In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of Christians being salt and light in the world. He compares the idea of gathering all the street lights and putting them in one place to show that Christians should be scattered throughout the world, shining their light in different places. The preacher encourages believers to live with holiness and purity that the world does not understand. He references Philippians 4:4, where the apostle Paul encourages believers to rejoice in the Lord always, even in difficult circumstances. The preacher challenges listeners to take their faith seriously and seek revival, rather than complaining or being discouraged.

The grace that brought it down to man, oh the mighty gulf, oh the mighty gulf, that God sits back at Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free, pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdens of no liberty at Calvary, years I spent in vanity and pride. If not my Lord was crucified, knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free, pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdens of no liberty at Calvary. Good. Now shall we sing or read? We'd better read. My wife's waiting me down already. Okay. The Gospel according to Luke. We look at Luke. Sorry, chapter 1. I'll assume that you know the story. Let's begin at verse 63. This is Zechariah. He asked for a writing table and wrote, saying that his name is John and they marveled all. And his mouth was opened immediately and his tongue loosed. I see a lot of people with open mouths but not loose tongues. And some with too many loose tongues. And he spake and praised God. And fear came upon all that dwelt round about them and all those sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all they that heard them laid up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord is upon him. I think that's one of the most awesome things in the word of God. You read through Ezekiel, you read, the word of the Lord came unto me, the word of the Lord. Chapter after chapter, and then when you get to about chapter 20 a little further, it says the hand of the Lord is upon me. And I don't believe the Lord put his hand upon us till we know his voice. I'm more convinced than ever there are misfits on the field because I've met them. They're working for God, they're not working with God. And they end up in disaster. Just today I got a letter from South America, a young man, a woman I remember sitting, she's out here. And she seems to have everything that was necessary, but she's fallen flat on her face down there. And become a reproach. The hand of the Lord is upon him. Now if you were listing all the prophets in the Bible, and I say, who are the major prophets? You would say, well, Jeremiah, and Zechariah, and Isaiah, and a few other I's. And then you'd come down to the minor prophets. If I say go right through the Bible, I guarantee most of us would omit the character here. In verse 67 of Luke 1, his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied. I'm sick of people saying, that's all. Listen. If you say, thus saith the Lord, when it's your own silly mind, you're taking God's name in vain. A guy spilled lots of stuff out a few weeks ago at the back there, and at the end he says, thus saith the Lord. I bit my lip. If he says it again, I'd stand up and say, that's baloney, it wasn't God at all, it was you. Now this place is no place to draw attention to yourself. We're here to please God. We're here to hear God's voice. We're here to get strength from God. We're here to get revelation from God. He was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying, let's go to verse 70. And as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which we have seen since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us, to perform mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham, that he would grant us, now come on, this is us in it here, we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. Come on. I can understand the world that's so rotten in sin, that buys sin and sells sin and eats it and drinks it and trades in it. I can understand the world being against holiness. I can't understand why churches are against it. What did you sing in that lovely hymn, the old rugged cross? The blood was what? To pardon? I need more than pardon. To pardon and sanctify me. We were taught as children, that good old country England there, that heaven is a holy place prepared for holy people. I'll come to that a bit later. But this is it. You know, when it comes to Christmas, it's not far off. The shops have already got Christmas. A couple of weeks they've been putting Easter eggs out. They're always trying to get a jump ahead and focus our attention. Because they want to rob our pockets, of course. But you've got to poop it after poop it. What were they doing at Christmas? They talk about the manger, they talk about the three wise men. And usually you see a manger there with three wise men buying in the manger. They never got near the thing. The wise men were never in the manger. The shepherds were in the manger, the three wise men, what did they do? They found a babe. A young child in a house, not a babe. The babe was in the manger. It must have been at least two years after they got to see Jesus, because they travelled from the Far East. There's not a prophet, I don't care, there's not a preacher can prove to you, or me anyhow, that there were three wise men. There might have been 33, might have been 103. They presented gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. Well how do you know they didn't make a collection in one church to buy gold, another to buy frankincense, another to buy myrrh. We gather that, we don't know a thing about it. But they'll talk about the wise men, they'll talk about the shepherds, they'll talk about the star, they'll talk about the virgin, they'll talk about Jesus. But they don't say why he came. Did he come to rescue us from hell? No, forget it, that's a fringe benefit. I remember a preacher in England, he'd had some meetings and somebody said to him, well how did you get on? He said, well we had some good meetings. There were, let's see, there were three converts and two half converts. The man said, what do you mean two half converts? Well, there were three children saved, who were just too hard. He said, two men at 60 years of age, only half of their life left anyhow. You know the preciousness of the