We'll return with me to the reading of
God's Word in Ezekiel chapter 47.
Ezekiel 47.
Just going to read the first 12 verses
of this chapter.
Then he brought me back to the door
of the temple, and behold, water was issuing
from below the threshold of the temple toward
the east, for the temple faced east, and
the water was flowing down from below the
south end of the threshold of the temple
south of the altar.
Then he brought me out by way of
the north gate, and led me round on
the outside to the outer gate that faces
toward the east, and the water was coming
out on the south side.
Going on eastward with a line in his
hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and
then led me through the water, and it
was ankle deep.
Again he measured a thousand, and led me
through the water, and it was knee deep.
Again he measured a thousand, and led me
through the water, and it was up to
the line.
Again he measured a thousand, and it was
a river that I could not pass through,
for the waters had risen.
It was deep enough to swim in, a
river that could not be passed through.
And he said to me, son of man,
have you seen this?
Then he led me back along the bank
of the river.
As I went back I saw upon the
bank of the river very many trees on
the one side and on the other.
And he said to me, this water flows
toward the eastern region, and goes down into
the Arabah.
And when it enters the stagnant waters of
the sea, the water will become fresh.
And wherever the river goes, every living creature
which swarms will live.
And there will be very many fish, for
this water goes there, that the waters of
the sea may become fresh.
So everything will live where the river goes.
Fishermen will stand beside the sea, from En
Gedi to Eneglem.
It will be a place for the spreading
of nets.
Fish will be of very many kinds, like
the fish of the great sea.
But its swamps and marshes will not become
fresh.
They are to be left for salt.
And on the banks, on both sides of
the river, there will grow all kinds of
trees for food.
Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit
fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every
month, because the water for them flows from
the sanctuary.
Their fruit will be for food, and their
leaves for healing.
A word of prayer together.
Please will you echo in your heart the
prayer which I offer to the Lord on
your behalf and mine?
Speak, Lord, in the stillness while we wait
on thee.
Hush our hearts to listen in expectancy.
Speak, O blessed Master, in this quiet hour.
May we see thy face, Lord, and feel,
and feel thy touch of power for Jesus'
sake.
Amen.
How good it was tonight to listen to
a testimony which is so honest.
How few people would admit that coming out
of a BTI in Glasgow, or any other
school, they were in a position of spiritual
drought.
But what a terrible possibility that is for
all of us.
Not only at school, or leaving school at
any stage in life, to be absolutely dry.
The language in John Samuel Monselle often haunts
my heart.
I hunger and I thirst, Jesu my manna
be, ye living waters burst out of the
rock for me.
For still the desert lies, my thirsting soul
before.
That's true, true of many of us who
have been on the road for many years,
in terrible danger of ending our days spiritually
dry.
An experience through which many of us know
what it is to pass.
All the agony of it, the dread of
it, the horror of it.
Sense of the lost fellowship with God, a
sense of inadequacy for the task, the sense
of being beaten and knocked out, and bereft,
and lost, and defeated.
The sense of hopelessness and weirdness.
Believe me folks, this isn't only the teenager's
experience, it's often the experience of the missionary
on the field.
The often experience of the person who's been
years on the Christian path, who's struck barrenness,
and he wonders why.
I want to talk to you tonight, the
Lord helping me, on the subject of resources
for Christian living.
You know the Bible is an eastern book,
and its illustrations are taken from the Middle
East.
That's why you have phrases such as these
with which you're familiar, that run right through
the Bible, wells of salvation.
Streams in the desert, I will pour water
upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon
the dry ground.
The godly man is like a tree, planted
by the river of water, who bringeth forth
his fruit in season, and he weathers not.
And of course the metaphor is taken into
the New Testament, when Jesus said to that
woman, the water that I shall give you
shall be in you, a spring of water,
a fountain springing up into everlasting life.
The verses which our president read to us
earlier in this service.
Jesus stood and cried, if any man thirst,
let him come to me and drink.
Out of his innermost being shall flow rivers
of living water.
This spake he of the Holy Spirit, which
they that believe in him should receive.
