1 00:00:00,460 --> 00:00:03,019 Welcome to From the Pulpit and Classic Sermons. 2 00:00:03,500 --> 00:00:05,320 Each week we bring you a different message 3 00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:07,440 from some of history's greatest speakers in the 4 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:10,180 Christian faith and powerful sermons for modern preachers 5 00:00:10,180 --> 00:00:10,460 too. 6 00:00:11,100 --> 00:00:12,340 This week we have A. 7 00:00:12,380 --> 00:00:12,620 W. 8 00:00:12,740 --> 00:00:15,160 Tozer with his message, What Is It to 9 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:15,880 Accept Jesus? 10 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:22,440 But I want to ask a question and 11 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:23,700 then I want to answer it. 12 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:27,080 I know these sermons that start out with 13 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:29,540 a question usually don't get the question answered 14 00:00:29,540 --> 00:00:32,260 and I hope I don't fall into that 15 00:00:32,260 --> 00:00:32,360 trap. 16 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,620 But the question I want to ask tonight 17 00:00:35,620 --> 00:00:38,960 is, what is it to accept Jesus? 18 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:40,800 What is it? 19 00:00:41,500 --> 00:00:43,580 I'm going to try to answer that question 20 00:00:43,580 --> 00:00:46,800 and thus I'll be taking a few practice 21 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:49,920 shots before I really get underway for tomorrow 22 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:51,120 night and the rest of the week. 23 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,500 But in the book of 2 Peter, there 24 00:00:54,500 --> 00:00:56,340 is a passage that will serve as a 25 00:00:56,340 --> 00:00:56,660 text. 26 00:00:57,840 --> 00:00:59,020 It's 1 Tim. 27 00:01:00,260 --> 00:01:05,120 Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make 28 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:08,840 your calling and election sure. 29 00:01:09,940 --> 00:01:12,260 For if ye do these things, ye shall 30 00:01:12,260 --> 00:01:13,180 never fall. 31 00:01:13,180 --> 00:01:16,240 And I just want to talk a little, 32 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:21,540 not give an exposition of this verse, but 33 00:01:21,540 --> 00:01:25,580 with a thoughted sort of background, give diligence 34 00:01:25,580 --> 00:01:28,720 to make your calling and election sure. 35 00:01:31,740 --> 00:01:34,580 Now, what is it to accept Christ? 36 00:01:35,420 --> 00:01:37,660 I'm very happy to be able to tell 37 00:01:37,660 --> 00:01:41,220 you this, that there are very few things 38 00:01:41,220 --> 00:01:44,660 in the world that matter very much, and 39 00:01:44,660 --> 00:01:46,980 there are still fewer things that are matters 40 00:01:46,980 --> 00:01:48,040 of life and death. 41 00:01:49,740 --> 00:01:54,000 There are a few, however, that are not 42 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,720 only important, they are vitally, critically important. 43 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:03,200 For instance, a compass to a sea journey. 44 00:02:03,860 --> 00:02:05,740 You start out on a journey on the 45 00:02:05,740 --> 00:02:08,560 sea without a compass, and the chances are 46 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,140 a million to one that you will run 47 00:02:10,140 --> 00:02:12,020 in a circle, sail in a circle, till 48 00:02:12,020 --> 00:02:12,540 you die. 49 00:02:12,540 --> 00:02:15,260 It takes a compass to cross the ocean. 50 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:17,920 And a captain who would take a vessel 51 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:20,520 out onto the great bounding ocean without a 52 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:24,300 compass, he's not gambling, he's committing suicide and 53 00:02:24,300 --> 00:02:24,660 murder. 54 00:02:25,340 --> 00:02:27,600 Or a guide, say, in plenty of water 55 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:28,240 on the desert. 56 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:30,500 A lot of things don't matter. 57 00:02:30,580 --> 00:02:32,540 What color a man's hair is when he's 58 00:02:32,540 --> 00:02:34,220 crossing the desert, that doesn't matter. 59 00:02:34,300 --> 00:02:36,040 Whether he has any or not, that doesn't 60 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:36,200 matter. 61 00:02:36,220 --> 00:02:37,580 That's comforting to some of us. 62 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:42,520 And what colored clothes he's wearing, that doesn't 63 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:42,860 matter. 64 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:44,780 What color the camel is, if there are 65 00:02:44,780 --> 00:02:46,440 colored camels, that doesn't matter. 66 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:48,900 But that he has a guide in water, 67 00:02:48,980 --> 00:02:49,980 that does matter. 68 00:02:49,980 --> 00:02:52,100 And a man who would try to cross 69 00:02:52,100 --> 00:02:55,200 the Sahara Desert without a guide and without 70 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,980 sufficient water, he's not gambling, he's not a 71 00:02:57,980 --> 00:03:01,340 bold, reckless, daring fellow taking a chance, he's 72 00:03:01,340 --> 00:03:03,680 a fool committing suicide, that's all. 73 00:03:04,180 --> 00:03:06,580 Because when it comes to crossing the ocean 74 00:03:06,580 --> 00:03:09,640 or crossing the desert, you've got to either 75 00:03:09,640 --> 00:03:11,220 be right or you'll be dead. 76 00:03:12,460 --> 00:03:15,440 Now, when it comes to my relation to 77 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,940 Jesus Christ, that is one of the few 78 00:03:18,940 --> 00:03:21,840 important things that matter in the whole wide 79 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:22,420 world. 80 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:27,260 That really matters because it's either be right 81 00:03:27,260 --> 00:03:28,520 about that or be lost. 82 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:31,800 When we are careless about our relation to 83 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:35,440 Christ, we are not bold fellows, we are 84 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:35,820 fools. 85 00:03:36,580 --> 00:03:40,860 We are not being careless, we're being criminally 86 00:03:40,860 --> 00:03:41,200 reckless, we're being reckless, we're being reckless, we're 87 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:41,300 being reckless, we're being reckless, we're being reckless, 88 00:03:41,300 --> 00:03:41,400 we're being reckless, we're being reckless, we're being 89 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:41,500 reckless, we're being reckless, we're being reckless, we're 90 00:03:41,500 --> 00:03:41,600 being reckless, we're being reckless, we're being reckless, 91 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:41,700 we're being reckless, we're being reckless, we're being 92 00:03:41,700 --> 00:03:41,800 reckless, we're being reckless, we're being reckless, we're 93 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:41,900 being reckless, we're being reckless, we're being reckless, 94 00:03:41,900 --> 00:03:42,000 we're being reckless, we're being reckless, we're being 95 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:42,100 reckless, we're being reckless, we're being reckless, we're 96 00:03:42,100 --> 00:03:42,200 being reckless, we're being reckless, we're being reckless, 97 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:45,060 and we're killing ourselves. 98 00:03:45,700 --> 00:03:48,320 We're making absolutely certain that we've perished. 99 00:03:49,300 --> 00:03:52,720 Now, our relation to Christ, the average person 100 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:53,560 takes for granted. 101 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:57,140 We say that Jesus Christ came into the 102 00:03:57,140 --> 00:03:58,820 world to save sinners, and that's true. 103 00:03:59,660 --> 00:04:01,700 We say we are saved by Christ alone 104 00:04:01,700 --> 00:04:03,620 without works, and that is all true. 105 00:04:03,820 --> 00:04:07,600 It is salvation through faith and grace without 106 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:09,140 works, that is all true. 107 00:04:09,980 --> 00:04:12,320 But the point is, how do I come 108 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:14,900 into saving relationship to Christ? 109 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:16,220 Now, that's the big matter. 110 00:04:16,740 --> 00:04:18,399 Did Jesus die for the whole world? 111 00:04:18,500 --> 00:04:19,540 Every Protestant believes. 112 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:22,740 That we are saved by faith without works? 