1 00:00:01,610 --> 00:00:04,110 Welcome to from the pulpit and classic sermons. 2 00:00:04,670 --> 00:00:06,150 Each week we bring you a different message 3 00:00:06,150 --> 00:00:08,110 from some of history's greatest speakers in the 4 00:00:08,110 --> 00:00:10,790 Christian faith and powerful sermons for modern preachers 5 00:00:10,790 --> 00:00:11,070 too. 6 00:00:11,450 --> 00:00:13,750 This week we have A.W. Tozer with 7 00:00:13,750 --> 00:00:16,030 his message the voice of the Holy Spirit. 8 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:27,720 I want to read from the fifth, John 9 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:33,590 16, 7 down to 11. 10 00:00:35,350 --> 00:00:37,970 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. 11 00:00:39,190 --> 00:00:41,750 It is expedient for you that I go 12 00:00:41,750 --> 00:00:42,150 away. 13 00:00:43,490 --> 00:00:45,610 For if I go not away, the Comforter 14 00:00:45,610 --> 00:00:47,050 will not come unto you. 15 00:00:48,070 --> 00:00:50,250 But if I depart, I will send him 16 00:00:50,250 --> 00:00:50,990 unto you. 17 00:00:52,860 --> 00:00:55,620 And when he is come, he will reprove 18 00:00:55,620 --> 00:01:00,040 the world of sin and of righteousness and 19 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:04,770 of judgment, of sin because they believe not 20 00:01:04,770 --> 00:01:09,220 on me, of righteousness because I go to 21 00:01:09,220 --> 00:01:11,140 my Father and ye see me no more, 22 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,000 or of judgment because the Prince of this 23 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:16,160 world is judged. 24 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:20,720 In Revelation 2 and 3, I'll not read 25 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:25,570 them, seven times the text is repeated. 26 00:01:27,550 --> 00:01:32,040 He that hath an ear, let him hear 27 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:38,780 what the Spirit is saying unto the churches. 28 00:01:40,020 --> 00:01:43,940 Then in the last chapter of Revelation, verse 29 00:01:43,940 --> 00:01:49,700 17, the Spirit and the bride say, Come. 30 00:01:51,340 --> 00:01:54,260 And let him that heareth say, Come. 31 00:01:55,340 --> 00:01:58,120 And let him that is athirst come. 32 00:01:59,540 --> 00:02:03,660 And whosoever will, let him take to the 33 00:02:03,660 --> 00:02:06,640 water of life freely. 34 00:02:08,780 --> 00:02:09,460 Let us pray. 35 00:02:11,340 --> 00:02:15,940 Our Father, in us, in our flesh, dwelleth 36 00:02:15,940 --> 00:02:17,220 no good thing. 37 00:02:18,060 --> 00:02:24,380 In our minds dwell no power of persuasion. 38 00:02:25,860 --> 00:02:28,060 Without thee we can do nothing. 39 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:32,460 But with thee we can do all things. 40 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:38,940 So now, Father, we turn away, as though 41 00:02:38,940 --> 00:02:42,960 we were taking an axe away from a 42 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:44,840 little boy and giving it to a man, 43 00:02:46,740 --> 00:02:51,680 as though we were shoving aside an amateur 44 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:55,500 and letting a master sit down for the 45 00:02:55,500 --> 00:02:55,860 instrument. 46 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:04,950 We shove aside the man that men know, 47 00:03:06,090 --> 00:03:13,190 and we invite the man Christ Jesus to 48 00:03:13,190 --> 00:03:20,030 speak and to effectively confirm the word by 49 00:03:20,030 --> 00:03:20,850 the Holy Ghost. 50 00:03:21,250 --> 00:03:22,950 Help us tonight, Lord. 51 00:03:23,210 --> 00:03:24,690 Tomorrow may be too late. 52 00:03:25,350 --> 00:03:27,050 We ask it in Jesus' name. 53 00:03:31,140 --> 00:03:37,600 Now, let me say again that the world 54 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:44,670 we inhabit is a lost world, and the 55 00:03:44,670 --> 00:03:46,970 inhabitants of the world are lost. 56 00:03:49,930 --> 00:03:54,290 The inhabitants of the world are lost, not 57 00:03:54,290 --> 00:03:59,860 in any poetic sense of the word, but 58 00:03:59,860 --> 00:04:07,300 they are lost by a mighty, calamitous visitation 59 00:04:07,300 --> 00:04:16,420 of woe too grave, too terrible to describe. 60 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:25,700 And to make it worse still, this lostness 61 00:04:25,700 --> 00:04:28,560 is inside the heart. 62 00:04:30,940 --> 00:04:32,660 You see, there are two ways of getting 63 00:04:32,660 --> 00:04:34,020 lost down here. 64 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:37,620 There is the way that a child may 65 00:04:37,620 --> 00:04:41,040 sometimes get lost in the city, go around 66 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:42,900 the block and cross the street and forget 67 00:04:42,900 --> 00:04:43,540 where it is. 68 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:49,420 It is geographically lost or physically lost, but 69 00:04:49,420 --> 00:04:53,120 it knows it's lost, and its lostness is 70 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:54,000 external. 71 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:00,800 Then there is the confirmed amnesia victim that 72 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:02,380 is lost in his mind. 73 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:06,960 He does not remember who he is, how 74 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:08,880 old he is, where he was born, what 75 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:12,040 he did, does not remember anything up to 76 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:14,800 a given moment yesterday or the day before. 77 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,920 That is a worse kind of lostness than 78 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:22,200 the lostness of a child that wanders down 79 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:23,920 the street and can't find his way home. 80 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:26,380 For a dozen policemen will help with the 81 00:05:26,380 --> 00:05:31,740 child, and the child will advertise to high 82 00:05:31,740 --> 00:05:32,840 heaven that it's lost. 83 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,820 But the amnesia victim doesn't know that he's 84 00:05:37,820 --> 00:05:42,040 lost, and his closest and dearest friend, his 85 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:43,920 own wife, can come and speak to him, 86 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:48,460 and he's courteous but completely detached and indifferent. 87 00:05:49,380 --> 00:05:51,460 He's lost inside. 88 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,200 And to add still to the terror of 89 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:02,880 this situation, the inhabitants of the world are 90 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:07,380 not only lost, and not only lost inwardly, 91 00:06:08,260 --> 00:06:12,620 but worst of all is that they scarcely 92 00:06:12,620 --> 00:06:14,620 know that they are lost. 93 00:06:17,190 --> 00:06:19,190 Now, that's the state we're in. 94 00:06:20,510 --> 00:06:24,690 And yet there are voices that are intriguing 95 00:06:24,690 --> 00:06:28,710 us, and it gives me great pleasure to 96 00:06:28,710 --> 00:06:32,130 say, and this is basic to the Christian 97 00:06:32,130 --> 00:06:37,230 message, that while the world is a lost 98 00:06:37,230 --> 00:06:40,530 world, it is not yet a forsaken world. 99 00:06:41,970 --> 00:06:46,090 God is speaking in many voices, and there 100 00:06:46,090 --> 00:06:49,590 are voices that intrigue us because God has 101 00:06:49,590 --> 00:06:52,550 not forsaken his lost world. 102 00:06:53,170 --> 00:06:55,510 He said, and cried, Adam, where art thou? 103 00:06:57,010 --> 00:07:01,030 You'll find all through the Bible the voices 104 00:07:01,030 --> 00:07:05,870 of intrigue, of invitation, of alarm. 105 00:07:07,510 --> 00:07:09,570 Oh, every one that is thirsty, come ye 106 00:07:09,570 --> 00:07:10,070 to the water. 107 00:07:11,050 --> 00:07:12,930 He that hath no money, come ye, buy 108 00:07:12,930 --> 00:07:16,170 wine and milk without money and without price. 109 00:07:17,130 --> 00:07:19,450 Come unto me, all ye that labor and 110 00:07:19,450 --> 00:07:22,630 are heavy laden, and I will give you 111 00:07:22,630 --> 00:07:23,110 rest. 112 00:07:23,270 --> 00:07:26,270 Now, those are only samples of the many 113 00:07:26,270 --> 00:07:31,190 hundreds of verses that are sounding and echoing 114 00:07:31,190 --> 00:07:32,070 through the scriptures. 115 00:07:33,130 --> 00:07:39,090 But the clearest, loudest, most easily distinguishable voice 116 00:07:39,090 --> 00:07:41,390 is the voice of the Spirit. 117 00:07:42,430 --> 00:07:46,370 And his voice gives grave and serious meaning 118 00:07:46,370 --> 00:07:49,490 to any other and to all other voices. 119 00:07:50,490 --> 00:07:53,730 For it were not for the presence of 120 00:07:53,730 --> 00:07:58,610 the Spirit uttering his voice through the consciences 121 00:07:58,610 --> 00:08:01,830 of the world, no other voice would have 122 00:08:01,830 --> 00:08:03,310 any significance whatsoever. 123 00:08:03,890 --> 00:08:05,970 It would all be sounding by some tinkling 124 00:08:05,970 --> 00:08:08,090 cymbal, giving forth no meaning. 125 00:08:09,190 --> 00:08:13,050 For Jesus, our Lord, tells us here of 126 00:08:13,050 --> 00:08:15,690 the Holy Spirit's work in the world. 127 00:08:16,690 --> 00:08:18,890 And he says in the text, when he 128 00:08:18,890 --> 00:08:24,490 is come, when he is come, when the 129 00:08:24,490 --> 00:08:27,150 writer wrote the song that Comforter is come, 130 00:08:27,150 --> 00:08:32,909 he set in fairly good hymnody one of 131 00:08:32,909 --> 00:08:36,350 the great facts of the world, that the 132 00:08:36,350 --> 00:08:37,490 Comforter is here. 133 00:08:38,690 --> 00:08:43,750 And the Comforter came to confirm Christ's words 134 00:08:43,750 --> 00:08:48,470 in Christ's works and Christ's person. 135 00:08:49,630 --> 00:08:52,450 Now, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ 136 00:08:52,450 --> 00:08:59,170 were words so lofty and so astounding as 137 00:08:59,170 --> 00:09:00,890 those of no other religious teacher. 138 00:09:01,770 --> 00:09:04,210 Christ was not the only religious teacher. 