1 00:00:00,330 --> 00:00:03,550 It will be my privilege over the next 2 00:00:03,550 --> 00:00:13,530 weeks to bring you messages from the book 3 00:00:13,530 --> 00:00:18,310 that sets forth the eternal word. 4 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:23,220 I wanted to say that it was going 5 00:00:23,220 --> 00:00:29,660 to be a pleasure to expound this book, 6 00:00:32,110 --> 00:00:38,370 but a sense of inadequacy has come over 7 00:00:38,370 --> 00:00:47,560 me, so stunning, almost paralyzing, that I am 8 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:51,220 not able at this juncture to call it 9 00:00:51,220 --> 00:00:52,400 a pleasure to preach. 10 00:00:54,710 --> 00:01:01,490 Perhaps this will be God's way of reducing 11 00:01:01,490 --> 00:01:05,370 the flesh to a minimum and giving the 12 00:01:05,370 --> 00:01:12,370 Holy Spirit the best possible opportunity to do 13 00:01:12,370 --> 00:01:13,750 his eternal work. 14 00:01:13,750 --> 00:01:19,550 I fear that sometimes our very eloquence gets 15 00:01:19,550 --> 00:01:26,450 in our way, and the unlimited ability to 16 00:01:26,450 --> 00:01:33,050 talk endlessly about religion is a questionable blessing. 17 00:01:34,270 --> 00:01:39,710 So that, with this sense of the impossibility 18 00:01:39,710 --> 00:01:45,730 of a man like me saying anything worthwhile 19 00:01:45,730 --> 00:01:50,210 about the writings of a man like John, 20 00:01:51,330 --> 00:01:55,990 has me, literally after all these years, paralyzed. 21 00:01:58,460 --> 00:02:01,320 But maybe I say, and repeat, that will 22 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:02,620 be God's opportunity. 23 00:02:03,060 --> 00:02:05,680 Man's extremity is said thus to be. 24 00:02:07,990 --> 00:02:12,050 Now, I am going to relieve you of 25 00:02:12,050 --> 00:02:13,690 a long introduction. 26 00:02:15,430 --> 00:02:18,010 John scarcely needs any introduction. 27 00:02:19,410 --> 00:02:24,090 The passage here in the first verse of 28 00:02:24,090 --> 00:02:28,910 the first chapter, in the beginning was the 29 00:02:28,910 --> 00:02:34,590 word, and the word was God with God, 30 00:02:34,690 --> 00:02:36,170 and the word was God. 31 00:02:37,510 --> 00:02:39,330 I am not going to read any further 32 00:02:39,330 --> 00:02:43,050 because you know the verses too well. 33 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:46,920 This is introduction enough. 34 00:02:47,860 --> 00:02:51,760 Now, this John who wrote the book that 35 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:56,180 bears his name is the mystic of the 36 00:02:56,180 --> 00:02:56,860 New Testament. 37 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:01,500 I started to say that this John was 38 00:03:01,500 --> 00:03:03,540 the mystic of the New Testament. 39 00:03:03,540 --> 00:03:07,640 But we must be very careful not to 40 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:10,080 put a was where God puts an is. 41 00:03:11,220 --> 00:03:13,920 We must be very careful not to put 42 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:16,380 God's children into the past tense. 43 00:03:16,380 --> 00:03:22,920 For there are no past tenses with the 44 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:24,060 people of God. 45 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:30,300 Jesus argued for immortality on the grounds that 46 00:03:30,300 --> 00:03:34,000 God is not the God of the dead, 47 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:35,400 but of the living. 48 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,400 And the dead are past. 49 00:03:39,380 --> 00:03:42,320 And when we talk about a dead man, 50 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:43,780 we say was. 51 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,500 But when we talk about a living man, 52 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:48,980 we say is. 53 00:03:50,140 --> 00:03:54,920 It is therefore not theologically proper to say 54 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:58,060 that John was the mystic of the New 55 00:03:58,060 --> 00:03:58,480 Testament. 56 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:03,200 We say, rather, that John is the mystic 57 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:07,860 of the New Testament, as Paul is the 58 00:04:07,860 --> 00:04:10,480 theologian of the New Testament. 59 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:15,480 Now, I have used two words, mystic and 60 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:16,240 theologian. 61 00:04:17,459 --> 00:04:20,240 And naturally that brings the two very closely 62 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:24,740 related words, mysticism and theology. 63 00:04:26,460 --> 00:04:29,240 And there is in the minds of some 64 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:33,060 people the idea that there is a contradiction 65 00:04:33,060 --> 00:04:36,600 between mysticism and theology, the mystic and the 66 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:37,360 theologian. 67 00:04:38,260 --> 00:04:41,420 The mystic has earned himself a bad reputation, 68 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,400 or rather, he has had a bad reputation 69 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:49,140 earned for him, so that we shy away 70 00:04:49,140 --> 00:04:52,040 from anybody that is said to be a 71 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:52,880 mystic. 72 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,460 But John was the mystic of the New 73 00:04:56,460 --> 00:05:00,240 Testament, as Paul was the theologian. 74 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:03,980 For I want you to know that in 75 00:05:03,980 --> 00:05:10,140 Paul's theology there was much mysticism, and in 76 00:05:10,140 --> 00:05:14,540 John's mysticism there is much theology. 77 00:05:14,540 --> 00:05:18,580 So that you do not have a contradiction, 78 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:24,420 you have a complement, a supplementing of each 79 00:05:24,420 --> 00:05:24,780 other. 80 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:30,420 The man Paul had a great brain, and 81 00:05:30,420 --> 00:05:34,360 God could pour into this great brain the 82 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,480 great basic doctrines of the New Testament, and 83 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,960 think them out, and reason them out, and 84 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:43,640 set them down logically. 85 00:05:44,020 --> 00:05:47,220 So that Paul has earned the reputation of 86 00:05:47,220 --> 00:05:50,800 being the theologian of the New Testament. 87 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:55,540 But in the mind of John, God found 88 00:05:55,540 --> 00:05:57,320 something different altogether. 89 00:05:58,100 --> 00:06:01,100 He found a harp that wanted to sit 90 00:06:01,100 --> 00:06:02,700 in the window and catch the wind. 91 00:06:02,700 --> 00:06:07,940 He found that John had a bird-like 92 00:06:07,940 --> 00:06:13,000 sense about him that wanted to take flight 93 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:13,800 all the time. 94 00:06:14,540 --> 00:06:19,900 And so he allowed John, starting from the 95 00:06:19,900 --> 00:06:24,120 same premises as the theologian Paul, to mount 96 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:26,160 and soar and sing. 97 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:31,100 Shakespeare, in one of his sonnets, says, "...like 98 00:06:31,100 --> 00:06:34,060 to the lark at break of day arising 99 00:06:34,060 --> 00:06:39,240 from sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate." 100 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:42,600 And John was like and is like. 101 00:06:43,060 --> 00:06:44,960 In his book he wrote it, and we 102 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:47,640 say was, but John is, still is, like 103 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:50,540 the lark that rises at the break of 104 00:06:50,540 --> 00:06:55,360 day and shakes the dews of the night 105 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,560 from his wings and soars to heaven's gate 106 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:00,300 singing. 107 00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:04,360 Now, he doesn't soar any higher than Paul, 108 00:07:04,700 --> 00:07:07,340 but he sings just a little bit sweeter 109 00:07:07,340 --> 00:07:09,800 than Paul and gets your attention more. 110 00:07:10,500 --> 00:07:14,320 So that Paul is the theologian who lays 111 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:18,720 foundation strong, and John gets on the parapet, 112 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:20,700 flaps his wings and takes off. 113 00:07:21,180 --> 00:07:23,960 That's why it's difficult to preach John. 114 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:27,620 For the two did not contradict each other, 115 00:07:27,980 --> 00:07:29,780 nor cancel each other out. 116 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:33,900 They complemented each other, so that we might 117 00:07:33,900 --> 00:07:39,360 say that Paul is the instrument and John 118 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:43,600 is the music the instrument brings. 119 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:52,140 Now, the man Robertson, the great expositor, he 120 00:07:52,140 --> 00:07:52,820 was a Baptist. 121 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:56,640 And this great expositor says something about the 122 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:57,960 book of John, which I want to give 123 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:00,640 you, if you will allow me, after saying 124 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:01,800 I wouldn't give an introduction. 125 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,320 To give you this introduction, it's very brief, 126 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:07,660 and here is what the expositor says. 127 00:08:08,420 --> 00:08:11,680 He says, The test of time has given 128 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:15,700 the palm to the fourth gospel over all 129 00:08:15,700 --> 00:08:17,400 the books of the world. 130 00:08:18,380 --> 00:08:22,700 If Luke's gospel is the most beautiful, John's 131 00:08:22,700 --> 00:08:26,100 gospel is supreme in its height and depth 132 00:08:26,100 --> 00:08:27,440 and reach of thought. 