113 00:04:22,900 --> 00:04:24,880 Every Evangelical Protestant believes. 114 00:04:25,740 --> 00:04:28,200 But how do I come into saving relationship 115 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:29,160 to Jesus Christ? 116 00:04:29,220 --> 00:04:31,220 There are millions in the world that have 117 00:04:31,220 --> 00:04:33,740 not come into saving relationship to Christ. 118 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:36,600 Not only that, there are millions who know 119 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,040 that Jesus Christ is the Savior, and that 120 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,460 by coming into saving relation to him they 121 00:04:42,460 --> 00:04:45,080 are saved, and they yet have not come 122 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:47,040 into saving relationship to Christ. 123 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,300 If I were to ask the question, how 124 00:04:51,300 --> 00:04:54,380 do I come into saving relationship to Christ, 125 00:04:54,420 --> 00:04:56,700 and drive you back into a corner and 126 00:04:56,700 --> 00:04:59,540 force you to answer, not only you, because 127 00:04:59,540 --> 00:05:02,120 I'm not being personal here, I just mean 128 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:05,460 the Evangelical Christians everywhere, there is one of 129 00:05:05,460 --> 00:05:08,620 three answers given, and they are usually synonymous 130 00:05:08,620 --> 00:05:09,880 and interchangeable. 131 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:12,480 One of them is taken from Acts 16, 132 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:14,820 Belief on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 133 00:05:14,820 --> 00:05:15,620 shalt be saved. 134 00:05:16,260 --> 00:05:17,880 The other one is taken from John 1, 135 00:05:18,060 --> 00:05:20,680 verse 12, Receive Christ as your own personal 136 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:22,300 Savior, and you shall be saved. 137 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:25,000 Then there is a third one that has 138 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,880 no biblical foundation at all, but seems to 139 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:31,400 be a sort of interchangeable use with John 140 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:33,820 1, verse 12, and that is the words, 141 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:35,060 Accept Christ. 142 00:05:36,100 --> 00:05:40,460 And that Accept Christ thing is going all 143 00:05:40,460 --> 00:05:43,880 around the world now, and accepting Christ is 144 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:46,600 being made a panacea for all ills. 145 00:05:46,740 --> 00:05:50,080 It's being recommended as the surest possible way 146 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:52,880 to whip the Russians and to conquer Communism. 147 00:05:53,300 --> 00:05:55,840 Accept Christ and there won't be any depression. 148 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:57,980 Accept Christ and your business will prosper. 149 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:01,380 Accept Christ and you'll stand the opposing batter. 150 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:04,260 Accept Christ and you'll knock out your opponent 151 00:06:04,260 --> 00:06:05,280 bloody on the ring. 152 00:06:05,740 --> 00:06:09,000 Accept Christ and your solar plexus will relax. 153 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:11,300 Accept Christ and you'll get the man you've 154 00:06:11,300 --> 00:06:12,200 been dreaming about. 155 00:06:12,380 --> 00:06:16,280 Accept Christ is the touted panacea for all 156 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:16,580 ills. 157 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:18,640 I want to ask the question, what do 158 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:21,040 we mean when we say, Accept Christ? 159 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,800 There's a lot of easy acceptance these days, 160 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:29,160 and it's being fatal to millions of people. 161 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,040 I may be preaching right now. 162 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:33,320 Let me say two or three things to 163 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:34,360 start out with, brethren. 164 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:36,940 I'm not cowed in the slightest, nor awed 165 00:06:36,940 --> 00:06:38,020 by you here at Pittsburgh. 166 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,100 You've got a big reputation and this conference 167 00:06:41,100 --> 00:06:42,900 is supposed to be a big thing, but 168 00:06:42,900 --> 00:06:44,540 you don't cow me a bit. 169 00:06:44,620 --> 00:06:47,240 I don't come here awed in a hushed 170 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:47,680 voice. 171 00:06:48,740 --> 00:06:50,880 I've seen crowds just as nice looking as 172 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:52,800 you, and where there was just as much 173 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:53,960 of the Holy Ghost present. 174 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:56,200 So you and I stand together, or kneel 175 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:58,480 together, exactly on the same level, and I'm 176 00:06:58,480 --> 00:06:59,780 not a bit afraid of you. 177 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:02,460 I love you, but I'm not a wee 178 00:07:02,460 --> 00:07:03,500 little bit scared. 179 00:07:04,020 --> 00:07:05,560 So that, I think we ought to get 180 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:07,040 started off right on that. 181 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,420 You can't awe me, but the fact that 182 00:07:10,420 --> 00:07:13,320 this is the great Northside-Pittsburgh convention, brethren, 183 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:16,080 you're on your road to the same little 184 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:18,220 hole in the side hill that I am. 185 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:20,900 And you're on your road either to heaven 186 00:07:20,900 --> 00:07:23,260 or hell, and I'm not always sure which. 187 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,540 Therefore, I want to talk very plain to 188 00:07:26,540 --> 00:07:26,640 you. 189 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:27,760 I know your pastor. 190 00:07:28,140 --> 00:07:30,400 He's a very kind, gentle, suave type of 191 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:32,000 man, and I'm a blunt farmer. 192 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:33,820 But he likes my kind of preaching, so 193 00:07:33,820 --> 00:07:34,980 he won't mind at all. 194 00:07:35,980 --> 00:07:37,860 So he and I agreed on this. 195 00:07:37,900 --> 00:07:39,400 He didn't tell me to say this, so 196 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:40,540 I thought it up myself. 197 00:07:43,860 --> 00:07:52,560 But that in our presence, all ready to 198 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:55,440 go, all full butterflies in your stomach and 199 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:57,200 all fluttery and ready for a week of 200 00:07:57,200 --> 00:07:59,580 wonders, you may not even be converted. 201 00:08:00,060 --> 00:08:02,340 You may not even be saved at all. 202 00:08:02,900 --> 00:08:05,140 You may have gotten in a window or 203 00:08:05,140 --> 00:08:06,860 leaped into a crack in the roof. 204 00:08:06,940 --> 00:08:08,240 You may not have come in the door 205 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:08,620 at all. 206 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:09,980 You may not be in the kingdom. 207 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:12,260 And that's why I'm going to probe around 208 00:08:12,260 --> 00:08:14,340 and help to find you. 209 00:08:14,500 --> 00:08:19,140 And if somebody howls, why, he's it. 210 00:08:19,460 --> 00:08:22,840 Now, what about it, this easy acceptance? 211 00:08:23,020 --> 00:08:24,680 I say it's been fatal to millions. 212 00:08:25,420 --> 00:08:27,720 You accept Christ and your problems are over. 213 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:30,080 Accept Christ and you say, that's true, but 214 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:32,039 it's presented in a manner that makes it 215 00:08:32,039 --> 00:08:35,679 untrue very often, because it makes the whole 216 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:36,659 attitude wrong. 