In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes that there is only one gospel, which is told by four different people in the Bible. He encourages the audience to read all four Gospels to get a complete understanding of the story. The speaker then shares a story about a man whose life was shattered by tragedy, causing him to lose his sight. The sermon also focuses on a passage from Mark chapter one, where Jesus encounters a rich young man and instructs him to sell all his possessions and give to the poor in order to have treasure in heaven.

...seeks us through pain, light that follows all our way. What do we think of this man when suddenly tragedy overcame him? His life was shattered. He could no longer see the beautiful hills of Scotland. He was blind. He couldn't handle the books that he'd been carefully gathering over the years. Everything was suddenly lost its value. And yet we thank you he's blessed millions of people through this wonderful hymn. In saying that love that will not let me go, he found a new strength there. In his blindness he found new light. Though he was limited with men, there seemed as though the very heavens opened upon him. We think of him in that other great hymn he wrote, Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free. Force me to render up my sword, and I shall conquer thee. I sink in life's alarms when by myself I stand. Imprison me within thine arms, and strong shall be my hand. My heart is weak and low until it masterth thine. It has no spring of action, sure, it trembles with the wind. It only stands unbent amid the clashing strife, when on thy bosom it hath lent and found in thee its life. Lord, we think of those that even in our frail experience of life, this side of eternity, they found a superhuman strength. You strip them and strip them until there was nothing left, it seemed, and yet that joy did not die. That love for thee did not die. They still had hope in hopeless circumstances, and faith when there seemed no way out. Lord, we think of those today who have grown in grace immeasurably because they've triumphed yet once more. We bless you for your word, this lamp for our feet, this light for our path. We thank you, Lord, you're great and wonderful and majestic. We can only stammer. We'd like another language. We'd like angelic language. We'd like to sing in a thousand tongues, as Wesley said, but we'd like to love you with a thousand hearts, think of you with a thousand voices, serve you with a thousand lives. But, Lord, we don't have this, but what we have, we pray we'll sing the right song of worship to thee. Our hearts will be still in your holy presence, that we may know thee and the power of thy resurrection and fellowship of thy suffering, to be conformed to thy holy will. Again, Lord, we thank you for holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And, Lord, we thank you, you've preserved this marvelous book down the centuries. It's been burned and banned and blamed and banished, and yet tonight it glows with an unearthly light, an unearthly power. As we read it, bless us, Lord, open the eyes of our understanding, we ask, in Jesus' name. Thank you. You know, so often we talk about the four gospels. Well, let me say this again, there are not four gospels. There's one gospel told by four different people, and we need to read the four of them to find out, usually, the completion of the story. Sorry, my voice isn't good, but anyhow, it may come back. Maybe the message will be better than the voice. Let's read from Mark, the gospel recorded by Mark, in chapter 10. Mark chapter 10, I'm reading from verse 17. And when he was gone forth into the way, now that's the key to the whole thing here. Immediately before this, it says in verse 10, in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. And verse 13 says, they brought young children to him, that he should touch them, and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. So there you have the setting, he's in a house, his disciples brought little children to him, and he blessed them. But then when he's gone forth in the way, he's gone out of the house, out of the limitations, out of the privacy. Then you read verse 17, when he was gone forth into the way, there came forth into the way, there came a man running, running to him. He came running and kneeled down, and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Now if you read the 19th chapter of Matthew, read the same story, he'll tell you that this man was a young man. That's in the 19th chapter of Matthew. If you go to the 18th chapter of Mark, he'll tell you that this was a young ruler. Now this chapter says he was rich, and Matthew says he was what? You've forgotten already? Good, thank you, young. And the other one says he was what? A ruler. It doesn't tell you in any of the versions he was a rich young ruler, you put the three pieces together, you find he was young, he was rich, and he was a ruler. And he came running, what's wonderful about it? Well he came running, he came kneeling, he came asking. What's wonderful about it? If you go out east, you'll often see somebody come and crouch at the feet of a wealthy businessman. I remember being in a bazaar in India some years ago, a bazaar, it was an open bazaar, and then there was a closed bazaar, and I was going to get some knickknacks for the boys, you know, real treasure, about 50 cents. And suddenly there was a stir, and I looked, and there's an antique Rolls-Royce, in England we call it an open tourer, you call it a convertible. And there was such a stir, and as I just saw the front of this awesome car, it was an