View this word of the Lord hath spoken
against you, O children of Israel, against the
whole family which I brought up from the
land of Egypt, saying, you only have I
known of all the families of the earth,
therefore I will punish you for all your
iniquities.
Can two walk together except they be agreed?
Will a lion roar in the forest when
he hath no prey?
Will a young lion cry out of its
den if he have taken nothing?
Can a bird fall in a snare from
the earth where no gin is foreign?
Shall one take up a snare from the
earth and have taken nothing at all?
Shall a trumpet be blown in the city
and the people not be afraid?
Shall there be evil in a city and
the Lord hath not done it?
Surely the Lord God will do nothing but
he revealeth his secret unto his servant the
prophet.
The lion hath roared, who will not fear?
The Lord God hath spoken, who can but
prophesy.
Amen, and may God add his blessing to
that reading from his word.
Will you turn with me now to the
portion which we read together?
Amos chapter three and to verse three.
Can two walk together except they be agreed?
In that part of the country that I
come from, the highlands of Scotland, it is
customary when announcing the courtship of a couple
to speak of them as walking out together.
So-and-so, so-and-so are walking
out together.
That is the announcement.
That is the very phrase used here as
descriptive of a wonderful experience and possibility for
man.
It speaks to me of a normal Christian
experience.
It is a sublime conception of the Christian
life.
Man walking with his God.
The verse asks the question, can we really
walk with God if there is in any
department of life a disagreement?
Now I feel it might be helpful at
this very moment if we faced ourselves and
asked the question, I'm here at the camp
this afternoon, is there anything in my life
that is in disagreement with God?
Are you living the normal Christian life?
That is, walking in unbroken fellowship with God.
To me this is a conception that needs
to be emphasized, especially in these days when
the reality of the divine presence is not
the dominating feature of much that goes under
the name of Christian.
You know as well as I do that
the trend of the time in which we
live is toward an experience that has no
real or vital or dynamic experience of God
or of holiness.
Some little time ago I was addressing a
series of meetings following a large crusade by
a world famous evangelist.
And at that time following an address that
I gave, a younger man came to me
and said this, I'm a believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ but I do not know
him.
I remember God but I do not realize
him.
All is dim, shadowy, and unreal.
And of course I had to say to
that young man, knowing about God is merely
intellectual.
And I rather suspect that your knowledge has
not gone further down in your head.
A knowledge of God deals with the heart.
Now here let me illustrate by an incident
during the revival.
God was moving in a most remarkable manner
at this time.
All communities were being gripped by God.
There were a number of young students in
the grammar school in the town who were
very anxious to go to the scene of
the movement.
They weren't Christians but they were God-fearing
girls.
The type of girl that would have worship
morning and evening and would not be absent
from the house of God on Sunday.
God-fearing, but as I may have said
already, you can be God-fearing and not
saved.
Natural goodness is not Christian virtue.
There I believe there are many in hell
this afternoon who exercised natural goodness but never
repented and were never born again.
Such were the girls that I referred to.
There were five of them.
Just before the coach was due to leave
the town, one said to the other, should
we not ask this other student mentioning her
name?
She was the gold medalist of the grammar
school that year, carried everything before her in
Glasgow University after that.
But at this time, though invited to join
them, she wasn't at all interested.
Indeed she had arranged to go to a
dance in the town hall that evening with
the young man to whom she became engaged
shortly afterwards and is now married.
No, she wasn't at all interested.
So the five young students joined the coach
and made off for the parish in which
God was moving.
A most remarkable thing happened that evening.
Halfway between the town and the church to
which they were going, suddenly the power of
God fell upon the bus.
My dear people, this is God at work.
There wasn't a single Christian in the bus,
but suddenly the driver slumped over the wheel
as he took the bus into the side
of the road and were there for three
hours, every single person in the bus under
deep conviction of sin.
God the Holy Ghost came.
No preacher, no evangelist, but God in the
field.
God in the field.
Oh my dear people, this is God at
work.
This is God at work.
And when they arrived at the church, the
five students were gloriously saved.
Had a wonderful experience of God by the
roadside.
