He says, whosoever keeps on sinning hath not seen him, neither known. You may be baptized, catechized, vaccinated, and confirmed, and eat fish on Friday, and be all that, but you've never known him. You're no more born again than the dead. John chapter 3, and reading from verse 1. Some of you may be wondering whether you're really born again or not. Well, here John gives us a description and tells us how we may know whether we're really blood-washed, born-again men or women. 1 John 3, verse 1. Behold! I like that word. You know when you're going downtown or walking along the road there and there's some fella across the road there or across the street, and you want to get his attention, you say, HEY! Well, that's what the Lord says. Behold! Behold what? What manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the word knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. That we word know, you've got it forty times in this epistle, and it's a beautiful word in the origins. It means absolutely not the shadow of a devil, absolute certainty. We know, we know, glory to God, this is a harsh, no-show experience. Well then, these sons of God, and we know who they are, let us see what they look like. Every man that has this hope in him purifies, ETH, keeps on purifying himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever commiteth, ETH, That is, whosoever keeps on committing sin, keeps on transgressing the law also. For sin is a transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sin, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abides in him, whosoever keeps on abiding in him, does not keep on sinning. Whosoever keeps on sinning, hath not seen him, neither known him, You've got enough brains to give you a headache, that's simple enough, isn't it? You may not have graduated very far from a school. You may know very little about theology, but this is very simple, isn't it? Whosoever keeps on abiding in him doesn't keep on sinning. He doesn't sin, but he doesn't keep at it. He doesn't keep at it. Whosoever keeps on abiding in him does not keep on sinning. Do you see that? Whosoever keeps on sinning hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, that's a beautiful word there, little children, my born again ones, let no man deceive you. He that keeps on doing righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous. He that keeps on committing sin is of the devil. You may be a Presbyterian one, but you're of the devil. Methodist or a Church of Ireland, but you're of the devil. You keep on sinning. He that keeps on sinning is of the devil. And the devil keeps on sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Whosoever is born of God is not habitually guilty of sin, not his habit. That is habit. You see dear friends, you and I by nature are, we're called pigs, cows, swine, we're called dogs, we're called, we're called goats. We're the names given to the, to the, to the children of the dead. If you don't like the names of the goddamn gods you can get out of the family and get into a decent family, the family of God. You can get soundly converted to that. Whenever you get a pig made into a sheep, that's what God does. All of God's people are sheep. You can never get a sheep living like a pig. And you can't get a pig living like a sheep. You can't. You see, everything after its own time, God said when he created them. You get an old hog there, maybe a pedigree hog, a domesticated hog and an educated hog, But you let him out there into a swamp, and a whole lot of mud, and watch him do... wallowing in the mud. But here's an old sheep, and it's got 59 varieties of fatty grease in it, and you can feed it as much as you like, and you can put a little mutton on its bones, and a little wool on its back. But when that old sheep will hit a puddle, he'll jump! Now he may go into it, but he doesn't lie there. He jumps, jumps out of... And the word of God says that if you keep on committing sin, you're a child of the devil. Never been born again. Want to know what the difference between a child of God and a child of the devil? Now you've got it right there. And so he says, whosoever is born of God does not practice, is not habitually guilty of sin. For his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. Can he not sin? Well, look at it this way. You ask Queen Elizabeth what she gave me, she gave me polish your shoes for you. She says I can't do that. Why? The Queen doesn't polish shoes. Can she not do it? Why certainly she can't, but why doesn't she do it? She's a Queen. Here's a man and he says my words lick my bones. I stand for integrity and truth. Somebody tries to get him to tell a lie, he says I can't do that. I can't do it. I've made a reputation for truthfulness, for integrity. Can he not do it? He can if he likes. But to maintain his integrity, he says, I can't do it. I can't do that. You take a fellow that's done for honesty, and you try to make him dishonest, he says, I can't be dishonest. Why? Why I've done for honesty. I've built a reputation on that. And I can't do a dishonest thing. And a child of God can't sin. He hates it. He abhors it. And if he falls into it, he repents of his sin. He doesn't rely on it. And when he has tears of penitence and repents, he's baptized under the blood of Christ and the cleansing power and the indwelling spirit of God. And so if you want to know whether you're really a child of God or a child of the devil, in this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. You see, there are two families in this world. When you were born of your mother, you were born in the devil's family. And whenever you repent of your sin and accept Christ as your saviour, you're born again. Born again to the family of God. If anybody tells you about the universal fatherhood of God and the common brotherhood of man, he's not talking Christianity. He's not talking that Bible. He's talking Mohammedanism. He's talking unbridled Unitarianism. He's not talking Christianity. The Word of God declares clearly that there are two distinct families, the family of the devil and the family of God. And you and I, by nature, are born into the family of the devil. And when we're born again, by faith in Christ, we become a child of God. Now your old father, the devil, and you don't like being called the child of the devil, well thank God you can bid him goodbye and leave the old family tonight and say here I am Lord, a poor child of the devil and I want to become a child of God and glory to