what he has Paul saying. This is about Paul's preaching. Oft when the word is on me to deliver, lifts the illusion and the truth lies bare. The desert, the throng, the city or the river, melts in a lucid paradise of air. Only like souls I see the folk there under, bound who should conquer, slaves who should be kings. Viewing their one hope, hearing their one hope with an empty wonder, gladly, sadly contented with a show of things. Then with a rush, the intolerable craving shivers throughout me like a trumpet call. Oh, to save these, to perish for their saving, die for their life, be offered for them all. What do we sing? I lay in dust, life's glory dead. I get less confidence, I'm getting old and muddled a bit since that stroke, I don't speak too well, but I'm going to preach as long as I can. And I'll tell you what, the passion doesn't get less, it gets deeper. America won't stand another decade unless there's a Holy Ghost revival. The Russians won't destroy us, we'll destroy ourselves. We'll destroy ourselves with AIDS and all these other hellish diseases and all the corruption in government. And God's going to offer us mercy. And we have to plead now in wrath, remember mercy. He is a merciful God, otherwise he'd have burned us up today. It's true of England and other countries. But you see, we don't have these passionate men. Where in God's name are the men with passion? It's all so sweet and easy these days. Oh, God loves you. One of the big excuses some of the preachers now, you know, oh you sin, of course you do. We're only human. We're not human. How can a man filled with the Holy Ghost just be human? The man who's just human is a sinner. He loves his sin, he practices his sin. He's not just human if he's a God-filled man. Read Romans 8, he says he's filled with the Spirit of God, he's filled with the Spirit of Christ, he's filled with the Holy Spirit. If he's really abandoned, why is he just ordinary? Why is the devil always trying to destroy that man if he's not ordinary? He's different in the eyes of the devil, he's different in the eyes of God. I'm through with this. I expect at the judgment seat there's going to be a judgment of believers, there's going to be a judgment of sinners, there's going to be a special judgment of preachers according to James. Be not many preachers or teachers, we shall receive a greater judgment. I expect to see preachers, brilliant preachers, well-known preachers, charged with criminal neglect at the judgment seat. Why? Because they do not preach the whole counsel of God. We're not just human. We're not here just to be human. We're here to be superhuman. We're here to live. Why do you say thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth? It can only be done in earth as the kingdom is done in us. As we're subject to love and joy and peace and longsuffering and gentleness and meekness, the intensity of our love to God will be measured by our intensity of our hatred for the devil and human systems. And they've all had their way and done nothing. We're on the edge of disaster. We're on the edge of wrath. And God's going to raise up some men like this. I believe lots of these young men that keep coming in here, they keep writing to me, I came the other Friday night, God touched my heart. That's my reward. Not rewards, not offerings. In fact, the offerings are the same every week at this place. Never there is a dime. And I'm glad it is that way. But you don't say, well, there'll be an offering at the end. Never has been, never will be, as far as I'm concerned. But you see, this is an unusual hour. It's an unusual hour. God wants unusual men. It's a crisis hour. Sin isn't normal anymore. People don't, when those gay girls lying almost naked, they say, oh, I don't feel embarrassed. That's no compliment. It's a shame. They can be in a Christian camp and not feel embarrassed. And fellows are going past looking and pointing at them and they're not embarrassed to say it. Where is our hatred for sin? Let me say this. A fellow called me yesterday from West Virginia. Brother Raymond, I want to encourage you. Good. I said, that's great. There's not much of that stuff about. He said, we started praying in our church. Young people get together, other people. And he said, the Lord came and a bunch of young men have really got quickened by God. I said, what's the proof? He said, they've gone back to their offices and businesses and they've been witnessing and they brought Mormons into the church. And the last few weeks, one or two Mormons each week is getting saved. Bless the Lord forever. In this day, why? Because some young men have been transformed. You can't contain it. Boy, I went to his tiny church. You know what we did Sunday morning? We carried the church organ in the street where there was poverty. And we had our streets Sunday morning. Where did Jesus preach? In a lovely church with stuffed seats and stained glass windows, a massive choir and an organ? No, he didn't. He didn't often get in the synagogue. He preached in the street. What do we do Sunday night after the service? We went back in another area, a poor