Will you turn with me now to the
book of Exodus, to chapter 25, Exodus chapter
25, and we shall read the first 11
verses.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak
unto the children of Israel, that they bring
me an offering of every man that giveth
it willingly with his heart, ye shall take
my offering.
And this is the offering which ye shall
take of them, gold and silver and brass,
and blue and purple and scarlet, and fine
linen and goat's hair, and ram's skins dyed
red, and badger's skins and chitim wood, oil
for the light, spices for anointing oil, and
for sweet incense, on stones and stones to
be set in the orphan and in the
breastplate.
And let them make me a sanctuary, that
I may dwell among them, according to all
that I show thee, after the pattern of
the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the
instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
And they shall make an ark of chitim
wood, two cubits and a half shall be
the length thereof, and a cubit and a
half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and
a half the height thereof.
And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold
within, and without shalt thou overlay it, and
shalt make upon it a crown of gold
round about.
The Lord will bless the reading of that
short portion.
Turn with me to verse eight of the
portion read.
Let them make me a sanctuary, that I
may dwell among them.
Let them make me a sanctuary, that I
may dwell among them.
Those of you who were present during the
giving of my first talk on the tabernacle
will remember that we considered the time of
its setting up on the first day of
the first month set up the tabernacle, suggesting,
as we saw, that the Christian life is
made up of new beginnings, the word of
the Lord coming the second time, yes, and
the third and the fourth time.
So that today's surprises in the realm of
grace makes yesterday's experience but a commonplace.
Now this morning we are going to consider
the purpose for its setting up.
And you have that stated in the words
that I've just read, that I may dwell
among them.
This surely is one of the most arresting,
if not one of the most stupendous facts
in the records of revealed truth, that God
wills to dwell in the midst of his
people.
And that in the midst of his people,
his own dear presence can become the supreme
reality in Christian experience.
The realization of the divine presence in the
soul of man is, as I already stated,
as great a verity as any other fact
of human consciousness.
God's presence right at the very center of
my life.
Indeed I would go as far as to
say that the consciousness of this presence, the
realization of God on its subjective side, is
a power that stands against and drives back
any attempt by modern thought to divert us
from the true meaning of the word and
the purposes of God for these lives of
ours.
Oh, the depth of meaning you have in
the words that I may dwell among them.
Some little time ago I picked up a
book written by Major Ian Thomas, and in
that the major asks a question.
It's a startling one.
What difference would it make in your life
if word came to us this morning that
God was dead?
Startling question.
I want to repeat it.
What difference, young people, what difference would it
make in your life if word came to
the Prairie Bible Institute this morning that God
is dead?
If his presence is real, if God is
a supreme reality at the very center of
your life, if the consciousness of Jesus is
something wonderful and real at the very heart
of your experience, why the very bottom
would drop out of your existence if that
news came?
Life would not be worth living.
That is, if God is a reality.
If God is in the midst speaking, revealing
himself, and giving purpose and direction to your
life.
But if that is not the case, it
would make no difference whatsoever.
Oh, it's true that you would still adhere
to the ethical interests of human life.
You would endeavor to be good.
And you would, with purpose and full intention,
live for the good of the community.
My dear friend, you can do that without
God.
And the Communists can do that.
Oh, tell me, is the presence of God,
the nearness of Jesus, the realization of this
supernatural reality that cannot be explained on the
basis of the human, is that real?
Let me tell you a story from the
Jewish revival.
You must pardon me for referring so often
to this gracious moment, but it's so near
and so dear to my heart that I
cannot help it.
It was my privilege to visit this island
when God was moving in revival blessing.
And it was my joy to stay in
the same house that the two pilgrims of
the faith mission stayed, who were God's instrument
in this mighty movement.
They were staying in the house of a
farmer, a bachelor, a God-fearing man, but
not a Christian.
God began to work in his heart.
The Spirit of God brought deep conviction to
him.
