God bless you.
Thank you so very much.
It's a great honor for me to be
invited back to Southwide this year, and I
appreciate the invitation so very much.
It was my privilege in the late 60s,
early 70s, to be a member of Northside
Baptist Church.
I was a cost accountant with Kraft Foods,
Sealtest Corporation, and I was transferred to the
city of Charlotte.
We lived there for a couple of years,
and my pastor was Dr. Jack Hudson.
My Sunday school teacher was now Dr. Steve
Bird, pastor of the wonderful church here in
North Carolina.
And Brother Charlie was there, and we had
a lot of fellowship and a lot of
friends.
But I think about Dr. Hudson's life motto,
Make Much of Jesus.
This is our final session, and as we
close Southwide tonight, I would, by the help
of the Lord, challenge your heart, challenge your
faith, and yes, challenge your fight for the
days that are in front of us.
These are the most exciting hours that believers
have ever lived on planet Earth.
My heart is thrilled.
I just returned from Israel.
While we were there, we were able to
go by the Temple Institute, the Temple Treasures,
they call it.
And I have photographs here tonight of the
Mizrach, golden Mizrach, where they're getting ready and
preparing to resume sacrifices.
All the instruments, 90-some that they talked
about would be essential, and 53 of them
are already manufactured and sitting on the shelf.
The rabbi told me, he said, We can
start sacrifices just as soon as we get
the mount back.
It's a great, exciting time to be a
believer.
Gershwin Solomon called my motel room, and he's
the leader of the Temple Mount Faithful.
And my church family gets a kick out
of this.
He's an Orthodox Jew.
He's not a Bible believer, and he was
just in the States, and we had him
come by our church, and he refers to
me as the holy pastor.
And he called me in my motel hotel
room there, and he said, Would you like
to go over and see the cornerstone?
He said, It's already been cut and prepared
according to the Mosaic law.
We didn't use an instrument of steel.
It was cut with stone cutting stone.
And I said, Gershwin, why are you tormenting
me like this?
He said, Holy pastor, you need to know
that this is the age of redemption.
He said the Messiah could come at any
moment.
He's preaching like that, and he's blind.
What should we be doing?
We should be looking for the upper taker,
not the undertaker.
If I could challenge your heart and your
fight and your faith tonight, I would pray
that you go home different, that you not
waste the fuel, that you not waste the
energy and time and effort that you've exerted
to be a part of this conference.
That before you leave the property, somewhere tonight
you get your fresh glimpse of glory.
Somewhere tonight you pray for the personal touch
of Jesus on your life.
Some of my best friends on planet earth
are in this auditorium tonight.
Some of my heroes, men that have touched
my life, affected my service to the King,
challenged me.
And yet at the same time, I know
that what I need tonight they cannot provide.
I love Dr. Lee Robinson, and only heaven
will be able to reveal the deep affection
that I have in my heart for him.
But as much as I love him, I
know he cannot sustain me tonight.
I must go to Calvary, and I must
look upon his dear and wonderful face and
beg the King for fresh oil.
Tonight I would encourage you not to be
weary in well-doing.
Tonight I would ask that you stop watching
the storm and look to the Savior that's
above the storm.
And you say, how is this possible, Brother
Ralph?
How can we do this?
How can I continue in my circumstance?
Well, the answer is in our motto, making
much of Jesus.
That's how we can look above the storm.
That's how we cannot grow weary in well
-doing.
That's how we'll be able to survive the
next few weeks and months, and if God
should grant us another year to meet and
assemble.
Somehow, between here and there, we're going to
have to concentrate on making much of Jesus.
You say, well, how can we make much
of Jesus?
Well, I think the most obvious way to
make much of Jesus is to look at
him and what he stands for.
If you have your Bibles tonight, I want
you to turn to Matthew 1, verse 18.
Making much of Jesus.
The latter part of that verse says, Before
they came together, she was found with child
of the Holy Ghost.
If we're going to make much of Jesus
tonight, we need to make much of his
parents.
We need to make much of the parents
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You say, well, what do you mean by
the parents of the Lord Jesus?
Well, first of all, we need to make
much of the fact that his father was
a thrice-holy God of this universe.
Jesus Christ did not have Joseph's blood.
If you know anything about biology, the blood
is transmitted by the Father.
That's how we're able to settle paternal suits,
is that we can perform a blood test
and find out who the Father is.
And if you could analyze the drop of
that holy, pure, precious blood tonight, you would
find out that Jesus belongs to God the
Father.
He does not have Millie's blood.
He does not have Joseph's blood.
But he has the blood of his Father,
the Lord God Almighty.
I'd like to make much of his parents
tonight.
I'd like to make much of his mother,
the Virgin Mary.
We read in Matthew 2, verse 11, that
the mother of Jesus, this virgin maiden, that
when she realized who he was when he
was born, the Bible says that she fell
down and worshiped him.