antique, beautiful thing. Suddenly I noticed some fellows sit up straight, they had coloured turbans on, and almost as quickly as that they were surrounded by a group of beautiful young ladies. They had gorgeous flashy silk dresses on, saris, whatever you call them, jewels in their ears, jewels in their noses. We'll get those soon, that'll come fashionable. So there they have jewels in their noses, jewels in their ears, and all began to bow to the young men that were there. Somebody said those young men are very, very wealthy, come from the outstanding Sikh families in this area, and they kind of paid homage. So what's new about this in the Orient? Somebody comes running to Jesus, the difference is very great. Jesus is a penniless, itinerant, homeless man. This man is rich, he is exceedingly wealthy, and yet he bows at the feet of this poor, penniless, homeless young man. He came running, he came asking, you don't run in the heat of the day, it was daytime. He comes, he's rich, and he's young, and he's a ruler. Remember there's a certain man named Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, the same came to Jesus when? By what? By night. This man, vastly wealthy, comes and kneels in front of the poorest man on the earth. He doesn't ask a private audience, he doesn't say I want to see you, but secretly, he's driven by need, he's driven by desire. So he comes running, you don't run in the daytime, in the heat. He doesn't come up quietly and come through the crowd like the woman that touched the hem of his garment, he comes boldly, right up to Jesus. And people are amazed, the crowd's looking on and saying, look at this fellow. He came running and kneeled and asked him, saying good master what shall I do that I'm eternal life? Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none but good but God. Thou knowest the commandments, but look at his stature. He's kept the commandments, he's never committed adultery, he's never killed, he's never stolen, never told a lie in his life. I read today that statement, I've got it marked in the book. In the time when America was in its birth throes, in the 1700s, there was a man by the name of Peter Hubert, came from England. He went back, if I didn't tell this last week, I'm not sure. It's worth telling again anyhow. He went back to England in the 1700s, addressed the whole of the British Parliament, and he said, I want to tell you something, I've lived for seven years. I woke up the other night thinking of that, no I've got it wrong, can't be seven years, maybe seven months, maybe seven weeks, seven days. He says, I have been in a country for seven years. Let me get them right, five and two. I've got to show you, not a deaf and dumb language you've made. Seven years, I've been in a country and not once have I heard an oath, not once have I seen a beggar, not once have I seen a drunkard. It's an amazing country. So Parliament says, hey, where is that country? He said, it's called America. Seven years and never heard an oath. Seven years, nobody ever told a lie. Seven years, never saw a beggar on the street, good lord. I was in a place the other day, a woman came in with a, what do you call it, checks to get welfare checks, and she took all the money out in cash. We've got folk collecting, collecting welfare now that drive up in Cadillacs. Of course they're old ones, they're last years, but they're still driving up Cadillacs. All the welfare, what have we done? They've prostituted it, and our condition gets worse and worse. Doesn't matter who gets into Parliament or Government next time. Revival only will save America. But absolutely, God's vengeance is going to fall on us. We're the most privileged country in the world. Somebody was telling me the other day, do you know how many bathtubs we have? I don't know, I was in a shop the other day, somebody had never seen one. The man next to me had never had a bath since the day he was born. Bathtubs, telephones, so what? Do you know we have the highest rate of illegitimacy in the world? We have the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the world. We have the highest rate of divorce in the world. Boy, we have a dozen records we never mention. And all because of what? Because we won't do what this man did, he bowed the knee. Again, he did not come blushing, he didn't come with stammering, he didn't ask for a private audience, he comes to the most despised man in the world. If you want to be despised, walk in holiness. You can walk in any church and be carnal, they won't say a thing about you. You walk for holiness and righteousness. If I say to you, Noah, what do you think of? He built an ark. That's not what the scripture says. It says that in the perimeter, but it says in the epistle of Jude, Noah, a preacher of righteousness. It talks about Zechariah, who was murdered between the gates of the door of the temple and the altar. Zechariah, for what? He preached righteousness. Somebody asked me if I'm getting on with the book on the judgment seat. I'm trying. You know, it's terrible. I'm torn between anguish and anger as I try to think of it. Dear Keith Green, what a guy he was. How many of you remember Keith? Ever see him? He's a big Jewish boy. Oh, I like his big black hair. He was quite a character. He was a nuisance very often. I mean, when he came to my house five times a day, but it showed it's Hungary. He hadn't been saved very long. He had a heart as big as Texas. And talking one day, he said, Len, you know what we say sometimes? We say all roads lead to Rome, is the old proverb. He said, no, all roads lead to the judgment seat. And so they do. There's no