And night after night, after we retired to
rest, we would hear the farmer in the
farm kitchen crying to God for mercy.
Again and again I heard him plead the
promises of God.
Let the wicked forsake his way, he would
say.
God, that's my desire.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return
unto the Lord.
And then he would say, God, as far
as I know my own heart, I'm turning
to thee.
I'm forsaking the ways of sin, and I'm
turning to thee.
Oh, won't you have mercy upon my soul?
And this went on for about a week,
for about a week every night.
And during the day he would go aside
to the barn, and you would hear him
crying to God for mercy.
Until one morning, three o'clock in the
morning, we heard a different prayer.
It was one of rejoicing.
It was one of praise.
And this is what he kept saying, Oh,
my blessed Redeemer, how did I not recognize
you before, because I knew you were near
me?
How did I not recognize you before, I
knew you were near me?
Why do I tell you that story?
To indicate and illustrate what I mean by
God becoming real.
The invasion of the heavenly into the earthly.
God speaking the word in the heart, as
well as through the written word, thy sins
are forgiven.
Surely that is the thought uppermost in this
passage of scripture, that I may dwell among
you.
Now may I ask this question, and I
ask it especially with reference to the young
people.
Tell me, young folk, is God real to
you?
Oh, yes, you see, I believe that I'm
a Christian.
Someone said to me yesterday, I believe that
I was a Christian, but I have serious
doubts now.
Just yesterday.
I have serious doubts now.
There can be no doubt that when the
reality of the divine presence grips the soul,
I know in whom I have believed.
And I am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I committed unto him.
Oh, is he real to you?
Bible student, is he real to you?
Thinking of missionary work in the foreign field,
is he real to you?
And so real that he has given purpose
and direction and a sense of call and
vocation Tell me, friend, is God real, that
I may dwell among them?
Do we not find him walking in the
garden in the cool of the day?
Was that not his original purpose, that he
might walk with his creation and talk to
his creation?
I say that was, that was his original
purpose.
But sin entered, and the garden became a
wilderness.
But thank God, Calvary has changed the wilderness
into a garden, and God comes again.
And he comes into his garden, the garden
of your life and the garden of your
heart.
Listen to what Paul has to say about
the change that Calvary has brought about, among
whom we all had our conversation in times
past, in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling
the desire of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature the children of
wrath, even as others.
But God, oh, how thankful I am for
that word.
But God, who is rich in mercy for
his great love wherewith he loved us, even
when we were dead in sin, hath quickened
us together with Christ by grace.
Are ye saved through faith, and that not
of yourselves?
It is the gift of God, and the
supreme gift of God is God himself, Jesus,
manifesting himself and walking freely through and along
the avenues of my personality, and he becoming
the supreme reality in the midst of my
life.
Let me pause again and ask the question,
is that your God?
Do you know God in that manner?
Do you know Jesus in that fashion?
Is he today the most wonderful person in
all your acquaintance?
He ought to be, he ought to be,
and certainly is, if he is your Saviour.
Oh, but is he?
Is he your Saviour?
I already stated from this platform that today
we have a Christianity made easy.
Ask an accommodation to an age that is
unwilling to face reality.
Ask an accommodation to an age unwilling to
face the implications of Calvary.
Ask an accommodation to an age that hath
eliminated the supernatural from Christian experience.
But you cannot do that.
A Christian, let me say it again, a
Christian is a supernatural being who has had
a supernatural experience and is so supernaturally altered
that godliness will characterize every part of his
being, body, soul, and spirit the moment he
is born again.
Now I know that that is not the
common approach.
I was listening to an evangelist give instruction
to counselors who were to counsel young converts.
It was in Glasgow a few years ago,
and in his advice to the counselors he
said this, never say to a young convert,
now you must give up dancing, never say
to a young convert, you must give up
the theater, never say to a young convert,
you must give up gambling, and I would
go as far as to say, don't say
to the man given to drink, don't give
up drinking, just say to him, accept Christ
and all that will drop off.