And in the closing book of the Bible,
and the little glimpse we have of heaven,
we're not told much about heaven, but enough
for us to get on with till we
get there.
And we find in heaven there's no sun,
there's no moon, there's no night, but there's
a river.
A river as clear as crystal, that flows
from the throne of God and of the
Lamb.
These are all subject themes that run right
through the book, and I'm putting them all
together in this great subject, resources for Christian
living.
Many passages of scripture which one could turn
to for this subject, but I'm going to
concentrate tonight on these verses which we've read
together.
I recognize of course that they have their
literal fulfillment in a future millennial age, but
they have a tremendous picture in them of
what it means to be a Christian, how
it means to live and keep fresh, and
to be delivered from barrenness and dryness and
drought.
And no floods upon the dry ground are
my life and of my heart.
As I speak to you, I realize more
than ever, my own personal need is the
fulfillment of this prophecy in my heart tonight.
I trust you do.
I trust, I speak tonight to a congregation,
many of whom are hungry and thirsty for
God.
He always meets us on the level of
our appetite.
You can have much, as much of God
as you want.
Yes, he's no off-duty moment.
He's never times when he can't be consulted.
He's always available.
For as much as I want of him,
the great thing that I have to decide
as I start my message tonight is, how
much of the Lord do I really want
with all my heart?
And how much am I prepared to let
go to have him?
Well, let's look at this passage briefly tonight,
hopefully briefly.
I notice in this vision of Ezekiel that
God gave to the prophet, the vision is
of a river.
And I want you to notice about this
river, the essence of its power.
The essence of the river's power.
See the source of it.
The water was issuing, verse 1, from below
the threshold of the temple toward the east.
The source of this river was the sanctuary
of God.
The place of absolute authority, supreme power.
And when I receive the Holy Spirit at
my new birth, and that's when I do
receive him, you cannot be a Christian without
having the Holy Spirit.
You can be a believer without having the
Holy Spirit.
I hope that doesn't shock you.
Well no, I hope it does shock you.
I remember Ian Thomas, our mutual friend I'm
sure, coming to Moody Church in Chicago when
I was pastor, and preaching a sermon entitled,
Unsaved Believers.
Took us about three months to get over
that.
The church was rocked to its foundations, nothing
had ever been heard of that kind of
thing.
But it's desperately possible to have everything in
my head and nothing in my heart.
Everything right in my mind, but empty of
experience.
But when I become a Christian, I'm born
again.
At that moment the Holy Spirit comes into
my heart, and, and his source is from
the throne of God.
When I receive him, I receive throne life.
Throne life.
The life of absolute authority.
It comes to me from the greatest throne,
and the highest throne in the universe.
And he comes that he might administer in
my heart, the life of the kingdom of
God.
That he might display in me, and through
me, what it means, the sheer wonder, the
thrill, the contentment, the joy, the peace, the
strength, the tranquility, of being a man or
a woman under the control of the kingdom
of God.
Displaying to a modern society, with all its
permissiveness, the reality of freedom in submission to
Jesus Christ.
And he comes to make it possible for
me to live that kingdom life, in my
heart, every day.
He does not come to set up a
democracy.
He comes to set up a dictatorship.
He doesn't come to set up a constitutional
monarchy, like we have in Britain.
We like it that way, but it's really
very stupid.
Pardon me saying so, but really it is.
I mean we have a queen on the
throne, we have a government over here, they
do the job.
All she does is sign on the dotted
line, everything they give her.
Take an Englishman to think up a thing
like that.
We have a sovereign lady whom we love.
I won't go into this, but just in
brackets, this bit, the thing that amazes all
of us Britishers, is that every time Billy
Graham comes over to Britain, he goes and
has lunch with her.
Nobody else can do that, but he does.
And she talks to him about what version
of the Bible to use in family prayer.
Oh she knows the Lord, she loves him,
she's a Christian.
But there she is, since she was 21
or 22 years of age, when she became
Queen, she's been a constitutional monarch, with a
throne, with a crown, a sovereign lady number
one, but she signs on the dotted line,
anything that Ted Heath and Co.
give to her.