On returning to the town, they felt that
they ought to go and tell this brilliant
student what had happened.
Now, I want you to leave the town
with me, and leave the girls for a
minute or two, and come with me to
the city of Edinburgh.
Some years after that, this student that wasn't
interested in revival or in anything pertaining to
godliness and holiness, was asked to address the
General Assembly in Edinburgh.
By this time, of course, she's gloriously saved
and has completed her training in Glasgow University,
and completed a three-year course in a
Bible school.
She is asked to address the General Assembly
on youth night.
Perhaps I might say here, an unheard-of
thing in this assembly to ask a woman
to address.
But that was what happened.
And in course of her address, this is
what she said.
She's referring to the incident when the five
young students went to a room between three
and four o'clock in the morning.
She said this, I wasn't at all happy
at being disturbed at that unearthly hour, but
as I looked and listened, I saw something,
I heard something that could not be explained
on the basis of the human.
Have you got that?
What have you got, brother, that cannot be
explained on the basis of the human?
Miracles, regeneration, born again.
You can't explain that on the basis of
the human, can you?
I saw something, I heard something that could
not be explained on the basis of the
human, and I went all out in search
of it, and found it when Jesus found
me on the following evening in Barber's Parish
Church.
Something that couldn't be explained.
The reality of God in Christian experience.
That young woman is today married to a
young doctor, and both laboring for Christ in
Thailand under the auspices of the Overseas Missionary
Fellowship.
Because there came a moment in her life
when God became supremely real.
You cannot know God and not realize him.
I know there are some dear people, at
least they are in Scotland, who tell us
that you can never be sure until you
stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Well, I could never believe that.
Knowing God is an experience.
Being justified by faith, we have peace with
God.
Surely having peace is an experience.
I've heard people, evangelists, even in the mission
that I represent, I've heard them say, take
it by faith and never mind feeling.
I could never say that.
It was far from real in my own
experience.
The moment God saved me, I knew it
happened.
Oh, I knew it happened.
Passed from death into life.
And the day on the battlefield when God
in his mercy baptized me in the Holy
Ghost.
Oh brother, do you believe in that experience?
It's the crying need of the Christian Church
today.
The emphasis that makes real that there is
a deeper work of grace subsequent to conversion.
You may disagree with me, but that is
my theology.
And I better make it clear to you.
Take it by faith, never mind feeling.
Well, my understanding of the word of God
surely is that faith brings the fruits of
the Spirit.
And the first three mentioned have to do
with feeling.
Love, joy, peace.
Is love not a feeling?
Is joy not a feeling?
And I ask you, is peace not a
feeling?
Indeed, I would go as far as to
say that when we ignore and belittle feelings,
we are at once at war with human
nature.
Man is an emotional being.
And I believe that the greatest emotional upset
is for a man to be profoundly born
again.
I heard, I would say again, a world
-famous evangelist in Scotland make this statement.
I'm not interested in what people call the
presence of God in a meeting.
Indeed, I'm not interested in atmosphere.
What matters is faith.
I leave the evangelist there except to say
this, that I certainly did not agree with
it.
I did not agree with it.
Oh, my dear people, when God sweeps into
the soul, and after all, what is regeneration?
The Holy Spirit of God bringing the personality
of God to be incorporated in my personality.
And I suddenly making this profound discovery that
something, a power, a presence, a realization has
taken possession of me that was never there
before.
Miracle.
Oh, bless God for it.
Was it not the great Calvin who said,
we are saved through faith alone?
We agree.
Of course we do.
But, said Calvin, the faith that saves is
never alone.
What a statement.
Oh, bless God, not alone.
Jesus is with me.
God is in the midst of my experience.
And the presence that comes from him becomes
the supreme reality in my life.
For man, as I already said, is essentially
an emotional being, and he feels.
We could hardly be said to walk out
with a person without a distinct sense of
that person's presence.
I think it was the late Thomas Cook,
in his book New Testament Holiness, who says
that when an old Hebrew wanted to describe
a person who had reached his highest ideal,
he used the simple and yet the comprehensive
phrase, he walked with God.
