...and sings my soul, my
Saviour God, to Thee.
How great Thou art, my
soul, my Saviour God, to Thee.
When Christ
shall come, when Christ shall come, sing it!
Without of acclamation to take me home, to
take me home.
What joy shall fill, then I shall bow,
If I have proclaimed, my
God, how great Thou art.
Sing my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee
is born.
We could sing all night.
A great German theologian came to America some
years ago.
And he had to meet various crowds of
theologians and others.
And someone said to him, I wonder how
many years have you studied the Bible?
And so he said, X number of years.
And he said, well what's the greatest discovery
you've made in the Bible?
Do you know what he said?
Jesus loves me, this I know.
Can we sing that?
I'll go to Sunday school.
Jesus loves me, this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Let's go and to Him belong.
What joy shall fill, then I shall bow,
Sing it, yes!
Jesus loves me, yes, Jesus loves me, yes,
Jesus loves me, God loves me.
Wonderful.
Now you can go home.
Father, we thank you that we don't have
to stand in the outer court, nor just
in the holy place.
But we thank you for the offering that
was made once in the end of the
age to put away sin by Jesus, by
the sacrifice of himself.
We thank you that because of him we
have boldness to come into your holy presence
tonight.
We turn away from this world with all
its sin and sorrow and shadows.
We thank you for this oasis that you've
provided for us.
And an old hymn writer said, if our
fellowship below in Jesus be so sweet, what
heights of rapture shall we know when round
his throne we meet?
God we bless you.
We thank you for the privilege of meeting
without fear of being arrested.
We thank you for this holy word, you've
preserved it through the ages.
Men have burned it and banned it and
blamed it and banished it, but it's here.
We thank you Lord, your blessed holy word
stands at the graveside of all its persecutors.
We thank you Lord, you've said that it's
not determined by the opinions of men.
Thy word, O Lord, is settled in heaven.
And because you've settled it there, we bless
you Lord, it cannot be moved.
It's going to last through all the ages.
We thank you for the privilege of coming
to it.
We thank you for the holy men.
Lord, you didn't say there were rich men
or brilliant men or kings or rulers.
You said that holy men of God will
stake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost.
We think of the Holy Ghost moving in
the beginning over chaos and brought forth order.
We think of the Holy Ghost moving over
some of the Old Testament characters.
We think of him moving over the womb,
the empty womb of the Virgin Mary, bringing
forth Jesus Christ.
We think of those men in the upper
room, and they came out not with swords,
though they may have had power over life
and death, and yet they were filled with
the Holy Spirit of God.
And because of that they penetrated the darkness
of their day, the dangers of their day,
the devilry of their day.
And in their generation, or a little after
they, the world, the whole world heard the
word of God.
Lord, we ask you tonight as we've sung,
Spirit of God, my teacher be, showing the
things of Christ to me.
Make this a very personal encounter, though we're
a number tonight.
Speak to me, one hymn writer said, speak
to me by name or master, let me
know it is to me.
Speak that I may follow faster with a
step more firm and free, where the shepherd
leads the flock in the shadow of the
rock.
Lord, we want to hear your voice.
I'm hearing it, we'll obey.
So Lord, bless your word in Jesus' name.
Okay, the epistle of Paul.
From the epistle of Paul to the Corinthians.
Again in chapter 5, where we were last
week.
For the moment reading the same verse that
we had.
In verse 17, therefore if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creation.
All things have passed away and all things
have become new.
When I was a youngster in England, there
was a very brilliant preacher, filling the historic
pulpit of John Wesley, which is on, it's
at the Methodist Church on City Road, London.
It's a kind of a, what do you
call it now?
A shrine almost.
But Moffat Godfrey was a man of unusual
eloquence.
And he said this about the Apostle Paul.
Quoting someone else actually, he said that somebody
said that Paul's mind was so steeped in
dogma, it became a mere machine for grinding
out metaphysics.
If you don't know what metaphysics are, well,
either see Joe Foss or the pastor after
the meeting.
Oh, and then he goes to sunny.
That doesn't matter.
In my mind, Paul was essentially a preacher.
He was not only a preacher, he was
a poet.
He's not only a poet, he's a pragmatist.
In other words, he had his feet on
the ground.
Look at his tremendous missionary journeys.
He had no plane, he had no train,
and yet you see him going over Asia
Minor.
Those vast territories through all the hazards he
went through.
Now here he says, again in this 17th
verse, Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creation.
All things are passed away, and all things
shall become new.
Now, he isn't whispering this.
He isn't sitting down in one of those
beautiful, what did they call them, theatres that
they had in those days, arenas.