That's a constitutional monarchy.
And the thing that sends a shiver down
my spine, is that's exactly what many of
you want to do with Jesus.
And he won't have any of it.
He won't sign on your dotted line.
He won't be a rubber stamp to you.
He comes to administer his kingdom in your
life.
And on Sunday morning at church, many of
you will pray, Our Father which art in
heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come.
Hold it, hold it.
You can't pray, thy kingdom come, until you
pray, my kingdom go.
The Holy Spirit comes with the authority of
the Lord, with the power of risen Christ,
the life of Jesus himself, to administer the
kingdom in your heart, and to display to
a world that refuses all kind of authority,
the wonder of life lived under the authority
of Jesus Christ.
So the source of his life is at
the throne of God.
And you have received throne life.
But please notice the course of this river.
The water was flowing down from below the
south end of the threshold of the temple,
south of the altar.
This river came from the throne by way
of the place of sacrifice.
And I receive the Holy Spirit simply and
solely because Jesus made it possible for me
to receive him at Calvary.
The Holy Spirit does not come because of
a ten-day prayer meeting before Pentecost.
He came because Jesus said to his disciples,
if I go not away, the Holy Spirit
will not come to you.
But if I go away, I will send
you another comforter, and he shall be with
you and in you forever.
And Jesus, God's perfect man, rose from the
tomb, ascended to heaven, and received from the
Father the promise of the Holy Spirit.
That great moment in the drama of redemption,
in which eternity could invade time, and heaven
could come down to earth, and the life
of God could come in and dwell, bankrupt,
hopeless, beaten, defeated, sinful humanity, when we admit
our brokenness and the defeat, and simply bow
at the foot of Calvary's cross to receive
our Lord.
Calvary must precede Pentecost.
He comes to us by way of the
cross.
May I with great respect say, there are
many people today who are seeking for an
experience of the Holy Spirit, who refuse to
go to Calvary.
You cannot do it, my friends.
You just cannot do it.
Except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone.
But if it die, it shall bring forth
much fruit.
But if it die, four words, ten letters,
the most vitally important in Christian experience.
And when I listen to some church prayer
meetings, and I hear people pray, oh Lord,
give us another Pentecost.
I can't help wondering whether the angels in
heaven look over the ramparts of heaven and
say, you give us Calvary, and Pentecost is
inevitable.
He will not anoint the flesh with power.
He'll give me Jesus, and in him is
all power.
And the Holy Spirit comes to me by
way of the cross, and I can only
know him in my life in power when
I have really been to Calvary.
Jesus Christ for me on the cross, wonderful.
I with him on the cross, not so
wonderful.
No, no, but that's where I've got to
get, and stay, and live at the cross
every moment of every day, if I would
know the flow of the river in my
life, the course of the river by way
of the cross.
Oh God forgive us, thou omens would bow
my head in shame.
Some of us are too big to receive
it.
Some of us have got too big for
God to use, too professional, too organized, too
proud of our fundamentalism, too big, made a
name for ourselves out of the name of
Jesus, may shame on us.
And it's the nobody, the man who's prepared
to be nothing, that Jesus Christ can anoint
with the Holy Spirit.
He comes to us by way of Calvary.
And do you notice the force of the
river?
I go through these first five verses, and
I see that the river, less than a
mile from its source, was too deep to
get through, waters to swim in.
And, and it was constantly flowing from the
throne.
I can see no evidence of any tributary
having been added to it.
And it owed its sheer force because of
its unhindered freedom.
It could flow where it wanted, and it
flowed, and flowed, and flowed in increasing power,
without any earthly stream having been added to
it.
I've said before, in other words, I say
again, I cannot add or reinforce the Holy
Spirit's power in my life.
All I can do is humbly to admit
him, to submit to him, and to acknowledge
his authority, and to obey him day by
day.
Then he flows with freedom in my heart.
The essence of the river's power.
He comes to us from the throne.
Throne life.