blood is to save us, not merely from hell. Christianity is not a sinning religion. If you sin every day in thought, word and deed, you'll go to hell anyhow. There's only one way to live and that is if you drop dead, you won't have anything to put right. You just say, Lord, if I drop dead today, everything's clear between me and you and everybody else. See, we talk about forgiveness of sins. I heard a preacher say, bring your sins to death. What did he do with them? He didn't save them. Sins are an objection to God, an abomination to God. We being delivered out of the hand of our enemies. Come on, are you delivered out of the hand of your enemies? You know that lust that's bound you, that evil temper that's bound you, that unforgiving spirit, that grudge. Come on now! We might what? Delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness. Holiness deals with character. And righteousness, that deals with combat. One of the smartest women that ever lived, I think, was Mrs. um, Westley. Not because she had 17 children. But she instilled into her children that two things to do with the gospel. One is believe it, the other is behave it. God knows we're heavy on believing it, but who behaves it? Hmm? Can you think of some of your hate tonight? Can you think of a grudge you've got? You see, he came that we might have a holy character. Holiness is my relationship to God. Character is my relationship to the world. When we were children they used to tell us a lot of smart things, you know. One was, uh, honesty is the best policy. Listen here, if you're just being honest because it's the best policy, you'll be a rogue in ten years from now. We should be honest out of pure character because truth is truth and honesty is honesty. Not because it's a smart thing to be honest. Not because if you sin you may be caught out. You know, the stupidity of lots of Christians is, well, I'm not living as I should, and I know I have grudges, I know I have this, that, and the other, but God doesn't judge me, and I'll tell you some news, he's not going to do either. You can do some rotten sin this week and he won't send fire from heaven on you. He'll catch you at the end of the road. He's appointed a day. When Moses' sister criticized him, what happened? She was smitten with leprosy. You know, if God did his judgments as he used to do, if he just smote us with leprosy after we criticized, we'd have to turn this into a healing meeting tonight. Cain slew Abel, his brother, what happened? God put a mark on him, why? What does it say? Lest what? Lest any finding him. There must have been a world population, his father or mother wouldn't have killed him. He'd already killed his brother. So what have you got left? He says, lest any finding him. But God put a mark on him. He doesn't brand us anymore. We brand ourselves. You can't sin without branding your personality. I don't care how you do it. Whether it's sourness, whether it's a grudging speech you can put on air, you can talk, you can speak in tongues, you can raise the dead. I'm concerned about the showmanship these days. It's character that God is after. We may serve him in righteousness all the days of our lives. Now, I'm not preaching tonight, I'm just going to take a study here. And, let me see, let's go over to, let's go to Philippians, chapter 2. You know, I was raised in a holiness community and I'm not a bit embarrassed about it. The emphasis there on the baptism of the Spirit was not power, it was purity. I remember a big meeting in England where the preacher said, now a lot of you are defeated Christians. All you who want power come down this side of the church and go in that room for prayer. All who want purity come down here. You know what the ratio was? Ten to one. Ten persons wanted power, for every one they wanted purity. And the whole of the revival in the world tonight is not drunkenness, it's not immorality, it's not perversion, it's not age, it's not Mormonism, it's not humanism, it's not Moonism. The whole of the revival in the church of Jesus Christ tonight, in the church of Jesus Christ, the whole of the revival in the world is the church of Jesus Christ. We're so impure, God won't use us. He said to the disciples, tari til ye be endured. Have you noticed nobody back answered him? Tari, and you shall receive power. Lord, we have power. We've just come back from the crusade, we cast out devils, we raised the dead, and shut up and tari til ye beget power. Tari til you get purified. They did all their miracles, but one wanted to sit on his right hand, not on his left hand anyhow. Philippians chapter 2. Come on, let's test his sanctification. Come on, let's see how we get on with verse 14. I'm reading King James Version. Do things, no, no, no, no. Do all things without murmuring and disputing. That's pretty tough, isn't it? Do all things without murmuring, or without disputing, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God. Without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Blameless and harmless. To me, this is a result of an indwelling spirit of God. We're blameless and harmless. We're not faultless. We'll never be faultless, maybe this side of it, isn't it? But we can be blameless. And, you know, the devil acts upon us because we're ignorant. Now, supposing I'm going out, or a brother's going out to a meeting, and I say, you're from Dallas, would you mail this for me please? I want to get to New York first thing, and it won't get out till Monday here. And he says, yes, put it in his pocket. I say, it's very urgent because it's a business contract. So I trust him, and off he goes. And it so happens, he's one of those rich evangelists that has three or four suits. But he puts the envelope in his pocket, you know, and when he goes up he hangs his coat up, forgets all about my envelope in his pocket. I go into Dallas three days after, and I see him, and he sees me, and I see him, quick like that, and he puts the thing in the mailbox. And I said, did you mail my letter? He says, yes. Well, he did, and he didn't. Oh, um, you didn't really mail it, did you? As soon as you got the, no, no, I didn't. Do you know I'm going to lose a contract for $10,000 because of that? Now, he didn't intentionally forget to mail my letter. And when the enemy accuses you, check up and see about your intentions, he didn't intend to cheat me or fail me, but because he's human, he wasn't faultless, but he was blameless. There's no guilt on