139 00:09:05,210 --> 00:09:07,890 We have had the great religious teachers of 140 00:09:07,890 --> 00:09:09,810 the East, and we have them still on 141 00:09:09,810 --> 00:09:11,650 down to Mrs. Eddy and Father Divine. 142 00:09:12,650 --> 00:09:15,270 There have been Christ's saying, lo here and 143 00:09:15,270 --> 00:09:15,770 lo there. 144 00:09:16,830 --> 00:09:18,950 There have been men saying, I have the 145 00:09:18,950 --> 00:09:21,390 voice of God, I am speaking for God. 146 00:09:22,510 --> 00:09:25,190 And they have established their religion, some major, 147 00:09:25,330 --> 00:09:28,690 some minor, some long forgotten, some still going 148 00:09:28,690 --> 00:09:29,970 strong throughout the earth. 149 00:09:31,050 --> 00:09:34,630 But the words of Jesus were in a 150 00:09:34,630 --> 00:09:35,670 task by themselves. 151 00:09:36,690 --> 00:09:39,570 The claims that he made brand him immediately 152 00:09:39,570 --> 00:09:41,370 as being God or an idiot. 153 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:46,960 The claims that he made outclassed and outstripped 154 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:49,900 the claims of all the other religious teachers 155 00:09:49,900 --> 00:09:50,480 in the world. 156 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:52,920 Destroy this temple, and in three days I 157 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:55,060 will raise it up, he said, of his 158 00:09:55,060 --> 00:09:56,020 own body. 159 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:59,500 I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 160 00:10:00,340 --> 00:10:02,860 Before Abraham was, I am. 161 00:10:03,860 --> 00:10:05,620 Then shall they see the Son of Man 162 00:10:05,620 --> 00:10:07,360 coming in the clouds of heaven, and before 163 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:09,180 him shall be gathered all nations. 164 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,580 And he shall separate them as the sheep 165 00:10:13,580 --> 00:10:14,260 from the goats. 166 00:10:14,980 --> 00:10:19,020 Those are but a sampling of the astounding 167 00:10:19,020 --> 00:10:21,840 words of Jesus and the claims that he 168 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:22,100 made. 169 00:10:22,220 --> 00:10:23,700 If you believe not that I am he, 170 00:10:23,780 --> 00:10:25,120 you shall die in your sin. 171 00:10:25,980 --> 00:10:28,420 Then God has given all judgment into my 172 00:10:28,420 --> 00:10:28,820 hand. 173 00:10:29,940 --> 00:10:31,220 I will not at this, for the day 174 00:10:31,220 --> 00:10:33,320 will come when they that are in the 175 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:35,920 graves shall hear my voice, and shall come 176 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:36,260 forth. 177 00:10:36,700 --> 00:10:42,100 Now nobody ever talked like that, and many 178 00:10:42,100 --> 00:10:43,640 who heard him did not believe him. 179 00:10:44,460 --> 00:10:46,540 But he said, when the Holy Ghost is 180 00:10:46,540 --> 00:10:50,400 come, and the Holy Ghost came as a 181 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:54,760 silent, penetrating, immediate witness. 182 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:58,300 Now there is no contradiction here when I 183 00:10:58,300 --> 00:11:01,720 say that the Holy Spirit's voice entreats us. 184 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:05,100 And then I also say he came as 185 00:11:05,100 --> 00:11:09,020 a silent, penetrating, immediate witness. 186 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:14,340 For silence is sometimes more eloquent than sound. 187 00:11:15,380 --> 00:11:19,360 And the penetrating stillness of the Holy Ghost 188 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:23,040 is more terrible than the loudest shout from 189 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:23,860 the housetop. 190 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,440 And the Holy Ghost is here confirming the 191 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:28,460 words of Jesus. 192 00:11:29,460 --> 00:11:31,440 That is why the critics are all in 193 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:31,940 confusion. 194 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:36,080 That is why when a man becomes a 195 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:38,600 doubter and begins to pull the word of 196 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:41,240 God apart, God makes a fool of him 197 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:41,680 immediately. 198 00:11:41,860 --> 00:11:43,620 He puts long, hairy ears on him and 199 00:11:43,620 --> 00:11:44,780 turns him out to pasture. 200 00:11:45,260 --> 00:11:46,960 And he writes himself some books. 201 00:11:47,860 --> 00:11:51,000 And standing solemn-faced as a barn owl, 202 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:54,240 he says things to students in his classes 203 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:58,660 that would bring hell down in roars of 204 00:11:58,660 --> 00:11:59,000 laughter. 205 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,020 And yet he doesn't know that he's being 206 00:12:02,020 --> 00:12:02,360 funny. 207 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:06,120 For God has withdrawn from him the inner 208 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:08,960 life, and he is speaking as a fool 209 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:09,460 speaks. 210 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:13,760 Because the silent, penetrating voice of the Holy 211 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:15,700 Ghost is not heard in his words. 212 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:17,540 He hears it no more. 213 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,480 But the Holy Spirit is here to confirm 214 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:23,360 to the consciences of men the truth of 215 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:24,420 the words of Jesus. 216 00:12:25,340 --> 00:12:26,960 And then the works of Jesus. 217 00:12:27,940 --> 00:12:31,140 There was no denying that a mighty miracle 218 00:12:31,140 --> 00:12:32,460 worker had been there. 219 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:34,760 He did raise the dead, he did heal 220 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:36,560 the sick, he did cleanse the leper, he 221 00:12:36,560 --> 00:12:38,720 did turn the water into wine, he did 222 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:41,360 make the bread to few pieces of bread 223 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:42,360 to feed the multitude. 224 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:45,660 He did do these wonderful things, and there 225 00:12:45,660 --> 00:12:46,760 was no denying. 226 00:12:47,980 --> 00:12:50,560 The Pharisees didn't try to deny it. 227 00:12:51,220 --> 00:12:52,960 They could not, seeing the man that was 228 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:55,260 healed standing among them, they couldn't say anything. 229 00:12:55,780 --> 00:12:57,980 You cannot deny a fact that stands and 230 00:12:57,980 --> 00:13:00,400 stares you in the face, that you can 231 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:03,240 touch and feel and push around and investigate. 232 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:06,180 You can't possibly deny such a fact, and 233 00:13:06,180 --> 00:13:07,060 they didn't try it. 234 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:09,520 They simply said, he does his works in 235 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:10,760 the power of the devil. 236 00:13:13,020 --> 00:13:16,620 Somebody was doing miracle works there, and when 237 00:13:16,620 --> 00:13:20,060 he is come, the Holy Ghost came, that 238 00:13:20,060 --> 00:13:24,220 he might confirm and verify the divine quality 239 00:13:24,220 --> 00:13:25,940 of the works of Jesus. 240 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,020 And prove him not to be one more 241 00:13:29,020 --> 00:13:32,400 miracle peddler, but indeed the very God who 242 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:35,200 had made the world and could make it 243 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:37,140 do what he pleased for it to do. 244 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:39,880 And then there was the person of the 245 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:43,700 Lord Jesus Christ, the most significant, the most 246 00:13:43,700 --> 00:13:46,520 telling person that ever lived in the world 247 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:47,080 was Jesus. 248 00:13:47,460 --> 00:13:49,540 I think that could generally be agreed among 249 00:13:49,540 --> 00:13:52,580 all peoples of the world, even the Mohammedans 250 00:13:52,580 --> 00:13:54,140 might admit that. 251 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:57,360 And certainly the great religions of the East 252 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:02,060 would admit it, that he stands out in 253 00:14:02,060 --> 00:14:06,180 history, head and shoulders the sole above all 254 00:14:06,180 --> 00:14:06,600 the great. 255 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:10,900 And now how are we to dispose of 256 00:14:10,900 --> 00:14:11,000 him? 257 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:12,720 What's the world to do with him? 258 00:14:13,220 --> 00:14:15,540 What are religious-minded people to do with 259 00:14:15,540 --> 00:14:20,020 this mighty person that stood taller than the 260 00:14:20,020 --> 00:14:22,960 tall pine tree at the beginning of the 261 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:23,560 Christian era? 262 00:14:24,540 --> 00:14:27,140 Well, the Holy Ghost came to do a 263 00:14:27,140 --> 00:14:30,740 confirmatory work and erased him from the dead. 264 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:34,600 And now since the Spirit has come, this 265 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:36,720 mysterious witness has come. 266 00:14:37,700 --> 00:14:39,660 Christ is no longer on trial. 267 00:14:40,580 --> 00:14:42,580 And it's no longer a question of was 268 00:14:42,580 --> 00:14:44,140 Jesus the Son of God? 269 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:47,800 All that is beside the point and irrelevant. 