He comes to us by way of the
cross.
Crucified life.
He comes to us through the sheer force
of a risen Lord, who was crucified for
each one of us.
But will you notice something else in this
story?
Will you notice what I would call, the
experience of the river's depth?
Over and over again in these verses, did
you notice a phrase, he brought me through?
He brought me through the waters towards the
ankles.
He brought me through the waters towards the
knees.
He brought me through the waters to the
loins.
He brought me through waters to swim in.
Let me look at each one of these
for a moment.
He brought me through, and the waters were
to the ankles.
There's a picture of the carnal Christian.
The man who's received the life of the
river, but he's only paddling in it.
He's only ankle deep.
He hasn't really got wet.
He hasn't got sunk in it, immersed in
it.
He's only paddling, only playing church.
He's ankle deep.
And when a man is only ankle deep,
there's a tremendous lot of himself still seen.
And this is the carnal Christian who lived
in the Corinthian church, full of jealousy, full
of envy.
His reaction's just as if he hadn't been
converted at all.
Hard to detect him from other people as
a believer.
Ankle deep, ankle deep.
Some of us are only paddling, only, only
ankle deep in the water tonight.
Oh, and so unhappy, so dry, so barren.
So he brought me through.
He brought me through, and the waters was
to the knees.
Ah, the man's going down now.
The man's going down.
The water's rising.
The tide is coming in.
And the man's going out of sight, and
he's on his knees.
Forgive me, you know, but when a God
captures a man's knees, he's got hold of
something.
Some things begin to happen when a man's
on his knees.
This tells me, it's a picture of a
man who's getting to see that he, he
just can't go on living on the same
level.
He's getting desperate.
He goes deeper into the water.
You recall the Bible story of the conversion
of Saul of Tarsus?
When he went to Damascus, blinded by the
vision of Job, of the Lord.
The Lord spoke to a very anonymous disciple,
Ananias, and said, Ananias, go into Damascus and
give that man his sight.
Ananias thought he knew his, God's business better
than he did, and said, Lord you can't
do that, you're making a mistake.
This man's a great enemy of the church.
He tries to kill every Christian he meets.
Don't touch him, we daren't touch him.
Better leave him alone.
And what was God's answer?
Ananias, don't be afraid of him.
Behold, he prays.
What an amazing thing for the Lord to
say.
It seems as if the angels in heaven
have folded their wings, as they look down
on earth, at a proud, self-righteous Pharisee,
who for years, as a member of the
Jewish Sanhedrin, has said his prayers for hours
every day, but he's never prayed.
Behold, he prays.
And the one person who really matters in
this service tonight, is the Lord Jesus.
The only one whom we cannot see, but
whose presence is the most real thing of
all.
And, and I wonder what he says about
each one of us.
Behold he preaches.
Behold he sings.
Behold he prays.
Behold he speaks.
Behold he works.
Oh, can't he look down upon your hearts
and mine, and say, behold he prays.
Tell me, how do you go out of
these meetings when they're through?
How do you leave them?
I wonder how many of us, right here,
could honestly say, that we've gone straight to
our rooms, and knelt by our beds, and
prayed, oh God, meet me here, in this
place, this week.
Or how many of us, in five minutes,
have forgotten the whole thing?
Just because of a, I don't want to
use extravagant language, just because of a sheer
thrill of meeting a boyfriend, or a girlfriend,
or some lost relative, after a year.
And we've wasted the whole thing, in just
talking chatter, wasted gossip, and never really meant
business with God, and the week's nearly over
now.
How desperately we need tide of Holy Spirit
power.
May I say, we need revival at Prairie
Bible Institute this week, urgently.
In my own heart, I do, you do,
and you may not recognize it.
How desperately we need tide of Holy Spirit
power.
May I say, we need revival at Prairie
Bible Institute this week, urgently.
In my own heart, I do, you do,
and you may not recognize it.
You may think a man who preaches like
this is crazy, absolutely gone stark crazy.
Well, he hasn't, except he longs with the
desire of my heart that was born of
God, I believe, that God will step into
this conference and do something that he hasn't
done before.
