May I say that this was one of
Mary Magdalene's great chapters, one great chapter.
She has several addresses from it.
From here, chapter six.
Come and let us return unto the Lord,
for he hath torn and he will heal
us.
He hath smitten and he will bind us
up.
After two days will he revive us.
In the third day he will raise us
up and we shall live in his sight.
Then shall we know if we follow on
to know the Lord.
His going forth is prepared as the morning.
And he shall come unto us as the
rain, as the latter and former rain unto
the earth.
O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee?
O Judea, what shall I do unto thee?
For mere goodness is as a morning cloud,
and as the early dew it goeth away.
Therefore have I heard them by the prophets.
I have seen them by the words of
my mouth.
And thy judgments are as the light that
goeth forth.
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and
the knowledge of God more than bound offerings.
Will you come with me now to the
third verse of that portion?
Then shall we know if we follow on
to know the Lord.
His going forth is prepared as the morning.
And he shall come unto us as the
rain, as the latter and former rain unto
the earth.
Particularly to the words, then shall we know
if we follow on to know the Lord.
I believe that the Lord has made it
upon my heart this morning to speak to
you on a somewhat neglected aspect of Christian
experience.
The aspect of unrest.
Then shall we know if we follow on
to know the Lord.
We frequently speak of the rest of faith.
I'm sure some of you must have read
that great Peterson classic, Baxter's Seat Rest.
And I believe that this is a very
blessed and a very real experience.
Thank God we are brought into a place
of rest.
You remember that the writer to the Hebrews
tells us that there remains a rest for
the people of God.
That is what Baxter writes about.
And do we not read that we which
have believed do enter into rest.
I believe that there is an abiding rest
from condemnation, from bondage and from fear.
O how do you not come unto me
and I will give you rest.
And we often sing peace, perfect peace.
In this dark world of sin the blood
of Jesus, O precious blood, the blood of
Jesus whispers peace within.
And I fear that in our endeavor to
save God, this precious truth, we have lost
sight of the other.
That there is an element of ambré in
every truly born again soul.
I think I can say that I can
speak from experience here.
An ambré, a disturbing element within the bounds
of my Christian experience.
O I believe that there is at the
very heart of Christian experience this ambré, and
I believe placed there by God.
God who knows.
With God who understands.
I believe how firmly necessary to leave this
element of ambré in the heart and in
the soul of the believer.
Indeed I would say that unless we know
something of this ambré, our character and our
self will be void of achievement.
I wonder how many of us have made
a study of the I must of Jesus.
The I must.
You remember, I must be about my Father's
business.
I must preach the gospel in other cities.
I must work the works of him that
set me while it is day.
The night cometh.
You will have heard, I am sure, that
the great McCain is mentioned several times during
this conference, had a picture painted on the
dial of his watch.
It was a picture of the setting sun.
And every time that man looked at that
picture he was reminded of time's brevity, if
you have read the words written beneath the
picture.
I must work the works of him that
set me while it is day, conscious of
time's brevity, and gripped and possessed by the
spirit of ambré.
I must.
And it was my prayer this morning as
I thought of this message and went over
certain passages of scripture relative to it.
My prayer was that God might create within
my heart and within yours this stage of
ambré.
I heard some say, I can never be
the same again.
This isn't it.
Ambré.
Forgetting the things that are behind, I reach
out to the things that are before.
That speaks to me of ambré.
Indeed, if I apprehend the teaching of Jesus
rightly, he calls us not to a life
of ease, but to one of endeavour.
I must.
Indeed, is it not true that he calls
us to tether warfare, to fight, to struggle,
to In the midst of
our endeavour, in the midst of our ambré,
there comes the glory of assurance that Jesus
was manifested to destroy the works of the
devil and his inner.
My dear people, that is a great source
of comfort and strength and blessing to me.
It comes to me again and again, oh
God, God, you're in me.
God, you've taken possession.
I'm poor and needy and at my best
I'm but an unprofitable servant.
I'm so thankful that God has said that
he takes up the weak things and the
things that are not.
My dear friend, I find myself in that
category.
I've got to say that.
But, oh, what a strength, what an encouragement
to know that my God is strong.
Ambré, that he was manifested to destroy the
works of the devil and is doing it
still.
I believe that.
I believe, dear people, that hell has been
defeated within these walls.
I believe that.