270 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:52,140 And there's never any such thing anymore as 271 00:14:52,140 --> 00:14:55,460 a sincere question, was Jesus the Son of 272 00:14:55,460 --> 00:14:55,780 God? 273 00:14:56,140 --> 00:14:58,980 The Holy Ghost has taken out of the 274 00:14:58,980 --> 00:15:03,660 realm of polemics the idea of Christ's deity 275 00:15:03,660 --> 00:15:06,060 and has put it in the realm of 276 00:15:06,060 --> 00:15:06,320 morals. 277 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:11,960 And this silent, immediate witness, this penetrating voice 278 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:15,100 in the consciences of men, tell us that 279 00:15:15,100 --> 00:15:18,020 this person was indeed the very Son of 280 00:15:18,020 --> 00:15:18,360 God. 281 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:22,900 It was very noticeable, wasn't it, that as 282 00:15:22,900 --> 00:15:24,960 soon as Peter was filled with the Holy 283 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,380 Ghost, he immediately rose and preached what he 284 00:15:28,380 --> 00:15:29,780 had never preached before. 285 00:15:30,460 --> 00:15:35,080 Namely, that this man whom he crucified is 286 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:36,200 the Christ of God. 287 00:15:36,660 --> 00:15:38,520 That God raised him from the dead and 288 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:40,360 he is the Lord and the Christ of 289 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:40,720 God. 290 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:43,760 And as soon as Paul was filled with 291 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:46,080 the Holy Ghost, you will find that Paul 292 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:48,020 in the 9th chapter of Acts went doing 293 00:15:48,020 --> 00:15:49,320 exactly the same thing. 294 00:15:49,900 --> 00:15:52,880 He reasoned and proved the scriptures that Jesus 295 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:54,860 was the Son of God, that the coming 296 00:15:54,860 --> 00:15:56,460 Messiah was to be the Son of God, 297 00:15:56,620 --> 00:15:59,140 and that that man was Jesus, so that 298 00:15:59,140 --> 00:16:02,060 the Holy Spirit witness is a witness to 299 00:16:02,060 --> 00:16:04,840 the Lordship and deity of the Son of 300 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:05,180 God. 301 00:16:05,460 --> 00:16:09,240 So my friends, remember this, that Jesus Christ 302 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:11,400 needs no more of your defense. 303 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,640 Jesus Christ needs no more books written to 304 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:16,880 prove that he was God. 305 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:20,140 Jesus Christ is no longer on trial. 306 00:16:20,860 --> 00:16:24,440 He needs no advocate pleading his cause before 307 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:26,240 the unfriendly court of the world. 308 00:16:27,220 --> 00:16:29,520 He needs no witness to rise and say, 309 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:31,040 I know he was the Son of God. 310 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:35,800 He needs no reasoner with his fine logic 311 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:38,520 to prove it by history that Jesus Christ 312 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:39,660 was the Son of God. 313 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:44,860 The proof of the sonship of Jesus has 314 00:16:44,860 --> 00:16:47,780 been removed from the realm of the intellect 315 00:16:47,780 --> 00:16:51,120 and placed where it always has belonged, in 316 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:52,300 the realm of morals. 317 00:16:53,500 --> 00:16:55,700 And the Holy Ghost has put it there. 318 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:00,600 When he has come, when he has come 319 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:04,940 and he came and he is here, he 320 00:17:04,940 --> 00:17:07,020 may be grieved and he may have to 321 00:17:07,020 --> 00:17:11,380 withdraw partly from some places, but he is 322 00:17:11,380 --> 00:17:14,119 here and he is here as a silent, 323 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:17,900 holy witness, more eloquent than all the noise 324 00:17:17,900 --> 00:17:21,020 of the world, saying this man was indeed 325 00:17:21,020 --> 00:17:21,940 the Son of God. 326 00:17:24,180 --> 00:17:26,180 I say that Jesus Christ is no longer 327 00:17:26,180 --> 00:17:29,100 on trial before men, but men are now 328 00:17:29,100 --> 00:17:30,560 on trial before him. 329 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:33,780 And strange and wonderful as it may be, 330 00:17:33,900 --> 00:17:37,340 he who once stood before Pilate now makes 331 00:17:37,340 --> 00:17:39,080 Pilate to stand before him. 332 00:17:39,940 --> 00:17:42,200 And he who pleaded his cause before the 333 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:46,320 unfriendly world now sits and judges that same 334 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:46,780 world. 335 00:17:47,980 --> 00:17:50,960 And he's transferred the religious question to the 336 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:51,280 heart. 337 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,640 There is a throne where one sits, where 338 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:57,020 never a man can come. 339 00:17:58,020 --> 00:18:00,340 And there is on that throne a man, 340 00:18:00,420 --> 00:18:02,200 wonderful paradox. 341 00:18:04,180 --> 00:18:07,160 The long claws that stretched out to get 342 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:09,320 him and take him to the cross can 343 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:11,500 never reach as high as that throne where 344 00:18:11,500 --> 00:18:12,060 he sits. 345 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:15,140 And yet he sits there in the form 346 00:18:15,140 --> 00:18:18,020 of a man so that we would recognize 347 00:18:18,020 --> 00:18:20,080 him instantly in the shape of a man 348 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,000 and know that this is a man and 349 00:18:24,690 --> 00:18:28,670 he's there invested with full authority and full 350 00:18:28,670 --> 00:18:31,810 power and with full right of judgment. 351 00:18:34,030 --> 00:18:37,450 And there is a holy witness present who 352 00:18:37,450 --> 00:18:40,690 in all things speaks for this man who 353 00:18:40,690 --> 00:18:41,650 sits on the throne. 354 00:18:42,610 --> 00:18:44,390 It is expedient for you that I go 355 00:18:44,390 --> 00:18:47,370 away, for if I go not away he 356 00:18:47,370 --> 00:18:48,270 will not come. 357 00:18:49,310 --> 00:18:51,370 But if I go I will send him 358 00:18:51,370 --> 00:18:55,090 unto you and when he is come he 359 00:18:55,090 --> 00:18:59,350 will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness 360 00:18:59,350 --> 00:19:00,790 and judgment. 361 00:19:02,230 --> 00:19:06,250 I think that we ought to remember that 362 00:19:06,250 --> 00:19:09,690 however we treat the Holy Spirit's warnings, we 363 00:19:09,690 --> 00:19:11,350 treat Jesus Christ himself. 364 00:19:12,110 --> 00:19:14,810 However we treat the Spirit's presence, we treat 365 00:19:14,810 --> 00:19:15,670 the Lord himself. 366 00:19:15,750 --> 00:19:17,050 We ought to get that in mind. 367 00:19:18,430 --> 00:19:21,430 Christ the Lord is not some faraway being, 368 00:19:22,710 --> 00:19:25,990 but he is mysteriously, wondrously present now in 369 00:19:25,990 --> 00:19:28,510 our midst in the person of the Holy 370 00:19:28,510 --> 00:19:28,890 Spirit. 371 00:19:28,990 --> 00:19:30,890 When he is come he will convince the 372 00:19:30,890 --> 00:19:35,890 world concerning, and he is here now convincing 373 00:19:35,890 --> 00:19:39,010 the world that the fate of the individual 374 00:19:39,010 --> 00:19:42,670 man does not depend upon historic evidence. 375 00:19:43,810 --> 00:19:45,270 Now with all my heart I believe in 376 00:19:45,270 --> 00:19:46,750 the historicity of the gospels. 377 00:19:47,250 --> 00:19:51,410 It is not a subterfuge to hide away 378 00:19:51,410 --> 00:19:54,070 from the belief in the historicity of the 379 00:19:54,070 --> 00:19:54,390 gospels. 380 00:19:54,450 --> 00:19:56,110 I believe they're historically correct. 381 00:19:56,950 --> 00:19:59,770 I believe that they can be confirmed in 382 00:19:59,770 --> 00:20:01,710 the format of history. 383 00:20:01,910 --> 00:20:05,290 I believe everything that's here is historically true. 384 00:20:06,370 --> 00:20:08,110 But let me point out something to you 385 00:20:08,110 --> 00:20:08,630 my friends. 386 00:20:10,290 --> 00:20:14,470 If faith depended upon a man knowing enough 387 00:20:14,470 --> 00:20:18,450 history in its right and proper context, and 388 00:20:18,450 --> 00:20:20,670 being familiar enough with the writings of the 389 00:20:20,670 --> 00:20:23,710 historians of the world, to arrive at a 390 00:20:23,710 --> 00:20:27,430 scholarly belief in the deity of Jesus, then 391 00:20:27,430 --> 00:20:29,670 there could only be a relatively few people 392 00:20:29,670 --> 00:20:31,290 anywhere in the world safe. 393 00:20:32,250 --> 00:20:34,290 If in order to believe in Jesus Christ 394 00:20:34,290 --> 00:20:36,350 I had to know the historic facts of 395 00:20:36,350 --> 00:20:39,470 Rome and Greece and Palestine and Syria and 396 00:20:39,470 --> 00:20:42,250 Egypt, and if I had to be able 397 00:20:42,250 --> 00:20:45,770 to go to the great tombs and search 398 00:20:45,770 --> 00:20:49,690 for myself and discover the historic truth, and 399 00:20:49,690 --> 00:20:53,370 then having discovered that historic truth, I had 400 00:20:53,370 --> 00:20:55,490 to know enough of the laws of evidence 401 00:20:55,490 --> 00:20:57,310 to know whether it proved him to be 402 00:20:57,310 --> 00:20:59,870 the Son of God or not, then I 403 00:20:59,870 --> 00:21:02,570 would have to be a scholar, a logician, 404 00:21:02,870 --> 00:21:05,730 and a lawyer to arrive at belief in 405 00:21:05,730 --> 00:21:07,410 the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. 406 00:21:08,270 --> 00:21:11,390 But the Holy Ghost came to take the 407 00:21:11,390 --> 00:21:13,790 deity of Christ out of the hands of 408 00:21:13,790 --> 00:21:16,590 the scholars and put it in the consciences 409 00:21:16,590 --> 00:21:17,090 of men. 410 00:21:17,650 --> 00:21:19,890 The Holy Ghost came to lift it out 411 00:21:19,890 --> 00:21:21,810 of the history books and put it on 412 00:21:21,810 --> 00:21:24,010 the flaky tablets of the human heart. 