I had to notice by testimonies that we're
learning precious, precious, precious lessons, wonderful lessons.
And we're learning them by the Holy Ghost,
this great teacher that enlightens us by himself,
which none of the princes of this world
knew is communicating to us a heavenly wisdom.
Some have expressed their great desire for Jesus.
Some have expressed the fact that they've awakened
to their great need.
You ain't seen nothing yet.
When we begin to see our need, then
God begins to show us our great Savior.
Because we don't want him when we don't
see that we need him.
But as God makes us sink into oblivion,
makes us sink down in our own inability,
and gives us a sight of our utter
hopelessness, then he also shows us the great
and wonderful provision he has made in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
That is salvation.
And what a marvelous subject is this love
of God.
We have known and believed the love that
God has to us.
Now, we don't likely believe until we know.
But, oh, to get a sight of that
love that God has to us, that is
absolutely unspeakable, because that love finds its expression
in the Lord Jesus Christ, in this unspeakable
gift.
Paul says, the unsearchable riches of Christ in
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge, and ye are complete in him.
The wonderful thing is that all these unsearchable
treasures and riches are provided for me, for
you.
And until God gets us to accept these
unsearchable riches, we're not going to be filled
with all the fullness of God.
We're not going to be pleasing in the
sight of the Father.
In order to present us spotless before the
presence of his glory, holy and unblamable and
unreprovable in his sight, God had to give
the unsearchable riches for us to acquire.
Oh, this marvelous love of God.
And when God begins to show it to
us, then we're beginning to see our great
nothingness, and then we're going to see the
great love of our God.
Oh, this unsearchable, unspeakable love of God that
gave his son and that gives him to
me now.
No wonder he says, perfect love.
He that feareth has not been made perfect
in love.
When that love, that perfect love, is revealed
to me, and that perfect love is not
my love for God, but it's his love
for me.
And when I make room for that love
of God for me, why, then my heart
will become a fountain of love.
It will send forth the rivers of the
same love that flows from the Father and
the Son into my heart, and there is
the harmony.
You've known when you were in love, I
suppose some of you have had that experience,
how inventive love becomes.
I've seen it, I've seen it objectively, young
men that were in love, how they thought
of everything, everything.
I was telling Sister Wally the other day
about a young chap who never washed himself.
Really, you could have raised a crop of
peas on top of his head, there was
enough soil there.
And he never cleaned his fingernails or he'd
bite them, but he'd never file them or
shine his shoes, never think of such a
thing.
He was always unkempt until one day, one
day I saw him, he came to me.
I didn't know him, if I hadn't looked
under his hat.
He had a brand new hat cocked over
his left eye, and his pants were pressed,
and he had nice cuffs on his pants,
and he was washed, and his fingernails were
neatly manicured.
And then he came to me and he
had kid gloves, they were a little bit
too small for him.
And even the movements when he put those
kid gloves over his fingers were so elegant.
It was just marvelous.
Why, he said he was going to take
a trip to Philadelphia.
Asked my permission, he happened to be living
with me at the time.
Said, well, if it's all right with me.
And I just, I just stood there and
gazed.
What a transformation.
Well, he went to Philadelphia to see a
girl.
Oh, that made all the difference.
That made him so inventive.
Now, all the books on etiquette by Emily
Post, he'd spit at.
And all the instructions I gave him about
not putting his elbows on the table, and
washing himself, and cleaning his fingernails, and shining
his shoes, meant absolutely nothing to the fellow.
He couldn't grasp it.
He just couldn't grasp the idea why he
shouldn't be perfectly comfortable.
Why, to put water on his face might
make him sick, you know.
But what a transformation.
Where did he get all that education from?
All at once.
Really, he looked like a dude.
Well, there's only one explanation, love.
Love makes the world go round.
But isn't it wonderful that the gospel is
the holiest love affair?
Oh, this wonderful love affair.
And oh, what inventive genius God shows when
everything works together for good to them that
love God.
Just think how many things God has to
think of in order to make every item,
every moment, every occurrence of every moment work
for your good.
