We're turning this evening to the 59th chapter of the book of the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah's prophecy, chapter 59. And we're reading from the verse 13. The 13th verse of the 59th chapter of Isaiah's prophecy, in transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off, for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth feeleth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it pleased Him that there was no judgment. And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him, and His righteousness, it sustained Him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head. And he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay. to his adversary, recompense to his enemy, for the islands he will repay recompense. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun, when the enemy shall come in like a flood. The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, my spirit that is upon me, and my words which I put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed seed, saith the Lord from henceforth and forever. And the Lord shall stamp with his own divine seat of approval this reading from the infallible book. Look with me at the last sentence Or verse 19, when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. It's not hard to see that this text divides itself into two. First of all, we have here a look at the work of the enemy. And then, we have a look at the work of the Spirit of the Lord. We have a look at the dark side of the picture, and then, thank God, we have a look at the bright side of the picture. One part of the text is apostasy. The second part of the text is revival. One part of the text shows us the machinations of hell. But the second part of the text shows us the operations of heaven. Now we want to look briefly at the background of the text and you'll find that this text deals with an evil day. And I don't think you could get a better description of our day than those verses 12, 13, 14, and 15. A perfect description of the sad state of affairs in our land and in every other land across the globe. in transgressing and lying against the law and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revoke, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. What an indictment of apostasy! What an unveiling of the deceit, and the lying, and the corruption, and the evil that's loosed across our land. And we can see it in every hand. And then we find that judgment is turned away backwards, and justice standard afar off. And instead of judgment facing us, and coming towards us, that prophet pictures judgment here walking away from us. The retreat of judgment. You can write that across the nation tonight. The retreat of judgment from God's house. The retreat of judgment from the affairs of steel. The retreat of judgment from the homes of the people, from the businesses of the people. This is a day when integrity and righteousness are scarce and are hard to come by. And then you'll notice something else, that we find truth has fallen in the street and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth, feel it. That's a tremendous statement, isn't it? The feeling of truth, when truth weakens and fails because of the tremendous pressure that is put upon the situation. by the power of evil. And then you notice that the person that separates, here's the separateness, and he's here. God always has a separateness in a day of apostasy. You can't find me one text in Scripture where there was evil and apostasy and the working of hell that God hadn't a remnant testimony, someone to stand up. And here we have the separateness. And he makes himself a prey for departing from evil. And you know we live in a day when to speak the truth is counted for evil. And if a man takes a stand for righteousness, he makes himself a prey. People turn their back on those that stand for God and righteousness. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment. And then in verse 16, you will notice we have the great champion here and he comes stepping in to the situation. That's what revival is, it's the intervention of God in history. And I tell you that's what we need in this country tonight, in my country, the intervention of Almighty God. Do you believe in your heart God can step in to the situation? Do we really believe it? And here we have the champion. The Lord Himself. He wondered that there was no intercessor. And then we have Him Himself. His arm. You'll notice two things are emphasized here. The invincibility of our God. His arm brought salvation. Brethren, the Lord's arm is not shortened, it cannot be. Let's get this into our heart and into our soul. We may be beaten. We may be baffled. We may be discouraged. We may feel a burden in the heat of the day. We may say at times, is it worth all the struggle and all the bitter uphill fight? Let me tell you, friend, God's invincible. Our God is invincible. His arm brought salvation. And notice, there's the integrity of God. is a day when there is no integrity. But God's integrity comes at the challenge. His fidelity and faithfulness to His Word is unchallenged. And it says, His righteousness brought salvation. So you see the Lord Himself. Then you see the Lord putting on the armor. And you notice the three that are mentioned here. There is a breastplate, there is a helmet, and