Ambré, I say this spirit of Ambré, oh,
in that testimony of his dear servant, there
is no playing with shadows.
And I do trust that there will be
a deep-seated conviction within this home and
within mine that I'm not going to play
with shadows.
Total warfare, total commitment to the lordship of
Christ.
I was thinking early this morning of something
that John Burham, the writer, said concerning Oliver
Cromwell in the book that he wrote on
that great man.
This is what he said.
Cromwell entered upon a wall in which there
was no discharge, no rest for him this
side of hell.
And this verse that I've just quoted from
Hosea tells me that there is no completeness
of experience here on earth.
Oh, I know that there are those who
somehow try to make it out that they've
arrived.
They've arrived.
If they can now speak in tongues, stop
misunderstanding, I'm not denying the game.
I know nothing about it.
But there are those who give me the
impression that there is nothing further in God's
provisions than just to know a baptism that
leads me to speak in tongues.
My dear people, there are no limits to
the attainment in the divine life.
I'm thankful to God for that.
We can press upwards, we can press onwards.
Oh, I've said it already, in our approach
to God.
Indeed, I would say that if at any
stage I believed we had exhausted the possibilities
of advance, we would be the most miserable
creatures alive.
I say that.
I thank God for this unrest.
I think I can tell you this, that
I felt unrest in my heart last night.
The only night since coming to this camp
that I didn't sleep.
Very, very restless night.
And again and again the thought would come
to me, oh, have you failed those dear
people?
Have you failed that good man that invited
you to come to this camp?
Unrest.
And I could only say, God have mercy
on me and help me to do better.
The spirit of unrest, oh brother, listen, conflict
will never cease.
Where enemies remain, and so new conflict is
always possible.
Then shall we know if they follow us.
To know the Lord.
Those of you who have read the history
of the First World War may remember the
message that that great French general sent to
his commander when the enemy was beating at
the gates of Paris, there at the Marne,
that great river.
And when he was there, pressed hard by
the enemy, defeat on almost every side, France
sent this message, my flanks are broken, my
center is deleted, this to me is a
glorious opportunity and I will attack.
And he attacked, and that was the beginning
of the end that led to victory.
He stemmed the tide from the enemy's attack.
Let me quote it again.
Oh, a dark day, my flanks are broken.
If I am speaking to a soldier who
knew something about the First World War and
the Second World War, he will understand what
is meant by the flanks breaking.
And the center healed.
Oh, I remember a day when I saw
that happening.
An English regiment in front of us.
I refer to the Highland Brigade, the 56th
Highland Division that you must have read about.
And I saw this company throwing down their
arms and walking right into the ranks of
the enemy.
Pressed hard, yes.
Broken up.
And now unwilling to stand, my center is
yielding.
Perhaps I should finish this story by saying
that the Highland Brigade, the 51st Highland Division
were called back from reserve after being smashed
and broken on the previous day.
Called back again.
Drive the enemy back.
My flanks are broken.
Center healed.
What a glorious opportunity.
My dear people, I believe that it can
be said of the Christian Church today, the
Church that you know, the Church that I
know, that her flanks are broken and her
center is yielding, if not in retreat.
I believe, dear people, that the issues are
drawn today between a militant atheism and a
militant world at war with God.
Oh, it is true that we see defeat
on almost every side.
But I histen to say my God is
alive and he knows the end from the
beginning.
Oh, I wonder, dear people, if we regard
this as a glorious opportunity.
I'm in the morning to make an attack
on the enemy.
Brother, are you going back to attack the
enemy?
Are you possessed of this spirit of unrest?
I must be about my father's business.
I must preach the gospel in our city.
That may mean your community.
But let me say again that what you
are as a soldier in the army is
far greater and more convincing Oh, I've said
it already than what you say.
Am I a soldier of the cross, a
follower of the Lamb?
That is the question, brother, that you and
I must face and honestly answer.
Oh, let me ask again.
Are you possessed of this spirit of unrest?
God, I can never be the same again.
Do you mean that?
Oh, brother, sister, do you mean that?
Because something has happened during these days akin
to that which happened in the life of
Peter.
Peter, when you're converted.
People!
When you have had that deeper experience, oh,
brother, call it what you like.
Call it what you like.
It's the experience that counts.
The honesty and the sincerity.
The finest expression in the world.
I can never be the same again.