He walked with God.
Now, I would say that if we are
going to walk with God during this convention,
during this meeting, and following it, we must
be agreed on at least four things.
First, we must be agreed on the place
of meeting.
God has a Christ-like place.
And I must be agreed to meet there.
And then I must be agreed on the
purpose of our walk.
Why is it that I desire to walk
out with God?
And we must be agreed on the pace
that we keep.
I mustn't go before him, I must not
lag behind him.
And then, surely, we must be happy and
agreed in the cost of it, the price
that has got to be paid for revival.
My dear people, oh, let's take it to
heart.
The price has got to be paid.
And I believe that we are where we
are today because the Christian church in general,
and the evangelical body in it, generally speaking,
are not prepared to pay the price.
They would rather see the multitudes drift to
hell than pay it.
Oh, brothers and sisters, we want to face
this this afternoon.
Am I really prepared?
Soul of mine, said the poet, soul of
mine, must I surrender, see myself as crucified,
turn from all else's ambitions, that thou mayst
be satisfied.
My dear brother, that is the price of
revival, and that is the place of blessing.
A complete and an absolute surrender to the
will of God with reference to my own
life.
Now, first of all, we must be agreed
on the place of meeting, the place of
meeting.
Personally, I know no other question in all
the range of thought so vital in its
issue, so devastating in its implications, as this
one question.
Have I met with God?
Brother, do you believe in a God that
can be met?
And is that why you are at this
camp meeting this afternoon?
Because you believe that God is here to
be met, and that God is here to
do business with you.
Do you believe that?
God hath made an appointment.
He hath a pricing place.
Oh, how precious are the words.
Let us come boldly to the throne of
grace, there to obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need.
God's invitation and God's glorious promise comes, and
there's grace there to meet you at the
point of your need.
Oh, my dear friends, let's take that to
heart.
You're all more or less strangers to me.
It's very, very questionable if I shall ever
meet many of you again.
And I want to be true, and I
want to be faithful to you and to
my God, as I ask, are you here
to meet him?
Oh, are you here to meet him?
There comes to my mind just now another
lovely incident relative to the revival.
During a gracious manifestation of God, a young
boy of 16 years of age was gloriously
saved.
I refer to young Donald MacPhailo.
You may have read about him.
I think his name appears in some of
the books that have been written.
But he was a remarkable young fellow.
A fortnight after he was solely born again,
he had an experience that can only be
described as the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
He was out on the hillside attending cattle.
They were farmers.
And while there, suddenly, a burden came upon
his heart for the whole of Louise.
Oh, a burden, a burden, a consuming burden,
the multitudes are perishing, was his cry.
And then, suddenly, he was possessed of God
in an experience that could only be explained
as a new revelation of God.
That, to me, is a baptism.
I heard about it.
And on the following day, I called at
his home just to have a talk with
him.
And his mother told me that he wasn't
in, but he was in his usual place,
just a fortnight or thereabouts saved, his usual
place among the straw in the barn, waiting
upon God.
I would say that I believe more souls
were brought to Christ through the prayers of
this young man.
As he prayed and prayed and prayed again
in the meetings, then came to Christ through
the preaching of all the ministers, including myself.
A young man, a boy, in touch with
God.
So I went to the barn and gently
opened the door.
And I saw him there on his knees
among the straw.
When he heard the door opening, he turned
around and said this, Will you excuse me
for a little?
I am having an audience with the king.
My dear people, an audience with the king
can pull what together except the agreement.
And here was a young man having an
audience, meeting at the Christ-ing place, believing
that God was there to meet with him.
And God certainly was there.
An audience with the king.
I'm sure that that must have been the
experience that the poet had when he penned
the words, Here I'd lie forever viewing, mercy
streams in streams of blood, precious drops my
soul be doing, claims and seals my peace
with God.
I believe, dear people, that it is our
neglect of this place that is generally the
prime cause of our failure in every sphere
of life, in every aspect of Christian service.
Oh, we talk about prayer, but my dear
people, how many of us pray?
I think I would pause here and ask
this question.
