Thank you very much for that welcome.
I don't know if you know the story
of the woodpecker.
You know that bird that picked with his
beak against the stem of a tree?
And the very same moment, the lightning struck
the tree and destroyed it.
And the woodpecker flew away and said to
the other bird, my, I didn't know that
there was so much power in my beak.
When there is power tonight, it is not
through me, but through the Holy Spirit.
And I'm so glad that I speak here
for people, for many people who know what
it means, praying.
And I ask you, will you pray in
the time that I speak?
Will you pray that even when I tell
from my own experiences, that we may forget
the channel, seeing only him, that Corrie Tambone
may be hidden behind the cross.
I know that when you pray in the
time that I speak, we will have a
great blessing.
And we need a great blessing, for we
live in a time of very great problems.
And that's why we need a lot more
than ever before.
So pray that the Lord will speak to
us, and that I may be hidden behind
the cross.
I will read for you now some of
the texts from Luke 21, where the Lord
Jesus showed some of the signs of the
time.
And it was as if he described 1972.
He said in Luke 21, verse 10, Nation
will rise up against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom.
There will be great earthquakes and famines and
plagues in this place or that.
There will be dreadful sights and great signs
from heaven.
But before all this happens, men will arrest
you and persecute you, handing you over to
synagogue or prison, or bringing you before kings
and governors for my name's sake.
This will be your chance to witness for
me.
So make up your minds not to think
out your defense beforehand.
I will give you such eloquence and wisdom,
that none of your opponents will be able
to resist or contradict it.
But you will be betrayed, even by parents
and brothers and kinsfolk and friends.
And there will be some of you who
will be killed, and you will be hated
everywhere for my name's sake.
Yet, not a hair of your head will
perish.
Hold on, and you will win your souls.
And then, verse 25, There will be signs
in the sun and moon and stars and
on the earth.
There will be dismay among the nations and
the wilderment, and the roar of the surging
sea.
Men's courage will fail completely, as they realize
what is threatening the world.
For the very powers of heaven will be
shaken.
Then men will see the sun of men
coming in a cloud, with great power and
splendor.
But when these things begin to happen, look
up, hold your heads high, for you will
soon be free.
And then, in verse 32, This generation will
not disappear until all this has taken place.
I didn't know what generation the Lord meant.
Till some time ago, suddenly I saw it.
The generation that will see the signs of
the time, they will, that's the generation that
will not pass away before all this happens.
Which generation is that?
Your generation.
Perhaps very soon the Lord Jesus will come,
and tonight I will speak about what it
means that we know the plan of God.
The world doesn't know it, but we know
it.
In Ephesians 1, 9, I read it from
the translation of Philips, because that is in
English that even a Dutch can understand well.
So I hope you don't mind it.
There is written in Ephesians 1, 9, God
has allowed us to know the secret of
his plan.
And it is this, he purposes in his
sovereign will that all human history will be
consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in
heaven and on earth shall find its perfection
and fulfillment in him.
And here is the staggering thing, that in
all which one day will belong to him,
we have been promised a share.
God has no problems with this world.
Only plans.
There is never a panic in heaven, even
not now.
And when everything seems so mixed up and
so dark and so dangerous, God has a
plan.
But have you ever been afraid for Jesus
coming again?
I was.
I read about these ten virgins, and five
were ready, they were wise, and five were
stupid.
And I thought, I am much more like
a stupid virgin than a wise one.
They were good girls, they waited for the
bridegroom, they had oil in their lamps, but
only not enough, just like me.
And I was sad.
Do you know that feeling?
That feeling of being afraid for Jesus coming?
I knew it all, it will be such
a joy when Jesus comes who has promised,
I will make everything anew.
Then this world will be covered with the
knowledge of God, like the waters cover the
bottom of the sea.
But what about me?
And then I took the book, and in
this book I found my answer.
And I am going to tell you what
the Lord told me from this book about
how to be ready for Jesus coming again.
When I read how Peter said, because you
have a hope like this before you, I
urge you to make certain that such a
day would find you at peace with God
and men.
Clean and blameless in his sight.
Oh, then I thought, how can I be
clean and blameless in God's sight?
