If you boys will leave this up here
for me to sing.
If you have your Bibles, turn with you
please to the book of 2nd Corinthians, the
6th chapter.
I'll tell you, it wouldn't take much tonight
to just blow the roof off of this
whole place and just go on to glory,
would it?
But that, you know, it's very unusual for
me to preach a sermon that would excite
you in that level.
A few minutes ago, while Brother Sonny was
singing, I saw Brother Ray Robertson sort of
raise up back there, and I thought he
was going to shout on us, and I
knew if he shouted, then we'd be on.
I hadn't seen him shouting, I hadn't seen
him shouting so long and so long since
I've seen him shout.
If you ever got this Robertson bunch shouting
around here, friend, you'd have something else on,
but they're about half scared to shout.
Amen.
I'll tell you, it's such a joy to
be here.
You know, this is, this is like an
Ebenezer for me, just coming back and and
just from time to time and realize that
God has done a great work here.
You know, every time God did a great
work throughout the Old Testament, they referred to
that place as an Ebenezer.
God met here, and and to me this
is a Ebenezer.
I don't feel that I have greater friends
in the world than I have right here,
and this has been a place that God
has really, genuinely met.
Just this building, Jimmy looked over, leaned over
to me a while ago, and he said,
you never did think we'd fill this building,
did you?
I'll be honest with you, I never thought
we'd get it out of Baton Rouge.
I admire a lot of things about Jimmy,
and one of the things I admired about
him, he he'd start the most on the
least of any man I've ever known.
I'm not lying.
This big old building was on Florida Boulevard,
down there next to the Florida Boulevard, which
is one of your main streets in Baton
Rouge.
It's what?
By the hospital.
We needed a hospital.
This thing had a pin roof on it,
and Brother Sonny, now he's had a little
building experience, but Brother Jesse hadn't.
He never even seen a building like this.
I mean, he'd been used to those buildings
out there in the swamps of Louisiana.
He'd never even seen anything like this, and
I've had a little experience in ironworking back
when I was a young fella, about 18,
17, 18, and Brother Jimmy, he hadn't ever
seen much like this, and I mean, we
were up on top of this thing, these
big old beams, cutting the roof off, which
was a pin, a real heavy grade of
pin.
Steel, wasn't it?
It really would be classified as steel, and
we'd cut those things off, and they'd go
sliding down that whole thing, all the way
down.
I mean, that's a long way.
We'd be right on top.
That's right.
We'd cut them off, and Old Jesse, Lord,
he'd look up and see one coming, he'd
run.
And it's the craziest thing you ever saw.
That's right.
But you know, God took this thing down.
He had to do it, because we didn't
do it.
And this thing got down and got up
out here, and it's hard for me to
believe tonight, but I'll tell you one thing,
Brother Sonny.
We've come too far to turn back now,
haven't we?
You'll excuse me for reminiscing a little bit,
but it's just really a part of it,
and I praise God for it.
I want to deal with the subject tonight,
and let me say this as I begin
the message tonight.
I do appreciate this place, and I appreciate
Brother Jimmy and all of his staff and
all of you friends, and I appreciate getting
to come this time.
It's been a very special time because of
the fact that I've been able to bring
my family, and they, I think they've enjoyed
it.
I think, I don't know, I'm not real
sure about my daughter-in-law.
One of them got shouting last night, but
it wasn't because of the spirit, it was
because a rat ran across the foot.
And they heard her all over that camp
back there on the backside.
I'll tell you, they heard her hollering, but
if we could get her loose in this
meeting tonight like that, that'd excite me.
That would really excite me.
But it's been a real special time, and
we have really enjoyed it, and it's been
a time we'll never forget.
And just thank you for everything that you've
done.
Now this passage, this passage is so important
to me, I want to deal with it.
Back years ago I used to deal with
this passage, and it honestly take me two
weeks to physically get over this passage.
And this, as I deal with this tonight,
I realize I'm dealing with this in the
context of what I have said already in
this meeting.
And I'm saying that because some of you
will have a very, very difficult time with
this message, if you are not aware that
I genuinely believe in the sovereignty of God.
And tonight we're going to deal more with
the side of this matter of redemption in
relationship to the responsibility of man.
