Why doesn't Christ crucify me?
Because you're a child, you're not mature enough
to take it, you're a wimper now, at
trials and temptations.
But Paul says, under divine inspiration, they that
are Christ's, doesn't he?
What have they done?
Crucified, what?
The flesh, with the affections and lust.
Listen brother, you won't have any trouble with
TV, whether it's Super Bowl Day or Toilet
Bowl Day.
You'll have no trouble with sport, you'll have
no trouble with anything else, if you take
it to the cross and let Jesus Christ
crucify it, it's dead.
A dead man isn't worrying about taxes, a
dead man isn't worrying about public opinion, the
man that is dead isn't concerned about stocks
and shares, he's dead.
There comes a time in your life when
as a believer, as I said the other
night, there are only two kinds of people
in the world, those who are dead in
sin and those who are dead to sin.
The sinner is dead, he has no response
to God.
But when a man is dead indeed unto
sin and alive unto God, then he enters
into a new realm of power, a new
realm of authority.
But I said earlier, Dr. Chaucer said to
me once, Leonard, I'm not troubled about the
things I've done since I was saved, he
said, it's the things I could have done
that trouble me.
I'm not troubled with what I've done, but
why I did it.
Not what I haven't done, but why didn't
I do it?
What controls me?
Now here it says, let me look at
this verse again, in 2nd Corinthians 5 and
verse 10, notice it please, we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ that
everyone may receive the things done in his
body.
Everything you did in your body was recorded
in eternity.
You're going to be judged not by what
God says, but why you say, your lifestyle.
Here it is written out, I don't know
who wrote this, I thought it was wonderful,
I picked it up.
Note again, it's verse 10 of 2 Corinthians
5, we must all, now this is how
it's broken down, we, it is Christian, must,
that is inevitable, all, that is universal, made
manifest, that is public, judgment seat, that is
judicial, stand, it is resurrection, each, it is
individual, give account in its responsibility to God.
Step back a minute would you, into the,
let me see the first letter, I have
it here, the first letter of Paul to
the Corinthians, there's the other account, listen carefully
please.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 he says, that
we laborers together with God, your God's husbandry,
your God's building, according to the grace of
God which is given unto me as a
wise master builder, I've laid the foundation of
the builder thereon.
Other foundation can no man lay, that which
is laid, now listen, here it is where
you and I come in, now, this is
1 Corinthians 3 verse 12, now if any
man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious
stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall
be made manifest, for the day shall declare
it, because it shall be revealed by fire,
and the fire shall declare every man's work
that cometh of what sort, notice, what sort
it is not what size it is, we
think it's size, how many radio stations are
you on, how many books have you read,
how many sermons, what does the word of
God say?
Every idle word, when I was a young
man I used to speak about the rate
of 180 to 200 words a minute, and
I preached usually two hours, think of that,
60 times 200, 120, thousands and thousands of
words, I started preaching when I was 14,
I'm 84, so I've been preaching 70 years,
and every word I've spoken is recorded in
eternity, it's going to be played back one
day, every idle word that we don't care
about our words, do we?
We boast, we exaggerate, we say ridiculous things,
I mean, how many times have you gone
to church and sang Wesley's great hymn, Jesus,
you lover of my soul, thou, oh Christ,
art all I want, the angels from heaven
could have answered, you liar, you don't mean
that, you sung, where the whole realm
of nature mine, that were a present far
too small, you wouldn't even give him the,
the other day you watched your stupid football
for hours, what do you think Jesus felt
like, while you're watching a lot of wild
men run around, or watching some movie, and
you sang yesterday, I give you the whole
world, and you won't give him time, look,
you live 24 hours a day, you sleep
eight hours, you work eight hours, what do
you do with the other eight hours?
On the same basis, you live 60 years,
you sleep 20, you work 20, what do
you do with the other 20?
What's 20 times 365 days?
10 years is 3,650, twice that is
750,000.
You think of the hours you had, what
have you done with it?
You're going to give an account to God
one day for the time, you're going to
give an account to God one day for
every word that we've said, and it says,
notice again please, the day is coming in
verse 13, because it should be revealed by
fire, fire, who is fire?