133 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,179 The picture of Christ here given is the 134 00:08:31,179 --> 00:08:34,159 one that has captured the mind and heart 135 00:08:34,159 --> 00:08:34,679 of mankind. 136 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:38,080 The language of the fourth gospel has the 137 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,340 clarity of a spring, but we are not 138 00:08:41,340 --> 00:08:44,620 able to sound the depths of the bottom 139 00:08:44,620 --> 00:08:45,240 of it. 140 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:51,220 Lucidity and profundity challenge and charm as we 141 00:08:51,220 --> 00:08:53,220 linger over John's book. 142 00:08:53,780 --> 00:08:56,640 Lucidity and profundity. 143 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:01,260 That is, it's so clear that you can 144 00:09:01,260 --> 00:09:04,680 see through it, but so deep you can't 145 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:06,260 see clear through it. 146 00:09:06,820 --> 00:09:08,520 I think that's wonderfully put. 147 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,260 And it charms as we linger over it. 148 00:09:13,100 --> 00:09:15,500 Now, we'll never get beyond those first three 149 00:09:15,500 --> 00:09:17,520 words, and I don't intend to try it 150 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:18,040 tonight. 151 00:09:18,500 --> 00:09:22,560 I wonder if the preposition in would not 152 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:24,080 be as far as we ought to try 153 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:26,300 to go, but that would put the end 154 00:09:26,300 --> 00:09:29,360 of the exposition, the sermons on John, somewhere 155 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:30,360 in 1968. 156 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:33,320 So that I've got to do something better 157 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:33,860 than that. 158 00:09:33,980 --> 00:09:36,040 So we'll take in the beginning. 159 00:09:37,300 --> 00:09:40,260 Now let me leave that passage in the 160 00:09:40,260 --> 00:09:42,180 beginning, here in the New Testament. 161 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:47,340 And in order to understand it better, go 162 00:09:47,340 --> 00:09:48,780 back to the Old Testament. 163 00:09:49,580 --> 00:09:52,960 It is characteristic of the wisdom books of 164 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:53,760 the Old Testament. 165 00:09:53,760 --> 00:10:00,420 That sometimes they contain short passages that get 166 00:10:00,420 --> 00:10:04,620 lost in the sand and silt and dust 167 00:10:04,620 --> 00:10:05,500 of the ages. 168 00:10:06,020 --> 00:10:12,680 But passages so profound and solid that they 169 00:10:12,680 --> 00:10:16,820 are literally building blocks of spiritual power. 170 00:10:18,180 --> 00:10:22,440 Now, Ecclesiastes 3.11 is such a thought. 171 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:27,320 It says there, He, God, has set the 172 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:28,700 world in their heart. 173 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:31,900 Now, you could read that passage, God has 174 00:10:31,900 --> 00:10:35,620 set the world in their heart, and yawn 175 00:10:35,620 --> 00:10:36,780 and pass it up. 176 00:10:37,460 --> 00:10:39,340 And go to a psalm for a little 177 00:10:39,340 --> 00:10:39,660 help. 178 00:10:40,540 --> 00:10:42,600 But if you will know what the Holy 179 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:46,120 Ghost meant here when he said, God has 180 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:48,480 set the world in the heart of man, 181 00:10:49,380 --> 00:10:52,120 you will not go beyond it, you will 182 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:53,140 get your help here. 183 00:10:54,140 --> 00:10:56,560 Now, hidden among the rubble of the ages 184 00:10:56,560 --> 00:10:57,820 lies this passage. 185 00:10:58,900 --> 00:11:01,880 He has set the world in their heart. 186 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:06,660 Let us walk around a little, because I 187 00:11:06,660 --> 00:11:10,020 suspect that buried here under the shifting sands 188 00:11:10,020 --> 00:11:13,560 of the desert, buried here is a palace 189 00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:16,880 with many rooms and much beauty. 190 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:20,520 Let's walk around the palaces and behold the 191 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:23,620 goodly bulwarks thereof and see what we can 192 00:11:23,620 --> 00:11:23,940 find. 193 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,500 He has set the world in their heart. 194 00:11:28,500 --> 00:11:31,280 Now, Psalms 92 will give us a light 195 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:35,380 on what Ecclesiastes 3.11 means, where the 196 00:11:35,380 --> 00:11:39,440 Holy Ghost says about God, From everlasting to 197 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:42,080 everlasting thou art God. 198 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:45,080 Now, I have looked up that word, everlasting. 199 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:47,900 I do that always. 200 00:11:48,220 --> 00:11:50,980 I try to discover what a word means, 201 00:11:51,700 --> 00:11:54,720 and then in my preaching, I don't allow 202 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:57,060 it to mean anything that it doesn't mean 203 00:11:57,060 --> 00:11:58,240 in the Hebrew or the Greek. 204 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:01,280 I do that much, at least, to safeguard 205 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:05,420 you against my unlimited, unbridled imagination. 206 00:12:05,700 --> 00:12:08,780 So I make this mean what it means 207 00:12:08,780 --> 00:12:10,080 in the original. 208 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:15,080 So the word everlasting, twice used, says, From 209 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:20,720 everlasting to everlasting God is God. 210 00:12:21,660 --> 00:12:23,840 Now, if you go to your Hebrew, and 211 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:25,340 some of you that are studying it, you 212 00:12:25,340 --> 00:12:26,500 can ask your professor. 213 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:29,020 You go to your Hebrew and you will 214 00:12:29,020 --> 00:12:31,480 find that this word, as the Holy Ghost 215 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:35,700 uses it here, can mean time out of 216 00:12:35,700 --> 00:12:36,140 mind. 217 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:38,400 Or it can mean always. 218 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:41,820 Or it can mean to the vanishing point. 219 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,500 Or it can mean to the beginningless past. 220 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:48,780 So that what the Holy Ghost says here, 221 00:12:49,060 --> 00:12:52,900 in the word everlasting, is about talking about 222 00:12:52,900 --> 00:12:57,000 God, From time out of mind to time 223 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,100 out of mind thou art God. 224 00:12:59,620 --> 00:13:03,560 He faces back into some imaginary past and 225 00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:08,300 says, O God, from time out of mind 226 00:13:08,300 --> 00:13:11,900 and turns and faces some future and says, 227 00:13:12,500 --> 00:13:15,280 To time out of mind thou art God. 228 00:13:15,980 --> 00:13:19,740 Or he looks back and says, O God, 229 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:26,440 from the always to the always thou remainest 230 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:26,900 God. 231 00:13:27,620 --> 00:13:30,980 Or he looks back into the dim future 232 00:13:30,980 --> 00:13:34,160 that won't focus in his mind or dim 233 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:38,400 past and says, O God, from the vanishing 234 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:42,500 point out yonder, down to the vanishing point 235 00:13:42,500 --> 00:13:44,740 out here thou art God. 236 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:50,100 From the beginningless past to the endless future 237 00:13:50,100 --> 00:13:52,140 thou art God. 238 00:13:52,820 --> 00:13:55,420 Now, that's what the Holy Ghost says about 239 00:13:55,420 --> 00:13:56,040 God. 240 00:13:56,660 --> 00:13:59,660 And that's easy for you and me, because 241 00:13:59,660 --> 00:14:01,300 we say, well, that's simple. 242 00:14:01,300 --> 00:14:05,060 And if you've got one of those mousetrap, 243 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:10,200 shut and open minds, you will say that's 244 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:12,280 the attribute of God called eternity. 245 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:15,620 That's found on page 71 in a footnote 246 00:14:15,620 --> 00:14:18,300 in Thus and Thus' systematic theology. 247 00:14:19,060 --> 00:14:20,200 Now let's go have a soda. 248 00:14:20,940 --> 00:14:24,280 And that you'll dismiss that there and leave 249 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:24,520 it. 250 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:27,100 Or tuck it away in your memory among 251 00:14:27,100 --> 00:14:30,520 the unused lumber in the attic of your 252 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:33,580 soul, and it'll never mean anything to you. 253 00:14:34,020 --> 00:14:38,540 But brother, if you will let it live 254 00:14:38,540 --> 00:14:41,440 and the Holy Ghost will shine upon it 255 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,840 for you, it'll put you in the middle 256 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:50,200 between the everlasting vanishing point of a forgotten 257 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:56,800 yesterday and the equally everlasting vanishing point of 258 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:58,360 an unborn tomorrow. 259 00:14:59,060 --> 00:15:01,920 And God gathers all of it up in 260 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:05,300 his heart, the eternal God is thy refuge. 261 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:08,480 Now, we can easily believe that the attribute 262 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:10,900 of God is eternity, one of the attributes. 