413 00:21:24,690 --> 00:21:26,930 So you can go to the jungles where 414 00:21:26,930 --> 00:21:30,110 men cannot read and write, where there were 415 00:21:30,110 --> 00:21:34,530 nothing but a G-string, and you can 416 00:21:34,530 --> 00:21:36,770 begin to preach Jesus Christ and sin, and 417 00:21:36,770 --> 00:21:38,990 the Holy Ghost will witness the sin and 418 00:21:38,990 --> 00:21:43,170 righteousness and judgment, and he will confirm the 419 00:21:43,170 --> 00:21:45,710 truth of Christ, words and works, and person 420 00:21:45,710 --> 00:21:49,110 to the most ignorant jungle heathen. 421 00:21:50,850 --> 00:21:52,470 And that means they've never heard of Rome, 422 00:21:52,570 --> 00:21:55,070 never heard of Greece, never heard of Pilate, 423 00:21:55,150 --> 00:21:57,910 never heard of Caesar, never knew the city 424 00:21:57,910 --> 00:22:00,430 of Rome ever existed, doesn't know that Palestine 425 00:22:00,430 --> 00:22:04,090 exists, doesn't know where Jerusalem is, never heard 426 00:22:04,090 --> 00:22:09,340 of David, never heard of Abraham, knows nothing 427 00:22:09,340 --> 00:22:13,570 about the Reformation, and yet you can go 428 00:22:13,570 --> 00:22:16,850 missionary and simply tell the story, and they'll 429 00:22:16,850 --> 00:22:19,130 begin to tremble and sweat with the knowledge 430 00:22:19,130 --> 00:22:22,670 that they're sinners, and they'll believe in Jesus 431 00:22:22,670 --> 00:22:27,110 Christ, and having believed, they'll be transformed and 432 00:22:27,110 --> 00:22:30,690 turned inside out, and made honest and good 433 00:22:30,690 --> 00:22:33,830 and clean and humble and right, and they'll 434 00:22:33,830 --> 00:22:35,590 learn to read, and they'll begin to sing 435 00:22:35,590 --> 00:22:38,290 the sinful gospels, they'll form themselves into a 436 00:22:38,290 --> 00:22:44,050 church, and the great strong elemental fellows born 437 00:22:44,050 --> 00:22:46,190 of the jungle and the wild winds and 438 00:22:46,190 --> 00:22:49,350 the storms will become deacons and elders and 439 00:22:49,350 --> 00:22:50,590 preachers in that church. 440 00:22:51,470 --> 00:22:54,050 And they have no scholarship, no knowledge of 441 00:22:54,050 --> 00:22:55,910 history, no ability to weigh evidence. 442 00:22:56,150 --> 00:23:00,830 They know nothing about relevance and irrelevance and 443 00:23:00,830 --> 00:23:02,430 the laws of evidence. 444 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:08,280 No, when he came, he took Paul Emmix 445 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:10,620 away from the scholars and gave it back 446 00:23:10,620 --> 00:23:15,660 to the human soul, so that now, my 447 00:23:15,660 --> 00:23:17,360 faith in the deity of Jesus does not 448 00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:20,920 rest upon my ability to comb through history 449 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:25,340 and arrive at logical conclusions concerning historic facts. 450 00:23:26,500 --> 00:23:28,360 The Holy Ghost blazes in on me like 451 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:31,040 a lightning flash, binds me with the wonder 452 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:31,400 of it. 453 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:34,620 If ye are willing to do his will, 454 00:23:34,700 --> 00:23:36,780 ye shall know the doctrine whether I speak 455 00:23:36,780 --> 00:23:40,320 of God or not, said Jesus our Lord 456 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:42,820 when the Holy Ghost had come. 457 00:23:44,820 --> 00:23:45,460 And he is here. 458 00:23:45,540 --> 00:23:46,700 I think that this is one of the 459 00:23:46,700 --> 00:23:50,200 most important truths that can be taught in 460 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:50,940 the world today. 461 00:23:51,860 --> 00:23:53,340 And yet, so far as I know, I'm 462 00:23:53,340 --> 00:23:55,900 the one single lone individual that's preaching. 463 00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:00,280 There may be others, certainly in the spirit 464 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:02,120 of it and in the whole weight and 465 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:02,740 drift of it. 466 00:24:03,540 --> 00:24:05,240 My friend Raymond Hill agrees with me on 467 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:05,460 this. 468 00:24:06,300 --> 00:24:08,420 He talks over these things and we're one 469 00:24:08,420 --> 00:24:09,500 in it. 470 00:24:09,820 --> 00:24:11,500 But we're one or two or three at 471 00:24:11,500 --> 00:24:14,620 most in the midst of a vast cloud 472 00:24:14,620 --> 00:24:18,100 and sea of witnesses that are prepared to 473 00:24:18,100 --> 00:24:20,440 make the deity of Christ rest upon historical 474 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:23,660 evidences when the Holy Ghost has taken it 475 00:24:23,660 --> 00:24:26,700 away from that realm altogether and has put 476 00:24:26,700 --> 00:24:28,640 it as a burning point in the human 477 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:29,100 conscience. 478 00:24:31,940 --> 00:24:34,900 So the problem today is a moral problem 479 00:24:34,900 --> 00:24:35,620 altogether. 480 00:24:35,620 --> 00:24:37,500 It's not an intellectual problem at all. 481 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:39,600 Now don't let's be too humble here. 482 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:42,160 Don't let's like a lot of the poor 483 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:43,340 misguided people do. 484 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:48,000 Admit with a wry face that we're a 485 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,560 bunch of dumbbells, barely know our letter. 486 00:24:52,900 --> 00:24:54,180 Augustine was not a dumbbell. 487 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:58,620 Luther wrote his theses first in Latin and 488 00:24:58,620 --> 00:24:59,180 then in German. 489 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:02,880 Wrote to the Pope and wrote it first 490 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:04,320 in Latin for the Pope and then wrote 491 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:05,540 it in German to give to the people. 492 00:25:06,740 --> 00:25:07,260 No, no. 493 00:25:08,300 --> 00:25:09,900 You don't have to pump your head out 494 00:25:09,900 --> 00:25:12,780 so it's a blessed vacuum in order to 495 00:25:12,780 --> 00:25:13,280 be a Christian. 496 00:25:14,340 --> 00:25:16,480 And there's much use for the human mind, 497 00:25:16,580 --> 00:25:17,300 so keep yours. 498 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:19,900 There's much use for the human brain, so 499 00:25:19,900 --> 00:25:21,320 take care of it, keep it cool. 500 00:25:22,940 --> 00:25:24,520 And educate it all you can. 501 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:25,880 There's lots of use for it. 502 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:29,540 But I repeat, the use for it will 503 00:25:29,540 --> 00:25:32,620 not be in the realm of divine evidence. 504 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,320 The Holy Ghost takes care of that. 505 00:25:36,540 --> 00:25:40,100 The Holy Ghost is here to confirm the 506 00:25:40,100 --> 00:25:40,960 person of Jesus. 507 00:25:42,180 --> 00:25:46,740 And whatever the Holy Ghost says stands forever. 508 00:25:47,540 --> 00:25:50,440 And whatever he does now, the judgment will 509 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:51,860 approve and confirm. 510 00:25:54,350 --> 00:25:57,010 We come into a church like this, oh 511 00:25:57,010 --> 00:25:58,170 we get here some way. 512 00:25:59,530 --> 00:26:00,990 If we got here, ain't here to meet 513 00:26:00,990 --> 00:26:03,030 a girl or a boy. 514 00:26:03,870 --> 00:26:05,530 Maybe we came here hoping we would. 515 00:26:07,590 --> 00:26:09,110 Maybe we came here to get a parent 516 00:26:09,110 --> 00:26:09,810 off our neck. 517 00:26:11,170 --> 00:26:13,150 Maybe we were just wandering by and wondering 518 00:26:13,150 --> 00:26:14,130 what was all about. 519 00:26:15,750 --> 00:26:16,970 Maybe it's just a habit. 520 00:26:18,130 --> 00:26:20,590 Any one of the 25 reasons might be 521 00:26:20,590 --> 00:26:22,810 dredged up out of our memory right now. 522 00:26:23,950 --> 00:26:25,330 And we think we can just come in 523 00:26:25,330 --> 00:26:26,730 and go away again and there'll be no 524 00:26:26,730 --> 00:26:28,730 harm done, like going to a PTA meeting. 525 00:26:29,550 --> 00:26:31,510 Say, I'm a little bored, but I'll sit 526 00:26:31,510 --> 00:26:31,870 through it. 527 00:26:31,950 --> 00:26:32,790 What's it all about? 528 00:26:34,310 --> 00:26:36,290 And when it's all over, you go on 529 00:26:36,290 --> 00:26:37,370 either better or worse. 530 00:26:38,910 --> 00:26:44,270 My friends, a concept like that ignores one 531 00:26:44,270 --> 00:26:46,570 of the most vitally important facts in the 532 00:26:46,570 --> 00:26:46,970 world. 533 00:26:48,450 --> 00:26:50,790 And that is that wherever the Lord's people 534 00:26:50,790 --> 00:26:54,530 meet, the Holy Ghost is there, confirming the 535 00:26:54,530 --> 00:26:57,210 word and the work and the person of 536 00:26:57,210 --> 00:27:03,000 Jesus, and demanding moral action, so that the 537 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,300 man never knows when he goes to a 538 00:27:05,300 --> 00:27:05,980 gospel meeting. 539 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:11,560 He never knows when the last shredded excuse 540 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:14,480 will be stripped from his naked, trembling conscience 541 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:15,000 forever. 542 00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:18,840 For the Holy Ghost is not foolish. 543 00:27:20,700 --> 00:27:21,900 Sometimes preachers are. 544 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:26,640 I heard this terrible thing recently, this terrible 545 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:27,160 thing. 546 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:30,220 A man, and I think he was a 547 00:27:30,220 --> 00:27:34,720 minister, he had a good sense of humor. 