That, to me, is the language of honesty
and the language of sincerity.
I find it in my heart.
Oh, I've quoted it already.
To me, a covenant with the Lord God
of Israel.
In other words, God, I find it in
my heart again, to my life, the perfection
of a sacred vow.
God, I can never be the same again.
Simple?
Oh, simple.
But so profound.
Now, first of all, I feel that there
ought to be an unrest regarding my own
relationship with God.
There ought to be an unrest.
And so you have Paul praying that I
might know him.
When did he say that?
At his confession?
Oh, no.
In his very heart there is an unrest
that I might know him.
And the power of his resurrection, the power
that is vested in him, that I might
know him, and the power of his resurrection.
Oh, God, I want to be conformed.
In other words, I want to be more
like Jesus.
I think that I can say, as I
stand before you and as I stand before
God, that that perhaps is my supreme desire,
that I become more like Jesus, more like
my Savior, conformed to his image.
And I believe, dear people, that that process
goes on.
I was at a large convention some time
ago.
I refer to the Tessie Convention.
It was at the time when I was
principal of the college in Edinburgh.
And at this convention, the chairman intimated that
a leader in foreign mission enterprise was anxious
to meet all the college conventions attending Tessie.
If they are in the meeting today, he
would like to meet him at three o
'clock this afternoon.
So a good number of principals from different
schools in Britain found themselves waiting upon this
dear man of God.
And I was arrested and deeply impressed by
something that he said to us, our college
principal.
And this is what he said.
In Great Britain and in America, he quoted
both, in Great Britain and in America, our
colleges, our Bible colleges, are sending forth young
men and young women, cultured and polished, cultured
and polished, with academic qualifications.
He did not remain silent for a second
and said that.
But young men and young women destitute of
purpose, purity and power.
My dear people, that shook me.
That shook me.
Is it disturbing?
Young people, does that disturb you?
That I might know him and the power
of his resurrection.
Oh God, make that real.
Death to the world in all its poise,
its anger, falsehood, shame and joy.
Jesus.
Oh Jesus.
My glory be.
And I remember saying to my own students
in Edinburgh, when I got back from the
convention, and was addressing them, Oh may God
save you all from leaving this college, cultured
and polished, with academic qualifications, but destitute of
purpose, purity and power.
And brother, God forbid that you should leave
this conference with thoughts that you never had
before, with a deeper grounding in certain aspects
of truth, doctrine, when I believe that doctrine
is good and we must know doctrine.
I believe that.
But what brother, oh what if you leave
this place destitute of purpose, of purity, and
of power.
You want to ask that question?
And we want to listen to the voice
that speaks of the ear of the soul.
God, you've spoken to me.
The Holy Spirit has convicted me.
And I have said I can never do
the same again.
But brother, has God said that to you?
I know it may come to you as
a human aspiration.
But brother, has God said it?
God knows what's in your heart.
And he also knows the end from the
beginning.
That's the God that I love to deal
with.
And I'm so thankful that he's merciful.
I would like you to listen this morning
to David's description of his God.
David's description.
There, is it the third or the fourth
verse in Psalm 50?
And he's speaking about his God, and this
is what he says.
Our God shall come and shall not keep
silent.
A fire shall devour this forum and it
shall be very tempestuous.
May I ask, is David's conception of his
God true conception?
David's God was a speaking God.
He will not keep silent.
He will continue disturbing me.
Oh, he will continue probing me.
A God that speaks.
But notice that David also makes mention of
a God very tempestuous.
A fire shall devour this forum, this forum,
and it shall be very tempestuous.
Mary Paul sought to ask this question.
Have you felt a fire?
A consuming fire.
A fire of divinity.
Tell me how the fire of the Holy
Ghost applied the cleansing efficacy of the precious
blood to your heart and to your life.
Brother, is that the God that you know
this morning?
Is that the God disturbing in the midst
of this glorious operation that speaks to me
of cleansing?
Blessed, oh, blessed are the pure in heart.
According to my Gaelic Bible, they see God.
Your Bible, they shall see God.
And I'm led to understand.
Now, the Gaelic there is near the original.
Blessed are the pure in heart.
They see God.
Brother, listening to me this morning, sitting where
you are, is that the God that you're
gazing at?
The God that answers thy fire.
The purging God, the cleansing God.
Oh, brother, the disturbing God.