bypassing it. Again, there'll be no alibis there. There'll be no immunity. There'll be no escaping. It's a command. It's not an option. But all roads lead to Rome, he said, and they do. When I think of this country, sure we've all the privilege. We have more Bibles. I wrote to somebody today. Again, I said, you tell me like everybody else in any other form says, I'm reading. I'm reading Jeremiah. I'm reading Jeremiah. I'm reading Jeremiah. That's all I get in letters. I wrote again yesterday. I said, listen, forget Jeremiah for a day or two. Go down to the Laodicean church in Revelation. That's where we are. Was there a church at every street corner in Jeremiah's day? How many million Bibles do you think there were in Jeremiah's day? One in the temple. The people couldn't read. They listened to a man that read the scripture. We have 600 million Bibles in America. That's three for every person, not every home. How in God's name are we going to face up to walking in darkness when we could be walking in light? Satisfied to be in bondage to sin and all the corruptions. Well, anyhow, this is a young fellow that came. Look at verse 21, please. Then Jesus beholding him loved him and said unto him, only one thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell what thou hast and give to the poor. Notice that? Not what your stupid TV preacher says, give it to the church. He didn't say give it to the church. Say give it to the poor. I hope half those guys get caught on income tax. Send them all to jail. Sell all that thou hast, not sell something. Sell all that thou hast and give it to the poor. Then what? Then thou shalt have treasure in heaven. But listen, that's not all he says. Number one, sell all thou hast. Number two, give it to the poor. Number three, thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And number four, take up thy cross and follow me. Isn't that a load? What does it say? He was sad at that saying and he went away grieved for he had great possessions. It doesn't say great stack of money. It says great possessions. What possessions? Do you remember last week we read that scripture there in Matthew chapter 6? Verse 15, pardon me, 19 says, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust corrupt. Verse 20, but lay up for yourself treasure in heaven. Why? Because verse 21 says where your treasure is there will your heart be also. It wouldn't be very difficult for some of us to give up all we have financially, would it? But there are some things more precious. I remember being up in the northern India and went across the border into Tibet. Well just this side of the border in northern India. I went to see a man who was 95 years of age. He looked younger than I look. And he had a library, mercy, I would say about seven or eight hundred books. I went down the road to see another young American. They had a mission hall and instead of seats like this they were just planks with a backrest. But every backrest had a gorgeous tiger skin on it. It says thou shalt not covet thy neighbors this. So I forgot about the tiger skin. They were all killed because tigers jump over the wall and try and get the animals inside the compound. He was a young American. He'd been there a number of years. Wanted to come home. And when he applied for a visa they said you can't come. He established a place called the Good Shepherd Mission. Outside on stumps or whatever you call them, there were some beautiful old, now what's the thing you call them, as I say I'm not losing my mind, I'm losing my memory. Tractors. And when boys came out to the bush they had leather loincloth on them. And he took them to the tractor that was already, you know, complete. And he showed them with a spanner how to take the steering wheel off. They took them all down and laid them down on the ground and reconstructed them. The government was so impressed they said you're doing something useful. You're not just telling folks to sit there, Jesus loves me this, I know. You're revolutionizing our industry. Revolutionizing our agriculture. Well after all these years he was worn and torn and tired and his children were up in their teens. And they kept saying, Daddy you tell us about America. You send us magazines about America. We would love to go. So he asked and they returned his letter and said well surely you can go to America but you can't come back. Why not? Well your children can come back because you were born in India but you can't come back. But I must go see my parents, they're getting very old. I have no interest in America except my parents. I'm not even raising funds but I want to go see my parents and then come back. You can't do it. Then finally they said look, you can go to America and come back on one condition. You renounce your American citizenship. If you go there, you can come back if you renounce your American citizenship. Otherwise if you go, you can go but your family can't go. I said what do you do? He said it didn't take me long to decide. He said the Lord told me to take care of those poor people in India, in their poverty, in their ignorance, with all their needs. He'd become missionary, showed them how to build, showed them how to taught them different things. And he said you know that it wasn't, it was harder than giving up money, anything else. Renounce my citizenship, the country I love. I was educated there, my relatives are all there and live out here in the most tiger infested area of India. I've no fear of tigers, it's just I do not want to have to leave unless I can get back. As I say finally they gave him a concession. There's a treasure. Hold your breath, no