548 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:43,120 And he, knowing the Bible, he learned how 549 00:27:43,120 --> 00:27:45,980 to make the scriptures always say the right 550 00:27:45,980 --> 00:27:46,440 thing. 551 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:49,080 Payoff line, as we say. 552 00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:52,980 And when there'd be a conversation on, he'd 553 00:27:52,980 --> 00:27:57,660 turn it around so that a world, a 554 00:27:57,660 --> 00:28:02,560 flip of the verbal tail that made people 555 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:05,920 laugh at all the scripture quotations, one day 556 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,900 came to die. 557 00:28:10,700 --> 00:28:12,120 And they said to him, well, you must 558 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:13,580 find great comfort in the scriptures. 559 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:16,840 And they began to quote the scriptures to 560 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:18,980 them, and he said, don't, don't, don't quote 561 00:28:18,980 --> 00:28:21,560 it, don't quote it, don't quote it. 562 00:28:23,140 --> 00:28:25,600 There isn't a verse you can quote that 563 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:27,820 I haven't made the subject of a joke. 564 00:28:28,620 --> 00:28:31,440 And now, when I need it, it means 565 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:32,260 nothing to me. 566 00:28:36,230 --> 00:28:38,890 The Holy Ghost isn't joking. 567 00:28:42,740 --> 00:28:46,580 People may be, and it's gotten in this 568 00:28:46,580 --> 00:28:50,520 country now, in evangelical circles, where a man 569 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:52,320 without a sense of humor can't get to 570 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:52,900 first base. 571 00:28:55,790 --> 00:28:56,630 He's ought to be funny. 572 00:28:58,250 --> 00:28:59,770 Let's go hear that jaybird. 573 00:28:59,870 --> 00:29:01,930 He's funny as a crutch. 574 00:29:05,030 --> 00:29:07,170 The very fact that Dr. Budwell, you can 575 00:29:07,170 --> 00:29:09,490 call a preacher a jaybird, proves he's lost 576 00:29:09,490 --> 00:29:10,090 his character. 577 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:17,720 And men may play, but the Holy Ghost 578 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:18,440 isn't dead earnest. 579 00:29:19,780 --> 00:29:24,380 Jesus Christ went away dead earnest, and he 580 00:29:24,380 --> 00:29:29,780 sat down in utter solemn sincerity, by the 581 00:29:29,780 --> 00:29:31,800 presence of the majesty on high. 582 00:29:32,940 --> 00:29:37,220 And he sent that wave of silvery light, 583 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:41,360 containing in himself all the essence of the 584 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:42,260 Father and the Son. 585 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:47,120 Down he came in the form of a 586 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:50,960 dove, and in it fire sat upon each 587 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:51,380 of them. 588 00:29:52,300 --> 00:29:54,540 And they knew that Jesus was the Son 589 00:29:54,540 --> 00:29:55,900 of God, they knew it instantly. 590 00:29:58,520 --> 00:29:59,860 They didn't know it while he was among 591 00:29:59,860 --> 00:30:01,900 them, but they knew it then. 592 00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:04,820 They didn't know it for sure, but they 593 00:30:04,820 --> 00:30:12,780 knew it now, that when he has come, 594 00:30:12,860 --> 00:30:17,610 he will convince men concerning how the Holy 595 00:30:17,610 --> 00:30:19,610 Spirit will not witness to minor matters. 596 00:30:22,230 --> 00:30:25,750 Another important thing I'm saying here tonight, you 597 00:30:25,750 --> 00:30:28,650 can't get the Holy Ghost involved in minor 598 00:30:28,650 --> 00:30:29,190 things. 599 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:33,960 Then let's reach up and pull out a 600 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:37,500 grotesque illustration out of the air, and let's 601 00:30:37,500 --> 00:30:38,200 put it like this. 602 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,060 Let's imagine last fall, when two great and 603 00:30:41,060 --> 00:30:43,220 good men were running for the presidency. 604 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,440 I insist upon them, both great and good 605 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:47,400 men, Stevenson and Eisenhower. 606 00:30:48,380 --> 00:30:50,500 And these two men were running against each 607 00:30:50,500 --> 00:30:51,380 other for the presidency. 608 00:30:52,860 --> 00:30:57,920 Suppose that in their speeches, suppose that Eisenhower 609 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:03,500 had insisted upon attacking Stevenson's baldness. 610 00:31:06,460 --> 00:31:11,060 And let us suppose that Stevenson, paying thousands 611 00:31:11,060 --> 00:31:15,700 of dollars for time on the air, would 612 00:31:15,700 --> 00:31:17,860 get up and in his brilliant witty way, 613 00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:22,060 would have spent a whole half hour talking 614 00:31:22,060 --> 00:31:25,500 about Eisenhower's wretched state in time. 615 00:31:27,870 --> 00:31:29,690 Neither man could have been elected. 616 00:31:30,330 --> 00:31:32,650 He was elected a Chinaman by a right 617 00:31:32,650 --> 00:31:33,070 -hand vote. 618 00:31:35,580 --> 00:31:41,750 For in serious and important matters, you deal 619 00:31:41,750 --> 00:31:43,890 with basic principles. 620 00:31:45,130 --> 00:31:46,710 And they both tried to do it. 621 00:31:47,830 --> 00:31:53,090 And they dealt with domestic problems, foreign relations, 622 00:31:53,630 --> 00:31:54,070 taxes. 623 00:31:55,250 --> 00:31:58,050 They dealt with problems that go to the 624 00:31:58,050 --> 00:31:59,590 roots of American living. 625 00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:04,580 You suppose the Holy Ghost is any less 626 00:32:04,580 --> 00:32:06,140 wise than politicians? 627 00:32:09,620 --> 00:32:13,820 And yet we want the Holy Spirit to 628 00:32:13,820 --> 00:32:16,140 help us while we talk about trivialities. 629 00:32:17,260 --> 00:32:19,920 That's why I ask corn to debate over 630 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:20,980 things that don't matter. 631 00:32:22,460 --> 00:32:26,900 That's why they'll never get me concerned with 632 00:32:26,900 --> 00:32:28,340 the little niceties of prophecy. 633 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:32,240 And that is why the Holy of Baptized 634 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:34,740 by Immersion will never condemn those who don't 635 00:32:34,740 --> 00:32:36,020 believe in that vote of baptism. 636 00:32:37,580 --> 00:32:39,760 That is why I will not engage in 637 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:42,960 controversy over eternal security. 638 00:32:44,870 --> 00:32:46,810 And that is why you cannot get me 639 00:32:46,810 --> 00:32:49,850 involved, because I want the Holy Ghost to 640 00:32:49,850 --> 00:32:51,830 help me, and he won't help me fool. 641 00:32:52,570 --> 00:32:54,570 He'll only help me when I'm serious. 642 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:57,900 And the Spirit of God is here. 643 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:02,180 Now a lot of people try to escape 644 00:33:02,180 --> 00:33:02,880 by pretending. 645 00:33:04,700 --> 00:33:08,820 They pretend that they are seekers. 646 00:33:09,700 --> 00:33:12,020 They say, I'm a seeker after life. 647 00:33:15,470 --> 00:33:16,890 Could you look in the glass and say, 648 00:33:16,970 --> 00:33:18,130 I'm a seeker after life? 649 00:33:18,670 --> 00:33:21,550 When he has come, he will convince. 650 00:33:22,390 --> 00:33:24,150 And then you say, I'm a seeker after 651 00:33:24,150 --> 00:33:24,490 life. 652 00:33:25,490 --> 00:33:27,750 Your problem is not lack of life. 653 00:33:28,110 --> 00:33:29,970 Your problem is a moral problem. 654 00:33:33,050 --> 00:33:34,930 And yet men try to hide and escape 655 00:33:34,930 --> 00:33:35,810 by pretending. 656 00:33:36,670 --> 00:33:38,490 They say, I don't know which form of 657 00:33:38,490 --> 00:33:38,930 baptism. 658 00:33:39,910 --> 00:33:41,770 He did not say, when the Holy Ghost 659 00:33:41,770 --> 00:33:44,090 has come, he will convince that the Baptists 660 00:33:44,090 --> 00:33:44,550 are right. 661 00:33:46,430 --> 00:33:48,590 Nor did he say, when the Holy Ghost 662 00:33:48,590 --> 00:33:51,110 has come, he will convince the world that 663 00:33:51,110 --> 00:33:52,350 infant baptism is correct. 664 00:33:53,770 --> 00:33:55,870 He said, when the Holy Ghost has come, 665 00:33:55,930 --> 00:33:59,490 he'll talk about three vital things, sin and 666 00:33:59,490 --> 00:34:00,550 righteousness and judgment. 667 00:34:03,420 --> 00:34:05,580 And he insists on moral sincerity. 668 00:34:07,239 --> 00:34:09,139 As I rode along tonight on the bus 669 00:34:09,139 --> 00:34:12,520 coming up here, I thought this radical thing 670 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:14,820 to myself, modified it a little, even my 671 00:34:14,820 --> 00:34:15,280 own head. 672 00:34:16,260 --> 00:34:18,520 But I thought, I'm not sure that God 673 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:21,460 hasn't got more respect for a sincere devil 674 00:34:21,460 --> 00:34:24,960 than he has for an insincere religion. 675 00:34:26,940 --> 00:34:28,260 If a devil is a devil and he 676 00:34:28,260 --> 00:34:31,840 hates God and loves sin, and he's sincere 677 00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:34,620 about it, God will reject him forever from 678 00:34:34,620 --> 00:34:35,179 his presence. 679 00:34:35,219 --> 00:34:37,340 But he'll say, there goes somebody at least 680 00:34:37,340 --> 00:34:38,199 I can respect. 681 00:34:39,159 --> 00:34:40,540 He means what he says. 682 00:34:42,020 --> 00:34:43,639 Now, would thou art hot or cold? 683 00:34:43,739 --> 00:34:46,040 Because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot or 684 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:48,179 cold I'll spill thee out of my mouth. 685 00:34:49,659 --> 00:34:52,679 I say a sincere devil stands higher in 686 00:34:52,679 --> 00:34:58,100 moral things than an insincere Christian or religious 687 00:34:58,100 --> 00:34:58,600 person. 688 00:35:00,140 --> 00:35:01,740 I'm not sure about baptism. 