him at all. He didn't intentionally injure me. I'm not faultless, but I can be blameless, and harmless to sons of God without rebuke. Come on now, this is sanctification, blameless and harmless where? I've been in many art galleries in the world, I like to go to art galleries, at least landscapes and seascapes, not the other junk. And I see sometimes, I've stood before a picture, of course when you're looking at pictures you always get as far away as you can from them. Some of them you should take a bus ride away, but you just stand back to get the perspective right. And sometimes I've gazed at a picture, but I got so intrigued with the carving of the framework, of the frame around, that I didn't see the picture properly. I got fascinated with the framework instead of the picture. And sometimes I've looked at the picture and couldn't tell you what the framework was anyhow. But look, this is really set, this holiness experience here, a heart where there are no murmurings, there's no disputing, there's no objection to the will of God, and you can let people wipe their feet on you if you like and say that's okay. I'm not going to murmur, I'm not going to dispute about this. Just tonight we were looking at the verse of favours. I learned this, mercy shall I tell you, I learned this 60 odd years ago. Ill, I-L-L, ill that he blesses is our good, and unblessed good is ill, and all is right that seems most wrong, if it be his sweet will. Swallow that. Embrace it, it's ill. Do you know what it means? It means here that Joseph was up here and his father sent him from there to Dothan with some sandwiches. When he got there his brothers sold him and sent him down to Egypt. When he got there they put him down in prison. When he got there the other guys got out and he was still left there. All because of envy. As Scripture clearly says, the envy, that's one of the most diabolical things in the church of God today. Because they envied him, and they sold him, and he goes down and down and down till there's nowhere else to go. But when his brothers finally come he says, you meant it for evil but God meant it for good. Can you say that? Can you kiss the Lord that's hitting you right now? Or are you one of those mamby-pamby that's all praying for help, Lord help me with this, forget it. Lord help me with my temper, he never will if you lift up your hand but he'll kill it if you let him. Lord help me with this, forget it. Why don't you take it to the cross, let him put it to death. That's the only place for pride, it's the only place for enmity, it's the only place for bitterness, it's the only place for all the foolishness that lies in the human heart till he cleanses it. Here's the framework. Ye may be blameless and harmless, in other words you'll live a life of holiness as the sons of God. Come on, did Jesus die for anything less than this? Do you think Jesus died for the bankrupt church that we have today that has no power, it has no evidence of the supernatural? He died for it but he didn't intend it to stay like this register. The sons of God. If I'd had a tambourine and said it, they've all shouted hallelujah so I'd better bring my tambourine, I'll borrow one. You know we need something to prime us up, don't we? We've got to get atmosphere, we've got to get solid Right. You know people ought to just say, it was a wonderful meeting and it was the soullessest place on earth. There are not many people who can distinguish between what is soulless and what is spiritual. It's just on the emotional level, it stirred me, I got a letter and tomorrow morning they're bankrupt. We're the sons of God. And John said it does not yet appear what we shall be. But when we see him, boy, so as you young guys don't think about this, you will. One day, I'm not too worried about a crown on my head just now. What I'm concerned about, I want a body like unto his glorious body. But to have a body like unto his glorious body, listen, I have to have a spirit now like his spirit. Yes. It's a reward of living a faithful holy life. Yes. The son of God. Ah, Phil is a pretty smart guy. He meets with kings and all kinds of people. But he's a humble guy like his dad, he's very nice. But he wrote home the other day, he said, you know, I've written to England to the, I forget where it is now. I'm finding the pedigree of our family. Oh boy, if it's good I'll tell you, but if it isn't, forget it. I'm a son of God. You're a child of God, you're a son of God. And yet we let this old world kick us around like a football. We get depressed like other stupid people outside. Where's the victory? Where's the joy? Where's the overflow? Do you think Jesus was ever depressed apart from Gethsemane? And even there he had joy because it was in the will of his father. If you're working for Y1, you'll die heartbroken. If you're working for last days and soon you'll report me and I'll get kicked for this maybe. Do you see personalities that disappoint you? And before you stick a finger in their eye, listen, this week you've been disappointing somebody around you, so don't feel too cocky about it. You can be blameless and harmless to sons of God without rebuke. Not without rebuke from men, they'll rebuke you for anything. But without rebuke from God. You know that the relationship is as straight as six o'clock. You know as far as you can know you're walking in purity, you're walking in holiness, you're walking in righteousness, you're walking in truth. You may be blameless and harmless to sons of God without rebuke. Now that's the picture, here's the framework. In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom ye shines as lights in the world. As you come out of our driveway if you've been, and if you haven't, you know the wind blows it sometimes, I heard it creaking one night because it's on a tree. And I listened, I thought it was saying it's too dark here to shine. What? That's why I put it there because it's the darkest spot around the house. You say, why did the Lord put me here? Because you've told him you have his light in you, that's why. We're the light of the world. You work amongst corruption in an office or somewhere where there's dirty talk. Why did God put me there? To be salt. Wouldn't make much good to gather all the street lights and put them all down in a town square, would it? We put one here, one there, one somewhere else. We're to shine as lights in the world, shine with a radiant holiness, with a purity the world