He isn't talking to a nice bunch of
quiet people.
He's throwing a challenge to the world, the
flesh, the devil.
This world has to become really numerical or
we'll go to hell.
It has to become, capture our hearts.
There's no salvation anywhere else.
Oh, there are some people today, what reconstructionists,
they're going to rebuild the nation.
What, on human depravity?
The greatest of modern historians, not because an
Englishman, Arnold Toynbee, he says, remember, 19 times
man has built what he calls a permanent
civilization and 19 times it's fallen down.
You know, you tell your children a little
story, Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
That's deep theology.
It's a satire on the fall of man,
I think, brother Blasey.
All the king's horses and all the king's
men can't put Humpty Dumpty together again.
What do we have now?
The United Nations, what do they do?
They watch the rape of every country in
the world.
They've stood by and watched a million people
die in Afghanistan.
They've watched wars and rumors of wars and
not done a thing.
Before the United Nations, there was the League
of Nations when I was a youngster.
Before that there was the League of Nations,
establishing the Hague in Holland.
And repeatedly men have tried to patch up
and prop up civilization.
But this, this is not the word of
a super optimist.
It's a man who has tasted so much
of the grace of God and therefore he
saw any man, anywhere, at any time.
Can you think of anything more exciting than
that?
Or inspiring?
If you're going to be a missionary, you
better get this stuff well done in your
heart.
Otherwise you'll faint, by the way.
You go to a civilization or an uncivilization.
I got the letter that many of you
got today from David Wilkerson.
He has his usual monthly letter, sordid, telling
about New York, all the crime, all the
wickedness, that it's a jungle.
And a young man called me a few
days ago, somewhere on the outskirts of Dallas,
and he said, Oh, I feel a real
urge to serve God.
Great.
He said, I can't make up my mind.
So you see, it was his choice.
I can't make up my mind whether I'll
go to New York or San Francisco.
Where should I go?
I said, Dallas.
It's as big a hell hole as any
of them.
But he always looked so romantic.
I've been to New York.
I've met prostitutes.
I've done this.
So what?
Sin is the same wherever you go.
Sin in the church is worse than sin
outside of the church.
And this man has an answer to everybody.
If any man, ever twisted he is, God
can untwist him.
Ever polluted he is, Christ can purge him.
Ever bankrupt he is, God can restore him
in every part of his being.
If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation.
Well, I said last week, when Paul was
in that terrible storm in the 27th chapter
of the Acts of the Apostles, he said
they threw out four anchors and wished for
the day.
And I suggested we go find four anchors
in this chapter.
That is, again, in 2 Corinthians 5, beginning
at verse 1.
He says, We know if the earthly house
of this tabernacle will dissolve, we have a
building of God, a house not made with
hands, in heaven.
He doesn't say that.
He says eternal in the heavens.
As I used to say to my Friday
night class very often, I'm going to heaven.
I'm not going for the weekend.
I talked one night with a man at
a banquet.
He said, Did you ever meet my wife?
I said, No.
Oh, she's a wonderful woman, good for you.
I heard of one man, he said, You
got married?
I said, Yes.
He said, Oh, my wife.
He said, My wife's an angel.
He said, You're lucky, mine's still living.
But what did he mean?
He said, My wife went to heaven, and
she stayed in heaven six days and came
back to earth.
And when she came back to life, she
danced round the bedroom for six days on
her tiptoes without going to sleep, without eating.
Isn't that wonderful?
That's crazy.
What do you mean, crazy?
I said, Listen, once I get through the
pearly gates, there isn't all the hosts of
heaven that are going to kick me back
to this bump.
He shall reign forever and ever.
And we're going to reign with him.
You see that statement we sang, When Christ
shall come.
It's too much for the nervous stomach of
our generation.
We'd rather sing gentle Jesus, meek and mild.
Look at the first chapter in the second
book of Thessalonians.
He's coming in dreadful majesty.
And Wesley put that in his hymn.
Lo, he comes with clouds descending, ones for
favoured, sinners slain, thousands, thousands, saints ascending, swell
the triumph of his strength.
Jesus comes and comes to reign.
Lo, the tokens of his passion, knowing glory
still he bears.
And then he says, he goes on to
talk about his dreadful majesty.
That's going to be an awesome thing.
So one thing, Paul is sure he has
a home eternal in the heavens.
That's why I went through all the stuff
we talked of, you remember, last week on
1 Corinthians 11.
But then we mentioned another thing in passing
here.
We go a little further down the chapter,
or further back actually, verse 10.