689 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:03,700 When I've settled on what mode of baptism 690 00:35:03,700 --> 00:35:06,560 I want to be baptized with, I'll become 691 00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:07,000 a Christian. 692 00:35:07,660 --> 00:35:08,180 Liar! 693 00:35:10,540 --> 00:35:11,580 You might as well know it. 694 00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:13,900 That's insincere. 695 00:35:14,460 --> 00:35:15,640 That's hypocrisy. 696 00:35:15,820 --> 00:35:16,820 That's Phariseeism. 697 00:35:17,860 --> 00:35:19,340 That's dodging the issue. 698 00:35:21,610 --> 00:35:22,590 There's no truth there. 699 00:35:24,750 --> 00:35:26,410 Some say, if I knew what church it 700 00:35:26,410 --> 00:35:28,610 was, which church is it, Mr. Tell me 701 00:35:28,610 --> 00:35:28,810 now. 702 00:35:28,910 --> 00:35:32,210 I write me a letter, which church is 703 00:35:32,210 --> 00:35:32,450 it? 704 00:35:32,850 --> 00:35:33,870 Roman church? 705 00:35:34,750 --> 00:35:35,690 Greek church? 706 00:35:35,830 --> 00:35:36,730 Protestant church? 707 00:35:37,850 --> 00:35:40,790 Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Nazarene, Pentecostal? 708 00:35:40,790 --> 00:35:41,850 What church is it? 709 00:35:45,060 --> 00:35:46,800 Have they never heard the voice? 710 00:35:49,700 --> 00:35:52,400 Have they never been still enough to hear 711 00:35:52,400 --> 00:36:00,050 the mysterious witness that penetrates to their conscience 712 00:36:00,050 --> 00:36:04,870 and says, sin and righteousness and judgment? 713 00:36:07,890 --> 00:36:11,530 If they had ever heard the voice, and 714 00:36:11,530 --> 00:36:13,950 had ever been sincere in response to it, 715 00:36:13,990 --> 00:36:16,250 they'd never have any reason to ask such 716 00:36:16,250 --> 00:36:16,830 questions. 717 00:36:21,230 --> 00:36:23,750 Now, these three vital things, he presses them 718 00:36:23,750 --> 00:36:26,630 home, for they're critical, and they're eternal, and 719 00:36:26,630 --> 00:36:27,210 they're important. 720 00:36:28,170 --> 00:36:32,270 These three vital things, sin and righteousness and 721 00:36:32,270 --> 00:36:32,850 judgment. 722 00:36:34,250 --> 00:36:36,430 Sin because they believe not on me. 723 00:36:37,830 --> 00:36:41,010 The one belief is the sign and the 724 00:36:41,010 --> 00:36:41,750 proof of sin. 725 00:36:43,970 --> 00:36:48,540 Now, let me say this again from a 726 00:36:48,540 --> 00:36:49,300 little different angle. 727 00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:52,660 That faith is also a moral thing. 728 00:36:55,020 --> 00:36:56,740 I've said this before, and you that know 729 00:36:56,740 --> 00:36:58,720 me will have heard me said before, and 730 00:36:58,720 --> 00:37:00,760 probably wonder why I'm saying it now. 731 00:37:02,020 --> 00:37:03,480 But if you wonder why I'm saying it 732 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:04,800 now, then you didn't know what I meant 733 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:05,800 when I said it before. 734 00:37:09,180 --> 00:37:13,600 I believe that we are where we are 735 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:20,120 in evangelical circles because of a basic misunderstanding 736 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:20,640 of faith. 737 00:37:22,910 --> 00:37:26,170 We think that faith is a conclusion drawn 738 00:37:26,170 --> 00:37:26,870 from the facts. 739 00:37:28,170 --> 00:37:30,310 And out in the world, that is so. 740 00:37:31,430 --> 00:37:34,210 But in the realm of the spirit, it 741 00:37:34,210 --> 00:37:35,110 is not so. 742 00:37:36,550 --> 00:37:39,450 Saving faith is not a conclusion drawn from 743 00:37:39,450 --> 00:37:40,410 facts presented. 744 00:37:41,970 --> 00:37:44,810 Saving faith is a gift of God to 745 00:37:44,810 --> 00:37:45,770 a penitent man. 746 00:37:47,670 --> 00:37:50,150 And there's where we are. 747 00:37:51,530 --> 00:37:53,750 A young fellow gets down on his knees, 748 00:37:53,990 --> 00:37:55,950 nothing, anybody will do that. 749 00:37:56,030 --> 00:37:57,650 Go anywhere and you get them on their 750 00:37:57,650 --> 00:37:58,010 knees. 751 00:37:58,130 --> 00:38:02,770 Go down among the rattlesnake handlers in the 752 00:38:02,770 --> 00:38:04,370 mountains and you'll find them there. 753 00:38:05,100 --> 00:38:07,090 Go over to Arabia and you'll find them 754 00:38:07,090 --> 00:38:09,010 down five times a day on a prayer 755 00:38:09,010 --> 00:38:09,330 mat. 756 00:38:09,530 --> 00:38:12,050 Anybody will go to his knees if you 757 00:38:12,050 --> 00:38:13,670 don't make any demands of him. 758 00:38:14,410 --> 00:38:16,310 It's a simple matter to get people forward, 759 00:38:16,470 --> 00:38:17,710 it's a simple matter to get them to 760 00:38:17,710 --> 00:38:18,270 their knees. 761 00:38:19,810 --> 00:38:22,190 So while they're on their knees, somebody rushes 762 00:38:22,190 --> 00:38:25,830 in with a marked testament and sticks a 763 00:38:25,830 --> 00:38:32,010 text under their nose and says, Who said 764 00:38:32,010 --> 00:38:32,210 it? 765 00:38:34,650 --> 00:38:36,390 You believe God, yes? 766 00:38:37,470 --> 00:38:38,790 Well then do you believe the text? 767 00:38:39,070 --> 00:38:40,950 Yes, I must because I believe God. 768 00:38:41,510 --> 00:38:42,690 Well then get up and testify. 769 00:38:44,950 --> 00:38:47,570 And he gets up with an intellectual faith 770 00:38:47,570 --> 00:38:52,410 that has not saving in it, or any 771 00:38:52,410 --> 00:38:53,190 saving quality. 772 00:38:53,750 --> 00:38:55,470 That's where we are now. 773 00:38:56,550 --> 00:38:58,370 It takes three works of grace to put 774 00:38:58,370 --> 00:39:00,690 a man in this day where the first 775 00:39:00,690 --> 00:39:03,030 beginnings of salvation used to put him in 776 00:39:03,030 --> 00:39:03,630 olden times. 777 00:39:07,450 --> 00:39:11,290 Well, you convince the world concerning sin. 778 00:39:13,420 --> 00:39:15,320 When I was growing up, they were telling 779 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:16,340 me this little thing. 780 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:18,480 Oh, how I thank God I've been a 781 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:21,580 rebel all my life, and a skeptic all 782 00:39:21,580 --> 00:39:22,220 my life. 783 00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:25,900 If I hadn't been, I might have been 784 00:39:25,900 --> 00:39:27,700 pastor of a big church in Ohio. 785 00:39:29,020 --> 00:39:30,060 I could have been. 786 00:39:31,460 --> 00:39:33,620 You know, don't hurt anybody, and don't make 787 00:39:33,620 --> 00:39:35,120 any moral demands on them. 788 00:39:35,220 --> 00:39:38,620 Kiss the baby, pat everybody, eat cake with 789 00:39:38,620 --> 00:39:41,780 them, drink a proper amount of English tea, 790 00:39:42,740 --> 00:39:46,960 and don't hurt anybody's feelings, and thunder against 791 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:47,640 modernism. 792 00:39:51,240 --> 00:39:53,860 Take a man dead fifty years, rip him 793 00:39:53,860 --> 00:39:55,640 to pieces, and prove that he was a 794 00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:59,420 scoundrel, because he didn't believe the margins of 795 00:39:59,420 --> 00:40:00,200 the Schofield Bible. 796 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:04,200 I could have had a big church, brother, 797 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:06,280 and written a taddy. 798 00:40:07,620 --> 00:40:09,340 Sure, I had sense enough to know that 799 00:40:09,340 --> 00:40:10,060 way back then. 800 00:40:11,860 --> 00:40:13,840 But I thank God I've been a rebel 801 00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:16,140 all my life, and still am. 802 00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:19,900 And I'm in rebellion against that kind of 803 00:40:19,900 --> 00:40:24,680 teaching that would pick chickens out of the 804 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:27,680 shallow and let them die, and against that 805 00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:31,680 kind of practice that would take over the 806 00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:33,840 work of the Holy Ghost and crowd him 807 00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:35,220 out and retire him. 808 00:40:36,060 --> 00:40:39,040 This is the age of the superannuated Holy 809 00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:39,380 Ghost. 810 00:40:41,720 --> 00:40:44,300 We've retired him and said, thanks, we have 811 00:40:44,300 --> 00:40:47,880 our Bible, good King James translation, and we 812 00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:49,700 won't need you till the Millennium. 813 00:40:51,460 --> 00:40:55,980 And the Holy Spirit is a marginal annotation, 814 00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:00,440 and is taken care of by a few 815 00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:02,080 proof texts and forgotten. 816 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,460 But he won't be forgotten like that. 817 00:41:06,220 --> 00:41:09,540 He holds your faith in his. 818 00:41:13,850 --> 00:41:17,350 He used to say, the problem today is 819 00:41:17,350 --> 00:41:19,570 not the sin question, the problem is the 820 00:41:19,570 --> 00:41:20,210 son question. 821 00:41:21,790 --> 00:41:24,070 And if you will believe in the son, 822 00:41:24,210 --> 00:41:26,850 why the matter of sin is all taken 823 00:41:26,850 --> 00:41:27,330 care of. 824 00:41:27,350 --> 00:41:28,910 I heard one man, who had better been 825 00:41:28,910 --> 00:41:31,090 doing something else at the time, I recommend 826 00:41:31,090 --> 00:41:34,350 hoeing in the garden, but he said this, 827 00:41:35,130 --> 00:41:37,570 he said, sin has no more meaning to 828 00:41:37,570 --> 00:41:37,970 God. 829 00:41:38,810 --> 00:41:44,030 On Calvary, sin beat itself to death, and 830 00:41:44,030 --> 00:41:44,610 perished. 831 00:41:45,410 --> 00:41:48,990 And now, sin has no meaning to God 832 00:41:48,990 --> 00:41:49,950 since Calvary. 833 00:41:51,550 --> 00:41:53,910 He ought to have been raising tulums, not 834 00:41:53,910 --> 00:41:54,730 preaching the gospel. 835 00:41:55,650 --> 00:41:57,530 For he was a good man, talking like 836 00:41:57,530 --> 00:41:58,750 a blooming idiot. 837 00:42:03,890 --> 00:42:07,570 The problem never has been the son question. 