I am sure that there are many husbands
and wives, fathers and mothers in this meeting.
May I ask, what place has the word
of God in your home?
Oh, we take it to camp meetings, of
course we do, and we take it to
church on Sunday.
I'm not just interested in that.
What place has it in your home?
How many of you have family worship morning
and evening?
How many of you have family worship in
the morning?
Can you answer that question?
In the Hebrides, you couldn't find a single
home that has family worship morning and evening.
It doesn't follow that they're all Christians.
Not at all.
This has been a tradition with them for
years.
The father would never dream of going out
to work in the morning without reading a
chapter of the Bible, and getting down on
his knees and asking God to have mercy
on them.
That is true.
Yet, I find people today professing to be
Christians, and they can allow their children to
go out in the morning to face the
world, the flesh and the devil, without fortifying
them by the word of God.
My dear people, can you call a man
a Christian who is helping the devil to
damn his children?
My dear people, that's what you're doing.
That's what you're doing.
If you're neglecting the word of God in
your home, David could say thy word have
I said in my heart that I sinned
not against thee.
Are you sinning against him by refusing to
fortify the young people in this terrible day,
this dreadful day in which we are living?
Oh, if there was a need ten years
ago, there's a far greater need today for
the word of God to be opened morning
by morning among the children ere they go
out.
Oh, brother, listen.
If it is the case that you've been
neglecting, may God have mercy on you and
deal with you this afternoon and get you
on your knees before him, saying to heaven,
earth and hell, it will never happen again.
Oh, may God deal with us, dear people.
I sometimes quote because I believe it.
Begin the day with God.
See his face first.
Get nearer to him before you get near
another.
Now, that was a governing principle in my
own home, born and brought up on a
very busy farm.
But I had a father and mother that
believed in prayer.
And at half past five in the morning,
a cup of tea and a bit of
oat cake would be provided for the household.
And then we were called upon to spend
an hour in our own rooms waiting upon
God.
That wasn't family worship.
That was heart preparation for the worship.
Heart preparation.
Waiting upon God.
Oh, my dear people, tell me, is prayer
real?
Hear the words of Mack Jane.
Speak to us.
If we are to walk worthy of our
high and holy calling, we must live in
daily consideration of the greatness and glory of
Jesus.
And I am sure that it was because
this was real in his own life.
That remarkable Scottish minister that died at twenty
-nine years of age could say, writing to
his friend Andrew Bonner, I seem to know
Jesus Christ better than any of my earthly
relatives.
Oh, I wonder, dear people, how many of
us can say that this afternoon.
I know Jesus better.
Better than my neighbor.
Better than my dearest friend.
I know Jesus Christ better.
Oh, we must ever remember that no amount
of activity, no amount of activity in the
king's service will make up for the neglect
of the king himself.
Was it not General Booth of the Salvation
Army who said, I consider the greatest danger
confronting the twentieth century to be religion without
the eagles, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without
regeneration, morality without God, and heaven without hell.
What he considered to be the characteristics of
the twentieth century.
Oh, my dear people, let us see to
it that in the midst of our many
labors, we ourselves do not become restless and
lacking in desire to wait upon God.
My dear people, this is where revival begins.
There's no use, no use talking about revival
unless this is real to us.
And that this becomes a dominating feature in
our seeking for revival.
I have constantly to remind myself that I
can be a very, very busy minister, and
yet a very idle minister of the word.
Very busy in labor, doing much for the
cause of the king, but neglecting the king
himself.
Oh, let's face it, dear people, I suppose
some of you will have heard and read
about that great prime minister that we had
in Britain by the name of Gladstone, a
God-fearing man.
I would to God we had such prime
ministers today.
Men that fear God.
When Gladstone was resigning his chair of office
and handing it over to Lord Roseberry, just
before he left the room, he went, doing
much for the cause of the king, but
neglecting the king himself.
Oh, let's face it, dear people, I suppose
some of you will have heard and read
about that great prime minister that we had
in Britain by the name of Gladstone, a
God-fearing man.
I would to God we had such prime
ministers today.
Men that feared God.