217 00:08:37,039 --> 00:08:39,539 It puts Christ in an attitude of standing 218 00:08:39,539 --> 00:08:43,880 hat in hand awaiting our pleasure, forgetting that 219 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:47,180 he is the Sovereign Lord and that he 220 00:08:47,180 --> 00:08:49,500 can by a snap of his finger turn 221 00:08:49,500 --> 00:08:52,220 worlds out of being or bring worlds into 222 00:08:52,220 --> 00:08:55,280 being, and that he is the Sovereign Lord, 223 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:57,580 Second Person of the Trinity, and he waits 224 00:08:57,580 --> 00:08:59,340 hat in hand for no man. 225 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:01,740 And that is not what I think of 226 00:09:01,740 --> 00:09:03,120 him, but what he thinks of me. 227 00:09:03,180 --> 00:09:06,740 That's the most vital, fatal question that I 228 00:09:06,740 --> 00:09:09,280 can answer, and I ask myself now, is 229 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:10,960 what does Jesus Christ think of me, and 230 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:12,380 what's my relation to him? 231 00:09:13,100 --> 00:09:16,320 But always remember that instead of his applying 232 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:17,720 to us, we apply to him. 233 00:09:18,580 --> 00:09:22,020 That instead of a Christ waiting meekly and 234 00:09:22,020 --> 00:09:24,820 modestly like a paperboy outside waiting for his 235 00:09:24,820 --> 00:09:28,340 quarter, Jesus Christ stands in his tall majesty, 236 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:31,400 and you and I will either bow to 237 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:33,360 him and accept him in the right sense 238 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:35,340 of the word, or we'll turn away and 239 00:09:35,340 --> 00:09:36,180 leave him forever. 240 00:09:36,660 --> 00:09:38,260 And we can do the latter and still 241 00:09:38,260 --> 00:09:40,020 be religious as a Mohammedan. 242 00:09:41,700 --> 00:09:44,720 There's a lot of painless accepting of Jesus 243 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:45,360 these days. 244 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:48,560 This is being preached pretty broadly, that we've 245 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:50,720 taken all the pain out of accepting him. 246 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:53,000 How can I be saved except Christ? 247 00:09:53,100 --> 00:09:56,540 Accept Christ, go to Christ, and smile at 248 00:09:56,540 --> 00:09:57,940 the personal worker, and I'm in. 249 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:03,160 Now, brethren, any salvation that comes without pain 250 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:07,100 and without cost and without inconvenience is only 251 00:10:07,100 --> 00:10:10,300 a thin veneer, just a paint job, and 252 00:10:10,300 --> 00:10:12,840 underneath there may be rottenness and corruption and 253 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:13,680 dead men's bones. 254 00:10:14,300 --> 00:10:16,860 We ought to get that straight, that accepting 255 00:10:16,860 --> 00:10:20,160 Christ saves you, but accepting Christ isn't what 256 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:22,280 it's properly thought to be. 257 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:25,920 It might have worked, I suppose, in Israel's 258 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,100 day, if they had been willing to be 259 00:10:28,100 --> 00:10:30,060 as shallow as we seem to be willing 260 00:10:30,060 --> 00:10:32,560 to be, when the Lord said, you'll put 261 00:10:32,560 --> 00:10:35,620 blood on the doorposts and all that passover 262 00:10:35,620 --> 00:10:38,880 thing, and then they'd stayed in Egypt and 263 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:41,500 not rigid for the trumpet, not got their 264 00:10:41,500 --> 00:10:44,400 garments on and their shoes on their feet 265 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:45,840 and their hat in their hand and their 266 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:47,400 staff and ready to go. 267 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:50,380 Their descendants could have been in Egypt to 268 00:10:50,380 --> 00:10:51,280 this very hour. 269 00:10:52,660 --> 00:10:56,020 They had to act in the direction, yes, 270 00:10:56,180 --> 00:10:58,440 I accept Moses, I accept the passover, I 271 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:00,900 accept the blood, I accept the lamb, but 272 00:11:00,900 --> 00:11:02,040 I am staying in Egypt. 273 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:04,860 They could have perished in Egypt and died 274 00:11:04,860 --> 00:11:05,300 there. 275 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:07,320 They had to get up and be ready 276 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:09,140 to go, and then when the trumpet blew 277 00:11:09,140 --> 00:11:11,140 long, they had to get up and go, 278 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:13,360 or they'd still have been in Egypt. 279 00:11:14,560 --> 00:11:16,860 Then there's the story of the prodigal son 280 00:11:16,860 --> 00:11:18,360 who went into the far country. 281 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:21,320 Years ago I wrote a little script that 282 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:23,500 I had never printed, maybe someday I will, 283 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:26,100 but it was something like this. 284 00:11:26,180 --> 00:11:28,080 It said that there was a certain man 285 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,040 who had two sons, and one of them 286 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:33,200 said to his father, the younger one, give 287 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:35,260 me the portion of goods that follow up 288 00:11:35,260 --> 00:11:35,740 to me. 289 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:38,320 And the father divided unto them his living, 290 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:40,660 and after a few days the younger son 291 00:11:40,660 --> 00:11:43,740 took his departure into a far country, and 292 00:11:43,740 --> 00:11:47,160 there he wasted his substance with riotous living. 293 00:11:48,060 --> 00:11:51,100 And he joined himself to a farmer in 294 00:11:51,100 --> 00:11:53,300 that country, and the Jew that he was 295 00:11:53,300 --> 00:11:55,500 was sent out into the field to feed 296 00:11:55,500 --> 00:11:56,000 swine. 297 00:11:56,680 --> 00:11:58,860 And the pay was so low and the 298 00:11:58,860 --> 00:12:02,120 famine so bad that he fain would have 299 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:04,320 filled his belly with the husks if the 300 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:07,100 hogs hadn't been pushed him away. 301 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:10,880 He was there quite a while and sort 302 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:12,860 of got used to the smell of things 303 00:12:12,860 --> 00:12:14,720 and the look of things around there. 304 00:12:15,420 --> 00:12:17,580 And after he'd been there a few years, 305 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,980 lo and behold, a young man appeared, and 306 00:12:20,980 --> 00:12:23,960 he had some cracks in his pocket, and 307 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:26,700 he said to the younger brother who lies 308 00:12:26,700 --> 00:12:29,640 with the swine, I have good news for 309 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:30,900 you, good news. 310 00:12:31,380 --> 00:12:33,620 And the younger brother says, and what is 311 00:12:33,620 --> 00:12:34,360 it, pray tell? 312 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:36,400 I have news that your father is ready 313 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:39,380 to forgive you, if you'll only accept forgiveness. 314 00:12:40,180 --> 00:12:42,260 And the young man says, ah, the time 315 00:12:42,260 --> 00:12:44,140 of mine eyes have been dimmed with tears, 316 00:12:44,220 --> 00:12:46,360 thinking about the shoddy trick I played on 317 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:47,460 my poor old father. 318 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:49,920 And I certainly would like to be forgiven 319 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:51,580 for the way I treated him, but how 320 00:12:51,580 --> 00:12:53,800 can I be sure why? 321 00:12:53,980 --> 00:12:55,660 And then comes out the tract and the 322 00:12:55,660 --> 00:12:58,420 young evangelist says why you can be sure, 323 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:00,960 because it says here, whoever believeth in him 324 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:02,660 shall have remission of sin. 325 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:05,580 The young fellow cries softly, blows his nose 326 00:13:05,580 --> 00:13:08,840 twice, and gets up, and the evangelist says, 327 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:11,160 well, goodbye, and God bless you now, witness. 