838 00:42:08,610 --> 00:42:11,510 The problem has been the sin question, from 839 00:42:11,510 --> 00:42:13,790 the day he stretched forth her hand in 840 00:42:13,790 --> 00:42:14,570 an evil hour. 841 00:42:15,630 --> 00:42:17,450 He gave also to her husband, and he 842 00:42:17,450 --> 00:42:17,910 did eat. 843 00:42:20,220 --> 00:42:22,240 And when the sin question is settled, the 844 00:42:22,240 --> 00:42:25,960 son question comes leaping in, happily solved. 845 00:42:27,500 --> 00:42:29,440 And if you will be willing to do 846 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:31,240 the will of God, you shall know that 847 00:42:31,240 --> 00:42:32,740 Jesus is the son of God. 848 00:42:33,620 --> 00:42:35,880 And you won't have to read long books 849 00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:37,160 to prove it. 850 00:42:37,660 --> 00:42:38,800 It's all there. 851 00:42:42,650 --> 00:42:49,270 Now, not only sin, but righteousness, the voice 852 00:42:49,270 --> 00:42:50,410 of the Holy Spirit. 853 00:42:51,710 --> 00:42:53,610 Righteousness, because I go to my father. 854 00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:57,300 And the fact that he went to his 855 00:42:57,300 --> 00:43:01,900 father is conspicuous proof of the world's condition. 856 00:43:03,910 --> 00:43:06,890 For there was one righteous man in the 857 00:43:06,890 --> 00:43:09,630 world, and he couldn't stay. 858 00:43:11,740 --> 00:43:15,020 There was one righteous man, and he had 859 00:43:15,020 --> 00:43:15,460 to leave. 860 00:43:16,540 --> 00:43:19,860 He was too good to stay. 861 00:43:22,190 --> 00:43:24,970 They hounded him out of the world. 862 00:43:31,390 --> 00:43:37,570 Today, the more we become lightened, the less 863 00:43:37,570 --> 00:43:40,470 welcome we are in society. 864 00:43:44,460 --> 00:43:52,030 And our pitiful effort to make Christianity socially 865 00:43:52,030 --> 00:43:58,870 acceptable is an effort that's worse than wasteful. 866 00:44:00,310 --> 00:44:02,910 To make out of the cross a symbol, 867 00:44:05,530 --> 00:44:08,690 and relegate its nails and thorns and blood 868 00:44:08,690 --> 00:44:14,170 and terror and ostracism back to the hill 869 00:44:14,170 --> 00:44:17,730 above Jerusalem, and forget that that same cross 870 00:44:17,730 --> 00:44:20,050 is alive today wherever the gospel is preached, 871 00:44:21,150 --> 00:44:25,370 is to commit a theological error as deadly 872 00:44:25,370 --> 00:44:26,550 as ruthlessness. 873 00:44:28,310 --> 00:44:29,750 And yet it's what we hear most of 874 00:44:29,750 --> 00:44:30,170 the time. 875 00:44:33,260 --> 00:44:35,460 That, oh, believe me, we know better now, 876 00:44:35,540 --> 00:44:37,200 they don't crucify people now. 877 00:44:38,380 --> 00:44:42,820 They don't crucify people now because they can 878 00:44:42,820 --> 00:44:44,400 get along with them too easily. 879 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:49,740 There's too much collaboration between men who claim 880 00:44:49,740 --> 00:44:53,000 to follow the crucified one and the people 881 00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:55,060 who don't believe in the crucified one. 882 00:44:56,040 --> 00:44:59,260 Wherever they can catch a Christ-like man, 883 00:44:59,820 --> 00:45:01,740 they'll run for the nails and the hammer. 884 00:45:05,550 --> 00:45:06,610 What do we need? 885 00:45:07,470 --> 00:45:08,850 I don't pray for it. 886 00:45:09,050 --> 00:45:10,850 I haven't the courage to pray for it. 887 00:45:11,490 --> 00:45:14,190 But I'm here and I'm at God's disposal. 888 00:45:15,090 --> 00:45:18,410 What we need in our day is to 889 00:45:18,410 --> 00:45:19,890 have some more Christians crucified. 890 00:45:21,730 --> 00:45:23,010 We need more persecution. 891 00:45:25,860 --> 00:45:28,220 We need more of a social situation that 892 00:45:28,220 --> 00:45:29,760 makes it dangerous to be a Christian. 893 00:45:30,920 --> 00:45:32,420 But it isn't dangerous now. 894 00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:33,540 It's quite the populous thing. 895 00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:37,840 They use a preacher now for almost anything. 896 00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:40,280 They can't cut a tape, so they have 897 00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:41,400 to have a preacher there to cut the 898 00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:41,660 tape. 899 00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:44,760 They can't break ground for anything. 900 00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:47,240 The latest dog pound at Water River has 901 00:45:47,240 --> 00:45:48,980 to be there to say a prayer and 902 00:45:48,980 --> 00:45:52,100 break the first steam shovel full, or shovel 903 00:45:52,100 --> 00:45:54,340 full, while he looks up smirks at the 904 00:45:54,340 --> 00:45:54,620 camera. 905 00:45:56,740 --> 00:46:00,260 The ladies can't begin their campaign to drive 906 00:46:00,260 --> 00:46:02,880 all the ground mold out of Cook County, 907 00:46:03,380 --> 00:46:04,900 except they have a pastor there. 908 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:07,580 He's got to be there to mumble a 909 00:46:07,580 --> 00:46:09,760 few words, smile, and look religious. 910 00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:14,220 But nobody crucifies the old boy. 911 00:46:14,740 --> 00:46:16,660 They get along with him, get along with 912 00:46:16,660 --> 00:46:16,920 him. 913 00:46:19,540 --> 00:46:22,880 But there was one righteous man, and he 914 00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:23,500 couldn't stay. 915 00:46:25,530 --> 00:46:30,140 Their faces went as black as steam, and 916 00:46:30,140 --> 00:46:31,040 their countenance fell. 917 00:46:32,740 --> 00:46:35,080 And they said, we won't be made moral 918 00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:37,220 fools of by this man. 919 00:46:38,020 --> 00:46:39,520 And they nailed him to the cross. 920 00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:45,070 And the Holy Ghost is here to convince 921 00:46:45,070 --> 00:46:51,550 the world concerning that unpardoned act, that act 922 00:46:51,550 --> 00:46:54,170 of crucifying the world's only holy man. 923 00:46:54,410 --> 00:46:56,730 That is, holy in the final, absolute sense 924 00:46:56,730 --> 00:46:57,150 of the word. 925 00:46:58,230 --> 00:47:00,130 Who was holy without being made holy. 926 00:47:01,450 --> 00:47:02,990 There may be holy men now, and there 927 00:47:02,990 --> 00:47:04,470 may be unrighteous men now. 928 00:47:04,950 --> 00:47:07,370 But they're righteous men because they were made 929 00:47:07,370 --> 00:47:09,790 righteous by the one who never was made 930 00:47:09,790 --> 00:47:10,230 righteous. 931 00:47:10,230 --> 00:47:14,810 Jesus Christ never was any less righteous than 932 00:47:14,810 --> 00:47:15,370 he is now. 933 00:47:15,970 --> 00:47:18,250 He never had to be washed or cleansed. 934 00:47:18,610 --> 00:47:20,910 His baptism was never a baptism for cleansing. 935 00:47:21,890 --> 00:47:25,370 When the Holy Ghost came upon him, it 936 00:47:25,370 --> 00:47:27,170 came upon him as a dove, not as 937 00:47:27,170 --> 00:47:27,590 fire. 938 00:47:29,870 --> 00:47:31,430 There was no need for purgation. 939 00:47:33,010 --> 00:47:35,490 The Bible never says Christ was baptized with 940 00:47:35,490 --> 00:47:36,070 the Holy Ghost. 941 00:47:36,150 --> 00:47:37,030 It says he was anointed. 942 00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:41,640 Baptism was symbolic of cleansing. 943 00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:43,580 Anointing was symbolic of office. 944 00:47:44,260 --> 00:47:47,260 He was anointed without cleansing, for he never 945 00:47:47,260 --> 00:47:48,420 was anything but clean. 946 00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:51,100 The spotless Lamb of God. 947 00:47:51,720 --> 00:47:54,720 And he was the one spotless man, and 948 00:47:54,720 --> 00:47:56,240 he was the man that couldn't stay. 949 00:47:56,340 --> 00:47:58,120 They pounded him out of the world. 950 00:48:01,000 --> 00:48:03,040 Jesus said to the Pharisees when he lived 951 00:48:03,040 --> 00:48:06,400 among them, You killed a prophet. 952 00:48:08,060 --> 00:48:09,800 Now you build a monument. 953 00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:13,240 But you're still guilty of killing them. 954 00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:18,800 So we're now talking nice about Jesus, painting 955 00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:22,620 his picture, saying nice things about him. 956 00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:27,360 We have his blood on our hands as 957 00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:27,840 a race. 958 00:48:29,480 --> 00:48:31,360 He will convince the world of sin and 959 00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:32,840 righteousness and judgment. 960 00:48:33,020 --> 00:48:35,260 Now the prince of this world is judged, 961 00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:35,820 Jesus said. 962 00:48:37,460 --> 00:48:39,320 And the voice of the Spirit speaks to 963 00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:40,200 the day of reckoning. 964 00:48:42,080 --> 00:48:44,640 I was thinking how much better it would 965 00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:46,740 be if we could have a choice. 966 00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:50,040 We come to die, and if God could 967 00:48:50,040 --> 00:48:51,700 give us a choice and say now you're 968 00:48:51,700 --> 00:48:53,600 going to die within the next 12 hours, 969 00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:55,720 I'll give you your choice. 970 00:48:55,820 --> 00:48:56,940 Do you want to rise again? 971 00:48:57,640 --> 00:48:59,460 Or do you want to stay forever in 972 00:48:59,460 --> 00:49:01,160 the state of blessed unconsciousness? 973 00:49:02,420 --> 00:49:03,500 And never rise again. 974 00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:04,660 That's sheer imagination. 975 00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:05,600 That could never happen. 976 00:49:06,580 --> 00:49:08,300 For God has ordained that all men should 977 00:49:08,300 --> 00:49:08,700 rise. 978 00:49:09,540 --> 00:49:13,480 Some to righteousness and some to everlasting condemnation. 