don't hold your breath so long. Some of you young guys may go to a country and you have to renounce your citizenship to get there. There are more treasures than money, severing friendships, severing ties. I told you that when the boat was edging away from the dock, that wonderful little woman that lived not far from my home in was tearing my heart until suddenly it was as if an angel said God so loved the world he gave his only son, give your only son, he went out. I don't think she was living when he came back. Well the most beautiful picture I've ever seen was a picture behind me in a little church, not the size of this room in Belfast. It was a church where Amy Wilson Carmichael was saved, spirit anointed, took a one-way ticket to India and served there 35 years. The last three years of her life was lifted in and out of bed. She had a curvature of the spine when she went, she got some other diseases and never once was hurt in any shape or form to grumble. Raised up an orphanage that seat about 300, that took about 350 children. She knew when she went, it's a one-way ticket, God has called me to go, he never said go back. It was that little woman that wrote give me a passionate passion for souls, give me a pity that yearns, give me a love that loves unto death, give me a fire that burns, give me a prayer power that prevails to pour itself out for the lost. A little woman 95 pounds is asking for a passionate passion for souls and she'd live almost entirely without having new clothes, she'd worn old things, you know missionary barrel, not good enough to wear at home, stumped them to the missionaries. Give me a passionate passion to souls, give me a prayer power that prevails and that's all she did. After they buried her and put her back in bed, she was living in intercession for years. Give me a prayer power that prevails to pour itself out for the lost. Victorious prayer in the conqueror's name all for a Pentecost. You see an experience of God that cost you nothing is worth nothing and it will do nothing. It isn't enough to give all you have away, take up your cross. It isn't enough to take up your cross, you have to follow him. Somebody else will say come this way, somebody else will say that way. Boy I remember as a teenager, boy I go to a missionary conference. The first night I went I was ready to leave next morning for India. I went the next night to the conference, I was ready the next morning to go to Africa. I went the next conference, next night, six nights I went to six different mission fields during the night. At last I found my mission field America amongst all the savages, I mean amongst all the wealthy people. Okay, now look for a minute at Mark chapter 1, we're in chapter 10 here, chapter 1. Remember in the ninth chapter here he's what? He's a young man, he's a rich young man. Think of all the severances, his social status, he had great possessions. Maybe he was in line for a great inheritance, maybe he was in line for a great political situation, or office. We sang it tonight, isn't it easy to sing it? Wasn't Shakespeare right when he said it's easy to bear the other man's toothache? All love that will not, I lay in dust life's glory dead. Not long ago, I haven't been on the road for about three years, this handsome bronze wonderful young man came. I'm having a struggle, I said what with? Usually it's lust or something. I said is it lust? He said yes, I said well just a minute, he said it's lust for power and fame. I'm on the edge, on the verge of becoming a professional tennis player. I'll be playing in different countries of the world, I want to see everything will be paid for me. And there's a tussle. Is it worth it? Sure if you're after money it is, but if you're going to do what this blessed book says, lay up treasure in heaven, how do you do that? You wear the old clothes and buy the new ones for somebody else. Jesus looking on him loved him. Why? I think he watched this young man struggling out of a cocoon that he'd made for himself. He'd become a socialite, he'd become wealthy, he was a man of position, a man of possessions. And Jesus watches this young man struggle. And though he's talking with a very person who is the essence of wisdom and authority, he looks up into that face of the Lord Jesus Christ and he turned away sorrowful. Why? Because he had possessions? No, because he had great possessions. Maybe he's the multimillionaire or billionaire of the area. We don't all give up the same to serve the Lord Christ. Some of these precious fellows, so many here tonight, they're all away. The gates of life are away. Gates of life last week went to the gates of hell. They went to the strip down there in Houston among the prostitution and the male prostitutes and the corruption and filth. Gates of life ministry went to the gates of heaven at a special time, blessed time. Some people were saved. Lay up treasure in heaven. Dear Lord, it's a good place, somewhere where there's no corruption, where nobody can pull the strings. One of my abiding consolations for 60s, no, almost 70 years now, has been, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? He sure will. Nobody will pull any strings there. There'll be no false accounts. We must all stand, every believer must stand at the judgment seat of Christ. Teddy Kennedy was saying something on, what did he say this morning on TV? Mr. uh, the president, Mr. Reagan, has no right to reach down into the muck of Iran gate or no, what did he say, water gate to explain Iran gate. I thought, look who's talking about muck. He never thought he'd meet that girl that was drowning. She didn't drown