When Gladstone was resigning his chair of office
and handing it over to Lord Roseberry, just
before he left the room, he went over
to Roseberry, put his hand on his shoulders
and said this, Roseberry, look after your soul.
In other words, you are going to face
many problems, but see that you do not
lose your soul in the midst of them.
Roseberry, look after your soul.
Did I have a word for you, dear
people?
You ministers busy in the midst of labor,
see that you do not neglect the king
in the midst of your labors for it.
Look after, oh, look after your soul.
That takes me to our second thought, the
purpose of our walk.
Why is it that I, this morning, desired,
I would say, above everything else that I
would walk with God today, because I made
this discovery, that there are no limits whatsoever
to our attainments in the divine life.
We can press upward, we can press onward
in our approach to God, so that today's
surprises in the realm of grace makes yesterday's
experience but a commonplace.
No limits.
And I want to learn more.
Oh, I love that old hymn, I'm sure
you sing it.
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.
Oh, he has gracious, good, and lovely things
to show to us if we are on
a straight and a stretch path.
Oh, may God help us.
Why do I want to walk out with
him?
In order that I get to know him.
Surely that was in the mind of the
apostles when he prayed, that I might know
him, and the power of his resurrection, and
the fellowship of his sufferings, and be made
conformable unto his death.
I wonder how many of us believe that
God has a plan for our lives.
Was it not Glover, the writer, who said,
every man's life, a plan of God.
Do you believe that?
That God has a plan, a purpose, and
a program for every child of his.
Was it not Boston, the Puritan, who on
at least one occasion made this statement, that
every soul born again pass his work born
with him.
Pass his work born with him.
But I would say this, that the determining
factor in life's destiny is what you are
prepared to do with the blueprint that God
places in your hands.
I believe that there are many today in
this land of yours, and in my own
land, to whom God give a plan and
a program.
And clearly indicated that they were being called
to missionary work abroad or at home, and
at a camp meeting or a convention, they
stood to their feet, indicating that they were
prepared to do the will of God.
But that evening, God placed another paper in
their hands, and this was the specification for
the building.
And the cost was too great.
They were going to be interrupted in their
careers, and they were thinking of getting married.
No, I'm not against getting married.
One of the greatest blessings that came into
my life was the day that I married
my wife.
I'm only suggesting that I may receive a
call these days into the ministry, into the
mission field, a full-time Christian worker.
But when I'm faced with the cost, God
and His plan and program is thrown into
the lumber of forgotten things, and I go
my own way.
I heard a schoolmaster make a statement on
one occasion that left its mark on me.
He was saved, wonderfully saved.
I may be talking about how he was
saved tonight, marked.
There came a moment in his life when
God called him into full-time service.
I was visiting him shortly before he died,
just recently, and I was stirred to my
death by what he said.
Oh, how I regret that I did not
yield to God when He spoke to me.
I cannot but think of the many that
I could have won for Christ who are
now in hell because of my disobedience, because
of your disobedience.
Oh, brother, sister, let's face it honestly.
Let's face it with full purpose of heart.
Notice, God has a plan for my life.
There's a very arresting verse in the book
of Psalms where David tells us that he
went into the temple to behold the beauty
of the Lord and to inquire in his
temple.
Now I know that we love to behold
the beauty of the Lord.
We love to ponder the work put into
this very building, and we love beauty in
worship.
Of course, we do.
But I wonder how many of us bring
the spirit of inquiry into our devotions.
The spirit of inquiry.
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
That was false prayer on the Damascus road.
Perhaps I should pause here just to emphasize
a truth that comes to my mind just
now.
Do you believe that any person can be
soundly born again who is not prepared to
accept the lordship of Jesus over his life?
Do you mean that a person can be
saved who has certain reservations regarding
the lordship of Jesus?
It is my deep-seated conviction that no
man can possibly be saved until he's prepared
to accept the lordship of Jesus over his
life the moment he's born again.
Oh, I tell you, dear people, if preachers
and evangelists and Christian workers stressed that point,
we wouldn't be cursed with waves of backsliding
cursing our country today.