We must all appear to the judgment seat
of Christ that everyone may receive the things
done rare in his body.
According to Holieth, done whether it be good
or bad.
Now that's the second anchorage.
The third one I think is in this
wonderful verse 14.
You know I've heard people say what made
the apostle Paul take it?
Not what, it's who.
Here's the speaker of his life and one
of them, the love of Christ constrains me.
The love of Christ?
You say I'm not quite sure if I
really love the Lord.
I'll tell you how to find out.
Find out from this book.
Look what it says in John chapter 14.
Here it is, I didn't write this.
This is given by divine inspiration.
John 14 and verse 21.
He that keepeth my commandments and keepeth them
and he that hath my commandments and keepeth
them he it is that loveth me.
Got that?
Nail it down.
You'll keep his commandments.
And he that loveth me shall be loved
of my Father.
Dear God, if I had said that 20
years ago in the Pentecostal church I would
have shouted the roof off.
The love of God?
Overshadowed by the love of the Father?
Before you enter that love you have to
leave the other love.
The love of the Father isn't in him.
He won't come to a divided heart.
O happy day that fixed my choice on
thee my Saviour and my God.
The last sentence says now rest.
My long divided heart fixed on this blissful
center rest.
Nor ever shall my Lord depart with him
of every good possessed.
But here it is.
Where were we in John 14 and verse
what?
20.
Was it 21?
He that hath commandments and keepeth them he
it is that loveth me and he that
loveth me shall be loved of my Father
and I will love him.
I will manifest myself to him.
You say he doesn't manifest himself to me.
Sure he doesn't.
You don't love him.
I always heard you sing the most popular
hymn in the world that was born in
America Blessed Assurance.
I didn't do that.
You've been singing lies.
Why?
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Saviour all the day long.
Is that why you watch football all Sunday
afternoon?
Are you praising your Saviour?
What are we singing?
Every idle word we've sung is well a
spoken word to answer for at the judgment
seat of Christ.
I think the most reckless thing for a
man to do today particularly when there's a
storm but it isn't a man skydiving it
isn't a man scuba diving it isn't a
deep sea diver walking on the bottom of
the sea I think the most reckless thing
a man can do today is say I'm
a Christian in a perverted, degenerate generation in
which we live.
Immediately I do that I become a target
for the devil for the world and the
flesh to oppose me.
Is this vile world a friend to grace
or a foe?
It opposes every inch of the way and
while I'm there I'm going to say this
very hard I believe if you profess to
be still filled with the Spirit it's much
harder to commit sin than for anybody else
because first you should have the Word of
God in you then you should have the
Holy Spirit and He hates sin.
When men go into sin as some have
done they go into all truth and when
He has come He leads you He doesn't
lead us to harlots He doesn't lead us
to sin He hates sin before a man
can get into that sin he's got to
do at least three things he's got to
resist the Holy Spirit he's got to grieve
the Holy Spirit and he's got to quench
the Holy Spirit it's to fight all the
opposition of the Godhead it's an awesome thing
in this day to say we're Christians it
means we're Christ's ones well anyhow let me
go over to that verse again I will
love him and will manifest manifest myself to
him that's verse 22 Jesus said unto him
not his carrier Lord how is it that
I will manifest myself unto us and not
unto the world Jesus said if a man
love me he will keep my words and
my Father will love him and we will
come to him and watch take up our
abode he came to
a wonderful place when he came to earth
he came to a royal palace it had
wall to wall dung it was acrid with
animal urine it had cobwebs for curtains it
had the sweat of bees for heating and
he came there but he doesn't come to
the beast of a human heart he cleanses
it before he comes it has to be
purged it has to be pure it has
to be clean I and my Father will
come and take up our abode verse 21
he that dwelleth in the secret place of
the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty the favorite hymn of our
dear president when I went to a little
Bible school was God is the refuge of
his saints when storms of sharp distress invade
e'er we can offer our complaint behold
him present with his aid let mountains from
their seats be hurled down to the deeps
and buried there convulsions shake the solid earth
our faith shall never yield to fear we
don't fear man we don't fear the future
the psalmist said my times are in thy
hands is there anything more glorious my times
I'm not kicked around by every strange thing
I'm not a dead leaf blown by the
wind of circumstances I'm a personality I'm supposed
to be the habitation of God I'm a
mystical book I'm religion in the world and
he spent a lifetime doing it one day
somebody said what is the greatest thing you've
read in the Vedas that doesn't matter the
Quran it doesn't matter sacred book doesn't matter
what is the most amazing thing you have
a book a Bible yes you have a
book Ephesians yes you have a chapter 2
yes it begins by saying we're in the
world you're the most amazing person in the
world he said what the Christian didn't know
that he took a man from China to