I am thankful that that is the God
we are called upon to worship.
That continues disturbing when peace like a river.
Is that not what you were saying?
And I believe that there is, as I
already said, a peace like a river.
But unless the river is disturbed, it's stagnant.
And I want the river to be stagnant.
I don't want to be stagnant.
There is an arresting verse in this chapter,
you find it in verse 6.
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and
the knowledge of God more than burnt offering.
It's more than burnt offering.
That is what led me to say a
night or two ago that there can be
a very good measure of generous giving at
this convention, at this conference.
Call it what you will.
But it's the sacrificial blessing, the sacrificial gift
that brings blessing, an experience that is touched
by fire.
And the fire that consumes the self-life.
I heard one of our workers, she's addressing
this conference of ministers, and in her address
she asked the question, What do I understand
by the sacrifice of faith?
And she answered her own question by saying,
The ecstasy of joy, ah, I desire to
praise the one that I love the most.
Ecstasy of joy, ah, I desire to praise
the one that I love the most.
I would say that is the language of
the soul desirous of knowing more about Jesus.
More about Jesus, let me learn, oh that
lovely hymn, sung so often by my own
mother at family worship.
More about Jesus, let me learn.
More of his holy will discern spirit of
God, my teacher be, showing the things of
Christ to me.
I know, dear people, that there is a
great deal of muddled thinking today on what
constitutes the knowledge of God.
Oh, muddled, muddled thinking.
I remember that Christ addressed some people who
must have had some great and impressive experiences,
I think.
My dear brother here quoted this, was it
last night?
Or was it today?
Have we not prophesied in thy name?
And in thy name have cast out devils,
and in thy name have done many wonderful
works.
My, they had a knowledge.
They must have had some kind of knowledge.
Were they living today, they would say we
had a wonderful experience, in that great crusade
meeting, oh, especially when the appeal was made.
And we saw the thousand spinning out to
the front.
A wonderful experience.
Oh, how remarkable to have this knowledge of
God.
Have you heard them say that?
But listen.
Then will I profess unto them I never
knew the path for me to give up
work iniquity.
And yet they were thinking, they were working,
and evidently working for God.
But Jesus said, I never knew.
Brother, brother, listen.
You better examine yourself.
Lest you leave this current meeting under a
self-created illusion, prostituting self-realization to the
consciousness of God.
I will not stay to play with shadows.
I will not stoop to pluck earthly flowers,
till I my work have done and I
render my account.
What have you there?
I say this spirit of unrest, oh, in
that testimony of his dear servant, there is
no playing with shadows.
And I do trust that this will be
a deep-seated conviction within your soul and
within mine.
And I'm not going to play with shadows.
Total warfare, total commitment to the lordship of
Christ.
I was thinking early this morning of something
that John Bahan, the writer, said concerning Oliver
Cromwell in the book that he wrote on
that great man.
This is what he said.
Cromwell entered upon a war in which there
was no discharge, no
rest for him this side of heaven.
And this verse that I've just quoted from
Hosea tells me that there is no completeness
of experience here on earth.
Oh, I know that there are those who
somehow try to make it out that they've
arrived.
They've arrived.
If they can now speak in tongues, not
misunderstand me, I'm not denying the gift.
I know nothing about it.
But there are those who give me the
impression that there is nothing further in God's
provision than just to know a baptism that
leads me to speak in tongues.
My dear people, there are no limits to
the attainment in the divine life.
I'm thankful to God for that.
We can press upward, we can press onward.
Oh, I said it already, in our approach
to God.
Indeed, I would say that if at any
stage, I believe, we had exhausted the possibilities
of advance, we would be the most miserable
creatures alive.
I say that.
I thank God for this unrest.
I think I can tell you this, that
I felt unrest in my heart last night,
the only night since coming to the camp
that I didn't sleep.
Very, very restless night.
And again and again the thought would come
to me, oh, have you failed those dear
people?
Have you failed that good man that invited
you to come to this camp?
Unrest.
And I could only say, and I could
only say, God have mercy on me and
help me to do better.
The spirit of unrest, oh, brother, listen, conflict
will never cease.
While enemies remain, and so new conquest is
always possible, then shall they know if they
follow us.
To know the Lord.
Those of you who have read the history
of the First World War may remember the
message that that great French general sent to
his commander when the enemy was beating at
the gates of Paris, there at the Marne,
that great river.