God is fire, our God is a consuming
fire, his eyes are as a flame of
fire, there's no second guessing, God will not
call any witnesses at the judgment seat, listen,
what is the judgment seat?
It's your day in court, it's your day,
friend, when you will not be tried by
jury, but by deity.
There'll be nobody to bias God, your record
is clear to him, he doesn't need references,
he can tell you all you've done from
the creation, I tell you what, he makes
a world of difference, when Jonathan Edwards said
stamp eternity on my eyeballs, he never lived
frivolously after that.
You talk about using time, when Stanley Baldwin
was the Prime Minister of England, I remember
one day in Parliament of all things, he
said, I'm the busiest man in the British
Empire, because at that time Britain had an
empire, and Stanley Baldwin said, I'm the busiest
man in the British Empire, and then he
added this, I've just finished reading the life
of John Wesley, and on the side of
John Wesley, I'm unemployed, I don't know how
to give every flying minute something to keep
in store, he said, Wesley wasted nothing, Wesley
was a genius, Wesley wrote four different dictionaries
in four different languages, but he says, help
me to watch and pray, and on thyself
rely, and so he goes on, a charge
to keep I have, a God to glorify,
a never dying soul to save and fit
it for the sky, look at this a
minute, keep your eye on this scripture, verse
12, any man build on the foundation of
gold, silver, precious stones, wood and stubble, now
look at the next verse, every man's work,
in verse 13, verse 14, every man's work,
verse 15, every man's work, what have you
been building all your life, every man's work,
wood, hay and stubble, if you've invested your
life in wood, hay and stubble, wood, hay
and stubble grow above the ground, that's ministry
which is visible, do you think a guy
in prison this morning, poor soul, a few
years ago, he's riding in his and hers,
his and hers Rolls Royces, building his empire,
building a Disneyland for the poor broken down
Christians called PTL, you say, don't mention names,
why not, in God's name, why not, do
you think when I stand in a judgment
seat, with billions of eyes looking on, and
this is not judgment for sinners, it's judgment
for believers, do you think God is going
to say, I'm going to try Oral Roberts
right now, but angels bow your heads and
close your eyes, I'm rather embarrassed to pass
sentence on a man who had a thousand
million dollars in his lifetime, and all he
left on earth is a building with his
name Oral Roberts school, I'm not poking fun,
God knows, how do you think I live,
you see that's a warning, don't you do
the same thing, do you think Oral Roberts
ever realized every penny put in that building,
and it cost over 70 million dollars to
put one building up, do you think that
when he said Jesus Christ appeared to him,
and Christ was 900 feet high, he wasn't
in a delusion, do you think when he
put his son who's divorced as the head
of a school, as a model for kids,
oh did you ever preach in that school,
no, what if you went, well I go
to I go to Oral Roberts's son, what's
he called, Richard, and he has a wife,
and I say David you believe that Jesus
may come, oh yes I believe that, and
yet you think he'll come tonight, and you're
going to be sleeping with another man's wife,
after all the kid dumped his wife, and
two children, and took this, I'm saying this
seriously, because some of you young people will
be tempted to think, because other people got
away from it, you can get away from
it, no sirree, if there's a scripture that's
kept me sane, lots of people think I'm
not, it shall not the judge of all
the earth do, right, you can say I'm
the greatest preacher in the world, God won't
promote me up there, you can say I'm
the worst, he won't put me down there,
I've learned to live in Romans 8, it
is God that justifies, your opinion does not
adapt to me, I want you to wake
up to the fact dear friend, that you
too are going to stand at the judgment
seat of Christ, and if all your works
are wood, hay and stubble, their ministry above
the ground, what's going to happen?
Jesus Christ is going to put the torch
to them, and all you'll have is a
stack of, not wood, hay and stubble anymore,
but ashes, some of the ministries in the
country, you know I've suddenly discovered, I'm slow
and old I know, but I've suddenly discovered
in the sight of God, there are no
great people, and no small people, only faithful
and unfaithful, you can't be faithful about a
million dollars, you don't have it, but you're
faithful with what you have, so you're busy
raising children, my God I'm glad I, my
wife didn't travel with me, she raised our
boys, I got three of the best boys
in the world, two of them two of
the greatest preachers in the world, the other
one is the head of the new section
of Smithsonian Museum, and he doesn't esteem kings,
he was invited to dinner with Prince Charles
and Prince Di a while ago, and he
turned it down, very good, he went now,
he's fish and chips somewhere else, one reason
we don't have revival in America, we pay
such homage to people, we write them up,
we're going to have so-and-so speaking,
he's a great man, he's the head of
a university, he's written so many books, he's
been visiting so many countries, come on preacher,
let me ask you a question, I've preached
in some of the greatest pulpits in the
world with some of the greatest men too,
does that make me important?