tell him you're the most amazing man why
because he said your little book says you
are the habitation of God is there another
religion in the world where a man's God
comes and lives inside of him where the
Holy Spirit comes to check each thought and
calm each fear and speech of heaven I'm
going too fast and come strangely I'm going
too slow dear God what manner of person
should we be every meeting should be like
a volcano let me go back to this
little word again he said the love of
Christ constrains me that reminds me I was
standing at the side of a charming lady
one of the most ugly women I've ever
seen dear Lord she was ugly I don't
think she could have won a beauty competition
do you know who she was she was
the daughter of the founder of the Salvation
Army she was 84 years of age she
came to preach at a church I pastored
and we were singing and I looked at
the congregation and she had craggy cheeks and
the tears were bouncing down the cheeks we
were singing a hymn that she wrote and
I can't remember the first verse but one
stanza was there is a life to have
given me a life divine and strong there
is a light there is a fire that
falls on me as India proved destroying all
carnality dispelling fear and gloom there is a
love constraining me to go and seek the
lost shatter curvature of the spine like a
mother had she went to her daddy the
founder of the army and said daddy and
he kicked everybody out of his office go
to another country don't stay in England go
to France you have your mother's frailty she
spoke French better than the French I'm going
she gathered some society ladies ladies that never
even put up their own hair and they
took abasement I saw a picture of a
bunch of Maranatha singers the other week they
had been to France dancing in front of
Notre Dame Cathedral and they said they were
so accepted did you ever know a dance
scared the devil do you have to go
to a bible school for months to learn
how to dance did you ever know these
women went and they rented a basement and
taxed it the greatest prostitutes in town came
the greatest most brilliant scholars in the southern
came and they sat there and at night
they said at the altar call men would
reach down and pull out revolvers pull out
knives and leave them there one night the
queen of the underworld came in big fat
voluptuous woman and when they started singing she
lifted up her skirts and danced she said
my dear do you want to dance he
said sure she said ok pull all the
forms back and she said come on get
some music going and she said there's one
condition we'll play the music you dance for
20 minutes and then I preach for 40
minutes but like me she didn't believe in
God they dance for 20 minutes you preach
for over an hour and 20 minutes and
the altar was lined and the whole of
Paris was shaken through one little woman no
financial backing in a dirty slum area as
bad as anything Wilkinson's in now every other
woman on the street was a prostitute everybody
else was drunk and malicious they hardly go
out at night they went it's all right
to sing in church and feel sweet all
the angels camp round about you what do
you need angels round here for nobody will
pick your pocket they went to the underworld
why she said what do you need to
go and seek the lost I yield oh
Lord my all to thee to save at
any cost there is a fire that falls
on me as India Perum destroying all carnality
listen you can't lead people to victory if
you're not in victory yourself that's hypocrisy you
can't preach purity if there's inward defilement the
whole lot of revival in America is not
in the taverns or the movie house it's
in God's house there's so much carnality there's
so much indifference God help us why the
world perishes outside but you see Paul says
the love of Christ not love for Christ
but God is love the love of God
is coming to my heart the love of
Jesus do you remember that in the name
of Edwin Hatches breathe on me breath of
God fill me with life anew that I
may love what thou dost love and do
what thou wouldst do all this earthly part
of me glows with thy fire divine that
was Edwin Hatches in a prosperous church in
England packed every Sunday plenty of money but
he said there's no moving of God he
snatched a piece of paper and wrote that
hymn he left his fashionable church and went
to Canada for a while and headed up
a Bible school but you see his desire
there breathe on me breath of God don't
tell me you have to go to the
upper room to do signs and wonders and
miracles forget it they did every miracle before
Pentecost they did after Jesus came and breathed
on them in the upper room and said
receive ye the Holy Ghost Wesley calls that
the witness of the Spirit and then he
said before you go tarry and not only
tarry wait for the promise of the Father
dear God what a day that must have
been what do you think it was like
they weren't nervous like they were before Jesus
came they were nervous after the resurrection weren't
they in the upper room gathered together for
fear of the Jews they weren't nervous when
they saw him ascend they went back with
great joy they were rejoicing every step of
the way every day of the countdown they'd
be now waiting 28, 38, 40, 50 no
36 or 37 only 50 days and the
Holy Ghost is coming what a difference somebody
said there was only one church in the
New Testament look what they did dear God
I had an American theologian in my office
not too long ago I said I've just