God he'll make you a just child of God. The work of the Holy Spirit to do that. In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Whosoever does not keep on doing righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. May the Lord bless you with his own words for Christ's sake. I have been preaching to you from one angle than another regarding the work of the Holy City in the hearts of believers. You've seen how it's His work alone that can sanctify the heart and purify the heart and to imbue that man or woman with powers to live a godly, God-fearing life and a blessing in their day and generation. And I thank God for the goodly number that we believe that have entered into this glorious experience and let this experience enter into their hearts as well in life. But there's a great many I believe, dear friends, and you're puzzled and you're perplexed about the whole thing. Maybe you've never heard a series of addresses as you've been heeding this in this way, in this way, in this way. You've heard evangelistic addresses of one kind and another. You've heard expositions of scriptures by your minister in the church. But as to definite sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of men and women, very little reference seems to be taken about that. Sometimes in a convention, like Catholic Convention, or Pope's Church Convention there, or Faith Mission Convention, there is a special mention made up. But as a whole, it's alien. It's like what it was to the Ephesians, where Paul said, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? Or did you receive the Holy Ghost when you believed? But did you receive it? They said we never have heard whether there'll be any Holy Ghost or not. You know that you're born expecting answers to the blood, tells you that you're born of God, but you don't know His mighty power in your heart and life, conforming you to the image of Christ and transforming you day by day and leading you out in paths not only of pleasantness and peace, but glory to God of profit and blessing to those you come in contact with day by day. And so to your friend tonight, I want to be as clear I'm not so much concerned about preaching tonight as I want to turn this meeting into an after-meeting. We've been having one or two after-meetings. You know what they are. In a preaching service, it's like artillery. A fellow gets his guns on the ground, he blasts away, and he doesn't know who it is that he's shooting at. But in an after-meeting, it's kind of a bayonet business. We're getting close to each other and trying to help each other into a definite experience. Now, I want to do that tonight. It appears that I speak to you as if we were just in an after-meeting, taking for granted that you know that you can be filled unto all the fullness of God, and know the blessing of a sanctified life, and fued with power from on high to live that kind of a life. But somewhere or another you're puzzled about it. How am I to obtain it? Remember, it's not a knob-tainment, it's a knob-tainment. Everything you get from God is on the ground of grace. We don't deserve a single thing from God. If God dealt with us after our deserts, we'd, every one of us, with our eyes open, be burning in hell. But when God deals with us on the ground of mercy, on the ground of grace, not of merit, not of merit, you can't buy anything from God. He's not fake. He's not in the business of selling anything. He's giving all the time, giving all the time. What He wants is that you receive what He wants to give. And so, dear friends, I want that you may see how you may enter into this blessing, how you may come to experience it and know it, a definite radical revolutionary experience subsequent to conversion. I was born again yesterday, 59 years ago, 20th of May, 1800, at half-past eight on a Monday morning, sitting at my mother's fireside yonder, waiting for breakfast. And glory to God's presence! Powerfully, consciously, and eternally, God came. Sudden as that! One moment I was going to hell, the next moment I was on the road to heaven. One moment a child of the devil, next moment a child of God. And glory to God, the witness in my heart. The old mother came in and says, aye mother, your prayers are answered. I was a prodigy. I'd broken her heart. The way I'd lived, all parts of the world. She says, aye, your prayers are answered. Your anxiety's answered. He says, what happened? I said, I'm sick. He nearly dropped dead. He prayed for me from when I was born, and here are the things happening, and shit, I could hardly expect it. He says, when did it happen? I said, right now. He says, how do you know? Heaven had come up to me, I was in no way cast out. I had enough brains to give me a headache to understand that. If he didn't cast me out, there was only one thing he could do, was to take me in. And boy, that was the biggest sick day that ever I got in my life. Come on, it was that! I was that anxious about my soul that I was willing to go and split peas in the bush, or crawl to the old bachelor yonder and bite his toenails on the bank of the chamber, if the Lord would only save my soul. But you see, I felt that the Lord not only saved you, but glory to God, He wanted to give you a life of sunshine and bright, and happiness and victory and joy, and blessing and blessedness here and there. Boy, that is wonderful. But you know, I didn't get like that. When I got converted, the devil got after me, the world got after me, the same old bunch got after me. And man, for seven months I lived in hell. Oh, I knew it daily. I couldn't deny that. But man, I lived an awful, miserable life. I didn't know anything about it. A holy life. A sanctified life. And many of my ministers knew the dirty rascal. He never told us. He never told us. He just said, do the best you can. Wipe your nose. Come to church and come to communion. Read your Bible. And if you fall, get up and hit your west arm. I'm rich, but boy, I've starved quite a bit away, mind you, since I came to Hitchiwacken. And I lived for seven solid months. And if you'd have been a Scotland Yard detective, you never would have suspected I was a Christian. I didn't smell like one. I smelled of stinking tobacco. You couldn't tell me that tobacco, and the dirty stink of it, is a mark of holiness and purity, could you? And not only that, you couldn't have told it by the way I went. I was walking down the way to the world, dancing and fooling and nonsense, along like that lady. You never got me at this church except