263 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:14,320 But oh, the wonder of this passage I'm 264 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:15,420 trying to get at. 265 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:19,500 The wonder of it is that God said 266 00:15:19,500 --> 00:15:20,560 this about people. 267 00:15:21,380 --> 00:15:26,220 He says, Thou hast set the world in 268 00:15:26,220 --> 00:15:30,280 their heart, but that word world is exactly 269 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:32,820 the same word the Holy Ghost used when 270 00:15:32,820 --> 00:15:33,920 he said everlasting. 271 00:15:34,660 --> 00:15:39,960 Thou hast set everlastingness in their heart, and 272 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:44,600 hast said about the heart of a creature 273 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,500 named man, whom God made in his own 274 00:15:47,500 --> 00:15:51,400 image, he says the same thing about man 275 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:53,140 that he says about God. 276 00:15:53,820 --> 00:15:56,760 He says, O God, as one version has 277 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:59,120 it, he hath put eternity into man's mind. 278 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:00,280 That's it with the period. 279 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:04,620 And so God says, he has put time 280 00:16:04,620 --> 00:16:08,080 out of mind into the heart of a 281 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:08,440 man. 282 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:12,620 It says he has put the everlasting, beginningless, 283 00:16:12,780 --> 00:16:15,860 always into the heart of a man. 284 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:19,180 He says that he has put the vanishing 285 00:16:19,180 --> 00:16:23,460 point of eternal yesterdays forgotten to the vanishing 286 00:16:23,460 --> 00:16:27,220 point of tomorrows unborn into the heart of 287 00:16:27,220 --> 00:16:27,820 a man. 288 00:16:27,820 --> 00:16:29,940 Now, that's what it says. 289 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:33,700 It says that God has put in the 290 00:16:33,700 --> 00:16:37,900 heart of man an affinity for everlastingness. 291 00:16:38,820 --> 00:16:41,740 Brethren, I have no hesitation to say that 292 00:16:41,740 --> 00:16:43,140 that's what's wrong with us. 293 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:47,520 If we were of the earth only and 294 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:50,600 we belonged to the beasts, we would never 295 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:51,560 be disturbed. 296 00:16:52,140 --> 00:16:54,220 I think there would never be much trouble 297 00:16:54,220 --> 00:16:55,500 in the world at all. 298 00:16:55,500 --> 00:16:57,780 I do not believe that Hitler would ever 299 00:16:57,780 --> 00:17:00,480 try to conquer Europe, or a Stalin or 300 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:02,740 Malenkov would ever try to conquer Asia. 301 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:05,359 I do not believe that there would be 302 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,819 much trouble in the world if God had 303 00:17:08,819 --> 00:17:12,180 not put everlastingness in us. 304 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:16,060 If there was not that in us that 305 00:17:16,060 --> 00:17:22,099 appreciated the everlastingness of God and that longed 306 00:17:22,099 --> 00:17:24,880 for it and wanted it and has lost 307 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,200 it and can't find it and wishes it 308 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,460 had it and longs for it and doesn't 309 00:17:31,460 --> 00:17:34,640 have it and yet appreciates it and wants 310 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:37,360 it and is dissatisfied with anything less. 311 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:42,560 So man, like a caged animal, like the 312 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:47,880 eagle in a cage, roams the cage and 313 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,600 trots back and forth from one war to 314 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,360 another war, from one strike to another strike, 315 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:56,580 from one gamble to another gamble, from one 316 00:17:56,580 --> 00:17:59,460 dance to another dance, from one hell to 317 00:17:59,460 --> 00:18:00,340 another hell. 318 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:02,420 What's the matter with man? 319 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:09,020 Why does man, like the yellow lion, roam 320 00:18:09,020 --> 00:18:12,920 and pace his cage and roar to the 321 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:15,520 heavens before he dies? 322 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:19,020 Because God has spoiled him. 323 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:21,960 He can't lie down with the beast and 324 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:22,740 be no more. 325 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:25,960 He cannot lie down with the dog and 326 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:26,560 be buried. 327 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:28,900 He cannot with the horse lie down. 328 00:18:29,940 --> 00:18:32,720 God has put everlastingness in his heart. 329 00:18:33,300 --> 00:18:36,200 He has put a longing for immortality in 330 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:36,700 his heart. 331 00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:40,280 He has put in him something that demands 332 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:42,680 God and heaven and yet is too blind 333 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:45,180 and sinful to find him or even look 334 00:18:45,180 --> 00:18:45,720 for him. 335 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,360 And that's the state of confusion we're in. 336 00:18:50,540 --> 00:18:52,820 The beasts of the forest don't have any 337 00:18:52,820 --> 00:18:53,500 wars. 338 00:18:53,780 --> 00:18:57,320 The cows in the barnyard don't have any 339 00:18:57,320 --> 00:18:59,200 whorehouses or gambling dens. 340 00:19:00,300 --> 00:19:02,360 Why is it only man that has these 341 00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:02,800 things? 342 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:06,080 Why is it only man that has murder 343 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:06,900 incorporated? 344 00:19:07,540 --> 00:19:09,840 Why is it only man that has gas 345 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:11,920 chambers and concentration camps? 346 00:19:13,300 --> 00:19:15,860 Why do the very serpents under the rock 347 00:19:15,860 --> 00:19:18,660 and the very whales in the sea and 348 00:19:18,660 --> 00:19:21,140 the very beasts of the jungle manage to 349 00:19:21,140 --> 00:19:23,880 get along and kill only when it's necessary 350 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:24,380 to eat? 351 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,000 And then they lie down and sleep and 352 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,420 wait for the night to come. 353 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:31,540 Why do the beasts of the forest get 354 00:19:31,540 --> 00:19:32,480 along better than people? 355 00:19:33,220 --> 00:19:34,540 Why do they have less trouble? 356 00:19:34,540 --> 00:19:36,060 Why are they more moral? 357 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:40,560 I have no hesitation in saying that there 358 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:44,440 isn't a dog in Chicago that's more moral 359 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:45,260 than his master. 360 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:49,260 If indeed you can attribute morality to that 361 00:19:49,260 --> 00:19:52,300 which has not eternity in his heart. 362 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:54,520 But I say they live better. 363 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:55,820 They're decenter. 364 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:58,580 And when we say a man lives a 365 00:19:58,580 --> 00:20:01,600 beastly life, we're insulting the beast and lying 366 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:02,460 about the man. 367 00:20:02,460 --> 00:20:07,050 For no beast ever does what men do. 368 00:20:08,130 --> 00:20:11,390 No beast ever kidnaps another beast and takes 369 00:20:11,390 --> 00:20:13,530 it away, sends a threatening note, and if 370 00:20:13,530 --> 00:20:15,290 it doesn't get what it wants, kills the 371 00:20:15,290 --> 00:20:16,270 beast that it's kidnapped. 372 00:20:16,490 --> 00:20:18,110 No one ever does that. 373 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:23,020 Not beastly, it's devilish. 374 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,600 Sin is not beastly at all, it's devilish. 375 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:30,860 And the beasts of the forest are not 376 00:20:30,860 --> 00:20:31,700 bothered with the devil. 377 00:20:32,700 --> 00:20:33,620 It's only people. 378 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:35,040 Why? 379 00:20:35,260 --> 00:20:39,080 Because God has put the appreciation of everlastingness 380 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:39,700 in their heart. 381 00:20:40,260 --> 00:20:41,760 He made them in his own image. 382 00:20:43,100 --> 00:20:45,180 Once more I say that there's not enough 383 00:20:45,180 --> 00:20:46,460 made of that in this day in which 384 00:20:46,460 --> 00:20:46,940 we live. 385 00:20:47,820 --> 00:20:49,220 Modernists have scared us out. 386 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:52,960 Modernists have frightened us out. 387 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:57,220 Oh, ladies and gentlemen, what we need in 388 00:20:57,220 --> 00:21:00,940 America today is men with something here in 389 00:21:00,940 --> 00:21:02,580 front except a belt buckle. 