And while there, pressed hard by the enemy,
defeat on almost every side.
For sent this message, my flanks are broken,
my center is yielding.
This to me is a glorious opportunity and
I will attack.
And he attacked.
And that was the beginning of the end
that led to victory.
He stemmed the tide from the enemy's attack.
Let me quote it again.
Oh, a dark day.
My flanks are broken.
If I am speaking to a soldier who
knew something about the First World War and
the Second World War, he will understand what
is meant by the flanks breaking and the
center yielding.
Oh, I remember a day when I saw
that happening, an English regiment in front of
us.
I refer to the Highland Brigade, the 51st
Highland Division that you must have read about.
And I saw this company throwing down their
arms and walking right into the ranks of
the enemy.
Pressed hard, yes.
Broken up.
And now unwilling to stand, my center is
yielding.
Perhaps I should finish this story by saying
that the Highland Brigade, the 51st Highland Division,
were called back from reserve after being smashed
and broken on the previous day.
Called back again.
Drive the enemy back.
My flanks are broken.
Center yielding.
What a glorious opportunity.
My dear people, I believe that it can
be said of the Christian church today, the
church that you know, the church that I
know, that her flanks are broken and her
center is yielding, if not in retreat.
I believe, dear people, that the issues are
drawn today between a militant atheism and a
militant world at war with God.
Oh, it is true that we see defeat
on almost every side.
But I histen to say my God is
alive and He knows the end from the
beginning.
Oh, I wonder, dear people, if we regard
this as a glorious opportunity and a moment
to make an attack on the enemy.
Brother, are you going back to attack the
enemy?
Are you possessed of this spirit of unrest?
I must be about my father's business.
I must preach the gospel in our city.
That may mean your community.
But let me say again that what you
are as a soldier in the army is
far greater and more convincing, though I've said
it already, than what you say.
Am I a soldier of the cross, a
follower of the Lamb?
That is a question, brother, that you and
I must face and honestly answer.
Oh, let me ask again, are you possessed
of this spirit of unrest?
God, I can never be the same again.
Do you mean that?
Oh, brother, sister, do you mean that?
Because something has happened during these days akin
to that which happened in the life of
Peter.
Peter, when you're converted.
Peter!
When you have had that deeper experience.
Oh, brother, call it what you like.
Call it what you like.
It's the experience that counts.
The honesty and the sincerity.
The finest expression in the world.
I can never be the same again.
That, to me, is the language of honesty
and the language of sincerity.
I found it in my heart.
Oh, I quoted it already.
To me, a covenant with the Lord God
of Israel.
In other words, God, I find it in
my heart to give to my life the
propulsion of a sacred vow.
God, I can never be the same again.
Simple?
Oh, simple, but so profound.
Now, first of all, I feel that there
ought to be an unrest regarding my own
relationship with God.
There ought to be an unrest.
And so you have Paul praying that I
might know him.
When did he say that?
At his conversion?
Oh, no.
In his very heart there is an unrest
that I might know him.
And the power of his resurrection, the power
that is vested in him, that I might
know him and the power of his resurrection.
Oh, God, I want to be conformed.
In other words, I want to be more
like Jesus.
I think that I can say, as I
stand before you and as I stand before
God, that that perhaps is my supreme desire,
that I become more like Jesus, more like
my Savior, conformed to his image.
And I believe, dear people, that that process
goes on.
I was at a large convention some time
ago.
I refer to the SESI convention.
It was at the time when I was
principal of a college in Edinburgh.
And at this convention, the chairman intimated that
a leader in foreign mission enterprise was anxious
to meet all the college conventions attending Keswick.
If they are in the meeting today, he
would like you to meet him at three
o'clock this afternoon.
So a good number of principals from different
schools in Britain found themselves waiting upon this
dear man of God.
And I was arrested and deeply impressed by
something that he said to us, our college
principals.
And this is what he said.
In Great Britain and in America, he quoted
both, in Great Britain and in America, our
colleges, our Bible colleges, are sending forth young
men and young women, cultured and polished, cultured
and polished, with academic qualifications, but he remained
silent for a second and said this, but
young men and young women, destitute of purpose,
purity and power.
My dear people, that shook me.
That shook me.
Is it disturbing?
Young people, does that disturb you?