been reading that book on Azusa Street on
the second page on the fly leaf it
says there are now 70 million classical Pentecostals
in the world and he said not 70
million no he said 120 million I almost
put my finger in his eye what's the
difference between their baptism and ours what does
a man up the street care if you
speak Chinese or anything else there's a cripple
at the door what are you going to
do Jesus passed that cripple hundreds of times
Peter passed him there came a moment when
it would glorify God to healing so Peter
went and said silver and gold I have
none so he knew he wasn't evangelist he
knew he wasn't the Pope so he knew
he wouldn't be a Pope again but he
goes to that twisted tormented man everybody in
town knew him listen some young evangelist came
to a town called Blackburn in England when
I was a boy and there's a man
up the street called a blind he would
steal for his money and sell his newspapers
and somebody took him into a meeting where
not Stephen Edward Jeffries the son of Stephen
was there they brought him in the meeting
and he prayed for him and he opened
my dear neighbour came back yesterday he's a
prodigal son he goes away and comes back
now again Tim and he was telling me
he'd been to Western Canada everybody's looking here
oh if you knew there was going to
be a moving of the spirit where would
you be you'd be there so we go
to the ends of the earth there'd been
a meeting in Western Canada with the Indians
wasn't it Tim and one young lady got
full of the Holy Ghost and the joy
of the Spirit when she got in the
hospital the doctor said no no I've got
to see my grandpa he's in the room
he's dead he's laid dead I've certified him
dead I've got to see my grandpa you
can't see your grandpa she pushed the doctor
on one side bless her she went in
took the cover off his feet took his
feet in her hands and prayed for him
and the dead grandpa got up and the
doctor didn't say he had to admit
it I said I'd like to take you
with me every church I go the roads
of dead people hmm let
me put a commercial in here Sunday, is
it this Sunday morning we go there's a
church called Birchman Baptist Church in Dallas they've
got 6 weeks of nightly revival and I'm
to go there Sunday night I'm not excited
there'll be a thousand people there I say
there'll be maybe 200 seminary students so boy
there's a chance to preach I'll feel like
Ezekiel can these dry brains live then after
that next morning I have to speak to
a hundred or more Baptist pastors that's a
challenge then the Wednesday night go to the
Anchor Church which is a church I think
about 3 or 4 years old that Jack
Taylor raised up so I've got a full
load next week pray because I'm not that
strong physically mentally sure but what a chance
to serve the Lord Paul says the love
of Christ constrains me I don't know the
verse but you know it what does it
say he believed John 3.16 God so
loved the world he also believed the note
in Ephesians Christ loved the church but didn't
that smell wonderful do you know why he
left the ivory palaces for a world of
war do you know why he left the
blinding glory of eternity where a cherubim and
seraphim bowed down before him why did he
do it to leave that glory indescribable majesty
of eternity and get set up in the
belly of a young Jewish girl why did
he do it because he said he loved
me that's why he did it he loved
me oh we sing it we don't mean
it love so amazing so divine demands my
soul verbal he said he loved me that's
why he understood that's why he put up
with the contradiction of sinners that must have
been amazing I read the other day that
marvelous verse is it I don't know how
often you explore when you read the word
I've read this I guess 70 years and
it says at the beginning of John chapter
13 of John before the feast of the
Passover when Jesus knew his hour was come
that he should depart out of the world
unto the Father having loved his own he
loved them unto the end what's this man
talking about the apostle Paul had a joy
unspeakable a faith unshakable and a love unbreakable
and that's why he conquered where other men
failed that's why he went where other men
stopped what
makes him so sure because Jesus said in
John 14 I go to repair a place
for you so he knew I had a
home he turned me into heaven the second
thing he was caught up to the third
heaven what did he see he doesn't tell
us do you think when he was caught
up and I don't know how long he
was there a day or a week or
a month do you think he had a
preview of the marriage supper of the Lamb
with millions coming through the skies led by
Jesus Christ there was something that's why you
can torture him beat him, starve him put
him in prison, do as you like I
don't care, I have a home eternal in
the heavens destroy this body, so what there's
something in me indestructible I've got a home
eternal in the heavens yes, yes, in English
we know when we've been there 10,000
years poor guy that's only a weekend when
we've been there 10 million years bright shining
as the sun we've no less days to
sing his praise than when we first began
you see we're so earthbound that's our trouble,
we're earthbound Paul says Jesus Christ loved me
and he gave himself for me let me
ask you to skip to that amazing chapter
we had last week I always call that
brother Bracey's chapter what is it?
2 Corinthians 11 listen before you step back
a moment there do you know what this
man had?