But I definitely believe in the sovereignty of
God, but that sovereignty does not violate the
responsibility of man.
And so tonight we're going to deal somewhat
with the responsibility of man.
This passage mystified me when I realized that
this passage is addressed to the Christian.
Now it is also to the lost, but
it's addressed to the Christian.
For he said, I've heard then a time
accepted, in the day of salvation have I
succored thee.
Behold now is the accepted time, behold now
is the day of salvation.
Many, many years I used that passage just
to say to the lost, today is the
day of salvation, now is the accepted time.
And I really would take that verse and
really shut a man up and say, hey
right now is the time you need to
come.
Now I realize that passage is definitely telling
us that today this dispensation and so on
is the day of salvation, now is the
accepted time, but it's addressed to, if you'll
read it, the whole chapter it's definitely addressed
to the saved people.
And so that created a question in me,
if Paul is preaching to the Christian here,
speaking to the Christian, what is he saying?
When he's saying today is the day of
salvation, now is the accepted time.
Well I think we have to realize that
Paul was writing to the church that had
both immature and mature people in it.
Now actually you can detail the fact that
he was talking to spiritual people, and a
spiritual person is a person that knows God
and cooperates with God.
But he was also talking to carnal people.
Now a carnal person is a person that's
heard God and refused to obey.
But a baby Christian, he's talking to baby
Christians, and a baby Christian is a person
that's been saved but hasn't had time to
grow up.
It does take time to grow up, there's
no instant maturity.
There's no instant maturity.
Now actually we're dividing these groups, the three,
into two, mature and immature.
And Paul is writing to these people, and
he's saying today is the day of salvation,
now is the accepted time.
Now what in the world could he be
saying to a person that is saved by
the grace of God, that today is the
day of salvation, now is the accepted time.
Well when you realize Paul is dealing with
these immature people, you realize that he's presenting
different arguments that will stimulate maturity.
For instance one of the great arguments in
the Bible that will stimulate maturity is the
fact to discover that your body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit.
In other words God has a dwelling place,
the Son has a dwelling place, and the
Holy Spirit has a dwelling place.
Where is the dwelling place of the Holy
Spirit?
See in your body.
I mean God is in heaven, Jesus is
in heaven, and the Holy Spirit's place is
in your body.
I mean the God that heavens cannot contain
is right there in your body if you're
saved by the grace of God.
Now to come to a realization of that,
I'll guarantee you will grow you up spiritually.
Well Paul is using another argument to establish
spiritual maturity when he says today is the
day of salvation, now is the accepted time.
Because this crowd at Corinth had many, many
problems and one of them was immaturity, and
it's revealed all through the book of 1st
and 2nd Corinthians.
For instance they had division in the church
at Corinth.
Now I want to just show you a
little something here for just a moment.
They said they had division in the church
at Corinth.
Now only immature people have division among them.
You get spiritually mature there's no division among
you.
One said I like Paul and another says
I like Seraphus and so on and so
forth.
Well my dear friends if you're spiritually mature
you have come to the place that you
realize a braying donkey in the pulpit can
teach you something.
Amen.
If you've got a heart to receive.
That's right you do not need a Paul
or a Seraphus.
That's right to teach you something.
But babies you know they'll say hey that's
my favorite preacher.
And babies will say no this is my
favorite preacher.
And you're called division and the only reason
you're called division over your favorite preacher is
because you're trying to let someone know your
opinion.
You're trying to establish your opinion.
You're trying to please yourself and magnify yourself.
Amen.
God hasn't initiated that at all.
Because if God had initiated that some of
these preachers you thought were the best wouldn't
have fallen along the wayside.
Amen.
They'd have lasted.
But if you like me there's been days
when my favorites have dropped along the wayside.
That's right because my favorite were established according
to the flesh and not according to the
spirit.
Now these people had division among them because
they were they were pleasing themselves.
You see it really it really gives that
when when you like this one better than
that one it really magnifies you and pleases
your flesh more than anything else in the
world.
Now there was another problem among them down
there at the church of Torah.
They had not only division among them but
they had a sin problem down there.
They just kept saying I don't see anything
wrong with this.
I don't see anything wrong with that.
And you know babies will do that.