doesn't know a thing about. Let me look here a second. This is tough, isn't it? You look real miserable tonight, bless you. We don't clap our hands too much here and dance around, we're after character, not showmanship. It's tough, I mean it fits into the Philippians. Sorry, Philippians 4 and verse 4. Come on now, come on, you're under the weather, eh? You've had some disappointments today, eh? The world is treating me so rough, people don't understand me. Where's the problem? You can't understand yourself, why do you expect other folks to understand you? I don't remember Jesus ever sighed and sobbed and went running around and saying, John, I want to rest on your shoulder, I'm having it rough. The Pharisees have been after me, the Sadducees ridiculed me, and the high priests are after me, they're going to put me to death. You know, after I've seen, as I've told you before, when I've seen Jesus in heaven and seen my folk and a few other folks, I'm going to get a little chat for about 5,000 years with the Apostle Paul. Yeah, hallelujah, but don't join in, let me talk to him first. I said, Paul, where did you draw the strength to glory in tribulation, in reproaches, in necessities? He didn't say, I just have grace to get through, he says, I glory in them, they're my meat, they're my drink. You keep saying, Lord, make me a true saint, make me strong, and he sends you something that will bend your back, so you need every bit of strength and grace you can get, and the next thing, you're whining to somebody, oh, you don't know how it is, I just got a letter, do you know what it said? No, and I don't care either. I'll tell you what it says here in Philippians chapter 4, come on, verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always, and this man's in the most stinking prison you could ever imagine, it's full of filth, it's full of dirt, it smells, his food is rotten, the conditions are rotten, everything's rotten, and he's telling other people, rejoice in the Lord. Why did he write and say, could you have a half night of prayer and pray so I'll be liberated, I want to get out of this tough situation, we're swimming in the lake up there, or swimming in the Mediterranean, and here I am, and it's so tough, and oh, it's so weary, and it gets drafty at times, and oh, mercy. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice, let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. Now what about this, come on, be careful for nothing, all right, isn't that nice? Be careful for nothing, let's turn it around a bit, and with supplication and thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding, come on, you've been there 16 years, tell me this, you say, I've got peace that passeth all understanding, tell me this, does it pass all misunderstanding? That's a grade up the road a long way, not just the peace that passeth all understanding, I can pass misunderstanding, triumphant in, I don't whine, either to God when I'm praying or to anybody else, what did he say, he says, great peace are they not just here, but the peace of God which passeth all understanding, elsewhere he says, great peace are they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them, are you there? Come on, with all your baptism and gifts and your preaching and your long service, are you in a place where God almighty can look on you, you can look into his face right now and say, I love that verse in Psalm 119, it's either 165 or 156, great peace are they which love thy law, and nothing can offend, listen, if you're not a fence poof, you're not filled with the Holy Ghost, you know, one of the most popular writers, I kind of wish my books had sold as well, because I don't make any money, I give it to missions, one of the greatest writers of our days, Watchman Nee, and before ever the world knew him, he left China and he went to London, and some of you have a little book, I know, Dale, you've got that book, not Watchman Nee's, of Austin Sparks, School of Christ, how many of you don't have that, School of Christ, I'll have to try and get some next week, but Watchman Nee went to sit at the feet of that precious man Sparks, and stayed there more than a year, and Sparks saw his unusual character, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, there's an Archbishop of Canterbury and there's an Archbishop of York, further up in England, he was having a big convention for bishops, and they asked Watchman Nee to speak, and a little gentle petite little fellow with his mandarin collar walked onto the platform at the side of the big archbishops with all their trimmings on, you know, and the archbishop introduced him and said this China man has a wonderful walk with God, to his amazement, Watchman got down, walked down the steps and went behind the first bishop and put his hands on his head and everybody oh mercy what's happening, and he said my brother the spirit of Christ in me will never argue with the spirit of Christ in you, and he went to the next bit, 128 of them he went right round, saying almost the same thing, the spirit of Christ in me will never be bitter against your spirit, the spirit of Christ in me will never be contentious with your spirit, and he went right round and finally he came to the archbishop and he said the same thing to the archbishop, everybody nearly collapsed, then finally put his hands on his own head and he said the spirit of Christ in me will never fight the spirit of Christ in you, and he said I believe the spirit of Christ is in you, well if it isn't the spirit of Christ, does Christ fight himself, when people are praying sometimes people burst out in tears, the Holy Ghost is a gentleman, if somebody is praying shut up that's not the time to prophesy, let the other person speak, do things all decently and in order, you see God has never had chaos, be careful for nothing, be prayerful in everything, be thankful for anything, isn't that good, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your heart, and that actually is a military word, to put a guard, a military guard we talk about, a protecting guard upon your heart and mind, now here he is saying, finally my brethren, whatsoever things are true, you see you've got to do something, it isn't all God's job to look after you, you should be in partnership with God, the peace of God, I'm sorry finally brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things, now let's go over here a minute, to where, Titus, comes right