390 00:21:02,580 --> 00:21:03,700 You know what I mean? 391 00:21:04,740 --> 00:21:08,360 We need men with backbone and intestinal fortitude 392 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,260 that aren't scared all the time. 393 00:21:14,420 --> 00:21:16,980 You don't dare say anything because you've always 394 00:21:16,980 --> 00:21:18,660 got to be looking over your shoulder if 395 00:21:18,660 --> 00:21:22,060 you're some modernist editor, some liberal editor, worried 396 00:21:22,060 --> 00:21:24,500 about what some fundamentalist will say or what 397 00:21:24,500 --> 00:21:26,460 some fellow over here will think about you. 398 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,040 What's the difference what any of them think 399 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:29,600 about us? 400 00:21:32,490 --> 00:21:34,290 Now, I said that, as the brother says, 401 00:21:34,350 --> 00:21:38,120 to say this, that if we had more 402 00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:41,440 courage, we'd preach more on the image of 403 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:42,460 God in man. 404 00:21:43,660 --> 00:21:45,980 And that doesn't mean that unconverted man is 405 00:21:45,980 --> 00:21:46,440 saved. 406 00:21:46,540 --> 00:21:48,160 He specifically is lost. 407 00:21:49,220 --> 00:21:51,240 And except he be born again, he'll never 408 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:52,400 see the kingdom of God. 409 00:21:52,460 --> 00:21:54,780 And except he repent, he shall certainly perish. 410 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,600 And if he dies untriven and unforgiven, he'll 411 00:21:58,600 --> 00:21:59,720 certainly go to hell. 412 00:22:00,020 --> 00:22:01,280 All that I believe. 413 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:04,520 But I believe the only reason a man 414 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:08,520 can be saved is that God has put 415 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:09,860 eternity in his heart. 416 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:12,780 And God made man in his own image. 417 00:22:14,060 --> 00:22:17,940 And though man fell, he keeps the longing 418 00:22:17,940 --> 00:22:22,200 after eternity there and the appreciation of everlastingness 419 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:27,680 there and the desire after everlasting life within 420 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:28,260 his heart. 421 00:22:28,980 --> 00:22:30,400 And that upsets him. 422 00:22:31,700 --> 00:22:33,440 And he goes wild. 423 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,020 He calls in one thing but deeply down 424 00:22:38,020 --> 00:22:38,300 in him. 425 00:22:38,420 --> 00:22:40,220 It's another thing that's bothering him. 426 00:22:42,550 --> 00:22:45,790 I said one time in an article somewhere 427 00:22:45,790 --> 00:22:50,420 that God made man in his own image 428 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,780 and that sin has marred the soul of 429 00:22:54,780 --> 00:22:56,160 man and ruined it. 430 00:22:56,160 --> 00:23:02,470 But still, when a man lifts his heart 431 00:23:02,470 --> 00:23:04,730 to God in praise, he's doing the most 432 00:23:04,730 --> 00:23:07,390 natural thing in the world because God made 433 00:23:07,390 --> 00:23:08,870 him originally to do it. 434 00:23:11,610 --> 00:23:14,050 And some tough old baby from out east 435 00:23:14,050 --> 00:23:16,150 somewhere wrote to the president of the Christian 436 00:23:16,150 --> 00:23:19,570 Missionary Alliance and said, I was a liberal, 437 00:23:19,710 --> 00:23:24,250 a modernist, a heretic, and off on my 438 00:23:24,250 --> 00:23:28,050 theology and needed to be dismissed and so 439 00:23:28,050 --> 00:23:28,310 on. 440 00:23:28,310 --> 00:23:31,450 He said, imagine it, saying that prayer was 441 00:23:31,450 --> 00:23:32,550 a natural thing. 442 00:23:34,550 --> 00:23:36,310 And she gets to heaven and she'll apologize 443 00:23:36,310 --> 00:23:38,610 to certain one little bald-headed editor, I'm 444 00:23:38,610 --> 00:23:39,050 telling you. 445 00:23:40,450 --> 00:23:43,010 She'll apologize with a red face for her 446 00:23:43,010 --> 00:23:44,330 stupidity and ignorance. 447 00:23:45,770 --> 00:23:48,050 For this is exactly the fact, ladies and 448 00:23:48,050 --> 00:23:51,370 gentlemen, that God made you with eternity in 449 00:23:51,370 --> 00:23:53,670 your heart and when you turn your face 450 00:23:53,670 --> 00:23:57,290 toward the Eternal One and say, God, have 451 00:23:57,290 --> 00:23:59,870 mercy on me, a sinner, and go on 452 00:23:59,870 --> 00:24:01,890 to say, our Father who art in heaven, 453 00:24:02,290 --> 00:24:05,050 you're being what God intended you to be 454 00:24:05,050 --> 00:24:05,970 in the first place. 455 00:24:07,190 --> 00:24:09,290 But when you look down at the earth 456 00:24:09,290 --> 00:24:11,830 like a beast, you're not being natural, you're 457 00:24:11,830 --> 00:24:12,850 being sinful. 458 00:24:14,310 --> 00:24:17,930 And when you refuse to call on God 459 00:24:17,930 --> 00:24:21,190 through Jesus Christ, you're not doing the natural 460 00:24:21,190 --> 00:24:24,050 thing, you're doing the diseased thing. 461 00:24:25,350 --> 00:24:27,610 And sin is to human nature what a 462 00:24:27,610 --> 00:24:29,370 cancer is to a human body. 463 00:24:31,130 --> 00:24:33,090 And when a man has been delivered from 464 00:24:33,090 --> 00:24:35,570 a cancer somewhere on his body and stands 465 00:24:35,570 --> 00:24:37,950 up and breathes deep and feels no pain 466 00:24:37,950 --> 00:24:40,570 and knows he's free, he's doing the natural 467 00:24:40,570 --> 00:24:41,090 thing. 468 00:24:41,750 --> 00:24:44,750 And when a redeemed sinner says, the Lord 469 00:24:44,750 --> 00:24:48,510 is my shepherd, I shall not want, he's 470 00:24:48,510 --> 00:24:50,590 doing that which goes back to the Garden 471 00:24:50,590 --> 00:24:53,350 of Eden, to the loins of Adam, further 472 00:24:53,350 --> 00:24:56,170 back than that yet, to the new Adam, 473 00:24:56,290 --> 00:24:57,550 Jesus Christ our Lord. 474 00:24:58,850 --> 00:25:01,030 So I'm neither a modernist, nor a liberal, 475 00:25:01,170 --> 00:25:04,130 nor a fanatic, nor a heretic, nor a 476 00:25:04,130 --> 00:25:04,610 dreamer. 477 00:25:05,410 --> 00:25:07,390 I'm just an ordinary preacher. 478 00:25:08,250 --> 00:25:09,990 And anybody ought to see this, and it's 479 00:25:09,990 --> 00:25:12,670 no compliment to anybody that they don't see 480 00:25:12,670 --> 00:25:12,830 it. 481 00:25:13,910 --> 00:25:17,090 Now, God has put a longing after immortality 482 00:25:17,090 --> 00:25:17,750 in our hearts. 483 00:25:19,710 --> 00:25:21,490 And you know the spirit of a man 484 00:25:21,490 --> 00:25:22,070 wants it. 485 00:25:23,790 --> 00:25:27,230 And he dies of suffocation when he doesn't 486 00:25:27,230 --> 00:25:27,550 get it. 487 00:25:28,750 --> 00:25:30,930 They tell me, and I guess they still 488 00:25:30,930 --> 00:25:33,070 do it, they do everything by machinery now, 489 00:25:34,190 --> 00:25:37,330 but they tell me that they used to, 490 00:25:37,390 --> 00:25:40,110 if they still do not, use birds to 491 00:25:40,110 --> 00:25:42,250 detect gases in mines. 492 00:25:43,190 --> 00:25:44,910 You know that when you go down into 493 00:25:44,910 --> 00:25:47,730 the earth, after a coal, usually coal, or 494 00:25:47,730 --> 00:25:50,970 any other metal, you go down there, and 495 00:25:50,970 --> 00:25:54,510 after a while, the water and the seepage 496 00:25:54,510 --> 00:25:58,270 and so on, creates certain chemical reactions that 497 00:25:58,270 --> 00:26:01,530 create gas, and that gas can become deadly. 498 00:26:02,190 --> 00:26:04,410 And many men go down in there and 499 00:26:04,410 --> 00:26:06,170 walk into a pocket of that gas, and 500 00:26:06,170 --> 00:26:08,350 before they can get out, they die of 501 00:26:08,350 --> 00:26:09,090 asphyxiation. 502 00:26:10,030 --> 00:26:11,850 Now, in some of those mines where they 503 00:26:11,850 --> 00:26:15,430 weren't certain that there was gas there or 504 00:26:15,430 --> 00:26:19,790 not, they took caged birds down there, and 505 00:26:19,790 --> 00:26:23,510 the bird is the first creature to detect 506 00:26:23,510 --> 00:26:24,270 that gas. 507 00:26:24,990 --> 00:26:26,870 And he acts strange if there's a little 508 00:26:26,870 --> 00:26:28,830 of it, and if the concentration is a 509 00:26:28,830 --> 00:26:31,530 little higher, he falls down and dies in 510 00:26:31,530 --> 00:26:32,850 the bottom of his cage. 511 00:26:34,070 --> 00:26:37,630 The bird that was built by God to 512 00:26:37,630 --> 00:26:43,930 miracle in feathers, a wonder with wings, was 513 00:26:43,930 --> 00:26:46,250 meant to soar over the green meadows and 514 00:26:46,250 --> 00:26:49,650 look into the shining sun and breathe the 515 00:26:49,650 --> 00:26:53,090 sweet air of heaven, take him down and 516 00:26:53,090 --> 00:26:55,870 put him in a coal mine where black 517 00:26:55,870 --> 00:26:58,870 damp and gases gather, and he dies of 518 00:26:58,870 --> 00:26:59,510 suffocation. 519 00:27:00,550 --> 00:27:03,210 And so the soul of a man, God 520 00:27:03,210 --> 00:27:06,350 made the soul of a man to mount 521 00:27:06,350 --> 00:27:09,510 into the eternities and live with God and 522 00:27:09,510 --> 00:27:12,410 to look back on the everlasting vanishing point 523 00:27:12,410 --> 00:27:15,190 that was and on into the eternal vanishing 524 00:27:15,190 --> 00:27:18,370 point that will be and feel no age, 525 00:27:18,890 --> 00:27:22,630 and count no birthdays, but like God live 526 00:27:22,630 --> 00:27:23,430 in God. 527 00:27:24,590 --> 00:27:26,210 But sin has ruined us. 528 00:27:26,210 --> 00:27:30,070 We've listened to that serpent, the devil, and 529 00:27:30,070 --> 00:27:34,190 we've gone down into the slimy, dark, gas 530 00:27:34,190 --> 00:27:38,690 -infested bowels of the world, and men are 531 00:27:38,690 --> 00:27:40,330 dying everywhere of suffocation. 532 00:27:41,010 --> 00:27:43,830 You see them, you see them, dying of 533 00:27:43,830 --> 00:27:44,490 suffocation. 534 00:27:45,570 --> 00:27:48,430 The Maccabee and I spent last week, part 535 00:27:48,430 --> 00:27:50,010 of last week in Dixon, Illinois, at our 536 00:27:50,010 --> 00:27:50,430 conference. 537 00:27:50,570 --> 00:27:51,770 We stayed at a hotel there. 538 00:27:53,530 --> 00:27:55,210 And I saw an old couple, I don't 539 00:27:55,210 --> 00:27:57,270 think I caught Brother Maccabee's attention to it, 540 00:27:58,410 --> 00:27:59,990 but I saw an old couple there. 541 00:28:00,570 --> 00:28:03,650 I would guess he would have been 78 542 00:28:03,650 --> 00:28:05,670 and she 75. 543 00:28:07,490 --> 00:28:09,870 They were shriveled up, well-dressed, and had 544 00:28:09,870 --> 00:28:10,910 a big car, I noticed. 545 00:28:11,630 --> 00:28:12,990 But shriveled up and mean-looking. 546 00:28:13,690 --> 00:28:16,270 They talked to each other as if they 547 00:28:16,270 --> 00:28:17,690 were both in deep pain. 548 00:28:18,770 --> 00:28:20,670 And they were all an old husband and 549 00:28:20,670 --> 00:28:21,690 wife, I suppose. 