I'd rather die die, I honestly would die,
than just continue in Bible teaching and see
nothing happen.
I'm sick of it.
There's nothing in teaching the Word of God,
unless it's applied to life and obeyed in
practice, and people are brought down on their
faces before God, in humiliation.
Behold, he prays.
And I wonder if at 10 o'clock
tonight, the Lord will look down from heaven,
and out of this great crowd of 2
,000 or 3,000 people, will he see
one or two or half a dozen or
how many on their knees before God and
pray.
Behold, knee deep, Lord, I'm dry.
Lord, if I've got thrown life in me,
I tell you, there's someone else bossing me
around, and I don't like it.
I can't go on like this.
Lord, Lord, I've only set up a constitutional
monarchy.
I'm making my own decisions.
I'm trying to run my own life, and
it doesn't work, and it can't go on.
Lord, I'm a missionary, and I've come up
to pray, to give my testimony, and tell
the kids what a time I've had.
I've had to think out where my success
has been, and how many people I've led
to Christ, and there isn't anybody.
And Lord, I feel so dry, bone dry,
and I can't go back to the church,
back to the pastor, like that.
Some of you are farmers.
Some of you are in business.
Bless your heart.
The most needed people of all, and your
gut's spiritually dry with all the prices of
it.
And you're saying to yourself, oh God, oh
God, in my farm, in my home, with
my family torn apart, with the family altar
gone, and with family life scrapped, oh God,
visit us in my home with revival.
Behold, he prayed.
Behold, he took me through, and the waters
were to the loins.
That speaks to me of a man who's
made a great discovery, which a man on
his knees always does.
The loins is a place of strength, they
that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength, or, or put it this way, they
that wait upon the Lord shall exchange their
strength for his.
Here's a picture of the man who's made
the discovery that the Christian life, every demand
that God may make upon him, is met
by the life of the Holy Spirit within
him, to relax and trust Jesus.
Hallelujah.
The law came by Moses.
Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Listen friends, if you think the gospel lets
you off the hook to live as you
like, you better start again.
It doesn't.
If you think there's no law in the
gospel, forget it, there is.
My greatest need is the establishment of the
kingdom of God.
You have heard it said, you have heard
it said, you shall love your neighbor and
hate your enemy.
I say unto you, love your enemy.
You've heard it said, thou shalt not commit
adultery.
I say to you, he that looks to
lust is guilty.
And I listen to that honestly, I'm on
my face in repentance, and I admit my
guilt.
But the law, grace and truth, truth which
makes demands that I can't possibly meet, but
grace that meets them all.
Holy Spirit in my life, the Lord overthrown
in heaven, to call the shots, to dictate
the play, the Holy Spirit in my life,
to carry out his orders in response to
my willingness.
So hallelujah, relax and trust Christ.
The water up to my loins, I've discovered
the secret.
It's not I, but Christ who lives in
me.
But waters to swim in.
Oh, just forgive the fanciful interpretation.
But when a man's swimming, what do you
see of the man?
Nothing but his head.
And the head of every man is Christ.
And when a man's filled up with the
water, filled up with the Spirit of God,
overflowing in his life, you only see Jesus.
Jesus who comes through all the time in
every reaction.
Now ladies and gentlemen, let me single, oh
no I can't do this, this is something
that God must do.
Everyone of you, out from the crowd and
say to you, tonight on the 13th of
April 1973, how deep are you in the
water?
How deep?
Oh, perhaps you are swimming in it, 30
years ago.
Perhaps you're head over heels in love with
Jesus.
Perhaps you are filled with the Spirit and
you would have every blessing imaginable.
But I tell you the tide's gone out.
The tide's gone out and you're only up
to the ankles.
Do I need to remind a congregation like
this, that Romans 4, 5, 6, 7 and
8 are not the automatic biographic experience every
child of God.
You can leap out of identification in Romans
6, right flat with the Romans 8, and
enjoy the life of victory.
But you can lapse back into Romans 7.
And you can end your days in spiritual
carnality.