That I might know him and the power
of his resurrection, oh God, make that real,
dead to the world and all its toys,
its idle pompous fading joys, Jesus, oh Jesus,
my glory be.
And I remember saying to my own students
in Edinburgh, when I got back from the
convention and was addressing them, oh may God
save you all from leaving this college, cultured
and polished, with academic qualifications, but destitute of
purpose, purity and power.
And brother, God forbid that you should leave
this conference with thoughts that you never had
before, with a deeper grounding in certain aspects
of truth, doctrine, when I believe that doctrine
is good and we must know doctrine.
I believe that.
But what, brother, oh what if you leave
this place destitute of purpose, of purity
and of power?
We want to ask that question.
And we want to listen to the voice
that speaks at the ear of the soul.
God, you've spoken to me.
The Holy Spirit has convicted me.
And I have said I can never be
the same again.
But brother, has God said that to you?
I know it may come to you as
a human aspiration.
But brother, has God said it?
Because God knows what's in your heart.
And he also knows the end from the
beginning.
That's the God that I love to deal
with.
And I'm so thankful that he's merciful.
I would like you to listen this morning
to David's description of his God.
David's description.
Verse, is it the third or the fourth
verse in Psalm 50?
And he's speaking about his God and this
is what he said.
Our God shall come and shall not keep
silent.
A fire shall devour before him and it
shall be very tempestuous.
Might I ask, is David's conception of his
God your conception?
David's God was a speaking God.
He will not keep silent.
He will continue disturbing.
Oh, he will continue probing me.
A God that speaks.
But notice that David also makes mention of
a God very tempestuous.
A fire shall devour before it.
Before it.
And it shall be very tempestuous.
Here I'll pause just to ask this question.
Have you felt the fire?
A consuming fire.
A fire devouring.
Tell me, has the fire of the Holy
Ghost applied the cleansing efficacy of the precious
blood to your heart and to your life?
Brother, is that the God that you know
this morning?
Is that the God disturbing in the midst
of this glorious operation that speaks to me
of cleansing?
Blessed, oh, blessed of the pure in heart.
Quoting from my Gaelic Bible, they see God.
Your Bible, they shall see God.
And I'm led to understand.
Now, the Gaelic there is nearer the original.
Blessed of the pure in heart, they see
God.
Brother, listening to me this morning, sitting where
you are, is that the God that you're
gazing at?
A God that answers by fire.
The purging God, the cleansing God.
Oh, brother, the disturbing God.
I am thankful that that is the God
we are called upon to worship.
That continues disturbing when peace like a river.
Is that not what they were singing?
And I believe that there is, as I
already said, a peace like a river.
But unless the river is disturbed, it's stagnant.
And I want the river to be stagnant.
I don't want to be stagnant.
There is an arresting verse in this chapter.
You'll find it in verse 6.
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and
the knowledge of God more than burnt offering.
That is what led me to say a
night or two ago, that there can be
a very good measure of generous giving at
this convention, at this conference.
Call it what you will.
But it's the sacrificial blessing, the sacrificial giving
that brings blessing.
An experience that is touched by fire.
And a fire that consumes the self-life.
I heard one of our workers, she's addressing
this conference of ministers, and in her address
she asked the question, What do I understand
by the sacrifice of praise?
And she answered her own question by saying,
The ecstasy of joy, ah, I desire to
praise the one that I love the most.
Ecstasy of joy.
Ah, I desire to praise the one that
I love the most.
I would say that is the language of
the soul desirous of knowing more about Jesus.
More about Jesus, let me learn.
Oh, that lovely hymn.
Sang so often by my own mother at
family worship.
More about Jesus, let me learn.
More of his holy will discern spirit of
God, my teacher be.
Showing the things of Christ to me.
I know, dear people, that there is a
great deal of muddled thinking today on what
constitutes the knowledge of God.
Oh, muddled, muddled thinking.
Do you remember that Christ addressed some people
who must have had some great and impressive
experiences, I think.
My dear brother here quoted this, was it
last night?
Or was it today?
Have we not prophesied in thy name?
And in thy name have cast out devils,
and in thy name have done many wonderful
works.
My, they had a knowledge.
They must have had some kind of knowledge.
Were they living today, they would say we
had a wonderful experience in that great crusade
meeting.
Oh, especially when the appeal was made.
And we saw the thousands streaming out to
the front.
A wonderful experience.