because there's no water in her lungs. He never thought that girl that died in the car with him will face him at the judgment seat. I remind you again that every woman that aborted a baby never thought that baby's face would shine up at the judgment and she'd look into the face of the babies that she aborted. And the angel will say, that's the child you murdered. And the baby will see its mother for the first time. Do you think it's going to be fun? Not on your life. Do you think Kennedy will smile at the front of it? He may have pulled the strings with the Pope. He won't pull any strings in front of the Lord. You know, we're in the best business we can be in. We're in the kingdom of Jesus Christ that can never pass away. John Ellington wrote to him, we used to sing it every Sunday night. I'll pass it into any other. The day thou gave us, Lord, is ended. The darkness falls at thy behest. To thee our mourning hymn ascended. Thy praise shall sanctify our rest. The last stanza says, so be it, Lord. Thy throne shall never, like earth's proud empires, pass away. Thy kingdom stands and grows forever till all thy creatures on thy sway. You talk about replay. You're not the judgment seat. It's a replay of history. There's a very famous book out right now. Where is history going? You know what? The historians are trying to decide what place to give Jesus in history. He's already decided what place to give them in eternity. They better look it up. Where is history going? It's going to the judgment seat. It's been going ever since Adam stepped out of the garden and became a rebel. All the empires, earth's proud empire. You haven't given a thought to the Medo-Persian empire today. You haven't thought about Genghis Khan. You haven't thought of Philip of Macedon. You haven't thought of Alexander the Great. They conquered the world. They made the world to tremble. Have you thought about Hitler? No sir. He shook his face at the 51 nations in the United Nations. A league of nations it was. He defied. And he stood there, little guy that he was, and he said this third Reich will last for a thousand years. It didn't even last a thousand weeks. Earth's proud empires pass away. Maybe you don't like history. I do. I don't know too much about it. I haven't been here long enough. Longer than most of you anyhow. But it's going to be a replay of history at the judgment seat. Every person that ever lived. Somebody told me, is it one of your boys that memorized the names of all the kings in the Old Testament? Little guys memorize the names of all the kings in the Old Testament. How old is he? Six. Now come on, you're 36 and 26 and 66. How many? Raise your hand. You remember? I'll excuse my Indian friend there. He hasn't been in the way so long. He's never in anybody's way. The other Christians get in my way, but he doesn't. Okay, let me look at this a minute. This is different. A rich young ruler came. How did he come? He came in his robes. Remember the 15th chapter of Luke that talks about the rich man, Diabetes and Lazarus? And Diabetes had what? Robes, Tyrian purple. It mentions the color because it was the most expensive. This young man wore clothes that immediately distinguished him. That's the rich young ruler. Here's a leper. He doesn't come with a robe. He comes with rags. Here's a rich young ruler. He's in the very center, the very world center of the world pool as it were, of society. Here's a leper. He's as far out as this man is in. But what does it say about him? In Mark 1 it says, there came a leper to him beseeching him and kneeling down to him. If you read Matthew chapter 8 verse 2 about the same man, it says that this man came what? To worship him. Why is he coming? He's coming with his need. There's nowhere else to meet his need. He's a leper. But it says of the rich young ruler that Jesus looking on him loved him. It doesn't say Jesus looking on the leper loved him, but he did love him. Why? Verse 41, Jesus was moved with compassion. You can't have compassion without love. We also have a lady came to a church we founded 50 odd years ago that's still going by the way. Oh she's a big strong woman, red faced. Do you know what she did? She could have fought Muhammad Ali and beat him. She beat cops up. She'd go in a tavern and get drunk and they sent for a cop to arrest her and he came around the door. She's down the door and she, number one, he was knocked out. They sent for the tavern keeper. She was waiting. She knocked him out. But she used to sing a song, an old Salvation Army song, except I am moved with compassion. How dwelleth thy spirit in me in thought, word, and deed? Burning love is my need. I know I shall find it in thee. Jesus looking on him, the young man loved him. Jesus was moved with compassion and forthwith he put his hand out and touched him. Can you imagine it? Come on now, wake up. He's a leper. People say, hey there's a leper. He shouldn't be out publicly. They've crossed his name off this, of the state role. He's no longer a citizen. They've crossed his name off the temple role. He's no longer allowed to worship and there he is. Arrest him. Get rid of him. He's a menace. Jesus looked on him and loved him and then what did he do? He touched him. The first time I heard that was Miss Kuhlman on a platform with Dave Wilkinson in a big old place outside of Pittsburgh. Boy, she's a lovely voice, like a rope under a door. Growl, he touched me. I thought, oh who's saying that? But I'll tell you what, she got that audience singing until everybody was stirred. She, he touched me. Can you imagine Jesus putting forth his hand and touching this man and nobody's ever