Then I read what the Lord says in
his word, who has this hope purifies himself,
like he is pure.
And I understood it is now time to
get dead serious with God.
But then I found that in this book
is the answer.
And I can tell you one thing, that
everyone who is here, everyone can be ready
for Jesus coming, even if he should come
tonight.
Perhaps you say, but you don't know me.
No, I don't know you, but I know
him.
I know him who is willing to make
you and me ready.
Paul says, May the God of peace make
you wholly through and through.
May you be kept in spirit, soul and
body in spotless integrity until the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
You, I, in spotless integrity in body, soul
and mind?
Yes.
And that is possible because the rest of
the text is he who calls you is
utterly faithful and he will finish what he
has set out to do.
The first thing, if you have never done
it before, is to give your life to
the Lord Jesus.
Ask him to come into your heart.
And that is the first great step and
it is good that you know that the
time is very short.
It is now the time of grace.
But then, then there follows more.
We have to be right with God and
right with men.
I have here a flashlight.
That flashlight doesn't give light.
It is not broken, but there is only
one battery in it.
And this flashlight is like your and my
heart.
Our life.
The first battery is that what happened when
you received Jesus Christ as your savior.
And that was so important that the angels
rejoiced.
The angels will also rejoice when you do
it for the first time tonight for your
soul is very precious in God's eyes.
Many people think that when they have received
Jesus, that is the end.
But it is a great beginning.
When you think it is the end, then
it is like little Johnny who fell out
of his bed and his mother said, Boy,
how did it happen?
He said, Mom, I fell asleep too close
to the spot where I got into bed.
No.
The moment that you receive the Lord Jesus,
the Lord opens wide the door of the
treasure house and which you go in and
take with boldness.
All the promises of the Bible are yours.
All written on your name and signed by
Jesus Christ.
But now you must cash your checks and
the bank account of the Bible is not
frozen.
All the promises of the Bible are in
Jesus.
It is yea and amen.
Now I will tell you why I did
not get the second battery in it.
It was because this flashlight is full of
rags.
And perhaps you understand already what it means.
They are unconfessed sins.
And first I must remove all these rags
before I can have room for the second
battery.
Now, I will tell you a little bit
about these rags.
This one is a bad temper.
That's a great, a very great sin.
It is a cruel sin.
The Bible says a bitter spirit which is
not only bad in itself but can also
poison the life of many others.
This one is beautiful but it is holier
than thou.
That's a smoke in God's nose, Josiah says.
This one is pride.
And this one is inferiority feeling.
Is that a sin?
Isn't that humbleness?
No, that's also pride.
That is that you do not accept your
limitation.
Bible says each man should live his life
with the gifts that God has given him
and in the condition in which God has
called him.
This one is worry.
It's often in my heart.
This is criticism.
Do you know criticism?
Oh, I like what Paul says in Romans
14 when he speaks about criticism.
He says, after all, who are you to
criticize the servant of somebody else especially when
that somebody else is God?
Isn't it so that we often criticize exactly
God's children it is to his own master
that he gives or fails to give satisfactory
service and don't doubt that satisfaction for God
is well able to transform men into servants
who are satisfactory.
I like the humor in this Bible.
I never know if it is Paul who
had the sense of humor or Philips or
perhaps the Holy Spirit, perhaps all three of
them.
Why then criticize your brother's actions?
Why try to make him look small?
We shall all be judged one day not
by each other's standards or even our own
but by the standards of Christ.
That is, therefore, stop turning critical eyes on
one another.
If we must be critical, let us be
critical of our own conduct and see that
we do nothing to make a brother stumble
or fall.
Now, this one is playing with sex.
If you do not win the sex battle,
you do not win life's battle.
This one is disobedience.
Oh, I could speak about many more.
Oh, and I think of this horrible one
that is the occult sins.
Occult sins are now so terrible in the
time that the Antichrist is busy to make
ready his great army.
Occultism is so strong, but I have not
to tell it to you.
You know that the Bible tells that it
is an abomination in the eyes of God.
Divination.
