They're not defeated, they're not disgruntled, they're not
in the flesh.
Now who in the world was the choir
singing about?
I'm really interested.
Oh, do you think that they were singing
about anybody in this meeting?
They that wait upon the Lord.
Now who are they?
Let's see if the Bible says anything about.
Oh, yes.
It also talks about those who don't wait
upon the Lord.
And you know, it is marvelous how the
Bible gives us clear answers to these questions.
Who is it?
My God, my God.
God does something for people who wait upon
Him.
And He does something very wonderful for them.
They that wait upon the Lord.
Of course, you know where that's found, that
text, that great chapter that begins with these
words, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
Do you know which it is?
Isaiah 40.
Isaiah is called the miniature Bible.
How many books are there in the Bible?
Come on.
Right.
That is Sheynkhundir Hensin.
Sixty-six books.
And Isaiah has sixty-six chapters.
And of course, the Bible is divided into
two sections.
The Old Testament has thirty-nine chapters, and
speaks of the law, and speaks of the
backsliding of God's people.
And the New Testament has twenty-seven chapters,
and speaks of the glorious revelation of the
Son of God, and the power of His
resurrection.
And that's why Isaiah is called a miniature
Bible, because it seems to have the same
division.
The first thirty-nine chapters speak about the
backsliding of Israel.
And the other twenty-seven chapters speak of
the glory of the coming of Jesus Christ.
And that's how it begins.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.
Set your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto
her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her
iniquity is pardoned.
For she hath received of the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.
The voice said, Cry.
And he said, What shall I cry?
Be careful.
Of course, that's spoken of John the Baptist.
Now you better be careful what kind of
a sermon you preach.
People won't like it if you don't sprinkle
rose water on them.
If you don't tell them something that they
like, something that tickles them behind the ear
and under their third chin.
Why, they won't like it.
If you're going to be a preacher, you
better go to a seminarian, and learn how
to preach homiletically correct sermons.
And by all means, don't tell the truth,
because they'll turn away their ears from the
truth.
Having itching ears, he says, What shall I
cry?
All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness
thereof.
Now you can dress yourself any way you
please, or undress yourself, or do anything you
please.
Powder your nose.
The goodliness of the flesh is as the
flower of the field.
All this boasted of civilization, and science, and
all this business, is like the flower of
the field.
It perisheth.
It is passed into the fire and burns.
And he says in the same chapter, that
all nations are as a drop of a
bucket.
You know how much that is.
All the nations in all the world, that's
how much they amount to.
Oh John the Baptist, you better be careful.
And when he was preaching, you know, this
delegation from the temple.
Pharisees and scribes had elected a delegation, with
dog collars and all, to investigate this fellow
that didn't even have a diploma, no BA
degree, no doctor of theology, had not studied
in their schools.
And when his disciples came and said, Hey,
you better be careful.
The Pharisees are here.
They're watching you.
He said, And who is that brood of
vipers?
Who told them to come around here?
Who has warned you to flee from the...
Oh no, John the Baptist.
You're too strong.
You preach too strong.
You better quit it.
You better go to school and learn how
to preach nice sermons.
After I'd been on Seneca Avenue for a
few months, a preacher came to me.
And he told me that he had studied
elocution.
And he wanted to teach me something about
preaching.
And so he brought his sermon outlines.
Firstly, secondly, thoidly, and pious cough.
And finally, Oh John the Baptist, what shall
I preach?
What shall I...
Nobody wants to hear that.
Even though it is appointed unto man, wants
to die.
And after that, hell fire.
They don't want to hear that.
And yet, Brooklyn is full of cemeteries, full
of graves, full of tombstones.
So full you can't escape this glorious truth
that it is appointed unto man, wants to
die.
And after this, the judgment.
But people don't want to know the truth.
But thank God for this wonderful word of
which Jesus Christ says to the Father, Father,
sanctify them.
They are not of the world, even as
I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is the truth.
It's a fine road map.
It shows you the way of life.
It doesn't deceive you.
It doesn't mislead you.
I told you how when we were in
Yugoslavia, we got a road map.
We had to go from Zagreb down to
Novi Sad.
And this road map showed us exactly how
to find the best road.
But there was a preacher there and he
knew better.
That's what's the matter.
That little boy used to sing, and the
power of God is just the same today.
It doesn't matter what the preachers say.
But this preacher said, no, I know a
better way.
And you know, we nearly lost our lives
in that better way.
We sure got stuck in the mud.
We cut our tires through about three times
because we didn't follow the road map.
But oh, here's this wonderful, thy word is
truth.
Oh, how I need the truth in view
of eternity.
Where will you spend eternity?
You're on an express train and you're going
there just as fast as this express train
time can carry you.
And as sure as we're here tonight, in
a little while we'll stand before the judgment
seat of Christ to receive the things we've
done in this body.
No, God's word is the truth.
Thank God for the Bible.
When you talk to people about the word
of God, use that word Bible.
They don't know what the word of God
is.
Talk about the Bible.
This is the book, the only book that's
worth to be called a book.
Oh, thank God.
Now John the Baptist, cry all flesh is
grass.
And then he says, and the nations are
as a drop of a bucket.
And he says, look at me, lift up
your eyes on high and behold who has
created these things that bringeth out their host
by number.
He calls them all by names, by the
greatness of his power, not one fail to
think of it.
And now astronomy has discovered that there are
many, many, many, many, many more constellations and
blazing suns than we ever expected and ever
dreamed of.
And I suppose that doesn't tell us only
a fraction of it.
Oh, these wonderful worlds, which Jesus Christ has
hurled into space, that they might give light
and that they might speak of his power
and of his majesty.