touched him since he had leprosy? The thrill, the wonder, the joy. He was accepted by this man, the most popular man in the world, despised on the one hand and popular in the other. The son of God. He takes the man in a robe, he takes the man in rags. Jesus looking on him loved him. Jesus put forth his hand and touched him and as soon as he had spoken, what happened? Immediately that leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed and straightly he told him don't tell anybody about this and he ran and told the whole city. But wouldn't you? You see conversion doesn't mean much these days. You come to the altar, say a prayer, weep on the shoulder of the pastor and that's it. Well because nothing happened. I met a Nazarene guy and I'll take less than a half a minute to tell you. A Nazarene fellow came one day in England. He'd been the worst drunkard in the British army. They shipped him home in a straitjacket. That was 60, 70 years ago. Do you know when that man got delivered? He got delivered because a woman went in the hospital ward and the nurse said don't talk to number 21. When the nurse went out she slipped him and gave him a testament and she said you know what? Jesus can save you. I'm the biggest drunkard in the British army. I'm the filthiest mouth in the British army. I'm the worst man in the British army. The military can't do anything with me. The chaplain can't do anything with me. Jesus loves you. He says if you confess your sin he'll forgive you. So the last thing he did he slipped the testament at the side of his bed. As he went to sleep put his hands together said Lord Jesus I'm very wicked, very wicked. Maybe the most wicked man in the world save me and fell asleep. And you know what? He woke up in the morning with all that transferred all the bells of heaven into his soul. All the bells were ringing. So he shouted at the top of his voice hallelujah. The fellows in the beds put the clothes over their head. Thought he was going to jump out of bed again as he often did. Crazy. Well then when they said that and started he reached for his testament he opened it like this. What? The prayer of faith shall save the sick. He said what a book. Last night it said pray and the Lord will forgive you. I prayed Jesus save me. He saved me last night. I've got joy. All I have to do now is say heal me. Heal me Lord. Felt wonderful. Nurse bring me my pants. What for? I'm going home. You're not. You stay in hospital. You're wearing a night shirt. The old military night shirt. You know right up here. Longer than a bridal dress. I said well what if the aunt bought you a pant. Had to walk home in that nightgown he said. Do you know that man half turned that hospital upside down? One of the most crooked, wicked, vile, corrupt men I've ever met in my life and yet one of the most joyful men. The only thing he was stupid. He'd get blessed when he was going to go see his showbook. He'd suddenly stop and say hallelujah I've got a blood red snow snow white sky blue experience. I'm as happy as a lark and as free as an eagle and it's sunshine and smiles and strawberries and cream. Everybody went this way. Well a man's all right to do what he likes with his own head. Because if he comes and pokes yours it's different. Why was he so joyful? He was so emancipated. Talk about passing from death unto life. How many people know that when they leave the altar? How many people know that when they come out of the waters of baptism? Do they believe that it's like circumcision in the old testament? This is a corresponding thing. That just in the in circumcision the flesh the way flesh is cut away. Going under the water is exactly the same thing. We're leaving behind the old sin. We're telling the world. Because again if you're in the water and then you go under the water. You can't see the world above. You can't talk to it. You cut off from it. And if I get really baptized in water I'm telling the world listen I've put off the old man I put on the new man. I've done away with corruption and Christ is my lord my life. He says the same thing to this man here remember. Jesus beholding him loved him and said unto him one thing thou lackest. Oh that's the that's the rich and ruler. One thing thou lackest. What did he lose? What did he lack? Well he lacked the thing that they all lacked according to this scripture. None of them had faith. Which is a great problem in the church today. Find this chapter again for a minute. Mark chapter one. The leper came worship beseeching him and kneeling down. If thou wilt thou canst make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion put forth his hand and touched him and immediately was cleansed. Verse 45 says he went out and began to and he published it abroad. So you've got the two men. Let me look here a minute. On this hand you've got the rich young ruler with all his wealth his circle of friends. Maybe a very distinguished scholar. Mentally developed physically developed spiritually developed in his own religion. And suddenly he comes into contact with the son of God. On the other hand you've got the leper. This man has no home to give up. Okay and put it this way. Here you've got the man in extreme wealth. Here you've got a man in extreme helplessness great need. One has great wealth the other is extremely poor. He can't sell his house and everything. But he has to do the same as the other man. He has to take up his cross and follow the Lamb with us wherever he goes. I don't have present have a the Encyclopedia Britannica. I wouldn't I wouldn't get a new one anyhow. Number one it cost too much. Number two they every time they they