I remember a time when Ed Gregg had
some children you know that were babies.
Now I realize I have to go a
long long ways back for that.
But I remember one time when one of
his babies and all of his babies were
I mean my babies are all giants.
And when they were babies they were giants
but his were little bitty bitty bitty things.
And and that means that they were close
to the ground.
And one day he looked out in his
front yard and one of his little girls
was literally jumping over a snake called up
in the front yard.
And it was a cottonmouth moxie.
And my dear friend he would just jump
she was just jumping over that snake.
And I'm gonna tell you something she didn't
see a thing in the world wrong with
jumping over that snake.
You know why?
Because she was a baby.
Now I mean it was awfully wrong for
her to be jumping over that snake.
But she didn't see a thing in the
world wrong with that because she was a
baby.
Now at the church at Corinth there were
some of those immature people that were sinning
against God and they did not see anything
in the world wrong with it because they
were babies.
Now Paul dealt with that in the strangest
way.
He I mean he really dealt with it.
He says listen.
What?
Know ye not that he that is joined
to a harlot is one body?
For to saith he shall be one flesh.
Did you hear what he said?
He said listen if you are joined to
a harlot you are one with that harlot.
And you're subject to that person.
So he comes right along then he says
but he that is drawn unto the Lord
is one spirit.
Now listen to me he says flee fornication.
Ever sin that a man doth is without
the body?
But he that committed fornication sinneth against his
own body and soul?
Now listen to me carefully.
When Jesus was here the devil tempted Jesus.
When Jesus died and went back to heaven
he sent the Holy Spirit and when you
got saved by the grace of God the
Holy Spirit took up his abode in your
body.
Now my dear friends the devil has not
quit tempting.
He has continued to tempt and tempt and
when he finds a Christian and he tempts
that Christian and that Christian yields to that
temptation.
Jesus Christ the Son of God that lives
in you by the Holy Spirit does not
sin but you as a believer in Christ
Jesus makes Jesus Christ a slave to that
sin.
You make him a slave to that sin
you committed.
And as long as you keep on committing
it you make him a slave.
And a slave in Christ will subject Jesus
to sins that Jesus never yielded to.
That does not mean that Jesus sins.
But it does mean that your flesh your
person you make a choice and it means
that you make him slave to that sin.
Now immature people will do that because they
do not know better.
But mature people will not make Jesus Christ
a slave to sin.
Can you believe Jesus Christ would walk around
smoking?
I'm just being honest.
He wouldn't do that.
But what happens when you do?
That's what makes it so awfully bad to
do things all kinds of things.
I just picked that one out.
One of the reasons I picked that one
out it hit so many people.
My preacher told me that I could be
dumb but not stupid.
I said what do you mean?
He said well being stupid is going to
an old folks home and preaching to people
that's over 95 and preaching on dancing.
That's being stupid.
He said when you preach be applicable.
Amen.
So what I'm saying to you is this
when you and I when you and I
sin we make Jesus Christ a slave to
that sin.
Now immature people do not do that.
Boy I'll tell you when I was a
child I put my mother and dad through
all kinds of things.
But you know today I respect them and
love them.
And I do all I know to do
to help them and bless them instead of
destroy them.
But back in those early days when I
didn't know any better I did everything I
could it looked like to destroy them.
And it's awful to think about.
But what I'm saying Jesus was, Paul was
dealing with some immature people and they had
a sin problem.
Now they had more problems than this.
In fact I think the Bible teaches there's
about 18 characteristics of immaturity.
Let me say this the only reason you
will sin knowingly is to satisfy your flesh.
Just to please yourself.
Now here's what I want you to see.
This church at Corinth was doing about 18
different things and I've just mentioned two.
And every one of those things was to
please themselves.
And so they were going down to that
church at Corinth and they were doing things,
religious things, but they were doing nothing but
to please themselves.
And I could have taken you to the
11th chapter of the book of 1st Corinthians
or the Lord's Supper and show you exactly
how they were doing it.
But my dear friends they were pleasing themselves.
Now when you do something to please yourself
that is being sensual.
But when you're doing something to please God
that is being spiritual.