328 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:13,780 And he walks away and leaves them among 329 00:13:13,780 --> 00:13:16,480 the swine, and he never leaves the pen 330 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:18,400 at all, he stays right there. 331 00:13:18,900 --> 00:13:20,780 But after thinking it over a while and 332 00:13:20,780 --> 00:13:23,220 reading the tracts, he gets up, and he 333 00:13:23,220 --> 00:13:26,180 forms a little society of other swine herds 334 00:13:26,180 --> 00:13:28,020 who were willing to listen to the good 335 00:13:28,020 --> 00:13:31,040 news, and they clean out an old pen 336 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:33,700 and start a tabernacle and sing choruses. 337 00:13:34,460 --> 00:13:38,660 But it's noticed that the citizens of the 338 00:13:38,660 --> 00:13:47,410 far country, when they come, and the first 339 00:13:47,410 --> 00:13:50,770 church of the swine herd says, Praise be 340 00:13:50,770 --> 00:13:53,950 to the Lord, so persecuted they the prophets 341 00:13:53,950 --> 00:13:55,450 which were before me. 342 00:13:56,210 --> 00:13:58,010 They don't figure that it was that they 343 00:13:58,010 --> 00:14:00,250 smelled bad, but they were being persecuted. 344 00:14:01,030 --> 00:14:02,770 And then one day a man came and 345 00:14:02,770 --> 00:14:04,790 put the Bible under his arm, and he 346 00:14:04,790 --> 00:14:07,010 asked permission to speak, and they said, Speak 347 00:14:07,010 --> 00:14:07,430 on. 348 00:14:07,510 --> 00:14:10,750 And he quoted from Isaiah, Wash your hands, 349 00:14:11,310 --> 00:14:13,090 and cleanse your heart, and learn to do 350 00:14:13,090 --> 00:14:15,030 good, and cease to do evil, and straighten 351 00:14:15,030 --> 00:14:17,050 out, and keep my sabbaths, and obey my 352 00:14:17,050 --> 00:14:19,110 voice, and then come and let us reason 353 00:14:19,110 --> 00:14:21,610 together, saith the Lord, though your sins be 354 00:14:21,610 --> 00:14:22,110 as scarlet. 355 00:14:23,930 --> 00:14:25,790 But the elders of the first church of 356 00:14:25,790 --> 00:14:28,530 the swine herd rose, white-faced with anger, 357 00:14:28,690 --> 00:14:31,130 and said, This man is a heretic. 358 00:14:31,350 --> 00:14:32,130 He teaches evil. 359 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:36,480 Have you not been happy in this swine 360 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:38,000 pen lo these many years? 361 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:40,820 And they dumped the young man out, and 362 00:14:40,820 --> 00:14:43,300 he takes his Bible and disappears sadly down 363 00:14:43,300 --> 00:14:44,280 the road. 364 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:47,160 And still they sing choruses, and still the 365 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:50,380 populace walks around them because they find it 366 00:14:50,380 --> 00:14:53,180 inconvenient to come too close, because of the 367 00:14:53,180 --> 00:14:53,840 way they're living. 368 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:58,840 And back in the old days, when the 369 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:01,540 calf goes up and becomes a cow, and 370 00:15:01,540 --> 00:15:02,520 that's the end of the story. 371 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:08,460 But, brothers and sisters, that's the way we're 372 00:15:08,460 --> 00:15:09,340 doing it these days. 373 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:11,800 We're doing it these days, we're running around 374 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:19,900 killing people, and it's deadly as cyanide. 375 00:15:22,900 --> 00:15:25,000 No, no, no, the prodigal son had to 376 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,760 leave that dirty, smelly mess and come home 377 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:28,820 and get cleaned up. 378 00:15:30,900 --> 00:15:32,100 And so does every sinner. 379 00:15:33,260 --> 00:15:36,960 And no amount of tears or sobs or 380 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:41,140 thick phlegm in the throat or tender, quavering 381 00:15:41,140 --> 00:15:43,900 notes will change the solid truth of God, 382 00:15:44,660 --> 00:15:46,920 that except a man repent he shall surely 383 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:47,640 perish. 384 00:15:50,340 --> 00:15:55,740 Now, Jesus Christ was very clear about it 385 00:15:55,740 --> 00:15:56,080 all. 386 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:57,340 Clear as daylight. 387 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:01,300 With Jesus Christ, there never were any shadows, 388 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:03,320 never any wavy lines that you didn't know 389 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:04,000 where you were. 390 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:05,520 Never any shadows. 391 00:16:05,640 --> 00:16:08,200 Everything was either black as night or clear 392 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:08,680 and white. 393 00:16:09,460 --> 00:16:11,060 And it was an either-or with Jesus. 394 00:16:11,220 --> 00:16:12,960 You're either saved or you're lost, you're on 395 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:14,160 the road to heaven or you're on your 396 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:14,820 road to hell. 397 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:17,100 You are God's child or you're not. 398 00:16:17,420 --> 00:16:19,860 You've repented or you haven't, you're forgiven or 399 00:16:19,860 --> 00:16:20,460 you aren't. 400 00:16:20,740 --> 00:16:23,380 Always there was a clear line of demarcation. 401 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:27,160 But it's the desire to make converts that's 402 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:28,120 let the bars down. 403 00:16:28,780 --> 00:16:30,860 It's the desire to build up the church 404 00:16:30,860 --> 00:16:32,420 and get a bigger crowd that's let the 405 00:16:32,420 --> 00:16:33,060 bars down. 406 00:16:33,540 --> 00:16:34,880 And people can get in now. 407 00:16:35,020 --> 00:16:37,680 Almost anybody can get into the average church. 408 00:16:39,340 --> 00:16:43,000 Brethren, I don't know how much longer I'll 409 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:43,460 be around. 410 00:16:43,580 --> 00:16:46,120 Some old lady over at Hula Beach, she 411 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:48,460 says, dear brother, told her he's getting feeble. 412 00:16:49,340 --> 00:16:51,820 Well, I don't know whether she meant physically 413 00:16:51,820 --> 00:16:55,280 or mentally, but I'm not as feeble as 414 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:56,180 I might be yet. 415 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:57,500 But I'll tell you one thing. 416 00:16:58,060 --> 00:16:59,700 While I'm around, I'm not going to sell 417 00:16:59,700 --> 00:17:00,340 out the message. 418 00:17:01,020 --> 00:17:02,720 While I'm around, I'm going to draw the 419 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:06,680 line tight and sharp and say, look, make 420 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:09,380 your calling and election sure. 421 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:11,740 Now, what is it to believe in Christ, 422 00:17:11,819 --> 00:17:12,800 to accept Christ? 423 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:14,099 Well, let me get it to you. 424 00:17:15,500 --> 00:17:17,220 It is to form an attachment to the 425 00:17:17,220 --> 00:17:22,640 person of Christ that is revolutionary, that reverses 426 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:26,380 the life, that transforms the life and completely 427 00:17:26,380 --> 00:17:28,340 changes the whole character. 428 00:17:28,940 --> 00:17:31,000 That is to accept Christ, and if that 429 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,820 hasn't happened, then you have not accepted Christ. 430 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:36,580 It's to form an attachment to Christ that 431 00:17:36,580 --> 00:17:39,980 is not only revolutionary, but complete, and that 432 00:17:39,980 --> 00:17:42,420 leaves no part of the life unaffected. 433 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:45,600 Jesus Christ doesn't save people by chunks. 434 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:48,260 You can't save a man from hell by 435 00:17:48,260 --> 00:17:49,860 pieces any more than you can pull a 436 00:17:49,860 --> 00:17:51,180 man out of the sea in pieces. 437 00:17:51,860 --> 00:17:53,920 If a man is perishing, drowning in the 438 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:55,840 sea, they don't pull him out in chunks, 439 00:17:56,140 --> 00:17:58,120 they pull my whole man out in one 440 00:17:58,120 --> 00:17:58,960 whole piece. 