publish it they spoil the theological section. It gets weaker and weaker. It gets more violent on humanism and all the rest of the junk. But in an older edition which I had it says there that in the Puritan age which I guess you know was the age of the greatest preachers John Owen and John Bunyan and a whole bunch of other sibs Watson. Some of the greatest brains the world has ever known were living in that period. And yet in the Encyclopedia Britannica it says the greatest genius in Puritan writing was a man by the name of John Bunyan. John Bunyan a drunkard. John Bunyan the leper in the story if you like. A fellow that had almost no education. He was a tinker. When I was a child in England the gypsies used to come around with tins and they made little kettles and things. That was what John Bunyan did. Comparatively illiterate. Do you know a thing that John Newton wrote? I guess you don't. Not John Newton, John Owen. John Newton wrote Amazing Grace. John Owen the towering figure of the day. Intellectually a colossal intellect. Great faith, great writers, volumes and volumes he wrote. And yet the Encyclopedia Britannica says that the genius of writing in the Puritan age was none other than Bunyan. Get his book, your children, you should read it. You're not a good daddy if you don't. Read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Then read Grace Abounding. Then read Bunyan's Holy War. That Holy War is fantastic. He talks about the flesh lusting against all the other things. They're beautiful. But the point is he was none other than a tinker. John Owen is a scholar. John Owen is a friend of the king. John Owen is a companion, a friend of Cromwell. John Owen meets with the intellectuals. He had a friend by the name of Christopher Wren, later Sir Christopher Wren. Sir Christopher Wren designed the greatest church in London, of England, St Paul's Cathedral. He designed the two west wings of the great marvellous houses of parliament which you see sometimes. The king one day rebuked John Owen. John Owen, the vice-chancellor of Oxford University, the man that preached in Westminster Abbey. I remember going into a place of Wales and the pastor of the church, Little Assembly of God, he was just one of the most amazing men I've met. I've met great men around the world. He was just a coal miner but he had a wonderful method of studying the word of God and meditation. And boy when he opened the word I'll tell you what you felt and when he spoke you feel rivers of living water coming out of him. Revelation or whatever he was dealing with. You see Jesus takes the leper unclean. Leprosy is a type of sin and it doesn't stop. It eats and leaps away and sin doesn't stop. As I wrote to a friend yesterday I said you know some people want to die holding a bible. Some people want to die holding a crucifix. Tell me this, do these men dying with AIDS want to die holding a copy of Playboy? Of course not. The philosophy is when the rubber meets the road what do they have? They've nothing at all. And yet we have a firm foundation in Jesus Christ. He takes the intellectual, one of the most brilliant men that ever lived, that lived in France Blaise Pascal. Pascal invented more things than Edith never thought about. And yet one day at the end he died at 39 years of age. At the end of studying every one of the major philosophies he wrapped them all up and said there is nothing compared to Christ. I lay in dust life's glory dead. There's a cost in discipleship. Sell all that thou hast. And again the hardest thing may not be giving your money to the to the mission field. I've heard young men and seen them weep. My daddy expects me to take over his business. I'm trained to that end but God's calling me to the mission field. Now what do I do? And there's a tug of war. They don't always come out victorious on the side that I would think they would come out on. Sell all thou hast. Give it to the poor. Take up your cross and follow me. Lay not treasure up in earth but treasure in heaven where no moth nor rust can corrupt and no thieves break through and steal. I guess if I asked you how much you have in the bank most of you could say within a you know half a million or two. If I asked you how much treasure have you laid up in heaven? Hmm? Have you put a deposit in heaven today? By how do I do it? By obedience. My last word there revelation reading again yesterday. The Lord says I counsel thee to buy of me gold. You can't buy anything from God can't you? You can't. Not salvation. You can't. You buy by obedience. Buy gold. Buy garments. We're not all going to be the same in heaven. Forget it. The dying thief got there on the last breath. I expect to see him at the marriage supper. I don't expect to see him in the bride, as part of the bride. Sell all that thou hast. And then the Lord says it will be compounded on earth and in heaven. Do you think God's going to be in debt to anybody? You see we don't see our obligation like the apostle. I think the greatest intellect the world ever had. But he says I'm a debtor to all men, to the barbarian, to the Greek. He couldn't say anything. There's neither Jew nor Greek, race distinction, bond nor free, class distinction, male nor female, sex distinction. As far as he was concerned. I'm a debtor to every man that lives. As long as I live I'm a debtor. I'm a debtor. I remind myself of that every day. I'm a debtor. No man ever does God a favor. Think that. Come on I don't care if you give me a million books to mission. In any case if you gave a million it's no substitute for going yourself. I'm glad that some churches give lots of money to missions. That's