Tag: Truth

Categories
Messages

Tozer Talks

“The Voice of Conscience”

PDF Formatted TranscriptDownload

The Voice of Conscience

Pastor and author A.W. Tozer

June 28, 1953

Let me read a very unpleasant and very wonderful passage of Scripture, and take one verse, the ninth, as a sort of start for our talk tonight. The eighth chapter of John, the opening verses. Jesus went out onto the Mount of Olives. And early in the morning, he came again into the temple. And all the people came on to Him and sat down and He taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they say unto Him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now, Moses in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. What saith Thou? This, they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So, when they continued asking him, He lifted up Himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

And again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And to they which heard it being convicted, by their own conscience went out one by one beginning at the eldest even under the last. And Jesus was left alone. I’d like to have seen that parade wouldn’t you? Dignified old boys with gray beards, clear down to the youngest kid. And Jesus was left alone with a woman standing in the midst.

When Jesus had lifted up Himself and saw no one but the woman, He said unto her: woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? And she said, no man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Verse nine, and they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the youngest. Now, tonight I am to speak on the voice of the human conscience.

Now, hell, hell by means of pseudo, learned propaganda, has brought into disrepute many of life’s verities; and among these is conscience. When conscience is mentioned now in learned circles, it is mentioned only with a smirk; and where it is used seriously, it is necessary that we must defend the whole concept of human conscience. That seems almost unbelievable, but it is true.

But tonight, I will not defend and I will not ignore. I cannot ignore that which the universal wisdom of the race has approved. The universal wisdom of the human race has approved the idea of there being a conscience within the heart of a man and I will not ignore that which the universal testimony of all peoples in all ages have agreed to a lot. Neither will I defend that which the Christian Scriptures take for granted mostly, and in some instances teach flatly. If you will go through your concordance you will find that conscience is mentioned very many places. And the idea which the word conscience embodies, is mentioned throughout the entire Bible not once or 10 times or 100 times but underlies the whole structure and is part woven into the entire Bible.

Now I want to tell you what we mean by conscious, as I am able; and then point to this Bible example of its operation, and then show that it is a voice which is calling and then show what it’s done to people. It sounds like a big order, but it won’t take too long. Now, what we mean by conscience is that which always refers to right and wrong. Conscience never deals with theories about anything. Conscience always deals with right and wrong, and the relation of the individual to right and wrong. You will notice a strange thing here, that conscience never deals in plurals. It always deals in singulars.

There is only one place in the entire Bible where conscience is used in the plural. That is when Paul is talking and says that He commends himself to their consciences. Everywhere else, it is made to be singular as when it says, they, being convicted by their conscience, not consciences, but conscience. They been convicted by their conscience went out. And always it is so that conscience in the Bible refers to right and wrong and is individual and personal and singular.

Now, it is individual, and it is exclusive. I say that it never permits plurals. It excludes everybody else. If those dozen or two dozen, however many there were, that had ganged up there. If they could have thought of themselves as a group, they could have drawn courage from the idea, and they might have been able to brazen it out. But conscience never let you lean on anybody else. Conscience singles you out as though nobody else existed. The Bible doesn’t say that when they went out, they went out in a mass. They went out one by one. Each one went out driven by his own conscience.

Now, the word conscience here, means, a moral sight. It means to see completely. It means an inward awareness. It means to be secretly aware of. Now that’s the psychological definition for it. But there is a ground of conscience. And that’s what we’re concerned with here tonight, not its psychological definition, but with the ground of human conscience. And that ground of human conscience is the secret presence of Christ in the world. Christ is in the world. And the secret presence of Christ in the world is the ground of human conscience. It is a moral awareness. A verse that I very often quote for it is a verse very basic in my theology, is John 1:9, that says that that is the light, Jesus, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And that Light in the world, that Secret Presence in the world, which lights every man that comes into the world, that is the ground of moral conscience. However, it operates, that is its ground. That’s why it’s here. That’s what put it here, that the living, eternal Word, is present in the world, present in human society, present here, secretly present here and giving to humanity a secret awareness of moral values. A secret awareness

Now I know there are some who tell us that when the Bible says that we are dead in trespasses and sins, that it means that we are dead in a very literal sense of the word. And being dead therefore we have no moral awareness. But I think that kind of exegesis is so bad and so confused and so confusing, that it should be ridden out of town on the first rail that could be commandeered from a farmer. It just has no place at all in the Scripture, it has no place there, because the Bible says that I am dead in sin, therefore, that I am like a dead man. I can’t be talked to nor persuaded nor argued with nor convicted nor convinced nor pleaded with nor frightened nor appeal to. I’m just a dead lump.

Now, here we have a Bible example. In John 1:8-11. They were very strict moralists, those Jews. That is, they were when nobody was looking. There were, when they could get away with it. And they found a poor, wretch of a woman. And they didn’t give any care whatsoever about the woman. Neither did they care anything about the broken law. Neither did they care anything for the Jewish church, or as men say, the Society of Israel. They only had one thing in mind. They were going to take this religious teacher that was embarrassing them, and they were going to silence Him for good. They were going to get Him to commit Himself to a statement that they could use against Him and take the hide off of Him and drive Him out with loss of face, discredited forever. That was their business. The woman was a pawn, a cat’s paw, no more. They had no love for her. They had no hatred of her sin. They hated Jesus and they would do anything to get at Jesus. So they dragged this poor, miserable woman into His presence. And they said, here a harlot. Here she is.