on Sunday. And if God was going to do anything, it had to be that day, but not all the rest of the time. I was giving up to these other things. And not only that, dear friends, you'd never have known it by my talk. I could talk politics, or talk football, or talk cricket, or criticise my neighbours, but I had no testimony for Jesus. But glory to God, at seven months that we met, Church of England clergyman called J. Stuart Holt, he and my brother were students together, and he was over having a vacation at my mother's house, Yonder Bank. And he said, while we're here, what do you say if we have a convention for the teaching of spiritual life? Now that's a nice mouthful to say. It wouldn't hurt anybody, and it wouldn't make me feel scared of anybody, but he said, a holy man's mission, nothing different. I was impressed with him. We didn't go in for anything like that. And as he said, it was some kind of a meeting like, you know, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, And there used to be churches where 30 or 40 of us lived, and he began telling what a mess we were making of it, and losing our temple, and getting all kinds of trouble, and so on. And I kept looking at that critter. I said, I wonder has my brother been putting him up to me? What's that fellow on the stand trying to talk to me like that? Well, I got a wee bit annoyed, but I went back the next night, and boy, I felt more annoyed than ever. I was dead sure that he was talking about me, and just telling exactly, and I thought to myself, he's such a nick probably, what on earth does he do in a thing like that? Comes into my mother's house as a guest, finds out all about me, comes down to me and doesn't matter in the church, and oh boy, I'll boy begin to boy! Well, this is the earth worse than ever! But you know human nature's like a donkey. If you just give a donkey a prod, he just goes a closer to it. And boy, when that wee man prodded me, I was back the next night again. And mine had got worse, got worse. He began, if it was just to put my name, he couldn't have made it more personal. I was the only one in the crowd that he picked out. And he just let me alone there, said, what a dirty, sneaking rascal you were, and you were supposed to be safe, and here's the way you're doing it, and here's how you're getting on, and what a mess you're making of it. And I don't know, I just couldn't stop him. By Friday night, I just was boiling clean home. But the wee fella, he didn't know I hadn't sent enough, he didn't have enough to meet him. And so I had no chance, but I went out round by the shore, you understand, by the old picket bearing place, and man, the Lord met with me there. The same as he met old Jacob at Jabba's that day. And I cried out, Come in! Holy Spirit, come in! Thy work of great blessing begins! By faith I lay hold of the promise and claim complete victory over sin. Glory to God, from the crown of my head to my toenails, I don't know whether it was electrocuted or what it was, but whether it was in the body or out of the body, I couldn't tell you. And like at least on Christmas Eve, I began to shout and cry and have a good time with myself. I've been up home and I said, Mother, the comforter has come. She nearly hugged me to death. She knew the blessing. She'd been blessed in the second blessing under Andrew Moran of South Africa, and for years for it. She said, you know, I just, I wondered whether you really saved it or not these last seven months. But glory to God, now it's all right. I looked at me old father, an old elderly, and he was getting his shirt off in the bedroom, trying to get into bed. I said, Father, glory to God, the measure of comfort, and I just looked at him. He says, let him that standeth take heed lest he fall. He always does it to me better. I'm going to bed. And glory to God, he got the blessing a few years before he passed, and he knew just exactly what we're trying to talk about. Now dear friend, you're just not, you're not predicting, just as I was. There's a miserable Christian life, unsatisfying and unsatisfactory. You're defeated although devoted to your Lord and your Church. The Bible is sealed with prayer of perpetratory repentance. If you go to church, God bless you, it is just about the last thing, but you have to do it at least once anyhow. And not no joy, no exhilaration, no satisfaction, and yet you are in the Word, and mixed with the Word, not enjoying the Word, and neither enjoying Jesus Christ. It's time and position to begin. I want to help you. How are you to get out of this? And how are you to get this baptism of the Holy Ghost in power and fullness? Four steps. Four steps. This is the afternoon. I want you to take the steps with me. As I bring the steps to you, I want you sitting there honestly. Yes, I need that. But here's the first step. Will you say to your heart, I must, M-U-S-T, have this blessing. When you get there, the Lord will not put his mules to faith. If you don't want it, go ahead, you'll do without it. He's too much of a gentleman to come where he's not wanted. If any man thirsts, let him come to me. Let's make he of the spirit which they should receive. Thirst, he doesn't say of any man hunger. Anybody can be hungry and you can do hunger. that no human being ever lived and died willingly of thirst, having got the power. I remember one time in the Colorado desert, John, getting lost until your tongue was as black as your shoe and as thick as your fist. And the pain, if hell could be any worse pain, than the pain of thirst. It comes like that. Now the Lord says, if any man thirst, You say, oh well, I'm not very particular whether I know this blessing or not. I'm satisfied just to go along and do the best I can and it'll be all right. Go on. The Lord will not put his jewels for you to trample. Says David, one thing I of the Lord desire, not fifty things, one thing. You hear people saying, I've been to Catholic, I've been to post-church, and I got a blessing. What blessing did you get? Oh, well, I don't know, but this, I got a blessing. I say, if you want to get this blessing, the second blessing. Well, I said to them the other day, I say, second blessing. I've got thousands of them. I say, but you dirty rascal, you've judged the second one. You're getting all you could from the Lord, but you've judged the only one that you get to get you. But you've got to come there, brother. You've got to come there and say, Lord, I'm dead beat. I'm dead beat. I'm just as disgruntled and dissatisfied as