441 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:01,720 And so Jesus Christ saves the whole man, 442 00:18:01,780 --> 00:18:03,700 the whole personality, all the man. 443 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:08,200 And when I accept Christ truly, I form 444 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:10,440 an attachment to Christ that is so complete 445 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:12,740 that it leaves no part of my life 446 00:18:12,740 --> 00:18:13,420 unaffected. 447 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:17,580 It exempts no area of my total being 448 00:18:17,580 --> 00:18:21,700 from his control, and is not only revolutionary 449 00:18:21,700 --> 00:18:23,260 and complete, but it's exclusive. 450 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:26,420 Christ is not one of several interests. 451 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:31,100 Christ is the supreme interest, and every other 452 00:18:31,100 --> 00:18:33,720 interest has its meaning and takes its significance 453 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:35,460 only from the fact that I have settled 454 00:18:35,460 --> 00:18:36,480 that supreme interest. 455 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:40,700 A really saved man has found Jesus Christ 456 00:18:40,700 --> 00:18:42,340 the supreme interest of his life. 457 00:18:45,270 --> 00:18:47,050 Now, let me say here, I got a 458 00:18:47,050 --> 00:18:48,830 nasty letter from a fellow one time for 459 00:18:48,830 --> 00:18:50,970 saying this in print, but I fixed it 460 00:18:50,970 --> 00:18:51,150 up. 461 00:18:51,890 --> 00:18:53,150 I wrote back and told him he was 462 00:18:53,150 --> 00:18:54,150 a nice fellow and he wrote me an 463 00:18:54,150 --> 00:18:54,370 article. 464 00:18:54,570 --> 00:18:58,690 But I don't believe in Saviorhood without Lordship. 465 00:18:59,250 --> 00:19:02,010 This is a modern heresy, that Jesus can 466 00:19:02,010 --> 00:19:03,990 save you by pieces and you can accept 467 00:19:03,990 --> 00:19:04,770 him in pieces. 468 00:19:05,550 --> 00:19:09,550 You can talk about your delayed payment, if 469 00:19:09,550 --> 00:19:10,690 you want to. 470 00:19:10,790 --> 00:19:13,210 You can buy automobiles and TVs that way, 471 00:19:13,290 --> 00:19:14,590 but you can't get saved that way. 472 00:19:15,450 --> 00:19:19,230 Nobody was ever saved yet who deliberately said, 473 00:19:19,690 --> 00:19:21,610 I will take Christ as my Savior and 474 00:19:21,610 --> 00:19:23,510 later I will figure out whether I want 475 00:19:23,510 --> 00:19:24,330 him as my Lord. 476 00:19:25,430 --> 00:19:28,470 Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord. 477 00:19:29,270 --> 00:19:30,610 And the Bible says that we are to 478 00:19:30,610 --> 00:19:33,190 believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, not on 479 00:19:33,190 --> 00:19:35,650 the Savior, but on the Lord Jesus Christ. 480 00:19:36,390 --> 00:19:38,590 And apart from the Lordship of Christ, there 481 00:19:38,590 --> 00:19:39,630 is no Saviorhood. 482 00:19:40,770 --> 00:19:43,270 But we have messed this whole thing up. 483 00:19:43,770 --> 00:19:45,050 In order to make a place for a 484 00:19:45,050 --> 00:19:46,890 second work of grace, we ruined the first 485 00:19:46,890 --> 00:19:49,210 work by telling the people they can be 486 00:19:49,210 --> 00:19:52,130 saved now and accept the merits of Jesus' 487 00:19:52,310 --> 00:19:54,630 blood now, and then later, maybe ten years, 488 00:19:54,810 --> 00:19:58,610 maybe ten days, maybe ten months later, they 489 00:19:58,610 --> 00:20:00,010 can take Jesus as their Lord. 490 00:20:00,070 --> 00:20:01,050 No, it won't do, my brother. 491 00:20:02,190 --> 00:20:04,210 I admit that sometimes we can come with 492 00:20:04,210 --> 00:20:06,550 a very imperfect knowledge of who Jesus is, 493 00:20:07,030 --> 00:20:08,770 and we can throw ourselves on his mercy 494 00:20:08,770 --> 00:20:11,570 and attach ourselves to his person, and later 495 00:20:11,570 --> 00:20:13,830 on there will be such a blaze of 496 00:20:13,830 --> 00:20:15,970 glory come to us as to his Lordship 497 00:20:15,970 --> 00:20:17,490 and to all that he is, that it 498 00:20:17,490 --> 00:20:19,370 will be to us like a second conversion. 499 00:20:20,450 --> 00:20:22,350 But if there is any reservation the first 500 00:20:22,350 --> 00:20:23,830 time, there will never be a second time. 501 00:20:24,450 --> 00:20:26,830 I cannot come and divide the offices of 502 00:20:26,830 --> 00:20:28,690 Jesus and say, I take him now as 503 00:20:28,690 --> 00:20:30,590 my Savior and I'll give some thought later 504 00:20:30,590 --> 00:20:32,030 to him as my Lord. 505 00:20:32,530 --> 00:20:34,770 My brother, if he can't control you, he 506 00:20:34,770 --> 00:20:35,510 can't save you. 507 00:20:35,930 --> 00:20:38,750 If he can't be Lord of your life, 508 00:20:38,790 --> 00:20:40,250 he can't be Savior of your soul. 509 00:20:40,950 --> 00:20:42,710 We might as well get that straightened around. 510 00:20:48,030 --> 00:20:49,710 To accept Christ is this. 511 00:20:49,830 --> 00:20:51,170 I'm not going to talk long tonight. 512 00:20:52,170 --> 00:20:53,510 To accept Christ is this. 513 00:20:53,850 --> 00:20:56,830 It's to accept his friends as my friends. 514 00:20:58,270 --> 00:20:59,370 And I'm glad for that. 515 00:20:59,430 --> 00:21:00,910 I've got so many wonderful friends. 516 00:21:00,970 --> 00:21:02,490 I don't deserve any, and I have so 517 00:21:02,490 --> 00:21:04,630 many wonderful friends. 518 00:21:05,070 --> 00:21:06,950 I know I'm getting old because they call 519 00:21:06,950 --> 00:21:07,730 me Our Beloved. 520 00:21:10,010 --> 00:21:12,370 When you begin to get old and battered, 521 00:21:12,410 --> 00:21:13,670 then they say, Our Beloved. 522 00:21:14,990 --> 00:21:16,770 When they cease to pay any attention to 523 00:21:16,770 --> 00:21:18,490 what they say, they give you a honorary 524 00:21:18,490 --> 00:21:20,010 degree called Our Beloved. 525 00:21:20,830 --> 00:21:23,870 They're calling me Our Beloved now, and I 526 00:21:23,870 --> 00:21:25,130 don't know whether anybody is listening to me 527 00:21:25,130 --> 00:21:25,850 much or not. 528 00:21:26,330 --> 00:21:28,350 But I still have my friends, and I 529 00:21:28,350 --> 00:21:29,950 have some wonderful friends. 530 00:21:30,830 --> 00:21:33,910 And we accept his friends as our friends. 531 00:21:34,030 --> 00:21:36,110 Some of our dear young people try to 532 00:21:36,110 --> 00:21:39,030 accept him and then keep their old unsaved 533 00:21:39,030 --> 00:21:39,570 friends. 534 00:21:39,930 --> 00:21:41,050 Can't do it, Junior. 535 00:21:41,630 --> 00:21:42,650 Can't do it. 536 00:21:43,450 --> 00:21:45,510 If you do not quit the old game, 537 00:21:46,170 --> 00:21:48,430 you prove that you have not accepted Christ 538 00:21:48,430 --> 00:21:49,890 in any right sense of the word. 539 00:21:50,410 --> 00:21:52,470 For to accept the Master is to accept 540 00:21:52,470 --> 00:21:54,090 all the servants of the Master. 541 00:21:54,630 --> 00:21:56,010 To accept the head of the house is 542 00:21:56,010 --> 00:21:58,010 to accept all the children of the household. 543 00:21:58,690 --> 00:22:00,730 And to accept Jesus is to accept Jesus' 544 00:22:00,890 --> 00:22:01,350 friends. 545 00:22:03,570 --> 00:22:07,310 I think there's probably no one thing that 546 00:22:07,310 --> 00:22:09,870 injures as many young Christians, I mean youthful 547 00:22:09,870 --> 00:22:11,750 Christians, as bad friendships. 548 00:22:12,990 --> 00:22:14,970 I see them in my church, I suppose 549 00:22:14,970 --> 00:22:16,090 everywhere it's the same. 550 00:22:16,650 --> 00:22:18,410 They come and they go through, and we 551 00:22:18,410 --> 00:22:21,050 put them through every grilling, and we know 552 00:22:21,050 --> 00:22:22,890 how to try to make them see what 553 00:22:22,890 --> 00:22:23,710 there's to be saved. 554 00:22:24,130 --> 00:22:26,010 And they seem to be converted, and we 555 00:22:26,010 --> 00:22:28,710 think they're converted, but they don't leave the 556 00:22:28,710 --> 00:22:29,490 old crowd. 557 00:22:29,870 --> 00:22:31,390 They go back and love you, the old 558 00:22:31,390 --> 00:22:33,570 gang, and in two weeks' time they're cooling 559 00:22:33,570 --> 00:22:35,530 off, and in two months' time they're backslidden. 560 00:22:37,410 --> 00:22:39,450 Now, if you're going to be a friend 561 00:22:39,450 --> 00:22:41,350 of Jesus, you're going to have to be 562 00:22:41,350 --> 00:22:42,870 a friend of Jesus' friends. 563 00:22:43,950 --> 00:22:45,650 And the sweetest people in the world are 564 00:22:45,650 --> 00:22:46,690 the friends of Jesus. 565 00:22:47,730 --> 00:22:49,730 Now, learned people, I like to be with 566 00:22:49,730 --> 00:22:50,570 learned people. 567 00:22:51,050 --> 00:22:53,550 I like to be with sharp-brained, trenchant 568 00:22:53,550 --> 00:22:56,430 thinkers that can out-Plato-Plato. 569 00:22:57,190 --> 00:22:59,850 But I love God's people better than I 570 00:22:59,850 --> 00:23:01,930 do with the thinkers, because the thinkers can 571 00:23:01,930 --> 00:23:04,450 be such lamely, miserable wretches often. 