And God in His sovereign mercy raises me from the dead, gives me the new birth, regenerates me, and then I am prepared to listen. It’s all wrong brethren. When the Bible says we are dead in trespasses and sins, it means that we are cut off from the life of God. And that’s all that it means. But that in itself, I suppose is so bad, that it’s impossible to think of anything worse. But that same man that is cut off from the life of God, and so dead in sin, that same man has a moral awareness. That same man has a secret inner voice that is always talking to him. It’s the Light, that lightet every man that cometh into the world. It’s a singular voice in the bosom of every human being, accusing or else excusing him, as Paul put it. Now, that’s what I mean by conscience.

Now the law of Moses said we are to stone her to death. What do you say? And if he had said stone her to death, and they had stone her to death, the Romans would have put Jesus in prison and that would have been the end of him. If Jesus had said, let her go, they’d have said, we always knew you’re against the law of Moses. And that would have been the end of Him. They would have discredited Him before the law. But I admit, ladies and gentlemen, that I get considerable personal, private, highly individualistic delight out of the way He handled that bunch. He knew them. He knew them. He knew that bunch of hypocrites. He knew they didn’t have any love for that women. He knew they didn’t have any love for the law. He knew they only hated Him. And he knew this whole thing was a frameup.

Not only that he knew those old boys, their phylacteries, their long robes, their sanctimonious look, their pious, nasal breathing and all that pseudo spirituality and artificial godliness, He knew the whole business and He knew what they had done down the years. And they said, alright, we’re supposed to stone her. What do you say? And I think there was a twinkle in the heart if not in the eye of Jesus. He looked those old boys over and He said, fellows, let the one of you that never sinned, get the first rock. And immediately being smitten by that inner voice, they sneaked out. One went out and he was ashamed to say anything to the other one.

And each one slipped out quietly by himself, all alone, because it is in the power of conscience to isolate the human soul and take away all of its hopes and helps and encouragement; isolate it and hold it alone in the universe before the bar of God. Each one of them sneaked out. Some of those pious old boys thought because they were old, and they had forgotten their early sins that God had forgotten them. But as soon as the voice of Jesus aroused them within, they remembered, and they sneaked out. And they sneaked out afraid to look up for a fear that God would start throwing stones at them. For they knew they were just as guilty as she was.

That law that thou shalt stone the wicked woman was meant for holy people who weren’t wicked. It was not meant that a wicked man could stone a wicked woman. It was never meant that one sinner could put another sinner to death. It was never thus meant, and Jesus knew it. And these old hypocrites, when they ran into Jesus, brother, it was like a cat running into a mowing machine. And they came away each one of them licking his wounds. I don’t know whether they went straight home, or just how. They didn’t dare look at each other. Because each one was ashamed. Now, that’s how this conscience business works.

It smites the inner life. It touches the heart. It isolates it. It sets us off all by ourselves. You know, to my mind, I don’t want to anticipate next Sunday night’s sermon. But to my mind, that is going to put the hell in judgment; that each one of us must go alone. If twelve men are led away to be shot, they can get some moral support from each other. And the very fact there’s another fellow one on each side of you that’s sharing your tragedy, gives your moral support. But isolate them and lead them one at a time not knowing that there is another, and that moral support is all taken away. It will be the cosmic loneliness of judgment that will put hell in it.

Gangsters can meet together after dark, a dozen of them and take courage from each other. And wicked classes everywhere can meet and shout and work up steam and take courage from each other, but the lonely soul, lonely in a universe with only that soul and an angry God. That’s the terror of a conscience. And that’s exactly what the conscience does. It singles the man out. So God has then given us a faithful witness inside of our own hearts.

Now, I believe that. I preached one time up in Minnesota on the conscience. I don’t remember what I said exactly. Maybe it was pretty bad. But one old fella said he got a great burden, a great burden. He said he had the Holy Ghost burden because of my sermon, it was so terrible and unscriptural. He didn’t believe in conscience obviously. And the Bible School bigwig was there. He called me aside and told me he didn’t believe in it either, or words to that effect.

What has happened when we no longer believe in the human conscience? That the conscience is pushed aside. I say that hell has done that by her propaganda. She has used the bubble-headed dreamy-eyed boys with pseudo learning who know just enough to be pitifully ignorant. And just learn long sesquipedalian words in order to cover up their own pitiful lack of knowledge. And they have laughed conscience out of court. And the church is afraid to admit the conscience. The Bible isn’t afraid to admit it. It says bluntly, being convicted by their own conscience they went out one by one; conscience stricken, smitten inside, struck by a stroke from heaven, they walked out of there, each one of them, down the steps and out onto the sidewalk and sneaked away. That’s what conscience does. It’s that inner voice that talks inside of you?