550 00:28:21,870 --> 00:28:23,210 I'm sure, quite sure they were. 551 00:28:23,210 --> 00:28:28,010 And they both looked mean, and both looked 552 00:28:28,010 --> 00:28:31,910 simply as if life had done them in. 553 00:28:32,850 --> 00:28:37,750 Not a trace of sunshine, not a lift 554 00:28:37,750 --> 00:28:41,830 of the corners of the mouth, not a 555 00:28:41,830 --> 00:28:44,670 fragrance, not a friendliness. 556 00:28:45,570 --> 00:28:52,610 Two tired, weary, sick, disappointed, frustrated, disgusted old 557 00:28:52,610 --> 00:28:56,650 people, too mean to die and too old 558 00:28:56,650 --> 00:28:59,890 and dried up to live, walked around waiting 559 00:28:59,890 --> 00:29:00,830 for the undertaker. 560 00:29:02,250 --> 00:29:05,210 Now, that was just an example, brethren, that's 561 00:29:05,210 --> 00:29:06,610 all, just an example. 562 00:29:07,250 --> 00:29:09,070 And the world is full of them. 563 00:29:09,790 --> 00:29:11,990 They're in jails, they're in hospitals, they're in 564 00:29:11,990 --> 00:29:14,430 insane asylums, they're out on the highway in 565 00:29:14,430 --> 00:29:15,250 big cars. 566 00:29:15,250 --> 00:29:19,910 The poor birds that God made to soar 567 00:29:19,910 --> 00:29:23,710 and sing are being gassed to death in 568 00:29:23,710 --> 00:29:26,510 the bowels of the earth, down where sin 569 00:29:26,510 --> 00:29:31,590 is, in black dams, in grief and woe. 570 00:29:32,210 --> 00:29:34,490 That's mankind, and that's what's wrong with us, 571 00:29:34,570 --> 00:29:36,690 ladies and gentlemen, that's what's wrong with us. 572 00:29:38,670 --> 00:29:40,610 And I believe that apart from our animal 573 00:29:40,610 --> 00:29:42,430 natures, that accounts for our activity. 574 00:29:43,030 --> 00:29:44,830 That's why we do what we do. 575 00:29:45,730 --> 00:29:47,530 Sin has plunged us, I say, into the 576 00:29:47,530 --> 00:29:50,790 bowels of creation and marked us with mortality 577 00:29:51,850 --> 00:29:56,150 so that we're a brother to the clay. 578 00:29:57,390 --> 00:30:00,010 We call the worm our sister and death 579 00:30:00,010 --> 00:30:02,890 our brother, when God never meant it to 580 00:30:02,890 --> 00:30:03,310 be so. 581 00:30:04,270 --> 00:30:06,150 God made man upright, and he sought out 582 00:30:06,150 --> 00:30:06,870 many inventions. 583 00:30:08,290 --> 00:30:10,410 God said, let us make man in our 584 00:30:10,410 --> 00:30:12,130 image, and the image of God made he 585 00:30:12,130 --> 00:30:14,690 him, and gave him dominion. 586 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,760 But man has sinned, and all he's got 587 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:25,960 left is the appreciation of the divine. 588 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:29,280 All he has left is a hidden wish 589 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:31,100 that he might have the eternal. 590 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:36,060 And his vital need is there, and his 591 00:30:36,060 --> 00:30:38,740 craving after it is there, but he hasn't 592 00:30:38,740 --> 00:30:39,140 got it. 593 00:30:40,220 --> 00:30:42,520 He has not that eternal life which was 594 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:44,760 with the Father and was manifest unto us. 595 00:30:46,580 --> 00:30:48,700 And man, looking for it, can find only 596 00:30:48,700 --> 00:30:49,340 counterfeit. 597 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,140 There are three marks of the curse upon 598 00:30:54,140 --> 00:30:54,600 everything. 599 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:57,760 And if this sermon tonight sounds a little 600 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:00,600 bit in the minor key, I have no 601 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:01,940 apology to make whatsoever. 602 00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:05,380 I preached a series of sermons one time 603 00:31:06,260 --> 00:31:09,440 where the characteristic of the preaching is a 604 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,920 lot of fun and thought of quips and 605 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:13,820 remarks from Reader's Digest. 606 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:18,680 And they play everything from a hand saw 607 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:19,740 to a gourd. 608 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,660 And it's all very funny and all very 609 00:31:23,660 --> 00:31:24,620 Hollywoodish. 610 00:31:25,740 --> 00:31:27,680 And I get up there and I just 611 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:28,940 preach the way I preach. 612 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,740 And the pastor told me that after I 613 00:31:32,740 --> 00:31:36,480 was gone, his wife had said, Honey, isn't 614 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:39,000 there anything good in the world? 615 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:42,660 After listening to Mr. Tozer, I'm asking you, 616 00:31:42,660 --> 00:31:45,100 isn't there anything good in the world? 617 00:31:46,700 --> 00:31:48,720 No, her husband was a preacher. 618 00:31:49,700 --> 00:31:51,960 And she had a Bible in her house. 619 00:31:53,180 --> 00:31:56,140 And then she would ask a man if 620 00:31:56,140 --> 00:31:58,540 there wasn't anything good in the world. 621 00:32:00,100 --> 00:32:03,760 Foolish question number 5821. 622 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,140 Of course there's nothing good in the world. 623 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,480 And it's amazing that the wife of a 624 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:15,230 preacher should have to ask, isn't there anything 625 00:32:15,230 --> 00:32:15,510 good? 626 00:32:15,650 --> 00:32:16,870 Certainly there's nothing good. 627 00:32:18,090 --> 00:32:20,250 There is none that doeth good, no, not 628 00:32:20,250 --> 00:32:20,550 one. 629 00:32:21,710 --> 00:32:24,310 And with every good there's some evil lurking 630 00:32:24,310 --> 00:32:24,670 there. 631 00:32:25,830 --> 00:32:29,830 And under every beautiful thing there's a serpent 632 00:32:29,830 --> 00:32:30,310 coil. 633 00:32:31,470 --> 00:32:33,750 When I was a lad, a very small 634 00:32:33,750 --> 00:32:35,850 lad, early in the spring before the sun 635 00:32:35,850 --> 00:32:38,670 had gotten things thawed out, some of us 636 00:32:38,670 --> 00:32:41,290 kids went out poking around in the woods. 637 00:32:42,250 --> 00:32:46,290 And I found a funny little thing that 638 00:32:46,290 --> 00:32:48,630 looked like a rag rug. 639 00:32:48,810 --> 00:32:50,370 Now some of you ladies know what a 640 00:32:50,370 --> 00:32:51,370 rag rug is. 641 00:32:52,310 --> 00:32:54,630 You braid or plait, or whatever you call 642 00:32:54,630 --> 00:32:57,150 it, rags together, varying colors. 643 00:32:58,110 --> 00:33:02,090 And then you sew those braids together, round 644 00:33:02,090 --> 00:33:03,710 and round and round, and you have a 645 00:33:03,710 --> 00:33:03,850 rug. 646 00:33:03,930 --> 00:33:05,310 They don't have much anymore. 647 00:33:05,770 --> 00:33:07,190 That is, they don't make them, they buy 648 00:33:07,190 --> 00:33:08,630 them now, make them by machinery. 649 00:33:08,630 --> 00:33:11,810 But this looked like a tiny rag rug, 650 00:33:13,210 --> 00:33:17,450 flat and rather pretty, and neatly done. 651 00:33:18,650 --> 00:33:19,870 And I took it out, it was about 652 00:33:19,870 --> 00:33:22,770 the size, oh, smaller than a saucer. 653 00:33:23,070 --> 00:33:25,510 Somewhat, quite a little smaller than a saucer. 654 00:33:26,390 --> 00:33:28,850 And I took it home, and I said, 655 00:33:29,010 --> 00:33:30,030 look what I found. 656 00:33:30,130 --> 00:33:31,410 Isn't this a pretty thing? 657 00:33:31,990 --> 00:33:33,730 It's flat, and it's just like one of 658 00:33:33,730 --> 00:33:34,810 these braided rugs. 659 00:33:34,810 --> 00:33:37,670 And in the house, it began to get 660 00:33:37,670 --> 00:33:38,210 warm. 661 00:33:38,950 --> 00:33:40,610 Now I'll give you three guesses what I 662 00:33:40,610 --> 00:33:41,530 had brought home. 663 00:33:42,470 --> 00:33:43,690 A snake! 664 00:33:46,330 --> 00:33:49,590 It had curled up and gone to sleep, 665 00:33:50,050 --> 00:33:59,390 wrapped around itself, and had been so careful 666 00:33:59,390 --> 00:34:05,310 to follow protocol, and lived the way Emily 667 00:34:05,310 --> 00:34:07,969 Pope would have suggested, that it didn't just 668 00:34:07,969 --> 00:34:10,250 tumble itself in like an old dirty pair 669 00:34:10,250 --> 00:34:11,790 of socks sewn into a hamper. 670 00:34:12,050 --> 00:34:14,250 It made itself pretty for the winter. 671 00:34:15,190 --> 00:34:17,030 But it was still a snake. 672 00:34:18,270 --> 00:34:19,989 And as soon as it got warm, it 673 00:34:19,989 --> 00:34:22,610 began to uncoil, and I began to get 674 00:34:22,610 --> 00:34:22,870 out. 675 00:34:28,650 --> 00:34:30,830 You can take this from me, and you 676 00:34:30,830 --> 00:34:33,130 never need to come back and hear me 677 00:34:33,130 --> 00:34:34,610 again if you think I'm wrong. 678 00:34:36,500 --> 00:34:39,000 But you can take it from me that 679 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:42,600 there isn't a thing advertised in Siroba, there 680 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:45,100 isn't a thing sung about over the radio, 681 00:34:45,699 --> 00:34:48,600 there isn't a thing in Wall Street or 682 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:53,159 London or Hollywood or Broadway or Miami, there 683 00:34:53,159 --> 00:34:57,300 isn't a thing in Ceylon or Singapore or 684 00:34:57,300 --> 00:35:01,060 Rome, there isn't a thing in Chicago or 685 00:35:01,060 --> 00:35:06,160 in the world, that if Jesus Christ doesn't 686 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,480 get to it, then to you won't turn 687 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:10,840 out to be a coiled serpent in your 688 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:11,200 bosom. 689 00:35:14,260 --> 00:35:15,940 I preached in the church where I'm going 690 00:35:15,940 --> 00:35:19,980 to preach next week, Dr. Simpson's Tabernacle on 691 00:35:19,980 --> 00:35:22,500 Times Square, some years ago. 692 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,840 The pastor then was a southern man, a 693 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:30,120 very delightful southern drawl, and quite a learning 694 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:30,420 fellow. 695 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:32,620 He listened to me for a while. 