But he does.
He says he does.
His love makes it.
Praise God.
And only my fear takes me out of
that wonderful communion with God that makes it
impossible for God to work toward me.
Where's your faith?
These disciples would have drowned like rats if
Jesus hadn't been there.
But because Jesus was there, he inspired their
faith.
He said, how much more shall your heavenly
Father?
Boys, he says, where's your faith?
Yeah, but look at the storm.
Never saw anything like it.
We never experienced anything like it.
Can't you see that we perish?
Why, sure, Jesus saw all that, but he
saw the Father.
Oh, beloved, God wants you and me to
see that great heart that beats all together
for us.
Not a human heart, but a divine heart.
The Almighty is thy refuge, and underneath are
the everlasting arms.
Madame Guyon says we only perish for lack
of trusting him.
They that wholly trust him, find him wholly
true.
When the Bible says that all things, we
know that all things work together for good.
Listen, God thought of all things before this
world was created.
And God Almighty harnessed the, the very constellations
in the sky, and everything that pertains to
your life and to your well-being and
to your eternal happiness, harnessed all these powers,
and he makes them work together for good
to everyone that loves God.
Because those whom he did foreknow, the Bible
says, before the foundation of the world, then
he also did predestinate to be conformed to
the image of his Son.
And it is for those that he pours
out his heart of love.
It wasn't only on Calvary that the love
of God was poured out, but from the
very beginning of creation.
Before creation, God saw that church of his.
God saw that bride of his.
God saw that in this mass of humanity,
this tremendous mass of which he says it's
grass, it's like the flower of the field,
it perishes.
But God saw in this mass of humanity
a group of people that would bow to
his loving call.
And then he did predestinate, thank God, to
be conformed to the image of his Son.
And if God predestinated you like that and
called you and justified you, he certainly will
glorify you.
That's why Paul said, I'm persuaded.
Beloved, we need to be persuaded.
And we will be persuaded once we know
and believe the love that God has to
us.
That'll change your outlook.
That will change your whole heart.
It'll take all fear out of your heart.
How many people are fearful this morning because
they've seen their great need.
I've heard people weep and groan and lament
and cry.
And like the apostle Paul say, who shall
deliver me?
There's no hope.
And right for people like that, the love
of God is manifested.
This is the love of God.
Not that we loved him.
That'll never lift you one inch.
But that he loved us and gave himself
for us, thank God.
And once you know that love, you know
how much depends on my knowing how many
people haven't known about divine healing.
And they've been sick and they've dragged their
sick bodies for years and years and years.
And they've tried everything under the sun to
get better until they knew and were fully
persuaded that by his stripes healing has been
purchased for them.
And that knowledge creates faith and drives the
devil out.
They're healed.
They're delivered.
Beloved, faith comes by hearing the word of
God, by recognizing and believing what God says.
And everything depends on my knowing how greatly
God loves me.
And we don't know, beloved, we don't know
how much we depend upon our love for
God.
And sometimes God has to remove it all
from us and make us see that our
love is nothing.
Our righteousness is his filthy rags.
And then people go down in a heap
and they give up altogether.
Instead of rising up then like the beggar
from the dung hill to sit among princes,
instead of coming boldly onto the throne of
grace.
Beloved, we're saved by grace and not of
yourself.
It is the gift of God and you'll
never have salvation until you receive it as
a gift.
That publican received it.
He smote upon his bosom.
He saw his deep need and he said,
God be merciful to me, a sinner.
And immediately he was justified.
He received the gift of God while the
Pharisee went down to his house as black
as he was before, because he tried to
present to God his own righteousness.
And he had some.
He had what Dr. Hall tries to stuff
down your throat, fasting 40 days.
And where do people land?
They land in the insane asylum.
But you'll land in the arms of God
when your eyes open to the wonder of
Jesus.
Glory to God.
And you accept that gift of God.
Glory to God.
It's the spirit of God that teaches us
Jesus.
That's the one lesson.