Now, one way the devil has of getting rid of things is to make jokes about them. I want to warn you brother, look out for the corruption of your mind by the papers and magazines and radio jokes; watch out for the corruption of your mind. There’s legitimate humor and we all admit that. And I think it’s in us by the gift of God. But whenever that humor takes holy things for it’s object, that humor is devilish at once. One of the slick jokes you hear is the conscience is set in you which makes you sorry when you get caught. Now, that’s supposed to be funny. I tell you that it is not funny. It’s tragic that anybody can yield so to the propaganda of hell as to joke about that which is no joke. There are some things ladies and gentlemen that are just not joke-worthy. They just don’t belong in the field where you can joke about it.

I respect that old New Englander who would never allow anybody to joke about love or death in his presence–Emerson. Anybody that started to crack a joke about love, and he saw that love was going to be the object of a joke, any kind of love, he frowned them down to shut them up. And if they joked about death, he frowned them down and refused to allow them to joke about. There are some things that are not the proper objects of humor, and one of them is conscience. That power that God has set in the human breasts, suddenly to isolate a soul and hang it between heaven and hell; lonely as if God had never created but one soul. That’s not a joking matter. The Light that lighteth have every man that comes into the world is not a joking matter. The eternal universal presence of the luminous Christ is not a joking matter. That’s too serious to be dealt with lightly. Joke about politics if you must joke. They’re usually funny anyway, but don’t joke about God. And don’t joke about conscience nor death nor life nor our love for the cross nor prayer.

We have become in our day the greatest bunch of sacrilegious jokesters in the world. I’ve even seen pictures in magazines and newspapers of people who had taught their dog to pray. They thought it was a very humorous thing to show a little spotted dog with his paws crossed and his eyes shut bowing in a bed. The Bible says beware of dogs. And I might add beware of the fools who teach dogs to pray. Beware of any who take lightly that which God takes seriously. God will give you a whole world of pleasant things. The birds will sing in your backyard and the kids will romp over your lawn if you have a lawn. And a thousand things will happen in the day that can be dismissed with a pleasantry. So, your sense of humor won’t die. There’s plenty to laugh at in the world. Be sure you don’t laugh at something that God takes seriously. Conscience is one of those things. And remember that the conscience is always on God’s side. Always on God’s side, and He judges conduct in the light of the moral law. And as the Scripture says, excuses or accuses.

Now, this is one voice that we’ve all heard. There’s a little song that says, I think when I read the sweet story of old when Jesus was here among men, how he took little children as lambs to His fold, I should like to have been with Him them. And I understand that, I think it’s a very pleasant little song. But oh, it couldn’t be further from the truth. For you wouldn’t have been better off if you had been here when Jesus was on earth. Not a bit better off. You’re better off now. It’s expedient for you that I go away, He said. So, you’re better off now than if you had been here when Jesus was on the earth. And that same little fallacy would say, if I had heard Jesus; if I had just heard Jesus, do you know that there were thousands who heard Jesus that had no idea what he was talking about. You know that some of His own disciples had to wait for the Holy Ghost at Pentecost to know what Jesus was talking about. If I had only heard Jesus, we say. No, no, my brother, you would have heard a voice, as far as you’re now personally concerned, equal to that voice of Jesus, and that’s the voice of the inner conscience. For it is the voice, It is the Light, that lighteth every man, changed from light; for that’s what it means–moral illumination. It’s there. Some say, if I could have heard Paul. Others will say, if we could only have heard so and so.

They’re now doing this little thing. One more thing I’m against. They’re taking the big preachers and putting them on tapes and taking them to churches where they haven’t got anything, only little preachers, so that the congregations won’t have to be starved, they say by listening to little preacher. They can hear the big preacher. They take somebody like Graham or some other of the big preachers of the day. And they will put him on a tape and bring him to church. And then the little preacher can sit around twiddling his thumbs while the big preacher preaches to the congregation.

Fallacy, brethren, fallacy, thousand times a fallacy. If we could have Paul on tape recording and let him stand here and preach, he could do no more for you than the Holy Ghost can do with the Book and the human conscience. If I had only heard Simpson. You’ve heard a truer voice than Simpson and a more wonderful voice. You’ve heard the first voice and the last voice. You’ve heard the voice of the Light within the heart. You’ve heard that which the accusers of the woman heard. You’ve heard that inner voice always preaches to each man singly.

That which follows and goes on and tracks and traces it through, and there’s a nemesis on our trail. You’ve heard that voice. And it’s sheer hypocrisy to say, If I only could have heard Moody or some great preacher. A congregation of half-saved Christians will sit and pay no attention to the Light that lighteth of everyman and ignore the voice that sounds within them. And then say, now, we’ll have a tape recording of Paul Reese or Billy Graham. Sure, we’ll get somewhere. Oh, my bethren, not to detract from those great men; only to say, that’s not what that church needs. That church needs to listen to the inner voice and do something about it.

Don’t forget Paul had his hypocrites, Peter had his Ananias and Sapphira. Jesus had His very Judas. And the history of the great preachers and great evangelists has not been 100% history. All always they had men who heard their voices and didn’t know what they were hearing. You’re hearing a more eloquent voice than mine, my brethren/ You’re hearing tonight a voice that’s more serious than any preacher you’ve ever listened to.