572 00:23:04,810 --> 00:23:06,930 But the dear children of God always have 573 00:23:06,930 --> 00:23:08,150 a flavor about them. 574 00:23:08,570 --> 00:23:11,470 It's the aroma, the sweet fragrance, of the 575 00:23:11,470 --> 00:23:13,750 lure of the valley and the rosewood shand, 576 00:23:14,270 --> 00:23:16,710 and the garment smell of married aloes and 577 00:23:16,710 --> 00:23:18,510 cash out of the ivory palaces. 578 00:23:19,190 --> 00:23:21,430 And you know something, brothers and sisters, if 579 00:23:21,430 --> 00:23:24,070 I'm around you very long, I'll sniff, and 580 00:23:24,070 --> 00:23:26,410 if I don't smell the fragrance of Sharon's 581 00:23:26,410 --> 00:23:28,770 dewy rose, I'll pray for your salvation. 582 00:23:29,650 --> 00:23:30,450 Yes, sir. 583 00:23:31,110 --> 00:23:34,770 A bee always comes back smelling like where 584 00:23:34,770 --> 00:23:47,150 he's been, and 585 00:23:47,150 --> 00:23:49,990 you'd catch one, hold him carefully from the 586 00:23:49,990 --> 00:23:51,510 top, and smell him. 587 00:23:51,650 --> 00:23:52,630 He smelled like buckwheat. 588 00:23:52,710 --> 00:23:54,870 You always smell like where you've been. 589 00:23:55,670 --> 00:23:59,010 And a Christian that walks with Jesus always 590 00:23:59,010 --> 00:24:01,890 has a fragrance of Jesus about him, a 591 00:24:01,890 --> 00:24:04,610 moral sweetness of Jesus upon his life. 592 00:24:05,270 --> 00:24:08,730 Well, then, to accept Christ is to accept 593 00:24:08,730 --> 00:24:10,550 Christ's enemies as my enemies. 594 00:24:11,290 --> 00:24:12,610 And that takes some courage. 595 00:24:12,690 --> 00:24:14,790 The first is fellowship, and the second is 596 00:24:14,790 --> 00:24:15,370 courage. 597 00:24:16,130 --> 00:24:19,470 God has so many half-saved Christians, so 598 00:24:19,470 --> 00:24:20,890 many that I don't know whether they're in 599 00:24:20,890 --> 00:24:22,250 or out, and I know or don't think 600 00:24:22,250 --> 00:24:24,170 anybody does, but God, I don't know whether 601 00:24:24,170 --> 00:24:25,690 the angels even know or not. 602 00:24:26,350 --> 00:24:27,550 But God knows. 603 00:24:28,250 --> 00:24:30,910 But they will not allow themselves to make 604 00:24:30,910 --> 00:24:31,510 any enemies. 605 00:24:31,610 --> 00:24:33,430 They're going to be a friend to everybody, 606 00:24:33,670 --> 00:24:36,730 including Hitler and the devil, but they're still 607 00:24:36,730 --> 00:24:38,330 going to sneak into the kingdom of God 608 00:24:38,330 --> 00:24:38,710 somehow. 609 00:24:39,210 --> 00:24:41,070 Man will never make it. 610 00:24:41,430 --> 00:24:43,950 Why don't you stand up and realize that 611 00:24:43,950 --> 00:24:46,550 Jesus Christ has enemies that hate the ground 612 00:24:46,550 --> 00:24:47,410 you walk on? 613 00:24:47,970 --> 00:24:50,110 And they'll not be his friend, and they'll 614 00:24:50,110 --> 00:24:51,290 not be your friend. 615 00:24:52,470 --> 00:24:54,830 Perfectly willing to make enemies for Jesus' sake 616 00:24:54,830 --> 00:24:56,170 always have been. 617 00:24:57,210 --> 00:24:58,530 You know, it's the oddest thing. 618 00:24:58,590 --> 00:25:00,590 A lot of Christians lose friends trying to 619 00:25:00,590 --> 00:25:02,150 make friends and influence people. 620 00:25:02,970 --> 00:25:06,110 And some other Christians make friends perfectly willing 621 00:25:06,110 --> 00:25:06,850 to make enemies. 622 00:25:07,510 --> 00:25:09,850 Years ago I had to decide whether I 623 00:25:09,850 --> 00:25:11,710 was going to try to please everybody or 624 00:25:11,710 --> 00:25:13,690 please God and let the chips fall where 625 00:25:13,690 --> 00:25:14,090 they would. 626 00:25:14,570 --> 00:25:16,190 And I've had more friends since than I 627 00:25:16,190 --> 00:25:17,830 had before, but they're the right kind of 628 00:25:17,830 --> 00:25:18,170 friends. 629 00:25:18,290 --> 00:25:19,330 That's the main thing. 630 00:25:20,150 --> 00:25:23,210 To accept Christ means to accept Christ's ways, 631 00:25:23,650 --> 00:25:24,610 which is obedience. 632 00:25:25,330 --> 00:25:27,270 You can't say, I have accepted Christ and 633 00:25:27,270 --> 00:25:28,470 then go some other direction. 634 00:25:28,610 --> 00:25:30,650 You've got to go the direction he's going 635 00:25:30,650 --> 00:25:34,230 in all times, under all circumstances, in your 636 00:25:34,230 --> 00:25:36,330 home and in your business and everywhere. 637 00:25:37,250 --> 00:25:40,510 To accept Christ is to accept his rejection 638 00:25:40,510 --> 00:25:41,890 as my rejection. 639 00:25:42,990 --> 00:25:43,430 F. 640 00:25:43,650 --> 00:25:43,970 W. 641 00:25:45,410 --> 00:25:45,850 H. 642 00:25:45,950 --> 00:25:46,070 F. 643 00:25:46,110 --> 00:25:48,550 Meyer, the great English poet, one of the 644 00:25:48,550 --> 00:25:50,970 great English poets, was also a Christian. 645 00:25:51,930 --> 00:25:53,290 And he wrote some beautiful things. 646 00:25:53,350 --> 00:25:55,530 He wrote a thing called St. Paul, and 647 00:25:55,530 --> 00:25:57,770 in that he was good enough that he 648 00:25:57,770 --> 00:25:59,030 ranked up along with Tennyson. 649 00:25:59,050 --> 00:26:01,850 He was an ordinary psalm writer. 650 00:26:02,750 --> 00:26:06,030 But he said something speaking for Paul, as 651 00:26:06,030 --> 00:26:06,910 though he were Paul. 652 00:26:07,550 --> 00:26:09,390 He said, and God forbid that I should 653 00:26:09,390 --> 00:26:12,510 fall into the treason of accepting an honor 654 00:26:12,510 --> 00:26:14,050 which they gave not me. 655 00:26:15,870 --> 00:26:17,230 Do you understand that? 656 00:26:18,810 --> 00:26:21,490 Be received by those who reject my Savior, 657 00:26:21,670 --> 00:26:24,170 welcomed by those who turn my Lord out 658 00:26:24,170 --> 00:26:26,950 into the knife, loved by those who hate 659 00:26:26,950 --> 00:26:28,330 the one who died for me. 660 00:26:28,570 --> 00:26:29,910 Never, never can it be. 661 00:26:30,970 --> 00:26:33,050 There's a certain rejection that the people of 662 00:26:33,050 --> 00:26:34,550 God have to get. 663 00:26:34,650 --> 00:26:35,650 Now, I'm going to tell you something. 664 00:26:35,770 --> 00:26:37,090 I'm old enough, I'm fifty-eight. 665 00:26:37,470 --> 00:26:38,770 A man who's fifty-eight can always earn 666 00:26:38,770 --> 00:26:40,250 his right to say anything he wants to 667 00:26:40,250 --> 00:26:41,330 with decency. 668 00:26:41,810 --> 00:26:44,470 And I'll tell you this, brethren, I hope 669 00:26:44,470 --> 00:26:46,290 you never get so big and popular over 670 00:26:46,290 --> 00:26:48,730 here that you lose the stigmata of the 671 00:26:48,730 --> 00:26:50,310 cross of Jesus off of you. 672 00:26:51,950 --> 00:26:55,130 Northside Pittsburgh Church grew out of the stigmata 673 00:26:55,130 --> 00:26:58,330 of the cross, the rejection and the blood 674 00:26:58,330 --> 00:27:00,370 and the spitting and the shame. 675 00:27:01,550 --> 00:27:03,510 I hope you never prosper to a point 676 00:27:03,510 --> 00:27:05,650 where you think you can get along without 677 00:27:05,650 --> 00:27:07,250 the stigmata of the cross. 678 00:27:08,710 --> 00:27:10,430 A great evangelist came to B. 679 00:27:10,450 --> 00:27:10,570 L. 680 00:27:10,590 --> 00:27:11,750 Moody and said, and not B. 681 00:27:11,770 --> 00:27:11,870 L. 682 00:27:11,870 --> 00:27:12,310 Moody, but A. 683 00:27:12,310 --> 00:27:12,410 B. 684 00:27:12,490 --> 00:27:15,390 Simpson, and said, Dr. Simpson, if you'd stop 685 00:27:15,390 --> 00:27:17,150 preaching healing, you'd be one of the most 686 00:27:17,150 --> 00:27:18,810 popular evangelists in America. 687 00:27:19,630 --> 00:27:22,730 He said, Brother, I always want to keep 688 00:27:22,730 --> 00:27:24,550 something of the shame of the cross on 689 00:27:24,550 --> 00:27:25,050 my ministry. 690 00:27:26,370 --> 00:27:28,750 And we'll be to us anywhere in Chicago 691 00:27:28,750 --> 00:27:31,670 or Pittsburgh or anywhere in the day when 692 00:27:31,670 --> 00:27:32,950 they speak well of us and too many 693 00:27:32,950 --> 00:27:33,690 people like us. 694 00:27:34,490 --> 00:27:35,990 His rejection is my rejection. 695 00:27:36,750 --> 00:27:39,490 I won't ask to be rejected, and I 696 00:27:39,490 --> 00:27:42,490 won't seek persecution, but I want to walk 697 00:27:42,490 --> 00:27:45,910 so close to him that when they reject 698 00:27:45,910 --> 00:27:47,470 him, they'll dump me out along with him. 699 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:52,380 And then it's to accept his cross as 700 00:27:52,380 --> 00:27:54,800 my cross, and that means death. 701 00:27:55,780 --> 00:27:58,240 There was a cross on the hill, and 702 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:00,280 that cross on the hill meant salvation to 703 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:00,520 me. 704 00:28:01,420 --> 00:28:03,260 But there's a cross in my heart, and 705 00:28:03,260 --> 00:28:05,540 that cross in my heart means sanctification to 706 00:28:05,540 --> 00:28:05,780 me. 707 00:28:06,620 --> 00:28:08,780 But we don't hear much about it anymore. 