area, took the organ again and we sang for about an hour and testified and preached. And it was wonderful. I thought, I got my first taste there of a real concern for the lost. And I'll tell you what it was. It started through an American that went to the Indians, David Brainerd. And I said, well, God sends the same. And I lay in dust. I just started. I got everything printed to start my own business. I took it to the altar. I said, it's there. I finished with it. I didn't touch it. I'm glad a thousand times over that I have. I have one thing equal with Dr. Talbot. I finished school in the eighth grade. If that's any congratulation, I helped you. And he did. And I've learned to love the Lord. And I want to love him more. And if I had a thousand tongues, I'd preach. Boy, you'd be here a long while if I had a thousand tongues, wouldn't you? I told that young man we'd pray for his group. They were concentrating on the Mormons. Let's remember that tonight. Jacob had a special request for prayer. He has a difficult situation tomorrow to be in with some other people counseling. So he asked for prayer. There are different groups around the country keep saying, remember, oh, I'll tell you what, the man, there was a man here a few months ago, remember from Canada? That big. Church of England preacher. They had to move up there about two years or less ago. And in that great church with its stained glass windows and everything, people were laid everywhere, slain in the spirit, he said. But within 18 months, they'd all backslidden, gone back to their drinking, gone back to their dancing. And he said this over the phone to me this morning. He talked quite a while. And he said, you know, up here, he said, these charismatics don't know a thing about repentance. They just think, he said, it's like Jim Baker. You just say you're sorry. If Jim's sorry, why is he going to try and build another one? If he's sorry, why doesn't he take all the money back? He said, I want to tell you, I love my staff. What did the staff say last night? One of the leading men said, why didn't he love us when he was here with us? He was arrogant and unapproachable. You see, the world doesn't forget that God is going to move. God is going to vindicate, not my preaching, anybody else. He's going to vindicate the passion of his son. One thing I'm through. When they were needing young men to go and offer their lives on the plantations down in the Caribbean years ago, there were two young men of the Moravians offered to go. And as the ship was pulling away, somebody shouted and said, you'll never come back again. They went and stood on the slave blocks down in St. Thomas. It was the only way to get into a plantation. And these lovely golden-haired young Germans stood on the slave block. And when they gave them the money, they said, give it to Pastor Spendelberg, and he'll send it back to Germany to pay the fare of somebody else coming out. And when they said, these two young men, remember, you'll never come back. It's a one-way ticket. And they just shouted back, may the lamb that was slain, was it? That's right. Yeah. They borrowed that from the, uh, yeah, the covenants said that first, I think. But anyhow, it was their language. May the lamb that was slain, see of the reward of his sufferings. And they went and they put a chain around their necks. They put a collar. And when the men turned their head, that iron chain could cut their necks. And they festered and died very often. They put a rope around them. And they put five men. And the secret sign was, when they chain you up to plow, get in the middle so you can testify to each end, to the one on the right and those on the left. You know what the sign was? It wasn't just on their stationary, it was the sign of the whole group. They had a, an ox leaning forward. On the right hand, they had an altar. On the left hand, they had a plow. It said underneath, ready for either. Under the plow, it said service. Under the altar, it said sacrifice. And they said, we're ready for either, service or sacrifice, live or die, it doesn't matter. Do you wonder they had revival? Do you wonder the Holy Ghost came on their fellowship at 11 o'clock, Wednesday morning, 13th of August, 1727, the Holy Ghost came. And a prayer meeting started that lasted for 100 years, it never stopped, day or night. Boys and girls at eight and nine were weeping and traveling for the salvation of people they didn't know a thing about, except they were black people who were slaves. Revival lasted a hundred years, non-stop praying. We want it for a weekend. We want to be devout for a little while, not too much, it'll interfere with our plans. You see, we're planning this, we're planning that, forget it. Get his plan and let's do it, whatever it is. So let's go with a holy hatred to prayer, a holy hatred to the devil, and a holy love for the Lord. Let's remember these precious people who are asking for prayer. If you just pray for these in different parts of the country, God knows where they are, and pray for Jacob, I told him we would. Thank you, I'm sorry I took so much time, but there you are.