I once entered a little gathering in New York City. It’s a small group and I heard a minister there talking to a noonday crowd and he said something I’ll not soon forget. He said, we assume that if a man has heard the gospel, he’s been enlightened. But it’s a false assumption. Just to have heard a man preach the Scripture doesn’t mean necessarily that you have been enlightened. No. It’s the voice that enlightens, brethren. It’s the Holy Ghost, the point of contact. The Spirit of God speaking soundlessly within. That’s what illuminates a man. That’s what brings him, makes him accountable to God. Just the falling of the words of a text on the human ear may not mean anything. But that inner voice means everything. And a man has not been illuminated until that Voice begins to sound within him. And that Voice is the voice of conscience, the voice of conviction, the Holy Ghost talking inside of a man.

Now, I want you to notice what men do to their consciences sometimes. 1 Timothy 1:5, it tells us here, now, the end of the commandment is love out of the pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned, from which some having swerved, have turned aside unto vain jangling. Now, here we have it, some people have had a good conscience or have turned away from a good conscience like a stubborn horse, they have turned aside and wouldn’t listen to it. And they will religion has become mere, vain jangling.

They are the careless living Christians. There is a penalty for careless living, ladies and gentlemen, whether we know it or not. There is a penalty for careless living. And we see these victims who are now vain janglers. They talk just as loudly as ever about religion, but it’s empty jangling, because they have put away a good conscience. All the sermons in the world will be wasted if there is not a conscience, a clean void conscience to receive the truth. 1 Timothy 4:1, 2, we read there, the Holy Ghost tells us about certain ones who speak lies and hypocrisy having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Now there, we have this seared conscience. Before, we have the conscience that’s been turned aside here we have the seared conscience. And I want you to know brethren that these who had this seared conscience went into false doctrine.

We wonder how it is that it’s possible for a man who wants was brought up in the word of truth, suddenly to turn away from it into some false religion. To say his mind got confused. No, no, let’s be honest about this. False doctrine can have no power upon the good conscience. A false doctrine falls harmlessly on a good conscience. But when a conscience has become seared, when a man has played with the fire and burned his conscience and seared it and callused it until you could handle a hot iron and sin without shrinking.

Then there’s no longer any safety for the man. He can go off into Christian Science. He can go off into Unity. Go off into Jehovah’s Witnesses. He can go off into any one of 50 varieties of false religion. Kenneth Banghard who was one of the leading newscasters of the day, I heard him say the other night in a newscast that Buddhism is growing in America, and that there are more than 100,000 Buddhists in the state of California alone. Why are there 100,000 Buddhists in the state of California? Because there were at least that many people whose consciences went hard under the preaching of the Truth. And because their consciences were seared and they could no longer hear the voice of the Spirit, God let them believe a lie that they might be damned. If there are 100,000 in California, it must run into the millions when you take in the rest of the 47 states.

They’re not Arabs. They’re Americans. Some few, of course, may be Orientals But they are converts being made by the hundreds and even thousands, for the Swamis and Yogi’s had come to this country. Why will a man who went to a Methodist or Baptist Sunday school when he was a boy, learn the 10 commandments and part of the Sermon on the Mount and the story of Christ’s birth and death and crucifixion and death and resurrection from the dead? Why should he turn to Buddha or Mohammed? The answer is, he fooled with the inner voice and he wouldn’t listen to the sound of the preacher within him and God turned from him and let him go. And with a seared conscience, he wandered into the arms of Buddha, or the arms of Mohamed. Titus 11:15,16 says that even their conscience is defiled, you see there. We have a seared conscience and a defiled conscience. Now, these are the ones who are corrupt inwardly. Their thoughts are impure. And their language is often soiled. I am just as afraid of people with soiled tongues as I am of a man with a communicable disease. For a soiled tongue is evidence of a deeper disease.

When we were bringing up our boys, they were always, of course, anxious as all parents are about the various diseases. And one of them got something or other and I dashed off to the library and went to the medical section. And I was afraid it was scarlet fever. I don’t know why I didn’t call a doctor. Anyway, I went to the library. And it said scarlet fever has one invariable symptom. Many of the other symptoms can be duplicated and overlap other diseases, but there’s one invariable symptom that you can always tell it’s scarlet fever. There’s the strawberry tongue. So, I went back home and examined the boys tongue and found it wasn’t strawberry. And he didn’t have scarlet fever. But I was frightened. And there was the symptom. And that strawberry tongue is evidence of the presence of a million destructive microbes within the system. And when I find the defiled tongue in a human head, I don’t care if he’s just finished a sermon. I don’t care if he’s prayed a half an hour on his knees. If he can go around the corner, to the drugstore and over a soda can utter defiled language; I’m afraid of him. He’s got a disease. Even their consciences are defiled.

Now, these end up reprobates says the Holy Ghost. I’m afraid of that word reprobate, terribly afraid of it. Something that’s been washed up, a moral shipwreck. Something that has been washed up on the beach and beaten with the sand and baked with the sun and whipped to the winds until nobody wants it anymore. It is no good anymore, a derelict or reprobate. And I’m afraid of it. And even Paul said, let men think of us what they will and explain it as they may. Paul said, I watch my Christian life, lest when I preach to others I myself should be reprobate. Paul said it.