the garments of vengeance. And then you will notice the motivation of God. He's clad with zeal as a cook. And of course that takes us into the temple, doesn't it? And the temple, you remember, was polluted in the Lord's ministry. And when the Lord started His ministry, the first thing He did, He cleansed the temple. And the disciples remembered that the zeal of the Lord had eaten Him up. He cleansed the temple. But if you study the gospel, you'll find that the Lord not only commenced His ministry by cleansing the temple, but He concluded His ministry by cleansing the temple. There are two cleansings of the temple. And of course, that would remind us that our whole ministry, from beginning to end, must be a cleansing of the temple. As many a man has commenced his ministry cleansing the temple, But my, at the end of the ministry, he was into the corruption that was in the temple, and was advocating the very things that he once denounced on several impromptu. And we're living in a day when there's a weakening of the cleansing of the temple. But hear the Lord. Clothed himself was seen as a cloth. And then you will notice his glorious victory is here. Fury on his adversaries. Recompense to his enemies. And then look at 19, here we have the Lord. In all His glorious reviving power, so shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. Man, what a day it will be in your country when to fear the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. Do we believe it? That our God is able to do this thing? I trust that tonight the fire of God will come upon us. and that will get fear created within our hearts to believe what God can do. Now having said that, let's come to our text. That's just a little avenue that leads up to this text. As I've said, there are two parts to this text. It's a very simple text. We have the vision of darkness and the glorious sunlight of God's light. I want you to notice three things about the fold. First of all, we have the significance of the fold. It's the enemy. I want you to mark that very carefully. The enemy. It doesn't say an enemy. It says the enemy. And then you'll notice that there is the strategy of the foe. The enemy has come in. He's an infiltrator. And we want to look carefully at the infiltration of the foe. And then thirdly, you'll notice the strength of the foe. He's like a flood. So for a little time, my brother said, three hours, and not just be as long as that. But I like preaching in the States, where you all get your supper before you come to the meeting. In our country, they eat their supper afterwards. But you've all had your supper, so there's just breakfast to come after the half-past-six prayer meeting. Amen. Now, we're going to look at the significance of the foe, the enemy. We're going to look at the strategy of the foe. He's come in, he's an infiltrator. And we're going to look at the strength of the foe. Then look on the other hand. over against the significant strategy and strength of the full. Thank God we have the Spirit of God. Now this is a dispensation of God the Holy Ghost. God the Holy Ghost is upon this earth right now and He is in His people. Yes, and God the Holy Ghost is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son. and there's no limitation to the power of the Holy Ghost. Let us not put boundaries to the Spirit or be guilty of trying to handcuff the omnipotence of Heaven. Let's get that into our heart, the Spirit of God. Then secondly, there's the standard of God, the standard of God. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard, a glorious the standard, the standard of God. Oh, to see that standard lifted up in confrontation, in opposition, as a declaration of war against the powers of darkness, defiance of the powers of hell. And then sign, thank God, of victory in an age of darkness and of devilry. And then, thank God, we have the salvation of God. has suggested in the text that the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against them, and the Redeemer shall come to Zion. And unto them that turn from transgression saith the Lord. We're going to look at this text in this way. Let's look at the significance of the full. The Enemy. And of course, we are quite aware of the great satanic personality that lies behind the whole of the unrest that's going on in this world. In fact, John tells us that the whole world lieth in wickedness, or lieth in the lap of the wicked one. And the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not. So behind the turmoil, the confusion, the corruption of the human heart, there's the enemy. Behind the corruption and turmoil in the homes of the people, and of course the foundation of society, the thing that knits society together is the home. And there never was more attack on the home as there is today. The devil wants to crack the foundation and fabric of society. So he attacks the home. And we have a break up of home as never before. And we have a solid attack on the Christian home. And the tragedy of our day is that you couldn't tell a Christian home from an early home. Just do the same thing. in the Christian home as they do in the world's home. That's the tragedy of our day. That's an attack on the home. There's an attack, of course, on business. I was talking to a businessman in our city the other day, and he said, Ian, my greatest