No, no, my books are known in about
20 countries, millions of copies, I've never made
a penny out of a book, it all
goes to missions, my videos, all money goes
to missions, tapes, they all go to missions,
that doesn't bother me in any shape or
form, I'm saying that for the glory of
God, yeah, I can, you go to certain
countries, they know my name, but listen, there's
one thing, do you know what greatness is
in the sight of God regarding preaching?
Well, here's a man demon possessed and somebody
goes up and tries to cast the demon
out and the demons have self-respect, he
turns to the preacher, what did he say?
Jesus I know and Gabriel I know, did
he say that?
What did he say?
Paul, to be put on the level of
Jesus is the greatest honor in the world,
keep every other honor, when Jesus moved demons
tremble, when Paul moved demons tremble, Paul didn't
write a book about taking a city, he
went and took the city, one of America's
greatest evangelists could hardly speak, he went to
England, his name was D.L. Moody, he
was listening to a man called Henry Varley
and Henry Varley pointed this way where the
young shoe salesman was and Henry said this,
God is yet to, the world is yet
to see a man who's sold, totally sold
out to God and that young man, shoe
seller in Chicago said I'll be that man,
he did, he went to England, he didn't
go for three days, he went and stayed
six weeks, he went to Oxford University, Cambridge
University, they laughed at him, even when he
was praying they interrupted because he said, he
didn't speak good English, he didn't say Daniel,
he said Dan-eel and Jerusalem he called
Jerusalem and they laughed at him the first
day, they laughed at him the second day,
the third day they were humiliated, the fourth
day they were kneeling in front of him,
here's a man that can't speak English, he's
almost not training, oh fellows want to say,
oh I'm ordained, who ordained you, so and
so, forget it, you get ordination now with
soup cookings, there's only one ordination of any
value, it's in John 15, I have ordained
you and if God hasn't ordained you, I
don't care if a thousand bishops lay hands
on you, but if God the Holy Ghost
puts his hands on you, the world will
know somewhere, so after he had a successful
campaign for six weeks in London, he went
to Scotland where the greatest preachers in the
world were there, Alexander White was there sitting
like a king on his throne and somebody
says you need to go hear this Yankee,
he said he's a funny guy, he can't
speak good English, but boy he can preach,
when he's preaching it's just as though something
goes through the building, so Alexander White goes
and sits on the bench, boy hadn't been
there an hour before, he wished he wasn't
there, he's listening to an unlearned unlettered man
and God the Holy Ghost is on him
and businessmen, career men, outstanding men in society
come kneeling at the altar, Alexander White was
so moved, he sent across town to his
friend Henry Drummond, Henry Drummond wrote that wonderful
book, The Greatest Thing in the World and
he said Drummond, and Drummond was a liberal,
he said you come and hear this man,
he said he has no education, he doesn't
quote history, he doesn't quote Greek, he doesn't
quote Hebrew, but he said somehow when he's
speaking, God seems to get on his tongue,
God gets in his heart, he blazes, you
can't buy the Holy Ghost, if you've got
some of it, take your check out now
and you'd write ten thousand dollars if you
get through with the Holy Ghost, but all
you need to get through the hole is
a broken heart and say my ministry is
no good, I'm no good, I'm futile in
myself, as dear Jackie said, God is looking
for men who'll die to self and die
to career and die to everything else, I
haven't got where I want to get, I
don't have time, my enemy is the devil
and the clock, but anyhow, give me one
or two more minutes, a view of eternity
will completely revolutionise our lives, I have that
sign on my desk, Lord keep me eternity
conscious, I give a little card to guys
that come in, I want them to see
eternity because everything else, what does the song
say, turn your eyes upon, look full in
his, and the things of earth will grow
strangely dim, what did Paul say, the things
that are seen are temporal, the things are
not, the real world is invisible, everything you
look at coming here within a hundred years
will be rotten and perished and gone away,
but the things are not seen are eternal,
that's why the word of God says the
gift of God is eternal life, I have
eternal life in me now, I'm going to
live forever and ever with him, I'm not
going for the weekend, okay, wood, hay and
stubble, what is wood?