708 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,060 You can examine young fellows out of Nyack, 709 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:13,340 and they don't know what you mean when 710 00:28:13,340 --> 00:28:15,100 you say that deeper life or the second 711 00:28:15,100 --> 00:28:17,480 work of grace or sanctified life. 712 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:19,040 They look at you innocent as a young 713 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:20,720 calf, and they say, We didn't hear that. 714 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:21,380 What do you mean? 715 00:28:22,780 --> 00:28:24,360 Brother, I know when you heard it, I 716 00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:26,360 went through it. 717 00:28:27,420 --> 00:28:29,520 Oh, I thank God for the privilege of 718 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:29,880 dying. 719 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:31,160 Yes, sir. 720 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:34,200 My dear old mother-in-law, God bless 721 00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:36,060 her memory, she sleeps with the just and 722 00:28:36,060 --> 00:28:38,740 sings with the Saints in the glory. 723 00:28:39,780 --> 00:28:41,280 She got me down on my knees in 724 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:44,260 the living room beside the old pump organ 725 00:28:44,260 --> 00:28:46,780 and said, Young man, you need to be 726 00:28:46,780 --> 00:28:48,360 baptized with the Holy Ghost. 727 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:51,420 All I thought I needed was just to 728 00:28:51,420 --> 00:28:52,700 let my personality flash. 729 00:28:52,780 --> 00:28:54,540 I had personality then, and I lost it 730 00:28:54,540 --> 00:28:54,780 later. 731 00:28:54,860 --> 00:28:57,160 But I used to have a flashing personality 732 00:28:57,160 --> 00:28:59,080 and black hair, lots of it, lots of 733 00:28:59,080 --> 00:28:59,500 black hair. 734 00:28:59,620 --> 00:29:01,480 I'd toss it when I preached, toss my 735 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:24,290 black hair out of 736 00:29:24,290 --> 00:29:26,110 the Holy Scripture and it really made you 737 00:29:26,110 --> 00:29:26,490 stay. 738 00:29:27,390 --> 00:29:29,890 So after hours and hours of dying and 739 00:29:29,890 --> 00:29:32,070 dying and dying until I thought I was 740 00:29:32,070 --> 00:29:35,470 pretty close to dying, until all my joy 741 00:29:35,470 --> 00:29:37,190 went and all my self-confidence went and 742 00:29:37,190 --> 00:29:40,870 all my peace went and everything went, and 743 00:29:40,870 --> 00:29:41,490 I was finished. 744 00:29:42,490 --> 00:29:44,810 And I felt unsaved and lost and miserable 745 00:29:44,810 --> 00:29:47,570 and rejected and almost felt like saying, Eli, 746 00:29:47,630 --> 00:29:49,230 Eli, I want to sit back there. 747 00:29:49,350 --> 00:29:51,970 My God, my God, why have you forsaken 748 00:29:51,970 --> 00:29:52,290 me? 749 00:29:53,650 --> 00:29:55,330 And just at that hour a verse of 750 00:29:55,330 --> 00:29:56,810 scripture was quoted in my ears and I 751 00:29:56,810 --> 00:29:58,770 believed it, and down came the Holy Ghost 752 00:29:58,770 --> 00:30:02,310 like a flood of golden oil and leaped 753 00:30:02,310 --> 00:30:04,330 into my spirit like a lightning flash and 754 00:30:04,330 --> 00:30:08,080 went to the depths of my body. 755 00:30:08,300 --> 00:30:10,440 I had to die first though, but nowadays 756 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:11,520 they have a shortcut. 757 00:30:12,220 --> 00:30:14,480 They teach you how in seven easy lessons. 758 00:30:14,860 --> 00:30:16,360 You can buy a little booklet to show 759 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:17,760 you how to be filled with the Spirit. 760 00:30:18,900 --> 00:30:20,420 But the way I was filled was after 761 00:30:20,420 --> 00:30:23,220 God had killed me, then Ken resurrected me, 762 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:26,120 and I take his cross as my cross. 763 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,520 The cross that slew him slays me, and 764 00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,120 the cross in which he was raised up 765 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:31,940 I am raised up. 766 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:34,780 And then it means his life is my 767 00:30:34,780 --> 00:30:35,120 life. 768 00:30:35,220 --> 00:30:37,120 I accept his life as my life. 769 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:38,320 That's resurrection. 770 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:41,620 I read a book one time, what was 771 00:30:41,620 --> 00:30:42,280 that book called? 772 00:30:42,300 --> 00:30:43,180 Written by an Englishman. 773 00:30:43,260 --> 00:30:44,740 He should have been doing something else at 774 00:30:44,740 --> 00:30:45,200 the time. 775 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:48,460 I forget the name of the book, but 776 00:30:48,460 --> 00:30:49,560 it was about the cross. 777 00:30:50,660 --> 00:30:52,500 And so after I had read that, it 778 00:30:52,500 --> 00:30:53,780 was years after I was filled with the 779 00:30:53,780 --> 00:30:55,360 Spirit, I read that book on the cross. 780 00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:58,140 And that day Brother had a concept of 781 00:30:58,140 --> 00:31:00,120 the cross that I think was very inadequate. 782 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:02,320 He kept me up on the cross all 783 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:02,840 the time. 784 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:05,300 And when I was through, I was still 785 00:31:05,300 --> 00:31:06,000 on the cross. 786 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:08,860 But I remember that even Jesus only hung 787 00:31:08,860 --> 00:31:10,780 on the cross six hours, and then he 788 00:31:10,780 --> 00:31:11,260 quit. 789 00:31:11,580 --> 00:31:12,180 He died. 790 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:20,820 Now I believe it's entirely possible for us 791 00:31:20,820 --> 00:31:22,600 to have this business of dying, get it 792 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:23,140 out of the road. 793 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:24,360 Oh, I know there's a sense in which 794 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:26,760 we die daily, but I also know there 795 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:28,420 is a sense in which we come to 796 00:31:28,420 --> 00:31:31,280 Jesus Christ's cross, and own that cross as 797 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:33,660 our cross, and then go on to believe 798 00:31:33,660 --> 00:31:35,460 in his resurrection from the dead. 799 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,420 What made Dr. Simpson the great Christian leader 800 00:31:39,420 --> 00:31:41,800 he was, was not that he taught the 801 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:42,060 cross. 802 00:31:42,140 --> 00:31:43,640 A lot of men teach the cross. 803 00:31:44,420 --> 00:31:45,700 I could read the word, but I will 804 00:31:45,700 --> 00:31:46,720 not for decency's sake. 805 00:31:46,860 --> 00:31:48,640 There came a certain woman writer in England 806 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:50,040 at about that time. 807 00:31:50,340 --> 00:31:52,380 She had you on the cross all the 808 00:31:52,380 --> 00:31:52,680 time. 809 00:31:52,740 --> 00:31:54,760 You never got down off of that cross. 810 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:57,580 And I read devotional books that keep you 811 00:31:57,580 --> 00:31:58,880 on the cross all the time. 812 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:00,660 The Brethren, it is such a thing as 813 00:32:00,660 --> 00:32:04,260 getting your dying over with, and then rising 814 00:32:04,260 --> 00:32:06,320 in faith with Jesus Christ to a new, 815 00:32:06,380 --> 00:32:08,860 beautiful, wonderful life in God. 816 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:12,420 Then if you ever get off the track 817 00:32:12,420 --> 00:32:14,600 somewhere, you'll feel that cross again. 818 00:32:14,980 --> 00:32:15,920 But you don't have to. 819 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:18,300 You can walk with a Savior, bump out 820 00:32:18,300 --> 00:32:24,030 down, accept his future as your future, which 821 00:32:24,030 --> 00:32:26,170 means union and identification with Jesus. 822 00:32:27,130 --> 00:32:28,910 And when we sing at our altar calls, 823 00:32:28,910 --> 00:32:30,530 a song that never was written for an 824 00:32:30,530 --> 00:32:32,670 altar at all, it's Where He Leads Me, 825 00:32:32,750 --> 00:32:33,410 I Will Follow. 826 00:32:34,330 --> 00:32:36,490 And we've sung that at the altar calls 827 00:32:36,490 --> 00:32:39,830 until we have associated that song with the 828 00:32:39,830 --> 00:32:42,150 invitation to a point where the average Christian, 829 00:32:42,190 --> 00:32:44,470 if he were asked, would admit that he 830 00:32:44,470 --> 00:32:46,570 thinks of the Where He Leads Me, I 831 00:32:46,570 --> 00:32:48,770 Will Follow as falling down the aisle of 832 00:32:48,770 --> 00:32:49,150 an altar. 