Oh, how remarkable to have this knowledge of
God.
Have you heard them say that?
But listen.
Then will I profess unto them I never
knew.
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
And yet they were thinking, they were working,
and evidently working for God.
But Jesus said, I never knew.
Brother, brother, listen.
You better examine yourself.
Lest you leave this camp meeting under a
self-created illusion, substituting self-realization for the
consciousness of God within the bounds of your
soul.
It's possible, oh, it's possible for that to
happen.
That to me is a delusion.
In connection with that I would say this,
that the devil is not greatly concerned about
getting between you and work.
Oh, you can go back to work.
Don't be silent on that question.
Listen, I want to ask again, Oh, brother,
sister, has he spoken to you?
Tell me, what did he say to you
during the night?
I don't know what night it was, but
there was a terrible disturbance in the camp
last night.
From all out of this morning I could
hear people talking.
And I said to myself, oh God, are
they crazy.
And somehow I felt that somewhere, what has
God been saying to you, brother?
I know what God said to me.
There are times when I thank God when
sleep leaves me.
Alone with God, oh, blessed retreat.
Alone with God and in him hidden, to
find in him a communion sweet.
Tell me, what has he been saying to
you?
But before I sit down, I feel that
I ought to say something about another fallacy
that is common among Christian people today.
It goes like this, Christ can be both
saviour and Lord.
And consequently you can accept him as saviour
without accepting him as Lord.
My dear people, Oh, let me say again,
no more damnable theory was ever forged in
the annals of hell than that.
If you believe that, you've accepted a two
compartment Christ.
Two compartments.
I know him as my saviour, but I
do not know him as my Lord.
So I'm going to the camp meeting.
Oh, I'm going to the conference and I'm
going to the convention.
And I listen to this truth that tells
me that I can accept him as my
Lord.
Oh, I've made a decision.
I believe that I'm a Christian.
Are you a Christian?
And yet you know that he has not
been Lord of your life.
You're no more saved than the devil.
Oh brother, sister, take it home.
Oh, take it home.
Do I not read, if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth, the law of Jesus.
The law of Jesus.
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus, the
Lord, so walk ye in him.
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
Let me say again, oh, I keep saying
these days that I do not believe that
one single soul can be saved until he's
prepared to accept the Lordship of Christ.
Until he's crowned Jesus.
Lord of my life, I crown thee now.
That's the language of a sinner thinking of
failure.
I crown thee now, Jesus, my glory be.
Oh my dear people, let us ever remember
that when I say the sovereignty of Christ
is intimately related to the condition and the
goal of salvation.
I would say that a heart recognition of
his right to reign is the supreme principle
of the new creation.
We believe that.
It is at once the effect, would I
say, and also the evidence of the new
creation.
Oh, may God save us from being snared
in this strange and this spurious logic.
The two-compartment Christ.
If you have Christ, you'll recognize his Lordship.
Then shall we go on to know the
Lord.
And then, I'm afraid my time is gone
already, but oh, well, you addressed a highlander,
invited a highlander to address you, and you've
got to be pleased with long sermon.
I find here an unrest toward ourselves.
Then shall we know, if we follow on
to know the Lord.
Now, what shall we know?
Well, I would say simply and quietly that
we shall know the possibility of a heart
by blood made clean.
I want to stress that because to me
it is a thought and a conviction that
transformed my own life.
Transformed it.
Oh, say, yes, knew a gracious experience
of salvation when I was willing to crown
Christ, Lord of my life.
But there came a moment, now I want
to be perfectly frank with you, there came
a moment during World War I that I,
while in the Army, discovered that there was
an enemy well-encaged in the garrison of
my soul.
And I very soon discovered that there was
a measure of uncleanness there.
I can well remember falling on my knees
in a trench.
Oh, they knew that I prayed and I
would ask God to forgive me for the
thoughts of my heart.
Forgive me for the unclean thoughts.
Oh, my dear people, I must be honest.
The unclean thoughts of my heart.
There came a moment, I think I mentioned
it already, when in a cavalry charge, wounded
and broken, and lying on a horse's back,
galloping to the nearest casualty station, I prayed,
God made me as holy as a saved
sinner can be.
And God in His mercy did that.
So that no one need ever say to
me that there isn't a deeper work of
grace.
And I believe that I may be speaking
to some here this morning.
And you have traveled along the same line.
Frank?