anybody could be. If I could give it up, I'd give it up. But I can't give it up, for the Lord will not let me go. God takes a grip of you. He never lets you go. All the powers of hell and the devil couldn't take them out of your grip. And you say, Lord, I'm just miserable the way I'm living. And the weeks and the months and the years that I've lived, miserable Christian life of no service, no use to myself or to anybody else. But Lord, I'm in for this. I'm in for this. I must have it. I must have it. I can't go any longer. I can't endure any more. I've just had to be full of it. Now I must have it. At any cost, I must have it. Have you got there, dear Grace? Have you got there? Just in desperation? You never saw a man get it, he wasn't in desperation. You're wrapped around with your smug complacency, your self-righteousness, your self-righteousness rags around you, you'll go to hell, you'll never go to heaven. But when you get to the end of your tether and you feel you're lost, guilty and condemned, and if you die, you're damned, and the power of conviction comes upon you, you're a candidate for salvation. It's all that smug business that you have, never keep you to hell, never get you to heaven. And friend, now that you're saved, Tell me, are you disgusted with your own half-saved life? Are you disgusted with that miserable up and down, more down than up, kind of defeated life you've been living? Well, when you get to it, Lord, I must have this. I'm just tired, that's all. Take on the whole business. I must, must have it. Why? Well, God commands it, dear friend. God commands it. Be not drunk with wine, wherein is access, but be filled with the Spirit. The God of peace sanctify you, holy spirit, soul, and body. Preserve you blameless unto the coming of Christ. Faithful is he who calls you, who commands you, who also will do it. And you say, Lord, I must have it. The Lord commands us to have it. And if we're not accepted, if we're not really in earnest about it, it'll pass us by and we'll be like all Esau is selling his birthright with a massive potty. Not only that, but your soul and its experience demands it. You've tried to live a decent Christian life. You've tried many a time to give a testimony. Nearly killed you. You've tried to open your mouth to say a word, to get somebody else converted, or to stand up for Jesus without damning and cursing him around you. You know what a mug you made of it. You know what a coward you stood in the face of it? And you say, I can't do it myself. Lord God, if I'm to be sanctified and live a holy life, I can't. I'm only making a mess of it. I must have the awful need of my heart. Only the Spirit alone can purify the heart from sin and take it and keep us day by day. And then the world demands it. You want to know what kind of a Christian ought to be? Ask the world. They put us up, I know, that thing hurts a lot of us, put them down, but they put us, here's what it should be, they'll tell you how to live, what kind of a Christian life you ought to live. They demand it, and they'd like to demand it. If I claim that I'm a child of God, they've a right to see whether I am or not, or that I'm living a hypocrite to the word go. So will ye just come, Lord, here I am. I'm born again, I'm saved, I know it. And I know for years, or maybe months, or maybe only weeks, But oh Lord, I've been making a mess. And I must have it, I must have it. I can't live any longer with her. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. And glory to God, he's able to do it. Now that's the first. Will you take the first step? I must. Second, will you say to your heart, take the first step? I must. Lord, I'm there. Second step, I may. Oh man, I'm glad I've got that mess. In spite of all the past things, in spite of all the mess you've made, in spite of all the shame and disgrace that you brought in the name of Christ and his church, in spite of all the ache in heart, that you gave to the heart of Christ, that you brought again and again by your manner of life, I, in spite of all the way that you've been disgraced through the whole thing, in spite of that, thank God you met. Oh brother or sister, I don't care if you've been 50 years and live in this kind of a life, up and down miserable backsliding life. I don't care how awful you've made a mess of it, and you've been ashamed of it again and again. Thank God you can get out of it today. I may, I may. He bids me come. He calls me to come. He may invite me to come. Urges me to come. The Spirit is tithed again and again. Lead me out so that I may come and know the blessing that there is in this for me. Why? Why may you do it? Well, God has promised. If you're too old, you're a child of God and a heir of God in a joint heir with Christ. And every promise that God ever made is your promise if you'll only claim it. And because God has promised it, the promise of the Father to Jesus. And the promise is unto you, never mind about your neighbour or somebody else, but you, in spite of all your faith, in spite of all your backsliding, in spite of all the way you've disgraced the name of the Lord, in spite of all that, it's a promised blessing. And you may, if you will, enter into this blessing. And then not only that, but Christ has purchased this for us. When He died on Calvary's Cross, He purchased your salvation and mine. From age to seed, all was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ on Calvary's Cross for your salvation, sanctification and mine. And so dear friend, because He has purchased it, why don't you possess it? Why should you go on without the very blessing that God has provided for you and Jesus Christ has purchased with His blood purchased? And not only that, but many believers are in the blessing. And that all is encouraged means If God will sanctify any man, he'll sanctify me. If God will sanctify ye any woman, he'll sanctify you. The Lord is no pet parent. You and I may have a bunch of parents, and one love more than the other, but God hasn't parents like us. If you're really a born again one, you're as dear to the heart of God as the biggest Christian that ever lived, or the finest martyr that ever died for Christ. You may be ignored by all, unknown by all, unseen by all, not known under the ten eagle feet, but to the heart of God you're dear, say you're dear to it. And there's nothing he has that isn't yours if you'd only go in and possess it. And if you can show me any believer, I don't care who he is, you can show me any believer, whether