I say men and women, no more damnable
advice was ever forged on the anvils of
hell than that.
Is that scriptural?
Is that according to the word of God?
Listen, come out from among them, and be
ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing,
and what then?
I will receive you.
But I'm not prepared to receive you until
repentance works that work of separation in your
heart.
And I'm convinced of this, men and women,
if this truth was proclaimed as it ought
to be proclaimed, our crusades and missions would
not be producing harvests of infidels.
A Christian is a supernatural being who has
had a supernatural experience.
God has come in, and God is supernatural.
Oh, let's think of it, dear people.
Here it is, that I, that I may
dwell among them.
I think it was one of your own
great preachers who passed to his reward recently.
I refer to Dr. Tozer, who said this,
When God is remote, religion becomes unreal.
And possibly that is the reason why you
are gripped today by a consciousness that you
are still unreal in this field.
Why?
Because God's remote.
God's remote.
He's the God of heaven.
He's the God of the universe.
He's the God of angels.
He's the God of the church.
But my brother, my sister, is he your
God?
Is he your God?
Have you a personal acquaintance with him?
That's regeneration.
I sometimes put it this way.
Salvation, sanctification, holiness, heart purity, in
a sense, is not your responsibility.
But it is your response to Christ's ability.
There's a difference.
My dear people, it's all vested in Jesus.
And that is why I ask, do you
know him?
Do you know him?
Or are you still living under a self
-created delusion that has its origin in hell?
Do you remember that New Testament story?
They, supposing him to have been in the
company, went a day's journey.
Joseph and Mary, supposing him to have been
in the company, went a day's journey.
But he wasn't in the company.
He wasn't in the company.
They were moving under a self-created delusion.
And I also find that truth clearly written
across the records of the virgins.
You remember that there came an hour when
they discovered that the lamps were going out.
Now, I know that there are some students
of Scripture who read prophecy into this parable.
Well, I'm a student of the New Testament
and have been for years.
And I want to say that I do
not see any trace of prophecy in the
parable of the virgins.
I believe that that parable was given by
Christ to demonstrate how near the counterfeit can
come to the real.
How near the counterfeit.
My, if they were living in Canada today,
they would move heaven and earth to be
at this conference, the foolish virgins.
They would indeed.
Dressed in the garb of the virgin, with
lamps that were lit.
Don't forget that.
All the lamps were lit.
You cannot have conviction of sin.
You cannot have aspirations after God, apart from
the operation of the Holy Spirit.
But there are men and women in hell
today who were under the power of the
Holy Spirit in conviction, but never repented.
Yes, their lamps were lit.
And they are waiting, oh, the wonder of
it, the deception of it.
Oh, hear you of women outmaneuvered by the
strategy of hell, waiting with joyful anticipation the
coming of the bridegroom.
But read the end of the parable.
Read the end of the story.
And listen to the master say, I know
you not.
But they were in the company of the
wise.
They were waiting with joyful anticipation his coming.
I know you not.
Oh, young people, I beg of you today
to search your heart and ask some straight
questions.
Have I substituted this session for Christ?
Have I substituted a desire to be among
others in a Bible college for the realization
of God in my personality?
Oh, let's face it, let's face it, and
let's ask God to deliver us from being
deceived by an angel from hell.
Satan comes.
Oh, he comes again as an angel of
light.
Let me again quote from Towson.
At the heart of the Christian message is
God himself, waiting for his redeemed children to
push into—now listen—into a conscious awareness of his
presence, a conscious awareness.
Do you know it?
Oh, do you know it?
Listen, dear people.
If that was not real to me, I
certainly would not be here today.
I can say in the presence of God,
the supreme reality in my life is not
that lovely home that I have in Scotland
or that lovely wife and lovely family that
I have there, dear and precious and wonderful
as they are.
To me, the supreme reality is just Jesus.
It's just Jesus as I walk with him
and as I talk with him.