Yes?
My dear people, we've got to be frank
in dealing with Satan.
Dealing with Satan.
Listen to this word.
Paul is writing to the Corinthians and he
exhorts them to cleanse themselves.
Have you thought of that?
Oh, brother, you've got to do something.
Cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of the flesh
and spirit.
Perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord.
Boy, that to me is a great word.
That, and I will go as far as
to say this, that his words mean anything.
Paul is there writing of an experience that
is vital, that is radical, and that is
blessedly real.
When I say that, don't misunderstand me.
I'm not preaching absolute perfection or sinless perfection
because I don't believe it.
I don't believe it.
But what I am preaching is scriptural perfection.
God's perfection.
God says, be holy, for I am holy.
I wonder what does Paul mean by perfecting
holiness.
Oh, I remember when facing this truth some
years ago on my knees before God, I
kept asking, God, God, what do you mean?
What do you mean?
This is your word.
You speak of cleansing.
Oh, you speak of cleansing.
David spoke about it.
Jesus spoke about it.
Blessed are the pure in heart.
They see God.
I suddenly came to recognize that purity has
to do with the heart.
And I believe it is an instant experience
when God steps in and I trust him
to cleanse me.
God, you're in me doing.
But I sometimes think that perfecting has to
do with the mind and is a process.
Sanctification, an act, but also a process unless
with a disturbing element.
Let me explain what I mean.
During the Tyree revival under Mary Morrison that
I mentioned already, a most gracious movement, and
while I had very little part in that
movement, God's hand was on two girls.
But I was invited to spend a weekend
with them.
They were at it the whole winter, meetings
during the night, meetings during the day, and
physically they were a bit exhausted.
I felt it was my duty to go
and perhaps give them a little help.
So I went.
And we were in a meeting where God
was moving, where souls were being saved.
Now, I think I ought to tell you
a story while just departing from what I
had in my mind.
I was taught a lesson there that was
worth much to me since then.
I was sitting in the plane the following
morning waiting for the plane to leave for
the south when a young man came and
sat beside me and in course of conversation
said this to me, a fortnight ago you
would be the last person that I would
ever dream of sitting beside.
I said, that's interesting.
And why is it that you now desire
to sit beside me?
Well, he said, it was because of what
happened last night.
You must have known that a lot of
people couldn't get into the church.
They were outside.
And you remember the windows were open.
And you were preaching.
You were preaching.
And then when you finished preaching you asked
one of the sisters to sing a solo.
And while she was singing the spirit of
God laid hold of me and along with
eight other men, all men, eight other men
we fell on our knees on the Lord
and cried to God for mercy.
And of course I was interested that, oh
dear people, we can be so human.
We can be so human.
And I looked at the man and said,
now, I'm interested to hear that.
What was it now in the address that
got you, that brought conviction to you?
Oh, he says, nothing, nothing.
I, indeed, I don't remember the text that
he used.
And oh, my dear people, I found myself
on the ground.
I found myself crushed and humbled.
I tell you it was good for me.
It was when that young woman sang that
solo.
But God the Holy Ghost swept through the
window.
And in a matter of minutes I and
those other men were on our knees crying
to God for mercy.
Well, that was a lesson to me.
My dear people, we are so slow to
learn and so prone to lean to self.
God taught me a lesson.
He's been doing that down through the years.
Listen, dear people.
He has taught me a lesson in this
camp.
And I thank him for it.
But I come back to my story.
That night, when we arrived home at our
lodgings, I was staying in the same house
with the sisters.
All members of the family were at the
meeting except old granny.
Old granny, over 80 years of age.
A lovely Christian woman.
And on arriving home, we discover that she
had the bedroom slippers of the two girls
in front of the fire.
Just to have them warm and foggy.
It was a cold, wintry night.
And dear granny was thinking of that.
And she brought the bedroom slippers, put them
in front of the fire.
But dear granny forgot that if she put
slippers too near the fire, they'll burn.
And the sole of one pair was completely
burnt.
Now I believe that it was love in
the heart that made granny do that.
But she had to learn that if she
put slippers too near the fire, they're going
to be burnt.
Perfect.
That I believe has to do with the
mind.
I would say, brother, no profession of salvation
is real that has not in it this
element of unrest.
So yesterday's goal should be today's starting point.
The new truth that grips me at this
very moment must find embodiment and expression.