after Timothy as you remember, Titus chapter 2, verse 9, exalt servants to be obedient to their masters, and to please them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine, come on, as your life, as your life, as mine today, adorn the gospel, what does Paul say, we are made a spectacle to the world, or as a modern writer says, make all the excuses you like, to your bad temper, and for this, I'll tell you what, the world outside won't excuse you, it knows the standard of the Christian, should be the standard of Jesus Christ himself, teaching us that, denying ungodliness, verse 12, unworldly lusts, you've got to make up your mind about them, you deny ungodliness, and unworldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present generation, or this present world, that's the same thing, we're to walk with the corruption all around us, and be pure in the midst of all that corruption, darkness, but we're to have the illumination of the spirit of God, looking for that blessed hope, you know there are two things that will help keep you pure, and you've got to help to keep yourself pure, one is that you don't know what minute Jesus is coming, people say, I believe Jesus will come tonight, I'd say frankly to them, you're a liar, what do you mean I'm a liar, you wouldn't have lived today as you've lived, if you believed Jesus was coming at 12 o'clock tonight, you'd have gone to the phone, and put some of those things wrong, that have been wrong for years, and you won't clear up with them, looking for that blessed hope, number one is, if I live expecting his coming, I want to be pure as he is pure, and the second thing is, if I really want to believe, to be pure, and walk in wholeness and righteousness, I'll keep my eye on the judgment seat of Christ, you know God isn't going to send anybody, and notice that two days from now, we're going to appear at the judgment seat of Christ, or that he's going to come and catch us away, and the only way to live, is to live ready, prepared, for those two wonderful events, we're still in Titus 2 and verse 14, oh let me go back, looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God, come on is your life and mine, are we examples of his workmanship, I told you before, let me tell you again, some of you have not heard it, very often when I'm not concentrating properly, I'll do some doodling, and usually I manage to sketch an eagle, you wouldn't know unless I told you, but anyhow, I'd done one one day, and a man came in the office door, and he said, oh do you do that eagle, I said yes, can I have it, sure take it, he stayed about 55 minutes, it was 50 minutes too long, but anyhow, going out he said, will you do something for me, I said no, he said you don't know what I'm going to ask, what am I going to do, what am I going to ask, he's going to ask me to autograph that picture, I said right I want it, not if you give me a hundred dollars, try me with a thousand I might, well you did it, I said sure I did, but I wasn't concentrating, oh I want to put it, I've got your books, I've got every book you've written, I want to put this at the side and say, I've not only got Ravenhill's books, I've got a picture, that's the most disgusting thing I ever did, anyhow, put my name on that, I'm sincere, not if you give me a hundred dollars, hmm, oh, so he went out, you know like Christians do it, instead of cursing he slammed the door as hard as he could, same thing, still mad, and as soon as he slammed that door, the Lord said this to me, you wouldn't sign that as your workmanship, you wouldn't sign your life at the end of every day as my workmanship, keep that in mind and see how you live every day next week, just before you go to bed say, Lord will you autograph my life, see what he says, you know we interpret the Holy Ghost, if you'll get through with the Holy Ghost you'll get a ministry, I'm sick of all these women's ministries, and I don't mean that in any wrong way, I know you'll tell maybe Melanie and I wasn't thinking of her at all, there's so many groups in Dallas now it's all kinds of stuff that's in the flesh, there are some good ones, there are some exceptions, I know that, but you know we speakers are the only evidence of the Holy Ghost is visible power, authority, casting out demons, you know showing yourself off, Jesus was never showman, I was trying to remember, I couldn't tonight, that's my free time, but years ago there was a great big, a great big in the right sense, holiness preacher in this country, and one message he had was a super message, I remember one night, a few years ago we were, I don't eat before a meeting usually, and afterwards we went for a snack, and Robert G. Lee came in, he was famous for a sermon, do you remember, he had a very famous sermon he preached everywhere, he preached every year at the annual gathering of the Southern Baptist on what was it, payday Sunday, he borrowed the title, anyhow, but this preacher was famous not for preaching payday Sunday, you should receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, well a young man in a country church and it's a whistle stop, we can get them to stop the train, would you come and speak to my Saturday night group, oh it will be so thrilling, we get such a big offering to do repairs for the church, would you please come, please come, we're very small but please come, and the good man of God went, the church was jammed out, but the aisles were filled, they sang and he said, and now our brother is going and then he said, actually you should receive power, you should receive power, you should receive power, oh I never thought I'd forget that, my mind has gone blank, but you don't need power just to be a successful missionary or a successful preacher, you need power to be a holy daddy and a holy mummy, you need power to get up at two o'clock in the morning when the baby is yelling, and in those days they didn't have all those lovely soft floors you know they had linoleum, like stepping out to Siberia when you get out of bed, and he says you know what, he said you can be so filled with the love of God that if you have to walk around the bedroom for two hours and your feet are like ice, you can get back into bed in total victory, and the Lord said to a man let me jump in your buggy, took him to the train station, he felt he'd never been such a failure in all his life, a year after he was going back to the big convention and the pastor said would you please