979 00:49:14,780 --> 00:49:16,680 But if a man could have a choice, 980 00:49:17,220 --> 00:49:18,840 every once in a while we read that 981 00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:24,500 somebody in a fit of self-pity and 982 00:49:24,500 --> 00:49:28,280 a variety of other sins will get a 983 00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:31,020 gun, kill his wife and two or three 984 00:49:31,020 --> 00:49:32,400 children, then kill himself. 985 00:49:33,260 --> 00:49:34,160 Can't get at him. 986 00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:35,600 Police can't get at him. 987 00:49:35,660 --> 00:49:36,640 Can't punish him. 988 00:49:38,710 --> 00:49:40,290 Coward ten times over. 989 00:49:40,970 --> 00:49:43,890 So cowardly that probably hell won't even admit 990 00:49:43,890 --> 00:49:45,550 him till he's washed a bit. 991 00:49:47,550 --> 00:49:49,590 But if you could give that man an 992 00:49:49,590 --> 00:49:53,690 opportunity and say listen, do you want to 993 00:49:53,690 --> 00:49:54,390 rise? 994 00:49:55,630 --> 00:49:58,070 Or shall we fix it so you'll never 995 00:49:58,070 --> 00:50:02,830 need to wait while millenniums spend themselves? 996 00:50:04,230 --> 00:50:05,670 What a relief for that man. 997 00:50:06,570 --> 00:50:08,070 What a relief for that man. 998 00:50:08,190 --> 00:50:10,110 My God, my God, he cried. 999 00:50:12,060 --> 00:50:15,960 I died with the sound of the gaspings 1000 00:50:15,960 --> 00:50:17,980 of my wife and children in my ears. 1001 00:50:18,700 --> 00:50:22,400 I died fleeing from it and I haven't 1002 00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:24,160 been able to get away from it. 1003 00:50:25,020 --> 00:50:26,620 And I hear it yet and hear the 1004 00:50:26,620 --> 00:50:28,100 sighs and see the blood. 1005 00:50:28,840 --> 00:50:31,020 Please, please let me go to sleep and 1006 00:50:31,020 --> 00:50:31,960 never wake again. 1007 00:50:32,960 --> 00:50:34,880 It would be a mighty convenient thing if 1008 00:50:34,880 --> 00:50:36,880 sinners never had to rise from the dead. 1009 00:50:38,880 --> 00:50:42,480 They'd all get burned, Caligula and Mussolini. 1010 00:50:44,140 --> 00:50:45,680 And some more of them wouldn't have it 1011 00:50:45,680 --> 00:50:46,880 in their power to stay. 1012 00:50:47,000 --> 00:50:48,620 It would be convenient for them. 1013 00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:52,520 But they that are in the grave shall 1014 00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:56,040 hear the voice of the Son of Man. 1015 00:50:56,960 --> 00:50:57,620 There's a judgment. 1016 00:50:58,760 --> 00:51:00,080 I believe in that judgment. 1017 00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:04,740 I believe that they've taken it away from 1018 00:51:04,740 --> 00:51:06,040 us in the hour in which we live. 1019 00:51:06,780 --> 00:51:08,700 And they've said it's ridiculous that God isn't 1020 00:51:08,700 --> 00:51:09,300 a bookkeeper. 1021 00:51:10,460 --> 00:51:12,760 And you can't conceive of God putting entries 1022 00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:14,220 in a book like a common clerk. 1023 00:51:14,780 --> 00:51:22,680 John Jones, 321 West 44th Place June 14, 1024 00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:27,800 1953, did commit the below-mentioned sin. 1025 00:51:30,300 --> 00:51:31,360 Say God's no clerk. 1026 00:51:32,820 --> 00:51:34,660 God isn't writing books. 1027 00:51:35,540 --> 00:51:36,420 Debit books. 1028 00:51:38,720 --> 00:51:40,540 Oh, how ignorant can we get and still 1029 00:51:40,540 --> 00:51:41,600 not drop dead? 1030 00:51:43,040 --> 00:51:45,860 Of course God isn't keeping that kind of 1031 00:51:45,860 --> 00:51:46,320 books. 1032 00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:48,960 Of course God isn't a clerk. 1033 00:51:50,380 --> 00:51:53,640 But every deed that ever has been committed 1034 00:51:53,640 --> 00:51:57,000 or ever will be committed from the beginning 1035 00:51:57,000 --> 00:52:00,640 to the world till the last man is 1036 00:52:00,640 --> 00:52:04,620 instantly now present before the eyes of God. 1037 00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:08,340 And God needs no clerks and no pens. 1038 00:52:10,040 --> 00:52:13,920 The omniscient God sees perfectly all that ever 1039 00:52:13,920 --> 00:52:15,520 was and all that is and all that 1040 00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:16,360 ever will be. 1041 00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:21,800 And without raising his eyebrows, he knows every 1042 00:52:21,800 --> 00:52:25,000 man's heartbeats and every man's thoughts and every 1043 00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:25,800 man's needs. 1044 00:52:26,980 --> 00:52:29,380 So judgment will be very easy for God. 1045 00:52:30,740 --> 00:52:32,880 Judgment won't be difficult for God. 1046 00:52:33,400 --> 00:52:35,260 Of course he puts it for us to 1047 00:52:35,260 --> 00:52:36,020 understand. 1048 00:52:36,240 --> 00:52:38,080 Books were opened and the dead were brought 1049 00:52:38,080 --> 00:52:39,040 forth and so on. 1050 00:52:40,240 --> 00:52:42,340 All that's to convince men. 1051 00:52:43,340 --> 00:52:45,420 But God doesn't need any help like that. 1052 00:52:45,560 --> 00:52:53,120 God already knows judgment, sin, and righteousness. 1053 00:52:56,240 --> 00:52:58,260 Now the spirit of God persists. 1054 00:52:58,440 --> 00:53:05,680 He'll keep on that penetrating, silent, eloquent voice 1055 00:53:07,700 --> 00:53:11,340 until the voice can no longer be heard. 1056 00:53:12,020 --> 00:53:17,200 Or until we listen and return. 1057 00:53:17,640 --> 00:53:20,320 And you know it still works. 1058 00:53:21,140 --> 00:53:23,140 The man who hears the gospel message and 1059 00:53:23,140 --> 00:53:25,580 believes it, really believes it, really turns to 1060 00:53:25,580 --> 00:53:29,200 the Lord Jesus Christ, there's still transforming power 1061 00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:29,420 in him. 1062 00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:31,640 You don't see much of it, but you 1063 00:53:31,640 --> 00:53:32,480 see some of it. 1064 00:53:33,340 --> 00:53:35,160 I won't mention names, but I'm thinking of 1065 00:53:35,160 --> 00:53:35,740 a young fellow. 1066 00:53:36,380 --> 00:53:38,000 I think he may be present here tonight. 1067 00:53:38,100 --> 00:53:38,760 He was this morning. 1068 00:53:42,170 --> 00:53:43,830 No, nobody looked at him twice. 1069 00:53:44,290 --> 00:53:46,450 Just one more boy, young fellow, all good 1070 00:53:46,450 --> 00:53:47,910 -looking and all that, but just one more 1071 00:53:47,910 --> 00:53:49,490 young fellow in the millions. 1072 00:53:50,630 --> 00:53:52,830 Brought it down the aisle here some, maybe 1073 00:53:52,830 --> 00:53:57,870 two months ago, and something happened to that 1074 00:53:57,870 --> 00:53:58,310 boy. 1075 00:54:00,130 --> 00:54:02,370 And the whole life is transformed. 1076 00:54:04,740 --> 00:54:06,640 Whole life is transformed. 1077 00:54:07,540 --> 00:54:08,640 Face looks different. 1078 00:54:09,040 --> 00:54:09,840 Better looking than ever. 1079 00:54:11,200 --> 00:54:12,840 The tone of his voice is different. 1080 00:54:13,340 --> 00:54:14,340 Everything is different. 1081 00:54:15,340 --> 00:54:16,520 And now he says, I'm going to quit 1082 00:54:16,520 --> 00:54:17,740 my job and get a job where I 1083 00:54:17,740 --> 00:54:18,500 can be at church. 1084 00:54:19,300 --> 00:54:21,180 Not that my job's all right, but take 1085 00:54:21,180 --> 00:54:22,740 me out of church and get a job 1086 00:54:22,740 --> 00:54:23,400 where I can be at church. 1087 00:54:23,540 --> 00:54:24,820 What happened to the fellow? 1088 00:54:26,040 --> 00:54:28,360 I mean, what could happen to everybody that 1089 00:54:28,360 --> 00:54:32,540 listens and hears the voice and believes and 1090 00:54:32,540 --> 00:54:32,880 turns? 1091 00:54:35,200 --> 00:54:37,360 Jesus Christ is still the miracle worker. 1092 00:54:38,020 --> 00:54:41,120 He still raises the dead Lazaruses out of 1093 00:54:41,120 --> 00:54:41,620 the grave. 1094 00:54:42,740 --> 00:54:45,980 He still raises the consciences of men out 1095 00:54:45,980 --> 00:54:48,520 of the deep mud of their past. 1096 00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:51,280 He still converts. 1097 00:54:51,500 --> 00:54:53,020 He still regenerates. 1098 00:54:53,100 --> 00:54:54,160 He still transforms. 1099 00:54:55,740 --> 00:54:58,580 He still makes Christians out of dead clods. 1100 00:55:00,800 --> 00:55:01,540 He still does. 1101 00:55:02,780 --> 00:55:04,860 Tragic that he doesn't do it more frequently. 1102 00:55:05,500 --> 00:55:08,220 Tragic that we hide from him in the 1103 00:55:08,220 --> 00:55:09,640 caves and pens of the earth. 1104 00:55:10,220 --> 00:55:12,080 Tragic that we hide among the trees of 1105 00:55:12,080 --> 00:55:12,540 the garden. 1106 00:55:14,180 --> 00:55:16,960 He that hath ears to hear says the 1107 00:55:16,960 --> 00:55:18,140 untreating voice. 1108 00:55:20,280 --> 00:55:22,740 He that hath ears to hear, let him 1109 00:55:22,740 --> 00:55:23,080 hear. 1110 00:55:24,980 --> 00:55:26,980 The spirit and the bride say come and 1111 00:55:26,980 --> 00:55:30,300 whosoever will, let him come and drink of 1112 00:55:30,300 --> 00:55:31,560 the water of life freely. 1113 00:55:32,900 --> 00:55:35,100 Humble thyself and the Lord will draw near 1114 00:55:35,100 --> 00:55:35,380 thee. 1115 00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:39,680 Humble thyself and his presence will cheer thee. 1116 00:55:40,660 --> 00:55:42,660 God will not walk with the proud nor 1117 00:55:42,660 --> 00:55:43,440 the scornful. 1118 00:55:44,640 --> 00:55:48,000 Humble thyself to walk with God. 1119 00:55:48,120 --> 00:55:50,720 Now the Holy Spirit is entreating you. 1120 00:55:51,780 --> 00:55:53,420 God's love entreats. 1121 00:55:54,200 --> 00:55:57,520 The blood of Jesus Christ eloquently entreats. 1122 00:55:58,280 --> 00:55:59,900 The spirit of God. 1123 00:56:02,610 --> 00:56:06,750 The world is lost, but the world is 1124 00:56:06,750 --> 00:56:07,590 not finished. 1125 00:56:10,490 --> 00:56:12,290 You've been listening to the From the Pulpit 1126 00:56:12,290 --> 00:56:13,390 in Classic Sermons series. 1127 00:56:13,950 --> 00:56:15,950 This week you heard A.W. Tozer with 1128 00:56:15,950 --> 00:56:18,090 his message, The Voice of the Holy Spirit. 1129 00:56:18,830 --> 00:56:20,310 Tune in next week to hear Tony Evans 1130 00:56:20,310 --> 00:56:22,810 with a message from this year's National Religious 1131 00:56:22,810 --> 00:56:25,010 Broadcasters Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. 1132 00:56:25,630 --> 00:56:27,510 On From the Pulpit in Classic Sermons.