And the fruit of the spirit is love
and everything else follows.
You ever noticed how the Lord Jesus talking
to his disciples says, these words have I
spoken unto you that my joy might remain
in you and your joy might be full.
Now, this morning, if we're going to please
God, we're going to have fullness of joy.
We're going to be happy.
We're going to rejoice exceedingly.
Not because we're good or perfect.
No, far from it.
But because God loved us so deeply.
Thank God.
Hallelujah.
And praise the Lord.
We take a leap into this ocean of
God's love and drown in it.
Thank God.
You're gone.
You're no more.
Deny yourself.
Praise God.
Looking unto Jesus.
He is the author of your faith.
He makes you believe him.
He, Jesus Christ, makes you believe every promise
of God.
Every promise of God.
And he is the finisher of your faith.
He is the one that'll give you those
things and fulfill in you all that he
has purposed to do.
Thank God.
Oh, to know the love of God and
to believe it.
And so when he says that your joy
might be full, he says these words.
Do you know what words he hinges that
promise to?
He says, as the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you.
And who is he talking to?
Men and women like you and I.
They weren't one bit better.
And maybe they weren't worse either.
We don't know that.
They might have been pretty bad.
But as the rabbi, as the Father has
loved me.
How did that love of the Father express
itself in Jesus?
Why the Father gave himself so fully to
his son that his son didn't have to
live.
Didn't have to think.
Didn't have to speak.
Didn't have to do anything.
When he died on the cross, it was
God in Christ that reconciled the world unto
himself.
All that Jesus needed to do was to
walk by the faith of God and abandon
himself to the Father.
And be united to him.
Hallelujah.
Now he says, so have I loved you.
That same life-giving love that pulsates in
the son so that he can say, the
son can do nothing of himself.
The Father that dwelleth in me.
That same river of love is waiting to
pour into you and through you.
Glory to God.
No wonder the apostle Paul says, to me
who am less than the least of all
saints is this grace given to preach among
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
If Paul was here, we'd be greatly surprised.
Surprised at his utter simplicity.
At his lack of eloquence and showmanship.
We'd be surprised.
There was nothing coming forth out of the
apostle Paul that was Paul or Pharisee or
self.
Nothing.
It was just Christ.
Glory to God.
Beloved, that same river is for you and
for me.
The unsearchable riches of Christ.
And the wonderful thing is that God begins
every Christian life with that wonderful beginning.
God who has loved us.
He has loved me.
Oh, to meditate upon that love.
We need the Bible.
We need the promises of God.
It is so surprising to me to see
the church of Jesus Christ.
All the churches gone astray so far.
Oh, how far have we gone astray when
we have a Bible with such simplicity of
teaching, such simplicity of words.
I was telling the other day how the
apostle Paul talks about strong delusion that will
flood the world.
False prophets, apostles of the devil that will
come in the name of Jesus Christ.
That will even preach the gospel out of
contention.
He says, God send of them strong delusion
that they all should believe a lie who
received not the love of the truth.
But ye brethren, he says, have been chosen
from the beginning unto salvation through sanctification of
the spirit and belief of the truth.
And now he says, abide in the traditions
which you have received of us, the apostles.
Now, if you read these traditions, they're so
simple that a child can understand.
They tell of this wonderful river of life,
this wonderful union with God.
They tell of the life that was manifested
unto us.
Glory to God.
And show us the simple way of entering
into that life.
What is it but to abide in his
love?
Jesus, if you love me, certainly that love's
going to be manifested somewhere along the way.
Certainly.
And how will it be manifested?
Why he pours his love into my own
heart and makes me love him again.
And that's my whole duty upon this earth,
is just to be devoted to Jesus, just
to love him, just to let all that
I do in word or deed be done
in the name of Jesus Christ.
And that perfect love will bring me into
that harmony where all things work together for
good.
I have marveled sometimes at the minutest details
that the Lord thinks of.
The other day again, I lost something that
I needed very badly.
And I'd had so much paper and I'd
taken a lot of paper and thrown it
in the fire and burned it up.