696 00:35:34,100 --> 00:35:36,180 And then we were walking up and down 697 00:35:36,180 --> 00:35:38,880 amid the hurrying throngs, as the poet said. 698 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:41,840 He turned to me and said, Brother Tozer, 699 00:35:43,740 --> 00:35:45,900 he said, I've figured you out. 700 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:49,360 And I said, well, what have you discovered? 701 00:35:50,180 --> 00:35:53,400 He said, I have found your philosophy, your 702 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:54,820 spiritual philosophy. 703 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:56,800 And I said, well, now what is it? 704 00:35:57,860 --> 00:36:01,420 He said, Brother Tozer, he said, your spiritual 705 00:36:01,420 --> 00:36:07,120 philosophy is everything is wrong till Jesus sets 706 00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:07,860 it right. 707 00:36:08,860 --> 00:36:10,520 And I said, thank you, Brother, that's it. 708 00:36:10,580 --> 00:36:12,000 I guess you've summed it up. 709 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:14,000 And I hadn't thought about it myself, but 710 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:15,300 I think he had it all right. 711 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:17,980 And that's where I stand, ladies and gentlemen. 712 00:36:19,220 --> 00:36:22,740 Everything is wrong till Jesus sets it right. 713 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:27,220 But you say, surely there's something good somewhere. 714 00:36:28,380 --> 00:36:30,400 There's a lot that's supposed to be good, 715 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:32,640 and there's a lot that's good on the 716 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,400 human level, but there's nothing that's divinely good. 717 00:36:36,220 --> 00:36:39,000 Three curses, or three marks of the ancient 718 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,040 curse rest upon everything in this world. 719 00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:43,440 First, it's recent. 720 00:36:44,020 --> 00:36:45,320 Second, it's temporal. 721 00:36:45,700 --> 00:36:47,120 And third, it's transient. 722 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:50,240 Now let's look at that recent. 723 00:36:51,500 --> 00:36:53,280 You know, the brain, that is the animal 724 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:56,040 man, is at war with the heart. 725 00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:59,900 The animal man says, look, look, isn't this 726 00:36:59,900 --> 00:37:00,940 wonderful? 727 00:37:01,720 --> 00:37:04,080 I push a button and look what happens. 728 00:37:05,140 --> 00:37:06,180 Isn't this wonderful? 729 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:08,980 I pull a lever and look how fast 730 00:37:08,980 --> 00:37:10,020 we go through the air. 731 00:37:10,720 --> 00:37:12,320 Isn't this wonderful? 732 00:37:14,300 --> 00:37:16,520 And the heart says, oh no, that isn't 733 00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:17,480 it, that isn't it. 734 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:20,060 That belongs to the animal man. 735 00:37:20,420 --> 00:37:22,340 That belongs to the brain. 736 00:37:22,500 --> 00:37:24,440 That belongs to the world. 737 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:29,280 The heart is still crying for everlastingness. 738 00:37:30,260 --> 00:37:32,220 And the heart says, that won't do. 739 00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:36,100 You've got a lovely stove and I'm glad 740 00:37:36,100 --> 00:37:36,820 you have. 741 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:39,840 And you set it and tell it what 742 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:42,440 to do, and then you go shopping and 743 00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:43,840 come back and it has done the whole 744 00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:44,220 business. 745 00:37:44,340 --> 00:37:46,240 And a little bell rings and you pull 746 00:37:46,240 --> 00:37:48,500 it out and took grandma the day and 747 00:37:48,500 --> 00:37:50,160 a half to do what your little old 748 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:52,600 stove does and a little while all by 749 00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:55,000 itself with you not even watching it. 750 00:37:56,380 --> 00:37:59,860 And your animal nature says, that's progress, that's 751 00:37:59,860 --> 00:38:00,300 progress. 752 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:01,820 Isn't that wonderful? 753 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:06,180 But deeper down, if you listen, you'll hear 754 00:38:06,180 --> 00:38:10,720 a plaintive voice saying, no, no, no, that 755 00:38:10,720 --> 00:38:11,260 isn't it. 756 00:38:11,320 --> 00:38:12,480 That's not wonderful. 757 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:15,380 That is temporal. 758 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:17,600 That is recent. 759 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:19,220 That is transient. 760 00:38:20,020 --> 00:38:23,460 And that belongs for one brief day. 761 00:38:25,060 --> 00:38:28,960 And one of these days, another gadget, still 762 00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:32,740 more wonderful than your stove that does everything 763 00:38:32,740 --> 00:38:36,660 but pick your teeth afterward, more wonderful still, 764 00:38:36,860 --> 00:38:38,420 will pull up in front of your door. 765 00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:42,620 Two gray-faced men will get out with 766 00:38:42,620 --> 00:38:49,280 a basket and they'll lug you out from 767 00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,800 your radio and television and electric curlers and 768 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:57,180 electric massagers and electric sweepers and electric kneaders 769 00:38:57,180 --> 00:39:00,280 and electric stoves and electric refrigerators. 770 00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:02,180 They'll lug you out. 771 00:39:06,740 --> 00:39:08,400 This thing inside doesn't win. 772 00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:11,640 You'd better never have been born. 773 00:39:12,660 --> 00:39:16,660 I suppose that it's more comfortable to go 774 00:39:16,660 --> 00:39:21,220 to hell in a Cadillac and feed your 775 00:39:21,220 --> 00:39:23,960 beastly nature while you live or your animal 776 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:27,540 nature on food cooked in a pressure cooker 777 00:39:27,540 --> 00:39:28,560 automatically. 778 00:39:29,380 --> 00:39:32,420 But it's hell nevertheless when you get there. 779 00:39:33,900 --> 00:39:36,920 And your poor heart in which God has 780 00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:42,100 put appreciation for everlastingness won't take electric cookers 781 00:39:42,100 --> 00:39:44,960 and radios in lieu of eternal life. 782 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:48,440 Something inside of you is too big for 783 00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:51,340 that, too terrible for that, too wonderful for 784 00:39:51,340 --> 00:39:51,780 that. 785 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:55,900 God has set everlastingness in their hearts. 786 00:39:57,400 --> 00:39:59,320 And the word temporal is here. 787 00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:00,500 I've used it, too. 788 00:40:02,780 --> 00:40:05,280 And the word transient. 789 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:09,780 Born for but one brief day. 790 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:13,820 We have something we like and think it's 791 00:40:13,820 --> 00:40:17,180 wonderful, but it's like a little boy watching 792 00:40:17,180 --> 00:40:18,320 a circus parade. 793 00:40:18,500 --> 00:40:21,580 There comes the big wagon with the clowns, 794 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:23,200 and he almost goes wild. 795 00:40:23,980 --> 00:40:26,280 But that passes on down the street and 796 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:28,660 turns a corner, and here comes the wagon 797 00:40:28,660 --> 00:40:31,160 with the elephants or the lions or the 798 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:31,500 tigers. 799 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:35,680 Here comes the wagon with the acrobats in 800 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:37,220 tights and spangles. 801 00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:40,380 Here comes the band, and each thing as 802 00:40:40,380 --> 00:40:43,100 it goes by excites the little boy till 803 00:40:43,100 --> 00:40:44,220 his eyes pop. 804 00:40:45,500 --> 00:40:47,140 And he screams his delight. 805 00:40:47,780 --> 00:40:51,720 But it's transient, it's temporary, it's passive. 806 00:40:52,620 --> 00:40:55,980 And it goes on down to the railroad 807 00:40:55,980 --> 00:40:58,640 station and trains and disappears. 808 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:01,920 And so it is with everything the world 809 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:02,660 offers you. 810 00:41:03,660 --> 00:41:06,420 Don't you wish I had some trinket to 811 00:41:06,420 --> 00:41:09,200 shake, some rattle to shake for you tonight? 812 00:41:09,940 --> 00:41:12,200 Don't you wish I had a really just 813 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:15,660 rattle to shake and a sugar tit to 814 00:41:15,660 --> 00:41:16,120 give you? 815 00:41:16,700 --> 00:41:18,060 You know what a sugar tit is? 816 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:19,100 Now don't get excited. 817 00:41:20,740 --> 00:41:22,320 They had them when I was a boy. 818 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:23,460 I was raised on one. 819 00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:25,640 You know what it is? 820 00:41:25,660 --> 00:41:28,580 It's a little cloth of hair filled with 821 00:41:28,580 --> 00:41:31,820 sugar about the size of your finger and 822 00:41:31,820 --> 00:41:33,580 then sewed up on the end. 823 00:41:34,260 --> 00:41:36,120 And when the baby starts to squall, he 824 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:37,500 just stuck this thing in his mouth. 825 00:41:37,500 --> 00:41:40,160 And the little fellow stopped squalling. 