he's high up or low down, that's really baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire, then glory to God it encourages me. I say have that blessing too. God's no pet bear. And you may have that blessing if it's a way, if anyone can claim it and profess it, then glory to God it will encourage you to step out and have that same blessing. I must have it. I would. I may have it. I may. Third, here's where we're going apart, comrades. I've been preaching this for over 35 years. I've seen it quite crowded in others. And boy, I've seen very few left. when he got through. It's all 16. I must, yes. I may, yes. I would. Would you say that? Lord, if it costs me an arm, I'll go. If it costs me that right arm, I'll go. Old Gypsy Smith used to sing when he was bringing them out on this blessing, that was in his younger days. Jesus, I'm going through. I'll pay the price, whatever others do, but Jesus, I'm going through. OK? Cost what it will, boy don't cost. Mind you, when you talk about cost, you don't pay anything for it. You're only putting yourself, qualifying for the blessing. You're not buying anything from God, or telling God that you merit anything. You're putting God down here, where God can really meet you, and do this blessing for your heart and life. And I would, I would, at any cost. And when you come to the altar, and there remember, and there remember that thy brother has wrought against thee. You know what that means, don't you? Oh Lord, I am much to this blessing. I thank God I may have it. And Lord, I would of Shijung. And that's what it says. That's what it's going to cost. Restitution. Did you steal something? Have you cheated anyone? Are the clothes on your back painful? Boy, that's where, that's where they scatter some of your altars. That's where they begin to send them out. Jesus said, one day, will you also go away with Him? You'll vanish like snow before the sun. Some of you sitting there tonight, you say, Lord, I must have it. And Lord, I may have it. Thanks, Lord. What are you going to do? Are you going to go back? God brought them up to Catech Barnea. His Hebrew words meaning, decision, holiness. Right on the verge of sin. They turned around and said, there's big walls up there, there's big giants up there, and we're only grasshoppers. And they turned back. Never entered that land. Some of you are on the very verge of Katie Barnier tonight. Man her knees. But there's these old giants coming up. These bad debts to be paid. This grudge and bitterness to get sex. ugly root of a ceiling, posted against somebody. Somebody who's done a little will to. Someone you really damage one way or another. We're now coming to the altar and there. That's where you sit. That's where you sit. Many call. Few children. That's a poor word there. Few You're all choice ones. You're all choice. But not choice. Here's a bunch of boys and girls in a class, and a few will go through with honour. Choice ones. And you're facing the Asians. Others with you. Are you going to be among the choice ones? Jesus, I'll go through. caught what it was. I remember my mother and father, they'd hoped that I'd be a minister, and I was working towards that end, and then I got C.C. They said, I'm going to go to C.C. I nearly broke their heart. Father didn't know what to do, but you watch a woman and see what she does. She's alright, but listen, take a year to think about it. You can give up your schooling, We'll get you a job in an office downtown. And then at the end of the year, you want to go on? You'll go on with your schooling. You want to go to the sea? We'll provide that money. So I started this job. It was a big firm, and they just laid responsibility after responsibility on me. For my word, I walked down the street there as if the whole of the business of Belfast was on my shoulders. And I got 10 bob a month. Oh, it wasn't the amount of money that pleased me. But, man, I thought, there's that great big firm of mine. I'm a member of it. And, boy, I've got a whole lot of things to do for it. And all I had to do was to lick stamps and put them on the envelope. Lick the envelope. Well, tell me, what business could you do if you hadn't caught a respondent anyhow? You had somebody you got to lick them. Well, whenever I was writing any letters of my own, I licked them too. with my Master's stamp. Oh, it was only pennies in those days. And boy, I'm crying to God for this baptism with the Holy Ghost. Lord, I must have it. I'm sick of this kind of house-saving thing. And Lord, I thank you. I thank you in spite of all my failure and tears, I may have it. And now, Lord, I'll jump the stamp. And man, I made a mistake. I went to an old Christian about this stamp business. You watch when you go to an old Christian, if he's grey-headed, see whether he's out and out for God or not. Or he'll put you straight. And I said, John, I'm in terrible trouble, see what's around me. He says, things are way back here, I've got to come up here. He says, see Willie, that's the devil tormenting me. For when God forgives, he forgets. God bless me, that's the loveliest speech I've ever heard in my life. And man, today John, thank you. And when I got home and got down on my knees and said, Lord, damn it. If God forgot for me, do you care I wasn't anyway? And then the fun started. What are you going to do? Are you going to go through? But I couldn't, I can't, are you going to go through? But I, are you going to go through? But I can't have... Oh Lord, I couldn't argue with God. And at last I came across a verse that solved my problem and I hope it will help solve yours. God working in you to make you willing to do His will. What? Could God make me willing? If I was willing, He wouldn't make me against my will. but he can work in me to make me willing. Why, bless my heart, if you're willing to do it, it makes a difference, doesn't it? I said, Lord, I'm willing. Before I knew where I was, I was down in Bedford Street, yonder, in Belfast, and went into the office, asked what the proprietor there was, and showed him, and I said, Sir, I've come to confess to you that I stole stuff when I was in your employment. 