difficulty is to get a worker that tells the truth. He said, I would rather employ a worker that tells the truth that's not too good at this trade than have the best tradesman who's alive. And he said, today we live in a day when there's lying and deceit and cheating and thieving and business until employers are in despair. And I'm sure that's true across the whole world. I don't think Americans are any better than Ulster when it comes to that. And sin is still sin. And I tell you today, there's this attack in business, there's an attack in the church, there's an attack in the state. Who's responsible? The devil! The enemy! And the word of God says don't be ignorant of his devices. And you know what has happened? We haven't studied the enemy. We haven't had a good look at our foe. And because of that we have fallen a prey to his workings and to his ways and strategies of workings. He has behind it all There is the devil. Now the devil attacks along three avenues. And there are only three avenues along which the devil attacks. Every attack on the believer is along one of these avenues. And you'll find them over, record it for us over there in John, in the first epistle of John. And John tells us, very clearly in the second chapter of his first epistle. And in verse 16, we read verse 15, Love not the world, 1 John 2 and 15, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all, look at that word all, all, that's a tremendous inclusive expression he Not every time you read the word all in scripture is it all included. Sometimes it's limited by its context and has to be read. But here all that is in the world and all include of all the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Those are the three avenues. No other avenues along which the devil can attack. He attacks along one of those three avenues, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. You go back to the first temptation in Genesis chapter 3, you will find that's the way he attacked the woman. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, there's the lust of the flesh, It was pleasant to the eyes, there's the lust of the eyes, and a tree to be desired, to make one wise. There's the pride of life, just as we have it. If you turn over to Luke's Gospel, chapter 4, you have the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ recorded there. I'm purposely turning to Luke's Gospel because of the order in which the temptation is given. If you have studied the temptation of Christ, you'll find there's a different order to the temptation in Matthew's gospel. There's a reason for that. There's a reason for everything in the Bible. But Luke's gospel deals with Christ as the Savior of the world. Matthew's gospel deals with Christ as Sovereign, the King. Where is He that is born King? of the Jews. It's the Sovereign. It deals with the Sovereign. Mark deals with the Servant. And of course, Luke deals with him as the Savior. And John deals with him as the Son. But he's the Savior of the world. And you'll find the order is the same here. The first temptation of Christ in Luke's Gospel, chapter 4, and verse 3. If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that hath been made bread. There's the lust of the flesh. He was hungry. The devil said, here's a story, make it into a satisfying your hunger. The lust of the flesh. Then of course the lust of the eye. And the devil taking him up into a high mountain showed unto him with his eye, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. There's the lust of the eye. And then of course the pride of life. Put them in the pinnacle of the temple. Cast yourself down. Everybody will worship you. You've come down. You're preserved miraculously. They're the pride of life. So along one of these avenues, the enemy is attacking us. And he's going to attack us. And we can see the lust of the flesh. And we can see the armies of hell rolling up that avenue today and attacking the people of God, the lust of the blessed. We can see the enemy and his artillery coming along the avenue of the lust of the eyes. In fact, this is a day when Igate is exploited by hell for the damnation of souls, Igate, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. You would seem to think as you look out in the world that there is no eternity! All for this life. How can we do well in this life? How can we remain as long as possible in this scene of time? And the whole machinations of the enemy are along these three avenues. You look today at this church, and look at the people of God, and look out in the world how successful it can be. He's making a job of us. The devil's on the job today. And if there ever was a day that we need to say, Lord, help me to crucify the flesh with us have factions and lots. So why was I so dense the first time I read that book that I couldn't sing that? Yes, that's right. The more you read the word, the more you understand. You have to keep reading. And in Job, there's a meeting of the sons of God in verse 6 of Job 1. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. I want you to look carefully at this. And Satan came also among them. The enemy come in. among the sons of God, coming to report themselves and their work to the Lord, the angelic beings. And Satan came among them. And you'll notice the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it, the great antinom, that's for the devil, he's always on the move. He's always on the move, moving here and there, going up and down upon the earth. The devil goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. That's what the book says. So here is the devil among the sons of God. He is infiltrated. into the very messengers of heaven. Now the devil can infiltrate among the angels of God, and actually when they present themselves to God, they come as one of their number. For the Lord says through Paul, He says, What wonder, Satan himself has transformed as an angel of light, appearing as a minister of God. It does that, how much more will he infiltrate among sinners saved by grace? And taking their own old nature as a right away to their hearts, how much will he not infiltrate among the people of God? He's come in among the sons of God. Then of course when we turn to Jude verse 4 you'll find he's come in to the pulpits. And we read here in Jude, a tremendous statement about the coming in of the enemy. 4th verse of Jude says, For there are certain men crept in unaware. There's the coming in of the enemy. Come in unaware. They didn't of course walk in standing up. They would have been too troubled. too easily identified. So they came in, like their father the devil, he goes in his belly. So they went in, came in on their belly, crapped in, in an inconspicuous way, wormed their way in. And that's what's happened today. And let me tell you, they've wormed their way into fundamentalism. You don't worry about the old apostate churches. You need to worry about the fundamentalist churches. And I want to tell you there are certain men crept into the fundamentalist cause across this land and my land and have crept in unawares to destroy the very heart and foundation of the cause of God for which we stand. Now the devil's not worried about the World Council of Churches, he's got that crap. We have a story in our country of an old preacher who was going along the road one Lord's Day to go to preach the gospel. and two fellas came along in a motor car and they were going fishing and they said what we'll get the old fella into the back of the car and we'll have a joke at his expense so they got him in and as they were traveling along the road they came to a corner and they said preacher we've got a question if the devil was round that corner and we round the corner who would he go for first in this car the preacher said that's a very easy one he would go for me Listen, the way for you is to see he's already got you two fellas, but he hasn't got me, so he's going to go for me. Now let me tell you, the devil has got the World Council of Churches. That's the devil's crime. He's got them. And if you're in a church that belongs to the World Council of Churches, the devil has got your church, Frank. I have to say that. I have to say it dogmatically, but lovingly too. The devil's got that crime. The devil hasn't got the fundamentalist crowd. They're the Lord's people. But I tell you, the devil's after them. And I can see how the devil's getting in to the fundamentalists in this country and in my own country. And we have this terrible thing of touching the unclean thing that's prominent among the fundamentalist compromisers today. You know, it's one thing to embrace the unclean, put your arms around it and support it. But God says, you have not to touch the unclean, just put the tip of your finger on it. If you read the Old Testament, you'll find that anybody that touched an unclean thing was unclean. And if you touched a man who was unclean, you were unclean. And we have fundamentalists, Brennan, who say, no, I wouldn't fellowship with that crowd. But I'll bring a man who does fellowship with that crowd, and because he's a good man, I'll set him up in my pulpit, and I'll fellowship. I tell you, that's touching the unclean. That's what's going on today. And I tell you, it's going on and on and on, until instead of touching the unclean, they're prepared to put their arms reading about one of your prominent fundamentalist preachers who said if he wanted to bring the Pope to his church, he would do it, no matter who said anything about it. Well, I want to tell you, anybody that wants to bring the Pope to his pulpit is totally out of God's will. Imagine inviting Lucifer's son to come to your pulpit. Imagine inviting The C. H. Spurgeon said when he read 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 about the Antichrist, he said, arrest the pope in suspicion. Yeah, that's what he said. Arrest him in suspicion. I tell you, brethren and sisters in Christ, today where are we going to? Where is fundamentalism going to? The devil wants to get at us. And you know, when the battle's on, I'll tell you what the devil says, you know, this is only a personality conflict. You know, this fellow is jealous of the other fellow. He doesn't like his works a bit bigger than his, and he thinks he'll get an advantage on it. My friend, let me tell you, this is not to do with personality. This is to do with the honor of God, and God's truth. That's what we're about. It doesn't matter. Let Arnie and Perry, let it be kicked around the gutter. It doesn't matter. God's not interested in a man. God's interested in His man. The man of his right hand. And I have no right to pare down the pointed truths of God and make them more