Good morning, excuse me, I've got a slight
cold and I felt sick this morning, but
I wanted to come.
Could we please open up our Bibles in
Acts chapter 12, I think, yes.
You know that verse in John, in John
which says, I'll just read it to you.
And the glory which thou gavest me, I
have given them, that they may be one,
even as we are one.
I sat down with a person, eighty-nine
years old, Reverend Finneymore, recently.
It was a privilege to meet him, still
on fire for God at eighty-nine years
old.
In case you think you're too old to
be on fire for God.
And this man and me sat down, I
spent my off time with him, and I
enjoyed it so much, this young boy with
an eighty-nine year old man.
And we looked at a few verses in
the Bible, and one of them was that
verse, that God giveth us his glory.
We wrote a song together, just for the
fun of it.
And that was glory.
And let me ask you a question, is
your life as a Christian glory?
Or is it a dreary, day-to-day,
carry-on thing?
Is it glory?
God says, in 2 Corinthians, the last verse
of chapter 3, that the starting point is
glory.
And it goes from glory to glory.
And there's one thing that keeps you back
from that close walk to God, which makes
your Christian experience glory.
And that is pride.
Now if we could turn to Acts chapter
12, verse 21 to 24.
First I'll pray, Lord, thank you for the
privilege now that I can speak to these
people, Lord.
And I know I can't say anything to
them, I never ever could, and I never
ever can.
I don't mean anything to them except you
speak, Lord.
I give this short time over to you,
and I ask you to work, Lord.
And I know that you long to work
in our lives.
You long to change us more to be
like Jesus.
You long to do wondrous things in our
Christian experience.
You won't long to make it glory, Lord.
And so I give this meeting over to
thee, in Jesus' name, amen.
Here we have a staggering piece in Acts
12, verse 21 to 24.
And upon a said day, Herod, arrayed in
royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made
an oration unto them.
And the people gave a shout, saying, It
is the voice of God, and not of
a man.
And immediately the angel of the Lord smote
him, because he gave not God the glory.
And he was eaten of worms, and gave
up the ghost.
And here we have a glimpse of the
hatred, the utter hatred that God has of
pride.
When this man did not give the glory
to God, he was smote and dead, and
eaten of worms.
I wonder if Christians nowadays realize how terrifying,
how fearful, how evil pride is.
Satan fell because of pride.
If you read in Ezekiel 28, verse 17,
you'll see, speaking of Satan, Thine heart was
lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast
corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.
And we know that a haughty spirit comes
before the full.
And Satan fell because of pride.
The Bible says pride goes before destruction.
And that pride is a terrifying thing.
Many, many people on earth will be in
hell because of pride.
I nearly landed up in hell because of
pride.
I remember as a young boy, I was
not right with God.
I was not for sure of my salvation.
And as a little boy, I went there
in the sea, near Jeffrey's Bay, and also
Port Elizabeth.
But this when I was a little boy
at Port Elizabeth, I went in the sea.
And as you can see, I'm a thin
person.
And I was swimming there as a young
boy in the sea.
And suddenly I felt weak.
And as I was swimming in the sea
and felt weak and couldn't get back to
shore, a terrifying thing happened.
I was too proud to shout out, help.
Pride in me would not allow me to
shout out and say, help me.
Because I didn't want other people to think
that I was struggling.
And I struggled more and more and more
and more until I came to the point
where I knew that in a few moments
I would be out of control and I
wouldn't be able to swim anymore and I'd
be underneath the water.
And in that state, I tried to cry
out.
And only a whisper came out because I
was so weak at that point.
And if my older brother had not seen
me, if my older brother had not seen
me and come into the water and drag
me out on that day, I can almost
guarantee you I would be in hell today
because of that terrifying evil thing called pride.
I would be in hell today and I
would deserve it.
You know, most Christians don't realize how God
hates pride.
And then Proverbs 8 verse 7 says, pride
do I hate.
I was at school once, I'd just gotten
to high school as I understand it, and
there they have what you call a CU,
a Christian's union.
The so-called Christians of the school come
together.
And I decided I would attend these meetings
a little.
And they would speak about this and they
would speak about that.
And one day I thought I'd say something.
So I said, doesn't the Bible say that
we must be humble?
And oh, they laughed.
And I was amazed as all these people
who call themselves Christians, who are gathered together
as Christians, said, that's going too far, even
though the Bible said it, that we must
be humble.
And many Christians of this world do not
realize, as I said, how much God hates
pride.
A man was killed because of his pride.
Satan fell because of his pride.
I was nearly in hell because of my
pride.