826 00:41:40,740 --> 00:41:42,300 Well, sugar might not have been good for 827 00:41:42,300 --> 00:41:44,620 his teeth, that's what we didn't have, but 828 00:41:44,620 --> 00:41:46,740 at least he got that, that was the 829 00:41:46,740 --> 00:41:47,760 way they handled him. 830 00:41:48,240 --> 00:41:50,840 And the preachers in our day are adept 831 00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:56,000 at the old-fashioned custom of the sugar 832 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:56,340 nickel. 833 00:41:58,340 --> 00:42:00,920 So they run around, manufacture them, make them. 834 00:42:01,900 --> 00:42:04,820 And there are religious houses that do nothing 835 00:42:04,820 --> 00:42:07,360 else but specialize in making them. 836 00:42:08,240 --> 00:42:11,980 Put out catalogs and boast about them. 837 00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:16,300 Do you want more people coming to your 838 00:42:16,300 --> 00:42:16,600 church? 839 00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:17,920 Do you want a bigger offering? 840 00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:20,140 Do you want to get famous? 841 00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:21,900 Do you want to succeed? 842 00:42:22,240 --> 00:42:25,780 All right, then, buy my, A-number-one 843 00:42:25,780 --> 00:42:31,300 deluxe sugar nipples and take them to your 844 00:42:31,300 --> 00:42:33,700 church, and believe me, they'll crowd you out. 845 00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:38,700 They can go on past, as far as 846 00:42:38,700 --> 00:42:39,420 I'm concerned. 847 00:42:39,580 --> 00:42:42,880 God Almighty never said, young fellow, get yourself 848 00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:45,760 a pocketful of sugar nipples and go out 849 00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:47,880 and feed them to the carnal public. 850 00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:52,040 He said, preach my word, and I'll put 851 00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:53,500 my words in your mouth. 852 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:57,340 And don't you be afraid of them, because 853 00:42:57,340 --> 00:42:59,460 if you're afraid of them, I'll confound you 854 00:42:59,460 --> 00:43:00,120 before them. 855 00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:03,580 But if you'll be fearless, I'll stand with 856 00:43:03,580 --> 00:43:05,460 you, and I'll make your neck like brass. 857 00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:08,260 And this little old wrinkle, neck of mine 858 00:43:08,260 --> 00:43:10,760 with a 15 collar, you'd think if somebody 859 00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:12,480 bumped my head it would come off, brother. 860 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:13,920 It's like brass. 861 00:43:14,020 --> 00:43:16,540 God Almighty said, I'll make it like brass. 862 00:43:20,590 --> 00:43:22,950 So I'm telling you that that thing you 863 00:43:22,950 --> 00:43:24,810 thought you had, oh, some of you young 864 00:43:24,810 --> 00:43:28,050 fellows, you got an old car with a 865 00:43:28,050 --> 00:43:33,750 stepped-up noise of fire on it, and 866 00:43:33,750 --> 00:43:36,550 around you go, and by a trick of 867 00:43:36,550 --> 00:43:39,550 the psychology, you imagine that the noise and 868 00:43:39,550 --> 00:43:42,610 power of that old car makes you more 869 00:43:42,610 --> 00:43:43,450 than you are. 870 00:43:43,630 --> 00:43:45,690 A jackass could run your car. 871 00:43:46,190 --> 00:43:48,170 A chimpanzee could drive it. 872 00:43:51,070 --> 00:43:53,890 And yet by a trick of imagination, we 873 00:43:53,890 --> 00:43:56,050 think if we get in a big car, 874 00:43:56,170 --> 00:43:56,910 we're a big man. 875 00:43:59,750 --> 00:44:01,730 And apart from the old jalopy that's been 876 00:44:01,730 --> 00:44:04,230 souped up, we have the big ones that 877 00:44:04,230 --> 00:44:05,270 cost $5,000. 878 00:44:06,270 --> 00:44:10,390 A little old guy without any hair left 879 00:44:10,390 --> 00:44:11,930 or any backbone. 880 00:44:13,430 --> 00:44:16,690 Wife has two, his and hers. 881 00:44:19,990 --> 00:44:23,330 But he gets into the car, and the 882 00:44:23,330 --> 00:44:27,570 deep rumble of that gorgeous motor, he feels 883 00:44:27,570 --> 00:44:29,130 he's a man at last. 884 00:44:29,970 --> 00:44:33,430 Until an ignorant Irish cop that never went 885 00:44:33,430 --> 00:44:36,770 past the fifth grade lectures him like a 886 00:44:36,770 --> 00:44:37,310 schoolboy. 887 00:44:41,530 --> 00:44:44,730 But he gets the temporary lift to his 888 00:44:44,730 --> 00:44:48,590 personality, a lift just like Ogleteen gives you. 889 00:44:49,550 --> 00:44:52,810 Because he's got the power, the power. 890 00:44:53,710 --> 00:44:59,930 But old man, you foolish old man, that 891 00:44:59,930 --> 00:45:03,610 you will allow your deep soul in which 892 00:45:03,610 --> 00:45:06,750 God has put eternity, you will allow it 893 00:45:06,750 --> 00:45:09,370 to weep itself to death inside your bosom. 894 00:45:11,070 --> 00:45:13,070 And you'll pay no attention to the cry 895 00:45:13,070 --> 00:45:16,150 after God and your mortality that lies inside 896 00:45:16,150 --> 00:45:16,590 of you. 897 00:45:18,130 --> 00:45:22,870 And you're women with everything, everything. 898 00:45:23,810 --> 00:45:25,130 You've got everything now. 899 00:45:26,730 --> 00:45:28,650 Scarcely need to do anything in the day 900 00:45:28,650 --> 00:45:29,330 in which we live. 901 00:45:29,370 --> 00:45:30,970 And you imagine you're getting someplace. 902 00:45:31,150 --> 00:45:32,390 No, you're not getting anywhere. 903 00:45:33,490 --> 00:45:36,810 In you there is something that's bigger than 904 00:45:36,810 --> 00:45:38,570 curls and plucked eyebrows. 905 00:45:39,570 --> 00:45:44,290 Bigger than nylon and silk and fine-toothed 906 00:45:44,290 --> 00:45:44,510 leather. 907 00:45:45,510 --> 00:45:48,590 Bigger than a lovely home and a ranch 908 00:45:48,590 --> 00:45:51,170 -type house and a garage and a car. 909 00:45:51,730 --> 00:45:54,410 Bigger than anything the world can give you. 910 00:45:56,250 --> 00:46:00,150 God Almighty cries, there's something cries inside of 911 00:46:00,150 --> 00:46:02,150 you, the voice of God crying out of 912 00:46:02,150 --> 00:46:06,790 you for everlastingness and eternal life and deliverance 913 00:46:06,790 --> 00:46:07,310 and hope. 914 00:46:08,170 --> 00:46:10,350 And you're smothering it like the bird in 915 00:46:10,350 --> 00:46:10,770 the mine. 916 00:46:12,210 --> 00:46:16,490 Smothering it under harsh duties and longing for 917 00:46:16,490 --> 00:46:17,370 one thing and another. 918 00:46:17,570 --> 00:46:19,910 Oh, how foolish we mortals be. 919 00:46:21,750 --> 00:46:24,430 Now, I don't want to stop on that 920 00:46:24,430 --> 00:46:24,710 note. 921 00:46:24,870 --> 00:46:26,170 I want to tell you that in the 922 00:46:26,170 --> 00:46:28,770 same chapter that says in the beginning, says 923 00:46:28,770 --> 00:46:34,030 this, in the beginning was the Word and 924 00:46:34,030 --> 00:46:35,450 the Word was with God and the Word 925 00:46:35,450 --> 00:46:36,090 was God. 926 00:46:37,930 --> 00:46:39,650 John was not the light, but he the 927 00:46:39,650 --> 00:46:41,330 Word was that light, that light of every 928 00:46:41,330 --> 00:46:42,510 man that cometh into the world. 929 00:46:42,610 --> 00:46:43,930 He came to his own and his own 930 00:46:43,930 --> 00:46:45,810 received him not, but as many as received 931 00:46:45,810 --> 00:46:46,150 him. 932 00:46:47,170 --> 00:46:48,910 So then gave he power to become the 933 00:46:48,910 --> 00:46:49,750 sons of God. 934 00:46:51,350 --> 00:46:53,930 And that great something inside of me that 935 00:46:53,930 --> 00:46:58,930 appreciates everlastingness and won't be satisfied without it, 936 00:46:59,890 --> 00:47:02,430 looks and says, that's what I've wanted. 937 00:47:03,170 --> 00:47:05,690 Not religion, you can trace it back, it's 938 00:47:05,690 --> 00:47:06,070 recent. 939 00:47:06,970 --> 00:47:09,730 Not philosophy, you can trace it back, it's 940 00:47:09,730 --> 00:47:10,110 recent. 941 00:47:11,150 --> 00:47:13,450 Not civilization, it's recent. 942 00:47:15,070 --> 00:47:19,190 My animal nature wants something recent, but my 943 00:47:19,190 --> 00:47:21,310 deep heart wants something eternal. 944 00:47:22,590 --> 00:47:25,530 And so God says, all right, I made 945 00:47:25,530 --> 00:47:27,230 you that way and now I have what 946 00:47:27,230 --> 00:47:27,670 you want. 947 00:47:28,230 --> 00:47:30,930 The Word made flesh to dwell among you. 948 00:47:32,710 --> 00:47:35,370 He that receives him, to them gives he 949 00:47:35,370 --> 00:47:39,330 power to become the sons of God, even 950 00:47:39,330 --> 00:47:40,910 to them that believe on his name. 951 00:47:42,490 --> 00:47:45,010 And like a shipwrecked sailor who floated on 952 00:47:45,010 --> 00:47:48,710 a raft, who now looks and sees solid 953 00:47:48,710 --> 00:47:53,230 land and notices the wind is drifting him 954 00:47:53,230 --> 00:47:59,210 towards solid land, shouts his joy through his 955 00:47:59,210 --> 00:48:04,610 parched lips, he's found something solid and he'll 956 00:48:04,610 --> 00:48:05,830 soon be on it. 957 00:48:07,770 --> 00:48:11,410 And so your soul and mine, we've been 958 00:48:11,410 --> 00:48:15,390 betrayed by civilization, we've been betrayed by religion, 959 00:48:16,530 --> 00:48:23,110 we've been betrayed by all of the features 960 00:48:23,110 --> 00:48:24,650 that man created. 961 00:48:26,150 --> 00:48:28,750 But we know we're afloat and we know 962 00:48:29,370 --> 00:48:31,110 that we're ready to perish. 963 00:48:32,170 --> 00:48:34,570 And then comes the Holy Ghost and says, 964 00:48:34,710 --> 00:48:36,990 in the beginning was the Word and the 965 00:48:36,990 --> 00:48:38,850 Word was with God and the Word was 966 00:48:38,850 --> 00:48:40,590 God, there's eternity. 967 00:48:41,850 --> 00:48:44,710 And eternity was made flesh and walked among 968 00:48:44,710 --> 00:48:45,110 us. 969 00:48:46,390 --> 00:48:48,790 And whoso believeth in him shall not perish 970 00:48:48,790 --> 00:48:50,370 but have everlasting life. 971 00:48:50,370 --> 00:48:53,430 So I do not go to the modernist 972 00:48:53,430 --> 00:48:54,790 and apologize. 973 00:48:55,070 --> 00:48:56,610 I do not go to the liberal and 974 00:48:56,610 --> 00:48:58,010 excuse myself. 975 00:48:59,290 --> 00:49:00,990 I do not go to the philosopher and 976 00:49:00,990 --> 00:49:02,670 say I'm sorry but I'm a Christian. 977 00:49:03,410 --> 00:49:06,730 I go to any of these men and 978 00:49:06,730 --> 00:49:07,710 say I have found it. 979 00:49:07,750 --> 00:49:08,110 Eureka! 