60 policemen would have done that before, but you see, he made me willing. He says, what have you done? I told him, and he busts out laughing. It's only a matter of three or four pennies. I said, I don't laugh at my message. Between God and me, will you forgive me? Well, yes. If I ever give you any peace, I'll do that. As I hear your execution, I'll not take it. Should I burn it? I'll not touch it. It's only money. Boy, I came out of that office. I'm down in Bedford Street, and I don't know whether I was in the body or out of the body, or whether I was flying or jumping or shouting or what. Oh boy to God. I'm going through. Don't care what it costs. Don't care what it costs. But there's where you stay. The Lord said 500 converts. I want you to meet me in Jerusalem. I want you to meet me. And when the Lord turned up, He only turned up in 20. 300 nations, never refused. And the Lord had a good time with the 120 for 10 days. Cleaning them out. Straightening them out. And we read that when they were all with one accord. You see there were discords before. The quarrels and jealousy, envy. But now they're all one accord. They were baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost. That's what God does. And sister or brother. when that thing that thou rememberest, when that settles, and everything on the altar, as we're going to meet, are you willing to pay the price? A fellow met me some time ago. We see him in terrible trouble. He's been cheating the government of the 3,000 pounds his income takes. When thou comest to the altar, There, remember. Worst! Worst! We reconcile to thy blood. And then come. That's where we part. Part comes with it. Some of you are saying to me tonight, unless your faces are liars, and you're saying, listen, Nicholas, that fellow that did that dirty trick to me that I'm thinking about, he cheated me. He cheated me out of a bullet. Or he cheated me of something else. or he does that dirty, shoddy business on me, do you think I'm gonna... do you think I'm gonna confess to that fella? Do you think I'm gonna do that? No, no. Would you like to do it? Well, just tell the Lord, Lord. Lord, I feel I'd like to take my... put my bike to the show. But Lord, I'm willing. You make me willing. I mean, do it. Tell him it's a dirty trick to me. And boy, the only thing that kept my hands off him was saying, you see, hit me hard in the head. But when this thing cropped out, as I lower it, I'll hit him in the face. I'll not go around and tell that fella that I've done this, that and the other. He's just a dirty trick on me. Aye, but listen, I'll let hatred come in my heart. God doesn't minimize the dirty trick he does. It's just using it. And whenever I want, When the Lord began to deal with me, I was able to go and put my arms around his neck, instead of hitting him. I said, Bob, you did a dirty trick on me, but what I'm here for is, I want you to forgive me. My heart is full of hatred towards you. He said to me, I believe you're getting saved. I was believing that myself too. But do you see that, Ray? If he's going to your grocer's tonight, tomorrow, say, Mr. So-and-so, I haven't been taking you square. Just all the time, more and more in the books. And when I give a pound or two, then I buy two pounds more in debt. But I'm going to quit it. I'm going to quit it, and if you'll give me time, and if you'll forgive me, I'll pay every penny. Same. We'll have a revival around this old town as usual. Conviction of sin will come upon sinners, they'll be shouting to God. You'll not need to say brother get saved, they'll be shouting what must I do to be saved. If I had a wand tonight, and I had a photo with the audience like this, and everything in your back, in your feet, and on your head, that didn't belong to you, wasn't paid for, would go up to the ceiling. Oh God, put me right there! I don't, I don't, I say I don't grudge you, I don't grudge you your life, but I say it isn't true. And here you sit tonight, Lord, I do, I want to, I want a heart that's clean, a sunlight heart without a cloud between them. Uh-uh. Well, friends, we've got to get it settled. Can't, can't, can't get God to dodge roads. It's got to be settled. I would. Oh God, I swear it well, I would. I would. I'll go through. Now maybe they might be nothing like that to your friends, but I'll tell you what's keeping you back. It's your reputation. I did my best to try and make God into a practical human. When I got everything settled, that thing stepped up. And they said, now you're going to get fanatical. And you're going to get wildfire. And you'll be getting among those crack-brained fools. And you're a Presbyterian. And Presbyterians stand for dignity. And decorum. And reverence. Godly fears. This is our Lord. I want to bless him. And I'm going to go through. But mind you, on Presbyterian Lane. I couldn't make God into a Presbyterian. Well, but I was in terrible misery. I was scared to death. Lord, I'm willing to go through... But now watch, Lord, now watch, now watch! I don't want any extravagances and no spasms and no churting and send me to Hong Kong or Timbuktu or the North Pole. Now watch that, won't you? I couldn't get God to send me. There's no sympathy without it all. I couldn't get him there. I couldn't get him to speak for me. Well, my dear, I was in quite a bad place. You see, what was troubling me was this. The Lord said, do you want to go in? Well, I want you to go to the Salvation Army and give your testimony. I say, 60 years ago the Salvation Army wasn't decent and respectable as it is today. When you went across that bunch you were among smallpox, plague and fever. You became untouchable. You say, Lord, listen, I'll die a martyr. No, no, you'll not do that. Just go down to the street there and give your testimony. Lord, I'll be a missionary. Oh, no. But Lord, we've got to be decent and respectful. Well, go down to the street. You talk about dying. Oh, you can laugh at it, but that's what's got the hold of some of you. Man of life, if you'd only get rid of that, the fire would fall, the blessing would come, and you'd begin to shout and make a noise, get people converted. There's a woman looking at me now, and if looks would kill, I'd drop dead. Boy, if she feels the way she looks! You say if this left man means to say that I've got a better fool of myself, that's what you've got to do. Not many wise, not many wise I call, but fools. Nobody. Nothing. Despised ones. Oh Lord. Well, maybe when the Lord starts in on you, and gets your nose on the grindstone, he'll not leave it. He'll grind away out of there. And at last I got to the place where I said, well, look, I'll go, I can't stand me long. And I was in the County Down Railway then. And we got home about three o'clock on Saturday. And my mother said, would you take your dinner? She says, I couldn't, mum. She says, what's wrong with you? She says, I