She knew who he was.
She knew he didn't belong to Joseph, and
he didn't belong to her.
God had prepared a place for him, and
his Father was God.
You ought to make much of his parents.
Tonight you can make much of Jesus because
he is the virgin-born Son of God.
He was not half God and half man.
He's all God.
He's the God Creator.
He's the provider, and he is the very
one that sustains us here tonight.
We can make much of Jesus and his
parents.
Secondly tonight, you can make much of Jesus
and his power.
You can make much of his power tonight.
Exodus chapter 15 and verse number 6 says,
"'Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious
in power.'" The good news tonight is that
the power of Jesus Christ is so wonderful
and so mighty that it is actually glorious
when you attempt to describe it.
You can make much of the power of
Jesus because he literally had the power to
give his life for sinners.
He literally had the power to topple old
death from his gory throne.
Death thought he had the power to rule
over men.
Death thought he could control the grave.
Death thought that he had everything in his
hand and control.
But Jesus Christ had the power.
He had the power to not only give
his life for the souls of men, but
he had the power to topple old death
from his throne.
He had the power to invade hell and
to cause the demons to flee.
And in the deep dungeons of the damned
they ran and tried to get behind Lucifer
for the invader of hell had now pierced
the air.
And Jesus Christ had the power to go
where no one else had ever gone.
He had the power to back the devil
up against the old smutty walls of hell.
And by the authority of his own name,
command Lucifer, turn loose of the keys.
Give me the keys of death, hell, and
the grave and hand them to me.
I want you to know he had the
power to take charge of the predicament that
fallen men had fallen into.
He had the power to take the keys
and grasp them.
He had the power to look over at
the devil and remind him that keys represent
authority.
Keys represent proprietorship.
Keys are something that you have in your
pocket when you own your own business, own
your own car, own your own house.
But tonight the devil is the only booger
in business that doesn't have the keys to
his own shop.
And for eternity he is a defeated foe.
The devil would like for you to forget
as you leave Southwiden, drive home, catch your
plane, get caught back up under the burden
of pastoring, evangelism, the mission field, running to
and fro in the house and the family.
The devil would like for you to forget
who's got the keys.
He'd like to make you think that he's
got the power, that he's in charge.
But I want you to go home making
much of Jesus tonight and making much of
the fact that he has the power to
rule and to reign.
He not only had the power to get
the keys, but he had the power to
step across that gulf into paradise and to
keep a promise and to rescue those that
had died in the hope of a promised
Redeemer.
He had the power after he had redeemed
those that were waiting in paradise and assembled
them unto himself, that on the way to
the Father he stopped off on the morning
of the third day and there was a
piece of clay and old death was lying
on top of him.
Lucifer had sent corruption into the grave and
said, Whatever we do, we can't wait.
If we wait, he's got disciples that may
try to steal him.
So what we better do is start the
process of corruption early.
He sent demons to reinforce death and corruption.
But when corruption walked into that grave, he
took a deep breath of air he had
never smelled before.
My, this doesn't smell like a grave.
It smells like the rose of Sharon.
He took another breath and said, It smells
like the lily of the valley.
And on that glorious morning, by the power
of his own name and by the authority
of his own throne, he resurrected for time
and for eternity.
Our participants in a religion, in a truth,
in a wonderful adoration and a worship, we're
the only people in the world where religion
is true.
You go over to where Buddha is buried
and they'll show you a great and glorious
grave.
You can go to the grave of Confucius
and you can go to the grave of
Muhammad.
You can go to many great graves that
have been decorated and inside the founder of
the religion.
But when you go over to Jerusalem and
you walk down into that little garden and
you visit that borrowed tomb, there's just a
little simple plaque on the door that says,
He is not its Savior.
And boy, when I think about that, I
want to brag on his name.
I want to make much of Jesus.
I want to make much of the fact
that he's alive, tries to load my wagon
and discourage me and talk me into having
the pooch mouth, the old clever jaw, the
long lip and the moody blues.
I just want to look across in there
and see it's still empty.
Something to praise him for and to thank
him for.
But you know what else you can do
tonight?
You can make much of his promises.
Not only can I make much of his
parents and his power, but I can make
much of his promises.
John 1.1, that simple text in the
book reads, In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God.
And the Word was what?
God.
When you begin to read that the Word
was God, you begin to understand in the
beginning was the Word.
And the power of that promises that are
recorded here, that we do have a Bible
that's alive and well.
Jesus is his Word and his promises are
him.
This tonight is something I can make much
of.
This is Jesus.
I was humbled the other day in Israel
because I kept watching those Orthodox Jews.
And they would walk back under that wall
and try to get as close as they
can.
And the rabbi in there, he made a
statement.