I wonder if John Edwards got the idea
from this when he said God stamp eternity
on my eyeball see everything in the focus
of eternity makes all the difference we're earthbound
people we see with our eyes we think
with our eyes very often but look what
he says here again in chapter 5 verse
1 if the earthly house of this tabernacle
is our we have a home eternally in
the heavens but wait a minute look at
verse 17 of chapter 4 our life's affliction
which is but for a moment worketh for
us a far more exceeding and eternal way
to glory for we look not at the
things which are seen do we?
how much have you lived by what you've
seen today?
the believer doesn't do that we look at
the things which are seen we don't look
at the things which are seen but the
things which are seen at temple but these
things are eternal it carries it over to
eternal in the heavens it's at the end
of the 17th verse this man's a joker
is he saying?
let me get hold of that and underline
it in your mind a minute it is
2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 17 for
our life's affliction which is but for a
moment there's no rational way to explain that
it's total insanity it's illogical listen to this
of the Jews 5 times received I 40
stripes say is that a moment?
how long does it take you to whip
a man's back 5 times?
or 39 times?
and do it 5 times over with maybe
1 day and 2 days rest and then
start doing it or weeks in between does
it make it any easier?
he's counting the stokes they're ripping his back
with a cut of 9 tires it's a
lash which has at least 5 or even
9 lashes at the end and each of
them has a spike of copper and that
cuts more than glass and they rip his
back and he's counting only 2 more and
then this is over and he's tied into
a lousy prison and say listen 2 days
you're going to get another lash then a
third time then a fourth time then a
fifth time is that a moment?
is that life's affliction?
dear God it would kill most of us
once never mind 5 times send a begging
letter I need to go to California for
a month or Florida my poor back is
so sore and I'm lame and I'm the
other we'd sing a song of sorrow and
Paul sums it all up as it's a
joke our life's affliction what's the life's affliction?
I was beaten once once I was stoned
you see it's a model universe he stood
one day and he watched a man stoned
to death I guess the first time a
stone hit his head he wondered why people
didn't interfere he didn't interfere he lets people
get stoned to death and you see the
wonder of this you know why?
because this man met Jesus Jesus had nail
prints in his hands and this proud Pharisee
had bloody hands he tore up families he
kicked them out of their homes he kicked
them out of their cities he was a
pharaoh he was a Hitler and yet Jesus
in mercy didn't destroy him he came in
mercy there he would have sung mercy there
was great and grace was free wouldn't he?
he would have sung and can it be
that I should gain an interest in the
Saviour's blood died he for me who caused
his pain for me who him to death
pursued amazing love how can it be that
thou my God should die for me he
left his father's throne above so free so
infinite his grace emptied himself of all but
love and bled for Adam's helpless race you
wonder again he sings tis mercy all immense
and free for oh my God it found
out about me you see the thing that
stunned him was this I guess when he
first met Jesus and there he was in
his corruption and his sins he had heard
Jesus say this he does it by the
scripture he read that Jesus said I came
not to call the righteous here's a man
that's righteous and he's told to his head
according to the law he says I'm as
righteous as any man on earth well Jesus
I don't come for the righteous but then
he suddenly realises as he visualises as he
sees Jesus not visualises he sees him can
you imagine Jesus leading the throne and coming
and standing on that robe for one man
did anybody I've never heard anybody say this
maybe Bill Bracey you have I think it
was the greatest shout to the hallelujah I
think three great days in the early church
one well maybe more one was when Jesus
was born and the old people knew about
that because they were there the second was
when Jesus died the third was when Jesus
rose from the dead the fourth when have
you heard the news what news well the
man that's been killing your grandfathers and your
mothers and your uncles and burning our churches
he got saved Saul of Tarsus never he
blasphemed Christ and yet God takes hold of
him you know I believe that as long
as the apostle Paul lived angels were delirious
at his ministry and demons were what would
you call them terrified he's such an immense
viewer but love of God oh my God
it found out me that he says these
things of us our light affliction here's the
light affliction perils of the waters is that
a moment perils of the deep perils by
the brethren is that a moment perils in
the city perils in the wilderness can you
get through the wilderness in a moment it's
only a moment compared to eternity what is
it as my dear wife said today some
of the great joys they only last a
minute and some of the great sorrows only
last a minute there's a lady in England
one of those wonderful old ladies and she
was never up or down she was always
the same a new preacher came along and
asked her what's the secret of your they
say you're always balanced you never get bowled
over you never get too heavy you don't
go up too high what's the secret of
your life oh she said I love that