Oh, praise the Lord.
And he says, lift up your eyes on
high and behold.
Did you see the full moon last night?
He was smiling for a change.
Usually he looks sour, but last night he
was smiling.
But oh, how raha ala bhoja, rega dungos
ala julubini pyatalo.
How it thrills your heart to see and
to think and to know that by him
were all things created that are in heaven
and that are in earth visible.
And if the visible world is so very
tremendously, marvelously created, what will the invisible world
be like, which is eternal?
That which is seen is temporal, but that
which is not seen is eternal.
Oh my God, you're very great.
You are very, very wonderful.
My soul lives within me when I think
of my wonderful God.
And when I say our father, which art
in heaven, my God, thou art my God,
early will I seek thee.
Now, who is the choir singing about?
Well, you can soon find out in your
own life.
They that wait upon the Lord will find
that this great God, who calls them all
by names, by the greatness of his power,
he calls you by name.
His eyes run to and fro throughout the
whole earth, looking for hearts that look for
him, that want him.
Tell me, is there a more worthy occupation
for any human being than to come to
God, really to meet God by faith, in
prayer?
Hallelujah.
And to open my heart in faith and
wait upon my God and know that he
giveth power to the faint and to them
that have no might, he increases strength.
Oh, the wonder of having a God that
watches for me, that loves me, that has
promised to give me power, to make me
mount up with wings as eagles, to run
and not to be weary, to walk and
not faint.
When Hitler came to power, he took the
babes from the cradle.
He wanted to create a super-rafe.
And they tell me there on the walls
and where we put up our tent, they
had their practice, they had their calisthenics and
their physical training.
And people who were there told me what
a wonderful sight it was, these thousands of
brown backs stooping and rising up and exercising.
And they felt that that was the best
thing for Germany, to have an army of
young soldiers that were strong and good muscles
and healthy bodies.
Now, here's my God.
Oh, my Lord and my God.
And he wants me to be strong in
the Lord and in the power of his
might.
He's building me for eternity to reign with
Christ, not a thousand years, but throughout the
ages of eternity, to be with him upon
his throne, to judge angels.
Beloved, you wouldn't know that except for the
Bible.
The Bible tells us that.
That's why it says, they that wait upon
the Lord, they're bound to be different.
They have to be different.
Jesus Christ says, I don't pray for the
world.
I pray for those whom thou hast given
me.
Here is the Father and the Son and
the Holy Ghost expending their power.
My God, it's too wonderful for words.
It's too wonderful for thoughts.
The Holy Ghost must quicken my understanding and
give me life by the power of the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of him.
And beloved, the Bible also tells us what
happens to those who don't wait upon the
Lord.
They may be strong in muscles.
They may be strong in intellect.
He says, even the youth, the very prime
of life, the very strongest, the very wisest,
the best educated, they shall fail.
Even the youth shall faint and be weary.
Don't you see that in the world today?
Doesn't the world look like a great big
haystack ready for the fire?
Where are those who are strong in the
Holy Ghost?
Thank God they're sprinkled all over the world.
They're there, but they're few and far between
in comparison to the great world of unbelievers,
an unbelieving church.
They're faint, they're weary, they shall utterly fall.
And when theologians today bring out books entitled
God is Dead, then you know that they
have not only utterly fallen, but they've fallen
into the bottomless pit.
The God of this world has blinded the
minds of them that believe not, lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who
is the image of God, should shine unto
them.
Now there's the difference.
On one hand, God stooping to those that
faint.
Isn't that wonderful?
That's me.
Oh, to feel your nothingness, to feel your
utter helplessness.
My God, how healthy it is to faint,
to be weary, to be without strength.
Paul says, I glory in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ might rest upon me.
Because when I feel my infirmity, and I
feel my faintness, I have a place to
come to.
I come to the fountain of living water,
and that fountain is nobody else but God
only.
God, thou art my God.
Listen, is he your God?
Is he your God?
What in the world have you got?
Well, I got a little Ford, I got
a little Ford machine, I got a little
house, I got a wife, I got a
child, I've got a something else, and what
else have you got?
What have you got?
If you haven't got God.
I said to God before coming to meeting,
comes to my mind now, my Lord, whom
have I in heaven but Thee?
Nobody.
And there's none upon this earth that I
desire beside Thee.
Wenn ich nur Dich habe, so frage ich
nichts nach Himmel und Erde.
Aber ich habe Dich, was will ich mehr?
O beloved they that wait upon the Lord.
The great tragedy today among people of God
is that they don't believe God.
Waiting upon the Lord is no fun.
I know I've experienced it.
It's a hard job, because it strips you
of your self-esteem, and it strips you
of all your own activity, and makes you
realize how nothing you are.
But oh, and that glory of God descends,
and when God reacts, He giveth power to
the faint.
But what happens to those that don't wait
upon the Lord?
Well, you know.
You know what happens.
They shall utterly fall.
They shall faint.
Oh, you feel very strong, like Peter did,
when he said, I'll go into prison and
into death with you.
But my goodness, when darkness came upon him,
and the trial came, and the test came.
Beloved God wants all of us up there.
He says, Thou therefore my son, be strong.
You can't be strong any other way.
You could be strong in the flesh, and
that flesh will be eaten by worms after
a while.
But you can be strong in the Lord,
and in the power of His might.
You can.
God will give you strength.
Oh, how my God is, thank God, He's
not forgotten those whom He has created.
And He's not given up His job to
have sons that are like Himself.
Man in our likeness, God's never given up
the job.
And here's our opportunity, mine and yours, thank
God, to renew our strength.
Amen.