He said, We know where the Ark of
the Covenant is.
He said, We've kept it a secret these
last 18 months or so because we're afraid
there'll be a conflict and it'll be destroyed.
But we know the exact location.
We're just waiting for the Temple Mount.
He said, We know where the Ark is.
I've got it on an interview down there.
And he says, We know where it is.
And you know what?
I watched them go over and unlock the
cabinets and they'd get out the Word of
God.
And they'd take it out and kiss the
Bible, Torah.
And they'd get out to the wall and
some of them had smaller copies and kissed
the Word.
And I got on the plane riding back
to the United States and we were packed
in there and there was a fellow over
beside me and he opened up that Old
Testament and he kissed the Word.
Boy, I thought, You don't even know what
you're doing to me.
You're kissing the Word because it's the power
of His promises.
You're holding on to a hope that the
Messiah will come.
I've got the living hope that He's already
come.
And He's alive in my soul forevermore.
Oh, the power of His promises.
Because you see, my friend, that this Word
is the inerrant, infallible, holy, inspired Word of
God.
My Bible does not contain the Word.
It is the Word of God.
It's preserved to the English-speaking world in
this only authorized version that there's ever been.
This old King James, 1611, archaic Elizabethan English,
hallelujah, is the living, holy Word of God.
Hey, I've got something alive tonight.
I've got the holy Word of God.
I don't have to back up.
I don't have to retreat.
I've got the Word of God tonight alive
and alive forevermore.
I'm so grateful, gentlemen, that night they ordained
me right up the road in Asheville, North
Carolina.
And I knelt at an altar and those
preachers gathered around and laid hands on me.
And they charged me with a sermon.
They scared me with warnings.
But then when they got through intimidating me
and making me afraid to even breathe, they
reached over and handed me an old black
back 1611 and said, Now, you go preach.
They issued me into the army of a
holy God as a soldier of the cross.
And when I graduated from my boot camp
exercises that night, they strapped on me an
M1611.
And bless God, it won't jam down in
the ditches of sin.
It won't run out of ammunition when the
devil sticks up his slimy head.
It's still got the power.
It's still sharper than a two-edged sword.
It's the holy Word of God alive and
alive forevermore.
The problem is not with the book.
The problem is with my evil, wicked heart
of unbelief.
Oh, that we would see it's the power
of His Word.
You know what I like about this blessed
book?
It'll not run out of ammunition when hell
attacks.
Brother Tim, one of the scariest things in
Nam was that when you had a base
camp, it couldn't be resupplied, and there would
come the wire attacks, human sacrifices, bandoliers of
explosives.
Men would literally melt the barrels of weapons
down.
Then come the terror, the scream and the
cry, Ammo!
Ammo!
There's no defense.
But I'm grateful tonight when the night's the
longest.
Oh, when hell seems to be the hottest.
When your night seems to be so confused
and the heavens are made of brass and
your old, doubty heart says, I wonder if
there's even really a God.
This blessed book never, ever runs out of
ammunition to hold your sanity and to hold
your soul.
It's the power of God's holy Word.
I'm grateful that this blessed book will not
melt down during the heat of debate when
the liberal critics attack, when those that pretend
to profess His name but deny the truth
and the power of His Word.
It'll not fall apart under pressure.
It's the Word of God, and you can
make much of Jesus and His promises because
of His holy Word.
Not only can we make much of His
parents and His power and His promises, but
tonight I'm grateful I can make much of
His pardon.
The only reason I'm here tonight is Jesus.
If you've never had soul winning 101, if
you've never learned that there was a Roman
road or any other kind of road, you
know what you can always tell someone?
Let me tell you what Jesus has done
for me.
Let me tell you about it.
The other day I was dead.
Now I'm alive.
The other day I was blind, but now
I can see.
The other day I was deaf, but now
I can hear.
The other day I was crippled, but now
I can walk.
Because of what Jesus has done for you,
you don't ever have to learn a program
or to memorize a package.
You just always do what the Apostle Paul
always used on men that were lost.
He just kept telling them what Jesus had
done for him.
Make much of His pardoning power.
I was sentenced to death by the justice
of a holy God.
However, I was justified.
Instead of receiving justice, I was pardoned by
this same Jesus.
His blood was literally shed for my sins.
Exodus chapter 12 and verse number 13.
And when I see the blood, I will
pass over you.
The Bible says that today in heaven, that
the beloved, the brethren, we were accused by
the devil.
That today you've been accused in front of
God.
And God the Father is sitting on the
throne.
Jesus is His right hand.
And the devil is running around talking about
you and accusing you.
God turns to His Son and says, What
about old Ralph Sexton down there?
Sir, that's one you gave me before we
made worlds.
I died on the cross for him.
I bought him with my own blood.
He's my son.
I've adopted him into the family.