don't know. I'm dying. She says, are you sick? No, I'm dying. I got away up to my room and shut the doors. I'll not tell you what I told God. For he and I locked horns. So I said, Lord, this is dirty trick you're leaving me. I didn't mean anything like this when I talked about getting this blessing. I wanted to continue to be a respectable and highly respected Presbyterian. And boy, God, I got up at about 6 o'clock. Well, she said, all right, I'll cry. And I went there, and the boy says, will you take your tea? She said, Mother, I couldn't. She says, what's wrong? I'm dying. If any man went to get hung or electrocuted and felt worse than an hour's feeling, it must be a terrible thing to be hung. I went downtown, and our wee town was a wee town like this, you know, the capital of Ulster. It was like this wee town here. And it was Saturday night. Now why didn't the Lord tell me to do that on Monday? Well, there was nobody in the house on Monday. Why didn't he tell me on Tuesday? There was nobody there. But Saturday, everybody come in from the country, you know, you know the way they do. Come in all there to do the shopping, gossip and all the rest of it. And we'd been in Bangladesh since 1604, and we were all married, two of us. You couldn't throw a stone but what you had around you, in those days. And boy, they were all in town that night. When I walked down the street, it was, hello, Willie, how are you doing? How am I doing? I'm dying. Oh man, I've forgotten many a thing but never that experience. And then when I got downtown, now here's what killed me. The Salvation Army was two wee girls. Just in their teens, that's all. The two wee girls with their wee bonnets on, and their wee red jerseys, and the biggest fool in the town, Darth Jimmy. He wasn't bad enough to go to town, but the mental asylum, But he's daft. My mother used to put the grocery things in the paper, put the money in it, give Jimmy the basket, and he would do all the shopping, come back. That's the way old daft Jimmy lived. Jimmy had no more sense than Gettin' Could With. And he got the red jersey on, with all the regalia on him. But that didn't suit him enough. He got some of the ladies to put with white wool behind his shoulders. Saved from public opinion. and our Jimmy had carried the flag and the two wee girls with the tambourines saved the public opinion. Oh Lord if it was a decent open air meeting I wouldn't mind. And I stood there on the footpath looking at those two women in that boot. Oh society, if I get over this the Lord will hear about this. Boy I'll tell you I was hot. He could have boiled a kettle on me. I walked across the footpath, and I stepped to where the students were, and the wee girl looked at me. She looked me up and down. She said, these people want to listen to what we're saying. We'll all get down on our knees and pray for them. Oh, wow! I told you, Lord! I told you something would happen! Well, I couldn't stand there with a chair with a few women in the front. And I down on my knees in the gutters. In those days there was no time reciting. It was good cow clobberin' gutters. And I knelt there, and boy, baby, I kept my eyes closed. It was that late. And if I wished to God that she would pray the 119th Psalm as long as that. But like a good old Passion Salvation Army prayer, it was a telegram one. And we got up on our knees in the gutters and the clobber runnin' down my legs. And by this time the crowd will have gathered around. Oh boy, I was boiled. I was boiled and I didn't get blessed, I got burned up. And then she said, now we'll look at the collection. And instead of putting the money in the tambourines, they kept clapping their hips and panties around me. And they were laughing, saying, man, this is as good as your wedding. Boys, I was buzzing. I said, aye, Lord, when this is over, you'll hear what they're saying. And then she says, now we'll go down to the barracks. The barracks was a wee, fat cottage. It would hold about 20 in the kitchen. In Ballymagee Street. Ballymagee Street now, they're called High Street. But it was Ballymagee Street in those days. And we were to go down, and then she looked at me. She says, you'll take a tambourine and lead the procession. Oh, boy, that was the last straw in the camel's back. I took that old tambourine, and bless my soul, something happened. I headed up bat for I knocked it to pieces, and the joy of the Lord filled my heart, and I shouted and jumped, and down the way there was an old dog standing with a flag, coming down behind me, and a few women running past him like a cowbark. They said he's gone. Clean gone. Oh boy, we got into the Salvation Army body. There was just about 15 of us there. And we shouted and jumped and danced and ran the chairs and over the chairs and on our knees and on our head and shouted and prayed. Oh boy, one o'clock in the morning. Deacons, that's what it is. Man, that was noise to browse. I went up to the church on Sunday morning, 10 o'clock for the men's Bible class. And the 12 elders were meeting. Oh. I said, Lord, you look after Daniel, will you look after me? One of them looked up and he says, come here. What kind of a carry-on was that you had last night? I said, I couldn't tell you. You think that's adorning the doctrine of our God and Saviour? I said, I don't know. What did you mean by it? I said, I asked the Lord. He slid the dirty stick on me, I said. I tried to get rid of it, God knows I didn't. But I wouldn't have. What did you lose? Reputation did I. And I've got the blessing of God. Man, those old fellas there in heaven, they used to like to sit at my feet preaching after that. Friends, listen, you may not go through a thing like that, but God knew that was a stubborn, dull, dull, stiff-neck, uncircumcised prick that he was dealing with, do you see? And the only way he could do it was just kill me dead at once. If he'd have cut, like, killed a cat by cutting an inch of his tail, I never would have gone through. He had to do it once and for all, or I never would have got through. And maybe it's just some wee thing like that with you. Oh, Lord, I... You know our people have always been fast, but here is Lord, and we're all decent and kind, and... and Lord... Oh, boy, I've gone through for you. I feel for you. That's their appeal for you. And they'll do this. You know what that means? They'll do this to me, you see. But there was a point in my head they were pointing at their own. There was a point when I discovered that I laughed! Fine as that! They