Now, I only close by saying that it is or may be fatal to silence the Inner Voice, the voice of the human conscience and to silence it. For instance, when that voice is protesting outrage protests at the plain habit of lying. When it is eloquently pleading against the habit of dishonesty. When that inner conscience is taking us to task for our jealousies or some other sins, it’s always perilous to resist that conscience and to pay no attention to that Inner Voice. It’s a perilous thing to do.

So, I want to ask you tonight friends, I’m deliberately letting God do the talking. I want him to talk to your spirit, your inner deep heart. Even in this small congregation tonight there’s a conscience here. That strange conscience that can’t lean on anybody. It can’t share the blame with anybody. That conscience that singles us out and isolates us and makes us stand alone, and says, thou art the man and makes us lower our heads and sneak out one at a time. That he’s here and I’m grateful for it. You see, if there wasn’t anything like that here, or in the world, we would all become beasts in very short order. We would all degenerate morally. And in hell, where that Voice is not and where the conscience no longer exists; it is written, he that is filthy, let him be getting filthier still. That’s the Holy Spirit talking to you. That voice is there. That inner preacher, that preacher that won’t preach to a crowd, but only the single individual soul is there.

Categories
Messages

Tozer Talks

Do to an unforseen illness, we are going to have repeat some earlier Tozer Talks messages. I hope this will be completely argreeable with you. Phil Shappard, administratorl.

Sunday, December 17 Tozer Talks 023 – Vine and Branches #1 “Fruit, More Fruit and Much Fruit”

Sunday, December 24 Tozer Talks 024 – Vine and Branches #2 “Life in the Vine”

Sunday, December 31 Tozer Talks 025 – Vine and Branches #3 “Abiding in the Vine”

I

“The Grand Mystery of Salvation”

PDF Formatted TranscriptDownload

The Grand Mystery of Salvation

Pastor and author A.W. Tozer

October 18, 1953

In the first chapter of 1 Peter, beginning with verse nine and reading to verse 12: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Now, it so happens that there seems to be three major truths here which will divide themselves up nicely. There is a curious truth, or a singular truth, and a rather rare truth and a remarkably reassuring truth. The singular truth, singular because it is not much mentioned in the Bible, that salvation is such a heavenly and mysterious thing. That the very prophets who foretold it, didn’t understand it and actually, searched and inquired diligently concerning this salvation about which they were writing. They knew only that they wrote of some favored people who were to come. Who were to receive remarkable, fabulous wealth at the hand of a kind, gracious God. But they didn’t understand it much.

And then there is the rare truth that the Old Testament prophets had the Spirit of Christ. I want to mention that later.

And then this reassuring truth that our salvation is known and talked about in heaven and is admired by the unfallen angels. That it is not a recent thing, not even relatively recent, but very, very old, and that it is the theme of all the inspired prophets since the world began.

Now, let us look at this singular truth about the prophets. And it says here that the prophets who prophesied unto us of the grace that should come, they searched what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify; when it testified beforehand, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. And that it was revealed unto them that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which that we now hear preached.

Now, a lot may be learned about Biblical inspiration here. There are many theories of inspiration. And I suppose that I might as well say that I do not believe that evangelical truth necessarily must accept any one theory of inspiration so long as we believe that the holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and that not one jot or tittle of the Scripture shall fail until all be fulfilled. I believe that that fulfills the requirements for belief concerning inspiration. But some persons believe that the inspired writers wrote only what they knew. They were simply religious reporters, reporting intelligently and spiritually on what they knew about them. And then that they exhorted and consoled and rebuked, giving application to what they knew to the hearts of the people.

Now, that doesn’t go far enough. For the fact is, that sometimes the prophets were moved to speak of things that they themselves did not understand. They heard the Spirit’s voice witnessing within them about wondrous things and they spoke what they heard; but they did not know of what they spoke.

Now, it was a relatively easy matter for a prophet to understand, say, when God revealed that Babylon should fall or that Israel should be taken captive or that Ahab should die and the dogs should lick his blood, or any of the scores of prophecies concerning historic events. That was a relatively easy thing, and I suppose that every prophet understood it.

If I had a prophetic foresight that New York was to be destroyed by an atom bomb and I were to write it down, I could understand my own writing. It could be simply a question of visualizing the destruction of that vast city. So that a great many of the prophecies of the Old Testament were, we’ll say, are on the rational level. They could be understood easily by the prophets who prophesied. But when they entered the wondrous, golden world of grace and mercy and salvation and incarnation and resurrection and atonement and ascension and the sending of the Holy Ghost and the new birth and the bringing to being of a people made again in the image of God, all this staggered the prophets.

They couldn’t get it. It wasn’t simply a question of historic fact. It was the question of marvelous, spiritual understanding, and they didn’t have it. So, they prophesied about others, and they were included of course, but that wasn’t what was in their mind at the moment. They were prophesying for the future. Then they died not having received the promise. But the prophecies were perpetuated by divine inspiration and by translation as we have them today in our Bible.

Now, they heard the Spirit’s voice speaking within them and they uttered forth what they heard. But as prophets they were able to prophesy, but as individual men, they had to examine and search. And I wondered as I read it, what did they search? Did they search some other prophet’s writing, or did they search their own heart? Or did they seek in the sense that the Scripture says, seek and you shall find. He doesn’t say seek what.