scripture what scripture it came to pass well
that guy knew Greek but he didn't know
that oh that's it it came to pass
why do you get so heavy you get
bumbling pondering over something and it worries you
why don't you do the same when you're
joyous we spend more time over our adversity
and calamity this man says well in perils
of the deep in perils of the deep
let me go right across the page quickly
here into the twelfth chapter listen do you
know why he does this do you know
why he's happy to be worked he says
because the master says my grace is sufficient
for you he gives us more grace the
less does the burden go greater he gives
us more strength as the labours increase to
add to the affliction he adds his mercy
to multiply trials he multiplies peace his love
has no limits his grace has no measure
his power has no boundary none unto men
but out of the fullness of blessing in
Jesus he gives us and gives us and
gives us again there is no limit so
listen to what he says this reckless man
here in the twelfth chapter of 2nd Chronicles
Corinthians he said unto me my strength is
made perfect in weakness most gladly therefore will
I rather glory in my infirmities he said
that in the previous chapter and verse 30
if I must need glory I will glory
in my infirmities we glory in our successes
we glory in our blessings those who came
to Friday night class heard me pray many
times we had five hundred Friday nights I
think I missed five of them and I
would say again and again in my disturbing
prayer Lord when I get to heaven and
there are billions of people there don't point
me out before the apostles and prophets and
saints of all the ages men who were
martyred men who were dismembered all the heroes
of Hebrews 11 don't point me out with
Paul and Peter and all the saints looking
on and say rave me when you were
in Texas I had many things to tell
you but you couldn't bear them people say
brother, brother cast all your burden on the
Lord who does God cast his burden on
he doesn't need to he's omnipresent and omniscient
and everything he does he says my yoke
is easy my burden is light but he
doesn't give some of his burden dear God
we get upset and offended over nothing this
man says I glory in infirmity I've hardly
met a man in my life I've met
some strange and wonderful people I've hardly ever
met a man who said Lord pour it
all on me give me a double portion
we all want a double portion of joy
a double portion of blessing and the only
way God can prove his gospel to this
generation is when we get into some hell
hole and there's no way out you can't
back out you can't go to the right
or left no man can be living on
your hang on I believe there are men
and women like this in China tonight there
are men and women in the prisons in
Russia tonight they haven't had a bath for
months they haven't had a decent meal they
don't know what it is to get a
night's rest didn't Solzhenitsyn that one of the
most amazing men of our generation didn't he
say that the thing that turned him to
God was the man across the prison he
was in would feel in his clothes at
night and unroll some bits of paper and
read what was there and then roll them
up and put them back and he asked
him one day he said there was human
filth running round the place and he said
they doubled the burden on that man twice
as hard a burden gave him less food
persecuted him beyond the rest of them and
he said the man never lost his joy
and I want you to know why he
said because I have God I have Christ
in me Paul says listen whip me the
stunning thing you can't kill it with whipping
throw me in the sea you can't drown
it I've got a fire nothing else can
put out I want to prove God to
the last degree and therefore he says most
gladly therefore most gladly will I glory in
my infirmity now listen to this I take
pleasure in my love offerings in my popularity
in the many epistles I've written in my
fame no I've got that's an evangelist up
the road what did he say I take
pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in
persecutions no no no God loves you so
much dear friend he does never want to
see a teardrop from your face the blood
of Jesus the Bible says he stores them
up in heaven in his bottle Jesus wept
Paul wept as I told you this man
knew every conceivable trial he knew every emotion
he was torn up when his revival part
his spiritual men all forsook him that's hard
to bear he was torn up when he
prayed as he did in Norman's chapter 9
ok I take pleasure in infirmities reproaches necessities
persecutions in distresses for Christ's sake you see
that he's not you see this man won't
give the devil an inch where's Paul he's
in prison oh I'll tell you what that
Pharaoh somebody should kill that Pharaoh Caesar Paul
the man of God Paul the man that's
walked the streets of heaven had a revelation
like nobody else on earth and he's the
prisoner of Caesar he doesn't say that he
won't give the devil credit he doesn't say
I'm the prisoner of Caesar I'm the prisoner
of he says I'm the prisoner of Jesus
Christ if he orders my steps he orders
my steps but don't make any mistake you
might have said to Paul well you must
be very lonely in that prison he said
no I'm alone but I'm not lonely I
will never leave you I'll forsake thee what
do you think when he was washed up
and down well let me say this again
that 13th chapter John read it when he
go home having loved as he said he
loved them to the end don't you think
they were a torment to him don't you
think Judas often pilfered the money don't you