were saying, their own heads, not mine. Tell me, dear friend, I must have it lost. This miserable, half-saved, unsanctified life. I'm sick of it. I'm crying, God, I'm in. In spite of my weakness, in spite of my backlash, I'm in! Now, Lord, I would. By God's help, I would. I don't care what it cost. I don't care what reputation. You remember what we read about Jesus? He made himself of no reputation. Boys, he had a good one. But he made himself. He made himself of no reputation. And it's that dirty, stinking thing called reputation that's keeping a whole lot of people from this baptism, this blessing of being baptized with the Holy Ghost. Priced to the death of public opinion. Scared to death what people would say or think about it. If it became popular and questionable, couldn't keep you out of it. But because it's provided a hope. Here's the thing. But I believe I can see faith as it's going through the neck. Cost what it will. Mean what it will. Jesus, I'm going through. I must. I may. God help me. I would. The last step. I have the blessing. It's useless. Not credulous. Not credulous. It's faith in operation. Think without words, he's dead! But it's an operation. I take the promised Holy Ghost. I take now the power of Pentecost to sanctify and fill me now to the uttermost. I take the undertaking. Oh, that's not triviality. That's reality. Do you see that? You know, when I was a student there in Glasgow, I was offered Bible Romantics, but I was reaping what I sowed. You can't sow and not reap. I sowed my seed, and although you get converted, don't forget to harvest! You've got to reap it! Of course, if you're a Christian, it comes easier, but you've got to reap it. When I was lying on the back edge of a hedge with three inches of frost and snow on me, I didn't expect to be free of Romantics in one thing or another, could I? pouring your inside out with Guthrie and that old, old, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, That's all right. You see, look, I suffer off of them. This is an old man. I suffer off of them, you see. But I'll tell you what. You see, I went to get a course of electrical treatment by a doctor, a real doctor. This is way back, now, this is way back 50 years ago. A real doctor, and he had electrical treatment for fixing you very much. And he says I went. And he says I got one treatment, but I'm an old man, and I couldn't stand it. And he says if he's agreeable, and you, I'll give these sequins, nine of them, he paid for ten, I'll give the nine to you." I thought there was a reason. And I went to this guy's office, where this fellow was, and he sat me down in a lovely chair. It was a chair something like what you see in the dentist, but there was none of that bubbly things around it. And I sat there for a while, looked around, and saw the pictures up on the wall. He's sitting over there reading. After a while he says, I say, Doc, I've got a meeting at 3 o'clock and it's about 10 minutes now. It'll take me 15 minutes to get there. And he says, if it's not convenient for me to treat me, I'll come some other time. He looks at me and says, you're fresh aren't you? I say, what are you after? He says, you're fresh. He says, now you'll think I'm fresh if you're going to start playing any nonsense. I say, when are you going to treat me? He says, you've been treating me. I say, you're right. You think that because the principal has given me these for a living, you're going to treat me as a charitable patient, are you? Come on, I want my treatment. He said, you're a patient. I said, I left them out there. What? If you don't behave yourself, I'll hit you in the... You're not going to fool me like that. And he saw I was in earnest, and he went away in the cupboard, he brought a bowl, and there was bulbs on it. Green, white, yellow, red, and all the wild, you know. And he just put them on. So all this up. When he touched my hair. And nobody come near me. Jesus wept and wept. I was just, I didn't want anybody to come near me. You see, your blood's been oxidised with electricity. There's enough electricity going through you to drive the Tory cars out there. And to even put it in action on your death. I was a firm believer. You see, you old people don't understand this. You remember when we were children, we used to have a thing where it would burn this way. You mind me? A wee thing. And you put the two brass things in the water, and you'd say, now, you pick that penny up, and you'd throw it on the ground. And it would make you get the hold of the two handles in your hand, like this. And then you'd do this. I thought that he'd got electricity. He used up all the jolts and jumps, did you see? And here I was, full of electricity, pouring through me. Didn't feel a thing. It was a wee bit hot, didn't feel a thing. I didn't know what was there. I said, brother, sister, if you really, if you really are an earnest, Lord, I must, Lord, I may, Lord, I would. I'll go through. You can put that hand out and say, thank God he comes. He baptizes and fills me now. You take him at his word. And glory to God, you know it. When the enemy will come in like a flood. Praise the Lord again. When you fly off in a temper, calm. When you've been worried and fret, peace, perfect peace. When temptation would come in like a flood, standards raised against you. Victory. Victory through the blood. Do you see it? Do you see it? Real? Oh, glory to God, it's real. As long as you get there, I must, I may, cross for it all, I'm going through, then you can appropriate, you can receive by faith, the Holy Ghost to fill you to the uttermost. I wish I could help you. I'm done. I'm 82 years of age. I haven't had much to do since. You could knock me down with a thud. But man alive have I got to get you young people. Oh, don't lose your life. Don't, young people. These old bald-headed, grey-headed old rascals like myself. You needn't bother about them. They will have our nose out the daisies in a short time. But you young people, your life's ahead of you. I'm at the end of it. I'm at the end of it. Oh, don't miss it. Don't lose your life. Lay all on the altar, sister. Lay all on the altar, brother. Young, strong, and free. Say, here, sister-in-law. I'm going to the palace. Man, it'll be a life of joy and victory. Suffering and sacrifice. And one day, to hear the well done enters out into the joy of the high lord. Will you do it tonight? We're going to have a wee quietness. Use your head bell. I can't do it for you. If I could, I'd do it for everybody.