Now brother Jerry if you sing for the
sole purpose that you just like it and
enjoy it and get a kick out of
it and I mean it's just exciting to
you.
I believe with all my heart that is
sin.
But if you sing because God has commended
you and you're obeying God.
God is such a God that he enables
you to enjoy it and delight in it
and take pleasure in it.
And that magnifies God.
Now that church at Corinth was doing these
different things to please themselves.
And while they were going to church to
please themselves rather than please God they were
letting something very significant slip by and that
was this.
Today is the day of salvation.
Now is the accepted time.
My dear friends there have been people right
here in this community that have had a
day of salvation.
And there came a day when they could
not be saved.
They could not be saved by the grace
of God.
My friends listen there is a time limit
on this business of salvation.
There's definitely a time limit.
The matter of the second coming.
The matter my dear friends of sending away
your day of grace.
And I still believe that happens.
And the matter of death.
And this is a day of salvation.
And while the day of salvation was on
at the church at Corinth those people were
sitting there doing things to please themselves.
And as they did those things to please
themselves God's will was not getting done through
their lives as an individual.
And so friend he's saying today is the
day of salvation.
I never will forget how God just got
a hold of my heart with this passage.
I was in Cuanabaca Mexico.
My wife and I had flown down to
Mexico City with some friends and then on
down to Cuanabaca.
And up on this hill there was five
missionary couples plus a pilot.
American born American raised Mexican boy that was
a pilot.
And we'd all been down there several days
and I'd heard about these Mexican people that
lived across the river.
And one day I was out in the
backyard of this particular home and I was
looking across the cliff of a river and
the bed of a river onto the other
side and I saw these little Mexican people
working something like a garden.
It was just a little patch of corn.
And I knew about these people from the
tapes and the pictures and the stories.
And I knew that those people would work
that little corn patch until the corn was
ready.
They would gather it, they would let it
dry out then they'd chuck it, they'd shell
it and they'd take rocks and beat it
together until they made a cornmeal out of
it.
And then they would turn it into tortillas
and they'd take those little old tortillas down
to the open market and sell those tortillas
and get those pesos and put those pesos
in little old sacks.
And then they'd go back out there among
those rocks and get those old huge lizards
and eat those things rather than buy good
meat with those pesos.
Because they were saving those pesos for a
time when they'd make a pilgrimage to a
statue of Jesus Christ up in the mountains
just like the people who make a pilgrimage
to the statue of Guadalupe, I believe, in
Mexico City.
And they would make this pilgrimage up to
that statue and my friends they were, the
terrain was so rough according to the stories
and the pictures that they would literally tear
some of their clothes away and their bodies
would be skinned up and they'd get to
that statue of Jesus Christ.
And there at that statue they would be
told, now you love God and if you
love him you'll give to him.
And they'd reach into those little old sacks
and get pesos out of those sacks stained
with their own blood and drop those pesos
in a huge tub that had a chute
out of the bottom and money would go
down into that statue.
And then they'd hear a message in, not
in Spanish, but in Latin, and they'd say,
look Jesus is crying.
And that stone statue of Jesus Christ would
have water dripping down its face from tear
ducts they'd made with rubber holes because down
inside there was a man pumping water through
those rubber holes.
And they'd reach back into those sacks and
get all the pesos they had and drop
those pesos in those tubs.
And my dear friends, while all at the
same time those churches downtown had literally layers
of gold, layers of gold.
And they'd say, look Jesus is crying.
And they'd give everything they had.
And I knew that about these people.
And I saw a sincerity in those people
that I have never, never, never seen in
America.
And yet my dear friend, those people were
dying and going to hell without Jesus Christ.
Now God began to speak to me as
I stood there.
And God asked me a question.
He said, why is it that you're standing
here saved by the grace of God washed
in the blood of the Lamb and you
have clothes on that cost more than those
people will see, some of them in a
lifetime, and you're standing here saved by the
grace of God and those people are going
to hell?
God asked me that question.
And I'll guarantee you folks, I just pulled
out my theological understanding and I said, well
God, you know, I guess that's the sovereign
grace of God.
Now I'm going to tell you something folks,
I believe in the sovereignty of God.
And I don't even question the sovereignty of
God.
I've never met the man that had sense
enough to understand it.