But most Christians are not as bad as
that.
They don't say that you mustn't be proud.
But they do not realize what pride is.
They do not recognize the seed of pride
in their heart.
I was at Bible College and there I
was shocked.
Because a person with wonderful zeal and humility
as far as I could see, he wanted
to serve others, he looked up at others.
He worked hard.
He looked up at me, for some reason.
One day he changed almost totally.
He didn't esteem all the other Christians above
himself as the Bible says he ought to
do.
He didn't look up at other people as
he used to.
He wanted to go his own way.
He still worked hard like he used to.
But he didn't look up at other people.
And I wondered what could have changed him.
What could have changed such a wonderful person
in such a short time.
So terrifying.
And something came into my mind which said,
I said, go to him and ask him,
Have you read through the Bible for the
first time right through?
Have you finished recently reading through the Bible
for the first time once through?
I said, okay, I can ask him.
So I went up to him and I
asked him, Have you recently for the first
time finished reading your Bible through?
And he said, yes.
You know the devil, the devil uses little
achievements.
But if you've read through the Bible for
the 200th time, he uses sacrifice in your
life to sow that little seed of pride
which God hates.
God says, pride do I hate.
What achievement in life or sacrifice can ever
compare to what Jesus Christ gave on the
cross?
What achievement or sacrifice that a Christian can
ever give, can ever compare in a slight
degree to what Jesus Christ gave on the
cross?
You know I have been tempted at times
to be proud.
I hate it when those little thoughts sometimes
come into your mind.
But there's one cure that always works when
the devil tempts me to be proud.
And I just sing a verse of this
song.
When I survey the wondrous cross on which
the Prince of Glory died, my riches gained
I count as lost and pour contempt on
all my pride.
And then I feel like I cannot touch
the glory when I sing that one verse.
I don't think it's ever failed that I
could ever have another look at the glory
after I've sung that one verse.
So the devil tried to tempt.
The devil sows seeds of pride to rob
you of all power in your Christian experience.
In all glory.
I wonder if you realize how terrifying pride
is to your Christian experience.
And to the power that you have with
other men and God.
There was a man called Henry Muras, a
young man, being used mightily of God in
the, I think it was in the 1800s,
and America, in revival, in a mighty way.
And one day he came to a meeting,
and for the first time, I think, since
the revival started, nothing happened.
There was no unction in his preaching, no
souls responded for salvation.
And he went to his knees after the
meeting and he cried out, Lord, why do
I not have unction?
Why are souls not responding for salvation?
And he got up from his knees and
he walked down the street afterwards.
He was broken, he couldn't understand why suddenly
the revival should have stopped when it had
been going so strongly for such a long
time.
And remember the words, God said, pride do
I hate.
And as he was walking down that street,
he saw a billboard.
And on the billboard were written these words,
Come hear the greatest British preacher, Henry Muras.
And he went straight from there, he said,
oh, I've realized, this is why the revival
has stopped.
And he ran to the organizers of the
meeting and he said to them, you know
why there isn't a revival?
Because they've called me the greatest this and
the greatest that.
I am but a voice, which says, behold,
the Lamb of God.
Jesus is the wonderful one.
And after that, the revival, as I understood,
started again.
And it stopped, stopped, stopped.
The seed of pride can come in so
easily.
I'm not giving the glory to God.
Do you believe the verse Jeremiah 13, verse
15 to 16?
It staggered me when I first read it.
God will cause darkness in your Christian experience
if you allow that seed of pride to
take a hold of you in any way.
But what is the answer to pride?
The only answer to pride, as I said,
is the cross of Christ.
Paul states in Galatians 2, verse 20, For
I am crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me.
In the life which I now live, in
the flesh I live, I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me.
Are you crucified with Christ?
So many people, they come with their offers
to God.
And they say, I've given so much.
Some of them actually think they're crucified.
Many people are.
You can say with Paul, by their lives
they are crucified with Christ.
But many others say, which I do not
judge, but I wonder.
And there's an illustration of the Indians in
America.
The Indians in America were very poor at
this stage in history.
And they could not afford, like many churches,
to bring money to the altar.
They could not.
They were way too poor.
So they brought what they could to God.
They used to dig up roots and shrubs
and bring it to the altar to give
something to God.
But they couldn't afford to give money.
They brought all they could.
Everything they could, they brought.
One day, one Indian woman came to the
preacher.
And in her hand, as I understand the
story went, she had a gold coin.
And she gave it to the preacher.
And the preacher wondered, how could she afford
that coin?
And not just bring the normal shrubs.
And then, in an inquiry, we asked her.