come to our church, oh mercy, go there, my biggest flop preaching in over 60 years of preaching, I can't go back, and he prayed at the train station, and he shook hands with him and said brother, we remember the last time you were here and he thought sure I guess you do, who doesn't, it was such a marvellous night, that meeting went on until the early hours of the morning, as soon as you left the altars were filled, people were weeping seeking a sanctified heart, a heart which is holy, a heart which is righteous, it says here he gave himself for us, he might redeem us from all iniquity, come on, you don't do much for a man if you get him to kneel and confess his lousy sins, they do that every Sunday in the Catholic church, he needs more than forgiveness, he needs cleansing, he needs more than cleansing, he needs indwelling, I said to my wife, sweetheart, maybe in a few days now, they say there's a Siberian winter coming, I hope it doesn't because I've burnt up my wood too quickly, unless Bill gets me some, that's a commercial, but that's alright, but I know this, you've got to keep replenishing that fire, you can have a flourishing fire but the thing goes out, you've got to keep renewing your spirit day by day, it isn't all God's responsibility, it's yours, you can keep yourself pure thinking about those things you said, whatever things are good and holy and have a good report, think on these things and while you're doing that the devil will be kept out, you have a phonograph, the sugar will stack up like that, why? Well you put it on, well let's throw it all off, now let's get the thing going, pour a pound of sugar and go everywhere, but why didn't it do it the first time? Because the thing was still, if you keep your mind active in God the devil won't get in, the reason is you're fooling around, you're not concentrating on him, think on these things, what have you got a head for? Just to put a hat on it? You know we're living in wonderful days, a lady called us tonight, a very wealthy lady, a millionaire, and her daughter has had three brain scans this week and she's very distressed, I thought yes, you go to hospital, I've had one myself, as a matter of fact the doctor came in the next day and said you had a brain scan last night but there was nothing in it, you can take a picture of my brain but you cannot take a picture of my mind, you can take a picture of my throat, you can't give me a picture of my voice, you can take a picture of my heart, I said to my wife the other day, I said sweetheart look, they're putting a plastic heart in that man in hospital, can you imagine his wife coming in next day and he says you know dear you love me without piece of plastic, you can take a photograph of my heart but you can't find my will, you can't find my affection, you can't find love in me, picture my throat yes, picture my voice no, picture my brain yes, picture my mind no, they're all hidden away there, most of them condensed again into this area that we call the heart, let me go back to this story I was telling you, oh yes we remember, Dr. Hill I think, we remember Dr. Hill, about Saturday, what a night, he said please don't recall it, it was the biggest failure in my preaching career, biggest success this church ever had, people stayed there weeping and groaning, he said I was the first to go to the altar, I'm not overflowing with patience, and loving, and kindness, and waiting, and love, my wife and I have been married for five years, we've had no children, and he said there I said to the Lord, Lord give me a sanctified heart, a heart like Wesley said, oh for a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free, a heart that always feels thy blood so freely spilled from me, a heart resigned, submissive, meet my great Redeemer's throne, where only Christ is heard to speak, where Jesus reigns alone, a humble lowly contrite heart, believing true and clean, which neither life nor death can part from him that dwells within, a heart to praise my God, Wesley's always saying about his heart, it says refining fire go through my heart, illuminate my soul, scatter thy life through every part, sanctify the whole, you see in the fall, the body was ruined, the mind was ruined, the heart was ruined, so when Paul prays in 1 Thessalonians 5 23, it says the very God of peace sanctify you holy, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body, there's not much left after that, be preserved blameless, and the very God of peace sanctify you holy, the Germans say sanctify you your whole personality sanctified, a sanctified will, a sanctified body, lust has no dominion, he took it to the cross and he put it away there, a heart in every thought, refining fire go through my heart, illuminate my soul, scatter thy life through every part and sanctify the whole, and he said you know preacher, when I got up from there I said God, we waited 5 years for a baby, we haven't had one, we've been through misery, but all the fruit of the spirit, love and joy and peace and long suffering, you know what that means, suffering a long while, I don't say it if you don't mean it, he said you know 6 months after my wife said to me one day as I came in, darling do you know what's happening, I'm going to have a baby, oh great, oh I remember what I told the Lord at the old, he said the baby came, he was obviously got, what do you call it, down syndrome, poor little thing, his eyes weren't straight, it was drooling, his hands were obviously very weak, if not withered, he said we took that little thing and I said to my wife, oh no pardon me, you went to the hospital, city country hospital, breathless, nurse, I can't see you, why not, the doctor wants to see you first, well let me see the doctor, doctor, come in the room let's talk, what's wrong, have I got a son, yes, he's about the most retarded little creature I've ever seen, a couple of hours after he was born, your wife asked to see him, when she saw it she went, her mind snapped, he said I went home, left the baby in the hospital, went to an empty house, had no experience with children, had to bottle feed the child, had to change it, had to do everything for him, he said after six weeks, I think one or six months, my wife's mind was restored, and he said I said to her darling, look this is what we'll do, when you get up in the morning at eight o'clock you look after the baby, I have to do my duties, I've got to preach, you look after the baby from eight in the