Amen.
Now I met some who thought they had
sense enough to understand it.
But let me tell you something, if I'd
have walked down there and told that little
old Mexican, I said, hey friend, I'm saved
by the grace of God and I live
in all the wealth I live in because,
you see, God sovereignly loves me more than
he loves you.
What kind of God do you think that
fellow thought I had?
I'm going to tell you something folks, I
was, I found myself arguing with God in
myself.
And finally I just gave up.
I said, God, why am I here saved
by the grace of God washed in the
blood of the Lamb?
Why is it that I'm standing here saved
and that little fellow down there is not
saved?
And of course I love history.
And I'm not going into detail in this
and I expect this crowd to have the
ability to put this together as I suggest
some things.
But I ran across a word that I'm
going to, may not use the word over
once or twice, but I want you to
look into what I'm saying about this word.
I asked Clark Pinnock one time when we
were in a conference together, who I felt
was a great theologian.
I asked him, I said, what do you
think about this word?
Isn't there some better word?
And that word is the law of imputation.
And he said, Brother Manley, there's not a
better word in the Bible, there's not a
better word in history than the word imputation.
Now do you just remember that word a
little bit?
By the obedience of one, righteousness was provided
for all.
But by the disobedience of one, judgment, condemnation,
sin came upon all of us.
Now that is imputation.
Now listen to me carefully.
I was watching this man, these people down
there in that corn patch, and I knew
God loved me and I knew God loved
that fellow.
And I've always been grateful to God for
my salvation, but God loved that fellow.
Then I knew that Jesus loved me and
saved me, but I knew that Jesus loved
that fellow down there in that corn patch.
Well I was moving along okay.
Then I knew the Holy Spirit loved me,
but I also knew the Holy Spirit loved
that fellow.
Now where are we going to find the
difference?
So I just kept moving.
Then I realized, my dear friend, that I
was saved not only because God loved me,
Jesus loved me, the Holy Spirit loved me,
but I was saved because some people in
my past, like my mother, who paid an
awful, awful price when it comes.
I realized that some other people were involved,
but I immediately went across the years for
over 1,900 years.
And I went back through history and I
watched, my dear friends, as the gospel left
Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and the other most
parts of the world.
And I watched the history of Christianity as
it walked across Europe and walked into America,
my friend.
And I realized that I owed my salvation
to God the Father, God the Son, God
the Holy Spirit, and I owed my salvation
to some people a thousand years ago, 1
,500 years ago, 1,900 years ago, that
saw the cross of Calvary, heard the cry
of the Holy Spirit, come over and help
us.
And these people heard that cry, and they
obeyed that heavenly vision.
And as they obeyed that heavenly vision, in
absolute full surrender, not only was there a
body yielded to God, but there was a
life so yielded to God that the Holy
Ghost could ignite the truth of God.
My friend, you can have the truth without
the Holy Ghost, and it'll bring death.
You can have the Holy Ghost without the
truth, and it'll bring confusion.
My dear friends, these people were literally set
on fire, the truth of God, and it
marched across the world and brought salvation to
my door one day at the sixth pew
of the First Baptist Church, Port Native, Texas,
and I was gloriously saved.
And I owed my salvation, my friend, not
only to God the Father, not only to
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, not
only to my mother and those that loved
Jesus that I knew, but to those dear
old saints that I never knew.
But brother and sister, they paid the price
of Jesus.
And there I stood.
Now I didn't know that history put it
so plain, but history actually put it so
plain that that we can see it just
in a glance tonight, the law of imputation.
I realized that some of the modern history
books that some of you kiddos read today
does not read this way.
But in my day, you know what the
history books say?
Basically, I'm generalizing on about America.
But when the people came to America, they
came with God, seeking God for freedom and
liberty in the Lord.
And the history books say, and I can
be very specific, when they went to South
America, which included Mexico, they went looking for
gold.
Does that say anything to you?
As to why, my dear friends, this man
and his family for generations has lived in
darkness, brother Ed.
It was not because of God's provision not
being there.
It was because, my dear friends, the instrument
of God's operation, man had not responded to
the call of God.
And that doesn't violate the sovereignty of God,
and neither does it violate the responsibility of
man.
That's right.