Sound, orthodox, critical, hard, censorious, bitter.
If anybody doesn't agree with you, you're up
in arms all the time against it.
A thorough fighting fundamentally.
And you become carnal.
Your life is just shallow, empty deep, ankle
deep.
And some of us have been in the
water for about 40 years.
And that's how far we are.
Oh, I'm not asking how far you were
10 years ago.
When you had your valedictory service, bless your
heart, you are filled up.
When you went to the, responded to the
call to ministry, you were sure you were
full.
Yes indeed you were.
And there were moments in your life with
the joy, the fullness of God's blessing.
But oh, tonight's the thing.
Where are you right now?
The experience of the river's depth.
My final point, the effect of the river's
flow.
And here, God helping me, I'm going to
skate through some controversial territory.
I hope I've a lot of friends here.
I hope you'll still be my friends when
I pronounce the benediction.
But I hope most of all that I
shall be faithful to the Lord in what
he has said to me about this passage
of Scripture.
Listen.
The essence of the river's power.
Strong life.
Hallelujah.
The experience of the river's depth.
Swimming in it.
The effect of the river's flow.
What sort of a specimen of humanity would
you expect to see in a man who
is filled up to overflowing with the Spirit
of God?
What sort of person will you expect to
see?
A man who's swimming in the river.
He's got his feet right off the bottom.
He's involved.
He's totally committed.
He's out of his depth.
And he's filled to overflowing.
Out of him are flowing rivers of living
water.
What do you expect from a man like
that?
Three things.
First, fruit.
Verse 7.
As I went back, I saw upon the
bank of the river, very many trees on
the one side and on the other.
As this river has been flowing at full
spate, it's attracted to its bank's growth.
And the evidence of its flow unhindered in
power is fruitfulness.
Now, let me say this.
If I meet a Spirit-filled Christian, the
first thing I want to look for is
resemblance to Jesus Christ.
Is a transformation in character.
Galatians 5.22. The fruit of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace.
That's my relationship to God.
Long-suffering gentleness, goodness.
That's my relationship to other people.
Faith, meekness, self-control.
My relationship to myself.
Fruit, character, Christ.
In the past seven years, it's been my
immense privilege to preach the gospel in about
45 different countries, on many mission fields, in
many areas.
And everywhere I've been, I've come across one
of the greatest phenomenon of our day.
I refer to the charismatic movement.
Where in every area, in every country, in
every mission field, on every mission station almost,
this, this is really on the march.
Do you know that in Brazil, 75%
of the, of the Protestant population of that
country, is within the Pentecostal Church?
And it's growing faster than the birth rate
of the country.
This has been on the march for at
least 10 years.
And it's there for good or ill.
You've got to observe it.
Now what do you make of it all?
When somebody comes and speaks to you about
this charismatic movement, everybody says, oh but look,
hold it, it's so divisive.
Don't touch it.
Wait.
Who causes the division?
What is the cause of divisiveness?
After all, the Holy Spirit is the one
who comes to unite the body of Christ,
not to divide.
What's the cause of division?
I believe that causes twofold.
I believe in the first case, it's caused
by people who say the whole thing's of
the devil.
Can't have a thing to do with it.
Wash it out.
It causes division, trouble, and problems everywhere.
Don't touch it.
Friend, that's unbiblical.
Paul spoke in tongues.
He acknowledged this as a gift.
To say that it was a gift which
was eliminated after Pentecost, is impossible to substantiate
from the Word of God.
It's a recognized gift.
And let me tell you this, I have
seen and know hundreds of people, that's not
an exaggeration, it's truth, whose lives have been
absolutely transformed as they've used this gift, in
the scriptural way.
Who've met Jesus in a new way, and
who are alert and alive and fresh and
vital for Him, and serving Him with joy
and spontaneous happiness in the Lord.
No, I can't take that line.
I believe that's one of the causes of
division.
But the other cause is, people who say
in Alkia, if you are going to be
filled with the Spirit of God, you've got
to speak in tongues.
As an evidence that you're filled with the
Spirit.