morning till eight at night, I look after the baby from eight at night till eight the next morning, and he said doctor, what God almighty did there was a miracle, I told him I don't care, if you give us a chance, I don't care what happens, and he took me at my word, he said I get up every morning between two and three with a screaming baby, we can't pacify that child, and he said I walked around that bedroom in my bare feet, and the baby's yelling, and my wife was insane, and mad for a while until God sobered her up, but in one, he said I'd so often asked God for power to preach, I want to be the best preacher in this community, but I knew that my heart wasn't sanctified, there was some rebellion, something that was hostile to God, and he said from that day to this I've lived a sanctified life, I've not walked in the way, I've walked in the highway of holiness, I felt his living presence, I put the price down, give me the child, I don't care what it costs, I don't wonder what would happen if God took you at your word, easy to get excited in a meeting when there are people around about, they think you're a hero, what do you do when you get out of it, I'm looking back at this verse just a minute, I've quoted it already, do all things without murmuring or disputing, even carrying a baby around the bedroom in an icy room where in those days there's no heating like we have, but he did all things without murmuring and disputing, and do you know what people said, our preacher is preaching better now than he's ever preached, he's living nearer to God, the only way to do it was for God to purify him by the blood and purify him by correction, God wants to redeem us from all iniquity, there's a very good book if you can find it by, it's called deeper experiences in the lives of famous Christians, I looked it up today, you know most of the Baptists don't believe in any kind of second blessing or second anything else, they like to believe in the second death before too long anyhow some of them, but there's a man in there you know, William Booth said the reason he sought the baptism of the Holy Ghost he lacked power, he lacked energy, he lacked strength, he lacked zeal, and God got hold of that man who was half a Jew and half a Gentile and filled him with the Holy Ghost and the salvation army went into 90 countries, not cities, 70 countries in 90 years, he lacked power, he said I lack sweetness, sometimes I have sweetness and then I'm erratic, I have irregular experiences of rebellion and sweetness, I wanted a permanent sweetness and he said I went to the Lord and I laid my life before him and said I want a sanctified heart that manifests sweetness in every conceivable circumstance, well we can have it but it's a pretty expensive deal isn't it, I'm going to take another section I won't do that, I'll take it some other time, he gave himself for us that he might redeem us, that word redemption is to buy back, you put something in pawn and you go redeem it, we've been sold out to the enemy, many of us with our bodies, some of us with our passions, in other ways, but he came to redeem us and purify unto himself, that lovely word, we don't want people, estranged people, we don't want the world, we don't want its customs, we can't do what even other Christians can do easily, why, because God's refining your life, he doesn't want you to be like them, he's trying to get you to conform to his word and conform to his will, purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works, not hot and then cold, not fired up when you go to a meeting and then tomorrow just look like this man says, I want an even strong desire, I want a calmly fervent zeal and that's exactly what God almighty wants to give us, we're afraid of the word holiness, the word holy comes from an Anglo-Saxon word, which actually means whole, complete, in one of his great hymns, Charles Wesley says, to perfect health restore my soul, sanctification is restoring me, getting out of me what the old Adam by Adam's transgression, sin entered into the world and death because of sin, but the word of God doesn't call Jesus Christ the second Adam, Cardinal Spearman, a Catholic wrote a lovely hymn, praise to the holiest in the height, it's a fantastic hymn, but then he says, oh loving wisdom of our God, when all was sin and shame, a second Adam to the fact, no, if you have a second Adam you can have a third, there was only a first Adam and a last Adam, and good old Isaac Watts comes in again in his hymn, Jesus shall reign where'er the sun that its successive journeys run, his kingdom stretch from shore to shore till moon shall wax and reign no more, blessings abound where'er he reigns, the prisoner leaps to loose his chains, that we'll find eternal rest and all the sons of want are blessed, then he goes on, and the next time he says this, look at all their fathers lost, look at everything that was lost because of Adam's transgression, and then he says in him, we believers through Christ, we get back more than Adam ever lost, we can't be restored to innocence, we can be brought to purity which is greater than innocence, when it came to the clinch Adam felt, we don't need to fall, the apostle says, God can keep us from falling, the normal Christian life is not up and down and in and out, the normal Christian life is not staggering and stumbling, the normal Christian life is victory, to perfect hell to restore my soul, take out all the contamination, take out all the pride, take out the unholy anger, there's a holy anger, what's the difference between carnal anger and holy anger, well in carnal anger there's bitterness, in holy anger there's sorrow, Jesus got angry, he whipped people, but he did it sorrowfully, he did it with tears, to perfect hell to restore my soul, to perfect holiness and love, well I'd better stop or I'll go on forever, well not forever, but for longer, we're going to pray, I understand the school up the road, what they call Woodcrest, is in a very, very, very, very critical situation financially, you know, the devil's scared to death that something's going to happen around here, Dave Wilkerson had a Bible school, he closed it, this is on the brink, I think if they don't, how many millions they have to have, I don't know, within a week, one million, one million within a week or the place has to close down, they can't even pay their staff, they used to have a lot of visitors came in at night and of course they paid fees, now