think Thomas often doubted him don't you think
Peter often blew up in anger and right
to the end he loves them he loved
them so much that when he's facing the
cross he takes a towel and washes somebody's
feet and Peter says no poor petulant Peter
why the answer of Jesus is amazing the
answer of Jesus is this what thou doest
thou knowest not now but thou shalt know
hereafter you're looking for an answer to your
problem forget it God's trusted you with it
what you he does now you don't know
you'll know hereafter what thou doest now what
I do you don't know you'll know hereafter
listen I'm going back to that word where
Paul says the Lord is coming with ten
thousand of his saints who's going to lead
them Jesus who comes after them maybe the
archangels maybe the saints and there's Peter well
Lord I don't understand it then I understand
it now part of the heavenly host dear
God will I not be embarrassed in heaven
and how often we've doubted God people ask
me would you ask the Lord to take
this off me no he put it on
you he put it on you the devil
can't stick something on you he came to
Job isn't it wonderful God says to the
devil have you considered my servant Job do
you think he ever says have you considered
my servant Sonny or is it just like
that of Job nobody like him in the
earth isn't that a testimony well he says
look I'll tell you what it is it's
this this is what the devil says you
put a hedge round him take the hedge
away and the Lord says no I'll tell
you what we'll do I'll pull it in
a bit nearer so then the devil goes
round and destroys everything he can what does
he do he goes to bed Job goes
to bed a multimillionaire wakes up bankrupt in
the morning what was the first thing he
did send him bankrupt yes but you've got
that hedge round let me touch him no
I'll pull it in a bit closer so
the devil goes on rampages again what did
he do the first time he sent him
bankruptcy what did he do the second time
he sent him bereavement he killed all his
family yes but you still have a hedge
round him and the Lord says you can
do all he has but you can't touch
his soul bereavement bankruptcy bereavement go on then
I'll take the hedge away so then poor
old Job Job gets boiled he can't sit
down he can't stand up he scratches himself
and his greatest friends came wonderful we've all
got friends like these Job's wonderful friends Eliphaz
the Temanite build out a shoe height he
was a dwarf he was only a shoe
height so they all come round and just
like the devil he took all that he
had and left him with a nagging wife
his wife came in and said listen curse
God and die the Hebrew said blaspheme God
and commit suicide what can you prove what
kind of a God is this you've lost
your millions you're bankrupt all your family's washed
out you're bereaved your body's broken quit dear
God I'm going to see Job and talk
to him a million years I think he
jumps on the ass seat there and he
says listen even if worms destroy this body
yet in my flesh shall I see God
I know that my redeemer liveth what do
you do with a man like that as
a faith unshakable a joy unspeakable and a
love unbreakable I know that everything's in the
hand of God yes God is prospering me
what if he takes it all away how
many businessmen do you think you're out in
Russia today or Afghanistan who watched everything collapse
or in China and what happened what did
Paul say all men forsook me he means
those men that were on the revival party
of the apostle Paul all men forsook me
nevertheless he says the Lord stood by me
and sometimes the only way you can see
God it's like looking at a building I
remember being in the audience and I saw
a building and the scaffolding outside wasn't made
of metal it was bamboo it looked as
though it cut a forest down there was
an awesome building covered with bamboo the next
time I saw it two or three years
after all the bamboo had gone I'll tell
you what the building was very different without
the bamboo and sometimes God has to take
all the scaffolding away isn't there a statement
made now that maybe whatever money you give
to missions next year instead of getting a
hundred percent tax deductible you only get forty
percent that's going to cut a lot of
giving down a lot of people are going
to suffer lots of people are not giving
their money they're giving government money it's going
to come to an end we're going to
be tested on every level well I'm enjoying
this I don't know what you're doing I
don't care oh that's glorious our
light affliction workers for us an exceeding eternal
weight of glory we look at the things
we've seen the things we've seen at Temple
Temple Temple Temple
Temple
I said that and I mean it there
that I believe that one of the strong
parts about the life of the apostle Paul
was that he knew that constant love of
God I don't believe love is an attribute
of God it's the nature of God how
many letters did the Greeks have for love
for?
four we have one one word for love
oh I love my husband I love my
dog maybe it's the same love except the
dog gets more attention than the husband usually
oh dear dear dear oh I love hamburgers
I hate them oh I love this I
love that I love it's one word that
we use all the time the Greeks have
different words for love and the strongest is
the gap of God's love God so loved
John 3 16 that love and it's that
love and only that love that will take
me what did Wesley call it Charles Wesley
called it love divine all love excelling take
all the romantic stories that you have ever
read or could read