980 00:49:08,750 --> 00:49:10,590 I've got what you're looking for. 981 00:49:11,570 --> 00:49:12,810 This is what you need. 982 00:49:13,890 --> 00:49:16,710 Something in your heart was made to appreciate 983 00:49:16,710 --> 00:49:20,630 everlastingness that will never be satisfied until it 984 00:49:20,630 --> 00:49:24,510 gets eternity and immortality and the promise thereof. 985 00:49:25,330 --> 00:49:26,550 And I say now I have it. 986 00:49:26,710 --> 00:49:28,570 Paul went to Athens and told them that. 987 00:49:28,670 --> 00:49:30,110 Went to Corinth and told them that. 988 00:49:30,910 --> 00:49:33,270 Went among the learned philosophers of his day 989 00:49:33,270 --> 00:49:35,910 and said I determined to know nothing among 990 00:49:35,910 --> 00:49:37,930 you save Jesus and him crucified. 991 00:49:39,090 --> 00:49:39,830 That's the rock. 992 00:49:40,510 --> 00:49:42,850 That's why we sing Rock of Ages, prep 993 00:49:42,850 --> 00:49:43,330 for me. 994 00:49:43,730 --> 00:49:46,230 Let me hide myself in thee. 995 00:49:46,230 --> 00:49:48,050 It's the rock at last. 996 00:49:48,170 --> 00:49:50,870 The shipwrecked man is on the rock now 997 00:49:50,870 --> 00:49:52,970 and is not going to perish. 998 00:49:53,750 --> 00:49:55,010 But the rock is solid. 999 00:49:55,210 --> 00:49:56,970 He may tremble and shake but the rock 1000 00:49:56,970 --> 00:49:59,890 never shakes in the beginning. 1001 00:50:01,010 --> 00:50:02,610 Here's where we start with Christianity. 1002 00:50:04,970 --> 00:50:05,710 Not Mrs. Eddy. 1003 00:50:06,410 --> 00:50:07,370 Not Joseph H. 1004 00:50:07,430 --> 00:50:07,610 Smith. 1005 00:50:07,710 --> 00:50:08,530 Not Father Divine. 1006 00:50:09,990 --> 00:50:11,390 Not Mr. Ballard. 1007 00:50:12,290 --> 00:50:13,870 Not Madame Blavatsky. 1008 00:50:15,330 --> 00:50:16,670 Not Zola Lester. 1009 00:50:16,670 --> 00:50:17,510 Not Mohammed. 1010 00:50:17,670 --> 00:50:18,310 Not Buddha. 1011 00:50:18,830 --> 00:50:21,250 They all had a beginning and they all 1012 00:50:21,250 --> 00:50:22,030 had an ending. 1013 00:50:25,570 --> 00:50:28,050 But we want that which had no beginning 1014 00:50:28,050 --> 00:50:30,110 and never can have any ending. 1015 00:50:30,310 --> 00:50:34,090 Namely the word which was with the Father 1016 00:50:34,090 --> 00:50:34,790 in the beginning. 1017 00:50:35,590 --> 00:50:37,950 And the word which was God. 1018 00:50:39,050 --> 00:50:41,310 And the word which is God. 1019 00:50:42,570 --> 00:50:48,170 He walked around the carpenter sharp on little 1020 00:50:48,170 --> 00:50:49,990 rubbery baby legs. 1021 00:50:51,230 --> 00:50:54,210 Oh, a baby is a harmless thing. 1022 00:50:55,410 --> 00:50:58,170 And it captures you quicker than a regiment 1023 00:50:58,170 --> 00:50:58,970 of soldiers. 1024 00:51:00,570 --> 00:51:03,610 And if you'd seen Eternity walking around on 1025 00:51:03,610 --> 00:51:07,030 baby rubbery legs and tumbling and falling flat 1026 00:51:07,030 --> 00:51:10,550 among the shavings, you'd have run and picked 1027 00:51:10,550 --> 00:51:12,610 him up and dusted him off and kissed 1028 00:51:12,610 --> 00:51:15,490 his little forehead and said, It doesn't hurt. 1029 00:51:15,650 --> 00:51:16,610 Be a big boy. 1030 00:51:17,610 --> 00:51:20,770 And little Jesus might have smiled, taken a 1031 00:51:20,770 --> 00:51:22,850 tear away and gone off for another tumble. 1032 00:51:23,450 --> 00:51:25,830 But it was Eternity walking in flesh. 1033 00:51:26,910 --> 00:51:29,590 It was God Almighty come to live among 1034 00:51:29,590 --> 00:51:32,890 us, to redeem us, to save us from 1035 00:51:32,890 --> 00:51:35,430 the reasons and the temporal and the transient 1036 00:51:36,490 --> 00:51:38,230 and to give us Eternity. 1037 00:51:39,950 --> 00:51:42,330 He that receives him has that eternal life 1038 00:51:42,330 --> 00:51:44,490 which was with the Father and was given 1039 00:51:44,490 --> 00:51:45,030 unto man. 1040 00:51:46,210 --> 00:51:49,030 Oh, how wonderful that God gives us this, 1041 00:51:49,110 --> 00:51:51,790 and yet how terrible that we won't accept 1042 00:51:51,790 --> 00:51:52,030 it. 1043 00:51:52,810 --> 00:51:55,330 How terrible that we have to be frightened 1044 00:51:55,330 --> 00:51:58,290 into hell or into heaven, that we have 1045 00:51:58,290 --> 00:52:01,350 to be whipped into heaven with the thongs 1046 00:52:01,350 --> 00:52:03,290 and whips of hell. 1047 00:52:04,250 --> 00:52:04,910 Why is it? 1048 00:52:06,050 --> 00:52:09,410 Why is it you won't repent until God 1049 00:52:09,410 --> 00:52:11,130 Almighty shows you the pit? 1050 00:52:11,130 --> 00:52:12,450 Why is it? 1051 00:52:12,570 --> 00:52:14,710 Because we're so bad, we're so bad. 1052 00:52:15,590 --> 00:52:18,130 The sin in our animal nature has ruined 1053 00:52:18,130 --> 00:52:19,490 us and we're so bad. 1054 00:52:20,890 --> 00:52:23,550 But oh, that we might turn unto God 1055 00:52:23,550 --> 00:52:27,210 in Christ and say, Lord Jesus, I believe 1056 00:52:27,210 --> 00:52:27,530 thee. 1057 00:52:28,150 --> 00:52:30,770 I believe that thou art the eternal word 1058 00:52:30,770 --> 00:52:33,410 and that in thee I have the everlastingness 1059 00:52:33,410 --> 00:52:37,910 that's equal to God's everlastingness, that eternal life 1060 00:52:37,910 --> 00:52:39,230 which was with the Father. 1061 00:52:39,230 --> 00:52:42,170 You see the life God offers you. 1062 00:52:42,870 --> 00:52:44,910 It's not a question of duration, it's a 1063 00:52:44,910 --> 00:52:46,130 question of quality. 1064 00:52:47,470 --> 00:52:49,470 And the quality of life he gives you 1065 00:52:49,470 --> 00:52:51,590 is that God's own life in your heart. 1066 00:52:52,010 --> 00:52:54,190 And that takes care of the duration and 1067 00:52:54,190 --> 00:52:54,950 everything else. 1068 00:52:56,030 --> 00:52:57,330 Believe on him tonight. 1069 00:52:58,050 --> 00:52:59,330 Come on, you fellas. 1070 00:53:00,670 --> 00:53:02,630 I'd like to take you and shake you 1071 00:53:02,630 --> 00:53:03,090 awake. 1072 00:53:04,670 --> 00:53:06,930 Paddle you until you came to your senses. 1073 00:53:07,610 --> 00:53:08,470 What's the matter with you? 1074 00:53:08,470 --> 00:53:11,150 You're a very big, good-looking fella on 1075 00:53:11,150 --> 00:53:12,530 your way to hell and you're not doing 1076 00:53:12,530 --> 00:53:13,490 anything about it. 1077 00:53:14,610 --> 00:53:18,150 And you pretty, graceful young lady, what's the 1078 00:53:18,150 --> 00:53:18,830 matter with you? 1079 00:53:20,070 --> 00:53:22,710 And you older people that are showing the 1080 00:53:22,710 --> 00:53:27,050 marks of time when you've been weather-beaten 1081 00:53:27,050 --> 00:53:29,950 and bumped and dinged like an old car 1082 00:53:29,950 --> 00:53:32,890 and you won't be around long and still 1083 00:53:32,890 --> 00:53:33,670 you're lost. 1084 00:53:34,650 --> 00:53:37,030 And if you'd listen to your heart five 1085 00:53:37,030 --> 00:53:39,610 minutes, you'd hear a cry coming up saying, 1086 00:53:40,630 --> 00:53:42,850 Why don't you do something about me? 1087 00:53:44,110 --> 00:53:46,450 I've got a longing for eternity in me 1088 00:53:46,450 --> 00:53:48,470 and time won't satisfy me. 1089 00:53:49,010 --> 00:53:50,490 Earth won't satisfy me. 1090 00:53:51,190 --> 00:53:52,330 Give me Jesus. 1091 00:53:54,110 --> 00:53:58,730 Let the world forgive me, Jesus, for what 1092 00:53:58,730 --> 00:53:59,490 we all sinned. 1093 00:54:00,390 --> 00:54:01,550 Won't you take him tonight? 1094 00:54:01,650 --> 00:54:02,690 Won't you have him tonight? 1095 00:54:02,790 --> 00:54:04,090 Won't you come to him tonight? 1096 00:54:06,180 --> 00:54:06,960 Let us pray. 1097 00:54:12,930 --> 00:54:16,370 Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, thou art nearer than 1098 00:54:16,370 --> 00:54:16,950 our breath. 1099 00:54:18,290 --> 00:54:20,150 Thou art nearer than the impulses of our 1100 00:54:20,150 --> 00:54:20,710 nerves. 1101 00:54:22,290 --> 00:54:23,890 Thou art nearer than our thoughts. 1102 00:54:25,250 --> 00:54:33,090 Oh, Lord Jesus, thou art here walking amid 1103 00:54:33,090 --> 00:54:38,930 the seven golden candlesticks with eyes like fire 1104 00:54:40,310 --> 00:54:43,050 and a sword going out of thy mouth 1105 00:54:45,260 --> 00:54:48,560 and thy head white as wool and thy 1106 00:54:48,560 --> 00:54:51,580 face as the sun shining in strength and 1107 00:54:53,400 --> 00:54:55,160 thou art girt about the patch of the 1108 00:54:55,160 --> 00:54:59,440 golden girdle thou art the high priest of 1109 00:54:59,440 --> 00:55:00,020 the church. 1110 00:55:01,280 --> 00:55:05,320 Oh, Lord Jesus, we pray for the lost 1111 00:55:05,320 --> 00:55:06,280 sheep here tonight. 1112 00:55:07,620 --> 00:55:10,500 We pray, Lord Jesus, for the half-saved 1113 00:55:10,500 --> 00:55:10,900 Christians. 1114 00:55:11,960 --> 00:55:14,300 We pray for the backslide. 1115 00:55:15,860 --> 00:55:20,060 We pray for those who have turned from 1116 00:55:20,060 --> 00:55:21,800 the thing they knew was right. 1117 00:55:23,040 --> 00:55:27,180 Their first memory is a Sunday school class 1118 00:55:27,780 --> 00:55:29,340 and prayer at the table. 1119 00:55:31,400 --> 00:55:34,960 Oh, they have turned from it and only 1120 00:55:34,960 --> 00:55:36,940 go to church occasionally and then only to 1121 00:55:36,940 --> 00:55:37,920 listen and go home. 1122 00:55:38,660 --> 00:55:43,920 My Lord Jesus, tonight we pray thee help 1123 00:55:43,920 --> 00:55:47,280 such poor people who have listened to the 1124 00:55:47,280 --> 00:55:50,840 voice of the animal, the dull voice of 1125 00:55:50,840 --> 00:55:54,920 the brain, and they have ignored that in 1126 00:55:54,920 --> 00:55:59,720 them which cries for God in eternal life. 1127 00:56:00,500 --> 00:56:02,820 Have mercy, we pray thee, upon them. 1128 00:56:03,780 --> 00:56:05,980 And while the two voices are sounding, the 1129 00:56:05,980 --> 00:56:07,760 voice of Esau and the voice of Jacob, 1130 00:56:08,860 --> 00:56:10,520 the voice of earth and the voice of 1131 00:56:10,520 --> 00:56:14,160 heaven sounding, we pray that they may have 1132 00:56:14,160 --> 00:56:17,540 the wisdom and courage to turn their backs 1133 00:56:17,540 --> 00:56:21,260 on the siren voice of the world and 1134 00:56:21,260 --> 00:56:23,100 turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for the 1135 00:56:23,100 --> 00:56:24,300 call of the day. 1136 00:56:24,980 --> 00:56:26,800 Great God, this is thy meeting. 1137 00:56:26,960 --> 00:56:28,300 We don't know what to do with it. 1138 00:56:28,940 --> 00:56:30,100 It's up to thee, Lord. 1139 00:56:31,140 --> 00:56:35,100 Great God, tonight, don't let the devil have 1140 00:56:35,100 --> 00:56:35,660 everybody. 1141 00:56:36,360 --> 00:56:39,740 Please, God, save some for thyself. 1142 00:56:40,800 --> 00:56:42,500 Rescue some for thyself.