You see the gospel went into Africa before
the 1st, the 2nd century.
The eunuchs, for one.
The gospel went into India.
They have a church over there right now
that they claim that Timothy started.
And we have data today that proves conclusively
that the gospel was in China before the
8th century.
And one time I took a course at
a university in anthropology, just to study the
religions of the world.
And my dear friends, I found the basic
principles of Christianity in every island of the
world.
The sacrifice, the blood atonement and so on.
Now what happened?
What happened?
Are you listening to me carefully?
Listen to me carefully.
When a generation receives the gospel they can
do one of two things with the gospel.
They can play with it, become sensual, die
and go to heaven themselves, or they can
pass it on.
Now listen to me carefully.
It takes two things to pass it on.
The truth and the power of the Holy
Ghost.
And there's only one instrument to pass it
on with, and that's man.
Now if man chooses to play with it,
I'll guarantee you it stops.
But there's enough religion there that that generation
will get their children under it enough that
there will be a form of godliness, but
not the power thereof.
And you know what you get out of
a family like that?
You get decisions without conversion.
And these kids have the form of religion.
And then when they leave you and get
out there in those universities and hit the
storms of life, they will fall apart.
And if it does happen, just happens to
get past that generation, you give it one
more generation and you have nothing but religion.
And that's exactly what's happening in America right
now.
Now if you don't play with it, you
don't play with the truth, and you yield
your life completely, and embrace the cult of
Calvary, and sail out, lock, pop, and bell
to God, where you not only have the
truth of God, but the power of the
Holy Ghost on you, you bring forth a
generation of quickened, saved young'uns.
Amen.
And they have the same responsibility.
And it goes from one generation to another.
You give any group two generations, and my
dear friends, if it's not real, it'll be
destroyed.
Amen.
My friends, if you give a generation of
people who are yielded to Jesus Christ, sold
out to God, lock, pop, and bell, you
give that generation a chance, and they'll give
you a generation of saved people.
Amen.
You say, Brother Manly, I don't understand.
Well let me just put it this way.
Amy Carmichael had a vision one night, or
dream, and as she stood out in the
middle of a road, there were thousands and
thousands and thousands of people coming down that
road.
And she realized that behind her was a
lake of fire.
And as she began to realize that she
had the responsibility of stopping those people, she
realized they were blind and deaf.
They could not respond.
And she screamed and hollered, stop, stop, stop,
stop.
And then she looked over and realized there
was a church over there.
The lights were on.
So she ran over to that church and
looked in, and sure enough, there were the
people.
And she ran in and said, folks, please
help me.
Please, please, please help me.
And they said, we can't.
She says, why?
They said, we're busy.
Busy doing what?
Cutting out paper dolls.
Now my dear friend, you may think tonight
that you are living to yourself, but you're
not.
In this building tonight, we are living to
others.
Every moment of every day, we are living
to others.
That's right.
I'll tell you what Washington has to say
is significant to all of us, but I
want you to know tonight that this crowd
has more to do with the destiny of
this nation and the character of the next
generation than any man in Washington, D.C.,
unless that man is a child of God.
Amen.
The Christian has this responsibility.
We can pray if you want to, but
friends, get a show up in your children
and your grandchildren.
Friends, you can sell out lock, stock, and
barrel.
And I don't mean when you sell out,
you won't have trouble, even with your children,
but I'll guarantee you there'll come a day
that they'll bow down before him and call
him holy.
Yes, sir.
Some way, somehow.
Yes, sir.
Tonight, my dear friend, we're determining the destiny
of this whole thing.
Amen.
Yes, sir.
Back in the 30s, there was a great
church right out of Chicago, right along the
border there between Ohio and Illinois.
That church gave a half a million dollars
a year commission.
Now, all you young folk realize that that's
not so much with the big budgets we
have today and all that, but in the
30s, folks, a half a million dollars then
is worth about three and a half million
now.
That's right.
And this old church, this old church, my
dear friends, was giving, it was a Christian
missionary line church, and it was giving fabulous,
fabulous amounts of money.
And one day, there came a time when
the glory of God left that church, and
it had nothing but a history.
Years later, a young man and an elderly
man was in town, same hotel, same group.