not the chief thing. How many missionaries does they produce? In a nation like this it's not too difficult to give a few spare bucks away. But you start instilling into your children. You know darling I'm praying for you. I expect you to go to a foreign country where I should have gone maybe. My boys on the mission field. Two of them are. The other one's got a position in Washington now. But I'm glad I've seen the Lord reproduce the vision I had. And they have it better. And they're both better preachers than I am. Better Bible scholars than I am. Don't you think that makes me happy? I said to my dear wife tonight. I said sweetheart we've a lot to be thankful for. We have a lovely home. We have each other. We've got three wonderful sons. Treasures. You've got wonderful boys. They can be an investment for God. Do like Job every morning. Say before my children leave the house I cover them with the blood. Lest they make a slip. Every day I protect my children, my boys even now though they have children. I hardly ever know where they are. There's somebody in the world. You know it's such a little life. As we sang that hymn you know tonight. O light that followeth thou. I yield my flickering torch to thee. Supposing it was daylight now and I struck a match and lit a candle and said look watch me put this candle up at the sun. Wouldn't it look ridiculous? Your life is that candle. So short. I yield my flickering torch. I went to bed every night of my life in a four-story house. I went upstairs with a candle and many times I wondered I wonder how many candles I could light from this one candle. Today I read some hymns of Wesley written 200 years ago. I was lighting my heart from those profound truths he put in hymns and can it be that I should gain an interest in the sages blood. I read one of the hymns of she was the eldest daughter of the founder of the salvation army. O Lamb of God thou wonderful sin bearer. Hard after thee my soul would follow on. As pants a heart for streams in desert dreary so pants my soul for thee. O thou life-giving one. And she goes on. See that's why when we die we don't go straight to the judgment seat. Wesley's going to get interest bonuses all down for 200 years. Every life he's blessed is going to be rewarded at the judgment seat through this man. And you know we're not only going to be judged for what we've done. We're going to be judged for what we could have done if we'd heard God and obeyed him. We're not only going to be judged for what we've done. We're going to be judged for why we did it. Because God is a God of what they say our God is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed not just seen. Doctor told us like that to me Len. I don't think I'm troubled about what I've done since I was saved. It's what I could have done that troubles me. And not only am I going to be judged for what I've done but why did I do it? Why did you do give that gift so ostentatiously to the glory of God of herself? Well anyhow if you're the leper there's room for you he'll take you tonight. You may be the dirtiest leper outside of hell. But him that cometh unto me not unto the church not unto baptism, not unto a ritual, not unto a formula, not unto a theology to the person of Christ. We're not preaching Christ enough. We're preaching issues. We're preaching about abortion. We're preaching about drink. We're preaching about AIDS. Our business is to preach Christ. I if I be lifted up and it's our determination to do that. We're going to go to prayer uh let's thank God for what the Lord did through the uh gates of life last week when we were down in uh Houston. I think brother Joe Foss is in uh where is he tonight? Oh he's down with 50 people participating with him in uh in Mexico. Let's pray for the gold fest tonight uh uh Jacob's preaching tonight. Do you know what time their youth meeting is tonight? 11 o'clock. That's crazy. I told you they should all be in bed. But he won't tell her any bedtime stories I'm sure. God will bless him tonight. Dave Wilson tonight I think he's preaching the last time this Sunday. Well he preached the last time the other Sunday but this is not the last time. I don't know whether there'll be another one after that. Now I pray every day for that crusade up there. I pray for that tremendous meeting. If ever you go to Brooklyn, New York, go to Brooklyn. There's a prayer meeting in Brooklyn on Tuesday night. 1200 people. Make your hair stand up. Make your knees bend down. The greatest prayer meeting I've been in since I left England. Used to pray with a team of men. You know we're so impoverished. We're so satisfied little material success, material blessings, visible things, perishing things of prey. We're forgetting to lay up for eternity. Well I'm determined to live with eternity's values in view every day of my life. We're going to sing a chorus if you want to leave or have to leave. You're free to go as we sing. But remember to pray for these groups. Even if you go away remember to pray for these different teams that are out. You know every night you and I go, every night I go to bed somewhere I try and visualize the teams. 20 odd years ago we were with Dave Wilkerson when nobody knew him hardly in New York. Our boys used to go out at 11 o'clock at night with Mrs. Dave's mother. Come back any old time in the morning. Meet the prostitutes, meet all the riffraff as you say. But everyone who has a jewel called the eternal soul inside of them. Even if they're lepers, even if they're nauseating, they're precious in the sight of God. It's our business to get to them and see them as far as we can come into the light.