833 00:32:50,110 --> 00:32:52,290 But that's not an altar song, that's a 834 00:32:52,290 --> 00:32:53,050 life song. 835 00:32:53,130 --> 00:32:55,330 That's a song for tomorrow and next year 836 00:32:55,330 --> 00:32:57,070 and the next decade and the next score 837 00:32:57,070 --> 00:32:58,650 of years of Jesus' territory. 838 00:32:59,230 --> 00:33:01,070 Where He Leads Me, I Will Follow means 839 00:33:01,070 --> 00:33:04,850 that I, by accepting Christ, have identified myself 840 00:33:04,850 --> 00:33:08,710 with his holy being, his person, to a 841 00:33:08,710 --> 00:33:11,790 point that wherever he goes, I'll go and 842 00:33:11,790 --> 00:33:12,510 know why. 843 00:33:14,780 --> 00:33:16,440 The old prophet was on his way to 844 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:19,580 be whipped off into heaven, and his young 845 00:33:19,580 --> 00:33:21,980 assistant pastor was following along behind him. 846 00:33:22,980 --> 00:33:24,660 The old man wasn't sure of the boy. 847 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:27,120 He knew he had a lot of gift, 848 00:33:27,220 --> 00:33:28,300 but he didn't know whether he was willing 849 00:33:28,300 --> 00:33:29,020 to die or not. 850 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:30,920 He said, I'm going over here to such 851 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:32,860 -and-such, and you're going back home. 852 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,140 And he said, as the Lord liveth, I'll 853 00:33:35,140 --> 00:33:36,900 not go back, I'm going where you're going. 854 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:39,040 He followed him clear through the Jordan. 855 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:42,560 That's following your prophet, and that's following Jesus. 856 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:45,600 I don't want him to go anywhere that 857 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:47,600 I can't go, and I don't want him 858 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:49,460 to go anywhere that he can't go. 859 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:51,860 And I don't want to have any honor 860 00:33:51,860 --> 00:33:53,640 that he can't have, and I don't want 861 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:55,500 to be put anyplace where they wouldn't have 862 00:33:55,500 --> 00:33:55,840 him. 863 00:33:58,830 --> 00:34:00,850 That's where power lies, ladies and gentlemen. 864 00:34:01,090 --> 00:34:03,870 It doesn't lie in advertising, it doesn't lie 865 00:34:03,870 --> 00:34:06,710 in personality, it doesn't even lie in intellect. 866 00:34:07,670 --> 00:34:11,090 Power lies in following the Lamb wheresoever he 867 00:34:11,090 --> 00:34:11,350 goes. 868 00:34:12,770 --> 00:34:15,030 This is to receive Jesus, this is to 869 00:34:15,030 --> 00:34:16,290 accept him and believe in him. 870 00:34:16,989 --> 00:34:18,790 If you go wrong here, it'll be fatal 871 00:34:18,790 --> 00:34:19,310 to you. 872 00:34:19,969 --> 00:34:21,449 It's either be right or be lost. 873 00:34:21,650 --> 00:34:25,830 There's no middle ground, no compromise, no halfway. 874 00:34:25,989 --> 00:34:27,710 It's either be right or be lost. 875 00:34:28,590 --> 00:34:30,230 And now in the name of Jesus Christ, 876 00:34:30,670 --> 00:34:33,989 this five minutes after 902 minutes, in the 877 00:34:33,989 --> 00:34:37,570 name of our mutual Savior and Lord, won't 878 00:34:37,570 --> 00:34:39,050 you think it over about yourself? 879 00:34:39,830 --> 00:34:42,570 Are you sure that when you accepted Christ, 880 00:34:42,570 --> 00:34:45,469 anything really happened, that you really got in? 881 00:34:46,050 --> 00:34:47,230 You say, I feel good? 882 00:34:47,310 --> 00:34:48,270 Yeah, sure. 883 00:34:48,710 --> 00:34:51,050 They feel good when they're bebopping down here 884 00:34:51,050 --> 00:34:53,110 at the hottest night spot in Pittsburgh. 885 00:34:53,909 --> 00:34:55,989 You can work yourself up into a wonderful 886 00:34:55,989 --> 00:34:56,310 time. 887 00:34:56,390 --> 00:34:57,850 A lot of religious people have a good 888 00:34:57,850 --> 00:34:59,210 time, but it's just psychic. 889 00:34:59,750 --> 00:35:01,450 It's flesh, it isn't spiritual. 890 00:35:02,350 --> 00:35:04,370 When you accepted Christ, did you accept his 891 00:35:04,370 --> 00:35:06,710 friends forever as your friends, his enemies forever 892 00:35:06,710 --> 00:35:08,670 as your enemies, his ways as your ways, 893 00:35:08,750 --> 00:35:10,850 his rejection as your rejection, his cross as 894 00:35:10,850 --> 00:35:13,730 your cross, his life as your life, and 895 00:35:13,730 --> 00:35:16,050 his future as your future, world without end? 896 00:35:16,770 --> 00:35:18,230 If you didn't, I don't think you're saved 897 00:35:18,230 --> 00:35:18,690 at all. 898 00:35:18,790 --> 00:35:22,250 You've been deluded, deceived. 899 00:35:23,250 --> 00:35:24,990 May God Almighty help us. 900 00:35:25,050 --> 00:35:27,550 Moral sanity requires we settle this first. 901 00:35:27,710 --> 00:35:30,730 Don't take it for granted, but make your 902 00:35:30,730 --> 00:35:32,330 calling in the election sure. 903 00:35:34,150 --> 00:35:36,910 Dear brother Tom Hare, some of you know 904 00:35:36,910 --> 00:35:38,190 him here in Pittsburgh, I'm sure. 905 00:35:39,710 --> 00:35:43,850 The old praying Irishman, Scottish false, preaches too 906 00:35:43,850 --> 00:35:44,850 long and too loud. 907 00:35:46,150 --> 00:35:47,790 But he's a dear saint of every one 908 00:35:47,790 --> 00:35:48,050 way. 909 00:35:48,630 --> 00:35:50,130 I saw him in Beulah Beach. 910 00:35:50,590 --> 00:35:52,410 He's just around as I am, skinny. 911 00:35:53,190 --> 00:35:55,270 I put my arm around his old fat 912 00:35:55,270 --> 00:35:57,290 Irish body, and he put his arm around 913 00:35:57,290 --> 00:35:59,830 my skinny American body, and we walked over 914 00:35:59,830 --> 00:36:01,950 the Greensward Road, Beulah Beach, together and said, 915 00:36:01,950 --> 00:36:02,810 where are you going, Tom? 916 00:36:03,830 --> 00:36:08,370 Well, he said, after I leave here, I'm 917 00:36:08,370 --> 00:36:10,630 going back, 13th of September, I'm going to 918 00:36:10,630 --> 00:36:14,450 fly back home, and I'm going to call 919 00:36:14,450 --> 00:36:15,650 a moratorium on talking. 920 00:36:15,650 --> 00:36:17,190 He said, I've been talking too much. 921 00:36:17,610 --> 00:36:18,590 What's my trouble, brother? 922 00:36:18,650 --> 00:36:19,930 I've been talking too much. 923 00:36:20,530 --> 00:36:22,450 He said, I'm going back home, and I'm 924 00:36:22,450 --> 00:36:25,550 going to stop all talking, all engaging, all 925 00:36:25,550 --> 00:36:26,950 preaching for six months. 926 00:36:27,170 --> 00:36:30,190 He said, I'm going to spend six months 927 00:36:30,190 --> 00:36:33,930 searching my own heart and having the judgment 928 00:36:33,930 --> 00:36:36,530 seat of Christ now while I can do 929 00:36:36,530 --> 00:36:37,510 something about it. 930 00:36:38,950 --> 00:36:41,450 There is wisdom from on high, ladies and 931 00:36:41,450 --> 00:36:41,750 gentlemen. 932 00:36:42,490 --> 00:36:44,390 Even though he prayed three nights a week 933 00:36:44,390 --> 00:36:47,550 for years and years, and even though he 934 00:36:47,550 --> 00:36:49,690 walked so close to God that he shamed 935 00:36:49,690 --> 00:36:52,890 the rest of us, he still had talked 936 00:36:52,890 --> 00:36:55,410 himself thin and was going back home to 937 00:36:55,410 --> 00:36:57,110 have a little judgment seat of Christ. 938 00:36:57,230 --> 00:36:58,570 He said, I want to know the worst 939 00:36:58,570 --> 00:37:00,930 about meself while I can do something about 940 00:37:00,930 --> 00:37:01,170 it. 941 00:37:02,910 --> 00:37:03,910 I prayed for you. 942 00:37:04,950 --> 00:37:08,090 You'd let the excitement of everything carry along, 943 00:37:08,630 --> 00:37:10,550 lean back and refuse to be moved by 944 00:37:10,550 --> 00:37:11,190 mere excitement. 945 00:37:11,630 --> 00:37:14,930 Ask yourself, my soul, how is it with 946 00:37:14,930 --> 00:37:15,090 you? 947 00:37:15,770 --> 00:37:17,890 Ask God, my God, am I really in, 948 00:37:17,970 --> 00:37:19,010 or do I just think I'm in? 949 00:37:19,650 --> 00:37:22,530 I'll give no invitation tonight, but I do 950 00:37:22,530 --> 00:37:23,270 want to pray for you. 951 00:37:23,290 --> 00:37:23,710 Let's pray. 952 00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:28,400 You've been listening to the From the Pulpit 953 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:29,720 in Classic Sermons series. 954 00:37:30,300 --> 00:37:32,580 This week, you heard A.W. Tozer with 955 00:37:32,580 --> 00:37:34,540 his message, What Is It to Accept Jesus? 956 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:36,960 Tune in next week to hear David Wilkerson 957 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:40,220 speak about another gospel on From the Pulpit 958 00:37:40,220 --> 00:37:41,400 in Classic Sermons.