palatable through compromise to an unbelieving age. I've got to stand for this book. That's what I've got to do. So the devil has come in. Let's look at these fellows here. I want you to have a look at them. The Lord gives their pedigree. And it's a good thing to get their birth certificate and have a look at it. It says here, one, there's four things about them. Four is the number of the world, and these are the worldly crimes. And the first thing, they were before of old, ordained to this condemnation. And that's a tough one, isn't it? But that's what God said. They were preordained. They were preordained. God is absolutely sovereign. And I want to tell you tonight that God has everything in this world in His hand. And you might think things are getting out of control, but I'm glad God's on the throne. And He's working it all out. We had an old preacher who used to say, God has the devil in a rope. And when the rope runs out, man, that old devil will go down in God's time. How true it is. The Lord is sovereign. That was one of the great truths that brought about the Reformation. The Reformers grasped it with both hands, the sovereignty of Almighty God, that God is undefiled. And as this thing planned on, these fellows were, before of all, they're deemed to this condemnation. They're ungodly men. They turn the very grace of God into lasciviousness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And then I want you to notice, this is a word for fundamentalism. Look at it. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this. And man, we would need to preach that to the fundamentalists, though ye once knew it. And the old fundamentalists once knew this. But this new race of compromisers that have come into the fundamentalist camp don't want to remember it. Some of these men are pastoring churches that fought the battle eight years ago and their fathers struggled out of the very thing they want to go back into now. Though you once knew this. How that the Lord, having saved the people out of Egypt, Afterwards, destroy them that believe not. And I want to tell you, there has been a salvation across your country and my country of the fundamentalist cause. But if we turn from God, God will have to destroy us. I was telling Dr. Jones, the third today, I said we'll have to build out of the ruins of fundamentalism a new testimony for Jesus Christ. I tell you the attack brethren is on and we are called upon to face up to that. The enemy has come into the pulpit. I'll tell you where else the enemy has come into. He has come into the home. One of the saddest portions of scripture is the home of David. And you know David, you read his last words. The words of the sweet psalmist of Israel, he said, though my house is not so withdrawn. That's a very sad word, isn't it? And you look at David's house and what happened to it. There was Uriah's murder, David's adultery. It led to Ammon's incest, to Absalom's rebellion, and to Adonijah's conspiracy. And that led eventually to Solomon's idolatry. What a sad story is the hush of David. And yet he was a man after God's own heart. But the devil came into his home. I believe that the greatest thing that the devil wants to do is to bring dishonor to the Christian's home. Man, if he can get the family of believers away on the world's trail, away out with the devil's people, how he rejoices. I believe that God says in his book, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved on thy house. And I believe it is the will of God and the purpose of God to save the family. I don't believe that regeneration runs in the blood, but it runs in families. And God is an interest in the family. And I believe the devil today is attacking the family because it's the purpose of God that the Christian family should all be one for Christ. So we have this attack today. The devil has come into the home. And the husband is the head of the home. And he's responsible. Now husband, you may let your wife make decisions. You should make them together. But let me tell you, at the judgment day, your wife will not answer for your hope. I'll be answering as the head of my home for the decisions made in my home. I'll be answering. You can't do away with that. That's God's order. That's the divine order. And every husband, there's a response before God for his wife. And there's many a husband, and man, he puts it over to his wife. And when the children say, can I go here? Oh, ask your mother. Yes, that's right. He'll not take the responsibility. And there's many a mother is carrying the responsibility of both father and mother. But you're not a bee! And God's people need to realize this, and fathers need to realize it. I have to explain to my boys, continue, that there are things that they do not do because they come from a Christian home. Not because their father is Ian Fielding, that means not. But because this is a Christian home, and you don't do those things as Christians, they're not done. You don't go to those places, and you don't see those programs. Because this is a Christian home, you've got to make a stand for the Lord. And of course, if your family doesn't believe in you, there's no use you pretending to be a Christian. My children don't believe their daddy's a Christian. No use me preaching to them. They should have absolute faith. in the Christianity of their