Read it in Deuteronomy 18.10. Divination is
fortune-telling, observer of time, an astrologer, an
enchanter, a genuine magician, a witch, a sorcerer,
a charmer, hypnotist, a counselor with familiar spirits
as a medium, a wizard, a clairvoyant, a
necromancer, one who consults with the dead.
Some Christians even carry the peace sign, that
broken cross, and that was designed in the
first century and used during witches' masses to
signify the power of Satan over the broken
power of Jesus Christ.
We must be very careful.
But I know that you are people who
are educated.
Many people teach you the danger of these
things.
But do you know that the Bible tells
that stubbornness is in the eyes of God,
also witchcraft?
Stubbornness is as bad as worshipping idols.
Now, I could speak three evenings about the
rags, about sins, but I don't do it,
but I will invite you to have a
time with the Lord tonight and ask him,
Search me, O God.
You can say it in biblical language and
say, Search me, O God, and know my
heart.
You can also say it in other language,
Lord, show me if there are rags in
my flashlight, and that is the same.
And it is necessary, because this is necessary
to be ready for Jesus coming.
And the great joy is that there is
an answer, because at the cross, at the
cross where I first saw the light, and
the burden of my sins rolled away, it
was there by faith I received my sight.
Bring your sins to the Lord.
And then, when you have brought your last
sin to the Lord and confessed it, then
ask him to fill your cleansed heart with
the Holy Spirit.
And the Lord is willing and ready to
fill a cleansed heart, a heart cleansed by
the blood of Jesus with the Holy Spirit.
And when he does it, then the fruit
of the Spirit, love, peace, kindness, goodness, self
-control, makes you the light of the world.
You see it?
Oh, no, I'm sorry.
He does not do it.
I think I've overlooked a little rag.
You know, we are, as far as I
know, very decent sinners, aren't we?
And when there's a little decent sin in
our heart, we think, oh, that's all right.
God doesn't say it is all right.
A decent little sin is a great sin
in God's eyes.
I will, sure, there is still a rag.
But that is, no, that's no rag.
That is paper.
Twenty dollars.
Oh, no.
No, no, that's no sin.
That's no rag.
That was only in the wrong place.
You see, when you have too many dollars,
or not dollars enough, the devil likes to
bring dollars into your heart.
But your heart must be filled with the
Holy Spirit.
And he makes you ready for Jesus' coming.
Oh, what a joy is that, that we
have only to confess our sins, and he
does the job.
That is very, very clearly said in the
Bible, that we have to confess and turn
away from our sins.
And then that is not a trying and
trying to be good.
Have you ever tried to be good?
I did.
But I had no success.
I experienced that the devil was much stronger
than I.
I know the one in whom I have
placed my confidence, and I am perfectly certain
that the work I have committed to him
is safe in his hands, until that day,
when I understood that and my fear disappeared.
Just read the Word of God.
It is God that works in you both
to will and to do his good pleasure.
To the end, he may establish your hearts
unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father,
at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, I believe that the Lord Jesus
is longing more for his coming to you
than you are longing that he comes, because
he loves you so.
Jesus loves us, and he will be so
happy when you and I are ready that
we have just to lay our weak hand
in his strong hand, and he will do
the job.
He will keep you steadfast in the faith
to the end, so that when his day
comes, you need fear, no condemnation.
There is very much temptation in this time,
especially the devil is very active with the
children of God.
I have really never been so often tempted
than in these last years, and it is
because the devil knows that his time is
very, very short, and when you are tempted,
when you are tempted, don't fear, for Jesus
also was tempted, and you can stand the
temptation through the power of the Lord.
Some time ago, there came doubt in my
heart.
Oh, what a terrible sin is that.
The Lord Jesus said, I will send you
the Holy Spirit, and he will convict you
of sin, of righteousness, and judgment, of sin
that they do not believe in me.
Doubting in Jesus Christ is one of the
great sins, and that doubt came in my
heart, and I'm so ashamed, because I know
the Lord Jesus already 75 years.
Believe it or not, I was five years
old when I asked him to come into
my heart, and he came, and he has
never left me.
But doubt came into my heart.
That's not possible.
Jesus in me?
In my heart?
No, no, I doubted.