Friend, that is equally unbiblical.
Equally unbiblical.
Nobody can have all the gifts of the
Spirit.
But everybody can have all the character that
the Spirit produces.
The gifts of the Spirit are distributed severally
according to the will of God, he's informed.
Listen, if to speak in tongues was the
one thing which every Christian must do to
enter into blessing, surely it would be emphasized,
the major emphasis throughout the whole of the
New Testament.
And surely Paul would have said, this is
the thing you must bore in on, and
give attention to.
Instead of which, I find that this subject
is only dealt with in one letter, and
then only in two chapters, and then always
with a view to keeping it in control.
Quite evidently, to speak in an unknown tongue
was not a mark of spiritual maturity.
The Corinthians church spoke in tongues.
Can we not possibly love each other and
maintain the balance?
Don't major on the minor, which is a
gift, but major on the major, which is
a character.
A lady came up to speak to me,
bless her heart, just a few months ago,
and she said to me, oh past Redpath,
what a pity you haven't got it.
So I said, I beg your pardon ma
'am.
She said, what a pity you haven't got
it.
I said, what do you mean?
Oh she said, if you come to my
church you'll get it, all the gifts are
in operation there, you come and you get
it.
And I said to her, my dear lady,
I'm not looking for it, I'm hungry for
Him, a person, my Saviour.
And if my Bible tells me anything, it
tells me this, that I can never move
away from Jesus to the Holy Spirit, and
pray to God.
God has nothing for me except Christ.
And the Holy Spirit comes into my life
to apply Jesus, to make Him real, to
make real in my life all that He
did for me at Calvary, and all that
He does for me at the throne every
day.
I pray God, said Paul in writing to
the church at Ephesus, that He might be
filled up with all the fullness of God.
What's that mean?
Colossians 2.9. In Him, in Christ, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Lord, Godhead, and
you are complete in Him.
God has nothing for you but Christ.
Well, you don't need any more than Christ,
you've got everything when you have Him.
So my dear friend, I hope I haven't
hurt you, but I've sought to present this
briefly as biblically as I can.
Yes, I acknowledge the gift, I thank God
for those who practice it in a scriptural
way.
I thank God for many, many people who
can bear testimony to the reality of this
in their life.
But please don't insist that everybody else must
have your gift.
This is absolutely unscriptural.
What I long for more than anything else
is all of Jesus every day of my
life, flooding my heart with Himself, the character
of Christ.
Yes, that's the first evidence of a spiritual
life.
Oh, to me, to me it's so wonderful
to see a man, perhaps brought up in
a pagan society.
Maybe it's even more wonderful to see a
man who's been brought up in a permissive
society like ours, and to see that man
change inside out, and transform, and made a
man of God.
A moral change in his life.
Of course, of course, in the progress of
that character, God gives us gifts in order
that the character may be revealed.
But don't insist on a gift which you
haven't got.
God gives you the gift that He knows
you need, in order that the character may
be matured.
So there's truth, and then there's life.
Everything shall live where the river comes.
I love that phrase.
Verse nine, everything will live where the river
goes.
Oh, now watch it, watch it, watch it.
That doesn't mean there's going to be masses
of conversions, but I'll tell you what will
happen.
Everything begins to live when the Holy Spirit
comes, when Jesus comes.
Oh, that prayer meeting, that's as dead as
a donor in my church, it takes life.
I tell you, I'm not being sarcastic, but
realistic when I tell you that the average
church prayer meeting drives the pastor up the
wall.
He knows who's going to pray first, how
long he's going to pray for, how dead
the prayer meeting will be when he's finished,
and the sheer deadness of it.
Nobody, and very seldom, I hear in church
prayer meetings these days, a prayer for real
spiritual power and life.
It's usually a prayer for somebody's rheumatism, somebody's
backache, or somebody's problem.
I'm not unsympathetic to these kind of things,
but this is the extent of our pain,
and the thing's dead as a donor.
Oh, but when Jesus comes and fills my
heart, why that prayer meeting begins to come
to life.