person. I'll tell you where he's come in. He's come in to the prayer life of the believers. And this is an age of prayer. When the devil will have people doing anything but pray. And I was delighted tonight to be in the prayer meeting before this service. And to hear those prayers ascending to heaven. God answers prayer. Let us keep at that. And that this church continues to pray. and continues to wrestle, and continues to battle, and continues to supplicate. God will answer those prayers. He is not going to answer them immediately. Because if He answered them immediately, you would quit praying. God is going to test you and try you. Some young preachers come to me and say, well, why is it with all my preaching I'm not seeing the blessing and success that I ought to see. And I always say, God couldn't trust you with too much blessing. You only get what blessing God can trust you with. You know that? And if we got too much blessing, we couldn't be trusted. Say this church suddenly got a burst of blessing, and you came here and that field outside was packed with people listening again. You know what you fellas would do? You'd quit praying. That's what you'd then say, isn't this wonderful? I want to tell you, friend, God's got to do a bit of testing in our lives. Get the alloy all out of our beings, and get the pure silver in the crucible. And my, when he does that, then he contrasts it with blasphemy. He's come in. The devil has come in. Abraham, a friend of God, he became a liar from down into Egypt. The enemy came in. Elijah! That great man of God. There's no man I like in the Old Testament like Elijah. I like what he did. I liked his defiance of the prophets of Beal. And he ran before Ahab's chariot. And Jezebel sent him a message. She said, before evening I'm taking your head. And you know what he did? He ran away. And when he got far enough away, he said, Lord, kill me. Sure he should have stayed and left, but Jezebel killed him. What did he run away for? He didn't need him. He wanted to die. He said, let me die. Jezebel said, I'll take her head off before some die. And they ran away. And when he got far enough away, he said, Lord, kill me. Sure he should have stayed and let Jezebel kill him. What did they run away for? He didn't need him. He wanted to die. He said, let me die. Jezebel said, I'll take her head off before some die. And they ran away. He should have said, all right, Jezebel, do the job. I want to die. Poor old Elijah. It's a man subject to like passions as we are. The devil get into his life. It's a sad end, you know, to that great man of God. You read it, there's something sad about that ending to that great man's life. And you look into the scriptures and you see Moses, how he lost his temper and broke the tight, struck the rod twice, struck with his rod the rock twice. Solomon, the young man that asked for wisdom, at the end of his days he dies as an idol of God's curse on him and on his family. Peter, the man that walked in the water, blaspheming and denying the Lord because a little girl said, you also are a miscreant. When you read about those things in the book, you have to remember what God said in his words. Him that standeth, take heed lest ye fall. The enemy is coming. He's coming. Look at the strength of the Pope. It's the flood. I don't know how we're coming on. This watch is still moving. As an old Puritan preacher said, once it's not a watch I want, it's a calendar when I'm preaching. And I have every sympathy with it. It says here the enemy shall come in like a flood. If you read the Psalms, the Psalms have a lot to say about the floods. It says the Psalms tell us the floods make a great noise. Now we can hear the noise of the devil today, the Babel sound. You put on your radio and hear the news, don't you hear the Babel sounds of the devil? You read the religious press, You can hear the great noise. No wonder Elijah said, I only I am left. And he felt that he was a lonely voice. And brethren and sisters, you're going to be more lonely before the end of time. Are there few that beseech? When the Son of God cometh, or the Son of Man cometh, will he find thee faith on the earth? Let me tell you, friend, there's going to be only at the end of time a remnant testimony. And you women folk know the remnant is whatsoever after all the other cloth is used. We bid at the end. It's the leftover. That's what the church is going to be like at the end of time. And there's going to be a great noise. Man, we can hear that noise today. I hear it in my country, and it's getting more boisterous in there. The noise of the satanic floodwaters. cataract of hell, breaking the sluice gates of morality and pounding out its fury and drowning souls in the cauldron, the boiling cauldron of its depths. The enemy has come in like a flood, a great noise. Can you hear it? They used to test the hearing of the Indians by taking the young brave to the Niagara Falls And they would place them at certain places for them to listen to see could they hear the cataract. And the believer that could hear the cataract the farthest away they said he hears the cataract. You need a few people in God's house today that can hear the cataract. Hear the thunder of the noise of the floods of apostasy. The great power is nothing as powerful as flood water. carries all before it, the buildings of