And every preacher has his own interpretation, and I suppose they’re all right because that’s actually, usually the case with the Word of God. It is, what should we say; it has a multitude of applications, so that if one man says it means this and another says it means that and three others say it means three other things, they are not contradicting each other. They may easily be complementing each other. I have no objection to various interpretations, provided, the brother doesn’t say, now, accept my interpretation or I rule you out. Then I’m sorry for a mind as razor narrow as that. Narrow as the razor’s edge. But these prophets prophesied of things to come. And that was a wonderful truth and a curious one, that prophets reported on things they did not themselves understand.

And then here is a rare truth in that there isn’t much about it in either Old Testament or New, directly. But it is here, bluntly stated, in unmistakable language. It is that the Old Testament prophets had the Spirit of Christ. But the word had is not good enough here; for it says the Spirit of Christ which was in them. The preposition is “in.”

Now, this destroys that what some people have called the geographical interpretation of the Holy Ghost. I would call it the prepositional interpretation of the Holy Ghost. You know, there are those who bear down very, very heavily on the “on” and the width and the end. They say about the Holy Spirit, that He was on the Old Testament saints, but not in them. That he was with the apostles before the Pentecost, but not in nor on; that after Pentecost, got in the people. That makes preaching easy because all you have to do is look for prepositions, and that’s a relatively easy way to handle the Word of God. Just watch the prepositions and hook your little comment on the preposition. But I’ve never been able to believe that God was such that He played in the marketplace and that He built His truth out of curious, little blocks. No, the Bible doesn’t tell us only that the Holy Ghost was on, but it says here that He was in.

Now, that ruins some people’s theology. That little preposition “in” here in Peter ruins it, because they say, the Old Testament prophets and saints never had the Holy Ghost. He was only on them. He came and rested upon them. The dove lighted on the roof, but never came inside the dwelling place. And you’ve got to believe that or else they won’t admit you into their little narrow field of thought. But they say in the New Testament, He came with them. And they quote Jesus as saying, He is now with you, but shall be in you, meaning Himself as the with. And then when the Spirit came at Pentecost, He filled them and so the Spirit was in them.

Now, I believe the Holy Ghost was on the Old Testament prophets. I also believe the Holy Ghost comes on New Testament Christians. I believe that the Holy Ghost was in the Old Testament prophets, for Peter says so and I must take Peter’s word for it in spite of the commentators.

Now, there’s all this confusion here, and I do not want to get ironical about this though I fear an ironical quality has crept into my voice. But here seems to be the fact that there’s all this confusion on this subject for a number of reasons. One, it results from letting the element of curiosity crowd out of the element of practicality. If Bible teachers could only remember that the men, holy men who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and gave us divinely inspired truth, never for one remote moment, ever meant to give us anything to satisfy our intellectual curiosity. They meant to give us truth to transform us, spirit and soul, and bring us into holy living and holy believing. They never intended that we should have rattles to play with.

I have been to Bible conferences, and I have heard teachers of not only one, but many schools of Christian interpretation, that gave me the impression that they were proud of their ability to bring things out, both old and new, and particularly new. And when after they had settled the hash of the ordinary, simple interpretation of a thing, they gave you some curious interpretation. They had enjoyed the theology from a curious standpoint. And I believe that this will lead us astray just as sure as you live. Just as soon as I accept the doctrine, or the idea, that the Bible is a book of theological toys to be played with by tender seedlings, I have missed the purpose of the Scripture and I have no proof that I won’t be in false doctrine before very long. For the Bible was given us not to satisfy our curiosity, but to sanctify our personality.

Now, another thing that has resulted in this confusion about the Holy Spirit being on, and in, with, and so on; is the carnal urge to rightly divide. Rightly dividing the Word of Truth turns out to be vivisecting it; it usually bleeds to death in the hands of the man who holds it. And then he carries a dead, pale text around with him and rams it down everybody’s throat. The carnal urge to rightly divide; I think it arises from intellectual pride.

And then there is what we call trying too hard. I think I might lay this Bible down a minute and make an inane comment or two on that subject. That in trying to understand the Scripture, we are in grave danger of trying too hard. It is very rarely that we can screw up our belt tight to the last notch, grit our teeth, and say, I’m going to get this. God never has very much place for old Adam. He bid old Adam goodbye and said that the end of all flesh should come before Him. And God has never put any confidence in the flesh from that hour down to this hour.

Now remember that when the Old Testament priests went into offer their sacrifices, they did not dare wear wool clothing, because wool made them perspire. And I suppose that God was saying to the Jewish priesthood, now, don’t mistake perspiration for inspiration. And your human perspiration will not glorify Me. Therefore, wear linen clothing so you can keep cool and serve me scripturally and spiritually, but calmly and coolly. And don’t imagine that by trying hard you will get anywhere. Climbing Jacob’s ladder with white knuckles and tired muscles; there’s a lot of paganism in that. And the Lord wants to kill all that and let the Holy Ghost take over.

