This sermon delves into the profound teachings found in the 15th, 16th, and 17th chapters of John, emphasizing the significance of Jesus as the true vine, the Holy Ghost's unique role, and the depth of prayer exemplified by Jesus in Gethsemane. It also explores the courage and conviction of Paul in Acts 17 as he fearlessly proclaims the Gospel to intellectuals, contrasting the arrogance of those who reject God's authority. The message underscores the importance of recognizing God's sovereignty, resurrection, and the need for spiritual revival in a time of moral and spiritual crisis.

Take the 15th of John, nobody else talks about the true vine. Take the 16th, nobody presents the Holy Ghost like he does. Take the 17th, the most profound thing in prayer ever recorded, not the most profound prayer, the most profound prayer was never recorded, it was Gethsemane. It was too holy, it would have shattered us if you and I had heard Jesus. I'd love to have heard Jesus but I don't, I'm sure I couldn't have taken it. But here is a man consumed, he sees the world hostile, every system. If you want a picture of his courage, turn for a few minutes here to the Acts of the Apostles. What chapter is it? Chapter 17. I was thinking about a certain message for Sunday morning, I'm sure it was exactly what the Lord wanted me to speak on, but the Lord said it isn't, so I've got to obey the Master and change it. But in connection with that message, I'd been thinking of one of the most famous poems ever, I guess, written by an unbeliever, W.E. Henley. This is what he says, Out of the night that troubles me, black as the pits from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods there be for my unconquerable soul. It matters not how straight the gate, how punishment the scourge... No, let me go on to the next verse. Out of the night that troubles me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods there be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced or cried aloud. Under the bludgeoning of chance, my head is bloody but unbowed. That's the most quoted poem, I think, phrase in all his poems. Looms but the horror of the shade, and yet the menace of the years, finds and shall find me unafraid. And beyond this place of wrath and tears, looms but the horror of the shade, or the grave, he means, and yet the menace of the years, finds and shall find me unafraid. Now listen to his arrogance. It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishment the scourge, I'm the master of my fate, I'm the captain of my soul. Exactly, go to hell. That you're the master of your fate, you refuse to bow to God, the laws of God, the word of God, the son of God, the spirit of God. You refuse the blood of the Lamb, well go to the wrath of the Lamb. That's the only alternative, for him or this generation. After him comes A.C. Swinburne. Remember his famous phrase, glory to man in the highest, for man is the master of things. He says, from too much love of living, from hope and fear set free, we thank thee with brief thanksgiving, whatever gods may be, that no life lives forever, the dead man rise up never, and even the weariest river winds somewhere to the sea. Now Paul, in the 17th of the Acts here, marches with his head unbowed, marches with a holy confidence into the midst of the most intellectual group of people in the world in that time. This 17th chapter says the Stoics were there, and the Epicureans, and the poets, and all the rest of them. And Paul goes in the midst of these people, Stoics, Epicureans. Their great leaning was on the natural, primal facility of man, or faculty of man, on individual self-sufficiency. But all he could see when he went into that city, he said his spirit was stirred when he saw, amidst all that massive intelligence, they bowed down to the gods of stone. And they sought for the unknown god. He walks into the midst of them with all their philosophies, and all their reasonings, and everything else. And they listened intently when they found he knew as much philosophy as they knew, as much poetry as they knew, as much history as they knew. But then suddenly he comes out with something they never heard of. He talks about a man called Jesus Christ who died and rose again from the dead. What did they do? He says, I passed by and I saw your devotions, and I found an altar with this inscription to an unknown god, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him I declare unto you. God hath made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven. They wouldn't accept that very well. He's the Lord of heaven and earth, and he dwelleth not in temples with hands. All these temples you have down the side of the road, the investment of millions of dollars, all your philosophies, all your writings, they're nothing to him. He is the one god, he's the creator of heaven and earth. He dwelleth not in temple made with hands, nor is he worshipped with men's hands, as though he have need of anything. Then he winds it up, verse 31, because he hath appointed a day the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance to all men that he hath raised him from the dead. The message of the New Testament was not the death of Jesus Christ. That was only half of it. They could understand men who died as martyrs. What they did not understand was the resurrection of Jesus. That by one man's sin, disobedience, sin entered into the world and polluted the whole human race. This debate has been a bit interesting, not too much this week. I'm glad somebody really pulled one of the speakers up, was it last night, and said when they said about the abortion, this is a very emotional issue. Was that Fierce Ferraro that said that? This is a very, it's not an emotional issue, it's a moral issue, and it's a spiritual issue. Oh, we don't want a nuclear war, that would destroy a lot of our young people. Oh, a lot of our people, doesn't that sound very holy and compassionate? They don't want young men to go to war, they want to murder them in the womb, which is the worst. We should take care of our young people for the next generation. There won't be any young people in the next generation, their womb is their tomb. Is God going to wink at our iniquity much longer? If I were a Protestant Pope, I would close every evangelical church in America or the world, until after the election. Not that we can buy it by our supplications and devotion, but at least let's get serious. There's more talk about the World Series this week than about what's coming up on to the nation. There's more interest in football, now we're in the football season. I don't believe we've ever, as a nation, been in a more serious situation than we're in tonight. Mondale would have backed the philosophy, and Thoreau too. They'd have backed the philosophy of these men there, these Epicureans and these Stoics. These men who want to rationalize everything and reason everything out. Our only hope is God. Revival is not the best thing that can come to America, to say that it's the only thing. And you can't start it in Washington. If you could, I'd be up there right now. You know, I think one of the horrors, if I can use that, when we get to eternity, and we see the widening path from the throne of Jesus Christ right back to the moment you were born again, and you see how near you came to supreme blessing and supreme deliverance and revival, and we missed it by a hair's breadth almost. I think that will be one of the sorrows. No sorrow in heaven, of course. It's all joy and peace. We go to funerals and say, no more tears. But the same book that says that, the same book, Revelation, says God shall wipe away all tears. So where does he wipe them from? I consider it the judgment seat. No, the judgment is only for rewards. No, that's what Paul says. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3 there,