But then I took the Bible, and whenever
doubt comes in your heart, take the word
of God, and I read from Ephesians 3,
when I think of the wisdom and scope
of his plan, I fall down on my
knees and pray to the Father of all
the great family of God, some of them
already in heaven and some down here on
earth, that out of his glorious, unlimited resources,
he will give you the mighty, inner strengthening
of his Holy Spirit.
And I pray that Christ will be more
and more at home in your hearts.
He is living within you, as you trust
in him.
May your roots go down deep into the
soil of God's marvelous love.
And may you be able to feel and
understand that all God's children should, how long,
how wide, how deep and high his love
really is, and to experience this love for
yourselves.
So it is so great that you will
never see the end of it, or fully
know or understand it.
And so at last you will be filled
up with him, with God himself.
Now glory be to God, who by his
mighty power at work within us, is able
to do far more than we would ever
dare to ask or even dream.
Oh Lord, you can do it.
Isn't it a joy that when we pray
that we come in the realm of God's
ability, then we can bring him our disability.
And then through the word and through prayer,
the doubt disappeared.
Did it ever come back?
Yes.
But now the second time I knew already
what to do.
When there comes temptation in my heart, I
always say, Lord Jesus, will you go to
the door?
And when the temptation sees the Lord Jesus,
then he is already gone.
What a joy is it.
And Lord, there are two ways to see
your sins.
When the devil shows you your sins, and
it is always to make you despair, and
then he says, so you are, and so
you will remain your whole life, and there's
no hope for you.
The devil is an accuser of the children
of God, night and day, 24 hours a
day job.
And how he tries to get children of
God down in the feeling of doubt and
guilt.
It is quite different when the Holy Spirit
convicts us of sin.
It is always in the floodlight of the
finished work at the cross.
And then the Holy Spirit says, for these
sins, Jesus died at the cross.
And then you are not in despair, for
then you know I may confess my sins,
and he will forgive and cleanse me.
The Lord Jesus has warned us that when
we do not forgive those who have sinned
against us, the Heavenly Father will not forgive
us our sins.
Do you realize that?
I must warn you, for many people do
not understand that the Lord Jesus really meant
business when he said it.
Oh, it was in my heart a very
great problem.
I was, during the last World War, my
family, my friends and I had saved Jewish
people in Holland, and then the Gestapo came
and brought us all into prison and you
can read it in my books.
And I have experienced terrible things there.
But I can now tell you after my
experiences in three terrible prisons, I've always believed,
but now I know from experience that Jesus'
light is stronger than the deepest darkness.
And you cannot go so deep when you
are a child of God.
Always deeper are the everlasting arms that carry
you.
But one of the very difficult lessons I
had to learn was to forgive and love
my enemies.
But the Lord taught me, can you love
and forgive?
And when you claim the love of God
through the Holy Spirit, you can love these
people and forgive them.
Some weeks ago, there came a woman to
me and I had spoken about this great
miracle in my life that the Holy Spirit
had given me so much of His love
that I could forgive my enemies, also those
who had murdered four of my beloved.
And so I spoke for these people and
there came a lady and she said, will
you destroy that key?
I said, yes, I will, but tell me,
what is that for a key?
She said, that is the key to the
house of the woman who has stolen the
love of my husband.
I know that angels rejoiced and I rejoiced.
I experienced something else.
Sometimes it was difficult to forgive little sins
of others.
Some time ago, I had some Christian friends
who did something very mean against me.
And I said, now Lord, you have helped
me to forgive the murderers of my family.
Now Lord, it is not difficult that you
give me the love and forgiveness for my
Christian friends who have done that mean thing
and I could forgive them.
But do you know what happened?
It was about two o'clock in the
night I awoke and I thought, how in
the world could my friends do that?
I said, Lord, there it is again.
Oh Lord, help me, take it away.
And the Lord helped me and took it
away and I slept well and the whole
day was fine.
I thought, when I think what I have
done for my friends.
I said, Lord, there it is again.
Lord, help me.
And the Lord helped me and was all
right.
But the third night the same happened and
I was really disgusted.
But then I met an old German minister
and he said, bring the bell for the
church on Sunday.
Ding, dong, ding, dong.