The young man knew the elderly man and
thought the elderly man knew about that old
church.
The young man was going to preach at
that old church.
So he asked him, he said, sir, what
do you think happened to that church up
there?
Where did God's glory leave it?
So the old gentleman told him, Simon said,
tonight, when you start up to that old
church, get to that red light, take a
right and start up that hill, and you'll
see the church with a light on up
on that hill.
He said, watch carefully, because along the street
you'll find a sign, and that sign will
tell you why the glory of God has
departed.
That young man could hardly wait.
The night fell, he got in his car,
started up that road, got to that light,
took a right, started up that hill, and
he drove slowly.
And as he drove slowly, all at once
his headlight caught a huge sign with a
yellow seal, a background, big old black letters.
And you know what it said?
It said, caution, children at play.
And my dear friends, that church at Corinth
was sitting there playing church while the day
of salvation was at hand.
They were sitting there playing church.
And as they were sitting there playing church,
it was Bill and Mary and John's day
of salvation.
Amen.
And they were sitting there playing church.
My friend, tonight, I don't know why God
has done this, and sometimes he bypasses this
method, but it's his basic principle of operation.
He uses our voice, he uses our hands,
he uses our feet, he uses our eyes,
for we are the temple of the Holy
Spirit.
And somehow, someway, I don't understand why he
would trust us.
He has chosen to work for us.
He has chosen to limit himself to us.
Why a sovereign God would do that, I
don't know.
But he has.
Today is the day of salvation.
Now is the exception time.
You know, tonight, I am not interested in
motivating you beyond what God initiates.
But my dear friends, please, friends, on the
authority of the Word of God and all
the grace of God, at least keep up
with the Lord and obey him and do
what he calls on you to do.
Today is the day of salvation.
Now is the exception.
What will you give your family, your children?
And what will you give the world?
What will you give them?
A form of religion without the power thereof?
My dear friends, will you give them the
Lord and the power of his glory in
life?
What will you give them?
Amen.
Will you bow your heads with me, please?
You're a saint tonight, you're a Christian.
You have Jesus in your heart, but I
want you to know something.
You play with this issue.
You play with this issue, and you'll reap
the harvest one day.
But if you sell out to Jesus, my
friend, you will also reap the harvest.
I trust tonight, young man, young man, that
you'll let Jesus have his way in your
life.
Right tonight, the decision will be made, young
lady, young man, right there in your heart.
Oh dear God, whatever the cost, I want
my life to count for Jesus.
Father, Mother, tonight, tonight, what about it?
Whatever the cost, I know my mother, as
a young lady, could have turned her back
on Jesus.
My personal opinion is that that would have
been tragedy in our lives.
But tonight, I'm saved.
Sometimes some of you didn't have a mother
that was saved.
Someone else, someone else God used.
Amen.
Somehow God got through to you, and God's
counting on you tonight.
I trust that you'll let him have his
way.
Pass me not, O gentle Savior.
Hear my humble cry.
While, O mothers, thou art calling, do not
pass me by.
Do you know the woman, the man that
taught Nikita Khrushchev when he was a little
boy?
If they had known who he was, if
they had known he was going to be
one of the most hideous murderers of all
time, I believe they would have been a
different teacher.
Don't you?
Don't you think so?
An old boy right here in this area,
a preacher right here in this area, pastor
of the church.
One day, a teenager walked up to his
daddy and shot him, killed his dad.
And that pastor told me, I used to
walk out from the pulpit by that little
boy as a junior boy and pat him
on the head and love him.
But he said, Brother Manly, if I'd known
that boy was going to murder his daddy,
I'd have been a different pastor.
I would have been a different pastor.
I'd have been a different preacher.
I would have been a different man of
God.
Now, my dear friends, let me tell you
something tonight.
You say, well, that applies to him.
No, that applies to you.
You and I will not know what could
have been done if we'd just obeyed.
Would you come?
All sorts of people are coming.
Would you just get up out of that
seat?
You say, Brother Manly, I'm an old person.
My life is far spent.
I don't know how many days left.
My friend, if I only had one left,
one day left, I'll tell you one thing.
I'd want it to count for Jesus.
You come right tonight.
Just get up out of that seat and
come.