Well, it's perishable, it burns, wood is above
the ground, hay is above the ground, stubble
is above the ground, you can soon burn
up something that's made of wood, and some
of our ministries are made of wood, they
won't last five minutes in the presence of
God, because they're filled with ambition, they're filled
with selfishness, I want to be a minister
for God, but I want to be the
best minister, the best known man in the
world, or the best missionary, dear old Jackie
doesn't get a hill of beans if nobody
knows her, I've got to the place where
I can say it's not I, but Christ
liveth in me, not you gave up with
your lousy sins, that's the greatest boast a
man can make, this side of the world,
Paul says Christ liveth in me, and what
does he say?
If you're really born again of the spirit
of God and living in obedience, what does
he say?
Christ is in you, and Paul says Christ
in me, the hope of glory, do you
think a man doesn't know God, when God
the Holy Ghost invade his personality?
I don't have many heroes, I do have
a few, there's a book you can get
in the bookstore, a vineyard there, called Take
Thy Glory Lord, I was coming out of,
going into Dr. Chaucer's office one day, and
his closest friend came out, and he said
the doctor's in his office, and he's stroking
a piece of paper, and I went in
and I said, well what's it all about?
Well Chaucer said I've had a wonderful experience
today, a woman, look at this letter for
the Leonard, and this woman says I take
12 Christian magazines, but Dr. Chaucer, I prefer
your magazine to all the magazines in the
world, and he thought boy that's a flattery,
and he turned it over, and do you
know what she said?
Because it fits the bottom of my birdcage
without cutting, but do you know what he
was stroking?
He was stroking a piece of paper from
a man called Doomer in Africa, listen please,
a Baptist, before charismatic stuff was popular and
whatnot, this precious man waited on God, and
God anointed him, so what happens?
He lays hand on the sick, and there
are miracles, he goes to hospitals and raises
the dead.
I gave this book to a very famous
preacher, every one of you know his name,
he was the greatest evangelist in America, and
he said I don't want to read that,
it's not documented, last year a man knocked
at my door, and I said oh hello
I'm glad to see you, he said my
name is Roger Volk, I said I remember
you Roger, from Africa, and he said, I
said by the way did you know a
man by the name of Doomer, he said
William Doomer, I said yes, he said sure,
I said well is it true that he
raised the dead, he said I'll give you
the name of the doctor, the atheist that
saw Doomer, stand over a corpse, and raise
it up in the name of Jesus, I'll
tell you the name of the hospital, I'll
tell you the name of the doctor, I'll
tell you the name of the child, but
he said Doomer did more than that, I
said in God's name, what do you mean
do more than raise the dead, he said
by the way I only have one daughter,
and she had to have brain surgery, they
took a third of her brain away, I
signed to the doctor the privilege, do anything,
restore my darling daughter, she's a vegetable, she
can't even lick her own lips, and there's
no hope, I'd pay for it to go
to England, I'd pray for a physician to
come from America, but there's no hope, a
third of her brain has been removed, and
I said well Roger what happened, he said
a man knocked at my door, and there's
William Doomer, he'd taken the train two days
before, and travelled all day and night at
his own expense, and he said well Roger
Vaughn said, I said to him well why
did you come in, and he never communicated
at all, he said because you have a
child here that's sick, I've come to pray
for the child, Vaughn said I almost went
to pieces, he'll go in the room and
she's lying on the floor, he'll speak and
she'll get up and jump, and I'll be
excited, I'll jump, and instead of that he
prayed and nothing happened, he prayed again, nothing
happened, like Elijah, he prayed the third time,
and Roger said what now, he said oh
I'll be back in a few days, what
did, what is, how did Roger get his
anointing, I'll tell you how he got his
anointing.