And I thought, aha, that's where it went.
It was a very important document, but I
thought, sure, that's where it went.
And then on second thought, I said, dear
Lord, I could trust my foolishness to burn
up that check or whatever it was, but
I can trust you.
I know you love me enough and you're
interested enough and you wouldn't allow me to
do that.
I knew that.
And very wonderful, you know, the Holy Spirit
is so true.
Time and time and time again, presently, he
directs me to the right corner, to the
right place.
And there it was, there it was.
It is marvelous to discover that the hairs
on your head are all numbered.
It's right to wash your head.
It's right to think a lot of your
hair too.
Don't singe it.
But anyway, the hairs of your head are
all numbered.
My father, what does he mean by that?
Does that matter?
Well, God hides a wonderful promise.
He means that all things that concern you
are important to God.
And oh, this love of God, that you
might know the love of Christ, which passeth
knowledge.
Friends, we need to know, we need to
meditate thereupon.
We need to search the scriptures.
We need to read such Bible texts until
we get them into our heart.
Why, when I open the Bible, God the
Father opens his heart to me.
And oh, how it grieves him when I
don't believe his love.
I found in Germany a lot of people
that are in a perpetual dump because prophets
tell them, you've got to confess all your
sins and they'll go way back over their
lives.
And you remember when you were three years
old, you swallowed a pin that didn't belong
to you.
And you bit the nipple off the bottle
and your mother had to buy another one.
And they'll bring a whole string and they'll
just fill people's hearts with condemnation.
Sometimes they remember faintly and sometimes they don't
remember, but here they're under condemnation.
And you know, I was grown up to
be like that.
And one time I said to the Lord
about something.
I remember Lord, when I was a little
boy, I came to this country and I
had an aunt who was very rich.
And you know, rich people get rich because
they know how to take care of their
pennies.
They can squeeze a penny until Abraham Lincoln
yells.
And she was taking care of me.
And she told me now, when you go
to the streetcar, of course you're, um, I
was 14 years old.
She says, uh, just don't say nothing.
Just hand the conductor three cents.
I was supposed to pay five cents after
12.
I got away with it sometimes.
One time I gave him three cents and
he handed me a ticket, a transfer.
He says, how old are you?
You know, I just come from the old
country and I didn't know what he was
saying.
I says, what?
He says, how old are you?
I said, what?
Until I had all the people in the
streetcar roaring with delight.
Well, he let me go finally.
But after I got saved, you know, that
thing weighed heavily on my heart.
And I thought, goodness.
Now I did that innocently.
I was told to do that.
And yet the devil tried to condemn me
for that.
Although I'd been saved and baptized with the
Holy Ghost.
But I had at that time a wonderful,
wonderful access to the Lord.
I went to the Lord and I said,
what shall I do?
And this was the answer.
He said, son, do me this favor and
forget about it.
He says, those things have been blotted out
in my blood long ago.
Why people try by making confession and by
doing this and that and the other to
appease God, to bribe him somehow after it's
been forgiven.
I know we ought to confess our sins.
I know we ought to forsake it.
I know we ought to repent of our
sins and thoroughly, deeply, until we know they're
blotted out.
But our sins are not forgiven because we
confess them only, but for his name's sake.
And when you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, your sins are all blotted out.
He says there's a thick cloud.
He remembers them no more forever.
Why should I let somebody else dig up
some skeletons and say, here, beloved, we have
known and believed the love that God has
to us.
Nothing will rouse faith within your heart, but
a sight of the eternal love of God
toward you.
And you can repent of your sins with
great rejoicing.
Hallelujah.
Praise the Lord.
That's what the jailer at Philippi did.
Why, he rejoiced with all his house.
Praise God.
And you can rejoice with all your house.
Even the canary bird will join you in
praising the Lord.
Oh, the love that sought me.
Oh, the blood that bought me.
Oh, the grace that brought me to the
fold.
Wondrous grace.
The love of God, so rich and pure,
so measureless and strong,