Oh, tell me, is there an awareness of
God in your life?
Listen again to Towson.
That type of Christianity that is in vogue
today knows his presence only in theory.
It fails to stress the privilege of present
realization.
According to its teaching, we are in the
presence of God positionally, and nothing is said
about the need to experience the presence of
God actually.
No wonder, he adds, we are today snared
in the coils of a strange and spurious
logic.
God save us.
God save the young people of Canada from
being snared in the snare of a strange
and spurious logic.
There is a very arresting passage in Hosea
chapter 6.
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice and
the knowledge of God.
That's it.
And the knowledge of God more than burnt
offering.
We give our burnt offering.
Oh, we do.
But heaven cries and cries aloud the knowledge
of God before burnt offering.
Paul has another arresting word.
You remember how he speaks of the body
as being the temple of the Holy Ghost.
He does not speak of the soul as
being the temple.
Now that's interesting.
He speaks of the body being the honored
instrument.
I remember hearing one of our Scottish preachers
addressing one of our large conventions say this,
Don't keep God in the soul.
Let him out on a dying world through
your body.
The temple, the temple of the Holy Ghost,
God's residence here upon the earth.
Oh, tell me, is God letting himself loose
through your body?
That I may dwell among you.
Was that not the thought in the mind
of the apostle when he spoke of bearing
about in my body.
Oh, get it again, young people.
Your body.
Bearing about in my body the dying of
Jesus.
That the life also of Jesus might be
made manifest through my soul, through my intellect,
through my emotions.
No, but through my body.
Oh, the wonder of, I sometimes speak, of
God moving in the farmyard in Dongeries.
Ever thought of it?
The body is clothed very often in Dongeries.
God manifesting himself through the body.
And that is why Paul in his letter
to the Romans cries and cries aloud, yield
yourselves unto God and your members, your members.
Wonderful.
That God can express himself through every member
of my redeemed body.
But is he?
Oh, is he?
Young people, we are living in a sex
-rotten age.
Is God expressing himself through your body and
through every member of that redeemed body?
Oh, let's face the question.
Let me quote it again.
Yield yourselves unto God and your members as
instruments of righteousness.
You will notice that he makes a difference
between the yielding of ourselves and the yielding
of our members.
You recall that when Elijah was on Carmel
and offered sacrifice in the presence of the
prophets of Baal, we read, he put the
wood in order and cut the bullock in
pieces.
He put the wood in order and then
he went to the cutting.
First of all, there was the surrender of
the whole bullock.
But before the fire fell and consumed the
offering, there was the dividing of the bullock
in pieces.
And piece after piece was placed on the
altar.
And not until the last piece was there
did the fire of God fall to consume
the offering.
May I pause here and ask this question.
Has God handled every piece in your life?
Oh, you may have made what you thought
to have been a complete offering of yourself.
But, oh, so often our very consecrations are
mingled with the destructive element of self-preservation.
And the last piece is held back.
But surely, surely in this service today and
at this convention, there will be those, I
believe there are those, who are saying, God,
I want you to come down.
I want you to possess my whole being.
Oh, do the cutting, if you will.
Do the cutting, if you will.
But all that I ask is that you
handle and that I ask you to handle
the last piece.
Is he going to do it, friend?
Is he going to do it?
Oh, let us remember that the yielding of
ourselves includes the separate analysis and offering of
our members.
It is only as we are thus yielded
to God that the tabernacle becomes what it
was intended to be, a place for God
to dwell in, a place for God to
move in and move through to make his
impact on a dying and half-damned world.
My dear people, it is we are talking
about revival.
We shall be thinking about it this evening.
And I believe that many of us recognize
that a God-sent revival is the only
answer to the problem that confronts the Church
and the nations today.
But my dear people, what are we doing
about it?
Revival came to Carmel when the last piece
was handled.
And revival will come to this Institute when
the last piece is handled.
I believe it with all my heart.