there's nobody around here but cattle, they don't go, but why is it? Come on, are we beating a retreat? Why did the gaffer run away? Why did Dave close his place? Why is this place, this Bible school, on the verge of closing? A young man called me today and he sounded very anxious, he prayed of Dave Wilkerson this morning in Dallas, he said I want to thank you for your books and some of your tapes and God's moving it, but he said I don't want to go to a non-revival school. In the school where they train men to be prophets, I don't mean in Isaiah, I mean where there's an anointing, where the constant emphasis is the indwelling and the anointing of the Spirit of God, the most awesome thing what you're seeing is Christ is in me. You can't see, look at my life, I live Jesus Christ every day, I act like him, I talk like him, I walk like him, I love like him, I see like him, but in God's name if you do, why your eyes are dry so many times? He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief continually, it wasn't a spasm that came. Before ever he got near Calvary he says, it's all thou that killest the prophets. You know, time is not merely running out for America, time is running out for the whole world. I think Dave's book is good in many parts. One thing I don't agree, I don't agree that America alone fits into Revelation 18, I believe the whole of Christendom since Constantine popularized Christianity, it means Babylon. I've told you before, I believe the greatest enemy to America tonight is God. Robert Louis Stevenson said, it's a more fearful thing for an individual or a nation to fall out of the hands of the living God. God walked out of the water in 1917. Let me ask you again as I finish, and I'm a bit angry, sure I am, when are we going to get serious about being serious about revival? Hmm? When are we going to get serious about being serious? I wish these schools around here, they're running all over the world, why don't we stay at home and the Lord came to me and I'd be purified, I'd be sanctified, I'd be edified through the spirit of God. And my last word is this, remember that I don't care who, what books you read, I've got a good stack in my home, in my library. So often I look at them and I challenge myself at my desk and say there's all the recordings of Wesley, there's John Owen, there's Flavel, the great Puritan, and there's so and so, they lived in eternity, it wasn't something they did every weekend, they didn't have to go to a rally and get somebody pecked up and talk about the need in Africa, need in heaven, good Lord, are we so dumb? They lived in eternity, only their feet were on earth, they saw through the eyes of Christ, they loved with the love of Christ, they burned with jealousy for the Father like Jesus did. I've come to do what I will, I don't care what it costs. Even while I'm here, with schools and everything, I think we're still all playing church. We get to a place where we're not content until the heavens rend, whether it means you get out of the place and go somewhere else and live by yourself or something. I'm still struggling over that text I preached about a month ago in Jericho, a lamentation, where he says God tore me apart. We don't want tearing apart, we all want healing, we all want blessing, go get to the feet of Christ and say I can't stay here any longer, I've got to move. I want a heart in every thought renewed and full of love divine, perfect in its obedience and right and pure in God, a copy Lord of thine. I'm going to quote it again, that little Irish lady weighed about 95 pounds, didn't do like the modern matrix. You know, there's no justification for these fly-by-night evangelists that go to a town for one night. Phineas didn't do it, Paul didn't do it, Jesus didn't do it. They went for months, the big shots can't do it. We take cartloads of kids to another country, they don't know a thing about God, except what they learn off a blackboard, there's no experience. We've got to get through into the school of maturity. What did she say, little Irish lady, I want dear Lord, a love that feels for all, a deep strong love that answers every call, a love divine, a love like thine, a love for high and low, on me dear Lord, a love like this bestow. Then she added this awesome thing, 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, all for a prayer power that prevails. Do you pray publicly so you can be seen and heard? Do you brawl in a secret place? Do you travel in a secret place? This is no place to put an act on, God help you. Do you put out your love in a closet when there's nobody listening? God's after getting some saints, some people that are pure, pure in heart, pure in their desires. He's wanted to shed his love abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. And I guess there's nobody here that couldn't do with a baptism of love tonight. God is used to tear up all my plans and all my ideas. Lots of people looking for blessings, they're not looking for it to be broken. They want to be good, but they don't want to be holy. They want to live, they don't want to die. There's no way to live except by dying. There's no way to be holy except to be cleansed through and through from all impurity. It's getting late, not just on the clock. I can't believe where this year's gone to. I can do so much writing and so much of this, I've hardly done anything. But time's running out on us. It's running out on our generation. God isn't going to winker the sin of America much longer. He's not going to butcher all the babies we butcher and have all the divorces we have and all the brokenness we have. Nobody's disgusted about sin anymore. I borrowed this, this isn't mine, but it was written nearly 200 years ago. They say now that God is an inconvenience in the lives of these modern people. He's an inconvenience except of course if somebody's dying we rush for prayer. At the wedding we expect a blessing, at the funeral we expect it. God is an inconvenience. This word is put out of the schools. Prayer is put out of the schools. You put in trust, in God we trust, we don't do anything of the kind. It's a serious hour. Many were prophets, many were majestic in the gospel, many were mighty in prayer, many were totally abandoned to every other thing and just say God in heaven burn me up, consume me as long as you get through me to my generation. We're not going to sing, we'll do as we usually do. You're free to go as we go to prayer.