And there comes a moment that we stop
but after we have stopped there comes still
another ding and another dong and another ding,
dong.
That doesn't matter.
They do not belong to the rest and
so it is with your bitterness against your
friends you have stopped and now these ding,
dongs that come later, don't worry about.
You just tell the Lord, isn't that good?
Perhaps you have the same.
I know that many of you have read
my book the book that John John Carroll
wrote and John Carroll said to me once,
say, Corrie, can you tell me?
I had of course to tell him many
things of my life because it was a
biography.
So I told him about my friends who
had done that and how I had forgiven
them.
The book was hiding place.
And then he said, say, what about these
friends who have done that mean things?
I said, oh, I have forgiven I will
not talk about it.
Yes, I know it.
But what about them?
I said, oh, how do they feel about
it?
He said, oh, they take it very easy.
They simply say that they have not done
it.
But they can say that but I have
everything black and white.
Now, I had just preached and John had
heard me and I had said when we
bring our sins to the Lord Jesus, he
cast them into the depths of the sea
forgiven and forgotten and he put a sign
no fishing allowed.
It's not in the Bible but I said
that.
He said, your sins are in the depths
of the sea no fishing allowed and the
sins of your friends you have black and
white and he said, oh God give Corrie
the grace to burn all the black and
whites of sins of her friends as a
well smelling sacrifice.
I can tell you I burned them all.
Say, have you black and white?
Have you black and whites of sins?
Great sins or small things that people have
done against you?
Burn them before you go to sleep because
Jesus has said if you do not forgive
you have no forgiveness.
You are not able I was not but
he is.
He will do it and just claim Romans
5, 5 the love of God is shed
abroad in my heart through the Holy Spirit
was given to me.
Perhaps it is still more difficult to forgive
the little things of everyday life than a
great thing that they have done against you.
But that love of God through the Holy
Spirit is available.
You have just to bring it to the
Lord and he will do the job.
And you never are so happy through the
ocean of the love of God as that
you forgive and love your enemies.
We are not able.
We cannot love our enemies.
We cannot be good enough in body, soul
and mind in spotless integrity to be ready
for Jesus coming.
We are not able but the hand in
the glove that is the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit will fill us and
he does the job through his fruit and
through his gifts.
But we must surrender all.
When my hand is in the midst of
the glove my whole hand is in the
glove but the glove cannot do anything because
the fingers are not filled.
Every finger must be surrendered.
Every little corner of our life must be
surrendered and given to the Lord.
And when we do that then he does
the job.
He does it to make you and me
ready for his coming.
He who has begun the good work in
us will perform it.
He will keep us steadfast in the faith.
But we must surrender all.
Lay our weak hand in the strong hand
of Jesus.
Even that little shelf behind the door.
Tear it down.
Throw it out.
Don't use it anymore for Jesus wants your
dwelling from the ceiling to the floor.
He even wants that little shelf you keep
behind the door.
Oh, what a joy that Jesus was Victor
that he is Victor and he will be
Victor and he is coming soon.
The best is yet to be.
And may a dying Savior's love and a
risen Savior's power and an ascended Savior's prayer
and a returning Savior's glory be the comfort
and joy of your heart.
Amen.
We pray.
Search me, oh God.
Show me if I am ready.
Lord, many people who know the Bible very
well tell us that all the signs of
the of your coming we can now read
in the newspapers.
We believe it, Lord, that we belong to
that generation that will be there when you
come.
Oh, Lord, show us if there are rags
in the flashlight, if we are right with
you and right with man.
And we pray and thank you that we
can bring it to you and that we
have to go fetch it and you are
able and you are willing to fill us,
to cleanse us with your blood, Lord Jesus,
and to fill us with your Holy Spirit.
Lord, show us if there are still black
or white of sins of others.
For, Lord, we know that if they are
there then we have no forgiveness.
Lord, we pray and thank you that you
love us so and that you are willing
to fulfill that what your hand has started
in our lives.
Speak to us, Lord.
And we praise and thank you that you
will do the job to make us ready
and then we can only rejoice and say,
Lord, Jesus, come, come quickly and use us
to hasten the day.
Hallelujah.
Amen.