Are you in your seat now, saying, God,
handle the last piece?
You remember Peter referring to the man thus
yielded?
He speaks of him as chosen to show
forth the praises of him who called us
out of darkness into his own marvelous light,
chosen to show forth the praises of him.
That is what you are called to do.
That is what you are called to be,
as a saved person.
Now, I am not talking of sanctification yet.
As a saved person.
Now, in the Amplified New Testament, it says,
display the virtues and the perfections of him
who called you.
The Standard Dictionary gives the meaning of virtue
as manly excellence, manly excellence.
Now, of such a character was Barnabas of
New Testament story, the word of God states
that he was a good man.
It seems to me that God took a
photograph of him.
God took a photograph of him.
And as the photograph is examined, his body
photographed, his mind, his spirit, his soul, every
part of his redeemed being, God says to
the angel, good.
Oh, there's a good man.
Every part of his being good.
Every member of his body good.
You remember what God says, he's full of
faith and he's full of the Holy Ghost.
And of course, if a man is full
of faith and full of the Holy Ghost,
he can't be full of anything else.
The word of God is so clear in
the doctrine of sanctification and holiness.
And God says he's full of the Holy
Ghost.
Every avenue in that redeemed life was under
the control of a holy God.
Now, may I ask a question?
Supposing it were possible for me to get
the ear of Gabriel this morning, supposing it
was possible, and that I said to Gabriel,
Gabriel, I want you to come down to
the Prairie Institute, and I want you to
take a photograph of every person at this
convention, every member of staff, every student, all
who labor, the visitors and the preacher.
God, I want you to come.
I want you, Gabriel, to take a photograph.
And Gabriel is willing to oblige, and he
comes down to the Prairie Institute.
And he takes a photograph of every heart
and of every life.
And then he suggests that the photographs be
sold for half a dollar at the close
of the service.
Would you be happy about that?
My dear people, let's face it.
Would you be happy for your neighbor, your
wife, your husband, your children, to see that
photograph?
It's a true one.
Heaven has taken it.
It's a true one.
Every member, every member, clean, clean, clean,
a good man, full of faith and full
of the Holy Ghost.
Oh, tell me, would you be happy about
the photograph?
Well, let me go on a little further.
Moses is instructed to do all according to
the pattern.
And here are his instructions.
Thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and
do that within and without.
Overlay what?
That in the tabernacle that represented God, the
ark of the covenant.
Overlay it with pure gold within and without.
Now that, to me, is profoundly suggestive.
It speaks to me of inward purity and
of outward righteousness.
Inward purity.
Now here I would say, in order to
make myself clear, is it possible to relate
truth to duty and revelation to experience?
Is it possible?
If it is, then this pure life that
God speaks about, that David prayed for, that
Christ referred to when he said, blessed are
the pure in heart, they see God, because
God is there to be seen.
Oh, that's what I'm getting at.
That's what I'm getting at.
Purity depends upon character.
Here it is.
If not, if a pure heart is not
possible, then I say we are living in
a period for which scripture has no relevance
whatsoever.
And I have no message to proclaim to
a baffled and defeated young man or young
woman in the snare of evil.
But thank God I believe in heart purity.
Listen to what Wesley wrote.
"'Twas most impossible of all that here sin's
reign in me should cease.
Yet shall it be.
I know it shall.
Jesus, look to thy faithfulness.'" What words!
He is challenging Jesus to do what he
promised to do.
"'Look to thy faithfulness.
If nothing is too hard for thee, all
things are possible to me.
And this, blessed be God, is one of
the possible things.
Blessed are the pure in heart, they," I'm
quoting from the Gaelic, "'they see God,' as
already stated, because God is there to be
seen in the midst of purity.
Overlay it with gold.'" Do take a verse
like 2 Corinthians 7 and 1.
"'Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us
cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of
the Lord.' Is it possible?
Can it be done?
My dear people, is God fooling us?
Is God fooling us?