God looks down there at the devil and
He says, What sins are you talking about?
I don't see anything but the darling royal
red blood of my son that died by
his soul, by her soul, been redeemed by
the blood of the Lamb.
You see, it is Leviticus 17 that teaches
us it is the blood.
For it is the blood that maketh an
atonement for the soul.
Nothing else will work but the blood.
The blood of goats and bulls will not
work.
The blood of pigeons and doves will not
work.
The only blood that can ever work is
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
His blood bought my pardon.
Listen, you all tonight leave out of this
place and off this property and you ought
to go about your daily life serving Jesus,
making much about the blood.
You ought to be making much of Jesus.
You ought to be making much of His
holy, precious blood.
That supernatural blood, that sinless blood, that keeping
blood, that cleansing blood, that saving blood, that
healing blood, that redeeming blood, that limitless blood,
that fresh blood, that sheltering blood, that liberating
blood, that pardoning blood, that innocent blood, that
sprinkle blood, that shed blood, that abundant blood,
that overcoming blood, that sealing blood, that faithful
blood, that forgiving blood, that incorruptible blood, that
imperishable blood, that atoning blood, that perfecting blood,
and best of all, it's free blood.
The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, glory to His name.
I had the privilege of interviewing Rabbi Levy
there at the Institute of Temple Treasures.
And I asked him, I said, Rabbi, why
does that misrack not have a base on
it?
I said, there's no way you can sit
it down.
It comes down to a cone.
I said, why does the misrack not have
a base?
He said, because when the high priest gets
the blood of the sacrifice, the words he
used were, we don't want him to go
get a cup of coffee.
He said, when he gets that blood, he
cannot now sit it down and take a
break.
He said, he has to go do his
job, listen to this, until it is finished.
I said, could you say that last part
again?
He said, he can't stop until it's finished,
until the task is completed.
He must take that fresh blood and then
walk into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle
it before the altar and then step on
the blood and then pour it upon the
mercy seat, that there would be an atonement
of sin.
And then his task is finished.
2,000 years ago, the Lamb of God,
the sweet Lord Jesus Christ, cried off the
cross, it is finished, because he had taken
his blood into the Holy of Holies to
buy your salvation for time and for eternity.
The power of his holy blood.
Not only should we make much of his
pardoning power, but we should make much of
his preeminence.
We should make much of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ.
Philippians chapter 2, verse number 9, Wherefore God
also hath highly, I like that part, highly
exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus almost every knee, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
things in heaven and things on earth and
things under the earth, that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
To the glory of God the Father, we
can make much of the fact that Jesus
Christ is Lord tonight.
He's not going to be Lord.
He is already Lord.
You can make much of his preeminence.
And if you want your personal life to
change, you start practicing the loving Lordship of
Christ.
You want your tears back.
You want your compassion back.
You want your burden back.
You want your zeal again.
You want God the Holy Ghost to fill
you and thrill you.
Then you bring all that you are and
all that you have, and may it kneel
down at the altar of his loving Lordship
and crown him King of kings and Lord
of lords and give him the preeminence of
everything in your life.
And then you watch the power of God
move in your being.
Jesus has tonight the unqualified preeminence.
He has the unqualified supremacy.
He precedes all others in priority.
He exceeds all others in superiority.
He succeeds all others in finality.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
He is tonight the Master of the mighty.
He is the Captain of the conquerors.
He is the Head of the heroes.
He is the Leader of the leaders.
He is the Law of the legislators.
He is the Governor of the governors.
He is the Prince of the princes.
He is the King of kings and He
is tonight Lord of all the lords.
We have an opportunity tonight to worship the
loving Lord of all the universe and we
should make much of Jesus.
Not only is He Lord in eternity past,
but He will be Lord in eternity future.
He was Lord of the beginning and He'll
be Lord at the end.
He's Lord of the rich and He's Lord
of the poor.
He's Lord of the healthy and He's Lord
of the sick.
He's Lord of the redeemed and He's Lord
of the lost.
He's Lord of the black and He's Lord
of the white.
He's Lord of the USA day and he's
alone in the U.
S.
F.
R.
Loser a son is multiple on his motive
in the long.
He's long away from Tennesoo.
Lord of the days of his order the
rod and the warmer little heat, warmer, darker
and more.
The book Lord, the Great and more of
the River is more of the Lake and
he is Lord of the sea and his
corner, the smart and low to the Parlament,
he's Lord of the great and he therefore
the small, the Lord of the haste and
he is Lord of the elephant.
He's one of the garbage.
He's the way of the human life.
He was one of and he's lord of
the snake.
He's lord of the sparrow and he's lord
of the eagle.
He's lord of heaven and he's lord of
hell.
He's lord tonight.
Jesus Christ is his name and he's lord
of all.
Oh, he's lord.
You ought to make much of him.