Now, when Jesus sweat blood in the garden that was quite another matter. That was not old Adam trying too hard, that was the Holy Ghost coming upon a man till he nearly burned him up. That was the prayer spirit laboring on the man until he nearly killed a man. And I believe in that. But I also believe that theologians who push too hard, usually fail to see the point because they’re not relaxed.

Now, Paul used the illustration taken from the arena and boxing and wrestling; and I suppose I can without being unspiritual. And if we might take baseball, which I never see. I’ve seen one game in 17-18 years and probably won’t see another one for another 18; maybe never till the Cubs win the pennant again. But we would like to say this about baseball. They say that a young man who stays a .300 or .325 hitter, suddenly goes into a slump and he couldn’t hit a pumpkin when it comes up to the plate. They say often it’s because he has gotten tense and is pushing too hard; that he goes all tense into the batter’s box. But when he gives up and says, what’s the use, I couldn’t hit a basketball. Then he starts to hit again. Because he gets off the tension. He isn’t trying too hard. And I have met many saints that are trying too hard.

I remember one time, I think I told you this before, but it’ll bear repeating; and a man who has been here as long as I have, has to do some repeating. But I remember at a watch night meeting 20-30 years ago, that we were all around there praying. They were testifying, and one very godly man; now, he was all that. He was a very godly man. And I was sitting beside another godly man, a missionary under the Africa Inland Mission, Reverend Mr. Solunca, who had just lately gone to heaven. They found him beside his motorcycle out in the bush where he had given his life to the Lord Jesus. But anyway, this Solunca was sitting beside me. And this friend of mine, Everet, he jumped to his feet and he gripped his knuckles together, hands together, and in a spasm of Adamic determination, he told us his plans for the new year, how he was going to serve God. And my quiet, saintly friend beside me, touched my arm. He whispered; Brother Everet is screwing his violin string to tight. He said, he won’t be able to keep it up there for the year. And I was a young fellow then and I remember it, and I think he did. He screwed it too tight.

You can throw your flesh in. And with strong religious determination, grit your teeth and batter your own head black and blue and never get anywhere. We can do that in theology too. The simplest explanation of any text is just what it says there. Just read it; get on your knees. And as Mark Twain said, the passages he couldn’t understand never bothered him. But the ones he could understand made him sweat. And you will have time enough following the text that you understand without seeking to pry curiously underneath the surface and bring up some esoteric meaning that God never found there.

I spent from Wednesday to Sunday night, last week in Dr. Simpson’s old church in New York City down off Times Square. And I preached one night, and I said merely as a matter of passing, you don’t have to believe it. Nor, it doesn’t mean much. It was just a passing thought. I said, you know, the angels are pure spirit, and the animals are flesh, but man, this wondrous being, is both spirit and flesh. And I went on to something else. That was just a little bracketed saying I gave and it’s true.

Afterwards a man with a face like a mask, thin and cold, thin eyes and completely expressionless face, said, what did you say about the beasts not having a spirit? And he looked down. I could just see him. He had taken that argument to all the preachers that visit New York and made it #97 now. And he said, did God not make His covenant with all flesh? And then, he looked down, as if just say I won’t hit him again. He’s wounded. And I saw what I was into at first; I treated him as a brother and tried to reason; and then suddenly I saw there was no use. And I said, I perceive, sir, that you are a theological mechanic and more concerned with the letter than with the spirit. I worship the Most High God. Goodbye, and I left him. He came back to all the meetings, but he never bothered me anymore.

Now this fellow had gotten from somewhere, I don’t know where, the idea that a dog has a spirit, and that when God made a covenant with Adam, he included the dog and the dog knew it, I guess, and probably signed the covenant. But it’s all very silly, and if it’s true, it doesn’t mean anything. What do I care about horses and sheep and dogs and mountain lions? God never said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to my horses. He died for people. He came to seek that which was lost, and we’re the last ones.

Lo and behold, when He came and considered being with God not to be hung on to, but lowered Himself and took on flesh, it was not the flesh of the beasts, but the flesh of the man. And it was a man that went out to Calvary, not a dog or a bear. So, if there is some hope for the beast, let there be hopes. I think John Wesley thought there was. But if there is, that’s not within my field of interest at all. I can’t know everything. I can only know a fraction of anything.

So why not stay by the Truth as it affects me. I could spend my life attacking creatures on whether an animal has a spirit or not and never read the Sermon on the Mount once. But it’s infinitely more important that I read the Sermon on the Mount and yield my heart to obey it than it is that I settle curious things concerning prophecy or concerning any other phase of Christian truth.

Now, the simple truth is that the Old Testament prophets had the spirit of Jesus and that’s here as a very rare truth. The Spirit of Christ which was in them is here in the Bible. And they prepared the world for the advent of the Savior, because it was the Savior, Himself, in them; the Spirit of the Savior in them prophesying. And they witnessed the Christ in type and symbol and historic situation and in the writings of the prophets.

And this explains why Christians love the Old Testament. That’s why you may have wondered why you like the Old Testament so and you can read it and mark it and love it, and yet, you know, it belonged to an ancient dispensation, and the New Testament is your book, no. The New Testament isn’t your book any more than the old was. You cannot separate the one from the other. They are an organic whole. And the Spirit of Christ was in the Old Testament and Christ is in the New Testament; and you have one and the same thing.