man, sweeps foundations, destroys cities and villages, cascades down the mountainside and carries all before it. Isn't that the way the flood of apostasy is doing, carrying all before it? And even those that we once thought were an assigned foundation, they're beginning to shiver now as the floodwaters come up against them. That floodwater speaks to me, of course, of error and corruption. Do you remember the devil? He put a flood out of his mouth. The origination of the floodwaters is Satan in order to destroy the remnant of her seed that had the testimony of Jesus Christ. And we have those floodwaters of corruption and persecution abroad in our land today. There we have the dark side of the picture, and it's very dark. Thank God, God never leaves us in the dark. Aren't you glad tonight that we have a more sure word of prophecy? That the day star has arisen in our heart? That while people are helpless and hopeless, thank God our help is in the name of the Lord and our hope is in the God of our salvation. And I want you to notice the timing of this. Look at the first verse of the sentence. Right there, at the time when the enemy comes in, like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him. I want you to notice that the word Lord there, if you're an authorized virgin, you'll find that the word Lord there is spelled in capital. It's the word Jehovah, the covenant God, the great I Am, the one who never changes. And if you read the scriptures, you'll find many things about the Lord. You'll find that He's the Lord of Hosts. Thank God the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts will lift up a sack. Over in the book of Kings, 2nd Kings, you'll find a young man there, and that young man, he was dead scared. And you know, some young man gets scared. Get dead scared. I'm not talking about young men getting married that get scared. I know some people, that happens to them. I'm glad it never happened to me. It's worse when you're scared after you're married than before it. But in 2 Kings 6, there's the story of a young man. And he was with Elisha the prophet. And he got up one morning. And he rose up early. He was a good young man. He got up for the half-past six for a meal. And verse 15, And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold and hope. 2 Kings chapter 6, verse 15. Compass the city with horses and giants. And the servant said unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? The man of God says, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be within. Man, isn't that good? Isn't that good? Here we are and we're just a tiny little group of people say we're oddities and extremists and forget it. Hard-shelled fundamentalists. People that haven't got into the 20th century. Well, I never want to get into it. I want to tell you it's such a rotten old century you wouldn't want to be in. Let me tell you this, my friend, there's more for us than are for them. Look out at the forces of Romanism, Communism, Ecumenism, the forces of Eden. Thank God, open your eyes. May the Lord open our eyes tonight. Fear not, you've got to be afraid. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray that you open his eyes that he may see. Give this fellow vision. He needs a bit of vision. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elijah. I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The Lord does the building. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The spirit of the Lord of hosts shall raise up his family. Then, of course, Thank God He's the Lord of Glory. You'll find that over in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 8. I would command the reading of 1 Corinthians to you. The more I read that book, the more I'm enchanted with its statements concerning service for Christ. He says in verse 7, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom, 1 Corinthians 2 and 7, which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. The princes of the scholarship of this world, the princes of the ecclesiastical world, the princes of the political world, they know nothing about it. For have they known that they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. I was thinking about that this afternoon, and my mind was turned to the 18th chapter of John's Gospel. I saw something there. That's the great thing about reading and studying the Word. You always see something new in the Book. The Lord gave His eyes to see. You know, Judas came along in the 18th chapter of John's Gospel. He came along to harass the Lord. He got the blood money. He came with this motley crew. a band of men, officers from the chief priests, and they came hither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore knowing, reading at verse 4 of John 18, all things that should come upon him went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am. And if you look carefully you'll find the he as an italic. He didn't say I am he, he said I am. He said Jehovah. And Judas also which betrayed him stood with them. I sinned then as he had said unto them I am. They went backward and fell to the ground. He's the Lord of glory. And you'll notice that It's repeated three times. Three is the number of completion in God's Word. You have it in verse 5, I am. Verse 6, I am. And verse 8, I am. Thank God for the Lord of Glory. The Spirit of the Lord of Glory.