If we made it clear that there is
a line of demarcation that I've got to
be prepared to cross, oh, this is more
than simply believing.
Remember when Saul of Tarsus fell before the
light?
Were he living today, I suppose some around
him would say, you had better make a
decision.
And perhaps he would say, well, I'd better
respond.
I'd better respond.
Or perhaps he would suggest that someone hand
him a decision card.
He recognized the lordship of Jesus.
I remember the night that God saved me.
I'd just left a dance where I was
acting as a piper and as a stepdancer.
I loved the bagpipes and nothing would please
me better than find myself on a stage
dancing the sword dance.
But that night, on my knees among the
straw, three o'clock in the morning, I
could say to Jesus, take the world but
give me Jesus.
All its joys are but a name.
But his love abideth ever through eternal years
the same.
And thank God the vow that I made
I kept to this moment.
Oh, my dear people, we want to face
this.
I know that we can be spoken of
as a righteous man and yet have our
tents pitched towards Sodom as in the case
of Lot.
He landed there and lost his testimony.
Indeed, I would find it extremely difficult to
believe that he was a righteous man, but
Peter says he was and I've got to
accept that.
Oh, my dear friend, may I ask, may
I ask, in what direction are your tents
pitched this evening?
What direction?
Then a word on the pace we keep.
Before coming to that, I think I ought
to bring before you another thought that has
just flashed across my mind.
I find some dear people who are more
interested in evangelizing the outsider than of judging
themselves.
More interested in evangelizing the outsider.
Oh, we're going to have a great evangelistic
crusade.
Oh, my, see how they throw themselves into
it.
But somehow they fail to judge themselves.
But judgment must begin at the house of
God.
Oh, is it going to begin there here?
If it does, we'll see revival.
We'll see revival.
God spoke to me this morning.
My God drew near to me in my
room and I found confidence rising, expectation
rising, revival coming.
My dear people, we're anxious to see that.
But are you prepared to judge yourself?
Are you ready for it?
Oh, are you ready for it?
Now, we must be agreed there and then
we must be agreed on the pace we
set.
Now, here we are tempted to one of
two things, lag behind or go before the
will of God.
When the will of God appears as a
cross to carry or a difficulty to bear,
there is often a slowing down, sometimes to
question and to complain.
Why has God dealt thus with me?
How is it that others seem to scale
the heights and cross the seas, and I
take the law into my own hand?
And instead of waiting for the unfolding of
God's purpose, like Abram of old, I force
the hand of God and Abraham's folly becomes
a beacon light.
You remember in trying to force the hand
of God, he forced a Nishamel into his
life.
Now, I believe that we may have very
important lessons to learn here.
At times we get so impatient.
Why is God so slow?
Why is revival not coming?
Because God seems to be interested in the
souls of men.
Why?
I'm sure you must have heard of Philip
Brooks, one of the great men of a
past generation.
Oh, he prayed for revival and he saw
it.
But I'm thinking now of Philip Brooks in
his study, fearfully disturbed in mind and obviously
agitated.
He is visited by a brother minister.
And this brother minister found him pacing the
floor, pacing the floor, so agitated.
And at last the minister spoke to Philip
Brooks.
Brooks, what's wrong with you?
What's wrong with me?
I'll tell you what's wrong with me.
I'm in a hurry and God is.
I'm in a hurry but God isn't.
Oh, my dear people, we may have to
learn not the waiting, maybe the feel of
our discipline.
Some years ago, a farmer was greatly concerned
about revival.
And God spoke to him about it and
said, but have you given yourself to prayer?
And he faced that question and decided to
give himself to prayer.
Oh, revival comes.
They that come to God must believe that
he is and that he is the rewarder
of all them that diligently seek him.
They that know that God shall be strong
and do exploits.
Doesn't say that they hope to make them.
We're thinking of making them.
That is not what he stated.
It is clearly said that they that know
that God shall be strong and do exploits.
And this dear man believed that.
And he set himself to wait upon God.
There was one particular village that he was
deeply interested in.
Oh, how we would love to see revival
there, just as you would love to see
revival in your parish or in your congregation.