Never!
A thousand times no!
But he tells me that this can happen.
Oh, my dear people, if you wish to
honor God, if you wish to honor God,
give him full credit for the excellency of
his works.
He provided a Savior that can save from
sin.
John George Govan, the founder of our mission,
wrote one hymn, but it lives today.
Here is a verse from it.
"'Aye, from every sin you part, and let
Christ have all your heart.
You need hear no fiery dart while you
trust him.
For while Jesus reigns within, the Lordship of
Christ, while Jesus reigns within, you are proof
against all sin.'" Is that scriptural teaching?
Is that scriptural teaching?
"'Proof against all sin, and his perfect peace
you'll win.'" Hallelujah.
Now, in passing, let me say this, that
heart purity, or purity of heart, is not
maturity of Christian experience.
There are no limits whatsoever to our attainments
in the divine life.
We can press upward, we can press onward,
in our approach to God.
Purity is not finality or maturity.
Did you notice the two words in that
passage that I read?
Purity, cleanse, and perfecting.
Now, I believe that cleansing is the crisis,
the gift of purity.
Perfecting speaks of the gradual maturity in Christian
experience.
I sometimes put it this way.
Purity has to do with the heart.
Perfecting has to do with the mind.
Now, let me illustrate.
Some years ago, when that gracious movement was
sweeping the inner Hebrides, the island of Tyrethe
came into the grips of God.
And, of course, I loved to be in
the midst of revival, and I couldn't stick
in my office in Edinburgh.
So I took wings to the island to
spend some time with the two pilgrims that
were in the midst of such a glorious
movement.
One night, God was moving mightily.
Oh, so mightily that we just couldn't get
the people away from the church.
Pronounce the benediction, they went out, but back
they would come again.
Oh, give us more, give us more, give
us more.
Well, the meetings went on until after midnight.
It is a cold, cold night in January,
snow on the ground and froth piercing.
On arriving home to the house where we
were lodging, on entering the kitchen, the farm
kitchen, we found the old grannies sitting by
the fire.
The others were at the meeting, grannies at
home.
She has a huge fire on, and a
table loaded with good things.
But in front of the fire, two pairs
of bedroom slippers.
They were there to be warmed for the
two lathis that were being so wonderfully used
by God.
And I see one of them go over
to the fire to her own pair of
slippers, and she lifts them to discover that
the soul of one was burned, burned.
Now I'm positive that it was the purest
of love that moved old granny to put
the slippers at the fire.
But dear old granny had to learn that
if you put slippers too near a fire,
they'll be burned.
And that is what I say with reference
to heart purity.
Purity, cleansing, God's gift, perfecting the
operation of light in the mind.
Now I may be speaking to some, and
with this I must close, speaking to some,
and you've been trying, oh, you've been trying
to suppress the evil.
You've been trying to keep it down.
And you come to conventions and to conferences,
and you say now, the old man must
be kept in his own place after this.
I'll sit on him, and I'll keep him
down.
And you were able to do that for
some little time, but in an unguarded moment
up he sprang again.
I suppose you will have heard of General
Montgomery.
Well, his mother was a great Christian woman,
Irish.
And she's attending the Port Stewart Convention, one
of the large conventions in Britain.
And the speaker that day was laboring this
point, and he kept saying, there's only one
thing you can do about the old man,
keep him sitting.
He's safe when he's sitting.
Keep him sitting.
Don't allow him to stand.
And Lady Montgomery was listening to all this.
And on coming out she turned to a
friend and said, what, the old man's sitting?
The old rascal is just as obnoxious sitting
as he is standing.
And she was true in her statement.
My dear people, let's come to the word
of God that speaks of cleansing.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses.
Oh, but it's why I would cry in
closing in the words of the late Dr.
Stuart Holden of Kessick, let the healing, cleansing
rays of Calvary play upon your heart until
the very seed of evil is sterilized and
my body becomes a temple for a holy
God.