And she said, when I looked or heard
of how much Jesus gave on the cross,
I could not give my shrubs.
And I went and sold myself as a
slave.
I don't know where this was, but she
sold herself as a slave to be able
to give Christ something of true worth.
She gave herself to God.
And how many Christians, how many Christians bring
all their shrubs, everything they can, everything they
can, but they never bring themselves, their everything.
What in life, what of life, what of
yourself is not worthy of being given to
God when He gave His Son?
Mr. Friend of South Africa, when he was
a young person, he had a problem in
his life, which was pride.
He was jealous.
When he saw that someone else got to
lead the meeting, this jealousy was in him,
even though outside he smiled.
He wanted to be there, to lead the
meeting.
He wanted to be chosen.
He became a missionary in South Africa, in
our mission.
And as a young person, he was so
disillusioned, with nothing happening, that he applied to
the head of the mission, to lead the
mission.
And the head of the mission was very
glad for him to lead, because the truth
was, nothing was happening.
The only reason he stayed in the mission
was because a godly old lady begged him
to stay.
He carried on, and no souls were saved,
not one.
And he did what many Christians do.
And God made it easy for him, Oh
Lord, I need power in my ministry.
I need power in my ministry.
And nothing happened.
And then one day he realized his mistake.
His mistake was this.
I mustn't seek power.
I must seek crucifixion.
The killing, not the filling.
Seeking power before crucifixion is like expecting Jesus
to be raised from the dead before he
died on the cross.
And as soon as he started to seek
crucifixion, souls started to be saved.
This is his testament.
But he could not come to that place
of absolute surrender, of giving everything to God.
And he realized at a point that the
problem was faith.
The problem was faith.
He always wanted some kind of feeling.
You know when the spirit of the Lord
pulls you or something, controls you.
He always wanted a feeling to happen when
he absolutely surrendered.
He never came not expecting any feeling, but
just coming in a simple faith, accepting what
Christ has already accomplished on the cross 2
,000 years ago.
When he nailed our pride in ourselves to
the cross.
There.
You know that verse is precious.
In 2 Corinthians 5 verse 14 to 15.
For the love of Christ constrains us because
he does judge that if one died for
all, then we're all dead.
And that he died for all, that they
which henceforth live unto themselves, which do not
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which
died for them and rose again.
And so he came to a point where
he, now down on his knees in a
simple faith, he gave himself over to God
and accepted what Christ had accomplished on the
cross.
And he stood up and testified of that.
And from that moment, Orphan Emmanu-Raji became
wonderfully used of God and became one of
the most used preachers in our entire land
in South Africa.
And in Britain, and in Japan, internationally.
And where was he before?
He was a boy who asked his mission,
Can I please leave?
Because nothing's happened.
Let me ask you the question.
It's a simple question.
Have you in any way been seeking power
before crucifixion?
Is more important than crucifixion, power in your
spiritual experience?
Or is the main focus of your entire
attitude towards Christianity that I must become more
crucified?
That I must be, as Paul said, crucified
with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I
but Christ liveth in me.
Is this your experience?
Are you crucified with Christ?
If you're all on the altar, do you
still bring those rags?
Everything.
You bring everything.
If you've never brought your all, like that
one Indian did, you do.
Let us pray.
I would like those of you who have
never before come in simple faith and given
yourself totally on the altar.
If thus brought your rags, if thus brought
so much, if you've never brought everything and
said, Not my will, but thine be done.
Anything.
Whether men smite me on the one cheek,
whether you take my house, whether you take
my family, whether you take my reputation and
make me the laughingstock of America.
I don't mind, Lord.
I want to give it all now.
Not just the rag, but everything.
Those of you who wish to say to
God today, I wish to absolutely surrender unto
God and give everything.
Father, I wish you to raise your one
hand.
Thank you for those hands.
I'm going to pray for you and then
I ask all of those who raise their
hands afterwards to come with me down to
the room and we'll pray shortly together before
you can come back to be with my
father.
There's quite a long time over.
Father, thank you for those hands.
And Lord, I ask that you will take
their offer of themselves and let their lives
be glorious.
And let them be able to sing with
me from now on, Lord, as they've given
themselves.
My all is on the altar.
My all, my all, my all.
And Father, I know that you long to
take their offer of themselves.
If you're ever willing and ever waiting to
change lives and to take their all.
And so I pray this for them, that
you will take their all and now let
them, their lives, cry out one thing, I
am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me.
And I ask this in faith, simple faith,
not looking to the feeling for these people,
but in simple faith, that when we come
to God, he is faithful and just to
do that which his word proclaims.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.