He went to prayer and decided to go
to this village every Sunday afternoon and spend
three hours on his knees, pleading with God
to her Holy Spirit.
And that dear man spent seven years going
every Sunday afternoon to this village.
Seventy years.
But he persevered.
And then one afternoon, two young women came
to the parish.
And called to see this farmer.
He was a very well-known personality in
the district and in the church.
There were two workers of the faith mission.
The one holiness mission in Scotland.
Standing for the truth of full salvation and
proclaiming it.
And within three days of their arrival, such
a mighty move of the Spirit of God
broke out.
That there wasn't a single house in that
village that hadn't souls saved within a matter
of days.
God is a count keeping God that must
be true to his covenant in nature.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength.
I believe revival is coming.
I believe it is.
I believe we're going to see a sweeping
revival in this land of yours.
Two years or three years ago at Prairie
Bible Institute.
God spoke to me.
I believe spoke definitely to me.
And told me that America and Canada was
going to experience a sweeping revival.
My dear people, I believe that.
I believe it with all my heart.
Oh my God, could it begin here.
Could it begin here.
Yes, brother, if you will consider with me
now the cost of the outing.
The cost of the outing.
What really is the price of revival?
I believe, my dear brother, that a price
has got to be paid.
And to me the price is absolute surrender
to the will of God.
Absolute surrender.
I believe that the bedrock of Christianity is
passionate, personal devotion to Jesus.
And that devotion expressed in the sacrificial giving
of myself.
No, I believe.
Oh, I believe that generous giving is fairly
common.
I believe you've got this building.
I may be wrong, but somehow I believe
it.
That you've got this building and many other
things because of the generous giving of God's
people.
But listen, brother, blessing comes not just through
generous giving, but through sacrificial giving.
And there's a world of difference between both.
I can be giving generously, but refusing to
give sacrificially.
What is the giving that costs, brother?
Is your giving of yourself costing you?
Is it going to cost you?
Let me say again that I believe revival
comes when that is made real.
And God finds someone that he can trust
with revival.
Oh, there are many of us who talk
about revival, but angels and archangels gazing over
the battlements of glory whisper to one another,
yes, they're talking about it, but they can't
be trusted.
I've said again and again that the moment
God finds a church, or finds a community,
or finds one person absolutely yielded to God,
willing to sacrifice a person that God can
trust, God being a covenant-keeping God must
be true to his covenant engagement.
My dear people, that's my God.
Is he good?
A God who made a promise, and who
keeps the promise that he has made.
I will pour water upon him that is
thirsty.
That's it.
Upon him that is thirsty.
Brethren, are you so thirsty that you're prepared
for an absolute surrender in every department of
your life?
An absolute surrender in every department of your
life.
Oh, are you thirsty.
You know, I sometimes make a statement at
the risk of being misunderstood, and I have
been misunderstood in making it.
I have said, we do not pray for
revival in order that souls be saved.
Dear me.
What do you mean?
What's coming next?
Is that Highland theology?
Yes, it is.
But souls are saved in their hundreds and
in their thousands when you have revival.
That's the difference.
Judgment must begin in the house of God.
Sacrifice must be made among God's people.
We do not expect sinners to pay the
price.
God expects you to pay it, and expects
me to pay it.
I remember when God called me away from
the ministry.
Presbyterian minister.
God said to me, yes, you're thinking of
going back into the faith mission.
Where you don't have a single salary promised
you.
You've got to live by faith and by
faith alone.
And I hesitated to pay the price.
Oh, I tell you, I was in a
furnace.
I was in a furnace.
Yes.
Until that dear young daughter of mine said
to me, Daddy, go through with God whatever
it costs.
Amen.
Whatever it costs.
And I'm so thankful today that I obeyed.
And I was prepared to sacrifice a lovely
man and a sure salary just to trust
God.
My dear people, have I regretted it?
Never.
Oh, God looks after His own.
He looks after His own if we just
trust Him.
And obey Him.
So I close by quoting that verse again.
Soul of mine, must I surrender?
See myself as crucified?
Turn from all earth's ambition.
That thou mayst be satisfied.
Amen.