There are passages that don’t refer to you, and yet you feel an affinity for them. You read the book of Deuteronomy, which has to do almost wholly with Israel. And yet your heart warms and leaps and rejoices in your marked passages and you say, I wonder why. Why do I love the Old Testament? Ah, it’s because the Spirit of Christ which is in them did testify. And you who are born again, recognize the same Spirit that dwells in your breasts in some major at least, and there’s an affinity there. And that’s why the Old Testament should be read. And that’s why we should preach from the Old Testament.

Now the reassuring truth, that redemption is famous in heaven and was famous in ancient times; and that the plan of God to redeem the fallen race excited wonder and admiration among the very angels; which things angels desire to look into. I don’t know how much they ever found out. But the angels were stirred to desire to know this wondrous redemption.

Now, why were the angels admiring so greatly this truth? I believe it’s for three reasons. Because of the being that is to be redeemed. If we could ever make people see three things about themselves. One is, what wonderful creatures they are; and the second is, what hopelessly sinful creatures they are. And the third is, what great hope there is in Christ.

I think we could settle a lot of our problems, but we either take the attitude that we’re sinful and then begin to tramp ourselves down to the level of the gopher and the rat, or else, we take the idea that we’re not sinful and deny that we’ve sinned and push ourselves up. Both are true, brethren.

We were made in the image of God. And we’re made only a little lower than the angels and are to be higher than the angels. That’s what we were. That’s what we potentially are. But without the new birth and redemption and forgiveness and cleansing, we’ll find our place to that hell that’s reserved for the devil and his fallen angels. Those two truths are not self-contradictory. They are two sides of the same truth. But man was made in God’s image; and God for that reason sent his Son to die for them. Therefore, nobody ever ought to think low of himself, though he ought to remember how humble and little and sinful and hopeless and broken he’s been before his God.

So, we keep these two thoughts in suspension; that though we were originally in the image of God, we stained our souls and ruined us and brought judgment in hell and death upon us. But then, that God for Christ’s sake, saves us, redeems us for another’s worth and merit, and restores us again to the image of God.

We shall someday stand a little higher than we anciently stood in the lines of our forefather Adam. Those are wonderful truths and they’re reassuring truths. It’s wonderful being man. Angels are interested in it.

And then, the second reason is the astonishing mercy of God. If God gave us our desserts, brethren, there wouldn’t be one of us here this morning. Not one. Not one. You, kind-faced old lady that has spent your lifetime looking after children and then looking after grandchildren, and living the best you’ll know how. You wouldn’t be here. You would be in hell too. And you, honest businessman that never cheated in your life and that are upright and good and honest and a worthy, exemplary citizen, you’d be in hell too. And everybody that is above the age of responsibility belongs there. And whoever denies that he does, will go there. And oh, the astonishing mercy of God that He should come to us, who? Because of what we were in Adam, made in the image of God. We went down lower and further than we would have gone.

In the Henry plays by Shakespeare there was a prince called Prince Hal. I think it was Prince Henry the fourth if I remember correctly. But Prince Hal, Harry, they call him, was of course a noble prince, a son of the king and heir apparent to the throne. He must live like the noble man that he was. But instead of that, he forgot his noble standing and went and frequented the pubs and drank sack, whatever that is, I suppose English beer, along with Falstaff and the other bloated, big-bellied, beer drinking, liquor consuming crowd.

Nobody minded to see fat old Falstaff there. He had not come down to go to the saloon. But the royal prince had come down. Therefore, he was infinitely more to blame because he had come down so far. And so, if we had never been anything, our sin might be forgiven or overlooked or excused. But as men made in the image of God with moral perception and conscience and ability to grasp spiritual truths, for us to go down where we’ve gone.

Oh, the grace and mercy of God that we should be saved. And that’s why the angels stood with open eyes and said, how can it be that such creatures as they, should be treated as they are by the great God who loves us?

And the third is, and this is most important, because of the one who would rescue us, the One, Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, as we see these angels looking with reverent wonder and these prophets who prophesied since the world began, wondering what it was all about and dreaming and hoping they might know. We can only say that our foundations stand sure. It’s not a new religion. Not Mrs. Eddy in a fit. Not Father Divine with his old bald head and his angels, concubines. Not Joseph Smith, in his curious plates dug up under an apple tree. But before the world began, this was in the mind of God, ancient as the sun. And before the sun burned in the heavens to redeem you and me, it was in the mind of God. Angels desired to look into it.

You know, I heard about an old gentleman, a dear old saint of God. He was realistic, and he didn’t say as lots of Christian do, they never have a doubt. No, I never have a doubt–hypocrites. They do have a doubt, but they won’t admit it. But this old fella was a realist. And he justified, he said, I admit I have doubts sometimes. He said, I’ll hear an argument, or somebody would advance an idea and it’ll stun me for a little. And he said, when I have such doubts, I always dive down to the bottom and examine the foundations of my faith. And he said, every time I have done it yet, I have always come to the surface singing how firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith in His excellent word. So, that’s all I meant to do this morning was to remind you and examine the foundations a little. And now let’s sing, How Firm a Foundation. All right.