People begin to pray and talk to him.
Oh, I just come back a few weeks
ago from Japan, Keswick, in Tokyo, and Hokkaido,
Hakone, you know, 1,500 pastors, and after
one peaked for, oh, at least an hour
and a half, didn't mind that, I'm not
going to do that, it's all right, but
you know, you know, when I finished, I
would say, now look, just a moment of
silence, now would anybody like to lead us
in prayer?
And I tell you, there was a gradual
increasing crescendo and volume, as one after another
joined in prayer together, and the place was
filled with the glory of Christ.
People who were absolutely hungry for the Lord
were expressing themselves, not in tongues, well to
me it was tongues, I didn't understand a
word of it, but it was Japanese, and,
and pouring out their hearts to God simultaneously.
It came to life, it came to life.
God give us prayer meetings like that, come
to life.
But I say, let me just put in
a word here, this doesn't mean that I'm
going to see massive conversions, doesn't seem to
say I'm going to see hundreds of people
saved necessarily.
Have you read that book of C.S.
Lewis's, Screwtape Letters?
Huh, terrific book.
Do you remember that paragraph in it about
his conversation with Wormwood?
Screwtape, the devil talks with Wormwood, his senior
officer here on earth, who's governing hell's strategy
of attack, and Screwtape says this, listen to
every word of it, I can repeat it
verbatim, I've learned it in my heart, in
my life, it's meant so much to me.
He says this, be not deceived Wormwood, our
cause is never in greater danger than when
a human being, no longer intending but still
desiring to do the enemy's will, the enemy
being God, looks around him upon a universe
from which every trace of the enemy's existence
has vanished, wonders why he's been forsaken, but
goes on obeying.
Life, a man who can stand alone in
adversity, life.
I spoke at the OMF conference in Thailand
a few years ago, and missionaries came out
of North Thailand who'd been there for 17
years, and it was like hammering against a
brick wall, not a sign of blessing, hard,
tough, tough, tough, tough, hitting, not a sign,
and they were exhausted, but they lied, they
were alive, and that, that conference was full
of the sense of praise to God that
he'd given them such an opportunity, and a
year or two, it broke, the thing broke
wide open, and people would say right and
left, are you a Christian who can stand
if God chooses to give you a winter
time, when there seems to be no evidence
of his presence, no sign of blessing, and
you're left absolutely desolate, but still you go
on obeying him, you don't quit and say,
oh phooey, I'm off, you stand your ground,
and you fight through to the end, and
you remain victor on the life, life.
One last word, healing, the fruits of the
trees were for healing, and, and the margin
of your authorized says are for bruises and
sores, again not to be controversial, but I
don't question God's power to heal anybody instantly
from anything.
But I question his will upon that matter.
I don't think that you and I have
a right to demand at any moment that
anyone should be instantly healed.
Who are we to be amateur provinces?
Only that person who's ill and the God
know exactly why they're ill.
When I was flat on my back and
90 percent of the way into heaven, finished,
helpless, weak, reduced to a cabbage, through a
stroke, seven years ago, couldn't move, couldn't speak,
nothing.
Somebody wrote to me and said, if only
you'd got faith, you could be well in
a minute.
That wasn't any comfort.
I left my wife to the answer of
that person.
I don't believe in instant healing.
I believe in divine healing.
I've experienced it, experienced it.
But listen, there's a healing tonight in our
hearts, in, in our homes, which is much
more vital.
The Holy Spirit is for the healing of
bruises and sores.
Is there bruised life here?
Bruised homes, bruised family, sore, sore, wounded, hurt,
grieved, lonely, desolate.
Oh, what are we to do about that
break and split in our church that's ruined
our testimony?
What are we to do about our family,
altar, our home, where things have fallen apart?
And I'll tell you what to do.
Let the Holy Spirit in.
Let him in now.
Let the river flow.
Take out every block and let Jesus just
flood your heart, that he may heal the
wounded life, the bruised life, the sore heart.
For the leaves of the tree are for
medicine, for bruises and sores.
Let's pray.